hon. friend proposed the repeal of 13-15ths of the salt tax, and one-half of the leather tax. He also proposed the repeal of the Irish window tax. In the whole, two millions of taxes. That arrangement, gentlemen received with acclamations; but they now proposed to disturb that system, and by assailing the sinking fund to deprive the public creditor of the security that he ought to enjoy. It was now proposed to take away the entire tax, as far as it regarded the fisheries-a measure, which would be injurious, instead of beneficial to them. He would, if the question were now pressed on him, prefer the repeal of the tax on candles: he would rather see another tax, the tax on coals, remitted, than the leather tax.

Mr. Wetherell said, he would oppose the motion, because, without going into a consideration whether the leather tax ought to be preferred to the salt tax, he thought, that tax after tax could not, with safety to the country be remitted.

Mr. Scott said, that the time had arrived for taking off many of the burthens imposed on the people during the course of the late war. There were two modes of granting relief from taxation. The one was by taking off taxes altogether; the other by reducing them, and retaining a little of every tax. He was in favour of the former mode, because, if an entire tax were taken off, it would relieve the people more than if the same nominal amount were remitted from two different taxes. If a tax were reduced, so as to leave 200,000l. of it still to be collected, the public, instead of paying merely that sum, would, in all probability, looking to the machinery of the tax, pay at least half a million. If the whole of the salt tax were removed, the people would feel a substantial benefit; but if 2s. per bushel were suffered to remain, it would be swelled to about 5s. 6d. There was no just ground for continuing this tax-a fact which was very evident from the manner in which its continuance had been defended.

Sir F. Ommaney approved of the partial repeal of the salt tax, but could not vote for its total abolition. Government had made great efforts to contract the public expenditure; and much individual suffering had been the consequence. Let the House look at many of the public servants who had been employed 14, 15, or 20 years. They were reduced to a

state of beggary, and some of them had actually shot themselves. This was not the way to treat faithful servants, and parliament was bound, fairly, openly, and honestly to support the taxes in order to enable those persons to maintain themselves.

The Marquis of Londonderry said, he would endeavour to call back their recollection to the evening when his right hon. friend brought forward his proposition for a relaxation of the taxes, and when he (lord L.) congratulated the House on the unanimity which that measure appeared to produce. He would ask, when his right hon. friend afterwards proposed new measures with respect to the leather tax, and to the salt tax, with reference to the fisheries, whether there was not a tacit pledge that the latter subject would be pursued no farther? After what had been done by his right hon. friend, he did not think the gentlemen opposite had taken the tone which they ought to have adopted on this occasion. They ought not now to take advantage of what his right hon. friend had previously done, to press for other measures which could only retard and embarrass the business of the country. There was a very great distinction between the situation in which they now stood, and that in which they were placed at the commencement of the session. They ought to consider what quantity of taxation had already been remitted, and how far the House was bound by its own acts to preserve the interest of the public creditor. At one time it was an option between tax and tax; but that was no longer the case; an election had been made, and it was with reference to that election that the reduction of the 5 per cents took place, which enabled ministers to give up the leather tax, and to grant other relief. That transaction was placed on the records of parliament: it was the most important financial measure of the session, and now formed a part of the law of the land. Therefore, though originally it might have been an option between the salt tax and the leather tax, it had ceased to be so; and to call for a repeal of both would be a virtual retractation of the votes given in the present session. He was happy to find that his right hon. friend had, with that manly firmness and integrity which belonged to his character, refused to give up the salt tax. After having offered his resolution to the House

-after having brought forward this inchoate proceeding-he was right in saying, that unless he heard very substantial reasons in the course of the discussion to induce him conscientiously to abandon it, he could not comply with the demand of the gentlemen opposite. If the salt tax were wholly repealed, it would be necessary to continue that on leather; which would inflict a severe injury on persons employed in the tanning trade. They would have been deceived, and would have good reason to complain. When his right hon. friend first proposed a remission of taxes, there was a universal concurrence on both sides of the House, as to the propriety of the measure. The hon. member for Cumberland required that the fisheries should be exempted from the salt duty, and the point was conceded. What was the grateful return made for that concession? He now turned round and said, "because you have given up so much, you shall give up

THE BUDGET.] The House having resolved itself into a committee of Ways and Means,

