The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES.—The labours of the Commission on the
French Budget have at length terminated. Nearly
five months ago M. Fould made his annual report
to the Emperor, and as soon as the Legislative Body
began its session the estimates founded upon the
report were referred to the commission for examina-
tion. From that time to this M. O'Quin and his
colleagues have been engaged upon their task ; the
tedious debates on the address occupied week after
week, but even they came to an end ; local acts and
decrees without number have been passed, the great
question of checks has, after much deliberation, been
settled, and stillM.O'Quin's labours were unfinished.
The prorogation of the Chamber has been postponed,
and now in the first week of June the deputies find
their serious work has still to be done. It would
be ungenerous not to acknowledge the industry and
ability which M. O'Quin has displayed, but it may
be doubted whether the result has been worth the
delay. The Commission have done something be-
sides expanding into 48 columns of the Moniteur
what was contained in the shorter report of M.
Fould, but it is not much, and what they have
done could have been done more speedily in the
Chamber itself. The facts of their report are
very nearly the same as those set forth by M. Fould;
the criticism upon the financial state of the Empire
shows, as might be expected, little independence or
originality, and the simple consequence of the refer-
ence to what we should call a select committee is
that the deputies will now fall upon the report
with diminished appetite and with jaded energies.
The Commission have adopted on the whole the
views of M. Fould, but there is a significant
although slight difference in the tone of their report,
and that of the Minister of Finance. Both are hopeful,
but the later in date is the less hopeful of the two.
The lapse of time has made it impossible to cherish
some of the anticipations which M. Fould put forth
in January, and M. O'Quin is not responsible for
the fulfilment of the Minister's prophecies. In his
report M. Fould said the expenditure of 1864 would
be balanced by the receipts ; though to secure this
result he was obliged to reckon as received the sugar
duties which were in arrear, and as realised the
Mexican Bonds, which were unsaleable except at a
heavy discount. We now find an acknowledged
deficiency of '£1,000,000 in 1864, though the Mexi-
can Bonds, which have experienced a further decline
in the interval, are still reckoned at their first esti-
mate. There is also a supplemental credit of
£240,000 required by the Minister of War, so that
the acknowledged deficiency of £1,000,000 may be
converted into a balance of £2,840,000 of expendi-
ture over income, subject to reduction when the
Mexican Bonds are sold. The aspect of the cur-
rent year is slightly worse in May than it was in
January. According to M. Fould, it would be ne-
cessary to rectify the first Estimates of expenditure,
£84,200,000, by an addition of £3,280,000 ; M.
O'Quin puts the addition at £3,520,000. The
Commissioner is, however, consoled by the reflection
that the rectificatory budget of 1864 amounted to
£5,600,000, and that while the additional expendi-
ture on account of the Mexican expedition was in
that year £2,840,000, it is in 1865 no more than
£1,600,000. There is again a slight difference in the
Estimates which M. Fould and M. O'Quin have
formed of the revenue of the current year. The Mi-
nister had taken into account a progressive increase
in the receipts from the indirect taxes, which the
reporter thinks may not be borne out by the
result. By means of this expected increase, and
of an anticipated reduction in the actual expendi-
ture_
as compared with the Estimates, M. Fould,
d
promised himself a surplus of £720,000 in
which he proposed to apply towards the extraor-
dinary expenditure of 1866. The language whtii
the Commission use in reference to this anticipation
ak of the
is the strongest part of their Report.
