NEWS OF THE WEEK.
A. FEW supplemental discussions on finance in the House of Commons, this week, orameeted the great subject of last week, the conversion of the Publics Debt, with the great subject of next week, the Budget. Although it was not to be expected that private Members could dictate any part of the scheme which Mr. Gladstone is to propose on Monday, it would be a mis- take to imagine that those discussions hade been waste of time. Probably thay will be an economy, since important subjects, which must have formed episodes in the Budget debate, are now to some extent dtsposed of. This was evidently the case with Mr. William Williams's pro- posal to bring the gross revenue, including the cost of collection (6,00o,000k) under the revision of the House of Commons ; and although his motion was not carried, the statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer is of a kind that pledges more than the individual or the Government for the time being. Should the present Ministry centinne, Mr. Gladstone is bound by that state- ment to bring forward a plan for submitting the gross revenue to the House of-Commons and even if he languid go out of office, no lit-mister yoga get-ever theitzfrest, stela Ap,uouncemod. In proper time; and probably at no distant date, the gross revenue will bein- cluded in the Parliamentary accounts. Qualifications thrown out by Mr. Gladstone will not endure so well as his general concession. From his allusion to the hereditary pensions, and still more from his reference to the prerogative of the Crown in collecting the revenue, it may be inferred that he supposed the House of Commons to have no financial authority unless the subject should come before it in the form of an annual vote. But any outlay, even if charged upon a Consolidated Fund, might annually await at least the tacit sanction of the representative chamber ; and if it is the prerogative of the Crown to collect the revenue, it belongs to the House of Commons to pay for the oollection, and of course to see that the monies paid, whether for the collection or for other purposes, have been pro- perly disposed of. At the present day, however, if any constitu- tional rights of the people are ever in jeopardy, its financial pri- vileges are not likely to be slighted by the House of Commons.
Mr. Milner Gibson's motion respecting the "taxes on know- ledge" may also be considered to have attained a partial but a de- cided success. His three resolutions assail the advertisement. duty, the newspaper-stamp tax, and the paper-duty ; the last eco- nomically impolitic, the stamp-tax a police mistake in the form of an impost, and the advertisement-duty a tax not upon a coin- modity but upon the movements of commerce. Mr. Gladstone's reply amounts to a declaration that he cannot spare the revenue derived from these taxes in the aggregate ; but he especially dis- claimed the police motive for the newspaper-tax, and his tone implied a disposition to continue the improvement already made in mitigating the advertisement-tax. The effect of the debate im- plies, that all the imposts are in a fair way for repeal; and the advertisement-duty especially has been notched by a division carried against the Government.
Sir De Lacy Evans's little motion about the tax on hired car- riages, &a., is more especially a matter of detail in the tariff, and it was not to be expected that he could take the subject out of the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The chief advantage of a debate on that point is, that the speakers on his side can scarcely venture to revive the subject in the Budget debate.
The other subjects that have been before Parliament are chiefly remarkable for party treatment. Even Mr. Milner Gibson's thoroughly business measure, to establish County Boards, met with party obstructions ; first, in the idle amendment of Sir John Pakington to substitute for County Boards elective assessors with the present unpaid Magistrates ; and secondly, in a debate against time to carry on the contest till Wednesday's eix o'clock. The
Clergy Reserves in Canada underwent the same party attempt at obstruction, but in vain ; the House persevered in supporting Mi- nisters on the third reading of their bill by a decisive majority. Thus also a sound principle, that Judges ought not to sit in the elected ellmber, was debased by a party use—a Tory attack upon Sir John RomillY, Master of the Rolls. The truth is so sound that it will not be injured by this method of ventilation. The House of Lords, with its comparatively tranquil atmosphere, is the cham- ber in which judges can safely assist in legislation. We do not believe that Sir John' Romilly, or any other man likely to be raised to the judicial bench, would be influenced in a specific judg- ment by an eye to his own election; but the temper of a mind habitually mingling with political movements, ifoelevated above judicial corruption, is most likely to be unfitted for judicial abstrac- tion. That principle will be confirmed some day, even though the bill which now unworthily embodies it should be arrested at a later stage.
The adverse division on the subject of Kilmainham Hospital, we suppose, was an "accident," as the railway people call it. There is no doubt that the " hospital" for retired Irish soldiers was a nest of jobbery, and was well abolished. Ireland may have had some point of honour in maintaining her 'abuse, as England still has a hospital for old soldiers ; but the objection should have been made good twenty years ago, when the place was officially condemned. The Irish soldier, little learned, and serving at a distance, may feel hurt at being told that he is deprived of his retreat; but if he do, the present military authorities are re- sponsible for correcting the unpleasant feeling, by a proper treat- merit to make him conscious that ho enjoys justice and considera- tion. To suffer the House of Commons to revive a canting old grievance, was a political mistake on the part of Ministers. They have permitted a vote which will have to be rescinded or slighted ; and in either case they have put themselves and the Commons in a false position. Surely this might have been pre- vented without any resort to the smaller arts of " whipping- in" 9 There is a medium between the resorting to practices un- suited to any Government that stands upon a high position, and leaving events to -take- care of themselves. Ministers may very properly abstain from running after votes for each particular divi- sion, but there is no necessity-4o leave. their legitimate supporters in ignorance of their actual position ; and if they were threatened with such an event as that on Tuesday, they ought to have let their supporters know the possibility of such an occurrence. Per- haps, indeed, their supporters did not think the subject worth much attention; but Members might recollect that a particular
question, unimportant in itself, may be turned to important uses. Even if the Ministry is not "shaky," it ought not to look ao. Even if Members have little interest in the posthumous fate of Kilmainhara Hospital,—not sufficient to make them attend to secure the victory of their own leaders,—they might recollect that a succession of those shocks would entail contingencies which they would repent of having hastened. The responsibility does not lie only with the Ministers, but with those whose sufferance might help the purposes of faction.
