The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-22 00:00:00

mittee of Council on Education when the report of the
Royal Commission was likely to be presented to Parlia-

~~.

duties to the amount of £250,000;. they would be pledged
also—though on this point he was not so clear—to a further
sacrifice of paper duty ; and, allowing at the same time for
the payment of the remaining portion of the £250,000 of
the Spanish debt, there would be a total deficit of £12,172,000
(Hear, hear.) Deducting this sum from the present revenue,
it would leave exactly £58,392,000 to meet £71,100,000 of
expenditure, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer would
therefore have to announce to the House of Commons the

meat ?
Mr. LANE said that at present the report alluded to was
not ready for presentation.

THE FRENCH TREATY.

In reply to Mr. E. BALL,
Lord PALMERSTON said that it was competent to
either party to this treaty to make a settlement in
reference to any alteration or modification that
might be made in its terms. He would take
that opportunity of moving that tho house should adjourn
at its rising that evening until two o'clock to-morrow, it

being Ash Wednesday.
MR. DU CANE'S MOTION.
Sir J. GRAHAM said that he would avail himself of the
opportunity afforded by the motion of the noble lord to
address the house on a point of order. The honour-
able member for Essex had placed on the table
a motion which was not in conformity with
the general precedents of the house. He was of
opixion that no resolution could be proposed in committee
of supply. However, in 1853, it was permitted to the right

hon. member to move a resolution in reference to the in-

come-tax, but that was a precedent which ought not to be
followed, as it was likely to prove dangerous.
(Hear, hear.) He would submit, therefore, to the
house that it was not competent for an hon. member

to move a resolution in committee not arising out of a
question of revenue. It was necessary that there should
be an ample discussion on the financial policy of the
right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
which could not be raised on the motion of the hon.

pleasing intelligence of a deficit of L 12,700,000. (Hear.)
If they took into consideration, as he thought they were
bound to do, the probability that, instead of an increased,
there would be a diminished consumption resulting from
the reduction of the wine duties, with a reduction of the
malt tax arising from a diminished consumption of beer—
(hear, hear)—they would be very safely justified in assum•
ing that the deficiency would not be far off £13,000,000.
The house must seriously consider what was likely to be
the position of Parliament at that time. The night of Feb.
20, 180, must have been destined long ago by the fates to
be a very remarkable era in the annals of Parliament. It
was not often that their Parliamentary bill of fare was so
luxuriously catered for as it had been on that memorable
occasion with dainties of the first class. Seldom, if ever,
did it happen that the Government of the country had to
choose in presenting to the house on the same evening be-
tween three subjects of such vital importance to the future
welfare of the country as a French treaty, a budget, and a
bill fir the amendment of the representation of the people.
(Hear, hear.) Although he had not the honour to agree in
many political doctrines of the hon. member for Birming-
ham, yet, from what he had read of his speeches out of
doors, the hon. member would concur with him when he
said that the subjects of a budget and a Reform Bill were
very nearly allied—(hear, hear)—inasmuch as it must be
the general tone and character of the Parliamentary majo-
rity of that house that must ultimately determine the gene-
ral nature and incidence of the taxation of the country.
(Hear, hear.) The noble lord, owing to circumstances over
which altogether he had no control, had postponed the pro-
duction of his Reform Bill till what he sincerely hoped
would be a more auspicious occasions. It was not for him
on the present occasion to widen the field of discussion by
endeavouring to anticipate what the probable provisions of
the Reform Bill might be ; but he thought at the same
time he should be interpreting the general wish both of the
house and the people of the country when he said that
there was a growing feeling among both that this great
constitutional question of Parliamentary Reform should
not be made the stalking-horse by which to hurl Ministry
after Ministry from office, and that they should, if possible,

member.
After some discussion on the point of order,
Lord PALMERSTON said that of course the hon
member would be the best judge of the course he intended
to pursue. If however, he wished to press his motion he
would postpone the further progress of the committee on
the Customs' Act. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. DU CANE said he would avail himself of the offer
of the noble lord, and proceed with his motion.
Mr. GLADSTONE observed that he would not move
his resolution relative to foreign wines before Friday next.
Mr. DU CANE then rose to move, in a substantive form,
the resolution of which he had given notice in reference to
the financial statement of the Government. In doing so he
expressed a hope that it was needless to assure the house
that he felt ho was about to trespass upon their attention
under circumstances of no ordinary embarrassment. The
financial scheme to which he was about to offer his oppo-
sition was one of a character so complicated and. so dif-
ficult, and had, moreover, been submitted to the house in
a speech of such remarkable eloquence and subtlety of rea-
soning, that nothing but the kind indulgence and forbear-
ance of hon. members and the confidence which ho felt in
the justice of .his cause could sustain him in the course
which he had deemed It to be his duty to take, (Hear,
hear.) :Ile entertained no doubt that it would be his fate to
hear during the progress of the discussion to which his mo-
tion would give rise, as he had already heard it faintly
whispered out of doors, that in allowing himself to bring
forward the present resolution he had suffered himself to
be made an instrument in supporting a party and a factious
movement. He could only say in answer to such a charge
that if the words " partymovement" were to be interpreted
as indicating the existence of a desire on his part to inter-
pose needlessly between the house and the discussion of the
proposals of the Government in Committee with the view
to embarrass the Ministry, and by that means to check the
further 'Regress of useful and beneficial legislation, the ac-
cusation was entirely unfounded, and the house, ho felt
assured, would deem it unnecessary that he should enter
any more energetic protest against its justice. (Cheers.)
So far from the charge to which he referred being true, he
believed he was giving expression not merely to his own
sentiments, but to those of a large number of hon. gentle-
men by whom ho was surrounded, when he asserted that
it was to them a matter of extreme regret that the finan-
cial proposals of the Chancellor of the Exchequer were of
such a nature as to render it impossible that they could re-
ceive—in their leading features, at least—from his (Mr. Du
Cane's) side of the house an independent support. If, how-
ever by the charge which he had mentioned it was intended
to be implied that he had come forward manfully ant
openly to throw down the gauntlet in opposition to the
scheme of the Government, which he believed to be both
unsound and unjust—(cheers)---and thereby openly and
manfully to vindicate what he regarded as true and sound
Conservative policy—if to act so could be termed a "party
move," then he frankly and gladly accepted that descrip-
tion of his resolution. (Cheers.) He might now, perhaps,
be permitted to say, as some return for the compliment
which the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer had been pleased to pay him on the previous even-
ing, that if, in the present instance, he found it impossible
to give his proposals a warm support, the right hon. gen-
tleman would, at all events, learn that he was something
better than a mistrustful adherent or a lukewarm partisan
—an open and candid enemy. (Hear, hear.) He
should next proceed to lay before the house as
briefly as he could the main objections which ho enter-
tained to the financial scheme of the Government. Ho ob-
jected to the budget in the first instance because it appeared
to him not merely to fail to grapple with the financial exi-
gencies of our preseht position, but to be calculated to leave
the country worse than it found it, and to lead to a state of
increasing financial difficulty. (Hear.) He objected to it, in
the second place,•lecause ho was of opinion thatthe principal
remissions of taxation which it proposed—and he alluded
more especially to the reduction and abolition of the duties on
wine and paper—proposals which, though, perhaps, unob-
jectionable in themselves if made at the proper time, yet
were singularly inopportune at the present moment—were
highly inexpedient, especially when it was borne in mind
that the income-tax was to be continued at a rate higher
than it had ever before been known to have reached in time
of peace. (Cheers.) Andlastly, he objected to the budget
because it seemed to him to be based upon an unnecessary
and one-sided commercial treaty. (Hear, hear.) He had en-
tertained the hope that tha acceinitnacton at which the
house would have arrived on the previous evening might
have relieved him from touching upon the merits of that
treaty, but he had been disappointed in. that expectation,
and the house was at that moment, he could not help think-
ing, placed in the anomalous position that they could not
at any future period amend the terms of the treaty, if they
should deem it expedient to do so, without essentially vitia-
ting some important feature of the budget (hear, hear),
while they could not venture to alter in any of its main
points the budget itself without running the risk of vitiat.
ing and annulling the treaty. (Hear, hear.) Her Ma-
jesty's Government, in short, acting upon the division
which had taken place the previous evening, called upon
hon. members to open their mouths to the widest possible
stretch, and to swallow in one great gulp the budget and the
treaty combined. (Cheers and laughter.) All he could say
was, that if Parliament and the country could swallow
such a dose, they must henceforth be prepared to make up
their minds to swallow anything which might be presented
to their notice. (A laugh.) He should now, with the per-
mission of .the house, proceed to recount as briefly and as
' succinctly as he was able those which appeared to him to
be the main features of our financial position, as stated by
the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer
in introducing the budget. The right hon. gentleman esti-
mated the income of the country for the present year at
£60,700,000 ; its expenditure at £70,100,000 ; the deficit for
the year being thus£9,4oo,ooo. Well, that being so, .the
right hon. gentleman, acting nppn a very simple, but at the
same time a very novel principle as applied to financial
matters, that his deficit— .
" Was great because it was so small,
And if 'twere greater would be none at all,"
—(a laugh)—proposed to increase it by the reduction of some
and tLe total abolition of other duties to the extent of
£4,000,000 upon articles which, to use the words of the
noble lord the member for London in his first despatch to
Lord Cowley and Mr. Cobden, " are not in general articles
of such primary necessity or such universal use among the
people of the United Kingdom as to entitle them upon that
ground to the special attention of the Government."
(Hear.) The right hon. gentleman had then prOeeeded to
reduce the deficiency with which he had to deal to the ex-
tent of £2,000,000 by means of sundry savings in the Re-
venue Department, by making certain allowances for the
increase of consumption which would be consequent on his
contemplated reductions of duty, as well as by sundry new'
charges. The total deficiency of the year would, under those
circumstances, still have been according to his own esti-
mate, £11,500,000, which deficiency he proposed to supply
in part by re-imposing the income-tax at the rate of 10d. in
the pound, thus securing a sum of £8,472,000. He re •
imposed also the extra duties on tea and sugar, and called
in the hop and malt credits to the extent of £1,400,000.
These
the ri gtho
t£1.h10,n97. 2g,oeonOn e n
iTa
nhrsn
own
then
showing,treaty, ac-
cordingw shouldentheremit
ste haveebwteae s
lookedobserve,o
na e
sreiPiriptlluoinst.hloaeyrs £Ol
first
ns7los,iiotn3eos9mOt,
instance,
noo
?Be
,e u,ao tr
thathte
h askedeethereabouts,
atbh theoeuset s
, c
tohm itemsa
character in amount, as it was supposed purelyte btes s
derivedspeculative
afrt ievme
also bear in mind that,acc)rding to this Are
the increased consumption of wines and Fs • ' .
tilieeyywnleuiusdt
have to submit to a further reduction of these scheme,
to the
extent of £250,000. He would next ask them to observe
that,byanticipating the malt and hop credits to the a
poZt unotf
of £1,400,000, the tight hon. gentleman was, in
fact, anticipating the remaining portion of a sum of
£2,500,000, which had hitherto been considered, and by no-
body more than the right hon. gentleman himself, in the
light of a loan by the Government to the malting and hop
interests of the country; and, therefore, while on the one
hand, by anticipating these credits, he caused very consi-
derable annoyance and injury to the smaller mem-
bersP°9itiv"right
of the malting interest, the hon.. gentleman
availed, himself at the same tinimoffary 7wintigeydtiemporary
expedient; and the house would
ing that no such sum as £1,400,000 would be forthcoming
he would call the
There was a third matter to which next year, to meet the financial. exigencies of the country.
the payment of
• d of three years e.
postpones for a perm
atten-
tion of the house,.and that was that the right hon, gentle-
manpresent year. These f h to be re-
issued, bonds would there ore ave
£1,000,000 of Exchequer-bonds, which became due in the
was to have
they had to encounter in this year of bliss,. that
and, therefore, one of the very first happy results
was the addition of a very considerable amount to the un-
fundedt
been marked by the falling in of the Terminable Annuities,
debt of the country. (Hear, hear.) He must next
ask the house to bear in mind that the income tax of 10d. in
the pound. And the war taxes on tea and sugar were only re •
imposed for one year, and therefore the Chancellor of the
Exchequer in the year 1851-62, whoever he might have the
good or bad fortune to be—for he confessed ho never consi-
dered the position of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to
be a very enviable one—the Chancellor of the Exchequer
in 1861-62 could not possibly count upon a renewal of this
tax without obtaining the formal consent of Parliament.
Let him carry the house for a moment in imagination to the
commencement of the year 1861, and ask them what would
be their novel financial position. Unless the house should
agree, which in the present state of the continent he
thought most improbable, to sanction a material reduction
of the army and navy estimates, the expenditure would be
very much the same 'as at 'present—£7o,7oo,ooo at least;
and to this he might also add £1,000,000 Exchequer bonds.
What, then, would be the state of the income ? They
would have virtually parted with the income tax and with
the tea and sugar duties ; they would have anticipated the
,malt dillies ; and they would have done a little more. They
nao pledged themselves to a further reduction of the wine

