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Cr / ~ £^V / '~V / vV ~V ^s -V- ? A POLITICAL AND LITERARY REYIEW.
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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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W E scarcely remember a year in which the Budget has passed off with less sensation . ^ There are vari ous reasons . In the first place , the public had pretty well made up its mind to the general character of the Budget ; nobody expected a remission of taxes , everybody expected that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would want
more money and a further loan . Next , there is no question which particularly agitates men ' s minds at the present moment , although there is some anxiety to know what is to follow on the present equivocal arrangement of the peace . Men , therefore , are thinking much more of the statesmanship than of the pounds , shillings , and pence ; and the industrious classes , who might , perhaps , express decided opinions upon both sections of the subject , at present abstain , strangely if not ominously , from active part in political affairs .
Sir George Cobnbwau Lewis is praised for the clearness with which he has laid our position before us . It is not worse than we expected ; rather better . Peace was concluded on the 30 th of April ; but we had a great army in the Crimea , we had an immense fleet at sea , we have a vast labour to perform in transferring our forces home , and the expendituie for the current year will nearly equal the expenditure of last year . It will be much less than the Government had originally calculated , for , if the war had continued , we should have had to face an increased
expenditure . As it is , we shall have to pay nearly 77 , 500 , 000 / . How is this to be met ? By the continuance of the war taxes on tea , coffee , sugar , and malt , and by the help of a double income tax , the revenue will amount to 67 , 157 , 000 / ., which brings us so far towards the expenditure , but leaves 10 , 350 , 000 / . unprovided for . Sir Geobq jj Lewis has in hand a balance of the last loan , 1 , 500 , 000 / ., and he has just contracted a new loan on exceedingly favourable terms , 5 , 000 , 000 / . This reduces the deficiency by 6 , 500 , 000 / ., leaving however nearly 4 , 000 , 000 / . of deficiency . Sir Geoboe Lkwis is sure that ho shall want half of that sum ,
but ho would set down the other half as a margin" to cover unforeseen contingencies , and any amount that may bo necessary will bo met by Exchequer bills . During the current financial year , therefore , tho borrowing will amount to nearly 10 . 000 , 000 / . —just the amount of tho
deficiency . Sir George Lewis believes himself to have arrived at an accurate knowledge of the amount which the war will have cost us from first to last , and he reckons it at 77 , 600 , 000 / . We doubt much whether Sir . George , or any other man , can really undertake to give so definite an account of the cost of the war ; but undoubtedly the public expected that it would need more money to fit out a complete army and to place upon the waters so magnificent a fleet as that which has been lately reviewed . On the whole , therefore , the public is rather glad to get off so easily . The Chancellor of the Exchequer tells us that two-thirds of this sum will have been met by the end of the present year , and that the remaining third will be paid off within sixteen
years by an annual instalment out of the Consolidated Fund ; so that at the end of sixteen years , the debt on account of the present war will be absolutely extinguished . The Budget gave rise to little remark , and to almost none of a direct or official character . A few words were said in favour of terminable annuities as a better mode of obtaining loans , and unquestionably it is a better mode . Something , also , might have been said in favour of an open loan instead of a loan by contract ; yet everyone felt that the business of the present session is to wind up a closing account and not to conclude the finance of war upon any new pattern . The eloquence of the Exchequer , in fact , is derived from the circumstances of the day . Nothing has been set down in the Budget which we arc not clearly and in right called upon to pay ; wliiln wr linvp . so much outeroinjr of cash to meet ,
wo are not inclined to make any experiments in financial reforms ; and we get over the present difficulties so smoothly , that everybody is in good humour with the ostensible finance minister . The whole proceedings of the new loan were a great encouragement and support . The City accepted the Downing-street terms almost without question . Baron Lionel » e Rothschild , who was left in occupation of tho post of spokesman , came with deposits of 4 , 000 , 000 / . in his hands , offering to take tho loan in Three per Cent . Consols at a price a little above 92 . J ; but as soon as Sir George Lkwis offered at 93 , the offer was accepted . The payment of the second instalment of the Sardinian Loan , which formed part of the year ' s expenditure , furnished tho peg for what was in fact a distinct debate between two persons , Mr . Pisrakxi and Lord Palmerston . Mr . JJisrakm
