The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-14 00:00:00

sOt
settionbge r, inthe
ars
about the same periods ; the current rates of premium or
rateea cohf i notfertehset on Exchequer 1 g. 137,
1113 i SI
i sasnude dlBa3t go
r
discount on the same in the public market; and the prices
_
of the 3 per Cent. Consolidated Annuities. Account of
the total net Income and Expenditure of the United King-
dom, in each of the twelve years between the sth day of
January, 1828, and the sth day of January, 1840, (la
continuation of the account annexed to the fourth Re-
port of the Committee on Finance in 1828, wherein the
same is exhibited from the year 1792.) Account showing
tile total sums expended for the service cf the Arms, Navy.
between the ith day of Jan. 1828, and sth day of Jan. 1840.
Ordnance, and Miscellaneous, in each of the twelve years
Ia doing so, he said that it was with great regret that
he found himself under the necessity of asking their atten-
tion for some time, but be considered the motion so impor-
tant, that he felt it his duty to go at some length, because
he had been given to understand that some portion of the
papers he wished for would be refused. He regretted
that he was obliged to make any statement at all. He
hoped that the information would have been granted as a
matter of course, and he would then have been saved the
trouble of wearying or detaining the House. He under-
stood that there was no objection to the papers he wished
for, except in one instance. He did not wish to move for
these papers without intending to use them upon a future
occasion : he considered them most important, and no
doubt they would call in question the financial measures of
the Government, especially in their management of the
unfunded debt. He proposed to call for information which
ought to be laid before the House, because it would give
the House the opportunity of seeing whether
the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and his predecessor in office, bad so
conducted that branch of the Revenue as to be conducive
to public advantage. Before he concluded his remarks he
believed he would be able to show that there bad been a
great degree of mismanagement in that office, and ho
trusted that, should he have been rightly informed that
the Government intended to oppose his motion, the House
would interfsro and furnish him with it. He understood
the objection to be urged against his motion was to be
confined to that part wherein he called for the estimate of
1840, and lie would confine his arguments strictly to that
point. Ile would guard himself against being misunder-
stood. Of course he did not call upon the Chancellor of
the Exchequer at the present moment—before the close of
his financial year—to open all his plans. His views did
not carry him so far. He merely required that there
should be laid before the House a correct view of what the
income of this country was in the present year. lie would
proceed then to satisfy the House that what he wanted
ought to be given, and if refused ought to be insisted on.
—( Hear, hear.) He might be told that the course he
was taking was neither usual nor customary. Hy might
be told that the period chosen was an improper one, He
would ask were we in a usual state of things with regard
to our finances?—( Hear, hear.) Was the state of our
finances in an ordinary condition ? Were they not rather
in a most unprecedented state,--( Hear, hear.) For the
last few years he, and those acting with him, had exer-
cised great forbearance towards the Government in calling
for information; nor did he think that forbearance had
been well repai. Thes had pushed this over from year
to year, sometimes from February till July, sometimes till
August, and then the information was obtained with the
greatest difficulty. In what situation, he would ask, would
the House stand before the country if they allowed such a
practice to continue through such an unexampled session of
financial difficulty as the present ? He was determined on the
present occasion, to avoid, as much as possible, resting his
case upon technical and financial grounds; the ground on
which he rested his motion was the broad principle of
justice. The Hon. Member for Kilkenny had on a former
evening cast some blame on the gentlemen on that side of
the House for not supporting him, but he thought blame
was undeserved. During the last two years it was too
well known to all whom he was addressing that the monied
interest of the country was in a peculiarly bad condition,
and that the working classes had been labouring under
great depression ; he had the admission of the highest authoe
rity in the other House that that depression still existed.
They had thought fit to make these statements, and they
had been made frankly—they bad been made freely--
they had been made without reserve.—( Hoar, hear.)
These words, which described mere fully than he conic
do the financial state of the country, would form the
ground-work of his modem-4 Hear, hear.) On the oc-
casion of certain inquiries made elsewhere, it had b ea
stated by the highest authority in the country—by the
first Minister of the Crown—by the first Minister of that
department which was peculiarly the subject of the pre-
sent motion—by the person most competent to give In-
formation on the subject. It had been stated by Lord
Meleouree, in answer to an observation of a Noble Lord
on the financial state of the country, " that that Noble
Lord had called public attention to what he rightly held
to be a subject of the most paramount importance, and
he could not but express his entire concurrence in all that
had been said by his Noble Friend. He entirely agreed
with his Noble Friend in all that he had said—he en-
tirely agreed with him in the approbation which he bad
expressed of the Sinking Fund, and in admitting the
present extremely disagreeable state of the finances."-
(Hear, hear.) This was frank.—this was fair—this teas
true.—(Hear, hear.) " Ile admitted to his Noble Friend
that a deficiency, continuing year after year, was a state
of things that ought not to be permitted to go on—that it
was a state of things that ought to be looked boldly in the
face, and that they ought to take measures for doing awe,
with the evil. He was afraid it must be admitted that not
being able to look into futurity, it would not be possible
to make any material diminution in our expellees. He
would not look forward to any material diminution in the
expense of our naval and military forcea."—( Hear, hear.)