during the present session endeavour to effect dsatisfactory
settlement of the question. (Hear.) Let the house in-
dulge him in what at the present moment must appear to
be rather a wide stretch of the imagination. Conceive the
budget passed, the Reform Bill passed, with a new Parlia-
ment elected by constituencies into which many new and
popular elements had been introduced—what would be the
condition of affairs with which that Parliament would have
to grapple ? They would have, in the first place, a defi-
ciency of £13,000,000 to deal with—an income tax of 101 in
the pound, renewed for one year, shortly about to expire.
They would find the tax which every statesman in the
Parliamentary history of the country, from Mr. Pitt down
to Sir R. Peel, and from Sir R. Peel to the present Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, had successively deprecated as a
permanent element in the taxation of the country. What
I would bo the inevitable eonsequence ? That house would
then stand between Scylla and Charybdis. If they passed
the budget and carried into effect the provisions of the
treaty, they would. have cut off several of the most useful
and most harmless sources of indirect taxation; and one of
two evils would certainly ensue—either the reformed House
of Commons would seize with avidity upon the engine that
was presented ready to their hands, and they would see this
tax, which they had so long deprecated, in its most odious
form, established as a permanent feature in our system of
taxationrand gradually mounting to a height which must
make it utterly intolerable ; or, on the other hand, they
would see a hardly less dangerous course adopted—they
would see an ignorant impatience of expenditure running
riot in that house, developing its first effects in the revival
of that miserable cheese-paring economy which had already
brought such disastrous consequences, on this country—
which disbelieved in war till the enemy was thundering at
our gates, and laughed to scorn all idea of national defence.
(Hear, hear.) Let the Chancellor of the Exchequer beware
how, with that great gulf yawning before him, he sought
to reimpose this tax in its aggravated shape. He would say
to that right hon. gentleman—" Can it be you, who ex-
hausted all the power of your matchless eloquence and
closest subtlety of reasoning to prove the inquisitorial and
objectionable nature of this tax, the utter impossibility of its
retentionin any form as apermanent feature of our taxation,
and the expediency of reserving it as a potent engine for spe-
cial occasions—can it be you who are now throwing aside
all thought of the future, heedless of the reckless legislation
which your present proposals may provoke ?" (Hear, hear.)
Who did not remember the budget of 1853 and the brilliant
oration which had since served as a textbook of political
economy to every schoolboy—who did not remember how
the right hon. gentleman minutely analysed and scattered to
the winds every conceivable scheme by which that tax could
be established in a graduated form? And now, when the
hour for the:financial millenium had arrived, the same right
hon. gentleman remorselessly put a new load on their backs,
cut the rope, and sent the vessel of the State adrift in the
vortex of a financial whirlpool. (Hear, hear.) There were
various reasons why a reduction of that tax might have come
with a peculiar grace from the right hon. gentleman. The
people of this country had without a murmur made the sacri-
fices and borne the burdens of war. They had consented to
endure a heavy taxation on the necessaries of life because
they believed that as soon as an extraordinary exigency was
passed measures would be proposed that would carry wel-
come relief to every cottage in the land. These hopes, how-
ever, seemed doomed to disappointment. The people now
learnt for the first time in our history that they were to be
subjected to an oppressive load of taxation in order to assist
a neighbour in difficulties, who was himself—for they could
not conceal it from themselves—the cause of their extrava-
gant expenditure. (Hear.) They knew that a lavish and un-
called for generosity to France was openly vaunted as a noble
achievement for the Government of this country. (Hear.)
Xi-Lowing this, the people would ask where were the four
millions of indirect taxation that they were about to sacri •
five so recklessly ? That question the Conservative party
were now endeavouring to have answered; and when it wa.s
said that party connexion should have nothing to do with
this movement, he for one thanked God that the name and
traditions of party were not yet extinct ; that there was
still a pal ty left in the country—call it Conservative or call
it what they pleased'—which would put forth its strength
and animate its ranks to support the effort of an inde-
pendent member to confront oppression and quell injus-
tice. (Cheers.) Let him now turn to another part of the
question, and let him say that, while he thought the duties
now pressing heavily on the necessaries of life had the first
claim to revision, he would not deny that the reduction of
the wine duties might be fairly dealt with at some
future
.period. Putting aside, however, for the moment,
the in Wr of the grant couzaudiLE, awaaca of the
country to have some remission of the malt-tax and the
duties on tea and sugar, he would look at the reduction of
the wine duties as an abstract question, both in regard to
its probable effect on the interest of the consumer and its
effect on the public revenue. Since the scheme of the Go-
vernment was first proposed he had consulted several high
authorities on this matter, and they one and all agreed in
thinking that, whatever might be the expediency of an ulti-
mate reduction of the wine duties, never was there so inop-
portune a time for making that reduction as the present.
(Hear.) The right hon. gentleman had drawn a pleasing
picture of the halcyon days about to arrive, when under his
proposed arrangement wine would no longer be a rich man's
luxury, and the choicest vintages of France and Spain would
flow in upon us. It was therefore necessary, however pain-
ful the task, to arouse the right hon. gentleman from his
happy dream and conduct him back to the realm of sober
realities. (A laugh.) It was an undoubted fact, which
could not be gainsaid, that at that this moment, partly from
the continued vine disease and partly from a succession of
bad harvests, the stock of wine i'i the hands of the principal
dealers in the south of France and in Spain was now so
diminished that nothipg but the return of four or five con-
secutive harvests of more than average productiveness could
restore that stock to its normal condition. Another fact, to
which ho challenged contradiction, was that the wine mer-
chants of Bordeaux, anticipating a very considerable rise in
price as the first effect of the reduction in the duty, were
now withholding all the stock they possibly could from the
English markets, and in many instances the Spanish wine
dealers were refusing to part with their stock at all. He also
believed that the great bulk of the retail dealers in this city
were now laying in their stocks for the year in order if pos-
sible to escape the rise in price which they foresaw as the re-
sult of the reduction of duty. But supposing no rise at all
occurred what was that price likely to be ? Ho held in his
hand an extract from the circular of the London correspon-
dent of one ofthe largest and best known houses at Bordeaux.
He found from that circular that the cheapest wine, pure
and sound to bear exportation, cost at the rate of LlO per
hogshead at Bordeaux, which, under present rates of duly,
would bring the cost in this-country to something like 255,
or 265. per dozen, and, with the proposed reduced duties
would cost 20s. or 21s. per dozen. That might be a pure
wine certainly, but it would be of the thinnest and poorest
character, utterly unfitted, unless a great change should
take place in English tastes, for English palates. (Hear,
hear.) That was the beverage that was to flow into this
country in such a stream as to supplant the principal be-
verage of the country, to check the cultivation of barley,
and to inflict almost irreparable injury upon the maltsters,
the farmers, and the brewers of this country. (Hoar.) The
very idea of such a thing, however, appeared so absurd that
ho should not presume to stand before the committee as the
farmer's friend with an agricultural grievance, but he must
ask the right hon. gentleman what sort of even-handed
justice it was he proposed to deal out in the name of free
trade when lie left the highly-taxed growers and manufase
turers of the principal beverage of the country to enter into
competition with the untaxed foreigner. (Hear, hear.) It
might be that some of the Spanish wines would be more
acceptable to English tastes than cheap French wines, but
it must be borne in mind that Spain was suffering under
the effects of repeated bad harvests, and that the stock of
wine in hand was very much diminished. The right hon.
gentleman had treated the house with an interesting and
pathetic narrative of the evils of adulteration, and from his
language it would almost appear that adulteration was a
crime unknown to foreign countries and peculiarly indige-
nous to English soil. (Hear.) It was, however, an established
fact that adulteration of wine was openly practised to a very.
great extent at Bordeaux and elsewhere. (Hear, hear.)
Much ollhe wine manufactured at Bordeaux was but a sort
of Arag,onese or- Catalonian syrup, imported across the,
d‘pme(
wines,
srni
competition
frontier, and after undergoing a process of conversion at
Bordeaux, it was returned across the frontier as prime Bor-
(Hear, hear.) There was a port in the Gulf
of Lyons called Cotte, the chief business of whose popula-
tion was nothing more nor less than wholesale adulteration.
uihe
odasanrl
with
hatshasupposingtco ohu eprar Adulterationtpoehywwaentin ttandf
eowfu
unknown
daet siuegrtnotoriousniaetesor rsws efrrameral
manufacture,
mfenarteceeidrentering
Portuguesenrnaegds
withpfintour o
what effect, to quote the right to hon. gentleman's own words,
upon the British public he need not say ? Reverting, how-
inmheilsboo:nke
ever, to the possible supply of pure wine, he would give an
naowlalerdggeecoofnwshi at had occurred in
etiwmheiwchinceowstasaboutlOa. dozen at
Australia. Some time since one of the largest firms at Bor-
deaux including
icluseatuanxcesenwtititlo
tatwhaintper
B4,ooloedaucaxe.n ofA
generally cheaper, and
consequently the particular wine ho referred to was' of a
better quality than could now be produced for the same
price. After a considerable interval, the Bordeaux mer-
chants received a letter from their correspondent at Mel-
bourne, informing them that the wine in question was un-
saleable among the lower and middle classes, and requesting
that wine of a superior quality and higher price might be
sent in its place. (Hear.) And that was the article from
which, during the present year, the Chancellor of tho Ex-
chequer expected to derive £530,000 at the reduced scale of
duties. (Hear.) Upon that ingenious but speculative
theory the committee were called upon to supersede our na-
' e• oft duties upon wine, which was
tive beverage by taking
now and must for seine time continue to be emphatically a
luxury of the rich, and yet to continue the war taxes upon
tea and sugar, which were the necessaries of the poor. (Hear,
hear.) He would conclude his observations upon the sub-
ject of the wine duties by quoting the remarks lately made
to him by a gentleman intimately acquainted with Bordeaux
i I and well up n the mysteries of the wine trade, That gen-

impartial treaty, why should the Government have endea-
voured to stifle the discussion of it ? why should it have been
smuggled into the house and shaken out of the same bag as
the budget —a pair of worthy companions undoubtedly?
(Hear.) It was said that a similar treaty was one of the most
glorious acts of Mr. Pitt ; but now it appeared that Mr.
Pitt's policy was so antiquated that it was necessary totally
to reverse it. He took the treaty first, and then the budget ;
we were to have the treaty and the budget together, and
then, when the mischief was done, there was to be a sepa-
rate discussion on the treaty It was said that this haste
was necessary in order to defeat the opposition of the French
Legislative Assembly, which in this instance spoke the
wish of a large majority of the French people ; but this was,
in his opinion, an additional reason why the measure should
receive the strongest opposition. They were told that the
extension of commercial intercourse
-with France would

tleman had said, " If I were a Bordeaux wine merchant, I
should be in raptures with the proposed budget. If I were
an English wholesale dealer, depending for custom upon the
higher classes of society, I should bo simply indifferent.
But if I were an English retaildealer, depending upon the
lower classes, and having, as I inevitably should, to meet
increased prices and diminished consumption as its first
effects, I should oppose it tootl and nail. (Hear, hear.)
Having considered the wine &ties, ho would next, refer to
the intended abolition of the paler duty. He did not stand
forward to advocate the retenton of that duty as a perma-
nent feature of our taxation, for would he advocate the
retention of any tax which might be in any way injurious
to the spread of education, HE would not attempt to follow
the right hon. gentleman into lie interesting and ingenious
account which ho gave of the various trades in whose manu-
factures paper formed a prircipal ingredient; still less
would he attempt to grapple wth the pleasing feature,•No.
2 of the budget, which referral to the blessings about to
fall upon the agricultural poptiation by covering the banks
of all our streams with innumerable paper-mills. (Hear,
hear, and laughter.) He migat . safely leave that portion
of the right hon. gentleman's •emarks to be dealt with by
the great Leviathan of the prea, which, a day or two since,
in a few brief sentences, completely dispelled the vision
which he had conjured up. Bat when the right hon. gen-
tleman said that he considered himself bound, to no small
extent, by the fact that a resolution of the house had con-
demned the tax, he (Mr. Du Cine) had heard that statement
with surprise. (Hear hear.) If a vague and shadowy reso-
lution of the house, passed at my time, was to be a sufficient
justification of the abolition of ). tax, how could the right hon.
gentleman justify for a moment the retention of the income
tax (Hear, hear.) If therewas one tax which more than
another the house had condemned as a permanent feature of
taxation, not by one vague refolution, but repeated majori-
ties led by the right hon. gentleman himself, and even by
statute, it was the income talc (Hear, hear.) If there was
one tax which more than another the present Government,
judging from the former profossions of its members, should
have left untouched, it was tle paper duty. (Hear, hear.)
In his memorable budget of 1353 the right hon. gentleman
might have dealt both with •he wine duty and the paper
duty. Ho had then all the inancial world open to him,
but he left both those dutes unaltered. (Hear, hear.)
Fri:nu that time until 1857 the house heard very little in-
deed of reduction of taxation (Hear, hear.) But in the
year 1857 the right hon. baronet the present Home Secre-
tary, who was then Chancelbr of the Exchequer, made a
financial statement, in which he thus spoke of the paper

