The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 20, V 66.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF
.COMNIONS—LAsT EVENING,
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills, with amendments, were considered
and agreed to :—Bedford and Northampton Railway, Bray
Improvement, Bristol and North Somerset Railway (Addi-
tional Capital), Great Yarmouth Fish Wharves and
Tramways, Killgsbridgo Railway, Lynn and Sutton
Bridge, Spalding and Bourn, and Norwich and Spalding
Railway Companies, North British Railway (New Works,
&c.), Peterborouzb, Wiebeach, and Sutton Railway, and
Somerset and Dorset Railway.
THE INDIAN BUDGET.
In committee of the whole house,
Viscount CRANBORNE said it was the practice in treat-
ing Indian finance to deal with three years. With respect
to the first of the three, 1864-5, the gross revenue
was £45,653,000, and the gross expenditure £45,846,000,
being a deficit of £193,000, being a difference of more
than £BOO,OOO from the estimate. In regard to the year
1865-6, the gross revenue was £47,041,000, and the gross
expenditure was £47,020,000. In that year there was an
increase generally in the land and forest revenue, though
the net profit from the latter was at present but small. The
excise yielded £2,291,000, being a gain of over £47,000 on
the previous year. The income tax had been repealed, princi-
pally because it had been a complete failure in India, though
at tenpence in the pound never producing more than two
millions a year. The salt tax had experienced a consider-
able loss, about £167,000. The customs showed a gain of
£BB,OOO, while opium gave £8,638,000, or £1,277,000 more
than in the previous year. The public works realised a
sum of £1,016,000. Turning to expenditure, he spoke of
the enormous cost of the collection of the revenue, it being
£8,776,000, though there was last year a diminution of
over £200,000. The army cost £13,468,000, being nearly
the same as in the previous year, which was about the
average expenditure. The expenditure for public works
was £5,352,000, law and justice £2,439,000, and police
£2,398,000 ; each item being an increase. The estimate of
the revenue of the year 1866-7 showed a deficit of £72,800.
The opium-tax was estimated at £8,500,000, but that was
a high and exceptional estimate ; and he feared that too
much reliance was placed on this source of revenue. This
was the more to be regretted as the percentage of other
sources of Indian revenue had decreased rather than in-
creased ; and thus opium had become the essential element
in Eastern finance. For the current year more than
£6,000,000 was spent on pnblic works, which was a heavy
item of expenditure, but it was, in fact, a large surplus
which was invested in remunerative works. The cash
balances at the close of the year would not be more than
£10,000,000. The railway expenditure had been a source
of enormous success, for the repayment of the outlay
was going on with extraordinary rapidity. The Great
Indian Peninsula lino paid 7 per cent. on its capital,
and the East Indian nearly 5 per cent., though neither
of them was fully and thoroughly opened. In conse-
quence of a very full and able report ore the general moral
and material condition of India which had been
presented to the house, it was not necessary for him to
say more than that education was progressing, public
works—particularly of irrigation were going on; rail-
ways advancing ; the Ganges Canal had been rendered
more fitted fur its great purposes, and there was much
evidence of prosperity. The shortness of his tenure of
office must be an apology, if he needed it, for his not
speaking of the policy of the Government in regard to
India, but it was quite in his power to say that that policy
was peace, public works, and an avoidance of the old ag-
gressive system of annexation.
Mr. LAING thought the house must feel greatly in-
debted to the noble lord. for the interesting statement he
had made, and that they might augur well for the prospects
of India under the noble lord's administration, from the
comprehensive manner in which he had dealt with the
subject. The Governm nt had acted wisely in not attempt-
ingto reimpose an income tax, which was peculiarly ob-
jectionable
to the native population. The general system
of Indian finance inaugurated after the mutiny was not,
upon the whole, unsatisfactory, and he saw no reason why
the revenue should not increase at the rate of a million a
year. Any future difficulties that we might encounter in
India would, he believed, most likely arise from the extent
to which irregulars were employed in the army, with an
insufficient number of European officers to command them.
The police system also required an improved organisation
for at present there was great danger of its becoming a
military force.
Mr. STANSFELD said that if the policy shadowed out
by Lord Cranborne were carried into effect it should lead
to the keeping down, not the cutting down, of the military
expenditure, and we were entitled to hope that the
general expenditure should not increase, but be subjected
to a gradual and moderate reduction. Further, if we had
abandoned the old policy of conquest and annexation, then
the time had come when we were bound to concentrate all
our energies upon the civil government of the country, and
the moral, intellectual, and material progress of the people.
This meant financially a much larger civil outlay, and
more money spent upon law and justice, and above all
education, for which the people of India were athirst. He
