Star.
London, England, 1826-03-14 00:00:00

in knowing Is, what it costs us, sts it Is of little im•
Poilane* what its figures mativgbrifriiiia* time to time, big
witkretiemee -se-din-burden Stite-Istre total
dons wise as tke yta barmy, tinakillag the dove fir
MPSAIZOIrat) • • • • •• • • • ' ass,itspoo
woe total 'oars on sth January, W., was 27,117,000

Leavings redaction of . . . ari,ookooo
The interest on Exchequer Bills wai at the former
period 820,0001. It had been reduced by 280,0001.—
The total charge of this whole debt was thee,
On the 4th January, 1823 . . . .11111,118f,000
Oa the Stb January, 1824 . . . 27,9444000

X 1,340,000

To that extent the charge on the public debt has been
reduced in the course of three years. Now, it is nothing
to me, whether this has been effected by means of the
Sinking Fund, or by a Surplus Revenue, it is enough
for me, that substantial relief has been afforded. If the
country lust° pay 1,340,0001- less than it had to pay
three years ago for its debt, while good faith is k pt with
the public creditor, and the honour of the country is
maintained, and all its great interests adequately protect-
ed, at home and abroad; if under all these circumstances,
the debt and the charge on it have been reduced by the
amount which I have stated to the Committee, the
House of Commons have done something, and we need
not fear to face our constituents in whatever part of
the country we may happen to be travelling. I have
alluded to that portion of our expenditure which has
been diminished by the reduced charge of the debt.
There is another part of our expenditure against which,
from trny coming intooffice,l have always waged the most
relentless ,war—the expence of collecting the Revenue.
With respect to this, then, Ministers have not been idle
nor inattentive, nor have our measures been inefficient.
In 1818, the expense of collecting the revenue of the
country amounted to 4,850,0001. This is a very large
sum, I admit. In 1825, it was reduced to 3,832,0001.
Here there was a saving effected within the period I
have described, of no less than half million. This, I
consider, nas a great deal to do in the time, for it
should be borne in mind, that we cannot effect the
changes we wish to bring about, all at once; but I say,
so considerable a reduction being made within a period
so limited, is, prima facie, evidence in favour of Mi-
nisters, that they are resolutely bent on endeavouring
to do their duty. It is not the easiest task in the world
to effect such reforms. There ar• many prejudices to_
be overcome, and many interests to be interfered with,
and a great many deeply-rooted habits to be broken in
upon ; and I cannot give a better proof of the sort
of feelings excited by changes of this description,
than is furnished by referring to those sentiments
I which have been published to the world in the
northern part of this island. It seems that the ex-
tinction of the two independent Boards of Customs and
Excise in Scotland, and the amalgamation of them with
like establishments in England, is to be considered by
every true Scot as derogatory to the dignity of bis
country—an affront to national pride—and, good Go*
'Mat such a statement should be made, as subversive of
all the public rights of the Scottish nation. The tone
taken on this occasion is not very dissimil.r from that
taken by Antony over the • body of Omar. It reminds
me, at least, of the beautiful but mournful speech which
Sbakspeare has put into the mouth of his hero—

a, 0 what a tall was there, my countrymen;
Then I, and you, and all of us fen down,
Whilst bloody treason tlourhhed over us."
I say, the apltealoof Marks Ahlony was not more vehe-
mently made; his resentment of Limes death was not
more pointedly directed against those who caused it, than
is the resentment of this writer against the author of that
measure, which had for its object the transfer of two
Miserable and insignificant fiscal departments from
one part of the United Kingdom to another—(Near).
I felt,. indeed, like some guilty person who had done
some heinous act, like one oppressed by the weight of
some undefined crime ; and such was my plight, that
I hardly dared to look into the face of my noble
Scottish Friend, the First Lord of the Admiralty—
(a laugh)—nor should I have ventured to do so, were
I conscious of having inflicted any wrong upon Scot-
land. (Hear) I beg ray friends to know, that I have
flowing in my veins some Scotch blood, and good old
blood too, and can never without reproach feel in-
sensible to the honour, and character of Scotland ; and
when I pass in review the signal triumphs of her rice,
the benefits she has conferaed upon Atte human kind by
her precept and her example, I have always been led to
think, that the origin of her high moral station, the de-
served admission of her great fame, was to be found in the
genius of her historians, the eloquence, the accuracy, and
the resources of her poets, the elaborate lucubrations and
the profound discoveries of her philosophers ; when I
watched her progressive flight in the regions of fancy,
when I Wield her soundings in the depth of history, I
had hoped that her real glories were unshorn, and never
before has it been suggested to me that among the
stable works of ha immortality were to be reckoneJ
and included these rotten fiscal hoards so lately re-
moved from Edinburgh to London—(Hear, hear).
When enumerating her Abercrombie:, her Moores, her
Lynedochs, and her Hopetowns, I never thought of
coupling with them the obscure functionaries of a civil
department. When, two years ago, it fell to my lot to
move the erection of a monument to the memory of
Lord Duncan, I never dreamed that the honour of
Scotland would be tarnished by transferring the seat of
the Board of Customs from Edinburgh to London. I
thought that the honour of Scotland .rested on a more
solid basis. I thought that the real glory of that coun-
try would have shone with perennial light, if the Ex-
cise had never meddled with its whiskey, nor the Cus
toms coatrolled its commerce. I thought that the
lustre of the national fame would not have been
dimmed, though both these wretched Fiscal Boards
had been swallowed up—oh woeful catastrophe!—
in the all-devouring vortex of English uniformity.—
When I am told that the abolition of these offices is
something disrespectful to the impoverished Nobility
of that country, I feel that if I were a mere S:otchman
I should be too proud to admit that the ancient lineage
of that ancient kingdom could consider themselves dis-
paraged because Government have less patronage to
offer and they less emolument to covet—(cheers).—
These measures, dictated alone by the necessity of re-
form and retrenchment, have been held up as punish-
merits wantonly inflicted on innocent and unoffending
Scotland, and her wrath has been denounced against
their author ; but as long as I can enjoy the consolation,
while performing my public duty, that I am engaged in
diminishing the burthens and. increasing the happiness
of the people, I shall look without terror on the flashing
of the Highland claymore, though it be evoked from its
scabbard by the incantations of the first magician of the
iage. I shall now proceed to look at the financial situation
of the kingdbm, as it may probably be estimated during
the present year. I have stated to the House the