srt. M. O'Quin
and his colleagues even
venture
tl but without
pgraemssbilinnggtheihs aorbacjetecrtioonf
tislucychcahlolpes
circumstances which should makeaention to two
the Minister
of Finance most cautious in looking forward to the
future. The first is one to which attention has been
more than once directed on this side of the Channel
as.prejudicial to the stability of French finance. It
is the charge, occurring for the first time in the ac-
counts of the current year, due to payments made
to the Railway Companies of the Empire by way of
guarantee on the capital expended on the secondary
system of railways. Last year the charge for 1865
was taken at £540,000, but it is now confessed that
this is £140,000 less than the sum which will have to
be paid over to the companies. The Minister has
estimated the charge for 1866 at £1,240,000, but
the Commission point out that this is less than the
amount which the Railway Companies themselves
believe will be required. It is not easy_to .calculate
the sum to-which this payment of guaranteed inte-
rest May ultimately- grow. The railway branches
most recently made are at once the moat costly and

NEW s p E
Yrw'L_
the least productive ; they ha
of France which offer the grey 11 ~..1`
:14
engineer, and which are too thi
of a traffic sufficient to pay irate
their construction. The second @mums
which the Commission appeal as ju.-.213.-A.., ut
in estimates of the future may be expressed in one
word—Mexico. They point out that among the
estimated receipts both of 1865 and of 1866 is a sum
of £1,096,000 to be paid by Mexico. By the terms
of the treaty, Mexico has undertaken to pay an
annual sum .of a million, by way of indemnity to
France, and £96,000 towards the expense of the line
of packets between the two Empires. The Commis-
sion will not allow themselves to suppose that Mexico
will find any difficulty in making the first of these
payments ; but, strangely enough, they think it may
be necessary to add the smaller sum to the debt
which France is accumulating against the younger
Empire. Those who are not so deeply interested in
the solvency of Mexico may be pardoned for think-
ing that the probability that a million will be
promptly paid is not increased by the confession
of a doubt with respect to £96,000. Mexico furnishes
the occasion of another alarm sounded by the
6Ecom-
mission. The extraordinary expenditure of the
current year includes, as we have said, £1,600,000
on account
wofitlhBo ft6hthe this
mitpechargesnerr disappears. o:
Aii a
xtheim il
Maximilian.
a I
French troops
ptohrreport
servingestimate
the commission, "we shall still have next year,
contrary to our hopes, troops in Mexico, the cost of
them will fall upon the retificatory budget of 1866,
without any supplementary resource being forth-
coming by way of compensation. The possibility
of this eventuality is another reason not to proceed
at present upon calculations of a problematical sur-
plus." It is tolerably evident that Mr. O'Quin has
transformed the equilibrium of 1864 into a defi-
ciency of a million, the probable surplus of £720,000
in the current year is in his mind what mathema-
ticians call a vanishing quantity. As for 1866, he
scarcely ventures to speculate upon it ; and yet ho
and his associates are hopeful. The deficiency of
1864 is the smallest which has happened for many
years. The rectificatory budget of the current year
also shows a considerable decrease on its prede-
cessors. The direct taxes produce a larger re-
venue yearly, and the indirect taxation increases,
although, or rather because, free trade has brought
rcdneed tariffs. But the ecuumission see that while
all these influences produce some improvement in
the condition of the Imperial finances, something
more is wanted to restore them to a perfectly sound
condition. They echo in faint tones the wishes
which M. Fould almost plaintively expresses. Both
agree in desiring that the time may come when the
Budget will be relieved from the charges included
in it on account of distant and costly expeditions.
The Commission venture, indeed, a little further,
and hint at the possibilty of a reduction in the mili-
tary establishment of France. They are half afraid
to make the suggestion, and almost seem desirous
of withdrawing it after it has been made, but it re-
mains. "We perceive," they say, "in this the pos-
sibility of serious economy; and if there be a people
for whom it offers no dangers, it is assuredly that
people whose children would become on thevery first
call from the country irresistible soldiers."
POST.—The action of the Liberal party in election
matters leaves very much to be desired. It has
scarcely improved since Homer alluded to the " per-
fect specimens of wrong-headedness, men of a dis-
senting, provincial cast of virtue," who procured the
defeat of Brougham more than 50 years ago. The
conditions . of the approaching contest at Chester
have just been described by Mr. Gladstone, and the
same state of things in Westminster has led to the
retirement of Sir John Shelley.. Lambeth and Fins-
bury are in a similar dilemma, while Brighton and
Exeter presently witness to the inevitable result.
The moderation and prudence essential to the pro-
per management of political business are disre-
garded, and imperial interests are sacrificed to local
jealousies, impracticable ideas, and crotchetty con-
ceits. At Chester there are three candidates for one
seat. Mr. W. H. Gladstone stands upon a requisi-
tion signed by 800 electors, out of a constituency of
1,900 ; hut as the Liberals are divided by the can-
didature of Mr. Fenton, the Conservatives conceive
that the breach thus made is wide enough to admit
of the election of the candidate they have brought
into the field to profit by the opportunity. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer explained on Wednes-
day evening that his son had, under his advice, de-
clined to accept the invitation of nearly half of the
constituency until he was satisfied that the responsi-
bility of dividing the Liberal party rested upon Mr.
Fenton ; and, as a matter of principle, it is, of
course, immaterial whether the division does or does
not answer •to the expectations of the Conservative
minority. Their game is so far honest that there is
no concealment about it, and, what is more, from
their point of view they are playing for a national
stake. As to vulgar vituperation and factious
mendacity, that is almost beneath the notice of a
Minister whose private virtues are not less con-
spicuous than his public services. We do not look
for truth or refinement in a contested election,
and Mr. Gladstone is, by reason of his character
and talent, a mark for envy and detraction. Mr.
