The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-30 00:00:00

year they prophesied an immense deficiency, and new this
profligate Opposition"—profligate is, I believe the favourite
epithet of the day—" they deny a surplus." Whereupon
the right hon gentleman, with all that power of ratiocina-
tion of which he is master, proceeds to demolish the Oppo-
sition which had prophesied a deficiency and denies a sur-
plus, how does he do it ? First, be said, my hon. friend
the member for Huntingdon (Mr. T. Baring), who in a man-
ner which has commanded public attention, and which has
so deservedly obtained public confidence—(hear, hear)—in-
troduced the subject to the house, "he and the hon. member
for Stamford," said the Chancellor of the Exchequer," are
the two most important members of the Opposition who have
as yet taken part in the debate ; they are the great financial
authorities, and they do not deny a surplus." That is the
way in which the right hon. gentleman proceeded to fix
upon those who sit upon these benches the crime of deny-
ing the existence of a surplus. But then he said, pointing
to the hon. member for Honiton (Mr. Moffatt), "There is
the culprit"—(a laugh) —and he went on to destroy the de •
tails of the statement which that hon. member made ; thate
being the mode in which he thought proper to demolish
the charges brought against his financial scheme by a Tory
Opposition. (Cheers.) More than that, while charging us
with denying the existence of a surplus, he refers to the
speeches of the hon. member for Huntingdon and the hon.
member for Stamford—two of the highest financial au-
thorities who took part in the debate on this side of the
house—to show that they are of a contrary opinion,
so that the right hon. gentleman is scarcely consistent
in the line of argument which he adopts. (Hear.)
Having proved that those two hon. members acknowledged
that there was a surplus, he proceeded to show how com-
pletely e Tory Opposition had failed in their prophecies
with respect to a deficlbncy, and for that purpose he read
an extract from a speech of Lord Monteagle. (Cheers and
langhter.) Not seeing the ridiculous point to which he
had brought his argument, ho follows up by quoting a pas-
sage from a speech of Lord Derby, which has been literally
and accurately fulfilled. (Cheers.) Now, for my own part,
I quite gree with my hon. friends the members for Hunt •
ingdon and Stamford, and even with the hon. member for
Birmingham, in supposing that the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer would scarcely announce a surplus which it would
be our interest to look upon as fallacious. That surplus is,
no doubt, founded upon a calculation of the great branches
of our revenue, and if there be any documents placed before
this house which are more than others entitled to credit,
they are, in my opinion, the estimates of the great branches
of revenue, because they have brought to bear upon them
not only that extensive information, that sagacity, and that
peculiar experience to which the right hon. gentleman has
to-night so justly, as it appears to me so properly, referred,
but they are subjected to the judgment of the Cabinet,
which in the present instance, as in the case of all Cabi-
nets, consists, I suppose, of statesmen of high reputation,
capable of dealing with such questions as the political con-
tingencies of the year. If, therefore, I doubted these esti-
mates, if I thought they were drawn up in an inadequate
manner and in a spirit which did not appreciate the events
which were likely to occur within the year for which
they were framed, I should, instead of discussing their
merits on the motion fur going into Committee of Ways and
Means, feel that they furnished a basis on which a vote of
want of confidence in the Government might fairly be
grounded. I am not, however, prepared to make such a pro-
position, or indeed to question in any degree the accuracy
of those great estimates. I may, however, observe with
respect to the minor point of the Chinese indemnity, that
although a portion of that amount may not to my mind ap-
pear altogether legitimate, and although the manner in
which it may accrue may not be altogether profitable, yet I
cannot doubt that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will, by
some means or the other, obtain that sum and that we shall
therefore have to deal with a surplus. I take that surplus,
then, at the amount at which the right hon. gentleman has
stated it, and shall proceed to deal with it without, at this
hour of the night (12 o'clock), entering too minutely into
matters of detail. (Cries of Hear, hear, and oh I from the
Ministerial benches.) I suppose hen, gentlemen opposite
having invited me to express a definite opinion on the
financial scheme of their Chancellor of the Exchequer, do
not seek to deprive me of the opportunity of exercising that
privilege. (Cheers.) Ido mit, as I said, propose to enter
into details comparatively insignificant in point of interest,
but shall at once address myself to the character of the
right hon. gentleman's surplus, and the mode in which I
think it is expedient it should be distributed. Now, with
respect to the character of the surplus, I must say that the
mode in which it is arrived at seems to me to -be somewhat
peculiar. It appears to me, in the first place, to be based on
a false assumption. The Chancellor of the Exchequer found
himself in this position—there are several taxes which have
expired or about to expire. Of these a great number are
a vowedly war taxes. The right hon. gentleman would
therefore find that he had an immense deficit to make good.
He has to maintain the public credit of the country ; he
has to take care that provision is made for duly sustaining
her armaments, as well as for upholding the efficiency of the
civil service, and for carrying out these objects ho is aware
that whatever may be his deficiency, he can appeal with
confidence t the House of Commons. (Hear, hear.) But
has he, let me ask, under those circumstances, a right to
appeal to this house for anything more ? (Hear, hear.) He
has a right to ask, and ho may with confidence, however
great the number of expired or expiring taxes may be, ask
us to renew them to such an extent as is expedient for the
great purposes of State to which I have referred. But the
right hon. gentleman goes beyond these limits. He assumes
he has a right to ask, and that he may confidently calculate
that those expired and expiring taxes will be renewed, not
merely for the maintenance of the military credit of the
country, and with a view to upholding the efficiency of her
civil service, but in order to make a financial experi-
ment. (Cheers.) Now, I leave to hon. ; members
to say whether I have not fairly stated the case. (Hear.)
I do not wish to misrepresent the position in which the right
hon. gentleman is placed. Well, and what is the scheme
which, under those circumstances, he proposes ? Why, the
repeal of the Excise duty on paper. That being so I have
been very curious to ascertain what has been the history of
this tax in connexion with the proceedings of the House of
Commons. So far as the Government is concerned, their
connexion with this question is of very recent date. Last
year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his financial
statement, which was made, as I have already shown the
house with too much precipitation gave expression to this
astounding and, I will sal', even enormous declaration. He
said that a general understanding prevailed throughout the
country that there would in 1860 be a considerable diminu-
tion of indirect taxation, and he, therefore, prqposed, among
other things, the repeal of the duty on paper. Now, that
there was throughout the country a very general impression
thatdiettht eatyltwouldtaxation,
I believes
no
oe an
eon econsiderablether
side d di
on
will deny—(hear, hear)—and the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer would, I think, be the last person to challenge in
debate the justice of this statement, inasmuch as the expec-
tetion was founded on his own legislation, to which this
House adhered under other Governments with his entire
assent and complete sympathy. (Cheers.) But if the right
hon. gentleman could do or say any thing which could
astonish me—which he cannot—(laughter)—l must admit
that that which would be most likely to produce that effect
was the ingenious invention of his soaring imagination, by
means of which he sought to impress us with the idea that
the pivot on which the whole financial campaign last year
was to turn was that it was the general impression on the
mind of the British public, that there would in 1860 be a
great diminution of taxation. (Hear.) Proceeding on that
assumption, he recommended to us the repeal of the paper
duty. He did not, however, rest there, but laid down the
doctrine that the house was pledged to a remission of the
tax. I will now point out to the house the astounding pedi-
gree of this celebrated public question ; and, in doing so, I
shall have occasion to allude especially to the right hon.
gentleman the President of the Board of Trade, who, in his
speech a few evenings ago,. made a statement with respect
to myself which I cannot help thinking—although it was
repeated by his colleague the Chancellor of the Exchequer
to-night—was singularly infelicitous and indiscreet. I
cannot in passinghelp remarking that this mysterious pledge
in reference to the repeal of the paper duty seems somehow
or another to enter into our debates, as if there were an
undertaking on the part of the principal members of the
Opposition to carry out that object, and it appears to me, I
must confess, a somewhat new dogma in Parliamentary
practice that the opinions expressed upon a particular pro

