CHAPTER XXXV.

{GEORGE IV. 1825—1826.}

Meeting of Parliament..... Bill for the Suppression of Unlawful Associations in Ireland..... Catholic Relief Bill..... Committee of Inquiry into the State of Ireland..... Mr. Hume’s Motion against the Irish Church Establishment, &c. State of the Irish Charter Schools..... Debates on Alleged Abuses in Chancery..... Regulation of the Salaries of the Judges..... Rejection of the Unitarian Marriage Act, &e...... Act against Combinations among Workmen..... Free Trade System..... Surrender of the Charter of the Levant Company..... Report of Treaties..... Financial Statements..... Proposals for the Abolition of certain Taxes, &c. Prorogation of Parliament..... Great Commercial Panic..... The Burmese War..... Review of Foreign Relations.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was opened by commission on the 3rd of February. The speech took a pleasing view of all our affairs, foreign and domestic, except those of Ireland, where strife and animosity still prevailed. The usual addresses were carried by large majorities.

BILL FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF UNLAWFUL ASSOCIATIONS IN IRELAND.

The proceedings of the Catholic Association in Ireland created alarm in the minds of ministers. It was clear, however, to them that public opinion would be against the enactment of a partial law against that body, while the Orange societies, which were also mischievous in their tendency, were tolerated. A bill, therefore, was introduced by Mr. Goulburn “to amend the acts relating to unlawful associations in Ireland.” This produced a warm discussion, which extended by adjournment through four nights. In the course of this debate Mr. Canning vindicated himself against the insinuations of those who considered him estranged from the Catholic cause. He remarked:—“I have shown that, in 1812, I refused office rather than enter an administration pledged against the Catholic question. Nor is this the only sacrifice I have made to the Catholic cause. From the earliest dawn of my life, ay! from the first visions of my ambition, that ambition was directed to one object, before which all others vanished comparatively into insignificance; that object, far beyond all the blandishments of power, beyond all the rewards and favours of the crown, was to represent in this house the university at which I was educated. I had a fair chance of accomplishing it, when the Catholic question crossed my path. I was warned, fairly and kindly warned, that my adoption of that cause would blast my prospects; I adhered to the Catholic cause, and forfeited all my long-cherished hopes and expectations. Yet I am told that I have made no sacrifice; that I have postponed the cause of the Catholic to views and interests of my own.” Mr. Goulbum’s bill was carried by large majorities; but though the Catholic Association yielded to legal authority and became defunct, it was soon resuscitated under a different form. Ostensibly regulating itself according to the late act, it disclaimed all religious exclusions, oaths, powers of acting in redress of grievances, and correspondence with depending societies; and, concealing its intentions under the mask of charitable purposes, it pursued its original course with impunity.

CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.

After the above bill had passed, Sir Francis Burdett brought forward a plan, in which the principal bill for the removal of Catholic civil disabilities was accompanied by two others: one to enact a state provision for the Roman Catholic clergy, and the other to raise the Irish franchise from forty shillings to ten pounds. The principal of these bills passed the commons with large majorities; but it was clearly foreseen that it would not in the lords. In the interval of the second and third readings the Duke of York, in presenting a petition to the upper house from the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, declared that the concession of Catholic claims was repugnant, not only to the king’s coronation, but to the principles of the constitution. He added:—“I will oppose them to the last moment of my life, whatever may be my situation, so help me God!” This declaration was extolled by those who opposed the claims, as the most manly, patriotic, and noble expression of sentiment that could be uttered at a critical moment; and it was printed in letters of gold, and became their watchword. On the other hand it gave rise to bitterness of feeling among that class of politicians who were in favour of the bill. Its effect on them was strongly displayed by an intemperate sally into which, on the very next night, Mr. Brougham broke out in the house of commons against the speech of the royal duke, in which he was several times called to order. The great bulk of the nation, however, concurred in the principles to which his royal highness had declared his adherence, from an honest conviction that such concessions to the Roman Catholics were inconsistent with the coronation oath, and fraught with danger to the cause of Protestantism.

