POSTSCR1 PT.

SATURDAY. Our Chancellor of the Exchequer made a dolorous exhibition last night. In a Committee of Ways and Meares he opened his long- deferred Budget. Instead of the vapouring speeches of six or seven columns with which he has been wont to tree the House, Mr. Rice contented himself lust eight Aith about hal that space, and one quarter of even the reduced proportions might nave sufficed to contain all that anybody cared to know.

The estimated Income for the year ending 5th

Apt il 1838, was X47.2411 Actual Income 4,000

41090,00o Deficiency 1,150,000 The estimated Expenditnie 46,873.000 Actual Expenditure Surplus of Expenditure 47,519,000 646,000 .C1,796,000 These figures show the amount of the miscalculation in the Budget of last year ; but Mr. Rlce stated the deficiency at only 1,428,000L Admitting, his great disappointment in the actual results of the last financial year, 3Ir. Rice referred to the average of the last two years_ he wished, in fact, to be allowed to spread the deficiency of 1837-8 over two years ; and the average excess of income over expenditure would then be 217,000/. lie attributed the excess of the actual over the estimated expenditure for the last year to the payment of 681,0001. on account of the Canada war, the necessity of providing for the whole amount of the interest on the West India loan-750,0001. ; the earlier payment of :200.000/. for interest on Exchequer Bills, in consequence of a change made to obviate the inconvenience of a large amount be- coming doe while Parliament was not sitting; and to the gene- ral advance on the interest of Exchequer Bills. Of these items, it is plain that the Canada war expenditure alone was un- expected. The ethers must or might have been foreseen when Mr. Rice made his financial statement lust year; but, taken alto- gether, they do not make up the amount of the deficiency. For the current year, Mr. Rice calculates that the deficiency will not. exceed 500,000/., and probably not 300,000/ ; and, following the ex- ample of Mr. Canning in IS:17, who had a deficiency of three millions to make good, he proposed to supply it by an issue of Exchequer Bills, iel preference to imposing new taxes or augmenting the Funded Debt. He intended to apply an additional sum of 300,000/. to the expenses of the war in Canada; making the total on that account more than a mil- lion. Mr. Rice was at pains to defend the increase of interest on Exchequer Bills, on the theory that it prevented dangerous specula- tions, which are fostered by a too great supply of money. With regard to future prospects, the Chancellor of the Exchequer assured the House that there was no cause for despondency. The permanent resources of the country had not been impaired, and there were some symptoms of improvement in the revenue. From the falling in of Terminable Annuities, which would commence after 1839, and the payment of which would entirely cease in 1867, thereby effecting a certain saving of 3,000,0001. annually, it might be seen that there were financial resources in store. He admitted that be had made a very unsatisfactory and dis- tasteful statement, in a very imperfect manner ; and pleaded " consider- able personal inconvenience and suffering" as an excuse for hie defi- ciencies. Ile concluded by moving that the sure of 13,000,60a be raised by Exchequer Bills for the service of the year 1838.

Mr. nests: followed ; and, after having with some difficulty obtained a promise from Ministers that Thursday the 31st instant should be set aside for his motion respecting the conduct of the Bank of Eng- land and the state of the currency, proceeded to comment upon Mr. Rice's very unsatisfactory statements. Mr. Hume's speech was loaded will calculations, which tended to prove, that not only with regard to the West Indian Loan and other financial operations, Mr. Rice bad acted improvidently and ignorantly, but that under the present system there was little hope of improvement in the revenue, and that it was absolutely necessary to make large reductions of expenditure.

Mr. IVILT.I.NN WILLIAMS maintained that Mr. Rice erred greatly in

his calculation of the amount paid for extra interest on Exchequer Balls—it was 547,0001., not 396,0001. The calculation was u very simple one, anti he could not be mistaken in it. He dwelt on the im- policy of keeping up the interest on Exchequer Bills above the market rate of ieterest. There was no risk in holding Exchequer Bills ; the Consols might fall, but the Exchequer Bills must be paid in full: for which reason, persons would take a less interest upon them than on the Funded Debt; yet Mr. Spring Rice most injudiciously paid a higher rate of interest.