position by the leaders of Opposition should turn out to be
an irresistible reason why her Majesty's Ministers should
carry that proposition into effect. (Cheers.) Now, what
took place upon this question, in alluding to which the right

hon. gentleman the President of the Board of Trade read
the other evening a garbled extract from a speech .which I
made some time ago ? The right hon. gentleman told us
that he brought forward a resolution inviting the house to
repeal the paper duty, and that I spoke in favour of the
motion. Re did, kcwever, nothing of the kind. He was,
on the occasion to which I am referring, connected with a
great and powerful interest, known in common parlance as
the Association for the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge.
In 1850 he brought forward a motion for the repeal of those'
taxes, and they were described by the right hon. gentleman
in four resolutions ; but every resolution was put separately,
and the first, in favour of the repeal of the paper duty, was
not put, but was only brought lyrward as eV among others
to effect that which was a favourite object with the right
hon. gentleman—namely, to free the public press from the
shackles by which ifs progress was impeded. I entirely
agreed with the right hon. gentleman in that respect, and
have taken every step in my power to carry that object. I
thought then that the preFs of this country was most un-
wisely and impoliticly shackled. In 1853 I stated that the
press could not be too free. I knew that under the then
condition of law the cheap press in this country sent forth
an unlimit's.d supply of blasphemy, sedition, and all those
opinions most dettimental to the State, and I believed that
an unshackled press would instruct the public mind, be filled
with sound information, and guided by intelligence and
moderate views. The result has shown that I have not

been disappointed iu these views. The right lion. gentle-
man failed in bringing in his measure in 1850 ; but every

measure, except the remission of the duty on paper, the
direct object of wl.ich was to free the press and to destroy

those shackles that prevented its beneficial development,

has been passed. What was the second resolution of the
right hon. gentleman ? It was to put an end to the
stamp on newspapers. That was passed, and I voted
for it, The next resolution for putting 411 end to the