The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-19 00:00:00

posed. He estimated the revenue of the year at £6.3,920,000.
The estimate which I now present would give us about
£420,000 more than that of the right hon. gentleman ; but
am not able to say that there is in that fact any evidence
of sterling or extraordinary progress, because that £420,000 I
is about the sum which at present appears to have been pro-
duced by the two small taxes which were imposed by the
right hon. gentleman. We come now, Sir, to the estimate
of the expenditure for the current year, the revenue being,
as I have said, £64,340,000 ; the charge of the funded and
unfunded debt for the current year, £28,600,000. In that
sum there is included an item of £400,000, which represents
the last payment upon a certain portion of the Long An-
nuities which will have to be made on the sth of January
next. I mention this item now because it is entirely ex-
ceptional in its character. The committee is aware that as
a general rule all dividends, whether upon stock or annui-
ties, are paid half-yearly. In this particular case, how-
ever, it happens that a certain considerable portion of the
Annuities for which the public is liable, and which have
their dividends payable half-yearly in April and October,
expires not at the end of the half year, but at the end of the
odd quarter, so that a quarter's paymentbecomes due in re-
spect of that portion on the sth of January next ; whereas,
if the Annuities had continued to run, it would not have
been made until the expiration of the half year—viz., the
sth of April next. The effect of this is to throw upon the
Ways and Means of the year 1850-60 a sum of, in round
numbers, £400,000, which in the regular course of things
would have passed to the debit of 1860-61. The first re-
sult of the cessation of these Annuities is to impose a bur-
den upon the financial year which is now passing. How-
ever, the charge for the funded and unfunded debt is
£28,600,000 ; that for the Consolidated Fund, £1,960,000 ;
the army, including the m,litia, £13,300,000 ; the navy, in-
cluding the packet service, £12,782,000 ► the civil service,
what are called the miscellaneous estimates, £7,825,000 ;
the revenue departments, £474,000. The committee will
observe that there is a very considerable increase in the
aggregate charge of themiscellaneous estimates as compared
with those of last year—(hear, hear)—the estimate for the
present year being as I have stated £7,825,000, and that for
last year not having exceeded £7,169,000. I may, perhaps,
without attempting to enter into detail, state briefly to the
_ _

committee what are the principal items of this increase.
The committee will recollect that a measure passed this
house about two years ago which imposed upon the public
a very heavy charge in respect of the County Courts. From
that source we have an increase in the civil service estimates
of £49,000; the constabulary in Ireland shows an increase
of £36,000 ; the vote for public education, including art, an
increase of about £200,000 ; the vote for British Columbia,
£42,000 ; that for China, Japan, and Siam, which is a new
acquaintance, and has not appeared upon the estimates be-
fore, £25,000; the vote for the Foreign-office site and
buildings, £200,000, including, however, the £130,000,
which I have just spoken of as repayable from the Indian
revenues. Last comes the submarine cable to Gibraltar,
£115,000 ; and perhaps this is the place at which I ought
briefly to refer to that subject. The late Government had
entertained a plan for both manufacturing and laying down
this cable from England to Gibraltar during the present
season. The cost of these operations would, it was estimated.
