to the subscribers: we this year paid 57. 148. 2d. on the whole amount borrowed. So that with this immense addition to our debt, no greater depression on public credit was observable that 6s. 2d. per cent. on the loan, and about 5 per cent. on the former interest. This might be considered to result from an astonishing increase of public credit since the period to which he had referred, or to the improved situation of the country. And which ever way it was viewed, the effect was equally gratifying. To provide for the annual charge of 3,689,000l., the House had already supplied by taxes of Customs and Excise on tobacco, and on Excise licenses, about 600,000l. and there were now under the consideration of the House additions to the Stamps and Postage to the amount of about 1,200,000. more, making in the whole a provision by new taxes of about 1,800,000. Thus it would be seen about half the necessary supplies were provided by taxes agreed to, or in progress through the House. For the remainder, he proposed to take a sum of from 1,800,000l. to 1,900,000. out of the sums in the hands of the commissioners for liquidating the national debt, as he was authorised to do by the Act of 1813. The sum in their hands was at present about 70,000,000l., and he proposed to cancel so much of that as would suffice to meet the remainder of the charge created by the loan. He wished it to be borne in mind, as a consideration of no small importance, that a large proportion of the immense sum called for must have been supported by the country as arrears of the late war, had not the recent events again placed us in a state of hostility to France. On the most mode

now

rate calculation, no less than 21,000,000l. would have been sufficient. Of this 12,000,000l. were for the arrears of the Army Extraordinaries: for the payment of the Naval Debt, 2,000,000%. more; for Bills of Credit and arrears of Subsidies, 3,000,000l.; for the Commissariat department in Portugal, not less than 2,500,000%. These sums together made 19,500,000l. The 2,000,000%. for the Army Extraordinaries, which he had mentioned, were for the former year, though included in the grant for the present. The payment of the sum which continued due on account of the Commissariat in Portugal beyond what had been already discharged, had been suspended during the war. The parties interested had acquiesced cheerfully in the arrangement made, and consented to receive the interest, without complaining that the principal would not be paid. This was satisfactory, as it showed that the monied men of the country (for the greater number of the creditors were British merchants) had the interest of the nation more at heart than their own private profit. They had made a considerable sacrifice, as the state of the exchange would have given them a great advantage, which must be wholly lost to them by this arrangement; which however would prove beneficial to the public service, and from its effect upon the exchange greatly promote economy in those departments in which our service had hitherto been conducted abroad at an immense expense; and thus our operations would be carried on with new vigour. The Committee must see with pleasure, that even under the pressure of present circumstances, the precious metals had been reduced in

price since last April. Gold, which had then been 57. 78. the ounce, had been reduced to 5l. 58., and the price of dollars had sunk within the same period to 68. 3d. per ounce. He stated this to show that we had been enabled, not only to meet, but in part to surmount the difficulties of our situation. Returning from this digression, he observed, that he had brought up his statement of the charges which the country must have borne, if a new war had not broken out, to 19,500,000/ One million more was to be added as the balance due to the achievements of our brave army, for the capture of stores. Five hundred thousand pounds of the sum called for in the present session would also have been necessary in aid of the Civil List. Thus this made up the 21,000,000l. he had mentioned, which were to be provided for in the present year, which did not arise from the renewal of war, and must have been borne had no such event taken place. He was aware it would be asked, if the war should continue, how would such expenses be met in a future year? He would not say that there would be no difficulties to contend with, but it was not probable that those difficulties would be of equal magnitude with those surmounted in the present year. He could hardly think it possible that this country would be engaged in an extensive naval war, while making such exertions as she was now displaying on the Continent. Either the attention of France would be so much directed to the confederated armies, that she would not be able to make any great effort with her navy: or, supposing any arrangements to be made by her with the Continental Powers, that expense now incurred for our ar

mies would cease, and the supplies at present demanded for them could be applied to the service of our navy: so that he conceived no prospect of the war being continued at the present great expense. Up to the year 1814, a provision had been made for 140,000 seamen. These were reduced in the last year to 70,000: but this, instead of a diminution, had caused a great additional expense, as the numbers of persons returning from long voyages and claiming the arrears due to them, had made larger disbursements necessary than were called for at any period of the war. This burthen could not continue; and he thought he was not too sanguine, when he looked for a diminution in the naval estimates for the next year, to the amount of four or five millions, including the transport service. The reduction upon the whole, even if the war should continue, might therefore, in another year, be not less than four or five and twenty millions. He believed that in every stage of the late war, this question had constantly been asked, "How shall we go on next year?" The general answer to this had been, that the spirit and resources of the nation would still furnish the means for prosecuting the contest, if it should be necessary. This answer, he thought, might suffice on the present occasion; but it was happily in his power to give one more distinct and specific. The House were not to suppose the Act of 1813 would not yet furnish fresh resources from the fund in the hands of the Commissioners for redeeming the National Debt. Though when all the grants of the present session were passed, but 9 or 10 millions would remain in their hands; in the next year there would, by the

progress of redemption, be found| in their care from 20 to 30 millions of stock. We had raised by loans in the present year, no less a sum than 45,500,000. The House would consider the prospect before us less gloomy than it might otherwise appear when he stated that it was probable, for the reasons which he had assigned, that in the next year the loan required would not exceed 20 millions, and from 20 to 30 millions of stock would be applicable in the hands of the commissioners. But what had induced ministers to prefer having recourse to a public loan, rather than to a more onerous, though a more provident and certain mode of meeting the exigencies of the case, was this-they had reason to hope the contest might be short. In whatever light the subject was viewed, whether we supposed the government of Bonaparte was only established over France by the domineering power of a mutinous army, or whether it was assumed that he was invested with the sovereign authority by the suffrages of the nation at large in the present instance, it could not affect the measures which it had become necessary for England to adopt. Placed in that situation which we occupied, and deeply pledged in respect both of honour and of interest to support at any hazard the system upon which the peace of Europe had been restored, we could not but join with the Confederated Powers to give France encouragement to declare herself, and to enable the Royal party to struggle for the liberty of their country before its present Chief should be in possession of its whole resources. How far the enterprise might succeed, he could not say. But hearing as he did, in many parts of

France, murmurs half suppressed, and seeing in others open hostilities against the ruling power, he could not but cherish a belief that the real supporters of Bonaparte were very few indeed, beyond the limits of the Army, which had been accustomed to live under his banners. But supposing, for the misery of mankind, and most of all for that of France, that, carried away by her lust for military triumphs, she should prefer a warlike chief to lead her armies to the conquest of Europe, and that for such a character, she had deliberately rejected a mild and moderate government, terrible as it might be to combat the whole strength of France embodied under such a leader, such a consideration would make little difference with respect to the measures that ought to be pursued. Greater means ought, in fact, to be put forth, and more intense energy exerted to crush a Government, in its nature inimical to all other governments. He was unwilling to believe that France had acted such a part; that she had rejected the sway of a moderate and legal prince, for one who ruled without law, and who even now trampled on the constitution he so recently pretended to establish. Such a power must be combated. It must find its end in internal discord or by external force, or it would never rest satisfied till its military domination extended over the whole of Europe. He would not however suffer himself to be led into the discussion of topics, however interesting and important, which were not immediately under the consideration of the Committee, and was not aware that he had omitted to state any thing necessarily connected with the business of this evening; but he should hold him