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conquerors pre-eminently distinguished by those feelings which Christianity should inspire. The war against Poland, and the subsequent partition of that devoted country, had been prefaced by language very similar to that which this treaty contained, and the proclamation of the empress Catherine which wound up that fatal tragedy (for fatal that unprincipled partition had proved, and fatal it would prove, to the peace of Europe till justice was rendered,) had almost the same words."

The circumstance of this treaty having been entered into by these great military sovereigns, without the concurrence of England, was enlarged up. on by Mr Brougham, as affording ad. ditional room for doubt; and he expressed his suspicion that the whole was meant to be the forerunner of some crusade against the Ottoman Porte.

Lord Castlereagh explained, that at the time of its being concluded, a draft of the treaty had been put into his hands by the ministers of the contracting parties, and that the nonconcurrence of England had been occasioned merely by the forms of diplomacy. The abouchemens des rois, stigmatized by Mr Brougham, had, as he believed, been attended with the most salutary efforts in the course of the late momentous struggles upon the continent of Europe. The brotherly dispositions manifested by those great sovereigns, were not, he contended, to be wantonly branded with the name of hypocrisy, nor was there any thing soapparently absurd in some strong expressions of regard for the Christian faith, on the part of those who had just been employed in combating a sanguinary power, whose schemes of conquest and rapine had been so eminently assisted by the diffusion of a spirit of immorality and irreligion. Whether the instrument," said he, "was necessary

or not, was another question; but he must say, that if that spirit which it breathed was one which sincerely animated the emperor of Russia, and for himself he could not entertain a doubt upon the subject, there was nothing upon which he should more sincerely congratulate Europe and the world. If the Emperor of Russia chose to found his glory upon such a basis, posterity would do justice to the no. ble determination. Having already done so much for mankind by his arms, to what better purpose could he apply his great influence, in the councils of the sovereigns of Europe, than to secure for it a long and beneficial peace? It was the only glory which was now left him to acquire, after the great personal glory which he had already acquired. With respect to the document itself, Lord Castelreagh opposed its production upon a parliamenary ground, as it was contrary to the practice of parliament to call for the production of treaties to which this country was no party.

Mr Brougham's motion was lost by a majority of 104 to 30.

On the 12th of February, the most important business of the Lower House commenced. The House having formed itself into a Committee of Supply, the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose, and offered, in a very long and interesting speech, a variety of observations calculated to explain the vote of credit, which it was his intention to propose. "His object," he said, "was in the first place to provide for the payment of different exchequer bills outstanding, and which, in the ordinary course, should now be provided for.

The first was a sum of 11 millions of exchequer bills, which remained of a sum of 12 millions and a half, voted in November 1814; also another of 4 millions and a half of exchequer bills which were now become due, and

lastly, a sum of a million and a half which had usually been carried on from year to year. He should also propose to make provision for the exchequer bills outstanding on the aids of the year 1815, and amounting to 18,600,000l.; carrying to the amount of the ways and means of 1816, an equal sum from those of 1815, which still remained to be received. The object of this arrangement, which was similar to the practice of several years past, was to make all sums received into the exchequer applicable to the service of either year, as occasion might require."

With regard to the actual state of the revenue, which, in the course of the preceding debates, some of the opposition members had expressed their suspicions might be found less flourishing than the speech from the throne had represented it, the Chancellor entered into a number of details, the result of which was to shew, that so far from any falling off in the productiveness of taxation, the net revenue of 1815 had exceeded that of any former year by more than a million, and that therefore there was no occasion to despond respecting the future condition of the public purse. He stated also, that of the sums granted for the last year, a large surplus had been beneficially employed in reducing the exchequer bills and the navy debt, so that the whole unfunded debt had been brought down from 6,547,000l. to 47,700,000l. The view which he presented of the commerce of the country, particularly of the exportation of the linen, cotton, and woollen manufactures, was equally satisfactory. In the three quarters ending October 10, 1814, the value of our exports had been 37,167,294.; in the three quarters ending October 10, 1815, they had been 42,425,3571.

