Russian Dutch Loan, 55 Geo. III. c. 115. 119,517 1 Irish Life Annuities ....... Commissioners of Roads to Holyhead.. 2,200 17 3 0 14,000 0 0 38,978 17 25,000 0 0 20,000 0 5,000 0 0 224,896 16 0 £1,548,478 11 14 Economy and Retrenchment. ECONOMY AND RETRENCHMENT. THE labours of Mr. Hume are an instance of what the ability and perseverance of a single individual may accomplish even in the House of Commons as at present constituted. The Opposition must be heartily ashamed of their former inefficiency, and, doubtless, feel some mortification in beholding an obscure member effect in one or two sessions all they had been talking about for years. It is not, however, so much the good Mr. Hume has effected as the evil he has prevented that entitles him to the gratitude of the country. From 1817, all the great branches of public expenditure had been annually augmenting; the army, the navy, and ordnance had all increased, and the estimates for 1821 were greater than in any preceding year, except 1820. How far this progression would have extended, had not Mr. Hume, supported by a small phalanx of honest members, commenced his exposures, it is impossible to say. His mode of attack could not be resisted: though an unofficial man himself, he showed as intimate acquaintance with the details of the public accounts as those who had been all their lives in office. Even Mr. Gooch and Stuart Wortley were constrained to admit the value of his services, and the reductions of the present session may be ascribed entirely to his exertions. To judge of the value of these reductions, and the importance of Mr. Hume's labours, it will be necessary to advert to the state of the expenditure when he undertook to shame Ministers into some sort of economy by Economy and Retrenchment. an exposure of their profusion. The great object of his exertions was to show the immense disproportion betwixt the peace expenditure of 1792 and the present time, and to establish this point he brought forward, in his memorable speech of the 27th June, 1821, numerous statements illustrative of the expenditure of the two periods. As these documents must be extremely valuable for reference in all future discussions on the subject, we shall incorporate the most important in the SUPPLEMENT, with a few observations. The first subject of comparison was the disproportion betwixt the military and naval establishments. It appears that, in 1792, the whole charge for the army, navy, and ordnance, was £4,760,694, and that, in the past year, it amounted to £16,715,408, making an increase of £11,954,714; as appears by the following statement :— Abstract of the EXPENSE of the ARMY, NAVY, and ORDNANCE of GREAT BRITAin and Ireland, in the Years 1792 and 1820. Economy and Retrenchment. The comparison of the numbers of the army was not less striking. The total number of the troops regular and irregular in 1792 was 86,807. In 1821, the number of regular troops was 101,539, and the irregular, 162,328; making a total of 263,867, and giving an increase of 177,060 men above the numbers of 1792. Statement of the MILITARY FORCE, regular and irregular (Men and Officers included), in GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND, and the BRITISH COLONIES, (exclusive of the East Indies), in the Years 1792 and 1821, made up from Returns before Parliament. Volunteer Infantry, in Men and Officers, Great Britain Do. ...... 38 Regiments 22,472 -77,564 36,294 30,786 in 1792 86,807 East India Company's Regiment Veteran Battalions disembodied and ready to be called Total Irregulars Men in Arms, or may be in Arms in a few hours or days: Do. More in 1821 than in 1792 177,060 In this enormous increase was included nearly 10,000 dragoons and household troops, the most expensive class in the army. The following statement shows the increase of life and foot guards and cavalry at the two periods. Lord Castlereagh defended the large establishment of the army on the pretext that they were necessary to the relief of foreign stations; but this cannot apply to the household troops, as they are never sent abroad in peace. The sums saved by their reduction would be considerable, since the expenses of every horseman is nearly as great as those of the junior clerks in the public offices, some of whom have been so unsparingly reduced, that their superiors might enjoy undiminished their overgrown emoluments. The expense of a dragoon and horse, exclusive of forage, |