The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

THE BUDGET.

WE stated last week, inlan article written before
the Budget was brought forward, that wo
thought the first financial operation of Sir
Gm= CORNEWALL LEWIS unpromising. We

390

should have been glad, at so important a junc-
ture, to have acknowledged that our anticipa-

tions were unfounded. The financial statement

bas since been made. It affords, as most of

our contemporaries hire truly mil well re-
marked, a fearful illustration of some of the
realities of war and its conseqttetises. An

expenditure, during the year, already estimated
at more than eighty.six deficiency,

notwithstanding the doubled property and in-
come tax—notwithstanding the two millions

five hundred thousand pounds additional malt
tax of last year—a deficiency of no less than
twenty-three millions These are amongst the
things which show us what war really is. They
show us also the calamities entailed upon a
country when its Ministers, by timid, divided,
hesitating counsels, by want of frankness, and
want of foresight, involve it unnecessarily in
war; or by want of strength or energy are in-
capable of conducting it. We fear, too, it is
but a foretaste of what may be expected next
year if the management of the war should re-
main in the hands of the present antiquated,
condemned, and pusillanimous Administra-
tion. The Budget is a political, not a financial
one. The statement was at least unvarnished ;
there was a simplicity and frankness in the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER which excited
our admiration.
He told us that he had proposed a loan be-
oause ho could not help it, and, as regards
direct or indirect taxation, why the question
was, whose turn it happened to be. He had
made inquiry, and finding that direct taxation
had preponderated last year, he had deter-
mined to give the preponderance to indirect
taxation during 1855-6, and therefore tea,
coffee, sugar, spirits—the luxuries, if not the
necessaries of the working classes—are to be
raised in price, just at the period when the
working classes, even at the present low prices
of these articles, are beginning to be unable to
purchase them.
We are ourselves advocates of a system of
indirect taxation to a considerable extent. We
aro of opinion that a wise and sagacious
Finance Minister, upon the first occasion of
proposing war taxation, would have felt it ne-
cessary to have applied himself to the con-
sideration of our whole system of direct and
indirect taxation, and to have propounded
such a scheme, or laid down such principles
for war taxation, as would at least have satisfied
the House of Commons that the whole subject
had been considered, and that all the great
resources of the country had been fairly drawn
upon to supply the demands of the war. We
believe that if Sir GEORGE CORNEWALL LEWIS
had done this, he might have found the means
of adjusting the burdens of direct and indirect
taxation, without imposing so heavy an addi-
tional charge upon the comforts and necessa-
ries of the working classes.
Moreover, we think that the commercial
system settled by Sir ROBERT PEEL ought not
to have been disturbed without some such
general revision as that which we have
suggested. Our Customs duties have in-
creased prodigiously, it must be confessed,
since the establishment of the new commercial
system. Mush of the energy and activity
of commerce may be attributed to the convic-
tion in the public mind that fiscal questions,
as regards duties on imports, were to be con-
sidered as settled, or at least not lightly to be
disturbed. Now, every one will ask himself
what article will it he convenient to tax next
year? We, therefore, should have preferred
seeing even a larger loan than sixteen millions
for the wants of the present year, and either
a finance committee or an undertaking by
the Fi►►ance Minister to revise thoroughly the
whole system of direct and indirect taxation,
ith a view to a just scheme of war taxation
on the next occasion.
We have stated the Budget to be a political
rather than a financial one, though it is
founded upon no principle of finance. Though
peddling with taxation at the commencement
of a war is dangerous and unwise, yet it is so
framed as to obtain support—a sufficient sup-
ot to carry it from various parties► in the House
►of Commons. The Opposition, upon the whole,
though they dislike it, will support it, because it

THE PRESS.

sanctions to a certain extent the principle of
indirect taxation, and because the alternative
might be a still further increase to the pro-
perty and income tali The Whigs support
it, because the Cabinet consists of Whigs.
The itadltials-4t is difficult to conceive
eason vrhieh oMtt inditOO Mr. GORDEN and Ir.
BRIGHT to support it, oncept, perhaps, that it
does not contain an additional shilling on the
ti portittion d corn. The Peelites -tug
cannot approve of it. It may be prudent on
their part to be silent just now. They have
showed signs of dissatisfaction as regards the
loan. The oracular voice of Mr. GODLBURN,
silent during the misdoinge of Mr. GLAINITONE,
has once more been heard in warning if not
remonstrance. Mr. GLADSTONE himself de-
murs, but supports. Mr. JOHN MACGREGOR has
honestly expressed the dislike which every
one feels. But the Budget is a political Budget,
skillfully adapted to the present state of
parties in the House, and it will be adopted
substantially.

