The Sun. — London, England, 1850-03-16 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT• HOUSE OF LORDS, March 15. Lord*LANGDALE, in the absence of the Lord Chan cellor, took his seat on the Woolsack shortly after Five o'clock. PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. The Duke of ARGYLE gave notice that on Tuesday next he should present a petition from Scotland, praying that their Lordships would not give tbeir assent to any measure altering the constitution of parochial schools in that country, and that he should then make some o b serva tions on the important subject to which the peti tion referred. AFFAIRS OF GREECE. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE wished, before the Noble Lord (Stanley) proceeded to put the question with respect to the affairs of Greece, of which he had given notice, to put it to the Noble Lord whether it would tend to answer any public purpose to enter into any discussion on the subject while negotiations were still pending. Lord STANLEY felt that the appeal which the Noble Marquis bad made to him had placed bim in no small difficulty. He was most anxious to have the information he required, but he should, after the appeal that had been made to him, limit himself most steictly to the line prescribed by the Noble Marquis. The Noble Lord then, at some length, adverted to what had taken place in ,Greece, and to the declarations of the French Minister and Lord Palmerston, that this country had "accepted the intervention of France, and observed that it might naturally have been expected that no time would be lost in acting on that ac ceptance, but so far from that being the case, on the 19th of BM). a courier arrived at Athens, bearing, it was said, a private dispatch from Lord Palmerston, approving of the conduct of Mr. Wyse, but studiously avoiding any allu sion to the acceptance of French mediation. News had been received from Greece of a later date, in which there was no indication that the blockade had been raised except what had been said in another place last night. He must remind the Noble Marquis that the more conciliatory tone of the second dispatch from Count Nesselrode was dictated in the expectation that the acceptance of the good offices of France would be acted on. There could be no doubt that Russia and France expected that such would be the case. It was not his desire to enter at the present moment more fully into the subject, be cause he felt certain that it was the desire of the Noble Marquis that the good understanding between France, Russia, and England, should be preserved. He would therefore satisfy himself by merely asking the Noble Marquis the cause of the delay that had taken place in suspending hostilities after the mediation of France had been accepted. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that the first intimation his Noble Friend at the head of Foreign Af fairs had of the intention of the French Government to offer their mediation was on the sth of February, and that was communicated to him in a letter from M. Drouin de Lhuys, who had acknowledged that he had not then been formally authorised to make that offer. His Noble Friend might therefore have declined to act on that information, but on the very same day he wrote a letter to Mr. Wyse informing him of the expected offer of good offices on the part cf France. Those offers were not received till some time afterwards, and, therefore, he did not see that his Noble Friend WR,4 to blame. Of this ho was sure, that the greatest expedition had been used in putting an end to the state of things that had occurred in Greece. After some observations from Lard STANLEY and Lord BROUGHAM, the subject dropped. COMSIONS ENCLOSURE BILL. This Bill went through Committee. AUDIT OF RAILWAY ACCOUNTS. This Bill was read a third time, and on the motion of Earl GRANVILLE was ordered to be referred to a Select Committee. EMIGRANT SHIPS. The Earl cf MOUNTCASHEL moved for returns of the penalties imposed on owners, masters, surgeons, &c., of emigrant ships, for breaches of the Passengers Act; and also for copies of statements effecting the cha racter of the surgeon, superintendent, master, and officers of the emigrant ship Sobraon, referred to in dispatches 116 and 242, -from Governor A. C. Fitzroy to Earl Grey. He sa;d he had obtained much informa tion on the subject, and from all he had ascertained, he found that the unfortunate emigrant, from the moment he quitted his home to his landing in the colony, he had no security for his safety or protection. He had already detailed to the house two cases, but they were not to suppose that they wei e only the exceptions, for he could gtve them a list of sucl - e The emigrants during a great part of their passage, were supplied with bad water and with bad food. The eff..ct often was to produce disease. Why not have the water filtered? Various frauds were practised upon emigrant ships. It had been discovered that alleged filtered water was often nothing more than dirty Thames water. He did not accuse the Colonial-office of suffering this, for it was, doubtless, done without their knowledge. The feet, how ever, being known, ought to be enough of itself to put emigrant agents on their guard. The inspeetars of the Government should receive the strictest instructions on this subject. The Passengers' Act should be strictly en forced. He did not affirm that these complaints referred to all emigrant ships, but they did apply to some of them. The masters and officers of these ships, when detiszted in improper practices, received very slight punishment. The magistrates generally showed more sympathy with them than with the poor passengers, who, if disposed, seldom knew how to go about proceed ings for punishing these gentlemen. The proceedings affecting the officers of the Concord proved that there was not sufficient care taken by the emigration agent to prevent abuses in some cases, and in others he was not aware of the fraud. The agent could not open every tierce of meat. He could only open ono here and there, and all the others, many of which were full of bad meat, escaped. That happened in this way—the ship upon the return from the previous voyage often had a number of tierces of provisions over. These were con cealed, and subsequently were placed among the fresh stores. These often caused mortality or disease amongst the emigrants. Earl GREY—Would the Noble Lord state any one ship in which the passeugers had suffered mortality from this cause? Lord DSOUNTCASHEL said he thought he had ono statement in the South Australian news. Earl GREY said he did not want a newspaper, but some official statement, upon the truth of which they could rely. Lord MOUNTCHASEL said he would real the ex tract. The Noble Lord here read the statement which effected Captain Pearce, of the John Munn. That was a specimen of what often occurred on board emigrant ship:). No matter what the Noble Earl's opinion was, the press, the public, and the House of Commons would compel him to see to these things, which he affirmed were feels. Nothing should prevent him from persevering on this subject. The Noble Earl (Earl Mountchasel) here read some statements affecting certain surgeons on board emigrant ships, from evidence in papers before the House. Little or no attention had been paid by the Colonial-office to the character and qualification of the doctor.— [EAnn GREY—" No."] He looked behind the scenes, and would point the Noble E a rl's attention to the statements in the report of the Emigration Commissioners for 1848-9. At page 19, it was state d t h at t h e surgeon o f the ship W . ever;ey had b e h ave d i m p roper l y towar d s a female emigrant. That was their protector the surgeon. Page 38—The surgeon of the Lysander was unable t) preserve proper respect fir himself or proper discip line. I'. 51—On board the Thomas Arbuthnot, the doctor being found in bed v.ith one cf the unmarried females, was recommended not to be re-appointed. P. 53 —The surgeon of the Walter Norris was fumed ineffi cient. P 83—The surgeon of the Thetis was careless of his duties and habitually drunk, and much sickness prevailed on board. P. 86—The surgeon was in bad health, and unable adequately to discharge his duties. P. 117—The surgeon on board the Earl Grey was said to have shown went of jutlgneet and discretion. The matron gas also inefficient, and some of the officers paid improper attentioes to the orphan Irish girls. The crew took liberties with several of the young unmarried women. From this cause the whole of these &Vett girls had le:en branded, but that was doing neither justice to them nor to the guardians of the Belfast Union, as a great majority of them were found of excellent character. At p. 336 reference was made to improper conduct on board the Sobraon. On board the James Gibbs the sur geon appeared to hav e connived at improper intercourse with some of the females by the officers and crew, is. 193. The doctor and matron of the ship Incon stant, in consequence of indiscretion, were recom mended not to be re - appointed. Ills L or d s hi p t h en alluded to several other hardships endured by emi g rants to New Australia, and hope d th a t Government would in terpose their influence for the suppression of such acts as those practised by the surgeous on board those emi grant ships. He then alluded to several cases, but more particularly to the ca party of engineers who went of n went to that colony, and complained most bitterly of the usage they ha 1 receive.) at the hands of the surgeon, captain, and other officers. The Noble Earl n7et ad verted to the infamous system of seduction practised on the wives of those emigrants who emigrated 6lx months after their husbands, and considered it most discreditable that Government should not take precautions against such an outrage on public virtue. He should, therefore, move that there be laid before the House a return of all the penalties imposed and levied on owners, masters, and captains and others, for breaches of the Act of sth and 6th of Victoria, known by the name of the Passengers Act, since the same Act came into force; specifying the amount of fine, the 3 ear when such penalty was enforced, the period when paid, how such penalty was disposed of, the name of the ship, the name of the offender, and the offence he committed, together with the name cf the port where the patty was convicted, and the officers who en forced it. Earl GREY said that he considered that the Noble E a rl (Lord Mountcashel) h a d no