bank to resume cash payments; but had only said, that what the right honourable gentleman had called a virtual resumption of cash payments was, in fact, no payment at all. Mr. Baring contended, that for all practical purposes the sinking fund was completely swept away, and that at present it was a mere delusion. He thought the country was highly indebted to his right honourable friend (Mr. Tierney) for affording every man the means of making himself acquainted with the real state of the finances. It appeared to him that the receipts would meet the expenses; or at any rate that there would not be above half a million either on one side or the other. He commented on the necessity of keeping inviolate the public credit, which was not to be played tricks with, as had been the case in other countries. He was surprised to hear the right honourable gentleman so often express his unavailing regrets at the loss of the property tax, for the house had showed that they had judged rightly in getting rid of it, he hoped for ever. Alluding to the duties from the customs and excise, he thought it utterly impossible to maintain the high duties on many of the articles. He went into a detail of the facility with which smuggling is carried on between this country and Flanders, where tea, which sells in London for 8s. per lb. is procured for 2s. 6d. On the point of the peace establishment, he thought if the house had done its duty, it would have been brought down to the present sum of 17,200,000/. at once, instead of being kept at 22,000,0007. till this year. He had no hope of reducing the expenditure of Ireland but by the civilization of the people. He was convinced that the general tra ding state of the country was reviving; but it was not to be expected that it would be brought up to that extensive scale which it had attained during the war. Yet the prospect was that we should soon return to that sound and healthy state, as to leave us that proportion of commerce we had a right to expect, without monopolizing what belonged to other nations. Mr. Huskisson was glad to find that every body concurred in the propriety of resorting to the means that had been adopted. He denied that the peace establishment could have been more promptly reduced to its present state, and showed that till the troops abroad had been brought home and disbanded, it was impossible to ascertain to what extent the reduction could be made. He added, that it was not even in the present session that the full re'duction could be looked to. The right honourable gentleman proceeded to answer the various comments of the speakers on the opposite side; and laid particular stress on the assertion of sir H. Parnell, that 100,000,0007. might have been saved during the war, by a system of economy instead of extravagance. Every body must see that it was impossible to apply those checks which were introduced on the peace establishment to a war more important and extensive than any in which the country had ever been engaged; and however the expense might be regretted, it was impossible to have been avoided. The sum for the fortifications comprised all that had been expended abroad, as well as at home, in these means of defence. The corn laws, by allowing the free export and import, had been the means of enabling us to pass through all our distresses; and those salutary regu lations therefore was not disposed to think the gloomy apprehensions which many entertained on the subject of our future prospects would prove to be well founded. He traced the present stagnation from its remote and pre-disposing causes; from that combination of political and financial circumstances, which, during the war, supplied a more than ordinary excitement to the agriculture and commerce of the country, and encouraged that spirit of unbounded speculation which had prevailed, and which had brought our currency into that state which had lately been the subject of complaint. He maintained that the existing distress arose out of these causes, and lations which would relieve the country in time of abundance, would also encourage importation in periods of scarcity. He then entered upon an elaborate comparison between the amount of our present peace establishment and that after the American war, contrasting the supplies of that time with the permanent revenue, and showing that the difference between the supplies actually voted and the revenue was 4,884,000. At that time Mr. Pitt pursued the same course as was now adopted, by issuing 5,558,000l. in exchequer bills; therefore, we were now only following a precedent that had been attended with the best effects. He was sorry the right honourable gentleman had been pre-out of the sudden transition from a vented from going into a statement of his views with respect to the situation of the country perspectively, in order to show that no improvement was likely to take place. He, however, believed him to be in error in consequence of his having assumed, that no provision had been made in money for paying off the unfunded debt. He then showed, that by the accounts made up to the 24th of June, it appeared that there remained 1,225,000l. at the disposal of parliament; and though that money could not then be used by ministers to pay off the unfunded debt, the exchequer bills which had been issued must eventually be diminished in amount, by the sum which he had stated to have been left in the exchequer. He defended the calculations of the finance committee, on the subject of the expected produce of the revenue in the present and in the next year; and he confessed himself sanguine enough to hope, that all the causes