CHAPTER XXIV.
THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (continued).
The National Prosperity in 1865—Debate on the Malt Tax—Remission of Fire Insurance Duty—Mr. Gladstone's Budget—The Army and Navy Estimates—Academic Discussions of large Questions—Mr. Lowe on Reform—The Union Chargeability Bill—The New Law Courts Bill—Debate on University Tests—The Catholic Oaths Bill—Other Ecclesiastical Discussions—The Edmunds Scandal—The Wilde Scandal—Mr. Ward Hunt's Motion—Lord Westbury resigns—The General Election—Mr. Mill and Mr. Gladstone—Result of the Polls—Fictitious Prosperity of Trade—The Rinderpest—Suggestions of the Commissioners—Inaction of the Government—Spread of the Disease—The Fenian Conspiracy—Its Constitution—Lord Wodehouse's Measures—Raid upon the Office of the Irish People—Stephens the Head-Centre—His Arrest and Escape from Richmond Gaol—The Special Commission—Trial of Luby—Documents and Informers—Obituary of the Year—Lord Palmerston and Mr. Cobden.
WHEN Parliament met for the Session of 1865 the Lord Chancellor truly described in a few words the state of Great Britain. "Her Majesty," said the Queen's Speech, "commands us to inform you that the general state of the country is satisfactory, and that the revenue realises its estimated amount." In truth, the opening of the year was as calm, both at home and abroad, as could possibly be, excepting the echoes of storm that still continued to be heard in the West. India was prosperous, save for the cyclone that broke over Calcutta a few months before. In one only of the colonies, New Zealand, was anything visibly disturbed, and there the Maori war seemed to have passed its climax. At home, Lancashire distress had abated; the harvest had been good; the public purse was full. Everybody, so far as politics was concerned, was waiting quietly for the dissolution of Parliament, for which, as Lord Derby said, "all its experienced advisers could do was to find it some gentle occupation, and take care that its dying moments were not disturbed by any unnecessary excitement."
In financial matters, before Mr. Gladstone brought forward his Budget, there had been two important debates in the House of Commons which bore upon it. The first was that on a resolution moved by Sir Fitzroy Kelly, afterwards Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, to the effect, "That in any future remission of indirect taxation, this House should take into consideration the duty on malt, with a view to its immediate reduction and ultimate repeal." The malt duty, from which at that time the revenue received six or seven millions sterling a year, had always been more or less of a grievance to the agriculturists; and the representatives of agricultural constituencies were ever ready to argue against it. Sir F. Kelly and his supporters—Sir E. B. Lytton, the novelist, being his seconder—brought forward several plausible arguments for his motion, principally selected or parodied from the grammar of Free Trade. But Mr. Neate, the member for Oxford, always notable in the House for the crotchety cleverness with which he handled questions of political economy, turned the tables upon the landed interest by an amendment. He moved, "That considering the immunities from taxation now enjoyed by the owners and occupiers of land, they are not entitled to any special consideration on account of the pecuniary pressure of the malt tax; and that if, on other grounds, that tax should be reduced or abolished, compensation to the revenue should be sought, in the first instance, by withdrawing from landed property the advantage it now has in the shape of total exemption from probate duty, and partial exemption from succession duty and income tax." This, however, the House of Commons could not stand; it was too much, at least for an unreformed Parliament. The supporters of the Government—especially Mr. Milner Gibson, who was its spokesman—contented themselves with attacking the resolution and left the amendment alone. The question was met on two grounds—first, that the revenue could not afford to do without it; and secondly, that though malt was a raw material, stimulants and their components were fit subjects for taxation. Sir Fitzroy Kelly's motion was rejected, the previous question having been carried by a majority of 251 to 170.
