The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-22 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 22, 1851.

yielded tto,th,a,popular wish, because he saw that con-
, cession tees fitsolutely neeessery to the exis'.:seee, of his
Asioveenment.—Bis refusal-to ecquicece, On Tharsitayein
the motion of Mr. Locke King. for the extension of the
101. quel;fication to coantiee, was aecompseed by air;
use of langussee which the nation must testiut as an in-
sult. The Noble Lord repeattdty and explicitly e 4
mitted, in the course of his speech, that the principle f
Mr. Locke King's motion was in itself ueeeceptienuble,
and that the extension of the 10/. franchise to the coun-
ties would confer the electoral qualification on as
irtelli-
gent and honest a body of men as any whose names ate
to be found on the existing registries, either for tomes
or counties. But then Lord John Russell went on to say,
that the representation was very veil as it now existed.
Does the Premier then imagine that Englishmen are a
nation of dolts? Dues he suppose that they have no
understanding? Does he take it for granted, that they
can discern no inconsistency in his oft-repeated admis-
sions, in the course of the last four years, that the re-
presentation needed amendment, and his assertion on
Thursday, that it is all that could be wished? But this
was not all. As if to render his inconsistencies as
glaring as it is possible for inconsistencies to be made,
the Noble Lord went on, in the same breath, to state
that he would be prepared next session, if in office—a
very prudent and necessary proviso—to bring forward a
measure for the extension of the franchise. Is it not
melancholy to sea the First Minister of the Crown, thus
in two successive sentences, uttering things so entirely
incompatible? If the state of the representation of the
country be so excellent as he says it his, why propose to
alter and amend it next session? Why not let well
alone? It is impossible for the country to respect a
Minister who can thus so flatly contradict himself. Any
little prestige that attached to the name of the Noble
Lord has been completely done away by his lament
able exhibition of Thursday night.
POST.—Professors of landscape gardening tell us,
that the chiefest object of the science is the production
of unexpectedness. If this be equally true of political
strategy, then is Lord John Russell unquestionably the
most successful man of the day. Never was unexpect-
edness more perfectly presented to the House of Com-
mons than when, last night, on the order of the day for
the Committee of Ways and Means being read, the
Prime Minister moved the postponement of the order
till Monday next; and in reply to a question across the
table from Mr. Herries, stated, that he could not even
positively say whether he would than proceed with the
Committee or no. It was evident from the manner of
the Minister, that it was on no trifling grounds that he
had taken this step, and speculation was instantly iu
full activity, endeavouring to divine their nature. We shall
be content to wait patiently, though not without some
anxiety, till five o'clock on Monday, and shall leave to
the wise men of the Clubs the task of weighing the innu-
merable reports from good authority and the latest intel-
ligence, which will flood the political world for the next
two days. The results of the meeting of the House, how-
ever, have not been entirely of a negative character, and
we have before us at least one tangible and positive pro-
duction. Mr. Herries has placed upon the notice-book
the terms of the resolution which he had intended
to have moved in Committee as an amendment to
Sir Charles Wood's proposition, had the consideration
of the Budget been proceeded with, but which, under the
circumstances, he has now, as a matter of course, post-
poned till Monday. Mr. Herries will then submit to the
Committee the following resolution:—" That it is the
opinion of this Committee that the respective duties in
Great Britain on profits arising from property, profes-
sions, trades, and offices, and the stamp duties in Ireland,
granted by two Acts passed in the sixth year of her
present Majesty, and which have been continued and
amended by several subsequent Acts, were granted for
limited periods, and to meet temporary exigencies. That
it is highly expedient to adhere to the declared inten-

tions of Parliament, when these duties were granted
and continued, and in order to secure their speediest
practicable cessation, to limit the renewal of any
portion of them to such an amount as may be
sufficient, in the existing state of the public revenue,
to provide for the expenditure sanctioned by Parlia-
ment, and for the duo maintenance of public credit." It
is gcnerall held that the duty of an Opposition does not
extend beyond finding fault with the measures that
emanate from the Treasuy bench. We are glad that Mr.
Harries has taken a more liberal view of the sphere of
action, and has not withheld from the country the ad-
vantages which they may derive from his eminent finan-
cial knowledge and experience. 'We rejoice that he has
not waited to be called in before he prescribed. As re-
gards the scheme itself, it is perfectly simple and easy of
comprehension. Above all, it contains a positive, dis-
tinct, and intelligible principle; and, without endanger-
ing the revenue, or risking the creation of a deficiency,
it will check our advance in our present most alarming
path—a path that, if persevered in, will one day lead tile
country to the inevitable necessity of adopting a system,
not merely of proportional direct taxation—that indeed,
as the history of every country that has tried it pro-
claims, is a system under which no nation has ever con-
tinued to flourish—but some such ruinous scheme as

