The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-14 00:00:00

was that the Upper House did what the Lower
Houset ad deprived itself of the opportunity of doing
—the latter having been led away itno the r sh ban -
donment of very nearly One Million of income, at
a time when the Exchequer could least afford it.
The acquiescence of the Lords in that determination
to abolish those Paper Duties, which it had been
rashly decided upon by the Commons to abolish
in the earlier part of 1860, the acquiescence of
the Lords in that decision thus precipitately,
and, as it happened, prematurely arrived at
having been denied to it—an odd million (a million
that he sorely wanted) was thrust back into the
unwilling hands of our blundering, and because
' detected, thoroughly indignant Financier.
It was a wise and philosophic remark of Sir
WALTER SCOTT'S, that no man is so implacable
an enemy as the man to whom you have
done a good service. Mr. GLADSTONE is
now illustrating the truth of that profound
observation to the very letter. His one object has
quite manifestly been this session to wreak a signal
and a summary vengeance on the House of Lords
for the good service done to him in spite of himself
by the House but one short year ago. Hence his
Budget for 1861—hence quite plainly his whole
financial policy for the ensuing twelvemonth. His
one paramount determination being—" come what,
come might"—to abolish the Paper Duties without
the delay of another year : to give the go by if need
be to the Income Tax (barring the reduction of it
by one penny, or, to speak more accurately in
that matter, the non-reimposition of it
beyond ninepence), to deny, if needs must,
any diminution whatever of the odious war taxes
upon tea and sugar, but—this at least for ab-
solute certainty—to abolish the paper duties at
once, without any further delay, and this time
effectually. Therefore it is, simply and solely that
he may contrive to do this quite effectually, that
he (Mr. GLADSTONE) has tacked the whole of his
financial propositions together—therefore is it
(purely to spite and paralize the House of Lords
in this matter) that he is sending his
Budget Bill "in a lump" to the (last-year-
recalcitrant) Upper House of Parliament. Blink
the truth of all this though Ministers may—
talk though Lord JOHN RUSSELL did yesterday so
very grandiloquently about his right hon. friend
and colleague employing his great talents for the
benefit of his country and of his countrymen—it is
not in any way, at this moment, a question of Mr.
GLADSTONE'S talents, it is a question rather
of his spite, and of his disingenuousness.
The Opposition, first of all, anticipating
I the resolution relative to the Paper Duty, strove—
as it fell out ineffectually—to parry the thrust of
his spite by advocating the remission of sd. in the
lb. upon tea, in preference. Failing in that effort,
they are now endeavouring to guard the country
from the chance of any renewal of the em-
barrassments which were certainly caused
last year by the right honourable gentle-
man's
flagrant financial disingenuousness. Opinions
are of course divided, in the first instance, far as
the Poles, asunder in regard to the necessity for this
caution ; in proof of which it is only requisite to
glance down the lengthened and earnest debate of
last evening. As to any advantages that may accrue
from the protracted continuance of these impassioned
debates, those certainly, to say the least of them,
are exceedingly problematical. But of this right
sure are we that in its nature this discussion upon
the Budget is a perfectly legitimate one—involving
as it does in no way whatever that unconstitu-
tional alternative shamelessly thrust upon the at
tention of the country by Sir JAMES GRAHAM—in-
sidiously flung by him, we repeat, es an apple of
discord between the Government and the Opposi-
tion.

The correspondence and papers which have fol-
lowed the telegrams from America do not make us
much wiser in regard to the chief facts of the posi-
tion of the two great parties than we were before.
The halt of the South, and the ardent yet practical
enthusiasm of the North, are still the leading
facts. Great blame is thrown on Mr. SEWARD,
to whom, and reasonably enough from his own
speeches, is attributed the comparative inaction of
the President. He had, it is said, an idea that the
influence of his name would be sufficient to bring
about a reconciliation without resort to military
measures; hence he prevented the taking of any
step by the Administration which could be construed
as implying a threat or even distrust of the South.

To this is now attributed the circumstance of
`Washington being left in a state which tempted the
South to plat a surprise, and which issued in a panic
at the capital. It is, indeed, denied that JEFFER-
SON DAVIS came personally to Richmond, in Vir-
ginia, to head the rebel troops, but there seems little
doubt that forces were being concentrated there,
and the proclamation of the Government of Vir-
ginia to the militia governors to keep at home till
they received orders to move, would seem to show
that a movement was in hand, which was only
stopped by the sudden and wide-spread movement
in the North. But for Mr. SEWARD'S peace•at-any-
price policy, it is now believed that the surprise of
Washington would have neither been thought of
by one side nor feared by the other.
Even more obvious is the effect of his policy in
the loss sustained by the Navy at the Gosport Navy-
yard, at Norfolk. It is a very serious loss. It is
calculated that at least twenty millions of dollars
will be required to make it good. But one vessel
out of twelve in the yard escaped, and though seve-
ral were worn out, yet more were ready for service
at a short notice. The destruction there was not
so complete as it was intended to be, and fifteen
hundred cannon, many of them fine pieces of artil-
lery, fell into the hands of the enemy. It would
have been perfectly easy for the Government, had
it acted with decision at first, to have saved all
worth saving of this property, the greater part of
which would have been so valuable for carrying
out the blockade policy. Fort Monroe, now
strongly reinforced, commands the entrance of the
Bay of Chesapeake ; and all the vessels might have
been anchored safely beneath her guns and the am-
munition been placed within its walls. The only
reason why this was not done appears to have been,
that Mr. SEWARD strongly opposed any measure
which should seem to imply distrust of the Virgi-