SUBSTANCE OF THE SPEECH, &c. &c. THE CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then rose. As the House had already entered at large into the consideration of the general situation of the country with respect to its Finances, and had sanctioned, by the resolutions to which it had agreed, the general principles on which he intended to ground the financial operations of the year, it only remained for him to enter into the details of the plans and arrangements proposed to carry those operations into effect. The House had also appeared to approve, (though it had not yet confirmed by a distinct resolution,) the measures he had proposed of rendering the Sinking Fund applicable to the public service, to a certain extent, by means of a loan contracted with the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, under the sanction of the provision in the Sinking Fund act, commonly called Mr. Fox's clause, and of making such provision as would prevent, in future years, the necessity of continuing the practice of loans. He should now explain how those arrangements were to be effected in the present year. In doing this, he should follow the usual course. He should recapitulate on one side the supplies granted for the present year, and on the other the Ways and Means by which they were to be met. He should then take a view of the new taxes, and point out the general measures to be founded on the resolutions which the House had al -- ready adopted, in order to show how we might look in future to a settlement which would render the imposition of new taxes and the raising of loans (with the exception of a small loan for the next year if it should be required for the purpose of the further repayment intended to be made to the Bank of England) unnecessary. So much information was contained in the Report of the Finance Committee, and so much more had been elicited by the late discussions in the House, that in recapitulating the supplies, he should have little more to do than to refer to the Report of that Committee, and he should afterwards point out the corresponding Ways and Means. The army Extraordinaries still remained to be granted; but, adding them to the other branches which had already been obtained, the total for the Military Service of the year, would be, according to the statement of the Finance Committee, 8,900,000l. The whole Supplies for the Navy were granted; they amounted to 6,436,000l. Those for the Ordnance were in the same situation, and consisted of 1,191,000/. Under the head of Miscellaneous Services, many items remained for the future consideration of the House, particularly the usual Grants for the poorer classes of the Clergy, both in England and Scotland; but adding their amount to what had been voted, the whole might be expected to come to about 1,950,000l. As some Supplies still remained to be granted, it was not his intention at present to complete the Ways and Means. But the application of twelve millions of the Sinking Fund, as proposed, would much more than cover what was still to be granted. The total amount of the Supplies which he had mentioned was 18,477,000l. To this were to be added 1,570,000l. for interest on Exchequer Bills, and 430,000/. for Sinking Fund on the same, forming a grand total of 20,477,000/. To meet these charges the House had already sanctioned the Grant of The Annual Malt Duty of The Temporary Excise Duty £3,000,000 3,500,000 and he should now propose to vote the Loan contracted for this day, amounting to The Lottery and Produce of the Sale of Naval Stores £12,000,000 240,000 334,000 It was therefore clear that, with the view of meeting the supplies voted, a loan of 13,500,000/. would have been sufficient for the service of the present year. But the measures lately adopted for returning to cash payments had rendered it necessary that 10,000,000/. should be repaid to the Bank, of which five millions were to VOL, XV. Pam. NO. XXIX, B be provided for within the current year, and he thought a further reduction of unfunded debt necessary to the extent of 5,500,0001. To provide for all these expenses, two loans were to be raised. One for twelve millions had already been contracted for by a public competition. The other, to the amount also of twelve millions, he proposed, should be taken out of the Sinking Fund. This would be, however, for the future consideration of Parliament, and he should now only state, that in order to affect the Funds as little as possible, he intended to divide the twelve millions into twelve monthly payments, leaving the monthly sum to be applied by the Commissioners in the purchase of Stock as nearly equal as circumstances would admit. The sum intended to be taken would be one million a month; but in the January and July quarters only 900,000l. should be called for monthly; and in the April and Oct. quarters, in which the amount of the Sinking Fund was larger, 1,100,000l. This appropriation of part of the produce of the Sinking Fund, would still leave about 310,000/. a month applicable to the reduction of the national debt. The whole amount of supplies thus raised would be 31,074,000l., leaving a surplus of about 10,600,000l. for the diminution of the unfunded debt5,000,000l. would be repaid to the Bank, and 5,600,000l. to the indivi dual holders of Exchequer Bills. He had stated that the first Loan had already been contracted for. The terms were highly satisfactory and he was ready to admit had been rendered so by the competition which had prevailed. The Loan was raised by a subscription to the amount of 12 millions, for every 1007, of which 80%. in Consols were to be given (the interest of which was not retrospective, but would only commence from July next, so that there would be no concealed bonus in the shape of interest), and 627. 