carry with it, to the furthest ends of Europe, the bless-
hags of peace and civilisation. An object such as this
would at all times enlist his hearty (concurrence ; but he
ventu* to question the means by which these blessings
were to be extended, and the permanence of an alliance
which was to be cemented in such a fashion. He had now

brought to a close his remarks on the financial propositions
of her Majesty's Government, having, he feared, but feebly
and inefficiently dischargod the duty which he had under;
taken. He had endeavoured to show that the financial
scheme of her Majesty.'s Government was one which failed
to grapple with the exigencies of the time, and had disap-
pointed the just expectations of the people ; he had at-
tempted to show that it was based on unsound and danger-
ous principles of finance, that it was clogged with a com-
mercial treaty, and that it forced a rivalry of commercial
interests upon an irritated and distrustful nation. The
proposition had been recommended to them as a budget of
peace—he called on the house to reject it emphatically as a
bUdget of war—of war to the future security of our domestic
interests, and to the future permanence and tranquillity of
our foreign relations. He had listened and shared in the
thrill of admiration at that magnificent peroration in which
the right hon. gentleman commended his financial scheme
to an impartial trial at the bar of the British Legislature
and of British public opinion. - That impartial trial he did
not doubt they would both receive at the hands of Parlia-
ment. But the right hon. gentleman had so often charmed
the house, with his eloquence—his tongue had so often
dropped manna, and made the worse appear the better
reasou—that if it were left to some novice in Parliamentary
discussions to decide, he would feel at a loss whether to

select him as a model for future study or for present imita-
tion. If, in the course of his varied career, he had shown
that he could with signal success invoke an English House
of Commons to sanction his own elaborated schemes of

duty :
" I confess, having carefully considered the subject, I do
not believe that the total abolition of the paper duty would
produce to the ordinary purchaser of books any appreciable
advantage. Therefore, Sir, without at all denying the
claims of the paper duty to be considered at a time when
our expenditure may be less and our revenue may be greater,
I cannot admit that at the present moment it is a proper
subject for remission."
(Hear, hear.) The house must bear in mind that at that
time the right hon. baronet was a rare avis in financial
history—a Chancellor of the Exchequer with a surplus;
and such was the condition of financial plethora he enjoyed
that the hon. member for the West Riding of Yorkshire
said he could only aptly compare him to a prize ox in the
midst of butchers. (Cheers and laughter.) But upon what
grounds and upon what theory of taxation did the right
hon. baronet go on to justify the retention of the paper
duty ? The right hon. baronet justified it upon a theory ;of
taxation which for the most part commanded his cordial
assent, but which was as nearly as possible the direct oppo-
site of the present budget. (Hear, hear.) The right hon.
baronet quoted from the writings of Adam Young :
" If I was," says Adam Young, "to define a good sys-
tem of taxation, it should be that of bearing lightly on an
infinite number of points, heavily on none. In other words,
that simplicity in taxation is the greatest additional weight
that can be given to taxes, and ought in every country to
be most sedulously avoided."
(Cheers.) A few days afterwards a still more extraordinary
scene took place in the house. The present Chancellor of
the Exchequer made a furious onslaught upon the financial
statement, and condemned the budget as being based upon
principles of finance utterly contrary to any which the
country had before adopted. It seemed that those high
financial authorities had been able to compose their differ-
ences, as they now sat side by side in the same Cabinet.
(Hear.) He begged the house to listen to the terms of the
memorable resolution on the paper duty e—
" That this house is of opinion that the maintenance of
the excise duty on paper as a permanent source of revenue
would be impolitic."
The house would see at once that it was a resolution assert-
ing a mere abstract principle of the very vaguest character,
and could not, by the widest possible construction, be sup-
posed in any way to fetter the house as to the right time to
deal with the paper duty. (Hear.) Perhaps the house
would agree with him that one of the shortest and 'most
sensible speeches ever made in Parliament was made on that
occasion by his hon. friend the member for Malden, who
interrupted the Speaker in putting the question to say, " I
suppose it is fully understood that the resolution means no-
thing ?" (Cheers.) It wasa remarkable fact that the nearer
they approached the present time the stronger were the ob-
jections of members of the present Government to deal with
the paper duty. The language of the right hon. baronet in
1857 was sufficiently strong, but it was very mild compared
with the language of the noble lord the Foreign Secretary.
On a subsequent occasion the noble lord said :
" The house would recollect that last year the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer proposed that the income tax
should be kept up at 7d. in ,the pound, and instead of ls. 3d.
the duty on tea should bells. 5d., with a proportionate in-
crease of the sugar duties. This year they had allowed
the income tax to fall from 7d. to sd. in the pound, but
they had kept up the duty on tea to ls. 5d., and retained
the proportionate increase of the sugar duties. It was,
therefore, almost a matter of good faith that when next
there was a reduction of taxes those duties on tea and sugar
should be reduced, which were, in fact, war duties, and
there could be no greater claim for reduction than upon
articles which entered so largely into the comforts of the
people."
(Cheers.) That was an argument which he must say he
entirely approved of. But a change appeared to have come
over the spirit of the noble lord's dream. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer this year proposed to retain and increase
the income-tax, to re-impose the war duties on tea and
sugar, and to abolish the paper duty. And the noble lord
sat by his side and applauded the proposition. (Cheers.)
Throughout this elaborate financial scheme, and in this
part particularly, he discerned a desire to conciliate the
goodwill and support of a certain section, without whose
support they were told that no Administration could en-
dure for a day. He remembered to have heard the hon.
member for Rochdale (to whom they were indebted for the
construction of this French treaty) say that he addressed
the house in the name of the people who, lived in towns.
They had before them a budget which bore but too plainly
a town image and superscription. If there were one epithet
which would better describe it than another It was culling
it a Manchoot., budget. (Loud cheers.) The President
of the Board of Trade was a very able and distinguished
member of the house. His administrative abilities were
doubtless as useful in the Cabinet as his destructive powers
were effectual out of the Cabinet. Yet, great as they might
be, he could not help thinking the people would consider
they purchased those talents at a somewhat dear rate with
dear tea, dear sugar, and an increased income-tax. (Cheers.)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer told them the other night
that if they wished permanently to benefit a people, they
should set free their trade. In that doctrine, if carried
out honestly and-impartially, he entirely concurred. But
he thought that at the present time the middle classes
would feel they were poorly recompensed for an:in-
creased income-tax by a dream of cheap wine, and
the masses of the working population would feel
they were sadly compensated for the sacrifices which they
had cheerfully made by dear tea and dear sugar. (Cheers.)
There were doubtless msuayimpdrtant questions which would
be sure to arise in the course of the discussions—many
taxes, no doubt, in the scheme to which opposition would be
made—but they were already provided with appropriate
champions. Such questions as the grievances of the silk
trade, of the licensed victuallers, and of the hop-growers
would better be discussed further on in, committee, inas-
much as they did not go to the heart of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer's propositions. But from the number of amend-
ments which were rapidly gathering on the paper, from the
number of grievances which had been put into his hands
ever since he had given notice of his amendment, and from
the number of public meetings which had been held up and
down the country, the right hon. gentleman must be pretty
well aware by now what a nest of hornets he had, got
into. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) But he would now go on
to consider his last objection to the budget—its foundation
bn a one-sided and uncalled foe commercial treaty. One of
the sentences in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech
the other evening most loudly cheered by those around
him was that in which he said, " We have done doubly
good—good for ourselves if France had done nothing, and
doubly good because France had dyne a great deal." The
right hon. gentleman himself trust admit that the converse
of that proposition was true, and that if what he had done
could be shown to be financialle bad, it was doubly bad in
connection with a one-sided treaty. It had been his fortune
to enter the house just at the close of the great struggle be-
tween free trade and protection, and he was one of those
who went throu!la what was called the ceremony of " bow-
ing the knee," but in thus bowing to the voice of the coun •
try he had always understood that the policy of free trade
was hereafter to be adopted by the country in its fullest and
most extended sense. (Hear, hear.) But the more he
scrutinised this treaty the more puzzled was he to discover
on what principle it was framed. If it was free trade they
were aiming at, why, in the name of the past freertrad.e,
had they taken up with such an extraordinary plea-
sure as a free trade treaty? It could not be .re-
ciprocity surely, for reciprocity he had always understood
must be conducted on fair and equal terms. .To use a fa-
miliar instance, if you asked a man to your house one week
and he asked you back to his the next, and treated you with
much the same fare, that would be reciprocity ; but if you
were called upon to admit into your house at all times and
seasons a crotch etty neighbour, who kept his door absolutely
slammed in your face for ono year to come, and then only
promised to open it half-way, keeping up a good strong
chain all the time to see how he liked you, that was not re-
ciprocity. (Cheers.) The house had been told the other
night, that our old friend Protection, having been driven
from the palaces of the earth, had taken refuge in holes and
corners. The hon. member for West Norfolk, if the quo-
tation had occurred to him, 'while defending the rags and
remnants of his ancient faith, might have replied,—
" Extrema per illos
" Justitia excedens terris vestigia fecit."

