The Sun. — London, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

....`-.. k that, der , )ected fro! :" I preparatiot ! eeded, tr oo p! Swedish terry l ip with Eng: Baltic. C_t, d e clare its ok , iertly a ,e counnllo° iced arml t° important?! a Cabinet la more t b. and this Minister f'! t of the CO'.st r the entil Isear who? ; mole. J u l Ine, r n ur S,,veden'; sive with tb co nfident l : f ) ;esolutelY public jonr cing y denoun ut of the Jo"' record or th e inajoritl, i ea lly on c' w iy well h O P 6 ' ler that b O 5 the bead a t Britain an ;en, ctited e' q"e oig" there- - :er are CO tter by itet, n board asea • have pa- 0 , ud have Pt egiment Consider sV .# border, De' Lundbladf X., Grits' j I have gre' !Inglisb fl e t , number lY i s h it is el 1 try to ke Fletrsb od g)r a, , ,d 1 .461. dal g's birtu the itinuin' le ufavourai and is dstili - ange rs ° of whole 0 .10 as a CaP t . a ,, r , tiral Nal"' and, in of the latki t relative George, 113$ ' ed on shore, svmpathY: the Ait° l/ from ,hole British m Sympa thy which drerj grave. imstacee -General 4: 1 ! I in Viborg , is forbidden Abo to Borgia, I! ii t , ier de Salo, las been r? Werther in The Roi t i Li its militia' his Majesty cv-lioer ity of CO' ored at 1. 14 ' so provisin is is active 0 1 calculating ian Seheuts Tiber of ofa- were mad e ' mines at n' an electri G , • officers 01 nents Wel? successfni• iemens, 311 ngiueer, 15 ,ed by th e Professor a of Crow e informs` been Pre as well a 5 ly charge d into th° the flee_ .a ts se caissow ttteries ited in t 5 /: vo lines IP e the tour nes viaihl ie dible oaiv u• that are' of a nut: led on t" - the sittlA" 3uspensioll t consider pite of i ts. ch of th e. are taken 03 " e, De. S 0 troops being of t Tiers. "",„ ;llded, brigad e .' nd has di furnished whilst the habit an . tt , >ots from 1 1 ° 5^. dunatioil° ads. Th e • the r roubles , e of erec t :. d Turk - is!' aual)erlal° 000 silve r levoted to le Russian nrehotise s P had bee ° b e r ecoil' hese jol t ; rnmen t 0 :‘ patriotio t the Ea' :en by thg crew I) 3 ' urg. 111° diction t° n the ° 5 is certa in g, C O a zl; towar 7 7 arsaw to , w , shop, 1 13 ' 'as a fre of ,e right mt, sin ce , Emper ° " a cool" opric are a letter rat " the the o n ; Th e CO' ay . T he rraieS are rs o f the t reserve ad E. -joy' e by th e •ty is far sties tie relati ve are 11', e Any tbl ll 6 he v iooL o 0 nOtial" to prevent them. This inaction is to me altogther in comprehensible ; hut, at :ill events, the benediction which God extends over our arms and over the justice of our cause, is evident. The resistance made with such feeble means to an enemy disposing of a formidable artillery, and twelve consecutive hours vainly employed by it to destroy our shore-batteries, will not have failed to make a strong impression on it, particularly when the damage more or less serious, which its vessels have suffered, is taken into con*ideration. "No. 2. REPORT OF APRIL 26.-1 have the honour of announcing to your Highness that the great English and French squadrons have quitted Odessa, after having done very little iujisry tc the town itself and his Majesty's troops, and not daring to approach our batteries again, after the resistance which they met with on the 22d April, and the severe lesson which the steam-frigates received on the 23d, when they came within the range of our batteries to make a reconnoissance. This morning, at eight o'clock, as well as could be seen, the three frigates which had been damaged and the line - of-battle-ship weighed anchor, and took their departure to the south-west, and the remainder of the fleet to the south-east. Admiral Dundas has sent me, by an Austrian vessel which happened to be in the waters of Odessa, forty officers and men, belonging to merchant vessels, with a letter which I transmit to your Highness. During the presence of the enemy before Odessa the most perfect order never ceased to prevail in the town ; and although many of the inhabitants left their houses and these houses remained open, no cul pable act took place. The zeal of the population pre sented a most touching spectacle, and even under the fi re of the enemy's cannon, the inhabitants brought provisions to the soldiers. During the night other troops Provided with cannons procte.led to the shore to repel the boats which were approaching it. All, whatever was their nation or the class to which they belonged, were filled with indignation against the allies o f the Crescent, come here to destroy the habitations of the peaceful citizens—to attack inoffensive persons, women, and children. The perfect devotedness of all to the good cause was striking. A Tuscan subject, Gigi, Mocehi, employed for 30 years at the quarantine, a man universally loved and esteemed, constructed at his own expense, without any authority, a battery, armed with six 24-pounders, which he purchased from the municipal body, and had the battery thus constructed Served by his own men. He has become a Russian subject. The officers and troops are animated with the greatestzeal, baveshown the utmost intrepidity, and are penetrated with the sentiment of duty. The artillery has covered itself With additional glory. The absence of all precipitation, the perfect coolness which it displayed, its fire so well directed, the knowledge of their bu-mess which all the others gave proof of (the most of them being young met* who have lately left the military school-) ; in a word, the unexampled feat of arms of Steliegoieff and his Men—all have proved to the enemy that its ships of the line, armeu as they were with cannons of large calibre, could not with impunity approach our coasts. It is iei Possible not to perceive in this result the will of Him who undertakes to protect all honest hearts penetrated with an ardent devotedness to their sovereign, the anointed of the Lord, and with affection for their be loved country." GREECE. The Trieste journals have accounts from Athens, of the Ist, which fully confirm what had been stated relative to the defeat of the insurgents in Thessaly and the Epirus. After the defeat at Pla tanas, 4,000 insurgents assembled at Domiko where they were attacked by Zamil Paella at the head of 1,500 Turks, and completely routed. The insur gent chief, Satzi-Karatassa, who had landed at Sikio, in Macedonia, was attacked by land and sea, and all his vessels were sunk. The courier from Missolonghi had brought information to Athens that Javellas had fled, and that Zako- Milio had been taken and shot. The German Journal of Frankfort states that the representatives of the four great powers in the Conferences of Vienna ha(! a meeting last week at the residence of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the subject of Greece, and that the full accord of the Austrian Cabinet was given for intervention. The taking of Peta has produe d already an effect. From nearly all the villages in the neigh bourhood they have sent meu to declare their readiness to submit, and there can be no doubt that the following clever proclamation of Fuad Effendi will have a very good effect : "Circular of his Excellency Fuad E:Tendi to the Inhabi- tants of various - Caza (districts) : "The Commissary Plenipotentiary of his Imperial Ma jesty the Sultan, in Epirus and Thessaly, to the Most Hon. the Clergy, the Primates. the Muebiri (chief men), and in general to all the Christian inhabitants of the district— " We announce that Peta, the stronghold of these ill intentioned persons, who, having lately entered into these lands, disturbed the tranquillity of the inhabitants, exists no more. It has been destroyed to-day in one hour by the bravery of the Imperial troops, and those of the above-mentioned individuals who could save them selves have dispersed, having for the most part gone to the place where they came from. " I call, therefore, upon those among you, the inha bitants of the villages, who having been deceived by these people have risen in insurrection and seemed hith erto connected with the same--some from fear of the authorities, others forced by the disturbers, and others influenced by their mischievous counsels—knowing now the fate of the village of Peta, to come to yourselves, think of the position in which you are, and return to the right way, straying from which you were running to wards your ruin. " You who fear to suffer from the severity of the authorities, banish all fear from your hearts ; you who Were forced, call upon the Imperial forces for help ; and you who hope still to succeed in realizing your vain hopes, think seriously, and look at the evils which your error is likely to entail upon you. In one word, all those of you who, in whatever way, have participated in the insurrectionary movements, hear the paternal voice Which calls you to embrace peace, tranquillity, and Prosperity, and hasten to demand the pardon which we are ready to accord to you for all that you have done, willing or un willing. "We give the period of a week, within which you Must send to us two persons from every village to ten der your submission to the Imperial Government ; be sure that I myself, and with me all the civil and military authorities in this place, will receive you with that bene volence and clemency which are in accordance with the high will of our most merciful Sovereign, and you will enjoy in full tranquillity and security the fruits of obe• dience and submission to your legitimate Government. " But. if even in future some villages disobeying these Our summons should remain in insurrection, in that case I shall find myself in the most regrettable necessity to adopt such strong measures as will certainly be followed by immense evils. "Let the inhabitants of those villages, whom the dis turbers do not leave free to do their own will, but whom'. they force to insurrections, let them take up arms against those enemies of their tranquillity, let them beat and drive them away. Such conduct wi.l be considered by us as the greatest proof of their submission and fidelity towards their Government. " Knowing this, hasten to do that which is counselled to you, for the love of your families and the welfare of your fatherland. _ _ " Given in Arta the 13 (25th) of April,'lBs4. THE DANUBE. A letter from Bucharest states that on the 28th ult. the siege batteries opened a fire on Rustchuk, but the Turks did not reply to it. MONTENEGRO. The correspondent of the „V oniteur, writing from Belgrade on May Ist, says :--" The day before yes terday Mr. Colquhoun, the English Consul, passed through here, coming from Wallachia ; he is going on a mission extraordinary to Bosnia, Herzegowina, and to Montenegro. He desires to prevent any armed rising iu these provinces agiinst the Turks." The Lloyd of Vienna says :—" We learn that the Vladika of Montenegro has abandoned the de sign of making war on the Turks. On the ener getic representations of Austria, the Cabinet of St. Petersburg has given orders to Prince Danito to remain quiet, and to avoid any collision with the Turks:, SHUMLA. The Observateur of Trieste contains a letter from Constantinople of May 1, which says Omer Paella bas sent his brother to Adrianople to pray the Government to hasten the march of the allied troops to Schumla. BRITISH EXPEDITION AT GALLIPOLI. badly whe n compared with that of the French army, which is p ertection. Lord Raglan, accompanied by Lord de Roos, Quarter.ii aster-General, and staff, Mr. Burrell, P.M.0., Dr. Tice, &c., arrived at noon in the