The Express.
London, England, 1861-04-30 00:00:00

ZION W4M.g.!.OIIDOW. 1111111b01.

rim DZR-lorsies7siiTaii.7.7itio-a17:: 614. 7•1.
• Teausam —Mariam. 66. 341 m...., Abaraosa. 7b. Us.

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 30.

THE general discassion raised by the Opposition
on the Budget was brought to a close last night,
and certainly neither the Government nor the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER has the least
cause to be dissatisfied with the result. The
debate has been from the outset, indeed, suffi-
ciently desultory and wearisome, but it has never-
theless accomplished an important end. It has
given Mr. CLALMToNE a splendid opportunity of
vindicating his financial proposals, and securing
by anticipation a parliamentary triumph for the
whole scheme. The House has rarely heard even
from the same lips—the lips of its most powerful
and persuasive speaker—a more masterly state-
ment, a more decisive and unanswerable reply.
In a speech which combined the fullest display
of detail and the closest reasoning with brilliant
illustration and irresistible eloquence, the right
bon. gentleman utterly demolished the far-fetched
and laboured criticism of his opponents, sweeping
triumphantly away the wholo lido of false
statements, feeble logic, and envenomed rhetoric
with which during the past week he has been so
industriously assailed. Had the Conservatives been
as anxious to exalt the Cassel:laza of the Excus-
er:ut in the eyes of the nation am they notoriously
are to degrade him, they could not have pursued
a course more calculated to secure this object than
the policy they have adopted in dealing with the
Budget. They themselves admitted at the time
when they were made, as all impartial judges still
admit, that the financial propositions of the
Government were on the whole fair and just.
Certain details might be open to criticlim, as in
every scheme so comprehensive will naturally be
the case. But speakers on both sides of the
House admitted that the estimates of revenue on
which the surplus was based were not extravagant,
and that it would be wise to turn the surplus to ac-
count by getting rid at once of an irritating cause
of dispute between the two HOUSE& But anti-
pathy to the statesman who proposed them seems
to have speedily triumphed over the satisfaction
which the Opposition confessedly felt at the just
and moderate character of the proposals. This
feeling has taken the extraordinary form of a
resolute attempt on the part of the Opposition to
force on the Government larger supplies than it
has 'asked the House of Commons to grant.
Speaker after speaker has attempted to demon-
strate by the free use of false figures and imagi-
nary foots that there really is no surplus
at the disposal of the Government. The Opposi-
tion has, in fact, laboured as zealously to augment
the burdens on the people as most oppositions have
hitherto done to diminish them. And they have
met with the success which such a singular and ill-
messed attempt deserved. For three long nights
the active members of the party, small and great,
bays paraded all the hats and figures that could
be pressed into the service. They have indulged to
a most unusual sod most imprudent extent In
hasty statistics and questionable arithmetic. Thdy
have searched every corner of the globe for rummies
of disturbance and omens of war. They have in-
dulged in the gloomiest prophecies, and eagerly
caught at every symptom of social, commercial, or
political disaster, as though it were a perfect god-
send to the country. And all for what ? Only to
enhance the CHANCELLOR of LllO EXCHEQUER'S
triumph. Only that this exhaustive pile of feeble
and far-fetched objections might be mattered to the
winds, as they were by Mr. GLaveroxa's tri-
umphant reply last night.
Little nerd be said in detail of the debate. Mr.
BOWMAN SUfftElealy demonstrated to the House
that whatever preferment mother directions his un-
appreciated merits might deserve, nature had never
intended him for a Chancellor of the Exchequer.
13* far from being able to criticise the financial
statement of the Government, he proved that be
had not mastered its plainest and moat obtrusive
details. The whole point of his speeds turned on
certain figures, which he not only quoted but
repeated over and over again, impressing them
on the attention of the house in the moat pompous
and solemn manner. Ho earnestly entreated every
member to keep these figures before him
while listening to the seductive eloquence of the
CHANCELLoR of the EXCHEQUIE to refresh, their
memories with them during his speech, and to be-
lieve their eyes rather than their ears when he had
done. But the point of this solemn appeal was
rather spoilt by the fact that these figures which
were to work as a spell against the charms of Mr.
GLADOTONE'S eloquence, were simply a mistake—
an obvious and elementary blunder on the part of
the hon. member for Stroud. In making up the de-
ficit on which he so emphatically insisted, Mr.
Hiniexam had reckoned the same figures twice
over. however much at home the right hon.
gentleman may be in the region of fancy and spe-
culation, however gifted he may be as a political
prophet, he evidently is no great arithmetician,
and should, if he is well advised, avoid figures for
the future. To the political topics introduced
by Mr. Rotundas into his vapid and
discursive harangue, Mr. Iletorer's forcible
speech furnished an ample reply. Mr. Gwerroer
addressed himself to all the financial arguments
that have been urged during the course of the
debate. None were passed over; nor in the caw
of any single point of any importance did lie satisfy
himself with a mere general reply. He went mi-
nutely into details, giving the exact figures and pre-
cise calculations on which the estimates which have
boon recklessly and ignorantly assailed were founded.
It is impossible to refer to these points in detail.