ou occasions of parade, a magistrate should, crush industry, already too much depressed be in attendance, close at hand. and overburthened.

The Earl of Liverpool professed an inclination to render the estimates as palatable as possible to the public. But, he would not be guilty of that fallacy, which should lead to greater expectations than could be realized instantly. With such an instance as the late revolution before our eyes, he did think it became us to be cau tious against lowering our force too much. The increase of force above former peace establishments was owing to the new colonies, which are twenty in number; they must be defended. A force at home is necessary to supply that force abroad; for it could not be endured that regiments sent to those places should be so many transports for life: they should be exchanged : this implied forces going and coming. He was as much disposed to economy as any man; but he would not compromise the security of the country.

own spirit. He thought the weight imposed by military establishments, was heavier than all the distresses of Agriculture and Commerce.

Motion agreed to.

April 8. On the second reading of the Bill for detaining Buonaparte in custody,

Marquis Wellesley enlarged on the general topic, he congratulated the people that they had so long borne the burdens of the war; but were they to bear it for ever? The great source of their sufferings was Lord Grenville thought the military EsJavish expenditure in public establishments. timates stood precisely in opposition to the One great source of this was the army. Constitution. He therefore said, "Reduce The whole wanted revising; the staff, the the army, and save the Constitution." He composition, and structure of the army, and had again examined the items most carethe amount of force to be maintained in fully, and thought much might be saved. time of peace. It was said, that the army, who could attack them? He thought a He thought the colonies perfectly safe, for, in 1792, was reduced too low; so that, at the sudden breaking out of war, we had serjeant of marines who should hoist the no troops to meet the exigency; but, he King's flag on the King's birth day, was now saw nothing within the range of posisies. Canada would defend itself by its garrison enough for Malta and the lonian sibility, like the breaking out of the revoJution in 1798. Supposing such an event, could it in a moment destroy our army in France? Gibraltar, Malta? Could it drive us from our West India colonies, from the Cape, Mauritius, Ceylon? Dangers so incredible, should not be provided against by the continuance of burthens absolutely insupportable. Mr. Pitt had first systematically captured the French colonies; but when he wished to appear on the Continent, he found a very defective system of recruiting, a total want of staff officers competent to their duty, no commissariat. These things were remedied now. Our soldiers are a different class of men, our officers, our staff are efficient, and capable of leading British regiments any where over the face of the globe. He referred to former peace establishments, when 15 or 20,000 men were enough for all purposes. Now, we have more than that force in Ireland. There the army superintends the education of one generation, and the executions of another. He thought the force allotted to the colonies might be diminished. He feared that the generous spirit of the British nation might be crushed by military despotism. These enormous estimates would 202

Lord Holland made several objections. Why had Great Britain bound herself to keep him? Why were we bound to other powers? Suppose we should differ in opinion about him, from those powers, who was to be umpire? Was he legally detained? Was he prisoner of War? He wished for the opinion of the Judges. Can he be an alien enemy, who is not a subject of any State with which we are at war? Unless they knew the state of the law, they were acting in the dark.

Earl Bathurst thought it was perfectly clear that Buonaparte was conquered by a common effort: he therefore submitted to the power of that common effort; not to one state distinct from the others, though such might be the fact. He thought it an advantage to this country to be allowed to keep this prisoner. Should we have been equally well satisfied, had he been in the

custody of any other power? This bill placed him in the situation of a prisoner

of war.

House of Commons.

Mr. Robert Ward proposed the ord: nance estimates. He was confident he should carry the conviction of the house with him; when he stated the amount of the reductions, that every practicable retrenchment had been carried into effect. The whole charge for the ordnance department, upon an average of the last five years, had been £4,800,000, which it was proposed this year to reduce to £1,600,000 The ordinary amounted to £700,000, and the extraordinary to £702,000, which, together with the unprovided charges and the superannuated fund, made up, not a peace establishment, but an arrangement required during the first year of peace. If these estimates were compared with those of any former period of peace, the extent of the reductions must be apparent In 1788, the establishment for the first year of peace amounted to £1,449,000, including an unprovided charge of £800,000 and the interest of a loan of 1,100,000l. This branch of the public service was now unencumbered with any debt, and was subject to an arrear of unprovided charge not exceeding 84,000l. All the war salaries had been done away, from the secretaries through the whole number of the clerks. The officers, also, who received war salaries, were, with the exception of those who still remained abroad, reduced in that respect. This principle had been acted on in all the different departments of the service--the laboratory, artillery, and storekeepers' offices. 100,000l. was saved by the dismissal of artificers and labourers, whose employment naturally ceased with the war; for this saving therefore, he did not mean to assume any merit. The high improvement to which the artillery of this country had been carried had been productive of the happiest consequences during the late periods of the war. There was once a time when in this particular we were unequal, not only to our enemy, but to many of our allies. It had been at length observed, that the enemy was indebted for his success on many occasions to the superior and preponderating weight of his artillery. The consequence was, that it produced a material alteration in the general military system of Europe, and led to the adoption of an enlarged proportion of that force as compared with the number of the infantry. In Spain, from the nature of the country, and the number of fortresses, this proportion had been estimated at one-tenth. By the present esti

