The

and compelled by a sense of duty to ad- | placed the second in my hands. This arvance opinions in direct opposition to rangement however of the business was those who profess to have spent their lives the course that prudence would have dicin the study of this intricate science; I tated to any man; and it must have more should be confident indeed if I did not forcibly suggested itself to the noble marfeel some apprehension in submitting my quis, who could not but recollect the opinions to their criticism, and to your pains and the attention which he, as well lordships' consideration. Before I pro- as the late marquis of Rockingham, beceed to call your attentions to the papers stowed, at the close of the American war, which were moved for by my noble friend on the means of preventing such abuses (the marquis of Lansdown), a recollection in future; who must have seen with astoof the mode in which his conduct was nishment, the total deviation from that commented upon in this House, and of solemn pledge which he, in conjuncthe authentic manner in which these com- tion with the present first lord of the ments have been since handed to the pub-treasury, gave to the public in the speech lic, makes it necessary to state to your which they put into the mouth of their lordships the futility of the insinuation, sovereign in the year 1782.* that the noble marquis did not in his motion agitate the subject you were led to expect, and to explain to you the reasons why it falls to my lot to discuss before you the expenses of the present war, and the debts and revenues of this kingdom. It must be in the recollection of your lordships, that the principal object held out to you by the noble marquis, when he originally mentioned this subject in your House was, the departure from that system of economy so strongly enforced in the reports of the commissioners of accounts. When he arraigned the measure, it was natural for him to wish to present to your lordships view, the consequences that ensued from it. It was in this point of view that my noble friend moved for the papers on your table, that you might see the fatal effects of the departure from those regulations, and of the contempt of those salutary restraints which the forms of parliament and the law of the land have placed on the public expenditure. But when he saw the extent of the materials on the table of the House, he judged, and judged well, that to comprise the whole of the subject in the discussion of one day would have been inconsistent with that desire he had of exhibiting to the public, in the clearest and most distinct point of view, topics so materially interesting to the welfare, perhaps to the existence, of the state. The division my noble friend adopted was that which naturally presented itself:-to discuss, in tne first instance, the causes of our calamities; and, in the second, to exhibit the effects they have produced. As the more important consideration, he called your attention to the first of these subjects; I regret for the sake of the public, that the part auty of my noble friend has

The topics my noble friend upon that day discussed before your lordships, though flippantly undervalued in the commencement of the speech given to the public by the noble baron,+ were of the most grave and important nature. neglect of the measure recommended by the commissioners of accounts; the total contempt of the Appropriation act; the new institution of barracks; of a secretary of state's office; a transport board, and the additional appointments in every department; the unparalleled amount of extraordinaries in the army and navy, are subjects of such a nature, that to lessen their consequence in the public estimation, was an attempt as bold as it will be inefficacious. But the noble lord, not choosing to meet my noble friend upon such an investigation, quarrels with certain expressions and opinions, which he feels it "a sacred duty incumbent on him to resist, as far as God has given hin faculties." These opinions, however, I must observe, with all due respect for the faculties bestowed on him, it will be difficult for him to controvert. My noble friend stated, "that our trade was reduced to a dependence on the very warfare which is fundamentally destroying it; and that our resources were so exhausted as to force us to the wretched expedient of reviving taxes which were a few years since repealed;"-propositions, which the noble baron did wisely to dismiss with epithets, rather than to controvert by argument. It would indeed be difficult to overthrow opinions which must pervade the minds of the people, when they reflect that the war expenditure of last year

* See Vol. 23, p. 204.

† Lord Auckland. See his Speech at p. 1052.

amounts to a sum almost equal to the total value of both the imports and exports of this country in the year 1787; and when they recollect that since the commencement of the present war, taxes have been laid on commodities on which the duties had been lowered to the extent of 1,952,000l. Yet in the speech given to the public, with little more than a few exclamations of disgust at the opinions of my noble friend, is all that mass of important matter, detailed to you upon a former occasion, passed over without animadversion. I confess it excites my curiosity, to see whether the noble lord will this day as flippantly condemn, and as superficially investigate, the less important considerations which it falls to my lot to submit to you.