Notwithstanding, however, all these

favourable appearances, it was not attempted to be concealed that the community at large were labouring under many embarrassments. Of these the distress of the agricultural classes was universally acknowledged to be the principal cause. According to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the fluctuations in the corn market, occasioned by the long want, and then the sudden pouring in of foreign corn, together with the withdrawing of the immense purchases formerly made by the government, had thrown the farmers into a state of uneasiness, from which no effectual recovery could be expected till the progress of time should have enabled things to reach once more their natural level. The remedies which he proposed for these embarrassments were two-fold; first, a diminution in taxation, viz. the reduction of the property-tax from ten to five per cent. and the remission of some minor taxes particularly affecting the agricultural interest. Secondly, a system of measures for the support of public credit. By abstaining from any demands upon the money market, and by throwing into that market an additional capital of fourteen millions for the sinking fund, (which he thought could easily be done,) such an impulse would, he apprehended, be given to the commerce of money, as would tend far more effectually to relieve those most under the pressure of temporary difficulties, than could possibly be accomplished by withdrawing a sum of the same extent from the general produce of taxation.

With respect to the public expenditure of the year, the principal heads upon which the Chancellor touched were the navy and army. In regard to both of these, the statement he had to offer might, he said, appear extra

* See the subsequent Chapter, on the distresses of the Agricultural Interest.

vagant, when compared with the peace establishments known in preceding years; but it should be recollected, that after the conclusion of every war, more particularly one of such a character as that just terminated, a considerable time must be permitted to elapse before the country could be supposed to have settled down into its posture of perfect tranquillity, or to have got rid of the expensive establishments with which its warlike necessities had burdened it. A vote would be proposed for 33,000 seamen, 10,000 of whom might be set down to the ac count of squadrons on foreign stations, which it had not yet been in the pow of government to recall and pay off. The army estimates would, in like manner, be much greater this year than hereafter. Twenty-five thousand would be required for Great Britain, and Guernsey and Jersey, including the depots necessary for relieving garrisons abroad. An equal number would be required for Ireland. The troops for the colonies and garrinecessary sons in Europe and America would bring up the number requisite for the British and Irish establishment to 90,000. Twenty thousand, requisite for India, would be paid by the East India Company; and 30,000, forming part of the allied force in France, would be supported at the expence of that country.

The Chancellor concluded his speech with a statement of the ways and means, whereby he judged it would be most expedient to meet the expenditure. He mentioned, that "he should have the pleasure of beginning this with a very novel and satisfactory item, namely, a surplus of the unapplied grants of the preceding year. He had already stated what considerable sums of the unfunded debt of the country had been liquidated by the application of the surplus of those grants, and he had now the further pleasure of stating,

that they might safely take credit for
three millions more, as applicable to
the public service of the country in
the present year.
The next item was
the surplus of the consolidated fund,
and although it was impossible to de-
termine the precise sum at which that
surplus might be taken, until after the
5th of April, yet he was sure he might
safely estimate it at 2,500,000. The
ordinary annual taxes he would esti-
mate at 3,000,000l. He also intended
to propose the prolongation of some of
the war taxes on customs and excise,
which had not yet expired. The next
item was a five per cent. property-tax;
ating in view some reductions,
and bearing in mind also some pro-
bable diminutions from other causes,
he should not estimate its produce at
more than 6,000,000l. The lottery
he should take at 200,000l. The on
ly remaining item was one with which
he should not trouble the committee
at any length: he alluded to an ad.
vance from the Bank of 6,000,000%.
at four per cent.

This financial exposition was attacked on many points by Mr Ponsonby, Mr Brougham, Mr Tierney, and some other members. The extent of the army to be kept up, the proposed continuance of the property-tax, and the nature of the transactions with the Bank, formed the principal grounds of objection; but the observations made upon this occasion were only the prelude to more full and formal discussions of the same subjects taken separately in posterior debates. A number of remarks were made in respect to the distressed state of the agricultural bodies, but these, in like manner, were repeated and enlarged upon on subsequent occasions. Lord Castlereagh defended the exposition; and the resolutions proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer were carried without a vote.

CHAP. II.

Debates on the Army Estimates.-Petitions against the Property-Tax-Vote against its continuance.—The War Malt-Tax is abandoned by the Minister. -The Budget.

