The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1853.

Government indeed obtained a victory early
this morning over the Opposition. A victory
that affords compensation for a dozen defeats—be
they defeats upon the Jew Bill, or upon tke
Duty on Advertisements. For it must be re-
taembered that the present triumph of Ministers
was a triumph gained in a House of no less than
675 Representatives. It was a triumph in which
252 voted for and 323 against the amendment,
leaving seventy-one as the magnificent majority in
favour of the proposition of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. The division has, therefore, we
.take it, been decisive—decisive of the fate of the
Budget, and, to a great extent also, of the desti-
nies of the Administration. In the upshot it
has proved precisely what could alone have
been 'anticipated : although tho country could
scarcely have expected so considerable a num-
ber told off into the lobby in favour of the
Government. Still a majority—a majority rang-
ing as might happen from one to one hundred—
was a matter of certainty. It was inevitable, after
the avowals made in the course of the debate by
the Hon. Member for Montrose, and particularly
after the plain-speaking of another independent
representative—meaning by this, of course, no
other than the Hon. Member for the West Riding
of Yorkshire. The language uttered by Mr.
HUME, and afterwards by Mr. COBDEN, was un-
mistakeable. It was altogether as unmistakeable
as it was extraordinary. It was apart from rea-
son. It was apart from logic. It was apart even i
from common sense. It announced, in fact, the
most egregious non sequitur that had perhaps
ever been whispered within the walls of the
Imperial Legislature. It said—virtually—"Thei
proposal of a renewal of the Income Tax for
seven years, without regard to the difference of
men's fortunes, whether they chance to be fixed
or whether they chance to be precarious, is, to
our thinking, so atrocious and intolerable, so un-
just, and, therefore, let us add, so unjustifiable, i
that—we consider it our duty—to—give—the—
Budget—our—unqualified—approbation!" That
we say was, virtually, the language of Mr. HuiuE.
It was afterwards virtually the language of Mr.
COBDEN. It intimated clearly enough what would
be the course pursued under the emergency
by the great body of the Financial Reform-
ers. The success of the Budget was secured.
Coming toe almost simultaneously with the
electioneering triumph at Athlone of the Hon.
and Learned Gentleman the Solicitor-General for
Ireland, the declarations made in this matter, and
in this manner, by the Representatives of Mon-
trose and the West Riding of Yorkshire—con-
firmed the gcod promise of the proximate advan-
tage about to be secured by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. Through Mr. KEOGH, a large portion
of the Irish Brigade had been gained over to the
support of the Administration. Through Mr.
HUME the sticklers for retrenchment had been
prevented from inadvertently swelling the ranks
of the Opposition. Through Mr. COBDEN, the
Coalition had dissipated the pique, and by dissipat-
ing the pique, had commanded the support of the
professors and students of the politico-commercial
School of Manchester. Mr. GLADSTONE had not
counted without his host. He had contrived so
adroitly to blend the sweet with the bitter in the
Inevitable cup of Taxation—that he had won
over to views such as they had hitherto detested
many of those who might reasonably have been
counted upon as his antagonists. The wormwood
of the Income Tax was mingled with the sac-
charine remission of two-thirds of the duty on
Advertisements. The gall was flavoured with
the honey. And—now that JOHN BULL has
confidingly " opened his mouth and shut his
eyes" to see what Good Luck, in the person
,EL ADST •
of Mr'
swallowed,
orrs would send him—all
has been
Henceforth it must be
borne in recollectionwe that the draught has
been imbibed at the ttigaftion of many of the
echaoranceralolefi:coafl
most redoubtable lead.
and financial
improvement. The
the Exchequer
appeared before the
bens afto the appointed
hour, as the QUEEN appeared
Budget, and
MOND, in one hand the bowl of
Parlia-
thee
BFair RosA,
former
in the other the dagger of a Dissolutionud
Parlia-
ment, in its " wisdom," has accepted the
—without much regard, it would seem, as to the
consequences. It may be said to have already
drained it to the dregs—meaning, of course, the
noxious tax upon Incomes, no matter whether
fixed or precarious. The fact is attested by that
majority of 71, in a House of 5i5, by which the
Legislative
approbation has been decisively ac-
corded to the Financial statement of the Right
Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1 '4' ha *thing ', `;;:a influence in warning even
eh Re
?lON of the most staunch Reformers in the Com-
.t.
al acceptance of
\from the almost uncouth 1011
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