grounds for the charges he had brought forward against the conduct of the surgeons in the emigrant ships. He did not think t h at th e paragraph read by the Noble Lord, from a new3pap „ w as of sufficient auth or i t y to b e relied on as a proof. ke admitted that there was one solitary ewe in which severity bad been used, but that was a case where subordination should b e ob served , and where the most arbitrary demeanour wa s evinced by only one per sonage, on whom it was thought right to inflict a trifling punishment. But there appeared before the public the evidence of numbers of emigrants who bore testimony i(the attention of the surgeons and captains, and all these pr ove d i n ev id ence th a t the greatest attention had been paid them. When :the Noble Earl (Lord Mount ensile° alluded to the impurity of the water, he should say that he nit astonished at such an allusion, as such sufferings were much more general in other ships than those of emigrant ships; for every emigrant ship is generally examined, and particular caution is taken that the passengers be properly provided for. Tho Noble Earl then referred to the sickness that many of the surgeons endured, attributable to their strict at tention to the suersl patients ou board their respective ships. When the Noble Earl (Lord Mountcashel) al luded to the mortality, he considered that he should look to the circumstances of those caner, and then ho would find that that mortality prevailed among children, whose age was not sufficiently advanced to endure the hardships of a sea voyage of such a length of time as that from this country to New Australia. Lord MONTEAGLE said, that all he could discover, and he considered that he had considerable sources of information, was, that the system of emigration was per fectly satisfactory, and that the charges brought forward by the Noble Lord (Lord Mountcashel) had no founda tion, so far as he could juige. Though ho admitted that there were some Ler deviations, yet he should say that those deviations were not errors either ou the part of the surgoons or of the captains. He had no doubt that the law would be carried out in this case, should it be necessary to apply it. The colonists were most deeply interested in the question; and here he might ask at whose expense was the Australian emigration carried on ? The Australian emigration was chiefly carried on at the expense of the colonist?, who were most deeply interested in emigration thither ; and if the instances of tad conduct were the rule, and the instances of good conduct the exception, did their Lordships not think that the colonists would make representation on the sub ject ? Did they think that they would not have peti tions lying on the table of the House, calling for a re dress'? With the exception of a newspaper authority, they had no complaints on this subject ; and the single complaint now before their Lordships, was the only evi dence that was at present furnished to their Lordships' House. His ;,(Lord Monteagle's) Noble Friend (Earl Grey) and himself differed on the subject of emigration; but, in a case of this description, all he knew of the character of his Noble Friend satisfied him, and any one who knew: his Noble Friend when Secretary-at-War, must fell satisfied that he would not fail to turn his at tention to this subject, and cause proper inquiry to be made into it. He would not longer occupy the time of their Lordships, and it was only on account of the mis chiefs which those general statements might produce, that he ventured, at that late hour, to occupy their Lord ships' attention. Lord LANESBOROUGII thought that the subject ought to be inquired into, and he had no doubt that the Noble Earl at the head of the colonial department would do everything in his power to inquire into the matter, and procure redress of the whole of the grievances when laid before him. Lord MOUNTCASIIELL had looked into the papers on this subject, and he found it officially stated that some of the officers had paid attention to some of the Irish orphan girls on board, and that the crew—and this was important—had unrestrained intercourse with the young girls; and in the face of that statement he found that it was laid down that it was the surgeon's duty to prevent such intercourse. He (14-.s.rd Mountcashel) found that one and a half per cent. of the number of emigrants on board died, and that was a most serious amount of mor tality—mortality, bell it remembered, which was caused by bad food, bad water, and bad treatment. It appeared that the unhappy passengers were subjected to the greatest intimidation, that those who ventured to re n.onstrate were taken below and placed under the greatest control. He found that one of the emigrants, who was going out to the colony with a number of moulds of caste, which were of the greatest value to him, had all his moulds smashed to pieces because he ventured to speak out; and that another passenger who had spoken out had the cords taken off his boxes, and his property thrown about the vessel. He (Lord Mountcashel) had much information on this subject, but he would at present refrain from entering further into details. Ho, however, would take that op portunity of assuring the Noble Earl that the matter must not rest here. He hoped and trusted that the Noble Earl would take steps to inquire into those griev ances, and procure a just redress of them. Earl GREY had no objection to grant the returns asked for by the Noble Earl, but a delay of twelve months would elapse beflae they could be laid on the table of their Lordships' House, as reference must be male to the colonies. The returns were accordingly agreed to. 818,. NASH'S CASE. Lord BEAUMONT said he had received communi cations from Mr. Nash, who was summoned to be in at tendance at the bar of their Lordships' House on Mon d:ly, and in those he stated that certain papers which had been laid on the table cf their Lordships' House had r( facnce to documents and papers in 1346. - He (Lord Beaumont) thought it right to make this statement, lest the charges of forgery might go forth against Mr. Nash respecting those papers (iu matters connected with rail ways) and do him injury, pi evious to the time when he may be heard in his own &fence before their Lordships' House. Their Lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 15 The SPEAKER took the Chair at a Quarter to Four o'clock. NEW MEMBER. Sir GORE BOOT!! took the oaths and his seat f,r Sligo. THIRD READINGS. The following Bills were read a third time and passed:—Bristol 'Waterworks Act Amendment Bill; Suffolk and General Country Amicable Insurance Office Bill. PRIV ATE BUSINESS. Mr. WILSON PA.TTEN moved that it be an instruc tion to the Committee of Selection, that they have power to appoint the meeting cf.the Committee on the Water ford and Limerick Railway Bill, specially reported upon by the Committee, for Tuesday next, if they so thibk ht.—Agreed tn. Sir GEORGE PECHELL moved that the petition of certain inhabitants of the town of Brighton, deposited in the Private Bill Office, upon the 14th day of February lair, in favour of the Brighton Improvement, Purchase of Royal Pavilion and Grounds, and Amendment of existing Act Bill, be referred to a Committee on the Bill. —Agreed to. THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 1850 PETITIONS. Several petitions were presented against Sunday labour in the Post-office. Mr FERGUSON presented a petition against the Marriage Bill. Mr. PACKE presented a petition praying for the extension of the jurisdiction of County Courts. Mr. CAYLEY presented a similar petition from Derby. Mr. A. HASTIE presented a petition from Glasgow, against the Marriage Bill. Mr. ELLIS presented a petition to the same effect from a place, in Scotland ; also a petition praying for the abolition of all taxes on knowledge. Mr. C. LUSIIINGTON presentel a petition from the .Northern Star-office praying for the abolition of taxes on knowledge. An HoN. MEMBER presented a petition from Rye against any alteration in the law relating to the Mer• chant Seamen's Fund. Mr. BERKELEY presented a petition from the Chel tenham;Examiner-offico, praying for the abolition of taxes knowledge. Mr. B. SMITH presented six petitions from places in Scotland, praying that a solemn affirmation might be sub stituted in lieu of an oath. Mr. SPOONER moved that the petitions from Bir mingham for remuneration to medical men for their ser vices in cases of railway accidents presented yesterday be printed. Mr. TIIORNELY said the petitions bad been be fore the Committee of Public Petitions, who had ordered them to be printed; they had accordingly been sent to the printer'e, and no doubt they would be in the hands of Hone Members on Monday. Mr. SPOONER, was particularly anxious to have them printed with the votes, as they contained important state merits, which ought to meet the eye of Hon. Member.. If they were printed with other papers, there was little chance of their ever being opened. Mr. THOWNELY said he should still resist the motion. Mr. SPOONER, would not put the House to the trouble of dividing, and the motion was withdrawn with lease. Mr. FOX MAULE presented several petitions from places in Scotland against the Marriage Bill. Lord ASHLEY presented a large number of petitions praying for the abolition of the relay system in factories. 'CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD-RAILWAY. An Hon MEMI3EIt gave notice that, ou Tuesday next, i.e should move fJr copies of all correspondence whieh had taken placo Letwcea the Admiralty, the Treasury, and the Chester and Holyhead, or any other company on the subject of carrying the mails between Holyhead and Dublin, with the view of founding a motion upon it, for the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the facili ties that arc afforded to the public by any arrangements the Admiralty had entered into for carrying the ;mils between Holyhead and Kingston. IRISII POOR-LAW. Mr. HENRY HERBERT moved fur copies of so much of the c3rrespondence of the Poor-law Commis sioners of Ireland with the boards of guardians, during the lust six months, as relates to the question of giving or withholding out-door relief : detailed account of the exi enies which have la.