The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-09 00:00:00

had the power ea promoting whosoever she liked, and sho
might make as many dukes, and lords, and captains,
and majors ag she liked. wherever she went—(Elear,
hear, and great laughter)—but with respect to this
especial case b e would remark that the original
intention of the brevet was to promote officers el extra-
ordinary meri.. The rule had, however, degenerated,
and the late brevet had added at least 100,0001. a year
to the taxation of the country.—(Hear, hear.)
Such was the case with the several brevets
which had taken place prior to the year 1833;
but instead of the brevet being a grant of the Crown it
had been perverted into an organ of Ministerial patro-
nage.—(Hear, hear.) Such it ought not to be; and so
long as the system was continued be should protest
against any of those infranctions of that paltry economy
which was so injurious to the public interest.
Colonel DUNNE expressed his regret that such a
scanty brevet had been issued on the occasion of the
royal visit.
Mr. B. OSBORNE hoped the Hon. and Gallant
Gentleman would not press the motion to a division.
He was one of those who thought a brevet ought never
to take place, but if it did, it ought to be fairly dis-
tributtd, and be given to old officers, and not to young
officers who had seen no service. He was compelled
to say that an undue preference had been shown in
the distribution cif the brevet in Dublin.

Colonel RAWDON hoped that the Gallant Member
would not press his motion. •
After a few words of explanation from Major
BLACK ALL, the motion was withdrawn.
SUPPLY.—REDUCTION OF EXPENDITURE.
On the question that the Speaker leave the chair,
previous to the House going into a Committee of Elepply
on the Army Estimates,
Mr. COBDEN presented a petition from Liverpool.
signed by 30,000 persons, in favour of the principles
of financial reform. He complained of the manner
in which the expenditure of the country was submiit:d
to the Legislature, so different from the method of
other constitutional countries, because when the esti-
mates were brought forward in the House, any
material alteration which might be made in them was
taken as a vote of want of confidence. The manner in
which be had brought his motion forward was not with any
such view, but it was simply to ask the House to come to
a resolution embodying a return to the taxation of 1835.
This course was no: a new one-1792 had been the
standard the Whigs had quoted and wished to return to
for a quarter of a century. He should ask the Government
to show reasons why they would not sanction a gradual
return to the standard of 1835. With the permission
Of the house he would read a few figures showing the
relative difference of expenditure in the years
1836 and 1850: —ln the year ending the sth
of January, 1836, the interest of the national
debt, fended and unfunded, was 28,514,0001.; in the year
ending the sth January, 1850, it was 28,323,0004;
the army expenses were in the first-named year
6,460,0001., in the latter year 6,549,0004; the navy ex-
penses 4,990,000/. and 6,942,000/. respectively. The ex-
penes of the Ordnance department in the first year
amounted to 1,151,0001., in the last year te 2,323,000/.,
and the civil expenditure 4,225,000/, and 6,732,000/.
fur the respective years. When he brought forward
his financial statement last year he had stated that
the excess of expenditure during the preceding
year over that of 1835 was upwards of 10,000,0004
According to the estimates he found that the relative
amounts of expenditure, in 1849 and 1835, were
53,550,000/. against 44,395,000/. He was not stating
the matter from the estimates of the present year,
but from last year ; and by that it appeared
that the excess of expenditure of 1850 over 1835
was 6,453,0001. But taking the estimates of the ensuing
year, he thought that a million further at least would be
saved, making the total difference 5,500,000/. Well,
that was encouraging, but it only showed that
however desirous the Ministry might be of econo-
mising, there was such a pressure from with-
out, such an urgency from the several profes-
sional departments of the state, that unless the Govern-
ment were backed by a stern determination of that
House they would never be able to accomplish that
which they very possibly desired.—(Hear, hear.) How
then was he to effect that saving? He would now show.
It was to be understood that he had to deal with an ex-
cess of 6i millions. He proposed, in the first place, to
reduce the army and navy and ordnance estimates
by 5,820,000/. The remaining 630,0001. he intended to
take from the civil expenditure, and from the expense
of managing the office of Woods and Forests, which
he suggested should be placed under batter management.
He thought that the Hon. Gentleman would agree with
him that these were things which ought not to be re-
peated. (Hear, hear.) If they east their
eyes over this long list they would find many
things which would riot have been allowed in
this day, and which never could be repeated.—(Hear,
hear.) But still they required a strict supervision by
this House.—(Hear, hear.) In looking over those
many items, and considering the cases of many
of the parties receiving pensions, he found
that it was not unreasonable to expect that a very con-
siderable saving would accrue to the state every year.---
(Hear.) He next came to salaries and allowances, and in
alluding to that portion of the subject he might observe
that Hon. Gentlemen opposite would agree with him
in first noticing the large sum expended for the support
of a number of Commissioners.—(Hear. hear.) lie
thought we had too many commissions. He should pre-
fer:to commissioners one well-paid responsible, intelligent
functionary.—(Hear, hear.) When Home Ministers and
Foreign Ministers are entrusted with such powers as
they possessed, he could not understand why they should
not give to an individual of good talents and character
the responsibility of commissioners. The work would be
better and cheaper done by such an individual than it
would be by a board of commissioners.—(hear, hear.)
