rhalrg nn rurtritiugs iu Vurttalnrut.

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS OP THE WBEK.

Roves or Loans. Monday, May 8. Irish Justice; Lord Westmeath's Motion. nesday, May 9. Unauthorized Negotiations ; Lord Campbell's Bill. y Thursda, May 11. The Army in Turkey; Lord Ellenborough's Questions, and the Duke of Newcastle's Answers-Church Accommodation; Lord Winchelsea'is Motion.

Friday, May 12. Church-Building Acts Amendment ; Lord Harrowby's Bill com- mitted.

HOUsE OF Commons. Monday, May 8. Orders of the Day ; Lord John Russell's Resolution-Supplemental Budget ; Mr. Gladstone's Financial Statement-Manning the Navy, Navy Pay; Sir James Graham's Bills. Tuesday. May 9. Ways and Means; Malt-duty, Mr. Ball's Amendment negatived by 224 to 143-Orange River Territory; Mr. Adderley's Motion-" Bill Stealing" ; Mr. Digby Seymour's Bill, leave given. Wednesday, May 10. Friendly Societies; Mr. Sotheron's Bill referred to a Select Committee-Hustings' Expenses; Mr. Hume's Bill thrown out by 154 to 57-Medi- cal Practitioners; Mr. Brady's second Bill thrown out by 118 to 69-Ways and Means ; Sugar-duties.

Thursday, May 11. Stonor Committee; Mr. Moore and another nominated-Ox- ford University; Lord John Russell's Bill in Committee-Manning the Navy ; Sir James Graham's Bill read a second time-Railway Regulation; Mr. Cardwell's Bill reported. Friday, May 12. Education (Scotland); Lord-Advocate's Bill thrown out on the second reading by 193 to 184-Railway Regulation; Mr. Cardwell's Bill read a third time and passed.

TIME-TABLE.

The Lords.

Hour of Hour of Meeting. Adjournment. Monday 6h 6h 55m Tuesday bh Sh 5m Wednesday . . No sitting. Thursday 6h .... Oh 5m Friday Sh . . 7h 10m

Sittings this Week, 4; Time, 9h 55m Sittings this Week, 6; Time, Soh 15m this Session. 51; - 114h 53m — this Session, 62; - 405h 52m NEW FDIANCIAL STATEMENT: THE WAR BUDGET.

On Monday, the House of Commons having resolved itself into a Com- mittee of Ways and Means, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved a series of resolutions, of which the substance follows.

1, 2, 3. To alter the acts relating to the manufacture and sale of spirit& in the United Kingdom, so as to raise the duty on spirits sold in Scotland to the sum of 6s. 104, and in Ireland to the sum of 5s. 2d. per gallon. The resolutions include various alterations of countervailing duties, drawbacks, &c., in reference to the transit of spirits from different ports of the United Kingdom, and to the trade in materials for compounds, &c. 4. To raise the duty on malt in the United Kingdom to 4s., and on malt made from bear or bigge only, in Ireland and Scotland, to 3s. ld.; with ar.' additional duty on malt already made, and in certain stages, of Is. 314 ; and Is. additional on bear or bigge malt in similar circumstances. 5. To alter correspondingly the import-duties on certain spirits in Scot- land and Ireland.

6. To levy an additional duty at the rate of 151. per centum upon the pro- duce and duties of the customs upon sugar now due and payable. A separate set of resolutions relates to the Exchequer Bonds.

1. To authorize the Treasury to issue Exchequer Bonds "bearing interest at 3/. 10s. per centum per annum, to be paid off at par on 8th May 1858, for any sums not exceeding in the whole 2,000,0001. which may have been sub- scribed for at a price not less than 981. 15s. per cent, to be paid in Exchequer- Bills at par, or in money at 1001. ls. for every 1001. so subscribed." 2. To make the interest upon such bonds payable half-yearly out of the Consolidated Fund.

3. To authorize the payment of the bonds by instalments after the deposit of 10 per cent on the 8th May-namely, 30 per cent on the 9th of June, 20' per cent on the 11th of July, 20 per cent on the 8th of September, and 20 and

cent on the 17th of October next. The interest, at the rate Of three- and-a-half per cent, to be paid on the same instalments if delivered at ear- lier dates.

At starting, Mr. Gladstone reminded the House that his original finan- cial statement had been made early in the year, because, in doubling the first half-yearly payment of the Income-tax, the collection of which is complex and laborious, it was necessary to obtain the passing of the bill at as early a period as possible. When he made that statement, he ex- plained that the demand was only that which Government knew to be entailed by the fact that they had sent an expedition to the East ; and that if the calamity of war were realized, it would be necessary to ap- peal to the House for an augmentation of that demand on the resources of the country.

" Sir, that duty I now rise to discharge ; but, before I discharge it, it is necessary for my own honour, and for the respect which I owe to this Com-

mittee, that I should advert to the accusations that have been made, in- dustriously enough, occasionally within these walls and elsewhere, both that the Government is liable to great discredit for the manner in which it has dealt with the essential department of finance, and that, in particular, the person who is now addressing you is totally unfit to be intrusted with the management of that department. There are those who say that a period of war is not the time when questions of confidence should be entertained. To that I reply, that the period of war is the very last when that important trust should be committed to the hands of a man who would exercise it to the dis- credit of his country ; and it is therefore my duty to advert to those accu- sations ; and I am sure those who hear me-whether or not they agree in all the propositions which I may advance, and however largely it may be neces- sary for me to tax that patience which I know to be unbounded-will not grudge me the time necessary to make them masters of the facts, as they have occurred ; and, inasmuch as they are the persons ultimately respon-

sible to the people for the management of the funds levied on their in- dustry and their capital, I am bound to place in their hands all the inform- ation necessary to enable them to form a correct judgment on a matter so important. " Mr. Bouverie, it has been stated, in the first instance-and although these matters are retrospective, yet they have a prospective bearing, and I hope the Committee will not deny me the time necessary for their discussion -it has been stated, in the first instance, that there has been a gross mis- management of the unfunded debt of the country : and the particular alle- gations are these, that in the spring of last year the rate of interest on Ex- chequer Bills was rashly and unwisely lowered, with great discredit to the security, and with an ultimate loss to the public, on account of the necessity of raising that rate of interest to a higher sum than would otherwise have been required." Now in dealing with the unfunded debt, he had acted on these two principles,-in the first place, that the public is entitled to borrow money in the market on the best terms which its credit will command ; and in the second place, in order that the unfunded debt may be carried to the full height of its utility and power in difficult times, you ought to keep it within narrow limits in easy times. What was the state of things to which he had to apply himself ? He found The COMMONS.

Hour of Hour of Meeting. Adjournment. Monday 4h .... Ilh dim Tuesday Ilh bOm Wednesday Noon 511 30m Thursday 4h lh bum Friday 4h .(m gh ant

Exchequer Bills in circulation to the amount of 17,000,7601. and running up to a premium which amounted frequently to double the whole of the inte- rest received for twelve months' currency. The owner of a bill may be in good humour while it is still running up, because he can sell it for more than he has given ; but that is a state of things which must come to an end. As regards the public, it is a state of things which entails a practical inconve- nience and loss. The securities cannot be redeemed in the mass, because it would not be a safe operation ; nor in part, because Parliament would not consent to redeem them at a premium, paying perhaps 5 or 6 per cent on securities current at 2 per cent. And the resource of funding always entails a lost He cited four instances, between 1819 and 1830, in which sums ranging from twenty-seven millions to three millions were funded at rates varying from 51. 5e. 9d. to 4/. la. 9d. per cent. There are only two instances since the peace-1839 to 1841—in which the funding of Exchequer Bills has not entailed a permanent burden of 4/. or 51. for every hundred. In February the interest on Exchequer Bills was 458. per cent per annum upon one part, and 37s. upon another portion, the latter bearing a premium of not less than 55s. He lowered the interest from lid. to ld. per day on the 15th of February ; on the 18th the premium was down to 158. Holders were an- noyed ; but a proof that the terms were not below those proper for the mar- ket was given in the fact that not a man availed himself of the option to take his money instead of the bills. The bills were not at a discount at all until the 6th of May ; but the result was, that Government were able to buy in 3,000,0001. of Exchequer Bills at a premium of 2s. or a discount of Is., greatly to the relief of the market. On the 20th of September Exchequer Bills were at 5s. discount, and in October the interest was raised to 2d. a day. It is clear from .a comparison with other rates of discount in the mar- ket, that this interest is not unduly high. The average interest on Exche- quer Bills since the peace has been 31. 4g.: the rates of discount in the Bank have varied with Exchequer Bills, and it is now Si. The interest on French Exchequer Bills—" bons du tresor "—was 2.1- per cent in April 1853; 5 per cent in April 1854. Upon the whole transaction in question, the charge for Exchequer Bills has been 60,0001. less than it would have been had the rate of interest run on unaltered. At the time, he had estimated the saving at 65,000/. ; and the result, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of the year, was not very far different. Concluding this part of his vindication, Mr. Gladstone again challenged the House to support him if it approved of his policy, but not to let a Finance Minister, who is pecu- liarly responsible for the unfunded debt, escape on the plea that it is a " time of war."

