The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-05 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY

tars should be maintained in office or not. But that was
a principle on which it was impossible the legislation of
this country could be satisfactorily conducted. The
Members for the metropolis had met together and given
a pledge to their constituents that if the Chancellor of
the Exchequer did not unconditionally repeal the win-
dow-tax they would refuse the supplies.—(Cries of
" No, no.") He had heard the Hon. Baronet the Mem-
ber for Marylebone express his approbation of the mea•
sure brought forward by the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, and the Hon. and Gallant Member for Westmin-
ster had also declared his unqualified approval of it;
but he had not yet heard the Hon. Member for Fins-
bury's opinion upon the subject. When the repeal of
the window-tax was first demanded it was made on
sanitary grounds. Its repeal was conceded, and a
house-tax was substituted. Were the parties satisfied?
No; because the sanitary question was made a pretext
for claiming the repeal of a tax which fell chiefly upon
the middle classes. In villages and small towns houses
with only seven windows afforded comfortable homes
to the poor, and those houses paid no tax at all.
The great error of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
was in giving way to these agitators of the metro-
polis. If the Right Honourable Gentleman had had
the courage to resist those gentlemen who, leaving their
shops to boys, assembled in conclave and issued their
mandates from the Marylebone vestry, threatening to
stop the supplies unless the Chancellor of the Exche•
quer unconditionally repealed the window-tax, he might
have been able to make a well-considered modification
of the income-tax. But the Right Hon. Gentlemen
yielded to a metropolitan agitation, and was therefore
compelled to retain that tax in its present most objec-
tionable shape.
Mr. WAKLEY said, that if the Hon. Member felt die-
satisfied with the shopkeepers of the metropolis, he
(Hr. Wakloy) must express himself very much dissatis-
fied with too shopkeepers of Reading.—(Cheers and
ltughter.) Did the Hon. Gentleman think it wrong for
the people to agitate when they considered there were
public abuses to redress? (Mr. STANFORD, "No.") Then
why complain? It was quite clear they had an im-
proved Budget in consequence of agitation on the past
of the Right Hon. Gentlemau's own friends and ordinary
supporters.—(Hear, hear.) It was quite clear the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer had that night given mortal
offence; but was it the budget that had done this? No;
it was the speech.--(Cheers.) It was the speech he had
delivered that had called forth so much bitterness and
anger. In the Budget there was very little that was new.
though that which was now was very good.—(Cheers.)
The speech of the Right Hon. Gentleman would give
great satisfaction to the country, and he could assure
the Hon. Member for Oxfordshire that he was
entirely mistaken if he supposed it would create any
alarm with reference to sustaining public credit in this
country. If he understood anything of the constitution
of the country, the way to sustain public credit was to
satisfy the masses of the people, and the Right Hon.
Gentlemen might be assured that his speech of that
night ,would be received by them with a sentiment of
respect and feedings of admiration. The Right Hon.
Gentleman had becemo convinced that the multitude
must be legislated fur, and nut the few; that the great
interests of this country which were to be attended to
were those that had reference to the millions, and
that the units must take care of themselves in the beat
way they could. Although the income-tax was to be
re-imposed without any change, yet the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman might be assured that the people were in favour
of the principle of direct taxation. What they demand, d
was a tax upon property; and he considered the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer to be distinctly committed to that
principle. He, however. hoped the Right Hon. Gentle-
men would reconsider his proposition with regard to the
income-tax. The tex cperated most unjustly as at pre-
sent imposed. It was a monstrous thing that a person
who possessed an immense amount of realized property
should pay no more per cent. than an individual wao
obtained his income by the exercise of his skill and by
the sweat of his brow. It was so unjust that it would
not bear discussion.' There was no difficulty in con-
structing a graduated scale of taxation ou property; if,
therefore, with a view to gain an opportunity to intro-
duce such an alteration a motion should be made for the
renewal of the tax for one year only, he should give that
motion his support.
Mr. STANFORD explained.
Mr. T. BARING could not but congratulate the
Chancellor of the Exchequer on the speech of the Hon.
Gentleman in support of the Government. The Hon.
