On this page

• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    May 19, 18.6.0.J The JLeader and Saturda...

  • 

    WHAT WILL THE LORDS DO? THE repeal of th...

  • 

    DISMISSAL OF SIR OHAULES TREVELYAN. "VTT...

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    May 19, 18.6.0.J The Jleader And Saturda...

    May 19 , 18 . 6 . 0 . J The JLeader and Saturday Analyst . 463

    What Will The Lords Do? The Repeal Of Th...

    WHAT WILL THE LORDS DO ? THE repeal of the Paper Duty having been voted in the House of Commons by a majority of ten , it lemains for the House of Lords to give or to withhold its assent to the ministerial Bill for that purpose . The second reading is fixed for Monday next , and Lord Monteagle has given notice of his intention to move its postponement to that day six months . Lord Deuby has announced that he , and the numerous party that follow him , will support the amendment ; not that they affect in general any particular love for the ci-devant Chancellor of the Exchequer , but that they are ready to avail themselves of his financial knowledge and experience to inflict a damaging blow on the Budget of Mr . Gladstone . When his

    Commercial Treaty with France came before them , they protested , but submitted ; when his additional income tax was presented for their approval they grumbled , but ventured not effectually to gainsay ; they knew that both had not only been carried by large majorities in the other House , but that they were * cordially approved of out of doors ; and they wisely abstained , therefore , from running a tilt against either . But the Repeal of the Paper Duty stands in a different position . By the mass of the community it is viewed with absolute indifference ; and amongst booksellers and journalists of respectability and standing its benefits are much contested . All the influence of Government and all the marvellous powers of suasion . exercised by Mr . Gladstone , have failed to obtain for it the sauction of more than a nominal majority . The

    Conservative peers feel , consequently , no extraneous pressure deterring them from the exercise of their legislative veto ; and they are greatlv emboldened to take this course by the knowledge that many of the best men of the Whig-party in the Upper House are prepared to vote with LordMonte a gll . The names of Lords Gkey and NoitMANBY will probably excite no surprise ; but if it be true , as we have reason to believe , that Loixte PaNj MUKE , OVERSTONE , CAMPERDOUN , SHELBOUll > E , VIVIAN , and Aberctrombie are certain to vote against the Bill , and that Lords Lansdowne , Fitzwilliam , and Leicester

    are likely to stay away rather than take an active part m condemnation of the measure ,- — it is clear that the question is taken out of the sphere of party strife , and that it .. must be viewed upon its own intrinsic merits as a portion of the general financial scheme for the year . We do not overlook the ! constitutional aspect in which the question is viewed by many , and energetically contended for by some Our predilections do not certainly incline us to favour any encroachment or aggression on the part of the House of Lords ; and we are free to own that we think the less that Assembly interferes with matters of taxation , the better for the maintenance , of its own power and the peace of the community

    at large . But when Mr . Gladstone gets mto _ a paro ^ fsnrul rage at the notion of the 'Upper House presuming to negative one of his many financial propositions , all the rest of which , as far as they have come before them , they have meekly though mistrustfully ratified , we think he commits a greater error than they . * And when Mr . Bright lushes to St . Martin ' s Hall to raise the constitutional cry of " Fire ! fire ! " because the Lords temporal and spiritual do not place implicit confidence in Mr . Milner Gibson ' s prophecies about cheap journalism , or

    sympathize in his own impatience to make away with another £ 1 , 200 , 000 of indirect taxation , we think that they are simplifijcating themselves . People in general , who have no direct interest in the matter , and who arc apt to judge more calmly nnd consistently than the passionate tribunes of the platform or of Parliament , will probably discuss the matter in n very different temper . To them it will appear ' . absurd to say that a Bill for the repeal of an excise duty , in order to obtain the form of law , must be rend three times , and go through committee clause by

    jelause in the House of Peers , if the whole thing is mere mummery and sham , implying morally and legislatively nothing ; mid to them it wjll appear yet more incomprehensible how the performance of this egregious farce should be an established , recognised , nay , essential usage of the constitution , and that not one word to that effect can be found hi . the records of cither House of Parliament , in any statute of the realm , or in any text-Look of law or history . And when , in addition to the negative presumptions thus raised , they find , a strong practical onoallbrded by the unison of sentiment nnd conduct between nun of opposite sides and opinions , both in and out of Parliament , they ¦ will doubtless incline to the conclusion that there is no ground for pretending that the rejection of the Paper Duty Ikpeal Bill

    is either n " dangerous innovation , " as Mr . Gladstone aays , or a rapacious' outrage as Mr . IVuioht politely calls it . Technically and theoretically the Perns have a perfect right to throw but the Bill if they please ; and that they clo please there is Jiardly any room to question . But whether it is prudent iu

    their Lordships to exercise their privilege in this behalf , and to set a precedent which every sensible man amongst them will feel they could not afford frequently to venture to follow , is a matter well worth Lord Derby's consideration between this and Monday , next . We shall argue its constitutional effect elsewhere ; here we merely state the case , and put the question .

