The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Mr. DISRAELI stated the view which himself and
the friends with whom he acted had taken respecting
the Government scheme of finance. Their objec-
tion to the income tax was founded upon no pre-
judice against direct taxation, but upon a wish
to maintain the compact of 1833, which
they were convinced might be carried out, almost
or altogether, by a prudent reduction of ex•
penditure. They had, therefore, designed to suggest
a reduction of that impost to sd. With regard to the
tea duties, they had themselves originally proposed
the reduction of the rate, and believed that the re-
laxation which had been carried out by a succeeding
Administration had produced all the anticipated
benefits. In that case also they had intended to
insist on the full performance of the arrangement
made in 1853. Recent circumstances, however, had
altered the position of affairs. The Prime Minister
had announced his intention to appeal to the coun-
try. The expiring House of Commons had, there-
fore, lost all power of binding the future Legislature ;
and under this condition of impotence he thought
they ought not to levy any new taxes. He suggested,
therefore, that votes of credit should be granted, and
temporary measures passed to carry on public busi-
ness, but without affecting any permanent arrange-
ment, and especially without imposing any new
taxes.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER showed rea-
sons, founded upon considerations of public conve-
nience, for making the proposed change in the
income tax, and the Customs' duties on tea and
sugar, without delay.
Mr. ROEBUCK argued in favour of reducing the tax
on tea, rather than that upon property.
Mr. T. BARING exhorted the house not to denude
the Exchequer of necessary revenue.
Sir H. Wrixouonny objected to vote taxes before
the house had decided upon the year's expenditure.
The house then went into committee of ways and
means.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved a
resolution reducing the tea duty from 13. 9d. to Is.
sd. in the pound. In supporting this motion, he
entered into some detailed explanations respecting
the change effected in the rates of various taxes
since the termination of the war. Originally he had
suggested a Is. 7d. rate of tea duty. The loss result-
ing from the further reduction now proposed, he
computed at half a million. lie denied that his
financial scheme deserved to be characterised as a
retrogression from the principle of free trade.

Mr. GLADSTONE associated free trade with the
reduction of burdens upon articles of general con-
sumption, and this principle had, in his opinion, been
violated by the Government. He proceeded to argue
that the expenditure should be decided upon before
they granted ways and means; that an expiring
house should not levy new taxes upon the people ;
and that it was ungenerous to relieve the wealthy
classes from income tax while imposing heavier
duties on the tea and sugar, which contributed to the
comfort of the humbler sections of the community.
In place of the Government proposal, Mr. Gladstone
intimated his intention of moving that the tea duty
should fall to Is. 3d. in April, and to Is. at the close
of the ensuing financial year. This, he remarked,
was in fact to maintain the existing arrangement,
which had originated with Mr. Disraeli, and
obtained the assent of all parties in the house. If a
deficiency should be apprehended in the revenue,
which he feared must be the result from the plans
laid down by the Finance Minister, he looked to a
reduction of expenditure as the sure means of restor-
ing a safe equilibrium. Good faith and the interests
of commerce alike required the fulfilment of the ori-
ginal compact, both in the case of tea and of sugar.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER defended his
proposition, replying to the arguments and criticising
the computation of Mr. Gladstone. In reply to a
challenge from Mr. Soooner, Sir G. C. Lewis after-
wards explained the circumstances out of which had
arisen the allegation that he had given a quasi pro-
mise to maintain the reduction of the tea and sugar
duties.

Lord Jons RUSSELL approved of the Government
proposal as now modified. It dealt with taxation on
fair principles, dividing whatever remissions could
be safely allowed in pretty equal proportions between
direct and indirect imports, and relieving both the
possessors of property and the general body of con-
sumers.

Mr. RICARDO reiterated the charge that a formal
compact had been made with the tea and sugar
dealers, which it seemed the Government were about
to violate. He complained of the injustice and
embarrassment occasionediky classification.
Mr. GREGSON added some remarks respecting the
special circumstances of the tea and sugar trade.
Mr. Por.r.tan-Uaquaanr having spoken,
Mr. M. GinsoN maintained that the estimate could
be easily reduced to a far greater extent than would
suffice to aftbrd the full reduction of the tea duty.

