The Sun.
London, England, 1828-02-13 00:00:00

filt- SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS .

Our city article of this day has not beets idle in
providing matter of meditation for the members of
the " Finance Committee" To us it appears in-
credible that errors, or rather frauds, like those which
are there exposed, should have been so long per-
mitted to disgrace the accounts of a commercial and
calculating people. It would be endless to
loans into revenue, foe no purpose
expa-
tiate" tiatt on the various efforts of ingenuity, by which
debts are transformed by cur Minitera of: Finance
into profits, ant.?
bet the base one of j.l4ceiving the public into a be-
lief that the national inco:7le is equal to orexeceds
the expenditure ; and that a diminution of mini-
sterial extravagance, and (a return to, we, cannot
say, but) an attempt at economy, is le:7'iisential to
our existence as a state, than a perfect ii:'.4.lght into
the hollowness of the fystem would make ts,'"ire6t;
to all the world. It is to our minds made out
with
great accuracy, in the article referred to, that Wlot
ought to be described as the income-of this country-
falls short of that which really belongs to its
expenditure, by the moderate sum of 'about. 6,00b,0001..
sterling: end that the officers of the Trt asury
are by no means blind to this appalling fart,
from the pains which !hey take to disguise it. It
will be admitted that the Slnking Fund is as much
a lawful item of annual payment (rut of the revenue,
as any in the whole appropriation art. Yet, h
i e-
cause t might alarm people to see so large a sum
classed wider the head. of " Expenditure, e!e con-
coetors of account have whipped it away with tlem„
and concealed it in a labyrinth of Exchequer-bill triet.a-
actions, with which it has no more concern than
this—that there is, Jet truth, no resource limn whieb
to make the allotted paymteit4a to the sinking fund
hut borrowed money, Lander which department
Exchequer-bills would be properly and correctly.,
though by some hocus pocua they are not ales aye,
arranged. Indeed, if the sinking fund itself were
struck out front among the list of payments, it does
not seem that the actual revenue woula be adequate
to the expenses so diminished ; for the nominal
sinking fund is but 5,70..,,00e/., sad the deficit of
income rather exceeds 8,000,(:011.; to cover a hich
dot innumerable devices are resorted ,to ; and
among them, that beautiful and edifying expe-
dient of counting 4,245,000/., reeeit4 the
Trustees of Naral and Military Pensions, i,s ptt
the revenue of the S' lite. Now nothinr is %vela'',
in any common sense view of the subject, but the
~reduce o some -1,-reperty belondng t t the State,
or of some impost levied by h.tvr ; but here., is n 0-
icy " received from trustees !" and where do the
trustees get the money thus credited to the-,puidie
income ? • From Royal forests ? No. From d;zizs
of Admiralty ?—No.. Or from any tax. of .any de-
scription authorized by act of Parliament ?-.-,We an-
swer, no ; but they receive it from the Bank of Bug-
!and : it is lent to the nation by the Bank ; it is c
debt incurred, and redeemed by an annuity,--no por
tion whatever of income, It ought, therefore, to be
set down as :Id)/ f and instead of the title " received
from naval and military trustees," it ought to `as
" borrowed front the Bank of England, and trate3-
ferred to the trustees," &c. This is one of the hoeLxsa
passed upon us to make the -sum-totals square;.and
,ve will add, that it is One of the despicable tricks
which .no honest finance cononittec earl tolerate for
another session. The truth must be avov:cd : cut
down every thing,—cut away every thing, but :he
national defences, or we shall be deeiared insolvent
before we can look round us. There is 'An item
which we had overlooked, " cx-
pences, amounting to 2,860,000/. What a elicak for
jobbing does so vague a denomination spread befole
the inmates of the Treasury I— Tinte.c. •

