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Feb. 25, 1860^ 1 ^ie Leader and' Saturda...
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THE BATTLE OF THE BUDGET. "VSTHEN a grea...
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ENGLISH PROPOSALS REGARDING ITAL^ • GREA...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Feb. 25, 1860^ 1 ^Ie Leader And' Saturda...
Feb . 25 , 1860 ^ 1 ^ ie Leader and' Saturday Analyst . 175
The Battle Of The Budget. "Vsthen A Grea...
THE BATTLE OF THE BUDGET . "VSTHEN a great Blunder is to be spoken of , it is- some-VV times hard to avoid the language of blundering ; It is thus that we feel ourselves half inclined to saythat the Battle of the Budget . lias been lost before it has been begun . The Opposition had , a week ago , a great game in their hands , and they seem not only to have been aware of it , but to have taken suitable means for endeavouring " to-win- it .-. Assembled in council by their astute and adroit chief , they had agreed to go in . for the spoiling of the Budget , not for its rejection . They knew , that their time was not come , had they been strong enough m the present Parliament , for snatching the tools of taxation out of their rivals' hands , and again setting Up in business as Queen ' s Pinoifi-H in the old Downing Street shop . Their aim must
rather be , while mating a great show of strength at the outset , to create tlie impression ' that they could , if they would , be exceedingly formklaMe , and thus lay the grounds for bullying their antagonists into all manner 6 f concessions arid" compromises of detail . This policy was calculated to evoke the greatest possible amount of sectional discontent , and to encourage the greatest possible amount of sectional resistance . ' " Were Mr . DuCake ' s Grand Introductory Flourish
Amendment curried by a mere ' handful of votes , every class interest whose gouty toes had been trodden upon by the Chancellor of the Exchequer , would flourish its threatening crutch , and set about seriously trying , whether it could not poke or palaver a . majority to vote in its favour , when the resolution affecting- it specially was submitted to the House . Where , so many vested interests declared themselves aggrieved , arid where such an obvious party gain would ensure the attendance of members generally , it would be strange if some blots were not hit . Lord Derby , like an experienced gamester , saw the moment the cards were dealt that he . could not van the rubber ; but he led in a way calculated
to show his partner how thej' -might save several tricks , if they could not prevent their opponents marking honours . What must have-been . , his dismay at finding that partner in the very first round , play a wrong card , and thus throw away the leatl ! Practically , the * effect of Mr . Disraeli ' s absurd amendment ^ of Monday night has been to spoil the Opposition ' s chance of doing anything effectual in the campaign before Easter . Illogical though the conclusion may be , the iindiscernirig public infers from the majority of sixty-three Mr . Gladstone obtained at starting-, that all opposition , at least on matters of moment , is fruitless . In vain Sir JoiiK Pakington tried the next day to re-enlist the mutinous hop-growers in the common cause of indiscriminnte opposition to the Budget . That Mai number , " sixty-three , " rang in their Kentish ears , and warned them not to identify themselves with allies who had shown that they had not the
sense to discern lipw to serve them . In vain Mr . Boiin endeavoured to persuade the Society for the Abolition of the Paper Duty not to be satisfied without obtaining a free export of raw material from foreign states ; the paper makers believe that . Mr . Gladstone can just now do as he likes with them , and therefore they arc his very obedient humble , admirers , even to-the extent of . praising his fancy sketch of village nulls . la vain Mr . Du Caxe exerted himself beyond even the ppint of
extravagance whiph his finds successful in Essex , and strove by frantic gestures and frowns a la Brutus burlesqued , -to daunt the ministerial spirit , and re-kindle hope and courage in the gentlemen around him . Neither Mr . Gladstone nor -any of his subordinates ( for . he is now the virtual loader of the Whigs in the Lower House ) , condescended even to notice Mr . Du Cane's theatric rage , or to gather his odds and cuds of argument into a ball , for the purpose of flinging it baek to him . The steam hud been let oil' so eflectunlly before ( lie
controversy had fairly begun , ' that nothing seemed capable ol restoring animation or vigour to it ; and but . for one or two speeches on either side , it ] must bo pronounced wholly unworthy of the occasion . Although the party interest of tlie struggle bo at an end , there remain , howevor , many serious points of importance , well worthy of deliberate discussion . Once tlie Commercial Treiity with France comes to be regarded as tot . fit It accompli , peoplo will begin to scrutinise more closely the details' of its workmanship . Some of theso , if we are not much mistaken , will hardly
realise , tho inordinate praise bestowed upon them . A great mistake is said to have been committed by our negotiators , whori they Consented to the substitution of an ad valorem duty , of 80 ' per cent , on British yarns imported into Franco , for the duty now levied by weight . Under tho present system , a bnlo of yarn , fine enough io supply the makers of cambric or lace with the material t ] iey need for their costly and dedicate fabrios , pays no more duty at Havre or Calais , than a bale or the coarsest thread , The consequence is that in proportion to their fineness and value , British yarns find the