mates this proportion was reduced to oneeleventh. It was proposed to retain the officers, upon the principle that their talents and science must always be advan tageous acquisitions to the country. He next came to the article of stores; and here he begged leave to direct the attention of the house to the immense exertions which had been made in this department, by which we had been enabled to support the unparalleled efforts of the allied powers; and he was happy to add, that every store house throughout the empire article was that of the works-a great and was at this time overflowing. The next momentous subject, which was always viewed with great jealousy; but he hoped it would be now considered with an enlightened jealousy. From the surplus of last year, 250,000l. were expended solely for works within the empire; 44,000l. were struck off from that sum. In the artillery corps there had been a reduction of the brigades from six pieces to four; and also a considerable reduction in horses, as the same pieces might be exercised by men.A saving of 312 horses would amount to a very large sum. The barrack establishment had been reduced about 18,000l. a year. Considerable attention had been likewise paid to the staff. The inspectorgeneral was Lieutenant-general Maun; and, in speaking of that officer, he was persuaded, that all who knew him would admit that the service could not have been better conducted than under his direction. The whole of his allowances were 15001. a year, instead of 2000!., which he enjoyed during the war. The adjutant general of artillery was General Macleod: and it was but justice to state, that he had shown himself most moderate, and had actually taken less than they had been willing to give. He desired merely to have the allowance of 40s. a day, with some compensation, for clothing, &c., which reduced his salary to 10501. a year, instead of 13001., which they had been prepared to offer him. The supply of small arms, asked 100,000l. but next year it would amount to only one half. In the last and most afficting war, it had been necessary to be prepared in point of arms, and government were obliged to have recourse to several contractors. They told them, they could not be made too fast, in order that we might be enabled to supply our allies.They were directed, therefore, to make as many as they could, until they received proper notice. A considerable quantity had been supplied, but next year the whole would cease. For the corps cf foreign artillery, and the artillery of the King's Ger

man Legion attached to the ordnance, the reduction wos 86,0001. Having stated these items, he should repeat that the greatest attention had been paid to every branch of this service, and that he should be ready to give every information which might be desired on any particular head.

Mr. Calcraft thought the boastings of reduction were premature: the gentleman should have looked back to 1793, then the civil administration of the ordnance was 17,000l. now it is 45,000l. The marching battalions then, amounted to 9,700 men; now they are four times that number. Why maintain so great a number of drivers as 1,300 men? Why 1,900 sappers and miners? With respect to works, the best thing we could do was, to pull them down, and sell the materials.

will demand the exercise of those contrary. virtues, great lenity and prudence, combined with great vigour and fortitude. If things are too much pressed, if they are hurried, the consequence will be unfortunate; if they are suffered to become too loose, too languid, too dilatory, the public may enjoy a moment's interval, at the expense of many a future hour's repose. Overweening has been the great cause of private distress; it has been, or we are mistaken, no less injurious to the public; the due medium is the difficulty; not to be depressed, not to be elevated; not to be wanting in exertion, not to be overbusy; not to be penurious, not to be extravagant-in medio tutissimus!

Now, it should be well considered, that unpleasant as our national circumstances are, those of all the nations around us, are much worse. There is no country to which Britain, were she in necessity, could stretch out her arms for assistance. There is not one which has not at this moment a full employ for all her powers, incessantly demanded by the clamours of her own

Mr. Wellesley Pole said, that formerly there were no depots of arms in the kingdom; the consequence was, that when Government wished to give arms to the volunteers, nobody knew where to find them. Hence a few buildings would be kept; and then the arms would always be ready: nor would they be carried back-population. The matter does not admit of wards and forwards to the Tower, which would save many thousands of pounds. Mr. Ward explained: resolutions carried without a division.