SATURDAY,

Mr. MALINs objected to all sliding scales and
jumping tariffs.
Mr. Heyworth, Mr. Moffat, Mr. Horsfall, Mr. Laing,
and Mr. Muntz having spoken,
Mr. DISRAELI said that the question returned to
this point—Shall taxation be increased or not ? In
the last days of a moribund Parliament he thought
that such a step ought not to be taken.
Mr. GLADSTONE and Lord JOHN RUSSELL adverted
to the future arrangements of the tea duty.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER remarked
that nothing which had transpired would be held to
limit his discretion as to the future dealings with
the impost.
After some further discussion the committee
divided. For Mr. Gladstone's proposition 128.
the Government 187. Majority 25. For
The tariff of duties on tea end sugar, as proposed
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, were then sue-
sucessively put from the chair, and carried without
further discussion.

The House resumed and adjourned shortly before
12 o'cloc k.

gatu anb Voila.

DR. WYNNE, of Finsbury, and his footman, ap-
peared at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday
to answer the charge of feloniously cutting and
wounding his lodger, Mr. Benham. The fracas, it
will be remembered, occurred on the .29th December
last. Mr. Benham had called Dr. Wynne a swindler,
and Dr. Wynne in return knocked Mr. Benham
down, while Tinley, the footman, beat him over the
head with the poker. The prisoners were fully ac-
quitted by the jury.
THE CHILD, GEORGE SELBY, twelve years of age,
who pleaded guilty to stealing a post letter, was sen-
tenced on Wednesday by Mr. Justice Erie to six
months' imprisonment,with hard labour, and five years'
confinement in a rerormatory. The boy, it will be re-
membered, had been improperly allowed by the Post-
office receiver to remove the letters from the letter-
box. Feeling money inside a particular letter, he
secreted it, opened it, and spent a trifling portion of
the money in sugar-plums.
FORESTER, the tailor of Wokingham, who mur-
dered his infant son last November, has been ac•
quitted on the plea of insanity.
THE INQUIRY into the cause of the explosion last
week at Stratford of fog signals, at the Eastern
Counties railway station, whereby two men
and a boy were killed, has resulted in the return of
a verdict severely reprobating the railway company
for negligence both in the manufacture of the fog
signals and the management of the factory.
SAWARD AND ANDERSON, the two suspected forgers
whose preliminary examination some weeks since
before the Lord Mayor created so much excitement,
were tried on Thursday at the Old Bailey, before the
Chief Baron and Mr. Baron Bramwell, on four in-
dictments for forgeries on Metroprditan Banks. Sir
Frederic Thesiger conducted the prosecution, and
after a lengthened trial the two prisoners, who
declined making any defence, were at once found
guilty by the jury. The Chief Baron on Friday
sentenced them severally to transportation for life.
A REMARKABLE CASE, involving the liberty of the
press, occurred the other day at Glasgow. In a law-
suit now pending, the attorney of one of the parties
thought it would improve the position of his client
to ascertain the name of the gentleman who reported
the case in the Glasgow Herald. The correctness
of the report was unquestioned. The editor and
staff of the paper were summoned, but declined to
give the information, on the plea that if such in-
formation could be demanded all confidential arrange-
ments made with or by a public journal would be at
at end. The sheriff ridiculed the idea of a news-
paper having any right to plead "confidential com-
munication," and after some debate ordered a warrant
to be made out for the committal to prison of the
editor and chief reporter of the Herald. The point
was ultimately arranged by the gentleman who
reported the case personally coming forward, but the
question of confidence as a lawful plea remains
unsettled.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—.Monday, the 15th, Wednesday,
the 17th, and Friday, the 19th, of June, have been
fixed as the days for the three performances of the
Grand Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace. These
dates have received the approval of her Majesty and
prince Albert, who have been pleased to intimate
their intention of being present at tho interesting
and important musical celebration. The oratorios
'whioh it is intended to perform on the above days
are The Illesetah, Judai Macoabeus, and love! in
Egypt. It is proposed to We a tuU choral rehearsal
oil Saturday, the 18th.

