Mr. Goschen on Thursday, at the request of Mr. Gladstone,
agreed to postpone the clauses in the Budget Bill which im- pose a fresh tax of 6d. a gallon on spirits, and assign part of the money-4350,000 a year—to the County Councils, to be expended in buying up and cancelling licences. Mr. Gladstone said, and said truly, that Parliament had not yet approved that use of national money, and therefore the tax must be separately discussed. The incident points to a struggle in Parliament which it is known will be very severe. The Government considers that it is only facilitating the proposal for restricting the number of public-houses ; but the Teetotal party see in the new grant an insidious attempt to commit the country to a policy of compensation for the withdrawal of licences. This they are determined to resist "by every con- stitutional means," and they hope to attract the Gladstonians to their side, and a good many Conservatives, and so compel the Government to give way, as it did when it struck out a similar proposal from the Local Government Bill. Argu- ment, as we have tried to now elsewhere, is all on the publicans' side ; but it is certain that the fanatics have with them a large body of opinion, and that a great number of Members are afraid of the " Temperance " vote. The teetotalers, they say, will postpone anything to their craze, while the advocates of justice will not postpone politics in order to defend brewers' and publicans' property-rights. There seems also to be unusual doubt as to the opinion of rural electors, who very often like the pot-house, but hate the pot-house keepers. The division, therefore, if taken, may be the closest of the Session, and it is possible the Government, in fear of fresh obstruction, may give way.
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