The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-21 00:00:00

money, we had lately added forty millions to the national
debt ; that we had just passed out of a great and sxpen-
sive war, and were entering on another likely to prove a
costly one, and ft might he only by means of profuse
expenditure that we should be able to support the mili•
tary estimates which for the next few years we should
have to present to the House of Commons.
Lord MONTEA.GLE said he could corroborate in the
strongest manner the observations of the noble earl op-
posite with respect to the public expenditure. He was,
however, sure that the estimates, as they now stood,
were not such as the Government intended to continue,
for he never heard better principles of economy than
those which were laid down by the present Chancellor
of the Exchequer. It was the duty of public men to in-
terfere between the Government and the House of Com-
mons, and to give the Government strength to resist the
demands for increased expenditure which were daily
made upon them. No one could look at the papers
before the house to which the noble earl (Ellen-
borough) had alluded without being convinced that
we had been for years engaged in a mad course
of extravagance. It had been all referred to the
war ; but although that had been the cause of much
extravagance, yet it was not all the cause, and fore-
most among the causes of reckless expenditure was, in
the nation as in private life, the facilities which ex-
isted for borrowing money. He was willing to admit that
the mode in which the Government ha I dealt with ex-
penditure since the peace was creditable to them, and, in
every respect, it had exceeded his expectations. Still,
he would say that the estimates, as now framed, would
not do for future years, and the Government might rest
assured that the people of England would expect a ces-
sation of income tax in 1860, and it would therefore be
necessary to reduce the estimates and expenditure so as
to enable that course to be adopted. The noble lord
then criticised some of the financial operations of Mr.
Gladstone and the present Government, especially ob-
jecting to the recurrence of the Worn out system of sink-
ing funds, though he admitted that :;he financial com-
pacts which had been entered into must be observed. He
urged that the principle of public economy had entered a
new phase ; everything would be referred to the cessa-
tion of the income tax. Had the Government got their
lesson with regard to expenditure ? Go into Westminster
Flail and see the preparations making fur an exhibition
of the plans for new public offices. For that object at
present only the modest sum of 80,0001. was asked, but
he need only point to that house in which the delibera•
tions of Parliament were conducted, in order to show how
plausible is the first approach of expenses of that kind.
He deprecated any such extravagant folly as the pulling
down and rebuilding of all the public offices merely for
the sake of rivalry with foreign countries. This was one
of the dispositions to persevere in the system of past ex-
travagance, which he hoped would be resisted. The real
cry at the coming election ought to be the diminution of
expenditure, with a view to the performing of the solemn
agreement which Parliament had made with the people,
that in 1860 the income tax should cease and determine:
Earl GREY could not allow this conversation to close
with saying that he entirely concurred with the noble
earl opposite and his able friend who had just spoken
in the opinions they had expressed with regard to the
expenditure of the country, and the alarm with
which they looked to the ultimate consequences of
the extravagant system which had prevailed of late
years. But he could not concur in thinking that that
increased expenditure was confined to the civil service.
It pervaded also the naval and military departments,
and especially that of the army. He should be the last
man to recommend the keeping up of an inadequate
army in this country ; and he was anxious that it should
be kept up on such a scale as to secure its efficiency; but
he would no less insist on the doctrine that it should be
kept up on a small scale, and with reference to defensive
objects only. When he compared the army estimates
with those of former years he must ,ay that while the
demands on the army had been reduced—when the
state of Ireland no longer demanded a large force for
the peace and security of that country—when the de-
mand of the colonies for a military force bad been
greatly reduced in the last ten years—when we had
established an effective police force, by which the army
had been relieved from duties it ought never have per-
formed—when, atter all this, we ought to have been able
to reduce greatly our military expepditure, our peace
establisment was the largest ever sanctioned by Parlia-
ment, and was at the same time more expensive than the
amount of the force warranted. The policy now adopted
was to keep up the army on such a scale as to enable
us, for a small cause, and at a short notice, to carry on a
great foreign war. Against that principle he protested.
For merely defensive purposes he would give anything
that was wanted ; but knowing as he did the spirit of
the country, and how ready every man would be to de-
fend his native land, he was sure that a small well-dis-
ciplined army, so supported, would be enough for all
defensive purposes. If we went on in the manner in
which at present our expenditure was calculated, it
would be impossible to abolish the income tax, and we
should come to the maintenance of an army with refer-
ence only to an offensive:war, which was a great mistake
in politics ; for other nations would follow our example;
and when nations were armed, a less cause would pro-
duce a quarrel than when they were less prepared for
war. Nothing tended so much to do away with the
brawls and bloodshed which in privatesociety used to ac-
company the practice of carrying arms,—when every man
carried a sword—than the abolition of that practice ;
and the same principle held good between nations who
were always ready armed. He would only make one
further observation. It was at all times important to
act on the principle of maintaining a moderate peace
establishment ; but he viewed with alarm the relaxation
of late of the great constitutional principle that Parlia-
ment shoul I control the executive in the, carrying en of
war. He could not forget that this year, for the first time
since the revolution which settled our constitution, Par-
liament had deliberately passed by the circumstance that
her Majesty's Government, on their own authority, had
engaged the country in a war, and arranged with the
East India Company the proportion which that com-
pany, and what proportion the taxes of this country,
should bear of the expenses of that war ; and this was
done without Parliament being summoned, and without
the sanction of the representatives of the people. - Par-
liament had submitted to this; and now there was about
to be a dissolution without any information having been
given as to the circumstances which led to that war.
Again, they learnt that an expedition was leaving our
shores to carry on a war whica one House of Parliament
bad declared in its origin to have been unjust; and al-
though their lordships had refused to condemn it, it was
well known that that refusal was given on political
grounds, because it was not desired to remove the pre-
sent advisers of the Crown. This was going on without
any information being given as to the objects of the war,
what we propose to obtain by it, and on what terms it
might be concluded. With the opinions he entertained
of the constitutional control which Parliament ought to
exercise over the great questions of peace and war, he
felt alarm at what had occurred this year, and he hoped
that when Parliament met again it would be found to be
one, not only imbued with a stronger spirit of economy
than that which was now about to separate, but also
with a greater regard for the constitutional principle to
Which he had referred, and which had been laid down
by our ancestors.
The bill was then read a third time and parsed.
The house adjourned at a quarter past 7.