of peril, threatening the very existence of the State, could induce him to consent to have recourse to that sacred fund.-The example in the highest quarter bad certainly come late, but it was well that it had come. His Royal Highness had doubtless long felt for the public sufferjugs, and Ministers should have sooner advised this honourable step. (Hear!) They must the more regret this delay, because the earlier adoption of the measure would have very much allayed the discontent which had so turbulently prevailed. He also thought it wonderful, that the reductions in the salaries of public officers had not been sooner adopted. They merited no praise for it, for it had been clearly extorted from them. And this proved that if the real majority of the Nation was firm and unanimous, the House would comply with its wishes; which was perhaps the best answer to those pretended Reformers who talked of a pure representation.-As for the proposed Committee, the country must not be mocked with one which was to investigate every thing and do nothing; they must do something real; the people would not be content with the mere shew of a remedy! The Committee should be an efficient one; but it seemed to him, that it was intended to draw a veil over the public expenditure. The Committee would have much to do, if it did its duty. Did the House know, that there were sixty persons now in that assembly, holders of offices, who might be dismissed from them at the pleasure of the Crown? If these offices were not to be abolished, a question would arise as to their holding seats in Parliament. Ministerial majorities were often made up of such votes! The only real road to œconomy was to reduce such inAuence.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer had reason to expect that the revenue would not turn out so defective this year as it bad last; and he declared, that every satisfactory means would be afforded to examine the situation of the finances to the very bottom. The sum of 20,000,0001. would be the whole of the real peace establishment.

Mr. Brougham predicted that every salutary object would be evaded, by the overwhelming mass of papers with which the Committee would be inundated. Such a Committee could do nothing; patronage and influence would impede every endeavour at reduction. The House should look into the real situation of the Nation. The publick called aloud for a reduction ; would they refuse to answer it? Destroyers of abuses and the abolishers of sinecures were to be formed out of those very persons who enjoyed them!-There would be a deficit in the revenue of twelve inil

lions, which, it seems, were to be made up by a recourse to former subterfuges, and the old system of jobbing with the Bank: would the House make themselves parties to such delusions!

Mr. Grenfell wanted to know what could be applied this year to extinguish debt, excepting by borrowing money.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer enumerated several items of expense and revenue. Taking old naval stores, the lottery, and other branches, there would be eight millions odd applicable, to which add 14 millions, and there was a total of 22 millions, exceeding the supply by about 1,400,000/

Mr. Brand observed, the proposed Com mittee was not satisfactory; the people of England demanded something more; they were alarmed when they heard proposed retrenchments followed by enlarged salaries; and when they saw the office of the "Clerk of the Pelis" in Ireland continued at a salary of 4000l. a year, and other offices increased in emolument, it was not possible for them to restrain the expression of their indignation.

Mr. Wilberforce could not give an entire approbation to the appointment of the Committee. His mind was pretty fully made up on this point, when he heard the Noble Lord say it might sit one year, or two years, or perhaps three years. If this were the case, what benefit could be expected from its labours? Could it be even expected to last out its full time?Was there not one idea intimately associated with such a Committee, namely, that the dissolution of Parliament would put an end to its existence. With respect to the influence of the Crown, it had increased very considerably; it in fact met every man every where. (Cheering.) And while he deprecated any attempts to inflame the public mind, he by no means granted that the way to reconcile the people to their sufferings, and to quiet their minds, was by refusing to make such diminutions in every department as could be effected without injury to the public service.

Lord Lascelles heard with great satis. faction the statement made by Ministers; and believed that the concession made that night would be particularly gratifying, and be most thankfully received.

Mr. Ponsonby was persuaded the fate of the country was in the hands of that House; and it was necessary to shew that they were determined to reduce the bur thens of the people -He approved of the resolution of his Majesty's servants to abate a portion of their salaries: they owed it to the country: but he would go farther, and say, there was no individual whatever receiving a salary that ought not to be willing to reduce it. He spoke this

as

as an interested person, and be thought the reduction proposed was not sufficient; for his own part, he was ready to go farther. But there were many situations held under Government, where the emolument was so small, that it would be cruel to propose a reduction, and cruel to receive it.

The House then divided; for the Com'mittee 210-against it 117. There were other divisions, Mr. Tremayne having been proposed in the room of Lord Binning, and subsequently of Mr. Huskisson; but Ministers carried them.

Mr Ponsonby, Mr. Charles Wynne, Mr. Freemantle, Lord Morpeth, Lord Stanley, were all proposed as Members of the Committee, but they severally declined accepting the trust,-Mr. Tierney did not decline, but accepted under a reservation,

February 11.

