Ilikbates anb Vrorrebings in Vatlianunt.

STATE OF THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

In the House of Lords, on Monday, Lord MONTEAGLE drew attention the state of the public revenue ; moving the following resolutions- " 1. That this House observes with much concern and disappointment, that the expectation held out of a surplus revenue, exceeding 500,000/. for the year ending the 5th of April 1843, has not been realized ; but that there has been an actual deficiency of 2,421,0001., notwithstanding the imposition of a tax on property, the application to the public service within the year of 511,409/., obtained from the Government of China, and a receipt exceeding 1,300,0001. 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 1,000,00W. Exchequer Bills held by the Trustees of the Savings Banks con- verted 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 reenact- ment of a tax upon property in time of peace, and promoting the wellbeing of all classes of her Majesty's subjects."

Lord Monteagle supported these resolutions in a long speech ; his object being to show that the same line of conduct which had been censured in the late Ministry had been pursued by their censors, the present Ministry. The specific motion of the 24th August 1941, by which the late Ministers were displaced, rested on financial grounds : it was stated in support of the resolu- tion, that for four years the revenue bad been diminishing; that there was an excess of expenditure amounting to 8,000,0001.; that Government had tam- pered with the funds in the Savings Banks, by purchasing Exchequer Bills and afterwards funding them, adding to the permanent debt of the country ; that additions had been made to the annual charge of the public debt; that Govern- ment had rashly adopted the alteration in die Post-office ; that the mismanage- ment was unpardonable, and that the finances of the country could not be intrusted to such unskilful hands. Let these charges be compared with the subsequent facts. To make the deficiency appear the more alarming, the device was resorted to of adding the amounts of deficiencies in each separate year to make an aggre- gate; an unfair method, because many of those deficiencies had been provided for, though it had been by adding to the permanent debt. But to apply that plan to the present time : in 1842, the deficiency was 2,354,000/. ; in 1843, 2,421,000/ ; showing, on the plan in question, an aggregate deficiency to be provided for in the present year of 4,700,000/. To carry out the argument of 1841, they should also add the probable deficiency of the current year, which would make an alarming aggregate. Next, as to the funding of Exchequer Bills, effected by the late Government on the strength of an act pained by Mr. Herries in 1828, the object being to convert the unfunded debt into funded debt : the present Government introduced an act, by which they extended that same power to the conversion of Exchequer Bills for Public Works. The balances in the Exchequer have been seriously reduced: in 1836, they amounted to upwards of 6,000,000/ • in April 1843, to 1,300,000/. ; and the result was a large accumulation of Deficiency Bills, amounting in July last to 8,560,000/. So far from rashly adopting the Post-office measure, he bad re- fused to do so, except under a pledge from Parliament that any consequent loss to the revenue should be made good : he had the satisfaction of seeing the present Government urge that pledge as the foundation of their claim upon Parliament and the public to increased taxation. Lord Monteagle called to mind how the arguments of 1841 prevailed—how there was a change of Minis- ters—how the new Ministers were allowed time to mature their plans; the un- precedented 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 520,0001. on the 5th April 1843.. Lord Monteagle enumerated the details of the actual deficiency which raw through the whole of the collections of the last financial year, resulting in the total deficiency of 2,42 i,000/. ; a difference between the estimate and the result of 2,940,0001. But that was not all : Government took credit for more than 500,000/. received from China, and for a sum (1,300,000/.) amounting to 800,000/. 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 aclerical error, was held up to public view by the present Government as evidence of the in- capacity of their predecessors. Lord Monteagle touched upon the failure of the increased Irish stamp-duties ; more strongly upon the failure of the aug- mented Irish spirit-duty; and he commented severely on the comparative failure of export-duty on coal, which was recommended as tending to detain coal in this country, and the new bill to authorize the exportation of ma- chinery—machinery which, without coal to work it, is worthless. He criticised. the abandonment of 600,0001. timber-duties, and the mode of reduction by two• stages, which had paralyzed 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 realized : the loss accruing from the reduction of the duty on coffee was only 48,000/ instead of 170,0001. ; showing that in their nearest approach to the principles of Free Trade they had succeeded. He now came to the prospects of the present year; which were peculiar and extraordinary. The income was estimated at 50,150,0001., including the full amount of the Property-tax, which was 5,100,0001 The expenditure was 49,387,0001. ; showing a surplus of 763,000/. He was sorry to say that he was afraid this surplus would prove as entirely delusive as the 520,000/. proved in the former year. In the first place, it was stated that this 760,000/ was to com- mence on the reduction of the deficiency of last year, and not provided for : it must be 760,0004 then, in excess of 2,400,0001. W here were they to get it ? This was doubtful It was true, they might makeup the amount by taking the whole of the money coming from China. They had already received 1,300,000/. 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 wevethey do with the opium-claimants and the East India Company, if instead of merely banding 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 10,0001. or 20,0001. 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 mortgager to take a bond ; would that be quite a fair mode of proceeding ? He remarked, by the by, that he thought that Government had acted properly in the way of fixing the amount of the opium-claims : but they had to pay 1,200,0001. to the opium- claimants ; 800,000/. to the East India Company ; 600,000/. for the Hong merchants' debts, besides rewards to the Army and Navy. But the Government took all the money themselves, leaving the claimants to be paid by contract- ing new debts, or by chance and accident. Moreover, in estimating the revenue at 50,150,000L, the Government took this amount 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 Pro. party-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 ex- pended, 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 3,700,000/. a year, pledged themselves to drop it in three years, they were doubly pledged on finding that it yielded 5,100,000/. To the desired end be urged economy ; and there was ample scope for it. In 1835, the present First Lord of the Treasury was at the head of the Govern- ment of the day : in that year the estimates for the public service were 14,123,0001.; in the present year, after the reductions made, the estimates were 18,779,0001,—an excess of no less than 4,600,0001. in their own estimates. They must not go further, or depend upon it they would fare worse. He did not think that if the present Government, strong as they were, had made Par- liament fully aware of what they would do when they came into power, they would have been strong enough to get there. [Lord WHARNCLIFFE—" IS WAS your own Parliament."] Would they try their own Parliament now ? If they were to declare plainly now to all what they intended to do, he did not think that their own Parliament would be very different from what they would have found the Parliament of the late Government. Their next step was the extension in all possible ways of the industry of the country : he called upon noble Lords opposite to act on the principles of their own Tariff. Towards the close of his speech Lord Monteagle expressed confidence in the resources of the country. No rational man could doubt the undiminished powers of the coun- try: 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 burdens of the country: not only would a sum amount- ing to 3,923,0001. cease altogether on or before the year 1867, but during the present year the reduction under that head would exceed 100,0001.; next year, 150,000/. ; the next five years the relief would be upwards of 700,000/.; and within the period to which he had formerly adverted, the saving would not be less than 4,000,000/.

The Duke of WELLINGTON regretted that Lord Monteagle had not limited his address to the subject-matter of his resolutions, but had even wandered to the discussion of bills upon the table, and the finan- cial budget of the present year, which certainly formed no part of the resolutions of which he bad given notice; especially as there was no one in the House to answer his objections in detail. [Lord Ripon was absent, from indisposition.] " I admit that the last estimate stated has proved to be fallacious, and it is possible that this estimate may be so likewise. The noble Lord is aware that Chancellors of the Exchequer are liable to each mistakes. ("Hear, heart" from Lord Monteagle.) But, as far as I can have any knowledge of it, I believe that the estimate for the present year will be found correct, and that the surplus expected will be produced on the face of the accounts. If that should not be so, it will be for the Minister of the time to come forward with a proposition to Parliament to make good the deficiency ; and it will be for the Parliament of that day to decide what shall be the mode adopted of meeting that deficiency. All I can say. is this—that there certainly is no plan, there can be no plan now for proposing any particular tax; and most particularly there can be no plan now framed for proposing a tax which it was the inten- tion of the Government, and their engagement at the time, that it should not be continued one day longer than was necessary for thepublic service. That was what was stated at the time ; and I have never heard of any intention to continue it one day longer than it was intended, excepting it should be ab- solutely necessary for the public service." He would not follow Lord Mont- eagle in his remarks on the American treaty and the Customs Bill; leaving those subjects for discussion at the proper time. It was true that the esti- mated revenue of last year was not realized, notwithstanding the unanticipated receipt on account of the corn-duties ; but there had been a failure in certain duties which were estimated—such as the wine-duty, which paid about 600,0001. a year—the duty on foreign spirits, to the amount of 200,000/. ; and there have been the various reductions made with the view of relieving com- merce. On the whole, no doubt, there has been a very considerable diminu- tion of the sum expected from the Customs. In the same manner, the Excise has not produced the sum expected; the malt-duty alone having failed to the extent of 880,0001.: but in fact, the malt and corn-duties usually compensate each other; the same bad season which reduces the amount of malt paying duty, causing a greater importion of corn. Further, the decrease in the con-

