taxation, nay, almost to the first principles on which men are united in civilised society. With a task so formidable before me, I feel warranted in addressing a special appeal to the Committee for their kindness and indulgence, inasmuch as I am certain that only by their kindness and indulgence can I be enabled-I will not say to discharge the task as it ought to be discharged, for that is wholly beyond my power-but to discharge it so as in any case to be at least intelligible to my hearers.

The first portion of my duty will be to lay before the Committee the state of the Account of the country. I think I shall best discharge it, by taking up the state of that account from the point at which it stood last year, when the financial department was in the hands of the right hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Disraeli); and it will be satisfactory to the Committee to observe, that as our experience grows with the lapse of time, so do we obtain larger and still larger proof of the elasticity of the revenue, and of the progress of the productive as well as the consuming powers of the country.

On the 30th of April, 1852, the right hon. gentleman opposite estimated the revenue for the financial year, which had then just commenced, at 51,625,000l. But in the month of December, 1852, when the right hon. gentleman had occasion, with eight months of additional experience, to return to the subject, he was able to present to us an estimate which placed the revenue of the year at 52,325,000l., and thus to exhibit an increase upon his estimate, made in April, which amounted to not less than 700,000l. And now, within the few months which have elapsed since last December, we have further evidence, still of the same gratifying character; for the revenue, which the right hon. gentle

man then judiciously estimated at 52,325,000l. amounted to no less, when we reached the termination of the last quarter, on the 5th of April, than 53,089,000l., showing an increase of 1,464,000l. upon the estimate formed at the commencement of the financial year.

The expenditure of the last year, as estimated by the right hon. gentleman opposite on the 30th of April, 1852, was taken at 51,163,000l., but the actual expenditure has only reached to 50,782,000l.; and consequently you have had figures presented to you in the balancesheet which must have been gratifying to every member of the Committee, since they show a surplus of income over the expenditure for the year beginning April 6, 1852, and ending April 5, 1853, to the amount of 2,460,000%.

But, Sir, having reached this point by a smooth and easy progress, it is now my duty to entreat hon. gentlemen to make large deductions from the very sanguine estimate which has been made in this House

-so sanguine as, considering the quarters from which it came, to excite my surprise-to the effect that, because our balance-sheet for the past year shows 2,460,000l. of surplus, therefore we have that sum available for remission of taxation. That would indeed be a precipitate inference. Unfortunately, before we arrive at such a conclusion, there is one circumstance rather material to examine, and this is, what is the probable or estimated amount of expenditure for the financial year which we have just commenced.

When I turn, then, to consider our probable expenditure, and compare it partly as it is estimated by us, but chiefly as it appears on the actual votes of this House, with the estimates of the last year, I find it stands às follows. The expenditure for 1852-53 was 50,782,000l.; but the expenditure for 1853-54, the great bulk of

which is already voted, (and upon the remainder I can anticipate, on the whole, no diminution,) amounts to 52,183,000l. Therefore, without now going into other particulars, which, I am sorry to say, occasion a further deduction from the surplus of 2,460,000l., I beg to point out that no less than 1,400,000l., or nearly three fifths of that surplus, are already disposed of by the charges to which you are liable under acts of Parliament, by the votes to which the House has come for the defence of the country, and by the charges we shall have to propose on account of the miscellaneous services, which, I apprehend, this House will not be inclined either to refuse or greatly to diminish.

The right hon. gentleman opposite, in December, 1852, estimated as follows his surplus for the present year. He took a total sum of 1,600,000l.; which was made up in the following manner. I think he stated

that, on the ordinary revenue, he would venture to anticipate a surplus amounting to between 1,300,000%. and 1,400,000, and by decrease of charge for the Caffre war, a further sum of 200,000l. or 300,000l. These two sums put together gave a surplus, as the basis of his calculation for the year 1853-4, amounting to 1,600,000. At that period, the right hon. gentleman thought that the only charge against that surplus on account of coming expenditure would be the sum of 100,0007., which he proposed to apply to light dues and purposes connected with shipping, and the sum of 600,000l. for the increase he anticipated on the great military services of the country. As regards the 100,000%., the present Government have made arrangements which they hope will afford great relief to shipping, without any charge to the Exchequer; but as regards the estimates for defence made by the right hon. gentleman, his successors in office have not been so fortunate;

neither have they, nor has the House, thought it wise to confine the votes for the year within these limits.

I shall now state to the Committee how that surplus of 1,600,000l. has been absorbed.

The increase on the navy estimates amounts to 617,6037. In this sum I include the packet service, as it was voted in 1852, and as we found it prepared for this year; and make the comparison with the estimate of April, 1852, and do not for my present purpose include the supplemental vote of last December.

The increase on the army and commissariat services, but almost entirely on the commissariat, is 90,0007.; and this increase on the commissariat is to be accounted for by the fact that we have now reached, we trust, that stage in the hostilities at the Cape of Good Hope when we may consider that our extraordinary votes are at an end, and when the provision to be made has passed under the head of ordinary expenditure. Therefore, though it is our duty to submit to the House, during the present session, an extraordinary vote on account of the Cape for 200,000l., which is essentially retrospective, we have likewise to submit a vote for 70,000l. in commissariat expenditure, which in its character is prospective, and analogous to our ordinary estimates. So that a double expenditure, as far as the Cape is concerned, is charged on the service of the present year.

The increase on the ordnance is 616,0007.

The militia estimates have not yet been brought to the shape in which they will be laid on the table; but I am sorry to say that there will be a large, yet I believe an unavoidable, increase on the amount estimated last year by my right hon. friend then Secretary of State for the Home Department. The estimate for the present year cannot, I fear, be expected to be much less, if

at all less, than 530,000l. I doubt if it was expected twelve months ago by my right hon. friend that the amount would be more than something like 300,000%. If this be so, there will be a considerable increase in the expense of giving effect to the plan he proposed, and it is right that the House of Commons should know clearly the expense of giving effect to any plan, especially one which has realised, in other respects, all the most favourable anticipations formed of it. The increase of expense for the militia, as compared with the reckoning of my right hon. friend, will, I apprehend, be about 230,000l.

The last item in these augmentations of expense is the sum of 100,000l., added to the votes during the present year for the purposes of public education. If the Committee take the pains to put together these five items, they will find that, though the right hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Disraeli) anticipated a surplus of 1,600,000l. for the financial year of 1853-54, the augmentations of charge, principally voted already, but in part yet to come, amount to no less than 1,654,0007.

However, as I have already stated to the Committee, there has been a further improvement in the revenue of the country; and there are likewise some few items of public expenditure on which the Government have been able to effect some small saving.

With respect to the important and unsatisfactory charge for the Packet contract service, it has been our most anxious desire to see what, consistently with justice, was to be done to amend the position of the public. We think that the amount of charge which that service has reached is wholly disproportionate with the benefit derived from it.

I am not at present in a condition to lay the estimate on the table, or to state exactly what the estimate will