Government going to engage in a protracted war with China? He thought they were entitled to demand that the treaty should be ratified, and right in making a demonstration of force.

Lord Palmerston said that when we judge the conduct of a man we ought to imagine ourselves to be in the situation he was in at the time when the act was performed upon which we are called to pass a judgment, and, adopting this rule, all the circumstaces (which he recapitulated) justified Mr. Bruce and Admiral Hope in the conduct they pursued. There would, in his opinion, have been just ground for blaming Mr. Bruce if he had acted differently; and, as to the Admiral, no officer could have displayed a greater spirit of heroism. Sir J. Pakington had asked what was the policy of the Government towards China. That policy was as simple as it was just. The treaty concluded with China had been approved by the Emperor, and the Government wanted the ratifications to be exchanged, so that the treaty should become a formal compact between the two nations, and that its stipulations should be fulfilled. As to an apology, he thought there was no reason to suppose that the Emperor of China would be indisposed to make one.

Mr. Whiteside censured the conduct of Mr. Bruce in the attack upon the Chinese, and complained that the tone of Lord Palmerston's speech indicated that the Admiral who was to go out with the force to China was to pursue a similar

course.

Sir H. Verney defended the conduct of Mr. Bruce.

Mr. Hope and Mr. C. Bruce defended the conduct of Admiral

Hope and Mr. Bruce in the attack at the Peiho.

No division was taken upon the motion. On the same evening the House voted in Committee of Supply a sum of 850,000l. on account of the intended expedition.

A few days later Earl Grey moved in the House of Lords for an estimate of the probable cost of the expedition to China up to the close of the financial year 1860-1, together with all charges for transport, freight, military stores, coals, &c. The noble Earl stated that he did not seek an exact, but only an approximate estimate of the cost of the armament. It was impossible to foretell what the exact cost of the expedition would be, but it was possible, he considered, to make out an estimate which would, in round numbers, show the probable cost of the measures which had been adopted, supposing no unforeseen contingency should arise. He proceeded to condemn, in no measured terms, the conduct of the Government for having declared war China without having previously consulted Parliament,-a course of conduct which would be highly detrimental to the country. Every blow struck at China would tell more or less against ourselves, for it was impossible to conceive commerce promoted by burning Chinese cities and by slaughtering without discrimination the Chinese people.

The Duke of Somerset considered that no blame could attach to the Government for the result of the occurrences in China, as they were not in office at the time when those events happened. The present Government, he considered, would, however, have been highly to blame if they had not

taken immediate steps to obtain reparation for the outrage on our flag. That outrage was premeditated, and was another link in the chain of the systematic evasions of our claims to have an Ambassador at Pekin. Our relations with China for many years had been on a most unsatisfactory footing, and the present crisis must sooner or later have come to pass. He sincerely trusted that Lord Grey would not press for these returns, as it would be impossible to arrive at anything like accuracy in them. As far as the Admiralty was concerned, he did not think that the naval operations during the present year would exceed the sum of 850,000l.

Lord Malmesbury defended at some length the course which had been pursued by the late Government in their Chinese policy. He considered that Mr. Bruce had acted with undue precipitation, and objected to the way in which we were accustomed to treat the Chinese people-at one moment as barbarians and at another as a civilized nation. The Chinese were a highly civilized nation, and it was most impolitic on our part to treat them in such an inconsistent manner.

Lord Elgin thought the view taken in this country of our liabilities in the Chinese war was exaggerated, and proceeded to defend Mr. Bruce from the charge of precipitancy brought against him by Lord Malmesbury. He explained the reasons by which he had been influenced in accepting a second time the post of Plenipotentiary to China, having done so on the distinct understanding that no personal slight was intended to Mr. Bruce. He should use his best efforts to obVOL. CII.

tain reparation from the Chinese Government for the late outrages, and endeavour to place the future relations of this country and China upon a more satisfactory basis. It would be necessary, he thought, to insist on our right of sending an Ambassador to Pekin, and he entertained a hope that the Chinese Government would make such concessions as would render a recourse to hostilities unnecessary.