Bay of Gallipoli, on board the Emeu. Although expected for several days past, it so happened that no one was in w citing to receive him. The General, Sir G. Brown, ,his Brigadier-General, Colonel Eyre, and staff, had gone out early in the morning to inspect the 28th and the other regiments of the Eastern camp. Colonel Sullivan, Deputy Adjutant General, and Capt.ain Hallewell, Deputy Assistant Quarter m4ster-Gtmeral, had also ridden out of the Own to look after various matters connected with the ar rangemen t of the camps. When Lord Raglan landed, tab erefore, he had full time to look about him, and form a notion of the capabilities of Gal lipoli. lie proceeded to the General's quarters, and when Sir George returned they had a long in terview. Lord Raglan visited Admiral Bruat on board his flag ship, and was received with the usual sail' te, which was repeated on his departure. He sailed that night for the Bosphorous. On Sa turday P rince Jerome Napoleon arrived. The town was shaken by the Imperial salute of 101 guns from each of the five French line of battle ships. He left the ship for the shore in a storm of wind, under similar salute, which fright ened the Greeks out of their lives. On Sunday the General, - the Deputy Adjutant-General, Colonel Sullivan, and staff attended divine service at the camp, an, l the Rev. Mr. Mockler preached an ex. cellent Falrmon ; after which they attended an in spection of 20,000 French troops b y the Prince. The Ron ran Catholic chaplain, Mr. Wheble, has been ordered out of the 44th camp into the town. It is expeeied that Sir George Brown will leave this week, and that his place will be taken by Sir R. England. The Rifle Brigade and 93d Regiment will go with him. FRANCE. The bombardment of Silistria is considered in Paris as a.n answer on the part of Russia to the bombard' nent of Odessa. As hostilities have now actually ciommeuced on both sides, both the French and English Governments are using the most ener getic me Jams to induce Austria and Prussia to declare themselves one wayor other, and if possible to indu.ce them to join the Western Powers in adoptie,g active measures against Russia. It is expected that should the Russians advance towards Constantinople, or should the Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin continue to persist in their pretended neutrality, Napoleon will, before autumn, push for ward the troops about to assemble for the camp at Boulougne and St. Omer to the frontier of the Rhine. The German Powers are quite aware of the danger they run, but still look for safety, riot in an attack upon the common enemy, but in i•eegotiation. It is said that tl:ey have made propositions to Russia which will probably be accepted, but which in the present state of affairs will hardly be accepted by England and France. It was reported in Paris yesterday that a levy of 100,000 men had been ordered by the Prussian Government. The JPresse states that on Saturday, the Sixth Rt-!giment of Cuirassiers commenced its embarka tion—an operation which was continued. On the previous day 1,000 soldiers left Toulon for Greece. The additional buildings admitted to be neces sary to complete the Palace of Industry in the Champs Elysees will be commenced immediately. These additions will be made of cast iron, so as to be removable when the Universal Exhibition is over. They will be very extensive, for applications have already been made for the admission of no less than 1,000 large engines requiring space to allow visitors to inspect them in action. It will unfortunately be necessary to cut down a good many more trees. The building is expected to be finished in November. Immense preparations are making throughout Europe and in the United States for an industrial display which, notwith standing the war, bids fair to rival the first and famous world's fair of London. A decree of the 26th ult. enacts that diplomatic and consular agents, who may have been obliged on account of war, or of other grave circumstances, to leave their posts and return to France, may re ceive for six months, dating from their return, a special allowance varying according to their grade, and calculated at from 50,000 fr. to 60,000 fr. for ambassadors, 15,000 fr. to 40,000 fr. for ministers plenipotentiaries, and 2,400 fr. to 14,000 fr. for other agents, from the grade of chancellor or dra goman to that of charge d'affaires. At the end of the six months, the agents who may have served for more than ten years may be allowed the pay fur non-active services. M. de Hubner, Austrian Envoy in Paris, has received from the Emperor of Austria the Order of the Iron Crown of the first class, and is thereby raised to the dignity of a Baron of the Empire. Baron Huyssen de Kattendycke, Minister of State of the King of the Netherlands, died in Paris on Saturday, aged 72. The Three per Cents. opened yesterday at 67f. 20c. fell to 66f. 75c., and closed at 67f. 15c. for tile end of the month ; the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. closed at '94f. ; and the New Loan at 66f. 45c. ; Orleans .'Railway Shares, I,loof. ; Rouen, 915 f. ; Havre, 462 f. 50c. ; Great Northern, 785 f. ; Stras burg, 7 . 33 f. 75c. ; New Shares, 575 f. ; Paris and Lyons, 882 f. 50c. ; Lyons to the Mediterranean, 730 f.: Western of France, 610 f. ; Bordeaux and. Cette, 542 f. 50c. ; Great Central of France, 470 f. ; Lyons to Geneva, 470 f. ; Bank of Credit Mobilier, 557 f. 50c. GALLIPOLI, MI 2.—Since the arrival o f Briga dier-General Eyre and staff (Brigade-Major Hope and Lieutenant Graham, aide-de-camp), each of the r eg i ments s t a ti one d here has been inspected on successive mornings. All of these inspections have been considered satisfactory, with the exception of that of the 28th Regiment, which was reviewed Yesterday. Sir George Brown found fault with them in several particulars, and ordered them to °▪ e paraded aga i n for inspection at 8i o'clock this morning. Brigadier Evre gives his men no rest. The 44th ( to w h om t h e G enera l pa id a co mplimen. , on their efficient condition), the 28th, and 4th are under arms daily at 51 a.m. The Brigadier is ever at the camp soon a f ter d awn, an d t h ey may think themselves lucky if they get released after three hours' drill and marching. The men are certainly getting into fine working order, in spate of the Weather. It would b e we ll, h owever , if th ere wa s a little more attention paid to their comforts by the home authorities. Where is all the beer at 3d. a quart, and " pale ale for officers" at 4d. a quart --where the preserved potatoes and potted meats, of wh ic h we h ave h ear d so much, and have seen so little, and have tasted nothing ? The supplies of rum are very uncertain, and tantalise the men very much. S ome ti mes th e rat i on b eef is quite uneat a,lde ; it is s o green an d n as ty the men have to throw it away, and the worst of all is that their rambles throhgli the French searitip, where their see Plenty of wile.;, rice, tLe., wake 111011 i discontented and grumbling. The Post-office de- Partment too is very unsatisfactory and shows very THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 16, 1854. ncome of 1853 there were deducted 5,500,0001. income tax, the net revenue would be 49,000,0001., derived from the same sources of Customs, Excise, and assessed taxes, being 2,000,000/. more than before these reductions of 16,000,0001. sterling, of w hich the hon. gentleman (Mr. Newdegate) complained. (Hear, hear.) The effect of the alteration in the sugar duties proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be that, instead of being equalised at 10s., they would be equalised at 12s. Where there was a difference—and no doubt there would be a slight one—it would not be of a protective nature, inasmuch as it would apply just as much to foreign as to West India sugars ; and, indeed, he should be deceiving the West India interest if he threw it out as a boon, for he was disposed to let them know all the truth—it would apply in larger proportion to the Manilla and Brazil sugars than to the West Indian. So far, therefore, as the principle of protection was concerned, he denied entirely that anything of the kind was to be found in the present measure. The hon. geutleman who had just sat down had said that the Go vernment, having last year repealed the duty upon soap because it was an Excise duty, were now acting diametri cally opposite to their own principles, inasmuch as they now proposed an increase iu an Excise duty ; but hon. gentlemen who had listened to the debates in that house must be well aware of the distinction between removing an obstruction altogether and adding to a duty without causing an addition to the obstruction which already ex isted, and that was his reply to the taunt of the hon. mem ber when he charged the Government with getting rid of one Excise duty one year and increasing another the next. With regard to the question, which had already been worn so threadbare by discussions in that house, as to who paid the tax, it was one which he had hardly expected would have been raised on the present occasion. They really did not require arguments on such a subject, for lie asked who had already paid the tax? What had been issued by all the metropolitan brewers that morning? Was there any reduction in the price of malting barley ? If there was, the Mark-lane market showed none, for it was quoted that day at from 38s. to 11s. per quarter, and he asked, was not that a fair price ? But had they not an increased price of beer? Was it not true, as had been stated to the house by an hon. member, that the brewers had issued a circular raising the price of that article to a sum that rather more than covered the increased duty upon malt? The duty upon malt was to be increased by 2s. 10d., but the increased price of beer was 3s. ; and, therefore, the brewers not only repaid themselves for the increase of duty, but charged somewhat more for the in terest upon advances. (Hear.) The whole question of who paid for the increased duty was at an end, for the Mark-lane quotations had told them the producers did not, and the brewers' circular that the public did pay for it. What, then, was the use of discussing speculative opinions upon this subject, or the conclusions based upon such opinions ? (Hear.) This question had received the earnest consideration of the Government, and he assured the house that the principle was adopted with an honest view and a full determination of layin g the duty on the consumer in the fairest possible way, so that it should be distributed among the whole community in a manner that would in flict the least injury upon the industry and trade of the country. This duty had been selected above all others in order that the whole community should contribute towards the taxation in the fair proportion in which they consumed the article. (Hear.) Mr. SPOONER contended that this tax was unjust and unequal, and that an import duty ought to have been sub stituted. Asserting that the peasants were the great con sumers of beer, he made fight for that fluid in answer to Mr. Crossley, and told him to ask a wearied labonrer whether he found no nourishment in it. One of his objec tions to the tax was, its depriving the peasant of his whole some homebrew and driving him tothe public-house. He dwelt upon the value of malt (not given dry, but as a sweet wort) to cattle. Mr. Wilson's Mark-lane argument he ridi culed, saying