The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-16 00:00:00

HUSH PAUPER'S IN GLASGOW.

Mr. A. HA STIE presented a petition from a parochial
board of the city of Glasgow, pointing out the enormous
influx of paupers from Ireland into thtt city, and praying,
as one means of preventing this, for the enactment, by
the House, of regulations restricting the number of
steerage passengers carried between Great Britain and
Ireland.

RELATIONS WITH NAPLES.
Mr. URQUHART rose to ask the Foreign Secretary
whether the accuracy of statements made by him to the
House had been impugned by the Gover❑ment of the
King of the Two Sicilies; whether any communications
on the subject have passed between the two Govern-
ments, and whether he will put the House in possession
of such communications?
Lord PALMERSTON said, that with respect to the
statement which had been made respecting the call of
Lord Minto to Naples, he had been informed that the
Prince Castelcicala had contradicted it in the Neapo-
litan Parliament. He bad at the same time to say that
the statement was not altogether unfounded.
Mr. URQUHART said that the Noble Lord had not
touched the question in that part of it which related to
the invitation of Lord Minto to Naples.
Lord PALMERSTON replied that he bad formerly
expressed an opinion respecting the invitation of Lord
Minto to Naples. He had received a letter in which, he
believed, it was expressed that the King of Naples was
anxious for the presence of Lord Minto, but, on further
investigation, he found that such was not the case. He
(Lord Palmerston), however, had received several inti-
mations that the presence of his Noble Friend would be
agreeable to the King, and be likely to lead to beneficial
results.
Mr. URQUHART was proceeding to press further
questions, when he was interrupted by loud cries of
miler, and was at length stopped by the Speaker, who
intimated that the Hon. Gentleman could not address
any other questions than those of which he had given
notice.
Mr. URQUIIART then begged to ask when the
Nobe Lord would lay the papers on the subject upon the
table.
Lord PALMERSTON, this day week.
THE POOR LAWS.

Mr. BAlNES,irrieili to questions of
i Sir J. Pack-
ington, as to whether he intended to introduce any
measure f, r an alteration of the law of settle-
ment, said that Mr. King was at the present moment
engaged in diferent parts of the country in obtain-
ing inforroa,tion, and part of it bad already been re-
ceived, but the Board were not yet prepared to make
any further alteration in the law. Further, he might
say that it was his intention to bring in again during
this session the measure which he had introduced during
the last, but he did not intend it to touch the mode of

Mr. WILSON PATTEN wished to know when the
Bill to which the Right Hon. Gentleman had referred
would be introduced. Be was anxious to know whether
it would be introduced before Easter or not.

Mr. BAINES said that the measure would not be
introduced before Easter.
POOR-LAW BOARD.

Mr. Ii UME wished to know whether in the course of
the present year they might expect any reduction in the
large amouLt that was now appropriated for the support
of the Poor-law Board.

Mr. BAINES said that if the Hon. Gentleman would
give notice of his intention to put the question on a cer-
tain day, ho would giva him an answer.
Mr. HUME said that he would put his question on
Monday next.
• ANTIGUA.
Mr. MACKINNON seeing the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer in his place, wished to put to him a question
relative to Antigua. A few years ago an earthquake
took place in Antigua, and, in consequence, a loan of
100,0001. had teen made to them payable, with interest,
by half-yearly instalments. He wished to know when
the first half-yearly instalment might be expected, and
whether any interest had been paid.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that last year an act had been passed for the postpone-
ment of the payment of the principal; but the half-
yearly payment of the interest was not touched by that
act.

VOTE BY BALLOTT.
Mr. IL BERKELY, in answer to a question from Mr.
B. Osborne stated that he had already prepared a
measure with respect to the vote by ballot at elections,
and that, h intended to bring it forward alter the Easter
recess.

