The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

sent fairly and honestly and accurately the
state of facts upon which his budget may be
founded. We say, then, that the public
morality of the firifujee Minister should be
above suspicieu. it ims been so for many years.
Sir Cut,eLEs Waon, ise was a blundering Cl4ll-
- of the Exeheger, but he was an hottest
one. Sir Fa4ects Memo was once tempted,
under circumstances of great financial diffi-
culty, to tamper with the savings-bank mune',
and, -as we shall hereafter show, he was
severely reprehended by Mr. Goinatrax, him-
self a man of honour and integrity, till he
learned to connive, at least by his silence, at
the tricks and manoeuvres of Mr. GLADSTONE.
Further, the discussions upon our budgets
have usually been exempt from exhibitions of
violence of temper or party acerbity—at least
on the part of Chancellors of the Exchequer.
Budgets generally, and properly, are the sub-
jects of criticism and opposition ; but so
paramount in their importance are al ques-
tions affecting the finances of the country that
Chancellors of the Exchequer have almost
uniformly considered it as inconsistent with
their duty and beneath their dignity, in deal
jug with financial matters, to resort to the
vulgar arts of the political partisan, and still
less to be betrayed into acrimonious invective.
We hold, therefore, that public morality,
accuracy of statement, and the absence of
acrimonious partisanship, are qualifications
which we have a right to expect in a Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, and that a deficiency
in these respects amounts to personal inca-

pacity.
Of Mr. GLADSTONE in his private capacity
we know nothing: we only know that the
school of politicians to which he belongs
endeavour to refine away the distinctions
between the morality of the individual and
the morality of the statesman. They hold
that what is individually wrong may be politi-
cally right. Professing to be Protestants,they
encourage Popery; pretending to be Conser-
vatives, they are Radicals. It is only one
step further in Peelite morality for a Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer to delude the public by
representations which he knows to be false—
to propose a peace budget with a conscious-
ness of war being imminent—to make in March
a financial statement for the year, including
a war estimate, with the knowledge that it
will not serve for half the period—to propose
an augmentation of the income tax then, with
the intention of doubling it in May—and to
put into the speech of his Royal Mistress,
when addressing the Parliament at the close
of the session, words which are not justified
by the facts, namely, that provision had been
made for the immediate exigencies of the war
without an addition to the permanent debt
of the country. This is Mr. GLADSTONE'S pub-
lic morality. Of his want of accuracy we shall
offer two illustrations which at the moment
suggest themselves. For another purpose we
referred not long ago to the first. It was
when Mr. GLADSTONE stated, with a triumphant
boldness which at the time gave the impres
sion of truth, that the fall in Consols between
the retirement of Lord DERBY and the
first reduction in the interest of Exche-
quer Bills in 1853 was occasioned by the
payment of the dividend, " the amount
"of which it exactly described ;" and the
second was on the occasion when he sought
to include a saving of some thirty thousand
pounds, effected by Mr. DISRAELI in the in-
terest of Exchequer Bills, among the items
for which he (Mr. GLADSTONE) had a right to
eredit. We could easily multiply these in
stances : we adduce them for the purpose of
showing that he is deficient in that strict and
stern accuracy of statement which we hold to
be an essential qualification in a Finance
Minister. Nothing, we maintain, can justify
a Chancellor of the Exchequer in making an
inaccurate statement of a fact. No warmth
in debate, no desire to gain a temporary ad-
vantage for his party, or over his opponent,
should make him forget the position he
holds. Every statement he makes as regards
matters of fact has, or ought to have, its
effect upon the finances of the country ; and
he cannot acquire or retain the confidence
which is necessary to the efficient discharge
of his high duti3s if he forgets the situa-
tion he holds, and sinks into random or

SATURDAY,

loose assertions, or exhibits the feelings of a
heated or acrimonious partisan.
It is painful to refer to this latter deficiency
in Mr. 111.Anesose. Iris want of temper, his
rudeness, both in language and manner,
amounting sometimes to something like fero-
city, we know has been a matter of regret to
his warmest friends. We have deemed it
necessary to make these strictures upon
Mr. GIADSTONIeig cliereeter as a Finance
Minister, because, in dealing with his mea-
sures, it is necessary to bear in mind
the character and imperfections of the
man. No one can dispute his talents. We
render them our willing acknowledgment.
We have, indeed, heard it said that the very
exuberance of his abilities make him danger-
ous as a Chancellor of the Exchequer—that
the confidence he feels in himself, and the
power he possesses of extricating himself from
difficulties, by mystifying where he cannot
satisfy, has generated a rashness and boldness
unsuited to the office he holds. However that
may be, we believe the country and the
moneyed interest are equally disgusted with
the want of public morality, with the want of
strict accuracy, and with the want of temper
which have characterised Mr. GLADSTONN's
official conduct.