revenue, and it had frightfully increased smuggling and drunkenness, and the vices consequent upon them. This had led to an enormous increase of prosecutions, under the Revenue Law. With such facts, he trusted Sir Robert Peel would reconsider his intentions, and remove a tax, which yielded only 45,000l. in money, but produced demoralization in such abundance. He was aware, that the country could not, in her present state, afford to give up revenue; but there were some articles on which revenue would not be diminished by reduction of duty, for instance, sugar. The Brazilian treaty having failed, we were free upon that subject now, and the time was come when the Government, which had given some remission upon coffee, ought to give the people some sugar to drink with it.

Sir R. Peel admitted that he had been disappointed in his computation with respect to the probable produce of certain branches of revenue. That was a disappointment to which all similar computations must be liable, as had been proved by Mr. Baring's own estimate of the produce to arise from the per centage imposed by him upon the assessed taxes, in which estimate he had been deceived to the amount of more than 1,600,000l. When he himself, in proposing the Income-tax, had adverted to that estimate of Mr. Baring's, he had done so, not with any view to inculpate him for the error, but merely for the purpose of showing that no further increase of revenue could be expected from a per centage upon old taxes, and that it was therefore necessary to impose a new tax, namely, an Income-tax. The Income-tax did

certainly charge a per centage of 21. 18s. 4d., but, he believed, that the cheapness of all articles of consumption had more than counterbalanced that impost. He did believe, from the information produced by Mr. Goulburn, that with respect to some of the most important classes of manufacture, there was an improvement in progress which he trusted would ere long extend itself to other branches of industry, and he hoped that in the present state of the country the House would not force the Government to reduce taxation. The existing deficiency on the last year would now be nearly made up, if the instalments of Income-tax for that year had been actually got in, so that it was not a deficiency resembling that of former years, which there was nothing to compensate. As to further reductions of our military establishments, he considered them to be impracticable, and he believed that to be the opinion of almost every body in the House, except Mr. Hume and Mr. Williams. He saw nothing in what had passed since last Session, which should induce him to think that any other tax would be preferable to that upon income. But for the Income-tax, where should we have been now? If the defalcation in the present year had been chiefly on the assessed taxes, there might be ground for arguing that the Income-tax had been a main cause of deficiency, but the chief defalcation had been in the Customs, which were the sources of revenue least liable to be affected by the Income-tax. He wished most sincerely, that it had been possible to relieve the country by some remission, but in the present state of financial affairs, that remission was impracticable.

Lord J. Russell expressed his belief, that if the financial plan of himself and his friends had been adopted, the whole deficiency would not have exceeded 1,000,000l. for which sum it would not have been necessary to lay on so heavy a tax as the tax upon income. There was now a deficiency in the revenue (if considered exclusively of Income-tax,) to the extent of 2,400,000l. The financial statement of that evening was very unsatisfactory, The natural course would have been to set the Chinese remittances against the Chinese liabilities, and not to set aside the liabilities, and bring the remittances into the revenue of the year. He did not recommend the repeal of the income-tax now, because a frequent shifting of public imposts was a great evil, but when the three years for which that tax was imposed should be expired, he trusted that Parliament would seriously reconsider the subject. He strongly recommended a reduction in the Sugar Duties. At present the Government were halting in their course without any good reason, announcing principles which were only half executed. It would, therefore, be for Gentlemen opposed to the Government to consider whether, in these circumstances, they would not themselves, under whatever disadvantages, propose some remedy of their own.

Mr. S. Wortley believed that the people's strong conviction of our financial necessities had prevented the Income-tax from becoming unpopular. He regretted that the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not propose to reduce some taxes on raw materials.

