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    Mat 26, I860] The Leader and Saturday An...

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    EFFECT ON PARTIES OF THE, VOTE IN THE LO...

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    THE GLADSTONE HASH. WHATE vTSR be theres...

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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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    Mat 26, I860] The Leader And Saturday An...

    Mat 26 , I 860 ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 4 & 7

    Effect On Parties Of The, Vote In The Lo...

    EFFECT ON PARTIES OF THE , VOTE IN THE LOBDS . AS people begin to recover from their surprise at the overwhelming majority of Monday last against the financial policy of the Government , the question inevitably suggests itself to every mind , —What will the probable consequences be as regards the relative condition of parties ? Great pains were taken during the debate to repudiate the imputation of party aims or motives . The rejection of the Paper Duty Repeal Bill was first suggested by a ci-devant Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and amongst those who helped him to carry his motion were twenty of the staunchest members of the political congregation worshipping at Brookes ' s . About the party-colour of men like Lords Donegal and Normanby , Panmuke and Grey ,

    Camperdown and Stratford , there can be no doubt ; and as little as to the politics of men- like Lords Harrington , Airxie , Abercrombie , Aveland , Holland , Overstone , and Gosford . Some of these have held Cabinet office , and others places of more or less confidence under Whig administrations . But there is perhaps still more significance , under existing circumstances , in the fact that men like Lords Coavper , Blantyre , Clifton , and Leconfielp , men who are not supposed to be easily carried away by individual opinions , and who are very closely connected by ties of relationship and friendship with prominent members ' of the Government , should have helped to while of the hihest

    swell the -majority of eighty-nine ; persons g weight and distinction , like the Dukes of Bedford and Grafton , Lords Leicester , Clarendon , and Stanley of Alderley , refused to aid in reducing it . It is , indeed , quite true that in the ordinary sense of the term the vote cannot be called one of a party description ; and it was not concealed by the speakers in the debate that the matter was regarded very much with reference to class interests . Nevertheless , it is clear that a strong undercurrent of specific animosity to Mr . Gladstone and those whose ideas he has lately adopted , influenced various sections of the Peers . It was the allusions during _ the discussion to the principles and projects of -the- Manchester School that evoked it has been trulsaid b keen observer

    the loudest cheers ; and y y a of passing events , that there was no such speech made in the House of Lords against the second reading of the Paper Duty Bill as that which Mi-. Bright made at St . Martin ' s Hall . If the Peers , Liberal as . well as Conservative , were to speak their minds unreservedly , nineteen out of every twenty would declare that they believe ' the finances of the country are in unsafe hands so long as the Manchester party are allowed to dictate the policy to be pursued with respect to taxation , or , in other words , as long as Mr . Gladstone is Chancellor of the Exchequer . We are not here considering whether in this ™» v 4 nti ^ n ~ t . lip . y— iirc-j % ht or _ . wrong ; we are simply stating

    a fact of the utmost significance in estimating correctly the character of the remarkable vote of Monday last—a vote , probably , with hardly an example or parallel within the memory of the present generation . Had Mr . Gladstone always been an advocate of the policy of direct taxation as opposed to indirect , and of peace with France at any price for the sake of commercial intercourse with the people of that country , more deference , perhaps , would be paid to his authority as a financier , and more respect would undoubtedly be shown for his motives as a man . But it happens , unfortunately for him and for the section of politicians of whom he ' must now be deemed the head in Parliament

    and in the Cabinet , that he has won that position , whatever its value be , by the most signal abandonment of specific pledges , and the most abrupt conversion to novel views . It may have been thought , by some , undignified , that a statesman like Lord Derby should choose for the staple of his speech on so great a question , conflicting quotations from those of the Chancellor of the Exchequlu during the last three years . But Lord Derby knew well the audience he addressed , and the ideas that were uppermost in their minds . He thoroughly understood what it was they wished to have done , and what were the incentives that would most effectually impel them to aid in doing it . It was not about the Papcr ' Duty as a form of excise , or the specific