18s. 8d. in the three per cent. Reduced. He trusted that these terms proved in the most satisfactory manner a spirit of reviving confidence in the resources of the country. The other biddings for the Loan were as follows:-Messrs. Reid, Irving, and Co. 657. 10s.; Messrs. Ricardo and Co. 65l. 2s. 6d. From this it would be seen, that the list which had obtained the preference outweighed very far those with which it had been placed in com-: petition, in the advantages which it offered to the country, as taking the smallest portion of stock, it created the smallest charge both for capital and interest to the country. The Loan raised that morning, and the Loan taken from the Sinking Fund, he would regard as a joint loan in speaking of the stock created by the two operations. Considering them as a joint loan, the capital stock: created for the 24,000,000l. raised, was 34,304,000/ in the 3 per cent. Stock, taken partly in the reduced, and partly in the Consols. The interest on it amounted to 1,029,1201.; the Sinking? Fund to 402,5947. It would here be observed, that he had thought it right to carry strictly into effect the provision made in the Act of 1813 for forming an additional Sinking Fund, whenever the amount of the loan raised should exceed the Sinking Fund previously established. The observance of this provision might have been dispensed with where a loan was raised for the purpose of diminishing the Unfunded Debt. He had however felt that where a loan was raised in time of peace, the operation of the Sinking Fund ought rather to be strengthened than diminished, and had complied accordingly with the provisions of the Act of 1813. To the sums he had mentioned, the charge for management, 10,2917. was to be added. The total charge of the loan then stood as follows: Interest €1,029,120 402,594 10,291 £1,442,005 per cent. With respect to the charge for management, he wished to state, that he considered the Bank to have no claim for management on that part of the Loan which was taken from the Sinking Fund, but only on the 12,000,000l. which had been made in the market. He had shown that the total charge of the Loan was 1,442,000l. The rate of interest to the subscribers was 41. 4s. 9d. The calculation being, that the average price of the 3 per cent. Stock would be 69 and a half. The total rate of about 10,600,000/. paid by the public on the Loan, the Sinking Fund included, was 61. Os. 2d. per cent. He thought he had a right to congratulate the House on a Loan to such an amount having been obtained by such terms. He trusted they would not prove unfavorable to those with whom they had been negociated, though they could hardly be justified as prudent on the part of those who had agreed to them with reference to the present price of stock; there was every reason to hope that they would ultimately prove beneficial to them. Before proceeding to the other parts of the subject, it might be well that he should here advert to the measures which he conceived would be necessary in the next year. As far as it was possible for him to judge at present, he should think that the utmost it would be necessary to raise next year would not exceed 11,000,000l. for the different branches of the public service. This sum might be wanted in addition to that of 5,000,000l. to complete the payment to be made to the Bank. If then 12,000,000l. should be taken from the sinking Fund, as had been done in the present year, but 4,000,000l. would remain to be borrowed in the market. So mo derate a Loan would produce little or no effect on the funds (if it should be necessary to raise a loan at all); and that, at all events, he thought he might be allowed to hope, from the present aspect of Europe, would be the last time he should have occasion to resort to the money market in time of peace. The next branch of the subject to which he would call the attention of the House was the consideration of the mode by which he proposed to realise the pledge given by Parliament to raise 3,000,000/. by new taxes, and the object to which he purposed to apply that sum. But before proceeding on this head, being on the subject of the public debt, he wished to state the amount of the unfunded debt, and to show how it would remain after the supplies of the present year were wound up. The amount of the unfunded debt was at present about 49,000,000%. The amount of Exchequer Bills being 44,600,000/. and the Irish Treasury Bills, payable in July next, amounting to 4,400,000/. These he proposed to replace by 20,000,000/. in Exchequer Bills, which had already been voted by Parliament, by a vote of 16,000,000l. which he should move that evening, and by an issue of Irish treasury Bills, to the amount of 2,500,000l. The total amount of unfunded debt thus created would be 38,500,000l. This, compared with its present amount of 49,000,000l. would give a diminution of 10,500,000l. Now, as he had already stated, it was his intention to propose that the sum of 3,000,000l. should be raised by new taxes, to strengthen the Consolidated Fund, to enable it to support the charge of the loan raised in the last and in the present year, to which, so reinforced, it would be about equal. The amount of the charge of the last loan was about £1,600,000 1,442,000 £3,042,000 being an excess of 42,000l. above the sum proposed to be raised. The sum to be raised it might be proper to divide between the two loans, but as this was merely a matter of account, a little might be given to one side or the other without inconvenience, though it would be well to allot to them as nearly as possible the same proportion to the respective charge of each. He would now proceed to the particular propositions which he had announced it to be his intention to bring forward. With respect to the consolidation of the Customs, it was impossible to go into all the minute variations that were intended-a schedule of these had already been produced, and was in the printer's hands. The only one of |