that the barley market was over just now, but let them see what the result would be at a future time. He indignantly denied that there was any unwillingness to support the Government in the war, but said that the worst way to carry it on was to make the hardworking peasantry feel that they were unjustly treated. Sir C. BURRELL, who was nearly inaudible, supported the amendment. Mr. SANDARS contended that it would be in favour of the barley growers to continue the tax, as the foreigner, who produced an inferior kind of barley, would be the inure able to compete with the home producer if the trade were thrown open. His own opinion as to the war was, that it might have been avoided, but being in it, supplies must be found, and he saw several advantages in this par ticular tax, which required uo fresh staff of collectors, and all of which went to the Exchequer. It had been his duty to bring various grievances of the maltsters before Govern ment, and be was bound to state that they were in course of removal. _ Why, obviously the mercantile and manufacturing—the class engaged in (reign interchange, which war, in pro portion as it spreads, must impede and cripple. (Hear.) The pr since Of land ehich is consumed at house, not ex ported, the domestic exchange in retail trade, the profits of professions, are not so vitally interested in tihe suppres sion of a di,eaitt scar as those sublime departments of in dustry which distance itself the more developer, and which enrich the manufacturer and meihant wherever they can fied a friendly shore and an open sea. (Hear, hear.) One might suppose, then, that the Government, if it be unhappily compelled to call upon any claws more than another to contribute to the expenses of war, would look: naturally to that class to whom the restor,ation of peace is so essentially important. And it would do so, in this case, the more reasonably, not only because .of the comparative wealth of those great members of the cot , - porate state, but because no class during the 40 years' peace thus abruptly terminate' has been so largely bene fitted by fiscal reductions. (Hear, hear.) No one can deny that the main spirit and effect of all our reliefs since the Reform Bill, and even before, have been to favour ou r mercantile anti manufacturing interests in reference to any other. The class which has most benefitted by the reliefs afforded in peace may well be expected most willingly to co-operate in the means necessary for the termination of war. Yet it is not to this class the Chancellor of the Ex chequer looks for the burdens he resolves to impose. Out of the whole community he selects for a special infliction the special class which has had the hardest struggles, has had the slightest share in the mitigation of taxes, has re cently been mulete.l of a large portion of its capital for an experiment, mainly intended to promote the success of manufactures, and, according to frank avowals of the Chan cellor of the Exchequer himself, frank avowals by the noble lord who leads the Government in this house, was entitled to some compensation, if compensation could be found. Now, this is the compensation you give them. They asked you a year ago to reduce the malt tax; your reply is to add to the malt tax two millions and a half. This is not all , besides money, there is something else w hi c h a people must . contribute to the dreadful necessities of war. They must contribute their siaews and their blood. The heaviest tax of all is that of human jives. Now, of all classes, which are here spared the most? It is surely the population of great mercantile and manufacturing towns. It is not there that the recruiting sergeant beats for recruits. It is in the agri cultural districts, it is in the rural population, that you principally find the soldiers that man your armies ; it is there that fathers will most mourn their children. But this is the class to whom the Chancellor of the Exchequer goes hand in hand with the recruiting sergeant. The one asks for money, the other for life. In the ordinary laws of con scription for military service, if the man decline service, he is bound to find the money that provides a substi tate. But these laws you reverse ; you press into the military service the inhabitants of the rural districts, and from the rural districts you take, again, the money that is to find substitutes for th , denizens of manufacturing towns. (Cheers.) I cannot conceive a greater injustice than the one you propose in the malt-tax, nor one that—under all circumstances, all the recollections, embitteriug class against class connected with the repeal of the corn laws— will be more gallingly felt, both as an injustice and as an insult, by the agricultural body, upon whom it will mainly fall. It will affect that body in all its gradations. The hon. gen• tleman who moved the amendment treated the question in a very able manner ; but there were one or two points ' that he only partially touched upon, with regard to which I will make a few observation. Of course the increased price of beer will tend to diminish the demand for barley ; but it will do something more than that. Already the high price of bread has diminished the consumption of beer, and has, therefore, tended in some degree to check the cultivation of barley ; and now comes your new tax to discourage altogether the cultivation of the ordinary barley, for your tax falling alike on all qualities of barley, the price of the inferior barleys will sink much below the present proportion to the superior barleys, and there will therefore be a tendency to cultivate none but that of a superior quality. Again, your tax necessitates the increase of capital by the maltster, and whatever neces sitat-s increase of capital tends to restrict trade and brings fewer purchasers into the market. There is another and a stronger reason against the selection of a special tax bear ing so markedly upon a special class. Upon entering into this war, which, no doubt. does require all our united energies, it certainly would be wise to forbear whatever tends to create or reopen all class grievances and all class contests among ourselves, anti this would be the more espe cially wise with regard to the agricultural class, because you know perfectly well that an angry excitement has long existed in that class in consequence of that change in your commercial policy as to which I will not now argue whether it was right or wrong; and you must remember that the only boon or mode of conciliation proffered to that class was the proposition for the reduction of the malt tax. (Hear.) ~. ~-.. PRUSSIA. HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.) THE EMBODIMENT OF THE MILITIA. The Duke of NEWCASTLE—I have to move an humble address to her Majesty, returning her Majesty the humble thanks of this house for her constitutional message, and expressing to her Majesty the just sense we entertain of her Majesty's care for the security of the country, manifested by the gracious declaration she has made that she will call out and embody the whole or such part of the militia as to her Majesty may seem fit. Earl GREY—I do not rise with any intention of ob jectmg to the resolution, but at the same time I think we (right to know somewhat more of the intentions of her Majesty's Government. It has been pointed out to me that if this measure shall be adopted in the manner that it is commonly thought it would be adopted, an act of very questionable justice will be done to some of those who have volunteered into the militia. One colonel of militia mentioned his own particular case. Soon after the act of 1852 was passed, when it was intended to em body the militia in the county to which I have adverted, an attempt was made by a number of persons belonging to the Peace Society to prevent men enrolling themselves in the militia, and the argument was, if you enrol your self in the militia, it is promised that you will not be called out for duty except the country is actually in danger ; but when you are once enrolled, those terms will not be adhered to, and the engagement you have contracted will be made more severe than you intended. 'The gentleman told me that this produced a great impression, and that he attended a meeting, and told them they migLt safely volunteer for the militia, that the terms were defined by act of Parliament, and there was no danger of those terms being broken. This had a considerable effect in inducing them to enrol themselves for the militia, and to advise persons to enlist because it was considered that they had au act of Parliament to guarantee that they would not be called out except under certain circumstances. But now comes a new act of Parliament that takes away that guarantee, and alters the circumstances under which their permanent services may be required, and with wages at 3s. a day they find themselves exposed to be called out for a longer period than they thought, at a rate of pay of only ls. a day. (Hear.) Owing to the confu sion that sometimes takes place, I was not aware, when my noble friend moved the first reading, of what subse quently occurred, until I found by the votes that the bill was read a second time, and put through all its other stages on the next day at one o'clock ; and, there ore, I had not an opportunity of snaking any remarks upon the subject. (Hear, hear.) Therefore I think this is the proper opp ertunity to make these remarks. I do not object to the militia being called out if the Government think fit , but I wish to know whether, as is usual in cases where any changes are made in the regulation of any of our armed forces, care is taken not to alter the terms of the engagement to the disadvan tage of those who contracted it. llear, hear.) I wish to know, if the militia are called out, whether those men who volunteered on the faith of a different engage ;tient and consider themselves aggrieved by the alter ation made in the terms of it, will be given the option of retiring from the force when the term for which they enlisted is over. The Costitutionnel collects the opinions expressed in some of the German papers as to the probable policy of Prussia on the Eastern question, and re marks upon them as follows : "It will be seen that public opinion in Germany de clares itself not only against a policy which would make Prussia an active satellite of Russia, but even against a system of indecision, indolence, and temporisation which would isolate her for a time from the action of Europe. She is called upon to declare herself promptly and frankly against the Emperor Nicholas, and it is distinctly observed that two plicies are no longer pos sible for her. She must either adopt an independent and European policy in the sense of France, England, and Austria, or a Russian policy, that would make her a vassal of the empire of the Czars. The moment for the Cabinet of Berlin to pronounce itself openly cannot he distant, and when it shall have arrived it will be in the crusade of coalised Europe against Rissian barba rism that we shall find the Eagle of Prussia." In the sitting of the Germanic diet of the 11th, England and France caused to be communicated the treaty of alli tnce concluded between them on the 10th April with respect to the Eastern war. ITALY. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN PIEDMONT The Duke of NEWCASTLE—I cannot give my noble friend the assurance that her Majesty's Govern ment contemplate any such extreme course as that he mentioned and recommended—namely, allowing those persons that enlisted to retire front the militia, if they state that they have an objection to the act that was passed two or three days ago ; but it is the intention of the Government to meet the case in another way, which I hope will be satisfactory to your lordships. For the first year your lordships are aware that it is not intended to embody the whole of the militia force. At present it is the intention of the Government to embody a force of about 15,000 men, and those regiments will be selected who have expressed already their perfect readiness to be embodied, and in some instances have even wished to be embodied. (Hear, hear.) Then it will not be necessary in some instances to embody whole regiments, and in that case leave of absence will be given to those who cannot from their vocations come forward, so that no serious inconvenience, if any at all, will be felt. (Hear, hear.) So far as we have at present the means of ascer taining, there is the greatest readiness on the part of those regiments that are intended to be called out to answer to the call that we propose to make upon them. The Earl of EGLINTON—Some time ago we were informed it was the intention to call out the Irish and Scotch militia. (A. noble lord—Not the Irish). And I wish to know if that is to be done by a separate bill ? The Duke of NEWCASTLE—The other Militia Act en, bles the Government to have the militia embodied in case of invasion, but this is not a case of invasion ; it is a case of war, and it was necessary to have this second act enabling the Government to call out the militia in the case of war. The same power will be given in the Scotch bill. AND ROME. The Earl of DERBY—I think there is great force in the argument of the noble earl opposite that the altera tion should as little as possible have a retrospective cha racter, or appear to involve any breach of faith with those who volunteered into the militia under a (Efferent act, for the fundamental principle of the Militia Bill, and that to which it owed its success, was that the measure should he entirely and purely voluntary. It was a mea sure calling for the warm and patriotic feeling of the country, and it is right that no person should have rea son to suppse that he was entrapped into any engage ment different from that which he originally entered in to. (Hear.) From the answer that has been given by the noble duke, though not technical or in terms, we may expect that the result to which the noble earl pointed will be practically obtained, because, if I understand the noble duke rightly, though he will not lay down the principle that persons having been engaged for the militia under certain provisions are absolved from that term of service on which they entered, yet that the Government, in the selection of regiments for embodiment, will select ' those regiments that are willing and desirous to serve ; and, further, that in other regiments consisting of 900 or 1,000 ►nen, they would be enabled to obtain 500 or 600 men who would be willing to volunteer. (Rear, hear.) I hope the noble duke will set me right if I have not correctly interpreted him. The Duke of NEWCASTLE—Yon have not in any respect misinterpreted what I said. The only difference is that you stated it more fully and clearly than I did myself. E irl GREY—I think that to adhere most scrupu lously to good faith in those matters is a point of the greatest importance, for our whole system of enlistment for the army, militia, and navy, and the success of the whole of the present arrangements. really rest upon this ground, that confidence shall be placed in the State, and that under no circumstances will strict good faith be de patted from by the State in its dealings with those who contract with them. Hitherto this country has kept a high character upon that subject, and I shall be glad that nothing shall be done to detract from that character. The resolution in answer to the address was then put by the Lord Chancellor and adopted. Another long debate took place in the Piedmon tese Chamber of Deputies, on the 10th, on the oc casion of a vote of 37,000 f. for the Sardinian Mini ster at Rome. M. Robecchi, having objected to the vote on the ground that the Roman Govern ment treated Piedmont with disrespect, and ought not, therefore, to have a Sardinian Minister accre dited to it, Count Solaro della Margherita, took up the defence of the government at Rowe, and con demned that of Piedmont, observing that great thanks were due to the generous man who now go verned France for the material aid he afforded to the Supreme Pontiff. " The star of Napoleon," ex claimed the orator, " will not fade so long as the colours of France float over the Seven Hills, not in token of conquest, but of protection." Gene ral Debormida, Minister of Foreign Affairs, strenu ously defended the Sardinian Government in the course it was pursuing with Rome, adding, that it was its wish to be on a friendly foong with Rome, provided the dignity, independence, and liberty of the nation were suitably maintaintained. "As for ma," said the Minister in conclusion, " I desire the liberty of the Church, of religion, of Catho licism ; but whether before friends or enemies, when exaggerated principles are sought to be defended, I shall always advocate the union and concord of the powers of the State, and stability in the commonwealth." M. Depretis remarked that conciliation would be a very good course if Rome had not ever been, and still was, the irrecon cilable enemy of Italian independence.—To this M. Ratazzi, Keeper of the Seals, replied that the prin ciple of Italian independence was not under con sideration at present, and that the Church had nothing in common with the tricolour. Whenever the latter required to be defended, the Ministry would always be in the vanguard. Mr. Fariui spoke in favour of the vote, observing that the jurisdiction over souls belonged to the spiritual power, and that the civil power might be indepen dent without encroaching on the limits of the spi ritual. Count Cavour, President of the Council, then rose, and declared that the Government had proceeded with the greatest prudence in its nego tiations with Rome. As soon as he (Count Cavour) learnt that Rome showed herself favourable to the Sardian Charge d'Affaires, he immediately created him a minister , and Rome, in return, appointed a cardinal. Would the Chamber, now that matters were on a better footing, paralyse all the negotiations ? Reforms were necessary, no doubt, but they must be effected with prudence and moderation. The nomination of a minister at Rome did not in the slightest degree impair the dignity ;of the nation. What Government had not, at somei time or.otlier, bad difficulties.withßothe ? Tile Sardinian Government did not licmiie:s - s; an ab solute, an excessive devotedness to the Holy See, but it professed the respect that was due to it. VIPE I) lAL PARLIA kIENT was one hundred milli on s, a nd if a duty of 5 per cent. was • imposed on imports it would give five millions, anti fall equally on all classes. Barley was to the agriculturists what cotton was to the manufacturer; all agricultural scien tific improvement turned on the cultivation of barley, and it was an article with which the foreigner could least inter fere. Why not interrupt the process of industry by laying a tax on cotton yarn, as well as on barley? (Hear.) What was the effect of the repeal of the corn laws? The effect , was to introduc e i n t o thi s - coun try eight or ten millions quarters of grain per annum, and that had the effect of , lowering the price. There was no objection to the repeal of the corn laws but that. They told them at the time they repealed the corn laws that they could not have a Parliamentary price for their corn, but they enforced upon them a Parliamentary price fcr their barley. If this tax were repealed the consumption of barley would increase at least threefold, and if they had an increased demand for barley, agriculturists would oease to grow so much wheat and oats as they did now, which would increase the price of wheat, and therefore he contended that the repeal of the malt tax would be a compensation for the repeai of the corn laws. By their fiscal laws they depressed the price of barley at least ss. a quarter, and they also depressed the price of wheat and oats, and now they were going to aggra vate this evil. He did not know whether this were meant as a b10..v to a class, or a blow to a party. He was at a loss to determine why it was done, unless it were some retaliation for what had been done on that side of the house. He had told them what this tax did for the land ; ho would now tell them what it did for the people. If there were no tax, and no licenses, beer could be sold at twopence a gall on . Of th e surp l us beyond the two prices at present charged, only one-fourth went to the Exchequer. The tax cost the country not only the five millions that went to the Exchequer, but twenty millicns, the difference going to swell the profits of the brewers anti iu other ways. This day the great brewers had issued a notice, raising the price of beer about three times as much as the increase of the tax. The tax on malt he considered to be equivalent to a direct tax of 25s an acre on every cultivated acre in the kingdom. This was what they called free trade. (Opposi tion cheers.) He would now show the.effect of the tax iu a moral point of view. In 1705 the tax on malt in Ireland was 2s 6d a bushel, and in 1801 it was Cs 6d, and the con sumption, which at the former period was 1.24,000 qrs, had decreased at the latter period to 173,900 quarters. They must not, therefore, complain if Irishmen had taken to the consumption of whiskey. In Scotland, too the great consumption of whiskey was to be attributed to the same cause. He contended, therefore, that in a moral point of view this was an injudicious and imprudent measure. He had presented many petitions on this subject, and amongst others he had presented two from clergymen in Essex for the repeal of the malt tax, because, as these reverend gen tlemen said, the effect of the tax v as to drive the poor man to the beer-house, he not being able to have his beer at home as he ought to have, brewed by his wife. In 1831 a committee of that house was appointed to examine into the causes and increase of drunkenness, and a magistrate from Oxfordshire was brought up to state his opinion. He stated that he had written to fifteen clergymen asking their opinion as to the means of preventing drunkenness, and fourteen of them had answered that the best mode was to repeal the malt tax. He entreated them, therefore, not to aggravate this source of evil by increasing the tax. He did not ask theta now to repeal the tax ; he should have asked them, but for the grave circumstances of the country, but he seked them not to increase the sources of the evil he had pointed out. In conclusion the hon. member moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months. Mr. STANHOPE objected to the bill because Ihe malt tax was excessive in amount—because it was laid on un fairly, and upon one class only—and because there was no necessity for increasing it for the purposes of the war, it being raised to rep a i r th e fi nanc i a l bl un d ers o f the Chan cellor of the Exchequer. Lord MONCK contended ths t this was not a tax which fell exclusively