The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-08 00:00:00

1058 hi this respect, been singular in its sentiments. Conservative statesmen have felt that in a good understanding with France resides the best security for the tranquillity and inde pendence of Europe. This is a fundamental maxim of policy, not to be disturbed by those little accidents which may affect Qur relations with other Powers. England bas lately pro fited in a most signal manner by the French alliance. Yet at a moment when the Liberil party ostentatiously declares that peace is fur from secure, and that we are standing on " the edge of a volcano," occasion is taken to manifest distrust of France, and to outrage the French Emperor by groundless calumnies. We are not called on to pronounce an opinion on any of those grave questions we have here touched on. It is not fur us at this time to say authoritatively that the government of the Danubian provinces should be settled one way or the other, or to weigh whether advan• tagcs most incline to the side of an Austrian or a French alliance. We conceive it not difficult for this country to maintain friendly relations with the different Governments of the Continent, and to exercise fair greater influence over them by friendly representa tions, than it is possible to obtain by a show of hypocritical hostility. But we waive that whole question. We desire only to show the glaring inconsistency between the professions and the acts of the Liberal party,—an incon sistency which is not only condemnatory of the party, but dishonourable to the nation. . . lf the Liberal party, instead of reserving its zeal in favour of Reform for the hustings, were to show itself earnest to secure the triumph of the principles it professes. we might oppose its aims, but we should most certainly respect its sincerity. If it proved by its conduct that it really was bent on pro moting a great convulsion in Europe, and that it was ready to dare all risks and incur all dangers to aid the cause of discontented fac tions, or subject provinces, against their Governments, we should admire their enthu siasm and acknowledge that there was in it something noble, though we deprecated it as most visionary or most impolitic. But when we find it traffieking in a mercenary spirit of trading policy with insurrectionary elements in foreign States, and changing its tone with every varying accident of continental policy. or with every shade of opinion in the Liberal Cabinet at home,—to which it pays servile obedience, though clamorous in declarations of independence, it is impossible not to de spise its tergiversation, and mourn over the utter ruin and deplorable degradation of what was once a great party. Thank Heaven, there is no such blot on the Conservative party as marks the shifting, bullying, servile Liberal ism of 1850 ! PUBLIC MONIES. WE undertook to extract from the evidence and appendices of the Committee on Public Monies such information as would convey soinething like an accurate notion of tho sys tem under which the eighty millions of our national expenditure is managed from its re ceipt to its final disbursement, in order that our readers may be enabled to judge for them selves whether the regulations and checks arc sound in principle, and such as would be considered sufficient, on a comparatively small scale, in any of our commercial institutions. We have applied ourselves to this task, not only because the Select Committee of last session have refrained from giving to the pub lic any opinion or conclusion of their own, but because there is a kind of mystery and igno rance as regards the administration of our finances which it is strange should exist among a commercial people. _ - We must begin by asking our readeis whether they have a clear and accurate com prehension oven of the terms which form the Alphabet of Finance. What is the Exchequer`' What is the Consolidated Fund ? What are Deficiency Bills, Consolidated Fund Bills, Royal Orders. the Comm i-sariat Chest, Supply Services, Payments under Imprest? Many of THE PRESS. these are no doubt familiar words; we meet with them very frequently in the financial dis cussions of the House of Commons ; Chancel lors of the Exchequer and ex-Chancellors of the Exchequer, and Secretaries of the Trea sury, deal with them freely ; but we are alined to believe that the ideas attached to them, even in the House, and still more so by the public at large, are vague and unde fined. Moreover, we should like to ask our readers whether they understand, with any precision, the machinery through which the important functions of our Finance aro con ducted? the arrangements, for instance, under which provision is made for the payment of the Dividends—the principle or the regula tions for maintaining the balance in the Ex chequer, or for securing the proper appropria tion of the sums voted by Parliament—the duties and functions of the Treasury—the duties and functions of the Exchequer? It is perhaps to be expected that the machinery for collecting and disbursing our public monies may be complicated and intricate in its details. We do not purpose entering into details ; but we live in an inquisitive and in telligent age, and we see no reason why the administration of our Finances should not be, at least in its general form, within the easy comprehension of any intelligent person con versant with the keeping of accounts on sound principles. We shall begin with the Exchequer; for its history and a statement of its functions will elucidate the whole system of administering our Finances. The term " Exchequer "is stated by Dr. JOHNSON to be derived from a German word signifying " treasure," and he defines it, in its general sense, as being the Court to which are brought all the revenues be longing to the Crown It is a curious fact that so recently as the year 1831 a portion of the pub lic revenue was actually kept in a great chest at the Exchequer, and the whole process was so primitive, and indicates so strongly how much we have been behindhand iu our system of managing the public monies, that it is worth describing it as it existed up to 1834. . _ On the Bth October, 1831, the Commissioners of Public Accounts, amongst whom will be found the names of Sir HENRY PARNELL, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, and Sir FRANCIS BARING, published their first report. It is given at length in the appendix to the Blue-book on public monies of the last session They state, as regards