the crown had been exhausted. He concluded with moving as an amendment to the preamble of the bill, that instead of the words, "And whereas it is highly expedient, that the ordinary revenues of his Majesty's civil list should be made adequate to the ordinary charges thereon; and that several of the charges which have heretofore been borne upon the civil list revenues, should in future be made a charge upon, and be defrayed out of the consolidated fund of Great Britain, or otherwise provided for," there should be inserted, the words," And whereas it is highly expedient, that the expenditure of the civil list should not exceed the revenues of the same, and that the several remaining charges which have heretofore been borne upon the civil list expenditure, or have been made good by applications of the droits of the crown, should in future be made a charge on the consolidated fund of Great Britain; or that the amount of such expenditure not provided for by parliament, if a sum exceeding the revenue arising from the droits of the crown, or other resources, should every year be submitted to parliament." The debate consequent upon this motion, in which several speakers on both sides took part, was terminated by a division, in which there appeared, For the amendment 116, Against it 230; Majority 114. The civil list bill received its second reading in the House of Lords on June 6th, after a short discussion, the Marquis of Lansdown remarking, that after the refusal of the other House to institute an inquiry on the subject, he had no hope of persuading their lordships to such a mea sure. On the motion for the third reading, June 13, Earl Grosvenor made an attempt to obtain an inquiry by moving a postponement of the reading, which was negatived, and the bill was read and passed. was The closest contest between the ministry and opposition, on a subject connected with finance, took place at a debate in the House of Commons, on May 7th. Lord Althorp rose, pursuant to notice, to submit to the House a motion on the subject of the increase or diminution in the number or amount of the salaries and emoluments of different public offices. He said, that being convinced that retrenchment practicable, and finding that nothing had been done, he had thought proper to bring the question before the House, that he might not be supposed to have made his former remarks on this topic unadvisedly; and the object of his intended motion was, for a committee to examine and consider the increase or diminution of salaries of office since the year 1798, and to report what measures might be adopted for further reductions, without detriment to the public service. His reasons for urging this motion were, that frequent inquiries into the public expenditure had been productive of great advantage by repressing abuses; of which he gave some instances. In 1806 a committee had been appointed, which had almost exhausted thet subjec subject of sinecures and reversions, but had not inquired into the state of many offices, which had therefore been unexamined for nearly twenty years. Notwithstanding the pledge which had been given on the subject of economy, no one step had been taken to put it into practice. The only argument which he anticipated against his motion was, that a commission of inquiry had been appointed by the treasury, consisting of his noble friend, Lord Binning, and two right hon. gentlemen; but for various reasons, which he stated, he thought it not entitled to the confidence of the House. He concluded with moving, "That a select committee be appointed, to examine and consider what increase or diminution has taken place, since the year 1798, in the number or the amount of the salaries and emoluments of different public offices; and from time to time, with all convenient dispatch, to report what further measures can be adopted for diminishing the amount of such salaries and emoluments, without detriment to the public service." The Chancellor of the Exchequer entered into a train of argument, to prove that the business was already placed in better hands; and stated facts to controvert the charge against the ministers, of having done nothing to redeem their pledge respecting economy. Lord Milton, in reply to the last speaker, who had referred to a reduction of 400,000l. in the naval department, said, it should be recollected, that all this reduction applied to underlings in office; for the salary of no one in the higher departments had been touched-no, not one branch of any high family, nor any member of that House, had had his emoluments in the slightest degree reduced. In the rest of the debate, which was much too copious to admit of an abstract, the leading topics were those above touched upon, namely, the disposition shewn, and the progress made, towards economical measures by the ministry, and the grounds for expecting such future results, under that management, as the public might have reason to be satisfied with. Several of the speeches were marked with personality and recrimination; and the keen sarcasms of Mr. Tierney against Lord Castlereagh, terminated with a warning, that if he should persist in following the system which he declared a resolution to pursue, he would raise a storm of resentment which he would find it impossible to allay. After Lord Althorp had ended his reply by saying, that the question appeared to him to die in a very narrow compass-whether the inquiry should be conducted by the treasury, or by a committee of the whole House, a division took place, which gave the numbers, For the motion 126; Against it 169; Majority 43. An important financial measure which took place in this session of parliament, was the consolidation of the English and Irish exchequers. On May 20th, Mr. Vezey Fitzgerald, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, having moved, that the House should resolve itself into a committee of the whole whole House, on the seventh article of the Act of Union, and that the accounts which had been presented relative to the revenues of Ireland, together with the report of the committee of finance, should be referred to it, entered into an explanation of the matter in question. Hesaid, that when the contribution of Great Britain and Ireland towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom, was fixed in the proportion of fifteen parts for the former, and two for the latter, the arrangement was made for twenty years from the time of the union, at the end of which, the joint charges were to be defrayed in such a proportion as the united parliament should deem reasonable, upon a comparison of the average value of the exports and imports of the respective countries, or of the principal articles of consumption in both. Another scale of estimate was contemplated in the act, namely a general tax, if such should have been imposed, on the same descriptions of income in both countries. At the end of such period, and proceeding on these data, parliament was empowered to revise the scale of contribution, unless it should in the intermediate time have declared, what under certain contingencies only it could declare, that, with certain exemptions, the expenditure of the empire should be defrayed indiscriminate ly by equal taxes imposed on the like articles in both parts of the united kingdom. Whether that contingency has arisen, and whether the necessity for exercising the power conferred has arisen also, he was now to show. The right