on the producer, and, as regarded the con sumer, he urged that barley held an exceptional position, and that the vat iation of duty would not cause consump tion to vary at a rate at all equal to that which was shown when the process took place in reference to other articles. He defended the tax as a temporary one, designed to aid in prov:ding means for the war, and which, therefore, had been very properly chosen, as calculated to fall on as large a portion of the population as possible. Colonel GILPIN described the tax as one which pressed with undue severity on the la, ded interest, and as he be lieved that consumption would decrease iu consequence of the imposition, the revenue would not profit in proportion to the hardship inflicted. Mr. WARNER had not felt much enthusiasm for the war, or sympathy for our ancient ally, but the question now was one of raising the requisite means, and he could not have supposed that any amendment would have been moved in opposition to that object. He defended the financial operations of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and expressed an earnest hope that the amendment would be withdrawn, as it would be misunderstood on the Con tinent. The Marquis of GRANBY said that the opposition to the tax was not an opposition to the war, although he con sidered the latter neither just nor necessary ; but we had now engaged in it, and there would be no disposition to incommode Ministers in obtaining supplies. It was, how ever, necessary to see that the best means of supply were resorted to. The increased malt duty ought to be resisted, because it did not fulfil the condition that a national war should be borne by the mass of the people, but fell upon an already heavily burdened mass. He argued, in oppo sition to Lord Monck, that the tax did fall upon the pro ducer, anti cited lit'Culloch to show its mischievousness to the agriculturist in diminishing consumption. He taunted the Government with the incessant warnings they had re ceived from the Osposition as to the impolicy of surren dering taxes which would be required in time of war, and with the assurance that had been given in return, that the new principles reciprocity had made war impossible. Mr. P. URQUHART, as a free-trader, gave his support to the amendment, and could not see why barley, which was exposed to a severer ordeal than any other article, should have an additional tax put upon it. Mr. CROSSLEY, though an abstainer from all in toxicating drinks, kept them on his table for his friends, and had constituents who disagreed with him, and there fore he had a right to speak on the subject. He abused beer, called it the death of life, and not its bread, and said there was no real strength given by intoxicating liquids. He contended that this was not a farmer's question, the tax being altogether a consumer's tax, and he should like to see any such amendment as this come from the right quarter, namely, from the consumers. But the re presentatives of large towns made no complaint, and he should support the Government. Mr. BENTINCK begged a second time to enter his strenuous protest against a proposition which could be re conciled with neither justice, honesty, nor consistency. This was an attempt to re impose protective duties, and it it were right, it would show that all the free-trade doc trines which had so long been preached were a delusion. It was part of a system intended to withdraw taxation from towns, and throw it upon the country. Mr. J. BALL said that, as science had not yet taught us how to carry on a cheap war, means must bo found. He believed that there was no imposition for this purpose to which the country would more cheerfully submit than one on liquors There were certainly special objections to the increase on Irish spirits, but as an Irish member he should not on that account take any coarse which might imperil the whole scheme of the Government, nor could Ireland complain of financial injustice in the present budget. He could not comprehend how it could be argued that the malt tax was not a tax on the consumer, no did he believe that t he farmers would object to bear their share of a just war, so necessary to the honour of the country. Mr. BARROW said that the chief injustice of the tax was, that it fell upon the farmer, both as producer and consumer, and it would especially fall upon the small farmer who had so recently been brought under the income tax. He wanted to know how the English farmer paying cent. per cent, upon a main article of his produce could enter into " unrestricted competition" with the foreigner. The malt tax, moreover, interfered with the cultivation of the land in the must advantageous mode, namely, for barley. These were reasons for his supporting the amend ment, anti though it was no business of his to suggest other subjects of taxation, he was convinced that it should be laid upon foreign rather than native articles. He was also swayed by the consideration that, by making beer costly, you drove the humbler classes to a worse liquid. Mr. WILKIN ON could not see bow free trade could properly be brought into the discussion when an article was either wholly produced at home or wholly produced abroad. Mr. NEWDEGATE refused to accept the implied defi nition of free trade, free from Excise or Customs. He con ceived the definition, which included the latter only, was mere nonsense. He lamented this p ro position of Govern. _ _ _ _ a id the hr CASE OF COLONEL GREVILLE. The Marquis of WESTiVIENTEI moved for copies of correspondence between himself, as lord-lieutenant of the county of Westmeath, and the Lord Chancellor of Ire land, relative to certain language used by Colonel Gre ville and others at an election dinner at Navan in Jan nary last. The motion, after a few words from several noble lords, was withdrawn. Their lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—(YESTERDAY.) The SPEAKER took the chair at 4 o'clock. EXCISE DUTIES BILL. Mr. WILSON moved the second reading of this bill. went, which would be very unpopular, and as Le ho 'our Mr. CAYLEY rose to move an amendment, that the ' of England was now embarked in the war, he should be bill be read a second time this day six months. He dis- sorry for anything which could afford an excuse to the avowed all personal considerations in bringing forward this Government for not vindicating that honour. He did amendment. He could not help coming to the conclusion, not believe that Government were sincere in wishing to after reading the despatches impartialiy, that the war carry the people with them in the prosecution o f in which we are now engaged has been brought about the war. They might have ma de another selection than by the vacillation and obsequiousness of the Govern- this tax. They had heard of no objection to the arrest of went. (Hear, hear, hear.) He believed the Empe- the sugar remission, and there would have been none to ror of Russia hail been misled as to the course which the arrest of the tea remissions ; but he believed that this this country would purne. He thought if Lord Claren- tax had been chosen because it was known that it must be don had adopted in 1853 the language he adopted last Jan., opposed. He dwelt upon the income needlessly thrown we should not now be involved in war; for it was away last year to complete a coxcombical arrangement in clear the Emperor or Russia did not wish for war any the customs list, and said, that if the ordinary sources of more than we ourselves did. If the Emperor of Russia revenue, to the amount of 7,000,00010 had not been thrown ha l been confidential with our Government, they ought to away, there would have been no necessity for the present have been equally confidential with him, and have told demand, The Government were doing their best to make him that if he once crossed the Pruth, and entered taxation odious. He then entered into a financial argue the Principalities, anxious as we were for peace, we went to show that free trade tended to a drain of bullion, mild no longer permit the status quo t o continue, and said that Government had not pursued a system calcu but must have recourse to force of arms. That was the lated to develope the resources of the country. lengusge they ought to have used to Russian last June. Mr. WILSON would not dispute with the hon. member With respect to the malt duties they always got 12,000,000/. as to the meaning of free trade, so long as the prin c ipl e o f of taxation from barley, out of 15,000,0001. of excise free trade was not abandoned. The principle laid down by taxation. (Hear, hear.) Don't let gentlemen imagine the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which the house had this malt tax was a barley question ; it was a tax of 11.Ior acquiesced, was that at the commencement of the war it 11. ss. on every acre of cultivated land from John o'Groat's would be unworthy of this country to resort to loans, and to the Land's End. (Hear, hear.) They would not tax that we ought to pay the expenses of the war, as far as pos the shopkeeper or the man with an income between 101. sible, from the income of the year. (Cheers.) But, although and 601., but they would lay a t.x on the national the Chancellor of the Exchequer made the proposal of in beverage, which was consequently a tax on the poor man. creased taxation now before the house, it did not follow (Hear.) Why did they not tax yarn, or cotton wool ? If that the right hon. gentleman would not make other pro the duty of a halfpenny a yard hit the manufacturer too positions hereafter. The first principle adopted by the hard, did they think a tax of 100 per cent. on malt would Government, in their financial scheme, for meeting the ex not hit the landed interest and the consumer far more penses of the war was, that direct taxation should take oppressively? The effect of the malt tax was to make the precedence of indirect taxation. (II ear .) The Chancellor produce of malt four times dearer than it would if that of the Exchequer had' also thought it fair that those t a x did not wait. If this tax were r e p ea l e d the demand classes of the community who did not pay tho income-tax for barley would increase at least three-fold. The natural should likewise contribute to the expenses of the war. effect of that increase would be to produce a larger re- The question was, having to raise 2,500,0001. by indirect venue, for we, who are the barley growers of Europe, taxation, what, was the least prejudicial mode in which would grow less wheat and oats than we do now. • that could be done? One hon. member thought the Go- By our present fiscal laws we now depress the price vernment ought to have levied a 5 per cent. duty on im of wheat and oats at least ss. the quarter. They ports; but had he forgotten the great experiment of 1841, were now about to increase the wrong to the agricultu- when, under circumstances of financial difficulty, the Go ralists by adding to the tax on barley, and he vies vernment of that day proposed a 5 per cent, increase of really at a less to know to what motive to attribute duty? Instead of reaping the advantage they expected, this blow aimed at the agriculturalists. If there were the Customs' duties were as much as possible the same, or no licenses, no penalties, no more interference with very little more than in the preceding year. It was neces the trade of the agriculturist than with any other trade sary upon an occasion like