Lord Folkestone presented a petition agreed to at the Spa-fields Meeting on the 10th inst. The Noble Lord professed himself unacquainted with any of the parties who signed the petition, and inimical to some parts of its prayer; but as it was couched in respectful language, and, as he was anxious, in the present season of suffering and distress, no obstruction should be offered to the petitions of the people, he willingly undertook the duty of laying it before Parliament: it was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

Lord Cochrane presented another petition from the people of Hampshire, a sembled at Portsdown-hill, near Portsmouth,

Gen. Fergusson said, that as this and all the other petitions which had been presented to the House on the subject of Reformprayed for an abolition of Sinecures, and as he now saw a Noble Lord (Castlereagh) in his place, he begged to ask if the report in circulation was true, which stated that a Noble Marquis, one of the greatest sinecurists in the country, had, in consideration of the almost unanimous feeling of the Nation, and the general distress, surrendered his sinecure?

Lord Castlereagh answered, that the report was well-founded; that the Noble Marquis (Camden) alluded to had resigned all the emoluments and profits of the office he held, and only retained the regulated salary of 2,5001. (Cheering.) The Noble Marquis had been for some time desirous of making this sacrifice; but, as his office was in the nature of a vested right, and as he did not know what effect this surrender might have on others in a similar situation, he delayed till the meeting of Parliament. Seeing, however, the example of retrenchment and sacritice set in the highest quarter, he no longer hesitated, and offered now all the emoluments of his appointment.

Gen. Fergusson was exceedingly gratified with the intelligence now communicated to the flouse, and trusted in God that the example would be followed by others. (Cheering.)

On Lord Cochrane presenting a petition from Lymington on the subject of Reform, Mr. Lockhart objected to a passage which asserted that the state of the representation was so corrupt and perverted, that the House of Commons, instead of being the guardian of the people's rights, was employed in nothing but levying burdens upon them, and instead of exercising a control over Ministers, became the tool of Ministers in controlling the people.

Lord Castlereagh objected to its being received.

On a division it was rejected, by 72 to 43.

Several petitions being presented for Reform, Mr. Brougham, in eloqueut and patriotic terms, declared his dissent from Annual Parliaments and Universal Suffrage, which almost every Reform petition now prays for.

Mr. Boswell, Sir M. IV. Ridley, and Mr. C W. Wynn, coincided in similar declarations, and did themselves great credit by the spirited and severe dressing they gave to Lord Cochrane, for encouraging public meetings of the people, and afterwards presenting their mischievous petitions, and chimerical plans of Reform, to the House.

Mr. Brougham alluded, in a particular manuer, to the limited stock of historical and antiquarian knowledge possessed by the framers of these petitions, when they referred to the condition of England 1200 years ago, as affording the model of a free constitution; and characterised such persons as deluders of the public mind.

Mr. C. W. W. Wynn reminded the House that the Triennial Act of 1694 was a triumph obtained by the people; for previous to that period, Parliaments, so far from being annual, sat during the mere pleasure of the Sovereign, and to suit his convenience entirely on the subject of raising money, with a semblance

of

In the Commons, the same day, the Hon. Mr. Bennett, after adverting to the notice he had taken last year of the condemned persons in Newgate, said, he now found that three sessions had passed without a Report being made by the Recorder; and on the 19th inst. the fourth session would commence; and that there were 73 men and fifteen women under sentence of death. He moved for an account of the number of convicts under sentence of death in Newgate, and of their crimes, and the dates, of their conviction.

Lord Castlereagh said, he could pledge himself that the delay did not lie with the Lord Chancellor.

The Allorney General alleged, that the great number of convicted persons made one reason for the delay. They were, it seemed, no fewer than 88. After sentence was pronounced, it was the employneat and the duty of the Recorder to examine the particulars, to consider the character of the evidence, to read all through and digest it, and to communicate the result, with his own detailed opinions, to the Lord Chancellor. Each individual case then went before the King or Prince Regent in Council. He had lately conversed with the Recorder, who regretted much that he had not had time enough to prepare his Report for the Lord Chancellor. He had stated his immense labours, and the time which the sessions occupied. There were then sixty unreported cases: and he could state on the Recorder's authority, that he was not then in a condition to make his Report satisfactorily. There was not an unnecessary delay, but only a delay as far as was consistent with justice to individuals.

February 18.

In a Committee of Supply, Sir G. Warrender proposed a vote for 19,000 seamen, including 6000 marines.

Lord Milton concluded a speech, reprobating the grant of one quarter's war salaries to Mr. Croker and the other Secretaries of the Admiralty, in consequence of the expedition to Algiers, by the following motion: that the issue of war sa

laries to the Secretaries of the Admiralty, and other officers, in consideration of the expedition to Algiers was uncalled for, and therefore an improper application of the public money.

Mr. Croker said, he had made the demand of the war salary because he thought it a matter of right, and because he thought it due to the office he held. (Hear!) The sum itself was paltry. Had he consented to surrender the 2301. in August last, out of regard to the distresses of the country, it would have been said, "You give nothing-you only abstain from demanding what you have no right to enjoy." After some discussion, the motion was negatived by 169 to 114.

