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JUttttUI Bf \\)t Wtl\K. A
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J ^ t&bzx . A POLITICAL AND LITERARY REVIEW .
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"The one Idea which History exhibits as evermore developing itself into greater distinctness is the Idea of Humanity—the noble endeavour to throw down , all the barriers erected between men by prejudice and one-sided views ; and , by setting aside the distinctions of Religion , Country , and Colour , to treat the whole Human race as one brotherhood , having one great object—the free development of our apiritualnature . "—Humboldt ' sCosmos .
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REVIEW OF THE WEEK- pace Gatherings from the Law and Po- Sardinia ' s Danger , Eng l and ' s Dis- v * Z ^^™* riZ ™ ni £ iVA ™ "' ! n £ Imperial Parliament 386 lice Courts 394 trace ... 398 Publications and Repubhcations ... 403 The International Hotel 389 Dinner to Sir James Brooke ... " 395 Pahnerstoiiandiiussen ' .... " 399 _ . ADTC The Indian Revolt 390 Obituary 395 Thank Heaven weHave a House of THE ARTS " TheOrient 390 Miscellaneous 395 Lords ! 399 The Society of British Artists 403 America ........... . 390 Postscript 396 Manchester and Borneo 399 King Lear at the Princess's Theatre 404 The Sardinian Conspiracy Bill 3 » 1 Public Feeling in Paris 400 Her Majesty's Theatre 404 Continental Notes 392 PUBLIC AFFAIRS— The " Revival" in America . 400 Olympic Theatre 404 State of Trade 392 Accidents and Sudden Deaths 392 Mr . Disraeli ' s Budget 397 LITERATURE— COMMERCI AL'AFFAIRSThe Trial of Bernard .... 393 Trial of Bernard and Trial of the Summary 401 ! __ ,. ¦ ¦ , « - Criminal Record 393 Alliance 397 Historical Revelations of 1848 402 The Gazette 405 Naval and Military 391 The Rotten Liberal Benches 398 A Lady ' s Story of Lucknow 402 •¦ City Intelligence , Markets , &c 405
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VOI ,. IX . No . 422 . ] SATURDAY , APRIL -24 , 1858 . Pbice US ^^ JSSSSF *'
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T HE leading characteristic of the Lome and foreign , politics of the present time is unsettlement . In Parliament there is hardly a question of importance upon which an extremely unsettled state of feeling and opinion is not manifest . We have the India Bill , intended to furnish a Government for India , broken to pieces , its principles dissected , its whole scheme unsettled , subjected to treatment not very much unlike what it might receive in the ventilation of a debating-club . It is the same with half a dozen other questions : the movement against church-rates , about which there is the greatest wavering ; the Oaths Bill , which carries with it into the House of Lords no end of disquieting influences ; Parliamentary Reform , the national expenditure , — about all these matters we are at sea . Abroad , we see Prance enlarging her army from 600 , 000 to 700 , 000 men , and adding to the strength of her navy ; Austria , suspicious , and siding with despotic Naples in her dispute with Sardinia , upon whose frontier she is placing an imposing force . Eagerly watching these movements , we sec democratic and revolutionary Italy ready to take heart of hope on the first glimpse of opportunity . Our own immediate relations with France are obviously of a most unsettled kind , and arc not likely to become less so yet awhile . In America , those standing difficulties , Kansas and Utah , are furnishing their quota of the political unscttleduess of the times . The latest news tells us that the Congress has voted against the admission of Kansas into the Union under the Lecomptoii constitution , so that the fever for which Mr . Buchanan imagined he had found a remedy may bo looked for in a chronic form for a long time to come . Thus it appears to us that the politics of the better part of the world may be fairly characterized as unsettled . Perhaps this unsettledness , as far as we are directly concerned in it , finds its acme in the condition of the great parties in Parliament , and in the poaition of the Government . Lord Derb y is holding office by the sufferance of a majority whose ^ dutyiti 3-t 0 T-eTnove-him-from-hisr . po 3 t . a » djQjA . ko _ into their own hands the government of the country , but who , instead , lend him a hand with the work which ho would otherwise be unable to do for himself j the latest hand lont being to help his budget over all stilos in its way , though the assistance given in . this cftso was muoh loss than ho might have looked for had he noodod it .
