CASH PAYMENTS BILL.

April 5.

On the recommendation of the Secret Committee appointed to consider of the state of the Bank of England, with reference to the expediency of the resumption of Cash Payments at the period fixed by law, Mr. Peel moved for leave to bring in a Bill" to restrain the Governor and Company of the Bank from paying payments in cash, under certain notices given by them for that purpose." The motion was supported by Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning, and opposed by Mr. Brougham and Mr. Tierney. Lord Althorp having expressed his belief, that the measure would tend to increase the issues of the Bank, and consequently delay the return to cash payments,

Mr. HUSKISSON said, that if the only object of the motion was to protect the Bank of England from the loss or sacrifice which a return to cash payments at the present moment would occasion to that corporation, he should not give it his support. The noble lord, however, who spoke last, had overlooked the main question; namely, that under the present drain from foreign countries, it was impossible that the treasure of the Bank, if passed into circulation, could remain in the kingdom. He would venture confidently to state, that if the Bank were to continue its partial payments in specie, and should endeavour to repurchase, at any price, the treasure it expended, it would not advance, but retard, the great object which the House and the country were so anxious to accomplish. As the specie thus circulated would not remain in the country, it would be useless to the public, and tend to make the return to cash payments by the Bank still more impracticable.

Leave was given to bring in the bill; which went through all its stages in one day.

RESOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO THE PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.

June 7.

The House having resolved itself into a Committee, to which the First Report of the Select Committee of Finance, and sundry other documents relating to the Public Income and Expenditure were referred, the Chancellor of the Exchequer submitted to the Committee the following Resolutions:

1. "That since the termination of the war in 1815, the property tax in Great Britain, and other taxes in Great Britain and Ireland, which yielded a revenue of upwards of 18,000,0007. per annum, have expired, or been repealed, or reduced.

2. "That by an act passed in the 56th Geo. III, cap. 98, the revenues of Great Britain and Ireland were consolidated, from the 5th January 1817; and that in the year preceding the said consolidation, the net separate revenue of Ireland was 4,561,3531., and the charge of the funded and unfunded debt of Ireland was 6,446,8257., including therein the sum of 2,438,1247. as the sinking fund applicable to the reduction of the debt; which charge exceeded the whole net revenue of Ireland by the sum of 1,885,4727. without affording any provision for the civil list, and other permanent charges, or for the proportion of supplies to be defrayed by that part of the United Kingdom; and that no provision has been made by parliament to supply this deficiency.

3. "That the supplies to be voted for the present year by parliament may be stated at 20,500,000Z.

4. "That the existing revenue applicable to the supplies, cannot be estimated at more than 7,000,0007.; leaving the sum of 13,500,000%. to be raised by loan, or other extraordinary resources.

5. "That the Sinking Fund applicable to the reduction of the national debt, in the present year, may be estimated at about 15,500,0007.; exceeding the above sum necessary to be raised for the service of the year by about 2,000,000%. only.

6. "That to provide for the exigencies of the public service, to make such progressive reduction of the national debt, as may adequately support public credit, and to afford to the country a prospect of future relief from a part of its present burthens, it is absolutely necessary that there should be a clear surplus of the income of the country beyond the expenditure, of not less than 5,000,000%.; and that

with a view to the attainment of this most important object, it is expedient now to increase the income of the country, by the imposition of taxes to the amount of three millions per annum."

On the first resolution being put, Mr. Tierney objected to the imposition of new taxes to the amount of three millions, when so many branches of expenditure still remained, on which important reductions might be effected, and announced his intention of moving the previous question on the two last resolutions. After he had been replied to by Lord Castlereagh, and supported by Mr. Brougham,

Mr. HUSKISSON said, he admitted, most distinctly, that in the fifth year of peace it was necessary that a full exposition of our financial system, in all its parts, should be submitted to parliament. This exposition had been made by his right honourable friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the House was thus put into a situation to exercise its judgment upon any new or practical measure that might be recommended. The plan now under consideration, he was ready to confess, could only be justified on the principle of necessity; and it was upon that point alone that they were at issue. He had hoped that this would be the view which would be taken of the question on all sides. It certainly did appear to him, that, for some time after the gigantic and unprecedented efforts which this country had made, palliatives ought to be administered, but that it was essential to our security to return, as soon as possible, to a sound system of finance, and to look our difficulties steadily in the face.