the present to be sure of the —the maltstor and the publican would not, as they do now, result when they proposed to increase a tax. There pay three taxes, besides the tax that goes to the Chancellor was no article of general consumption in regard to of the Exchequer ; for, at the present, this tax took from which increased duties had been so generally followed by the public, not 5,000,0 0 0 1 . but 20 , 0 ' )0 , 00 0/. Tho brewers increased receipts as in the articl e of malt , which showed had already sent out their notices that they were going to how very little the consumption of beer was affected by a raise the price of beer, and the Government had no means, slight increase or decrease of the malt duties. The hon. by reason of their present laws, to check in any way member who spoke last asked why the Government had this gigantic monopoly. And this was what they called thrown away the Customs' duties of last year? But, not free trade ! (Hear.) When in 1849 the right hon. gentle- withstanding those reductions, instead of a loss of revenue, man the member for Buckinghamshire moved resolutions the Customs were greater in amount last year than during for the relief of the land, the member for Montrose moved the year precedine. (Rear, hear.) The Customs' duties as an amendment the repeal of the malt tax, declaring it in 1852 were 20,531,100/. before the reductions were made. to be opposed to the principles of free trade, and that it Last year, after the reductions, they were 23,902,000/, interfered with the trade of the agriculturists. It was one being an increase of 500,0001. The Excise duties in 1852 of the inconveniences which the agricultural interest had were 14,835,0001. ; in 1853, notwithstandingt he repeal of to contend with since the repeal of the corn laws, that the the soap duty, they were 15,337,0001., being an increase free traders would not he true to their principles, and the of 500,0001. in the Excise. A Parliamentary paper laid agriculturists always contended the duties on malt and upon the table by the President of the Board of Trade h o p es were a vi o l a tion of the principles of free trade, and showed that from 1842—the ye,r in which these vast re now it was proposed to increase those duties. Could no ductions in the Customs and Excise had begun to be made other c omm o dity hare been found to imPoso a duty on --up to the I.rewnit moment, the i'mtnease of revenue fr o n t when you were about to violate your j ai:lQ:pies, when you of , iluary sources Was 2,0UU 1 . tiloVe this.; in 1811. The total were about to tax this great staple refreshment of the work- net revenue in 1841 was 47,000,000/. ; in 1853 it was ing classes: The amount of the value of imported goods 54,500,0001., being an increase of 7,500,0001. If from the Mr. FLOYER combated the view of the preceding Upon the failure of that proposition, a party supposed to be speaker, taunted the Treasury bench with its silence— very friendly to the landed interest, came into power, and which was hardly courteous, considering the magnitude of now your attempt to add 50 per cent. to this tax, which the interests involved—and contended at some length that the friends of the agricultural interest desire to reduce, the proposal of Government was oppressive, will be regarded as a fresh blow, as a new humiliation ; it There were loud cries for a division, and strangers were will exasperate those feelings which it was desired to extin ordered to withdraw, but at length guish, and, by damping the ardour with which the war Sir B. LYTTON, who was received with cheers, spoke tE sh hn o ncr u i l i iib u e ,eo p nt r , o lßv se ill c i li sr t ie e a,, d d , i i ic t c i sh s ue Fl il l i i )t n to g F i t, n ,rm th e e rs exc li i k se ve m za a ioir n lnen tz touhut b esir e to the following effect :—I cordially concur in the desire expressed by all gentlemen who have risen on this side of provided you can convince them that they the house to assist the Ministers o f th e C rown i n providing ask you whether any farmer can upon any principle look the necessary means to carry on with vigour and effect the upon this tax as a fair one ? (Hear, hear.) You force on war in which we are unhappily engaged, and as all that him free trade, by which you concede that ho has been a may weaken the Government by party disputes on matters sufferer ; you refuse to retrace your steps by a single import duty, and when he asks you for free trade for himself to of domestic policy would, in my judgment, be injurious to enable him to cultivate that crop which he prefers, you not that aspect of moral power which this country should pre- only refuse his request, but add fifty per cent. to the tax sent to Europe, I rejoiced when the noble lord the member upon the only article in which he conceives that free trade for London, much, I think, to his credit, and with the re- would be desirable to him. (Cheers.) Why did we spectful sympathy of the house—withdrew from discussion decline to proceed with the Parliamentary Reform Bill ? a reform bill which must inevitably have roused the most It was not so much because we could not find time to determined opposition. I did hope that opposition itself deal with it on account of our being occupied with the might remain dormant during therest of the session. I was details of the war ; it was not so much because the public not prepared to expect that the dispute which the leader of mind was distracted from a'l such considerations by the the Government in this house so patriotically forbore, idea of the war, as it was because your hill contained pro would be forced upon us in another shape by the Chancel- visions affecting agricultural constituencies, which could for of tho Exchequer. That right hon. gentleman is too not be discussed at a popular hustings without re-awaking experienced a politician not to know that he has delibe- the division of classes, without raising the mischievous rately introduced into his budget the very item that must cry of " Town and Country ;" but what you could not revive the most bitter resentment of the class against effeet by your Reform Bill you are resolved to effect by which it operates, and that most of us on this side of the your budget. (Cheers.) For where you proposed to in house would be traitors to our constituents if we sub- crease the franchise of the great towns, you now propose to omitted to it without a struggle. (Cheers.) The issue exempt them from all partial burdens, and to throw those of that struggle may be against us, but I fear that the very partial burdens upon the agricultural constituencies, proposition of the right hon. gentleman will materially which you proposed by your Reform Bill to enfeeble and weaken the bands of the government in the fitting conduct deluge with an inundation of urban voters ; so that it of this war, because it elaborately tends to create the deepest does seem as if you desired t o justify the suspicion that dissatisfaction in that very portion of our people on whom you have some determined hostility against the agricultu for the endurance of war all governments must proverbial- rists of the land. (Cheers from 1. Osborne.) Oh ! ly depend. (Hear.) I shall imitate the example of those you grant that. The hon. and gallant gentlemen has who have preceded me, and refrain from discussing the ge- the courage to avow what his superiors disguise. neral propositions of the budget. With respect to the pro- (Loud cheers and counter cheers.) You have a posed duplication of the income and property tax, however, determined hostility against the agriculturalists of I must at least enter a strong demur against the assertion the land, and you carry on a party warfare glibly made by the right hon. gentleman, that it was ire- against them now against their political influence, now possible to reconstruct it upon a more equitable basis; but against their pecuniary interest. (Cheers.) I must say whether this be or be not possible, I say that a direct tax that the whole proceedings connected with this war and in which the whole mass of the public complain of anemia- with this war budget do ievite one to inquire whether we lies and injustice, not rendered more tolerable by your as- have really gained so much by that stupendous sacrifice of sertion that they are not susceptible of mitigation, and private inclination which the public virtue of our Ministers avowedly to be continued for the whole duration of the war induced them to make when they consented to share among —maintained, as it were, upon that tenure—is precisely them the disagreeable seals of office. (Laughter.) Most that tax which the Emperor of Russia will rejoice to hear Governments have been formed by the combination of that you have doubled. (Hear.) However, there is at least opinions, but this Government was formed upon the this consideration left to those who have to pay the income gran •er principle of the div rsity of talent. Great men, and property tax—its inequalities and injustice are respec- long rivals and hostile statesmen, consented to act together. tively divided between all the wealth and industry of Lord Aberdeen announced himself as a Liberal Conser the community whose incomes reach the limit of 100/, a vative ; the noble lord the member for London was a Con year; while the right honourable gentleman then proceeds servative Liberal ; but until we saw these great men to select a single article of home production, and with acting together we should no more have supposed that a a complacent eulogium on the principle of fair dis- Liberal Conservative in one house was the same thing as tribution, calculates to raise from the additional tax a Conservative Liberal in the other, than that a horse -which, if finally paid by the consumer, especially affects chesnut was identical with a chesnut horse. (Laughter one single department of industry—a sum a third in and cheers.) But what has this talent done for us — amount of all which he calculates to obtain from his fresh where and how have these wonderful capacities, this demand up n the united property and income of the en• extraordinary experience of public affairs, been displayed ? tire community. (Cheers.) The right hon. gentleman The First Lord of the Admiralty evinces his remarkable thinks the malt tax a duty which combines all those fe t- sagacity and foresight by entering office with a vehement tures that should determine his choice in selecting it. invective against the E eperor of France, whose flag now " You can raise it," he says, " without additional expense, sails beside our own. (Hear.) The Ministers who under and collect it without additional machinery." But in this take our foreign affairs can only exonerate themselves from the hon. member for Westbury I.as followed him through the charge of having taken in the Emperor of Russia, by a variety of small arguments. I think the hon. member lamentable complaints that they were egregiously taken in for the North Riding has rather proved the contrary; but, themselves. The domestic genius of this incomparable grant that it be so, the reasons alleged are very well for a Cabinet is shown in the preparation of a Reform Bill, for mere tax-gather, or even a Secretary of the Treasury, but which you are compelled, e ;en before war was announced, there are other reasons—reasons of policy and justice— to own the ungrateful apathy of the people; and your ex which should weigh more with a