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, it might be thought requisite for him to make some apology to the House for submitting to it the general state of the financial operations of the year, before it had acceded to a large portion of the estimates which it was generally thought necessary to pass previously to any winding up of the statement of the public expenditure. It had generally been deemed proper to go through the whole of the votes of Supply before the Ways and Means were submitted to the House, containing a review of the operations of finance by which they were to be substantiated. He was obliged, however, to deviate from that course on the present occasion, owing to the late period to which the session

had been protracted. Each side of the House mutually charged the other with being the cause of delay; but, without staying to inquire to which of them it ought to be attributed, he should take it for granted that they were all agreed to let the public business proceed henceforth with as little interruption as possible. He could assure the House that his statement could not be deferred any longer without great inconvenience to the public interests. In the first place, it was desirable that the general statement of the finances should be submitted to parliament before the arrival of that period of the year in which its members left their residences in London for the country; and, in the second place, it was necessary that certain votes should pass before the 5th of July. The House was aware that the sinking fund, according to the resolution passed in 1819, was only voted to the 5th of July. Now, the sinking fund for 1821 would expire within a few days; and unless a vote to continue it were passed before the expiration of that time, it would be impossible, without much irregularity to prevent the loss of a quarter. If no vote were passed before the 5th of July, the commissioners would be bound to apply a fund of three or four millions, which they now had in hand, in a manner which would not only be highly inconvenient to themselves, but which would also create an irregular purchase of stock by no means desirable. He should therefore state the expenditure according to the estimates laid before parliament, although the whole of them had not yet obtained its sanction; taking care, however, to ob serve the constant rule and practice of parliament, that the grant of no sum should be made that was not absolutely required for the public service, and leaving, with all due constitutional jealousy, in the discretion of the Crown, no sum of unappropriated money, which, even though it were not misplaced, would still be dangerous from the precedent it would establish. He should therefore proceed to ask for a sum which would cover all the services of the year, as well those which had been sanctioned by parliament as those which had not; and in doing so, he could assure them that he was not asking for a single farthing more than was necessary.

Having stated to the House his reasons for bringing on the budget at a time when several of the services of the year

not.

were yet under consideration, he should next proceed to state the amount of the different votes, and the Ways and Means by which he proposed to defray them. The sum wanted for the military service of Great Britain and Ireland amounted to 7,925,000l. of this sum 6,530,000l. had been already voted, and the remainder had The naval services amounted to 5,480,000l. and had all been voted. So had the ordnance services, amounting to 1,200,000l. Of the miscellaneous services, amounting to 1.700,000l.—764,000l. had been voted for Great Britain, and 50,000l. for Ireland, besides which 100,000l. had been voted to Ireland in a committee of Supply. The remainder, amounting to above 790,000l. was to be found among the estimates which at present lay upon the table. There was also on the table a charge of 310,000l. for the out-pensioners of Greenwich hospital; 1,200,000l. for interest upon Exchequer bills; and 291,6061. for payments for services charged upon the aids of the year, but not specially voted. Thus the amount of services already sanctioned by parliament was about 15,300,000l. and there remained for services for which the estimates had not been voted 2,500,000l. making a grand total of 17,815,000l. But there had likewise been made during the present session considerable advances for the reduction of the public debt. There was a charge of 290,000l. for sinking fund on Exchequer bills, and of 2,801,000l. for the re-payment of the holders of 5 per cents, of which 62,000l. for the re-payment of the holders of Irish 5 per cents remained yet to be voted. There was likewise to be voted 290,456/. for the deficiency of the Ways and Means for 1821. He would here enter into an explanation to show that he had not been negligent of his duty last year, when he left a deficiency to the amount he had just stated. Gentlemen who had attended to the debates of last year, would recollect that he had at that time submitted to the committee that a deficiency was likely to arise in consequence of some circumstances which affected the out-pensioners of Greenwich hospital. The whole expense both of the in-pensioners and out-pensioners had been defrayed, up to the last year, out of the funds of the hospital itself. A great part of those funds was vested in stock, and arose out of the share of prize money to which it was entitled during war. Now, as there was no prize money coming into its coffers during a

time of peace, its funds had become so reduced, that the accountant-general of the hospital had found it necessary to state to government his opinion that no payments could be lawfully made from it to the out-pensioners, and that the expense of supporting them must thenceforwards devolve upon the public. That opinion was referred to the consideration of the Crown lawyers; and though their decision upon it was not known at the time he made his last year's financial statement, he had still felt it his duty to state that a deficiency was likely to arise, and that a demand of the nature he had just mentioned would be made upon the public. As soon as that demand was made, he proposed an act of parliament to enable him to issue Exchequer bills to meet it. About 260,000l. had been so paid; and an explanation of the services for which the remainder was required would be found in a paper upon their table. Now, if these three last mentioned sums, amounting together to 9,81,4564. and all employed for the reduction of the debt incurred, were added to the 17,815,000l. of which he had before spoken, it would appear that the total sum wanted for the services of the year was 21,196,456l.