Mr. Gladstone next vindicated his conversion scheme, which had been judged by prophets after the fact. " Why, as respects these warnings of prophets, the case is really too gross! There were many Members who wished to pass the measure as a matter of confidence, and who said, ' Let the thing go, and if it do not turn out well we will hold the Finance Minis- ter responsible' ; but there were other persons, including the right honour- able Member for Buckinghamshire and the honourable and learned Member for Suffolk, who exercised their undoubted right of sifting and discussing the measure—who returned to the charge on frequent occasions, and took many divisions on it during its passage through the House. The opinions then expressed are ascertainable. What were the adverse signs we now hear so much of? What warnings did we receive from those who now take credit for their prophetic wisdom ? What were the declarations at that time made? The right honourable Member for Buckinghamshire sometimes states that he is unwilling to quote Hansard; but, after all, when you mean to charge an opponent with inconsistency, the best course is to quote Hansard. If by so doing you do not make his case better, at all events you do not make it worse; by taking the other course, we may sometimes quote something worse than is to be found in Hansard. (Laughter and cheers.) On the 8th of April last year, the right honourable gentleman rose to discuss my scheme, and said- " He thought it right, before this resolution was agreed to, to warn the Commit- tee, teat, from the alterations made in the resolutions, from the admissions made by the right honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and from various other state- ments, this [the one creating the new Stocks] was, in fact, the important resolution. He wished the Committee to bear that in mind ; and he protested against the suppo- sition that, by allowing the resolution to pass, he for one assented to it." It was a misfortune for the right honourable gentleman that he did not stop there : his evil genius led him on to state why he could not give his assent to the resolution then under consideration- " If the Committee agreed to the conversion of the whole of 500,000,0001. under the second resolution, he must remind the Committee that the profit to the country would but little exceed 550,000/. a year ; and they should well consider, whether for such an object as reducing the interest of the debt by 500,0001. sterling, they would do right lofts the rate of interest at 21 per cent for more than forty years. That was a mostimportant point, which the Committee appeared to be disposing of in almost a formal manner ; but it was a point to which they must give deliberate attention. The interest guaranteed was higher than he for one thought would prevail during the next forty years. '

(" Hear! " from Mr. Medina.) Hear,' says the honourable and learned Member for Wallingford ; well, I have a word for him by-and-bye. (Laugh- ter.) The right honourable gentleman continued- " It was an enormous responsibility to undertake to make such an arrangement and he trusted the Committee, when they came to discuss the subject on a future occasion, would think it their duty most carefully to consider whether they would assent to it."

Such were the objections taken by the right honourable gentleman at the time of my announcing this scheme. He deemed it was a wanton sacrifice of the public interest to the interests of the public creditor ; a sacrifice the more ruinous inasmuch as it might naturally be expected that the whole 500,000,0001. of debt would be converted under the operation." Others ob- jected that the conversion would add to the capital of the debt ; but the valid objection to the scheme was, the necessity for paying off the non-as- senting South Sea stockholders, which led to the withdrawal of the public balances to a greater extent than is convenient in the time of war. Who took that objection ? Mr. Gladstone himself was the only man who pointed it out as a contingency. Not one other person disapproved of the scheme on the ground now taken ; and the pretended prophecies which men repeat after the event are all fabulous—pure myths. It has since been said that the attempt ought not to have been made when the amount of bullion was decreasing in the Bank,—as it had done between 1852, when it stood at nearly 22,000,0001., and the 26th February 1853, when it stood at 17,652,0001. But the proposal was not made then : it was made on the 8th of April, when the bullion in the Bank was increasing—it stood at 18,816,0001., an increase of rather more than 1,000,0001. in the four preceding weeks. The drain of bullion had been caused by the demand for gold coin in Australia, and the difference in exchanges in the East Indies and China : but these were transitory causes. The price of corn then stood no higher than 44s. 4d. ; Console, on the 7th of April, 100i; and after the plan of the Government was announced, they rose /--a proof in the opinion of monied men that money was about to be cheaper. The minimum of public balances in the quarter before was not below 4,940,0001. A great conversion in France had just been completed ; another conversion in the Indian debt is still in successful progress. Take these things into consideration, and it will be ad- mitted that the warnings and prophecies which the sages did not utter would not have appeared very reasonable if they had been uttered. Mr. Gladstone admitted, that if Government bad now to borrow the same sum of money that was then paid off, the result of the traneaction, would have been a loss; but he could adduce proof which would establish to demonstration that the effect of the operation had been a saving of betwixt 60,0001. and 100,000/. a year. Mr. Gladstone devoted himself next to clearing away much misapprehen- sion which had existed on the subject of his relations with the Bank of Eng- land, his supposed demands upon that establishment, and the excess of Defi- ciency Bills which he was said to have thrown upon it. He recognized the necessity of harmony between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the man- ager of the Bank—the one protecting the interests of the public, the other the interests of the corporation—to cooperate cordially for the public inte- rest. No demands have been made by him on the Bank which have not been satisfied, and no demands have been made by the Bank on him which have not also been satisfied. Amongst those who had complained of the great amount of Deficiency Bills thrown on the Bank, was Lord Monteagle,— a curious quarter for such a complaint to come from, seeing that during the years in which Lord Monteagle filled the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer the average amount of Deficiency Bills ranged from 4,280,0001. to 5,455,0001. Misapprehensions on the subject of Deficiency Bills are not new. In 1847, Mr. Hume, Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Thomas Baring, and even Mr. Masterman—" a man who, whatever his party connexions may have been, never, I believe, uttered a word in this House under the in- fluence of party feeling"—expressed an alarm at Sir Charles Wood's arrange- ment for calling upon the Bank to advance 2,000,0001. or 3,000,0001. on De- ficiency Bills; and Mr. Masterman proposed a resolution to the effect that the advance should be made, not on the Banking department, but on the Issue department of the Bank,—in other words, that the advance should be paper issues founded upon the national credit. [Mr. Malins having cheered that remark, Mr. Gladstone observed that if the facts had been true he would join in that cheer.] Now the fact was, during that year Sir Charles Wood never took a farthing out of the Bank. " My right honour- able friend took 2,475,0001. in Deficiency Bills on the 6th of April, and he liquidated his last Deficiency Bill on the 15th of May 1847 ; but the minimum excess of the public balances in the Bank during that quarter, over the advance in Deficiency Bills,, was 1,696,000/. The transaction was just the same as if you borrow 1000/. by way of advance from your banker, and have 2000/. at the same moment in his till, so far from his being your creditor, you are in fact his creditor. Are we agreed upon that ? Mr. Malins—" 016, yes."] Then I am perfectly satisfied." (Laughter.) Mr. Gladstone could not answer the question why he should borrow of his banker while he had money in the banker's hand : he found the system established, and his revolutionary boldness had not yet led him to resist it utterly. Although called an " habitual borrower," he had borrowed only once. Out of 3,711,0001. Deficiency Bills in the last quarter, the amount brought to charge was 2,490,0001., for which Government paid 3764/. of in- terest ; but while they did that, their deposit in the Bank over the advances for Deficiency Bills never fell below the sum of 1,160,000/. During the pre- sent quarter, under extraordinary circumstances, he had borrowed : the average amount was about 900,0001. of advances above the deposits ; the maximum was 1,350,000/. ; and at the present moment he believed the debt was entirely extinct. But the fact is, that there is no complaint of the Bank ; nor has the Bank complained that the public has had occasion to use its own deposits and to withdraw a great mass of money. Of the advance, about 400,0001. or 500,0001. was required for a fortnight to complete that financial operation which was said to have turned the country topsyturvy ; 830,0001. accrued from the rapid growth of the expenses connected with the expedi- tion to the East. The suddenness of the demand upon the Bank, however, is the great point of complaint : now, on the 26th of July 1853 Mr. Glad- stone put into the hands of the Governor of the Bank a memorandum, showing that if the operations with regard to the South Sea Stocks failed, Government might, on the 5th of the following January, require Deficiency Bills to the amount of 3,300,0001. With regard to the accommodation of the public, he need say nothing ; for the commercial public, in fact, has not complained of want of accommodation. A statement that he had demanded accommodation from the Bank, with rates of interest lower than those ruling the market, is an entire fiction. The interest on Deficiency Bills is now 2d. a day, or about 3 per cent ; a low rate, no doubt, but, taking the Exchequer and Dividend accounts together, it must be considered that the virtual rate of interest, which varies from day to day, is between 4 and 5 per cent as the issue is now regulated ; whereas, if the issue had been regulated in the ordinary manner, the rate of interest would have been from 6 to 7 per cent. The fact is, that there is a great darkness on the subject of these Deficiency Bills. Even Mr. Hankey has spoken as if the Chancellor of the Exchequer required "loans" from the Bank, of three, four, five, or six millions ; a delusion fostered by the mystified system of ac- counts. [Here Mr. Gladstone repeated in substance an explanation which he made in his last statement on this point ; showing how the maximum of contingencies is estimated and set down at the commencement of the quarter for "Deficiency Bills," while the real amount of advances required during the quarter may not be one-sixth of the total.]