Lord Ellenborough thought no one better qualified to carry on our negotiations with China than Lord Elgin. He placed much confidence in the power of Lord Elgin to conclude peace; but he considered that no peace could be permanent in China unless our own merchants and people, to whom he traced the origin of all our misunderstanding and wars with China, were properly controlled. He held the present war in the utmost horror, and, stigmatizing it as most unjust, repudiated with contempt the principle that it was just to wage war for the purpose of making money. No adequate notion existed in this country of the horrors of the Chinese war of 1842,-horrors so great that he, when GovernorGeneral of India, had not dared to publish the returns he received detailing those events. In the cause of humanity he felt confident that Lord Elgin would do all in his power to bring the present asperities to a pacific conclusion.

After some further remarks from Earl Grey the motion was withdrawn.

In addition to the credit of 850,000l., of which mention has already been made, an additional sum of double that amount had

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been voted by the House of Commons in February, before the necessity of hostile operations in China was ascertained. It being afterwards apparent that this result was unavoidable, the necessity arose for a further supply of money to defray the expense of a distant and costly war, and a further burthen on the finances of the country was consequently anticipated. In the course of the Session it had been on many occasions objected to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's arrangements that he had not sufficiently estimated or provided for the contingencies of the Chinese war, and that this omission would involve the necessity of a supplemental Budget. With this difficulty, however, Mr. Gladstone was not unprepared to cope, and on the 16th of July, in a Committee of Ways and Means, he made a statement of the manner in which the Government proposed to meet the expenditure voted in Supply on account of the China war. In February, he observed, the provision made for the war was 850,000l., to be charged upon the finances of the year 1859-60, and double that amount upon those of the year 1860-61, making together 2,550,000l., which was the whole provision the Government proposed to make on account of the expedition to China before they knew that we should have to conduct warlike operations. The vote was increased by other items. The whole of the charges for the expedition to China up to the present period, so far as the Government had cognizance of them, amounted to 5,400,000l., to which must be added 450,000l. due on account of the former war. The whole of the 850,000l. charged upon the

finances of 1859-60 had been paid out of the produce of the taxes, the revenue of the year having been so productive. But, although the condition of the revenue up to the close of June was eminently satisfactory, and even exceeded the expectations of the Government, he did not recommend any interference with the estimate of the revenue he had made in February. He then proceeded to state the mode in which the Government proposed to provide for the recent vote of 3,800,000l. Taking the 500,000l. included in the provision in February, together with the surplus of revenue, then estimated at 464,000l., but which was reduced by errors and miscalculations to 264,000l., and 700,000%. the produce of the paper duty, available for the financial year (if it should please the House of Commons that the duty should be levied), these three items would amount to 1,464,000l. Deducting this sum from 3,800,000l., there remained to be provided 2,336,000l., which the Government asked the Committee to be authorized to raise, partly by taxation and partly by other means. They proposed to obtain the sum of 1,000,000l. by an additional duty upon ardent spirits of 1s. 1ld. per gallon on the various descriptions charged under the Excise and Customs. The effect would be to raise the duty on British spirits to 108. per gallon, on colonial spirits to 10s. 2d. and on foreign spirits to 10s. 5d. He explained at some length the reasons which had weighed with the Government in making this addition to the spirit duties (which would be permanent), and why they considered it practicable and timely, and likely to produce the

results they anticipated. He was aware, he said, that there were special circumstances which occasioned some uncertainty in the calculation of the produce of the duty, and it would be necessary to accompany the augmentation with some modification of the duty on wine; and he had therefore assumed an addition of only 1,050,000l. to the revenue of the financial year. This would reduce the sum of 2,336,000l. to 1,286,000l.; and that sum it was proposed to provide for out of the balances in the Exchequer, which would admit of the withdrawal of even 2,000,000l. It would be his duty to ask the Committee for an immediate vote, in order to secure the change of the duty on the commodity; and he added that it was not the intention of the Government to make any further demand upon the taxation of the country on account of fortifications, the subject of which would be brought before the House on a future day.

After a short discussion the Resolutions proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer were agreed to.