fie believed it was Jeremy Bentham who said that a
board was a screen; and it Ras nut a bad one. He next
came to the diplomatic salaries and pensions. Now there,
he thought, they had a rich harve•et to reap.—(Sitar,
hear, and laughter.) They had a sum of 172,395/. as
the total charge for one }air for diplomatic services and
pensions. From the detials of that charge he would give
them a few instances. There was a sum of 10,0001. a
year to the British Ambassador in France; 9,9001. a year
to the British Ambassador in Austria. Now, let them
just see what were the charges incurred under the same
heads by the Government of the United States ; and
let it be borne in mind, that although he was ready
to grant that no comparison could fairly be insti-
tuted between the expenditure necessary for the
head of the state under a monarchy like this, and the
head of a republican government like that of the United
States, he thought he was justified in contending that
there was no good re anon why the necessary expenses of
the representative of the one country at a foreign court
should greatly exceed those of the representative of the
other country at the same court. The British Ambassa-
dor at Paris received 10,000/. a year, the American Am-
bassador at Paris received '2,000/. a year; the British
Ambassador at Vienna received 9,9001. a year, the
American Minister at Vienna received 1,000/. a year;
the British Ambassador. at Constantinople received
6,300/. a year, the American Minister at Constantinople
received 1,300/. a year; the British Envoy at St. Peters-
burgh received 6,6001. a year, the American Envoy at
St. Petersburgh received 2,0001. a year.—(Hear, hear.)
He believed that many of those charges ought to be sup-
pressed altogether. There was, for instance, a sum of
3,4004 for a Minister in Hanover, and there was a sum
of 4,000/. for a Minister in Bavaria. Now, he could see no
necessity for either of those charges; and he believed that
in private they were denounced by every Member of this
House, whatever might be the language which Hon. Gen-
tlemen held upon such subjects in public. Every one was
aware that such functionaries could do no good, while
they sometimes did mischief. His (Mr. Cobden's) firm
belief was, that they might reduce the cost of their diplo-
matic services by one-half ; and even then they would
be paying twice as much as the people of the United
States paid for the same services. He came next to the
courts of justice. Under the head of courts of justice in
the civil expenditure he found for the year ending the
sth of January, 1850, a charge of 1,105,0001.; while
during the year ending on the sth of January, 1836, the
cost under the same head amounted to 430,0001. It was
true that that increase had arisen mainly from the
transfer to that item of a sum of 551,000/. for the Irish
constabulary force. But he still thought that a con-
siderable reduction might be made in the salaries and
expenses of our judicial establishments. He was one of
those who considered that it would be very bad economy
to pay judges too low; but he also believed that there
was great room for a reduction in the salaries of our
judges when he found them amounting to sums of 5,000/.,
6,0001., 7,0001., and 8,000/. a year. In Ireland, in parti-
cular, he found that salaries were paid to the judges
wholly disproportioned to the resources and condition of
that country. One judge in Ireland received not
less than 8,0001. a year, while in the United States the
highest judicial functionary in the world, the judge of the
Supreme Court at Washington, who decided interna-
tional disputes between the several states and interpreted
with his colleagues without appeal, the constitution
of the United States, received only 1, 2001. a year, and
some of the most eminent men of the age had filled that
post. Then there were the miscellaneous charges on
the Consolidated Fund, which had amounted to 388,0004
last year, against 274,000/. in the :year ending sth of
January, 1836. He found that out of the sum so spent
last year upwards of 50,0001. had been devoted to de-
fraying the 'costs of commissions in Ireland. Now,
surely these commissions were not to last for ever, and
some of them might he believed be managed at less ex-
pense. He next passed to the great item. of miscella-
neous charges on annual grants of Parliament which
had amounted last year to 3,911,000/. against 2,144,0004
in the year ending on the sth of January, 1836. Under
that item came public works, all the salaries and ex-
penses of the public departments and all our colonial
and consular establishments. Why every word
he read indicated an excessive amount of ex-
penditure under that head. There were, fur instance,
the public works. Why, the House they were in, or
rather the House which they hoped to get into, was a
scandal to them.—(Cheers.) Ho had no voice in the
arrangements for the construction of that house, and
perhaps if he had had one he should have erred like
()the! Members; but it seemed to him that from the be-
ginning it had been a most melancholy f
They bud adopted the florid Gothic style of architecture
—the must exl.ensive which it was possible for the mind
of man to conceive—and he should further say that their
entire proceedings in the House of Commons, from the
pinnacle of the new house down to the sweepings of the
floor, were characterised by the most disgraceful waste
arid extravagance. He proposed that there should be a
saving of 6d0,000/. in the expenditure to which
he referred, and he believed that the Honourable
Gentleman, the Member for Oxfordshire (Mr.
Henley), would guarantee him a still greater sav-
ing in the course of a few years, because that Hon.
Member had advocated last year a large re-
duction of the salaries of our public servants, and a
general cutting down of our establishments. He should
wast a
Iproceedo
ht oe
wthh
iacth
hitemad
ewxliciict
ehd, a
tsh iet
moa
ss t t he
largest,discussion
—he meant the cost of our armaments. He had last year