Mr. Gladstone now came to the measures which Government thought demanded by the exigencies of the times.

He reminded the Committee, that on the 6th of March, taking into ac- count the extraordinary expenses for the commencement of the war on the one hand, and the increased Income-tax on the other, he had arranged an estimated revenue of 56,656,000/. against an estimated expenditure of 56,189,0001., leaving a surplus of 467,0001. Last week, the new estimates were laid before the House, comprising a total for Navy, Army, and Ord- nance, of 6,000,0001. He had also, in March, taken into account a sum for extraordinary charges that could not be estimated, 1,256,0001.: but although that might have been thought sufficient for March last, he now put down an additional sum of 8.50,000/. The exact form of the vote is not made out, but it will be asked for as a sum applicable to services which may arise in the course of the war, at the discretion of Ministers. The total, therefore, which he would have to provide, would be 6,850,000/. To meet that, in the first place, he proposed to repeat in the second half of the year the operation which he had applied to the first half, —namely, to double the Income-tax. That sum he estimated to yield 3,250,0001. ; which would raise the total expected by the Income-tax to very nearly 13,000,0001. " When we came to make provision for the war, we thought it our duty to ask you to enable us to make that provision as it was made in former times, when your forefathers were called on to struggle for objects of national duty, or national character and interests, and granted taxes that were to subsist during the period of the war. We therefore shall ask the Committee to grant the augmentation of the Income-tax now pro- posed—that is to say, an augmentation from 7d. in the pound to 14d. in the pound—for the period of the war." He would not ask the House to decide on that subject in the resolution, but would introduce a bill. The fivepenny rate would of course be raised to 10d. in the case of incomes from 1001. to 1501. a year. Should the war cease, the aug- mentation of the tax would cease. Government, however, did not think it just that the class whose incomes range from 100/. upwards should bear the whole expenditure of a war entered into for national objects. Mr. Gladstone glanced at certain proposals, only for the purpose of stating that Ministers rejected them. It would, for example, be thought easy to in- crease the postage rate : but Government is not disposed to interfere with the success of a great 'civilizing and humanizing project, strikingly success- ful in its economical principles. The net postage revenue has increased from 447,0001. in 1840 to 1,104,0001. in 1853. Notwithstanding its enor- mous postal activity, the Great Exhibition year can scarcely be traced in the growth of the revenue. The doubling of the postage, unless it were ex- tended to the district posts, would not yield more than 600,0001. ; and if so extended, not more than 700,0001. Without disparaging a public ser- vant (Colonel Moberly) of unimpeached honour and ability, who has been transferred to another post with the full confidence and approbation of all whom he has served, Mr. Gladstone could not fail to anticipate a still more rapid increase of the Post-office utility and revenue from the appoint- ment of Mr. Rowland Hill—whose name will be handed down to posterity as the author of the system—to be the Secretary of the Post-office. It is said that Government might reimpose the taxes repealed last year : but he hoped that nothing save the last extremity would induce the representatives of the people of this country to replace or call into existence the fetters of the excise restrictions wherever they have been relaxed. He might be invited to operate on tobacco : but the duty on tobacco is a wonderful thing—at the rate of something like 1200 per cent, it contributes 5,000,0001. to the re- venue ; and Government thinks it wise to follow the maxim "let well alone."

Having disposed of his negative conclusions, he came to the positive. The augmentation of the spirit-duty in Scotland, as in Ireland, has worked well; and he proposed to repeat the increase of la. per gallon in Scotland and 8d. per gallon in Ireland. This would raise the amount to 5s. 8d. per gallon in Scotland. Allowing for the effect of increased duty in checking consump- tion, and of other causes which also check consumption, he calculated upon 450,0001. by this means.

He proposed a modification of the sugar-duties. Successive Chancellors of the Exchequer had been urged to remedy a grievance alleged by sugar-re- finers, arising out of the incidence of the inward duty with a drawback. But the present Government have come to the conclusion that the best plan for them is, to adopt with reference to all sugars the distinction of qualities at present applicable to Foreign sugars. After the 5th of July, all sugars, irrespectively of origin, not equal to White Cloyed, will be subject to a duty of 10s. The reconsideration of the sugar-duties will then be forced upon Government ; the grievance would come fully under consideration ; but at the same time no sacrifice of revenue could be made. The present Foreign duty on sugars not equal to White Cloyed is 13s. The scale proposed by Government would be—if beneath Brown Cloyed, Ils. per cwt.; if equal to Brown but not quite equal to White Cloyed, 12s. ; if equal to White Cloyed and not equal to Refined, 148. ; if Refined, 168. the cwt. The corresponding rate upon molasses will be 4s. 6d. The gain anticipated from the application of this scale to the sugar-duties, not involving an increase on the duties prevailing at the present moment, but involving an increase ou what would be the duties after July in the present year of about Is. 6d. or 2s. per cwt., will amount to 700,0001.

The remaining step to make up the amount required he proposed to effect by an augmentation of the duty on malt. In 1801, the duty upon malt was la. 4d. per bushel ; upon beer, 8s. per barrel. These were raised succes- sively, until in 1801 they stood at 4s. 5id. and 10a.—together equivalent to an effective duty on malt of 8s. *I. They were subsequently lowered, un- til in 1830 the beer-duty was abolished ; and the malt-duty now remains at 28. 8td., with some fraction. He proposed to raise the tax to 4s. Taking the consumption at 40,000,000 bushels, this would give 2,580,000/. ; from which he deducted 5 per cent, or 130,0001., for diminished consumption ; and that gives 2,450,000/. from the malt-duty, which, added to the 4,440,11110/. already charged, makes a total of 6,850,000/., just the amount for which he proposed to ask.

Mr. Gladstone summed up the total amount of new taxes. " The taxes granted in March were 3,307,000/. ; and the taxes now asked being 6,850,000/., this makes the amount of taxes asked from you during the present year 10,157,0001. But, if you set against this all the proposals with respect to the remission of taxation which were enacted in 1853 but which only came into effect into 1854, they amount to 1,474,0001.; and therefore the net augmented burdens of the country will be 8,683,000/. If, again, you look to the distribution of these burdens, you will find that the Income-tax gives you 6,637,0001.; that is, about two-thirds of the whole additional burden is raised by one single direct tax on the wealthier class, and about one-third of the whole is to be raised by indirect taxation, affecting the whole consuming people, and therefore all classes alike. We propose to ask for the Income-tax for the war ; we propose to ask for the Malt-duty also for the war ; we propose to ask for the duty on spirits without any sort of limitation, because, in fact, it is an advance towards a permanent fiscal improvement. For the Sugar-duties we ask for the present time, without fixing any point of time at which the present arrangement should cease, be- cause it is a matter which, when it comes to be finally arranged, may require a great deal of consideration in detail, and therefore it is only proposed until that time arrives."

