The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

rBIJIT.

time could not be gained .so as to make a double trap,
in 24 hours the public wouiol gain rothing.
fitter some remarks from Gliontl DUNNE,
The subject dropped.

in
Sir - - CHINA.
F. Y ked te ent they . tended to conKELLtinue toas act onh the,Govern o:nuam ifnce relative to
carryirg the British flag in tbe China wata7s ? lie con
tended the ordinance was illo.:31
Lord PALAIERSTON said the question was re.
opening that which bad constituted so long a debate
on China. There was no intention at present to diecon.
tinue acting on the ordinanee referred to.
The subj,,ct then dropped.
The adjournment• was then aor,ed to.
EAST INDIA AND CHINA.
On the motion of Lord tiorrtAm an address was agreed
to for copies of any memorials received by Viscount Pal-
merston in 1847 and 1848 Jr nil the E.t,t India and China
Association of Liverpool, together with the answers re.
ceived thereto.

WAYS AND MEANS.
On the question that the Speaker do leave the chair,
and that the house resolve itself into a committee of
ways and means,
Mr. DISRAELI said—l understand from what passed
yesterday that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would to.
day make a statement as to the course the Government
propose to take with regard to financial matters ; but
after I left the house I find that the right hon. gentleman
made the statement which I anticipated to have heard
from him to-day. I shall therefore take this opp-r-
-tunity fairly and succinctly to state to the house the
coarse which we on this side were prepared to take with
respect to financial measures in ordinary circumstances,
and how far that course must be modified under the ex-
traordinary circumstances which we have now to encoun-
ter. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in introducing to
the house his financial proposition, stated that there was
a very large increase in the income derived both from
direct and indirect taxes, and he entered into a compari-
son of the relative amounts which accrued from those two
sources. I think the right hon. gentleman stated very ac-
curately that the direct taxes had produced 21,000,0001.,
and the indirect taxes something more than 39,000,0001.;
but he omitted one item of no mean importance, and that
was the local taxation of the county. I need not remind
hoe, gentlemen of the large amount of that leash taxation,
nor how materially it alters the ha'ance which the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer struck in his financial state-
meat. We have no wish, sir, to disturb in any way the
balance which exists between direct and indirect taxa-
tion. Our opposition to the income tax has never
been founded upon the fact that it is a direct tax, but
upon the circumstance that it is a direct tax of the most
invidious and intolerable character. It was our view
generally, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer origi-
nally brought forwarelhhose propositions which in a more
mortified form we ar ow about to con,ider, that with
wise financial arrangements, perfectly sound in principle
and legitimate in practice, and with a well-considered
reduction of our expenditure—a reduction regarded only
with respect to the efficiency of the public service, and
with no other consideration—a reduction which we
should have recommended, 'whatever might be the
state of the Exchequer, whether exuberant or ex-
hausted—it would have been possible to make adequate
financial provision for the year without any material
addition, if any, to the taxation of the country. We
were ready, indeed, notwithstanding those opinions, to
consider the propositions of the Government in a
spirit which would rather have erred in perhaps unne-
cessarily favouring the Exchequer than in attempting
to offer obstacles to the policy which Ministers origi-
nally recommended. Therefore, so far as the income tax
was concerned, we were prepared to give every possible
assistrence to the Government consistent with maintain-
ing Vile spirit of the settlement of 1853. I would even call
it V.ie compact of 1853, and I am rather surprised that a
ve,,:y high authority upon financial subjects in this house
--the right hon. gentleman the member for Portsmouth
—should have derided the idea of a compact. (Sir F.
Baring—No.) On referring to an excellent speech which
the right hon. bare made in 1853, I find he then laid it
down in very strong and nervous language that the set-
tlement of that year was a compact of ouch a character
that when 1860 arrived he should be surprised to see any
Minister bold enough to continue the income tax.
(Hear, hear.) With regard, then, to that portion of
the financial scheme which assumed the form of direct
taxation, we wished to consider it in the most liberal
and conciliatory spirit, and, provided we could have
obtained from the Government a virtual pledge that
the compact of 1853 would be fulfilled, we should have
supported the general policy recommended in that re-
spect. It was with that view that I gave notice of a
resolution which, while it would not have injured the
Exchequer at the present moment, would have secured
that in 1860 the income tax woold not be higher than sd,
in the pound. Such was our policy with regard to direct
taxes Let me now state the course we intended to pur-
sue with respect to the indirect taxes proposed by the
Chancy lfor of the Exchequer. The most important of
these indirect taxes which the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer proposed to deal with was the tea duty. It was
our lot, Sir, to propose originally that the house should
consider the question of the tea duty. It was our opinion
that we could not deal with e tax of more importance, or
one which had a greater influence upon the commerce
of the country and the general prosperity of the people.
Great opposition was offered to the consideration
of that question, • Many persons of very high au-
thority were of Opinion
,that the (ereeriment was me
wbwh ought not to be made. We are informed that the