    . amount of deficiency its repeal might create in the ways and means of next year , that the Peers were thinking of . They beUeyed themselves standing ; below a sluice-gate , which , if opened rashly , it would bedifficult to close , and through which a flood might pour tlint would sweep awny . lwU" the privileges and immunities they most valued ; ami they believed that ho whom they saw standing by the side M' the sluice ,. brandishing the key in his hand , wns a man governed by imagination and impulse , regardless of his own recent promises nnd opinions , and equally indifferent to the ordinary misgivings nnd apprehensions that influence ) mankind . They had recently watched with wonder and admiration the way in which ho had contrived to persuade his prosaic colleagues nnd a half-incredulous llouso || of Commons

    to allow him to perform certain experimental exploits of a financial kind , But they had subsequently perceived that even in some of these his confident . assurances of success had not been justified ; and supposing him to be thoroughly sincere ,- up .-right , and disinterested , they could not but regard him with aversion and terror as a pre-eminently dangerous man . What the majority of the Lords really meant by supporting Lord Monteagle's motion was not to displace the Government , but to drive Mr . Gladstone out of it . The son-in-law and stepson of Lord Palmerston , the brother-in-law of the Duke of Argyll , the brother-in-law of Sir Charles Wood , and the nephew of Lord Carlisle , would not have been found among the non-contents had this not been clearly understood ; and the brother of Lord John Russell and the brother of Mr . Villie us

    would not have been found wanting on the other side . But there is no denying the fact , that among statesmen and politicians of all shades of opinion save one , Mr . Gladstone has lost influence and character by identifying himself with Mr . Bright and his party . Whether it be too late for him to retrace his steps with safety and with honour , or Avhether he must pay the forfeit , of his generous and unreserved adoption of their peculiar tenets by abjuring office at least for a season , we cannot tell . But certain we are that the governing instincts of both Whigs and Tories are irreconcilably opposed to the financial views of the Manchester School , and that the vote of want of" confidence in Mr . Gladstone come to by the House of Lords will inevitably , though perhaps not immediately , lead to the break up of the coalition of which Lord Palmerstox is the head . The noble

    Viscount may retain the helm of State , of which nobody just now is anxious to deprive him ; but if he would weather the impending storm , he must jsart with some of his present crew .

    The Gladstone Hash. Whate Vtsr Be Theres...

    THE GLADSTONE HASH . WHATE vTSR be theresult of the present crisis , Mr . Gladstone- has been : the chief agent to bring it on . His much-boasted eloquence has ~ sharpened the desire of envious rivals to upset him , and increased their chances of success . His Budget , which has occupied so much of the time of Parliament , has provoked opposition and supplied opportunities for protracted debates , discomfiture , and defeat . He has inflicted a deep wound on the party he took office to serve , and has delayed the cause he undertook to forward . If every part of his Budget were not unavoidably necessary , he is inexcusable for the mischief he has done . .

    It cannot be urged as a reproach to us that we pride ourselves on wisdom gained after the event . Immediately ' on his . Budget being promulgated , flattering ourselves on having escaped the seductiveness of his eloquence , we insisted on the necessity of " re ' duciiljrttie ^ — We stated the propriety of leaving all great financial questions to the Reformed Parliament ; and we then said Mr . Gladstqnk had " added to all the difficulties of the Government the great difficulty of unnecessarily disturbing the whole financial system . " We stigmatised as ill-timed his furtive attack on the publicans ' monopoly , which , if left alone , would have become , with free-trade in wine and other things , utterly unbearable in a short time , when it might have been easily and totally suppressed . We

    condemned the many new . nnd petty Custom-House regulations nnd duties he applied to trade , and more than once we insisted on the necessity of simplifying our fiscal regulations , which his plan complicated . The result justifies our remarks . When it is seen that excessive expenditure involves the two Houses of Parliament in a quarrel , dislocates a ministry , endangers public credit , begets animosity amongst different classes , and even threatens our institutions , it will be admitted that greater exertion should have been made to keep it down . The Ministry which shields itself behind a popular cry , be it what it may , for having brought on by unnecessary expenditure such a series of calamities , merely admits its ' inability to rule . It shows that the aristocracy

    n » id the advocates of the aristocracy , refuse parliamentary reform to avoid , already exists ; and the Ministers arc only the instruments for giving effect to the wishes of the little-instructed democracy . Besides sanctioning unnecessary expenditure Mr . Gladstone ' s Budget was unnecessarily complicated ; it protentlecl to promoto freedom and ... multiplied restrictions ; it was confiwou as well as complicated . If the session have been wasted , the Ministry injured , and the Commons degraded , Mr . Gladstone is to blame .

    He has failed before . In 1853 his budget wns essentially different in all points from his budget of 18 ( 50 , except that it too wns a failure . Some excuse wns found for him in tno Jtusshin war , which ensued in the following year ; but an increase in the value of money had , before that , rendered his mnnciul plan n bvword in the City . The war hid Ins blunder .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26051860/page/3/