sion, some plan would be digested, calculated to effect that desirable object. It was far from his intention, in the present melancholy state of the interior, to produce despondency : such a feeling should at no time be indulged in, in a country which only existed to any purpose, so long as it was free; but he had yet to learn, that any advantage was to be derived, by shrinking from facing our dangers. In matters of finance, the whole extent of the evil should be known. Nothing was to be gained by concealment of our real situation. Whatever pressure might be suffered in the manufacturing districts, he was convinced that the main resources of the country were not only unimpaired, but in a state of progressive improvement, and sufficient, with proper economy, to carry us through the tremendous conflict in which we were engaged. Great additional sacrifices might be necessary; but every thing was to be expected from the public spirit and firmness of the country, which had always risen in proportion to the difficulties of its situation. The several resolutions were agreed to. RESOLUTIONS OF FINANCE-ECONOMY AND RETRENCHMENT. Sir Thomas Turton having this day moved a series of Resolutions, with the view of pressing upon the House the necessity, under the financial difficulties of the country, and the great pressure of taxation, of the most rigid economy in every department of the State, Mr. HUSKISSON said, he thought that the House was much indebted to the honourable baronet, for having called their attention to this very important subject; and conceived, that, at some period of every session, it was proper to take into consideration the financial situation of the country. Upon the whole, he considered, that the view of our financial resources at the end of twenty years of hostilities, was calculated to give satisfaction to the country, and to produce a feeling of exultation and pride. If ever there was a time in which the revenues of the country might be expected to have materially diminished, it was during the present pressure on our trade; and yet many parts of it, the excise duties particularly, had not decreased. We had the satisfaction to see that the ordinary taxes had not impaired the industry or resources of the country. That difficulty, which had been always apprehended from the amount of taxation, we had not experienced. There was, however, another difficulty, and that a most serious one, in the present state of the country. It was obvious, that some means must be taken to raise the public credit. It was, therefore, necessary to consider every possible means of diminishing the loans. Retrenchment of expenses was the means most generally spoken of. Nothing could be more fair, more respectable, or more likely to conciliate good-will, than the retrenching of every useless expenditure. It must, however, be allowed, that no very considerable saving could be effected, except by the reduction of some of our great establishments. He had long thought that considerable reductions might safely take place, and particularly in our naval establishments. Reductions, he was convinced, might also be made with safety in our colonial expenses, and in some of our military establishments, at home, as well as abroad. There had, of late, been a rapid increase of our navy, when the necessity was by no means apparent. In the year 1805, when there was a hostile fleet of thirty-three sail of the line in the harbour of Cadiz, and the Northern powers were wavering,-in that year, when the battle of Trafalgar was fought, we had only 120,000 seamen; whereas now, instead of having diminished our navy in consequence of that victory, we employed 145,000. He unquestionably wished our naval superiority to be maintained; but there might be an unnecessary display of naval force, which would be purchased too dearly by an excessive expenditure. But this was a question which should be left to the Executive Government. He believed, however, that there was a natural tendency in every department, to draw as large a portion of the supplies of the year as was possible, to itself. He considered this a very natural feeling; but, at the same time, the government should seriously reflect whether the expenditure for the navy was not greater than the necessity of the case required. He believed, also, that a heedless expense was incurred in many of our colonial establishments. He wished that the government of this country would take a lesson from their inveterate enemy, who always reserved his great exertions for great occasions; for if an equal degree of expenditure took place for every minute object, as for every great one, the resources even of this mighty country might be found insufficient to produce any powerful results. But, while he recommended ministers seriously to consider, whether there was not too great an expenditure in the naval and colonial departments, he would say, that the country must be prepared for greater sacrifices. With regard to peace, it was most evident that England had no private object for continuing the war, if it could be concluded with safety and honour; but we must be prepared to make great sacrifices indeed, rather than conclude a peace in violation of our plighted faith to our allies, or such a peace as would degrade us to a second-rate power in Europe. It was absolutely necessary that public credit should be raised from its present state of depression. There had been, in the space of a few years, a deterioration in the value of funded property of twenty per cent. This was a most serious loss to those who had purchased a few years ago. As to Ireland, it was a country rising very rapidly, which possessed a great capital, and paid no direct taxes. No income tax was paid there on the value of land, and officers living in that cheap country were exempted from a tax, which they must pay when upon foreign service, and in the dearest regions. This was most unequal, and, as he thought, unjust towards this country. The effect of it upon public credit was this: that although the legal interest in Ireland was six per cent., the Irish 5 per cents. were at par, while the English were at 86. It was evident that the public credit should be improved in this country, and the Government enabled to conclude their loans, without paying more than the legal interest for money. But to accomplish this, it would be necessary for the country to make further exertions and further sacrifices. GOLD COIN BILL. Previous to the bringing up the report of the Bill, “for making more effectual provision for preventing the current Gold Coin of the realm from being paid or accepted for a greater value than the current value of such coin," Mr. Whitbread said, he felt it to be his duty, for the sake of truth and the character of the House, to move, "That the Resolution proposed by Mr. Vansittart, and inscribed on the Journals in May last, declaring, 'That the Promissory Notes of the 'Bank have hitherto been, and are at this time, held in public estima'tion to be equivalent to the legal coin of the realm, and generally 'accepted as such in all pecuniary transactions to which such coin is 'legally applied' be rescinded." On a division, the numbers were: For the motion, 26: against it, 63. The twenty-six members who voted with Mr. Whitbread upon this occasion were, Mr. Canning, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Henry Thornton, Mr. Hudson Gurney, Lord A. Hamilton, Mr. R. Smith, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Bankes, Mr. J. Martin, Mr. Protheroe, Mr. D. North, Mr. G. Philips, Mr. Creevey, Mr. Calvert, Mr. F. Foster, Mr. J. P. Grant, Mr. R. Gordon, Mr. Horne, Mr. Lubbock, Sir H. Mildmay, Lord J. Fitzroy, Sir H. Montgomery, Mr. G. A. Robinson, Lord Rancliffe, and Mr. J. Smyth. On the report of the Bill being brought up, Mr. HUSKISSON said, that as his opinions upon the subject then before the House were generally known, he would not tire their patience by going at length into the question, with reference to the law of the land, and the principles of justice. He was disposed to think, that, beyond the walls of that House, notwithstanding the assertion of his right honourable friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, they could not find any one person who would agree in the Resolution which they had just affirmed, any more than they could, in the ordinary business of life, procure a guinea; that description of coin having completely disappeared. If any one could doubt that there was a depreciation of the paper currency, he knew no better way to convince him of the fact, that by drawing his attention to the Bill on the table. His right honourable friend had argued, that the paper could not be depreciated, if three conditions were acceded to: first, that the coin of the realm should pass at a current rate, to be fixed by the sovereign authority of the state; second, that the paper currency should exactly correspond with the coin in value, according to its denomination. These two principles were acted upon in all states: the first constituted the essence of money; the second was its representative. But his right honourable friend found a third condition necessary to prevent the depreciation of this representative, and which they were then labouring to effect by enacting this law. To render the current coin and Bank paper equally valuable, a penalty was to be inflicted on those who disposed of the |