THE PARLIAMENT.
THE CURRENCY.—The bill for suppressing in England the cir- culation of the small notes of the Sister Kingdoms, has passed the Upper House. At the final reading, former objections were re- peated, and answered by the well-worn arguments. The Earl of Carnarvon extolled, as the best in the world, "a paper currency convertible into gold ;" he thought, that to give the people gold by compulsion, would check the agriculture, the manufactures, and the commerce of the country ; and that, instead of suppressing the small notes altogether in England, it would be better to introduce the Scotch system. On the last point, Lord Ellenborough re- marked, that the Scotch banks, though ultimately solvent them- selves, had, by the variations of their issues, done more mischief than the banks of England: look at the number of bankruptcies in Scot- land. The Earl of Rosslyn said that these bankruptcies were oc- casioned, not by over-issues of notes, but by over-speculating in trade. The Duke of Wellington said, that heretofore there had been no gold except in London and Lancashire, and no security for the circulating medium : unle.3s the small notes were suppressed, the same panic and distress as in 1825 would be felt again. The measure of suppression was not extended to Scotland, because there, while it was not immediately necessary, it might be attended with some immediate distress ; but he doubted not that in the course of events it would be seen to be for the benefit even of that country. Lord Clifton prayed God to send them a good deliverance from this experiment of a return to cash payments : they had been long at sea, he wished this bill might land them in a secure harbour. Lord Carnarvon—" It is more likely to unland us !"
RELIGIOUS PROSECUTIONS.—Mr. Robert Taylor, from his cell at Oakham, set forth the injustice of civil prosecutions for specula- tive opinions. This drew from Mr. Secretary Peel an admission that such prosecutions gave no pleasure to the Government, and that they involved a very difficult and delicate question. The pe- titioner Taylor had however been guilty of a shameful violation of the law.
THE ADDITIONAL CHURCHES BILL has been withdrawn for the present.
MILITARY PUNISHMENTS.—Mr. Steuart brought forward a case of severe punishment, inflicted on two soldiers at Sidney, in New South Wales, which was followed by the death of one of them. Sir George Murray explained that he died of dropsy. The punish- ment—hard labour, and chains of no Unusual weight—had been inflicted for theft, committed for the express purpose of procuring transportation. Soldiers also frequently mutilated themselves to obtain their discharge. Mr. Hume said that a friend of the army would have concealed such a picture. Sir George replied, that the army stood in no need of concealment.
SUPERANNUATION ALLowANcEs.—In 1822, an act was passed compelling persons in the civil service to contribute out of their salaries to lay the basis of a superannuation fund. Two years afterwards the act was repealed, in consequence of numerous com- plaints of hardship, and the supposed improvement of the circum- stances of the country. The superannuation charge went on in- creasing—in 1822 it was 340,0'00/. ; in 1828, 500,00k The Finance Committee unanimously recommended a return to the law of 1822—that is, allowing the salaries to be somewhat larger than sufficed for the mere duty, to compel the party himself to provide for his superannuation ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer brought in a bill for that purpose. The bill also included the case of retiring pensions to our foreign ministers : the present amount of 60,0001. to be reduced as soon as possible to 40,000/., and not to exceed that in future; none to be entitled to a pension in less than fifteen years from his first appointment, and none to receive a pen- sion of 20001., until after two years' service as ambassador. In this instance the Chancellor of the Exchequer was seconded by Mr. Hume ; who declared himself satisfied that here at least ecc)- nomy could not be carried farther. Not so in other departments, some of which were still untouched by the Finance Committee. in the Navy, for instance, there were now more officers on the half- pay list than there had been at the close of the war —they might all be struck off: Sir Henry Hardinge said that one fifth of the dead weight of the army had been absorbed since 1820. Mr. Peel thought it necessary that all public officers should have salaries to enable them to appear like gentlemen. The Government clerks had, generally speaking, too small salaries ; and after serving four- and-twenty years, they were only entitled to retire on 300/. a year. Mr. Waithman thought, that in proposino•b to cut down the salaries of the clerks, they were " beginning at the wrong end."
ORDNANCE EST C IMATES.—The ommittee of Supply devoted i two long sittings to the consideration of these estimates n detail. The burden of the battle for retrenchment fell, as usual, on Mr. Hume and Mr. Moberly. The latter regretted the evident indispo- sition of the House to take a single step towards reduction ; and complained that the Finance Committee had been prevented from operating generally on the amount of the establishments, from not being informed of our true political situation—it was for Ministers to say whether we were at war or peace, or in a state approximating to war. Mr. Hume said he differed totally from Ministers as to the pro- per strength of the country. It was not, in our insular position, ne- cessary to be always in such a state of preparation for war as we were immediately before the battle of Waterloo. Taking his stand on the strong recommendation of the Finance Committee, that all our military establishments should be made to approximate as closely as possible to the scale of 1792, he compared the various branches
of expenditure in 1792, 1822, and 1828. In 1792, the total amount of the Navy, Artillery, and Ordnance, was 66,000 men; in 1822, 101,000; in 1828, 129,000. The expense in 1792, was 420,000/. • at present it was 1,200,000/. Much credit had been claimed for the Duke of Wellington, for the reduction of 174 clerks : he would have effected a greater saving to the country had he only disbanded a single troop of horse artillery or a regi- ment of infantry. Mr. Hume's proposition was to break up the Ordnance department wholly, and bring the Engineers and Artillery under the control of the Commander in Chief, as they actually were when they took the field. Sir Henry Hardinge thought it would be extremely difficult to make any such arrangement, the responsibility and business of the two departments were so different. He diminished the excess in the estimates of 1828 over those of 1797; and accounted for the remainder by the addition of Ireland, the extension of the Colonies, and the superior pay, equip- ments, and effectiveness of the forces. From these general views they descended to particular votes. Mr. Hume objected to the vote for artillery, but would not divide the Committee, as he had none to support him. Sir Joseph Yorke said, that he was always ready to support him in driving forth drones from the hives, but he would spare the industrious bees. Sir Joseph would relieve the general taxation of the country by imposing a good round tax on the fundholders --for which sentiment he was reproved by Mr. Maberly and dr. Peel. The votes for the medical establish-
ment, for Woolwich, and for the trigonometrical survey of Ireland, were objected to ; and Mr. Hume made a despairing effort to en- force the opinion of the Finance Committee regarding the Lieut.- General. Finally, the future fortunes of Canada, as - a British possession, came into question, in discussing the first of a series of votes under which some millions are to be expended (only three hundred thousand pounds are to be spent at present) in strength- ening the Canadian frontier, by canals and fortifications, against the United States. It was said that this would save a greater ex- pense hereafter.
THE BunGxr.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer made his financial statement on Friday, in a style of candour and clearness
which pleased all men. Its substance was this—that the state of the revenue is flourishing ; that there will neither be new taxes imposed nor old ones reduced ; and that the sinking-fund shall be limited to three millions—not the real, but the desired actual surplus of revenue, which it is not in future years to exceed. The expenditure of 1828 is, in round numbers, thirty-two millions for the permanent charges, and eighteen millions for the military esta-
blishments, the latter being one million less than the amount
of last year. Sir Henry Parnell doubted whether it is advisable, in the present state of the taxation of the country, to endeavour to
raise any surplus revenue for the purpose of reducinc, debt. Mr. Maberly and Mr. Hume restated some of their peculiar views of finance ; and Mr. Herries answered them.
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