the Ex chequer,—" We have ob3erved that nearly all the forms and practices now in force may be traced to very remote periods, and that, not withstanding the extensive changes and im provements which experience and civilisation have so generally introduced into pecuniary transactions, the forms of the Exchequer have undergone little or no amendment or alteration." They then state, under the head of " Present Regulations as to Exchequer Receipts," that the Receiver-General, or person authorised to receive any portion of the public revenue, deposits, by direction of the teller, his notes and cash with one of the clerks of the Bank of England, from whom he receives a ticket addressed to the deputy teller, expressing the amount so received on behalf of the teller. Having delivered the ticket in the Teller's-office, he then enters, in a book kept for the purpose, the amount paid in, the date of payment, heads of revenue, and name of party paying it. This entry is then transcribed in Latin on a piece of parchment called a bill. This bill is signed by the deputy-teller, and is transmitted through " the pipe " into the Tally Court. Such in the year 1531 were the forms and mode of receiving the public money. And under the head of " Daily S . .ttlement withithe Bank," the Committee pro ceed to state,—" At the close of each day's business the payments made by the Bank on the teller's account are balanced against the receipts, and the difference, if in favour of the teller, is received by him from the Bank clerks This balance is by them made up in separate parcels of bank-notes. Each parcel is ticketed with its amount-, and the date of its deposit. It is then examined by the teller's clerk, by au officer from the auditor, and by an officer from the Pells-office, and the whole sum, with the exception of the frac tional parts under 1001., is deposited in an SATURDAY, iron chest (with three locks) in the cash-room of the teller." We cannot go into further details. It is but justice to the surviving members of that Com mission—namely, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Sir FRANCIS BARING, and Mr. ELLICE—to state the antiquated absurdi• ties referred to in the foregoing extracts were, in conformity with their recommendation, abolished in 1834, by the Act 4 Win. IV., o. 1:). This net, which is the foundation of the present Exchequer system, after annulling all patents, &c., for offices connected with the Exchequer, constituted the office of Comp troller of the Exchequer, enacted " that the Treasury shall make regulations and direct that books and forms shall be used, and that all monies heretofore payable into the Ex chequer shall be paid into the Bank of Eng land to the credit of the Exchequer, such monies to form one general fund in the books of the Bank, out of which all warrants or orders by the Comptroller of the Exchequer fur the public service shall be satisfied." It then enacts, as the mode of making the fund available, that " whenever any sum shall have been granted to the Crown by any ant of Par liament or vote of the House of Commons for any specified branch of the public service, and ways and means shall likewise have been granted for making good the same, it shall bo lawful for his Majesty by royal order, counter signed by the Treasury, to authorise and require the Comptroller of the Exchequer to place at the Bank of England, to the credit of the public accountant to the Crown in the respec tive branch of service, the amount of the sum so granted or voted ; and that in cases of grants by Parliament charged on the Consoli dated Fund, it shall be lawful for the Treasury, by warrant, without any royal order, to autho rise and require the Comptroller to accredit the several persons whose duty it may be to pay such charges with the sums requisite for that purpose." The act contains many other useful provisions, and was the first step taken by Parliament for improving the system of administering public monies. It was followed by an elaborate Treasury Minute, dated 26th September, 1834, by wnich the Exchequer-office, as constituted by the act, was regulated, and the several 4epart meats connected with the receipt of the revenue instructed to make their payments into the Bank of England to the account of the Exchequer. The proper functions of the Exchequer at the present time under the Act of 1834 is described iu the examination of Mr. ANDEh- SON, p. 135, question 1,007, as being, first, to see that no issues are made upon the supplies of the year after they are voted beyond the amount of Ways and Means Bills, or until they are passed in that session to cover them ; secondly, to see that no Treasury Warrant is issued for charges upon the Consolidated Fund that are not authorised by Act of Par liament; and, thirdly, to see that no issue is made in the course of the year that exceeds the votes of Parliament as contained in the Appropriation Act. Lord MONTEAGLE, the Comptroller, takes a larger view of the responsibilities and objects of his office. He states, at the commence ment of his examination in reply to ques tion 0 The main object of the bill (the Act of 1834) seems t 3 me to be the control over the issues and expenditure — above all, over the latter—with a view to the enforcement of the responsibility of the Executive Government to rar liament in adhering strictly to the appropriation of public money, voted for the purpose of which grants were made by Parliament. In answering the question put to me, I may state that the functions prescribed by the Act seem to me correctly set forth ►n the Report of the Commission on the Exchequer—the Exchequer is the great conservator of the revenues of the nation. It does not exercise any authority over the administrative departments of receipt, nor over the department of payment, any further than to guard against the illegal application of any p►rtion of the public income ; the constitutional functions of its officers, who hold their situations for life, are to provide for the safe keeping and proper appropriation of the public money. For this purpose it is charged with the receipt of the revenues, which are vested in its name, and deposited in its care, unt►l issued under the authority of Parliament for the see ice of the State ; and it is armed with a power of denying its sanction to any demands upon it, from what ever Minister or department they may be made, unless those demands are found in accordance with the determi nation of the Legislature. ii