POLITICAL PERISCOPE.

doubt: even the thoughtless Frenchman shrugs his shoulders, and complains: every thing is dear; in proportion to occupation corn is fully as dear in France as in England: house rent is enormously dear; employment is not brisk; public coufidence is feeble, very feeble; and the prevailing turn of thought is sufficient to

Panorama Office, August 28, 1816. prove, that the mind is ill at ease. SINCE Our last the necessities of various this stifling of actual feelings and anticiAmidst parts of the country have been more de-pation of futurity, there are two things cidedly avowed, and more fully stated, which afford us pleasure: the first is, that than they had been previonsly. It was in- the Actions of the Bank of Frace keep updeed, previously acknowledged, that sun- their value: the second is, that every dry employments dependent on war, had Frenchman awaits with open ears, eyes been reduced to stagnation, in consequence and mouth the approaching Revolution and of the sudden return of peace. This was, downfall of Britain. We rejoice in the in fact, precisely what might have been first of these, because it shews, that trade expected; it is certain, also, that most of is reviving though slowly, in France, and those branches of business had been urged this leads to the hope, that it will penetrate to the full extent, and much beyond the throughout that Kingdom, and interest the fair extent, of the capital and credit of population more and more extensively to their proprietors. A cessation of orders, preserve that peace for their own sake, was, consequently, fatal to many, and which they ought to do for the sake of trying to all. The adventurous have humanity, policy, and the highest interests fallen under the distress; the unreasonably of their country. As to the second partiprudent are now reasonably safe; and they cular, we have so frequently laughed at may now assume most confidence, who it, formerly, that we can do no less now; formerly, were least confident. it shews, however, the goodwill of that In the mean while the state machine people; and combined with a rudeness of suffers; and probably more than indivi- manner toward the English, which few duals, except those of the very lowest expected, but which all remark, it maniclass, who have literally nothing before-fests a hatred, arising from a sense of inhand. Those will be relieved, pro tempore, by benevolence, local, and nationa!; but, the measures necessary to relieve the state,

feriority, sufficient, yet insufficient; if indulged, it might do others harm, but could do France no good; if indulged, it would

but rivet more strongly the chains of which | tives, and the consecutives? Where the that fickle and insidious nation complains. stores of wool, the costly erections of maAnd yet, there is scarcely a Frenchman, ehinery, the capitalists to employ the peoof whatever description, military or civil, | ple, and the capitalists to give credit, to who does not either allow, or suspect, that the buyer, to the retailer, to the retailer's Buonaparte was mud! Madness is of dif- customer, and ultimately to the consumer? ferent kinds, and differs in degree in the They see cottons worn; but, who buys same person, at different times. Few dis-other than English cottous? The Amecourses are wiser than those of Don Quix-ricans might work up their own cottons at ote; but his actions speak his disease. Na-home; says the sighing emigrant, who forpoleon did some things well; but, as a ruler of a mighty empire, he was no better than Don Quixote in a chair of state. If we speak of morals, even the most hardened of our English infidels have been shocked to witness the profligacy of France; and the words of a friend recently arrived from thence, seem to us, very expressive: "Undoubtedly, there must be good people, and possibly good Christians, in Paris; but, neither was I so fortunate as to meet with one; nor with any body who could tell me of one." The public dread the priesthood; they have been so long without the grosser doctrines and practices of popery, that they now think it as well to go on without them.

It is clear. then, that France is, on the whole, in a worse situation than Britain; owing to the same causes, for the most part, in a greater degree: the consequences may last as long, and this limits the power, to say nothing on the will, to assist.

the

Belgium and Holland not merely grudge what of the British commerce they know of, but they envy British superiority, real, or even faucied, in every instance. The French say, they are obliged to put British marks on their goods, to obtain a sale; Belgians say, not even their old establishments can support competition with the British and Freuch, both acting against them. The Germans do their best, but complain of that best as insufficient; and the Swiss, finding no employment--for en try into France is prohibited to their goods, are preparing to emigrate in large

bodies to America.

merly wove cottons for America; but where are the dealers, where the distributors, where the spinning machines, the reeling, the winding, with a thousand others, small in themselves, but without whose union the course of business stops? Supposing these to be found, after long search in America, what should induce the principals to employ new hands? they cannot, at present, employ their old standards. In fact, the prodigious, and by far too hazardous speculations of the British merchants poured in such overwhelming stocks throughout America, that the price of the article sunk to nothing; and while loss attended the British adventurer, rain attended the American manufacturer.

If these facts be true-and we believe

they are unquestionable-let us again revert to Britain, and to Britain at home. The capital of Britain is undoubtedly very great; but no wise statesman ever thought it infinite. All the world knew that a part of it was immoveable property, as land, &c. rendered moveable by means of confidence. The owner of a thousand acres of land could not be termed indigent; but, if he had exhausted his cash in paying for that land, he would be distressed for want of a circulating medium, not for want of proper ty, to meet an unforeseen increase of expences, though in reality, but trifling. He offered his land as security for a loan; but, the person he offered it to, knew as well as he did the unconvertible nature of the property: and if A. could do nothing with it, by way of rendering it merchantable, nei

Arrived in America, what have emither could B. nor C. nor D. &c. grants found? British emigrants we know, have found greater distresses there than at home. No work; for sufficient hands were engaged before their arrival; and why should any master turn off old servants to take on strangers? What additional recommendations could these foreigners have, that they should be favoured by those who knew them not? Houseless, friendless, pennyless, they cast their dejected eyes across the vast Atlantic in vain! They see broad cloth worn, but it comes from England: some of them perhaps could weave it; -but, where are the looms, the prepara

We are well persuaded that a great number of the country banks which have stopped payment, have not taken that step because they had not substantial property, but because they could not render their substance available in proper time to meet erigencus.