The debate in the House of Lords en ?,Ip reiet,'
evening on Lord Carnarvon's motion,—or rather,
the explanations produeed.by that debate in relation
to another affair, namely, the Alinisterial chances,
have excited, and will excite, uncommon interest.
It
of isa It, ohe
affair
rr e
g spendsvetted,
upon
t p'oenr a
variety'
ho
.aritet3,u,rofu gei knowledge
NI
iden ee
c i
.a
complication of statements, that the deposing or ex-
plaining parties cannot be brought simultaneously
together : but in the present instance, the ftepesi.
tions, if we may so call them, of the several e it-
nesses, are of necessity to be taken in sereetc
places, and at different tittles. This evil-. 4, how-
ever, to a certain degree, corrected by what Ilse
been called the übiquity of the press; and though
Mr..lluskisson may state other matter than that
which lie has thought appropriate to be offexed to
his constituents at Liverpool, he can out no. occasion_
unsay what he has there said. We have ourselves
been attached to this gentleman, with whom, how-
ever, we have never had the slightest intercourse ;
we have respected him as the friend of Mr. Canning;
we have looked to his talents for alleviation under
our fiscal burdens and financial difficulties; and we
shall be sorry if he shallbe found to have contracted
the sphere of his own utility, by any disingenuous
conduct. It is the studied tendency of his speech cc
Liverpool to sho ir, that his own and 3.le.Canning's ge-
neral principle; of governtnent had been of 010 more
congenial to the opinions of the people now in power,
to whom he has united himself, than to those el the
seceders, whom he has suffered to depart, leaving
cation,
tiloi, yetbiehind
tthleiernetisinnooflidcocu.bt Tthhaotuhgeh
succeededtliis may be
in
thought by some to be an invidious evert of hi', eloe
it; but on the security which, he said, he had ob-
tained for Mr. Canning's more recent system of po-
licy, with his.own present allies or masters, a vast
difference of opinion seems to prevail between them
and him. In his address at Liverpool, he rpeaks of
" the guarantees which the new INlinistry had .giver
that the measures of the Canning Administiatort
would be carried into effect :" and thrice, eve be-
lieve, in that address, he uses the word " pledges"
hi the same sense ; which pledges or guarantees he
asserts himself to have received. Now all this rhe-
toric of guarantees and pledges is brushed away, like
the morning dew by the soldier's foot, in the Duke
of Wellington's speech in the House ofLorsls on
Monday night, who says, " that from the moment he
had received from his Majesty the commission to
form a new Administration, from that moment he
felt it to be his duty to carry strictly i:zto cfect the
4zrovisions of the tiecty of lastJ
bindu ly
h sbeti,
ft, tslhiaa t,i`t`i:thlye
had not beef; asked for guaraentxepeisailpioef hadm u
cmadehnl
onroe
such guarantees to those w hose atslsiisptaontritanadr:tuipii.-
port he received in carry;
vices -of his Majesty's Government. So
much for the points on which
has touched in his speech at
main others which he must
whileimportance
that
theto
oh
other
hs
eucrkheoa character. «e
cenxi‘ri%c''ptilo`g:t'en:sllPluOl:eNrci,°.::.°ll
I:2lHcait t(cil-'utilieli\'se.ipker,
tiefosiltr,renr'di
pursue the policy. handed do_ 6rn'"otso, him b y Mr. Can.
,odegt(cn eb
‘v:facie'lealnicie cint'tgaba
Ihiuse,Ltb:aai iislooritte:nuldn:is or
though
esr:i idug;fai bound—(much
the
si hri
h3u6a et6tym}: he
reverenceoi degi
I.
dissolution
iceNlifl 1:
6°l:lllu.u' i c:tlttc:sile' :f°
el joee rnc—ertet than
e 'llta:hft_ ae‘.oe.
ss.nhg
i thatoab,yet sh't ' ' 'O. . '‘eoor 1 author, t 0 ad:
' sosAi 1 .61: ''-',irs • putv Il'H‘s: words)—by
i'lves hp
: thei
ses
Y7t. inLe v 'tern. ? Was Mr. Iluskisoon the occasion
) Lord Goderiob ; so,
son. Mr. Recites decided on -retirement, if Lard
Alchorp were to be nominated Chairman of the pro-
posed Finance Committee. On the other- side,
s7:er.
fil.or'w-iltiiimssontoderceltaariendhihsis
office
aLti
to be In, 1 , ,
---..u.veu in the result ; it was utterly imPos-
fLuosiedd.'G'
cdlelreienhc,es .he
wdios:;otlbueti
State, were the appointment (of Lord Althorp) le_
calls upon the Duke of We-
st
it
easn)t,l
i).
et
cao
rnh have e dismissedinevitable.Ao
rneepseuornefi tisoeeft
nehtttealoltrefFS:3r refractory olemi :isgt;:aajdlY:peontirno-:
the King, who promptly
lington to form a DiNV Administration. Oi such
new Administration, these two uncongenial per-
sonage=, who but recently could not bear each other,
dre becomt Cabinet Members ; and the selection of
a Chairman to the Finance Committee does not
now signify to them or to us the strap of a fii.ger.
But there is another point which Mr. Ilusles,ee will
have to explain with respect to his conduct towards
his own particular friends in the late Cabinet. D:d