-en incurred by the several boards of guardians in providir ' r increased work house accommodation : copies: of forty-eight general orders issued by the Commissioners fur administer ing the Laws for Rt.lief of the Poor in Ireland, under the Act 1 and 2 Vic., e. 56; nominal return of the poor law unions in Ireland, where the affairs have been ad ministered by paid guardian:, and stating the periods of such administration; and, return of the amount of the debts, claims, and liabilities, exclusive of those owing to th e Government, against those unions when the ad ministration by paid guardians commenced and termi nated. —Agreed to. POLICE INSPECTOR COWARD. Sir IL WILLOUGHBY wished to ask the Right lion. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Ho me Department, whether his intention had been drawn to the conduct of police inspector Coward , as it appeared in evidence in a late criminal proceeding at the Central Criminal Court? Sir GEORGE GREY replied that an inquiry had already been iestitu:ed int) tho conduct of the officer, and although he had certainly been guilty of indis cretion, it appeared now in a vi ry different light to what it did a short time ago. KILRUSII UNION. Mr. POULE SCROPE asked tho First Lord of the Trca:ury whether any measure was in contemplation by the Government to check the wholesale evictions and house-levelling which is still in progress in the Kilrush and ether Irish unions, and which threaten to depopu late those districts? Lord JOHN RUSSELL said there was :no measure on the subject of evictions in immediate contemplation by the Government. The question of evictions was one which lay at the rout of the relationship Letween land lord and tenant. Mr. A. STAFFORD took occasion to protest against any inference being drawn from the anonymous report which had been quoted by the lion. Member for Stroud with reference to the state of the union of Kilrush. Mr. P. SCROPE said his authority was Captain Ken nedy himself. ACCIDENTS ON RAILROADS. bin SPOONED gave notica-that on Monday next he would ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he would be prepared to submit to the House some mea sure with reference to the liability of railway companies in cases of accident. IRISH REGISTRATION. Mr. STAFFORD asked Lord J. Russell when he would be prepared to go on with the Irish Registra tion Bill? __ . Lord 4. RUSSELL hoped to do so on Monday. DUTY ON BRICKS. Mr. CARDWELL presented a petition from the Arches°logical Society in favour of a removal of the duty on bricks. SAVINGS' BANKS. _ _ _ The Chancellor of the Exchequer entered the House shortly before five o'clock, and took his seat on the Treasury bench amidst loud cheers from all parts of the House. The Right Honourable Gentleman appeared to havo entirely recovered from his recent indisposition. Mr. REYNOLDS immediately afterwards rose to ask the Right Hon. Gentleman whether he intended to bring in a Bill on the subject of savings' banks. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said a Bill had been prepared on the subject, and he should take the earliest opportunity after Easter of bringing it forward. _ _ Mr. REYNOLDS said, the answer of the Right Hon. Gentleman was highly satisfactory. Mr. HERBERT wished to ask the Right Hon. Gen tleman a question in connexion with this subject. Was it the intention of Government to introduceiany measure, or take any steps to reimburse the depositors who had lost their money by the failure of the Rochdale, Dublin, and other savings' banks during the last two years. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said a Committee had been appointed to inquire into the mat ter, and he should be wanting in respect to that Com mittee if he answered the question. LORD-LIEUTENANCY OF IRELAND. Mr. REYNOLDS wished to ask the Noble Lord at the head of the Government whether it was the inten tion of Ministers to introduce a Bill this session for the abolition of the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland? Lord JOHN RUSSELL said a Bill was preparing on the subject, and he should give due notice to the House before introducing it.—(A laugh.) HUNGARIAN REFUGEES. Mr. B. OSBORNE said, as the Noble Lord the Secre ta-y for Foreign Affairs was not in his place to answer a question he had given the Noble Lord notice of, ho should take an early opportunity of calling the attention of the House to the conduct of the Turkish Government towards the Hungarian refugees. THE BUDGET. The House then went into Committee of Ways and Means, when The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER imme diately rose to bring forward the financial statement of the Government. He commenced by thanking the House for the kindness it had evicced towards him during his illness, and then went on to ask the indulgence of the House while he entered upon his budget, not only on account of his own indisposition, but for any inaccu raeies that might creep into his statement.—(Hear, hear.) Some of his Hon. Friends who sat behind him, he said, were always anxious for an early budget, but at this early period of the session it was impossible to disclose it with that degree cf accuracy which it was desir able should always characterise a statement of this nature. It was the duty of a person in his capacity to state what he fairly believed would be the probable income and expenditure of the year now ensuing. With regard to the expenditure, Honourable Gentlemen were aware that it was necessary that the vote for the ensuing year should contemplate certain excesses which might have taken place in the navy, army, and ordnance expenditure. The accounts of the navy, army, and ordnance expenditure ‘e ere not made up till the end of April, therefore it was impossible to form a correct estimate of what those excesses might be. That which was valuable for the House to have was such an estimate as the person who made it might be honestly and conscientiously able to say was reelly a true state of the case. Last year it was impossible to make anything like an accurate estimate, considering the time of the year when it was made. The circum stances of this year wero more favourable to such a cor re t estimate. He had now to lay before the House two estimates of the income and expenditure ; one fur the year ending sth April next, and another for the year ending sth April, 1851. After referring in touching terms to the death of a public servant this morning, by whom he had been assisted in the business of his office, the Right Hon. Gentleman proceeded to say, when he hid before the House his estimate of the income for the last year he estimated the probable income at 52,262,000/. Up to January last the receipts amounted to 52,874,000/4 the income up to the sth April next lie could not :estimate at so urge a sum; but he believed, therefore, that the probable in come of the financial year, ending the sth April next would amount to 52,785,500/ ; while the expendi ture he calculated at 50,533,3511., which would give a surplus of income over expenditure of about two millions and a quarter. The House would be gratified to hear that the actual expenditure in the last year had been less than the estimates by about 1,625,0001., which in cluded about 400,0001. put to the account of naval excess, and he hoped that this would be taken as a proof that in every possible way consistent with the public service attention had bean paid to economy. With regard to the estimates of this year, he was afraid that there was not much encouragement for quite so favourable a picture. In the first place, he triought they must look for a cdsiderable falling off in the Customs, which might be ascribed to several causes, among others to the reduction upon the duty in sugar which had taken place in June last. Now, the decrease in the receipts upon foreign sugar he found from the returns which were made up to sth of March this year, and up to the 12th of March last year, was not less than 626,000/.—(Hear, hear.) He men tioned this in order to show that the expectations of those who anticipated very large reductions in the Customs duties could not be realised.— (Hear, hear.) Whatever increase had occurred had been found to arise from the import of colonial pro duce.—(Hear, hear.) All the increase had been from our own colonies. In Dutch Guiana they were com plaining that they could find no market for their pro duce in consequence of the competition of the British colo nies, and there, accordingly, the greatest distress prevailed. He was desirous of stating this in order to aid, further, the fact that erroneous impressions prevailed in the public mind respecting the sources of our prosperity.— (Cries of " Hear, hear.") But on other topics he could speak with more confidence. In 1848-9 the importa tion of brandy had been 577,0001., giving an accession to the revenue of 43,300/. This was partly owing to the state of the commerce of the country, and partly to the alarm which prevailed respecting cholera.—(Hear, hear.) The other increase was upon gin, rum. and the various products of the British colo nies. During the last year the increase had been in the duty reports 118,000 gallons, showing an increase of duty of 139,0001., and in 1849 the quantity was 559,786 gallons, showing an increase of 381,000 gallons. It was not likely the same quantity of grain would be imported next year. He estimated the probable receipts of the Customs for the ensuing year at 20 millions. On all the other items, he was happy to say, there were the strongest reasons for expecting an increase. The Excise produced last year 13,980,0004 and these were circumstances to warrant his taking the receipts of the Excise for the ensuing year at 14,450,000/4 another item, the Property-tax, he calculated would amount to 6,860,000/4 the assessed taxes to 4,320,000/.; the income tax, 5,010,000/ ; the Post-office, 820,000/. ; Crown lands, 160,000/. ; miseellaneous, 260,0001.; old stores, 410,000!.; making altogether a probable income of 52,285,0001. On the other side of the account there were these items —lntere'et on funded debt, 27,700,000/4 interest on Ezell( quer-bills, 405,000/., making the charge for debt 28,105,0001. The other charges on the Consolidated Fund of 2,500,000/, 5,849,4231, and 764,2361., would make a total of these latter items of 1,613,155/. Ti e army estimates at present on the table amounted to 6,109 ; 34 7 / a the militia estimates wero 110,000/., and the commissariat department 500,0001, making a total in the army estimates of 6,629,3471. The ordnance estimates were 2,434,4171., and the army and navy esti mi.tes tegether were 15,677,452/, and these items added to the other he had mentioned made an expenditure of 50,612,182/. In accordance, however, with the general wish of the House, expressed last year, he proposed to increase the vote for the New Houses of Parliament, while, if the Bill of his Right Honourable Friend the President of the Board of Trade passed, it would impose an additional charge of 30,0001. on the Consolidated Fund.