financial.policy, ho had shown also that for the measures o,
a rival he had spells to invoke them to censure and con-
demn. (Hear, hear.) It might be that in the hands of an
uninstructed novice the charm of the arch-magician would
lose its power—it might bo that the arrow which he now
ventured to borrow from his quiver would recoil upon him-
self—(hear, hear) ;—and he would, therefore, conclude the
imperfect observations which he had addressed to the house
in the same words which, eight years ago, summoned the
house to pronounce the dooes of a Conservative budget and
make an end of a Conservatibe Administration :
" I feel it ray duty to use that freedom of speech which
I am sure, as Englishmen, you will tolerate, when I tell
you that if you give your assent and your high authority
to this most unsound and destructive principle on which
the financial scheme of the Government is based—you may
refuse my appeal now—you may accompany the right hon.
gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer into the lobby;
but my belief is that the day will come when you will look
back upon this vote—as its consequences sooner or later
unfold themselves—you will look back upon this vote with
bitter, but with late and-ineffectual regret."
(Cheers.), The hon. gentleman concluded by moving the
following resolution :—" That this house, recognising the
necessity of providing for the increased expenditure of the
coming financial year, is of opinion that it is not expedient
to add to the existing deficiency by diminishing the ordi-
nary revenue, and is not prepared to disappoint the just ex-
pectations of the country by re-imposing the income tax at
an unnecessarily high rate."
Mr. BENTINCIC seconded the motion..
Mr. LEVESON GOWER said he believed the budget,
as a general scheme, carried out the great commercial policy
initiated by Sir R. Peel. For that policy he entertained
the greatest admiration ; but the motion which they had
just heard was in every respect opposed to it. There could
be no doubt that all the objections they had heard against
the treaty were based upon protectionist principles. There
was no force in the objection that it was a one-sided treaty,
for, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer had explained, they
could not expect to receive indemnity frosn another coun-
try, but should be satisfied at receiving additional benefit
from the engagement itself. (Hear, hear.) Protected
trades suffered by the very protection afforded to them.
Mr. Ellice, of Coventry, and Mr. Williams, of Maccles-
field, objected to the free trade proposals of the late Mr.
Huskisson on the ground that, if they were carried, Coven-
try and Macclesfield would' be ruined. Ho was sure
that the hon. member for Coventry was now glad that
he had failed in opposing Mr. Huskisson's proposition,
because the state of Coventry and Macclesield showed the
advantages which had resulted to Them from free trade.
Next it was said that the reductiop. of the wine duty would
not increase the sale of wine. But this he denied, for on
referring to Mr. M'Cullagh's book, he found it there clearly
demonstrated that the reduction of duty always led to a
large increase in the sale of the article on which the reduc-
tion took place. But it was said that wine would never be
an article of consumption here, as it was not suited to the
taste of the people or to the climate of England. But what
was the fact ? Why let them take the article of claret. In
Holland the importation of that character of wine was five
times what it was in this country, and though the popula-
tion of Holland was considerably smaller than that of this
country, yet the consumption of wine was fifty times greater
than it was in this country. Yet Holland was a much
colder country than England. The facts were applicable
to Sweden, Hanover, and other northern countries. Now,
until the duty on wine was lessened, they never could hope
to establish free trade with France, but a reduction of the
wine duty would lead in the end to this desirable result.
Then, with respect to coal, it was said that by taking off
the duty on that article, they were giving up an advantage
to France which would be highly prejudicial to this country.
But how so ? Not, certainly, as regarded the quantity of
coal produced in this country, for, according to the autho-
rity of the best geologists, there would be sufficient seal in
this country to supply the industrial requirements of this
country for the next 2,000 years. This being eo, he thought
it was time enough at the end of that time to consider the
effect of foreign ports being opened for the admission of our
coal free of duty. (Hear, bear.) The argument, too, that
the 11th article of the treaty would onahlo Franco to have
English coal cheaper than England herself, was purely a
fallacy. He had recently read a paper on the subject of
coal in Franca, and it was clearly shown that there was in
that country a large quantity of coal suited to maritime
purposes, but no efforts had been made to extract it. If
France would persevere in the course of policy initiated
by the treaty of commerce, by other acts of a similar
character, the result will be that the people will cultivate
the arts of peace, and instead of following the false glare of
military glory, would seek to exalt their country among the
nations of the earth, on account of the manner in which she
sought to promote the advance of trade and commerce, and
those arts by which its social and industrial character would
be upheld.
Lord ROBERT MONTAGU said it might be true that
the, reaty with France was, commercially speaking, a good
treaty, but there were other interests to be considered in re-
gard to this treaty. The Emperor of the French seemed to
act upon the principle of the necromancer in the Arabian
tale, who' cried "Old lamps for new ones." He said to Eng-
land that she had old shippinglaws and Customs duties and
that if she gave them up he would give in exchange new
principles that would promote their welfare, while it served
France. They had, however, the fact communicated to
them that the proposed change had given offence in France
and he must say, notwithstanding the assertion to the con-
trary, that the treaty was not advantageous to this country.
He contended that the 3d article of the treaty was clearly
against the interest of the shipping of this country, while it
was beneficial to that of France ; and, as to ecal, that article
was to be sent everywhere free of duty except to the metro-
polis of this country. In 1842 when Sir R. Peel imposed
the income tax it was to be only for three years, and when
the Chancellor of the Elchequer imposed it in 1853, he said
it was to bo only for a short period. It seemed however to
be a perpetual tax renewable from year to year. (Hear.)
Mr. BAXTER said that representing as ho did great
commercial interests, he was desirous of offering a few
observations. He considered that this was the very best
budget which had been proposed since the days of Sir
Robert Peel. He considered that the speech of the right
hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Exehequer was a dis-
play of eloquence which had never been surpassed in the
House of Commons, but that speech did not need any
praise from him. Let them look at one great fact, that
with the vast empire of France, with a population of be-
tween 40 and 50 millions, the amount of the exports from
this country for the last year amounted only to about
411..).00,000. - He was certain when the great body of the
French people tasted the fruits of free trade policy they
would be desirous of going on still farther in the same direc-
tion. When it was complained that France did not give
us equal advantages under this treaty, it ought to be re-
membered this Ives getting in the small end of the wedge,
and besides, we should remember how comparatively short
a period it was since this country accepted the principles
of free trade. He firmly believed that the time was not far
distant when they should have a similar treaty with Spain,
and with Austria, mid, in fact, he looked upon this treaty
as being the inauguration of free trade throughout Europe.
(Hear, hear.) The argument of the lion. gentleman (Mr.
Du Cane) simply amounted to this, that under the new sys-
tem the wine would become so bad that they could not
drink it, it would become so dear that they could net obtain
it, and at the same time it would seriously affect the reve-
nue at present derived from beer. Now, under this treaty,
he (Mr. Baxter) believed that the trade of England would
receive a great stimulus. As regarded wine, they found the
adulteration of wine was carried on to a frightful extent,
and in this matter alone the previsions of the treaty would
have a post beneficial effect. Looking at the political as-
pect:of the question, he would ask, How was it there was so
frequently such a war.of words between this country and
the United States, and that nevertheless they never came
to blows ? Why, it was simply because of the commercial
intercourse that existed between the two'countries.—(Hear,
hear.)e-Lookine• at the vast empire of France,;what results
of the most beneficial kind might they not expect to result
to this country in a commercial point of view,. when they
had before thenithe example of their commercial relations
with the United States? As to the labours of the hon.
member for Rochdale (Mr, Cobden), if this treaty should
be fully carried out, he (Mr. Baxter) believed that lie would
confer by it as great a benefit to this country as he did when
ho carried the repeal of the corn laws.
LIDDELL thought the advantages of this treaty
were net to be measured by common rules. He objected to
this motion as an abstract resolution upon finance which
depended entirely upon the circumstances of the time and
the exigencies of the State. Now, whatthe were the circound
um-
stances of' the time ? The Emperor of French f
himself wanting the means for many of the most valuable
arts of peace. The treaty was an absolute necessity for the
supply of those means. France was only beginning to see
her way, and the advantages to her would be certain. The
question was whether the..
advantages would be equally
great to ourselves. He believed in his heart that it would.
The extension of trade with a great and powerful neighbour
was a most important advantage, and he said confidently
that no• man living could anticipate the results. (Hear.)
Now, as to the exigencies of the State, it was impossible to
hide thd fact that, while on the one hand they were making
great sacrifices to France, they were on the other hand re-
quired to make unprecedented sacrifices in time of peace.
(Hear.) He deplored their military expenditure. He
thought the existing scheme was one means of lessening in
time these enormous estimates. Tho present and any Go-
vernment in France must obey the impulsive energy of the
people of that country, and the more their interests were
united to our own the greater would be the chances of peace,
and a relief from the burdens of war. An hon. gentleman
said that the present alliance between the two countries was
a hollow alliance, but did he think it would make it more

