Not satisfied with exposing trifling acts of wasteful expenditure, Mr. Hume, on the 25th of July, immediately before the prorogation of parliament, attacked with a battery of thirty eight ponderous resolutions, strengthened by a truly formidable array of figures, the whole fabric of our financial system. The object of these resolutions was, to show, first, the amount of the national debt as it stood in January, 1793, and in January, 1822; secondly, what would have been its amount, if during that period five or six millions of additional supplies had been annually raised; and thirdly, what its amount would have been, if no sinking-fund operations had been carried on during that time. The general result, to which he came, was, that the sinking fund had augmented, instead of lessening our debt.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer in reply, observed, that Mr. Hume's resolutions rested on three general principles-first, that we had acted erroneously, in not having raised the supplies of every year within the year; next, that the sinking fund had increased the expenses and annual charge of the debt; and, thirdly, that the national debt itself had not been diminished by the operation of the sinking fund, and therefore that it was not expedient to continue that operation. The first of these principles-the economy of raising the necessary supplies from year to year, instead of providing for the expenditure by loan-had long ago been canvassed in parliament. On the 27th of July, 1812, the House had resolved, that, if the sum raised by war taxes, previously to the peace of Amiens, had been raised by loan upon the ordinary

terms, no less than forty millions would have been added to the public charge; and that the same mode of provision by loan instead of war taxes, if it had extended from the time of the peace of Amiens upwards, would have created an additional charge of 210,000,000l. But it was only to a certain point that taxation could be carried; and he did not believe, that the expenses of the late war could have been defrayed by taxes raised within the year. No doubt, if the same amount of war taxes had been imposed in the beginning of the contest, that were levied towards the conclusion of it, there would have been a considerable saving to the country; but still it would have been at the cost of heavy temporary burthens. If he concurred, however, in the first principle laid down by Mr. Hume, from the last two propositions brought forward by him he must altogether dissent. With respect to one of those propositions-the assertion that the continuing of the sinking fund during the years of the war had increased the expenses of the country-his answer was, the system of continued purchase had operated beneficially in keeping up the market; and when the hon. gentleman said that there had been no reduction of the debt since the peace, he forgot, surely, that the annual charge for unfunded debt had been diminished 2,000,000l.; that diminution was clearly traceable to the effect of the sinking fund, and it was, to all intents and purposes, as much a reduction, as if the same diminution had taken place with respect to the funded debt itself. As to the application of the sinking fund in time of peace, Mr. Hume and Dr. Hamilton were at variance. Dr. Hamilton,

although he objected to the opera tion of a sinking fund in time of war, admitted that, in time of peace, if a surplus existed of revenue over expenditure, that surplus was best employed in the reduction of the public debt. But the surplus of 5,000,000l., which government was now in possession of, would be completely taken away by the last resolution of Mr. Hume, who, for the sake of taking off 5,000,000l. of taxes at the present moment, was content to make the debt eternal.

The resolutions were rejected without a division.

Amid the various schemes of financial and economical arrangement, which occupied and perplexed parliament and the ministers, the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave his assent to one novel item of charge, and exhibited the government of England under the unwonted aspect of patrons of literature. On the 24th of July, he stated to the House, that the glory of the nation was interested in having an uniform and regular edition of our Antient Historians published by authority and at the public expense. This was the more necessary, because individuals were in the habit of printing imperfect copies, which were very carelessly collated, if collated at all. He hoped that even at the present time, when the public money was required to be expended with so much care, a sum, which probably would not exceed 2,000l. a year, might be spared for this purpose. He concluded by moving, "That an humble address be presented to his majesty, to represent to his majesty, that the editions of the works of our Antient Historians are incorrect and defective; that many

of their writings still remain in manuscript, and in some cases in a single copy only; and that an uniform and convenient edition of the whole, published under his majesty's royal sanction, would be an undertaking honourable to his majesty's reign, and conducive to the advancement of Historical and Constitutional knowledge: That this House, therefore, humbly beseeches his majesty to give such directions as his majesty in his wisdom may think fit, for the publication of a Complete Edition of the Antient Historians of this Realm: and that this House begs leave to assure his Majesty, that whatever expense may be necessary for this purpose will be made good by this House."

Sir J. Mackintosh felt great satisfaction in seconding the motion, and considered the work proposed to be one of the very highest utility. Generally speaking, the government of England was a little in arrear as to its patronage of literature; but it was highly creditable to the state of society in this country, that we saw works got up by individual enterprize, which in other countries would have required the assistance of the legis lature. With respect to the work in question, however, there were a variety of causes-the great capital required-the great devotion of time-the limited extent of probable sale and certain laws which pressed heavily upon the publication of expensive works which were likely to prevent its being performed by individual speculation. For the conductor of the work there was an individual (Mr. Petrie, of the Tower) eminently qualified; and if he were not employed immediately, the

desire of employing him might come too late. The work would be a history of the progress of the Constitution; and, as such, it would be extremely valuable; and, whatever might be the anxiety not to spend the public money un

necessarily, there could, he thought, be no objection to the principle of the address.

The proposition was received with unanimous approbation from both sides of the House.

HERE never was a session of parliament, in which foreign affairs excited so little discussion as in the present. No changes took place on the continent of Europe. No new revolutions broke out; there was no violent interference of foreign powers to arrest the revolutions that were already in progress. Inactivity, therefore (a watchful inactivity doubtless), was all that was required of our ministers; and thus, they not interfering with any thing, and there being nothing for them to interfere with, no ground could be laid to blame them either for doing what ought not to have been done, or for omitting what ought to have been done. One or two futile attempts were made to convert the affairs of the Greeks into a theme of parliamentary discussion. On the 15th of July, sir J. Mackintosh presented a petition from the inhabitants of Lees, in the parish of Ashton-under-Line, praying the House to interfere in behalf of the Greeks. The learned gentleman enforced the prayer of the petition in a short speech.

Mr.

Hume, Mr. C. Hutchinson, and sir R. Wilson, complained shortly of the part which the British government had taken in opposition to the interests of civilization, humanity, and the Christian religion. Mr. Wilberforce expressed regret, that some simultaneous effort for the protection of the Greeks was not made by all the leading powers of Europe, so as to drive the Turks back into Asia. Mr. Wilmot and the marquis of Londonderry contended, that the strictest impartiality had been observed by the British government.

It was really marvellous, said lord Londonderry, to see how the friends of peace could sometimes advocate the cause, and most unnecessarily, of war. His hon. friend, at all times conscientiously supporting the doctrines of benevolence and peace, was now disclosing to the House a proposal to relegate and to throw back upon Asia a Turkish population of some 5,000,000 of souls. Now, whatever might be said about Turkish inhumanity, it did appear to him, that neither the crusade, which his hon. friend