—(Hear.) There would also be a further charge this year for the Arctic expedition, and he proposed, therefore, to take a margin of 150,000/. 2 making the probable expenditure 50,763,5821. leaving a surplus of 1,521,4101., but taking off a further margin, the total surplus of receipts over expenditure might be written down at 1,500,0001. Now that balance-sheet of January was made known to the public just after the meeting of Parliament, both in and cut of the House; and there were persons who had been sery anxious to save him the slightest trouble in disposing of that surplus.—(Laughter.) Hardly was the balance-sheet out when his Noble Friend (Lord John Russell) received a large dequtation inter asted in the re duction of tea. They stated a great advantage would result to the consumers cf tea in this country from the reduction of the duty in the increase of our trade with China. He was not disposed to say that there was not some force in those representations, and perhaps the best policy,'as a general rule, was to reduce dirties to such an amount as not to interfere with the consumption of the articles on which they were imposed.—(Hear.) But in order to attain that end it was indispensably necessary that the House would not think it right lais nmz ioo7ultdhn, uoet t to o yor Leor d cene i d s itau p vh,c o ehetd s ei e soanftr o uoe f toii. thesmall ththe e dutyd surplus of last year ut o y n t u e n a latietaY The amount I wa e s m o p n or t t ea at vi i .a s. s I n v o o w uld 2s 0 . n 2 l i y d p . r p o e d r u l c b e . 2,500,000/., leaving, therefore, a first loss of no less than 3,000,0001. To recover the reve nue up to 3,000,000/. would req u i re : an i ncrease of consumption to the extent of 10,000,00011 m. Taking it in its most favourable light, there would be a loss of 2,500,000/. The next proposition he received was a deputation asking for a reduction cf thedu p ty ap o e n r windowe, bricks, and s oa p . The dut y on thes e articles last year amounted in. the aggregate to 3,275,000/. ;ton thee had a u l n s o t a o f proposition 74s,o o o l.,thet repeal advertisement duty of 157,0001., and the certificate dut y , which amounted to 170,0004 He was quite aware that very strong argu ments might Le adduced in favour of the repeal of these duties ; but he must say that, looking at the interests of the great bcdy cfthe working classes , o fthe country, these were not duties which had the first claim. A proposition had been made also for the reduc tion of the duties on timber used in ship building. lie certainly had not been prepared to fincl_so much value attached to this tax as appeared to be now; but, taking everything into consideration, he could not at present come to any certain decision on the subject. He hoped the House would not expect him to do so, for as of late he had been prevented by his health rom seeing any one, he had not had the opportu nisrof communicating with persons best acquainted with these subjects; but he would do so, and at present he would not state anything definite to toe House on the subject. They had also a proposition to reduce the malt-tax, amounting to 5,225,000/e bat it must be obvious that unless the House were prepared to vote some substitute for the deficien cies which would occur to some considerable amount, there was no chance that any Chancellor of the Ex chequer could come down to the Ifouse prepared to make such a large reduction. The next proposal was one made by an Hon. Gentleman, whom he regretted not to see in his place to-night (Mr. Disraeli), to transfer so many items of local taxation to the general fund. It veSer.linot impossible to calculate the amount of that transfer, but it was probable that it would be two millions and a half. He was quite sure that the object of the policy which had been adopted was to give the greatest advantage to the whole community, and the policy which had pre vailed for the last ten years had been instrumental in the reduction of from 1,600,0001. to 2,000,0001. of annual taxation.—(Hear, hear.) At least 1,000,0001. of the taxation of the country had been permanently re moved in consequence of the charges which her Majesty's present Government had removed.—(Hear.) They had indeed only followed out the plan which had been adopted by Hon. Gentlemen on the other side of the House, who were now in the Opposition.—(Hear, hear.) He was the more anxious to name this, because he saw in the opposition which had been offered there was an evident attempt to delay, if not altogether to frustrate, the policy which had been pursued during the last twenty years. In 1825 Mr. Huskisson had first propounded the principles upon which Government had during late years acted. The object cf that policy was to remove from the working classes those burdens which they had heretofore borne, and to place them on those whose attained property would enable them well to bear them.—(Loud and continued cheering.) This was the reason why they had continually proposed the removal of the restrictions on commerce, and the reduction of the duties upon the necessaries of life and the articles which are requisite for the comfort and well-being of the poor. Since the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (Sir R. Peel) took office, in 18-10, duties on coffee, sugar, and other articles, had been repealed to the extant of 7,600,000/. On sugar alone the duties repealed could not have been far short of a million. 8,650,000/. might be clearly taken as the amount of reduction of duties on articles of consumption, Taking the reduction on foreign sugar from 635. to 235., the average amount for three years alone would be 1,600,0001. Many other indirect taxes had been repealed, and the result was considerable benefit to largo masses of the people. including every order and every class.—(Hear.) All these reductions bad been approved of by a large ma jority of the House. Now let him ask, did they believe the state of things pointed out by Huskisson bad come to pass? Capital had accumulated, and every large town in the kingdom had increased in Biz and population, especially this large metropo lis. Since Huskisson lost his life on the first railway that was ever opened, 220,000,0001. bad been invested in railways. Within the last five years as much as 140,000,000/. had been expended on these undertakings. He thought he need not refer to more conclusive proof than that of the accumulated wealth and capital of the superior classes of this great country, but could he con gratulate them on a similar improvement in the condi tion of the working classes?—(fieer, Lear.) Certainly it was creditable to the age that much more attention was paid now than formerly to the condition of the working man.—(Cheers.) But let the House look at the report of the Factory Commission, the Mines Com mission, the Sanitary Commission, and, above all, the last report of the Commission appointed to inquire int( the operations of the hew of settlement, and he was afraid the House would have to confess that the condi tion of the poorer classes was still miserable in the extreme.—(Cheers.) And yet, in the fee, of all this, two hundred and fifty gentle met. in that House Lad recently been found voting for a pro position which would have bad the effect of relieving property from taxation by imposing it on articles o consumption and the raw materials of lebour.—(Cheers.) He believed, however, that had those lion. Gentlemer fully considered and weighed these facts, which he had just brought before them, they never could have voted for any such proposal.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") He thought the past policy of the House had been bent, sound and just, and although they had been trouble° with a famine in Ireland, and a commercial crisis which for a time had paralysed the trade of the country, he believed they were now approaching that period when the whole country would real the full benefit of that policy.—(Hear, hear.) He con ceded to the Honourable Gentlemen who had voted for that proposal that great pressure had been felt in the agricultural districts from the change, but from in formation which he had recently received, he was very much mistaken indeed if this pressure had not now almost entirely passed away.—(Cries of " Oh, oh.") He confessed be thought that the complaints which were made throughout the country were a little premature. He must admit, however, that the price of corn had been lower than he anticipated it would be.—(" Hear, hear," from the Protectionists.) But at the same time he thought it pretty clear that the present prices could hardly be permanent, or attributed to the operation of free trade. He saw only yesterday a report which had been presented to the President of the French Re public from the Council of Agriculture, Commerce, ano Manufactures in France, in which they spoke of the dis tressed state of agriculture in that country, and where, too, agriculture was protected, in language stronger than any that had been used in the most depressed districts in England. It was obvious that the low prices of corn in that country could not b( attributed to any importation from foreign countries.