Mr. Got:ens:me said, that the blame of the great outlay in Canada should fall on Ministers; who, if they had taken proper precautions,

might have prevented the insurrection by an outlay of 20,000/. He was exceedingly averse to an increase in the Unfunded Debt ; but on the whole, thought it advisable, for the present, to adopt Mr. Rice's plan for meeting the deficiency by an issue of Exchequer Bills. Mr. Rice's notion, however, respecting the effect of a high rate of interest on Exchequer Bills in repressing speculation, was altogether fallacious. The value of Exchequer Bills did not depend so much on the rate of interest they bore, as on the general state of the money-market. He maintained that it was the duty of Government to be prepared for a state of things which might cause a run upon the Savings Banks, in which there were now 20,000,0001. Should a bad harvest occur, and a run upon the Savings Banks, Government would have to sell Stock at 60 or 70, which was bought at 90 or 94 to meet the demand.

Mr. Mamma ArrwooD approved of the raising of the interest on Exchequer Bills ; but not at the time and in the manner it was done by Mr. Rice, who took the step In consequence of a temporary fluc- tuation in the money-market.

Mr. GILLON recommended a change in the system of taxation, as the surest way to improve the revenue.

Mr. HUTT was convinced that the operations of the Bank of Eng- land had been one of the main causes of the late difficulties, and that the monetary condition of the country required careful examination.

Colonel SIBTHORP was sure the deficiency was more than two millions. ;Mr. Rice had gone back to the time of Canning—he might as well have gone back to the time of Noah, if there was any Chancellor of the Exchequer in Noah's days, of which he was not certain. Ile had never sea a Chancellor of the Exchequer rise with such a pallid countenance : he ai;pt.ared the very picture of. despair. He could tell Mr Rice and his colleagues, that he best thing they could do, would be to walk out of the House and their pLaCto at the same time. Mr. Rice entered into some further explanations of his statement ; and reminded the House, that in 1836 he had given a warning against undue confidence in the apparent prosperity. He paid some high com- pliments to the American merchants, for their energy and honesty iii payment of tbeir debts.

Sir JOHN RAE REID would be quite ready at the proper time to defend the conduct of the Bank of England. He also lauded the American merchants, and said that their debts were for the most part in rapid pro- gress of liquidation.

Mr. EASTHOPF. said that the interest on Exchequer Bills was mani- festly too high; and as to Mr. Rice's theory about its effect in re- pressing speculation, it was altogether unintelligible— If the interest were lower, the premium would be lower, but the quantity or amount in circulation would remain the same. That could be no protection which merely put money into the pockets of the fortunate holders of Exchequer Bills. But of all things, he wished to direct the right honourable gentleman's attention to that subject which it was essential should be brought clearly be- fore the House,—namely, the alarming amount of the Unfunded Debt ; and he was most anxious to understand what were the reasons which induced the right honourable gentleman to keep this debt up at a time which appeared most favourable for reducing it. If the right honourable gentleman was justi- fied by a prospective reference to excessive speculations in keeping up the inte- rest on Exchequer Bills, this was a reason why he should reduce the amount of the Unfunded Debt, which would be the most effective protection to the public Treasury against sonic of the evils which generally followed excessive specula. tion.

Mr. ASHTON YATES attributed much of the recent and existing commercial difficulty to the vicious paper system of America.

The resolution was agreed to, and the Committee rose.

Previously to the commencement of Mr. Rice's unhappy exhibition, some interesting conversation took place.