be about £250,000, and when her Majesty's Government
came into office a contract had actually been entered into
for the manufacture of what I believe is called the core of
the cable at an expense of about £115,000. Upon a conside-
ration of the whole matter—which will be more conveni-
ently discussed in detail upon the vote—and taking into
consideration as a main element the advanced season of the
year, and the extremely short period during which tolerably
fine weather could be reckoned upon, we thought it would
be wiser not to prosecute the plan for laying this cable dur-
ing the present season, and, consequently, a smaller sum is
asked from the house than would otherwise have been re-
quired. The sum which will be asked for is simply the
price of the cable manufactured under contract, which con-
tract we found in course of execution at the time we
entered upon the exercise of office. The total of these
items of increase upon the miscellaneous estimates which I
have stated to the house is £667,000. There are some items
of decrease by which that is partially balanced, and I be-
lieve that the net increase in the amount of the miscel-
laneous estimates of this year, as compared with those of
last, is somewhere between £580,000 and £599,000. Now,
if the committee will take the trouble to add together the
figures which I have given them, they will find that whereas
the revenue of the year as it is estimated amounts to
£64,340,000, the estimated expenditure will amount to
£69,207,000. Subtract the smaller from the larger of these
sums, the result is a gross deficiency of £4,867,000, and that
is the charge the mode of making provision for which will
have to be considered by the committee. Before Igo into
any particulars with respect to the mode of meeting that
charge I should wish briefly to draw the attention of the
committee to one or two general considerations which ap-
pear to bear upon our present position, and to give it a
somewhat peculiar character. I think, sir, that it is plain
that while this is a time at which it will become the com-
mittee to make an adequate and effective provision by those
means which they shall think most in accordance with the
public interests for the wants of the year, it is likewise a
time at which the attention of the committee should be
rigidly confined to the wants of the year. The first reason
for that is that no one can review: the estimates which I
have laid before the committee without observing that
they bear in no inconsiderable degree an exceptional charac-
ter. The circumstances out of which they have grown
are fully in the notice and in the knowledge of the com-
mittee ; but, without entering into detail upon those cir-
cumstances, I may in general terms say that they are ob-
viously such—l speak especially of the state of affairs abroad
—that if within the next six or twelve months they do not
grow worse we may then entertain a confident expectation
that they must grow better. (Hear, and a laugh.) The
estimates which have been submitted to you bear—l do not
conceal the fact—they bear what may so far be called an
ambiguous character, that while they greatly fall short of
the sums that you have been called upon to vote in time of
war, they on the other hand considerably exceed any sums
which Parliament has been called upon to vote in times of
peace and with reference to the maintenance of peace esta-
blishments. (Hear, hear.) If I take the estimates of the
previous year, which were not considered to be low esti-
mates, as the standard of comparison, I find that they ex-
hibit the following figures :—ln 18.58-59 the sum voted for
the army was £12,010,000, and that for the navy £8,890,000.
In every case when I speak of the army I include the
militia. and when I speak of the navy I include the packet
service. In the current year the estimates voted for the
army, instead of £12,010,000, have been £13,299,000; and
the estimates voted, and willingly voted by the house for
the navy, instead of £8,890,000, have been £12,782,000 ; so
.that you have an increase of £1,288,000 on the estimates
e for the army, and of £3,891,000 on those for the navy,
making together an augmentation, upon estimates which
were themselves high, amounting to no less than about
£5,180,000. That, as I say, may be thought to constitute
an exceptional state of things, from which I draw no other
inference than this, that the present time is thus far marked
out to us as one at which it is hardly open to us to busy
ourselves with extensive prospects or with comprehensive
plans ; but that we ought to confine ourselves to the duty
of making a sufficient and effective provision for the wants
of the year which has actually commenced. (Hear, hear.)
