The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-05 00:00:00

DISTRESS-COLONIAL EXPENDITURE.

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The Duke of GRAFTON presented a petition from the
Gentry, Freeholders, and others, of the county of Suffolk,
complaining of distress, and suggesting the repeal of the
Acts which impose duties on malt and beer. Ile gave the
Ministers credit for their desire to economise, and promote
the interests of the country, and for the great measure
which they had carried towards the close of the last Ses-
sion of Parliament, he was disposed to believe that the
present Session would not pass away without their suggest-
ing some measure for the relief of the suffering population.
The Earl *of STRADBROKE bore his testimony to
the distress which, unhappily, pervaded every part of the
county from whence the petition came. Farmers, he said,
whose circumstances had been good, were under the ne-
cessity of disposing of their stock to the utmost disad-
vantage, to pay the demands made upon them. In almost
every parish were to be seen, working on the roads, from
20 to 50 able-bodied men, who could meet with no other
employment.—(Hear, hear.)—To inquiries made in every
town respecting trade, the answer was the same—" Trade
never was so dull—nothing is doing." The timber,
merchants, who, in 1814, sold timber at 6s. a foot, and
that readily, said that timber equally good could not now
be disposed of at any price. In short, all trades were
suffering with the agriculturists.

Lord-CALTHORPE—It was the bounden duty of Par-
liament to endeavour to ascertain the nature of the distress,
with a view of affording relief.—(llear.)—His Majesty's
Ministers were called upon to do their utmost to diminish
the burdens which pressed so heavily upon the people.
He, for one, was disposed to give the Government credit
for their sincere anxiety to diminish the expenditure of the
country, and thereby. afford relief to.the distress which un-
happily pervaded every part of the kingdom. He thought
that the taxes which pressed most upon consumption and
the raw material might be much diminished, and yet leave
the resources of the empire in a flourishing condition.
The Duke of WELLINGTON—My Lott's, I beg to
assure the Noble Lord, and the House will, I think, accord
with what I say, that his Maje.ty's Government are dis-
posed to afford every; information in their 'power on the
subject alluded to, and that they are disposed to afford relief,
the estimates which have been brought forward in another
place testify. ' Those estimates have been considerably di-
minished in the.present Session of Parliament, compared
with preceding' Sessions. So, also, were they 'greatly
diminished the last Session, in comparison with others.
My Lords, with' respect to diminishing the expendi-
ture, all that I can say on the 'subject is that every thing
which his Majesty's Ministers could do to reduce the
expences, consistently with the safety and honour of the
country, has been done. 'No expences exist, my Lords,
that are not absolutely necessary for maintaining the inte-
rest and honour of the country—extended as those inte-
rests are to all parts of the globe. Although it is per-
fectly true that this is an island, and only forms a very
small portion of the globe, yet the interests of the country
extend to all parts of the world, and must. be maintained
at the expence of the country.—(Bear.).-There are only
12,000,0001. of expenditure susceptible of reduction, and
within the last two years, 2,000,0001., on this particular
part of the expenditure, have been actually saved. There
are other parts of the expenditure which cannot be
touched. I do maintain, my Lords, that Government
have done all in their poWer in reducing the expences of
the country. With respect to • the military force, every
thing to diminish it had been accomplished. The number
of troops was lower than it was in the year 1792, if their
Lordships took into consideration the additional colonies
now belonging to the mother country. The military
establishment was lower now than at that period, taking
the facts to which I have alluded into consideration...-.
Your Lordships will not fail to bear in mind that the con-
quests made since 1792, and the necessity of having large
bodies of men in the colonies thus conquered. • There are
some parts of the world---some very important stations,—
necessary for the maintenance 'of the country—which
have been added since that period ; for instance, the Cape
of Good Hope, the Mauritius, Ceylon : in all these places
we had no stations in 1792. Then, again, in the Medi-
terranean, there Was• Malta added, and the lonian Islands.
All these stations, my Lords, require a considerably mili-
tary force. These colonies cannot be maintained without
expense." The Navy Establishment, as the Noble Duke
was understood to s3y, was at present higher; but there
had been a necessity of employing additional force in dif-
ferent parts of the world. Their Lordships, lie was per-
suaded, could not desire the stations to be abandoned, and
that they would consider that every diminution of expen-
diture had been resorted to, consistently • with the true
interests of the country.
Lord CALTHORPE explained.
The Earl of MALMESBURY said that there was one
point not adverted to by the Noble Duke, connected with
the colonial expenditure—a very important point—which
cost the country prodigious sums of money, besides the
lives of many valuable soldiers—a point upon which no
Noble Lord had dilated—he alluded to the colony of Sierra
Leone.—(Hear, hear.)—He was surprised that no Noble
Lord had called the attention of the House. to that sub-
ject. He believed that the maintenance of that colony
bad cost the country a 'million of money. Large as that
sum was, and lost as it had been, that was not the worst,
for thousands of lives had been sacrificed.—(flear.)—
He wished to know why that colony had not been aban-
doned? The expenditure was great, and, if saved, would,
afford some relief. There wete other colonies, the expen-
diture of which he wished to see diminished, and saw no
reason why such a course should not be adopted. At the
colony of New South Wales—the country had been
scarcely colonized in 1792—there were no less than two
regiments of infantry stationed, besides the large
civil establishments. The colony, however, to which he
had risen to call their Lordships' attention was the one he
had previously named—Sierra Leone. Both as respected
hutnarf ty and economy, that colony ought to be abandon.
ed. The Noble Earl then proceeded to speak of the Cur-
rency question, believing that part of the distress had arisen
from the state of the currency. The Noble Duke who
moved the Address, and the Noble Lord who seconded
it, both of whom were from Scotland, spoke of the
distress as being there comparatively light. In that
country their Lordships knew there was a piper cur-
rency ; and this he (the Earl of Melmesbury) believed was
the reason why distress was not so prevalent nor so great
as here.—(Hear.)—He also thought that the state of the
Poor Laws contributed not a little towards the distress of
the country.—(Hear,)—This was a subject well deserving
the consideration of the House. First, the mode of assess-
ment, next, the appropristion of the money collected. The
tax called poor-rates was applied to other object*. The
subject was, however;likely to be brought forward for (lit-