He now came to the consideration of providing interim cash, irrespectively of revenue. The whole of the amount he had asked would not be available at once. The permanent taxes—permanent that is, as respects the duration of the war—could not be expected to be completely under command before the 5th of next April : by that time, therefore, Government might be in arrear not less than 4,010,000/. ; and they considered that this amount might be taken in the form of Exchequer Bills or Exchequer Bonds. Here Mr. Gladstone observed, in allusion to certain misrepresentations, that on the 6th of March he did not pledge himself not to take a loan ; nor had he on the 21st of April proposed a "loan." What he proposed was, to make a provision for the temporary raising of money, to the extent of 6,000,0001., in three divisions of 2,000,0001. each. On the 2d of May, the tenders sent in did not exceed 1,370,000/. ; four-fifths of that amount being at or within a small fraction of the sealed price. At present the amount subscribed is within a trifle of the 2,000,0001. upon bonds A. The cause of hesitation is quite obvious : in former times it has been the plan to borrow largely on permanent stocks, and the opening of a war has not been less distinguished by the opportunities to contractors than by the opportunities it affords to heroes. Government now referred thO subject to the Bowe; and it would than cease to be the proposal of Government but would become theproposal of the House. "The proposal we now make is in conformity with our proposal as to taxes. It is to this effect—to give us interim funds, and to give us a command of cash which would afford us that margin in the expenditure which we ought to have. We propose to confirm the contracts entered into with respect to bonds A, and to issue, at the discretion of the Lords of the Treasury, a second series of bonds for another 2,000,000/. either now or at a future day. We also propose to take power to issue 2,000,000!. of Exchequer Bills, and as many more Exchequer Bills as shall not be taken of the 4,000,0001. Bonds. At first sight this would appear to give us a command of 6,000,0001. of money. It does not, however, give us quite so much, because a sum amounting to some hundred thousand pounds-500,000/., to my certain knowledge—of the tenders sent in, has been an exchange of Exchequer Bills, and is not, therefore, an effec- tive addition to cash. The effective addition to cash is 5,500,0001. ; and that may be made applicable to services approved by Parliament, or to the liquidation of public securities." -Having stated the plan of the Government, Mr. Gladstone met some

charges, levelled not only against himself personally but against the Govern- ment generally, of having abandoned revenue, when they were aware,

although Parliament was not, that war was inevitable. With respect to the charge which has been brought against the Government, it amounts to this—that we believed an European Sovereign would act in con- formity with his pledges and in conformity with his interests ; whereas he has placed himself in a position which we are equally at a loss to re- concile with his pledges or his interests. He has placed himself in a position where he sees the whole moral strength of Europe, ay, and in a few days nearly the whole physical strength of Europe, arrayed against him. It is not necessary for me to enter into the question of what Govern- ment might have foreseen on the subject ; but I do mean to touch upon the absurd charge brought against Government, that by the measures of last year they surrendered the public revenue. Never was anything more grossly wide of the truth. What was the case when we came into office ? Did we find the public revenue in such a state that it was open to us to let it alone if we pleased? What was the condition of the Income-tax at that moment ? From year to year it was the subject of discussion whether it should be con- tinued or not. In the opinion of Mr. Pitt it was impracticable to reconstruct it so as to make it satisfactory ; Sir Robert Peel found it impossible ; and the opinion of the Chancellor of the ExChequer under Sir Robert Peel was that it was utterly visionary to attempt it. Indeed, the opin- ion obtained such currency that the renewal of the Income-tax upon the condition of reconstructing, or, as it was then called, " differentiating " it, was found impossible. How did the right honourable gentleman opposite deal with the subject ? He found it consistent with his duty to his Sovereign and the country to offer to settle it without having formed any plan upon it. He promised to do that which Mr. Pitt could not do, which Sir Robert Peel could not do, and which even he himself did not know how to do. He told us he proposed to fix the rate on schedule A at 7d., on schedule C at 7d., on schedules D and E at 51d. ; but when my right honourable friend the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the right honourable Member for Portsmouth showed the intolerable absurdities the right honourable gentleman must commit in redeeming that pledge, the right honourable gentleman said he had not had time to look at the schedules ! (Laughter.) The meaning of that was, that he had not had time to form a plan, or to ascertain if that was practicable which Pitt and Peel found impracticable, but which the right honourable gentleman promised, nevertheless, to perform. (Continued laughter.) This was the great fact that confronted us,—the Income-tax was dead and gone when our financial statement was made, and, so far from a surplus, we had a deficiency of 4,700,0001. It will be remembered that the wish and intention of a large majority of the House was, that we should not renew the Income-tax except on condition of reconstructing it. We, from the very first day we entered office, set ourselves to the most serious consideration of the subject ; we obtained every aid in our power ; we dis- cussed it again and again ; we turned it over and over, placing it in every possible light in which it could be placed before the House ; and at length we came to that conclusion to which Mr. Pitt and Sir Robert Peel had come —the conclusion that it was impossible to reconstruct the Income-tax so as to frame a measure which Parliament might, in justice, or even in decency, peas. But then we said we distinguished between the feelings which led to the desire for the reconstruction of the Income-tax and the practicability of the particular form upon which that feeling was based : we said—What you feel is this, that property pays too little and intelligence pays too much : we have inquired into the nature of the Income-tax, and we find we cannot redress you through the Income-tax, but we will find another mode, and we found that other mode of redress in the Succession-tax.. . . . For the last month a great deal has been said about the finances of 1853; and any one who knew nothing of the proceedings of Parliament in 1853, or listened only to the statements of those gentlemen, might suppose we were passing in discussion the whole of that time nothing but the Minor Stocks. They for- get the forty divisions and the twenty or thirty. nights during which we were persuading the House to effect great financial reforms opposed by the right honourable gentleman opposite. We were persuading the House to reform the Income-tax, to convert it from that state of weakness, from that state of discredit, from that state of danger to the public into which it had fallen, into a powerful engine of finance, and to place it again in that posi..: Lion in which alone it ought to be if we should have it all—in a condition to be available for the purposes of war as well as of peace ; and by your aid we were enabled to place it in that position, and so to deal with it that it might prove competent to bear the pressure of the amplification now pro- posed. We were enabled, by your aid, to pass the Succession-duty; a mea- sure most difficult in its details, although most moderate in its provisions—a measure formed undoubtedly upon the principle of abating the extreme claims upon all sides; but, at the same time, a measure the passing of which, while it adds enormously to the stability and the permanency of your finances, adds no less to your political stability. These things were done ; the Income-tax was reformed, the Soap-duties were abolished, the reforma- tion of the Stamp-duties, admirably begun by my right honourable friend many years before, was continued ; the Assessed Taxes were reconstructed, and reduced from complexity and anomaly and injustice to a system. By your aid and your generous confidence, and equally to the approval of the community at large, these things were done : and now, when we have come

i to a time of war, it is said the conversion of Minor Stocks, forsooth, was the employment of 1853; and, more, these measures of last year are referred to as the abandonment of income I No, Sir; he who abandons the income of a country. is the man who promises to carry into effect impracticable mea- sures, without ever considering the ways and means by which such measures are to be carried out. On the contrary, we say we induced you, and you readily followed us in our earnest efforts to effect these changes ; and you left the finance of the country in a condition—on the eve of war, at the very threshold of a great struggle—so satisfactory, that the surplus on the re- venue of the year, after all these improvident operations, amounted to no less than 3,500,000/. " Well, Sir, that was the conduct of the Government ; and now, what other matters are there for me to show ? Shall we be told that the burdens and charges you have agreed to lay upon the country are burdens and charges which ought to be met by a loan ? Surely, if I may venture to speculate upon the conduct of the Committee, I think, on the whole, it will be felt that if we are to proceed by a general adjustment and distribution of the taxes recommended, painful as the operation may be, that general ad- justment is not an unfair one. We have called upon the wealthy and the comparatively wealthy to pay two-thirds ; we have divided the other third

between the entire community; we have chosen those articles upon which taxation would appear to ffect the least mischief in proportion to the amount of revenue to be raised. I don't think on the details of these taxes it will be possible to induce the Committee to entertain much doubt ; but there may be those who think with those gentlemen associated with what is called the moneyocracy out of the House. Gentlemen in the House will perform their duty to the people and the Government by considering the public policy : still there are those who will talk of the inconvenience of a tax, or of its unpopularity, raising a cry which has always been raised with respect to questions between this and that tax, and objections that can be raised against all taxes ; and I do not doubt there are gentlemen here as well as elsewhere who will say — Abandon altogether these financiering