which had led to the diminution of the income of the country, would not remain in operation for another year. He state of war to a state of peace: and similar embarrassment and pressure had always been experienced by this country at the close of a protracted contest, whether the course of it had been fortunate or unfortunate; whether it had been marked by disaster like the American war, or closed triumphantly like the last. He traced the stagnation through its various stages-showed the effects produced on the country banks by the sudden return of peace; and proved the low prices of commodi. ties to result in a great degree from the difficulty of borrowing money at legal interest; and from the alarm which had prevailed, and which had made every creditor anxious to call in his capital, and thus occasioned forced sales, that served but to increase the evil. This state of things, followed by the calamity of a bad harvest, had produced that pressure which had been so severely felt. The distress had been the greater, in consequence of 500,000 persons disbanded from the army and navy being driven to seek their bread as labourers at a time when N 2 the the market was already overstocked. These persons added to the labourer, and taken from the consumers, had contributed to the stagnation, and caused such distress to be experienced, that ministers could not by any possibility supply an immediate remedy. The falling off of 10 per cent. on a revenue like that of this country was no very extraordinary circumstance. The cause removed, the revenue would revive and flourish as formerly. The revenue, in other times, had been affected in nearly the same degree, when a want of provisions was the only subject of complaint, and when there was no want of employment. Though the supplies formerly called for by the community had not been demanded as usual, consumption had not ceased; and if the harvest should prove abundant in the present year, it would be increased, confidence and credit would revive, and an improvement in the revenue must follow as a matter of course. After what had been experienced, he expected the next year would be one of comparative ease. The objects which that house would have in view, namely, the cherishing and prolonging the peace-the restoration of our currency, and the adoption of all measures of ceconomy consistent with the security of the state, would not fail to ameliorate the situation of the people, and finally to compensate them for all the sacrifices they had made in the late arduous struggle. To prevent theimportation of contraband goods would be most desirable. This could not be so successfully done in time of peace as it had been while the country was engaged in war, but what could be effected ought to be accomplished. At present he did not believe that in this respect the revenue had suffered in any material degree. He maintained there was nothing in the returns of the last quarter, or that preceding it, to justify any gloomy fears for the revenue. He had expected, under all the circumstances of the case, that the diminution would have been greater, and he was sanguine enough to predict that we should regain all our former prosperity. The question was then put on the several resolutions, when the previous question was carried on those of Mr. Tierney; after which those of Mr. Grant were severally put and carried. July 11. Mr. Brougham said, if the present situation of the country presented that aspect which we had been led to expect-if no extraordinary occurrence had marked the commencement of the session-and if, at the close of it, the house were to retire, leaving the liberties of our constitution on their ancient footing, and the powers of the crown only as limited as that constitution should keep them, he should not have found it necessary to trespass once more on the indulgence of the house in their present exhausted state. But, when he looked at the expectations the country had formed, and the disappointment of these hopes in the course of the parliamentary proceedings-and, above all, the footing on which now stood the rights and liberties of each individual member of the community; he could not allow the house to be prorogued without performing the not very agreeable duty of rendering an account of what it had done, and what it had not done, and of endeavouring to carry to the foot of the throne such an address as, during the prorogation, might make a proper impression. It must be in the recollection of every man, that that the distress of this country, for some months previous to the opening of the session, was such that it was beyond all description. He should not attempt to describe it. It was, however, too feelingly described in the language of many of the petitions that had come before the house; and the picture of it given by the noble member for Hertfordshire was indeed such as to render any description of it unnecessary. In the midst of these grievous sufferings, it was natural that there should be great discontent amongst the people at the measures of government, and an anxious desire for a change; and that here and there there should have been partial excesses of a trifling extent. A variety of persons, incon. siderable in point of weight and understanding, had certainly attempt ed to avail themselves of this distress for the worst of purposes. But amongst the reasonable people of this country-those who admired the stability of our excellent institutions, there was a universal expectation of relief, particularly where the distress was most deeply rooted, from the parliament alone. It was here only that they found they could or