There are other circumstances which I think tend to cor-
roborate that conclusion. Next year has already been
marked out by the proceedings of previous Parliaments as
a critical one in the history of our finance—as a year when
it must be the obvious duty of Parliament, whatever poli-
tical circumstances may occur, to enter upon a compre-
hensive review both of the system of taxation, and also of
the scale of our expenditure. During the next year the
income tax by law will lapse. At the same period, ac••
cording to the understanding arrived at by Parliament,
certain war duties on tea and sugar which have been
- granted for a period of three years from the year 1857 will
, also lapse. The disappearance of these duties would
ultimately make a difference in the receipts of the Treasury
of about, in round numbers, £8,000,000. On the other
hand, next year we have the advantage of a falling off
in the annuities, and it will be the duty of Parliament to
consider whether they will endeavour to signalise the year
of escape from so serious a burden as the constant and per-
manent payment of £2,000,000 by something done for the
benefit of the people, or whether they will simply allow
those £2,000,000 to be dragged unnoticed into the general
vortex cf expenditure, to be disposed of piecemeal in aug-
mentation of £lO,OOO on this vote, £30,000 on that, and
2100,000 on another. (Hear, hear.) All these considera-
tions will bring the Committee—as they have already
brought the Government—to suppose that the present is not
a year
is m which we ought to enter on the consideration of
w
termed prospective finance, but that we ought rather
tube contented
with temporary, and I might say almost pro-
visional finance, provided it be sound. I might also plead
the Maort period
.during which we have held our offices,
which made it unPossible for us, each in his own depart-
ment, to consider in what respect
ma e
.reduction of expenditure
conviction that the great demands maden office to withh aouse full
upon the for
military estimates are demands both justified and required
by the circumstances of the . couns—. ,
-= r (Cheers.) In stating
therefore to the; Committee the 'magnitude of the
which they involve, it is not my intention to take in respect
to those demands in any degree an apologetic tone. On the
contrary, I know well that large as those demands are, they
have been voted with freedom and enthusiasm, and that if
it had seemed right to the Government, from the informa-
tion which we possess, to make a still larger drain on the
confidence and patriotism of Parliament, it would have been
as freely and as warmly met. (Cheers.) But apart entirely
from the exigencies of the public defence and the public ser-
vice, it remains the duty of the Government to consider
what is not only necessary to be done, but likewise to take
care that the funds with which they are so generously in-
trusted are wisely and thriftily expended ; and it is with
referenc,e to that great duty of public economy—a duty which
no publi e exigency can set aside—although unfortunately,
certain c ircumstances of public affairs greatly intlisPcse
the min, is of men to ita dry details—that the mem-
bers of th e Government have, as yet, had no opportunity
of consider drig, each in his own department, in what respects,
apart from the honour and safety of the country, it is possible
for them t, a look forward to any alleviation of the public
burdens br way of counterpoise to the present heavy demands
which the reecessities of the time have imposed on the public
purse. I mist also remind the committee that I have not the
honour is 4 ddress it, ae is usually the came, either before

he financial year has commenced or shortly after its om-
mencement. Nearer four months than three haven ow
elapsed since the commencement of your financial year, avid
none of your financial measures, therefore, can be made
practically retrospective. Subject to the effect of these gene-
ral considerations, I come now to ask the committee to reflect
by what mode of supply shall we raise the sum which will
enable us to meet the heavy demands of the year ? Of
course this great question divides itself at first into these
two branches—shall we attempt to raise the necessary funds
by borrowing or by taxes ? The committee will have to
consider whether this is an occasion on which it ought to
resort to the expedient of a loan. The sam which is re-
quired is between £4,000,000 and £5,000,000. It is certainly
a large sum to demand from the tax-payers at a short no-
tice. But, on the other hand, it is a sum which has never
driven a British Parliament to the expedient of augmenting
the national debt. (Hear, hear.) I think we are all nearly
agreed on this, that in time of peace nothing but a dire ne-
cessity should induce us to borrow. (Hear, hear.) What-
ever doctrine may be theoretically held and propounded by
high authorities with respect to the facility with which we
bear the burden of a national debt, I do not think that any
man standing in my place would wish so to apply that
doctrine as to relax the sound manly sentiment which
fills the British people with aversion to the principle of bor-
rowing to meet the ordinary expenditure of the year.
(Hear, hear.) There have been cases undoubtedly—but
they were exceptional cases—in which we have resorted
to borrowing even in time of peace. Two I may
quote, but I quote them only that the committee may bear
freshly in mind how different were the circumstances
from those in which we now stand. In 1835 the Govern-
ment of Lord Melbourne borrowed £20,000,000 for the pur-
pose of negro emancipation, but that was a service to mark
an epoch in a nation's life--(hear)—and it had no connec-
tion with the ordinary expenditure of the year. Again, in
1847-8, my right hon. friend the present Secretary for India
made a loan of £10,000,000, but it was for the purpose of
meeting a frightful visitation in the sister island, and at the
time it would have hardlybeen possible to raise by the taxes
of the year the sum for which he was compelled to apply to
Parliament. Those two cases are entirely different from this
in amount, because one sum was four times, and the other
twice, as large as that I have now to ask at your hands.
