The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-11 00:00:00

use, if what Lord Clarence Paget, of the Ad-
miralty, said be correct. It confers the power of

deciding whether new piers or harbours are to be
constructed, or old ones improved upon, by the

Admiralty, without requiring the previous sane

tion of Parliament,—certainly very large powers,
_ _

and the right exercise of which must be no slight
addition to the duties of that public department

whose energies are said to be already over-taxed
But then, according to Lord Clarence Paget,

!` the Admiralty would decidedly object,to under

take the duties which the provisions of the

measure devolved upon theM." Who, then, is to

undertake them ? The Bill directs the Ad

miralty to do so.

If the Admiralty refuse,

here will be no other department of the Govern

ment that will have any authority to undertake

them. As well as this, Sir John Pakington "is

afraid that the Government will hesitate upon
financial grounds before they attempt to give
effect to the recommendations of the royal com-

mission which had already reported upon the

subject." So that, altogether, the Bill does not,
we say, seem likely to be practically available

for the object it professes to have in view.

Some districts of Ireland appear to be again
suffering, as of yore, from want and starvation ;

more particularly in Connaught. A vessel laden

with oatmeal, potatoes, seed oats, and turnip seed,
/A.. this wook been dcspatenea from Lublin tor
Mayo, the fruits of a public subscription, which,
however, has as yet fallen very far short of the
necessities -of the case. The cottiers -and small
farmers have, in many instances, been reduced to
great straits by the loss of their cows from want
of fodder. Let us hope that their relief will be
humanely administered to. It would be a
.judi-
cious thing 'to divert the subscription that is
being raised for that fierce ." man of war,"
Garibaldi, into such a channel.

Ix is not much to be wondered at that an altered
state of feeling should have begun to prevail
regarding the financial policy of the Government.
But our opinion of it, from the first, has been that
it was more theoretically plausible than practically
wise; and such would now seem to be the opinion
that is entertained of it even among those who
hailed it with so much pleasure and satisfaction.
That policy cannot, of course, be separated from
the commercial considerations which it involves.
And when we find it declared, as it was in the
debate in the House of Commons the other night'
that "as to the commercial treaty and our free-
trade policy, there was a change of feeling in this
country on that point, because it was seen that
there was not a disposition on the part of a
neighbouring Power to meet our free-trade pro-
posals," we find that there is only being realised
. the very predictions that have beef} all along
expressed of the matter, by those who are not to
be eaptivat:d by the popular plausibilities, by
which the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
succeeded in, imposing his financial projects upon
Parliament.

It was seen, we say, from the first, that the
whole financial scheme of the Government would
throw away large portions of our indirect taxa-
tion, without previously settling the principle

