After directing the attention of the House to the great diminution which had been effected in the public expenditure, and giving the strongest assurances of the ardent desire of ministers to make every possible reduction, he mentioned that there were one or two contingent circumstances which seemed likely to cause an increase, if not in the present year, yet probably within a short period. The first of these was the charge of the out-pensioners of Greenwich hospital. This had hitherto been met by a fund, to which officers contributed from their prize-money, and which, continuing to accumulate in war, had hitherto been sufficient to meet the expense thus thrown on it. But the interest of the fund so established, was no longer equal to the burthen, and it was therefore probable, that the charge must fall upon the public. It was however expected, that, in the course of five or six years, from the diminished expense which might be calculated upon, and from other circumstances, that the fund would again be sufficient, and the public be relieved from the burthen. But a legal doubt had lately arisen, whether any thing, except from the interest, could be taken to meet this head of expense, or whether the capital could be at all touched, to provide for any part of that disbursement. It was, in fact, thought, that, as the law stood, there was no power of applying to the current service any part of the surplus, after defraying the charges of the in-pensioners and of the hospital itself. The question was therefore, whether it might not happen, when the interest was applied in the manner

he had mentioned, that the expense of the out-pensioners would fall upon the public. If this occurred, the amount to be provided (that was, supposing the whole expense of the out-pensioners to fall upon the public) would be 300,000l. a-yearThe other was that of the claims of the East India Company, arising out of a mixed and complicated account between that corporation and the government. With respect to this account, he felt it right to say, that government had no other wish but to see it equitably adjusted. Whenever the adjustment took place, and a balance should be struck against government, of course a demand quoad that amount would be made to discharge the debt. That demand might be made within the present session, if the account should be settled in time to show how the balance stood. He begged at the same time to add, that he did not mean now to call for any further grant in the Ways and Means on this account; and it was doubtful even whether he ever should; for he thought that, with a small variation in the time of paying the Exchequer bills, an adequate arrangement might be made for liquidating the balance. Company's claim was two millions; one million of which was considered at present doubtful, owing to the nature of the items composing the account; for instance, there were extravagant sums charged by way of interest for payments made by the Company on the part of the government, under several heads on India. This account, he repeated, the government were anxious to have settled upon an

The

equitable basis; and they were determined, in future, to prevent such an accumulation of arrears, by having the accounts between the company and government annually audited and settled.

In his estimate the chancellor of the Exchequer assumed, that the revenue of the present year would not fall short of that of the last. The ground upon which he entertained this expectation was, the amount of the actual pay ments into the Exchequer in the first five months of the year. So far as it was possible to make up the account (the Irish accounts being left one fortnight in arrear), it appeared that the progress of the revenue fully justified the hope he had expressed. The actual payments made in Great Britain, between the 5th of January and the 1st of June, 1820, amounted to 15,556,1841. But that sum included payments for the stock of malt in hand, which formed no part of the regular income of the year. The sum received for the stock in hand amounted to 312,3531. This, deducted from the actual payments into the Exchequer for the first five months of the year, reduced the sum he had mentioned to 15,243,8317. The actual payments in Ireland, up to the 20th of May, amounted to 1,339,480. The total amount for the United Kingdom was 16,583,311. This was the amount of the revenue up to the period which he had mentioned in 1820. In the present year the actual payments made in Great Britain from the 5th of January to the 1st of June, amounted to 15,388,3221. The payments for Ireland to 1,435,3121. Total, 16,823,6344. It therefore appeared, that, in the

first five months of the present year, there was an excess over the same period in the last of 240,000l. If they deducted from the last year's receipts the 312,000l. for the stock of malt on hand, the revenue had thus cleared in five months 240,000%, of the extra sum raised last year upon that account; and they had only to make good 70,000 in seven months, to place the revenue of this year upon an equal footing with the last, even with the adventitious increase of its amount. On the 27th of June, Mr. Hume made a motion, the object of which was, to enforce the necessity of retrenchment in every department of the public expenditure; and for that purpose he entered into a minute comparison of our present expenses with those of 1792. In 1792, the expenditure of the country was considered large, when it amounted only to 16,000,000l., including the sinking fund. It now amounted to 53,000,000l. without the the sinking fund. In 1792, the interest and charge of the public debt,— he meant that part paid to the public, setting aside the sinking fund,-was 9,577,9721.; and, on the 5th January 1821, it was 31,252,6121. In 1792, the expenses of the civil government and its military establishments (Ireland excluded), were 5,391,2067. In 1820, the expenses (Ireland included) were 22,087,5011., being upwards of four times the amount of 1792.