THE discussion of the army estimates, as has already been hinted, was pursued to a great length. In the House of Commons in particular, the debates on this subject were protracted from night to night, and were not terminated till the 6th of March. We shall give some sketches of the principal speeches delivered on these occasions, because, although they did not lead to any change in the original proposal of the ministry, they are valuable as records of the state of public feeling with respect to the consequences of military force and splendour, at a time when the glory of our arms might have been supposed likely to make us relax somewhat of our ancient prejudices. It will be seen, that a salutary suspicious ness was still kept alive among us, and that the ministry, no less than the opposition, reprobated in the main every idea of departing permanently from the old and constitutional jealousy of extensive military establishments. In an early stage of the discussion, some very striking observations were made, in a speech of much candour and manliness, by Mr Frankland Lewis. This gentleman observed, that," whenever the proposition of a large standing ar.

my had been made in that House, it had been resisted on a principle whol. ly unconnected with any party feeling-it had been resisted by a body of men acting independently of any administration-he meant the country gentlemen of England, who had invariably united in their hostility to a measure of that nature. As for his own motives on this particular occasion, he could solemnly assure the House, that he was wholly uninfluen ced by any personal feeling towards any individual whatever. In comparison with such a question as that before them, he cared not who was in or who was out of power; but he called on the country at large to think and to act for themselves to look at the extent of the means they possessed, and at the extent of the danger to be apprehended, and to decide on the establishment that was advisable with reference to both those considerations. Without desiring the House to go far back to precedents, without referring them to the sterner periods of British history, he thought it might do no harm to remind them of one instance of the inflexible manner in which parliament formerly discharged its duty

on this subject. He alluded to their conduct towards King William-that sovereign who had been the seal and the confirmation of our liberties from whom, nevertheless, the parliament of his time tore those Dutch guards, who had been his companions in all his victories. But without going so far back for examples of the conduct of the country gentlemen in parliament, he would refer to a period of between thirty and forty years ago, when Mr Pitt, with all his eloquence, with the force of his government, and with a case incomparably stronger than that of the present time, attempted to press the expediency of expend ing 400 000l. of the public money in fortifications. What was the event? It was not Mr Fox or his party by whom the proposition was effectually resisted. It was by the country gentlemen of England, headed by Mr Bastard, then member for Devonshire. The numbers on the division respecting it being equal, Mr Cornwall, the Speaker, gave that casting vote which secured the country from the danger with which it had been threatened.* The same spirit of liberty, the same love for their country, and for its constitution, would, he trusted, animate the country gentlemen of the present day. In his opinion, the estimates proposed by his Majesty's government were founded on a perfectly false view of our means, and of our danger. What were our means? the interest of the national debt was forty millions; from this we could not relieve ourselves. It was proposed to vote a peace establishment of nearly twentyone millions. To pay these conjoint sums, the annual peace taxes must exceed sixty millions. If the incometax had any one good quality, it was, that it afforded the opportunity of estimating the national property. De

ducting from the returns all that was derived, as by the professional man, from the mere employment of time, or as by the farmer from mere personal labour, it would appear that the revenue actually proceeding from the land and stock of the country, did not exceed 130 or at least 140 millions. When it thus appeared, that even in time of peace the country was called upon by the state for half its revenue, that there was danger of its soon arriving at the end of its resources, let the House consider what must happen, should we unfortunately be plunged into another war. Last year the right honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as an apology for touching that sacred deposit the sinking fund, had declared that taxation ad found its limits. It appeared, then, that the expence of our peace establishment was nearly equal to that which, under any cir cumstances, the country could defray. How was this situation of things compatible with that high tone which it behoved the country to maintain, and which could only be maintained by that economy in peace, which would afford us the means of waging war with success? These considerations pressed the more nearly, when the House looked at the mass of petitions on their table. He verily believed, that the distresses of the people at the present moment were of a magnitude not suf ficiently appreciated. And in what consisted the danger which required this immense peace establishment? We were, as far as the assurances of ministers went, confirmed in our alliances, and being thus bound cordially together, there was less danger of this union being dissevered from jealousy, than there was of any alliance ever made in Europe, of which England formed a part. Where, then, was the need of this establishment? As the

* See New Parliamentary History, vol. xxv. p. 1096.

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