motion for the Address was then agreed to.

On May 7th the Earl of Liverpool moved the third reading of the bill for granting an annuity to the duke of Cambridge.

The Earl of Lauderdale having moved that the message from the crown relative to the marriage of the royal dukes be read, he said, after his request had been complied with, that his purpose was, to bring to their lordships recollection that a principle had been implied in the proceedings which had taken place on this subject. The declared principle was, that provision was to be made for certain members of the royal family in consequence of their nuptials. It was not, that provi. sion should be made for one in preference to another, but for all such members of the royal family as married with the consent of the crown. If that was an improper law, it ought to be altered; but while it existed, it should be fairly acted upon. On the contrary, it was a desertion of duty in parliament to make it a matter of favour whether or not a provision should be voted after a marriage had been regularly contracted according to the law. In looking at the bills on the table, their lordships would find that there was one member of the royal family who had married with the consent of the crown, and for whom no provision had yet been made. Now, if the question was viewed in the light in which he had endeavoured to place it, their lordships would be of opinion that an abstract right of provision existed in consequence of the marriage. It ap

peared, however, from what had been done in this case, that some other principle must guide the decisions of another place. To him, he must own, this proceeding appeared in the utmost degree unfair and improper. His lordship hinted at the same thing respecting the case of the duke of Cumberland, though he was glad to see, from one of the bills on the table, that this prejudice was removed.

Lord Holland said, he did not object to this grant on account of its amount, but on account of the manner in which it was given. When he considered the sums of money which had, at different periods during the present reign, been voted by parliament to the crown, he must regard them as fully adequate to the purpose for which they were destined; and he thought that the splendor of the crown would be much better consulted, if the provisions necessary on the marriage of members of the royal family were advanced out of these sums, than by applying to parliament for additional grants, with the chance of having to experience a refusal. It was most unjust to charge the consolidated fund with this provision.

The Earl of Liverpool made some remarks on the positions of the two lords, though he seemed most inclined to hold with the former. With respect to the latter, he said he was ready to enter into a detailed view of the subject whenever the noble baron might think proper to bring it forward.

The bill was then read a third time, and passed.

$

On May 14th the Prince Regent's

gent's message concerning the marriage of the duke of Kent with the princess of Leiningen was taken into consideration by the House of Lords, when the Earl of Liverpool said that it was the intention of his majesty's

ministers to propose to parliament the same arrangement as had been sanctioned in the case of the duke of Cambridge. This was agreed to, and an address on the occasion was voted to the Prince Regent..

CHAPTER

THE

HE House having resolved itself into a Committee of Ways and Means,

The Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed his regret, that what he had to state that evening should cause the slightest delay in any other proceeding before the House; but he wished to press upon the attention of the committee a subject of peculiar importance, and hon. gentlemen must be aware, that whenever pecuniary transactions had taken place between the government and individuals it had always been deemed proper, in order to avoid all risk, and to prevent all misapprehension, to submit a statemer.t of them to parliament as soon as possible. It was, therefore, the practice to allow the consideration of a loan to take precedence of all other business. Under these circumstances he should claim the indulgence of the committee while he made a statement to them of the highly favourable terms on which a bargain had been arranged for a very large sum of money; and which, although not completely carried into effect, was so within the comparatively small sum of seven or eight hundred thousand pounds. But even this slight deficiency was in such progress of fulfilment, that he should be

wanting in justice to the subscrib. ers and to the public if he did not take this early opportunity of calling for the approbation of the committee, and for their sanction to the terms on which the transaction had been arranged. Before, however, he proceeded to detail those terms, it might be expected from him that he should enter into that general statement of the financial operations for the year with which it was usual to ac company the communication of the most important financial measure for the session. It was his

intention briefly to do this; although he was sensible that he should address the committee to some disadvantage, because the papers containing the annual accounts of the year had not been presented, and therefore gentlemen would not be able imme. diately to verify his statements, or to obtain that full information which they would have possessed had the subject been brought forward at a later period of the session. But as those accounts would soon be laid on the table of the House, any hon. gentleman, in the future stages of the proceeding that might arise out of the propositions of that evening, would enjoy an ample opportunity of supplying any deficiency that might appear in his (the chan