In 1792, the number of regular troops amounted to 48,474 men; the artillery and marines to 8,115 men; the militia and yeomanry to 35,841 men; making a total of 92,430. In 1821, the number of regular troops amounted to

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81,106 men; the artillery and marines to 15,872, and the militia and yeomanry to 162,328, making, with some smallcorps not specified, a grand total of 263,867 men; and giving a surplus of 177,060 troops above the numbers employed in 1792. In 1792, the expenses of the army were 2,330,3491. in 1821 they were 8,926,4217. The chancellor of the exchequer had stated, that, in this department, a saving of more than 300,000l. had been effected; but the fact was not so. The right hon. gentleman had, indeed, refrained from calling for several large money grants for particular purposes this year; but it was most probable, that he would demand them in the next; and it was of litte value to save 50,000l. this year, in order to pay 100,000l. for it twelve months hence. The real sum, by which the estimates of 1821 were less than those of 1820, was only 163,498/.

Mr. Hume next proceeded to contrast the different items of expense in the army estimates for 1792 and for 1821. In 1792 the army staff in Great Britain and the colonies cost only 23,365l.; in 1821 it cost 133,490. In 1792 the staff in Ireland cost only 10,501., now it cost 40,143. The estimates for the public departments of the War-office, the adjutant-general and the comptroller of accounts, were, in 1792,45,8357.; in 1821, they were 99,2371.; being an excess of 87,2931. The estimates for the War-office alone, in 1792, were 13,2547.; now they were 64,690. The estimates of the Commanderin-chief's office, in 1792, amounted to 8461.-now to 14,475. Hume then proceeded tocomplain of the method in which commis

Mr.

sions were at present filled up. He had a list in his hand of 233 individuals, who had been placed upon the half-pay list on the very day on which they had received their commissions. There was another abuse of much greater importance. In the last five years, there had been 1,105 first commissions, of which 508 had been given away: if these 508 commissions had been filled up from the halfpay, there would have been a saving to the country of 29,4641. a-year, or of 358,5681., at 12 years purchase. The lords of the Admiralty followed a very different practice. In the marines there had been in the last five years, 768 officers on half-pay, of whom 143 had been brought from half to full-pay, there having been only three promotions and one first commission in six years. By the returns upon the table it appeared, that the number of promotions from one rank to another, from cornets to lieutenants, from lieutenants to captains, and so on, in the last five years, was 1,448: to which if 1,105 first commissions were added, there would be a total of 2,555 commissions. Now in 1821 there were 9,037 officers on half-pay, at an expense of 812,577. per annum to the country; and yet, though there had been 2,553 steps in the five years preceding, only 317 officers had been brought upon full-pay, or only one in every seven and a half. Mr. Hume likewise complained of the manner in which 247 officers had been transferred from the half-pay to the veteran battalions, a circumstance, which, coupled with the reduction of those battalions immediately afterwards, seemed calculated to excite the idea that they had

been transferred to those battalions, only to give them a claim to full-pay for life, and so to create an expense of 13,870l. a-year to the country, which, at 12 years purchase, amounted to 166,440l. Adverting to the expenditure of the military college, he remarked that, though it had been begun in 1801, at an expense of 3,8591. a-year; in the five years from 1816 to 1821, it had cost 115,2801. During that period there had been 160 cadets educated there, each of whom had cost the country no less a sum than 720l. He then noticed the increase which had taken place in the superannuation list of civil establishments. In 1792, the allow ances under this head did not amount to more than 5,000/.; in 1816 they amounted to 17,964/.; and now they amounted to 40,1977. A similar increase had taken place in the barrack department. In 1792 the expense under that head was 13,350, and that too for barracks in Ireland; it was now 260,500l. of which 137,500l. was for barracks in England, and the remaining 123,000l. for barracks in Ireland. In 1821 the expense of the commissariat was 513,6717., whereas in 1792 it had scarcely had any existence. 112,102/. had been voted for the commissariat of Ireland, which had only 2,400 horses to support; and even if those horses had been put out to livery at the usual livery price, they could not have cost the sum which had been 'given for their support.