— (Hear, hear.) He believed that th e so l ut i on was s i m ply that there had been an unusually abundant harvest. The exportation we had received to any very great extent was hardly beyond what hi had anticipated from those countries which were not usually exporting countries. lie found, for instance, in France, the average price of wheat for eight years in Belgium, d u ring the seven 9s, odd ; and i n A ms t er d am . yearsduring ending endingthel 8 4 scis I n B ' e s 5a years sit 4Bs. d 4 ending was 1845, it was 48s. 10d. He had shown that in those three neighbouring countries, from which we derived so large a supply, the average price of grain was under 84s. per quarter. He was fully convinced that the result of the late corn mercial alteration had had the effect of inciting those engaged in agriculture to further exertions, and he felt spirit of the British ount all his dtth efftlurlilmtiereser,li.antnhciteahtoiunghhotheweonueldrgy saunrmd ho was aware that many it. that endeavour might fail. Such was an inevit able consequence of all great improvements, —to take a familiar instance, were not all who lived at a distance from London aware of the great numbers that had been deprived of thei r employment by the introduc tion of railways, and been obliged to turn their endea vours to some other means of getting a livelihood. But still no one thought of stopping the railroads on that account. Great improvements went on, and though some persons gof stopping the im provements. thoughton all the propene', which t be inured,had been He mhnaoadd touched one thedu disposalof his surplus. Now he came to the views of Inn Majesty': Government on that point—he had thought it .right to touch upon these proposals first, because it was proba ble /hat they might be made in the House, and he thought i t was as well that the House should be aware cf the views of her Majesty's Governm ent on all of them pre viously. The surp lus am ounted, as he had aimed) Majesty's Government, was to effect some e during lat e years, the chief desire ' stated, to 1 , 500,000/ . Looking back at what h of ad he t r aken reduc tion in the debt—And the manner in which that was to be done would require great and careful consideration. If Hon. Gentlemen would only refer to the money which had been- borrowed of late years, they would immeli borrowed ; in 1841 the etely perceive tie stringency of the motive by which he 37000570t1. actuated.—(Hear , d ( e beenar r hear.) In 1833.34 the sum of sum of 5,000,000/. had been borrowed; and in 1847, when the House re fused to accede to his motion for the permanent increase of the income-tax, he had been compelled to go out of doors and borrow the sum of 8,000,000/. Since then the sum of 2,,000,0001. had been borrowed, so that during the years that had ensued since the reduction of the war taxation, no less a sum than 38,000,000/. had been added to our national debt. Against this, however, there was an offsot of 11,000,0001., which had been paid, thus showing that. the permanent increase of the debt was 27,000,0001 since the attempt had been concluded for the reduction of the impositions occasioned by the war.—(Hear, hear.) To remedy this evil the only plan that could be adopted was the reduction of the debt, and to pay off a portion of the obligations which had been incurred during the Fast ten years The House bad met his proposal for a con tinuance of the income-tax during the ensuing ten years with a decided negative.—(Hear, hoar.) Ho had made thse proposition in the hope of clearing the debt.— (Hear, hear.) if they could not prepare for this in a time of profound Peace, when could the) do it? WL at would they think of any priv ate person who was obliged to get into debt in a disastrous period, and yet refused to provide for the obligations which he bad incurred when more prosperous times came round.—(llear, and cheers.) In the course of the present year a most important question would come before the House, vin o the removal of the income-tax, and with out catering into the opinions of parties on the subjt:ct he would s imply say that it was obvious that this tax must be continual if any fur ther reductions were made in our taxa tion.. The Honourable Member for Buckinghamshire had spoken c f the advauteges which would be derived by I maintaining a high state of credit by the public keep ing an abundant available security. He (the Chan cello r of the Exchequer) thought the income-tax was a no. teasary element in maintaining that credit. A Mem ber f or a large county in Ireland had stated that the cre dit p reduced by the income-tax had enabled gentlemen in Ir eland to relieve their estates from encumbrances. It was desirable, nevertheless, that some relief shot ad be given to the landed interest, and the first measure ho should propose was one which he hoped would be of some benefit to the c ecupler and small holders of land. None but a large redu ration of rents could benefit the occupier. The altered state of the law, however, required that there should be some t reduction, and when ho remembered the cheapness that the present policy was producing he thought that reduction ought to be readily made. Com paring the last year with the present, he believed empl oynaent in the agricultural districts was now greater than it was in the corresponding perk d of last year; and ho believed by an increased evement in the cultivation of the soil the condition Of V ;e labourer:would be still further improved,..and the welfare of the community at large advanced. This could only be attained by an outlay of capital on the part of the landlord ; and he was anxious that no obstacle should be thrown in the way of his doing that. Now the stamp. duty on a 501. sale of property was 124 percent.; on 1001. 51 per cent.; on 3001. j 21 pert, cent.; on 5001, 11. 14e. 3d. per cent.; and above that sum I/. per cent. It was obvious, therefore, that in the case of small owners, rhey were not in an equal posi tion with their richer neighbour;.—(Hear, hear.) It was but fair to place them on an equality with other classes, by allowing them to sell or borrow without having those obstacles thrown in their way. Hon. Mem hers no doubt remembered that when proposals of this kind were made to extend to another portion of the United Kingdom, the lion. Member for Oxfordshire said they ought . to be applied to the whole country as well as to Ireland. Ile (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) con curred in that view, and the first proposal he should make would be, a considerable reduction in the duties levied in the transfer of property up to the amount of 1.000/. What he proposed to do was, he thought, more just than if an acreable per-centage were proposed ; and he intended also that the same rule should apply to bonds and mortgages.—(Hear.) The reduction was to com mence with all sums under 1,0001., and be proportionately increased on any sum above that, because it would be most unjust that the same duty should be charged on the higher sums. He therefore proposed to make it, as far 23 practicable, an ad valorem duty, and in every respect as uniform as possible. Another thing to which he attached the utmost importance was the tenure of land and the granting of leases. In Cases, also, when the landlord was not disposed to lay out his own capital, and that the tenant was prepared to do so en getting a !ease, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was pre pared to reduce the stamp duty on leases, which at pre cent was very unjust and unequa'. According to the scale now existing, a loan for any sum less than 20/ was liable to 11. duty, and what he proposed to do was, that for a sum not exceeding 25/. a duty of 2s. 6d. should be charged, and so on up to 1,000/., which would be at the rate of I per cent. Then as to agricultural labourers, he had already stated that he was anxious, as far as in him lay, to promote any object which would give them em ployment, by enabling the owners of land to raise money for the improvement of their properties; but ho was, above all, anxious to improve the comforts and dwellings in which they resided.—(Cheers.) Oa that sub ject he would refer again to tbo document which ema nated from the Lords' Committee as to the effect of the present law on the condition and morals of the poor in their habitations. For his own part, he never was more struck with anything than in reading this evidence on that subject ; and having raid some attention to the subject himself, it was impossible, he would say, under the present system, to procure those comfortable cottages for the labouring classes which all would desire. In the first place, no remunerative interest could be expected by those who did so, and, under the present circum stances, the Government thought it right that no legis lative obstacle should, at any rate, be imposed on those who might think of doing so. As far as regarded a mo tinn of his Hon. Friend the Member for Montrose, pro posed some time since, relative to a drawback on the duties on bricks, he, for ono, had in all cases a great ob jection to drawbacks ; but, independently of that objec tion, he believed that it was impossible that the proposal of his Hon. Friend could be carried into effect. Seeing, however, that the evil was not confined to the cottages of the poor, but that the health of towns and cities was deeply affected, he was prepared to concede the total repeal of the duty on bricks.—(Cheers.) He found that that subject had also occupied the attention of the CoMmittee of the House of Lords, to whose report he had already adverted, when they stated that not only would such a repeal tend t the improvement of real property in towns, and their immediate vicinity, but add considerably to the comfort of the poorer classes. In depeneeatly of promoting the comforts of the poor, which he consideiel of paramount importance, it was also one of no less interest to the agriculturists them selves. In portions of the country where soil was of ,uch a nature a; to prevent the manufacture of bricks, a repeal of the duty would be of the greatest advantage, promoting and improving agriculture. flu (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) knew nut if Vie lion. ,telpher for West Surrey was an advocate for the in crease of building on existing farms, but, for his own dart, he knew of no means better calculated to effect .uch an object then the abolition of the duty on bricks. rae amount received from duty on stamps was a tittle under 300,0001., on bricks 450,0001., melting in ell a reduction in taxation of 750,0001., or little less than half the sum of the estimate as the surplus on nand. He was not aware when he came to add the sum which he intended to apply to the reduction of the national debt, to that which he now proposed, as a re duction on taxation, that he should, ate doing both, have a large sum on hand; still he thought it was only ,ust and fur, that one-half should be so applied fur the reduction of the debt, and the other to relieve in some measure the burdens of the people. He should afso ob serve, that Hon. Gentlemen must not suppose that that was the only relief from taxation which would take place in the course of the year, because, by the operation of the Sugar Act of 1846, duties on colonial and foreign sugar would be remitted after July next, to the amount of 350,000/. The actual relief, therefore, given to the people in the course of the year, would amount to 1,100,000/. (Cheers.) lle had another measure to propose, which he oelievod was calculated to promote objects of a perma 'lent importance, and that was the outlay of capital for .he improvement of land. For his own part, he believed 4haL it was not simply au agricultural, but a national ibject, for it could answer no purpose that any great interest in that country should be depressed.