February 19.

Mr. Grenfell dwelt at great length upon the enormous profits made by the Bank. In 20 years (since 1797) their profits had been not less than twenty-seven millions. He concluded by moving for a "Select Committee to inquire into the engagements now subsisting between the country and the Bank, and to consider of the advantages now derived to the Bank, with a view to the adoption of future arrangements, consistent with that good faith which ought always to be preserved on the part of the country."-After a short discussion, in which Messrs. Vansittart, P. Moore, Marryatt, Huskisson, Manning, and Lord A. Hamilton, participated, the motion was negatived, by 90 to 40.

Mr. Bragge Bathurst appeared at the bar with the Report of the Commitee of Secrecy, (of which we gave a copy in our last, p. 165.)

HOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 21.

Earl Grosvenor said, before proceeding to the Order of the Day, he was desirous of calling their Lordships' attention to a petition which he held in his hand, and which he thought of considerable importance. It was the petition of Thomas Cleary, Secretary to the London Union Society, in which the Petitioner complains of the manner in which the Society is spoken of in the Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Lords. His Lordship observed, with regard to the petition he had thus read, that it contained statements which it was of the utmost importauce the House should thoroughly examine, because, if these statements were correct, the Secret Committee was imposed upon.

A considerable debate ensued.

Earl Grey moved an amendment, that the debate be adjourned, and a Committee named to search for precedents. The amendment, however, and the petition, were finally rejected by a considerable majority.

When

When strangers were withdrawn, Lord Holland presented to the House of Lords a petition from Paisley, signed by several thousand inhabitants, and praying for Annual Parliaments and Universal Suffrage.

Lord Sidmouth moved, that a Bill enabling his Majesty to secure and detain in custody such persons as his Majesty may suspect of intentions against his Majesty's peace and Government, should be read the first time. He wished to defer the discussion to the 2nd reading, which he proposed should take place on the 24th inst. The Bill was then read the first time.

In the Commons, the same day, Mr. Bennett presented a Petition from 259 inhabitants of Brentford, in favour of a publican of the name of Joseph Harding, who had kept the sign of the Castle in that town, but whose license was taken from him by the Magistrates, in consequence, as the Petitioners asserted, of some undue bias against him, although, instead of being a disorderly house, the Castle had always been one of the most regular and well-conducted houses in Brentford.

Colonel Wood said, that a more ho nourable set of men than the Magistrates of Brentford, were not in existence.

Mr. H. Sumner deprecated loose charges in that House against Magistrates.

Mr. Bennett, alluding to the Police Report, described Mr. Merceron's con duct before the Committee, as evincing cool, deliberate, and habitual falsehood. Whenever he was asked a question, his invention seemed immediately to be set to work to get rid of it by artifice. So short was his memory, that he never recollected what he had said ten minutes before, and therefore contradicted himself continually.

Mr. Brougham expressed surprise that the Chairman of the Police Committee had not reported Mr. Merceron's conduct

to the House.

The Petition was ordered to lie upon the table.

Mr. Curwen said, he had quite made up his mind not to go into a Committee to take into consideration the present state of the Poor Laws, unless there was a good prospect of obtaining effectual and speedy relief. He said that he had a variety of letters from Shropshire, Sussex, and many other places, stating they paid from 18 to 20s. in the pound. He calculated the number of paupers to amount to two millions and a half, and the amount of subscriptions and Poor Rates to be about 8,500,000/. which made on the whole 26 per cent, on the entire rent. These considerations, he said, required some attention these evils called for some redress. Many lawyers high eminence were of opinion that all

property in the funds and elsewhere was liable to Poor's Rates; and by a quotation which he made, it appeared, that in the year 1663, it was resolved by the Judges, that every person should be charged according to his estate; and by the 22d of Geo. I. property in the Funds was made chargeable. But he contended, if the Houses of Parliament should at any time say that property in the Funds should not be charged, that then they would have exceeded their powers, and have acted in opposition to the laws of nature, and contrary to the immutable principles of justice. And as to the policy of taxing funded property for the poor, it was quite as politic to do so as to lay the Income Tax on it. The country had now been brought to a state of the utmost distress, and relief was now essential to existence. The Poor's Rates were one of the many causes which produced these melancholy effects; and now the greatest pains should be taken to equalize the burdens which they imposed. He calculated the amount of interest on Funded Property, namely, Debentures, Bank Stock, India Stock, South Sea Stock, &c. &c. to amount to three millions and a half: if this, together with landed property, was taxed, even at a very low rate, it would yield a sufficient sum for the poor. He also observed, that money lent at interest should also be made chargeable. He was of opinion. that pauperism was more the effect of commerce than of agriculture; and he also observed, that the Poor Laws were peculiarly oppressive upon persons who were not natives of England. After the natives of Ireland or of other places came into England in search of occupation, and after they had spent a long life in labouring for the luxury and comfort of the English, they were sent back to their native country, diseased, destitute, and infirm, forgotten by some friends, and deprived of others by the hand of death, He assured the House, that he felt his inadequacy to perform the task which he had undertaken; and before he concluded, he begged leave to conjure the Noble Lord to raise and immortalize his name, by lending his assistance to the amelioration of those unjust and oppres sive Laws. He urged him to come forward; he entreated him to tell the House and the Country what they had to expect, as every thing depended upon him. The Honourable Member concluded by moving that a Committee be appointed to inquire into the state of the Poor Laws.

