The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-20 00:00:00

sustained at the hustings by the Government side
—at Leicester, in South Wilts, and lastly, in the
far north, there in Aberdeenshire. The defeat in
South Wiits being all the more vexatious and
ignominious from its occurring upon the occasion of
a vacancy caused in the representation of that
county, by the elevation of one of the leading mem-
bers of the Cabinet to the House of Peers, in the
person of Lord HERBERT, her MAJESTY'S War
Secretary. And now upon the heels of those seri-
ous discomfitures out of doors, comes the adverse
decision of the Commons, last evening, a division
in which a majority of 131 " Ayes" put
the " Noes out of joint," those discomfited " Noes"
numbering in all 127, though including in that
minority so much of the strength, and weight, and
genius of the Government. As affording overwhelm-
ing evidence, however, of there being nothing what-
ever of a party contrivance or Of a factions movement
in last night's division, it is only necessary to scan
for a minute or two the character of the names
numbered in the list of the majority. There, among
those 131 supporters of Mr. HUBBARD and his
brother teller, Mr. JAMES WHITE, of Brighton, are
recognisable, in the first instance, two of Lord
JOHN'S own colleagues in the representation of the
city of London, there is Mr. WYGRAM CRAWFORD,
and there, too, is the Baron LIONEL DE ROTHSCHILD;
while among the mass of Independent Liberals told
through the lobby door with them are men as
thoroughgoing in their liberalism, as antago-
nistic to torvism. as Mr. FRANK CROSSLEY,
of the West Riding, as Mr. WYLD, of
Bodmin, as Mr. WILLIAMS, of Lambeth, as
Mr. AYRTON, of the Tower Hamlets, as Mr.
LocKE and Mr. LAYARD, colleagues in the
representation of Southwark, as Mr. MONCK-
TON MILNES, of Pontefract, as Mr. DIGBY SEY-
MOUR (the new Q.C.—and well has he earned his
silk gown), the member for Southampton, as
Mr. Alderman SALOMONS, of Greenwich, and,
finally, to close our list, and not to render it unne-
cessarily tedious, as Mr. SCHOLEFIELD, that earnest
and staunch Liberal, the colleague of Mr. BRIGHT
in the representation of Birmingham. Looking
down names like these in the list of last night's
resolute majority against Government, one wonders
for the moment not to find Mr. BRIGHT voting
there with his colleague, Mr. SCHOLEFIELD. But,
putting this momentary surprise aside, and re-
verting to a consideration of the general effect of
the division list—weighing that Ministerial mino-
rity of 127 against that miscellaneous majority of
131—it is impossible not to recognise clearly how
little party had in any way at all to do with the
defeat sustained last night by Ministers, it is im-
possible, in other words, not to recognise how com-
pletely the success of Mr. HUBBARD'S motion was
attributable to the fact, that the majority
of the House saw distinctly, and accepted
frankly the excellence of that motion, pre-
cisely as it was submitttd to them by the
ex-Governor of the Bank of England. Last night's
division in this respect will carry an exquisite sense
of satisfaction and a thrill of hope over the whole
country, throughout all those ranks and masses of
the population existing upon precarious incomes,
by the sweat of their brow, and still more by the
sweat of their brain, men of business of all classes,
and men of the various learned professions. Mr.
GLADSTONE has now had forced upon his own
recognition rather painfully a reminder of the pre-
dictions uttered, perhaps it should be said muttered
ominously, on all sides as the session approached
that the weak part of the Ministerial policy was
that relating to the Financial Department.
Infatuated himself in respect to this easi-
est method of all the numerous methods
of taxing a community ; convinced himself, in spite
of all arguments, of all experience to the contrary,
that the Tax upon Income and Property, as at pre-
sent raised, is the Model Tax of Taxes, Mr.
GLADSTONE has had it now forced upon
his knowledge that not only very many out
of doors, but that a majority in the House
of Commons pronounces the present mode of assess-
ing incomes under Schedule D to be unjust, to be
'cruel, to be essentially and deplorably demoralis-
ing. The injustice and the inequalities of this
grinding tax, according to its existing mode of
assessment, are matters of absolute notoriety. It
was upon this old and threadbare subject that
Mr. HUBBARD discanted last evening, in a
speech distinguished by very considerable
ability—making out his case so well that in spite
of all the eloquence, of all the ingenuity, we can
hardly say all the ingenuousness of the Right
Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he carried
his motion upon a division, and placed in their first
minority the strong Coalition Government. There
is hope at last, then, for the hitherto neglected and
despised victims of Schedule D—the consolatory
prospect of their precarious incomes being taxed,
in future, according to some more equitable mode
of assessment.

The Reform Banquet in the House passed off
much as was expected. Ministers wished the
sabject had been let alone, but did not like, for
decency's sake, even to move the previous ques-
tion. They had indeed in her MAJESTY'S Speech
decided that the question of a Reform Bill should
not "be now put." What, however, could they
do with two bills each of which adopted as
nearly as possible the very words of their own
bill of last year. They were together, in fact,
as Lord PALMERSTON said, the last year's Reform
Bill minus the transfer of a few seats. The
Premier did not wish to appear, he said, to have
changed his mind, and he could not, therefore,
vote against a first reading, Mr. GRIFFITHS and
Mr. WARNER politely withdrew their obstructive
amendments ; even Mr. DISRAELI did the courteous,
so, nemine contradicente, the House of Commons
undertakes once more to consider the questions of a
£lO franchise in counties and a £6 franchise in

boroughs.
Lord PALMERSTON distinctly warned the Re-
formers, however, that they were to expect no
further facilities from nim. He had consented to
speak with them in the entrance hall, but as to
inviting them into the Dining or Drawing Room
that was quite out of the question. Mr. BAINES
Wednesdays—and
edcin Mr.esd aKyle_a
KING are to get on as best they can on
d if Reform cannot be denied a
footing in the house, care is to be taken that it shall
make no progress.
If the hon. members are, therefore, as much in
earnest for their respective proposals as we take
them to be, it is to the country itself they must
look. Lord PALMERSTON declines any further aid,
therefore the classes proposed to be enfranchised
have the affair now entirely in their own hands;
if they be silent now, we do not see how any one
can be expected to take up their cause hereafter.
It is well known that to carry any Liberal measure
a member must either have very resolute support
from the Government, or from the people. Per-
haps it ought, to be so. Till either the
administrators of the country's business, or
the country itself deems a measure sufficiently
important to throw themselves into its advocacy, it
can hardly be said to have much claim on the atten-
tion of such a practical body as our House of Com-
Imons. An individual member on national business
is next neighbour to a cipher. But if the people•