They were different in principle, because while one related
to a great and extraordinary visitation of Providence, the
other was connected with a permanent social change, the
opportunity of which could not again occur. You are now,
on the contrary, called on to meet an expenditure which,
legitimate and needful as it is, has reference strictly and ex-
clusively to your own wants—to the wants of the time in
which you yourselves are living. (Hear.) It appears to
the Government for these reasons, and I hope it will also
appear to the committee, that this is not the occasion for a
loan. (Hear.) Another matter we are bound to take into
view in considering this question is the condition of the
country. I must express my firm conviction that there
never was a period when the people of England were better
satisfied of the justness and necessity of the demands made
upon the public purse, and that there never was a time
when they were more able or more willing to meet them.
(Hear.) I refer it alike to the hearts and understandings
both of those who hear me and of those out of doors who
willconsider our discussions and debates, whether we should
not shrink from our duty and disgrace the memory of those
who have gone before us if we were to hesitate to say that
we will provide for the wants of the day in which we live,
not in such a manner as will further embarrass our posterity,
but out of the resources immediately at our command.
(Hear.) There is another reason, too, not altogether agree-
able, at which I may slightly glance. There will soon be
another public borrower in the market with whom I have
no desire to compete. My right hon. friend the Secretary
of State for India will have to make another application to
Parliament in addition to the measures already taken, in
order to meet the exigencies of the Indian service ; and if
the Committee will allow me I would rather leave the field
clear to him, and be dispensed from interfering with his
operations. (Hear, hear.) What I have presumed to say
with regard to a loan appears to me equally applicable to
the mode of borrowing by instruments at a short date, such
as Exchequer bills. If ever there was a time to which this
mode of borrowing was inapplicable, it is the present, be-
cause its effect would be, not to throw the burden on pos-
terity, but upon the year 1860, which we shall all agree is
already charged to its very utmost. If, then, I have suf-
ficiently got quit of the first alternative of-making provision
by borrowing for the deficiencies of the present year, and if
we seem to be driven by considerations of justice and policy
to the other alternative of looking to taxes for the means of
meeting our expenditure, we have one other question before
us —shall we look to direct taxation or to an augmentation
of our indirect taxes ? I propose not to enter into any ela-
borate or detailed inquiry, because I think a very few
minutes will suffice to dispose of this portion of the subject.
But, inasmuch as there is nothing irrational in the first idea
of resorting to indirect taxes for either the total or the par-
tial relief of the exigencies of the State, let us calmly advert
in a few words to the articles upon which alone it might
perhaps be possible to think of obtaining rapidly and effec-
tually some considerable amount of revenue. Those articles
which I think would present themselves to any Finance
Minister engaged in the disagreeable task of selecting new
subjects of taxation would, I think, ordinarily, be malt,
spirits, tea, and sugar. I confess it is my own opinion, and
it is the opinion, I believe, of all my colleagues, that it
would not be desirable to propose any augmentation of the
duty upon mait. (A cry of " Hear, hear," from an hon.
