A hundred years ago
From the 'Spectator,' 10 April 1869—Mr. Lowe in- troduced his very original and clever,—perhaps somewhat too clever,—Budget on Thursday night, in a speech which it was much pleasanter to read than to hear. His conventional, up-and-down style, his want of evenness and exhaustiveness of mind and manner, tell unfavourably even on the speech as printed, and rendered the exposition to the hearers a matter of some pain. Mr. Lowe's unfortunately short sight made it all but impossible for him to decipher his figures, and made the House at times quite uncomfortable from pure sympathy with his mechanical difficulties. In spite of all these take-offs and the obliviousness as to detail which left con- siderable lacunae even in the final statement as supplemented by the answers to questions, Mr. Lowe's general shrewdness, strong economical doc- trine, unanswerable criticisms on the slipshod sys- tem of collecting the revenue, and rapid, arrowy jokes, engaged a respectful attention for a some- what inadequate exposition of his plans, and, on the whole, the effect of his Budget was a clear success. His proposed remissions of taxation were all ex- ceedingly popular, The nets he spread for "wind- falls," were not such as to exercise greatly the fears of honourable members; and when, near the end of his speech, he came to lowering the duty on the horse "as the very life and soul of locomotion, and which will continue to be so till it is supplanted by velocipedes," it was obvious that Mr. Lowe had touched the hearts of his judges.
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