The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-04 00:00:00

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Me 6

No. 44.—V0r.. 11.

Vrtes.

LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 4, ISM.

WHETHER the conduct of Count NESSELRODE
has been fraudulent towards England, or the
behaviour of Lord ABERDEEN has been false
towards Russia, one thing is certain, that we
are involved in war,—war which, notwith-
standing the flippant remarks that abound,
we believe will be expensive and protracted.
Next Monday will give the people of this
country the first taste of the consequences of
their present position. The extraordinary
demands of fleets and armies are to be en-
countered by a Finance Minister whose pre-
vious monetary exploits have been as disas-
trous as a campaign. Mr. DISRAELI left a
balance in the Exchequer at the beginning of
.1853 of nearly nine millions sterling ; Mr.
GLADSTONE'S balance, at the beginning of
1854, was only one half of that amount, the
moiety having been employed by that ecclesi-
astical financier in a stockjobbing speculation,
undertaken against the advice of the Governor
of the Bank of England and all competent
authorities, by which the public have lost two-
thirds of a million sterling. Mr., GLADSTONE
chose to " bull " ten million Consols at 100,
and closed his account at nearly ten per cent.
decline,—a decline not mainly occasioned by
war, or the fear of war, but by overtrading and
a bad harvest, of both which contingencies he
had fair notice, and which notice he treated
with that cloistered superciliousness which
distinguishes him.
At this moment, we have reason to believe,
there is not a million and a half sterling in
the Exchequer. It is possible that before the
close of the financial year (April 5) this sum
may be doubled by the accruing revenue.
That would supply the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER with the sum of three millions
sterling to meet his April engagements.
What are they? Six millions and a half
sterling for dividends on the public debt ;
two millions more to pay off South Sea
annuities, the remains of his modest conver-
sion scheme ; and three millions, in addition,
alrealy required for the extra supplies voted.
Here is a deficiency, assuming that only a
moiety of the last item is instantly required,
of seven millions sterling, and how is it to be
supplied by the wise statesman who persisted
with an impending war in repealing the soap
tax last year, and in violently precipitating the
reduction of the tea duties, which his prede-
cessor, in a time of tranquillity, had discreetly
proposed gradually an safely to diminish ?
What further demands upon our purses the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER will have to
announce on the 6th inst. we shall soon
know. Monday is the right day for bringing
forward this Black Budget.
When the Government of Lord DERRY cau-
tiously commenced the revision of our system
of taxation, they combined the relief of the
land from its undue pressure with a politic
and popular redress of the grievances of the

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LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 4,

trading community, with respect to the assess-
ment of the Income Tax. The votes of the
Irish members, who paid no income tax, de-
prived the commercial and professional classes
of this boon. But the Conservative party
proved their sincerity by asserting in opposi-
tion the same policy they had recommended
while in office ; and, if the House of Commons
chose to ratify the scheme of Mr. GLADSTONE,
who would recognise no difference is the liabi-
lity of property and income, the members of
the Liberal party have only themselves to
blame. They were avowedly induced to take
a course so opposite to the interests of their
constituents, because, by possibly displacing
the Coalition Ministry, a promised and "large"
measure of Parliamentary Reform would be
endangered. They enjoy the unmitigated
Income Tax, but where is the " large " measure
of Parliamentary Reform ? If the position of
the Ministry with respect to this question be
the more contemptible, that of their supporters
is certainly the more ridiculous.
When Mr. GLADSTONE, in opposition, depre-
ciated the results to the trading and. profes-
sional classes of the mitigation of the assess-
ment of their Income Tax proposed by Mr. Dls-
RAELI, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer
reminded the Opposition that the time might
come when the Income Tax mightbe increased,
and that then the degree of relief would be
significantly sensible. Has that time arrived ?
And what shall we hear on this subject on
Monday from the Treasury bench ? The
impending financial project will, in all proba-
bility; be peculiarly interesting to the salaried
recipients of 1001. per annum, and especially
to those Birmingham clerks with whom Mr.
GLADSTONE, with his proverbial cacoethes, is
so prone to correspond. What will the Irish
members say to the Budget, who have already
been so handsomely *arded--for their dis-
creet expulsion of the late Government from
office ?
At this moment of menaced aggravation of
sufferings already too severe, one is naturally
apt to inquire why these additional burdens
are to be endured ? Why are we at war ?
What is the cause, and what the object, of the
struggle ? Will the Ministers inform us?
Lord CLARENDON the other night made a
bouncing speech, which contrasted with the in-
firm, perplexed, and abject tone of his previous
addresses, and caused, therefore, some sen-
sation. The patrician benches yielded a frigid
cheer; Lord ABERDEEN looked as if he were
taken prisoner by a Cossack; the military
clubs the next morning were in a state of
martial stir. Lord CLARENDON denounced the
Muscovite treaties, and said that, " as Europe
" was at length aroused, there should be no
" peace allowed which did not define the posi-
" tion of the two countries, putting a final bar
" to the aggressions of Russia, and securing
" Turkey her proper place in the great corn-
" munity of nations." " These be prase words ;"
and yet on the very table before which the
Minister uttered them lies the very despatch
to her Majesty's Ambassador at Constanti-
nople in which Lord CLARENDON recorded his
solemn and statesmanlike conviction that,
" although Russia might be crippled in a war
" with England and France, Turkey in the
" contest must be irretrievably ruined." Are
we to submit to fresh burdens in order to
secure the irretrievable ruin of Turkey ?
Then there is the Csaxesuoa of the Ex
CHEQUER, who has the gracious Aloe to pro-
pose these burdens. He say many, and.

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