sumption of spirits-400,000 gallons in Scotland 200,000 in England—was attributable to the Temperance movement. In the estimate of the revenue for the year ending 5th April 1843, credit was taken for the full amount of the Income-tax ; whereas only 2,400,000L had been collected, and the remainder of the amount then due had not even yet been all collected. Then the expenses of the Chinese war exceeded the estimate (300,0001.) by 200,000/. And a large item in the account was the payment on account of a certain forgery of Exchequer Bills, 262,0001., which he supposed Lord Monteagle had not mentioned, because it was a good deal discussed in Parliament. (A laugh.) Putting all these things together, it would be perceived that the state of the accounts, up to April 1843, was not quite so bad as Lord Monteagle wished to represent it to be.

Lord Monteagle's statement as to the Exchequer balances was not correct, on the face of the papers before the House. He said that they had decreased : whereas, in April 1842 the balance was 857,291/.; in 1843, 956,599/.: an in- crease. Lord Monteagle indeed had gone back to 1836 ; but between that year and 1843 there were many in which there was a deficiency, and the practice followed of clearing the Exchequer of everything that might be found there. ( laugl , Lord Monteagle said that the charge for the Permanent Debt had been in- creased. "Now, the fair way of considering the question is, not merely to consider the amount of the funded debt, but also the amount and charge of the unfunded debt ; and to compare the charges on both previous to and subsequent to the formation of the present Administration, and at the present moment. I will refer to the foots on this subject The amount for the interest and Management of the Public Funded Debt was, on the 15th January, 1841, 28,256,324/. ; on the 15th January, 1842, it was 28,701,4581; on the same day in MAR was 28,609,7081. The-Unfunded Debt was for the years 1840-41, 21,626,3151 at an interest of '2 d.; for 1841-2, it was 18,293,0001., at led.; and for 1842-3, it was 18,182,0001. at lid. The annual interest on the first sum (21,626.3150 was 740,000/. 2s. 6d.; for the third amount (18,182,000/.) it was 414,779/. The charge for the Funded Debt, at the commencement of the present year, was 28,609,7081.: for the Unfunded Deht, it was 414,779/. ; making together, 29,024,487/.; a reduction of the annual charge upon the Funded and Unfunded Debt, since 1841, of 2,071,8630 But there is an addition to this re- duction on account of the charges incurred on stock created to supply the de- ficiency as estimated for 1841-2, being the last budget of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer. That amount was 85,815/.: the income for that year was 48,310,0001.; the estimated income ass 50,777,4321.; leaving a deficiency be- tween the estimated and the actual income, of 2,457,4331. ; which was male a debt at an expense of the sum I have just named-85,815/. per annum to be added to the annual interest of the funded and unfunded debt. The noble Lord, therefore, will see that it is not exactly the fact to state that there has been an augmentation of the funded debt, at least in the point of view stated in his resolution ; but it is true to state that there has been an addition to the expense of the funded debt, caused by the arrangement made by the present Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide for the deficiency between the estimated and the actual income of the last budget of the late Administration."

The resolutions made it a charge, that upwards of 100,0001. Exchequer Bills in the hands of the Commissioners of Savings Banks had been converted into Stock. The history of that conversion was this : it had been the practice to make advances for public works in Exchequer Bills; but it had been thought better in future to make the advances, as they ought to be made, in cash ; and the debt was incurred to pay off the outstanding bills. He did not think it necessary to go through Lord Monteagle's statement respecting the budget of the present year ; but he hoped that he had per- suaded the House to negative the resolutions. He entirely concurred with the noble Lord in feeling the utmost confidence as to the resources 01 the country.

Lord BROUGHAM followed up the Duke of Wellington's defence ; re- traversing part of the same ground, but varying the argument by much of his lively sarcasm—

He remembered Mr. Tierney's saying, " There was no subject which abounded so much in mares-nests as finance." (A laugh.) Whether his noble friend had that night discovered any of those curious structures, be would presently inquire ; in spite of the disadvantage with which he undertook the contest. For though his noble friend was out of office, yet in fact, as far as this subject went, he was as good as if he were in office, because he was an officer of the Exchequer, with this material superiority over the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the one was moveable, holding his office during pleasure, whereas his noble friend was immoveable, holding, happily for him, his office for life: his noble friend could go to the Treasury and Exchequer, and obtain all manner of information ; while the doors were barred against all unfortunate individuals not in office. (Laughter.) He twitted Lord Monteagle with not having brought forward his motion after the April quarter-day, when he might have made a better show, instead of waiting till the Dog-days; for since April 2,421,000/. had been received of the Income-tax arrears; proportionately re- ducing the deficiency. Lord Monteagle said that there was the Chinese money—a " godsend ": but, continued Lord Brougham, amidst repeated laughter, were there no other things sent from Heaven during the same time? He rather thought it was a mixed operation of angels, black as well as white; but suppose that Heaven had been moved to bestow a godsend, had not Acheron and Styx been moved to get a something more —something as unex- pected as a god-send—some devil-send, or fiend-send, as a set-off against that god-send ? Surely there was first 300,000/., the extra expense of the Indian- Chinese war: that was a fiend-send. The estimate was 800,000L, the actual expense was 1,100,0001.; but that, said his noble friend, left 200,000/. more to be accounted for. But there was something more : the fiend was actuated to something more than the Indian-Chinese war; the fiend instigated sundry forgeries of Exchequer Bills. But then, said his noble friend, " There is the corn-duty of 1,300,0001., that is not accounted for "; and " Oh," said he—for his noble friend was very figurative and fanciful upon the subject—" are you to trust for your revenue to the barometer, to the seasons, to water, rain, or tem- perature—to things so fickle as the elements, so inconstant as the winds ?— God forbid !" That was just what he had always said : be had always argued iu that way: but then, unfortunately, he always argued against hie noble friend, because formerly his noble friend trusted to the perfidious winds, the unstable waters, the fickle elements. That was their budget of 1841 ; which, however, they never recovered: it was the fixed dut,' of 8s., which was to be part of their revenue. When his noble friend revisited Downing Street, and again brought forward the 8s. fixed duty to support a falling exchequer—and when his noble friend had nailed his weathercock to the mast—( Great laughter)—and said that it would never change, he would remind him of that evening, and of the fickleness of the winds, which be would then have forgotten. (Continued laughter.) If, asked Lord Brougham, with a property-tax there was a deficit, what would it have been without ?—with slave-grown sugar in- creasing the slave-trade, offering a premium of so much a Negro for every African slave brought over through all the horrors of the middle passage, in order to glut the cupidity of th.planters in Cuba and Brazil? That was their budget; which he viewed with utter and absolute abhorrence. Recurring to the Duke of Wellington's exposition of the diminished charge on the gross debt, funded and unfunded, Lord Brougham asked whether Exchequer Bills had fallen to a discount in consequence of the lower interest ?—on the con- trary, when at 2id. the bills obtained 15s. or 16s. premium ; now, at lid., 59s. The price of Three per Cent Stocks has at the same time risen from 89s. to 94s.; showing the renewed vitality and vigour of our public credit. Lord Monteagle had disclaimed " party " in his speech ; but in that respect the speech itself was as great a falling-off as any of his noble friend's " estimates." He ridiculed Lord Monteagle's delusion, that if Ministers were to dis- solve Parliament his own party would be replaced in power. " I con- scientiously believe there is no foundation for it. It is one thing to feel a little sore on account of unexpected measures on the part of the Government, and another thing to he prepared to seat those opponents in power; particularly when these opponents are principally crying out against their successors for having at all followed them in the course which they at the same time affirm has not been followed out to a sufficient extent : and just so long as my noble friend's party adhere to this practice of attacking the Government for adopting their predecessors' principles, so long will that party find the country indiffer- ent or opposed to them." Recurring to the finance, Lord Brougham said- " The single practical question is, what is our position at present ?—not what it was four months before. Therefore 1 take the year ending the 5th July, and there has been since the 5th April a making-up of the deficit to the extent of 245,0001.: nor is that the whole of it ; for between the 5th July and the 14th August the deficiency was in all probability further reduced. Now, as to the money in the Exchequer at two different periods, (I have taken some pains to ascertain)—July 1841, 1,004,0001. ; July 1843, 1,830,0001.; showing a very

