c income was the object of assault. Every indirect
tax was to be reduced or swept away, and yet no two men appeared to
agree upon the principles of the direct taxes that were to take their
place. The window duty, the paper duty, the tax on advertisements, the
malt-tax, the stamp on marine insurances, were all to vanish, but even
the most zealous reformers were powerless to fill the void. The
order-book of the House of Commons was loaded with motions about the
income-tax, and an important committee sat in 1851 to consider all the
questions connected with the possibility of its readjustment and
amendment. They could not even frame a report. The belief that it was
essentially unjust to impose the tax at one and the same rate upon
permanent and temporary incomes, prevailed in the great mass, especially
of the liberal party. Discussions arose all through this period,
descending not only to the elementary principles of taxation, but, as
Mr. Gladstone said, almost to the first principles of civilised society
itself. Party distraction, ministerial embarrassment, adjournment after
adjournment of a decision upon fundamental maxims of national
taxation--such was the bewildered scene. At last a statesman appeared,
a financier almost by accident (for, as we have seen, it was by no
special choice of his own that Mr. Gladstone went to the exchequer), but
a financier endowed with a practical imagination of the highest class,
with a combination of the spirit of vigorous analysis and the spirit of
vigorous system, with the habit of unflagging toil, and above all, with
the gift of indomitable courage. If anybody suggested the reappointment
of Hume's committee, the idea was wisely dismissed. It was evidently, as
Graham said, the duty of the executive government to lead the way and to
guide public opinion in a matter of this crucial importance. It seemed
impossible and unworthy to avoid a frank declaration about the
income-tax. He was strongly of opinion (March 15) that a larger measure
would be carried with greater certainty and ease than simple renewal;
and that a combination of income-tax, gradually diminishing to a fixed
term of extinction, with reduction of the interest of debt, and a review
of the probate and legacy duties, afforded the best ground for a
financial arrangement both successful and creditable. It was strong
ideas of this kind that encouraged Mr. Gladstone to build on a broad
foundation.

The nature of his proceedings he