of any weapo#;". a dagger, is liable to be
brought before a court-martial." The insurgents
were, no doubt, awaiting foreign aid, which by
this titte`,has probably been brought to them by
Garibaldi, who has gone, it is now quite certain,
with me h, munitions of war, and money, in con-
siderahlo abundance. The Turin papers publish
a letter ',from Garibaldi, in which he avows and
defends his Sicilian enterprise,--" It is the duty,'
he says, "of all to encourage and to augment the
number otcombatants .against oppression. It is
not the insurrectionary party in Sicily whom we
are assisting, but Sicily herself, where there are
enemies to contend with. It was not I who
advised an insurrection in Sicily, but from the
moment that our Sicilian brethren threw them-
selves into the struggle, I considered it my duty
to assist them."
Some of the most vaunted "friends of the
people" in Parliament have again shown the
hollowness of their friendship, in their neglect of
an opportunity of doing a piece of reasonable
and substantial service to a numerous and most
ill-used portion of manufacturing operatives. We
allude to the occasion of the House of Commons
going into committee on the Bleaching and
Dyeing Works Bill, the object of which, as we
have before shown, is ,to rescue those who are
engaged in such works from a most inhuman
and oppressive system of excessive toil and
suffering. The one or two "friends of the people"
who did trouble themselves about it, evidently
did so in the interest of the masters, not of the
work people. The Radical member for Man-
chester, Mr. Bazley, for instance, moved that the
Bill be referred to a select committee, believing
that a mutual understanding could be arrived at
between the proprietors of bleaching works and
the operatives they employed, as to the hours of
labour, without the interference of Parliament.
But if this were so, why proceed with the Bill at
all ? If the matter can be adjusted " without the
interference of Parliament," of what use would it
be even to refer the Bill to a select committee ?
unless, indeed, to shelve it, which was no doubt
the dodge that Mr. Bazley, in behalf of the
masters, was attempting. , Rightly, therefore,
did Lord John Manners oppose that expedient,
contending that the question was ripe for settle-
ment, and that it would be inexpedient to delay
legislation by referring the Bill to a select com-
mittee. And a majority of the members present
were manifestly of the same opinion, for Mr.
Bazley's motion was rejected, and the House,
therefore, went into committee ; although, un-
fortunately, whilst the first clause was under
discussion, the time arrived for terminating the
mid-day sitting, according to the standing orders.
Where was that flaming friend of the working
classes, Mr. John Bright, on an occasion so
important to their interests ? Here was an
opportunity where he might have shown, most
materially, his friendship for them—infinitely
more so than he will ever do by any of his poli-
tical devices,—and yet he keeps out of the way !
The fact is, Mr. John Bright, on all such
questions, is on the side of tyranny, and oppres-
sion, and cruelty. He was, on the same princi-
ple, the deadly opponent of the Ten-hours'
Factory Bill. He flatters and panders to the
operatives just when it suits his purpose ; and
that purpose is only to make use of them for his
political ends.
We are glad to find that the Poor-law Medical
Relief Association, at a public meeting in London,
have passed resolutions condemning the present
system of medical officership, as " fraught with
dangers, as crippling the resources, limiting the
powers, and lowering the standard of skill among
its administrators, and as inadequately remune-
rated." There can be no question, we believe, that
all this is perfectly true. The every day experi-
ence of the medical officers of our own town no
doubt confirms it to the letter. Of its being
fraught with dangers, a melancholy instance has
occurred in this very parish within the lam- few
days, in the neatn irom fever, contracted in the
discharge of his duties, of one of the most diligent
and attentive of its medical officers, who are all
most grievously overworked, as well as exposed
continually to the risk of fever in its most
malignant forms; at the same time that, for the
work they have to do, they are wretchedly under-
paid. A petition is to be presented to the House
of Commons, praying that their case may be taken
into consideration. Let us hope that it may
receive the attention it so well deserves, and that
something may be done in their behalf even
during the present session of Parliament.
The Piers. and Harbours Bill which has been
read a second time in the House of Common:
cannot, one would think, be of much practica

Certainly the narrow escape of Ministers on
he paper duty repeal finds ample explanation in
such a state of the case as this. Upon no other
ground, indeed, than that of altered circumstances
having shown the inexpediency, not to say the
peril, of the financial policy that is being pur-
sued, could such a resistance of the third reading
of a Bill of the nature of that repealing the paper
duty, which had already been fully debated and
sanctioned by a second reading, be fully justified.
For, as the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER put
it to one of his opponents,—" had he ever known
an instance in which the repeal of a tax affecting
trade, deliberately proposed by a Government as
a fundamental part of its propositions for the
finances of the year, long debated in the House,
and deliberately affirmed by a large majority—
had he ever known a case in the half-century of
his experience in which at the last moment, on
the third reading of the Bill, the House of Com-
mons interposed and arrested the boon on its way
to the people ?" No—the practice generally is to
regard the repeal of the tax as a thing accom-
plished. And so it would have been in this case,
but for the altered feeling that has arisen—the
conviction that is flashing upon men's minds,
that we are sacrificing some of our best sources
of revenue under the vain idea of propitiating a
neighbouring Power, and the apprehension which
is arising and growing apace, that rather than
impair those sources of revenue they require to be
strengthened and improved, seeing that what
they yield will be more urgently and anxiously
needed than ever.
As respects the Treaty with France, the man-
ner in which it ought to have been negotiated
was well put to the House when it was shown,
that Ministers ought to have said to the EMPE-
non—! ry e are giving you a great boon ; you
must grant us an equivalent. What is free trade
for England should be free trade for France; and
in framing a treaty which is designed to blend
together in closer harmony and friendship these
two great nations, we must have that treaty
based upon principles of equity and justice."
But' instead of this, they framed it so as to give

'ranee all the gain, and leave poor England a

the loss,—the loss of revenue to a certainty, and
in all probability the loss of trade to boot. And
this at a time when all great national resources
have urgent need to be replenished, rather than
impaired. Not that there is any just cause of
apprehension for our country, even in her present
critical position, only give her fair play. We
may feel as confident as did FAULCONTBRIDGE, in
the days of King John, that

46 Come the three corners of the world in arms,
And we shall shock them. Nought shall make um rue,
If Rilland to itself do rest but true."
But can England rest true to itself, if it suffers
its very sinews of war to be filched from it, and
handed over to its secret enemies, who wait
only the opportunity to be its open assailants ?
Surely not.