considerable increase—nearly twice as much as it was only two years ago, when the present Government came in." He saw no reason to despair of the financial

prospects of the country. He hoped for saving to be effected ; and above all, for a discontinuance of discreditable wars. [Lord MONTRAOLE.—.. Seinde ! "]

• These figures. copied from the report in the Times, do not tally; but we have no means of correcting them. "And as I am put in mind of Made, I may, perhaps, mention, (which other- wise I should not have adverted to,) that my honourable and learned friend the Member for Bath, who but for professional avocations would have this session brought forward this subject, has communicated to me that his in- tention would have been to advocate the occupation of that country, on account of its necessity: and from the sources of information he disclosed to me, I gather—what amounts nearly to demonstration—that Scinde, if well managed, would supply a large surplus revenue; so that here is another item for the fa- vourable side of the account." Lord Brougham finished by saying, that he supported the Income-tax as inevitably necessary ; but he hoped in no long time to see it expunged from the statute-book.

The Marquis of CLANRICARDE supported the motion ; contending that the present Ministry have exceeded the financial mismanagement which they censured: there never was a budget that exhibited such gross errors as that of last year.

A conversation here arose ; Lord MONTEADLE wishing to postpone a division until he had obtained a return of the Exchequer balances of 1841 and 1843, which were those that he meant to compare; and the Duke of WELLINGTON desiring an immediate division. Eventually, Lord MONTEAGLE declined to take the sense of the House, and the motion was negatived without a division.

hum Anus BILL.

In the House of Lords, on Tuesday, the Duke of WELLINGTON -moved the second reading of the Arms Bill; briefly explaining its history and object.

Lord Camara opposed the motion— He repeated many reasons urged against the measure in the debates of the Commons; imputing to the Tory Governments of Ireland perpetual coercion, producing perpetual discontent ; attributing to the Whig Government an op- posite course, which resulted in a feeling of affection towards this country and diminution of crime ; and quoting protests, against the Arms Bill of 1807 by Lord Ponsonby, and against that of 1819 by Lord Grey, Lord Fitz- william, and other Peers. He did not approve of the Repeal agitation. because he thought that it led to separation; but if the power of the present Ministers were to be permanent, he should have great difficulty to refrain from joining that agitation, because the redress of Irish grievances would seem hopeless. The Established Church was the foundation of all those grievances: its jealousy was the great obstacle to the extension of political rights in Ireland and to improvement. One argument for maintaining it was, that the bulk of property in Ireland be- longed to Protestants : but the argument degraded the Church to the level of a mere human institution. 5And if the Established Church was to be that of the majority, the Roman Catholic should perhaps be the established religion; for the number of petitions against the Factory Bill seemed to indicate that even in England the Established Church does not possess an absolute majo- rity ; while the Irish and English Catholics number about 7,500,000. Be recommended the appropriation of the funds of the Irish Church to the reli- gious instruction of all denomisations of the people.

The Earl of WINCH:U.1MA charged Lord Camoys with departing from his oath ; and defended the Irish Church, not as a political engine, but as the bulwark of that religion which had been declared at the Reforma- tion to be the religion of the Bible, and the foundation of all our na- tional happiness.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE gave the bill a qualified support— Although he entertained doubts whether the bill war essential to preserve the peace of Ireland, he was not at that moment prepared to withdraw from Govern- ment any power calculated in their opinion to maintain peace and order. He believed that Ministers bad no other motive than to make the bill efficacious for its object ; but he doubted whether it was wise to excite the irritability of the Irish people by the new parts of the bill; though during the protracted dis- cussions on it in the Commons, it had been much improved by the admission of forty-three amendments, whereof only seventeen were of a merely verbal character. That the bill was not particularly called for was shown by the de- crease of offences in Ireland, in June 1843, to one-half the amount in the corresponding month of 1842 ; and, singularly enough, the number of cases of demanding arms had fallen from 20 to 10. Still, it might be inconvenient to Government to be deprived of the powers conferred by the bill. As it pre- sented itself, however, in the character of the only measure connected with the pacification of Ireland, the House was bound to consider what it was not: it was not a new link between the Government and the people ; and much more was needed to restore, or, if they pleased, to create, tranquillity in that quarter. One remedy for the state of Ireland must be founded in a provision for the Roman Catholic clergy, recommended by all advocates of Catholic Emancipa- tion—and among them, by Pitt, Castlereagh, and Grattan—as an essential accompaniment of that measure. He did not think that provision should be made at the expense of the Establishment : nothing but conflict, irritation, and bitterness, could accrue from parcelling out the property of the Establish- ment among the different parties. He agreed with Lord Camoys, that the argument for maintaining the exclusive Establishment, founded on property, was altogether preposterous: it might pass if it were a question of instruction in the method of breeding and training cattle, that the method established concurred with the opinions of the landowners, but not where the morality and happiness of a whole community were concerned. The establishment of Mar nooth, unaccompanied by any other measure, was erroneous; especially as the instruction there was limited to the narrowest and most purely theological kind. The additional stamp-tax, passed last year, on conveyances and other law proceedings in Ireland, was also injudicious; since much good would be tone by raising up a middle class of actual landholders in place of the "mid- dlemen. ' Ireland could not remain as it was. He did not call for any sudden measure. He wished no sudden stroke of policy which was at once to reform and tranquillize that country; it would be madness to expect such a coup de main. But he said no time should be lost in considering these questions. He should not oppose the second reading of the bill, but reserve to himself the power of watching its future operation, in the hope that the Government would look the real causes of the present disturbances in the face, and apply to them, not a temporary, but a strong and lastiog remedy. (Loud cheers.)

Lord Baoreasix expressed his entire concurrence in Lord Lans- downe's remarks, both on the penal measure before the House and on the general subject ; and rapidly passed to an assault on his noble friend Lord Camoys-

Be attacked him for his total forgetfulness of history in imputing constant coercion and irritation of Ireland to the Ministerial party. Were the Irish Ca- tholics irritated by the Duke of Wellington's carrying their own policy in 1829? Lord Ctimoys spoke as if all the coercion came from one side; but, said Lord Brougham, I myself must plead guilty to having, in 1833 and 1834, enacted, and continued, and carried into execution, one of the most strin- gent coercion bills that I believe ever existed in this country towards Ireland. That bill, too, was suffered to expire ; but it was continued in a modified form by the noble Viscount (Melbourne) in 1833: it was only in 1840 that the Venue Bill was allowed to expire; that very Venue Bill, which I was told the other night was to all intents =Pim a a coercive measure, was conti- nued till 1840." Lord Camoys, too, ratted most extraordinary oblivion of his own personal history, and of what in that very place, two years ago, he swore to observe ; when he took an oath, declaring, " without any evasion,

equivocation, or mental reservation whatever," " I do solemnly swear that I

never will exercise any privilege to which I am or may be entitled "—including, of course, the privilege of a Peer of Parliament, which is the highest of all-