notions, and let us fall back upon the comfortable expedient of a loan.' I beg the Committee will recollect, that if there is any one man in this country who beyond every other, except perhaps a capitalist, has an interest in recommending recourse to a loan, it is the individual who has the honour of filling the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. That office is an office which any man may be thankful to hold at a time when his occupation is to deal with those timely resources which wise legislation bas given to him, and to distribute what may well be called the bounty of the Legislature, because it results from the wisdom of Parliament, among the various classes of the community in the remission of charges : but that happy course is wofully changed when there conies on a period of war. It is not only a losing office, but a miserable and wretched office, to be constantly engaged in inventing the means of carrying on war, and of drawing fresh taxes from the pockets of the people. Every good motive, and every bad motive combated only by the desire of the approval of honourable men and by con- scientious rectitude—every motive of ease, of comfort, and of certainty, spring forward in his mind to induces Chancellor of the Exchequer to become the first man to recommend a loan. What was it which conferred upon Pitt the title of the Heaven-born Minister ? Was not that name invented a little further East ? It may not be difficult to trace it, and my noble friend's historical researches might identify its origin : I always understood that name came from the City of London, and came from the City of London at the time when Pitt embarked this country in the miserable policy of meeting the first expenditure of the Revolutionary war by loan, loan, loan. This is so important, that, notwithstanding the de- mand which I have already made upon your time, I must ask you —and it is the last request which I shall make tonight—to go back with me for a little to the period of that Revolutionary war. On a former occasion I referred to the dicta of political economists, and I referred to the moral considerations which seemed to recommend and render expedient some efforts to meet the first expenses of the war by means of taxes : but there is something- that is stronger than moral speculation or the philosophic calcu- lations of experimentalists, and that something is to be found in the warn- ings of history. If, after the records which it has left to you, you will not make an attempt, at least for a reasonable time and within reasonable limits, to avoid a repetition of similar errors, you are not worthy of the people you represent. Here, Sir, is the war budget of 1792. Mr. Pitt proposed having an excess of charge over ways and means of 4,500,0001.—that is, taking the income of the country, and taking the charge connected with the first opera- tions of the war. [Mr. Disraeli here made an observation across the table which was inaudible in the gallery.] I refer to Mr. Pitt with profound re- spect ; but these are errors, and he had great errors. For myself, I feel entitled to look upon him with veneration or otherwise as I choose to con- sider; but I happen to have great veneration for Mr. Pitt, as I will show the right honourable gentleman by and by; and I hope he will then join me in imitating Mr. Pitt's policy : but I am speaking of Mr. Pitt's errors at the commencement of the war in 1793. He heard, no doubt, all those plausibilities we hear now in great abundance,—such as 'Oh, it is all for the benefit of posterity, and why should not posterity pay for it?' He made a charge of 4,500,0001., not by attempting to fill the Exchequer with the proceeds of taxes, but sending into the City and asking for a loan of 6,000,0001. Well, he very easily accomplished his desire. There was no unpopularity ; quite the contrary. Great skill—much praise, great effect, everybody well satisfied. Admirable financier! Why, I must be as blind as a mole not to see that my personal interest would lie, and the inte- rest of the Government would have lain, in my efforts by this means to get the wheel out of the rut. But to get the wheel into the rut is a process of much greater simplicity. Pitt proposed a loan of 6,000,0001. at an interest of 4 per cent, amounting to 240,000/. ; and in order to meet that, he im- posed new taxes to the amount of 287,0001. That was the first year of his calculation with respect to the war ; and for the first year you may perhaps say it was of no great moment. Mr. Pitt thought he would get that loan at 4 per cent, but he did not get the 4,500,000/. for less than 41. 3s. 4d. What was the second step, in 1794 ? He then borrowed 11,000,0001., and paid 41. 10s. 9d. per cent ; in 1795, he borrowed 18,000,0001., and paid 41. 15s. 8d. per cent ; in 1796, he borrowed 25,500,0001. at V. 13s. 5d. ; in 1797, he borrowed 32,500,0001., at 51. 14s. 10c1. per cent. Only observe the effect of the policy that was Heaven-born ! In 1798, he borrowed 17,000;0001., at 61. 48. 9d. per cent ; and, such were the evil sources to which he went, that for that 17,000,0001. alone he added 34,000,0001. to the capital of the Na- tional Debt ; and for the operations of these six years, unsuccessful and in- efficient for the purpose of war, he added nearly 200,000,0001. to the capital debt of the country. " I said that I had veneration for Mr. Pitt ; and I will now show you what he did when he became sensible of his errors. He saw ruin growing over the country ; he saw the absorption of its resources ; and he determined to make a gallant effort to retrieve himself. In 1797 he made his first effort. He proposed to raise 7,000,0001. by Assessed Taxes. That plan broke down —other plans, it seems, break down occasionally, besides those of the pre- sent day--that plan broke down, and he only got 4,000,0001. Not daunted by his failure, he came forward and proposed to raise 10,000,000/. ; and from that time forward his whole course was one series of continued and convul- sive efforts to recover himself and extricate his country from the frightful consequences of the former laxity. As to the amount of this income, I be- lieve I should not be stating it too highly if I were to say that, as far as our National Debt stands at this moment, not less than 250,000,0001. has been added to it for which the nation never received a single penny : that was the offering sacrificed to capital, and thrown in as bonuses and inducements to subscribe to these loans. Then the Sinking-fund established by Mr. Pitt was another form of mischief: by means of the Sinking-fund you were con- tinually buying Stock at three, four, or five per cent, and creating Stock to find the money ; you were buying up Stock to redeem it at 60, and creating it again at 68. It was like a seton in the human body, a perpetual drain on the resources of the country, in addition to the other sad circumstances of the time. But, as I said before, the effort of Mr. Pitt was one that ought to be placed upon record : he saw the error of the practice of rushing on the first inducement to a loan ; he saw and lamented the effects of that want of moral courage, not in himself alone, but in the country—for undoubtedly he represented the public sentiments of the country in what he did. It was the error of the nation, and, God knows, the nation suffered for it." In 1798, Mr. Pitt proposed to add no less than 40 per cent to the Income-tax. " In 1798 the revenue was 23,100,0004 ; in 1799 it was 25,600,000/. ; in 1803 it got up to 38,600,000/. ; and in 1805, the last year of Mr. Pitt's life, the revenue amounted to no less than 50,900,0001. In 1806, the present Marquis of Lansdowne being Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Income-tax was raised to 10 per cent, and the year's revenue to 59,300,0001. in 1807. From that time to 1816 the revenue was never below 60,000,000/., while sometimes it passed 70,000,000/. Such were the ideas that Englishmen and Scotchmen and Irishmen entertained, in those days, of the efforts that they ought to make, by themselves and from their own resources, for the purpose of meeting the expenditure upon what they thought a just war. It has been shown by an eminent political economist, Mr. M'Culloch, that the whole accumulation of our permanent debt is due to the errors of the earlier part of the war. Be- tween the year 1806 and the year 1816, the sums raised were not only suffi- cient to pay the expenses of the civil government of the country, the whole outlay required by the war in those great and glorious years, and the iute- rest of the debt as the debt stood before '93, but that on the accumulations between 1806 and 1816, some of which were going on at compound interest. This was the opinion which Mr. Pitt and the successors of Mr. Pitt had of their duty to the country. This was the idea which they had of their duty to posterity. Do you suppose that in those days, when the Duke of Wel- lington was crowning the British armies with fresh laurels from year to year, your fathers did not think they were voting for the advantage of pos- terity—that they did not think they were voting for our advantage, for we were posterity to them, when they made these efforts to meet those tremen- dous charges by sacrifices of their own ? And can you not do now what Mr. Pitt and the Englishmen of that day did then, when the population of the country was not half so great as in the present day ? Their imports were not one-quarter of the imports of the present day ; their exports and their trade were hardly one-third of the exports of the present day, for where they had an export of 33,000,0001. you have now an export of 98,000,0001. Such is the vigour and such the elasticity of our trade, that even under the disadvantage of a bad harvest and under the pressure of war, the imports from day to day, and almost from hour to hour, are increasing, and the very last papers laid on the table within forty-eight hours show that within the last three months of the year there is 250,0001. increase in your exports. This is your position, and these are the circumstances under which we appeal to you in the hope that you will consider that appeal just and reasonable." [Cheers, which had been frequent during a speech of three hours and a half, were loud and prolonged as the Minister sat down.] Mr. DISRAELI objected to passing the resolutions without some distinct arrangement for a full discussion. The House should not be called upon to give its decision immediately. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER repeated, that it was not for him to invent the practice, but it exists, that such resolutions are passed at once, lest the enhanced duties be lost on the whole of the stocks in bond. But, said Mr. Diorama, a day should be fixed for the discussion. Mr. GLADSTONE referred it to Lord John Russell ; and ultimately Monday next was fixed. The formal voting of the resolutions proceeded seriatim, with passing remarks. Mr. THOMAS Remise pointed out, that by the existing law the equalization of duties on Foreign and Colonial sugars cannot take place till the 5th July. Mr. GLADSTONE promised to take measures to prevent injury to any interest. Mr. BALL objected to the increase of duty on malt, as injurious to the farmer and to morality. Mr. VANCE objected to the increase on Irish spirits. Mr. DISRAELI raised a brief discussion on the Exchequer Bond resolution ; objecting to Mr. Gladstone's having concluded a loan without coming to Parliament. The resolutions, how- ever, passed ; the House resumed, and the report of the Committee was brought up and received.

