The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-27 00:00:00

MAY 27, 1854.

(Laughter,) The right hon. gentleman came forward as
though he were to be the victim of the Government; he
has asserted that he will not allow his colleagues to take a
share in the faults he has committed, which are to his
mind of so patriotic a kind ; and he takes refuge in quota-
tion more classical than novel, and from so accomplished
a scholar as the right hon. gentleman we might have
expected a more felicitous line. The house will recollect
the circumstances which attended on the events that called
for that exclamation, and I think the right hon, gentleman
must, in making it, have ventured on our forgetfulness of
the author. The house will remember when the young
gentleman alluded to was, with his companions, detected
in having plundered the Rutulian Republic, he exclaimed—
' Me, me, 101111"1 qui fret, in cie eauvertito ferrnm!'
I em surprised that tie tight hon. gentleman could resist,
with his knowledge of the original, the infinite humour of
the succeeding line, and not have quoted it. It is—

' 0 Ratali. mea fraus omnia.'

(Great laughter.) I think that would be a good motto for
the new Exchequer Bonus. k Renewed laughter.)"
Mr. Disraeli called on the committee to repudiate the
scheme for issuing the new bonds, which had not
been sanctioned by precedent, and presented many
symptoms ofoss and hazard to the public. He con-
cluded by dending Mr. Pitt from the invidious cri-
ticism and yet more invidious comparisons of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer and his partisans.
Mr. GLADSTONE intended to offer but a brief vin-
_ _ . .

dication of his bygone policy. Reviewing the cata-
logue of his alleged errors, he declared that the
reduction in the Exchequer Bill interest had turned
out profitably to the country, and challenged a direct
vote on the subject. The failure of his attempts at
conversion had already been candidly confessed.
The charge of having tampered with the funds of
the savings banks he utterly repudiated, and, after
explaining the nature of the transaction in which
those funds had been involved, pointed out that the
money of the investors was in no degree lessened or
endangered. To the allegation that he had brought
out a peace budget when war was probable, he re-
plied by denying the doctrine that no tax should be
removed so long as any interruption of peace seemed
possible ; remarking, besides, that the Opposition
members themselves had incessantly endeavoured
to accomplish further reductions of taxation, obliging
him to engage in constant conflicts for the rescue of
various items of the public income. Declaring that
he stood by that budget, Mr. Gladstone acknowledged
the loyal spirit in which the country responded to the
calls now made on it for increased resources, and at-
tributed the ability to answer those calls in great
measure to the ease and prosperity derived from ju-
dicious legislation in former years.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer then detailed the
character and the motives of the plan now proposed for
obtaining money. Of the seven millions of new taxes
lately voted the greater proportion could not he realised
for many months. The malt tax would produce little or
nothing until the winter, and the return from the doubled
income tax would not come in until a yet later period.
While the incomings were so remote, the outgoings were
rapid in their incidence and necessarily uncertain in their
amount. To provide for this interval, and supply a
prudent margin for that uncertainty, he had asked for
leave to issue the Exchequer Bonds, and still insisted, in
spite of all criticism, that the process could not be called
a loan, seeing that it would create no addition to the per-
manent debt. With regard to the expediency of the par-
ticular description of stock, he admitted that it was novel
in form, and on account of its novelty might encounter
some difficulties in the City. But he contended that the
new bonds were likely to be very useful and convenient to
all parties, and believed that they were appreciated among
the capitalist classes.
Touching the amendment proposed by Mr. Baring,
Mr. Gladstone scrutinised its import, and (as its sup-
porters had declared that it was not considered a vote
of " want of confidence") could trace in it no other
effect than the suggestion of a loan. He noticed
that the Opposition had lately evinced a marked
proclivity to the borrowing system, and retorted upon
them the charge adduced against himself, of advo-
cating a " loan in masquerade." He then adverted to
the tenet that he had proposed the income tax out
of spleen against the landowners, and argued that in
resisting a loan he was really acting as the best friend
of the land, which must always remain subject to im .
positions from which moveable classes of property
could escape. The right hon. gentleman disavowed
any idea of disparaging the talent of Mr. Pitt, whose
name be said had been arrayed against the policy of
the Government, but his example was quoted only
with reference to errors which he had himself con-

fessed and retrieved a few years later ; while the Mi-
nistry had followed in his footsteps in the better-
advised course which he subsequently adopted. Mr.
Gladstone concluded by challenging discussion, in
intelligible form, of any of the matters that had been
raised, adding that the Government came to the
house to ask for the means of carrying on the war,
and were convinced that the decision would be give.n
with regard to the advantage of the country.
Mr. Rutitto briefly replied. He declared that he
believed the amount asked for was not necessary, but
that if it were so the market could supply the money
by Exchequer Bills, bearing only three per cent. in-
terest, and on so many accounts preferable to the pro.