The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-08 00:00:00

In - reply to the Earl of Lucan, Captain
Blake was reported to have said that naval forces were
coming round to the coast, and the Earl of Lucan was
reported to have replied, that he had no doubt but that
the Government would send forces to enforce the collec-
tion of the rates. He had since received a communication
from the Earl of Lucan, denying that he had ever made
such a statement, and he thuught it his duty to state that
fact to the House. At the same time he begged to state
that he had only quoted the statement as be had found
it in a newspaper published in the Noble Earrslowu
county.
REDUCTION OF THE THREE-AND-A-HALF
PER CENTS.

On the Order of the Day for the House resolving
itself into Committee on the reduction of the Three-
and-a-Half per Cents. being read,
Mr. S. CRAWFORD rose amidst loud cries of " Oh,
oh," and said he had several petitions to present on the
subject of supply.
The SPEAKER begged to inform the Hon. Member
that he could not present the petitions.—(Cheers.) The
motion was, that the House should resolve itself into
Committee on the Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Annuities,
and not that it should resolve itself into a Committee of
Supply.—(Cheers.)
The House then resolved itself into Committee.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
subject which it was his duty to submit to the House,
was one which would be acknowledged by every one to
be of considerable importance. It involved the
dealing with a large amount of the public
debt ; it was calculated to produce a great
annual saving in the charge which the public incurred
on account of that debt ; and if the House should
be pleased to agree to the measure which he should pro-
pose, it would tend, in his opinion, to raise the
character and the power of this country by evincing
the extent of our great resources, and our determination
to discharge with honour the national debt.—(Cheers.) If
he were the first time calling upon the House to deal
with a subject of this nature, he might think it necessary
to enlarge upon the motives which justified him in making
suck a proposition. But lie was not the first Finance
Minister of this country who had had the pleasing task
of recommending similar arrangements to the House ;
and the principle- upon which those arrangements
proceeded was one so universally acknowledged
by statesmen of the greatest financial ability, by
men of every shade of opinion ; it had been so fre-
quently recommended by Committees of the House of
Commons, and so frequently acknowledged and con-
firmed by Parliament, that he felt himself relieved from
the. necessity which on such a subject might otherwise
be imposed upon him, of showing to the House the cor-
rectness of the principle upon which his proposal was
founded. His task was of a different nature. The pro-
priety of affording relief to the public being acknowledged,
the duty that devolved upon him was one to satisfy the
llouse that the time was arrived, and that circumstances
was favourable for accomplishing a reduction of the debt
hich would produce a great annual-saving. It was in
the discharge of that duty that he presented himself to
the House ; and he begged their attention, for a short
period, while he stated to them the grounds upon which
he conceived himself called upon to propose, and upon
which he trusted the House would adopt the measures
which he had now to submit. The alteration which
he was about to recommend to the House was
one dealing with a large amount of debt—
an amount of debt absolutely, larger
than that.with which any House of Parliament was ever
before called upon to deal. It was no less—or only a
few hundred pounds less—than 250 millions of the na-
tional debt. If it were considered relatively, in the pro-
portion which it bore to the whole amount of the
debt, he could not say that in that respect it was
unprecedented ; because when they looked back to the
first occasion in which a reduction of the annual interest
was proposed to the House by Mr. Pelham in 1749, they
would Lind that that Minister had to deal with a sum
inferior in amount to that which he had mentioned,
but still a sum which compared with the existing
debt of the country at the time exceeded by one. third
the propor ti on which the present amount bore to the
whole deN3t of the country. But then that really
able man relied upon the character and credit of
the country, and the willingness of all men
to contribute to its welfare, and he carried the reduction
into effect with success and with universal applause.
Ho (the Chancellor of the Exchequr) had alluded
to the magnitude of the amount ; for lie thought that
on an occasion like this the House ought
to have the whole of the facts before them. It
was his duty to state to them that, while in the eye of
every considerate man was a main element in the ope-
ration. He would say that the time had arrived when
the operation would be effected, and when he thought it
ought to be effected. It had been long the opinion of
the public that the Government ought to undertake this
reduction ; it had long been declared by the organs of
public opinion that the time was not distant when the
interest of the debt should be reduced ; and this opinion
was confirmed by his oe n attentive consideration of the
money market of the country. He believed that
there never was a time when the amount of capital
seeking employment was greater than at present. That
resulted from various causes. There was a large amount
of capital accumulated by the industry of individuals,
which was greater in this country in recent years than
ever had been known in any other country in the world.
Another cause was the want of security in foreign
investments, from which not even the interest could
be obtained, and the firmness of the security in the
funds of this country which induced not only her own
children to invest their capital, but drew also the capital
of other countries. The evidence of the abundance of
money was to be found in the price which securities
bore at present ; and it was notorious that
the holders of Consols at present derived little
more than 3/. ls. per cent., and upon Exchequer
Bills little more than 2/. 4s. per cent. It was true that
private securitios gave a greater interest ; and as
it was natural for the security of the nation, was
necessarily greater than that of a private individual.
But notwithstanding the favourable state of the money
market, there might be circumstances arise to cause this
facility of acquiring loans to be one that might turn out
only.of a temporary character. But when he looked
around him, and saw the good understanding which
existed beeween this country and all foreign
nations, when he saw the continued influx, day by day,
of the capital of other countries into this—when he saw
the revival of trade, industry, and commerce, in
all parts of the world—when he thus saw all
countries pacified, and reflected on the un-
tiring energy of his own—he would not anticipate
anything which should forbid the attempt which
he called upon the House to :assist him in enabling him
to reduce the burthens of the country. There was
another essential element in the consideration of this
matter, and that was, the time at which the change was
proposed to be made, a time when the revenue promised
them so.much-assistance. He felt, what he was sure every
Member in that House felt, that that State which had
not the means of defraying its current expenditure by
its current means within the year, was not
in a state to deal advantageously with its
burthens and obligations. Its measures would
be greatly crippled, and a Government so situ-
ated must be compelled to forego advantages
which, under another and a better state of things, it

