The Session closes to-day, and a very barren Session it
has been. The Budget has been its greatest achievement, and doubtless, if the principle of graduated Death-duties which Sir William Harcourt has introduced be cautiously and moderately applied, the revenue may gain considerably without any perceptible dis- couragement to the accumulation of wealth. But a generation
or two must pass before it can be shown whether our financiers will, or will not, encroach dangerously on the national thrift. The other measures of the Session, except perhaps the Scotch Local Government Bill, present a very poor array of empty boxes. Nor has any great reputation emerged from the debates of the Session. Lord Rosebery has certainly not come up to the high hopes formed of his statesmanship ; and if Mr. _Maud and Mr. Fowler have grown in public estima- tion, Mr. Asquith has barely maintained his high level, while many of the Ministers have dwindled. The truth is, that the Government have attempted an impossible enterprise, and impossible enterprises generally end, as this has ended, in deteriorating the public estimate of those who have illus- trated its. impossibility. Adroitness in more or less con- cealing failure, has been about the highest distinction which the Session has yielded to the Administration.
