The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-27 00:00:00

Manilla spun yarn. That is to say, again exclud-
ing the loose Manilla which laps the gutta percha,
in every mile of the cable there are seventy-one
miles of material. Obviously in putting such a
mass together the greatest care is requisite, and
Mr. Clifford and his assistants at the works of
the company have plenty to do in looking after
the men employed. The operatives who make
the joints in the wire, and those who spin the
Manilla yarn, and those who attend to the machines
that twist the yarns round ithe wires use separate
premises, and are not admitted into the works in
which the core is bound with hemp and wire and so
completed. The men who coil the cable in the great
tank wear soft shoes, supplied to them by the com-
pany, and their weight has no appreciable effect
upon the structure of the cable, which lies in white
flakes, that look not unlike ordinary Manilla rope
coiled down on a ship's deck. Every working day
now for three months the manufacture of the At-
lantic cable of 1866 will proceed. Who is there
that does not wish it success ?—Herald.

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TI3IES.—The practical turn of the national mind
is perhaps that quality upon which we are most dis-
posed to pride ourselves, and everybody is ready to
declare that it reaches its highest development just
where it should—in the House of Commons, the
embodiment of our national ability and strength.
Everything that is done there has an immediate
effect, and is directed to some definite end. We do
not debate on an Address in answer to a Royal
Speech for a whole month ; we do not indulge in
prophecies of " the manifest destiny " of the Eng-
lish people and read pajnphlets for two or three
days together ; we discourage professional dis-
quisitions on things in general. These may be
done by a French Legislative Body, an American
Senate, an Italian Chamber of Deputies, but they
are unknown at Westminster. The debate of last
night was, it must be confessed, a strange com-
mentary on our familiar boast. Mr. White's
motions in favour of economy and retrenchment
were withdrawn, as it was perfectly well known from
the beginning they would be, and three or four hours
were spent in discussions which came, and which
throughout were expected to come, to no con-
clusion. A Social Science Congress could not have
been more absolutely theoretical, more completely
given up to mere talk. Mr. White made one single
practical suggestion, but although many members
rose after him who sympathised more or less with
his views, no one had a good word to say for the
Sessional Committee on the Estimates which he
proposed as a check upon excessive expenditure.
The debate on economy, in fact, came to nothing,
and we fear it was one of those which will not
bear fruit hereafter. Mr. White was laborioas and
persevering, and at least one part of his speech
might easily have been made exceedingly effective.
In dointing out the inconsistencies between Mr.
Gladstone's private utterances and his official action
as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. White carried
his audience with him. There was, indeed, reason
in the charge. Mr. Baxter on one side, and Sir
Stafford Northcote on the other, took it up and
enlarged upon it. Mr. Gladstone himself attempted
to explain the apparent contradiction between his
words and his deeds, but his explanation could only
apply to one of the speeches which he had " pre-
sumed" to utter. When he told his constituents at
Liverpool that he was not satisfied the expenditure
of the country had been reduced to the lowest point
consistent with honour and security, it is obvious
that he was complaining of the estimates brought in
by the Government of which he was a member, and
adopted by the House of Commons, and not of some
daring attempt of a private member to raise' the
salaries of the Post-office letter carriers. 'When,
again, he charged the late House of Commons with
having authorised an expenditure never before
reached in a time of peace, he simply echoed Mr.
Cobden's epithet of the "prodigal" Parliament, and
managed to protest that he was " a sad good Chris-
tian in his heart," however much his actions belied
his aspirations. In attempting to explain away the
natural construction of these sentences last night,
Mr. Gladstone seemed in danger of assuming the most
terrible of characters, " un homme incompris," and it
is the more necessary to point this out because the
responsibility of an 'exaggerated expenditure does
rest between Parliament and the Ministry, and not
wholly with the latter, as might be inferred from
the Chancellor of the Exchequer's latest opinion.
When estimates have been introduced and ac-
cepted by the House of Commons, the latter be-
comes particeps crinzinis with the Government, and
its easy indulgence makes the path of retrenchment
more hard. Mr. Gladstone was, therefore, quite
justified when in past years lie appealed from the
House of Commons to the country, provided only
that he had indeed used every means to promote
economy himself. It still, however, remains to
be seen how far his economic zeal will carry him.
The two resolutions brought in by Mr. White
declared that we spent too much, and that we drew
the means of our expenditure unjustly from the
different classes of the State. We are all more or less
convinced that there is some truth in the first state-
ment, and Mr. Laing's elaborate argument failed to
dispel the impression. Mr. Laing proved, indeed,
conclusively that our total expenditure hadincreased
at a less rate than that of our neighbours in France,
Belgium, or Holland, attributing the general in-
crease to the revolution in the science of war and
the rise in prices consequent on the gold discoveries.
But this consolation, indifferent at any time, was in
truth fallacious. He forgot to take into account
the large proportion of our expenditure which is
fixed and unchangeable. The total amount may
have increased no more than 10 per cent., but the
interest on the National Debt has not increased
at all, while the cost of the army and navy has risen
from fifteen to twenty-five millions, or 661-per cent.
Mr. Laing was more successful in his refutation of
the notion that our system of taxation bore unjustly
on any class of taxpayers. The precision of his ar-
gument contrasted very favourably with the vague
statements advanced byMr. M'Laren in confutation
of it. The legislation of the Reformed Parliament
has liberated almost every industry, and freed every
article of necessary consumption from taxation. The
few imposts which have been left affect only objects
which may properly be described as articles of com-
fort, if not of luxury, and are imposed upon them
at very reduced rates. Bread, butter, salt, cheese,
eggs, are absolutely free; the tea duties and the
sugar duties have been reduced; the malt duty— I
though yielding a large return to the Exchequer.—
adds but little to the price of beer. Food is untaxed,
clothing enjoys an absolute immunity, so does fuel
of all kinds, and the approaching removal of the
last relics of the timber duty following the aboli-
tion of the Excise duties on bricks and glass and of
the window, will leave the means of shelter free
from any impost. The primary necessities of the
workman can thus be satisfied without their price
being enhanced by the intervention of the tax-
gatherer, and his labour is unfettered by any legisla-
tive restrictions. The vast increase in the consump-
tion of primary luxuries attests the benefits of the