quantity of the article on which we proposed to operate
was limited, and that the only consequences of our legis-
lation would be, the supply not being proportionately
increased, to injure the revenue without benefiting the •
consumers. Nevertheless, taking the most sedulous
means to obtain the very beat information on the sub.
ject—and here I may offer cur thanks to a gentleman
whose name was frequently mentioned in the recent de-
bates, Sir G. Bonham, for the assistance he gave us—
we believed that the views to which I have referred were
erroneous—that the quantity of the article was, if I may
use the epithet, illimitable, and that if we operated
boldly upon the tea duties we should greatly etimulate
commerce, very much advance our manufactures, and,
itioee all, confer a great benefit upon th© body of the
people. We had not the honour of carrying that mea-
sure. It was, fortunately for the country, carried by
our successers, and I ask the house whether all the be-
nefits anticipated from that great change hare not been
ful y realised 7 (Hear.) There has been no change in
our fiscal laws which has operated more beneficially to
the ,great body of the people. It has been proved
that the quantity of the article required is really illimite
able. •l'he immense increase in the amount of our im-
portations proves that, and every anticipation of benefit
to commerce, to manufactures, and to the community
generally has been perfectly realised. With these views,
Sir, and not believing that a great increase of taxation
was necessary, and being prepared to make great sacri-
fices with respect to increased local taxation, believing,
too, that when the war ceased the tea duties ought to
fall to the particular amount which they would have
touched bad not the war occurred, it was our intention
to resist any change in the settlement of 1853 with re-
gard to the tea dinies. I cannot say that anything that
has occurred since has at all shaken our-general views
upon that subject. 1 donut want to introduce invidiou,ly
into this discussien any consideration with respect to the
affairs of China, but I may perhaps be allowed to observe
that, if you increase the tea duties instead of diminishing
them at a time when the supply of the article is less, and
likely to continue to be so, the consequence must be most
injurious to the consumer. (Hear.) Let the house ob-
serve, however, that we are not now in the position in
which we were when the financial propositions of the
Government were offered to us. Nay, sir, I find the po-
sition in which we are placed is very different from what
it was when the noble viscount annourred to us yester-
day that it was the intention of her Majesty's Ministers
to appeal to the country. I understood that then the
noble viscount, believing that the decision of this house
on Tuesday night was an erroneous one, had made up
his mind to appeal to the people to say whether they
would sanction that decision. What was'our position
at that moment t The House of Commons had censured
the conduct of the agents of her Majesty's Government
in China, which conduct had been sanctioned by her
Majesty's Ministers; and the noble viscount accepting
our resolution as a censure upon his Government, wished
to appeal to the country, in order to ascertain whether
it approves or condemns our proceedings, But, after I
had addressed the house, the noble viscount, to
my great surprise, informed us that her Majesty's Mi-
nisters have superseded the agents whose conduct we
had censured. I cannot, Sir, understand the consis-
tency of that proceeding .on the part of her Majesty's
Ministers. It places this house in a very peculiar poei-
tion. If the noble viscount had not cha lenged the j
tice of our censure I could understand the course he has
taken ; but to appeal to the people to say whether they
sanction our decision, having in the meantime superseded
the persons upon whom our sentence was pronounced
appears to me extremely inconsistent. Hear ) But
what is the actual position in which the hon
finds
itself placed 1 The noble viscount upon the question
of war, says he utterly contemns the ()inion of the ex-
Howie of Commons, and appeals to the opinion
isting
oinf amfauyt.o r eßlio owu, s e of Com
Sir, can Commons, which
ishaichfuttonrtetoas
House of
war—the subject of
Commons on a subject quite that of
respect to the affair inassemble
with the noble viscount? If a
taxation,
chin aas is 1 itmfop °tor: p
our opinionno
influencewith
that the solemn opinion of ,this houldsenjuis
to assemble
a-nue contemned
of war is not to influence his conduct, anpdonbe
a future House of Commons,'er announces
the
appealssnb j subject
i May, I can- •
not see how be can ask the condemned
house to levy new imposts upon the people. If the fu-
ture Reuse of Commons is,
beceisbioountdwibtyh
thedin to the anticipation
of the noble viscount,
re-
spect to China, how can
to
wreevea
xecrpcsoeerctointgrtod
&Aloe of a moribund house with
the respect
to con-ider to taxation ?
I think it would be well for houset
taxes under circumstances which deprive
whether at the present moment a e cannot do better
than vote new
eonstitutionel eenee, ri,nder it impossible
lfreast us in a
us of all authority, and which, if Oct in a legal, at
to deal wish the property of our cenettluents.
What world be the Conte queues ? Tier new house
o
is to
to meet in 3layWe can hare the budget in
A
Webave often had the buOget in May. In
1848 the budget was brought forward in August. On
a question so important as that tf direct' or indirect
taxation, involving considerations of so various and so
momentous a character, it would be much better that
the new house should be left to decide, unaided by the
judgment of a house which has been deprived of all autho-
rity, and which constitutionally has no right any longer
to deal with the property of the peopl e What power
has this House of Commons to pass laws that the people .
of England shall pay taxes for a year hence, when our
authority was-virtually destroyed the moment that the