gentleman of such lofty perience in practical affairs is thus evinced by 'being as pretensions to the character of a statesman. And I say blind to the temper of the Englisn public as you were to that all such reasons combine to make this tax one of the the designs of the Russian enemy. (Cheers.) And now, very last you should have thought of. (Hear.) The right in that department of finance, on which the right hon. hon. gentleman in proposing this additional malt tax, spoke gentleman has been so severe a critic upon his predeces only of making the general consumer pay his fair share of sore, from William Pitt to Lord Monteagle, from Lord the burdens necessary to carry on the war. He spoke only Monteagle to my right hon. friend the member for of the general consumer; not one single word did he con- Buckinghamshiro—(a laugh)—what have been all your descend to say of the effect of the tax upon agriculture. fiscal operations ? A series either of fallacious promises or (Hear.) He spoke as if there were no persons in this noun- costly blunders. Where was the stateman's prophetic eye try engaged in the cultivation of land—he seemed to ignore when last year the right hon. gentleman based all his cal their existence. (Cheers.) But the right hon. gentle- cnlations upon the removal of the income tax in seven man need not have looked deeper than into the familiar years, when be would not listen for a moment to being pages of Mr. M'Culloch,—whom he afterwards quotes with told of the possibility of war. What became of that cheer deserved respect as a high authority—to have known the ful complaisance with which be replied to that inquisitive injury to agriculture which the malt-tax, even without an clerk who complained of his income tax; and what was addition, evidently inflicts. What says Mr. M'Culloch? at least one-half of the right hon. gentleman's speech the " The malt tax, like other taxes on commodities, falls other night composed of ? Wh y , an elo q uent vindication wholly on the consumer ; still, however, it must be ad- of what the world still believes to be mistakes. Now, sir, witted that it is, indirectly at least, if not directly, espe- Ido not pretend to be a competent judge of the right hon. eially injurious to the agriculturist. Barley is a crop that gentleman's financial schemes. But let me put an mina is peculiarly suitable to light lands, and may be introduced logous case more in my own way, If I were to publish with the greatest advantage in an improved rotation after new book, and I prefixed to it a preface that Wip z. ld green crops. But it is obvious that, by imposing a duty occupy three or four mortal columnsofthe of 20s. Bd. (that is the present duty) per quarter on malt newspaper , t endin g to show that the notable the three (the produce into which barley is almost wholly concocted) books I had last written were not the demand for the latter is materially diminished, and failures which, whether through ignorance n to stcehoormilae criticsligniatym the farmer is in consequence prevented from sowing bar- the publi c had been led to suspect—(laughter)—sere triumphpect_(lauehter)—sure I ley, where, but for this circumstance, it might be more that I c o u ld not g ive a greater suitable than any other variety of corn. It is not easy to or take a course more likely to make the friendly inf er th a t b t estimate the injury which this indirect influence of the I bad som e mis g ivings on th i e as s ea u dn j t e no c xnflimfveso.eulrf. thOonceotmhping ii, malt tax inflicts upon agriculture ; but the fact of its in- i s c l ea r—success never n eeds e e w d a t s he p other night on Mr. Pitt with (Hear.) the lhe w flitting an injury is undeniable. Suppose such a high duty right h on. g entleman were laid on bread as would lessen the demand for wheat, men ts thatrherboesanh on the errors of that Mi n i ster. I am would any one presume to say that was not especially in- a sarcastic reproach . b s t of all defect , what is that ha w v h e ic e r th m e i for E s rr ui o a e . may jurious to agr i cu lturists ? Or suppose a high duty were not Mr. P l it , ap s o o l l o e a : i t s s t. censure? Why, th a t Mr. right g d laid on calicoes and broadcloths, is it not clear that it no doubt ; would be a serious injury to the manufacturers engaged hon. on it?" (Cheers.) Nay, Mr. M'Culloch goes further; for, a distance ; that Mr. Pitt was Pitt (fled gentleman see the the m w an arat short sighted. And this while he thinks, nevertheless, that it may be a tax in case out of his own Cabinet who could charge comes from a gentleman nwohtofowraeLe the w y ar which he has now to provide for—from of necessity which you might increase, yet, even as it now gentleman hn who converts stocks anti can't foresee the exists, he thinks it entitles the farmer to a compensation. And what is the compensation this eminent Free Trader results t — i w s . has one budget in March, and another in insists on ? Why, he says, "the peculiar pressure of the h t t the gentleman who sneers at Mr. Pitt as malt tax upon land gives the agriculturist a peculiar claim *ay short-sigh el . Sir, whether Mr. Pitt did or not commit —though all claims on account of tithes were abolished--; j a o i n err to or d by his system of loans is not that very easy to have a certain fixed duty imposed upon foreign corn.' ques (Hear.) "It would be unjust," says Mr. M'Culloch, "see- ti ecide, which the right hon. gentleman presumes it to be, on Mr. M'Culloch's authority. Mr. M'Culloch was ing that the malt tax, by narrowing the demand for barley, and obliging the farmers to adopt imperfect rotations, is no authority for the right hon. gentleman with regard to especially inimical to their interests, to expose them, with- the malt tax ; but, Sir, whether as a political economist out any corresponding protection, to the competition of Mr. M'Culloch be right or tot in censuring Mr. Pitt's foreigners. Perhaps it might require a fixed duty of Is. financial policy in the first year of the French war, there 6d. or 2s. a quarter to counteract the unfavourable circum- are other and grander Views than those of political stances alluded to." That is the malt tax ! So that here, economy and finance involved in the Government of man after you have abolished all duties on foreign wheat, you kind and the safety of nations. (Hear, hear.) On enter select the very burden which, according to political eco- ing into war with a formidable power, Mr. Pitt may have nomy, entitle the grower to some protection, and add to it reasonably suppdsed that it was not wise to discourage 50 per cent. (Cheers.) The hon. member for Westbury con- the people by onerous measures of taxation in the ceives that an Excise duty on malt is very different in effect first instance. He may have thought, as an English from an Excise duty on soap. He can reduce ths duty on man and a patriot, that his first duty wee to maintain the soap and yet increase the revenue. On malt, on the other spirit of his countrymen, and that posterity would pardon hand, he thinks he can increasethe duty withoutdiminishing the loans he raised in return for the ample remuneration consumption. But the facts of the past are against him there • of interest he secured—remuneration in an extended em- We know that, notwithstanding the increase of wealth and Aire augmented commerce, imperishable hono ur . (Cheers.) of population, the consumption of malt varied little for 100 And these were our returns when at the close of the war years, until the duty on malt was reduced in 1822—when England emerged the first State in that Europe her arms even before the beer duty . was repealed, it rose from more had freed and delivered, and so lightly shook off from her than 26,000,000 bushels in 1821 to moro than 30,000,000 shoulders the burden of these loans you have the ungrateful bu s h e l s in 1828 ; and since the repeal of the bee r duty i n arrogance to condemn that every year throughout the peace 1830 it has risen to more than 40,000,000 bushels. (Hear.) we have increased in wealth and resources, and since 1831 N ow , l am o pposed to all tuxes that fell more u p on one almost every year has sren some vast diminution of c l a s s o f i n du s try than another ; but if the stern Decca n- taxes accompany the payment of the debt.. (Cheers ) So ties of war compel yon to violate this strict• rule, and some much 'as been said about our not' saddling posterity that c l a ss m ust be partially affected by your burden s , we m i g ht it seems as if it were intended to insinuate that this ie regret it less if it were that class who have a paramount not a war to be waged on behalf of posterity. but for some interest in bringing the war to a speedy close by vigorous fleeting and selfish purpose of our own. If that be so, I and effective military operations. What is that class ? oa on our ministers to recall our fleets, and to disband our armies—a war which is not for posterity is no fitting war for us. (Cheers) But, surely, if ever there was a war waged on bahalf of posterity, it is the war which would check the ambition of Russia and preserve Europe from the outlet of barbarian tribes, that requi re b u t th e h aven o f th e Bospho rus to menace ie liberty and the civilisation of races as yet unborn. (Cheers.) It is not our generation that need fear if the flag of Russia waved to-morrow over the ruins of Constantiuop!e. The encroachments of Russia are proverbially slow ; it would require a quarter of a century before she could recover the exhaustion of her own vic tories and tame into convenient serfs the brave population she had conquered. It is for all time that we wage the battle. It is that the liberties of our children may be secured from some future Attila, and civili sa ti on guar d e d from the irruptions of Scythian hordes. On this ground, then, we might fairly demand the next genera ti on to aid us in the conflict we endure for their sake. (Cheers.) Into that question in all its bearings I will not at present enter ; it is complicated and difficult ; but, at least, my plain common sense makes me sure of this—that if you desired to make the people as _reluctant to proceed with the war as you were slow and blind to prepare far it, you could not could take more effeekive means than by such speeches as the Chancellor of the. .:xchequer delivered at Man chester, and such taxes, derived, at the very first com mencement of military open •lions from sources the most direct, palpable— o di ous i u themselves, and unfair in their assessment—as you propose. by this budget to create. (Loud cheers.) Mr. DRUM3IOND had quite' Approved of the bold and mauly budget of Mr. Disraeli, which was intended to carry out the principles which the present Government had falsely inculcated. (Great Op:xi =ition shouting.) But this was not the question. All sides had cheered on this war, and now it would be said that they shrunk as soon as its realities were felt. Could a tax be proposed that the stupidest man in the house could not, object to ? Were they going to raise money or not ? IT they were, the only question was, whose pocket should be picked ? He thought that the terms Mr. Gladstone used towards Mr. Pitt were an indecent sneer, and if the former intended to live t o th e termination of the war, he had better be tender of M r . Pitt's reputation. In thei course of & sarcastic address, he expreeFied a wish that we had a Foreign Minister who could write