Star.
London, England, 1819-07-14 00:00:00

STORRICZEPIR-GENZRAL'S DEPARTMZNT.

Mr. HUM E, in rising to address the House, meant
to conclude what he was unfortunately prevented
from doing last night, and should close his remarks
by moving, " that an humble Address be presented
to his Royal Highneis the Prince Regent, praying
that he will be pleased to cause a strict inquiry to
be made into the expenses of every Branch and
Department of the Public Service, but especially
into the expenses of the Storekeeper-General's De-
partment." He meant to move such an Address,
with this addition—" that he will be pleased to
take into his consideration the nature of any va-
cancies which may occur in such Department, before
they be filled up." The Honourable Gentleman went
on to complain, that the assertions which had been
made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the
rest of his Majesty's Ministers, of their wish to prac-
tise every possible economy in the public expenditure,
bad not been fulfilled; that they had not shewn the
slightest disposition to retrenchment; that, on the
contrary, every branch of public service, the Military
establishments in particular, were carried on upon a
scale of the most lavish and extravagant expense:
that these within a short period had increased from
£2,441,461, to upwards of £9,000,000; and that as
a proof of the inordinate charge for them in the pre-
sent year, it was only necessary for him to name
these Estimates :—Army, £13,900,000 ; Ordnance.,
£1,091,000; making an aggregate of £9,991,000,
notwithstanding the many pledges of economy which
had been given by different Honourable Gentlemen.
The Honourable Member here entered into several
statements of the general Military Establishments, in
confirmation of Ins assertion, and then proceeded to
notice that to which he wished principally to direct
the attention of the House, namely, the Storekeeper-
General's Departn*nG—a Department which he de-
clared was wholly without precedent in point of ex-
pense. The office was originally established under
the direction of Mr. Trotter, now distinguished by
the name of the Soho-square Mr. Trotter, to receive
in charge Stores which until that period it had been
usual to sell. For the fifteen years during which
it had been under the superintendence of that Gen-
tleman, the average annual expense of the Establish-
ment had deen £19,717. With a view to economy,
his Majesty's Government had placed at the head of
that Department the present Mr. Trotter, who had
declared his intention of considerably diminishing
the expense. The House would, however, hear with
astonishment, that he had increased the establish-
ment of Clerks from 13 to 93, and the general ex-
pense, in the first year of his superintendence, to
£30,323 ; in the next year, to £55,561 ; in 1813, to
£130,000; in 1816, to £131,000 ; in 1817 (being the,
second year of peace, and notwithstanding a Com-
mittee of the House of Commons had reported that
the Storekeeper-General's department was one pecu-
liarly susceptible of retrenchment) to £82,594 ; and
in 1818, to £63,968. It was also a fact, that during
the three years, 1816, 1817, and 1818, the whole
value of the Stores placed in that 'Gentleman's cus-
tody, was only £153,329 ; while the expense of
keeping them for these *three years amounted to
£277,716, being nearly twice that amount ! If that
was not enough to prove a wasteful expenditure, he
knew not what was. It was an expense which Mini-
sters might stop at pleasure, 6ut yet they allowed it
to go on increasing. They had done more. They
had allowed the Clerks of that Establishment to re-
tire
on Pensions unwarranted by the practice in other
Public Departments. One of those individuals had
been allowed so to retire after a service of only one
year and four months--(Cries of No, no, floor Me
Treasury Bench),—lf that was not the fact, then the
Returns on the Table were inaccurate, for it was
there distinctly stated. Unquestionably he did not
ascribe to those Returns the praise of correctness, for
it was said in them that the Deputy Storekeeper-
General, 11Ir. Smith, had intimated his intention of
giving up his Commission on the 24th of December,
when the fact was, that that step was taken in con-
sequence of his having been found guilty, by a Corn-
mittee of Inquiry, of most improper conduct.—=The
Honourable Gentleman was proceeding, when the
discharge was heard of the cannon, announcing the
arrival of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent; on
which he said that he would no longer trouble the
House—(A laugh), but move his Address, which,
as the Honourable Gentleman had before observed,
was an echo of the Resolution of the House, calling
on Ministers to adopt the most rigid public economy.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
thought that the Honourable Member had selected
a period the most unseasonable that could be chosen
to bring forward a measure involving so much dis-
cussion. If the Honourable Member felt inclined to
bring forward his propositions in the next Session, he
might expect that his observations would be met
with statements fully confuting the animadversions'
which he had thrown out. There were, however,
one or two points which he could not pass over.—
During the time that Mr. Trotter, of Soho-square,
was in office, the whole of the Stores over which
he bad charge, amounted to I:1,800,000, while those
lof which the present Storekeeper-General had in
charge from the commencement of his office to the
present time, amounted to upwards of three millions.
The House would readily see that the expenditure
during the offices of the two Storekeepers-General,
must naturally vary very considerably in the amount.
It was to be remembered too, that the former Officer
had a profit of 10 per cent. on the sale of those Stores,
independent of all the other advantages he enjoyed.
But perhaps the House would be better put in pos-
session of the character of this model of economy by
a short extract from the Speech of Lord Henry Petty,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1806. That
Noble Lord stated that for six years previous tolBo6,
Hospital Stores merely bad cost the country £700,000,
Mr. Trotter, he stated, had so much seal and disin-
terestedness for the public service, that in his own
F:Crn he united the several characters of a manu-
irer of stores, a purveyor of others, a contractor
for others, was the conductor of all himself; and be-
sides this, had in addition ten per cent. of the sale
of all stores. The Treasury was compelled in justice
to the country to set about a complete alteration of
this system.