Lord Howick remarked on the

matis persone last year, when a lofty statement was to be made, the First Lord of the Treasury came forward with great parade to deliver it in person; but this year, when it was necessary that the tone should be humbler, the task was devolved on the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Never had there been a greater failure than on last year's financial scheme, brought forward with so much pretension. He censured the duty on spirits, and the duty on coals, and called for further remissions of differential duties. All these remissions had been successful, while the experiments in the opposite directions upon spirits and coal, had utterly failed. He declaimed against protection, which, he said, he would call monopoly, and warned the country of the danger of adhering to a policy, which was that of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Mr. Liddell commenced by condemning the duty on coal, but took a favourable view of the Budget and of the country's financial prospects in general,

Mr. Hutt inveighed against the coal duty, and asked whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer intended to reduce the Three-and-aHalf per Cents.

Mr. Goulburn returned no specific answer to this point, but intimated, in reference to a question from Mr. Baring about postage, that Government had some measure under consideration for the convenience of rural districts.

Mr. Bell expressed his disapproval of the coal duty.

Mr. Labouchere also condemned that duty. He called on the Government to act upon the general principles which they had laid

They would have affected more good by a remission of duty on corn and sugar than by all they had attempted.

Sir R. Ferguson insisted on the mischiefs of the Irish spirit duty. Mr. M. Gibson called for a general measure of commercial reform. Captain Jones desired the repeal of the Irish spirit duty, complaining of the demoralization produced by it.

After some miscellaneous questions and answers, the proposed sum was voted.

The state of the public finances which had been thus developed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave rise, at a later period of the Session, to a debate in the House of Lords, when Lord Monteagle, on the 14th August, moved a series of resolutions on the subject, which he introduced in a speech of great length, his object being to vindicate the Whig administration of the public finances, and to show that the same line of conduct, which had been censured in the late Ministry, had been pursued by their censors, the present Government. He recalled the attention of the House to the grounds on which the Motion of the 24th August, 1841, which displaced the late Ministry, was rested; the charges being principally that the revenue had been for several years diminishing, that the Government had tampered improperly with the funds of the Savings Banks, that additions had been made to the annual charge of the public debt, that Government had rashly adopted the alteration in the Post Office, and that the finances of the country could not be entrusted to such unskilful hands. After entering into some vindication on all these points severally,

Lord Monteagle reminded the House how the arguments of 1841 prevailed-how there was a change of Ministers-how the new Ministers were allowed time to mature their plans; the unprecedented mark of confidence being accorded to them of being allowed at their discretion to raise money by selling stock in the open market. The plans were propounded by Sir Robert Peel on the 11th March, 1842, and the Minister estimated that there would be a surplus of 520,0007, on the 5th April, 1843. Lord Monteagle enumerated the details of the actual deficiency which ran through the whole of the collections of the last financial year, resulting in the total deficiency of 2,421,000l. a difference between the estimate and the result of 2,940,000l. But that was not all; Government took credit for more than 500,0007. received from China, and for a sum (1,300,000Z.) amounting 800,0001, in excess of the average receipt for Corn Duties. He did not wish to make comments upon these mistakes: though when the late Administration were in power, any single mistake of that description, nay, even a clerical error, was held up to public view by the present Government as evidence of the incapacity of their predecessors, Lord Monteagle touched upon the failure of the increased Irish Stamp Duties: more strongly upon the failure of the augmented Irish spirit duty; and he commented severely on the comparative failure of the export duty on coal, which was recommended as tending to detain coal in this country, and the new Bill to authorize the exportation of machinery-machinery which, without coal to work it, is worthless. He criticised the abandon

to

ment of 600,000l. Timber Duties, and the mode of reduction by two stages, which had paralysed the trade; and, adverting to the Ashburton Treaty, he anticipated difficulty in the admission of timber from the American bank of the St. John River, as likely to provoke demands for corresponding relaxations on the part of those countries with whom we have reciprocity treaties. One anticipation of Ministers had been more than realised; the loss accruing from the reduction of the duty on coffee was only 48,000l. instead of 170,000; showing that in their nearest approach to the principles of free-trade they had succeeded.