demanded some explanation , how it is that we are at once supporting Austria and Sardinia , entering into a tripartite treaty to share the government of Italy with Austria and France , and in alliance with Sardinia , which is endeavouring to oust Austria from Italy ? Mr . Disraeli ' s assertions , said Lord Palmerston , are not founded oh fact , and the y have no resemblance to truth . We are not supporting Sardinia in any aggressive policy in other states , and we have done nothing to guarantee the territories of Austria . He thus tu um auLcc I * uv 7 tcixiiuiiN \ jm- ^ . * -v »« j «***•• — -w *»»« . »*
^ turned the easy laugh of the House at this insinuation that the right honourable gentleman had told a falsehood ; and yet the public understand the facts very nearly as Mr . Disraeli described them . However diplomatists may view the present situation , the fact is that our Government is supporting Austria , and it is at the same time supporting Sardinia—the Sardinian Government intending to bring together the different provinces of Italy , and to drive back " the Stranger" from exercising any military or other form of tyranny beyond his own frontiers . There is a report in Paris that the Austrian Government has so far
fallen in with the tripartite arrangements , as to have proposed reforms for the acceptance of Home , and the only difficulty , according to this account , consists in the fact , that the Cardinal Viale Prki . a hesitates to accept the conditions proposed by Austria . Now , since General Crennbville still holds Parma under martial law , it is highly improbable that any real reform of the lloman States can have been proposed from Vienna , and tho very fact of the alliance between France , England , and Austria , under such circumstances , discredits any explanation of our equivocal position . Although it ia muffled , there is a battle going on at this moment botween Sardinia and Austria , and our Government is positively in both camps . It is not the first time that we have witnessed that duality of position ; but it is the first time , perhaps , that it has come so distinctly before the public ; and although Lord Palmurston got rid of Mr . Disraeli for the moment , he has not really satisfied the question . Another question has been answered for the hour , but wo have yet to learn whether tho ex- _ planation will be countersigned . Lord CpKjGpijfc ^ } » on has been asked in the House of T ^ fyjPj&ffi- ' - is that we arc furnishing arms to one ^^ wl ^ W ^ in the contests of Central America ^ wWgSK ? that wo wore ready to assist a friendly % tafeijJ 4 TOr .
Cr / ~ £^V / '~V / Vv ~V ^S -V- ? A Political And Literary Reyiew.
Cr ~ £ ^ V ' ~ V vV ~ V ^ s -V- ? A POLITICAL AND LITERARY REYIEW .
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"The one Idea which History exhibits as evermore developing' itself into greater distinctness is the Idea of Humanity—the noble endeavour to throw down all the barriers erected between men by prejudice ' and one-sided views ; and , by setting aside the distinctions of Religion , Country , and Colour , to treat the ¦ whole Human race as one brotherhood , having one great object—the free development of our spiritual nature . " —Mumboldfs Cosmos .
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VOIi . VII . No . 322 . ] SATURDAY , MAY 24 , 1856 . Price { CE " :: S ™
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REVIEW OF THE WEEK— page Our Civilization 490 OPEN COUNCIL— THEARTSImperial Parliament 482 Obituary 490 Exhibitionof the Royal Academy ... 440 The Loan 484 Miscellaneous 490 The Bands in tho Parks 495 The Operas 500 Trial of William Palmer 485 Postscript 491 Mr . Benedict ' s Concert 500 Metropolitan Protests against Puri- „ .. „ . . _ Ac . ralt , LITERATURE— Madame Bistort 500 tauisin 4 S 8 PUBLIC AFFAIRS- Continental Notes 488 The Penalties of Indifference 492 Summary 406 America 489 Ix > rd Palmerston ' s Dark Hints 493 Sir Robert Peel ' s Memoirs 496 The Gazette 500 Ireland 439 Bill Discounting in Parliament 493 Ruskin ' s Modern Painters 497 / --, « . » . c-or-iai ace-aidc Naval and Military 489 The Carlton Party 4 ? M The Productive Forces of Russia ... 498 COMMERCIAL AFFAIRSSanitary Reports 4 S 9 Pratt on Palmer 494 Ancient and Modern India 499 City Intelligence , Markets , &c 501
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 24, 1856, page unpag., in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2142/page/1/
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