Sir T. B. MARTIN rose to express his indignation
at the unfairness of the accusations made by the Ho-
nourable Member (Mr. Hume); when
The USHER of the BLACK Ron mitered the House,
rand informed the SPEAKER that his Royal Highness
the PRINCE REGENT required the attendance of the
House in the House of Peers.
The House then went to the House of Peers, and
heard the PRINCE REGENT deliver his Speech from
the Throne, and the Parliament prorogued.
The SPEAKER then returned to the House, accom-
panied by a few Members, to whom be stated, that
he had procured a copy of the Prince Regent's Speech,
which had just been delivered. He then read the
copy of the Speech ; after which the various Mem-
bers withdrew, and the Session terminated.

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1819.
THE FUNDS.
PRICE OP STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLCCK
3 per Cent. Reduced 68i
S per Cent. Consols 67R-1 ex. div.
Si per Cent. 771-1. Tier Cent. 861 871 86; 87
5 per Cent. Navy 1041; ex. div.
Bank Long Annuities 18Ii
Imperial 3 per Cent. Anns. 67; 66}
India Stock shut—lndia Bonds 6 pre.
Exchequer Bills (2ck) 1 dis. par
Uranium 1 dis.
India for Acct. 21St 2141-
Consols for Acct. 6911 69 169.

Another proof occurred yesterday afternoon of
the dangerous extent to which speculations for time
are made, and with what facility the credulity
of individuals is worked upon by the party who
wish to raise the Funds to diminish their own
losses, without any regard to those whom they
thus sacrifice, in opposition to common sense, and
to the conviction of the Public most decidedly ex-
pressed. A very respectable Jew Merchant has
announced his incapacity tb meet his differences,
which are stated to amount to upwards of Twenty
Thousand Pounds. It is known that one Broker loses
1:6,000, another £4,500, one £3,800, one £l,BOO,
and another £2,000; the rest uncertain, but believed
generally to fall, as well as the above items, upon
the Jews themselves. This is as it should be—for it
cannot'be disputed that these men, by their enor-
mous speculations and their deep-laid schemes, cause
al; the ruinous fluctuations that occur.

Consols, which had been done at 70, fell to 69 ; a
number of persons were frightened out of their mo-
ney, and are now looking on with vexation at their
own folly. The price is 69, with every appearance
of a further decline, as it now appears that the Ac-
count will turn out differently from what was expected.

The PRINCE REGENT'S Speech yesterday, on pro-
roguing the Parliament ( See the Parliamentary Pro-
ceedings), was not so long as has been usual for some i
years, on similar occasions. After a slight allusion ,
to the lamented indisposition of his MAJESTY, his
ROYAL HIGHNESS expressed satisfaction at the patient
and laborious investigation of the state of the Cur-,
rency, and his confidence as to the result; and on this
point we are sure that the voice of all sound econo-
mists goes with the Rzozwr and his Ministers.
The Speech next adverts to the New Taxes. On
this subject many considerate men differ much from;
his Royal Highness's Ministers, as to .he propriety
of the manner in which it has been sought to increase
the Revenue, or rather as to the objects fixed on for
taxation. In a period of such general distress, new
Taxes should be such as not to touch upon the poor,
but only those whose property places them above the
general pressure: but on the contrary, all the lately-
imposed Taxes fall upon necessaries, not upon the luxu-
ries of life; and the suffering thereby induced must be
proportionate. If, however, the produce of these new
impositions shall bring up the receipt of the Exchequer
to the public expenditure, one great object will have
been gained, and we may hope, this being once effected,
that pains will be employed to produce some amelio-
ration in the operation of the taxes by a transfer of
part of the taxes on necessaries to objects of luxury.
It has, however, been noticed as singular, that the
present Speech presents no anticipations of the in-
creased productiveness of taxes already in existence.
On this head we commend Ministers for their prudent
silence ; for, at a crisis like the present, it is impos-
sible to calculate, with certainty, on the receipts from
consutription, when every one employed in any kind
of business, occupation or labour, is obliged to eco-
nomise : nor can the receipts of any single quarter
furnish any certain criterion whereby to judge of the
annual produce ; for even the imposition of the late
taxes had the momentary effect to increase the Trea-
sury receipts, by encouraging the holders of Colonial
produce to exert themselves in raising money to take
bonded goods out of the King's warehouses, before
the operation of the new taxes could affect them.
His Royal Highness continues to receive from
Foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their
friendly disposition towards this country. We wish'
we had also seen in the Speech, the same expression
that occurred at the prorogation of the last Sessjon,
viz. " their disposition to maintain the tranquillity
of Europe." Should this silence be considered as a
mere oversight ? or may it be inferred that there are
clouds in the political horizon which would have ren-
dered it imprudent to predict that every thing like
tempest may be considered very remote ?
, The Speech also alludes to the unhappy state of