Gentleman said that the object of that speech was to
prove that the relief of the masses from taxation was
the best mode of maintaining the national credit; and
he also said that he saw in that speech a disposition to
conciliate popular opinion. Substantially, that the ob-
ject of the Rightlion. Gentleman was to make a great
speech in support of public credit, and do little or no-
thing besides to support it.—(Laughter, and bear.) He
(Mr. Baring) agreed on that point with the Hon. Mem-
ber for Finsbury. It was right, in his opinion, for a
Government to have a surplus; and he maintained that
the proper course for them to pursue would be to retain
that surplus against contingencies, and not to fritter it
away in the reduction of slight taxation. When the
Right Hon. Gentleman, therefore, proposed to relieve
the window-tax, he could not understand his policy or
that of the Government.—(Hear, hear.) The Right
Hon. Gentleman proposed in his speech to relieve the
country from taxation on articles of general use; and
yet be only intended to repeal the window• tax, which
pressed upon no more than 400,000 houses iu the whole
country. This was not relief to the people—it was
merely yielding to that pressure from without which
had been applied by the metropolitan Members.—(Hear,
hear.) That was, in fact, class legislation of the most
objectionable description, because it was giving relief to
those towns which it appeared were the most prosperous,
while it gave nothing to that class which was most
distressed. The Right Hon. Gentleman had formerly
proposed to relieve clover and other seeds used in agri-
cultural operations, and also take upon himself the sup-
port of pauper lunatics; now, however, after his late
incubation, he intended to do nothing of the kind, but to
leave agriculture as he found it on that occasion. The
Hon. Member for Finsbury lauded direct taxatioa. He
(Hr. Baring) had no fear for the national credit; but he
certainly should not wish it to depend solely upon direct
taxation, because, in periods of national distress there
would be a strong temptation to break faith with the
public creditor. He thought, however, direct and indi-
rect taxation might be advantageously combined. As
he had before stated, he held it to be the duty of the
Government to retain a surplus, not only for the purpose
of meeting unforeseen contingencies, not even for the
purpose of upholding the national credit, but also for
the purpose of meeting any deficiency that might arise,
without recurring to further taxation. A surplus in a
season of prosperity would prevent taxation in a season
of adversity.—(llear, hear.) The Right Hon. Gentle-
man, however, telt that his language ill-expressed the
meaning of his &measures; and he (Mr. Baring) was
satisfied, that though the Right Hon. Gentleman's pri-
vate wish was to uphold the national credit, his public
acts, compelled by Hon. Gentlemen on the other side,
tended to the sacrifice of the national creditor.—(Hear,
hear.) It was the misfortune of the present Govern-
ment to be. weak and yielding, and therethre to be obliged
to sacrifice their own convictions to the pressure from
without; and the result would be, that if there was any
tuddca check to the national prosperity—such as war,
or that bill of the India Company which had been al-
luded to as waiting to be paid—the country would he
left in a position either to borrow, or to tax the already
distressed people for the purpose of meeting it.
Lord J. RUSSELL said the Hon. Member had ex-
pressed a great deal of indignation at the course pro-
posed to be taken by his Right Hon. Friend. The course
proposed by his Right Hon. Friend, however, who
wished above all things to maintain public: credit, was
to the effect that it was not only desirable to have a
revenue: sufficient for the purposes of government, but
also to have, in case of any unforeseen contingency, or
any sudden demand, the means of meeting either with-
out having recourse to fre h debts or new taxation. So
far his Right Hon. Friend was in agreement with the
Lion. Gentleman. What, however, did the Govern-
ment propose? They proposed in the present year to
have some 900,0001. surplus to meet all demands. If
no alteration took place in the revenue, they would have
350,0001. surplus. But in making alterations in such
duties as those on timber and coffee, it was found by ex-
perience that though there might be a loss on the first
year, in the second and in the succeeding years there
would most probably be found a much larger revenue
than before from these article.—(Loud cheers.) Be-
sides that, however, there was the means of making
further reductions afforded.—(Hear, hear.) So that
with 350,000/. certain, the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer might very fairly expect even still greater surplus
than that on which he had calculated.—(Hear.) All
this, however, excited the indignation of the Hon.
Gentleman, who maintained that nothing but a weak
Government, acting under the impulse of pressure from
without, could act in that manner. And yet the Minis-
ter whom his Right Hon. Friend followed—a wise Mi-
nister, too—had in 1847 laid down as a basis a sum no
larger than 90,0001.—(Laughter and hear.) That
Minister had stated his reasons for expecting an increase
of revenue, and the result proved that he was fully jus-
tified in his expectation. The Hon. Gentleman had not,
however, on that occasion given vent to the virtuous in-
dignation with which he had just treated the House.—
(Hear, hear.) He was, on the contrary, quite content to
follow in the wake of hat Government and to support
that Minister who kid down the principle that 90,0001.
was a sufficient surplus for the purpose of meeting all
contingencies. The Hon. Member who now said that
the Government was weak, seemed to forget the place
in which he was speaking—(Hear, bear, and laughter)
—and instead of being aware that he was speaking in
the House of Commons on a matter of figures—which
he was well able to deal with—had forgotten what took
place in 1845; and deeming the present an occasion for
a display of after-dinner eloquence—(Hear, laughter,
and cries of "Oh")—instead of availing .himself of his
great practical knowledge to satisfy himself of the
facts, he had made a party speech against the Govern-
ment for party reasons, and not for the advancement of a
great principle.—(Hear.)
Mr. DISRAELI said all the best speeches in the
House of Commons were after-dinner speeches—(Hear,
and laughter)—and for his own part he had never heard
the Noble Lord himself more happy than in a speech of
that description.—(Hear, and laughter.) The Hon.
Member for Finsbury had told the House that the pre-
sent Budget was not one bit better than that which the
lion. Member had previously condemned, but that its
badness was made up for by the speech which introduced
it.— (Hear, laughter, and No.) That it was as bad, in
fact, as that Budget which had been denounced at those
meetings alluded to by the Hon. Member for Reading;
but that this was no matter now, as the Government gave
good speeches.—(Laughter.) This reminded him (Mr.
Disraeli) of a speech of the Noble Lord—not an after-
dinner speech—the speech he made on introducing the
measure against Papal aggression. (Laughter.)
That speech was certainly a most admirable one as re-
garded matter; but the misfortune was, that the measure
which it introduced was by no means equal to it.