as good despatches as M. Drouyn de Lhu7s, and he intimated that the Emperor of France was begin ning to believe that we should not support this war and there wa- an enormous camp forming at Boulogne, which some people were good enough to believe was to watch Prussia. He advised that we should form three great militia camps, and, so far from thinking of getti ng o ff th e malt tax, be trunkful if we escaped with a doubled malt tax, income tax, and house tax, and so saved England from being the battle-field of Euroi e. mingled w ith w a i Sir J. PAKINGTON, who rose amid loud cries of " Oh, oh,"in g. and de " Divide," stshu rel cheers th o s f e r ofrm fr om hon. th e m ge n tlem e n t he Ministerial Opposition, w ho side of the house, no s t i o d ni t y ha th t e h n e . begged but during the last Lew hours, had endeavoured to stifle the discussion and to interrupt the debate by more inde corous and unseemly conduct than he believed he had ever seen in that house, that he should not stand for many mi nutes between them an 1 the d; vision for which they pro fessed to be so anxious. He had risen principally to express his astonishment that a Government which had asked for 2,500,0001. of taxes had not condescended to rise to vindi cate their proposition. (Oh, oh.) The objections to this tax had been stated at the beginning of the evening in a most able and elaborate speech by his hon. friend the mem ber for the North Riding. It was true that his hon. friend had been answered by the noble lord the member for Ports mouth and the hon. member for Norwich, but he did not think that the house had heard from either of those hon: members any very forcible reply to the speech of his hon. friend; and he thought that even the arguments of the hon. gentleman the Secretary to the Treasury, such as they were, had been more than disposed of by the able and powerful speech of his bon friend the member for Hert fordshire. (Hear, hear.) He contended that they had a right to call upon the Government to answer those powerful arguments which had not been wet, and that they were justified in expecting some explanaton of the reasons why they had selected this t..x, which had been shown to be most unjust in its operation, as one of the modes by which they intended to defray the expenses of carrying on the war. Were they deterred from entering into that expla nation by the speech which had just been made by his hon. friend the member for West Surrey? (A laugh.) What the vote of his hon. friend would be he found it difficult to collect from his speech. He confessed he did not know; but a more severe censure of a tax than be had passed upon that now proposed by the Government he had never heard. (Hear.) When his hon. friend, however, went on to say, after passing a most just censure upon that propo sition, that he felt in the present condition of the house that whatever tax might be proposed, whether it were A, B, C, or D, objections would be raised to it, as they were now raising objections to their proposal for increasing the malt tax, he must say, that he thought his hon. friend had not airly met the question before the house, or done justice to the motive by which the Opposition were ani mated in the objections which they now made. He felt the painful position in which he and his friends were placed in having to oppose a means of carrying on the war, but the fault was with the Government that had made such a selection. The Opposition Nadi met Government in the fairest spirit throughout the session, had ooncurred with them in the justice of the war, and in the doctrine that its expense should be met, as far as possible, from the ex penses of the year; but they had a right to a fair taxation and one from which there was a reasonable hope that the expected amount would be realised, and the malt tax was deficient on both points. He denounced the proposed im position as most impolitic at a crisis when unanimity was so desirable. He azain called on the Government to an swer to the powerful arguments which had been advanced that night. Lord J. RUSSELL--I cannot let this debate close with out declaring that I think the question now before the house is a much wider one than the right hon. gentleman opposite, and those who preceded him on the same side of the house have been willing to admit. They have said, and I admit the justice of theollegation, that, with regard to measures calculated to carry on the war which they think and we think just, they have given their support to the present Government, although differing with them on many points of public policy. lam ready to acknowledge that support and generally to thank them for it. But really the question upon which the Government were likely to m ast with difficulty, and upon which they were to call on the patriotism of this house and to appeal to the spirit and feeling of the country to support them, was in reference to the taxation necessary to carry on that war. (Cheers.) I cannot believe that it is a con sideration of the nature of this particular tax which really induces honourable gentlemen opposite to reject it. (Dis approbation from the Opposition.) Will they tell me, when we are engaged in a just war with a mighty power, which now threatens to swallow up the dominions of our allies, and which is moving mighty armaments over the face of Europe in contemplation of the impend leg conflict, and when, therefore, we are in readiness to make an effort to preserve to this country its character and its station, and to render great service to Europe, that they are ready to incur an immense sacrifice, but that ls. "el. a bushel upon malt is really too great. (Cheers and laughter.) Why, sir, the right honourable gentleman (Sir J. pakin g ton) and the honourable baronet the member for Hertfordshire (Sir Bawer Lytton) really speak as if the whole of this taxation was to be laid on the land. (Hear, hear.) But the right hon. gentleman and the hon. baronet reminded us of what the question was when we had to consider the income tax last year. and the consideration we ought to bear in mind this year. What the right hon. gentleman the late Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed when in office, and what the honourable baronet the mem ber for Hertfordshire said when out of office, was, that we should make a discrimination wi h respect to incomes, and that a discrimination in favour of trade, in favour of great incomes derived from commerce and professions, adverse to the land. (Hear, hear.) So that fortunes of 20,0001. or 30,0001. a year derived from commerce were to pay at a less rate than persons having an income of 2001. or 2501. lerived from land. That was the proposition which came from the opposition side of the house, and against which we protested. And my right honourable friend the Chan cellor of the Exchequer, who is represented as so hostile to the land, said if you made this distinction, although it was adverse to you in a time of peace, it .would be come far more adverse to yeti in a time of war to tri r o cbe i e n ecd c o o eml , me i aa t n (d t i x i If , earnednoethoaft i te i. d o i r ffe i r ot e l n . ce , a o n f 4 7 so d. o i . n n r c s a 7 s l a. you i e v o y u ou p l venture to say that if you once begin with such a distinct ion, that it must be carried fur ther, and that to the prejudic e of the land of the country. I believe no more dangerous proposition to the land was ever made than that which was made by those who de clared themselves to be the friends of the land and of the farmer at that time. We have preserved the income tax such as Mr. Pitt framed it, and such as it was continued throughout the war; but my right hon. friend said, after all, an income tax cannot be carried to the lowest incomes; there must be a point at which you must stop; but are those who have a less income than nat. a year to be free from taxes which are to be borne for the honour and cha racter of the country? He said he thought that was un wise, and he proposed to tax consumption. And when once you come to articles of consumption, which are at the same time articles of necessity, you inflict great injus tice and hardship on the community at large. Therefore the rule, if possible, should be to impose such taxes on articles of general consumption, but, at the same time, which are not articles of necessity and I know no articles to which that description more applies than the articles of spirits and malt. (Cheers.) They are both of them articles which are of very general consumption, upon which you are sure to raise a very considerable revenue, and upon which there is not likely to be any very great diminu tion of consumption —( hear, hear),—and yet which no man can say are such articles of necessity as salt, candles, soap, and the like, the duty upon which we removed last year. If this is the case—if you are to add to your income tax, there can be no better argument on which you can impose some additional taxation on the article of malt, and that addition to your taxation is only to raise that taxation to one-half what it was during nearly all the latter part of the last war, and isnot much greater than it was in 1775, when Adam Smith pointed out the policy of taxing beer and malt. There was another point which the hon. baronet the member for Hertford shire quoted, and to which also my hon. friend the member for Surrey referred, and which, having now reason to ad dress the house, I cannot omit to notice, namely, the ob servations made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer upon the policy of Mr. Pitt during the first year of the war. Nothing could be more unjust than to say that those ob servations were without necessity, or without intending to have a most important bearing upon this debate. (Heart hear.) My right hon. friend pointed out that a large sum was collected in loans during the first year of the great revolutionary war, and not more than 480,00 04 wasim posed in taxes. He said that course was pursued till you had added very greatly to your debt, which then amounted. to 200,000,0001. ; and that in the course of Mr. Pitt's proceedings you raised no money for the supp ort of t he war, and that the cost was inscribed on the debt, and that that was the sum for which we were now paying. He pointed out that that was a most im politic course. Can anything be more true than that the loans which Mr. Pitt contracted were at 4,5, and in some instances 6 per cent. ; and that that six per cent. was to be payable for over? My right hon. friend pointed out that that course was ruinous to the country, and he hoped that this house would not repeat it Not that my right hon. friend attempted to pledge this house, or pledged the Government, never to contract loans in support of the war ; but he said that to make a great effort to raise 141,000,000/e and to add that sum t o th e revenue of the y ea r, was not too great an effort for a country about to be engaged in a great war, and that such an effort might save you from a debt like that which was so improvidently c ontracted by Mr. Pitt. lam not a very great admirer Of Mr. Pitt, but I think, after the efforts he made in 1777 and 1778, that, his conduct is worthy of admiration, and that if you are to make the war, you ought to make an effort in order to sustain that war by taxes to be paid during the year in which it is being waged,_ and that it is not a to loan to postezity the whole burden gl the ear.