The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

ctohnateritvoeptroevexeneltudae
gptorwtieonshoofuliti
fromp o ssi b
the
eh
ei sau.
lnadtei rosnt a
tnhdai
tn
which relates to the peculiar arrangement proposed by my
t
right honourable friend in regard to the repayment of
loan. (Hear, hear.) With respect to that arrange-
ment, I give him credit for the best and highest'
intentions. It is obviously an effort on his part to vindicate,
as
far
as he could, the principle that we should transmit as
little as we can of the burdens of the war to those who are
to follow us, but to make provision for discharging them
ourselves. At the same time I confess that, without ex-
pressing a final judgment, I feel great doubt and difficulty
upon the subject of that peculiar arrangement. I think
the Chancellor of the Exchequer should give is time to
consider it deliberately. What I am afraid of is, that if
we agree to-night to the resolution now beforethe commit-
tee, which resolution is understood to be binding and de-
cisive as to the substance of the arrangement, we may find
that we have parted from our liberty to discuss the peculiar
provision for the repayment of the loan. I would there-
fore suggest to the Chancellor of the Exchequer that that
provision should be separated from the rest of the resolu-
tion ; and I am not aware of any strong reason why, if the
provision should be so separated and put into the form of a
distinct resolution by itself, a vote should be taken upon it
to-night. I hope my right honourable friend will act upon
my suggestion, so that there may be a distinct understand-
ing that his proposal as to the repayment of the loan is one
of public policy exclusively, having nothing to do with the
bargain between the State and the contractors, and that we

may modify or even reject it. I listened to the speech of the
hon. member for Wick with great interest, with great sym-
pathy, and with great admiration for its high English spirit.
Atthe same time lam not prepared to concur with him in
saying that it was the duty of the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer to propose at the present time to raise the income tax
to 10 per cent. (Hear.) If all the payers of income tax
were in the same circumstances as those who listened to

the speech of the hon. member for Wick, then it would
have been obligatory upon the Chancellor of the Exche:

quer to raise the income tax to 10 per cent. That would
have been the simplest, the most powerful, and upon the
whole the safest and fairest measure he could take ; but it
is only those who have been conversant with the actual
management of financial affairs who know how severe be-
comes the pressure of the income tax when you approach
the classes that are touched by its lowest limits. (Hear.)
The question is a serious one, whether you can raise the
income tax to the war limit of 10 per cent. without under-
taking to solve a difficult problem—namely, the practica-
bility of a further extension of the tax downwards beyond
anything you have yet attempted. Consider the present
position of the tax. You levy it upon persons who have
1001. a year. In the main, though not of course altogether,
the dividing line of 1001. per annum is the dividing line
between the educated and uneducated parts of the commu-
nity. Now I doubt whether, all things considered, the
educated part of the community having 1001. a year are
really a great deal better off than the less educated part of
the community having 601., 701., or 931. a year. (Hear.) I
fear, therefore, that there are more than fiscal considera-
tions involved in the question whether we should raise the
I income tax to 10 per cent. I look to that augmentation as
a necessary incident to the present war, if protracted ; but
when you raise the income tax to 10 per cent., you
must consider that question with respect to the relations of
the classes to which I have adverted, and in doing so you
will have a great political problem to solve, and immense
difficulties of machinery and administration to encounter.
I think the Chancellor of the Exchequer was quite right,
not finding it absolutely necessary, under present circum-
stances, to encounter these gigantic di tEculeies, to resort to
other measures ; and I am not prepared to join in any
censure upon him for not hevine proposed to raise the in-
come tax to 10 per ceut. (Hear.) lam bound to say that
although I am not prepared to withhold my assent from
the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to borrow
a large sum of money, yet I cannot profess to have a
weaker or fainter impression of the disadvantages of public
loans than I had formerly, when in an official capacity it
was my duty to make provision for the present war. If
1 there was one sentence in the speech of my right hon.
friend from which I emphatically differed, it was that in
which he referred to a most able and vigorous pamphlet,
well worthy the attention of members of this house and of
the public generally, recently published by Mr. New-
march. That gentleman has explained in great detail the
financial proceedings of Mr. Pitt during the revolutionary
war, and I think the words of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer were that Mr. Newmarch had shown that the
loans of Mr. Pitt were contracted upon terms much more
advantageous to the public than was commonly supposed.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—Of late
years.
