The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-19 00:00:00

towards the members of the neighbouring Go-
vernment. Hence the inquiries, made last
night by the Right Hon. the ex-CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER. How those inquiries were re-
sponded to by the Noble Lord the FOREIGN SECRE-
TARY, the community may now recognise through
the medium of yesterday's discussion. Now, let us
see for one moment with what astonishing cool-
ness Lord JOHN RUSSELL can insult the common
sense of the people in his blundering attempts to
evade the assaults of his antagonists. Allusion,
said the Noble Lord, had been made to passages
in speeches delivered by Members of the Cabinet
—and for what purpose had that allusion been
made ? It could only be to excite irritation.
Good GOD ! to which side we should like to know
is this irritation attributable ? Is it attributable
to the Statesman who demands with all Parlia-
mentary decorum some explanation of a dubious
part of our public policy—or to the Minister of
State who' so far forgets the responsibility of his
position and the dignity of his office, as to speak
of an illustrious Ally in terms of the most vulgar
vituperation? Letus add, however, that Lord JOHN
goes farther than this in his profound contempt
for • the common sense of the population. He
asserted that nothing was further from the inten-
tions of the gentlemen who acted thus, meaning,
of course, the Right Hon. Baronets the PRESI-
DENT of the BOARD of CONTROL and the 'FIRST
LORD of the ADMIRALTY, than to say anything
offensive to the French EMPEROR or his people !
Can anything, we ask, be more preposterous than
this, more directly opposed by the deductions formed
by the most dispassionate judgment!? According
to Lord JOHN RUSSELL, you may call a distin-
guished potentate by all the opprobrious terms in
the dictionary, and yet mean nothing whatever
offensive ! You may scout a whole race, and that
race, as Mr. DISRAELI justly observed yesterday,
the most polite, the bravest, and the most in-
genious of modern times. You may designate
a great people like this, foremost in the ranks of
civilisation—a nation of slaves—ground down
into the dust under the most ignominious circum-
stances—and yet mean nothing whatever offen-
sive ! As well might you indulge your spleen by
kicking a man in Regent-street, and then, when
remonstrated with, declare that you meant nothing
whatever offensive. As well throw mud and brick-
bats at a group of neighbours who are doing you no
sort of injury, and then rebut the charge of intem-
perance in Jour conduct, by declaring that you
meant nothing whatever offensive !
Nevertheless, in regard to one of those two
Cabinet Ministers of England who have recently
degraded their office by becoming the scurrilous
assailants of a friendly and neighbouring Govern-
ment—it must be remembered, as Mr. DISRAELI
said last night with such bitter truth and such
exquisite sarcasm; that he is in the habit of saying
offensive things without meaning them, a peculiar
organisation, of which it can only be said that it is
a very awkward accomplishment. Bearing in mind
what has recently occurred in testimony of the
accuracy of this observation, remembering the
language employed by Sir CHARLES WOOD at
Halifax and Sir JAMES GRAHAM at Carlisle, and

taking into account the melancholy prevarications
by which blame in the matter was striven by
Lord JOHN RUSSELL to be shuffled off from the
shoulders of the Coalition Ministry—it will be
well for the honour of the country, for the dignity
of the CROWN, and for the character of the British
Government, if henceforth the Statesmen, en-
trusted with the higher offices of Administration,
display, if it be only in appearance, a manlier
courage and a wiser circumspection.

It was said of the whilome " King of CONNE-
MARA," as poor DICK MARTIN was facetiously
designated, that when dunning applications were
pouring in thickly, he was accustomed to " bless
the happy days when the post came in but once a
fortnight."
The embarrassed potentate could only regard
the increased postal facilities as unmitigated evilso
enabling troublesome creditors to annoy gentle-
men who had favoured them with their custom,,
and as a means of keeping the unsatisfactory state
of their pecuniary concerns continually under
consideration. The benefit to the community
was lost sight of in the inconvenience to which he
was personally exposed. There are many
Right Honourable Gentlemen who entertain
a similar feeling as to the publicity given
to Parliamentary discussions. Mr. GLADSTONE,
last night, must have blessed the happy times
when there was no HANSARD, when the publica-
tion of debates was strictly prohibited, and all
that the public could learn of Legislative sayings
and doings was derived from the pages of the
Gentlemares Magazine, which contained very brief
summaries of the proceedings, the names of the
orators being studiously concealed, until they be-
came identified with the classical appellations
under which they were designated. If the prac-
tice of the " good old times" were restored, Mr.
GLADSTONE, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and Sir CHARLES
WOOD would have been spared the castigation
so soundly administered by the veteran JOSEPH
HUME, who wielded the formidable instrument
placed in his hands with a vigour and energy that
must have in no small degree astonished the un-
willing recipients of the unexpected flagellation.
Nothing can be more displeasing to one of the
" ins" than to have his own opinions as an "out"
brought forward in opposition to his conduct on
the subject under discussion ; but it must be pecu-
liarly so when these very opinions were put for-
ward as reasons for censuring his predecessors,
and made use of as stepping-stones to official rank
and power—when he finds that he is condemned
by his own words, and the gross inconsistency of
his proceedings is clearly and unsparingly exposed
on an authority which he, at least, cannot slight
or disregard.
The first named Right Hon. Gentleman, so far
back as the 6th of Dec., made a vigorous onslaught
on the late Administration, and more especiallyon the
accomplished occupant of the Office which he him-
self now holds, for daring to allude to any fiscal
reductions before he had obtained the sanction of
the House to the renewal of the Income Tax,
which, "producing more than one-tenth of the
annual revenue," would expire at the ter-
mination of the current financial year --
that is: to say, on the sth of April next.
It was true that Mr. DISRAELI had fully and une-
quivocally explained the intentions of the late
Government in reference thereto. He was pre-
pared to recognise the distinction between preca-
rious and certain incomes, leaving the details of
the measure for future arrangement. But, not-
withstanding this explicit avowal—notwithstand-
ing that there was no concealment of, or mystery
as to, the Ministerial views, Mr. GLADSTONE, a
leading Member of her MAJESTY'S Opposition,
thought it "by no means a regular (!), an advan-
almost a constitutional (I !!) order
o make any provision for the
Lord
ta(fin)fgaePn°rclisicael(e!yei)n'J o
,r" tcommencing the sth of April, until
the course
had bsetobe pursued
fully
suedwithrespect to the
Incom
considered.
td
LJOHN RUSSELL fully concurred in that opinion,
c°e
thinking that "there was great force in what the
Right Honourable Gentleman said, as to the neces-
sity of taking both the Income Tax and the House
Tax before the House was asked for any tes ;"
while Sir CHARLES WOOD—the unhappy Marplot
of every proceeding in which he was concerned—
who occasioned greater damage to every Adminis-
tration with which he has been connected than its
most formidable opponent, contributed his mite,
by declaring that " the House ought to go into
a Committee of Ways and Means, when a resolu-
tion might be proposed for the maintenance of
the Income Tax." But, alas for consistency and
stability of opinion—alas for faith in human
promises ! These very men now force the
House into a Committee of Supply, asking
large grants, while they obstinately refuse
to afford the slightest particle of information
Tax—all
sa
ft
etro
Easter,t intentionshei
mention r
w when
e n whereof
th ewi i th
impost
ps regard
otsot
is
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etlthah Income
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ground, while
dissolution. Well might they skulk in the back
the duty of appealing to the House
to sanction a course once deemed so unconsti-
tutional, devolved upon a colleague against whom
no such damning evidences of inconsistency could
be adduced. Let the Noble Lord and his Right