The Express.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 14, 1857.

inclined to wonder that, beside our forty millions of
extra taxation and forty millions of borrowed money,
we are not to be called on to pay still more for the
blunders of oligarchic misrule.
Very much in the some spirit will the public be
disposed to look, in the first instance at least, upon
Sr C. LEWIS'S programme of continued and aug-
mented taxation. Nobody really expected to hear
of a Ministerial proposition this year to remit the
duty on Paper or a portion of that on Wine. Some
credulous folk, perhaps, imagined that a tax so
universally unpopular and mischievous as that on
Fire Insurance might have been given up; but if
any such there were, they will learn how egregiously
they have been deceived. It is of all others the
impost which Sir C. LEWIS, with the prudence of a
true docerimire, goes out of his way to declare
that he will never agree to relinquish. With better
judgment, he intimates his intention of keeping
up the present duties on distilled Spirits, which,
although imposed in aid of a war revenue,
ars fairly chargeable in time of peace, so
letaj as the place they yield continues to increase,
eali Qjimt islWation does not threaten to re-appear
411ealialie extent. We cannot use the same
=:Lwino adverting to the project for a new
akes% Sugar and Tea, with a view to arrest
the proms, of the declining charge on those neces-
saries of life. By the expiration of the temporary
act which suspended the gradual decrease in the
Customs charge on tea and sugar, the consumer
would, after the sth April next, begin once more to
derive the benefit intended by the framers of that
enactment; but the CHANCELLOR of the Exeun-
t:wen steps in and says--.. I propose to do so mach
for the relief of incomes above 1001. a year from
war barflies', that I cannot think of affording
any mitigation of burthens to those which fall below
that scale: and as they would obtain a certain
small modicum of relief by the resumption of the
state of tl,ings that existed three years ago, I have
determined to submit new schedules of declining
duties, which will have the effect of securing some
few hundred thousand pounds to the revenue, and
letting the inappreciable decrease of price sink for
some years into the pockets of the wholesale mer-
chant." Assuredly there never was a Finance
Minister who evinced at all times and under all cir-

_astances a greater appetite for unpopularity.
The grand totals of income and expenditure pre-
sented to our view for the ensuing fiscal year, are
inevitably higher than those to which we have
been accustomed in time of peace. klaking dee
allowance for the nominal augmentation of
upwards of four millions on account of charge
for the collection of the revenue, which now
for the first time figures in the balance-sheet, we
have still above 85,000,0001. to be provided for by
taxes between April, 1867, and April, 1848. Moss
tau three millions of this, indeed, islet apart hell*
payment of debts contracted on our own seem
said on behalf of our Allies during the stead
Crimean campaign ; and some other items d fair
deduction, though of less amount, may likewise be
made. But to have a margin of 800,000 L to meet
all contingencies it will be necessary, according to
Sir C. Lewis, to raise by direct or indirect taxation
above 66,000,0001. of money in the space of twelve
months. We cannot help saying that this is more
than it ought to be: and we cannot help feeling that
with the knowledge Ministers must have had that
such burthens impended over this long-suffering com-
munity during the first year of European peace,
nothing but the sternest necessity should have
induced them to sanction or originate measures cal-
culated to embroil us in Oriental wars.

ARE we never to hare doom with Mr. Mutant
" wondrous tale," not of Alroy, but of the Aube-
French treaty relative to Italy? Three times has
this story been served up to the House of Commons,
and for any progress that has yet been made in its
discussion, it may be made to serve as a standing
dish throughout the session. At first Lord PAL-
MERSTON vowed that there was no such treaty in
existence. Next he alleged tart it was not a treaty
but a convection; that it was contracted for a
limited period, which had expired, and with re-
ference to peculiar circumstances which had ceased
to exist ; and moreover that it had never been
completed—had not even been signed. On the last
eetasion on which Lord PALMERSTON referred
to the treaty or convention, he admitted
that he had been mistaken when he asserted
that it had never been signed. Considering
how peremptory Lord PALMERSTON'S affirmation
to the contrary was, this is an unlucky
admission. People ask themselves whether this is
the only point on which Lord PALMERSTON has
been mistaken ? Whether he may not have been
in error likewise in what he said of the scope and
duration of the convention? The mere change in
his lordship's mode of discussing the subject is
enough to invite such questions. On Tuesday the
provoking PREMIER apologised to Mr. DISRAELI for
not losing his temper, and laughingly proclaimed
his inability to "muster up any indignation." His
lordship was the very model of Sir Harry Wildair
thrashing Alderman Smuggler, and all the time
professing his regret at being compelled to resort
to such an extreme measure. But on Thursday
the PREMIER'S equanimity, real or assumed, de-
serted him ; and his rejoinder to Mr. Duels=
approached, in its tone, more near to down-
right scolding than any previous speech of
Lord PALMERSTON'S that we can recall to
memory. All this looks as if the unlucky Austro-
French convention regarding the affairs of Italy
were a sore subject with the PREMIER. It seems
pretty clear, however, that he is not disposed to throw
any further light on the subject. Neither indeed to
all appearance is Mr. DISRAELI. Delighted with
having" established a raw," he abstains from giving
any distinct account of the treaty, and from any
attempt to have it produced. Yet the only way to
atilt Os acidifying controversy is to produce the
busty. Whoa we have it before us we can say which
of the two disputants has described it correctly ; till
then their wrangling resembles that of the contra-
eersialists about the colour of the chameleon, in
Gay's fable. Surely the treaty can be got
hold of. Will not the kind friend who
informed Mr. DISRAELI of its existence add
to the obligation by procuring him a copy of it ?
Or cannot Lord PALMERSTON procure one from the
French Government? If his lordship's account of
the matters correct, the convention is now merely
a matter of history—a last year's almanac; and its
publication can do no harm to any one.
This suggestion as to the production of the treaty
we throw out simply with a view to save the time of
the House of Commons, by putting an end to the
controversy about its tenour. At the worst it can
only tell we, if produced, that when the question of
Italy is under discussion, the French and Austrian
Governments think only of their own interests and
ambitions, not of the rights of that oppressed coun-
try—and that we knew before. It can only teach
the Italians that they ought to place no reliance on
foreign aid—that "who would be free, themselves
must strike the blow ;" and if the events of the last
half century have not already taught them this
truth, they are unteachable.
We can easily linden Lord PALMERSTON for
seeking to cast a veil over what was done by France