    Dismissal Of Sir Ohaules Trevelyan. "Vtt...

    DISMISSAL OF SIR OHAULES TREVELYAN . "VTTHEN Mr . Gladstone brought his Budget before Par-VV liament we spoke of his eloquence as seductive and misleading . Now it is acknowledged that the discussion to which his Budget has been subjected has weeded it of several faults . We remarked , too , when referring to the report of the French ministers to the Emperor , that it served , like our debates , to make known the reasons on which legislation is founded . Our Indian fellow-subjects , less happily p laced than ourselves , or than the French , have neither debates nor reports to enlighten them , and the official gentleman who has made an attempt to effect this has been dismissed contumeliously from office . We anticipated last week that two parvenus , equally ambitious of bureaucratic honour and emolument , could not both remain in the service of the State ; nevertheless , we are somewhat surprised at the hasty manner in which Sir Charles has been sacrificed to Mr . Wilson . In our view , the Minute was to do for the public in India and here what the debates have done with so much advantage for Mr . Gladstone's Budget—delay the progress of a crude scheme and improve it . We supposed , consequentlywhatever official etiquette might demand—that deference to the public here and in India , so deeply interested in having this great subject fully ventilated , would have prevented the ministers , from ig-noniiniously dismissing Sir Chaiiles . Dreading discussion , they have tried to suppress it by pu nisi dug the gentleman who * . provoked , it . Ipm facto , their scheme and their conduct are condemned .

    On February 18 th Mr . Wilson made his financial statement ; on April .-7 th . his taxing bills were read a second time , rnu d ~ May 1 st : they were intended to come into operation . In ten weeks , then , from the first announcement of a new and gigantic scheme of taxation"by ~ a gentleman-till then a perfect-strmi ^ cr to India , and who has in no instance had an opportunity of showing in his subordinate place in the Treasury any .. capacity , as a statesman . India to

    that scheme was for the future weal or woe of bcjeo ' iiurjaw . To interpose and check such dangerous legislation , to askfor a more searching investigation before detected errors of detail and errors of principle were embodied into a permanent enactincut , was extremely reasonable . Tt was , however , unexpected ; it was mortifying both to Mr . Wilson and Sir C . Wood swift in doing injustice ; and on pretence of insubordination , the Ministers havc ° removed , the obstacle to their hasty and despotic proed no

    ceedings : Rii « - ^^ -B , i , KS-JXiiiiA ^ JJu ^ disobey orders , neglecled nothing to give effect to directions from the . Government . ; he only criticised the crude project of his rival . Madras is represented ' in the Council at Calcutta , and Sir Chahles might have sent his minute thither ,, and had it read , air . l published in nil the papers . Jle thought / probably , time would not allow it ; and thus his only offence—if offence it can be calledwas a little irregularity in giving publicity to his opinion . As the Governor of Madras , he . was bound , to state it . He thought , whether correctly or . not , that the new taxes , would bo extremely injurious to the people over whom he presided , and to save them , he " tried to stay the pestilence . " " At u great personal sacrifice , " said Lord Ellenbokoucui , " lie thought to do

    a great service to the country . " " There U danger , not iu what he said , but in neglecting his advice . " In his justification , let it be remembered thut no rule of subordination between him and the now finance minister was declared " by law or established by custom . For many years the governors of Presidencies have commented ou the orders of the Supreme Government , and liavo frequently interposed to prevent them being carried into effect . The last papers arrived from India inform us that the Governor of Mysore , Sir Makk Cluhhon , opposed the plan of thcSupreme Government to transfer that district to I he Government of Madras , and , as his views were not followed , resigned his post- — showing practically to the people , who confided in him , that ho disapproved of tile plan . He is not punished , but honoured . The conduct of Sir C . Tkkvei . yan , then , is very much in

    conformity with the practices of tlio ' officials of uului . His Minute id ' miich prniaud by every competent person ; cveu Sir Chahles Wood has mentioned it with approbation , i he one thing censured is the irregular publication . Tho oho crime committed is that of having made the truth known . What enn the public infer from this , but , that tho great desire , still cherished by Indian oliicrials , as heretofore , id t <> ahrodd Hum- conduct m secrecy ? They abhor the light , because they know their deeds are dark . The more correct was Sir C . Thkvkj . yax , the more

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19051860/page/3/