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Leader (1850-1860), 1st May 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 421, THE FRENCH BUDGET. Reviewed from a dista...

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      R India Bills, One, Two, And Tiire Tiik ...

      ordinary and seemingly insane demonstrations of ferocity on the part of the Sepoys , was an event to draw towards India the whole and absorbed attention of this country . Very little time elapsed from the first arrival of the news before it was assumed that the causes of the military defection were to be sought only in the defects of the Indian Government , and the idea was followed with vigour and persistence . Public opinion was not slow to arrive at a conclusion . Without positively condemning the Company for its rule of India , the' will of the dominant party in Parliament was pretty strongly expressed to the effect that the Government would be better transferred to the Crown . Lord Palmerston was prepared to strike the iron

      while it was hot , and he lost no time m preparing a bill for effecting the change . His chance of carrying his measure through Parliament seemed to be extremely promising . Short as the measure was of the requirements of the great case with which it dealt , Lord Palrnerston ' position seemed ^ to be all but unassailable . Some such measure , it was assumed , would be welcomed by the country ; the demand had been responded to from the throne ; and the acceptance of the Government measure seemed all but inevitable . The Miliier Gibson vote , however , not only removed Lord Palmerston from power , but it opened out the subject of the Indian Government , and released it from dependence upon the influence of a Minister . Separated from , the necessities of party , Lord Palmerston ' s India Bill was discovered to be far short of the measure

      demanded to give security for the better government of India . To the Derby-Disraeli Cabinet the country naturally turned its eyes , not expecting that too much would be offered to glad them ; and , therefore , the India Bill of Lord Ellenborough has not vastly disappointed it . The failure of this bill was seen 1 o be certain ; in the supposed elements of its popularity were detected nothing but the certain elements of its destruction . "Victorv seemed to be

      handed over to Lord Palmerston ; India Bill No . 1 took its original standing ; and Lord Palmerston returned to more than his original power . But a very simple movement on the part of Lord John Russell has changed the aspect of the party game , and brought the question of Indian government many steps nearer to a new solution . Failing utterly in their bill , Ministers succeed no better in their resolutions , which were to give them a new chance of success . The fate of these resolutions is not very doubtful . By themselves they stand ' no chance of being accepted in committee ; and therefore attention is properly directed to the series of amendments of which Lord John Russell

      has given notice . The Ellenborough bill adopted as much of Lord Palmerston ' s bill as could he appropriated without absolutely betraying the source whence the parts were drawn ; Lord John Russell's amendments will , in effect , absorb the Ellenborough bill , but openly , and seeking to give it better working capabilities . The main features of a bill founded upon the Ellenborough resolutions amended by Lord John Russell would be pretty nearly as foilows .

      The chief amendment proposed would introduce a new principle into the formation of the Indian Council as a guarantee for the independence of members , namely , that of the tenure of oflice during food behaviour- —the principle upon which our udges—whose independence is beyond doubthold their office . It is in his amendments referring to the construction of the Council that Lord John rises highest above the Tory scheme . The Council he proposes is to consist of twelve members , including the " Secretary of State ; " the whole to be nominated by the Crown , and to hold office on the principle we have mentioned . Most of these members are to be chosen for their special knowledge of India , acnuired by actual service for a number of years to be limited by statute ; and though their

      appointment will be virtually for life , her Majesty ma-y remove any member upon , an address from both Houses of Parliament . Every vestige of the old Secret Committee is to be done away ; and the whole of tho letters and correspondence of the Indian Government be laid open to every member of the Council . With the patronage , Lord John deals in a bold and reasonable manner ; it is all , at , the outset , to be placed in the hands of the . Secretary of State for India ; the appointments to clerkships and cacleLship . s being thrown open to public competition , with the exception of one-fourth of tlio number , winch are to be reserved to the sons of Indian civil and military officers . From tins it will appear that , in spite of the outcry against a " simple" mode of dealing with a

      difficult and complex subject , Lord John has suggested the simplest mode possible , ' . and at once appears to have come very near to the solution of the problem of Indian government . As to what the result of these amendments may be when tbey are moved in Committee , it is premature to offer an opinion . But , meanwhile , we may note that there are four parties in Parliament interested in that result , and awaiting it more or less eagerly- — namely , the Government , the supporters oi Lord Pahnerston , the India Company ' s supporters , and that party which includes most of the independent Liberals , and which , has accepted the dogma that the government of India must be transferred to the Crown .

