The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-22 00:00:00

£64,000,090. It is not necessary to vindicate the conduct
of the late Government upon every one of the items of that
estimate. It is possible, and always will happen, that when
you have at the commencement of the financial year to offer
an estimate to t e house of the resources of the country,
some of your items will not be exactly realised, because they
must •-iiter all to a certain extent be hypothetical. All you
have to expect from a Chancellor of the Exchequer is, that
his estimate should as a whole prove adequate to the occa-
sion, and that the sums realised should not generally fall
short of the calculated amounts. Au estimate of revenue
which takes a whole year to accrue must prove inaccurate
in some of its details ; but if you find it realises the sum
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has led you to ex-
pect you are bound to admit that in that respect at least he
has done his duty. (Hear. hear.) What happened, then,
in the year for which the late Government are responsible ?
The estimate was under £64,000,000 ; the receipts were
£65,500,000; showing an excess of £1,500,000. (Hear.)
That £1,500,000 furnished us with resources for meeting a
decline in the revenue occasioned by the second £1,000,000
of the reduction of the income-tax, and also left a sufficient
surplus. It had been said that the excess of L 1,500,000 was
not so genuine as could have been desired, (incurring to a
considerable extent under the head of " Miscellaneous"—
a source upon which implicit reliance cannot be placed.
That is perfectly true, and it was foreseen by the Govern-
ment. At the end of the year, after the third quarter,
when it became my duty to consider generally our finances,
and to prepare for that exposition of them which ordinarily
takes place at the commencement of April, we deducted
the probable amount of " miscellaneous" from our surplus,
reducing it to a comparatively small amount, and by ex-
tending the ld. stamp duty to a variety of instruments re-
ferred to by the Chancellor of the Exchequer the other
night, and by some further financial operations, we made
arrangements not only to meet • the deficiency occasioned
by the loss of £1,000,000, upon the income-tax, but also to
leave an ample balance in the exchequer. That is the general
positiOn in which we should have left the finances had it
not been for the occurrence of political events of great im-
portance, and therefoee I hope I may claim for the late
Government that their management of the finances was
sound in principle and prudent in administration. (Hear.)
Such, then, is my answer to those who for a considerable
period have alarmed the country by descriptions of our
finances being conducted upon a hand-to-mouth system, of
their being managed in a slovenly manner, and of the diffi-
cult and perilous state in which they would be found by our
successors. On the Contrary, nothing we did in the post-
ponement of the public engagements was done without, not
only the concurrence, but the unanimous concurrence of the
House of Commons ; and I think the course of affairs since
has completely vindicated the policy we recommended to
Parliament, and which Parliament sanctioned—viz., not to
waste our resources in maintaining artificial sinking funds,
and not, after the catastrophe of November, 1857, to im-
pose £4,000,000 of new taxes upon an industrious people
smarting under great disasters. (Hear, hear.) I have
already mentioned that at the commencement of the year
political events occurred which entirely changed the aspect
of affairs and the situation of the Government in respect to
the finances. It became necessary very early in the year
greatly to increase the estimate for the navy, and also to
make an addition to our military expenditure. No one on
the other side can blame the late Government for the policy
they recommended the house to adopt.. Our eonf pt_ has
met with general approbation, and although the result of.
our measure is, no doubt, a deficiency of between £4,000,000
and £5,000,000, all admit that our expenditure was called
for by the highest interests of the country, and that no
Minister could have shown himself in this house who was
not prepared to make the necessarp arrangements for a crisis
which at the beginning of the year seemed fast approach-
ing. (Hear.) Onr successors have had to meet difficulties
from which we should not have shrunk, and of which we
are conscious. I hope the house will not think I have said
too much in vindication of our conduct. This is the first
time I have noticed those continuous and utterly false at-
tacks that have been made upon our administration of, the
finances. lam perfectly aware of the position of the pre-
sent Government, and I am anxious, as is every gentleman
on this side of the house, that they should receive a fair and
candid support. Let us now consider the course which the
right hon. gentleman recommends us to take. I will, in the
first place, say that to the decision to which the Govern-
ment has arrived of dealing with this deficiency by taxation,
and not by raising a loan, I give my unqualified approba-
tion. (Hear.) I don't mean to say there are not cases in
which even in time of peace we should not have recourse to
a loan. Every one knows that such emergencies may arise,
but they can occur only very rarely. Twice in the experi-
ence of the generation I am addressing those great emer-
gencies have arisen. I am not prepared broadly to lay down
that even the question of the national defences, which I
understand is to be brought before the house, maynot be an
exception. I give no opinion at present upon ;ID wide a sub-
ject, which demands the most cautious investigation and the
closest reflection. But I say there was nothing in the ex-
penditure incurred by the late Government, and sanctioned
by their successors, which in its nature and amount justi-
fied recourse to a loan. (Hear.) Its amount, though con-
siderable, was not of that largeness which in this country is
generally associated with sums raised in such a mannei.