To make good this amount, he should now propose his Ways and Means, stating at the same time, that part of them had been already agreed to by parliament. In the first place, annual taxes to the amount of 3,000,000l. had been already voted. These taxes last year amounted to 4,000,000l. but they had been reduced this year to 3,000,000l. by the reduction of the annual malt duties, which formed a large constituent part of the annual taxes of last year. The next item was 1,500,000l. reserved upon the tea duties, and 200,000l. upon the lottery. [Hear, hear!] There was some objection, it appeared, to this latter mode of raising money; he wished that those who objected to it would point out to him some other mode less objectionable of raising it. The next item was, old stores 151,000l. That item last year amounted to 163,4007. but, as it was one that arose from the general equipment of our forces, it was evident that it would diminish during peace, from time to time, until it reached the average of consumption. In the last year's budget, they had had the advantage of 500,000l. the surplus pecuniary indemnity payable by France. He

Company, and the Company from all claim on the part of the public. Of the 557,000l. agreed to be paid in liquidation of their debt, 27,000l. had been already paid to the government, and had been applied by it to the repayment of the holders of 5 per cents, and the remaining 530,000l. was at present due from the Company to the government, Now, if to the sums he had mentioned, 2,450,000l. were added, which would be received for the commissioners for payments on account of the half pay and pensions, they would have all the Ways and Means for the year, except that portion of it that was connected with the unfunded debt. And this led him to say a few words upon that important subject. In 1821, the Exchequer bills, unfunded, amounted to 29,000,000. the Irish Treasury bills to 1,000,000l., and the bills for public works and churches to 368,330., making a total of 30,368,3301. Now, turning to the actual amount of the unfunded debt of Great Britain and Ireland, he found that in the year ending the 5th of January, 1822, the Exchequer bills were 31,566,550l. and Irish Treasury bills 1,105,1817., making a total of 32,661,7317. Adding to this sum 3,100,000l., which had been voted during the year for the deficiency of the Ways and Means of the last year, and for the payment of the holders of 5 per cents, they would have a sum of about 35,000,000l. The increase of the unfunded debt in the last year would, therefore, be nominally about 5,831,670., but in reality not much more than 1,000,000l. if it were considered that part of the above sum was expended in renewing old Exchequer bills, and in paying off holders of the 5 per cents, which was equivalent to the extinction of a certain portion of our debt. The right hon. gentleman proceeded to observe, that he should endeavour to show the actual amount of our means to meet the expenditure. He would assume that, unless some circumstances occurred to influence them, the produce of next year would at least equal that of the present. He found, that, for one year, ending the 5th April, 1822, the produce of the Customs of Great Britain was 9,325,000l.; the Customs for Ireland 1,418,000l.; making, together, 10,743,000l. produce of the Excise of Great Britain for one year, up to the 5th April last, was 26,195,000l.; that of Ireland 2,111,000l.; making 28,306,000l.; but, from the Ex

agreed in the arithmetical accuracy of the other's account. But it appeared to the Treasury and its commissioners, that several of the claims of the Company were not justified that some of them had been previously rejected, and that others were even then under consideration. On the other hand, a large counter-claim of the public on the Company was disputed by the Company. The House would see that the only mode of settling such a dispute between two such parties was by a compromise. Hence the discussion of the question assumed the appearance of a negotiation between two independent states. On the one side was the Company consulting the interest of the proprietors on the other, the Treasury struggling to prevent any unjust claim from being made upon the public service. The question was therefore submitted to arbitration, and it was thought better by both parties that a sum should be first fixed on by the arbitrators, and afterwards be submitted to the wisdom of parliament, than that both of them should adhere to their strict rights, on which point no tribunal could decide between them. After much consideration it was thought fair and just to both parties, to allow the Company 1,300,000l. on its claim of 5,000,000l. [Hear, hear! and a laugh.] He trusted that those who had read the papers would not think the Company hardly dealt with. He verily believed that the Company was satisfied, [Hear!] and on a review of the papers, he thought that parliament and the public ought to be satisfied also. After this sum was allowed to be due to the Company, the next consideration was, to what purpose it should be applied? And here it appeared to him to be most just and equitable, that it should be applied to the reduction of the loan made to the Company by government in 1812. In proof of this, he referred to the act of the 52nd Geo. 3rd, under which that loan had been made. It was afterwards agreed, that the Company, upon the payment of 557,000l. in addition to the 1,300,000l. allowed to be due to them, should be freed from any future call for the repayment of that loan. It was more convenient to the public service that this sum should be carried to the amount of the present year, than that it should be disposed of in any other manner. By that arrangement, the public would be relieved from all claim on the part of the

The