rency. The wealth of the nation consisted of an industrious population, protected by good laws-of national character of public spirit. In these respects, every man abroad would admit that we were a wealthy nation. But if our wealth was henceforth to be made to depend upon our present circulation, however we might flatter ourselves at home, abroad we should not be considered a wealthy people. Whatever might be the decision of the House upon this important question, his right honourable friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, would soon be convinced of the necessity of a remedy; and whatever that remedy might be, so much care and attention would be required to the furtherance of it, that he would accede to it, if possible, rather than originate a measure to which those who were placed at the head of the Government might be unfavourable.

After a debate, which was protracted by daily adjournments from the 6th to the 9th of May, and which was conducted by many of the ablest speakers on both sides of the House, the Committee divided on Mr. Horner's first Resolution: Ayes, 75. Noes, 151. The next fourteen Resolutions were negatived without a division; and on the sixteenth and last the Committee again divided: Ayes, 45. Noes, 180. Majority against it, 135.

MR. HUSKISSON'S MOTION FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE BARRACK ESTIMATES.

April 13, 1812.

Mr. Wharton, the Secretary of the Treasury, having moved, "That a sum not exceeding 554,4417. be granted for the expense of the Barrack Department, for the current year,"

Mr. HUSKISSON rose to express his dissatisfaction at the extravagance of the estimates, and especially to object to the item of 138,000l. for the new barracks about to be

erected in the Regent's Park, for the second regiment of life guards. He remembered, he said, that when he was at the Treasury, it had been proposed to build a magnificent barrack at Islington, and the ground was actually marked out for it. Now, although this was strongly recommended by military authorities, the Treasury thought the expense too great, and that it might be postponed till some other time. If they had adopted all the plans submitted to them by the Military Board, an expense of not less than two or three millions would have been incurred in erecting new barracks. At a moment like the present, it appeared to him, that every expense should be postponed, which was not absolutely necessary for the public service; and that the same considerations which made the Treasury reject many of those plans formerly, ought now to operate with as much force as ever. If the House calculated the expense of this new barrack, they would find that it was nearly 4501. for every horse. It appeared to him, that this was most extravagantly beyond any thing that could really be necessary. It was said, to be sure, that the household troops were to be lodged there; but, considering the manner in which men of their class in life were usually lodged, this sum appeared enormous, amounting, according to the interest generally given for money laid out in building, to 407. per annum for the lodging of each trooper and his horse. He was afraid that in the erection of this new building there would be some attempt at splendour and awkward magnificence, and that it would be something between a palace and a stable. At Liverpool it was unnecessary to go to so great an expense; as warehouses might be now procured on easy terms, which would make excellent temporary barracks. Every expense which could be spared ought at the present time to be spared; but even supposing the government to be determined that the expenditure of the country should

amount to a hundred millions a year, still there were other ways of spending the money, which would be of more use in the prosecution of the present war. He thought there must be reasons fully as strong for postponing these buildings now, as existed at the time when he was in the Treasury; and he was sure it would not be contended, that there was greater facility of borrowing money now than there was then. He would therefore move, as an amendment, that instead of 554,4417., the sum of 400,000l. be granted for the expences of the Barrack Department for the current year.

The Committee divided: For the Amendment, 40. Against it, 88. Majority, 48.

The House having resolved itself into a Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Vansittart, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, opened the Budget for the year. On the first Resolution being put,

Mr. HUSKISSON rose. He began by observing, that in the present situation of the country, it did not appear to him, that a more judicious selection of objects for taxation could well have been made, than that which his right honourable friend had just submitted to the Committee.

The following is a List of the Prince Regent's Ministers, as it stood at this time:

Cabinet Ministers.

Earl of Harrowby...........................................................Lord President of the Council. ....Lord Chancellor.

Lord Eldon

Earl of Westmorland

Earl of Liverpool....

.............Lord Privy Seal.

Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart

{

First Lord of the Treasury. Chancellor and Under Treasurer of the Exchequer.

Viscount Melville..................... First Lord of the Admiralty.

Some modifications might be made, and some objections removed, in the progress of the bill through the House; and then he had no doubt that the whole would be as unobjectionable as it could well be, in the present state of the resources of the country. He could not but thank his right honourable friend for the very candid manner in which he had treated the subject.

The few observations with which he was anxious to trouble the Committee related to the comparative state of

Earl Mulgrave

Viscount Sidmouth

Viscount Castlereagh

Earl Bathurst

Master-General of the Ordnance.

{Secretary of State for the Home

Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs.

Secretary of State for the Depart

ment of War and the Colonies.

Earl of Buckinghamshire .........President of the Board of Control.

Right Hon. Charles Bathurst... {

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan

caster.

Not of the Cabinet.

Right Hon. George Rose............Treasurer of the Navy.

Right Hon. Robert Peel............Chief Secretary.

Right Hon. W. V. Fitz-Gerald ...Chancellor of the Exchequer.

...............Lord Chancellor.

the finances of the country, within the last two or three years. This was the third Budget since he had taken the liberty to call the attention of the House to this subject, and had pointed out his view of our financial situation, as connected with the war, and urged the necessity of our inincreasing our exertions. The general principle which he had then pressed upon the House was this-that it was necessary to secure the means of carrying on the war, so as to bring it to the desirable issue of a safe and honourable peace. For that purpose he had stated, that it was necessary to attend to, and to carry into effect, every possible means of economy, and to make every exertion to render the income of the country equal to the expenditure, without having recourse to loans. Upon that occasion he had stated it as his opinion, that the mode of providing so large a portion of the supplies of every year by loan, and thereby adding from a million to 1,200,000l. annually to the public burthens, could not be carried on for any great number of years. He recalled the statement which he had formerly made to the recollection of the Committee, that they might see what had been the result of a perseverance in the old plan since that time, and the changes which had taken place in our financial situation.

The first point, and one of vital importance, was the difference between our income and our expenditure. In 1810, the addition by loan to the capital of the national debt, was 16,311,000.; in 1811 it was 19,500,000l.; and in 1812, it was no less than 27,870,000l. So that the difference between our income and expenditure had gone on regularly increasing. The second symptom deserving the most serious consideration of the new Administration and of the House, was the state of public credit. In 1810, the price of the three per cent. consols was seventy; in 1811 it was sixty-five;