QUALIFICATIONS OF A CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.
WE agree with the Courier, that 'superhuman abilities" are not necessary to make an efficient Chancellor of the Exchequer. But we think, nevertheless, that very different qualifications from those which Exchequer Chancellors have generally possessed, ought to be required in the person who is chosen to succeed Lord ALTHORP. What are the duties of the Chancellor of the Exchequer? He has not merely to add up the sum-total of receipts and expen- diture, to take off taxes or raise loans, but to control nearly the whole foreign and domestic trade of the country. His measures —even his raw and crude projects—make or mar the fortunes of thousands, augment or diminish the comforts of millions. There is scarcely an article of commerce or consumption which is not liable to be affected in value by his propositions. He is beset on all sides with interested advisers, and speculators; some with pro- jects for raising, others with schemes for lowering duties. Men who have embarked their whole capital in certain branches of trade or manufactures, are often astounded with the intelligence, that alterations are about to be made which are utterly ruinous and absurd. Then, what a hurry-seurry there is of deputations from all parts of the country up to London, with arguments, remon- strances, and petitions ! The poor bewildered Chancellor, who has probably acted with the best intentions, is irritated and con- founded by the opposing representations of the parties. Conscious of thorough ignorance of the matter on which lie is about to legis- late, lie generally abandons his design, and the parties go home with a reprieve for another session. This is the best thing that can happen. But this is sad work The Minister ought to be acquainted with the actual state of the trade which his measures may so seriously affect. He ought to be familiar with business details, so as easily to discern the probable working of proposi- tions submitted to him. He ought, in fact, to be an accomplished merchant, and to have made himself acquainted with the processes of manufacturing the principal articles of the British domestic and export trade. But persons engaged in manufactures, which fall under the supervision of the Excise, complain that the most perverse ignorance has marked the great majority of the acts passed for regulating the mode in which their business is to be conducted. The consequence has been, in many instances, utter ruin to the trade so meddled with ; in all, endless vexation, serious loss to the revenue, smuggling, and perjury.
And how should it be otherwise ? • What did Pm, PERCEVAL, VANSITTART, GODERICH, GOULBURN, ALTHORP, know about the manufacture of soap, glass, or tobacco? Where could they have become familiar with sugar-refining, or the process of rec- tifying spirits ? They were either barristers or gentlemen, who probably would have thought, or think it, a degradation to soil their fingers with any thing so vile as trade.
It will be said that their station enabled them to get informa- tion on these points at second-haed. But we recollect perfectly -well, that Sir ROBERT PEEL urged, in extenuation of some of Mr. GOULBURN'S blunders respecting the Sugar-duties, that the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer was in a great measure precluded from obtaining information, by the necessity of keeping his intended measures secret from the trade about to be affected by them, lest he should encourage ruinous speculations. And, no doubt, great caution is requisite; and a person unfamiliar with commercial affairs is not qualified to put proper questions : he is battled and confounded by the superior knowledge and address of the men he has to deal with. Sir ROBERT PEEL'S apology for his unlucky colleague, is an admission of the necessity of looking to a class of persons for a Chancellor of the Exchequer, different from that which he has ge- nerally been chosen from. A paragraph is going the round of the papers at present, in which it is truly said, that the Whigs have almost always selected noblemen for their Exchequer Chancellors. Fox made Lord JOHN CAVENDISH and Lord HENRY PETTY IDS Chancellors, and we of these latter days have had Lord Areuose We shall see who the next may be. " A turn for figures" IQ be deemed a sufficient qualification (as far as the performance of the duty may be considered at all), provided the connexions of the candidate are aristocratic, and his previous habits such as shall have prevented the acquisition of any personal knowledge of trade Mr. Poueerr TnostsoN is perhaps the best-informed among the Ministers on commercial subjects, but he has no chance; and Sit HENRY PARNELL has an unlucky propensity to carry out his principles into practice. There could be no objection to Sit HENRY on the score of birth or breedino • and he stands almost alone among his class in practical knowledge of the subjects with which a Chancellor of the Exchequer ought to be familiar. But we are not far enough advanced for Sir HENRY PARNELL his time is not yet come. Perhaps Mr. SPRING RICE is the best man for the office, who has any chance of being appointed to it. But he is going on well in the Colonial department ; and really, to make another change there—to give our Colonial empire a fourth go- vernor in the space of four years—is too gross. There is no office which from the nature of its duties requires so regular and con- stant an occupant—no one in which more is to be learned; and yet we have seen the Colonial Secretary changed once a year since 1829. The Colonies have been ruled since that period by Sir GEORGE MURRAY, Lord GODERICH, MT. STANLEY, and Mr. RICE; and now they are threatened with Lord SPENCER. This would seem peculiarly unwise at the present moment ; and therefore we hope that Mr. RICE will stay where he is, and that some other gentleman, of good family and "a turn for figures," will he se- lected to find the Ways and Means, and follow up the u old fashion of keeping the merchants and manufacturers in hot water.
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