The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-19 00:00:00

CIIURCH RATE,

In reply to Sir J. TRELAWNY,
Mr. S. ESTCOURT said he considered that ho entered
into an engagement with the l=ouse to bring on the subject
of the church rates unless ',:ievernment took the initiative.
Ho proposed to bring on a motion on the subject next
Friday.

_
I.
Mr. M AGUIRE gaveDISTRESS notic N IRELANDe
that on Friday week ho
would draw the attention of the house to the distress pre-
vailing in the south and west of Ireland, and to ask the
Government questions in reference to the same.
CUSTOMS' INLAND REVENUE BILL.
On the order of the day for the third reading of this bill,
Mr. DISRAELI rose to draw the attention of the house
to the existing state of the finances of the country. He
contended that the defence of the country and the mainte-
nance of our empire were matters of paramount importance,
and he was not one of those who would imperil them
merely with a view to financial retrenchment. (Hear, hear,)
At the same time he thought that, in the present state of
the finances of this country it was necessary that there
should be the greatest eoonomy in the public expenditure.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his statement the other
evening, made an admission that the finances of the country
were not in a healthy condition, and yet there was no pro-
position on the part of the Government to restore it to. a
sanitary state. He contrasted the expenditure
_HI
regard to military and naval matters between
and the present year, and contended that the present~
expenditure for this department
them were
ser-
vice was uncalled for. In the formerr yearand no doubt
exceptional demands on the next ye.lre;nan _B,
d but there
of the public
last year there were also exceptional d
of 0,000,000 in the
was nothing to justify the increase
The right hon. gentleman
military and naval expenditure..
criticism as to the style of
having indulged in some caustic,.
iii
introducing his finan-
cialthe Chancellor of the Excheqtue
greatest powers were ex-.
the state of Europe, where the
that called for a
symptoms
of tranquillity, . huge
hibiting
expenditure.
The noble lord .at the head of her
statement, contended
military
Government had candidly stated the reason that
etaorr,ivafrletmhetheConservative maritime p o
w benches.).
Majesty's
rern tehathethern was nothing really in,
ment in its military expenditure, vin ,5
influenced Go
, Hear,
polder of this
that France wantedh ~
country. 1/4‘‘
t important
That was a moat
.matter to be understood. If
the desire of the Emperor of
such were the French, then,
he stated emphatically that it Was not policy of this coun-.
try to be in alliance with France. He contended that the,
fleet of England should stand in the position of the army
of France, and he objected to the fact of the number of iron
ships in the French navy being taken as a teat of the
relative strength of the navies .of the two
countries. He appealed to the House to approach this
subject in a practical spirit. They must consider that
France was either a friend or a foe. If the latter, then he
contended that all the discoveries of science should be libe-
rally applied to enable us to compete with so extraordinary
a rival ; but if, as he believed was the case, that France
had no desire to supersede the maritime supremacy of this
country, then the present war expenditure was altogether
uncalled for, and was most reprehensible. (Hear, from t
thehe Opposition. The right hon. gentleman then assailed
unaltered
foreign policy of the Premier, what he said winur
0.
the
from that pursued in 1R57, 11;4 which %%Pi!
8 rilee of peace.
principle of maintaing a war armament in
(Htar, hear.) It might be said that he
was
of theas inconsistent
in not hawing opposed the financial statement
Chancellor of the Exchequer when it was delivered.
[LEFT SPEAKING.]