" to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion or the Protestant Government

in the United Kingdom." " My Lords," continued Lord Brougham, " I have lived long in the world : I have seen many examples of the effects of the

wilful courses of designiog men, and of the influence they have gained in pro-

secuting their wicked designs on less powerful minds, of less steady characters, of minds less capable of self-defence : I have seen both here and abroad, the

effects on weak and on youthful minds, the effects of the operations of the Ca- tholic priesthood for the accomplishment of their sinful and sordid objects; and I have seen in this country the consequences ofpolitical seduction by similar means and for similar objects : but, knowing, as I do, the honourable nature of

my noble friend, his pure motives, and the candour of his disposition, I do profess and declare, that I never yet saw so melancholy and striking an exhibition in ray

whole life of the effects of such insidious arts on such minds, as has this

night been exhibited by the marvellous declaration of my noble friend. It is only a lesson, my Lords, to you, and I am sure it ought to be to the Government, of the absolute and overwhelming necessity of looking to the education of the Irish people in spiritual, things—of looking to their condition under the control of a priesthood so educated as that which now instructs them and misleads them, and now alternately agitates and seduces them—men igno- rant of the most salutary branches of human knowledge, in which sound prin- ciples and right feeling find their beat root. Either you must enlarge the institution of Maynooth College, or abolish it altogether, and restore the priesthood of Ireland to their former education on the Continent—an educa- tion which had some liberalizing effects."

r Lord CAMOYS explained how he had put a different interpreta- tion on the oath. When in the House of Commons, Mr. Wilmot Horton proposed to restrict Roman Catholics from voting and speak- ing on questions relating to the Church, Sir Robert Peel refused to place them on a different footing from Protestant Dissenters ; and when Sir Charles Wetherell said that Roman Catholics could not take the oath in their legislative capacity, Sir Robert Peel said that he was right.

The Earl of SHREWSBURY supported views very similar to those ex- pressed by Lord Camoys. He remarked that Ministers did not meet the disturbance in Wales with an Arms Bill, but with a commission sent down to inquire into actual grievances.

The Earl of WICKLOW, condemning Lord Camoys, as the first Ro- man Catholic to avow in Parliament the opinion that the Irish Church ought to be subverted, subscribed to the views expressed by Lord Laos- down, especially that part where he spoke of remedial measures— The example of the King of Hanover and the King of Prussia should be followed, in providing for the Roman Catholic clergy. Maynooth was a sad specimen of British parsimony: it ought to have funds liberally supplied. Every encouragement should be given to men of a better order of society to• enter it ; and in order to induce the sons of the Catholic gentry, the better sort of farmers, and the merchants, &c., to feel ambitious of belonging to the clerical profession, as was the case in this country.

Lord BEAUMONT, who is described as addressing the House under considerable agitation, eagerly disclaimed Lord Camoys's interpretation of the Roman Catholic oath : understanding it as he did, he himself" should feel disgraced if he were to give a vote contrary to the interests of the Established Church. The sentiments uttered that night, directly tending to fan the flames of rebellion, attested the necessity of mea- sures to put down the agitation in Ireland. Still, when that country was calm, a comprehensive policy for her should have been adopted ; the great want being occupation for the people.

Lord CAMPBELL, at some length, defended Lord Camoys's conclusions. respecting the oath; declaring that that oath did not bind the person who took it, in his legislative capacity, any more than the Coronation- oath did the Sovereign in a similar capacity.

The Marquis of HEADFORT contended that equal laws were the only means of tranquillizing Ireland ; touching upon some of the main. grievances ; and primarily recommending state payment of the Roman- Catholic priesthood, and an organized system of emigration.

The Marquis of CLANRICABDE followed Lord Lansdowne in voting for the bill.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY also supported it ; averring, however. that his information from Ireland represented the agitation to be dying away ; and deprecating Anti-Repeal meetings, especially the contem- plated one at Belfast, on the 7th September, as conducing to a " flare-up."

The motion was agreed to without division, and the bill was read a second time.

The House went into Committee on the Thursday ; when Earl. FORTESCUE (absent on the previous night) stated his concurrence with Lord Lansdowne's views : he assented generally to the bill; took ex- ceptions to parts ; and urged removal of Irish grievances, especially ad- vocating appropriation of surplus Church revenue to " the endowment in some respects of the Roman Catholic Church," fulfilment of Sir Robert Peel's promised inquiry into the Irish law of landlord and tenant, and extended franchise Parliamentary and Municipal.

Lord BROUGHAM took occasion to vindicate the m mory of Lord Wellesley ; whom, as well as Lord.Anglesea, he concei ved to be unjustly treated by the claim which had been set up for the Melbourne Whigs as the first to think of admitting Roman Catholics to office. Lord Wel- lesley first recommended that step ; for in a despatch to Lord Melbourne, dated August 1834, he said- " I conceive that one of the first steps towards the pacification of Ireland should be the correction of this difficulty ; and for that purpose I submit to you that it is expedient to admit a certain proportion of Roman Catholics into the Privy. Council, to the bench, to the high stations of the law, and to the legal or civil offices of the state ; and, if necessary, also a certain number into the police." The Marquis of CLAN1UCARDE bore testimony to the veneration in which Lord Wellesley was held by the Roman. Catholics ; and Lord CAMPBELL, to his anxiety to employ persons of that creed.

The bill passed the Committee, with some slight opposition to the clause that authorized search for arms at night ; and it was reported,.

ARMING OF CHELSEA PENSIONERS.

In the House of Commons, on Monday, on the motion that the order of the day for the Committee on the Chelsea Out-Pen-

.

sioners Bill be read, Mr. Husin objected to the measure, that it placed 76,000 men at the disposal of the Crown without that number having been regularly voted by the House ; that-it irregularly subjected the pensioners to the penalties of the Mutiny Act ; and that the expenses to be incurred had not been regularly submitted to the House in the shape of a vote. Sir HENRY HARDINGE replied, that the pensioners were already liable to be called out in aid of the civil power : when so called, they, as well as the Volunteer corps, were liable to the pro- visions of the Mutiny Act ; and it was not at all likely that the number of men called out would exceed 10,000, the number actually called out in 1815.

Mr. THOMAS DUNCOMBE moved that the order be deferred to that day three months— He characterized the bill as an insidious, unconstitutional measure; and charged Government with attempting to undermine and fritter away the re- maining liberties of the people—to stifle the expression of the public voice against the odious system of legislation which had been pursued in that House. No emergency bad arisen ; there was nothing in the conduct of the people to justify Government in introducing so unconstitutional, so cruel, so cut-throat a measure. Government said that it was not the intention to call out more than 10,000 or 12,000 men ; but the bill gave Ministers unlimited powers, and the Secretary at War might issue 50,000 muskets to arm his new soldiers. Mr. Duncombe enumerated the measures, vaunted by Ministers as really im- portant—the Poor-law Amendment Bill, the Factory Bill, the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill, the County Courts Bill—which had been abandoned to make way for this "Arms Bill," ten times worse than the Six Acts. The object of the bill being to impose a tax, it ought to have been proposed in a Committee of the whole House. He contended that the pensioners were civilians to all intents and purposes, and that there could be no further claim upon them than to serve as special constables. They themselves were opposed to it : in proof whereof he read a letter from one' a schoolmaster, who said that in that capacity he should even be exempted from serving as a special constable. Mr. Duncombe assumed that the state of Ireland was the real reason for the bill; and taunted Ministers with the punishment of the Reverend Mr. O'Neil by twelve months' imprisonment for a foolish speech abusing the Duke of Wel- lington and Sir Robert Peel, while they dared not in Ireland prosecute what the Lord Chancellor of Ireland had pronounced to he high treason. When Parliament had turned its back, he believed they might expect to see very different measures exercised towards Ireland. After more of the same tenour, Mr. Duncombe objected to the particular measure, because the pensioners, unlike the regular troops, would be employed against the people among whom they live.

Mr. WILLIAM WILLIAMS seconded the amendment ; observing, that what with the soldiers, the variotis police forces, and the proposed force, Government would have at its disposal a standing army of 240,000 men. He expressed doubts whether even the Army could be depended upon, if the soldiers were called upon to plunge the bayonet into the bosom of a father, a brother, or a sister. (" Ohl oh!") The noble Lord opposite might smile ; but if one company should refuse to fire on their fellow countrymen, he would not give the noble Lord six months' purchase for his title and estates.

