Lord Palmerston had taken the course he had done on the Tahiti question. For his own part, deeply interested as his feelings were against the slave trade, he would not say or do anything to disturb the arrangement which had been made, and accepted as satisfactory. He warned his right honourable friend the member for Tamworth, that he must not expect to pacify Ireland by the measure which he had just propounded -or by any measure of a similar character.

Lord Sandon was not prepared to join with the last speaker in his objection to the increased grant to the College of Maynooth.

Lord Howick said, that nobody had been more anxious than himself to suppress the slave trade; but what had been the result of

pur

all the efforts made for that pose by this country?-Many valuable lives of our officers and seamen had been sacrificed; and we had not only failed in our object, but had even aggravated the hor rors of the slave trade. We had no right to exercise the police of the sea unless it were clear that, in so doing, we were promoting the interests of humanity. He was aware that such sentiments would not find favour with the House and the Government; but he was of opinion that if we abandoned our right of search, other nations would be compelled by a joint feeling of honour and humanity to prohibit the exercise of the slave trade by their subjects. The Address was then put from the chair, and carried unanimously.

A

MONG the minor improvements in the conduct of public affairs introduced by Sir R. Peel, that of bringing forward the financial statement at a much earlier period of the Session than had been usual heretofore, is deserving of mention. This practice undoubtedly tends much to the convenience both of the Legislature and of the public, more especially when the changes introduced by the Budget are of such a nature and magnitude as materially to affect the interests of classes or of individuals, to whom the earliest notice of a prospective change is often of great importance. Moreover, in the recent circumstances of the country, measures of finance and commercial policy have assumed so prominent a place in legislation, and enjoy such a preponderance in public interest, that to defer the revelation of the intentions of Government till the Session is far advanced, would seem to be an unreasonable disappointment to the just expectations of the community. The great scheme of commercial reform which distinguished the Session of 1845, was accordingly introduced at the earliest period after the opening of Parliament, taking precedence of all the other measures of Government. It was brought for

ward by Sir R. Peel in a Committee of Ways and Means on the 14th of February; and notwithstanding the great anticipations which had been entertained, it produced no little surprise upon the House, owing to the bold and comprehensive character of the schemes which were disclosed. The speech in which Sir R. Peel developed his plans was one of his ablest efforts, and fully supported his reputation, as a lucid and masterly exposition of financial policy. He commenced by saying that though he had had considerable experience in the discharge of official duties, and though he had frequently addressed the House on matters of great public concern, he could not approach the subject on which he had then to address the committee without great anxiety, and a deep consciousness how inadequate and imperfect the explanation would be which he should endeavour to place before it. But though he rose under some disadvantages as to the period of the year at which this communication was made, yet after the declaration made in Her Majesty's speech, that it was the intention of Ministers to propose the continuance of the income-tax for a certain number of years, he felt that he had no other alternative than to submit to the House

the general views which the Government took of the financial condition and the commercial policy of the country. It would be his duty to discuss this great question whether it be consistent with the public interest that the present amount of public expenditure should be maintained, or whether it be not right that there should be in some important respects an increase of expenditure beyond the precedent of former years? If the committee maintained the latter proposition, the question which he should then have to submit to it would be this -whether it is fitting that the expenditure should be met from the ordinary sources, or whether it is more advisable that the tax on income and property should be continued, for the double purpose of providing for the due execution of the public service, and of enabling Parliament to repeal other taxes pressing on the industry and commercial enterprise of the country? After referring to the estimate of the probable revenue and expenditure which was made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in April 1844, when he brought forward his budget, and, after showing that the surplus revenue, on which he had calculated for the whole year, had been greatly exceeded by the actual amount of revenue received on the 5th of January, 1844, he proceeded to estimate the surplus revenue which would be in the Exchequer on the 5th of April, 1845, at a sum which at the very least would amount to 5,000,0001. He then submitted to the House an estimate of the probable receipt of the revenue for the year ending the 5th of April, 1846, on the assumption that the House

would not sanction the incometax, and calculated that it would amount to 51,000,000l.; and, supposing the estimates of the ensuing year to be the same as they were during the last, he calculated the total amount of expenditure to be 48,557,000l. But if they deducted from this surplus the sum to be derived from the receipt of half a year's income-tax which would become due in the interim, and from the payment of the instalment from China, there would be in that case a small deficiency in the revenue as compared with the expenditure of the year. The question then arose whether Ministers were justified in demanding, under such circumstances, an increased expenditure on account of the public service. He was satisfied that they were justified. He showed that no saving could be made by the abolition of offices and reduction of salaries. A sufficient force of revenue officers must be kept up to insure the collection of the revenue and to give facilities to the transaction of commerce.

No diminution of the army could be recommended, on account of the extent of our colonial dependencies, and of the necessity of our sending out relief to the regiments who garrisoned and protected them. The army was a very complicated and expensive machine, which would be dislocated and deranged if due attention were not paid to its support. An increase in the army was not a measure which he should propose, but any diminution of it would be a measure to which he could not consent. The military estimate for the present year would therefore be 6,600,000l. There were reasons which induced him to propose an increased estimate for