member on the Opposition benches, which occasioned some
laughter.) lam glad to have given consolation to at least
one anxious and wounded mind (a laugh) ; but we must
frankly own, and I own it the more frankly as I was the
person who proposed the measure that when we did, under
strong necessity, in a time of war, propose a great augmen-
tation of the malt duty, although we derived from it a large
sum of money, yet that sum of money did not altogether
answer our expectations. (Hear.) It is not a very elastic
revenue. It is a large revenue, but it does not seem sus-
ceptible of bearing additional burdens. (Hear.) On the
whole, therefore, what seems obviously to be the dictate of
good sense is that under present circumstances, we should
let well alone. Well, then, the next article I mentioned
was the article of spirits, and I believe that, judging from
what I hear of the accelerated deliverances from bond of
spirits in different parts of the united kingdom—(a laugh)—
there is a portion of the public who either think themselves
or who think that somebody thinks they are, very proper
subjects of taxation. (A laugh.) I should be very sorry to
give a pledge which was intended to bind future years, be••
cause the principle upon which the House of Commons has
I think, uniformly proceeded with respect to spirits has
been, not that we ought to lower the duties upon them as
much as we can consistently with the interests of the re-
venue, but that we ought to raise the duties upon them as
much as we can consistently with the policy and necessity
of preventing the growth of a contraband trade. I wish
merely to say that we wish that question to be postponed
to a future year.. The committee will recollect that we
have been very bold, and I am thankful to say, upon the
whole very successful for a series of years in our operations
upon spirits. From the year 1853, when it was my good
fortune to take the first step in that movement, down to the
year 1858, when the right hon. gentleman put the last hand
to the work and completely equalised the spirit duties in
the three kingdoms, we have had a number of successive
changes which have upon the whole been, I think, emi-
nently satisfactory in their results ; but I will give the
general figures very briefly, so as to enable the com-
mittee to form their own judgment. In the year 1853, when
we began to deal with the spirit duties, the total amount of
thaties collected upon British spirits—of course Ido not in-
clude either colonial spirits or brandy—was, in England,
£3,165,000 ; in Scotland, £1,867,000 ; in Ireland, £1,267,000.
In 1859 the total amount of these duties collected in Eng-
land was £4,073,000, being an increase of £907,000. That
was upon a uniform duty, and no change, except a very
trifling adjustment, had taken place in England; but, at
the same time, England had been deriving supplies from
Scotland and Ireland in a manner that it would be hardly
possible to show upon the face of the account. England
showed an increase upon the face of the account. Scotland
had risen from £1,867,000 to £2,750,000, showing an in-
crease of £832,000; Ireland from £1,267,000 to £2,364,000,
showing an increase of £1,097,000. The general result has
been that from this most legitimate source of taxation we
have had an idcrease between 1853 and 1859 as follows :
' The total in 1853 was £6,301,000, and the total in 18,59 was
£9,lBB,ooo—(cheers)—or an augmentation of £2,887,000,
which I trust we may look on substantially as a real addi-
tion—without a single moral drawback attending it, but
rather the reverse—to the amount of the permanent re-
venue of the country. After making due allowance for the
`progress of the population in the three kingdoms, I think
we may say that from £1,000,000 to £1,200,000 of that sum
has been due to the augmentation of duty imposed by Par-
liament in successive years upon the kingdoms of Scotland
and Ireland. Considering, however, with what difficulty
the whole subject of the spirit duty has been attended in
Ireland ; considering how recent, how great, and how rapid
have been the augmentations of duty in that country, for
they have hardly had a single year's rest—Chancellors of
the Exchequer from time to time have been so anxious to
get back upon them—and considering that at this moment
our success has been complete, so that we have no reason
to believe that a contraband trade has received any stimu-
lus ; but, on the other hand, considering how short an
experience of a few months is for determining a matter
so serious as that—l mean the question whether there
is a danger of stimulating the creation of a new contraband
trade on a greatly extended scale ; considering these things,
we are certainly of opinion that it would be unwise, and, at
all events, premature, to raise at the present moment any
1 question with respect to the general increase of the spirit
duty through the three kingdoms. With regard to a par-
ticular increase to take effect in England, or in England and
Scotland
we
should
and not in Ireland, whatever the yield to the 'Dea-
-1 step
oi improvement.
that
Trea-
sury might be, it would be decidedly a measure of refl.( -
a
gress
which in anhd I not
think
(nHotear, under hea
re. )11 y c i Thatrcut!
stances, be disposed to take. Therefor' e malt gives us no
hope, and spirits yield ns no means of replenishing the pub-
lie treasury. Now, what are we to say of the more impor-
tant and more vital article of tea and sugar 9 I have
pre-
sumed to impress upon the committee the opinion.
that we
are dealing at present not with a prospective and perma-
nent finance, but with the finance of the moment; that we
are making provision for the year; that we do not wish to
tie the hands of Parliament, if we can avoid it, with re..