The prudent narrowed their accommodations to their customers; and many which had out a hundred and forty or fifty thousand pounds worth of notes, have now ouly fifteen thousand, or at most, twenty The whole diminution thousand out. throughout the country, is supposed to be

about sixteen millions of circulating | grudging, even malignant? They care litbankers' paper. The paper of the Bank of England is probably diminished about five millions;say it is twenty-four or twentyfive millions, instead of twenty-eight or thirty: so that, the whole productive property is now less by about twenty millions!! a sum sufficiently large to be missed.

Did we not repeatedly urge our manufacturers to look carefully about them, some years ago? Could they not foresee the time, when their power of producing would be more than equivalent to that of disposing of what was produced? We have not lately had an opportunity of examining the fact; but, we speak from something more than conjecture, when we say, the number of persons employed in manufactures greatly exceeds what it was a few years past. What was the number of silk weavers in Spitalfields, for instance, twenty years ago, when they pleaded poverty, and sent their agents to all parts of the town, stating their distresses?-Have they since this increased or diminished? Increased, if we are not mistaken:-but, on what principle of prudence, unless they depended on a pestilence for sweeping off their supernumeries?

Admit that the quantity of employment was, a short time ago, exactly commensurate to the number of hands engaged in pursuing it; what effect could be auticipated from the sudden discharge of a hundred thousand of our brave defenders among their countrymen? If they obtained work, they threw a hundred thousand, formerly occupied, out of their occupation: if they did not obtain work, they became, them selves, the clamourous parties: for hunger thinks little of licence. And much as we dislike standing armies, we conclude that some good attends that evil: for, if an additional hundred thousand men were at this moment distributed among a population wanting work rather than hands-the reader will draw his own conclusions on what would be the consequences.

tle whose manufactures they are endeavouring to rival-they want bread. But, let them betake themselves to labours which do not compete with those of others; and they will soon find, that exchange of commodities is the spur of industry, and the right road to wealth.

us.

In the mean while, the continent is endeavouring to pay for what it has formerly bought: the course of exchange rises, and this proves suficiently that a much greater quantity of goods goes from us to the Continent, than comes from the Continent to Whatever public report affirms about smuggling; we smuggle more into France, than we smuggle out. The French have found it necessary to place a triple line of DOUANNIERS to check smuggling: this is directed chiefly against English articles; insomuch, that it is our turn to exclaim What a deal of trouble we give the Great Nation!

the whole world is violently pushing forThese matters are now political topics: the attempt will not be universally successward an artificial system of self-supply:

ful.

Even Spain, who would have thought it? aspires to rank among manufacturing nations. Spain has a good right to manufacture her silks: she produces the raw mateial, but this will not satisfy her; she too, must export cotton goods, in spite of a rival too powerful for her to meet; and broad cloths, which, except by way of fiction, she never produced enough of for her own consumption.

The natural products of the country, the country has a right to make the most of. If the natural productions of the Pope's territories were cotton and wool, not a word should we say against his supporting fifty thousand looms: but, while his natu ral productions, are monks, nuns, Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Cardinals, and Castrati, let him manufacture these, and leave cottons and woollens to be exported by a very different race of men.

But, that conclusion must be carried throughout Europe. Europe saw upwards. Thus we are a third time brought round of a million of men in arms against France, to our native country. Our readers will with prodigious bodies of reserve to sup- see that the Continental ports on the ocean ply expected casualties; suppose an equal congratulate themselves on the number of number: add to these the immense mass shipping by which they are frequented; of people employed to furnish necessaries and some report the reception of ships to this fighting host: commissioners and from China. This concerns the Americans workmen of every kind, and in every de- more than it concerns us. It suppresses partment: what a prodigious addition to the American carrying trade; and, togethe laborious hands of Europe does the re- ther with the loss of the American carrystoration of these make! Can it be won-ing trade to the West India islands, will be dered at, that till these have betaken them-feit by that enterprizing people. They selves steadily to useful employments, the will endeavour to give employ to the hands Continent should be clamourous, jealous, thrown out of berths, in a public navy: