wished it to be understood, that this discovery involved no contradiction of the statement which he had on a former evening submitted to the House, with regard to the conduct of the Treasury. In consequence, however, of this discovery, he had thought proper to take a Lord of the Treasury to inspect the premises, and the effect of that visit was, that, upon a consultation with the governors of the hospital, it was determined, that the site of Colonel Gordon's house should be removed.

MR. WARDLE'S PLAN OF PUBLIC ECONOMY.

June 19.

Ar a public meeting, held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on the 23d of May, to celebrate the anniversary of Sir Francis Burdett's return for Westminster, Mr. Wardle, in the course of his address to the company, stated, that he had studied the subject of finance and was convinced, that the amount of the Income-tax might be done away, and that thus upwards of eleven millions a year might be saved to the country. He added, that if he should at any time be called upon to say how this great saving might be effected, he would readily accept the challenge. Upon this, Mr. Tierney, two days after, from his place in the House of Commons, called upon the honourable gentleman to produce his plan, or stand convicted in the face of the country. Mr. Wardle replied, that before the end of the session he would state the grounds upon which he had formed his opinion. Accordingly, he this day, in a speech of considerable length, went over the various items, in which he conceived savings might be effected, to the extent of 16,316,1937. 13s. 4d. He concluded by moving for a series of accounts, twenty-four in number, which if produced would, he said, enable him to go further into detail, early in the ensuing session. On the question being put upon the first motion,

Mr. HUSKISSON rose, and said:

Mr. Speaker: With whatever feelings of surprise and regret I may have witnessed the conduct of the honourable

gentleman, on the occasion of his first broaching, in another place, the subject which he has now at last brought under the consideration of the House, those feelings have by no means been weakened, either by the explanation which the honourable gentleman has just given of the motives by which he has been actuated, or by the statement which he has submitted to the House in support of his proposition. If, in the first instance, I observed with astonishment a member of this House, one of the guardians of the public purse, and one too who professes to watch over the public expenditure with more than an ordinary degree of jealousy and anxiety, seeking an opportunity, not during the recess of parliament, but in the middle of a session-not in this House, but at a public meeting-of stating that he could point out a plan by which eleven millions a year might be saved to the country, that astonishment was, if possible, increased when I saw the honourable gentleman attending, day after day, in his place here, without giving the House any intimation of the means by which this most desirable object might be effected. The honourable gentleman could not be ignorant that, on the one hand, such a declaration was calculated to make a strong impression out of doors; that, from the character of the meeting at which it was made, it would be disseminated through the public with a mischievous activity; and, on the other hand, that it was only in this House that the plan could be discussed with a view to any beneficial result, or that any practical measure could be taken for attaining its professed object. And yet, Sir, the honourable gentleman has just informed us, that it was not his intention to have brought forward any part of this notable scheme in the present session. In a tone almost of anger and complaint, he tells us, that he has been goaded and challenged by the frequent calls made upon him here; that, yielding to such importunity, and not to

any sense of his public duty, he, on this the last day of the session, condescends to point out the means of relieving the public from the pressure of the property tax.

What, Sir, is the light in which the honourable gentleman places his own conduct by his statement of this evening? Two months ago he had ascertained, to the entire satisfaction, I presume, of his own mind, that a tax producing upwards of eleven millions a year could be taken off, without any detriment to the public service: he had, at that time, so completely matured the measures of reform, by which this saving could be effected, as publicly to record his opinion; and to-night he tells you, that it never was his intention, in this session, to follow up that opinion by any proposition in this House! In the view of the honourable gentleman, then, the saving of eleven millions is a matter of such little moment, that the means of effecting it being discovered by him in the middle of one session, it consists with his sense of public duty to postpone the application of those means till the next. But it also consists with this same sense of duty, in the mind of the honourable gentleman, to send forth the assertion to the public, under such circumstances, and coupled with such sentiments, as appeared to the meeting at which it was first uttered, best calculated to create an impression, that the blame of the continuance of this tax is solely to be attributed to the corruption of this House. The blame, if blame there be, of not having investigated the honourable gentleman's plan of economy in this session must fall entirely upon himself. The mischief likewise, if mischief ensue from his indiscreet assertions, must be laid entirely at his door. The delusion and the disappointment are equally of his own creating.

That the honourable gentleman's plan will end in the disappointment of those who gave credit to his assertions

must, I think, Sir, be obvious to every member of this House, who has listened to the details brought forward by the honourable gentleman. I shall not attempt to follow him through all those details. If, indeed, they had been supported by any thing like reasoning or proof, I might have found it necessary to trespass upon the indulgence of the House, with such statements as the arguments of the honourable gentleman might have appeared to me to require; but when the honourable gentleman brings forward nothing but a string of bare assertions, it would be a waste of time to meet them in detail by other assertions of an opposite nature. Indeed, Sir, from the manner in which the honourable gentleman treats this subject, I am at a loss to understand why he should confine his savings to eleven millions. With the same facility, and by the same process, he might produce a saving of twenty; and certainly there are other reformers, out of doors, with a degree of self-confidence equal to that of the honourable gentleman, who do not scruple to tell the public, that twenty millions might be saved without any detriment to the public service. Their assertions, I make no doubt, are made with the same sincerity, proclaimed with the same patriotic views, and calculated to produce the same beneficial purposes as those of the honourable gentleman. He, however, is only bound by the minor pledge; but having been the first to start, his anxiety to redeem that pledge may, perhaps, have been quickened this evening, by the bolder strides of those who have since followed him in this mighty

career.

Sir, the first idea of this saving appears to have suggested itself to the honourable gentleman's mind in consequence of a discovery he made in the annual accounts, that the total expenditure of Great Britain, in the year ending the 5th of January 1808, was seventy-one millions,

and that in the year ending the 5th of January 1809, it was seventy-nine millions. The honourable gentleman finds an increase of charge to the amount of eight millions, and the necessary and natural inference is, that a saving of eleven millions may be made. Having come to this irresistible conclusion, the honourable gentleman hastens to publish his discovery at the Crown and Anchor, and has since laboured to make up an account, shewing the means by which this saving may be effected.

Before, Sir, I proceed to say a few words on those means, I will endeavour to state very shortly to the House the principal causes of the increased expense in the year 1809, compared with that of the preceding year. This part of the case might have embarrassed the honourable gentleman's calculation, and he, therefore, very discreetly appears to have excluded it altogether from his account. In the first place, there is the augmentation to the charge of the public debt, occasioned by the loan of the year, amounting to about 800,000l.; in the navy, an increased expense of 1,500,000%., owing principally to the increased price of naval stores; in the army, an increase to the same amount, owing to the augmentation of our regular force, and to our having had a great proportion of that force employed in active operations in Spain and Portugal. There is also 1,500,000l. in arrear of debt due by the public to the East-India Company, for services performed by them in former years; and about 3,000,000l. of pecuniary aid to our allies, of which 1,200,000l. was sent to the king of Sweden, under the sanction of Parliament, and the remainder to aid the patriotic efforts of the Spaniards, with the concurrence and approbation of every man in the kingdom. I must leave the House and the public to judge, whether any of those branches of expenditure could have been abridged consistently with justice or sound policy, and