The other point in which it was proposed to give an instruction to the Government as to the disposal of part of the surplus was Mr. R. B. Sheridan's motion for extending last year's remission of the fire insurance duty to "houses, household goods, and all descriptions of insurable property." This resolution was carried by a large majority, though the Chancellor of the Exchequer opposed it, thinking it rash to bind the Government to any special course before the exact surplus was known. The vote secured that Mr. Gladstone should carry out the reduction in question in his Budget. When the day came for the Budget to be presented, Mr. Gladstone found himself, as usual, in the presence of a crowded and eager House. He did not disappoint his hearers. His Budget speech was, in the words of one of his admirers, one of those "deliverances, crammed with arithmetic and argument, epigram and eloquence, figures and fancy," which he and no other Finance Minister that ever lived in England knew well how to give. In this instance Mr. Gladstone had an unusual opportunity for effective display, from the fact of Parliament having arrived at the end of its existence; he had five previous years spread out before him for review, and could strike out brilliant comparisons and draw large inferences at his pleasure. Some of his figures may be given. He said that the actual expenditure of the year that had just elapsed was £65,951,000, a reduction of £1,514,000 upon the first year of that Parliament and that Ministry, and a reduction of £6,547,000 upon the year 1860-61, when the alarms consequent on the Italian War had caused us to spend vast sums upon the army and navy. As to a comparison between revenue and expenditure, he found himself with a surplus in hand of £3,231,000. Customs, Excise, and all other great heads of revenue had given more than their estimated amount, Excise especially yielding a million and a half of increase. The prosperity of the country he tested on an even larger scale than this, by a comparison of annual revenues during the last twenty-five years; and showed that whereas the average growth of the revenue from year to year, from 1840 to 1852, was £1,030,000, the same growth was, from 1853 to 1859, at the rate of £1,240,000, and from 1859 to 1865 at the rate of £1,780,000. The paper trade, in spite of the outcry of the papermakers when he abolished the duty, was increasing, the amount of raw material imported in 1865 being exactly five times what it had been in 1859. The trade with France, thanks to Mr. Cobden's Commercial Treaty, had doubled in five years. The total amount of exports during the year ending September 30, 1864, was £487,000,000, an increase of £219,000,000 since 1854. In other words, the export trade of the country had nearly doubled in ten years. To all this encouraging retrospect Mr. Gladstone added his own gifts for the future. He had a large surplus to dispose of, and what was he to do with it? As he said, there are always "crowds of hungry claimants" for a surplus; everybody who suffers from a tax that his neighbours are exempt from thinks he suffers an injustice and struggles to get it redressed. It is enough to say that the malt tax was not touched; and that the duty on tea was lessened by sixpence per pound, and the income tax lowered from sixpence to fourpence in the pound. It is needless to add that these reductions were received with gladness by the House and the country, though the irrepressible malt tax repealers felt themselves hardly used.
The other two important financial statements were, of course, those made in moving the Army and Navy Estimates. Of neither is there very much that needs to be recorded. The Marquis of Hartington showed great clearness of head and general administrative ability in moving the Army Estimates; but he had little to say except to move for a reduction of 4,000 men in the establishment. The alarm of 1860 had passed away, and the alarm of 1870 had not come; so there was neither increase nor re-organisation to be accomplished. The only difficulty with which Lord Hartington had to deal was the everlasting gun question, new phases of which were always demanding full consideration. Similarly with the navy, for which a little over ten millions were voted, there was to be a reduction, especially in the coastguard and marines; and fresh ships were also to be built on fresh models. Lord Clarence Paget, who moved the Estimates, pronounced himself satisfied with the efficiency and discipline of the service; and the House generally agreed with him.
Turning from finance to the other departments of public business, one is not surprised to find that in the last Session of an old Parliament, with Lord Palmerston still living and directing its course, but little positive legislation was accomplished. An expiring Parliament is never fertile: it produces infant measures, but has not the force to bring them to maturity; and in the consciousness of approaching death, it makes its peace with the future by recording good resolutions. Lord Palmerston, too, in the last year of his life, showed no intention of departing from his well-known home policy—namely, to let things be ever doing, never done. Thus it happens that the history of the Session of 1865 reads like a table of contents of the five or six Sessions that followed it. Almost all the important questions that were afterwards solved, or at least handled, by the Government of Mr. Gladstone, were brought forward, discussed, and left unanswered in 1865. The Irish land question was touched upon, in a debate on a motion of Mr. Pope Hennessy, at the beginning of the Session, and discussed at length on Mr. Maguire's moving, on March 31st, for a select committee. The Irish Church question was raised by Mr. Dillwyn, and the debate which followed was remarkable as extracting from Mr. Gladstone a clear statement of the views that he afterwards put into effect. Mr. Berkeley brought forward his Ballot Bill, but in vain. The Test question was raised by Mr. Goschen. National Education, both in England and Ireland, was before the House of Commons in two important debates. The O'Donoghue moved an Address to the Crown referring to the question of University Education for Ireland. And lastly, Mr. Baines took the feeling of the House on the question, soon to become all-important, of Parliamentary Reform. Besides these, which may be called premonitory symptoms of future legislation, there was, of course, a good deal of important but unpretending work accomplished, which we may shortly record. But first it will be worth while to dwell for a moment upon one of the abortive measures, that of Mr. Baines, the highly respected member for Leeds.
CONFEDERATE RAID INTO VERMONT. (See p. [362].)