country, lessons that ought to be useful to us at the present moment. Was it the success of the French arms that reduced us almost to sue for peace to the enemy? No, my lords; there is no man who does not remember, that, to the credit and honour of our navy, at no period of our history were its successes more brilliant and glorious. The fatal and careless profusion in our expenditure, which distinguished that period, was in reality the sole cause of the humiliating situation of that day. Amongst the many who then loudly censured the extravagance and profuse expenditure, there was none who with more relentless and unforgiving rancour condemned the conduct of those who had occasioned it, than the present minister. From his affected purity, from My lords, it is only when compared the solemn pledges he had given in the with the subject my noble friend brought Report of the committee of the House of before you, that, in speaking on the detail Commons on finance, of which he was of our finances, I can think of using the a member, and in the speech made by his term "less important." For those who majesty in the year 1782, when he was have considered how fatal to the interior a minister, we had reason to expect policy of every government derangement something more of caution and economy in finance has proved; who recollect the in the conduct of our expenditure. Unconspicuous share which it had in pro- fortunately however for this country, the ducing the fall of the Roman empire; evils then complained of, and principally and who have seen its recent effects in censured, have in this war been carried, the origin and progress of the French under his auspices, to an extent unparalRevolution, must sympathise with me in leled in the annals of that era. The saying, that there is no subject I can con- money voted by parliament on estimate in sider more interesting, except the causes the last three years of the war, has not that have fatally produced the gloomy only far exceeded what was voted in the prospect which the unpleasant duty of first three years of the war with France, this day will oblige me to display. We Spain, Holland, and America; but that in this House are accustomed to hear expenditure, by means of votes of credit noble lords in office dilate upon a subject and extraordinaries, so much censured as which, on my conscience I believe, there the cause of our difficulties, has been caris no one in this country but themselves ried to a far greater and more alarming who would think of introducing: I mean excess. In three years ending 1780, the the advantages this nation has acquired total estimated expense of the army, navy, in the present war, and the successes that and ordnance amounted to 27,160,000l. have attended our arms. But, I believe, In the three years including 1795, the even amongst them, there is not one who expense voted by estimate amounted will be disposed to compare our successes to 35,514,601.. But the excess is prowith those of the French in the war end-portionably much greater in the money ing with the peace of 1783; yet the derangement of their finances (created in the moment of their greatest prosperity, exhibiting a deficit smaller than what I am afraid truth will compel me to state to your lordships as existing in this country) levelled a prouder nobility than that I have the honour to address, and a clergy in power and opulence far surpassing those I see before me. When we look back to those times, we derive also, from a recollection of the situation of this

expended without an estimate being previously submitted to parliament; for we have the mortification to see, that the total amount of unestimated expense in the three year sending 1780, was 19,174,8047. whereas in the three years ending 1795 it had arisen to the enormous sum of 31,386,730l. making an excess of upwards of twelve millions in this latter period, expended in the manner which was stated as so alarming, and which is considered by the best-informed men who have treated upon

the subject, as so destructive of all parliamentary control, and constitutional principles. The consequences have been such as we might naturally expect. In proportion as the neglect of forms and the relaxation from the regular parliamentary mode of providing for the public expenditure have increased, the enormous expense of the war, in which we have been involved, has augmented: the expenses of the American war up to the year 1781 amounted to the sum of fiftythree millions; but we have now to regret that in the prosecution of the present we have already created an addition to our funded debt of 93 millions, and loaded the people of this country, oppressed with taxation, with the additional sum of 4,500,000l. annually.

Under these circumstances it was with astonishment I heard detailed to your

vourable than the truth would justify;" I must assert that a statement more strained in its items, more calculated to deceive by its result, never was exhibited upon any occasion. He begins by calling your lordships' attention to a comparison of the price of 3 per cent consols at these two periods. Perhaps it may occur to you, that as he selected the 2nd of May, 1796, he might have looked at the price of stocks on the 2nd of May, 1783, before he proceeded to state the price of 3 per cents January 1784. Perhaps you may with me think, that in the beginning of this comparative statement he might have at least suggested, that in May 1783, the price of three per cents actually was 68. But I am sure you will agree with me in thinking, that in contrasting the price of India stock at these two periods, he exhibits to us consistency, and dis

tion to fairness, in totally neglecting to state, that in May 1783 the price of India stock was 138; and that the East India company, authorized by parliament, and enabled by the sums of money called in from the proprietors, have since that period increased their dividend 24 per cent. So that, if the increase arising from the additional dividend was taken from the present price of the stock, it would leave it on the second of May 1796 somewhere about 168; and instead of exhibiting an account of India stock 1784 at 121, and in May 1796 at 209, he must have suggested that the price of India stock was 138, and that, independent of the augmentation of dividend, it could not be fairly stated in May 1796 at more than 168.

lordships, with surprise I have seen hand-plays a continuation of the same disposied to an oppressed people, a consoling statement of certain public circumstances in the years 1795-6, when compared with the years 1783-4. On the fairness of the selection of the year 1783 for such a comparison I shall have much to say to your lordships; at present I shall only remark, that whether fair or unfair, it was admirably suited to the convenience of the noble lord who made the statement. Had he selected any of the years during the last war, we should have been able to have quoted his own authority for the flourishing situation of the finance at that time and to have contrasted it with the opinions he holds on the state of the fiDance at present. In 1789, the noble lord taught us to believe," that the rise in the excise and customs, evincing the extent of home consumption, implied an increasing produce and a quick circulation; and that every known criterion as well as every external appearance concurred in proving the quantity of money within the country to be unusually great.' In 1783, however, the noble lord passed a transient moment with us in opposition; and the impression under which his notes of that day were formed, whilst it renders them convenient for his present purpose, will perhaps account for the sort of statement he has produced. For though the noble lord declares" that it was not his wish, even if he had power to accomplish it, to lead you or the public into opinions of the situation of the country more fa

Lord Auckland's Letter to lord Carlisle.