He then came to the prospects of the present year, which he said were peculiar and extraordinary. The income was estimated at 50,150,000l., including the full amount of the Property Tax, which was 5,100,000. The expenditure was 49,387,000l: showing a surplus of 763,000l. He was sorry to say that he was afraid this surplus would prove as entirely delusive as the 520,000l. proved in the former year. In the first place, it was stated that this 760,000l. was to commence on the reduction of the deficiency of last year, and not provided for; it must be 760,000l. then, in excess of 2,400,000l. Where were they to get it? This was doubtful. It was true, they might make up the amount by taking the whole of the money coming from China. They had already received 1,300,000l. up to July, which had been applied to the public service. In the estimate of the Government they had included in their calculation of receipts the money they were to get from China But what

claimants and the East India Company, if, instead of merely handing over the money to whom it was due, they called the whole an "increase, and put it in their pockets? He would illustrate this in a very simple way. Suppose any person sold an estate subject to a mortgage, and received 10,000l. or 20,000l. for it, and instead of paying off the mortgage he put it into his banker's hands, applied it to his own purposes, and proposed to the mortgagee to take a bond; would that be quite a fair mode of proceeding? Adverting next to the estimate made of the revenue for the ensuing year, Lord Monteagle observed that their calculation was based on the presumption that there would be a good incoming harvest; but was it not lamentable, when the finances of a great country were considered with reference to the state of the barometer and the clouds, that we were made dependent by the state of the law upon changes in the atmosphere for the amount of our revenue? Under all those circumstances, he saw no prospect of the discontinuance of the Property Tax; the three years' bills granted to the East India Company would come due at the expiration of the tax, the money would all have been expended, and there would be a new ground for continuing the Property Tax. He trusted, however, that no Government would be allowed to continue it without the most clear and absolute necessity; if Government, supposing that the tax would yield only 3,700,000l. a year, pledged themselves to drop it in three years, they were doubly pledged on finding that it yielded 5,100,000l. To the desired end he urged economy;

In 1835, the present First Lord of the Treasury was at the head of the Government of the day; in that year the estimates for the public service were 14,123,000l.; in the present year, after the reductions made, the estimates were 18,779,000l.-an excess of no less than 4,600,000l. in their own estimates. They must not go further, or, depend upon it, they would fare worse.

In concluding his speech, Lord Monteagle expressed his confidence in the resources of the country. He said, no rational man could doubt the undiminished powers of the country; taxation bore less proportion to the capital of the country than in many other countries, and its proportion to capital was even less now than in former periods of our history: for the result of the Income-tax attested the progress of wealth. At the same time, the falling-in of Terminable Annuities would tend to diminish the burthens of the country; not only would a sum amounting to 3,923,000l. cease altogether on or before the year 1867, but during the present year the reduction under that head would exceed 100,000l.; next year, 150,000l.; the next five years the relief would be upwards of 700,000l. and within the period to which he had formerly adverted, the saving would not be less than 4,000,000%.

He then moved as follows:

"1. That this House observes with much concern and disappointment, that the expectation held out of a surplus revenue, exceeding 500,000l. for the year ending the 5th of April, 1843, has not been realised; but that there has been an actual deficiency of

imposition of a tax on property, the application to the public service within the year of 511,4067., obtained from the Government of China, and a receipt exceeding 1,300,000l. as duties upon grain imported.

"2. That the charge for the Permanent Debt has been increased during the last two years, the Exchequer balances have been reduced, and upwards of 1,000,000/. Exchequer Bills held by the Trustees of the Savings Banks converted into Stock.

"3. That under these circumstances, it is most peculiarly the duty of the Legislature, and of Her Majesty's Government, to enforce the strictest economy which is consistent with the public service, and to adopt all such measures as may increase the ordinary revenue, by insuring to British industry, whether agricultural, manufacturing, or commercial, its widest and freest extension and its largest reward; thus averting from the country the calamity of the re-enactment of a tax upon property in time of peace, and promoting the well-being of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects."

The Duke of Wellington expressed his regret that Lord Monteagle had not limited his address to the subject-matter of his resolutions; but had wandered to the discussion of Bills upon the Table, and the financial Budget of the present year, present year, which certainly proved no part of the resolutions of which he had given notice; especially as there was no one in the House to answer his objections in detail. (Lord Ripon being absent from indisposition.) The Duke, however, entered into a