Fenton's opposition may also be susceptible of
some explanation and we quite understand that a
candidate who thinks he can command a majority
at the close of the poll would refuse to submit to a
preliminary trial of strength, either by a show of
hands or a ballot. Mr. W. H. Glaastono'a eight
hundred pledges are securities for so many votes,
but a promise is one tiling and a vote another.
Any election agent up to his work would reduce the
eight hundred by a very simple arithmetical process;
and yet there is no reason to doubt that the requi-
sition expressed the opinions of the persons who
subscribed. Mr. Fenton may, therefore, be pre-
ferred before the son of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, and his election would in a sense justify
his candidature. But in Westminster another side
of the picture is visible. There three Liberal candi-
dates claimed two seats, and the Conservatives nomi-
nated Mr. Smith. The retirement of Sir John
Shelley now places the Liberal party in a somewhat
better position, and if his friends and the friends of
the two remaining candidates unite, one of the
principles Mr. Mill is pledged to support can be
controverted by his election. An influential mino-
ritytwould be left unrepresented, while the working
classes would be represented by the great thinker
of the age, whose thoughts are above their com-
prehension, instead of by a gentleman who has
honourably raised himself from their own estate
to a position from which he is qualified to
solicit their suffrages. The fact, too, would
remain that Mr. Mill or Captain Grosvenor
compelled Sir John Shelley to retire; and without
at all going into the merits of the case, it must be
said that this discloses a reckless indifference to
obligations which, however out of fashion, are based
upon the principles of Constitutional Government.
Altogether, however, this is a very old story, and
Mr. Bernal Osborne, with his habitual candour,
lately pointed its moral pertinently and personally.
But Mr. Gladstone is, if we mistake not, consider-
ing the subject comprehensively and practically.
He regrets the abolition of the scot-and-lot con-
stituencies, and is probably of opinion that the plain
honesty of the educated men of the working class
would produce a salutary effect on the existing
electoral body. Mr. Gladstone is certainly far
from being what is called a theoretical reformer ; ho
keeps a high moral purpose in view, and his expe-
rience at Chester will no doubt serve to strengthen
the resolutions he has formed. Nor will his pene-
trating intellect fail to trace loose practices to their
relaxing cause. Under the old system of represen-
tation, if members were virtually returned by in-
dividuals, they went to the House of Commons to
maintain intelligible principles. They were
broad national that party. was organised on
more or
nominated and elected to support a party, and
con-
siderations. Now, there is, less, in many
boroughs, what can only be described as a
commercial understanding. It is not whether a
candidate is qualified to discharge the duties of a
representative with credit to himself and to the
public advantage, but whether he has it in his power
to benefit the locality which elects him ; and when
itht ise
Onpotpotshietiogeneral
popolliictiycsoafretphreim jrorilvyerrnemgaerndtedo,r
some particular measure of change, with respect to
which pledges are exacted. Conservatives oppose
Mr. Gladstone, and Radicals declare that Lord
Palmerston is the great stumbling-block in the way
of reform ; but beyond those points they will not
look. Mr. Bright despairs of progress, because he
pretends that it is impeded by the Premier, forget-
ting, as it would seem, that the force of resistance
he ascribes to a Minister must have its source in the
mind of the country ; and in like manner the seen •
rity of the Church is said to depend on the rejection
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer by the Univer-
sity of Oxford, as if a national institution, reposing
firmly on its catholicity, could be endangered by'
one man, no matter how able or persuasive. Now,
this may be the representation of mediocrity, as
Mr. Disraeli has used the word ; it may be a re-
presentation of class interests, and of the prejutdiitceiss
of cliques and sections of the community ;
the people contemplated by the Constitution ,
g closely
certainly not the Parliamentary representation.itiobiil and
it is this growing conviction,
expressed° by
conclusion thoughtfully and cautiously
resembling it, which is graduaollry something
up to the
of exalting its
foundations for the purpose
character.
Mr. Gladstone—that it is desirable to ex,t.end its

MONSTER CASTING.--(in Wednesday an anvil
block estimated to weigh 210 tons, and said to be the
largest hitherto manufactured in England, was cast at the
Iron and Steam Compatiy's Works, Bolton, The-metal
took eight hours-to run into the-mould, • .

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THIS DAY.—Morning, Bh. 10m.—Afternoon, Bh. 42m,
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lit ;eej
....... S
I.Pill
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