The noble lord next proceeds to state to you the increase of exports and imports that has of late years taken place. I know it is a favourite doctrine to build conclusions on the state of our commerce and revenue upon this ground; but I much doubt the solidity of them. Without commenting on the known inaccuracy with which these accounts, more particularly that of our exports, are formed, there is much in the present circumstances of the country, and in the reduced trade of our enemy, that leads me to think it a temporary and not a permanent augmentation. The total value of the exports and imports in 1795, exceeds the total value of the exports and imports in 1791 by seven millions; but instead of finding that there has

is framed in the spirit which animated him in forming for your lordships' information those on which I have already had occasion to comment. The existing taxes before the American war, on an average of nine years to Michaelmas 1782, produced 8,144,000l. In the year ending Michaelmas 1782, the produce of the same taxes was 7,897,000l.; and in one year ending Michaelmas 1783, they produced only 6,933,000l. Thus, in the commencement of the three years with such impartiality selected for this com

arisen from this any increase of revenue, | lord's comparative view of circumstances, the taxes existing in 1791 have fallen short in the year 1795, to the extent of up. wards of 800,0004. With regard to the cotton wool, the importation of which has so much increased, one would have imagined that, in this instance at least, the fact might have satisfied the noble lord; but instead of five millions of pounds, which he states to be the annual importation for five years, I think I can say from some authority, that the importation in 1783 was 7,800,000l.; and that the average importation of the five preceding years exceeded consider-parison, we find that the produce of the ably seven millions of pounds.-On the noble lord's statement of the exports of British merchandize to India, I have only to say, that if I recollect right, the exports of British merchandize 1795-6, were computed at 1,100,000l., instead of 2,200,000l. Without entering into any minute details of the affairs of the East India company, let me only suggest to the noble lord, that the improvement made in the stock, per computation, amounts since 1783, to 2,765,783l.: the receipt of the company from the proprietors during that period is nearly five millions a circumstance which gives no very favourable impression of the great improvement in the affairs of the company since 1783.

old taxes had decreased 246,000l. below their produce on an average of the nine antecedent years. And towards the conclusion of these favourite three years the produce of the same taxes fell short 1,210,000. In one respect I think it was inconsistent with the noble lord's cir cumspection and prudence to call your attention to the produce of the taxes at this particular period. For when the public recollect, that this great diminution of upwards of one million in the produce of the revenue happened immediately on the conclusion of the last peace, perhaps they may anticipate with some degree of dread what will be the probable situation of our revenue, when peace shall be restored to this exhausted country.

The next subject to which the noble lord has adverted, is a comparison of the The next consoling circumstance which amount of the permanent taxes on a three we are called to contemplate is the navy years average to the 5th of January 1784, debt in December 1783, and on the 2nd with what he calls the amount of the same of May 1796. The first is stated by the taxes, after making " allowances for noble lord to be 15,510,000, the last the intermediate changes and arrange- 2,300,000l. How this sum can be fairly ments of the revenue," on a three-years stated as the existing navy debt, I am at average to the 5th of January 1785. a loss to discover. The sum left unproThe former he states to be 9,876,000l., vided for Dec. 31st, 1795, is equal to the the latter, 12,381,000l. I should have existing navy debt in December 1792, conceived that, if in other respects this which was somewhere about 2,700,000l. species of comparison had been unex. The bills registered on the course of the ceptionable, it might have occurred to navy, between the 31st Dec. 1795 and the the noble lord, that the public could see 31st March 1796, amount to the sum of no great cause of triumph in the revenue 2,800,000%. But if the noble lord, inof the country producing something more stead of selecting the 2nd May 1796, in the three first years of this war, with had made the comparison between the all the improvements in our manufac- navy debt outstanding Dec. 1783 and tures, than it did in a period of three Dec. 1795, it would have presented to years when we were reduced by a six-your lordships eye, and that of the public, years war, the most general in which this country was ever engaged, and before the tide of commercial transactions could have resumed its wonted channels. But it requires little examination indeed to discover, that this article in the noble

a very different account. You would have seen that, if at the former period it was 15,500,000l., it amounted at the latter to 13,800,000l., and if he had chosen by anticipation to have given your lordships' a view of what may be the probable