The death of Mr. Horace Hayman Wilson, Sanscrit
evening,Th
o et
e ee
o c w
roa srt s
e a
i pn u grd
ifpaonosl muster of 2,000 of the
r Professor at Oxford, is announced. r
aQnd4-pealdrkm,
aonnceWuvredens.esday
r f
The
Queen drove into the pink, but the only corps
on the. ground at the time was the Westmin-
ster. Earl Grosvenor, their colonel, immediately
fa,rie
v
marched up his regiment QPPIa colunin
cplppanies, and wheelipg into Tire the Whole
corps advanced in 4dLnira,ble order; and for the
first time her Majesty received a royal salute
from a regiment of her volunteers.

upon which the direct taxation to be substituted
for it should proceed; while it would, moreover,
frustrate. and exhaust other national resources,
in order to postpone burthens which ought at
present to be borne, thus accumulating a deficit
for .the following year, which it can never be
sound policy to create. These objections, and
such as these, were only too well founded at the
time the scheme of the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER was first introduced to Parliament ;
butthey are infinitely better founded and stronger,
and better supported by surrounding circum-
stances, and the more light is thrown on. the real
state of the case. Look, for instance, at the dis-
crepancies which Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE has
pointed out between the estimates actually laid
upon the table of the House of Cmmons and the
statement made by the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER respecting them :—" Taking those
for the nary, army, civil service, the revenue
department, and the '£500,000 vote of credit for
China, he found they were stated at £70,100,000.
The miscellaneous estimates were X 7,500,000, and
those for the collection of the revenue were
£4,700,000. These were the figures given by
the right hon. gentleman the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER in his financial statement; yet
the last item in the estimates, instead of
£4,700,000, there appeared £4,932,432, showing,
therefore, a discrepancy of no less than £232,432 ;
and considering that the surplus estimated was
only £464,000, that one item of itself
would make a serious difference in the cal-
culations upon which the Budget was founded,
for it reduced the surplus by about half."
Well might Sir STAFFORD say that "at first he
doubted the truth of his own calculations,—
though after a patient and careful investigation
he had fully confirmed his figures, and convinced
himself of their accuracy." Other discrepancies
were pointed out, which are equally calculated
to shake one's confidence, alike in the financial
scheme and the arithmetical operations of the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—more especially
as regards the army estimates, under the actual
necessities of our present position, and the indis-
pensable preparations that will have to be made
for it. In one portion- alone of our national
defences, it appears—that of fortifications—as
much as £10,000,000 is likely to be wanted,
which it is contemplated raising by a loan, by
means of exchequer bonds, to be paid off at stated
periods—the annual interest of which would of
course form no small addition to the public
expenditure. And yet, in the midst of all these
heavy demands, present and prospective, on the
national resources, the policy persisted in is that
of throwing away revenue, and giving advantages
to foreigners which ought to be retained for
ourselves.
Could there have been a rational hope enter-
tained that there would in coming years be any
considerable reduction of the public expenditure,
the case would have been very different. Yet
the whole question of the Budget would appear
to rest on such a hope, although there is not now
the shadow of a pretence for indulging it. The
very course which Ministers are pursuing—and
which with any due regard for the safety of the
country, they cannot help pursuing—flatly con-
tradicts any such hope. The time may come—
let us trust that it will come—when, in a
happier state of things than now prevails, it may
not be requisite to spend so large an amount on
the naval and military defences of the country.
But we quite agree with Sir STAFFORD NORTH-
COTE when he added to his exposures of the
deficits and discrepancies of the case, that " he
could not see anything in the estimates to encou-
rage the hope that the expectation would be
realised at an early period ; for looking at what
had taken place lately—at the state of feeling
that had been engendered—the distrust that had
increased rather than diminished since the treaty
—the probable position and conduct of the
vw--..k.nt or the FRE.NcIi.; looking at the dis-
satisfaction which they must see was entertained
towards many of the arrangements made on the
side of France on the Commercial Treaty, he must
say that the expectation of prosperity from that
treaty was to a considerable extent, he would
not say altogether destroyed, but very much
weakened."