CONFESSIONS OF THE DUKE OF
NEWCASTLE.
IT is just a twelvemonth since that the present
tremendous struggle was designated in these
columns as " a war against Brobdinag carried
" on by officials from Lilliput," and the three
days' damaging evidence of the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE confirms every charge of incapacity
that we repeatedly brought under public no-
tice. We declare, in sober truth, that we did
not until after the disclosures from the Duke's
own lips know the full extent of the calamities
resulting to the country from the late and pre-
sent Cabinets. We say, advisedly, " the
" present Cabinet," for Lords PALMERSTON and
JOHN RUSSELL are as seriously implicated as
any one else in the extraordinary statements
of that ex-War Minister who by their " con-
nivance" held the seals of office, until the
Coalition had branded the British name with
disgrace.
Before showing, from the Duke of New-
CASTLE'S own lips, how crushing is the case
established against his Grace and his late
colleagues, we must caution our readers
against being deceived by the ingenious
artifices to give him an easy fall. Under• the
guise of attacking and censuring his Grace,
attempts have been made this week to let him
down as " neither better nor worse than other
" mismanagers of the war•." Affecting to blame
him, his adroit advocates have insinuated
apologetic and palliating considerations to
diminish the full force of his Grace's own self-
accusations. Thus it is tried to divert public
censure by " the system," and " our league of
" noble families," and " the divided depart.
ments." All such pleas are transparent tricks
of defence. Blunderers and mediocre natures,
infatuated with ambition, and forcing them-
selves into the highest Ministerial offices,
through means of Parliamentary influence,
acquired and used without scruple, must not
be allowed to escape from the condign chas
tisement of the most stringent censure, by
irrelevant attacks open " the system." What-
ever be the faults of " the system" with able
men in office, great things were achieved by
it. Canada and the West Indian Islands were
won from our• great neighbours. Distant settle-
ments and the Indian Empire were acquired
and triumphantly defended. WoLFE, Sir EYRE
COOTE, LAKE, ABERCROMBY, WELLESLEY, and
many more beside, won glory for themselves
and country when " the system" was as bad
and even worse than now. Let us hear no
more of such a miserable excuse, when the
Duke of NEWCASTLE himself has pointed the
special charges against himself and his late
colleagues.
As far as space will permit us this week we
shall go through some of those charges to
which public attention must be directed. It
is evidently hoped that people will be dis •
tracted by trying to read twenty columns of
small type ; but we shall to-day, and at a
future time, put some charges against the
Duke of NEWCASTLE that can be stated with
brevity, and proved without prolix illus-
tration.

SATURDAY,

The most important and thoroughly proven
charge against the Duke of NEWCASTLE is that
from first to ,last, as 12747i11y admitted by
his evidetei, he 110604 tt the most ordi-
nary circettspection, or any anticipation of
likely prehabilities, E blunder, every
calantity, every saciifiee nur brave soldiers,
all "grew out of the eireuelegunces." Want of
food, and clothes, and and huts, "all
1,1 grete out Af,the eircumikittees." The commis-
sariat'had no horses, the horses of the troops
had no forage, the soldiers had no food, be-
cause there were neither men nor trans-
port mules to carry it to the front; the
calamities in the hospitals were appalling in
their excess over former campaigns ; but all
these things, and many more, "grew out of the
circumstances." Lest we be charged with
doing injustice to his Grace, we shall take
" questions " and " answers " as they appear in
his evidence on Monday.
Thus the Duke of NEWCASTLE appears to
have made at a late period provision for the
wintering of the troops in Sebastopol (in case
of success), and for wintering elsewhere on
the same fortunate contingency, but he never
anticipated the likely chance of wintering
before Sebastopol if the place was not taken,
nor to have considered what in that case was
to be done with the troops. Let us see how
upon Monday he fastened this grave oharg3
upon himself.
,_The Clistaitol.—Can you state the time when yon first
informed the Commander of the forces of the determina-
tion that the army should winter in the Crimea ?—lt was not
a determination, bat an act of necessity. I was persuaded
of the necessity for the army remaining there during the
winter on receiving intelligence of the battle of Inkermann.
Just so. It was " not a determinstion."
There had been no sagacious conjecture of
the eventualities. Not until the news of Inker-
mann (fought on the sth of November) arrived,
was the Duke " persuaded of the necessity of
" the army remaining there (i. e., before Sebas-
" topol) during the winter."
That is self-damaging_ enough, but what
follows is even worse. We pray the attention
of our readers to the following questions and
answers :
Did the suggestion to winter there come from the Go-
vernment at home or from the General commanding the
forces ?—No suggestion came from us. It was a necessity
which grew under the circumstances, and became so pal-
pable that it seemed a necessary consequence to the posi-
tion of the army.
Then you suppose no one is responsible for that resolve?
—lt is difficult to say there was any resolve at all. The
resolution required would have been rather to leave the