The bill was carried up to the lords, and read a first time on the 11th of May; and on the 17th Lord Donoughmore moved the second reading. He was supported by Lords Camden, Darnley, Lansdowne. Harrowby, and Fitzwilliam, and the Bishop of Norwich; and opposed by Lords Colchester, Longford, and Liverpool, and the Bishop of Chester, and the lord chancellor. The debate presented little novelty; on the one side the right of the Catholics to political equality was insisted upon, together with the innoxiousness of their religious creed, &c.; while, on the other hand, it was contended that, with respect both to the nature of the religion in its political consequences, and to the inconsistency of admitting Catholic elements of power into a Protestant constitution, the reasons for excluding Catholics ought to be as operative now as at any other period. The most remarkable circumstance in the debate, was the vehemence with which Lord Liverpool opposed the measure. In allusion to the grand argument in favour of the bill, that of conciliation, he remarked:—“I cannot bring myself to view this measure as one of peace and conciliation. Whatever it might do in this respect in the first instance, its natural and final tendency will be to increase dissensions and to create discord, even where discord did not previously exist. I entreat your lordships to consider the aspect of the times. The people are taught to consider Queen Mary as having been a wise and virtuous queen, and that the world had gained nothing whatever by the Reformation. Nay, more than this: it was now promulgated that James the Second was a wise and virtuous prince, and that he fell in the glorious cause of toleration. Could the house be aware of these facts, and not see that a great and powerful engine was at work to effect the object of re-establishing the Catholic religion throughout these kingdoms? And if once established should we not revert to a state of ignorance, with all its barbarous and direful consequences? Let the house consider what had been the result of those laws, what had been the effects of that fundamental principle of the British constitution which they were now called upon to alter with such an unsparing hand. For the last hundred and thirty years the country had enjoyed a state of religions peace, a blessing that had arisen out of the wisdom of our laws. But what had been the state of the country for the hundred and thirty years immediately preceding that period? England had been the scene of the most sanguinary religious contentions. The blessings of the latter period were to be attributed solely to the nature of those laws which granted toleration to all creeds, at the same time that they maintained a just, a reasonable, and a moderate superiority in favour of the established church. Their lordships were now called upon to put Protestants and Catholics on the same footing; and if they consented to do this, certain he was, that the consequence would be religious dissension, and not religious peace.” Upon a division the bill was thrown out by a majority of one hundred and seventy-eight against one hundred and thirty. The two auxiliary bills, called, by way of derision, “the wings,” after this failure were of course abandoned, although they also would have passed the commons by large majorities.

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF IRELAND.

In the last session a committee of the lords had been appointed to inquire into the state of those districts in Ireland which were subject to the operation of the insurrection act. Early in this session another committee was appointed to inquire into the state of Ireland generally. The result of the labours of the committee was a brief and vague report, but accompanied by a mass of evidence, which threw great light upon the condition of the general body of the Irish people. It showed that they lived in the most degraded state; that they were without property; and that their existence was sustained by an insufficient quantity of food of the most unwholesome kind. This report, however, was presented at too late a period of the session to be made the basis of any enactments; and though various discussions took place during the session on particular circumstances connected with the state of Ireland, none of them led to any result affecting the condition of the people.

MR. HUME’S MOTION AGAINST THE IRISH CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT, ETC.

On the 14th of June Mr. Hume moved two resolutions relative to the Protestant church of Ireland:—first, “That the property now in the possession of the established church in Ireland is public property, under the control of the legislature, and applicable to such purposes as in its wisdom it may deem beneficial to the best interests of religion and of the community at large, due regard being had to the rights of every person in the actual enjoyment of any part of that property.” And second, “That this house will, early in the next session of parliament, appoint a select committee, for the purpose of considering the present state of the Irish church, and the various charges to which ecclesiastical property is liable.” The first of these resolutions was negatived without a division, and the second was lost by a majority of one hundred and twenty-six against thirty-seven.

STATE OF THE IRISH CHARTER SCHOOLS.