cellor

cellor of the exchequer's) communications, and of making any farther observations that the importance of the subject might seem to require. Notwithstanding therefore, the absence of the ac counts to which he had alluded, he thought it proper to make a general statement of the financial situation of the country.-It must be recollected that the sums for nearly all the operations of the year had already been voted, so that he could now state the amount of the supply and the ways and means of the year, with but few exceptions. The committee were aware that they had already voted the navy estimates, the army estimates (with the exception of the barracks, the commissariat, and the extraordinaries) and the ordnance estimates; and a considerable progress had been made in the miscellaneous estimates, although some items still remained to be granted. By referring to the votes, the committee would find the sums that had already been granted. The sum intended for the army extraordinaries was 1,400,000.; the particulars of which would on a future day be submitted to the committee. The votes which had already passed for the army, added to this sum which it was proposed to vote for the extraordinaries, would make a total for the army in the present year (exclusively of the troops in France) of 8,970,000l. Last year the vote for the army had been 9,412,3737. In both cases were included the expenses of the disembodied militia, which had not been voted last year until a late period of the session,

1

as

but in this had been added to the general vote for army services in the committee. The sum voted for the navy last year was 7,596,0227. In the present year it was 6,456,800l. The expense of ordnance in the present year, including the naval ordnance, which had formerly been voted under the head of navy, but which he thought best to refer to the general head of ordnance, was 1,245,600l. Last year it was 1,270,690l. The miscellaneous estimates in the present year were 1,720,000l.; in which however he of course did not include the sum of 1,000,000l. granted for the building of new churches and chapels. He had thought it best not to include that sum in the accounts of the year, exchequer bills were to be issued for the specific purpose of providing for it. In the miscellaneous estimates, however, was included the vote of 100,000l. for the augmentation of small livings. Last year the miscellaneous estimates amounted to 1,795,000/The total of the supply, therefore, under the various heads which he had enumerated was 18,392,400l. Last year it had been 20,074,091.-To this sum of 18,392,400l. were to be added 2,000,000l. for the interest of exchequer bills, and a sinking fund on them of 560,000l.; making the grand total of supply 20,952,400l. That for the last year was 22,304,0917.-He thought it very probable that in consequence of the arrangement that had been made for funding a large proportion of the outstanding exchequer bills, there might be a saving upon the interest; but it must be recollected

recollected that, whether that should turn out so or not, provision had already been made for them. In addition however to the regular services which he had mentioned, there were some few items of expenditure, already voted by parliament, that remained to be provided for. The first was the grant of 725,681. 12s. 3d. for fortifications in the Netherlands, in pursuance of the treaty of 1815; but it was not intended to propose any addition to the burthens of the country on that account, as the expense was to be defrayed out of the French contributions in the hands of the commissioners. The second item was the sum of 400,000l., which had been voted for carrying into execution the treaty with Spain for the abolition of the Slave trade. Another extraordinary item was 259,686/., to supply the deficiency of the ways and means of last year-not arising out of any failure of the ways and means themselves, but from the circumstance of the vote for the charge of disembodied militia, to the amount of 300,000l., which took place last session after the other supplies had been voted, and the ways and means provided. This charge had formerly been paid out of the land tax, in the nature of an anticipation of the payments into the exchequer; but it had been thought that it would be more regular to vote it in the committee of supply, that in common with the other expenses of the country, it might be brought more distinctly before parliament. The deficiency which was now to be voted, was the difference between the sum of 300,000l.

voted for the purpose he had already described, and the small excess of the ways and means of last year above their estimated amount. These two extraordinary payments which were this year to be provided for, amounted to 659,6861., which added to the regular supplies for the service of the year, made 21,011,000.He should now briefly state the manner in which he proposed to provide for this sum. In the first place there was the vote of 3,000,000l. on the annual taxes, which it was unnecessary to explain, as the same vote was proposed yearly. The next sum was 3,500,000l. on those excise duties which by law were continued till 1821. It would be found, by reference to the accounts, that in the year ending the 5th of April 1818, those duties produced only 3,184,950. But from the state of progressive improvement in which they now were, there was a fair prospect that within the year 1818 they would produce three millions and a half. The next item was the usual sum of 250,000l. by way of lottery. The sale of old naval stores it was estimated would produce a similar sum. In 1817 it would be seen that they produce 400,000l.; but it was obvious that the sum produced from that source, must diminish with the duration of peace. In the present year the commissioners of the navy have calculated the produce at 250,000l. This sum was of course but a conjectural estimate, though there was reason to believe that it had not been taken too highly. The next item arose from some considerable arrears

to