As Chancellor of the Exchequer , Mr . Disraeli bestowed all his skill this , time , not in the design of a fanciful and imposing budget , but in the construction of a speech to neutralize any possible attack . His plan is as simple as it is possible to be ; and all his explanations were devoted to show the difficulties with which he had to contend—special and peculiar difficulties bequeathed to him by the preceding Government . Thus he has an immense expenditure ; but it is not for him to reduce it , at least at present . " Reduction , " lie said , " depends upon policy . " You have a certain policy which has been carried out , and which has cost immense sums of money ; you must reconsider that before you can venture upon reducing your expenditure . Reduction , too , demands nice thought and fine calculation , and needs great time to effect it in one point without injuring another part of public service ; so that Mr . Disraeli must be some time longer in office before he can be expected to manage that useful service . There is truth and force in the appeal . Then , again , the largest items of expenditure arc the Army and Navy estimates , which every party in the House of Commons is for increasing rather than diminishing . The common idea is , that the Miscellaneous estimates are the most open to reduction ; but here Mr . Disraeli warns us that they involve such large and complicated arrangements that they cannot be roughly handled with the pruning-knife . A preceding Chancellor of the Exchequer had arranged that certain portions of the war taxes should be paid off ; and although Sir George Lewis would have suspended t he operation of that arrangement last year , Mr . Disraeli prevented him , and insisted on " good faith , " so that this year there is the subsidence of the Income-tax to 5 d ., with one million and a half to be paid into the War Sinking "Fund , and two millions of Exchequer Bills ; the gross result being that there is an expenditure of 07 , 110 , 000 / ., while Mr . Disraeli only counts upon an income of 03 , 120 , 000 / . Even that latter figure involves rather a favourable estimate of the revenue for the ourrenj ; year . How then shall ho proceed P Ho cannot take a loan to pay a loan . Ho shrinks from the unpopularity , perhaps inexpediency , of roimposing the twopence of income-faxT ~ "ITo proceoda ^ by - a-niixed-courser Boeking suoh now taxes as will inftiot the least possible injury . Ho defers until ' 02 and ' 08 the payment of the Exohoquor bonds , defers the operation of the War Sinking Fund , raises tho tax on Irish spirits to a lovel with Scotch and English , and imposes a penny atamp on bankers' cheques .
He calculates that the tax on Irish spirits will give him 500 , 000 / . and the cheque stamp 300 , 000 / . ; and thus , on paper at least , he has a surplus of 300 , 000 / . The Budget has been received with general indifference rather than otherwise . It injures nobody—except the bankers , who are loud in objection ; it probably will notinjurethe Irish spirit dealers at all—though they also are loud—for it will be accompanied by the removal of fiscal restrictions on the Irish spirit trade ; an improvement which has more thau compensated the enhancement of the Scotch tax . The Budget is least popular with the supporters of the late Government , who rather anticipated an opening for attack . By the public at large , since it leaves things much as they were , it is regarded with no feeling save that perhaps of relief at not finding it worse ; and of amusement at finding Mr . Disraeli getting on so well upon the throne of Pitt . The same sort of success has attended Ministers with their Army and Navy estimates ; they were to be let off easily , and so , although a good deal was said , very little opposition was meant ; and in spite of a somewhat ; tight exchequer , ample means arc placed in their hands for carrying on tho great services of the country in an efficient manner . On Monday evening last Mr . Disraeli laid his Indian resolutions upon the table of the House , and on Monday ovening next he will move that the House do go into committee on-tho 3 Qth instant for the consideration of the bill , tho principles of which are set forth in these resolutions . Tho important modification of the original scheme indicated in those resolutions is tho quiet abandonment of that part of the elective machinery which was to have lifted the ten-pound householders of fivo big manufacturing cities into arbiters of tho fate of millions of men . In fact , the changes proposed are intended to cover the retreat of Ministers . But while the right form of Government for India is under review , attention is direotcd to the condition of India itself . Mr . Liddell opened up tho subject of Indian railways , and showed that tho present system is one under whioh all sorts of impediments are thrown in tho way of tho forma « tion of railways . Tho oivil ongineor is overborne -by ~ the—miUtaryw-inspcctora-empli Oyje ^^ udoi ^ he Indian Government ; even tho Company has to wait upon the deoision of the Govcrnmont beftff ^ -it . can enter intp any oontraot or make ylywraw "\ ,. ^ meats ; and tho stores required oifKj ^^^ y ^(^) £ r tainod from England with tho sano (^ n ^^ flj |^| 6 ^| j || f ^ vernment , and to get that sanotip ^ ' SmPaaiB ^ Sfa ' ' ; \ ir . | j ^^^ v ^^ - ^ C ^ -n M ^ iKs ^^
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Contents :
Juttttui Bf \\)T Wtl\K. A
% tWtW flf \\) t Wtl \ K . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 24, 1858, page unpag., in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2240/page/1/
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