in the delusion: as if any military preparations could avail without a proper plan for the direction of military exertions.-Mr. W. concluded with expressing his determination to support the motion for an enquiry. Mr. Ponsonby replied to some statements in the speech of the right hon. gentleman opposite. Lord Castlereagh said, that the government of Spain considered its salvation to depend upon the appearance of an English army in Spain, and yet gave no reason for the extraordinary delay of sending that army; or why, when it did arrive at Corunna, that government had given no orders for its landing. From keeping an army waiting for intelligence, what could be expected but defeat?-Mr. P. observed, that Mr. When Mr. W. sat down, the eyes of both sides of the house were turned on Mr. Canning. + Generally alledged to have been his practice in most of his speeches, CHAP. CHAP. V. The Proceedings and Debates in Parliament, either retrospective or prospective-The prospective arranged into general Heads.-The House of Commons in a Committee of Ways of Means.--The Budget.-The Irish Budget.-Proceedings of the House of Commons on the Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Expenditure: which related to the Misconduct of the Commissioners appointed for the Disposal of Dutch Captured Property.-Resolutions on the Subject of Finance moved by Mr. Vansittart-Agreed to.-Abuses brought to Light by the Tenth Report of the Commissioners of Naval Revision-Resolutions moved thereon in the House of Commons, by Sir C. Pole-Negatived.Reports of the Commissioners of Military Inquiry-Enormous Abuses and Frauds. TH laid before the house; which moyet to was tion, it is superfluous to say, was negatived. Fresh discussion took place on these and other occasions. The subject was indeed of vast magnitude, and of an importance paramount to every other. But it is more than time to go on from the retrospective considerations and views of parliament, with regard to our foreign relations prospective; between which, however, there is a natural or intimate connection. Among the prospective proceedings of parliament are such as relate to finance, the grand spring of government; to external defence and internal tranquillity; and to national improvements, civil and political, economical and moral. Following this order, we begin with finance. The earl of Rosslyn moved, "That a copy of all instructions and communications, which had passed between the three secretaries of state, and any of the ministers in Spain and Portugal, respecting the arrangement of military measures, and every provision for carrying them into effect, be House of Commons, May the 12th. The house having resolved itself into a committee of ways and means, the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose, pursuant to notice, to submit to the committee, a statement of the ways and means of the year. The committee, he • The number of seamen that had been voted for this year, 1809, was the same. as that for the last, 1808, viz. 130,000 including 31,400 royal marines. The esti mates, too, for the number of seamen and marines were precisely the same in amount with those of last year, though it had been thought desirable to make some alterations in the comparative amount of some of the branches. The allowance for wear and tear of ships, was last year taken at three pounds per man, whilst the provision for victuals was estimated at tl. 19s. per man, per month. The latter estimate had been found to fall greatly short of the actual expenditure, whilst the wear and tear fell considerably above the actual expenditure: a guinea, therefore. had been taken from the allowance for wear, and added to the allowance for victuals. The army estimates, too, as stated by the secretary at war, were nearly the same as those of last year, with the exception of 200,000 arising from the actual increase of the establishment, which would be ascertained by comparing the estimates now offered with the last year's account. VOL. LL G committee, committee, and it was with satisfaction he should state, the terms upon which the loan had been contracted for, that morning. The whole of the loan for the year was fourteen millions six hundred thousand pounds, of which three millions were for Ireland, and six hundred thousand pounds for the Prince Regent of Portugal, so that the loan for the service of England was 11,000,0001. This loan had been taken in part in the 4 per cents. partly in the 3 per cents. and partly in the long annuities. The particulars for every 1001. subscribed were, per Cents.... per Cents.. Long Annuities. £ 60 0 0 upon this capital was £495,221; the total charge upon the loan was £651,345; making the grand total charge upon both operations £1,146,566. Lord H. Petty had suggested the propriety of suspending the progress of taxation for three years. All those who supported the proposition of the noble lord, would, he was sure, approve the adoption of the principle for the present year, and think it a wise policy to abstain from new taxes to meet the charges arising out of the financial arrangements of the present year. It was not, however, proposed that the whole of the charge s. d. should be defrayed out of the war taxes. There was a bill at present before the house, for the consolidation of the customs, by the operation of which, he expected to obtain an addition to the permanent taxes of £105,000; an addition, to nearly the same amount, was to be expected from the operation of the consolidation bill in the war taxes. The sum so gained would be applied in diminution of the annual charge: so that he should not have to apply to the war taxes for much more than one million. He had suggested the propriety of taking a vote of credit for three millions for England. An explanation of the manner in which that sum might be applied would not be expected. There was, however, one circumstance arising out of the present state of the Continent which he conceived to be his duty to communicate to the house. It was not, at the present moment, thought desireable that any definitive arrangement should be The amount of interest that would thus be paid on each 1001. by the public, calculating it upon the present prices of the respective funds in which the loan was contracted for, would be 41. 12s. 10d. a rate of interest, at which the public had never before been able to borrow money-a rate at which it was hardly possible for any individual, however well secured, or Frompt his payment might be, to procure a loan. In a former part of the session. he had submitted a proposition for funding eight millions of exchequer bills, which proposition had received the sanction of that house. The capital created by that operation amounted in the 5 per cents to £7,877,308; in the 3 per cents £386,336; amounting in the whole to capital created 88,253,654. The total charge for management and sinking fund entered entered into, which should give rise to any expectation that his ajesty would furnish any of his allies with any very considerable pecuniary assistance. It was not the intention of his majesty's government to hold out to those alles any expectation of pecuniary aid during the present year, beyond what would be covered by the vote of credit proposed. He had also to state, that though no treaty had been entered into with the Austrian government, previously to the war, yet an expectation did certainly exist on the part of that power, as to what this country would do, in the event of a war taking place. In consequence of this impression, without having had any communication with his majesty's government, the Austrian government, on the commencement of the war, had drawn bills on this country: which bills it had not deemed right to pay until the circumstance should be mentioned to parliament. He would confess, that when the bills should arrive, it was the intention of ministers to advise his majesty to recommend to parliament to enable him to pay them. The amount of these bills it was not easy yet to ascertain. It might be about £500,000. Mr. Perceval, having gone through all he had to state, concluded with moving a resolution for agreeing to the terms of the contract for the loan. Mr.N.Vansittart wished to know whether any, or what proportion of the war taxes was to be charged with the expences of the loan. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that the whole of the charges were to be discharged from the war taxes, and particu larly that part of them which came under the head of excise. Lord Petty gave his cordial approbation to the loan itself, and the principles on which it was negotiated, as well as the mode proposed for meeting the charges upon it. He could not, however, entirely approve the intention of mortgaging any part of the war taxes without providing an adequate fund for its speedy redemption. It would, he was persuaded, be productive, though perhaps not immediately, of much inconvenience. Besides, an indefinite mortgage of these particular taxes might tend to excite an apprehension that they would be ultimately converted into permanent burthens. The practice also tended to weaken and undermine those great means and sinews of war. With regard to the bills drawn by the Austrian government, the propriety, lord Petty said, of that step would depend on the previous relations subsisting between the two countries, an explanation of which he presumed his majesty's ministers would offer to the house before the parliament rose. Mr. Canning said that there was no disposition on the part of Great Britain, for the sake of any com bination against the common enemy, or for any temporary diversion in the cause of Spain, to have Austria committed in a premature struggle. However much they might wish to see the enemy op posed, they could never desire to see Austria engaged in war on any but Austrian grounds. But they stated, at the same time, that if Austria was committed in war with France for her own defence, |