In consequence of the report of the commissioners on education, which showed that great abuses existed in the chartered schools of Ireland, Sir John Newport called the attention of the commons to that subject. After detailing at considerable length the condition of the funds of these schools, and the barbarous manner in which the pupils placed in them were treated, he moved, “That an humble address be presented to his majesty, expressing the marked sentiments of regret and indignation with which the house of commons perused the details of unwarrantable cruelty practised on the children in several of the charter schools of Ireland, contained in the report presented to both houses of parliament by the commissioners appointed by his majesty for examination into the state of the schools of Ireland; and praying that his majesty may be pleased to direct the law-officers of the crown in that part of the United Kingdom to institute criminal prosecutions against the actors, aiders, and abettors of these dreadful outrages, as far as they may be amenable to law.” Mr. Peel admitted that the system of charter schools was one which did not admit of correction, but ought to be extinguished altogether. He stated that an order had been sent prohibiting the admission of any more children upon those foundations. He thought, also, that if any of the masters could be proved judicially to have been guilty of such atrocities as were stated in the report, they ought not only to be dismissed, but prosecuted. At the same time he hoped that Sir J. Newport would so far alter the wording of the motion, as not to assume the existence of the guilty practices which were to constitute the subject of inquiry. In consequence of this suggestion the right honourable baronet withdrew the original motion, and substituted the following:—“That an humble address be presented to his majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions to the law-officers of the crown in Ireland, to institute criminal proceedings against the persons concerned in the cruelties detailed in the report of the commissioners, so far as they may be amenable to law,” This motion was agreed to _nem. con._

DEBATES ON ALLEGED ABUSES IN CHANCERY.

A commission of inquiry had been appointed last session to inquire into the abuses which were said to exist in the court of chancery. The report of this commission had not yet been made, but nevertheless the subject was again mooted in the commons. Two discussions on it took place in the present parliament. The first of these was introduced on the 31st of May, by Mr. J. Williams, on the occasion of presenting some petitions complaining of particular proceedings in chancery. The speech which Mr. Williams made was an attack not merely upon the court of chancery, but upon the whole law of England. He particularly animadverted upon the law of real property, upon which, notwithstanding, he declared himself ignorant; and the most important part of his speech went to prove, that courts of common law should cease to be so, and that the equitable and legal jurisdiction should be confounded. The subject was brought under discussion again on the 7th of June, by Sir Francis Burdett, who moved that the evidence taken by the commission instituted to investigate the practice of the court of chancery be printed. Mr. Peel opposed this motion, because to print such evidence, without any accompanying report, was contrary to the practice of the house; and that if it were printed, the session was too far advanced to take the subject into consideration. These attacks were chiefly made against Lord Eldon; and in the course of the discussion, Sir W. Ridley made a remark to which his own party, from whom those attacks came, would have done well to attend. “He wished,” he said, “as much as any man to see the system altered, but he must object to the mode in which an individual was attacked night after night. He was persuaded such attacks did no good; for Lord Eldon stood very high in the estimation of the people of England.” Mr. Brougham, however, did not profit by this advice; for he broke forth into an uncalled-for and indelicate attack upon Lord Gifford, who had been distinguished by the patronage of the chancellor, and was then deputy-speaker of the house of lords. The motion was rejected by a majority of one hundred and fifty-four against seventy-three. A remarkable circumstance in all the debates which took place on the court of chancery was, that none of its assailants ventured beyond general declaration. No part of the system in which the alleged evil lay was specified, and no remedy was propounded. All that these discussions could lead to, therefore, was to render the court of chancery the subject of popular odium, and to lower the general administration of justice in the public estimation.

REGULATION OF THE SALARIES OF THE JUDGES.

