1822.] 
sheep have been sold at prices the most 
depressed; whilst, from peculiar circum- 
stances, at some few others, satisfactory 
sales have been made. The sales under 
execution of farming property have rather 
_ imereased of late; and there exist the 
strongest symptoms of a farther depres- 
sion of farming produce. The deplorable 
systems of tenants quitting their farms, 
and driving off the stock, has taken place 
to.a. considerable extent in the Prin- 
cipality< 
Political Affairs in May. 
463 
Smithfield :—Beef, is. 8d. to 3s. 8d.— 
Mutton, 1s.'8d. to. 3s.—Liamb, 3s. 4d, to 
5s. 8d.—Veal, 2s. 6d. to 4s. 6d.—Pork, 
1s. 8d. to 4s.—Raw fat, 2s. 0Ld. 
Corn Excliange:—-Wheat, 52s. to 64s.— 
Barley, 15s. to 30s.— Oats, 14s. to 28s.— 
The quartern loaf in London, 94¢d.—Hay, 
50s. to 84s.—Clover do. 463. 6d. to 100s.— 
Straw, 24s. to 37s. 6d. 
Coals in the pool, 36s. 6d, to 42s. 
Middlesex ; May 21. 
POLITICAL AFFAIRS IN MAY. 
— . 
' “GREAT BRITAIN. 
MIDST the afilicting distresses of 
+%& the landed and farming classes, 
and the. consequent depression ef 
home-trade, it is a circumstance as 
gratifying as extraordinary, that the 
produce of the revenue continues to 
increase with reference to the same 
periods of former years. 
thatthe monthof April yielded 300,000/. 
more than April 1821, while the in- 
crease in the previous quarter was 
stated in our last Number at 430,000/. 
The financial plan of converting 
the half-pay and pensions created 
by the late unprincipled wars, from 
annuities depending on the lives of the. 
parties, into annuities for a fixed term 
of forty-five years, that is, of paying 
2,800,000/. for forty-five years, instead 
ef 5,000,000/. for about twenty years, 
by which the load is shifted from this 
culpable generation to the next, is at 
length carried. 
posed to sell the transaction to specu- 
lators ata bidding ; but, no purchasers 
offering, the annuity is to be charged 
on the Consolidated Fund. 
The difference in the present cost 
has enabled the minister ‘‘to throw a 
tub to the whale,” and to remit taxes 
to the amount of 2,000,000/. without 
any reduction of establishments or ex- 
penditure. But,as the paymentis only 
deferred, and no saving effected, Mr, 
Wilson described it as nothing more or 
less than a Joan; and Mr, Maberly 
said the whole of the proceeding was 
frand. and_trickery, and that House 
that approved of it, instead of being 
the guardian of the public purse, was 
its plunderer.. Mr.. Hume. moved an 
amendment, that the 2,800,000/. should \ 
he paid by the commissioners of the 
Sinking Fund; and, although this is 
the only straight-forward proceeding, 
yet it was negatiyed by 115 to 35. 
It is said 
lt was at first pro-- 
The following resclutions were car- 
ried :— 
1. That for the purpose of apportioning, 
conformably to the resolutions of this 
House, of the 3d day of this instant month 
of May, the burden occasioned by the Mi- 
litary and Naval Pensions, it is expedient 
that an equal annual Annnity of 2,800,0001. 
terminable at the end of forty-five years, 
should, from the 5th day of April, 1822, 
be vested in trustees.to be named by 
Parliament; and that the said Annuity 
should be charged upon the Consolidated 
Fund of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and [reland. 
2, That the said trustees should pay into 
the Exchequer the several annual sums 
hereinafter mentioned, by four equal quar- 
terly instalments, on or before the 15th of 
January, the 15th of April, the 15th of 
July, and the 20th of October ; the first 
payment thereof to be made on the 20th 
of October, 1822.—[Here follows a se- 
ries of annually decreasmg sums, from 
4,900,0001. in the ensuing year, to 300,0001. 
in the year endivg 15th of July, 1867.J— 
And that the said several sums, or such 
part thereof as may be necessary, should 
be appropriated and applied conformably 
to the said resolutions. 
3. That, for the purpose of enabling the 
said trustees to make several payments, 
hereinbefore mentioned,- at; the Exche- 
quer, at the several periods aforesaid, they 
should be empowered from time to time to 
sell and dispose. of so much of fhe said 
Annuity as may be necessary for that pur- 
, pose, but so as that no greater amount of 
annuity should be sold or, disposed of in 
any. one year than would, be snfficient te 
raise the sums necessary, to complete the 
whole of the payments to be made within 
the year, or to discharge and pay off the 
principal and. interest of any Exchequer 
Bills which may. haye, been. issued on ac- 
count of such payments... 
4. That for the purpose of enabling the 
said trustees the more readily to provide 
the means necessary for making the said 
payments in the most convenient and eco- 
nomical manner, the commissioners of his 
Majesty’s 
