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Throughout the week the Ministerial party has been agitated by the fear of its own dissolution ; for that has reajly been , in question ^ although the public did not concern itaelf much about the matter . The Ministers have effectually used up the Protectionist party , which must cease when they cease . The Budget , with which Mr . Disraeli was to astonish the world , and to reconcile town and country , has caused nothing hut displeasure by its innovations ; and the conduct of Government in the debate has exhibited an absence of
self-reliance which lowered it more and more in general estimation . Just before the recent debate on Free-trade , Lord JDerby declared that he should stand or fall by the financial policy of Mr . Disraeli ; early in the present debate , Mr . Disraeli announced that he should stand by the Budget
as a whole , reserving to himself the right of accepting modifications in detail ; later in the discussion , he agreed with the leaders of the Opposition to take only one vote before Christmas , technically on the commencement of the resolutions , but virtually on " the vital principle" of the Budget , which he described as being the extension of indirect taxes in lieu of taxes on
consumption . ; . but last night he again shifted his ground , saying * that Members who voted for Government would only vote " materials for a bill , " without reference to the details . The distinction was practically this : At first Lord Derby said—Accept our financial policy , or we resign ; secondly , Mr . Disraeli said—Accept our policy as a whole , with amcndments , if you like ; thirdly , he said—Sanction the vital princip le of our measure , and in committee apply it how you like ; fourthly , he abandoned the issue on principle , and entreated merely for leave to bring in a bill , with an intimation that the Opposition itself might frame the bill in
committee . In the course of the debate , two grand fact * < auu ; out , fatal in their character . The first fact wis , tlmt the Budget was worthless or mischievous in all that distinguished it from any annual Uudget of any Chancellor of the Kxcheqiu'r . Minor points , such as the remission of the Light-duties , were recognised as meritorious , but obvious and ri pe concesNioiiH to justice . The chief exception to censure was the remission of Ten-duties , which might also have been in any Budget . Hut the distinctive features of the present Budget , the re-[ ToWN KlMTION . ]
mission of half the Malfxtax and half the Hoptax , the doubling and extension of the Houseduty , the extension and peculiar alteration of the Income-tax , and the appropriation of the Loan Fund as annual revenue , underwent a damaging exposure at the hands of successive speakers . Mr . Gladstone , Sir Charles Wood , Mr . Cobden , Mr . Lowe , Sir James Graham , and many others , brought proof after proof that the remission of the Malt -duty would benefit nobody but the brewers ; that half the Hop-duty would be a ridiculous object for retaining a system of assessment peculiarly silly and mischievous ; that the extension of the House-tax and Income-tax would create hardships
for very numerous classes of the people , —a gratuitous infliction , since it was rendered necessary only by the deficiency wantonly created in the Malt-tax ; and finally , that in appropriating a Loan-fund as revenue , the Chancellor of the Exchequer had violated the commonest principles of public credit . It was not once in any single masterly ' speech that these facts were made out , or the effect would have been less , for logic has
no peremptory hold over the public mind . But the facts were brought home to men ' s bosoms and businesses by the representatives of their own class . Out of doors , the apathetic public was gradually rousing itself to look after its threatened pocket . It is said of the Englishman , tlmt of all his viscera , the pocket is the most sensitive ; and that the Englishman should be slow to resent the imposition of new taxes , shows the degree of lethargy to which we have attained : especially when there was no occasion for the new taxes . The fact is ,
that the mere name of remission is so popular , that the unguarded public was at first inclined to give Mr . Disraeli credit for having done something to cheapen beer . But the discussion has effectually corrected thai , fallacy . The public at last ' admitted to itself , that if Mr . Disraeli were suffered to go on , we should be called upon to pay twice our Ilouse-duty , and more of us would be called upon to pay House and income-duty , without the slightest necessity or the slightest return . At last the public began to move , not very hurriedly , it must be confessed , but enough to show honourable Members that they would be
expected to resume the almost forgotten duty of guarding tin ; public , purse . The metropolitan districts , Liverpool , Manchester , and many country places in Kngland and Scotland : Dublin , too , and Ireland generally , pronounced , or prepared to do so . Within Parliament , the demeanour of the
Opposition became more resolute . To independent Members , who had given way to a morbid squeamishness which they took for " impartiality " or " candour , " the expression of public opinion acted as a tonic , and the Minister ' blandishments lost their effect . Mr . Disraeli ' s position was additionally weakened by th e other disclosure of the debate , —less certain , but not less important than the
worthlessness of his Budget , —that his colleagues were not really with him . Evidently they had put him up as a clever fellow , on the strength of his own assurances that lie could bring them off with credit ; but their manner betrayed more than an ordinary " split" in the Cabinet . In spite of studied assurances from the more courteous and humane , it was evident that his important colleagues neither trusted him , nor respected him , nor desired to stand bv him if he should fall .