legislation of the last quarter of a century. The
legislation in question must not, indeed, be regarded
as a boon, it was but an act of justice ; it freed the
lower classes from invidious taxes and burdens, but
it has left them bearing a just share of the national
obligations. Mr. Laing very appropriately referred
to the fact that the United States' Revenue Com-
mission bad recommended the adoption of our system
of taxation as economically satisfying the necessities
of • Government and doing justice to the several
classes of the people, and the fact is indeed unde-
niable that if we analyse the proportion of the in-
come of the workman and the millionaire which is
absorbed by taxation, we shall find very little dif-
ference between them. Though we do not expect
any practical benefit from the discussion of last night,
we must not be supposed to condemn the practice
of levelling a broad resolution at such an abuse as
extravagant expenditure. We only regret that in
this instance it was not aimed more efficiently. The
House of Commons cannot pursue the Executive
through all the details of administration, but it can
and often does give a significant hint on the general
necessity of retrenchment. Mr. Gladstone last night
paid a high tribute to the late Mr. Joseph Hume,
and yet it is very doubtful whether any considerable
saving was effected by his amazing industry, acute-
ness, and assiduity. Mr. White's review of the
practical working of retrenchment in detail must,
however, be deemed conclusive. It shows, by what
has been done, what can be done in Committee.
In a dozen years we have stopped the building of a
chapel in Paris, abolished a Register of Sasines•in
Edinburgh, and cut short the career of the travelling
buyer of the National Gallery ! These are large
exploits, especially when contrasted with the expen-
diture of the period. We can, however, call to mind
an occasion when a general resolution was followed
by a considerable reduction ; and although it would
be dangerous to abate our vigilance in watching

separate votes, experience show that it is by general
resolutions that large results can be obtained.
HERALD.—In bringing forward the naval estimates
for the year 1866-67 Lord ClarencePaget has hardly
fulfilled the confident prediction made by the organs
of the Government of the economy of administration
which would be applied to every branch of the pub-
lic service under the new Ministry. Now that the
American civil war is over, with all apprehension of
the troubles that seemed likely to arise from it ; now
that there are no longer any- disturbances in Italy,
when there is no jealousy of Russia, no rivalry with
France, it might seem that retrenchment, if advisable