The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-28 00:00:00

THE PARLIAMENTARY CRISIS.

WHATEVER dispute there might have been before,
as to Her Majesty's Ministers having brought
about a Parliamentary crisis, there would be
none after they were driven to the necessity of
applying to the House of Commons for a Vote of
Credit. No doubt there are precedents for such a

proceeding ; and the Secretary of the Treasury,

in moving the Vote, pointed to some. But, as
Mr. DISRA,ELI well observed, " all the precedents
adduced went directly to prove that such a course
as that now proposed had only hitherto been
adopted under extraordinary circumstances, such
as an impending dissolution •of Parliament, a
change of Ministry, or a reference to the House
itself of he estimates. In the present case they
were called upon to make a precedent." That is
to say, there is no precedent for such a course
'being proper under present circumstances,—
unless, indeed, there is a dissolution of Parliament
or a change of Ministry impending.
A change of Ministry may not improbably be
imminent. It could create no surprise whatever
did such a Cabinet as the present fall to pieces
to-morrow. It is rather to be wondered at that,
resting on so insecure a foundation, and composed
of such incongruous materials, it should hold
together so long. But this is not acknowledged
by Ministers themselves. They would, in all
likelihood, deny that there was any probability of
such a catastrophe. As to a dissolution of Parlia-
ment, that is certainly out of the question._ So
that the only " extraordinary circumstances"
there can be, under which such a course has been
adopted, must be those which attach to the
occasion, as that of a Parliamentary crisis.
The fact is, that Ministers have been induced—
not to say obliged—to bring forward measures in
Parliament not from any real necessity for their
adoption—not so much with any view to the pro-
motion of the public interests—but partly in
fulfilment of the conditions of their compact with
the Radicals, and partly in the pursuance of a
merely popular policy, irrespective of the actual
merits or demerits of sitch measures, of their desi-
rableness or otherwise, or, if desirable at all, of the
opportuneness or inopportuneness of the present
moment for adopting them. Their Reform Bill,
and their Budget, for instance, were both matters
of concession and of compact. In considering
these two measures, they could not enter into
the discussion of them as free to follow the bent
of their inclinations as statesmen, or under the
guidance of their independent judgment as
Ministers of the Crown ; but only as influenced
by what they engaged to do, as the condition of

their restoration to office, and what it was expe-
dient to do in order to be enabled to retain office.
Upon these grounds, we say, were their measures
concocted. And it is net, therefore, surprising
that Parliament has been perplexed by their pur-
suing such a course ; and that the result is now
a Parliamentary crisis, and one the issue of
which, in the present alarming state of Europe,
more especially, it were impossible to contemplate
without anxiety and uneasiness.
The state of the case, as respects the Vote
of Credit, is apparently this,—that it is im-
possible to carry on the business of the co►untry
for the next week • without it. And surely
this were pretty significant evidence of a
crisis having arisen. Coupling it with the
many indications there are of improvidence
in their financial proceedings, this is all the
more calculated to encourage the suspicion of a
very critical state of things having arisen. And
no doubt it was the apprehension of this which
induced the House of Commons to• submit so
tacitly as it did to the extraordinary proposition ;
though, even then, it was only on the constitu-
tional condition, that at as early a period as
possible the House should go into Committee of
Supply, and that the Committee should be conti-
nuously;open, so that every legitimate opportunity
might be given to the House of investigating
the expenditure and of bringing it under the
consideration of Parliament. The feeling, not of
the Opposition only, but of the House at large,
was doubtless that which Mr. DISRAELI gave
expression to when he said, that " before he
agreed to the proposition of the Secretary of the
Treasury he should expect the Government to
give that clear engagement, so that the House
should not be deprived of its constitutional right
of examining all the items of the civil service,
and of bringing forward those subjects for the
consideration of Parliament which it was usual to
bring forward when the estimates were submit-
ted." Lord PALMERSTON, it would be seen, at once
agreed to give such an engagement. He declared
that " undoubtedly that engagement he was
perfectly ready to enter into." And he has,
thereby, entered into it.
But the recess that was at hand, and that is
now entered upon, will, no doubt, afford a few
days' respite from what is evidently a ministerial
perplexity. Nor is it to be supposed that this
has arisen from what the House of Lords have
done, with regard to their financial schemes.
The Lords have saved them a million and a-half
of revenue, which, so far from embarrassing them,
must, to a considerable extent, pre.vent their being
embarrassed by those schemes. True, it reflects
upon their character as a Ministry—it implies a
want of discretion on their part—it is tantamount
to declaring them incompetent to the task of deal-
ing with the financial affairs of the country. But
the Lords could not help that. It has, moreover,
contributed, no doubt, to hasten the Parliamen-
tary crisis. But neither were the Lords respon-
sible for that result. It remains to be seen how
it is all to end. The House of Commons has found
itself constrained to establish a very mischievous
precedent. And Sir JOHN PAKINGTON truly said,
if the necessity existed, they had a right to blame
the Government fOr having brought them into
that condition.
Under these circumstances, it is at present very
uncertain what is to be the issue. The crisis is
one that is, in • many respects, most portentous.
We know not what a day may bring forth. It is

difficult to conjecture What.thay be the position of
the Ministry when Parliament reassembles next
Thursday. Evidently failing in their financial
policy—apparently in considerable embarrassment
as to their financial condition—conscious they are
losing the confidence alike of Parliament and the
country—and along with all this, it is believed, at
variance among themselves,—it will not be in any
degree surprising, we repeat, if they are under
the necessity of proclaiming their own approachs
ing dissolution, and of either at once resigning to
abler hands the government of the country, or
else of appealing to Parliament to wind up the
ession, with that object in view, as shortly as the
exigencies of the occasion may allow. But in
any event, the country will have gained little by
their occupation of office; whilst it has undoubtedly
lost much by their displacement of those who
immediately preceded them therein. Certainly
there will be no Reform Bill passed—not even the
very little one that Lord JOHN has presented as
'his own bantling. And as to the Budget, it will
certainly make itself felt in the increased Income"
tax we shall immediately be called upon to pay ;
but with respect, on the other hand, to any of the
compensating advantages it has been promised
should arise, they are all matters of ambiguity
and uncertainty, and if ever they should be in
any degree realised, will never, to all appearance,
be worth the sacrifice that has been so rashly made
in the doubtful hope of securing them.