THE GOVERNMENT SCHEME OF FINANCE.—DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION OF THE MINISTRY.
On the 3rd of December, the chancellor of the exchequer stated to the house the views which the government entertained of the principles of finance which were applicable to the condition of the country. He declared that he accepted as irreversible the decision of the country in favour of a free commercial policy, and that his object was to harmonize with that the system of national taxation. He proposed to relieve certain interests which he considered had suffered by the free-trade policy. The first of these named by him was the shipping interest. His views connected with that subject met with general approbation, as they comprehended only the removal of special and unjust taxation. He proposed to satisfy the West India interest by allowing sugar to be refined in bond. The opinions stated by the right honourable gentleman were so at variance with his former violent orations in favour of the shipping interest, and that of the sugar-growing countries, as to excite astonishment and amusement in the house. Observing this feeling, he exclaimed, “I may be called a renegade, I may be called a traitor—” but the sentence remained unfinished amidst shouts of laughter from all sides of the house, and reiterated bursts of derisive cheers from the opposition. In fact, the leader of the commons gave up the shipping and colonial interests, with some slight show of concession, which nearly the whole house was prepared to make. The third interest for which he demanded relief was that of the owners of land. He adverted to the local burdens which he had so often pointed out as intolerable to the landowners, and admitted, amidst long-continued peals of laughter, that the agricultural interest had no longer ground of complaint on such matters, and denounced contrary opinions as obsolete. For the relief of the agricultural interest he announced his intention to reduce the malt-tax one half, and to abolish the drawback from spirits made in Scotland. He would reduce one half the duty on hops; he would continue the income-tax, about to expire, but reduce that of farmers by one-half. This announcement was received with demonstrations of astonishment and anger by the opposition. He would impose the income-tax in Ireland, but would exempt the landed interest of that country from its application. This announcement threw the house into extraordinary agitation. Perceiving this, the right hon. gentleman expressed sympathy with the sufferings through which Ireland had passed, and drew from the fact of these sufferings the inference that while imposing new taxes upon other portions of the community in that country, the landed interest ought to be exempt. He would also increase the house-tax, in order that the inhabitants of the metropolis might bear a proportion of the burden from which land would be relieved, and would extend the tax to all houses rated at £10. The right hon. gentleman intimated that his financial scheme should be considered as a first step in a new direction.
The financial statement of the chancellor excited an intense ferment through the country. The landed, the West Indian, and the shipping interests, which were all supposed to derive advantage from protection, supported him, all the rest of the community exhibited an angry opposition. The monied and commercial classes in Ireland, the English manufacturers, and the London householders, were Mr. Disraeli’s fiercest opponents. Besides the popular hostility, Mr. Disraeli had to encounter that of the political economists, and all the leading financiers in the country. The monied interest ridiculed the estimates, and it became evident in a few days after the announcement of his plan to the house, that it had seriously impaired the reputation of its propounder. His unfitness for the post of chancellor of the exchequer was proclaimed everywhere, and every where accepted as true.
On the 6th of December, on the report of the Committee of Supply being brought up, the House of Commons, led on by Mr. Gladstone, showed an uncompromising opposition to the whole scheme of Mr. Disraeli.
After a series of adjournments, Mr. Disraeli replied to the criticism of his opponents in language personally offensive, and full of party violence. This led to a scene of singular excitement: Mr. Gladstone retorted in the most eloquent speech he ever delivered in parliament. Attempts were made by the government party to stifle his voice in uproar, but the house sustained him by repeated and long-continued rounds of applause. Mr. Gladstone’s denunciation of the budget as a delusive and dishonest scheme was followed by a vote which rejected it. The protectionist members voted to a man with the government, but a majority was against them, and the government resigned.