The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-25 00:00:00

TERMINABLE ANNUITIES BILL.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXLICHEQUER said, in
moving the second reading of the bill, he must begin
withwith a confession on his own part, and at the same time
a plea in mitigation of any blame that might be
due to him. He must confess that he ought to have
given a much fuller explanation of the measure in order
to convey a clearer idea of it to the house. But the house
would understand that
made involved such amass the financial statement annually
of varied matter that
he was unwilling to add an lafour to a speech which of ne-
cessity was already too long for the purpose of entering
requisite to enable the
into all the details which
House to understand the naturereefproposal which he
havelinich . endea-
vour recommended. He would, in thethe
incautiously used.
your to obviate any misapprehension first
place,
opinions
alt arisen out out of words that he may might have
It was true that in the financial statement he
cipally, in connection with this subject, u
he thought were coming more and more into vogue withwhich
respect to the supply of coal. His intention N 7,,,, not to
make those opinions the basis of a proposition, but to em-
ploy them in reinforcement of the ordinary considerations
which he thought they might safely take for granted as
belonging to the fixed financial policy of the country
considerations amply sufficient to justify the proposal he
now made. On the evening on which that statement was
submitted to the House, the right hon. member for Ox-
fordshire, with his usual discernment, observed that the
proposition was a somewhat small one when measured
with reference to the prefatory reasons by which it was
introduced. He thought that observation was a just one.
Buttepprerefauttory reasons—which might be dispensed with
se
if he
isolated matter
--were
were to be judged simply as an
House c,onsideratio-7ere intended to bring to the mind of the
in the measure_to 111.1 somewhat wider than those involved
adopting ame nsadurations connected with the policy of
re decisive
course, not only in the present,
but in future years, with
He had not regardst to our action upon the
public debt.
of England was exclusively dependent
either that the greatness
they were to look forward to therndent upon coal, or that
treated coal as a peculiar
element
iexhanstion of coal. He
the
land, largely contributing not only greatness of Eng-
land,
but in particular to their commercial
that greatness in
over other countries, and that was the point
precedence
essential to keep in view. That England would
wowhich it was
her coal keep an equal place in the race he liatiinan d with
doubt. But it was her precedence in the race reason
to
she had already made—it was her maintenance of that start,etart
it was the increased development from year to year which
he had exhibited—it was the speciality in her condition
which enabled her., to produce and send to market the
largest quantity of the cheapest coal in the world. These
were considerations which could not be presented in the
form of determinate propositions, but they were considera-
tions of great weight at the present day. He adhered to the
general scope of those observations, but with the explana-
tion that they were indeterminate, and afforded consider-
able scope for debate. Returning to the precise points in-
volved in the bill, he had two propositions to submit to the
house. First of all, a portion of the argument ho had hoard
from the hon. member for Salisbury, and a portion of the
argument he had heard in various forms on the subject of
the bill, was to be met by this observation, that the policy of
paying off the public debt in fixed portions from year
to year under the form of terminable annuities had .