Sir HENRY HARDINGE warmly declared that the Army might tho- roughly be depended upon ; and contended that a standing army is conducive to civil liberty— How could the great meetings in England and Ireland have been suffered, but for the confidence that the Army could preserve the peace in case of need. He utterly repudiated the insinuation that the object was to increase the 'landing army with a view to cutting the throats of the people. The real ob- ject was to place the great towns in a better state of protection for the pre- servation of the peace than during the riots of last year. The bill conferred no new powers on the Crown, which can already call out the pensioners; Go- vernment can arm the police; and in 1830 arms were sent down to Stockport. It were better, however, to have arms already in the towns, than to send them down during the emergency. Excuses like that of Mr. Duncombe's corre- spondent would be readily accepted to exempt pensioners.

Mr. RocsrE pointed to the bill as a capital instance, that when the liberties of Ireland were attacked, as in the Arms Bill, the liberties of England were in danger ; and, alluding to the condemnation of what Mr. O'Connell had said about the sergeants in the Army, he adopted all that the Member for Cork had said : why should he not express what he thought; about the practical exclusion of noncommissioned officers from promotion ?

Lord PALMERSTON did not share in the jealousy of the bill. Pensions are not only a reward for past services, but a retaining fee for future ser- vices: the Crown can already call out the pensioners, but the bill ena- bled the Crown, instead of calling out the whole class, to select only those who are willing and able to serve ; and when an old soldiery was called out, it was quite proper that they should be placed under strict discipline.

In the course of much further discussion, the bill was opposed by Mr. BRIGHT, Mr. HUME, Dr. BOWRING, Sir WILLIAM SOMERVILLE, Mr. Comm-r, and Mr. COBDEN,—who said, however, that public opinion would always be too strong for a standing army ; supported on the Ministerial side by Mr. NEWDEGATE, Mr. BORTHWICK, Colonel SIBTHORP ; and on the Opposition side, as a measure intended simply and bona fide to maintain the public peace, by Mr. PROTHEROE, Mr. HAWES, Mr. BROTHERTON. On a division, the motion was carried, by 92 to 16. Mr. HUME renewed the opposition, on the motion that the Speaker do leave the chair ; moving that the Committee be post- poned to that day three months. The original motion was carried, by 92 to 13. The House having gone into Committee, the opposition was still continued on the 1st clause. Mr. WILLIAras moved to limit the duration of the act to one yeaf : and that amendment being rejected, by 78 to 27, Mr. HAWES proposed to limit it to two years. At nearly one o'clock, Ministers gave up the contest for the time, and the Chairman reported progress.

On the attempt to go into Committee again on Monday, the ob- struction was renewed, and kept up obstinately, with little change either in speakers or arguments. The motion having been made to read the order of the day, Mr. HUME moved that the House do now adjourn ; which was negatived, by 75 to 9. Mr. HUME still continued to talk against the measure ; and being called to order by the SPEAKER, the next motion was made, that the Speaker do leave the chair ; and Mr. HUME moved to postpone the Committee for three months ; which was ne- gatived, by 74 to 10. " Debate arising," the Committee was adjourned till the evening, and again till next day. In the course of the discussion, Mr. MACAULAY defended the bill ; avowing that it resembled a measure

contemplated by the late Government : he conceived that the Chelsea pensioners were a force more efficient than a police, and more economi- cal than the regular army. This brought upon him an attack from several Members on his own side.

On Wednesday, when the motion was made for reading the order of the day, Mr. DUNCOMBE moved that it be read that day three months. In the discussion which followed, Mr. BRIGHT said that men called out against their associates could not be efficient. Sir HENRY HARDINGE asked whether Mr. Bright would not avail himself of the pen- sioners if his own mill were on fire? Mr. BRIGHT answered, that he should call fire-engines, not soldiers : when his mills were stopped last year and he was urged to summon soldiers, he said that his mills might be torn down until not one brick stood upon another, but he would not call out the military. He remarked that a rumour in Lancashire last year, that some soldiers had grounded their arms and refused to act against the rioters, had never been contradicted by the Ministers. Sir HENRY HARDINGE denied positively that such a thing had ever taken place. After a long disputation, Mr. WiLkiems moved the adjourn- ment of the debate ; which was negatived, by 81 to 9 ; and, in another division, the original motion was carried, by 82 to 8. The Seeker then left the chair ; Mr. HUME declaring that he would embarrass the Govern- ment as much as possible in Committee. On clause 1st, Mr. HAWES, who admitted that the bill was a good bill, proposed, as a mean course to reconcile opposing parties, to limit its operation to five years. The talk still went on. Mr. CHARLES BULLER remarked that the absurdity had been all on the Opposition side, but that now it was on the side of Ministers, in resisting a not unreasonable proposal : he regretted the waste of time which threatened the progress of a measure of great prac- tical utility—the Libel Bill. The amendment was rejected, by 76 to 33. Mr. HUME moved to restrict the operation of the bill to five years and a half; rejected, by 82 to 14. Some amendments were moved on other clauses, but ineffectually ; and the bill passed through Committee.

LORD CAMPBELL'S LIBEL BILL.

In the House of Commons, on Wednesday, Mr. CHRISTIE, moving that the House go into Committee on the Defamation and Libel Bill, explained the objects of that measure.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL stated some objections. He would not consent to the 1st clause, which placed oral slander upon the same footing with written slander ; both because oral slander is not in its nature so injurious, and because the utterer cannot act on such de- liberate intention nor be held so responsible for words hastily uttered, perhaps in a quarrel, or in a conversation casually overheard. His ob- jection extended to the next clause, which directed the Jury to consider the occasion on which the oral slander was uttered, and to acquit the defendant if the occasion was such that the plaintiff was not likely to suffer from the utterance of the words. The House having gone into Committee, he moved the omission of the 1st and 2d clauses. Mr. CHRISTIE contended that the 2d clause fully provided against vexatious proceeding for words spoken in haste. Mr. CHARLES BULLER, though he approved of the clauses, counselled the abandonment of doubtful portions of the bill, in order to facilitate the passage of the rest. And eventually the two clauses were struck out.

Clause 3d enacted, that in actions for slander the truth should be no defence unless the defendant could also prove that the publication was for the public benefit. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL having intimated his objection to the enactment,—thinking that it would be better to say that a malicious:publication of the truth should be no defence,—Mr. CHARLES BULLER defended the clause at considerable length ; maintaining that a distinction should be drawn between public and private character, and that private character should be sacred: the question of malice was necesarily vague and difficult of solution, but the question of public benefit virtually involved all the justice of the case. One object of the change should be to remove the anomalous distinction between civil and criminal proceedings, so that the party libelled might resort to penal law without the implied imputation that he did so to avoid ex- posing his own character. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL contended that the larger issue, of public benefit, would be vaguer than his own test of malice ; and that in some questions of "public benefit," private charac- ter might justly enter, as in the case of a Parliamentary candidate or a candidate for an office, respecting whom it might be very desirable to know how he performed his socialduties. On the other hand, Mr. MACAULAY objected, that malice might be proved where the libel was justifiable ; as in the case of a branded convict who might come from abroad and teach young ladies music—as delicate a situation perhaps as any since the days of Abelard and Heloise—and whom a person, having a re- vengeful motive, might still properly denounce. At present, judges direct juries to infer malice or not, from the general tendency of the libel; which is only a more circuitous mode of getting at the question whether or not the publication is for the public benefit. Mr. BERNAL dissented from the Attorney-General's position that truth is a valid defence in all actions for libel. Mr. DARBY and Mr. Wm:um ESCOTT opposed the clause : Sergeant MURPHY defended it. On a division, the clause was rejected, by 38 to 30.

Clause 4th was agreed to. On the 5th, enacting that in an action for libel against a newspaper, the defendant might plead that he bad made ample apology, and pay money into court as amends, the ArrosixEr- • GENERAL proposed to include " any other periodical publication " ; which was arced to, as well as the three next clauses, with slight amendments.

