sum had already been paid, and the account had been laid before the house. He had stated the bills of credit voted by parliament, to amount to 1,650,000l. There remained the sum of about 200,000l. to be made good to complete the two millions and a half, which we were bound to provide by the treaty, together with the interest due; but for this sum he should not propose any vote in the present session, as its amount could not exactly be ascertained, dcpending on the course of exchange. There was also due to Russia on engagements contracted during the former war, the sum of about 530,000l.; 100,000l. had been paid to Spain, and 200,000l. to Portugal, on a similar account; and a sum was also due to Hanover. He considered himself as justified in stating the supplies for these services, the accounts of which were under the examination of the house, to amount to about 3,500,000l.; which, with 1,000,000l. voted as a compensation to Sweden for the cession of Guadaloupe, made a charge of 4,500,000l. for foreign expenditure; of which, about 4,000,000l. would be payable within the year, in addition to the 5,000,000l. voted as subsidies to the three great powers, Austria, Russia and Prussia. The total amount therefore of the charge for foreign payments, including bills of credit, was 9,000,000l. He should have besides to propose to parliament a vote, to make good to the army which had fought under lord Wellington the amount of the value of stores captured by them in different fortresses. This charge, not being altogether of an ordinary nature, would require some explanation; but he trusted that, though considerable in its amount, it would be received with

favour, in consideration of what that army had achieved for the glory and advantage of their country. On the reduction of a fortress an estimate was commonly made of the value of the stores captured, which were applied to the public service, and afterwards accounted for to the captors. During the war in the Peninsula, the account had been kept in the usual manner, but no payment had yet been made; and from the extent of the service performed in the course of a war which had continued for seven years, this charge formed a considerable item; it was estimated at eight hundred thousand pounds: to this the sum of 142,000l. was to be added, for the stores and artillery taken at the capture of the island of Java. It was proper here to observe, that in the operations against that island, no part of the royal artillery was employed. The artillery which was used there was directed by the officers of the East India company's establishment; and therefore the usual certificates, signed by the officers of the royal artillery, could not be obtained. In all other respects the ordinary forms had been observed, and the captors appeared to be entitled to the same remuneration as had been made in other cases when fortified places had been captured; but though the service performed was thought to come within the ordinary principles, and though the honour and accuracy of the company's officers were as unquestionable as their skill and gallantry, the ordnance department had thought proper to issue an order for the payment of the sum which appeared due, without first having the special authority of parliament to do so. He now came to the miscellaneous services. Of

The vote of credit intended to be proposed this year was to the extent of 6,000,000l., and would be made good in the usual way, by an issue of exchequer bills to the same amount. Anxious, how ever, that there should not be too great a pressure on these securities, he should propose a reduc. tion of three million from those voted last year, besides the repayment of 5,000,000l. issued on the last vote of credit; by these means the sum paid off would be equal to that which it might be necessary to issue in the course of the present year. When it was foreseen that an expenditure to the VOL. I.

become necessary, must be provided for in the course of the present session, an important consideration arose, whether it would be better that an extraordinary exertion should be made to raise an unusually large proportion of the supplies within the year, or whether it would be preferable to call on the public only for what they had been accustomed to pay in former years, and raise what remained wanting by means of a loan. Much might be said i favour of either course. For his own part, he had no hesitation in declaring that if he had considered it probable that a similar expenditure would be necessary in future years, he would at once, whatever the hazard might be, have made an appeal to the spirit and magnanimity of the country; and from such an appeal he was sure the country would not have shrunk. From the feeling which had been manifested in consequence of the recent events, he was satisfied that those measures, which the wisdom of parliament might think necessary to the honour and security of the country, would be cheerfully submitted to. But thinking as he did, that an expenditure to the amount of that of the present year, was not likely again to recur, even if the war should continue on the present scale, which was what he could not anticipate, he had thought it wiser to have recourse to no other means than those which it had been usual for Parliament to adopt on former occasions. However large the demand which had in consequence been made on the credit of the country, he saw no reason to regret this resolution. The right honourable gentleman now proceeded to state the ways and means which would be, in the 3 D