way into France , while the more bulky descriptions are practically excluded . A blind average seems to have been taken of the various rates of duty now . exacted from this importers of yarn into France , and tie result is set do ^ yn as somewhere about ' per cent . This , then , is assumed as the fitting standard for ; the new- ad valorem , duty ; -but the result , it is to be feared , wall be , that while the coarser yarns will be shut out as much as ever , the finer kinds will be subjected to a greatly enhanced duty . It will not diminish our regret should this prove to be the ' case , that , through the overreaching spirit of the French Government , and the too compliant disposition of oxir own , ihiurv would be inflicted on the French manufacturer of lace and
cambric as well as on the Irish arid Scotch spinners of yarn . We , who are sincere free traders , can derive no satisfaction from mutuality of mischief , or reciprocity of harm ; on the contrary , we are disposed to regard with redoubled regret every double disappointment that may arise from the present treaty . It is as regards France essentially an experimental one . Should it fail or seem to fail in any important particulars , opinion will retrograde on the other side af the Channel , on the subject of commercial competition , for many a day . Let not such an apprehension be deemed altogether illusory . Three-quarters of a i . . >„„ „ 4 Vi '« ' ^ .. i . « n + ^» . » n > l innvp « w > nf > vmi . < 5 mnvRllieilt 111 tile t fagreater and more movement m the
cenury ago , a r generous direction " of Free Trade was made by the Government of Lours XVI . The Commercial Treaty between France and England of 17 8 6 * was infinitely more fearless and confiding on the French side , than that now under consideration . Its general scope and tenor was the reciprocal admission of goods and merchandise , at ad valorem duties of 10 per cent , In the present treaty it is , true indeed that we abandon all charge , even for revenue , on most of the articles of French manufacture , but France is to maintain protective duties on our manufactures , at first to the extent of 3 0 and eventua lly of 2 5 per cen t
We cannot help thinking that this is a worse bargain for both than / that which was made by Mr . Pitt and M . Calonne in 1786 . Perhaps the worst blot of all is that Avliich , by establishing what is : called the alcoholic test of duty in this country , on the importation of wine , goes directly ' to create de novo a differential duty in favour of French wines over those-of other countries . * There is but little alcohol appreciable in the produce of Provence or the Girpnde , whereas there is a considerable quantity easily discoverable in the produce of Andalusia and Estramadura . It is rather tpb bad ,, that when . we are called upon to make such sacrifices of revenue to . prove our unflinching devotion to the theory of Free Trade , we should be Ris ked . to inaugurate- furtively a pettifogging scale of new .-differentia duties , to propitiate the humour of our exacting Imperial ally If Parliament be wise it will insist ere it be too late on the correction of this and other errors .
English Proposals Regarding Ital^ • Grea...
ENGLISH PROPOSALS REGARDING ITAL ^ GREAT praise has been lately bestowed on the despatches of Lord John Russell to our * diplomatic agents abroad , and more especially on thrtse contained in the volumes of correspondence recently laid before Parliament respecting tho affairs , of Italy . Our Foreign Secretary seems indeed to have lost no fair opportunity of energetically enforcing the faith a , s it is in Whig constitutionalism . As might have been expected , no doctrine can jar more thoroughly vipoh the ears of the Austrian Court
and Cabinet : As high priests and grand inquisitors have ever been more intolerant of subtle heresy in distinguished members of the Church , than a philosophic denial of the very postulates of belief by those who lire not of the sacred order , so despotic rulers are" more incensed at any tampering with tho foundations of authority on the part of monarehs or aristocratic ministers , than at the projects of republicans or the open threats of revolutionists . Count JJucini mio appears to have more than once lost all command over his temper , and all recollection of
dignity , when f ' orood to listen to a ledtuye on the superior merits of constitutional Government ns administered in England , over the system established throughout the Austrian empire , and until lately prevalent in Italy . The question in dispute between the Cabinets of Vienna and London seems to hnvobeen mainly this , whether the new form of rule about to be established in the peninsula ought to rest upon legitimacy as its bfutis , or upon that species of general acquiescence , in a compromise , between
privilege and right , whicli was sanctioned in England in 1 ( 588 , and which the traditions of Woburn declared to bo not only tho best possible guarantee for good governniont , but tho only one that can bo relied on . Individually , I-ord John may entertain nioro liberal and comprohonsive views ns matter of speculation ; but as a hereditary spokesman of life class , as tho departmental mouthpiece of an olignroliio cabinet , and as the Foreign Suorotmy of a Court whoso unconooiiled sympathies are with the enuse ol
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25021860/page/3/
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