During this, session the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward a measure for augmenting the salaries of the judges, and at the same time for prohibiting the sale of those ministerial offices which the chiefs of the respective courts had been allowed so to dispose of. It was proposed at first to allow the puisne judges £6,000 a year; but the scheme ultimately adopted was to give £10,000 a year to the chief-justice of the king’s bench; £7,000 to the chief-baron of the court of exchequer; £8,000 to the chief-justice of the court of common pleas, and £5,500 to each of the puisne justices of the courts of king’s bench, common pleas, and the exchequer. This arrangement met with considerable opposition, some of the members as Messrs. Hume, Denman, and Hobhouse, arguing that the dignity of a judge did not depend upon money, and that the cheapest mode of doing the judicial business of the country was the best. On the contrary, Mr. Scarlett argued that the arrangement was improper because it diminished the emoluments of the lord chief-justice of England; and he moved an amendment, which was lost, that the sum of £12,000; should be given to him. Mr. Brougham, in a different spirit, proposed that £500 a-year should be taken from the salary of the puisne judges, but that alteration was also rejected.

REJECTION OF THE UNITARIAN MARRIAGE ACT, ETC.

The Unitarian marriage act was this year again rejected, although supported in the lords by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Lichfield, and Lord Liverpool. The same fate was awarded Mr. Serjeant Onslow’s bill for the repeal of the usury laws, though Mr. C. Wynne stated that not only himself, but the chancellor of the exchequer, and most of the cabinet ministers, were favourable to their abolition. Ministers had left the house when the subject was discussed, anticipating that the division on the bill would not take place till a late hour, and that their presence was not necessary for its success. While they were absent the bill was rejected by a majority of forty-five against forty. This decision was owing partly to the arguments of the solicitor-general against the measure. Borrowers, he said, might be divided into three classes: mercantile borrowers, landed borrowers, and persons who might be considered general borrowers; they not belonging to either of the above classes. Mercantile borrowers, he continued, generally obtained a loan to profit by it. They did not borrow from necessity, but to trade; and if they could make ten or twelve per cent, on the borrowed money, there was no reason why they should not pay the lender seven or eight per cent. But was there, he asked, any landed proprietor so ignorant, as not to see, that, if the monied man could lend to the trade, at a higher rate than five per cent., he would not lend to him at that sum. It was one advantage to the lender, that he could recall his capital at pleasure, or get it back at a short notice. Now when a man lent capital to a trader, he was generally enabled to command the use of it when he pleased; but if he lent his money on land he could not do this: there was all the trouble and inconvenience of a mortgage; he could not recall it for two or three years; and therefore in proportion as he could not command the use of his capital when he lent it to the landowner, he would make him pay a higher rate of interest for it than the trader. He believed he was not wrong when he stated that eight out of every ten estates in the kingdom were loaded with debt. Now under what circumstances did the country gentlemen borrow money? Was it to employ it at some seasonable crisis, when by prudence and dexterity he might obtain vast profit? No. The benefits which he could receive as its produce were fixed: he never could obtain from a borrowed sum beyond a determined amount. Could any one say, therefore, that the repeal of the usury laws would be beneficial to the latter class? But if the terms of borrowing were so unfavourable to the landed class, what expectation could the general borrower entertain of being able to obtain a loan under any other than oppressive terms? These persons generally stood in need of only small sums; their necessities were pressing, and therefore they were exposed to the most grinding demands. They could have no choice but to submit to the terms imposed upon them, be they never so oppressive.

ACT AGAINST COMBINATIONS AMONG WORKMEN.