MARCH 7, 1857.

fittrature.

A Pilgrimage into Dauphine; comprising a Visit
to the Monastery of the Grande Chartreuse.

fly the Rev. George M. Musgrave, M.A.

Two Vols. London: Hurst and Blackett.
IT is a long time since we had any good
travels in France. Railways, handbooks, and
the newspapers, as well as the want of novelty,
have extinguished the race of professional
tourists who used to " do " France in pon-
derous quartos, garnished with second-hand
anecdotes and scraps from French authors.
Everybody has been to Paris ; and travelling
amongst our neighbours is just as common as
going to "the Lakes." Authors can scarcely
expect readers for tours in regions so near
home.
Yet the social condition of France would
well repay detailed study. The absence of a
landed aristocracy, the ascendancy of an ex-
clusively official system of rule, the equality
of conditions, the comparative wellbeing of
the mass of the cultivators of the soil, would
invite the laborious study of a modern Arthur
Young. A political economist, with a mind
liberalised by classical culture and foreign
travel, might produce an interesting and
valuable work on France. For the purely
picturesque describer the cathedrals, vine-
yards, and rivers of France, along with the
local costumes of the peasantry, and, last not
least, the cookery of the country, afford con-
siderable resources.
These volumes before us we have read with
pleasure. They are written in a fresh and
lively tone, and would suggest more youth in
the author than he himself acknowledges. He
tells us (vol i. p. 11.) of his recollecting Lord
Keith's attempt in 1804 against Boulogne, and
his having " heard on the Kentish coast the
" firing of guns from those very heights where
" I was at this moment (June. 1855) ru-
" minating." His composition is not that of
a hackneyed writer, and his matter is well
selected. He traverses a part of France which
(with the exception of Lyons) has been less
often described than either Normandy or the
Gironde. lipernay, Rheims, Commercy, Neuf-
chateau, Dijon, Burgundy vineyards, all have
one or more chapters. A large portion of the
second volume is given to a description of
La Grande Chartreuse, which is minutely de-
scribed.

Our critical opinion may be expressed in a
form which naturally becomes antithetical.
Mr. Musgrave's best chapters are on cham-
pagne wine and convents, and his opinions on
both are sound and orthodox. But though
not a teetotaller, he is no bacchanalian ; and
though a staunch Protestant, he is no bigot.
Before quoting his remarks on champagne we
shall extract a passage on potatoes a /a
Fran gaise

The breadth of potato plant around Paris is of vast extent;
indeed, throughout France this vegetable appears to be more
abundantly cultivated than in England: yet it is notorious
that one may traverse the empire, and not find a genuinely
good potato. The beautiful specimens with which we are
familiar in our own country, from Yorkshire down to
Penzance and the Scilly Isles—those mealy bulbs which
break down in the plate, like little balls of flour, and emu•
late the most farinaceous bread-fruit—are wholly unknown
to our continental neighbours. They exist not ►n the
ccuntry ; neither are our prime " kidneys " to be found in
any single department, except where opulent proprietors
who have resided for some time in this kingdom, and made
a point of introducing good sorts into their forcing frames,
succeed in rearing our " ash leaf," " regents," and " flukes,"
and similar varieties. Instead of this goodly growth we
find a close•grained, yellow, waxy root fit only to be sliced
and fried ; or rendered edible by the softening processes of
the buttery sauté. Hence the pomme•de•terre au nature!
(plain boiled), in or out of its " jacket," is not a dish re-
cognised by the French cuisine; and is only brought upon
table " by special command," to the amazement of all
beholders!

Our Irish friends tell us that the best potatoes
in the world are to be found in England. It
is a vegetable whose wholesomeness depends
on its cooking ; and the reason why the French
fry their potatoes is explained by the author
on account of the badness of the vegetable in
France. The soil of France is not suited for
vegetables, which require a peculiarly compact
and rich, deep garden soil. hence the
French have recourse to all sorts of artificial
processes. For example, we are here told :