The report was brought up on Tuesday, and the first three resolutions were agreed to ; but on the fourth, imposing a duty of 4s. upon malt, Mr. E. BALL raised a brief discussion. Mr. T. DUNCOMIIE attempted to stay it ; as it had been understood that the report should be only brought up pro forma. The SPEAKER, however, decided that Mr. Ball was in order ; and so Mr. Ball went on arguing against raising so large a portion of the supplemental taxation from the land. He moved, and Mr. BENTINCX seconded, the omission of the word "malt." Mr. GLADSTONE, respectfully stating that he disagreed with all the mover and seconder had said, declined to enter into a discussion which would be a virtual breach of faith with the House. Mr. DISRAELI would not enter into a discussion, but pleaded precedents to show that the re- solution might be postponed : one precedent related to the Irish Stamp Acts ; another to the Income-tax resolutions. Lord JOHN RUSSELL, however, showed that the precedents were inapplicable. The House was asked to receive the report, as otherwise there would be a great loss to the revenue, perhaps 250,000/., by the taking of malt out of bond without paying the higher duty. Would gentlemen opposite deprive Government of 250,0001. for the sake of debating a resolution upon Monday next rather than upon the second reading of a bill ?

After some further debate, a division took place—For the amendment, 143 ; against it, 224 ; Ministerial majority, 81. The report was agreed to.

The House went into Committee of Ways and Means on Wednesday, in order that Mr. Wilson might propose resolutions fixing a duty upon sugars used in breweries, corresponding to that which had imposed upon other descriptions of sugar, and also upon molasses. On the invita- tion of Mr. HANKEY, Mr. WILSON stated the alterations in the standards of quality of the sugars. Instead of allowing sugar to be refined in bond, the plan proposed by those who complain of the operation of the Sugar- laws, it has been resolved to try to equalize the duties by another plan.

There are at present three scales of duties applicable to West India and Colonial sugars,—the common duty of 10.s. for the lowest class ; lls. 8d, on sugars of the quality of Brown and White Clayed ; and 13s. 4d. for Refined sugars. The act of 1848 provided for four scales,—for a quality below Brown Cloyed, for a quality equal to Brown Clued and below White, for White Clayed and below Refined, and lastly, for Refined. These classes had never been applicable to Colonial sugar. It is proposed now to fix 12s. as the duty on the great bulk of Yellow and the best qualities of Brown sugar ; and a duty of Ils. on the lowest quality of Colonial sugar. The duties will be modified in such a way that each quality of sugar shall, as nearly as pos- sible, pay a duty proportional to the amount of saccharine matter that it contained.

This appeared to give satisfaction ; but great objection was taken to the fact that Government proposed to take the duty from the 8th instant upon molasses ; and, after some discussion in a thin House, [only 14 Members being present,] Mr. Wilson consented to the date standing as the 10th instead of the 8th May. The resolution as amended was agreed to.

THE Anus IN TURKEY.

The Earl of Emaisnonoren put three questions to the Duke of New- castle, on Thursday ; accompanying each with comment and explanation. The first related to the great expense incurred in transporting troops to Turkey-3,096,0004 Had the whole 27,000 men and 5000 horses been sent to India, round the Cape of Good Hope, estimating the cost by that of private travelling, the total expense would have been, for the men 2,700,0001., for the horses 250,0001. The cost of transport to the Penin- sula for a whole year, 1808, was only 2,100,0001., the troops sent greatly exceeding in number those now sent to Turkey. These facts justified him in asking explanations.

The next question was, how is it proposed to pay the troops in Turkey ? The Turkish silver currency is depreciated 823 per cent, and it is quite impossible to pay the troops in that currency. In India, there is a per- son whose duty it is to change the rupee in pica—a rupee contains 64 pica, and he is permitted to give 63 pice. Could not the British troops UNAUTHORIZED NEGOTIATIONS.

Lord CAMPBELL has carried the second reading of the Unauthorized Negotiations Bill, making it a misdemeanour to enter into unauthorized negotiations with foreign governments.

The law of nations prohibits any but legitimate negotiations; but the mu- nicipal law is defective. Offenders may be punished for conspiring in Mid- dlesex to invite foreign interference, but not so if they conspire abroad. Misdemeanours cannot be punished unless committed within the realm ; and the Americans, who carried along with them the common law of England, feeling the inconvenience of this defect during the French Revolution, made

in Turkey enjoy a similar advantage ? The larger the amount of coin taken into the market, the greater the loss ; and it would be desirable to coin twopenny silver pieces, as they would nearly correspond in value with a piastre.

The third question was as to the means of moving the army in Turkey on land.

The Duke of NEWCASTLE, while stating that Government were not in- disposed to give every information, said that if all questions were answered it might afford a great advantage to the enemy, and effect no good in this country. With respect to the cost of the transports—As a matter of account Government will give, of course, the fullest informa- tion • but Lord Ellenborough, iu comparing the cost to that of the tra- velling of private persons to India, should remember that private persons do not carry thousands of tons of ammunition, and that the ships going to India get return freights. The greater portion of the sum consists of estimates; and the accounts are not yet settled. Much of the delay in the departure of the cavalry transports is due to the contractors, who have not been able to provide the vessels; while the contractors them- selves have met with great difficulties through strikes of their workmen.

With respect to the payment of the troops—The currency of the Medi- terranean, formerly, was the pillar-dollar ; but that has been superseded by the British sovereign, and 225,000 sovereigns have been sent out as the basis of the currency in which the troops are to be paid, and 50001. worth of silver as an experiment. With respect to transport in Turkey—The matter has not been ne- glected : orders have long been sent out to make provision for contracts for this service, and all accounts agree in entertaining a hope that there will be sufficient. All contracts are made with Turkish contractors assisted by the Turkish Government ; and that very morning a letter had been received from one of the Commissariat officers, dated the 29th April, in which he says—" The Turkish Government act with good faith and loyalty with us in matters relating to the supply of transport." At the end of his statement, the Duke, referring to the anxiety existing as to the health of the troops at Gallipoli, said, that out of 5300 men, there were only 12 sick on the 25th, and only 20 sick on the 30th of April ; a proportion so extraordinarily small as to be without precedent in our military annals.

In reply to•the Earl of MALAIESEURY, the Duke of NEWCASTLE said that the despatch of Admiral Dundas narrating the bombardment of Odessa had been that day received, and would be published in Friday's Gazette. Government, he added, will publish all information relating to the war immediately on receiving it—if necessary, in a Supplementary Gazette.

NAVY BILLS.

On the motion of Sir JAMES GRAHAM, two bills relating to the Navy have been brought in.

The first was " a bill for the encouragement of seamen, and the more effectual manning of her Majesty's Navy during the present war." Sir James said that the high-sounding title of the bill might have excited feelings of expectation on the part of the House which he feared would meet with disappointment. This, however, is the invariable title of the Prize Act introduced at the commencement of war. The bill is limited to the duration of the war ; and is exactly similar to all former prize acts, with this exception—that the scale of distribution of prize money is that announced in her Majesty's proclamation, giving a much larger share to the common men, and a much smaller one to the admirals and superior officers. There is also a new provision, rendered necessary by the fact that we have a maritime ally, and that it is, of course, requisite to make pro- vision for prizes taken by joint capture.

The other bill, more permanent in its character, was one for facili- stating the payment of her Majesty's Navy, and the payment and distri- bution of prize, bounty, salvage, and other monies, to and among the officers and crews of her Majesty's ships and vessels of war, and for the better regulation of the accounts relating thereto.

°semi", UNIVERSITY BILL.

The consideration of the clauses of this bill in Committee was con- tinued on Thursday. The 15th clause,—appointing that the first election of the Hebdomadal Council should be made on the first day of Michael- mas Term 1854,—was amended, on the suggestion of Mr. WISE, to the fifteenth instead of the first day of term. The ground for this was, that there would not be time to complete the register of voters by the first day of term, and that members would have to return to their Colleges at an

-unusual time. In clause 16, the date at which the register of voters should be made up was altered from the 10th to the 24th September.

On clause 18 —providing for the composition of the " Congregation," —Sir WILLIAM HEATHCOTE moved an amendment, which had the effect of making the Congregation consist of "all residents." This was much de- bated ; and it was admitted that the alteration was more one of principle than of practical effect. Mr. GLADSTONE said, Government had framed the bill so as to make the Congregation represent the aristocracy of the University—that is, the mind, intellect, and working power of the Uni- versity. Sir WILLIAM HEATHCOTE said, the Congregation ought to be an epitome of the Convocation, and ought to include private tutors and the parochial clergy. On a division, the amendment was carried, by 138 to 104,—a majority of 34 against the Government, hailed with cheers by

the Opposition.

On clause 19,— providing for the promulgation of statutes by the Con- gregation,—Mr. HEYWOOD moved that the statutes shoula be promul- gated in the English language. Negatived by 155 to 131. Sir WILLIAM HEATHCOTE also moved an amendment providing that statutes should be submitted to Convocation, for adoption or rejection.

