The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-11 00:00:00

MR. BRIGHT ON THE ESTIMATES.

MR. ItitionT's suggestion last night that a per-
manent committee upon the Estimates should be
appointed by the House of Commons is eminently
practical and sound. The general tendency of all
governments is to expense, and the existing system
of voting the supplies gives a direct encourage-
ment to extravagance. The nights upon which
the largest sums are voted are those when the
House seems dullest and most empty ; and the
fate awaiting any adventurous advocate
of economy is not one to tempt men to
undertake the role. The ministry of the
day are dependent upon the permanent heads
of departments, who have a direct interest in
increasing the amounts asked for from Parlia-
ment ; and when questions are raised by would-be
guardians of the public purse, the Government
are put on their honour to defend what they have
proposed, and the officials behind them rejoice in
furnishing the means of doing so. A cross-exami-
nation of witnesses is impossible. The doubts ex-
pressed, or the difficulties raised are disposed
of by a cut and dry answer drawn up by
the department, and the vote is, as a rule,
carried as surely as if no objection had been raised.
But if every demand for an increase in the esti-
mates were subjected to the rigid scrutiny of men
specially qualified for the examination of accounts

every official were made to feel himself person-
ally responsible for the additions he proposed ; and
if the public money were only voted after the delibe-
ration and reoomniendations of a committee, more

good would be done in a single session, than
could be accomplished by the labours of the most
carnet-minded private members in years. The
heads of departments would pause bet ere they in-
dulged in applications they would have to justify
in detail; and instead of the old horse-leech cry
to the Treasury of " Give, give !" we should have
some of the consideration and forethought which

perforce attends the requests for money made to
private firms. The new Parliament will disap-
point the country if it does not succeed in manag-
ing the national business more cheaply than the
one it succeeds; and Mr. BRIGHT'S latest recom-
mendation merits the attention of all interested in
financial reform.

PROST ECT IFE DETERIORATION OP THE

WORKINU CLASSES.

Mn. ARTHUR RUSSELL M.P., has, in a speech
made at Tavistoek, boon warning working men
against their political flatterers, or courtiers. The
spirit of the warning is admirable, and some of
the honourable gentleman's remarks seem to us
excellent ; but after all, it may be observed in
passing that the political flatterers of the working
classes are not a very large or prominent body of
men. Mr. MILL never flattered them; on the
contrary, some of his honest criticisms of working-
'lase morals have been dug out of his books and
used as election placards by his enemies. Mr.
GLADSTONE, it must be confessed, once avowed
his conviction that working men were of the same
flesh and blood as the members of the House of
Commons—a piece of gross flattery, perhaps; st
all events he has never been forgiven for it.
There is something like humour in one passage
of Mr. RUSSELL'S speech as it stands re-
ported :—" I will tell you why I do not believe in
" the sincerity of these courtiers of the working
" man. They propose, in the same breath, to im-
" prove his material welfare and to instruct him
"by compulsory education. But when that has
" been done, when the working men are ma-
" terially better off and intellectually better edu-
" exited, will they differ from the middle classes,
" who are so selfish and so bad ' Will they not
" lose those distinctive virtues which are the eha-
" racteristies of the working man ?" But was it
ever alleged that the peculiar virtues of the working
man arose from his being unlike the middle
classes iu respect of his poverty and his
ignorance ? or that it was the culture and pros-
perity of the middle flames that made them poli-
tically selfish and base ? Class privilege, an un-
fair share of power, tends to make men base and
selfish ; but it is not easy to see why the working
classes should lose their distinctive virtues when
they are, as they hope to be, better fed and better
taught. " For myself," said the honourable gen-
tleman, " I believe the clay is very far distant
" when it will be found necessary for us to warn
" the people of this country against the danger of