Star.
London, England, 1822-07-02 00:00:00

Reduction of Unfunded Debt

Rxchequer Bills - -
Irish Treasury Bills - •
Bills fur Public Works and Churches

Total
Which deducted from

Leaves a surplus of £3,390,817
To this add other savings arising out of the reduction
of the Five per Cents. and the new arrangement for
paying off the Half-pay List, and the total amount
of sui plus would be 5,000,000/. clear. He then en-
tered into a statement of the probable expenses of the
year 1823, and taking them on the scale of the pre-
sent year, assuming that the revenue would be consi-
derably increased, and that the unfunded debt would
be very much diminished, he expressed a strong hope
that, at the conclusion of that year, there would also
be found a clear surplus of 5,000,0001. Thus, in the
two years, the amount of surplus revenue above the
expenditure would be 10,000,0001. He congratulated
the House that an arrangement of such magnitude
as that of paying off the Five per Cents. had been
carried into execution with such facility. Nothing
could better evince the solid nature of our public
credit. Stock was now higher in the market than
before, so that the public creditor could not complain.
Amongst the other beneficial results from it was the
resolution the Bank had come to, to reduce the pub-
lic interest. There was a circumstance which had
come to his knowledge that day, and which shesed
the great utility of the measure :—he was told that a
man had offered for an estate, which was sold under
a decree of the Court of Chancery, 50001. more than
was intended ; and when asked his reason, he stated
that it was in consequence of the reduction of interest
by the Bank. He hoped that other measures would
follow equally advantageous. Some had thought
that some measure should be taken to enforce a re-
du:tion of interest; but he was opposed to any fur-
ther regulation upon that subject, further than the
old one,. which already existed, and the extension of
which he did not desire. The Right Honourable
Gentleman concluded by moving a Resolution fo
raising a Loan, of the amount of 7,500,000/. from the
Sinking Fund.
Mr. MABERLY said, that he laboured under
great disadvantage in following the Right Honour-
able Gentleman, not having before him those papers
necessary to his understanding fully the subject. Ile
had understood the Right Hon. Gentleman suffi-
ciently, however, to perceive that the Sinking Fund
was put forward by him as what he might call the
hocus pones of the year. He had taken from that
fund, and added to it in such a manner, that it was
impossible to make the true state of it at all intelli-
gible, without a distinct discussion with regard to it.
I'he next point was the Debt of the East India Com-
pany, upon which topic he must say, that he found
some difficulty in comprehending the sort of liquida-
tion that had been made. He was sorry that it had
beer) pressed to a settlement ; for it now appeared
that we were debtors to the Company, and, at all
events, we were minus, as regarded that Company,
1,300,0001. The Right Hon. Gentleman then went
to the Finances of 1823, and from this part of his
statement the House and the Country had learned,'
that the Right Hun. Gentleman and his colleagues
had come to the end of their reductions of the public
expenditure; for in his Estimate of the year 1823,
be took all the Estimates for the present year at the
same amount for the next. It appeared plainly, there-
fore, that they had come to the end of their savings.
But he should say, that if they were to have six mil-
lions of Sinking Fund next year, at this rate, they
ought to have nine or ten millions, if those reduc-
tions were made that ought to be made. The Noble
Marquis opposite, whom he should call the Finance
Minister, informed them at the commencement of
the Session, that he grounded all his measures upon
the maintenance of public credit, and that, upon that
principle, no reduction of taxation could be made,
but what was afforded by the reduction of the Five
per Cents. Previously to this, however, he had stated,
that no reduction of taxation was to be made, and
that it would afford no relief if it were made. The
House had all heard of a speech, delivered no matter
where, which stated, that if the farmer were ac-
quainted with the first principles of political eco-
nomy, he would know that the reduction of taxation
would afford him no relief—that the principles of na-
ture, if left to fructify, would restore things to their
proper state; but that any advantage accruing to the
farmer from a remission of taxes, would be taken from
him by the landlord. This speech was made in Fe.
bruary, and he contended that the principles there laid
down were entirely departed from in the subsequent
financial operations of the Noble Marquis. The An-
nuity Plan was a complete violation of the principle of
the Sinking Fund, by placing a certain portion of debt
upon posterity to relieve the present generation.—
Ihe way that he (Mr. Miberly) should have re-
commended them to reduce taxation, would have
been by reducing the whole expenditure of the coon-
, try. Ihe Committee of Finance of 1817 had declared,
as their deliberate opinion, that the charge of the
Army, Navy, Ordnance, and Miscellaneous Services,
should not for the future exceed 17,350,0001. Since