some of the Manuflcturing districts, and tt'e
sition of some individuals to take a; opportll-:y f:0.4
these distresses to excite disaffection ; and tzi..es a,
surance that his Royal Highnels will employ ti.e
powers entrusted to him by law to promote the we!,
fare and security of his Majesty's subjects.

Such are the topics presented in the Speech; bat
we miss another that we expected to have found i 3
it—an assurance that the effecting of the entire aty,
lition of the Slave Trade, by urgent negotiations
those Powers whose co-operation is necessary, wok
not be lost sight of. Spain, Portugal. and "
France, are at this moment actively engaged in t.:;
abominable traffic. We used also to be told of up.
cheering prospects of our Trade and Commerce,
which, however, the present Speech is silent :
we think Ministers, in framing the Speech, have azea
very wisely. When a patient is in the paroxysm c:'a
fever, no prudent physician will venture to progar•..
ticate the period of convalescence and return to
sound health.

By an Order in Council of the 12th instant, it 2p.
pears that a prohibition is laid upon the expnrt
gunpowder, saltpetre, and every sort of ammunition,
from this kingdom, to all the ports in the Spani,:l
dominions. The neutrality determined by this coo.
try to be observed in the quarrel between Spain ati
her Colonies, will thus be strictly maintained. ne
Order itself is a corollary to the proposition of the
Foreign Enlistment Bill ; and indeed it was only fair,
that as we would not permit our countrymen to fight
in the armies of the South Americans, so we ought
not to supply their opponents with ammunition.

The Paris Papers of Sunday last arrived thy, for,
noon.—The Chamber
.of Peers commenced .1r!
finished on Saturday the discussion of the Iltikzet 1
Expenditure for 1819. It was finally adopted, wits
only one dissentient voice.
The Deputies were on the same day occupied with
the discussion of the Petition from the Students (4
Law, soliciting the intervention of the Chamber
against the suspension of Professor BAVAUX.—
The Commission recommended that the Chamber
should pass to the order of the day, seeing that the
matter was already in a course of investigation bi
the proper Tribunals. The Chamber, after a smart
debate, adopted this recommendation by a large ma•
jority; there being only seven of a minority, consist.
ing Of Messrs. LAFAYETTE, CONSTANT, CIIALIVELIN,
MANVEL, DA (MOO, HERNOIM, and COORCELLES.
As soon as the Chamber of Peers have terminald
the discussion of the Budget of Ways and Means for
1819, a last Sitting of both Chambers will be con-
voked, when the closing of the Session will be pro.
nounced by commission.

Don Orris, the late Spanish Minister to the United
States, left Paris on Friday for Madrid. He dined
on the preceding day with M. Ds CA2ES.

The French Funds, which have for a consiJeraWe
time past been rising very steadily, have at levn
reached the high rate of 71fr. sc.

A Hamburgh Mail arrived this forenoon with P.
pers to the 6th instant. We subjoin some interesting
extracts, which will serve to shew the existing state
of the relations between the three great Northern
Powers—Russia, Denmark, and Sweden. It is diffi
cult to discover any remaining occasion for quarrel
among these potentates, now that the question of tie
Norway debt has been satisfactorily settled ; but it
is impossible, at the same time, to read of such de-
monstrations of strength, as these accounts present us
with, in the shape of annual marine excursions, grand
reviews, &c. mixed up with so many jealous allu-
sions to future contingencies, without feelings of con.
siderable apprehension and mistrust: