The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-09 00:00:00

dimensions of what was called the " Appropriation
of Seats Bill," which, after all, had been carried by
the Conservative party—(hear and laughter)—
for the Government project was defeated, the
Opposition having treated the bill as Sheridan
said the gipsies treated stolen children ; they had
disfigured it so as to make it 'pass for their own.
(Laughter.) He was sorry to say that Reform was
at a discount. He did not blame Lord Palmerston,
for he did not believe anybody ever thought that
nobleman to be an ardent reformer. (Hear, and
laughter). Nor was it natural to suppose that a
noble lord who had been half a century in office
under various Administrations would be likely to
find fault with the system under which he had been
born and bred ; nor was it natural to suppose that
a noble lord whose chief attention had been directed
to drawing up Reform Bills for foreign nations
would devote much time to matters of domestic
reform, if anybody had been to blame it was the
Liberal party. Their natural leader was Lord John
Russell, whose name had been associated with all
the great improvements of the age, but who had
been placed in the background ; and if the Liberal
party chose to take Lord Palmerston in his place,
it was not altogether to be wondered at if they had
an Appropriation of Seats Bill instead of more ge-
neral and comprehensive measures of Reform. He
did not think the Liberal party were ardent re-
formers ; the end of it had been that the Reform
Bill had collapsed, and he held its epitaph in his
hand. Among the civil contingencies for the year
1860 he found this item—Messrs. Baxter, the Go-
vernment solicitors, for services and expenses in
connexion with the preparation of the Reform Bill
of 1858, £3,608 17s. 2d. (Hear, hear, and laugh-
ter.) This afforded at once the history and the
epitaph of the Derby Reform Bill, and that was
the last he supposed we should hear of it. (Laugh-
ter.) He came now to a subject which had caused
the greatest discussion in this session ; he
r meant b lMr. Gladstone's budget, which he had sup-
p oba
ported. He had also voted for the repeal of the
paper duty, not because he was favourable to the
repeal of that particular item, but on political
grounds, because a collision had arisen be- '
tween the two houses OA a constitutional ques-
tion, and the sooner they asserted the
right of the Lower House to deal with ques-
tions of finance the more smoothly the machinery
would work. He also supported it for another rea-
son ; he saw there was a great set made by the Op-
position against Mr. Gladstone, and that an attempt
was being made to drive him out of the Cabinet,
which he considered would be a national loss, for he
believed Mr. Gladstone understood better than any
other man on that side of the house how finance
could be made a subject interesting to every one.
He wished to say a few words on this important
subject. The public expenditore of this country was
really becoming most alarming. (Hear.) He found
the public expenditure for the year 1861-2 was not
less than £76,000,000, and by the Parliamentary
papers, which were confessedly incomplete, it was
ascertained that the local taxation amounted to
£15,000,000, making a total of £91,000,000. That
was a most alarming sum, and year by year the ex-
penditure had been increasing. The hon. member
quoted a remarkable opinion expressed upon this
subject in 1859 by the then Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer in his place in Parliament, so that it was
not an expression of opinion by an independent
member, but by a Government official. The Chan-
cellor said, " Expenditure had been conceded with
a facility which he did not hesitate to say would, if
continued for five or ten years longer, bring the
finances of this country into a state of absolute con-
fusion." That was said at a time when the national
expenditure was not £76,000,000 but less than
69,000,000. What was the state £of the finances
now ? Why, he found that in seven years the ex-
penditure had increased £20,000,000! Apply such
a state of things to any mercantile concern, and
what but bankruptcy could be expected to result
from it ? The question was one of the greatest im-
portance, and if any reforms were to take place the
first should be to reform and retrench the public
expenditure. He would quote the opinion of another
official—Mr. Laing, the Under-Secretary of the
Treasury, who had been sent out to India on the
death of Mr. Wilson. When Mr. Laing was
examined before a Committee of the House of
Commons in 1860 on the miscellaneous expendi-
ture, he stated that the miscellaneous civil ex-
penditure had increased to £2,225,000; the
vote for education, science, and art had increased
£930,000 per annum. Now, he (Mr. Osborne) did
not object to a vote for education, but he did object
to the vote for science and art. Because a few
gentlemen were appointed as Commissioners of Fine
Arts, they put their hands in the public pocket and
spent the money on what they called matters of
taste, but which were often enough matters dis-
graceful to taste. Then, too, for extra buildings—
Houses of Parliament-1;660,000. They began
with a vote of £750,000, and ended by spending
£2,000,000, besides the bill for keeping the House?
of Parliament in condition ; and yet the outside of
the walls and the frescoes within were falling to
pieces, and he should be happy if the House of
Commons, as at present constituted, also followed
the example. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) Having
referred to other items of increase, the hon. gentle-
man said there was an increase of £20,000,000
shown, despite the sittings of Parliamentary com-
mittees and the evidence given, and yet nothing
was done—nor would anything be done until the
country bestirred itself, and, instead of running
after Will o' the Wisps, looked more closely into
matters, and took up the subject with a determina-
tion to have the abuses remedied. Mr. Osborne
next c ndemned the wasteful and extravagant ex-
penditure of public money at Aldershott and Alder-
ney. To carry out the fortifications they were also
obliged to borrow £11,000,000. But if the people
submitted to this wild, rash, and improvident ex-
penditure, they could not expect mem-
bers to resist Ministers unless they were
backed up in their opposition by their respective
constituencies. Every Queen's Speech contained
the most pacific assurances with respect to our
foreign relations ; but what was the fact ? 'Why,
we had a most warlike expenditure, and peace now
was as costly and as expensive to us as war. (Hear.)
And so much was this the case that, when Parlia-
ment began, a body of 63 gentlemen, calling them-
selves "Financial Reformers," got up a paper praying
for a reduction of the public expenditure, and ad-
dressed it to Lord Palmerston in January, 1861.
They stated that "they were convinced that re-
trenchment
vere would prove the truest policy of the Go-
ent ; Was the only means of meeting the finasi-
eial
exigencies of the State, of satisfying the expec-
tations of Parliament, allaying the dissatisfaction of
taxpayers, and preventing
of eventing the loud outcry that
would arise in
case
_another unfavourable harvest
or any check to the
public
prosperity." This was
signed by 63 good men and true. He did not sign
it, because if he wanted to say,
and
he
should have
acted
anything he could do
,
it in his place in Parliament
very ridiculously had he don© so as the event
proved. He watched this " noble army of martyrs,"
as he might call them—(laughter)—and the first
thing on which their metal was tried was a small
affair, it was true—the propriety of seducing the
appointments in the brigade of Guards. The num-
bers who votcd were 84 for the reduction and 89
against ; and it was a remarkable fact that the
majority of five was actually made up
financial Reformers. (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
So that these gentlemen, who roared like patriotic
lions for reduction at the beginning of the session,
concluded it by bleating like amicable lambs in the
Ministerial sheepfolds. (Renewed laughter.) The
fact was, it was no use signing papers ; if they
wanted to have reform they must rouse themselves
and bring the pressure of strong public opinion to
bear upon the Government. It had been well said
by Mr. Disraeli, who often said good things but
seldom did any—(a laugh)—" After all public ex-
penditure depends upon public policy." (Hear.)
We knew that it was the fashion in the absence of
any home measures to cry up our foreign policy;
but he (Mr. Osborne) thought there was one policy
possible in this country, and that was the policy of
nonintervention. (Applause.) And he was justi
fled in this opinion by the speech of Lord Aberdeen
on taking office in 1853. But what was the state
of Europe at present ? On looking at the lists ft-
had been compiled he found there was no le

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