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") It was of essential im portance that the food of this country should be procured at home, and not abroad—(Loud cheers from the Protec douists)—and he was on that account induced to be believe that a judicious outlay of capital, combined with sklll, enterprise, and industry, would not only be bene ficial to the agricultural interests, but to the country at large.—(Cheurs.) Now the proposal he was about to make was, to do that which was done in 1846, that is, to make further advances for the purpose of draining and the Letter cultivation of land.—(Loud cries of ' Hear.") Ho had the most satisfactory accounts from Ireland and elsewhere of the advantages already de eivsd, not only in the employment of labour, but in a profitable return for the outlay in the cultivation of land. He was of opinion that in this respect the advances would not be confined to those made by the Government for that purpose; he thought that private companies, when they discovered what was doing, would also come orward and advance loans, for he well recollected that twelve years ago, When they proposed raising a loan to cultivate sugar in the' Mauritius, this matter was after some time taken up by the merchants themselves, and car ried on by them. The last advance made to England and Scotland was two millions, and a gentlemen on the other dile of the Tweed evinced their readiness, by a priority if applications, to avail themselves of the offer, by ac cepting out of the two millions, 1,600,0001.—(Loud laughter from all parts of the House.) The sum appro priated to England was 372,000/, which, with a certain sum reserved for a contingency, made up the entire; fur ther applications were made for an additional 500,0001.; but he did not think himself called on to comply with them. He proposed, then, to advance an additional sum if two millions, and was prepared to reserve to England :he opportunity of making itself 'square for its former :oss—(A. laugh)—though ho would not refuse Scotland its fair proportion. With regard to Ireland, he pro oosed making as additional advance of a million. That a s e t u l t .; n t alreadyl in 11a8d49300510 received, malting 00. and oroposed to add to that sum 200 , 000 /., which would Make the total advance two millions, and that put it oa a footing with England. That he proposed to be ll(! a ex pended in arterial drainage, on which he found there had already been spent 858,000/., but in consequence of the works having been stopped—a circumstance which produced great injury by promoting fevers and other disorders, by the effect of open drains and incorn elete drainage—he now proposed they should be com pleted, and for that purpose 800,0004 would be advanced. Ireland would thus receive for improvements in land done 1,400,000/. lie said he would mention an addi ional reason why he should keep a surplus in his hand, and that was that he should be enabled t meet those advances without making any addition to the public lebt. He himself believed that the system of making advances from the public fund was not one which ought :o be of permanent continuance—(Loud cries of " Hear, near")—and he hoped that whoever occupied the situa ion he had then the honour to fill would be in a position to put a stop to them, the result of which would be that, for some years, the amount of these advances paid in would accumulate a considerable sum, which could be beneficially employed in reducing their national debt.— (Loud cries of " hear, hear.") These were the pro• oosals he had the honour to make to the House. On .tamps and bricks he had relieved the people to the amount of nearly half the sum he pos sessed as a surplus; in addition to that there would he a reduction in July next of 350,000/. on sugar, and in consequence of the existing state of things, he was pre pared to make an advance of three millions, two o England and Scotland, and one to Ireland, fur the better cultivation and improvement of land. He would then have in his hand 750,000/., which he would either apply to the reduction of the national debt or any con tingencies which may arise. Of that sum he intended to apply another sum of 250,000/. for the extinction of a debt which he found had existed from the time of the union with Scotland, as a charge on the public revenue of ten thousand a year, called an "Equivalent Fund." It was thought much better to put an end to that charge et once, by the payment of the 250,0001. he had men tioned, and after doing so he should still have a surplus of 500,000/., which he hoped the House would allow him to retain for contingencies. Sir JAI'.IES GRAHAM asked who received that money in Scotland? The CHANCELLOR, of the EXCHEQUER replied that it was paid to the "Equivalent Company," who wero principally members of the Bank of Scotland. He did not know if he could succeed in satisfying the agricultural community with the advantages thus afforded them; but a'l he should say was, that while he and the Go vernment with which he had the honour to be connected, felt themselves bound to resist their claims in look ing for the restoration of measures which would have the effect of taxing the community at large, they would be allays ready, as far as relief could be afforded, to do so on all occasions, believing, as they did, that a proper outlay of capital on the land would have the effect of raising that interest to prosperity as it would of provid ing food for their increasing millions, which was so in dispcn3ably necessary. It would require skill and energy on the part of the farmers, and a great outlay of capital by the owners of that soil, and they were ready to assist them by every means in their power. Thole measures, he telieved, would not only benefit the agri culturist!, but advance the interests of all classes in that great country. He did, however, hope that the House would support him in maintaining the surplus he had in Land, for he could not say how strongly he felt the ne cessity of such a course, and that was no now opinion of his, for he had before stated, that less than half a million ought never to be taken from the reserve fund of a Chancellor of the Exchequer. Since he had had the honour of filling his present situation, that was the first time he was possessed of a surplus; on the contrary, he had on several occasions been obliged to borrow, and he did not feel he would be acting the pal t of a❑ honest man, it' he did not urge on the House the necessity of reraying, as Boon as possible, the money which had been so bet rowed. —(Cbee:s.) Such a course was essent'al ti the main tenance of public credit, and the security of all property w.s beund up with the fulfilment of their engagements. —(Hear, hear.) He was far from supposing that those who called still further for a reducticn of taxation had the slightest intention of injuring the national credit; but if 'they were to borrow money, and, at tie same time, reduce taxation, there never would be an end to their increasing liabilities. The Right Hon. Gentleman having again expressed his anxiety that no new demand far a reduction of taxation for the present would be enforced, concluded by moving twat a sera of 9,200,0001. be raised in Exchequer-bills. Mr. LIUME' said the very gratifying manner in which so s:uell a reluetion of taxation to the country had been received ought to be a lesson to those who had hitherto been the great cause of its increase. He believed the relief it was proposed to give was a very proper relief as far as it went, but what he objected to was, that in the see.:ch they had just heard the Right Hon. Gentleman had merely confined himself to a statement of the surplus and the way in which he proposed to apply it, instead of making a geaeral statement of the taxation of the country, and giving his reasons why larger reduc tions could not have been effected.—(Hear, hear.) A budget should show what the whole taxation of the country was, and the reason the expenditure was pro posed to be made. He wanted to know whether the country was to expect any further reduction or not. So far as the reduction of the duty on stamps was con cerned, he believed it would be very beneficial, as would the abolition of the duty on bricks, but he must say he had very great doubts as to the pro priety of making any further advances to the land lords either in Great Britain or Ireland. Such ad vances were opposed to all sound principle, and never should be granted unless there was a strong necessity shown. Money was plentiful in other quai tors at pre sent, and therefore that necessity did not exist. He considered the advances already made to the landlords an ample compensation for any loss they might have sustained. He hoped the House would not support the measure, as he considered the proposal to keep such a surplus to meet these advances was of a most doubt ful character. The influence upon the sanita y con dition of the people of the window-tax was so important that it ought to be abolished, even if it left a small lose on the annual income, and nun the supposition that no farther reduction could be effected. But he believed that he could show how a saving of ten millions could be made. They hal often been told that they had a very small amount left upon which any reduction could be effected; but by a return he had moved for, of the half-pay and effective service of the army, navy, and ordnance for the last twenty-eight years, be found that the revenue in 1848 was, in round numbers, 57,000,0001.; the expenditure for the civil and military establishments was 30,427,000!.; thus leaving an amount of 27,000,0001. only that they could not deal with. He complained of the extravagant cost of our establishments. In the years 1832.3-4-5, the cost of the whole establishments and civil list did not exceed 21,000.000/ ; last year it was upwards of 30,000,000/. What reason was there for their not going back to that lower standard? The Government were bound to show good reasons for maintaining the increased establishments. No doubt if they were to become like Don Quixote, running round the world as mediators, as we had done for many years past, and meddling with every body's business but our own, he did not know where the expense of our civil and military establish ments was to end. The House would act with great indifference