In a former session, Mr. Hume had obtained the passing of an act repealing both the statute and common law concerning combinations among workmen. This act was attended with mischievous effects; and therefore, during this session, Mr. Huskisson called the attention of the house to the subject. In his speech he detailed some painful reports regarding it which had been forwarded to the secretary of the home department: reports which went to show that the most atrocious acts of outrage and violence had been committed by workmen on their employers. Misconceiving the real object of the legislature in the late act, they had, he said, manifested a disposition against the masters, and a tendency to proceedings destructive of the property and business of the latter. This disposition, if it remained unchecked, he asserted, would produce the greatest mischiefs in the country; and the evil was growing to so alarming a pitch in some districts that if not speedily arrested, it would soon become a subject for Mr. Peel to deal with in the exercise of his official functions. As a general principle, he admitted that every man had a right to carry his own labour to the best market, as labour was the poor man’s capital. On the other hand, he contended for the perfect freedom of those who gave employment to them; whose property, machinery, and capital ought to be protected. Mr. Huskisson entered into details to show the nature of the system which was acted upon in several quarters. Associations were formed, he said, which, if persevered in and prosecuted successfully, must terminate in the ruin of the very men who were parties to them. The associations had their delegates, their presidents, their committees of management, and every other sort of functionary comprised in the plan of a government. By one article in a set of regulations it was provided, he remarked, “that the delegates from all the different works should assemble at one and the same place,” on certain occasions; so that it was not the combination of all the workmen of one employer against him, or even of one whole trade against the masters, but systematic union of the workmen of many different trades, and a delegation from each of them to one central meeting. Thus there was established as against the employers a formal system of delegation, a kind of federal republic, all the trades being represented by delegates, who formed a sort of congress. Another regulation which Mr. Huskisson noticed was to this effect:—“Each delegate shall be paid out of his own work with, these exceptions only—the president, the secretary, and the treasurer are to be paid out of the general funds.” The delegates are elected for six months, and may be re-elected. Here he remarked was a tax levied upon each workman for the maintenance of general funds applicable to purposes of a most mischievous character. Other articles declared that it was the duty of the delegates to point out the masters disliked, and to warn such masters of the danger in which they were placed in consequence of this combination. Here, Mr. Huskisson rightly observed, was an acknowledgment of the dangerous nature of these associations. But, he asked, what followed? Why another duty of the delegates was to try everything which prudence might dictate to put the disliked masters out of the trade: not everything which fairness and justice might dictate to workmen who sought to to obtain a redress of grievances, but everything which “prudence” might dictate. In such a position, “prudence” must be understood as implying that degree of precaution that might prevent the “Union” from being brought within a breach of the law, such as the crime of murder. Was it, he asked, fit, right, or reasonable that persons engaged in commercial or other pursuits should, by combinations thus organized, be kept in constant anxiety and terror about their interest and their property. After noticing other regulations of this class of associations, Mr. Huskisson went on to show that others were governed by regulations, if possible, more extraordinary. One of these regulations was, that no man coming into any given district or county within the control assumed by the associating parties, should be allowed to work without previously paying five pounds sterling, to be applied to the funds of the association. In a similar spirit, another regulation set forth, that any child being permitted to assist, should at ten years old be reckoned a quarter of a man, and pay a proportionate sum accordingly. It was also provided that any man being called in by any collier to his assistance should not be at liberty to work, unless previously adopted, like the collier, by the society, and unless, like him, he should previously pay his five pounds. Mr. Huskisson rightly asked whether this amercement of five pounds, and this subscription of one shilling a week to the funds of the association, which every member was called upon to pay and contribute, would not produce to each of the parties, if placed in a saving-bank, far more beneficial and advantageous results? and whether there were not, among these combinations, men anxious for the enjoyment of the power and distinction which they considered the attainment of certain posts would confer upon them? With reference to Mr. Hume’s act, he declared that when he looked at the way in which it was worded, and the artful misconstruction that might be put upon it by those who best knew how to mislead and deceive the men who had engaged in these combinations, he was not surprised that the associators should consider themselves to be warranted in their proceedings under that act. It repealed all former statutes, and then enacted that no proceedings at common law should be had by reason of any combinations or conspiracies of workmen formerly punishable under those repealed statutes. Without imputing to the framers of the bill the slightest idea that any misapprehensions could be entertained of its enactments, he did not doubt that a great portion of the associated and combined workmen in the country did actually believe, that so far from violating the law, its second section proved that they were only pursuing a course strictly conformable to the legislature. It declared that “journeymen, workmen, and other persons who shall hereafter enter into