GENERAL HISTORY. 



m 



millions of capital stock had ac- 

 tually been purchased up. If, 

 instead of borrowing exchequer 

 bills, he had funded capital stock, 

 it woidd have been impossible to 

 have operated a reduction of the 

 debt to the same extent. Whe- 

 ther there would be an equal di- 

 minution of debt in the present 

 year as in the last, was what he 

 could not pretend to assert. He 

 did not Avish to state a positive 

 opinion on the subject • but he 

 estimated that, with some addi- 

 tion to the 12,600,000 i. he had 

 •already mentioned, he might 

 have to borrow alfogther about 

 14,000,000^, and that it was pro- 

 bable there would be paid off 

 about 16^. There might, there- 

 fore, be a diminution, not of 3f , 

 as in the last year, but probably 

 of 2§ millions. 



With the improvement of oui' 

 finances, he looked forward to a 

 speedy improvement in the inter- 

 nal comfort and prosperity of the 

 country. [Hear, hear!] He did 

 not consider this expectation un- 

 reasonable. A great part of the 

 public distress arose, not from any 

 derangement in our domestic af- 

 fairs, but from the general state 

 of Europe. At a time when all 

 over the continent many were 

 struggling for the mere necessa- 

 rie» of life, it was not to be ex- 

 pected that there could be a gi'eat 

 demand for our manufactures. 

 This country fortunately had not 

 been reduced to so low a state as 

 some others had, but we could 

 notexpi'ct to escape without shar- 

 ing in the general calamity. If, 

 however. Providence blessed us 

 Avith a favourable harvest, he 

 should confidently hope to see a 



steady restoration of our revenues 

 and our former prosperity. He 

 had taken the liberty of stating 

 this much, merely to impress on 

 the recollection of the committee, 

 that even under the unfavourable 

 circumstances of the last year, 

 all the benefits which he had held 

 out as likely to result from the 

 plans he had proposed had been 

 more than realized. He antici- 

 pated a still more sensible im- 

 provement ; but he sincerely 

 trusted that the country would 

 never find it necessary to resort 

 to any of those desperate and dan- 

 gerous remedies which som.e per- 

 sons had thought it proper to re- 

 commend. It was alone upon 

 the firmness of parliament and 

 the loyalty of the people, that the 

 security of public credit and the 

 restoration of national prospe- 

 rity depended. He had now only 

 to state, that he estimated the 

 amount of the interest of the ex- 

 chequer and treasury bills ne- 

 cessary to meet the supply ct 

 4.50,000 /. and he contemplated 

 that that sum would be saved by 

 the red\iction which had taken 

 place in the interest of unfunded 

 debt since the last session of par- 

 liament. Thus the public would 

 be subjected to no new charge 

 •whatever. He concluded by mov- 

 ing, " That, towards making 

 good the supply granted to his 

 Majesty, there be issued and ap- 

 plied the sum of 15,749/. 1.5 s. 

 2d. remaining in the receipt of 

 the exchequer of Great Britain of 

 the surplus of the grants for the 

 year IS 15." 



The several resolutions were 

 agreed to. 



CHAP- 



