the ways and means by which it appeared to him that those supplies might be most advantageously met; he should then proceed to an explanation of the intended arrangements with respect to the proposed taxes which he was desirous of submitting to the sanction of the committee; and lastly, he should point out those general measures for the regulation of the finances of the country, which appeared to him to be expedient, with a view to render the imposition of new taxes unnecessary, and to prevent any recurrence to loans, with the exception of a small loan for the next year, if it should be required for the purpose of the intended repayment to the Bank of England. So much detailed information had already been laid on the table of the House in the reports of the committee of finance, and so much had been elicited by the late diseussions in the House with respect to the various grants which had been made, and which it would be necessary to make for the service of the year, that on that point he should have little more to do than refer the committee to those reports for explanation. To begin with the first great branch of our expenditure,-he meant the charges for the military service of the country: the committee were aware that the army extraordinaries still remained to be provided for. Adding them to the branches of charge for the military service of the country which had already been voted, the total charge for the Army Ordinaries and Extraordinaries, would be 8,900,000. The whole had of the supplies for the navy been granted by parliament; they amounted to 6,436,000l. For the Ordnance, parliament had also voted 1,191,000l. In the Miscellaneous services, a considerable number of items were yet to be submitted to the House; among which were, the Irish Miscellaneous Services, and the grants for the poor clergy both in England and Scotland; but, adding the amount of those to what had been already voted, the total of Miscellaneous Services for the year would be, 1,950,000. In conformity with the regular course of parliamentary proceeding, to which he always wished to pay the attention that was due to it, he begged to state that, as there yet remained some supplies to be voted, it was not his intention at present to complete the Ways and Means, but to borrow from the sinking fund the sum of 12,000,000l. which would more than cover all that was yet to be granted. This mode of proceeding would not only preserve regularity, but would afford an opportunity of making those calculations which it might hereafter be necessary to lay before parliament. The total of the Supplies for the year, as he had already enumerated them, amounted to 18,477,000l. But to that must be added, 1,570,000l. for interest on outstanding exchequer bills, and 430,000l. for a sinking fund on those exchequer bills; making in the whole a sum, falling short of the sum of 20,500,000l. stated to be necessary for the service of the year in the Resolutions already agreed to by parliament, namely, 20,477,000l. To meet these charges, parliament had al ready ready voted the annual malt duties, 3,000,000l.; and the temporary excise duties, 3,500,000l; and he should now propose to vote the loan contracted for this day, amounting to 12,000,000l. The Lottery, 240,000/.; and produce of the sale of naval stores, 334,000l. The aggregate amount of those sums, exclusive of the sum to be raised by loan, was, 7,074,000. It was obvious, therefore, that means must be adopted to provide the sum of nearly thirteen millions and a half, which was the difference between the total of the Supplies, and the total of the Ways and Means, as he had hitherto described them. He need not also recall to the attention of the committee, that the proceedings which had taken place with respect to the resumption of cash payments by the Bank of England, led to an arrangement for the repayment to that body, in the course of two years, of the sum of 10,000,000l. Of that sum it was necessary that 5,000,000l. should be provided in the present year; and a farther sum of 5,597,000l. would be required for the reduction of the unfunded debt, government standing pledged to that proceeding. For these purposes it was pro posed to raise two loans, each to the amount of 12,000,0007. One of these loans had been contracted for that morning by competition. The other was to be derived from the sinking fund, the details of which he would submit to parliament on an early day. All that he would at present observe with respect to it was, that it was proposed in the arrangements relating to it, to press as little as possible on the money market; and therefore to divide it into twelve monthly payments; those payments not to be equal, but to be to the amount of 900,000l. a month in the July and January quarters, and 1,100,000/. a month in the April and October quarters. By this arrangement, nearly 310,000l. would be left monthly in the hands of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, for the purchasers of stock; exclusive of the Irish sinking fund, from which nothing would be taken. The loan of 12,000,000l. by competition, and that to be derived from the sinking fund, added to the Ways and Means which he had already enumerated, made 31,074,000l.; which, when compared with the amount of the Supplies, viz. 20,447,000l. left a surplus of 10,597,000l. to be applied to the reduction of the unfunded debt, viz. 5,000,000l. to the payment of the Bank of England, and the remaining 5,597,000l. to the individual holders of exchequer bills. The comparative view of the whole Supplies and Ways and Means was therefore as follows: SUPPLIES. £. 8,900,000 6,436,000 Army ......... WAYS AND MEANS. £. 3,000,000 £. 31,074,000 which it was appointed that the biddings should take place, the smaller the charge, both for capital and interest to the country. 3,500,000 The loan thus raised, and the 240,000 loan to be derived from the sink234,000 ing fund, he would regard as a joint loan in speaking of the stock 7,074,000 created by the two operations. 12,000,000 Considering them as a joint loan, the stock created for the 12,000,000 24,000,000l. thus raised, would be 32,304,000l. in the three per cent stock, taken partly in the consols and partly in the reduced. The interest on this stock would be, 1,029,120.; the sinking fund, 402,594.; and the charge for management, 10,2911.; making a total of 1,442,005l. Here he thought it necessary to observe, that he had strictly carried into effect the provisions of the act of 1813; by which it was provided, that when the loan for the year exceeded the proportion of the sinking fund already established, a fresh sinking fund, to the amount of half the interest, should be formed. The provision might perhaps have in strictness been dispensed with on the present occasion, as so large a proportion of the loan was to be applied to the purpose of reducing the unfunded debt; but he had felt, that when a loan was raised in time of peace, the operation of the sinking fund, with respect to it, ought to be strengthened rather than diminished; and he had accordingly complied with the provisions of the act of 1813. With respect to the charge for management, he did not consider the Bank to have a right to any allowance for the management of that part of the He had already informed the committee, that a loan by competition for 12,000,000l. had that morning been contracted for. He would now state the terms of that loan; and he was happy to congratulate the committee and the country, that in consequence of the competition which had been excited, those terms were highly advantageous and satisfactory, and were indeed such as clearly to evince a reviving confidence and an increasing spirit in the money market. The terms were as follow, viz. that for every 100%. of the 12,000,000l. the subscribers should receive 80l. stock in the three per cent consolidated annuities (the interest on which would not commence until July and was not to be retrospective), and 621. 