to the interests of the country, if they did not press for gr,at>r reductions, in order to compel the diminution of our establishments. Unless they refused to grant taxation, the Government of the thy, he did nit care nhat party they belonged to, would never make any reductions in these establishments. They hat heard from the Right Hon. Baronet of many reductions within the last three years. But he gave the Government no credit for that. If the House had granted a five per cent. income-tax, and allowed of a continued large expend.twe, these reductions would not have been made. By refu,ing that tax, the Government had been forced to make reductions amounting to nearly four millions, and he said they should, therefore, in the same way force further reductions. He was prepared to show the way in which the window tax, matt tax, and the tax on soap, could be all abolished without either danger to the public credit, or to the efficiency of the public establishments. He had no wish to detain the House, but he must complain that Ministers had made no state ment of the nature and necessity of our present expendi ture. The House, which professed to be the guardian of the public purse, neglected its duty; and in the state ment that night Ministers had omitted, for the first time, the usual statement that they had brought down the public establishment to the lowest point consistent with public efficiency. Upon what principle could the high salaries paid to judges, and other high officers be justi fied ? He did not mean to enter into details, but for the reasons he had given, the House should not be con tanted with the budget they had heard, and ought to de mand further reductions. He believed the House should sweep off one tax after another, and thus compel the Government to reduce establishments. If they left a surplus in the hand of any Government, whether Tory, Whig, or Radical, they would expend it.—(Hear.) lie thought the taxes on knowledge were productive of greater evils than a few millions of debt, and the Go vernment ought to be compelled by the House to carry out a fiscal system of removing every impediment to education and the diffusion of knowledge among the people. He should not then move any motion on the question, but he felt it to be his duty t i express the dissatisfaction he felt at the nature of the statement they had just heard. Mr. FRE WEN said, he must express great disappoint ment at the speech of the Right Hon. Baronet, because after the numerous deputations that had waited upon him and the Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell) it was fully expected that a reduction would have been proposed in the hop duty. It was the only tax that was imposed upon produce grown out of doors, and the duty varied so much in proportion to theivaried produce of the crop — which was of the most precarious nature—that in some years the people in that part of the country in which they were grown were thrown into bankruptcy from one end to the other. Some of the owners of hop farms had had one half of them thrown upon their hands. This was in a great measure the operation of the excise duty. He thought that when the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) reduced tho large duty upon foreign hope the ex cise duty should at the same time have been taken off. He believed that the i retention of the tax would cause universal dissatisfaction in the whole Weald of Kent and in his own district (East Sussex). The amount paid for labour alone was from 125,000/. to 180,0001. a year, and looking to the large expenditure on this head alone, it was too bad to have a direct tax of no less than 118,0001 a year thrown upon them. That was the amount of duty they had to pay last year, or rather with which they were charged, for some of it was not yet paid. He felt bound to state to the Committee that general dis content would be produced in the part of the country with which he was connected by the omission of which he complained. Mr. HODGES had also to express his deep disap pointment that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, af.cr all that had transpired, s h ou ld h ave t h ought i t hi s d uty to retain so obnc x i ous a tax, and one that pressed so heavily upon his constituents as the hop duty. He was, however, mistaken in supposing that these claims could be neglected with impunity. If the Right Honourable Gentleman continued t 3 act in this spirit, it would be the duty of those who represented the tiop•growing dis tricts, certainly he would consider it to be his own duty, to support every motion that might be made for reduc tion, in order that the Chancellor of the Exchequer might at lest final a surplus out of which ho could afford to abolish the hop duty. From the frequent interviews that had taken place between the representatives of the hop growers and the Government, they had every re s• son to expect, that in the statement which had just been made, a reduction of that duty would have been included; and he must concur in the feeling of disappointment which had been expressed by the Honourable Member for East Sussex. Sir 11. WILLOUGHBY said he did not mean to enter into any discussion upon general taxation, but merely to ask f u. a solution of two points which seemed to him to require a little further exploration. It had been as sumed that the surplus would be two millions. It was now reduced to a million and a half, and very properly so, for the reasons that had been given. His only doubt was, whether even that sum was not too large, because he fund in the charge on the rati,nal debt for the year ending. 1850, an addition of 13,0001. over the charges for the year ending 1849. Now, 13,0001. would represent a capital 0fd,000,000/. borrowed at 3 per cent., and he could not sae how, under the circumstances, the surplus coed i he a million and a half. The proposal to pay 250,0001. for the extinction of the equivalent fund : 5 - vlared to him to be a system of mere hocus pc,cus with public accounts, and he doubted very much the propriety of lending money to the landlords of any country, while we were, if not adding, at least not cutting down our own debts. Mr. COWAN said he regretted to learn that it was the intention of the Government to postpone until alter Easter the introduction of the Bill to regulate hanki. Much anxiety existed upon the subject in Scot land, and he should very much wish that the intentions of the Government with respect to it might be stated before Easter. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that the subject could not be brought forward before Easter, but that it should he brought forward as soon as possible afterwards. Sir DE LACY EVANS expressed a wish that some of the smaller receipt stamp duties had been remitted, particularly the threepenny stamp, which were felt as a great burden by many of the small traders throughout the kingdom. The Marquis of GRANBY said, that although he had not great hope of expec.ing from her Majesty's Govern ment measures of a remedial nature for the agricultural classes, still he was glad to find that the Right lion. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer - had prc fited by his experience of last year, and had introduced his statement earlier in the session. There were, un doubtedly, great clamours in the country for a reduc tihn of taxation, but h e th oug ht t h e ma i n t enance o f the public credit was a prior and more weighty con sideration.—(llear.) He found that petitions had been presented to the Right Hon. Gentleman for the reduc tion ( f the duties on tea, bricks, soap, malt, windows—in short, on all descriptions of articles. It was clear, how ever, from the recent political history of tbo country, that reduced taxation had not bonefittod the lower classes to the extent that was promised for it, or ex pected. The Right Hon. Gentleman stated, that since 1836 there had been no less than eight millions of taxes reduced. He also repeated what Mr. Iluskisson tsaiti in 1830, that the f:reat capitalists of the country wer e a songeki wealth, whilst th e p oorer an d m iddling classes of ety were not pr ogress i ng . H e (the M a rquisof Granby) had h o p e d a ll a l ong, that if that remission of tax 'dim was sell going on it might have averted t he state of things w hi c h Mr. Husltisson described. Look ing, however, at the reports of the Poor-law Commis' tieners, of the mining districts, and the other usual sources of information, he was led to the conclusion that the middling ce sees of society were not better off, n e r f withstanding the reduced t axat i on imposed upon them. he was told to I ok at the increa se o f the population, and the increase of , spiral, he would answer, that there might he an increase of the population, and an increase of ca pital, but it was not an increase of either. With refer" once to tee lab s uring classes of the coun try, the nig h- Hon. Gentleman admitted that there was grea t distress in the agricultural p o p u l a ti on , an d t h at a d m ission wen t some way toe ards remedying it.