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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 23rd April 1870, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, _ . -. — .—. . . 5 THE TOMAHAWK. A SATUR...

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    • "SUGAR."
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      _ . -. — .—. . . 5 The Tomahawk. A Satur...

      _ . -. — . — . . . 5 THE TOMAHAWK . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . ^^^^ Mm ^^^ b / V ^ m ^^^^ mM ^ M OBtiiteti * frvti & UT A ' TBeckett . v « INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 155.] London, April 23, 18/0. [Price...

      No . 155 . ] LONDON , APRIL 23 , 18 / 0 . [ Price Twopence .

      "Sugar."

      " SUGAR . "

      If There Is No Success Like Success, So ...

      If there is no success like success , so is there no failure like failure . So long as a man can keep his head above water , there will be plenty to flatter and toady him ; but once let him sink , and not a hand will be held out to succour him . Mr . Lowe ' s Budget was a success last year . By anticipating the income of the country , he contrived to keep down the taxes . If a war had overtaken us , the calamity would have been terrible . The poor people would have had to pay nearly double as much , as represented by our specious Chancellor of the Exchequer . Our only chance of getting through the financial world without a panic was a perfect calm ; and certainly a perfect calm has " been our portion " for the last twelve months . So much the better . Had the danger of war o ' er clouded us , we should have escaped into the sunshine , no doubt , by partaking freely of that excellent substitute for the "Roast Beef of Old England "—humble pie . We have managed the matter by feeding upon the anything- but luscious food in question a score of times before , but still , it is just as well to preserve the national honour , if we can , or rather when we can .

      Mr . Lowe ' s wonderful Budget of 1869 trusted to political sunshine for success . We have had political sunshine for the last twelve months , and , consequently , Mr . Lowe ' s Budget of 1869 has been a success . And there we stop for the Chancellor ' s scheme for 1870 is , to put it frankly , a dead failure . We have seen our artisans starving , and our paupers increasing to an alarming extent during the past year with a certain amount of half-sorrowful resignation , comforted in the belief that with April , 1870 , would come great relief from burden and partial freedom from taxation . Instead of this we find the income-tax merely reduced to the peace standard , and nothing more . Stay , in . return for the starvation of 1870 , for the crippling of the Army , the disabling of the Navy , and the ruin of the Civil Service , for the stagnation of trade , and the dreadful increase in . our poor-rates , Mr . Lowe presents us with—a lump of sugar I Surely the game is not worth the candle . What is the good of a little showy finance at Easter , with depression and starvation for the rest of the year ? For the moment , possibly Mr . Smith may smack his lips at the prospect of a reduction of the income-tax , forgetting , silly fellow , that this reduction is only the natural consequence of a season of peace . For a fewminutes , Mr . Brown , the grocer , of not altogether unblemished r eputation , may see a vision of a little extra gain , to be produced by the sweet sand he sells to the poor as sugar . But how about the labourer turned from the Dockyard—the poor

      Government clerk , deprived of his income and his stool ? Surely the little fleeting popularity gained by Mr . Lowe at the hour of the Budget is dearly purchased with the muttered curses of the starving and the loud denunciations of the out-of-work ? Since Mr . Lowe has taken the finances of the country in hand there has been nothing but dissatisfaction . Walk where we will and we find discontent . The name of Mr . Lowe , the suppressor of Ensigns , and the despoiler of Captains , is absolutely hated in the Army . And not without reason—what can be more unfair than to pay the regulation price for commissions to officers banished to enforced retirement ? The Government might as well insist upon the right of purchasing cows at a shilling a piece , because in the time of the Plantaganets those very useful animals could be bought at a pound the score ! Again , Mr . Lowe ' s name is abhorred in the Navy , because it is to him that the credit is given of having driven hundreds of workmen from employ . We would not for a moment suggest that it is the duty of the Government to supply the poor with workbut we do declare that the fact that starvation may follow , upon retrenchment of questionable policy , should have weight with those who hold the country ' s purse strings . The clergy have

      no reason to love the man who sanctioned and advised the spoliation of the Irish Church . In fact , the only people who have really any reason to toast Mr . Lowe , are the undertakers , for even the doctors find that the poor die quite quickly enough under his regime without their aid ! How much longer will this regime exist ? People are terribly weary of it . Mr . Lowe is as independent as an autocrat . He talks of the " sluggish and stupid practice of allowing the taxes to fall behind , " forgetting that that very sluggishness meant to the people kindness and forbearance , whatever significance it may have had for the State . Now , a good despot is not at all a bad thing for a country—a man like Napoleon III . for instancemay be a blessing to his compatriots ; but on the , other hand a bad { i . e . a foolish ) despot is something worse than a bore—in fact , a nuisance . If Mr . Lowe had been successful in satisfying the cravings of the public for greater freedom from taxation we might have overlooked and forgotten the general discontent that has been ringing in our ears for the last twelve months , but , as a matter of course , he has done no such thing . The Income Tax is reduced certainly , but only to its proper standard for times of peace , and as for the remission of the ¦ sugar duty , the thing is a farce—a burlesque ! Mr . Lowe has been particularly haughty , and tyrannical , and contemptuousthis was pardonable so long as he remained successful , but with the first rumour of failure his fate was sealed . All the haughtiness

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), April 23, 1870, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_23041870/page/3/