Mr. GLADSTONE —ln my opinion, that is not what
Mr. Newmarch has proved. What he has shown is this—
that greater difficulties than is commonly supposed would
have beset the path of Mr. Pitt if he had attempted to
proceed in another manner. I have no doubt Mr. New-
march means that Mr. Pitt could not have realised so
many public advantages as ho did from a different manner
of proceeding. He strengthens my impression of the da-
mage and detriment that occur to the public from be-
coming a borrower on a large scale under a pressing neces-
sity ; and he shows, not that Mr. Pitt's loans were less dis-
advantageous to the country, but that all loans whatever,
no matter how contracted, must be attended with immense
economical disadvantages, and heavy pecuniary burden.
(Hear.) But, with that impression on my mind, lam by
no means disposed to extenuate my share in the proposals
of last year ; on the contrary, I am content to have been
the instrument of the late Government in attempting to
induce the Aouse of Commons to make a wise, a resolutP,
an honourable. and a successful effort. (Hear, hear.)
Without in the slightest degree receding under that storm
of criticism and invective which every one must expect
who does not endeavour to square himself to everybody's
wishes, but remembers there is such a thing as a pubiis
interest, which after all is something different from the
convenience of classes, I am yet disposed to admit that
there is a limit to the application of the doctrine which
I advocated last year. You cannot possibly expect
a free country, or the representatives of a free country,
to push a very sound economical doctrine, under
all circumstances, to these extremes. You must re-
member that you have to deal with flesh and blood, and
you must not expect flesh and blood to bear more than is
reasonable. But Igo farther, and admit that when a sud-
den accumulation of taxation becomes so great an evil,
so great a cause of disturbance to all personal and social re-
lations, it is far better to provide yourselves with money
at a pecuniary disadvantage than it is to carry that disturb-
ance to a dangerous height. Therefore, for a considerable
time islet, ever since the expenditure of the war became so
uncontrollable that it was clear it would be necessary for
the Govern.neot to provide fur a considerable portion of the
1 expenses of the vear by borrowed money, I was pr- pared to
say that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not- be
blamed for resorting to a loan. Last year I made provision
mys,lf for a considerable portion of the expenses by bor-
rowed money; but that was simply money borrowed in an-
ticipation of the tares, and I may state that the taxes im-
posed last year will cover, within one million, the whole of
that borrowed money. am indisposed to enter into any
minute criticism as to the precise proportion of money to
be borrowed in comparison with that to be raised by taxa-
tion, or even as to the question whether the Chancellor of
the Exchequer has selected the stock in which to borrow
with a sound estimate of the public interests, or whether
he should have carried to a somewhat greater extent the
principle of borrowing upon terminable annuities. I
entirely agree with my right hon. friend that it would
not have been practicable, except upon extravagant
terms, to have effected tha whole operation upon
that principle. But these are questions which may be
discussed upon some future occasion. Ido not think it
would become me to enter upon them now. The question
for me is whether the principle and outline of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer's plan, considered simply as a
means of providing for the financial necessities of the
country, is one to which the committee ought to give its
approval or not. None of those preferences which we may
have for one mode of proceeding rather than another, are,
under !present circumstances, sufficient to induce us to
withhold our votes from the proposal of my right hon.