Crimes.
Observe these terrible admissions, all of
them morally equivalent to a verdict of
" Guilty" to every charge that we formerly
preferred against the Aberdeen-Russell Cabi-
net's mismanagement of the war. 1. "No sugges-
" tion came from us." What provident states-
men then were in office, grappling with the
enormous military power of Russia! 2. "It
" was a necessity which grew under the cireuin-
" stances." Not so, my Lord Duko the most
ordinary sagacity might have fairly anticipated
such a conjuncture, as that of what is to be done
if Sebastopol should not be taken. 3. "It is
" difficult to say there was any resolve at all"—
in confessing which his Grace anticipates the
verdict of the future MACAULAY or Amos.
4. His Grace concludes the answer with a
revelation of what a mind there was in the
War office. " The resolution required would
" rather have been to leave the Crimea.")
Again, in Wednesday's examination, it was
elicited from his Grace that he made provi-
sions for the army to winter in Sebastopol, or
on the shores of the Bosphorus (both contin-
gencies depending on the capture of the town),
but that he made no provision for the con-
tingency of the fortress holding out:—
When you sent the army to the Crimea did you not con-
sider the arrangements for their wintering somewhere ^.—
Certainly. It was impossible to have any flied idea so
long as the result of the siege was unknown; but I CO"
ceived either the army would find winter quarters in the
town of Sebastopol, in the south of the Crimes, or, if
Sebastopol were destroyed, that it would winter on the
shores of the Bosphorus, and I provided for both condo-

gencies.
The CHATRMAN.—Did you provide for the contingencr of
Sebastopol not being taken, which is the contingency which
has happened ?—No.
If we had not these admissions from his
Grace's own lips, we could scarcely know to
what extent our country suffered from his

APRIL 28, 1855.

being intrusted up to the last with the seals
of the War-office. It would take columns of
our space to show how his answers eliminate
himself and his colleagues. The style of his
whole evidence in its tone and admissions is
faithfully shown in the following " question "
and " answer" on Monday. On the important
point of the want of a road from Balaklava. his
Grace was questioned—

When did you receive the first information of the break
up of the road ?—Rather of a road not having been made.
Ido not recollect the exact date. It was one of those facts
which grew upon one as events followed each other.
One might suppose that his Grace, whose art-
ful apologists have spoken in a leading journal
on Wednesday of " his fair memory, and some
" power of relation," might have recollected
the date of a fearful crisis in the campaign.
But his Grace supplies the key for under-
standing not only the entire of his evidence,
but also the greater part of the blunders com-
mitted in the entire campaign.
As we stated last summer, there was no
military mind of any kind in the Cabinet. A
red-tapist politician of the " Taper and Tad-
pole" school was placed in the War-office, and
all our military affairs were entrusted to his in-
experienced powers. In every other Cabinet,
as we showed, there was always a military
man, except in that of the Aberdeen-Russell
Coalition. If Lord HARDINGE was fit for the
office of Commander-in-Chief, most certainly
he should have been in the Cabinet, and the
Duke of NEWCASTLE should have insisted upon
it. At the commencement of the war, after a
long peace, military experience was a grand
requisite in the Ministry, and his Grace ought
emphatically to have urged the necessity of
Lord HARDINGE being placed in the Ministry.
But his Grace's disastrous love of power
intoxicated his mind, and his colleagues scan-
dalously acceeded to his being placed alone in
the most important office of the State. His
extraordinary post —so unsuited to his
powers, like everything in the campaign—
" grew out of the circumstances" of a coalition
that violated all the principles of English
politics. Terribly has his Grace been
punished for his temerity, and wofully has
the best blood of England paid the penalty of
the servile acquiescence of the Whigs in con-
ceding all the offices of the State to a clique
of ambiguous politicians, who sickened the
people with the dreadful consequences of their
preposterously-lauded " administrative abili-
ties." No professed adversary could have
more gravely impeached their misconduct
than the confessions of the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE. His deeds destroyed his Grace's re-
putation, and his words have incriminated all
his colleagues.

TORTURE BY OUR OFFICIALS IN
INDIA.

IN an article published by us last year we
commented in terms of just severity on the
fact, then recently established, that torture
was frequently resorted to in the collection of
the revenue and for the purpose of extorting
confessions and evidence in criminal cases in
India. We further remarked on the dishonesty
of the Directors in taking advantage of the
general unacquaintauce with Indian subjects
prevailing in the House of Commons to meet
the charge with a direct denial, or, in other
words, in setting up a defence which was
utterly untrue. The accusation then made
must now be considered as proven ; for
we suppose that those who have hitherto
shown the firmest faith in the humanity and
truthfulness of the present rulers of India will
admit the force of the evidence afforded by
the following letter to the Chief Secretary
to Government at Madras from the Chief
Magistrate and Superintendent of Police at
that Presidency. It is dated the 19th January
last, and runs as follows:

Sir,—Parties are flocking to the Presidency from all
parts of the Mofussil (interior) to make their representa-
tions before the committee appointed to investigate alleged
cases of torture. There are at present about three hun-
dred persons in attendance, and the number is increasing
daily. Some of these individuals have now been upwards
of twenty days waiting for their turn to be heard. My
avocations in the two offices of police and small-cause
courts require my daily attendance, and I hare been able