hon. gentleman then began a luminous detail of particulars relative to the revenues of Ireland, and its comparison of those of Great Britain, which cannot be abridged; and he concluded, amidst those cheers from both sides of the House, which he had on other occasions experienced, with moving the three following resolutions: 1. That it is the opinion of this committee, that the values of the respective debts of Great Britnin and Ireland, estimated according to the provisions of the acts of union, have been, at a period subsequent to those acts, in the same proportion to each other (within one-hundredth part of the said value) with the respective contributions of each country respectively, towards the annual expenditure of the united kingdom; and that the respective circumstances of the two countries will henceforth admit of their contributing indiscriminately, by equal taxes imposed upon the same articles upon each, to the future expenditure of the united kingdom; subject only to such particular exemptions or abatements in Ireland and in Scotland, as circumstances may appear from time to time to demand; and that it was no longer necessary to regulate the contribution of the two countries, according to any specific proportion, or according to the rules prescribed by the acts of union, with respect to such proportions. "2. That it is the opinion of this committee, that it is expedient; that all expenses henceforth to be incurred, together with the interest and charges of all debts hitherto contracted, shall be so defrayed, defrayed indiscriminately by equal taxes, to be imposed on the same articles in each country; and that from time to time, as circumstances may require, such taxes should be imposed and applied accordingly, subject only to such exemptions and abatements in Ireland and Scotland, as circum. stances may appear to demand. "3. That it is the opinion of this committee, that such legislative measures should be adopted, as may be necessary to carry into further effect the purposes of the said acts of union, by consoli. dating the public revenues of Great Britain and Ireland into one fund, and applying the same to the general services of the united kingdom." Mr. Bankes said, that he could not be very friendly to a proposition, the ultimate effect of which must be to throw almost the whole burden of the late war on Great Britain; and alluded to the various predictions he had made of the inevitable defalcations which would arise in the Irish revenue. The remedy proposed was most extraordinary, and perhaps the only one that could be resorted to; but let it be understood, that for some years to come, Ireland must depend solely on loans for the whole expenses of the peace establish ment. Several other members entered into the discussion; and upon the whole, a very unfavourable view was given of the financial state of • Ireland, in which taxation was said to have been carried to its ne plus ultra. In conclusion, the resolutions were agreed to. A bill for the consolidation of the public revenue having been brought into the House of Commons on June 10th, the House went into a committee upon it. Sir H. Parnell objected to the provision which created two new lords of the treasury, whose places were mere sinecures. Another officer was to be appointed by the name of the vice-treasurer, who was to be allowed to sit in parliament, though the object of his appointment was, that there should always be a treasury officer residing in Ireland, authorized to issue money. The Chancellor of the Exchequer defended these appointments, and spoke of the salary to be allotted to the vice-treasurer, which he thought could not be less than 3,5001. a year. After some observations on this and other appointments of the bill, it passed through the committee. The committee having been resumed on the 14th, Sir John Newport asked, if the ministers persisted in the intention of creating, in addition to the place of Irish vice-treasurer, that of a deputy vice-treasurer. Being answered in the affirmative, he said, this was creating a sinecure of 3,5001. a year; and declared it one of the most shameless jobs that ever came before parliament. The Chancellor of the Exchequer reminded the hon. baronet, that in consequence of the present measure, out of six parliament offices, three only were retained, Mr. Ponsonby spoke with great severity against the appointments, and moved, that the sum of 2,0001. be substituted instead of 3,5001. as the salary of the vice-treasurer. After After a warm debate on the subject, the House divided, when the amendment was negatived by 108 against 66. Mr. Ponsonby next moved, that the clause rendering the vicetreasurer eligible to parliament should be left out. This amendment was also rejected by 107 votes against 57. The report of the bill being brought up on the 17th, on the question, that the blank for the vice-treasurer's salary be filled up with the words 3,5001. Mr. Ponsonby said, that he should not depart from what he had before moved; and repeated his motion, that 2,000l. be inserted. The division gave a remarkable proof of the effect of persisting to bring before the public eye, a measure against which there are objections which it is difficult to obviate; for Mr. Ponsonby's amendment was carried by 100 to 98. The majority, though so inconsiderable, was received with loud and long cheering. On the motion, June 20th, that the bill be read a third time, Mr. Bankes objected to the creation of a new sinecure office, by which the public were to pay the charge of both principal and deputy; and he moved the insertion of the words, "other than the deputy aforesaid," the effect of which would be to throw the payment of the deputy upon the principal. It was remarked on the other side, that this affected the question of the vice-treasurer's sitting in parliament, since now that his salary was reduced to 2,000l., it was not to be supposed, that any one would pay a deputy out of it, and do his duty in parliament. The House dividing, the amendment was rejected by 149 against 111. The bill was then read and passed. The passage of this bill through the House of Lords afforded nothing that it is material to record. The subject of the silver currency of this kingdom was brought before parliament on May 3d, by a petition presented to the House of Commons, by Mr. Grenfell, from certain traders in the parishes of Shoreditch, Spital-fields, and the vicinity, praying for a new coinage. Its substance was to state the great inconvenience and embarrassment which they had long been suffering from the imperfect state of the silver currency, especially the shillings and sixpences, of which very few appeared to have been the legal coin of the realm, but bore the mark of counterfeits; to which had lately been added a vast influx of French coin, the value of which was more than 20 per cent. below that of the coins for which they passed, yet of more intrinsic value than that of the counterfeits above-mentioned; the consequence of which substitution must eventually be highly injurious to mechanics and tradesmen residing in manufacturing districts. The hon. gentleman in offering this petition, made some observations on the present silver currency; in reply to which, Mr. Wellesley Pole acknowledged their force, and that the petitioners had just cause of complaint, and said, that the subject was now under consideration by his Majesty's ministers. On May 28th, a message from the |