Clause 9th enacted, that upon the trial of an indictment or informa-

tion for a defamatory libel, the truth of the matter charged may be in- quired into, but shall not amount to a defence, unless it were for the public benefit that the slid matters charged should be published. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL wished this clause remodelled to meet his objec- tions to the 3d. But the clause, as well as the remainder, was carried without amendment ; and the House resumed.

RECOLONIZATION OF CANADA.

In the House of Commons, on Tuesday, Mr. CHARLES BULLER brought forward the outline of a plan to render available for the pur- poses of colonization the waste lands of Canada— He began by apologizing for bringing the subject of colonization before the House at so late a period of the session as to render it impossible for him to attain such practical results as he once hoped to attain even at that

time. He should indeed more rapidly have followed up the successful impression of his speech on the general subject of colonization as a means of relieving national distress, by proposing some practical measure ; but he had been prevented by severe illness and a protracted recovery. Ile ad- verted to the continued depression of trade, the state of Ireland, and the Re- becca riots in Wales—betokening a general uneasiness, the cause of a general disaffection—es showing that the state of the country bad not improved in the interval. The annals of the session were blank : Parliament was about to rest from its labours without having effected a single mentionable measure ; and they must face for some time the consequences of their own inaction. Some hope had been excited in his mind by the debate on Mr. Smith O'Brien's motion ; in which Lord Howick dwelt on extensive and systematic colonization as a prominent and primary remedy for the social evils of Ireland, and Sir Robert Peel treated the suggestion as one of which he felt the practical value, and to which he was prepared to give due consideration. It was to be hoped that that language of the Minister might be regarded as not wholly unmeaning. A

mature consideration had induced him to postpone to next session any general plan for the improvement of colonization, on principles now generally recog-

nized, but necessarily embracing a numberof complicated details, and to confine himself to the consideration of the colony with which be was best acquainted— Canada. It bad been usual, from the peculiar circumstances of the North American Colonies, to leave them out of consideration in discussions for making the waste lands of colonies available; but any practical scheme of colo- nization which omitted them must be moat defective and unsatisfactory. Those colonies possess great advantages, in their nearness to the Mother- country, and in the cheapness of the outward voyage which results from the peculiar nature of their trade. The capacities of the region were such, that millions might there live and thrive. Lord Sydenham, the best of prac- tical judges of such matters, describes " the great district, nearly as large as Ireland, placed between the three lakes, Erie, Ontario, and Huron": he goes on to say—" You can conceive nothing finer : the most magnificent soil in the world ; four feet of vegetable mould ; a climate certainly the best in North America ; the greater part of it admirably watered. In a word, there is land enough, and capabilities enough, for some millions of people, and for one of the finest provinces in the world." Of another tract of great extent, the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada, he speaks in almost equal terms of praise, rating it below the Western district of Upper Canada only in the advantage of natural means of communication by water ; and other re- gions, of which he did not speak, are equally inviting. In all these portions of our possessions, there is room enough to establish in plenty at least half the present dense population of the British Islands. The difficulties of bringing this region into use are vast, but not insurmount- able. The first arises from the cession to the Canadian Legislature of the Crown-lands revenue. But though the Crown had ceded the proceeds of the

sales of Crown-lands, it had not parted with control over the lands ; and in any case, to render-a plan of colonization effectual, it must have the coopera-

tion of the Canadian Legislature. On that cooperation he relied ; for the Canadian Legislature were as well aware as any men of the necessity of colonization. Other difficulties, common to all our colonies, but exist- ing in gigantic proportions in Canada, resulted from former mismanage- ment. Mr. Buller referred his hearers to Appendix B to Lord Durham's Re- port, for a description of the jobbing, the enormous grants of land, the erro- neous surveys—" They will see how, from first to last, the entire system pro- ceeded on no principle at all; how one system prevailed in one colony and exactly the reverse in its neighbour ; how the system of today was changed on the morrow to one of the most contrary nature; and how, without formal change, it was violated from day to day by the caprice of the Governor or his subordinates. They will see with what perverse ingenuity it was contrived, that while the most undue facilities were given for the acquisition of large masses of land by persons who could make no good use of it, every obstacle was placed in the way of the purchaser who was really to be a settler; what trouble, expense, and delay, preceded his choice of the spot, and again, what incalculable trouble, expense, and delay, were inter- posed by the carelessness and extortion of the Government Offices before a title could be sot to the land selected and purchased. They will also see how worthless that title was rendered by the blunders of the surveys ; how whole townships were laid down with wrongly-drawn lines; how, owing to these blunders, it was a frequent occurrence tor one purchaser to find that he had got a section containing a fourth more, another, less lucky, a fourth less than he bad paid for; how sometimes the helpless settler, after carrying his family, and goods, and implements, and stock, over long miles of almost im- 'tamable road, to the spot marked out in his grant, found that it was included in another man's estate, or that it comprised nothing but a portion of lake, or even that it existed nowhere save on the Surveyor-General's map. I invite your attention to these facts, partly because I wish you to understand what ample cause existed for the deplorable results which have prevented the colo-

nization of Canada, and partly because, in entering on a new career of colo- nization, it is good that you should divest your minds of all superstitious reve- rence for the practical authority of those officials, whose blunders and frauds engendered, whose apathy and ignorance sanctioned and whose presumptuous obstinacy defended, these execrable practices." Those practices are now gene-

rally abolished, but the mischief of the past remains. The reckless profusion of grants has taken the wild lands of Canada out of the hands of the public, and placed them in the nominal possession of a few proprietors, who can neither use them themselves nor render them subservient to the promotion of any great public purpose or general plan. At the period of Lord Durham's Report, out of seventeen millions of acres comprised within the surveyed districts of Upper Canada, the whole had been alienated, except about 700,000 acres, which are said to be inferior in position or quality. In Lower Canada, about one mil- lion and a half of acres are left ungranted out of more than six millions which are contained in the surveyed townships. It might fairly be said that the whole of the surveyed land had been granted : the country is still unsettled, hot not unappropriated; the lands are wild, but the Government cannot use them ; every man is a proprietor of more than he can use, and either a rich absentee without the disposition, or a needy settler without the means of em- ploying labour. The improvement of the country is arrested. The emigrant with means to buy a farm is doomed to a life of solitude and hardship; the mere labouring emigrant can scarcely find employment ; and many of both classes yearly go to the United States,—though the simultaneous cessation of public works in New York State and the commencement of others in Canada has at present reversed the set of the current as respects the body of Irish labourers.