that proposed by that:wiseacre Mr. Macgregor, based on
the principle of progressive exactions, or rather confis-
cations of property, graduated according to an arbitrarily
supposed ability. Rely upon it we are not exaggerating
the moment of the present crisis. Now is the great turn-
ing-point in the fortunes of the country; low profits will
never bear heavy direct taxation; follow the lead of Sir
Charles Wood, adopt his expedients, without principle
and object as they are, restrict your area of taxation—
and the moment the tide of manufacturing prosperity
begins to ebb you, will have a catastrophe that will shake
your organization to the very centre. There is another
consideration not less important than those which we
have now pointed out. Parliament, should it adopt
Mr. lierriee proposition, will be keeping faith with the
nation, and will be scatheless of the offence and disgrace
of having abused the confidence reposed iu it, and of
having obtained, under false pretences, supplies from an
energetic, self-denying, and trusting people. It will be
an earnest that Parliament may be depended upon for
the redemption of its pledges; and the sense of security,
and the feeling of confidence, that such a step will en-
gender, especially„among the commercial and trading
classes, will be of ten times more value to the country
than the modification, or even abolition of any tax or taxes
that could be selected. We have not gone into any mi-
nute calculation of the precise amount of the income-tax
which it would be practicable to remit, but from a rough
consideration of our ways and means, wo imagine that it
would certainly not be less for the present year than
twopence in the pound, or within a fraction of a third.
DAILY NEWS.—The announcement of Lord John
Russell that he was not prepared to proceed any further
with the financial measures of the Government until
Monday next, and that he could not state whether he
would be then prepared to do so—or until then the
reasons why such an abrupt postponement had been ren-
dered unavoidable—will create throughout the country,
us it did in Parliament, more anxiety than surprise. It
was clear to all intelligent observers of the public mind
that the Whig Budget was a failure past repair; and at
the meeting of the House of Commons yesterday the only
subject of curiosity or discussion was upon which of its
ill-omened features the weight of condemnation was first
likely to descend. The infatuation of its rash and shal-
low author would have led his colleagues to inevitable
defeat; Lord John's better judgment discerned the true
nature of the position, and pointed out the only sate and
manly course that could furnish a way of extrication and
escape—namely, to place the seals of the Exchequer iu
other hands. Sir Charles Wood refusing to play the
part of Jonah, and the crew refusing to fling him
overboard against his will, all thoughts of going
into action became impossible; and the only question
now remaining is, can the ship by any means refit
and be partially remanned in the interval of the next
two days, or must it actually founder? When comment-
ing upon the tenor of her Majesty's Speech on the sth of
the present month, we observed that neither its pro-
mises, nor the programme which the then Ministerial
Times had chalked for the session, of doing nothing, save
merely registering the income-tax, would suffice. Our
words were:—" We may surely say that this won't do.
Even if it did do for the present, and that the session
was thus got through with a non-result, the effect upon
the country would be a disgust and a reaction, not like
the reaction of '49 and '5O, but resembling and far out-
stripping the onward career of 1830 and 1831. It is
said that we are in a lull;' in other words, the tide is full
out, and the moment is coming when it turas. Public
opinion is this tide. It has ebbed for the last three years
in a conservative and calm direction. But we repeat,
it is on the turn; and a Government that idly slumbers
or unwisely resists will infallibly be carried away."
These remarks have been verified in a surprisingly
brief lapse of time. One day the Ministry is lett in a
minority on an important free-trade division by the de-
sertion of several of its staunchest followers; the next,
it is compelled to make up for the omission of all men-
tion or promise of progressive reform. And, finally,
the admission is made that the Budget is too unpopular
to be proceeded with. The unpardonable fault of Sir
Charles Wood's ill-starred Budget was, that it did no-
thing, led to nothing, and amounted, iu fact, to no-
thing. It dealt with a large surplus of revenue only to
squander it. It trifled with the reduction of the national
debt in a manner calculated to render the very idea of
gradual liquidation ludicrous. It failed to amend the
income-tax in any one particular, and, with no other ex-
cuse than an off-hand sic nolo, it demanded an extension
of its term for three years more. It pretended to abolish
the house-tax estimated by the number of windows, only
to substitute another to be measured by the number of
pounds paid in annual rent. It mocked the demands of
the agriculturists by a species of fiscal badinage;
end,
by way of compensation for the loss of a
te
profit, secured by a differential
infinitesimaloi
fruits of the field, offered the farmers au
remission of charge upon clover seed. Y
enltures lany
sentences in favour of what nobody
the Chancellor of the Exchequer (
• (it such
to de any-
longer to dispute, the abstract principle of fhreee
ittrialideb—e)
proved to demonstration his utter
tile)
of Let. greahtapi
thing calculated to develop, illustrate,
practical working f h nco.rpies.trenFrthheenutnhie.
pronounced against
versa voice of public opinion
his scheme of meddling without
settling, and spending
without mending. A
amiable,upright, and dili-
.s ar
n Charles
. '
we have no doubt the.: Sir
Cg
withorck;edit many positions requitiug
ehmsamnigo of plain allin s
kably
of intellect
of financeintejlecor originality
country' bas
yrof umist
view.
n i:
at
in
1 thee ss
dge rpaasp rt m e
e, Never more be officer of mine." What then?,
'4Daoide—s the existence ol a Ministry that has survived do-
mestic calamities almost unparalleled, and surrounding
convulsions wholly without example, depend upon the
adherence of one minor man? Or is the country
di,pesed to suffer an entire change in its policy be-
cause the Member for Ualifax has committed a comical
end somewhat coxcamical concatenation of blunders?
There is not surely such a dearth of available ability and
experience in Parliament as to render it a matter of any
great difficulty to supply his place, or that of others
whose exodus from office would excite still less of sym-
pathy. It will be vain for Lord John to endeavour to
persuade the world that his Cabinet could not spare such
men as liobhouse, Minto, or Wood; and if the Adminis-