Negatived by 215 to 68. The clause was agreed to, and the Chairman reported progress ; to sit Again next Thursday. it a misdemeanour, punishable by fine and imprisonment, to hold unauthor- ized correspondence with any foreign government with an intent to influence that government in relation to any disputes with the United States, or to de- feat any measures of its Government. To show that a similar measure is needed in England, Lord Campbell referred to the alleged mission of Sir Ro- bert Adair from Mr. Fox to the Empress Catherine,—which he admitted,

however, did not happen; - to the addresses presented by Englishmen to the National Convention ; to Mr. Smith 0' Brien's visit to M. Lamartine in 1848 ; to the notorious City address presented by Sir James Duke and others to Louis Napoleon; and to the visit of the deputation of Quakers who went to pay their homage to the Czar Nicholas : all which cases he minutely de- scribed, reading extracts from documents illustrating them. The bill was to stop these proceedings, but not to stop private intercourse, or interrupt pri- vate business between individuals and foreign governments. He hoped the House would read the bill a second time ; and if it were thought desirable to send it before a Select Committee, he would readily consent to such a course.

Lord LYNDHURST led the way in a debate which was a succession of objections to the measure.

The preamble stated that by the law of nations intercourse between inde- pendent states ought only to be carried on by lawful agents: that is a self- evident proposition, since independent states cannot come into bodily con- tact. But intercourse between individuals of one state and the government of another is not intercourse between two independent states; neither is there any law of nations that prohibits such intercourse. As regards loans, the subjects of one state have intercourse with the government of another ; and is it intended to make that intercourse a misdemeanour ? Lord Campbell had not condescended to state the terms of his bilL That measure provides, that if any person either acting or professing to act on the part of any portion of her Majesty's subjects shall without the licence of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, obtained for that purpose, hold any intercourse with a foreign government with respect to the acts of that government, or with respect to the acts of the government of which aueh person is a subject, he shall be considered and adjudged guilty of a misde- meanour ; "so that if I, without the licence of the Secretary of State, hold any intercourse with the French Government, either on mp own part, or as representing any other portion of her Majesty's subjects, with respect to any act of the French Government, I am to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour." Consider the ease of the Roman Catholics. Two or three years ago, the Irish Roman Catholics despatched a mission to Rome, to ascertain the opinion of the Pope—a foreign potentate—respecting the Queen's Colleges recently es- tablished in Ireland. Now, according to this bill,. every person engaged in that mission would be guilty of misdemeanour, and liable to fine and im- prisonment. It might be said that was not a political but a religious question : but in the ease of the Roman Catholic Church, it is almost im- possible to define what are religious and what are political questions. Unless altered to a great extent, the bill is open to other strong objections. A commercial establishment abroad injured by an act of state and making representations to the government—an agent of the Times applying for a re- laxation of any order prohibiting the circulation of that paper—the recent deputations from several Frotestant states to Tuscany—all would have come within the provisions of the bill. It has not the slightest resemblance to the act of the United States.

The measure is one which should be in the hands. of Government ;_ and if they think proper to pass it in its present form, he had nothing to say.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY, the Bishop of OXFORD,. and Lord BEAU- MONT, joined in objecting to the bill. The last-named Peer said, Lord Campbell hitneelf would have been an offender had such a law existed when he paid a visit to the Pope. The Earl of ABERDEEN said, he entertained such respect for Lord Campbell that he was unwilling to vote against the second reading ; but he thought it could not pass without great alteration„ if indeed. the objec- tions could be removed even by a Select Committee. He shouldrecommend Lord Campbell not to persevere. Lord Bnouenaat also objected, though not to so great an extent as other speakers,. and recommended alterations. In reply, Lord CAM.PRELL said the principle of the bill was to prevent unauthorized communications between. English subjects and foreign go- vernments respecting political and national affairs. Further than that he did not wish to go. His own visit to the Pope was very innocent : he called upon his Holiness as a simple individual, an English traveller, not as a deputation ; nor would the bill check such intercourse. The bill was read a second time and referred to a Select Committee.

FRIENDLY Socirrtza..

On the reading of the order of the day for going into Committee on the Friendly Societies Bill, Mr. DuNcownz suggested, that as the bill related to matters of a delicate nature, and had made a great commotion among the working classes, it should be referred to a Select Committee; and on the question being put, Mr. BRIGHT, adopting the suggestion, moved it as MI amendment. It' the bill pass in its present shape, it will not work, but produce something like revolt among the population of the North of England. The amendment was very generally supported. In the course of the conversation on the subject, Mr. HINDLITY said, it was the impu- tation cast upon the working-classes that they murder their children for the sake of burial-fees—an imputation they indignantly repudiate—which has caused the great excitement. Lord PALMERSTON concurred in think- ing that the bill had better be referred to a Select Committee. With re- spect to the point in the bill which has excited the greatest objection—its application to burial societies—he would rather avoid stating his opinion. At the same time he might say, it is so strong, that if no other Mem- ber should propose to legislate on the subject, he would do so. Far from thinking legislation an imputation on the lower classes, their credit and the honour of the country require that the matter should be placed be- yond dispute. This led to a smart personal colloquy between Mr. COBDEN and Lord PALmEarsTorr ; the interest of which lay in the fact that, after three trials, Mr. Cobden could not correctly state what Lord Palmerston did say ; and when the latter had denied the accuracy of each attempt to repeat what he had said, Mr. Cobden accused him of trifling with the House, and exercising his jocularity on grave subjects. Mr. Cobden denied that there is any ground for the imputation that the working classes murder their children for money ; and he made the counter-charge that murder- ing for the sake of money is not confined to the working classes,—in- stancing the case of Madame Laffarge, and the recent Peterhead case. Lord PALMERSTON said, he had not treated the subject with jocularity : the fact was, that the House had laughed at the various attempts of Mr. Cobden to fasten upon him assertions he had never made. Mr. SOTHERON willingly acceded to the amendment ; pointing out at the same time, that all the acts relating to friendly societies will expire this year, as a reason for legislation ; beside§ the fact that these societies are very numerous, (30,000,) and that their members are the very sup- port of the country, the men of integrity and resolution, on whose behalf he could not appeal in vain.

The amendment was agreed to and the bill ordered to be referred to a Select Committee. MEDICAL REFORM.

The motion for going into Committee on the Medical Practitioners Oslo. 2) Bill was met with an amendment, by Mr. CRAWFORD, that the House go into Committee that day six months. Mr. WARNER, Mr. HENLEY, Mr. EMMETT, and Lord PALMERSTON, objected to the bill. It was defective in principle, they said, and would only increase the anoma- lies of the existing law. It proposed that whoever was registered under the bill should be entitled to practise as a medical man ; but it provided no educational or other test, and would give by registration Parlia- mentary sanction to a number of persons not entitled to it. Lord PAL- MERSTON admitted that the medical profession, at present a chaos, requires some alteration. Some twenty-two different bodies are entitled to give diplomas ; and some of these run against the others, thus lessening the fees, and the efficiency of the examination. What is wanted is some uniform system of education, some uniform teat of qualification. On the other hand, Mr. Plasm and Mr. W. D. Szirmona held, that although the bill did not deal comprehensively and efficiently with the question of medical reform, yet it should not be kept back until a larger measure be forthcoming. The House thought differently ; and on a division, 118 to 69, the bill was thrown out.

HUSTINGS EXPENSES BILL.

Mr. Hums, in moving the second reading of this bill, stated its prin- ciple to be, that Members of the House of Commons should be returned free of expense ; and the bill applied that principle to the payment of the hustings expenses by the borough or county in which the election takes place. After some discussion, during which many objections were urged from all sides, Mr. SPOONER moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months. On a division, the motion for the second reading was negatived by 154 to 57, and the bill thrown out.

"BILL-STEALING."

Mr. DICEY SEYMOUR obtained leave to bring in .a bill to make fraudu- lent dealings with regard to bills of exchange felonious in certain cases. Mr. Seymour referred to the recent expressions of Mr. Baron Alderson in the case of Sherwood versus Ideiklam, but did not further explain the na- ture of the bill.

CHURCH-ACCOMMODATION FOR THE POOR.

The Earl of 'Mr:CHELSEA moved a resolution, to the effect that, in consequence of the great deficiency of church-accommodation in the ma- nufacturing districts, of resident clergy to minister to the spiritual neces- sities of the labouring classes, and of schools to afford them a sound Scriptural education, their religious wants deserve the attention of Par- liament.

- The Earl of ABERDEEN would not say anything at variance with the spirit of the resolution, and he paid a compliment to the zeal and sin- cerity of Lord Winchelsea : at the same time, he submitted that the re- solution must have an object, and he did not think Parliament would meet the deficiency by grants of public money. Something has been done to remedy the evils of which Lord Winchelsea complained.