      The adoption of Lord John Russell ' s amendments would be a double triumph , disposing of the Indian measures of both Lord Palmerston . and Lord Ellenborough , with consequent loss of political influence to Government and to Lord Palmerston . The desire of the Company , of course , is to see Lord John Russell ' s scheme of government as unsuccessful as those which have preceded it . Winch will be the winning party it is not possible to determine in the

      present state and temper of parties . Possibly the chances are favourable to the Company . Want of a powerful lead in , the House of Commons leaves a good deal to chance . What appears tolerably certain is , that Lord Palmerston ' s measure has little chance of finding acceptance , and Lord Ellenborough ' s less . But there arc two resiilts possible from the discussion of the resolutions , as amended by Lord John Russell ; the independent Liberals may identify themselves with the result of these amendments .

      and , in the event of their being adopted , Lord Derby's Government may accept a bill based upon these amended resolutions : in either case , the victorv would he to Lord John Russell .

      No. 423, May 1, 1858.] _ The Leader. 421

      No . 423 , May 1 , 1858 . ] _ THE LEADER . 421

      The French Budget. Reviewed From A Dista...

      THE FRENCH BUDGET . Reviewed from a distance , the French budget for the present year is made to wear a passable appearance . Its grand total presents a balance at which England ought not to ' cast reflections . Its expenditure of 70 , 670 , OOOZ . only exceeds the income by 3 , 120 , 000 / . ; and as the operation of the Sinking Fund can be suspended , the Finance Minister saves 3 , 320 , 000 / . Income and expenditure arc thus made to balance , and even a . surplus of 260 , 000 / . can be shown on the figures . This is so very close to the circumstances of-England , that the Imperial Government might get off-on .. 1 he comparison . It needs scarcely a moment ' s reflection to sliow that there is no real parallel or even approach between

      the two cases . The Finance Minister of the Emperor Napoleon has been in the habit of composing budgets intended to produce a favourable effect on the money market ; while it is notorious that the Government is constantly adding to the permanent delt at the rate of something like 12 , 000 , 000 / . n year , -without- keeping its income at all up to the cxpendihirc . There is reason to suppose that the luiucloiou-Jeclfjcd debt is also annually increasing , and is becoming very embarrassing indeed . The system of accounts is so complicated that it favours concealment ; and as we know that the Finance Minister gives to the budget the most favourable appearance , we may consider the figures now presented to cover a much more serious dciicicncy than that which is confessed .

      The suspicionis not only suggested by tlie method of keeping accounts , but by the actual circumstances o'f France . Although the Corps Legislntif , which has had the Budget under consideration , and has been debating a very voluminous report , lms no real authority , there is sufficient sense of independence and conscientious work in the members to bring out sonic curious comments . The members have objected to the manner in -which the accounts are presented ; the figures are unintelligible , and the audit of them is avowed to . be a farce . Even in the report , which h designed to soften the ellect of

      censure , the reporter , M . Devinck , feels hound to excuse- the excess of expenditure over ineomr , pleading the revolution of ISIS , the Crimean War , the dearth of three successive years , the monetary crisis of 1857 , and other disasters , as reasons why , since ISIS , the operation of the sinking fund has been suspended ; but the permanent , expenses , lie says , have been continually growing " until 1 , 73 ( 1 , 000 , 0001 ' . have- been added to the ordinary expenditure . " " France painfully toils from year to ycur , saddled with badly balanced budgets ; " and M . Devinck contends Ilml the expenditure must lie brought within the income , as m tlic case of private

      individuals . In England we should scarcely consider this argument correct ; since it is seldom for the national interest that the expenditure should be cut according to the income . On the contrary , if any expenditure is really necessary , the national income can be enlarged to meet it ; and the members of the community gain by that forced outlay . If he were interrogated before the free tribunal of a select committee of the House of Commons , M . Devinck would probably admit this axiom , and would explaia that this immense expenditure of France is not necessary ; only Frenchmen are not free to say so in so many words .