18s. 6d. stock in the three per cent reduced. Two other lists were offered,-the one proposing to receive 651. 10s. in the three per cent reduced; the other, 651. 2s. 6d. The list preferred, therefore, far outstripped its competitors, and was consequently accepted; as, of course, the smaller the sum which it was offered to take, in the stock in loan loan derived from the sinking fund, but only for that which had been contracted in the money market. The loan obtained from the sinking fund, would stand as stock in the names of the commissioners, and the interest would be applied by them in the same manner as that of the other funds in their hands. He had already shown to the committee, that the total charge on the loan was 1,442,005. The rate of interest to the subscribers was 4l. 5s. 9d.; amounting, on an average calculation of three per cent stock, to 69. The total amount of the charge to be paid by the public (the sinking fund included), was 61. Os. 2d. per cent. He again congratulated the public on the terms of the loan, which he trusted would not be unfavourable to the adventurous parties with whom it had been negociated, although the terms were so low, that, with reference to the immediate price of stock, the bidding might not, at first sight, appear justifiable on the score of pru dence. He hoped, however, that it would ultimately prove advantageous to all parties. Before he proceeded to the other parts of the subject, he wished to advert to the measures that he believed would be necessary next year. As far as he could judge at present, the amount that it would be necessary to raise next year for the different branches of the public service, would not exceed 11,000,000l.; besides the 5,000,000l. which it would be necessary to pay to the Bank of England, in order to complete the arrangements for the liquidation of 10,000,000l. due If to that body. Those two sums amounted to 16,000,000l. 12,000,000l. were taken from the sinking fund, as in the present year, there would remain but 4,000,000l. to be raised in the money market. The sum was so moderate, that he apprehended there would be but little difficulty or inconvenience in obtaining it, and he sincerely hoped and trusted, looking to the prospect of continued tranquillity which the present posture of affairs in Europe afforded, that it would be the last time they would have occasion to resort to the money market during the existence of peace. And even that application might perhaps be avoided by proper management when the period should arrive. The next branch of the subject to which he wished to call the attention of the committee, was the consideration of the mode by which he proposed to realize the pledge that had been given to the stockholder to raise 3,000,000l. in taxes, in order to make up with the two millions of surplus revenue, a sum of five millions applicable to the reduction of the national debt. But as he was on the general subject, he was desirous, before he proceeded further, to describe the present state of the unfunded debt of the country, and the situation in which it would remain after the arrangements of the present year were wound up. existing unfunded debt was about 49,000,000.; the interest of the whole of which was provided for by the votes of supply in the present year. The total amount of exchequer bills outstanding was 44,600,000l. These he proposed The to to replace by exchequer bills already voted to the amount of 20,000,000l., by a further vote of 16,000,000l., and by 2,500,000l. of Irish treasury bills, which would make the total amount of the unfunded debt 38,500,000%. Compared with the 49,000,000l. of unfunded debt at present existing, there would thus be a diminution of ten millions and a half. It was his intention to propose, that the three millions which parliament had resolved to raise by taxation, should be applied to strengthen the consolidated fund, in order to enable it to support the charges of the loan of the present and of the last year, to which, thus reinforced, he thought it would be nearly equal. The charge on the last loan was about 1,600,000l.; that of the present 1,442,000l., making together the sum of 3,042,000l.; being an excess of 42,000l. over the sum which it was proposed to raise. That sum would therefore be appropriated to meet the charges on the two loans; and as it was a matter of account, it was not very material that the appropriation should be exactly balanced. A little might be thrown into one scale or the other without inconvenience, although it would be well to allot them, as nearly as possible, the same proportion. It He now came to the particular propositions which he had announced it to be his intention to bring forward. The first was the consolidation of the customs. was impossible for him to go into all the items of which that head was composed; and it was the less necessary, as a schedule had been prepared, which would give gentlemen the fullest information on the subject. It was only material to state the increase on the whole, on the duties already existing. The only important increase of duty, as he had already stated, was that in the duty on foreign wool, which was of considerable amount. The others were very minute in their rates; and the produce of the whole might be taken at 500,000l. annually. In such a variety of articles, some would, of course, produce more, some less, than the estimate; but he saw no reason to think that the whole would not amount to the sum he had mentioned; and whether some produced more, and some less, was not material, as the whole was to be thrown into the general mass of the consolidated fund. The articles of minute detail, when the schedule to which he had alluded was printed, would be subjected to the consideration of every hon. member who might feel interested in the various minute alterations proposed; and every variation of rate would be marked in it; for in some instances the duty was reduced, while in others it was increased. He had mentioned on a former night, that a considerable advantage was expected from transfer. ring the collection of several of the duties from the board of customs to the boards of excise. These were the duties on tobacco, tea, pepper, coffee, and cocoanuts. On the last-mentioned article, a higher rate of duty was at present paid than on coffee. For many years, the duty on the two articles had been the same. But when it became an object to |