"During the first thirty years of the century, 500 churches were built, at a cost of 3,000,0001. sterling; 1,152,0001. being provided out of the public fund, and the remainder from private benefactions. During the following twenty years, there were no public grants for any fresh undertakings, and yet within that period 5,500,0001. was spent, and 2029 churches were built ; so that, during the few years since the cessation of public grants, the effi- ciency of the remedy for the evil complained of has increased immeasurably ; and I must aay that a spirit does exist at this moment, with a view of sup- plying the wants of the labouring classes in respect to religious instruction, to a degree that never, in my memory, has existed before." (Cheers.)

But Lord Winchelsea asked for a sound Scriptural education, as well as more churches; by which he meant, education in accordance with the doctrines of the Church of England. But it cannot be said with truth that the religion of the Church of England is the religion of the people. Dissenters are good citizens and loyal subjects, and the State must act fairly by them. The difficulties of an united education seem to be in- superable: Still, something has been done with the grants made by Par- liament and distributed by the Privy Council—grants which have in- creased from 50,0001. in 1839 to 263,0001. in 1853. Under present cir- cumstances, perhaps the wisest course will be to extend that system. As nothing was to follow from the adoption of the resolution, he moved the previous question. Some conversation on the subject, unfavourable to the adoption of the resolution, as leading to nothing practical, ensued; and Lord WINCHEL- sne withdrew his motion.

JUSTICE IN IRELAND.

The Marquis of WESTMEATH raised a debate on Irish justice, in moving for a copy of any memorial addressed to the Lord-Lieutenant in favour of a commutation of the sentence of death for murder passed upon Hugh Luney ; a copy of the notes taken for the Crown of the address delivered by Chief Justice Monahan in passing sentence; and a copy of the notes of the Chief Justice on the memorial addressed to the Lord-Lieutenant.

Since May 1849, there have been eleven murders and five attempts to murder in the county of Westmeath ; almost all the perpetrators of these crimes have escaped justice ; and a feeling exists that when any crime is brought home to a man, the Government should not, except on peculiar occasions, advise the Crown to exercise the prerogative of mercy. In this case, Hugh Laney lay in wait for a young man carrying money, attacked, killed, and robbed him. He was found guilty ; sentence of death, without hope of mercy, was passed upon him ; yet the Lord-Lieutenant commuted the sentence into transportation for life. It was said that a memorial had been presented to the Lord-Lieutenant : but everybody knows how easy it is in Ireland to get up any memorial, no matter how im- proper. Was the sentence commuted to obtain popularity ? There are the cases of Kirwan, of the Solicitor-General for Ireland, and the tract- distributor ; eA of these cases show that the Lord-Lieutenant is seeking by undue means to gain popularity. If ever Mr. Keogh were made a judge, Lord Westmeath pledged himself to move for the language taken down the Police in the town of Moat, and also to move an address that Mr. Keogh be removed from the bench.

. The Earl of ABERDEEN said, that all the inoidental questions raised by

Lord Westmeath had been amply discussed already, and therefore he should not follow him ; but with respect to Mr. Keogh, " sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." The case of Luney was this. After he was tried, convicted, and condemned to death, the Lord-Lieutenant received a memorial signed by the Protestant clergyman, the Roman Catholic Bishop, the Magistrates, and other respectable persons : that memorial was referred to the Chief Justice who tried the case ; and he recommended the Lord-Lieutenant to commute the sentence into transportation for life, on these grounds—that robbery, not murder was intended, and that it was not quite certain that death resulted from anything that took place at the time of the robbery. Had the Lord-Lieutenant persisted in hanging the man in spite of the memorial and recommendation, what would Lord Westmeath then have said ? Lord Aberdeen said he would consent to the motion except as regarded the confidential observations made by the Chief Justice to the Lord-Lieutenant.

Lord CAMPBELL, the Earl of EoLisrroir, Earl GREY, and Lord BROUGHAM, concurred in expressing satisfaction at the conduct of the Lord-Lieute- nant ; and all except Lord Eglinton advised Lord Westmeath to withdraw his motion. Lord WESTMEATII declined to do so. Ultimately, however, the motion passed as limited by Lord Aberdeen.

THE ORANGE RIVER QUESTION.

Mr. ADDERLEY, on Tuesday, moved that an address be presented to the Queen praying that her Majesty would be graciously pleased to reconsider the order in Council for the promulgation, on or before the rat of August next, of a proclamation abandoning and renouncing all sovereignty over the Orange River territory and its inhabitants. His object in bringing the subject forward was to vindicate the right of the people of this country to a voice in the disposal of the dominions of the Crown.

Entering into the subject at great length, Mr. Adderley maintained two points,—that the Orange Sovereignty had been illegally abandoned ; and that treaties concluded with native chiefs had been broken by the abandon- ment. The colony was not a colony by conquest, but by cession ; and it should not have been abandoned except by act of Parliament. Its abandon- ment would cost more than its retention : the expenses had begun already, with a grant of 6000/. to the Provisional Government set up by Sir George Clerk. It would be inexpedient to abandon the Orange River, for the soil is fertile; it produces the finest wool ; gold has recently been discovered ; and it forms the right line of communication- with our other possessions. Mr. PEEL, in a speech of considerable length, defended the abandon. ment of the territory. It had never been a colony; English law had never been planted in it ; it was acquired by conquest, but valueless as an acquisition, and was a mere desert a few years ago. With respect to the legality of? the transaction, there is no question but that the Crown has a right to abandon territory acquired by conquest ; and in this case the general feeling of the population is in favour of the course pursued by her Majesty's Government. The Cape Legislature has not been consult4 because the question is essentially Imperial. Government desires for the colony fixed boundaries, concentrated population, and non-intervention in the quarrels of others.

The subsequent debate was deprived of interest by the result. Sir Joint PAEINGTON admitted that he concurred in the policy of the Government, though he thought it would have been safer to abandon the territory by act of Parliament.

Mr. VERNON SMITH also spoke against the motion. The ATTORNEY GENERAL held that the colony had been acquired by conquest—the defeat of the Boers ; and territory so acquired can be ceded, given up, or abandoned by the Crown. Sir FREDERICK TRESIGER considered that it would have been much better that there should have been an act of Par- liament, but an act was not essential.

Mr. ADDERLEY, not insisting on his authority as outweighing the high opinions which had been given in debate, withdrew the motion.

CROWN FORESTS.

On the motion of Mr. DRUAIMOND, a Select Committee has been ap- pointed to inquire into the present management and condition of the Crown Forests of England, with the view of ascertaining the responsi- bility of the present Commissioners ; and whether it would be for the public interest that some of the smaller forests should be sold, as being unfit for the growth of timber for her Majesty's Navy.

THE STONOR CASE.

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the appointment of Mr. Stonor to a judgeship at Melbourne in Australia commenced their investigation on Tuesday. At the outset, Mr. G. H. Moore presented himself, and put in a long written statement of the circumstances attend- ing Mr. Stonor's appointment. Having read this, he declined to take any part in the investigation, or to furnish the names of any witnesses; in fact, he would do nothing unless he were made responsible for the conduct of the case, with power to call, examine, and cross-examine wit- nesses. After considerable questioning, which reduced the charge against the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Peel to that of having been influenced in making the appointment by parties whom they ought not to have allowed to have deceived them, the Chairman of the Committee stated that they had determined to allow Mr. Moore to conduct the case ; and that they would consult with the Speaker as to the best means of doing so. Mr. Moore named the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Peel as the first witnesses.

In the House, on Thursday, Mr. SOTHERON moved that Mr. G. H. Moore, and one other Member to be named by the General Committee of Elections, should be appointed to the Select Committee on the case of Henry Stonor, to examine witnesses, but without the power of voting. In the course of the conversation on the subject, Sir GEORGE Ginty stated that the Committee of Elections would no doubt call upon the Snder- Secretary for the Colonies to name the second Member. Mr. PEEL, on be- half of the Duke of Newcastle, said that this was unnecessary : he would be satisfied to leave the question to the five Members already nominated. But the House seemed favourable to the appointment of a Member on the part of the Duke of Newcastle, and the Government gave way.

BUSINESS IN THE COMMONS.

At the meeting of the House of Commons on Monday, Lord Joan RUSSELL moved that Government orders of the day should have prece- dence of other orders on Thursdays during the remainder of the session. Mr. FREWEN Mr. HOME, Mr. Disitezia, Mr. COBDEN, and other Members, remonstrated against this curtailment of the opportunities of private Mem- bers. On the suggestion of Mr. SPOONER, Lord John consented to make his motion read "on and after Thursday the 25th of May" at the same time observing that the session would be thereby unnecessarily prolonged.