'(Cheers.) But this was the unkindest cut of all, that the
arch high priest of free trade should abjure the worship of
his favourite deity, and fall down on his knees before the
monstrum horrendum called one-sided reciprocity. (Cheers.)
The privilege which the House of Commons had always
valued most highly was that of remitting and imposing
taxation, but if it passed the treaty in its present shape, it
would be cutting off valuable sources of indirect revenue,
and fettering in a most arbitrary manner the whole system
of taxation for years to come. (Cheers.) No matter how
great the financial exigencies of the country might be—no
matter how great the political difficulties in which we were
involved—once bound by this treaty, our hands would be
inextricably tied unless France consented to unloose them.
What man could tell what would camr even in six months ?
In 1853 the right hon. gentleman hadendeavoured to cast
the horoscope of 1860, and signally failed. (Hear, hear.)
There was but ono little cloud in the sky, but it was un-
heeded, and in a short year wo drifted into war on a peace
budget. (Hear, hear.) The political and financial horizon was
now dark enough, but it was fondly hoped that with a war
budget we should drift into the haven of lasting peace. He
might be blind, but he felt convinced that he should havo
companions in his blindness, when he professed himself
unable to discover the objects of this treaty. Was it to
enable the Emperor of the French to exhaust our resources
of steam coal, and to enable him to supply himself with one
of the most important elements of naval warfare ? If tha
were the case, the proposal should have his most decided op-
position. ([leer, hear.) According to the hon. member for
Birtninghani, one colliery in the north would suffice for the
whole French navy; hut if that wen:. the case, how was it
that the price of coal was rising, and that that which was
now a luxury for rich and poor promised soon to become an
expensive luxury for the rich alone ? (Hear, hear.) If the
object of this treaty were free trade, how could the reten-
tion of the differential duties on foreign shipping in French
port/ b 9 for a =lomat defended (Hear.) if it were a fair,