We could not disguise, either from ourselves, or from foreign countries, what our real situation was. The powers of the continent were exerting themselves to place their finances on a sound footing. Russia had been endeavouring to restore her circulation to its former value, Prussia was acting the same part, and Austria had established a sinking fund. If they turned their attention to France, it would be seen that, after all her sacrifices and contributions, she was now, in a financial point of view, in

a state of comparative prosperity. The last budget submitted to the legislative council indicated a revenue equal to the maintenance of every establishment, corresponding with the rank and station of France amongst the powers of Europe. She had a bonâ fide sinking fund, equal, in proportion to her debt, to that originally provided by Mr. Pitt. This proportion was one per cent. upon the aggregate amount of the debt; and the debt of France being 170,000,000l. sterling, her sinking fund was at this moment 1,700,000, accumulating at compound ininterest.

Now, what was there in our situation that should induce us to act upon a different policy? We had a debt of 800,000,000l., and a sinking fund of 2,000,0007.· amounting only to one-fourth per cent. on the debt itself. The plan under consideration would raise it to 5,000,0007.; an amount not equal to what he thought necessary, but which would alter the proportion to that of five-eighths per cent. The maintenance of the Consolidated Fund was bound up with the honour and credit of the country; but the fact was this-that we had imposed upon it charges which it was inadequate to pay. Parliament had held out to the country, that this fund should form the security of the public creditor; but it had subsequently overcharged it. For thirteen years after the peace of Amiens, it afforded an annual surplus of 3,500,000l., and we had always been taught to look for the existence of some such surplus. The words of the Appropriation act pointed out the destination of this surplus. Its very first recital related to it, and it appeared to have been always in the contemplation of the legislature. Since the last peace, however, there had been a falling off: at first there was no surplus, and at present the deficit amounted to 1,885,000l.

This deficit had existed for the last two years, and was to be ascribed, in the first instance, to the consolidation of the Irish with the British revenue. In stating this, he did

not mean to say that Ireland had not contributed to the full extent of her means; but his persuasion was, that it was the want of capital alone that had checked the progressive augmentation of those means. Be that, however, as it might, this union of the revenues had entailed on the Consolidated Fund an annual charge of 1,885,4721. ; but the Act, to which he had before alluded, contained a clause that specially provided for rendering the Consolidated Fund equal to all the charges which might be fixed upon it. The account ordered in that clause had, very properly, every year since been laid before Parliament. It was not as yet prepared for the present year; but last year it appeared, that, for the preceding two years, the amount of the interest of the Irish debt exceeded its permanent revenue by two millions. The deficiency of consolidated revenue, as compared with the charge for both countries, last year exceeded the sum now proposed to be raised by new taxes. By an arrangement, which left this deficiency to be made up by the Bank, we had placed the public credit of the country, and the public creditor, at the mercy of that corporation; which might at its pleasure refuse to pay the dividends. He knew that the Bank had too much confidence in the national resources, too much public spirit and patriotism, to refuse to advance the necessary sums when applied to; but he would contend, that the credit of a great country like this, and the maintenance of the national honour, ought not to be intrusted to the discretion of any corporation, however well disposed and however respectable.

He owned that it was with a feeling of surprise and regret, that he had heard the right honourable gentleman, who had, on all former occasions, stood forward as so strenuous a defender of the Sinking Fund, after lamenting the breach of public faith, which faith was not broken, and after attributing that breach of faith to a necessity