The effect on disinterested observers was twofold ; Mr . Disraeli ' s prestiye was seriously damaged ; but towards more aristocratic statesmen , who could use an instrument which they despised , and which they were preparing to disclaim even while they used it , the feeling excited was that of hearty contempt . The most mortal coil must be shuffled off at last ; and the fox of Protectionist Free-trade was brought to the end of his doublings on . Thursday night . He made one of bis most masterly speeches , in which , through all its polished finish , the inward bitterness burst forth with volcanic
fire , in the fierce avowal that be was not a " born Chancellor of the Exchequer , " but " one of the Parliamentary rabble . " His speech was powerful ; but Mr . Gladstone followed ; and in the division , Ministers were beaten by a majority of 19 . Mr . Wulpole bad sustained one of his disasters . On the Wednesday of last week he assented to the suggestion of Mr . Serjeant Slice , that Mr . Sharman Crawford ' s bill of Tenant Right should be
sent to the Select Committee on the Government biHs ; but this week Ministers repudiate the arrangement . The occurrence is scureely worth note , excepting in so far as it exposed the indiscipline in the Cabinet , and the . very slight disposition amongst Ministers to show a respectful attention to the real representatives of Ireland . Tin ; report of the committee on the Derby election cunt its damaging shadow on Ministers ; not diminished by Major Beresford ' a revival of hid vulgarly idle asseveration that it is all u " vile conspiracy . " He , a Minister , is virtually convicted
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^ 5 ETlH . No . 1430 SATUEDAyT ^ ECEMBER 18 , 1852 . [ PkiceJixpence ^
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NEWS OF THE WEEK- ' Miscellaneous , 1204 Our French Coo * m tne joreiga dent and Judge ^ t 1213 NEWSOFTHtw fagh Healtllof London daringthe Week 1215 Office ^ ....... J 208 The Parliament of the Week 1188 Births , Marriages , and Deaths 1205 J ^^^ cdlrf ^ T . 1 ™ " he Miseries of a Dramatic Critic 1214 The Frail-Beresford Conunittee ... IgOl dactccoidt .. 1205 The Duty of the Lords 1210 A Phenomenon in a Smock-Frock | 1214 Anti-Budget Meetinga 1201 POSTSCRIPT julliea ' s Bal Masque" 1215 The Kafir War . „ . 1202 PUBLIC AFFAIRS- OPEN COUNCIL— Zoological Society 1215 Cu ^ anrthe UmtedStates ' . ' . ' . ' . ' . " . '"! 1202 The National Prosperity and the The Case of Mr . Kirwan 1210 EtohSSuSebat " !!!!""' . !' . "" 1215 Letters from Paris 1202 Working-Man WWj . The Stafford-House Ladies 1210 Winter Exhibition of Sketches 1216 AmericTn ^ Gossip ^;; . ;!!!!!!;;! " !!! " ! 1203 The Budget and Beer 1207 LITERATURE- COMMERCIAL AFFAIRSThe Gold Fields : 1204 . Kirwan ' sCase—Circumstantial Eva- Markets , Advertisements , &c 1216-1220 Dancing rnScieda ; Eotherham 1204 deuce and Capital Punishment ... ^ St . JohnsIsxa ^^^ ========== ======== ^^
- . . .. ¦» , - T \ 1 \ . n ^ Tn-miooinnAr Phillit ) S a 3 Stll-
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¦• The one Idea which History exhibits as evermore developing itself into greater distinctness is the . ^ ea of Humam ^ - « ae noble endea to throw down all the barriers erected between men by prejudice and one-sided views ; and by setting aside th ^ tmctions or * e ^ { Country , and Colour , to treat the whole Human race as one brotherhood , having one great object—the free development oi uu y nature . "—Humloldt' s Cosmos .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1852, page unpag., in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1965/page/1/
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