GENERAL HISTORY. 



[107 



peared practicable to provide with 

 so little pressure on the people, 

 and especially on the lower classes 

 of the community, so large a sum 

 as that of which he had just 

 completed the details. It had 

 been his intention, if the attention 

 ef the house had not been so 

 completely exhausted, and if he 

 had not himself laboured under 

 an indisposition which made it 

 painful to him to address them, to 

 offer some general observations on 

 the financial situation of the 

 country; but under these circum- 

 stances, and having performed that 

 part of his duty which he felt to 

 be strictly necessar}', he should 

 now refrain from trespassing long- 

 er on their patience, and conclude 

 by moving his tirst resolution. 



Mr. Huskisson said, that in 

 the present circumstances of the 

 country, he was decidedly of opi- 

 nion that a more judicious selec- 

 tion of objects could not have been 

 made th;in that of his right hon, 

 friend ; and he doubted not that 

 when the plan should have un- 

 dergone some modification in its 



passage through the house. 



It 



would be as acceptable as any 

 measure of the kind in the present 

 state of the resources of the 

 country. He then begged leave 

 to recal to the attention of the 

 committee some observations 

 which he had made three ses- 

 sions ago, and to apply some of 

 the facts which subsequent expe- 

 rience had furnished in confirma- 

 tion of his former reasonings. He 

 had then stated as a general prin- 

 ciple, that the only secure means 

 to which the country could look 

 for enabling it to support its ar- 

 duous struggle wae, the adoption 

 of every measure for retreochiog 



its expenditure, and equalizing it 

 with its income. What had re- 

 cent changes and events tended 

 to establish? In 1810 the amount 

 of debt funded was upwards of 

 l(i millions, in 1811; 19| mil- 

 lions ; in 1812, 27,870,000/. Tiie 

 3 per cent consols, were at those 

 three periods 70, 05, and 56 ; 

 and tlie charge of the loan had 

 risen from U/. 4*. to 7/. 4s. The 

 hon. gentleman then considered 

 some of the resources to which 

 recourse had been had for meeting 

 the increased expenses, and shewed 

 their want of permanency. He 

 spoke of the alarming depression 

 of the public credit, and the un- 

 favourable terms of the last loan, 

 and said that he could not in 

 too strong terms point out the im- 

 policy of raising money at such 

 a disadvantageous rate of interest, 

 and that it would be much better 

 to obtain it by general taxes. 

 He then adverted to some extra- 

 neous circumstances which had 

 operated in this depression, the 

 most important of which was the 

 extent to which it had been 

 thought necessary to support the 

 credit of Ireland by the sacrifice 

 of our own ; and he pointed out 

 several things relative to the re- 

 venue of that country which de- 

 manded investigation. He con- 

 cluded with expressing his convic- 

 tion that the stamina of the 

 nation were still unimpaired, and 

 that although further and great 

 sacrifices might be necessary to 

 carry us through our difficul- 

 ties, yet the public spirit of 

 the people was such that they 

 would not be backward to make 

 them. 



The allusion to the revenues of 

 Ireland called up some of the 



Irish 