Treating it in round numbers as £5,000,000, we must recol-
lect that there had been a reduction of taxation to the
amount of £2,000,000 within only a year and a half ; and I
think the wisdom of the step then taken is made manifest
by the position in which we now find ourselves, and by
the course which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has
now recommended us to take. Great as may be-the objec-
tion to his proposition, and great as even yet the diffi•
cultiee he may have to encounter, everyone must feel what
an advantage it is to him, in making this proposition,
that the people of this country should remember in respect
to the income-tax that the Government have already, at
considerable hazard and with great difficulty, maintained
their faith. (Hear.) The reduction of the income-tax from
7d. to sd. in the pound was an act which put the country,
in good humour, and made them feel that this was a finan-
cial weapon which the Government were not inclined to re-
sort to except under peculiar circumstances and on great
emergencies. Now, admitting that the present Govern-
ment are perfectly justified in the course which they have
taken, and quite approving of their determination not to
have recourse to a loan when the expenditure we have to
defray is such as I think the country ought, when neces-
sary, to be always able to meet in time of peace without
borrowing, I would ask the house to consider the mode in
which these taxes are to be raised. I would first, however,
observe, that, totally irrespective of the bad financial
policy f unnecessarily in times of peace having recourse
to loans, I can imagine nothing more impolitic, as regards
the opinion of Europe and the world, than at the first mo-
ment of pressure, when an amount of £4,000,000 or
£5,000,000 is wanting in order to place the armaments
of the country in a proper position, to make it appear
that this great and wealthy country is unable to defray
such an expenditure without resorting to extraordinary
measures. (Hear.) A loan under present circumstances
must have produced a very bad effect, and must very much
have influenced the opinion of the world as to the resources'
of this country. (Hear.) Totally irrespective, therefore,
of the error in financial policy which would be caused by
now going into the market to borrow, I would say that
nothing would have been more injudicious than such a pro-
ceeding, because it would have given to foreign Powers a
very false notion of the resources of this country. But now
as to the means by which these taxes are to be raised. The
right hon. gentleman has proposed two measures ; there
are two resources from which his Ways and Means are to be
derived. With regard to the third resolution, relating to; he
malt credit, I will at present only say that I think it might
have been as well, when the right hon. gentleman was tak-
ing so considerable a step, that he should have endeavoured
to obtain a larger result. I conclude that the right hon.
gentleman may yet look forward to the dealing further with
that source of supply, but if so I think it is only an ad-
ditional reason why he should have considered whether a
greater result might not have been obtained at the present
moment. No doubt inconvenience, if not injury, must be
the result of this contemplated change ; no doubt tthis
credit must be distributed over a considerable period of
time ; and in making these arrangements and encountering
the opposition and creating the prejudices to which they will
naturally give rise, I think it is a question whether the
right hon. gentleman might not have obtained a larger sum
than the £780,000 which he expects from his proposal. '
Passing that over, I come to the means by which the right
hon. gentleman contemplates obtaining no less a sum than
£4,000,000. Now, I think it very unfortunate that at this
moment, with 1860 so near at hand, the right hon. gentle-
man should have been forced to deal with the income tax;
but I freely admit that under all the circumstances of the
case, though I might think the adoption of a smaller
rate was possible, the right honourable gentleman was
forced to adopt that • tax to a very considerable ex-
tent as a means of supply--(hear, hear)—and if that be so,
I do not think that it is for the house—approving the
general policy and acknowledging the necessity—to split
straws upon the particular amount which he is to raise.
(Hear, hear.) So far, therefore, as that point is concerned
I should not object to the amount of the tax which the
right hon. gentleman has proposed. In so doing, however, I
cannot refrain from expressing my opinion that all the
arguments which have been offered to the house before, and
even recently, against the property and income tax becom-
ing a permanent source of our revenue are not in any way
enfeebled by the concession which the house may choose to
make as to the increase now proposed. The opinion of the
house, as I have understood it, is that the property and
income tax is to be retained for emergencies. All admit
that we are now appealing to it upon a state of things which
is not of an ordinary character • and in agreeing to the pro-
position of the Government I not only see no reason to
change the opinion with respect to the tax which I have al
ready expressed, but I do not recognise that the right hon.
n.
gentleman's proposition, if acceded to, will at all interfere
with the settlement in 1860 to which we have always d
forward. But, although lam prepared to suppoitl the
ly epro-
posal of the Government, I confess I should
_
en its practice to modify it. I was not at at.! persuaded by any
observations which fell from the right hon. entleman, T
have not been persuaded by further consideration, or by the
othmatnithaneymciodueartinerswhanichd
finrefmormreaptretntticvhehe
ofmreaanchyeedleemeee
efr,
the right hon. gentleman means
mtoelnethvye,thi. s
instead
income
tax, namely, in the course o of spread-
ing it over the year, is one which is at all necessary. (Hear.)
That it is one against which many grave objections may
be urged I think the right hon. gentleman himself will
hardly deny. It certainly adds the severity of the pres-
sure generally; in some particularte
instances it accomplishes
positive acts of injustice—(hear)—and, thirdly, it is not
only an injustice, but in some cases will prove absolutely im-
practicable. I will not trouble the house now by going into
this point, because that will be better done in committee.
The cases which might be mentioned, however, are nu-
merous and glaring, and I will answer for it that the
more the proposition is considered the greater will be the
objections and the more grievous the instances of indivi-
dual injustice and individual injury, (Hear.) If that ge-
neral description of the objections to this arrangement be a
id
edeeseither
u t
just one, I cannot see why the right hon. gentleman should
persist in it. Wehc be
aumtwbedraewant,
b I conclude,inthhwatietl should e orio in
is that this
ourL4 permanent 0
sehantll notn
Pbea de-
frayed out out of the taxes of the country. (Hear.) If the
house is in that mood, as I believe it • •
is, it can give the right
hon. gentleman a first-rate security ; and I cannot under-
stand that any Chancellor of the Exchequer, much less one
of the resources of the right hon. gentleman, with first-rate
security for raising £4,000,000, will not be able to obtain
the accommodation that he requires without visiting with
unnecessary severity and annoyance the great body of the
taxpayers. (Cheers) I should therefore be inclined, al-
though I trust that it will be unnecessary, to move in com-
mittee an amendment to omit the last two lines and a half of