Lord Robert Cecil in a most able speech maintained that
the new proposals in the Budget had caused a shock to the credit of the country. Unless the Liberal leaders disavowed the new- fangled doctrine that people ought to be taxed, not according to their means, but according to the way in which those means were obtained, the Opposition would be justified in resisting the Bill to the last. After Mr. Henderson had assured the Government of the cordial support of the Labour Party, Mr. Balfour spoke last on the Opposition side. He deprecated the attitude of those who had discussed a hypothetical Tariff Reform Budget instead of that before the House. This was not the occasion for Cebating the subject. The Opposition did not concentrate their attack on the taxes on the rich ; they protested against the arbitrary selection of one form of property. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's method had the fundamental vice that he always chose a very rich man in his carefully selected cases, overlooking the fact that the people affected by his Land-taxes were not all rich. The Budget was Socialistic because it struck at the security of property, and by destroying confidence, enterprise, and initiative the Government were inflicting the greatest possible inju ty on a great industrial community.
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