This was true, and he hoped that no attempt would be
made at any diminution in the establishments of
the country. That statement was explicit. They
had nothing to do but to consider the remedy. That
s:atement required no confirmation, yet it had receive
confirmation from the highest authority—from the 9C'
cond in importance of the Ministers of State. The Noble
Lord who led that House had, with equal candour, is'
formed the House, that the necessities of the country were
such as to require an increase in the burdens of the coun-
try, and that the finances of the country were so much
impaired that the public service could not be carried oa
without augmenting them. The Noble Lord and the first
:Minister of the Crown, the highest authorities in the cowl'
try, had informed us that we were arrived at that Fos;
that it was indispensably necessary for the House and
the country to meet these financial difficulties
fairly in the face..— (Cries of Hear, hear, hear.)
The House should discharge its duty on the occasion,
severe and painful as it might be, and it certainly Was
painful to see the condition they were now in after twenty.'
six years of peace. They should eddress themselves to
the question with thin feeling, that, however unpleasant
the duty, they should, above all other things, consult for
the safety of the country. He had alluded to the objec-
tions that might be made to his motion. He bad, he
thought, stated enough to satisfy the House, that the nu'
usual circumstances of the country were more than coil;
mensurate with the want of any ordinary precedent which
he might follow. But he was not altogether without pre"
cedents in the call he was making. Ile found that former
Chancellors of the Exchequer had at periods, which were
not like the present times of great difficulty, followed
somewhat similar course. The Earl of Ripon, when be
had first entered on the office of Chancellor of the Exche.
quer during a brief administration, in which be (Mr. He!'
ries) had had the honour of taking an humble share ul
February, and during each year a statement and an esti: OA,'
mate of his revenue —( Hear, hear.) He also found
Lord Althorp, during the first year he had assumed big
office, had on the sth of February produced a clmPl!t".
estimate of these financial affairs. If he were told tb
that was an estimate made for the occasion, an
not in consequence of an order of the House, be should
say that he had a precedent of the Chancellor of the Ex'
chequer himself, last year, that such an estimate might be
produced in the form now asked. He should now desir
nothing more than that the Right Hon. Gentleman opn's
site would furnish him for the year 1840 with papers made
out after the fashion of those he had furnished in 183 T
If the Right Hon. Gentleman should tell him the est'.
mates had been produced late in the session, be (Mr. Her;
ries) should say that that did not alter the case in any WI%
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him to state what his new taxes might be or what 01;
extraordinary resources might be—or his balances
the Exchequer Bills he had paid—or the amount of
his issues. But he merely asked him that, under
the extraordinary circumstances we were in—under
those circumstances of just distrust and alarm which press
on us, they should be put in possession of all the informs;
tion which the Chancellor of the Exchequer could give $
to financial concerns. Was it too much to ask for informs
tion at such time and under such circumstances? he e°11,4
even ask if any House of Commons could justify itself to the
country, which, after the declarations that had been Ma„
upon the subject, would not be content to wait any longer Ws;
some explanations regarding it.--( Hear, hear.) It wce
impossible to estimate too highly the immense importau_a
of the subject, and the extreme solicitude which it excite__
in the public mind. If the Right Hum Gentlemen otelLvj
site were aware of the anxiety which universally prevaTig
in the matter, and of the perhaps exaggerated notions
s,'
with regard to the difficulties which it was supposed we ill'
be
to contend with—if he were aware of all this,
ed
would probably be as anxious as he now seernise
reluctant to accede to his motion.—(Hear, hear.) 0
( Mr. Herries) could assure the Right Hon. Gentler! is
that lie had spoken to no one who did not entertain lean_
on the subject, and who did not feel that it deeplY
'at
cerncd the safety, the honour, and the interests of
.t
country. Who did not feel anxiety at the information tnils
we had an increasing expenditure, which we 'wino cleaset
of retrenching? Who did not feel uneasy at the efr
which might be produced, both at home and abroad, sr
this most inconvenient and deplorable state of th,i:ll4.vg I
How was the Noble Lord to answer for the tranquillity e°/1
the country—how was he to keep down the Chartists, aws•
to restrain the encroachments of foreign powets—huwesee
he to maintain peace at home, unless he could show lose
means of maintaining adequate establishments for
that
sre
purposes?—( Hear, hear.) Would any one deny tb,,a,;00,
ought, at the earliest period, to receive all the .""