The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-07 00:00:00

then ? They would be exceedingly exulting, would make

many loud speeches, and if the ()Pinion of the country was
against them, they would prepare a new bill with the ob-

noxious clause removed, and send it back to the House of
Lords in a penitential mood. (Opposition cheers.) On the

other hand, if public opinion did not support the House of
Lords, the House of Lords was far too prudent to resist.
However, the House of Commons ought itself to see that
the new device of the Chancellor of the Exchequer had for
its object the withdrawing of the finances of the country
from its own revision. In old constitutional times the cus-
tom of the House of Commons had been to revise the bud-
get in every stage, but now they were confined to two, un-
less they resorted to the almost revolutionary expedient of
rejecting the budget altogether. He (Lord R. Cecil) said
that while pursuing the shadow of avenging himself on the
House of Lords, the right hon. gentleman was really
damaging himself and the House of Commons. The right
hon. gentleman said on aformer evening that he could not
understand the opposition, because he had brought forward
his resolutions in a spirit of conciliation. He (Lord R.
Cecil) said that the right hon. gentleman was indulging in
a disastrous raid on the principles of the constitution. He
must have known that they (the opposition) opposed his
measures as they would oppose any measures that injured
the revenue and left future years destitute, but there were
special reasons for opposing his present propositions. They
had a special character—they were the purchase-money of
political support ; they were hush money thrown to the stern
watch dogs of reform, to induce them to condone the back-
sliding from former professions. All he (Lord R. Cecil)
was surprised at was that they should be satisfied with so
cheap a bribe, but they could not expect that members on
his side of the house would be satisfied with measures which
were calculated to produce such detrimental results on the
exchequer of the country.
Mr. L. GO WER contended that the gr dual abolition of
excise duties had been received with the greatest approba-
tion by the country, but as to the constitutional question,
he did not conceive that it belonged to the present debate.
The present topic was the removal or the excise duty on
paper, which he supported because it was not only a bad but
an arbitrary tax. He looked upon its existence as being a seri-
ous impediment to the industrial development of the country.
They had the evidence of many highly respectable publishers
that without this tax they could very much cheapen the
works they produced, and particularly those of a low priced
character, and he could not understand, in these days when
hAn. members were onoouraging the. pettahlialtrriprit of pub-
lic libraries, and doing everything to attract the labouring
man from the public-house to the mechanics' institution,
how they could ign,re this fact. There appeared to be a
general impression abroad that the chief objection in that
house to the reduction of the paper duty was the benefit it
would do to the cheap press of the country. He could
hardly believe such to be the case. It was true that it was
formerly supposed the Tory party considered the diffusion
of political knowledge would be attended with considerable
danger, but he hoped these were exploded views, although
he suspected they lingered on some portion of the benches
opposite. For his own part he thought it most desirable
the working man should be acquainted with the laws he
was bound to respect, and he believed that in this aspect
the cheap press would be of the greatest benefit. (Hear,
hear.) He had watched with great interest the establish-
ment of the cheap press throughout the country, and he had
observed with much satisfaction the entire respectability
*with which it had been conducted. (Hear, hear.) He had
never seen any attack upon morality or religion, nor any
indulgence in personalities. On the contrary, they put
forth their opinions, not by the force of abuse, but by the
force of argument; and he must also pay a tribute to the
eminent ability which distinguished their leading articles.
The result of the abolition of this tax would be to improve
the paper on which the cheap press was printed, and he
really believed, when that was done, that every man would
be able to obtain for a penny as good a communication as
that for which he had now to pay fourpence. He felt that
all these considerations ought to weigh with hon. 'gentle-
men opposite. He must say the sympathy expressed by
them on this occasion for the poor man appeared to be some-
thing exaggerated and would not bear a very strict analy-
sis, becauie there could be no doubt that the remission of