1826.] 



[ 423 ] 

 POLITICAL OCCURRENCES, &c. 



This Ims been a busy month. The 

 stogns tlmt agitated tlie Exchange have 

 found tlieir way to St. Stei)hen's, and 

 though their violence is now soniewliat 

 abated, the roar may be yet heard. On 

 the 8th an animated debate took place in 

 the Upper House respecting the slave trade, 

 the principal speakers in whicli were Lords 

 Bathurst, Calthorpo, Liverpool, Dudley 

 and Ward, and the Marquis of Lansdowne ; 

 the result was precisely the same as it has 

 ever been, with the exception, tliat the 

 upholders of slavery seem gradually declin- 

 ing in power and popularity. On the Ilth 

 the Chancellor of the Exchequer made his 

 financial statement, which, from the effect 

 it produced on the House, seems to have 

 been every way satisfactory. It was gene- 

 rally believed that when the statement was 

 laid before Parliament, very serious de- 

 ficiencies would appear in more than one 

 branch of the revenue : this, however, is 

 entirely disproved, since, according to Mr. 

 Robinson's statement, the surplus of 1826 

 was ^e7M,579, being nearly six times tlic 

 amount of the preceding year. Messrs. 

 Hume and Maberly followed on the oppo- 

 site side ; while Mr. Baring, who usually 

 we believe ranks among the opponents of 

 ministers, expressed himself highly gratified 

 with the Cliancellor's statement. It is the 

 intention of Government (as Mr. Robinson 

 informed the House) to fund eiglit or nine 

 millions of Exchequer bills, by way of ac- 

 commodation, until the present public dis- 

 tress is somewhat alleviated. On the 17th 

 Mr. Hume brought forward his motion re- 

 specting the charges for admissions to view 

 the public monuments in Westminster 

 Abbey. He observed, tliat the revenues 

 arising from the abbey, exclusive of the sums 

 paid for admission, amounted to .£20,000, 

 and drew from this fact an inference, that 

 as the house was at the expense of the 

 establishment, it should of course be open 

 to public inspection. Mr. Peel in reply, 

 proved that the Dean and Chapter of West- 

 minster claimed the by-law, the usual fees 

 of admission ; but conceded to IMr. Hume, 

 that it would perhaps be as w^ell that the 

 fees were considerably reduced. Upon 

 this point, indeed, there can be but one 

 opinion. The abbey is peculiar in the 

 character of its establishment — it is the 

 repository of the illustrious dead : the only 

 temple of fame in England ; and every 

 feeling of delicacy and propriety is outraged 

 when the public, mixed up and linked so 

 intimately with their noble forefathers, are 

 compelled to pay a certain sum for the 

 liberty of offering u\) their tribute of respect 

 at 'their graves. The vei-y idea, that the 

 tombs of such men as Shakspeare, Ben 

 Jonson, Dryden, and others of more or 

 less note, should be shown to their own 



countrymen at a shilling a tomb, is mon- 

 strous, and well worthy of Holland in the 

 sixteenth century ! ! On the same niglit 

 Mr. C. Wynn brought for^vard his long- 

 promised motion re.spccting the ap|)oint- 

 ments of East-India writers ; which Mr. 

 Hume minutely commented upon, and 

 obsen'ed that the college establislied for 

 their use at Ilaileybury was superfluous, 

 not to say injurious, both to the interest of 

 the writers themselves and to the Company 

 that employed them. He obser\'ed, that 

 they were sent there at an early age — 

 taught knowledge by theory instead of prac- 

 tice ; and when sufficiently grounded in the 

 usual rudiments of school education, were 

 sent inexperienced, unobser\-ant, and use- 

 less, to fill appointments in India, wlios« 

 imijortant nature required an intimate ac- 

 quaintance with the world, together with 

 a ripened and unerring judgment. Mr. C. 

 Grant rebutted these charges, and proved, 

 to the satisfaction of the House, that they 

 originated either in wilful or mistaken 

 ignorance ; that men best acquainted with 

 the character and pecularities of Indian 

 life and appointments had spoken in the 

 highest terms of the utility of such an 

 establishment. Lord Minto and the Marquis 

 of Hastings in particular. On the 18tli, iu 

 consequence of the motion of Mr. Herries 

 in the committee of supply for a grant of 

 i'200,000 for the civil contingencies, an 

 animated debated arose. Mr. Hume ob- 

 jected to the present expenses of our 

 diplomatic corps as excessive ; anil Mr. 

 Canning, in a speech of unusual lengtb. and 

 eloquence, defended them. Tlie honour- 

 able secretary entered into a minute detail 

 of the subject, especially the foreign con- 

 sulates, and asserted that every paiiis had 

 been taken to reduce the expense as low 

 as possible. In defending the exjjenditurc 

 of the French embassy, he observed, that 

 the Duke of Northumberland had actually 

 spent nearly double his salary out of his 

 own private fortune. Mr. Hume in reply 

 objected to the expense occasioned by the 

 dress of the trumpeters in the king's house- 

 hold, as a novelty : but he was answered, 

 that the novellij was as old as the time of 

 Henry VIII. On tlie 21st, on a motion 

 for the House to resolve itself into a com- 

 mittee of supply on the Irish miscellaneous 

 estimates, Mr. Spring Rice objected to two 

 votes in the estimates, viz. that to the 

 association for discountenancing vice, and 

 the Kildare-place Society : to the former, be- 

 cause it was not approved by the commis- 

 sion for inquiry into the state of education 

 in Ireland ; and to the latter, chiefly by 

 reason of its internal disci])Iine, its schools 

 not being alike open to Protestants and 

 Catholics. A long debate ensued, iu 

 the course of \vhich Mr. Goulburno and 



