THE PARLIAMENTARY SITUATION.
TT is a curious evidence of the existing Parliamentary I chaos that no one knows whether the budget is resisted or not. Monday and Thursday were devoted to Mr. Glad- stone's statement ; but the discussion never rose to the dignity of a debate. Member after member rose to grumble out criticisms, most of them sharp enough, and not a few vicious in their acrimony ; but nobody proposed any alter- native course, or moved any amendment, or tested the sense of the House in any definite way. Mr. T. Baring did not believe in the surplus, which included one large sum not yet certain, and because he did not believe it, wished to employ the surplus in reducing the duty on tea ; but he did not bring forward even that funny syllogism in any definite form. Mr. Bentinck made a good party speech, denouncing the repeal of the paper duty, which would be- refit only a small class, while it was an insult to the House of Lords ; but he did not attempt to avert the mischief he fore- saw. Sir Stafford Northcote, as became the next Tory Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, adhered to the financial aspect of the budget, denied the surplus, and while agreeing to the pro- visional character of the calculation, denounced the abolition of the paper duty ; but even he sat down without suggesting a distinct resistance. Mr. Fitzgerald argued in favour of the reduction on tea ; Mr. Whiteside declared the budget dis- honest ; and Mr. Haliburton spoke angrily of the Chancel- lor's discourtesy to Canada; but it was all talk merely, leading to nothing except a conviction that the budget is disliked in the House, but nevertheless will pass. The great guns have not fired, and it is probable that they will follow the example set by their subordinates, and criticize without an attempt at action.
The truth seems to be that the Opposition is afraid of its own strength. The Liberal Cabinet, whatever they may think of the remission of the paper duty, must support it heartily, for Mr. Gladstone, outside the Cabinet, might be the most dangerous of foes. If beaten, they must, therefore, either dissolve or go out, and the Conservatives are anxious to avoid either alternative. To dissolve, would be to break up the House in which they have a majority, and face a new one elected in the great boroughs on the cry for a cheap press, and, in the smaller towns, on their weakest point, foreign politics. To take power is to defy alike the Liberals and the Manchester school, while their party traditions still force on them a foreign policy the country will not endure. It is true they are rid of Lord Malmesbury, and with Sir Stafford Northcote as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. Disraeli in the Foreign-office, will be relieved of a repu- tation at once for fanciful finance, and an appreciative sup- port of tyranny, but their way is not yet clear. Lord Derby cannot yet be induced to let " all the dogs" collect in less than three kennels, or to give up speculations about the Papacy which irritate everybody except cosmopolitan states- men and the Irish Brigade. The Conservatives must still play a waiting game, and even the temptation of appealing to the voters with an appreciable reduction of the income tax is not sufficient to induce them to risk power, of which any turn of affairs on the Continent might deprive them. The Opposi- tion sinks, therefore, into a knot of critics, and the discussion of the budget resembles more the talk of a Tory club on a rainy day, when members are at once long-winded and sulky, than a political debate.
The defence is not yet much more hearty. Mr. Milker Gibson gave in a dry way the figures Mr. Gladstone gave in an entertaining one, and was, perhaps, the more effective for his dryness; but his was the only serious speech in. de- fence. The budget is, in fact, sufficiently protected by the parliamentary situation, by the fears of the Opposition, by the enthusiasm of the cheap press, and by the general indifference of a public happy to be released at all events from further pressure.
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