should be glad to hear that the noble lord adopted these
views ; and in that case Mr. Stansfeld assured him that he
should have his cordial support.
Mr. SMOLLEI"II recommended that economy, and not
new taxation, should be the rule of the Indian Government
in future.
Mr. CRAWFORD expressed a general approval of the
policy enunciated by the Chief Secretary.
Lord W. HAY, referring to observations made by pre-
vious speakers on the subject of annexation, took occasion
to defend the administration of the Marquis of Dalhousie,
contending that the annexations of territory then effected
were absolutely necessary for the consolidation of our
Eastern empire.
res
Sir
ectin J. PERGUSSON, noticing the remarks of Mr. Laing
respecting the police of India, said that on the whole the
force worked very well,
and that so far as the army was
concerned he could not agree with the hon. member that
it was an element of danger:
03diar,
eljr Bw.a
s 8
ti‘ol
opened,be evas gratifiedfei. it
wasat hie.eaerlilnyg
the t h a3thtehee-
issippi of India. In his opinion, however, public works
of
sholohaensuld b.
e provided for not out of revenue, but by means
T
discussion was continued by Colonel Sykes, Mr.
Liddell, Mr. Ayrton, and Lord Dunkellin, and closed with
the adoption of the usual resolution declaratory of the re-
venue and charges for the financial year.
DISTRIBUT
The consideration of the Thames Navigation Bill was
resumed in committeeat Clause 63 shortly before midnight,
but it was a quarter to two the morning before the re-
maining portion of the clauses were agreed to, and the
bill ordered to be reported to the house.
REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE BILL.—RE-
Mr. GLADSTONE, who rose at a quarter to two o'clock,
lON OF SEATS BILL.
said—On rising to move that the orders be discharged, he
had a few words of explanation to offer as to the course ho
proposed to take. On the occasion of the resignation of
the late Government he had not moved the discharge of
the orders, under the conviction that it was their duty to
give the incoming Government an opportunity of consider-
ing the course they should adopt with respect to the bills The declaration of the leading members of the Government
in another place, and likewise in the country, showed that
it was not their intention to take any step in reference to
the bills, a course of which he did not at all make a com-
plaint. He did not think, however, that the motion should
be taken altogether as a matter of course, and ho had there-
fore given notice of his intention to make it, in order that
if any member desired to take the opinion of the house
upon it he should have an opportunity of doing so. At
that late hour he would not enter into the reasons for not
going forward 'with the bills at this period of the session,
but perhaps it was expected of him that after all that had
taken place he should say a word as to the future. As re-
gards the future, the great subject of the representation of
the people was not primarily in the hands of himself or of
those with whom he had been connected. It was, of
course, to her Majesty's Government that in the first in-
stance the country would look for a decision in reference
to those bills. Ho did not desire to press the Govern-
ment upon the question, nor did he make any com-
plaint that the Government had declined to give an
early opinion upon the course they intended to adopt
He would only say that it would be matter of great satis-
faction, both to his colleagues and himself, if the Govern-
mentraswith whom he had the
should be in a condition to moot this question, and
d
to deal with it in a satisfactory and effectual manner. lie
d n
he prepared to give on his
honourownd
i y particularpoat rtatok'so r
act,fro
provisions
onttvhyhieespn part
pledge either with respect to time or
aant nor
o f w
those s
of the late bill, or any bill for par-
liamentary reform. This was not the period at which the
matter should be so handled, but they would be glad to
whichthey believed to be good and
effectual,
without
the smallest
regard to what had hap-
pened should be ready to assist and congratulate those who
might be more fortunate than themselves. (Cheers.) Ho
must also say, without conveying any imputation what-
ever on any class of persons, that they were not the parties
supporta
who would consent to the passing of any measure that they
should regard as reactionary or illusory in its provisions,
and to such a measure they should offer the best resistance
in their power. Beyond that, to any questions put to him
in regard to their future course, and to their intentions in
respect to this matter, he would only eae.,
that they should
wish to be judged by what they had said during times past
and in the present session. He meant not so much in refer-
ence to the particular terms or provisions for the attain-
ment of an object of such great public importance, in re-
spect to which all parties ought to remain entirely free, as
in respect to the temper, the spirit, and the aim with which
they should at any time, if it became their duty in the place
which they now occupied, to approach this subject. With I
respect to those points,
they would wish their future con-
duct to be interpreted by their language and their acts in
the past. With those words he begged leave to move that
the orderS of the day for going into committee on the Repre-
sentation of the People Bill and Redistribution of Seats
Bill should be discharged.
The order was then discharged.