would be right and expedient to avail themselves of.
He was happy to say (happy was he to pay
so just a tribute to the House of Commons
he was now addressing)—he was happy to say
that by their exertions in the year 1842—by their
energy, foresight, and determination—they had been
able to place the revenue of the country on a footing to
meet the exigencies of the service. They had now got
a revenue more than equal to their expenditure, and
they were thereby enabled to reap the advantages which
a firm adherence to a principle ofthat nature was ever sure
to give—and thus realize to the country the benefit not
merely of a temporary reduction of a few taxes, but 2f
the permanent obligations of the state. He had said
that the income of the present year was more than suffi-
ciency to meet the charges of that year. So far as the two
last quarters were concerned the excellent state of the re-
venue was shown by documents already on the table of the
House. The House would find by the papers that had been
laid before it, that, at the commencement of the last year the
balance in the hands of the Government was 1,400,0001.,
while, at the termination of it, it was upwards of
4,700,0001.—(Hear, hear.) lam happy (continued the
Right Honourable Gentleman) to inform the House
also that, speaking at the present moment, I can
state to them that there are no deficiency bills
of the Bank unsatisfied. We are free at this quarter
from repaying those advances made by the Bank for the
purpose of meeting the demands for the public service.
can also state that, since the sth April last, it has not
been necessary to apply to the Bank for advances in an-
ticipation of the votes of the House of Commons. So far
as these things are concerned,however useful they may be
in themselves, yet they are calculated to cripple the
Government. I can assure the House that from those
encumbrances we are at the present moment free. I
will also point the attention of the House to this
fact, that the amount of the unfunded debt
at this moment is less than it has been
for many antecedent years ; that the amount
of Exchequer-bills is only between eighteen and nine-
teen millions—that they bear an interest tsf 2/ 4s. percent.
and that, at the present moment, they have a premium
of 735. Looking, therefore, at the growing wealth of this
country, looking at its capital, considering its vast re-
sources, looking at the continuance that exists of its friend-
ly relations with foreign Powers, considering that the re- i
venue had recovered from the temporary difficulty under
which it laboured—considering 1,/tat we are free from
unfunded and floating debt, S think that I
have made out a case to this ;louse, to shew that the
time has arrived when those ivho have the management
of the financial affairs o. the eterntr; should make an
attempt to reduce the interest on the National Debt.
The debt we have to-deal with on this occasion amounts
to nearly 250,000400/.,-and consists of four several kinds
of stock. TheArst is the Three-end-a •Ilalf per Cent.
Stock, origimatily created in 181 b, which is the foundation
of stock "this description, and amounts to 10,000,000/
The nit is the reduced Three-and-a-Half. per Cents ,
being a stock which was first established in the year
17 originally as a hour p,r Cent. Stock, added to
at various periods, and Reduced to Three-and-a-Half
per Cent. in 1824, when Lord Ripen was Chancellor of
the Exchequer. It amounted to 67,500,0001. he next is
the Three-and-a-llalf per Cents., originally founded
in 1784, at 5 per Cent., ann which has, in the gradual
progress of the country, the growth of capital, and con-
fidence in our own resources, had undergone two
several reductions—one in 1822, when Mr. Van-
sittart was Chancellor of the Exchequer, from
five per cent to four ; and the other in 1830, when
I had the houour of holding the office I now fill, and