The financial affairs of India were the topic of debate on more occasions than one during the course of the present Session. In the preceding autumn Mr. James Wilson, having been appointed financial member of the Legislative Council of India, had gone to that country, and after an interval employed in making himself master of the complicated subject of Indian Finance, had matured a plan of retrenchment and taxation by which he hoped to produce the result so greatly needed in the present position of

affairs, an equalization of income and expenditure. Mr. Wilson developed his scheme for this purpose in an elaborate speech which he delivered in the Council at Calcutta, and which was generally received with approval both there and in this country. Unfortunately the recently-appointed Governor of Madras, Sir Charles Trevelyan, took an opposite view, regarding Mr. Wilson's projects of taxation as likely to be be very injurious, if not impracticable, in India, and he took steps to make his hostility known and to encourage opposition to the measures of Government, in a manner calculated, in the existing state of the native mind, to create great difficulties and seriously to impede the success of the projected financial Reform. In this critical state of things the Government at home was compelled to take decisive steps in order to counteract the danger, and with creditable promptitude they issued orders for the immediate recall of Sir C. Trevelyan-a step in which they carried with them the almost unanimous support of public opinion. These transactions, naturally became the subject of observation in Parliament. Mr. Wilson's financial propositions were for the most part regarded with favour, and much confidence was felt in his ability to restore the disorganized finances of the Indian Governments to a sound equilibrium. There were, however, some dissentients from this view, among whom was the Earl of Ellenborough, whose knowledge of and interest in Indian affairs gave weight to his opinions. On the 29th of March that noble lord addressed a question to the Duke of

Argyll on the subject, inquiring whether the Government were officially in possession of Mr. Wilson's speech on Indian finance. That speech was one of singular ability, but was deficient inasmuch as it contained no information as to the state of the receipts of the Indian Government. He could not agree with the sanguine anticipations of Mr. Wilson, neither did he consider the proposed plan a sound basis for economical reform in India. Such a reform was only to be carried out by a thorough reconciliation between the Government and the people; and the scheme of a graduated tax upon all persons connected with trade, by bringing the people in perpetual contact with the tax-collector, was not likely to conduce to that result. He could not concur either in the tax on tobacco or the proposed income-tax, as the latter tax would, in his opinion, excite the deepest discontent throughout the country. He strongly deprecated the censure passed by Mr. Wilson on the Sepoy army, which amounted still to about 200,000 men, and thought it was most impolitic to cast reflections upon men who had contributed to the political tranquillity which afforded the Government the means of pressing this very scheme of taxation upon India. In conclusion he briefly adverted to the position of the officers of the disbanded Sepoy regiments, who were now employed on civil duties, and strongly insisted on the necessity of putting an end to the state of uncertainty which had existed for the last eighteen months as to their future destination.

The Duke of Argyll did not

think it expedient to lay a copy of Mr. Wilson's speech on the table of the House. In his strictures upon Mr. Wilson's scheme, Lord Ellenborough seemed to have forgotten the necessity of meeting a present deficit of 9,000,000l., and a prospective one for the next year of 6,500,000l., and this necessity could not be met without having recourse to some new source of revenue. He proceeded to defend the various details of Mr. Wilson's scheme which had been attacked by Lord Ellenborough, and explained that the strictures of Mr. Wilson on the Sepoy army referred only to the Bengal portion of that army. The question of dealing with the local army had been already under the discussion of a Committee, by whose decision it had been determined by the Government to abide. The officers to whom Lord Ellenborough had alluded could hardly be thought ill-treated, as out of 1151 only 64 were unemployed in civil or military duties.

A desultory conversation ensued, in which Lord Lyveden, the Marquis of Clanricarde, and other peers took part.

In the House of Commons, soon after the recall of Sir C. Trevelyan became known, Mr. Danby Seymour addressed some questions to the Government respecting that transaction, which, as an admirer of that gentleman's public character, he viewed with much regret. He eulogized the abilities and good intentions of the ex-Governor, and referred to the reforms which he had carried out in his Government, and he characterised the recall as a hasty step. The views of Sir C. Trevelyan, he said, were