miTttheee.
Commons Metropolis Bill passed through com-

The remaining orders were disposed of, and the house
adjourned shortly after 2 o'clock.

Royal Tour in Belgium.

LIEGE, July 16.
This ordinarily busy city, the Birmingham of
Belgium, has been more than usually busy during
the last two days, notwithstanding the entire sus-
pension of all the manufacturing operations which
form its staple employments. The energies and the
lgood will of the population had been devoted to
preparing a fitting welcome for their Sovereign, who,
in fulfilment of his intention to visit all the princi-
pal towns in his dominions, had decided upon giving
Liege au early place on the list. Yesterday, in
anticipation of the Royal visit, numerous bodies
from other towns who had been invited by the
people of Liege arrived in the city and imparted
additional bustle to the already bustling streets. In
accordance with the idea which is presumed to have
induced the journey of King Leopold 11., the Liegos
seem to have thought that the more general the
representation of the kingdom at these fetes the
more significant they would be, and, therefore, in
their hospitable zeal they issued invitations to all
the representative bodies within a very extended
radius from their city. On Sunday troops of the
civic guard were continually arriving (including
some who bad performed a hurried journey from
Wimbledon), and they were constituted the guests
of the civic guard of Liege, each special body of
which entertaining the corresponding number of the
force in other towns. In addition to the =btu,
guests less warlike assistants had been summoned,
and had responded in the persons of upwards of 60
choral societies coming from different parts of Bel-
gium. It will be readily understood that, with
magnificent weather, the old town of Liege was ex-
ceedingly gay on Sunday. To-day the interest has
centred on the Royal party which arrived here
about 11 o'clock. The King, accompanied by the
Queen and the Count of Flanders, had left Brussels
by railway about half-past 8, but had stopped for a
short space at Tirlemont, where an address from
the local authorities was presented, in which
after mentioning the 35 years of the reign of King
Leopold I. as so many years of happiness and pro-
gress to Belgium, the present King was reminded
that to insure for Belgium a continuance of that
European respect which his father had obtained for
it he had only to follow in the steps of his illustrious
parent. "The confidence and the fidelity of the
nation," it continued, " will never fail you. The
people will second you in your august mission, con-
vinced that its future and its happiness cannot be
intrusted to more able or more worthy hands, and
that they are intimately bound up with the future
and the welfare of the King and the royal family."
The address from the clergy declared that, " based
upon the principles of religion, the fidelity and the
attachment of the Belgians to their King are un-
changeable." The royal train then proceeded to
Liege, where they were received by all the local
authorities, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, accom-
panied by whom they traversed the city from the
railway station to the Place St. Lambert, receiving
in their course the warmest welcome from the dense
throngs which filled the streets. In the great square
an immense trophy of the principal works for which
Liege is famed had been erected, and there before
the King, and his Consort defiled from 18,000 to
20,000 of the workmen belonging to the city. The
royal party then proceeded to the palace, where an
address from the municipality was presented, of
which the following were the most striking passages
—" Yes, Sire, we have confidence in the future of
the country, for we are strong in our own right.
We are strong also in the paramount influence of
public opinion, which, not less than treaties, has
marked the place of Belgium on the map of nations,
And in the grand conflicts which we are now wi

uessing we remember with gladness the words de

serving the consideration of all the chiefs of nations,
and which a powerful sovereign pronounced ten years
since in the presence of Europe assembled to glorify
the acts of peace. 'At the moment of combat,'
said he, ' the success of armies, however brilliant
they may be, are but transitory. In the end it is
public opinion which always gains the ultimate vie-
.

tory.' In this point of view, Sire, what politica'
position was ever better guaranteed than that o:

Belgium? United among themselves by the same
need of independence and liberty ; united by recip-
rocal and respected engagements to a dynasty which
is honoured by the friendship of the most powerful
sovereigns, theßelgians can observe without anxiety
the movements of general politics." The King
made a suitable reply in general terms, and, after
receiving other addresses couched in a similar spirit
from various bodies, his Majesty proceeded to visit
various parts of the town where objects of attrac-
tion had been prepared.