The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-10 00:00:00

tolerable"—Mr. BRIGHT goes on to explain quite

plainly and simply, and as we cannot but think quite
unanswerably, and by a logical chain of reasoning
absolutely irrefragable—Why it is that thinking
thus of this hateful and intolerable burden, ho can
do no more as an Economic Reformer than protest
against it " until," as he expresses it at the close of
his very masterly argument, " until the public
purse is taken from the custody of a
class and placed under the safe keeping
of the people." Mr. BRIGHT only puts the real
truth, in those plain and very comprehensible words,
into the clearest and the simplest language. The
fact that requires reform is there so stated that
" whoso runs may read." As we observed, however,
it is stated only too plainly. Mr. BRIGHT is simply
unpolite —he comes to the point direct—he don't
understand the least bit in the world any mere
courtly circumlocution. His keen glance recognises
the exact spot to be aimed at—he "has at it" point-
blank, and proves himself, by the accuracy of his ob-
servations and the steadiness of his hand in pulling
the trigger, such a crack shot as we should find a
difficulty in matching out of all the rifle corps as
yet organised. Those who were once loudest about
the advisability of retrenchment, and whose highest
flights of assault upon the powers that be can go
no further, even in moments of the greatest exacer-
bation, than to lament the blighting darkness shed
around by—" the cold shade of the aristocracy !"
Mere courtly and rhetorical reformers like these
are quite shocked, it seems, now—and, under the
circumstances, we can hardly wonder at it—by the
plain-speaking of the hon. member for Birming-
ham. It really signifies hardly a Pico what
may be the estimate formed either of Mr. BRIGHT
himself or Mr. BRIGHT'S arguments upon Re-
form and Taxation by mere kid-gloved
politicians like those who are perpetually in want
of the stench of a burnt feather, and of the pun-
gency cf a vinaigrette, to get without fainting
, through the throng and crush of Reformers. It is
only so far worthy of attention that it helps any
one to understand upon the instant how well Mr.
BRIGHT has taken his aim, and how cleverly and
exeruciatingly he has directed that deadly missile
—his last paper pellet. He has hit the bull's eye—and
the bull roars ! He has argued his facts so unan-
swerably, that those who don't think with him are
infuriated. In another sense, in a more literal
sense than that in which the old classic phrase was
originally employed, we may say of his letter sim-
ply—aleajacta est. But we may add in regard to
the effects produced by it, in no other sense than
that generally attachtd• to the other old classic
phrase—Hine ilke lachryince.
The hon. member for Birmingham says early in
his argument—" There is no department in which
the expenditure has not largely increased during
the last ten years, and every year exhibits greater
contempt of economy on the part of the Adminis-
tration and the Parliament." Whosoever feels dis-
posed to deny this has but to glance at the records
of the Exchequer and to remain dumb thereafter.
Again, Mr. BRIGHT goes ou to remark—" The
Russian war threw wide open the door of the
national exchequer, and since 1854 the great fund
gathered from the industry of the people has been
an easy prey to those who, on hollow pretences of
every kixd, manage to live at the expense of the
payers of taxes." As to the Russian war—it' is a
truth only too notorious, too painfully notorious,
that our e-xpenditure upon that incident alone
reached a frightful aggregate of from £90,000,000
to £100,000,000. As to the rest—circuit/spice!
Can any one with _Hansard within reach upon the
bookshelves venture to deny the next pithy sen-
tence of Mr. BRIGHT'S letter, namely, as follows :
"The House of Commons does nothing to check
extravagance, it encourages it." Or the next one
—"lts members are not so much of the tax-paying
as of the tax-consuming class. They come," Mr.
BRIGHT adds, "from,
.and they chiefly represent,
those whose families have for generations considered
.the taxation of the people as their lawful patri-
mony." The hon. member goes on to illustrate the
manner of their doing this, as we all know they do
it, as follows: He writes, " The eldest of the
family takes the estate in land, and the rest of the
family occupy their lives mainly in a scramble
for their undivided interest in that other
estate contributed yearly by the payers of
taxes." Now all this may be, and probably
is very- unpleasant for some people to hear said or
to read written and printed. But, however un-
pleasant it may be to them, it is at the same time
in itself nevertheless perfectly true. Because Mr.
BRIGHT says it and writes it, and does both the
saying and the writing of it in such a way that no
one can possibly remain in any degree in a state of
misapprehension as to his meaning—he is abused
and villified. Yet the truth is all the while that
whether Mr. BRIGHT -or any other honest plain-
spoken, plain-written Reformer says it or writes it
or does neither one nor the other—the monstrous
expenditure is perfectly well known, is absolutely
notorious, is inevitably fated in the fullness of time
to be inexorably retrenched. It is thought by some
that Mr. BRIGHT is about half a century in ad-
vance of his time. We doubt it. We heartily
hope the future will prove he is not—but that he
will yet take rank among the great practical Re-
formers of his generation.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston left Cam-
bridge House yesterday on a visit to her Majesty at Windsor
Castle.

The Hon. George and Lady Alice Byng are
staying at Wrotham-park, Barnet, on a visit to Viscount
and Viscountess Enfield. _

The Right Hon, B. Disraeli and Mrs. Disraeli
have left Grosvenor-gate for Torquay.