Mr. Buller now came to the method of rendering available the waste lands thus lost to use,—namely, by applying to Canada the principles on which our colo- nization should be conducted elsewhere. There, as elsewhere, the placing a [diffi- dent price on waste lands must furnish the means of colonization ; while it would serve the yet more important purpose of concentrating the population, which the former practice seemed devised with a view of scattering as widely as possible. To apply those principles only, to the lands still in the possession of the Crown, would be useless, because the effect would be neutralized by the breadth of land held by individuals. The public feeling of every colony has determined that no respect for private property must allow it to become a public nuisance. Two plans had been most commonly suggested,—a law of escheat, which would make property nureclaimed within a certain period revert o the Crown; and a wild land tax, adopted in the United States and many English Colonies. In Appendix B to Lord Durham's Report (written by Mr. Wakefield) was suggested a wild land tax of 2d. an acre, payable in land ; which in course of time would no doubt bring all waste lands into the possession of the Crown; but a more speedy process was wanted. Without the nuisance of the waste were removed, the Colonial authorities would take it up: a tax bad already been imposed by the District Councils, so great in one case as to amount to the absolute confiscation of lands held by the British North American Company ; and though that tax bad been disallowed, it not the less evinced the disposition. He would give an outline of his plan—" The Government might at once determine to take into its own hands the whole of the wild- lands in Canada, compensating the proprietors for the present value of them. For this purpose, a general valuation of all the appropriated wild lands of the province would be the first step necessary ; a process, doubtless, requiring some time and expense, but nothing like what the mention of a general valuation suggests to us in this country. For it would be wrong, as it would be im- possible, in Canada to fix a special value on each acre. The value of an estate there is mainly determined by considerations of position and general character, which apply to vast extents of territory ; and every valuation, therefore, must be framed on a large scale. The present value of all those lands might easily be ascertained ; for though, if all were brought into the market now, they would probably not sell at all, still there is in every district of Canada a price which it is calculated that a purchaser wishing to buy any particular lot would give for it, and below which the proprietors would generally entertain no offer of pur- chase. This would be the value; but it should be provided, as I think is just in all cases of compulsory appropriation for public purposes, that the compensation should always equal any sum actually paid for the land by the present pro- prietor. The proportional interest of each proprietor of wild lands being thus ascertained, I do not propose that the Government, on taking the land, should compensate him by an actual payment of the estimated purchase- money. In taking the wild land, we may fairly say that the Government takes that which brings in no present income and cannot at present be sold. If the Government, in taking the land, insures to the proprietor a payment of its value at as early a period as he would get it in if left in his own possession, he is no loser : if the Government, having got possession of his wilderness, can, by means of a sound and vigorous system of colonization, sell the land faster than he could, he is a gainer. I should propose, therefore, to pay the pro- prietor by debentures in a land-stock, of which the total amount should consist of as many pounds as there would be in the total estimated value of the property resumed; and of which each proprietor's share should be the amount at which his own lands were estimated. On these debentures I would pay no in- terest, because I see nojustice in a claim for interest where the property taken brings in no income. But as the Government sold the land, it should pay each purchaser a dividend, until the whole stock was paid off. Thus, suppose there to be 14,000,000 of acres of surveyed and appropriated but wild land in Upper Canada, and that the value of this were to be taken at four millions—I have really no reason for fixing this value, but take it quite arbitrarily, be- cause I must take some number—I would create a stock of four millions. Suppose one proprietor has 10,000 acres valued at 11. a piece ; another also 10,000 acres estimated at 2s. a piece. The first should have 10,0001. of the stock, the latter 1,0001. Neither should receive interest ; but, supposing 100,000/ to be got in the year by land-sales, over and above prior charges on the proceeds, 1 would apply this sum to pay off the stock, which I should thus reduce 2 per cent, and the first proprietor would get 250/. and the second 251. If the land-sales produced an applicable fund of 1,000,000L, a quarter of the whole stock would be paid off, and the first proprietor would get 2,500L and the second 25W." To the owner of waste land he would say, that by this plan he would get as much for his land as he could ever get, and he would realize

it more speedily. The advantage to the public would be, that the Govern- ment would thus get the whole of the granted wild lands into its hands; and might establish a plan for giving an increased value to them and its other lands by a sound system of disposing of them, subject to no obstruction from private competition, and by applying the surplus proceeds to promote extensive colo- nization. I would do this by reverting to the precise recommendations of my Report to Lord Durham. I did not, or rather Mr. Wakefield did not, therein, by any means insist on applying the proceeds of the land-sales to defraying the passage of emigrants. 1 am rather surprised to find Lord Sydenham, in one of the letters recently published, arguing against the application of Mr. Wake- field's views to the colonization of Canada, on the ground that it is not to be effected by selling land at a high price in order to get the means of carrying out emigrants. In that report, which contains Mr. Wakefield's own deliberate application of his principles to Canada, it is not proposed to set a high price on land; nor is it proposed to apply the proceeds in the first place to emigration. In new colonies, especially in those of Australia, the great difficulty of colo- nization is the carrying out the emigrant to the colony ; and this is the expense which it is of most urgent necessity to defray by the proceeds of your land-sales. The people wilt not, cannot, get out without ; and the getting them to the colony is the first necessity. But with respect to Canada, the case is exactly the reverse. There, as we see, the means of getting across the ocean are within the reach of a vast number of the poorest of the population, not only of Great Britain, but also of Ireland. Without any aid except that which friends, which parishes, and which liberal landlords have been in the habit of giving, a vast influx of labourers and their families has taken place. 1 should propose that, in the first place at least, we should leave emigration to be carried on independently of the Government; and I should suggest, as my Report does, that the primary object, to which the proceeds of the land-sales should be devoted, should be the opening up the in- terior of the country by roads, bridges, and other public works, so as to render it accessible; and to the building of churches, schools, and other public buildings, which should render it really habitable by a civilized community." Mr.Bulfer described the urgent want of such appliances of civilization in the isolated Canadian settlements: the chief obstacle to the settlement of capitalists, great ir small, in Canada, is the desolation and discomfort of the life that awaits them. " The construction of such works would in another way facilitate the emigration of poor labourers, by affording them a certain means of getting em- ployment on their arrival in the colony. Government, if couductiug the whole operation on a combined plan, would do right in employing emigrants in preference to other persons on their works; and would direct them thither on their arrival As the labours of these men opened up the country, capitalists would be induced to purchase and settle, and would employ another portion of the labouring emigrants. These labourers, either in the public or in private employment, would be sure, in course of time, to accumulate sufficient savings out of their wages to enable them to purchase and stock small farms ; they would then not only make way for a fresh supply of labouring emigrants, but would create a fresh demand for labour. phis is the sure result of a sound system of colonization : the more labour and capital that are supplied to a colony, the larger is the field laid open for additional capital and labour; and the means of employing both go on continually augmenting in geome- trical progression, while there remains any waste land to be reclaimed." The benefits accruing from the plan, he proposed to anticipate, by means of a luau; the interest chargeable on the purchase-money of lands, but guaranteed by the British Parliament, though he did not think that they would ever be called upon to assume the burden. If„ however, 2,000,0001. were needed, the annual charge at 4 per cent would be but 80,0001., and it would enable 40,000 more to emigrate every year. But he did not affect to estimate the precise amount wanted or the precise results. " I would rather trust to very general reasoning for leading us to general conclusions. Imagine to yourselves the contrast between a property situated in the midst of the forest, without a pass- able road to connect it with your neighbours or with your market during half the year; and then the same property, with no change made in its con- dition but that of a village near it, and good roads connecting it with the neighbouring properties and town : and tell me whether you think it would be at all extravagant to say that the property would be tripled in value by that single change ?"

The machinery for carrying out the plan would probably be a Commission, partly appointed by the Colonial authorities.

An auxiliary measure would be the relief of the French Canadians from the restriction which prevents them from carrying their institutions with them in the spread of their population, by limiting those institutions to existing seigneurics; so that they already feel the effects of a dense population in the midst of deserts. The loyalty, the injuries of the French Canadians, merited more consideration than they had received. " The only passage in Lord Dur- ham's Report which subsequent events have at all shown to be founded in error, is that in which he deplores the impossibility of ever reconciling the existing generation of French Canadians to the British Government. The mistake shows, that highly as he has rated the amiable qualities of that people, he un- derrated their forgiving disposition ; and that he has also underrated the efficacy of those great measures of conciliation which he recommended, and by carrying which into effect, Sir Charles Begot has for ever endeared his memory to the people of Canada."

Mr. Buller concluded by moving, pro forma, for a copy of the act passed by the Legislature of Canada in the fifth year of her Majesty, entitled " An Act for the Disposal of the Public Lands." (Cheers.)*

Mr. HOPE, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, stated that Lord Stanley was absent, out of no disrespect to Mr. Buller or his subject, but in con- sequence of unavoidable circumstances. To a few points in the fore- going speech Mr. Hope replied. He could assure Mr. Buller, that it was not from want of will, but from want of power, that more had not been done for emigration. He did not defend the systems under which lands had been sold in Canada, but he thought that Mr. Buller had used his powers of caricature to colour them. The emigration from Canada he explained by the fact, that many persons originally intending to go to other parts used that route through Canada for cheapness, and many re- sorted to the United States less as " emigrants" than as mere labourers seek- ing employment on public works. He believed that the preponderance of emi- gration was really in favour of Canada. But, at the same time, it must not be supposed that Canada offered that ready field for labour which seemed generally to be supposed; for recent official accounts described the demand for it as being very slack. Though the land-tax, limited to lid. in Upper Canada, pressed severely on some proprietors, it was not felt to be such a hardship as Mr. Bailer seemed to describe. Mr. Buller avoided touching upon the important point of the means of promoting emigration to Canada. Government were not at all indisposed to entertain any practicable proposal for promoting emigration by the sale of lands in Canada. The Colonial Land and Emigration Commis- sioners had suggested that a portion of the proceeds of land-sales should be devoted to the introduction of emigrants; and though the Local Legislature did not entertain the proposition, it showed the disposition of Government to give practical effect to propositions for attaining the object which Mr. Buller had in view.

