The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-28 00:00:00

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SPAIN

FINANCE.

HOUSE OF

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HOUSE OF LORDS.—THIIRSDAY.
PRINCE ALBERT.
Prince Albert's naturalization bill was brought up from
the commons.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY begged to :IA the noble
viscount if the officers in the army of Lord John Hay were
parties to the Bergari convention, and if the British govern-
ment were party to it. Secondly, he wished to latow if the
Bergrara convention was in the possession of the government,
and if it was their intention to lay the convention on the
table of that house ? Thirdly, he wished to know; if the noble
viscount had any information to lay before that house to'show
the satisfaet;on of the Spanish government and the Basque
provinces ?.
Lord MELnouRNE'S reply was, that he would 1!,v., 1:) ob-
jection to produce the convention.

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The Earl of RIPON said he fidt so strongly the p: a •
tory state of their finances, that he did not f, -1 •
justified in abstaining from giving her majesty's goverme ..t
an opportunity of enlightening the house noon that. snl,et.
What he was now about to state was not with the vie, -
imputing blame to apy.persons or to any oarty.
ship would recollect, that when the nolile"dhke (W
behind him was at the head of the treasury, certain la
passed abolishing the system of the sinking -fund, and
ing out a new and superior system,- which was entithe,
admiration on account of its judicious simplicity. Insteee of
giving a grant for the sinking fund, whatever might be the
state of the finances, it directed that only such a sum would
be applied in each quarter as amounted to a quarter-of the
bona fide surplus in each antecedent quarter. For the five
or six years following this alteration, they had at tbe same
time the benefit of the surplus for the winking fund, and the
benefit of a considerable reduction in tee.,tier. Ent there
was no surplus, and not merely so, but it appeared from
papers laid on the table of the house last year, that the excess
of expenditure over income in the year ending the sth of
April, 1838, was £1,420,000, and the year ending in April,
1839, £lOO,OOO, being on the whole about .-C1e900,000, and;
according to estimates laid before parliament last year, the
expenditure would exceed the income of the government in
the year about to end in April, ze909,4)03 ; so that for three,_
successive years there was a clear, avowed, and unmitigated
excess of expenditure over income, and lie thought there were
no grounds for supposing they would he able to extricate their_
selves from that perilous system. - He-found thet the excess
of the 'expenditure for the present year; as it -was estimated '
last year, was, as he had already said, e.:.l,2eVfno eeeuee
amount of the sum expended in the year 1839. •
isle ivould
call their lordship attention to What verY
considerable portion of it. • £t;00,000 or :€.70:.),0t10 had been
occasioned by the additions made to the publie debt within
the last few years. That addition was made partly, by the.,
funding of exchequer hills, and partly from the operations'
carried on when the great measure of the emencipatiot of the
negroes took place at an expenseef twenty millions of money.
He (the Earl of Ripon) was a party to that reseaanre, and if.
it was to be done over again, he would Meetewillinelv tweeme
a party to it, because he considered it a wise, a politic, end a
humane act ; and, moreover, he believed the question was in
such a state that the act was one of inevitable-necessity.—
(Hear.) Now of the ;£3,200,000 excessive.expenditure since
the year 1836, a very considerable portion had been wee-
sioned by an augmentation of the expense of the army, the
navy, and the ordnance, and he should like to ask any one
who thought he could look forward -beyond the 'present
moment, to stand up and demonstrate that there Was amy -
reason to think that they could curtail any one. of these ex-
penses. (Hear, hear.) There was nothing in this which
could enable them to reduce their army. NO country
had such an immensity of foreign po-saessione -es rte
had, but throughout the whole, could any. roan pet- his
hand upon one and say that there was too. much -garrison
force. On the contrary, he believed that meny.of them were
too weak. Then, with respect to the navy. Great com-
plaints had been made last year respecting the proceefline,4-,F
the admiralty, which were positively denied by that depart-
ment, and it was said that shops were building; stores-being
laid in, and ships being put in commission, but all naturally
leading to an increased expense, and the government com-
plained of the great difficulty they had in inducing the other
house of parliament to grant them same of money for the -
purpose. He believed that those complaints were 'well
founded, and that similar complaints might be made byevcry •
government that had been in office since the peace. • In the
midst of all this there was another question caldulated to pro-
duce in its consequences ereat alarm as respected.the revenue.
He alluded to the new post-office regulations,.and whatever
might be their probability of ultimate snecess, he would ex-
press his conviction that it was a most ill-timed experiment,
nor was there anything in the state of onr finances to war-
rant such an experiment, in the absence of any plim to meet
the possible deficiency. The papers he had to move for were
the statements of the net income for the last tire years ;• the
funded and unfunded debt for the same pertod ; 'and the re-
gulations issued with respect to the reduction of the debt.
Viscount MELBOURNE entirely agreed, that it was not a
satisfactory state of the financial affairs to have a clear ad-
mitted deficiency ; but he rather thought that when the de-
ficiency was but small, it was not wise to burden the country
with any extraordinary exaction.§, but :to trust to its natural
resources. His noble friend stated that the deficiency arose,
not so-much from any falling off in the revenue--not by. any
failure in the productive 'power of the count:re, hot from-
temporory causes from which the country might still recover.
Still it wa not to he denied that the expenses of theeiotintry
had been long growing in a great degree, and he did not fairly'
see any probability of- any government being• a vie neatly to
diminish the expenses either of the military or the naval
ports of the country. They have increased very much- since"
the year 1816, at which time they were very low;. init it could
not be denied that there have been- growing difficulties to'
account for the increase. The noble lord had dwelt upon
the loss that was likely to accrue to the revenue iti eonae-a
quence of the bill which had been passed last session of Tar-
hament for reducing the duties of postage. -A large defi-
ciency of the revenue had on all hands been anticipated reia
consequence of the adoption of that measure: He test fully'
confident, however, that the energies of the country=--that
the patriotism of the House of Commons and of its conati-
tuencies—that a due regard to the fidelity or contraeee, the
honour of the country, and her station among nations, world
be amply sufficient to induce them to meet the financial dif-
ficulties of the country, boldly and firmly; in such a manner
as should be suited to the occasion. With respect to any
deficiency that might arise by the adoption of •-thht 'meaadrte •
for which they had distinctly and exprreely pledged thema•
selves, he could not think that the noble lord had done other
than his duty in calling thus early in:the session tleeattees .
tion of their lordships.to a matter. of:elicit, import:mice. . -lie
perfectly admitted the reasoning of telra:nehle fora. •-
The motion was then agreed to ;- and, eafter. the ereseetA,
tion of a few petitions, the house adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—ThunsnAv., ••‘.., •
There being only 36 members present at four o'clock,. the
Speaker adjourned the house till Friday.

