The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-17 00:00:00

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.

Lord PALMERSTON, in answer to a ques-
tion from Mr. Sanders, said that he under.
stood it was the intention of the Danish Go-
vernment, on the 27th of the present month,
to impose a blockade of the ports of Schleswig and
Holstein. The matter, however, was now under
consideration, and he hoped the intention would not be
carried into effect.
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.

On the motion of Mr. PARKER, it wes agreed that
;he House at its rising should adjourn to Monday.
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.

On the question for going into Committee of Supply,
Mr. HUME said he had two motions on the paper,
one relating to the reported explosions from fire damp,
and the other having reference to the public expenditure.
By the new rules, however, if he proposed the
first, he should be precluded from bringing
forward the other, and therefore, as the
latter was of a more pressing nature than the
first, be should postpone the motion relative to the mines
till the next Supply night. Now the second motiun was
as follows :—" That, in the present state of the finances of
the country, her Majesty's Ministers, before calling on
this House to vote the estimates for the public service.
should submit a general financial statement of the whole
or exeected revenues, and the total intended expenditure
for the ensuing financial years;" and in the present state
of the public mind it became the duty of the House to ex-
act such a sestemt nt from Government. If the motion
were irregular or unconstitutional he should be the last
to press it upon the House, but when he recollected
what had taken place on former occasions on the
part of different Administrations, he could not
help feeling that they ought to have a
budget detailed to them before they voted
the money, particularly when he remembered that last
session they had no less than three financial statements,
and yet at the end of the session they had to borrow
money to make up fur deficiencies.—(Hear.) The House
ought to be put in possession of an estimate of the re-
ceipts and expenses of the country, in order that
the [louse might have the power of bringing the esti-
mates within the revenue. Ministers had the means t,f
ascertaining with tolerable accuracy, or at least within
half a million, whet would be the expected revenue
of the country, while they ought by this time to have
made up their minds as to what the expenditure would
be.—(Hear, hear.) The House, perhaps, was no:
aware that it was usual for the Administration, in the
month of November, to call on the different departments
t prepare their estimates; and the House ought not
to be called upon to vote a single shilling until it was
putin possession of the estimated receipts and expenditure
of the country.—(Hear.) The House was the trustee of
the public accounts, and it behoved every Member to ex-
amine them with the same care as if they were his
own.-- (Hear, hear.) At all events, if Government
would not accede to his motion, he could only come to
one of two conclusions—either they had not made up
their minds as to the expenses of the country, or they
were afraid to state them. They were afraid,
perhaps, to bring the expenditure forward now
for fear it should raise up such an opposi-
tion against them as would be difficult to contend
against; but fortunately this was no party question. It,
was nothing that affected either Whig or Tory, and as
therefore there was no matter of political partizanship
involved in this motion, he called upon Members of
both parties to give it their support.—(Hear, hear.)
Now, he could say no more on general principles. It
there was any thing, or any circumstance, that could
take the public accounts out of the category in which he
had placed it, or out of the prudent course which he had
recommended, he hoped they should hear some valid
reason for preventing its being adopted, and he should
bow to that reason, if he was convinced by it.
He had looked for the last eighteen years at the system
of the country, but he thought it necessary only to appeal
to a few years, and he could not see how he would be
more likely to impress Hon. Members and her Majesty's
Government than by ca'ling to their recollection what their
first act was on succeeding to the Government in 1830.
On that occasion Lord Althorp, on behalf of the then
Whig Government stated (and he believed there never
was a more honest man to his (Mr. Hurrie'e) knowledge
within those walls—(Hear)—he would have taken the
word of Lord Althorp as soon as the bond of most men)—
when he introduced his budget on the 11th of February,
that he considered it his duty towards the Government
and the House to be fully prepared to state not only
what the revenue, but also the expenditure of the country
would be expected to be, and the changes which they
intended to submit to the House. t Lord Althorp on that
occasion said, " The estimates were then not all on the
table, but he was anxious to state what reductions
the Government had made, and what they in-
tended to do." He (Mr. Hume) wished
they were now in a situation to follow
the example of the Noble Lord Althorp on that oe-
casion, for he stated first that the income of the country
was then 50,000,0001. Then in the last year the
expenditure was 59,000,0001. and upwards. Hare,
then, was 10,000,0001 of increased taxation, the re-
sult of the administration of the public funds from
that iperiod.—(hear.) He stated these circumstances
with deep regret, for he never experienced
more satisfaction with any opinion expressed in that
House, than when he heard the Noble Lord state, and
repeat again and again, that retrenchment, non-inter-
ference with foreign states, and economy and reform,
were to be the grand principles on which the Govern-.
ment would act. It was re-echoed by Lord Grey in
another House; and although a number of years had
passed, yet Honourable Members would recollect that
period, and he would put it to them to say whether that
declaration did not afford great satisfaction to the coun-
try—(Hear, hear.) He believed Lord Althorp, so long
as he lived, maintained and kept to these principles.
Since] Lord Althorp's time, he (Mr. Hume) was sorry
to say that rule had not been observed. On the contrary,
now instead of being in a condition to enjoy what we
relief from feroomf taxation,peacen weme 11;yr:talc/I xt
actually,
fortlogmh ought toburdens enj enjoy
andy in
in round numbers, to ten mil-
since that period, been subjected to those heavy'
oarem"thaat3g'the expenditure of that period.
lcihoanrsgems,
He wished the present Administration would follow
Althorp'slirhigexaGniple. Now, be said Lord
Government of that day, having
AlthorpLord
and
the
adopted that course before calling on the House to vote
donoessoinngolewpHe
shilling,
why did the present Government not
therefore, said the House was bound
to call on her Majesty's Government to do the same.
Much, however, of the objection which he entertained to
tho expenditure of the Government with which Lord
Althorp was connected was at that time relaxed, be-
cause the Government were carrying on measures of
reform calculated to benefit the people. He confessed,
however, that his Hon. Friend behind him was right when
he had stated that he had been "hoodwinked,"
and in that fact the House and the country had been
induced to assent to that increased expenditure in the
same way as Sampson's locks had been shorn
by Delilah.—(Laughter.) The way in which the
Noble Lord proposed his budget of last year would never
be forgotten, since it had led to a storm which had
brought about very largo reductions. And hero he
would take occasion to observe that, whether the

Government in office was Whig or Tory, all he
wanted them to do was to put on the screw.—(Bear.)
Whilst the estimated expenditure of last year was
54,5961001., the real expenditure was 59,000,0001.
This was what reform had done ; and yet he
had never asked for reform except that the King, and
Lords, and Commons might be removed out of
the power of the oligarchy, and that the Government
of the country might be carried on at a moderate
rate. The Reform Bill had endowed the middle-classes