Mr. HUME asked for information respecting the state of the Ca- nadas : were those provinces under civil or military law ? He was compelled to ask, though with great regret, if there would be any ob- jection to produce a copy of the instructions to Sir George Arthur ? It appeared that two men bad been executed for high treason, and that ten more were ordered for execution. The inhabitants were struck with surprise and horror at these events ; and even the Executive Council bad prayed that the hand of the executioner might be stayed. Lord Joust RUSSELL replied, that he was unable to give a precise answer to Mr. liume's questions— All he could say was, that an act had been passed by the Legislature of Upper Canada prescribing certain modes in which persons charged with treason in that province were to be tried. No copies of that act, however, had been re- ceived at the Colonial Office. Despatches had been received from Sir George Arthur, by which it appeared that two persons had been tiled for high treason by the ordinary tribunals, and convicted ; but no information had been received of the execution of those persons. With respect to the other cases to which Mr. Hume alluded, they rested on rumour. As to the instructions alluded to by the honourable gentleman, there was no objection whatever to their pro- duction.

And in reply to another question from Mr. HUME, Lord JOHN said— A portion of Lower Canada hail been placed under military law by Li rd Gos- ford. That had been continued by Sir John Colborne. No doubt, military law had since been suspended ; but no distinct intelligence had been received of the fact.

Subsequently, Mr. O'Costslem. put a question similar to Mr. Hume's, respecting the executions in Upper Canada ; and received a similar answer.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT asked Lord John Russell, whether he in- tended to go into Committee on the Irish Tithe resolutions on Monday ? Lord JOHN RUSSELL said, he did not, but would proceed with the Irish Municipal Corporation Bill. He did not intend, however, to abandon the question of Irish Tithes ; but if the Committee on the Municipal Corporation Bill had finished its labours by the Monday following, he would move a simple resolution for converting the tithe into a rent-charge, on which he should found a bill.

Sir ROBERT PEEL but imperfectly understood Lord John Russell ; and it was impossible for him to state at the moment what course he should take in the altered circumstances. Would not Lord John Russell defer his Committee on the Municipal Corporation Bill till Friday ?

Lord JOHN RUSSELL assented to this postponement ; and in further explanation of his Tithe plan, repeated, that he should call upon the

:7e into Committee to " adopt a resolution consisting solely of thi'-71 tithe composition at present existing should be changed into a rem. charge :" that would be the only object of his proposition. Sir ROBERT PEEL—" Am Ito understand that the noble lord's pr position will be limited to the conversion of tithe.compositton . ' rent-charge ?"

Lord JOHN RUSSELL—" Yes."

Sir ROBERT PEEL—" I will meet that concession in the same spirit in which it has been made. I however reserve to myself the right to take an unfettered course. If I decide on taking a course on Friday hostile to the unicipal Bill, I will give full notice of that intention, to prevent any unfair advantage."

Here the conversation dropped. It was short and pithy, and core. municates to the country the important information that the Tithe conflict has resulted in a Tory victory. Ministers, it would appear, have given up every thing. It is not credible that the Tories will nose reject the Irish Corporation Bill ; though they may injure it. By' settlement, should it only be a temporary one, of the Tithe and Corpo, ration questions, two of the main barriers against their return to office would be removed. Ministers have been in haste to throw away the advantages of the victorious vote of Tuesday—or to show, that in their estimation, the trumpetings of the Downing Street journals have been foolish, as well as brazen and hollow, for that there was no victory, How will this "concession" be received in Ireland?

Lord BROUGHAM again presented himself in the House of Peen last night, laden with petitions, one of them from Glasgow with 100,000 signatures, for the abolition of Negro Apprenticeship. He also pro. duced a number of petitions against additional endowaient of the Church of Scotland.

From a conversation between Lord BROUGHAM, Lord LYNDHURST, and Lord COTTENHAM, it appears that the Select Committee of the Lords will soon produce an Imprisonment for Debt Bill, greedy altered. Lord LYNDHURST said it was properly characterized by Lord BROUGHAM as a " completely new bill."