---- -
stable by throwing away this treaty? (Hear, hear.) He ' Add to that the £1,400,000 malt credits to be taken in ad-
was prepared to say that this treaty was the best guaran- vance, and the £2,100,000 tea and sugar duties, it would
tee for peace, and for that reason he was prepared in the make a total equal to the deficit of £9,400,000.
main to support this budget. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—How will
Mr. DODSON said that the income tax would tend you get a surplus ?
to produce a spirit of economy on the part of the house Sir S. NORTHCOTE said he did not think that a large
and the people. (Hear, hear.) It was said that this surplus was required, and he believed that the natural rate
treaty was politically wrong, but commercially right. He of progress in the revenue which had been maintained for
was almost inclined to reverse that dictum. The Chancel- the last 10 years would have provided an ample surplus.
for of the Exchequer had contended some years ago, in op- Ever since 185:", the income from revenue duties had shown
position to Mr. Oliviera, that a reduction to the extent of great elasticity. But what he was anxious to point out to
Is. per gallon on wine would produce very little effect on the house was, that if the consumers were to be relieved
the consumption. But they must consider the Chancellor to the amount of £4,000,000, the price to be paid for that
of the Exchequer in 1860 as replying to the Chancellor of relief was not only an additional ld. of income tax, but an
the Exchequer in 1856, and say whether or not he had the additional 3d., because he had shown that if the object was
best of the argument. It was difficult to trace the precise merely to meet the deficit of £9,400,000, a 7d. income tax
effect of the wine duties. The reductions effected in 1787 would have been amply sufficient. (Hear, hear.) But if they
by Mr. Pitt had the effect, for some years, of largely in- accepted the proposals of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
creasing the consumption. But there were additions made though their revenue might increase in future years, it
to these duties in 1795, and in 1803, 1804, and 1805, none would do sc4very slowly, and in the meantime the country,
of which, however, materially affected the consumption, would have to bear taxation of some kind or other to meet
while, at the same time, they brought an increase of reve- the deficiency canoed by the remissions proposed by the
nue. It was not till they got to 1813; when the duties were budget. He believed that if the deficiency was met by the
very high indeed, that they found-both a diminished re- continuance of the income tax, that next year they would
venue and a diminished consumption. In 1825 Lord Ripon have not a 10d. but a ls. income tax, and perhaps more.
reduced the duties on wine by nearly 50 per cent., When people, therefore, out of doors, and hon. members in
and in 1831 the duties on all kinds of wine were equalised. that house, talked of getting the advantages of these re
The effect of this was an increased consumption, which, missions for a single penny of income tax, they were quite
however, by no means kept pace with the increase of popu- in error. Next year the Government would not
lation ; and in 1858, and over an average of six or seven be able to take up £1,400,000 of malt credits.—
years preceding, the consumption of wino per head had not they would still have to pay the war taxes en
been so great as it was in 1813 and 1814, at the time when tea and sugar, and they would have nothing to
the wine duties had been raised to the height of which he replace the absolute loss caused by the total abolitionbf
had spoken just now. Social habitshad a greater influence the paper duty. That loss was estimated by:the Chancellor
than any change of duty on the extent of consumption. He of the Exchequer at £1,000,000 for the present year, but
should accept the treaty in the hope that great and lasting next year it would be £1,200,000. Looking at the paper
good would spring from it. (Hear, hear.) It seemed to duty from 1849 to 1858 he found that it had steadily in-
him that the budget was not more remarkable for its bold- creased in amount. (Hear, hear.) In the ten years it had
mess than for its foresight. It was a plan which would lay increased from £BlO,OOO to £1,142,000, or more than 40 per
the foundation of a wealth which would hereafter amply cent. He did not say that that was any reason for not
repay us for any sacrifice which we might temporarily taking off the duty, or for maintaining a tax which pressed
make for the purpose of carrying it into effect. upon a particular interest, but at the same time, when
Mr. DAWSON said the people of Ireland would not be people were talking so glibly about the remission of taxes,
satisfied with the financial expectations of this year as and about tiding over the year, it was as well to look for-
likely to foreshadow the future financial policy of the ward and see in what position they would be placed next
country. The income tax was originally imposed only for year. He fully admitted the elasticity of the revenue, but
three years, but had now become a permanent one ; and he hew were they to maintain the revenue if they took away
believed it would not only be kept on, but increased. As a those great elements, if they totally repealed those pros-
salve for this evil, which was now declared to be a necessary porous sources of income which were the basis of that elms-
one, they had given them a treaty with France, by which ticity. He admitted that though the duties on bricks, on
we gave them coal and iron, essential for their commercial 'soap, and upon glass had been totally abolished, the re-
and aggressive purposes, iu order that we might have venue from the Excise had increased from £15,000,000 to
cheaper wines for the wealthier classes. Ireland must feel £17,000,000, makingan increase of £2,000,000, but the duty
a considerable loss in the admission, free of duty, of eggs on ardent spirits of itself had increased during the same
and butter, for she now exported 50,000,000 eggs, and pro- period £332,000, not because of increassd consumption, but
duced a far larger quantity of butter than she consumed. because the duties had been raised upon spirits in Ireland
Take next linen; a duty of 20 per cent. ad valorein or even and Scotland. Notwithstanding that increase, the people
of 25 per cent., the maximum duty after October 1, 1864, had been in circumstances which enabled them to consume
would be prohibitory. Even if the duty were reduced to the spirits at the higher rate, but there had been no great
10 per cent. when the French manufacturer could import increase. In 1839 the consumption was 22,962,000 gallons,
machinery free, he would have the advantape over us. For and in 1858 the consumption was 23,996,000 gallons.
some years the restriction on the exportation of machinery (Hear, hear.) The effect of the financial course upon which
was abandoned. The French were the greatest linen con- they were now being solicited to embalk would not lead to
sliming people in the world. The blouse was worn by all the production of a greater quantity of malt and hops, or
the peasants and the artisan class. The trade had fallen to a greater consumption of them. They would cripple
from £1,000,000 to £150,000, owing to- the facilities given themeelves, therefore, in this expectation of a revenue
to France to import free machinery, and now by giving from malt, hops, and spirit, while the paper duties would
them coals and iron we should make them our competitors already have disappeared altogether. If they carried out
in all the markets of the world. Unless the duty were re- that line of policy, then, depending merely upon the elasticity
duced to 10 per cent., the linen trade would gain no benefit of the revenue, they would miserably fail in their calcula-
whatever from the treaty. The people of this country flow. So with respect to wines, the duty arising from
ought not to be so severely taxed as was proposed, under which was to recover itself. It was quite* an experiment,
this scheme, for the sake of any treaty which would not however, whether those duties would recover themselves or
giveu them equal advantages in return. (Hear, hear.) not, and at the best it would be a work of time. There was
Mr. CROSSLEY found considerable disparity in the an article in constant use among the lower classes of the
views of hon. members, and it was alleged there was no community for example—namely, tea, the reduction of the
use in taking the duties oft' wine and paper, for they would duties upon which was begun in 1853, when it was reduced
get them no cheaper. With respect to the system of from 2s. ld. to ls. sd. per lb. That was a great reduction)
libenses, he thought the right hon. gentleman must alter and the result was a greatly increased consumption.
it, because he could assure him the extension of beer-shops But had the reduction brought the revenue from the tea
in the country had produced great evil. He quite agreed duties up to what it was before the reduction took place ?
with him that in taking off a portion of the wine duties he At that time the revenue'from tea amounted to £5,984,000,
must extend the places for sale, but if he did so, the parties but now it was under £5,500,000. Hon. gentlemen told
ouglt to be place' under the sup3rvision of the magic- them the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer was
trates and the cognisance of the police. It would be a great only treading in the steps of Sir R. Peel, and asked them to
injustice to the licensed victuallers, who had a large pro- look at the result. But the circumstances were very dif-
perty embarked in trade, to allow parties to obtain licences ferent. In 1842, when Sir R. Peel began his reforms, the
at the option of paying a certain sum of money. He hoped system of indirect taxation had reached its limit, and Sir
the right hon. gentleman would take care that no such in- R. Peel, therefore, said that more revenue must thence-
justice was perpetrated, and as regarded the budget gene- forth be derived from direct taxation. In doing so he broke
rally, it had his cordial concurrence. virgin soil, giving the people raw materials in abundance,
Mr. P. HENNESSY, as an Irish member, thought the and the necessaries of life at a cheapened rate, covering the
budget of the right hon. gentleman the Chancellori of the- revenue by an income tax, for which he had appealed to the
Exchequer one of the very worst ever presented t• Parlia- better classes of society, to enable him to set free the trade
ment. He referred to a number of articles where all the of the country. Sir R. Peel succeeded, but the right hon.
gain under the proposed system would be £580,000 to the gentleman had not the virgin soil to breakup. Undoubtedly
English, and loss than £2,800 to Ireland. In 1840, the there was some to work upon, but not much more, -and
population of Ireland was something over 8,000,000, and whereas Sir It. Peel put on an income tax for three year*,
the population now was something over 7,000,000 ; but in the right hon. gentleman put it only for one
1840 the larger population consumed somewhere about year, which would not cover his expenditure.
4,000,0001b5. weight of tea, while now the smaller popula- The advantages to be derived from this treaty
lation consumed 10,000,0001b5. of that article, so that the could not be deemed equal to those of free cotton,
larger population, as he said, consumed less than the cheap food and relief from many oppressive Excise
smaller, and whilst last year the duty paid on tea amounted and Customs duties. He thought, therefore, they would
altogether to £4,700,000, the duty in Ireland alone probably find themselves mistaken in the amount of good
amounted to £700,000. He should confine his remarks to which they contemplated from this treaty, but still that
those few facts, and looking 'at them seriously, he believed consideration was perfectly insignificant in comparison
they justified him in giving his vote against the budget. with another grave objection to which the project was
Mr. GRANT DUFF said, with regard to the wine open. This system of direct taxation had now got into
duties, it had been said that it was impossible that the such a state that it was absolutely necessary to reconsider
British palate could ever reconcile itself to the French it, if they wished it to be any longer tolerated ; yet the right
wines. In refutation of this he would only refer to the case hon. gentleman was throwing away the opportunity of doing
