HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



169 



tioRs from his celebrated speech, 

 urging the necessity, and the im- 

 mediate necessity of a reform in 

 parliament. So much, said Mr. 

 Wardle, for the system of corrup- 

 tion. And after these quotations 

 from Mr. Pitt's speech, he trusted 

 the clamour that had been raised by 

 the friends of that statesman would 

 cease to exist. Without farther 

 preface, Mr. Wardle proceeded to 

 state the reasons on which he had 

 founded his opinion that so great 

 a saving might be made by econo- 

 my. He went over the various 

 points in which great savings might 

 be made under different heads of 

 the army, army agency, the ord- 

 nance department, fortifications, 

 the royal military canal, the com- 

 missariat, the barrack department, 

 the militia and the volunteers of 

 the united kingdom, the staff of 

 the arm)', the medical department 

 of the army and the clothing of 

 the army. Having done with the 

 military part of the subject, Mr. 

 Wardle proceeded, 2ndly, to the 

 civil : the collection of the reve- 

 nue, the bank, pensions, and of- 

 fices executed by deputies, the 

 colonies, catholic emancipation ; 

 and lastly, the expenditure of the 

 navy. He calculated, as he went 

 along, the saving that might be 

 made on each of these points or 

 articles and some others which he 

 mentioned of less moment. The 

 saving to be effected by catholic 

 emancipation he set down at 

 2,000,000/.: the total savings he 

 calculated at 16,516,193/. Us. 'id. 

 He tlicn proceeded to move for 

 such papers, to the number in all 

 of 24«, as, if granted, would en- 

 able him to go farther into detail 

 early in the next session. 



Mr. Huskisson, without attempt- 



ing to follow Mr. Wardle through 

 all his details, made a great many 

 remarks on his principal state- 

 ments, with the view of showing 

 that his plan was a delusion, and 

 would end in the disappointment 

 of those who gave credit to his 

 assertions. In the whole state- 

 ment, the honourable gentleman 

 appeared to proceed on the prin- 

 ciple, that the large establishment 

 we were obliged to maintain for the 

 purpose of security and defence, 

 as that House and the country had 

 hitherto foolishly conceived, had 

 no such object ; but that the real 

 object of them was to create a 

 large expense. Mr. Wardle was 

 ably and cordially supported by 

 Mr. Parnell, who thought that he 

 had made good by very fair and 

 regular calculations, what he had 

 undertaken. Mr. Parnell said, in 

 conclusion, " the hon. member 

 has undertaken a task of great re- 

 sponsibihty, and one attended with 

 great labour, with a view to pro- 

 mote a public object. His exer- 

 tions and the manner in which 

 he has made out the grounds of 

 his opinion entitle him to the 

 thanks of the country." All Mr. 

 Wardle's motions were agreed to. 



The attention of the House of 

 Commons was also called to an 

 improvement in both the criminal 

 and civil law of this country. 



In the House of Commons, May 

 26th, Sir Samuel Romilly rose, 

 pursuant to notice, to submit cer- 

 tain motions, preparatorily to a 

 measure which he had had some 

 time in contemplation to propose 

 for the amendment of our criminal 

 law, with a view to diminish its 

 severity, and at the same time to 

 ensure the certainty of punish- 

 ment. They comprehended the 



period 