friend. I certainly should wish to have the power of con-
sidering more maturely the special provisions he proposes
to make for the repayment of the loan. On the other
hand, it is of capital importance that this house should
maintain, as far as possible, the influence and credit of its
financial vigour in the face of the country ; and even if it
were in my power to shew, which I do not assume, that in
one point or another the Chancellor of the Excheqaer
might have made a bargain more precisely consistent with
the public interests, I should have to balance the advan-
tage so attained against the great and heavy disadvantage
which I have good reason to know attaches to the position
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his proposals are
made the subject of undue criticism. I am, therefore, dis-
posed to withhold that criticism upon the present occa-
sion ; but there is one question upon which I think it
necessary to reserve my judgment. The Chancellor of
the Exchequer began his speech by a reference to the
time at which he made his financial statement, and ap-
peared to think that he required to- apologise for
not having come before the house at an earlier period than
the 20,h of April with an exposition of his views and pro-
posals for the year. There was one reason, undoubtedly,
why it was desirable, if it could have been done, that the
finances of the country should have been brought under
the view of the house at an earlier period of the session—
naheely, the rapid growth of the expenditure, which during
the last quarter has pressed so severely upon the immediate
rme soi
nui
srtcee of the
rs
didnnot
t come Exchequerdow n
to thatns
ki t
forwas
additionalnecessary;
supplies,the
he should use his own discretionary power by availlne him-
self of the favourable state of the public funds to'raise
money by sales of stock belonging to the National Debt
Commissioners. The hon. tuen4oer for Wick has censured
that proceeding. - I am responsible for a large part of it,
and my hon. friend is responsible for having
the same course. I do not believe it wohldahave been satis-
factoryseadasbeioenn
before the conclusion of the financial year, to the house if at an earl
asked to snake their financial arrangemeeantel
this. In a time of peace it is an easy matter to truth
ppo is
financial arrangements which shall last for twelve months-ro-e.
but in a time of war it is very difficult to do so. pathi,
other hand, it is annoying and worrying to the house to be
continually pressed with one application after another for
an increase of taxation. It is desirable to adhere to
the principle of annual statements, and not to multiply
your financial plans. Last year it may be a ques-
tion whether, in our desire to act upon constitutional
grounds, and place ourselves at once at the com-
mand of Parliament, it was for the public convenience
that twice the house should be asked to alterthe taxes and
make pecuniary provision for the expenses of the year. At
any rate I think the Chancellor of the Exchequer has done
quite right in reserving his statement till the usual time,
using his discretionary power to supply himself with money
othcoanethinued in
upon terms not more disadvantageous than would have been
the plan of coming down prematurely to Parliament with
a new scale of taxes, which he would probably have to
alter again before the end of the session. Nay I am dis-
posed to regret that, having delayed his financial statement
till the 20th of April, he (lid not postpone it for a few days
longer. I say that with reference to a question of the
greatest importance. You havo at this moment negotia-
tions going forward at Vienna. (Hear, hear.) Upon the
issue of these negotiations must depend whether the expen-
diture for the year will be 80,000,000/, or whether it will
be under 70,000,0001. Although the expenditure must in
Take the
any case be very large, yet, in the event of a speedy peace,
it need not be so large as the Chancellor of the Exchequer
has stated to-night. For example, there are 4,000,0001. fur
i Tinbc'dYing the militia. Of that 4,000,0001., 3,000,0001. at
eßtialAtes, 4_
east, Perhaps 4,000,0001., would be saved in case of peace.
6,000.,.
,ansport service. Between ti,000,009/. and
more tZ4l:l4;soe been voted. lt would be practicable to save
f teat in the event of peace. So with the large
:eatnnenei.
ptivaiii.rizaretliwi
on go
fe itghhatt millions,in ney has votedbee for thef oOr
trhd
ee-
with the wargitr: itself "'fleeted
under the ---:,,-11.!1.811131)Vies for daily and hourlyconsumption
we had not beene
and the ariZlncei" of war* Thenecessity for these supplies,
as that proposed ~,3 called
n ur3ll
day to day the inn. certainlyA should have been glad if
be said that a war me acif
lgbt; I,t, to is a step so important
but the present lasipositiyonl clr
at .4
timYeienna. It may
""eleleigia...: expect fro
.ma
~
tSoihtemreigisht ;
, negotiation on foot; a certain lye
ftffasxsostisespeeni *
been made A