Mr. Hume then noticed the charge for issuing the army foreign half-pay, as altogether unreasonable. The secretary at war had appointed Mr. Disney to that department, and allowed him

at first the very exorbitant commission of 3 and since 2 per cent, for the disbursement of 125,000l. a-year, for the last five years, amounting in that time to 17,6621. being on an average 3,5321. a-year :-this was extravagant, and ought to be instantly reduced. The 24 per cent allowance for paying foreign artillery half-pay had ceased by minutes of council in 1816, and 2d. in the pound now allowed was found quite sufficient; whilst the noble lord allowed Mr. Disney 6d in the pound for the same kind of duty.

Having thus dissected the army accounts, Mr. Hume recapitulated the principal motions which had been made, although without success, for reductions in that department. He had himself submitted to the House one motion to reduce the army by 20,000 men, of whom part were to be household troops, and part troops in the colonies; and another motion to deduct one third of the amount from the army extraordinaries. Had these motions been carried, the first would have saved to the country 763,955l. and the latter 300,000l., making a total of 1,053,955l. He had likewise proposed to reduce 93 regiments of 650 men to 75 regiments of 800 men each, which would have created a saving of 211,000l. In the barrack establishments of England and Ireland, he had wished to make a reduction of 120,000l. In the English and Irish commissariat he had wished to make a reduction of 115,000l. Propositions had likewise been made to reduce the estimates for the military staffs, for the Commanderin-chief's office, for the War-office, for the Judge-advocate

general's office, and for many other public offices; which, had they been carried, would, when joined with the reductions he had before mentioned, have saved to the state no less a sum than 1,663,1277, in the army estimates alone.

Mr. Hume then proceeded to discuss the navy expenditure in the same manner. The expenses of the navy in 1792 were under two millions; at present they were 6,382,7861. The expenses of the Admiralty, Navy and Navypay offices in 1792 was 58,719. In 1813, a time of the greatest naval exertions, the charge was 189,2271. and in 1821, a time of peace, the estimates had been reduced to 185,050., only 4,177. less than in 1813, and 126,3311. more than in 1792. The Victualling-office establishments cost 36,5367. in 1792, and in 1821, they were 96,456/., being 59,9201. more in this year than in 1792. The charge for the dock-yard establishments was very large. It had not been reduced in any proportion to the reduction of seamen or ships employed, nor did there appear to be that difference between a time of peace and of war, which might reasonably be expected. A statement he had prepared, would show that, in 1792, the total charge for dock yards at home was 25,3521., in 1813, it was 212,1427. and in the present year 210,7451. being only 1,3987. less at present, when we had only 119 ships, than in the midst of war, when we had 666 ships, in commission, If the expenses for the new dock-yard at Pembroke was added, the total charge this year for dock-yard establishments would be 217,1561. One remarkable circumstance

with regard to the dock-yard es tablishments, was, that the wages of the workmen amounted only to 192,645., while the salaries of the clerks and superintending officers were 215,0861. The

charge for outports and foreign naval stations had also increased in an unreasonable degree. In 1792 the total charge for them was 4,508/. In 1813 it had increased to 52,3691., and, strange to tell, in this year the charge was 53,951/.! Being 49,4437. more in 1821 than in 1792, and 1,582. more than in 1813, a time of extended warfare:-an increase quite inexplicable. After an attentive examination of all these naval establishments, he had pointed out reductions to the amount of about 251,4077., which might be made without injury to the public service from the estimates of 1,225,6291.

The total number of ships of war of all descriptions in 1792 was 401, and with them we were able to defeat the French and Spanish navies, then much more powerful than at present. In 1792 we had 278 rated ships and 123 sloops in ordinary and at sea, and 16 rated ships building. In 1821 we had 538 rated ships, and 163 sloops in ordinary and at sea, and 30 rated ships building, being an increase of 260 rated ships, and 40 sloops built, and 14 rated ships building, more in 1821, than in 1792. This was nearly double the number and strength of 1792, and he, therefore, called upon the House to pause, before in the present state of our finances, we added to that number. In the last seven years 17,702,2581. had been charged for the repair and building of ships.

The Ordnance estimates for