Lord Castlereagh doubted whether all the sanguine views of the Hon. Gentleman could be realized by the labours of the proposed Committee, but he certainly believed that much good might be reasonably expected from the measure. He

assured

assured the Honourable Gentleman, that he took as gloomy a view of the influence of the Poor Laws, in breaking down the national character, as he could possibly do; and if they did not elevate the national character, by inspiring the population of the country with the wish rather to live on their own labour, than on what they could draw from the labour and property of others, he firmly believed that the English people would not in future ages be what they had been in times past. (Hear, hear, hear.) The present system not only went to accumulate burdens on the country which it could not continue to bear, but to destroy the true wealth of the poor man, the capability of making exertions for his own livelihood; for, if pecuniary relief went on with the laxity which now prevailed, and all the cunning of uncultivated minds was to be directed to the means of escaping from labour and the enjoying the fruits of the labour of others, a national calamity might be said to be overtaking us by a double operation-in the increased burdens imposed on the country, and the diminution of the industry from which its resources were derived. Though, therefore, they could not set themselves against the statute of Elizabeth, yet they could look into it, and on doing so, they would find that those objects which were within the original purview of the Law, were the sick and infirm poor, and those labouring under temporary difficulties.

Without any innovation, therefore, on the existing Law, or shaking any of those claims which were supposed to exist under the Law, he apprehended that no proposition was more clear thau that when a man possessed bodily ability to work, the performance of work might be made the criterion of the condition entitling him to relief, and that this pecuniary claim might be connected with work. If that were made the basis of the Poor Laws, there was hardly a parish in England, bowever small it might be, where the industry of those able to work and applying for relief, might not be turned to advantage. In every parish they might find materia's sufficient for relieving all the distressed of the parish by means of work, excepting children, and those whose advanced age or infirmity precluded them

from exertion. But he would push this principle so far, that he would rather em. ploy the labouring poor to dig a hole one day, and make them fill it up again the next, than allow them to remain idle, and expose themselves to the danger of losing the use of their hands and legs, and the power of making themselves usefulto themselves and their country. (Hear!) Though this labour might not be immediately productive, it at least kept the labourers in a state which rendered them capable of future efforts, and thus averted one great danger to be apprehended from a great proportion of the labouring poor subsisting without effort at all. If the law did not receive some such correction in its administration, the eril would, at last, become too strong for the law. The difficulty was the getting at personal property by taxation. With respect to the application of such funds as might be obtained from personal property, in aid of the general interest, on a prio ciple of equalization, as-isting such parishes as were already taxed to a given amount, he could never approve of such a system. By it, a parish which had once arrived at a maximum would have nothing to do but to put its hands into the pockets of the rest of the country. There would then be no interest whatever to counteract abuses, and to watch over the due application of the parish funds (Hear, hear!) Let not the Hon. Member apprehend, when he touched on these ideas, that be wished to discourage all attempts to overcome the difficulty-he threw them out because he wished them to go into the Committee like Statesmen, with correct ideas of the difficulty. He felt the utmost gratification in supporting the motion for a Committee.

The motion was agreed to, and a select Committee appointed, composed of the following members :-Mr. Cursen, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Frankland Lewis, Mr. Bragge Bathurst, Sir Thomas Bariog, Mr. Rose, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Marton Pitt, Mr. Legh Keck, Mr. Dickinson, Lord Lascelles, Mr. Holford, Mr. Davis Gilbert, Sir James Shaw, Mr. Brand, Mr. Lockhart, Mr. Sturges Bourne, Lord Stanley, Mr. W. Dundas, Mr. Robinson, Sir Thos. Courtnay.

(To be continued.)

FRANCE.

In the Chamber of Deputies, the Ministers have been left in a minority of 89 to 108, on the important question of what we call the Navy Estimates. The Minister of that department had calculated upon a grant of 50 millions: he had already appropriated upwards of 48 mil2

lions; but the commission appointed to report upon the law recommended 44 millions; and this sum was carried, by the numbers above cited. Another motion was then made, to increase the sum to 46.000,000. Several of the Members in the mean time quitted the Chamber; and it was contended, that there were not

enough