NEWS OF THE WEEK.
DIFFICULTIES appear to gather around Ministers ; and if in some cases the trouble can fairly be laid to their own door, created by DIFFICULTIES appear to gather around Ministers ; and if in some cases the trouble can fairly be laid to their own door, created by a want of distinctness or firmness of purpose, in other cases it is the growth of faction and of a low public feeling. We have heard claptrap assurances that no "Wellington on the Danube" would be harassed by the factious opposition of the party out of place ; and it may be said, literally, that neither Lord Raglan nor Sir Charles Napier has been pursued by invective. The Government at home, however is substituted for the " Wellington on the Danube," and attacks at head-quarters may, in their own sphere of operation, be not less'effeotive than they would be on the Da- nube. Not a single opportunity of planting such attacks is missed, be the occasion fair or be it fouL
The Income-tax is open to criticism ; and the friends as well as the adversaries have not spared their reprobation of the principle or of the details of that measure. It passed this week in the House of Lords almost without discussion; but it afforded an op- portunity for attacking the Ministry through their finance depart- ment. Great personal respect is professed for Mr. Gladstone, on both sides of both Houses; great friendship for Ministers is avowed by certain " Liberal " Peers who sit near them ; but those Peers are as assiduous in seizing opportunities to injure their " friends " in office as the leaders of the Opposition are. War has succeeded to peace : it followed that the finance policy of profound peace, brought to its climax in 1853, could not be continued in 1854; but we find Lord Monteagle using his experience as an old Chancellor of the Exchequer to dresd up contrasts between the two periods, in order to lay the distinction at the door of Mr. Gladstone ; treating a great change in the condition of Europe as a personal matter ! Lord Monteagle and his allies complain that Mr. Gladstone should have repealed taxes, and attempted a reduction of the funded debt, when impending war—of which he must have been aware from the se- cret correspondence—rendered such measures inexpedient. But Mr. Gladstone did not believe that war. was impending. He ac- cepted as veracious the solemn assurances of the Emperor Nicho- las ; and nobOdy disbelieved the outbreak of hostilities more than Lord Grey; who supports Lord Monteagle. Mr. Gladstone is blamed for reducing the Soap-duty, which, no doubt, he would not have dene in time of war : but although he would not have•thought of repealing the Soap-duty in time of active war, we are glad that it was done while peace permitted, and nobody now thinks of restoring se& a tax. When Lord Clanrioarde and the other Whigs out of office advance truisms with such disregard of altered dates and circumstances as to suggest falsehood, they fail to fasten any misconduct upon the Minister ; and, while paying the tribute which. vice pays to virtue, they lower the character of their testimony to a level which makes it of equally little public value whether they bestow blame or praise. Nevertheless, they are not quite harmless. Mr. Gladstone is attempting an operatioecaloulated to place our finances on broader and sounder foundations, by establishing a direct communication between .the Government and the-whole public. Such would be the effect of his Exchequer Bond ; a form of security that would enable- the- public to lend the money direct to the Government, without-the intervention of- a loan-contractor or the " bother " of transferS. . But when Mr. Gladstone, sat st the receipt of tenders on Tuestlay, they came in slowly : the whole of the first two mil- lions was net offered, and very little of the other two sets. The rates tendered—ranging from 981. to 1001. 12s. 6d.—showed that in fixing' his own price at 981. 15s. Mr. Gladstone had more than hit the mean ivice which the public would spon- taneously offer : but the loan still hangs fire. The plan is novel, and novelty always makes the English public hesitate. The strong Parliamentary support which the motives, character, and tendency of the measure ought to command, is withheld by the hostility of open faction and the envy of disappointed friends ; and, wanting that support which might be the substitute for popular ex- perience in this new bid perfectly intelligible course, the Minister is forced to struggle for success by repeated notices and explana- tions. The public resources are ample ; our finance never was in a more honest or sound condition: but faction and treachery are striving to weaken the pecuniary strength of Government, in or- der to undermine the present occupants of the Treasury bench, and to leave that envied seat vacant.
Professedly supported by the great Liberal majority in Parlia- ment, and by a growing party within the Universities, Minis- ters are attempting a reasonable reform in those institutions beginning with Oxford. As we have already shown, the bill which was introduced under the joint auspices of Lord John Rus- sell and Mr. Gladstone was necessarily a compromise between con- flicting opinions and interests in the University ; but it contained so much of present good, with the germs of still more good here- after, that it was very generally acceptable. But some concessions in the compromise were not happy ; and, not without its vulnerable weaknesses, the bill plunged into the thickets of the Committee, where more than one ambush awaited it. At last it came to a dangerous pass. Ministers had proposed to form a constituency for the governing Council from several classes of the resident members, including that which at present usurps the entire substantive authority, but making the election of each section of the Council by " general ticket" of the whole consti- tuency. Mr. Walpole, however, dividing this constituency into its separate sections, of Heads, Professors, and, other members, proposed to make the representation not general, but sectional, each separate section choosing its own separate quota of Councillors. On this amendment he defeated the Government; and the altera- tion throws the bill into some confusion ; from which it will tax the " amenders " as well as Ministers to extricate the measure with a good grace. Thus, Oxford University Reform, desired on every side, has been converted by the coalition of Ultra-Reformers and Anti-Reformers into a Ministerial difficulty. It is much the same with the intended Railway Reform. There are certain abuses in the Railway system, as it is 'at present con- structed and managed, which everybody desires to see amended; which a Parliamentary Committee had pointed out, indicating the nature of the remedies ; and which, accordingly, Ministers had attempted to improve in a very moderate and limited measure. Details in that plan were open to criticism : but that was not the object of the adversaries. The Railway interest, which has neglect- ed the improvement demanded by the public, now organized resist- ance, put a pressure upon Parliament, and threatened such a storm as has obliged Mr. Cardwell to lighten his cargo by throwing over a large portion of his bill. Our country is governed by the Com- mons, and not by the Queen ; and the Commons are governed by the great monied interests, who can always put a stop upon the ac- tion of Government.
For purposes of destruction, when it pleases, the Government is as strong as any other section. On Wednesday, without difficulty, it swept away three smaller measures advanced by private Members. But although the present Ministry represents on all great pies- lions the large balance of public opinion, Members who possibly represent the monied interest more than the nation, and who feel bound to make attendance, each in support of his sectional objects, flag at their duty when national subjects are under discussion, and leave the Administration at the mercy of factions cliques and the " interests."