Mr. BULLER said, that the assurance given on the part of the Govern- ment was all he expected,—namely, that they would turn their attention to the practicability of cooperating with the Legislature of Canada, with the view of making the lands available for the purposes of colo- nization.

After a few words from Mr. flitirmnv, who hoped that Government would next session bring forward a measure on the subject, the motion was agreed to. GREECE AND ITS PROTECTORS.

Among the many debates in the Hoase of Commons on Tuesday, Mr. Batman COCHRANE raised one, by moving for papers relative to Greece. He stated that King Otho went thither on the full under- standing that a constitutional government should be established : whereas the people have no Representative Assembly ; no control over the finan- ces—no budget is put forth for their information ; the only resort of the Greek Government to meet their difficulties is—stamp-taxes on every- thing, alienation of the national domains, and the issue of assignats ; and honours are exclusively conferred on Bavarians. Dr. BOWRING seconded the motion, observing, that out of the Greeks a Greece might have been remade, but it had been chosen to make a Bavaria. Mr. MONCKTON MILNES threw all the blame on the Greek Regency, in the first year of independence. Lord PALMERSTON defended the interven- tion of the Allied Powers, as having relieved Greece from civil war and secured its independence. He defended the Regency, who had given the country independent laws, municipal institutions—everythiog short

of national representation. He admitted that Otho had violated pledges ; and that a lavish expenditure had existed, which would have been checked by a Representative Assembly ; but he yet hoped that a general representation was only delayed. Sir ROBERT PEEL professed a warm interest in Greece; and stated that the Allied Powers had succeeded by their representations in awakening the Greek Government to a sense of their responsibility, and especially in respect of pecuniary matters : be objected to produce the papers so far as they related to pending negotiations.- The motion, modified to meet his objections, was agreed to. SERVIA AND ITS PROTECTORS.

A similar debate was next raised by Lord PALMERSTON, with a similar motion respecting Servia-

He retraced with some minuteness the recent history of that country ; stating that when the Emperor of Russia required the Sultan to annul the abdication of Prince Michael, and by consequence the election of Kara George- witch to the Sovereignty, the British Ambassador inclined to think the Porte right in resisting the demand. But he had orders from home to abide by the opinion of Austria—a frontier country, with separate interests of her own at stake. He did so : Austria supported the demand ; Prussia took the same side ; and France, who in the Egyptian affair had opposed the Four Powers in the endeavour to maintain the authority of the Sultan, was not likely to oppose them now in an opposite course. The Sultan therefore submitted ; though the only right which the Emperor possessed by existing treaties was to ascertain that the Porte allowed the Servians free choice of their own Sovereign ; which they had just exercised in the election of Kara Georgewitch. The Sultan had thus sustained a violation of his rights, which could not be permitted without damage to the balance of power in Europe.

[Like all excellent speeches, Mr. BULLER'S is too close and valuable in every part to be capable of abridgment. Oar version is only a faint outline : those who desire to see the original in the most perfect form, will find a cor- rected report in the Colonial Gazette of this morning.] Sir ROBERT PEEL opposed the motion— He contended that Russia, by three successive treaties, of Bucharest, Aker- man, and Adrianople, bad acquired a peculiar and especial right to interfere, in order to see that the Servian people freely elected their own Sovereign. Russia maintained that the election of 1842 was not in conformity with tre ales, and that it was effected by corrupt influences; and therefore was it that Russia required the election to be set aside. Lord Palmerston was entirely misin- formed in assuming that England placed her discretion under the control of Austria : but if England undertook to enforce the literal fulfilment of every compact throughout the world, there would he no cud to the hostilities In which the country must engage. Government had acted on the information of Mr. Fonblanque, a gentleman of great ability, of strong prepossessions in favour a popular principles, appointed by the late Government, and continued by the present : he declared that "a reign of terror" prevailed in Servia; that treachery and corruption were equally flagrant at " the mock election of a prince by the suffrages of successful rebels; " adding the emphatic decla- ration, that the late changes in Servia were not brought about by the wishes of the nation. A new election had taken place, and it happened that the same prince was reelected. Still, the matter was pending and incomplete; and therefore the papers could not be produced without prejudice to the public service. Mr. DISRAELI said, that information supplied by Mr. Fonblanque was false and fallacious. Mr. Fonblanque had filled a similar office in an- other country, had been recalled under somewhat disgraceful circum- stances, and had 'only been appointed to his present post by the ex- piring Whig Government. Mr. Disraeli went on to attack the foreign policy of Ministers—the laughingstock of the world ; and he described Russia as making rapid strides to the two strongest points in the globe, the Sound and the Dardenelles. Mr. MONCETON MILNES and Dr. Bowatxn supported the motion. Lord SANDON, opposing it, re- buked the younger Members, for not only expressing a difference of opinion, but heaping the grossest terms of contumely and opprobrium on the Ministers they affected to support. Mr. DISRAELI called upon Lord Sandon to specify the " gross terms of contumely "; and Lord SANDON said that the term to which he particularly referred was " dis- graceful conduct." Mr. HUME, Mr. SatYTHE, and Mr. CURTEIS, vindi- cated the right of the young Members to the independent expression of opinion. Lord PALMERSTON said, that as the papers could not be produced. with convenience to the public service, he should not press his motion. It was accordingly negatived without a division.

MISCELLANEOUS. THE CUSTOMS BILL AND EXPORTATION OF MACHINERY BILL were con- solidated on Saturday. On the third reading of the Customs Bill, in the House of Commons, a clause was added removing the restrictions on the exportation of machinery ; and the other separate bill was withdrawn. The consolidated bill passed the second reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday, without op- position.

THE THEATRES REGULATION BILL was reported in the Houss of Lords on Monday ; when the 7th clause, limiting the performance of Shakspera to the patent houses, was withdrawn. The bill was read a third time, and passed, on Tuesday ; when the 15th clause was altered so as to limit the Lord Cham- berlain's power of closing theatres to occasions when he thought it necessary for the preservation of public order, of good manners, or of the public peace. THE ROYAL ASSENT was given by Commission, on Thursday, to the Church of Scotland Benefices Bill, the Admiralty Lands Bill, and several others. RELATIONS WITH PORTUGAL. In reply to Mr. COBDEN, on Monday, Sir. ROBERT PEEL said he had reason to believe that the Duke of Palmella had arrived in this country with full powers from the Portuguese Government to negotiate for a commercial treaty ; but the negotiations had previously been broken off, and the Duke's arrival was not in consequence of any advance made by the British Government. PRICE OF BREAD. On Thursday, Captain POLHILL drew attention to the exorbitant profit obtained by bakers in the Metropolis, who had raised the price of bread when the price of corn rose, but had not lowered it with the fall in corn. Although he was not an Anti-Corn-law Leaguer, he wished to see the poor enabled to eat their bread as cheap as they could; and, having suffered himself by the high price of bread, he asked whether Government did not think it expedient to introduce some law or regulation by which the poor should be enabled to benefit by the alterations which might take place in the price of corn? Sir JAMES GRAHAM disclaimed faith in an assize of bread. Sir ROBERT PEEL added, though the Legislature might not be able to afford an effectual check to this, still he thought there might be a check if gentlemen would not be ashamed to exert themselves in the matter, and refuse to deal with bakers who charged an uufair price. That, he believed, would be an effectual mode of checking those who made extravagant charges. When his honourable friend dealt with those who charged an increased price, his honourable friend was one of those who sanctioned and encouraged the evil of which he complained.