—(Hear, hear.) As t o what be said about the importation of corn not affect ing is price, he would al: him whether he believed that ten millions of quart ers o f corn cou ld b e i mpor ted wit" • out having a sensible effect on its price? It was imp s: sible to suppose that that co u ld b e th e case . Then late at the increase of taxation on the industrious claSsert Let them take the case of the farmer, and consider tha t taxes, which he could for mer ly p a y w i t h s i x q uartell f corn he could not now p a y w ith out n i ne quart ers. "Il e distress which would necessarily e nsue i n the strtiggt i which this new legi s l a ti on b roug h t, h a d been W e t ,t, prophesied by the Right Hon. B arone t w ho was t " - author of it, and he presumed that the remission of stare! ) duties on transfers of land, which the Government pr°' posed, was intended moat probably for this benefit. it l y i other measure was the r e p ea l o f th e d u t y on b r i c ks, wbic he thought would prove of very great benefit to tt lower classes. In th a t p o i n t o f v i ew h e thoug ht it a fair measure of justice, though, from a variety of circumstances, it could not f a il o f o p era ting , li ta t e great inequality. As a meas u r e f or th e re lief of st , tet i i landed interest, however, it wa s u tt er ly wor thless. vvt, regard to the measure for ad vanc i ng 2,000 , 0001. to YAW land and Scotland, and 1,000,000/. to Ireland, for drain,: age and improvement i f land, he agreed in opinion wit : the Hon. Member fur Montrose, that when money 'v a () to be had at the rate of 2i per cent., that measure til e was one which could not prove of great benefit to ts t landowners. Upon the whole, ho wever , re j o icing at 1 13 ` altered tone of the speech of his Ri g ht H on . Friend th e e ! Chancellor . of the Exchequ e r, r emem b er i ng that he ta t he was auxrous because be saw the advantage of g rt) :: ing our corn in our own co un t r y, as f ar as th a t WE" vel e . amble, of not trusting to for e i gn su ppli es f or that tattle —rejoicing at that favourable change in his opinion; seeing that he acknowledged that something migh t I done to mitigate the di: tress that prevailed in the agriett ; tural districts—lamenting at the same time that he h e r not done more in the way of relieving th e m from o ' l- dens which would have been an immense relief to OW% he was still pleased to that extent with the views Nelli e he had expressed on the subject. B u t firmly believ ing , that no mere reduction of taxation which be could offi.eLe could compensate for the 91,000,000/. men tioned by to Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for Wolverhensel on the first night of the session —beli ev i ng that the ° e l f, eff.ctual remedy was a return to that commercial sYs t e e ie from which they had of late years d e p ar t e d, he hure l tett ventured to exprets his opinion, that it would be t on e i necessary one day to revert to it ; and th a t if they t"eed not do so of their own accord the circumstances tf county would compelem o retrn. Mr. r EWART said he was glad u that the Govern reen et t had determined upon the abolition of the brick duty. ; was, in his opinion, a wise measure as well as aPO °ll l because the duty affected England only, Scotland alt),, Ireland being exempted either by law, or practically b • T o tLe effect of custom. The Right Hon. Gentlemeot t e , Chancellor of the Exchequer, had alluded to the O at "' brated speech of Mr. Huskisson in 1830. He r e/ I ' i; bored the words of that speech, and they apeear t er„ e s hon at the time exactly to describe the state of tut""e which then obtained. Only two alternatives presentetf themselves to his mind in the preterit conjunct:lre °6l financial affairs. Either they must consent to a rethl t taxation, or to a general se stem of direct tateaticee was impossible for the present state of things to Ptee consistently with the preservation of the trade of .be country. He was glad to bear the Chancellor ef, l t Exchequer express the opinio ns th a t h e h a d that Dlq b , uttered. They were the principles of Huskisson, 141 1, he hoped would lead to th e gra d ua l a b o liti o n of all noxious duties. which oppressed without benetill"a society; and if agricultural duties stood in nee u eu e reduction or repeal, ho should be most willing to in an endeavour to place them on a mee setisfactete footing.—(Hear, hsar.) Mr. NEWDEGATE said, th a t if Mr. littst eisoes he ° could be restored to that House, he would pause erese, sanctioned, with his deliberate and experienced 4 131 00 the application of those principles to the removal of th d restrictive systems which, in agricultural produce a° 01 . 0 navigation, he firmly believed had contributed /,? 3 , h io than all other causes to the commercial greatness or this country. The picture of financial matters which me sit Chancellor of the Exchequer had drawn was by un° 3 dit a very encouraging one. In one breath he took cr e tol d for the reduction of eight millions of taxation, and „eta them of continually decreasing exchequers 'wit" a the period of that reduction. He thought "0 delusion to say that prices of corn abroad could be "I precedent for prices at home, and ho felt it his ( h it t:- he could, to dispel it, which ie could from statistical -re turns published by the Board f Trade, and which w h e o i printed by order of the House of Commons on the " t ", - 0 April, 1843. Those returns contained the prices of e „ ° "tt in Denmark Letween the years 1815 and 1839, ae" er s appeared that the average price between those Y e " to was 295. a quarter, to which the expense of freight g , this country must le added, amounting to about, ebt a quarter. At Hamburgh, although the r d Honourable Baronet the Presid e nt of the 13 1 0 e of Trade had stated that the average PB 9 , of coin at that port, between the years 1839 and 2 7 t . was 435. 4d. per quart e r, it was i n f ac t on ly 263. and 3d. Between the years 1837 and 1846, both in ei g i v the average prices of corn were as follows:—At n o il 5 o; burgh, 263. 3d.; at Lubeck, 295. 4d.; at Dante,e, " ta m and at Stettin, 335. Bd. Upon that statement be , in er . lor fairly assume that, including a sum of ss. a enar bot e freight, corn might have been delivered from any Oft n eite ports within the tenses above stated, at the averag e t r t he of 355. a quarter. He had devoted many years ° h ot study of this subject, and regretted the delusions ty tn ie prevailed upon it, but he cou'cl not be surprised 51 o f re,ult when such errors were circulated by P ers°ll :e3l authority. He had given the prices between the Ye ars and 1846, because th ese were years when pr i c es we r v ea their natural level, before they were disturbed by nue° our ports thrown open to foreigners. It was 0 `, 4 - abt use to cite France and Belgium. There was n° r that these count r i es exported corn last year. In the ) I n c , of famine there were large exportations of corn from try, land, but th a t was caused by the poverty of the nOtinwao It was the same thing in France, the exportation caused by poverty. When he was in the United Sta tes t which occurred a few years since, be took the t ,P aiu r i e es. ascertain what would be the probable range 0 ' P.," hen Ile found that at New Orleans prices, from Sept p er 1843, to 1845, ranged on an average at 249. Su 'i j ose quarter; and, adding the expenses of transport St ev er, it it might be import e d a t 35 5 . t h e quarter . He, h°l l , to thought that the continent a l coun t r i es would he °v a se sell at lower prices. H e h o p e d t h e D o use would e% e him for adverting to these matt e r s , but he had don_as° because he believed the informati o n upon which be w . ga . these statements was auth e nti c . Tie trade an d navelea tion returns issued by the Board of Trade were canted lated to delude the public upon the subject. It was Y o rk in those documents that the expenses from NO 50 per sse'e eleven shillings the ba g , which was wa s cent. greater than the real amount, whi ch of not more than 6s. the bag. The Clln'teeeister the Exchequer alluded to th e p e riod of " sa s bances on the Continent, and a pp ea led to hir e i s , el honest man to recal the opinion w hi c h h e bal forrnerl rn ee pressed, that these disturb ances h a d no t i nur ed the era s of this country. Althou g h th e Iteeht Hon. Ge nt t al, was net then in his place he would answer that arr ee es and begged to sey that he did not thick the disturb,s t , t a on the Continent injure the t-ate of this co unty the extent whi c h w a s ascribed to it. Whatev er ' tha n vantage might have arisen from it, it was wore ba ck compensated by the number of absentees they ben t this country, and the influx of gold which was j inen t. mitted to this country for safer deposit and invest w ho The circular distributed by - Messrs. Gibson and O r d ' t her were free traders, stated teat tee troubles of 1848 ras aided the depression of that period, and exPte s . se , the opinion that nothing but a general war could held' ete • trade of this country. The relief which was n eti ., a r a posed for the agricultural interest was not more t it '', t he half per tent. upon what they were stated at " k ) rttg a- Membsr for Wolverhampton to have lost by the a e li t tion of the corn-laws. The Government held °Z o e° proepect cf effectual relief. He was glad they bad stea m that explicit declaration. It was too much the c ws , an to speak of the agriculture of the country as if i! 0 pro' insignificant interest—(" Hear, hear," from ow er tectionists)—but he was assured it was toe ful and energet i c to n d uere a s tate of T ep ee by which it was avowed it was given u p to less ruin. o f the Lord R. GROSVERNOR h a d h ea rd a portion ore, speech of the Cha nce ll or o f t h e E xc h e quer with e r n lees —(llear.) The Right Hon. the Chancellor of te dut t e s chequer admitted that the reduction of the teabot tap' would be a great boon to the co n s uming classe s ' eich it a rr peeled to the state of th e revenue , from tio n pared that at no f u t ure r eriod would a reducer a 9 those duties be possible. H e hail certainly h°l hav e his Right Hon. Friend h a d a su rplus, he ev°l.l e t! h ns ure. been prepared to propose a more courageous miss one It became his duty a short time ago to sig nal tax, than which there was not one on the statinv,,co.., more distinguished by want of principle and itt s i l it e ar, he meant the tax on the attornes' certificates. ttkienieo hear, and ironical cheers.) He y dared HOD. ( It" to the proof, and would give them an oppot tun•EY Dior. cussing the question after Easter, when he pledge (twit self to prove that there was no tax on the statuo teo tse more unjust in principle or more unequal or oler ees to in its application. But there were many other is the which the same observation would apply, !Ind the House recollect that these taxes were imposed dut7 ett ee. war, end were a disgrace after 35 years ofEuropealiseance He did not say that the amount of revenue _too, from these taxes was not required by the public sulneee but it ought to be obtainedther source. was another point to which r ho wi other sourCCC' the was another point to which ho wished to direct t ei he eu a n t ; tention of the House, and that was the enormous a_ l " be' of force all round England to guard our custot a u r s ' tio tee cause we chose to place on a certain number of eeo out so heavy a duty that the succesarul run of one catbog the of seven or eight was sufficient to remunerate brishe gler. He was very glad to find that the duty 01 ' t ee was likely to be removed. That no doubt wasis• which had been stigmatised by the Sanitary Co n gas sinners; but the window-tax, which was far enet e ois jurious, remained unrepetled.—(Hear, o _. t he , , Right don. Friend had also laid much stress "000 benefit which would accrue to the small occupier,s.., his proposed modification a the Stamp duties, PI"