The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-06-24 00:00:00

Mr. ED. ELLICE
of Lord Stanley.
Mr. CARDWELL followed, in a speech exculpat
the Colonial Office.

who strongly condemned the conduct

Mr. Sttztt and Lord JOHN RUSSELL made long and
able speeches in favour of the New Zealand Company,
and against the conduct of the government.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM and Sir Itonett.r PEEL defended
the conduct of their noble colleague.
Mr. CHAS. ButLEn replied ; and on a division
appeared—For Mr. C. Buller's motion, 172; against it,
223 ; majority, 51

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

while, the grand capital of the debt has been ;nu-cased by
61,189,526 Rentes (representing a capital of about a mil-
hard and a half at four per cent) in the course of the
last 15 years. And the only important financial operation
which could materially relieve the treasury, namely, the
reduction of the five per cents, has been again defeated
by the chamber of peers.
The most important vote of the French Budget is that
of the war department, amounting this year to 13 mil-
lions sterling. The effective force of the army is fixed
by this vote at 310,000 men and 81,689 horses, of which
60,000 men and 15,398 horses are engaged in Africa.
It is needless to observe, that Marshal Soult would
not give up a man of this enormous body of troops : but
the reason he assigned deserves to be•recorded. It ap-
pears that the fortifications of Paris are now sufficiently
advanced to impose a permanent annual burden on the
country in the shape of garrisons, in addition to the
enormous original outlay in the shape of forts, masonry,
end ordnance ; for the marshal' declared to the committee,
that, as there are 90 fronts to be guarded in the great
enclosure of Paris, and moreover, 77 fronts belonging
to the 115 forts round Paris, it was utterly impossible to
reduce any part of the military establishment. This is
certainly one of the most striking facts which we have yet
learned with respect to these fortifications ; for, if they
require garrisons to 167 mural fronts in time of peace,
and consequently augment to that extent the burden which
the army imposes on the country, it is evident that, in
time of war, when, if ever, the utility of these defences
may be put to the test, they will absorb, in the very
heart of France, any army which ought to be upon the
frontier.

We pass over the changes proposed by M. Guizot in
the pecuniary position of the foreign department. They
amounted to an increase of about £ll,OOO a-year, but
the committee seems to have regarded this addition as
the lamp in the hall, and cut it down to £5,500.
But we cannot be equally brief on the chapter of the
naval estimates, which have been made the subject of
gross and absurd misrepresentations in this country.
The total amount of these estimates for the rear is
109,603,425 f. with an extraordinary vote of 4,700,000 f.
heinz in all rather more than £4,600,000 sterling, and
about £175,000 sterling more than last year. The com-
mittee expresses its regret at the weakness of this depart-
ment, and the neglect of the government to organize the
naval reserve proposed by the ordinances of 1837 and
1812. Times.