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.
Lord PALMERSTON, in answer to a ques-
tion from Mr. Sanders, said that he under-
e aT
he blockade
matter, o f
however,the port
was
u uw
stood it was the intention of the Danish Go-
vernment, on the 27th of the present month,
te)
Holstein.im p oSchleswig
underand
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
the 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, he should postpone the motion relative to the mines
till the next Supply night. Now the second motion 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 expected revenues, and the total intended expenditure
tor 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 statement 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:rememberd 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 for deficiencies.e--(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 House might have the power of bringing the esti-
mates within the revenue. Ministers had the means of
ascertaining with tolerable accuracy, or at least within
half a million, what would be the expected revenue
of the country, while they ought by this to have
made up their minds as to what the expenditure would
be.—(Hear, hear.) The House, perhaps, was not
aware that it was usual for the Administration, in the
month of November, to call on the different departments
to prepare their estimates; and the House ought not
to be called upon to vote a single shilling until it was
put in possession of the final 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
oown.—(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 bo difficult to contend
against, but fortunately this was no party question. It
was nothing that affected either Whig or Tory, and as
therefore there vies no matter of political partizanship
involved in this motion, he called upon Members of
both parties to give it their support.—(Hear, hear.)
Now, be 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 bear some valid
reason for preventing its being adopted, and he i hould
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 bo

more likely to impress Hon. Members and her Majesty's
G,vernment than by ca'ling to their recoil( ction what their
first act was on succeeding to the government in 1830.
On that occasion Lord Althorp en behalf of the then
Whig Government stated (and he believed thE re never
was a-more honest man to his (Mr. Hume's) know lelg,r.
within those walls—(Bear)—he would have taken the
word of Lord Althorn 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 charges which they
intended to submit to the House. Lord Althorpe on that
occasion said, " The estimates were then not all on the
table, but he was anxious to state what the 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 Althorpe on that oc-
casion, fur he stated first that the income of the country
was then 50,000.000/ Then in the last year the expen-
diture was 59,000,000/. and upwards. More. then, was
10,000,0001 of increased taxation, the result of the ad-
ministration of the public funds from that period. So far
therefore (and 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 Althorpe, so long
as he lived, maintained and kept to these principles.
Since Lord Althorpe'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
ought to enjoy in a time of peace, namely, relaxation
from burdens and relief from taxation, we have actually,
since that period, been subjected to those heavy
charges, amounting, in round numbers, to ten mil•
lions more than the expenditure of that period.
He wished the present Administration would follow
Pe;sVhigexample. Now he said Lord
Government of that day, having
before calling on the House tolvote
n did the present Goiernment not
aoLAdoi
oetr
phd Althorp
adopted
dp
single A
that
andl
shilling,t l
o ther
courset
why
do so now? He, 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
the 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 let to a storm which had
brought about very large reductions. And here 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.—(Hear.)
Whilst the estimated expenditure of last year was
54,596,C00L, 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
with vast power, and if they had neglected their duty,
they were now smarting for it. With such an expendi-
ture the distress of the country could not be a matter of
surprise.

Much disorder prevailing in the House,
Mr. HUME complained that he could not bear
himself read, and humorously referred to a ludicrous
mistake into which one of the Members of
the Government had fallen dnring the debate.
The other night when a Right Honourable
Baronet, according to his account had fallen into a nap,
and hearing one exclamation from his (Mr. Hume's)
lips, had put a construction upon his words which
were altogether foreign to their real meaning.
The Honourable Member then proceeded to continue
reading an extract from a speech of Sir Robert Peel, in
which the Right Hon. Baronet had called upon the
Ministry of the day to render a full account of the
means from which they were to obtain the sup-
plies before they were granted. He then con-
tinued to say that if he were to talk till four
o'clock in the morning he could add nothing to the force
of that appeal. He had uow cited the authority of three
Ministers, Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, and Lord
Althorpe, all eminent men, and he sincerely trusted that
the Government would now follow their example, and
present a regular balance-sheet to the House, so that
that its Members and the country at large migh
might understand what they were about. If they
refused, ho should certainly divide the House; and he
called upon Hon. Gentlemen on all sides to support him.
Mr. Hume th< n concluded, by reading the motion of
which he had given notice.

Sir H. ILEOUGHBY, in rising to second the mo-
tion, said that though he differed H idely from his Hon.
Friend the Member for Montrose on many points he was
always happy to fullow him on a financial question like
this.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER an-
nounced his attention of resisting the amendment, and