      The commission of the Corps Legislatif complain , that the reductions which , are laid before the Council of State are always rejected ; they complain that they are precluded from interfering with the items of the budget ; and they suggest that the financial condition of the country enforces the necessity of " a long peace , founded on . mutual esteem , and the feeling which arises from reciprocal good will . " In . other words , the Corps Legislatif , demands intelligible accounts , public control over the expenditure , retrenchment , and peace . A commission has been sitting in Paris , by order of the Emperor , to contrive some plan for relieving the

      money-market , and especially the share-market , from the fearful stagnation that has depressed it . We have not seen , or heard of any final report of this commission . It is said , to have suggested some cunning expedients for " bulling" the market ., especially the consolidation of all railway stock , with a Government guarantee of four per cent , on dividends all round . Now , since Government would of course buy up the stock at a heavy price , and since four per cent , is not the average of dividends , such a plan would demand an appropriation of money altogether out of the question in the face of 3 , 000 , 000 / . of deficit . In the meanwhile , the money market has spontaneously rebounded , railway shares are heavy ,

      railway enterprise is to a great extent at a standstill , the iron trade fails—one effect of this stagnation . The trade returns for the quarter indeed show a prevailing decrease over the whole of French commerce . Every report that can float , on the wind operates upon the money market , as if the feelings of the people were depressed and nervous in the last degree . The verdict of a London jury casts a damp on the trade of Paris . A severe comment in the French journals creates a panic . The want of employment amongst the ¦\ yorking classes aeain occasions the necessity for immensely expanding the works provided in Paris and the great towns for improving the streets and furnishing- work to the labourers . Tims an

      avlificially created expenditure is rendered necessary by the declining trade and income of the country ; and the dead -weight of debt , which is beginning to burden the State as well as individuals , hangs like a growing storm of bankruptcy over the futureparalyzing the people , terrifying the Government , and exhausting- the invention even of the Paris financiers .

      The Elections In Pauis. Yj:Rv Little Ins...

      THE ELECTIONS IN PAUIS . Yj : rv little instruction is to be derived from analyzing the figures put forward with reference to 1 he elections which have just taken place in Paris . " NVc know exactly how it is over there . The mass of the inhabitants of the capital , properly so called , have been , arc , and will remain hostile to the Empire , it is a positively ascertained fact that every ycav the lists arc carefully revised , and the name of every marked oppositionist expunged . We know a person who has seen the registers , which prove beyond a doubt that , in the sixth circumscription , containing the Faubourg St . Antoine , there have been five thousand erasures since the las I ; elections , ¦ whilst several thousands of new names have been

      put on . In addition to this , it is as ' well to remember that a large portion of the banVwue , which is essentially lionapartist , has been tacked , on to this division of Pans . With such arrangements , after three months of terror caused by the arrest of shoals of innocent people , in the absence of all possihility of agitation , Ihc candidate absent , forbidden even to publish an address , with his name simply printed on a few hills perscvcrin ^ ly torn down by the police—it would not have been a triumph for Government ev ( . n if M . Jules Far re had been defeated . The fact that he has burin

      elected by a majority of above eleven hundred , . speaks volumes for the persevering republicanism of the Faubourg St . Antoine . In one of the remaining two elections , a Government candidate passed by u large majority—thirteen

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 1, 1858, page 421, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_01051858/page/13/