the fittest to meet the supplies which had been voted. He took the annual duties at 3,000,000l.; the surplus of the consolidated fund he also took at 3,000,000l. It would be satisfactory to the house to learn the grounds on which he estimated the surplus of the consolidated fund, at that amount; and they would view with pleasure the increased resources of the country. It might also be proper that he should show the grounds on which he intended to propose on a future day a grant of 22,000,000l. out of the growing produce of the war taxes. He should not call upon them to come to this vote that night, as it was more consistent with the forms of Parliament, that some portion of the ways and means of the year should be reserved for a time to meet any future grants which might yet be made in the course of the session. He, however, considered himself justified in taking the war taxes at 22,000,000l.; the lottery he took at 250,000.; old naval stores at 508,000.; the vote of credit he had stated at 6,000,000l.; the exchequer bills funded, and the loan in the five per cent. would give 18,185,000l. The second loan 27,000,000/. These were the ways and means by which he proposed to meet the charge of the year, immense as it was. The total amount of them was 79,893,500l. This sum fell a little short of the supplies; but upon the whole he expected the ways and means which he had enumerated would prove sufficient. It was his peculiar duty this day to state the terms on which the loan had been contracted for the service of the public. It had been the object of the treasury to diffuse the loans called for, over different species of stock, in order to divide the burthen, to remove all incon

and to provide for the exigency on the easiest terms. This would be seen by adverting to their former proceedings in the course of the session. It had been proposed to fund 18,000,000l. of exchequer. bills. This, in the first instance, they had not been able to effect; but subsequently on a loan in the 5 per cents. subscribers had gone beyond the 18,000,000l. by a sum of 135,000l. The sum, therefore, of 18,135,000l. was thus placed in the ways and means. The committee were aware, that by the loan that day, no less a sum than 27,000,000l. for England was to be raised; and as the five per cents. were sufficiently burthened, it became necessary that this should principally fall on the three and the four per cent. stocks. It was originally proposed that a larger sum should be taken in the four per cents.; but on the subscribers objecting to this, 107. per cent. only had been given out of that stock; 130%. had been taken from the three per cent. reduced, and the remaining part of the 100%. was to be by a bidding in the three per cent. consols. It had happened singularly enough, as it had once on a former occasion, about eighteen months ago, "that the sum offered by the subscribers, was exactly the minimum of what the treasury had resolved to accept. This was a circumstance so far satisfactory, as it went to show that both parties met on fair and honourable terms, and arrived at the same point from reasoning in different ways. What further proved the correctness of the view which had been taken of the case, was that four different calculations had been made by four different persons, and all had concurred in naming 447. in the three per cent. consols, as that which

ought to be the bidding. The bonus which the subscribers had was to be estimated in this manner:

The 1307. given in the
3 per cent. reduced,
at 541, were worth
The 10. in the 4 per
cent. at 697
The 441. in the 3 per
cent. consols, at 54

L.71 0 3

6 19 9

23 15 2

Total L.101 15 2 The consols, being shut, there was no money price to them, and the times price was something more than the money price of that stock. The times price was 55; but from this one and a half per cent. was to be deducted, on account of the dividend to arise from the half-year which was about to expire; as no dividend would be paid to the subscribers to the loan on that stock till January next. This, therefore, reduced the value of the 3 per cent. consols. to 541. which made the total sum given to the subscribers what he had before stated-1017. 158. 21d.; to which, adding the sum which would be allowed them in case of prompt payment, made an addition of 21. 138. 73d and the total 1047. 88. 101d., including the whole of the discount allowed to any who might pay the entire amount of their subscriptions at once. But it was obvious, the loan being on so large a scale, it would not be fair to expect that so many could do this as had so come forward on former occasions, and that when the monthly instalments were so considerable, there was less probability of payments in advance than when a smaller loan was called for. On this account he thought that not more than half the discount, at the utmost, could be estimated as a bo

nus to the contractors, which would reduce their advantage to no more than 37. 28. per cent. The bargain therefore was not unreasonably favourable to them, and there was reason to rejoice that such a loan could be obtained at a period like the present on such terms. He would now proceed to explain the grounds on which he took the surplus of the Consolidated Fund at three millions. The actual surplus of that fund in the year ending 5th of April 1815, after deducting all charges, had been 3,647,000l., and would therefore have justified an estimate to the same extent for the current year, supposing the revenue to remain equally productive, and the additional charges to be covered by the provision made by Parliament for meeting them. As however there remained the sum of 284,000l. granted for the service of the former year still due on the 5th of April, the sum which would remain for the service of the current year would be no more than 3,363,000. In another mode of estimate the result would be still more favourable. The amount of taxes applicable to the Consolidated Fund of Great Britain in the year ending 5th of April, 1815, was,

Adding the War Taxes appropriated to
the Consolidated Fund
There would be a total income of -
From which, deducting the permanent
charges of Great Britain existing on
5th April 1815, amounting to
There would remain
From which again deducting the sum
due on the former grant of
There would remain applicable to the
service of the year

L.38,702,000

2,706,000 41,408,000

37,588,000 3,820,000

284,000 3,536,000

He should therefore have thought himself justified in proposing a grant on account of this surplus to the extent of 3,500,000l. But as no inconvenience would arise from its being estimated too low, and some had been experienced from