ought to look for relief. How had parliament answered these expectations? They had begun, nət with measures for relieving the people, but for destroying them. Be. fore asking what they could do for them, they had proceeded to take from them what they possessed; and when they did inquire into their distresses, and measures were proposed on his side of the house to relieve them when it was shown that these measures consisted of a revision of our commercial policy, the answer made to such a proposition was, by adoption, a motion "that the other orders of the day be now read." If, when the starving people turned their eyes towards the house of commons, and refused to be misled by demagogues, who told them that the members were not the representatives of the people-if any one had got up and said at a public meeting, "Why go there? they will do nothing for you!" he was sure such a person would not have been safe. Much had been said of the panaceas and nostrums of parliamentary reform, but they had been derided even by the best and warmest friends of reform; and the natural consequence of this great distress was to catch at straws. But as the house had done nothing for these people, it might not be amiss to inquire whe ther the distresses of the country had been greatly diminished by the course of nature. Undoubtedly there was a prospect of an abundant harvest, and he would fain hope that the trade of the country had reached its lowest level. The ef fects of the late harvest had, he hoped, spent themselves: there was said to be a considerable increase in the value of land, though he thought this might be exaggerated: there was also a rise in the funds, and there was every reason to believe that we should not see the revenue so bad as it was five or six months ago. But that very harvest had had the effect of reviving our revenue by the opening of the ports for the importation of corn, which paid no duty, The falling off in our commerce was the want of goods to import, and the want of riches, so that it could not fail to be observed that the opening of our ports for corn had been the practical cause of the increase of our trade. But the fear was, that this change might be only temporary, as the cause would soon cease. As to the N 3 rise rise in the funds, there were two causes, permanent and temporary. The diminution of taxes and the annual savings in consequence, of persons in trade, might have in some degree improved them in the course of the last year; but the want of issue or vent for our trade, and the want of any other mode of lay ing out our money, rendered this cause only temporary, and the funds must, as soon as trade revives, sink to a lower level. Therefore, he could not look at their present state as an unequivocal proof of our prosperity. But when wages were down as low as 5s. or 6s. per week for an able bodied workman in the weaving line, it could not seem that there was any thing like a considerable improvement in our general circumstances. Yet he hoped and trusted we had seen the worst. But this was no reason for the house to remain satisfied, and not proceeding to improve the condition of the people, because that condition was a little worse five or six months ago. He denied the assertion that parliament could do nothing. As long as any remedy remained within their reach, it was a breach of duty to sit idle, with their arms across, and wait the event. Now, what had been proposed, and what acted upon? No man charged ministers with the consequences which must have been expected to happen by the natural transition from war to peace, however much blame might be thrown on them for the conduct of the war, But it had been said, our system wants revision, which every great change rendered necessary. Revise your commercial policy; revise your financial system, for the purpose of reducing the taxes. These were the propositions; and how were they answered? The right honour able gentleman at the head of the board of trade had admitted the justice of every principle which he (Mr. B.) had ventured to lay down, on the subject of our commercial policy; and, in that memorable candour of his disposition, still more memorable from the result that followed it, he had said, that though he admitted all the principles that had been advanced, government must not act on one of them, because they were surrounded by conflicting private interests. Why were these conflicting interests submitted to?-there was the interest of the Baltic trade; then came Canada and the shipping interest; and what, it was asked, could be done? Next came the iron and the copper merchant, and they besieged the board of trade, and then it was asked what could be done with all these gentlemen? If we oppose the linen trade of the North of Ireland, all these gentlemen will come upon us in a body. Such was the touching simplicity with which the gentlemen opposite confessed their utter inability to do what they wished, So, said they, in effect, "we will move the other orders of the day, because we admit that what you have proposed would greatly benefit the country; but the little paltry considerations of wood, iron, copper, and linen, have tied up our hands." But if the house had done its duty, it would have answered, "Go on ; and if you are not dismissed from your places for imbecility, we will back you, by the result of a committee of inquiry, and then you can no longer complain." The house, however, had thought proper to adopt the other course, and thus, in the third year after a definitive treaty of peace, we remained without any rational attempt having been made to restore the commercial and trading |