The royal assent was given by cOin.miSslon to the Nil for
exhibiting a bill in this present parliament , for naturalising
Prince Albert; and in a subsequent part of the sitting the
Lord Chancellor presented Prince Albert's Naturalisation.
Bill, which was read a first time.
Lord DuNcaNNON, by command of her Majesty, present-
ed further papers on the subject of Canada. •
The, Bishop of EXETER, ag:Teably to notice, pre,elited a
petition from Birmingham, with upwards of .1,00
on the subject of the alarming progresS of scicialis%i. ii e
lordship described its character, and the datigdOUs tendency,
to injure religion, of the principles of socialism ; and dis-
tasteful as it Vas to him to have to brim; forward snch a
subject, he hoped that their lordships would dire-. the ridlcA
inquiry into it.
Lord BRonorrAm afterwards presented four petitions from
" Rational Religionists, vulgarly called Socialists;" signed
by Owen and other officers of the society, and from three
other societies, praying for inquiry into their principles.
The Bishop of EXETER observed that he rejoiced in the
presentation of those petitions; as he thought now inquiry
could not be resisted by the government.. His le,r46hip gave
notice that on Friday next he should asli.Lordliorinaoll7
who held the office of registrar of births, marriages; and
deaths, for Birmingham.
Their lordships adjourned till Monday. , •