of Scotland. It was perfectly notorious that up to a very what must inevitably be done next year. At the present
recent period French wines were very largely consumed in time it was impossible to defend that tax as now levied. In
Scotland, and hon. members would remember the adage— 1860 it was somehow or, other to cease, and after the ems.-
", Firm and erect the Caledonian stood, tions which had been made to enable the house to keep its
Prime was his mutton and his claret good : word in this matter, they had a fair right to expect that
' Let him drink port,' the English statesman cried i some effective step would be taken for that purpose. Next
He drank the poison and his spirit died?' year there would he an enormous deficit, and whatever might
(Hear, hear.) And a countrymen of his own, Sir R. Gor- have been the faults of other Governments her Majesty's
don, in his travels, related that he found French -wine present Government at leasthearflieseredit of having pro-
in Morayshire actually cheaper than he had found it in posed the highest estimates. Under the exciting oratory of
Normandy. With regard to the paper duty, there seemed the hon. memberfor Birmingham, and in a reformed Parlia-
to be a general consent in the policy of not keeping it up ment, they would find themselves obliged to have recourse
an hour longer; and whilst a great deal was said about to some new mode of taxation. Direct taxation was by no
the height to which the education vote was rising, means in favour, and no member of that house had spoken
he must observe that there was no education like that in stronger language against the income-tax than the hon.
which a man gave himself by reading when once the member for Birmingham. By depriving themselves of
rudiments of education had been acquired. Cheap books were Customs and Excise duties t heK would really be burning
a most important element of education ; and if this educa- their ships. They would next e told that they must put a
tion were not exclusively spread among the working classes, tax upon realised property, or else reduce their establish-
an extension of the franchise would be a curse instead of a ments. Either of those alternatives would please the hon.
blessing. (Hear, hear, from the Opposition benches.) The member for Birmingham, and indeed, if the budget had
proposed simplification of the tariff would, he thought, have been prepared by him, he (Sir S. Northcote) should have re -
)an advantage both ways. It would not only have a general sisted it as a dangerous measure, but it would not have cur-
effect, but, by cheapening a number of foreign articles, it prised him. He was surprised, however, and greatly our
ront
would cause new branches of invention and 'industry to prised, that such a proposition should have proceeded f
spring up. (Cheers.) Besides which, the obnoxious searches her Majesty's Government. They were told, too, that this
at the Custom-house, which all had experienced with so was not all—that a commission was new sitting whichwonld
much annoyance, would be done away with. It might be probably recommend an expenditure of £10,000,000 or
said that these alrerationa would affect only the upper and £2o,ooo,ooo—for in this* days a few millions more or less
middle classes, but it was these classes after all which con• were of no great consequence—for national defences. If
tributed most to the revenue, and it mustbe always remem- that were so, it was clear that the present resources of the
bored with satisfaction that we had no passports and no Government would be insufficient, and in that case he
quarantine. should hope that the plan of the hon. member for Bir-
Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE said he fully appre-
mingham, of making a tax of Bs. in the £lOO on realised
ciated the great merits which were contained in the scheme property would not be seriously entertained. By such
which was at present under the consideration of the house. a scheme as was now proposed, however, they ran the
When the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of the Ex- risk of a tremendous diminution of the establishments of the
chequer sat down, an hon. gentleman rose in his place and nation, or else of the imposition of a tax on the holders of
said he had never listened to a speech in which there was property, from which the mannfacturers and otherprodueers
more tinsel. (Laughter.) He (Sir S. Northcote) was fully would be exempt. The Economist—a paper for which he
prepared to admit that there was a great deal of real ster- had a great respect—admitted that the proposal had advan-
tages to offer, eirt,
wttonutgohnttheefyitws ewreaytotobteananttta,innnedjusattlya
as
ggrehaet
ling gold in the proposals of the right hon. gentleman; but
then he could not help remembering an old proverb, which Price ; but
told:them that gold might be bought too dearly. (Hear.) They thought, the right hon. gentleman the member for Buck-
must consider whether on the whole the benefits offered to inghamshire with too great a disposition to tide over diffi-
them were worth the price which they were called upon culties. Surely the right hon. gentleman (the Chancellor
to pity for them. There was one consideration which im- of the Exchequer) himself was equally liable to such a re-
mediately suggested itself, and would occur to the minds proach, and he had rather disingenuously declared that he
of hon. members, namely, the great benefits which they had so far yielded to the suggestion of the Opposition.
were told would be derived from the simplification of the While appreciating some of the advantages which were of-
tariff. Much discussion had taken place on the policy of fered to them, therefore, he could not but believe that it
such a course, and the right hon. gentleman the present would lead them into a dilemma so serious as there was no
Chancellor of the Exchequer said in that discussion that it pehatiebthheye
revious example of within the memory of any of them.
was desirable to get rid of those infinitesimal duties, and (Cheers from the Opposition.)
that when they came to balance the gains against theet.dta3clxl
ho bring
eßefTtOhNe
income
Exchequerstaaixd until
he washppardegor
mplaaordrradta
arranged
dr right hon.t
b .the
losses, they would find the advantage in favour of this
forwardi\l Chancellorr.A
th- F
they had cm
country. He did not now wish toexpress any opinion ontheir
consideration. complicated m atet e r swHw
one or the other side of that question, as it had yet to come were to do with the variousfr
under their consideration in the course of the discussion had placed beforehoped
and next
which would take place on the treaty. But ho wished to say the income-tax
dwceulnsdimdbereocowmheata
a word in reference to that important part of the subject, the year they the income-tax
incoenn:7; *the, debate.
treaty with France, for it had been arranged that the treaty
and the budget should be considered together. A great deal should
i‘ ir .
ibieua bear
Bo
At the
D othermevteadx
thea taxation na
dole
ut the
Lord PALMERSTON expressed a hope that the house
had been said on both sides of the house, but more particu-
would come to a decision on Thursday night.
TheT n e motion Consolidated
umotTi waysoin othat
Nt h
oe
Fund
tnFh
iasg agreed
ti
le4lTdogE7to,oA6i.
n4B9to)i,
larly On the other side, that this treaty was contrary to the
readcoEßimllpinwitiasotteeEt
Taythird
iorinciplss of free ti axle. That observation had been made
jestingly, perhaps, on that side of the house, but he con-
time and passed.
fessed that when this matter first presented itself to his
mind, he was not disposed to think there was anything con-
(IRELAND) BILL.
VALUATION OF
moved as an amendment that this
IN
,Oinrl.
trary to the principles of free trade iu it. Ho had. alweyts
been brought up in the opinion that treaties of reciprocity
house should go into committee that day six months.
by not very much in favour of the principles maintained
mintltere.
,LwAhriNehG.wsauspapgroreteedd
ttho.o motion for going into. cola-
ribygethi,eenfrsieye
thtreaddeeetsrcinheosolw;hbieuht
maviigthhtouhtavceakbrrey ing
aoinuttavineeryd
After a short discussion, the bill passed through com-
a measure by no means to be condemned
oeon
tihteautthingatretuhnisds.vaief
mittee.
hon
with membersregarwd The house adjourned at a quarter to one o'clock.
n,avtausrle.notfhtihs etr
a tprovi-
siony
made it that
appear
thing in the treaty
at first sight which
outoldthcoendsuidtieerswohnatwiiire
they would see it was a very loose prsion. There was no The
other countries ; but if
those imposed upon the wines
the duties imposed upon French wines were lighter than
hon. members would consider they would see that there was
difference. The duties proposed by the treaty
a considerable
•
to be imposed on the importation of French wines were,
upon wines of 15 degrees of proof spirits, ls. per gallon;
upon wines from 15 to 25 degrees, Is. 6d. per gallon; and 26 to 40 degrees, 2s. per
upon wines containing from
gal-
lon, that was to say, eighteenpence as against one shilling,
upon wine which contained a higher degree of spirit.
The effect of the treaty would be that the wines of France
would be imported into this country at ls. a gallon, and
the wines of Portugal at Is. 6d. a gallon. That was a very
questionable policy, and it was certainly not in accordance
with the principles of free trade. If they went to Spain
and Portugal, what inducement could they offer those
countries to import their wines? They would say, " You
have so arranged your duties that the wines of France shall
come into England at a lower price than ours, and you must
rearrange your duties so as to allow us to enter your market
ou the same terms. But this country would not be able to
do that, because it is bound by the terms of the treaty for
10 years to maintain the differential duty. It might be said
that it was unreasonable on their part to condemn the treaty,
but surely when there were matters like these so very
doubtful, it was their duty to closely examine what would
be the real effect of the treaty upon the general interests of
this country. His great objection, apart from the =aside-
ration of the details of the treaty, was, that it tied up the
hands of the Government for 10 years. (Hear.) He was
quite willing to admit that he saw many advantages to be
derived fram the treaty. (Hear.) He believed that, though
it would not give them all they had a right to expect, and
though it contained conditions which might be embarrass-
ing to the Government, yet, at the same time, he quite ad-
mitted it made a breach in the prohibitive and protective
system of France. (Hear.) His objection was not to the
advantages, but to the price that was to be paid for them.
The hon. member for Montrose had that night paid a high
tribute to the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
which, he said, was characterised by its simple eloquence.
It was eloquence, no doubt, but as to its being "simple
eloquence," he could hardly admit that. (Hear.) But sub-
sequently the hon. member for Montrose had illustrated his
meaning of the term " simple eloquence" by telling them
that all the great advantages that were to be derived from this
budget would be obtained by only an additional penny to the
income tax for one year. Well, the Chancellor of the Exche •
quer told them that he had a deficit of £9,490,000 to make
up, and he sketched various modes by which that might be
done before coming to the plan which he proposed for the
acceptance of the house. What was the plan ? He ex-
pected £8,472,000 as the result of collecting three-quarters
income tax within the present financial year. Ile pro-
posed' to take up in advance £1,400,000 or malt duties, and
to receive from the continuance of the war duties on tea
and sugar £2,100,000. But he (Sir S. Northcote) contended
that if they did that, apart] from uncalled-for reductions,
they would not require a 10d. but a 7d. income tax. If they
were to collect 7-10ths of that income tax within the year,
7-10ths of a 7d, income tax would give them £5,900,000.

THE TREATY OF COMMERCE.

The Conservatives who voted with the Government- on
Mr. Disraeli's motion were Alderman Copeland, Mr. J. M.
Gaskell, Mr. P. S. Humberston, Mr. A. E. Lockhart, Mr.
T. Mainwaring, Mr. D. Pugh, Colonel Smyth, together
with two or three members described by "Dod" as Liberal
Conservatives.
_ _

The following Liberals voted against the Government :
Mr. Ayrton, Mr. Bowyer, Mr. Bracklehurst, Mr. Greens,
Mr. M. Hassard, Mr. E. Horsman, Mr. E. MacEvoy, Mr.
J. E. Redmond, and Mr. M. Sullivan. With two excep-
tions the foregoing are Irish Catholics.

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