The debate on Mr. Rylands' resolutions was concluded on Monday,
the Government defeating the first one, which regrets the amount of public expenditure, by 303 to 230,—a smaller majority, it is said, than was expected. The debate generally dragged, but two first-class speeches were delivered, one by Mr. Goschen, and one by Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Goschen, in particular, had so compressed his speech that it bristled with epigrams. His topics were the want of courage shown by the Government, and their illusory finance. While America had paid off £150,000,000 in a period of gloom and difficulty, and France had paid R200,000,000, the Government of England had avoided the unpopularity of taxation, on the pretext of the hard times. The motto of Sir Stafford Northcote was, " If you have an accidental deficit, do not provide for it." The Tory Government bad inaugurated an era of " bold foreign policy," and " an era of cowardly finance." They sing " Rule, Britannia," at Conservative dinners, but in the House of Commons profess themselves champions of peace, retrenchment, and reform. The " payment of taxes was the sobering force in our national policy. It sobered those who had to impose the taxes and those who had to bear them," but the policy of the Government only "renewed bills; it pro- longed liability." He believed the people, whose food, amid all the distress, was marvellously cheap, would, if approached with frankness, have approved a courageous policy.
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