HOUSE 01'1COMMONS.-----Fato.‘.v. . •
'The SPEAKER acquainted the house that the sergeant-at-
arms had a communication of importance to make.
The Sergeant-at-Arms thereupon stated at the bar, that
he was on Thursday evening, at six o'clock, served with
writ of habeas corpvs, whereby the Court of (Ince:l4o Bench
commanded him to produce the bodies of the sheriffs ;. aaci
he now asked the direction of the house as to the 'course he
should pursue.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved, after a loin; speech, in
which he cited precedents that he contended aPPliett to the
present case, that the sergeant-at-armsbe instructed to malce-
a return on the writ " that he held the bodies of the Sheiiff,:.
of London and Middlesex under a warrant of the Muse of
Commons, signed by the Speaker. for contempt and breach
of the privileges of that house." He apprehended that, 'nf:or:
such return being read to the Court of Qneen'e Bench the
judges would only direct the prisoners to he returned to the
place whence they had come. If, unfortunately a different
Course were adopted by their lordships, it would be for the
house to consider what power th 6 constitution gave the CoinL
Mons to vindicate their privileges. .
Mr. GODSON said the real question was, whether, when
there was a course of justice running in the Queen's Bench,
when a plaintiff had obtained a verdict and got juth,,,ment
thereon, and was about to take the fruits of that verdict and
judgment—in the constitution of England there was any body
of men who could legally step between that plaintiff and the
fruits of the verdict given in his favour: He grieved to oro=
serve that a Ministerial paper of that day termed the judges
" fifteen elderly gentlemen," and spoke of them in a sneering
manner. He certainly thought such language ought not to.
be used.

:The ATTORNEY-GENERAL observed that he had never in-
tended anything disrespectful towards those learned persons
in any language he had made use of. He loved them- as
friends, gild respected them as honourable and imrirtial
judges.
".Mr. CREsswEnt. said that the house ought to have but one
Object in making the return upon the writ—to r: turn the
truth. That was all they had now to • -
fdt: ; and they ought
not to speculate on the consequencesE.%,tliiat acti,.or•on.what
it was likely the Court of Queen's
Upon that return being brought before tliennouwdttetticele.lon,
goners. . h • "--
.The motion was then agreed to without oppoxiti n
• A petition was presented by Mr. LirroN, prayingu• that
soldiers in foreign countries might not be compelled
part in Roman Catholic processtons-, or such otheratroet,re7:
ings as were contrary to their consciences.
Petitions were presented by Captain AI.s.IGER
CzaiaLE, :praying that, with regard to the contemplatel
marriage of the Queen, the " Protestant" religion might
secured unimpaired, as established by the Bill of RightS and
the Act of Settlement:
Several petitions were presented on the subject of the.corn
'laws) &c.
• Sir J. Y. BULLF.R stated that the terms of the motion
Which he purposed submitting On Tuesday would be--" That.
her Majesty s Government, as at present constituted, did
not possess the confidence of the house"--latiguage that wee
greeted with immense cheering.
Sir. F. TRENCH intimated, that on Tuesday he should
move the restoration of the was candles for the ilinmivatiou
'of the house, and the rejection of the Bode !Otts
Mr. CRAW CORD said that on Monday he should move an
address for all papers, despatches,
r., relative to
proceedings in China. &c the late
Mr. La nottenrniu gave notice, that on Monday he would
move that the house resolve itself into a coinalittee to eon-
adder so much of the 9th George IV., cap. OD, " as regarded
the importation into Ireland of wheat and flour."
Lord MORPETH gave notice, that on Monday he wou:d
Move for leave to bring in a bill to amend municipal corpora-
tions in Ireland.
• •- Mr. ELLIS stated, that on Monday he should ;nove for
copies of all the corresponce and documents that had passed
between the British resident at the factory at Canton and.
the Chinese authorities.
Mr. BAINES asked whether it was the intention of.the
Government to introduce any measure regarding the regulat-
ing of factories during the present•session ?' •-•
Mr. LA.BoucnEitt; said that it was the intention of CNC
Under-Secretary for the Home Department to ititrci(luee
Such a measure. •
Mr. FRENCH said that on Monday he should ITIliVe foilll#^
reappointment of the committee to cOnsider the •!;ta!,,S' deolett
medical profession.
Sir R. BATESON asked whether it was intended to intrbl"
dueskany stringent measure on the subject of steam-boats; •:;)

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a( to subject them to a rigid examination, both as to the effir
cieney and safety of the machinery, and also as to their ge-
rwral sca7worthiness.

Mr. LIBOUCHERE answered that the subject was one of
ry considerable difficulty, as well as importance, but it was

tile intention of her IViajety's Government shortly to lay be-
fore the house a proposition on the subject; and that he
hoped they should be able to legislate upon it during the.