any combination to obtain higher rates of wages, &c., or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade, or business, or the management thereof, shall not be subject or liable to any indictment or prosecution for a criminal conspiracy or combination, or to any other proceeding or punishment whatever, or under the common statute law.” “Would not,” Mr. Huskisson asked, “any person, on reading this sentence, suppose it was something fit and commendable for workmen to conspire together to regulate and control the management of any manufacture?” In conclusion, he said, that under this act, the plotting together for the destruction of machinery, and even threatening life or property were no longer any criminal offence; and that he considered the existing law was not adequate to put down an evil which was increasing to a formidable extent: not the evil of committing the offences to which the act adverted, but the evil of workmen being permitted to plot, and the bold, open avowal of carrying such permission into effect. He moved for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the effects of this act, and to report their opinion how far it might be necessary to repeal or amend it. This motion was agreed to, and the committee, after a laborious investigation, made a report, in which they recommended the repeal of Mr. Hume’s bill; the effect of which would be to restore the operation of those laws which were suspended by the second and third clauses of that act. But while recommending that the common law should be restored, the committee expressed an opinion that an exception should be made to its operation in favour of meetings and consultations amongst either masters or workmen, the object of which was peaceably to consult upon the rate of wages to be either given or, received, and to agree to co-operate with each other in endeavouring to raise it or lower it, or to settle the hours of labour; an exception which, while it gave to those in the different classes of masters and workmen ample means of maintaining their respective interests, would not afford any support to the assumption of power or dictation in either party to the prejudice of the other. But in recommending that liberty of associating and co-operating together, so far as wages or labour were concerned, should be preserved alike to masters and workmen, the committee deemed it requisite to propose that the resolution of any such association should be allowed to bind only parties actually present on personally consenting; all combination beyond this should be at the risk of the parties, and open to the animadversion of the common law, and should be dealt with according to the circumstances of each case. The committee further proposed that every precaution should be taken to ensure a safe and free option to those who were not inclined to take part in such associations. The language of the report on this subject is emphatic. “The most effectual security,” it says, “should be taken that legislative enactment can afford, that, in becoming parties to any association, or subject to their authority, individuals should be left to act under the impulse of their own free will alone; and that those who wish to abstain from them, should be enabled to do so, and continue their service, or engage their industry, on whatever terms, or with whatever master, they may choose, in perfect security against molestation, insult, or personal clanger of what kind soever.” The punishment of offences of the nature alluded to recommended by the committee, was, in case of conviction, six months’ imprisonment, with or without hard labour, according to the circumstances of the case. A bill founded on this report was brought into the commons, and after considerable discussion, was passed into a law. In the committee several of its clauses were resisted, and especially that which made it penal to induce any man to leave his work by threat, or intimidation, or by molesting, or in any way obstructing him. This was said by Mr. Hume to be too vague, as what one man might consider an obstruction, another might not; and by Mr. Mansfield, as being deprecated by the workmen. In reply, Mr. Huskisson said, that he had no intention of acting harshly towards the operative mechanics: the object of the bill was to protect the weak against the strong; to afford to the man who chose to give his labour for a certain value that protection against the combination of large bodies to which every man was entitled. Upon a division the clause objected to was carried by a large majority; the members rightly conceiving that man is free to act upon his own responsibility, and that he should not suffer from the control of others. If a man chooses to give his labour for a certain rate of wages he should be at liberty to do so without intimidation or molestation. And he is the more entitled to act thus independently of his fellow-workmen’s interference, because no man will throw away his labour. Self-interest is, in fact, the best protection from oppression. A skilful mechanic with a good character can always obtain the true value of his labour without the aid of his fellow-operatives. He can act as a man; can ask, and obtain his just wages.

FREE-TRADE SYSTEM.

Many petitions had been presented in the course of this session for and against the existing system of the corn-laws. On the 25th of April Mr. Whitmore was induced to move for a committee of the whole house to consider of these laws; but his motion was rejected. Previous to this, however, Mr. Huskisson, in pursuance of the scheme of commercial policy which he had adopted, brought forward three important subjects: first, “The system of our commercial policy in respect to our colonies;” secondly, “The expediency of revising many of the duties payable upon the import of the raw materials used in our manufactures, and of relaxing the prohibitory duties which, under the name of ‘protection,’ were enforced against the manufactured productions of other countries;” and, thirdly, “The means of affording some further degree of relief and assistance to the interests of our shipping and navigation.” The alterations he proposed in our colonial system were explained by him on the 23rd of March, when, by entering into historical details at great length, he proved to demonstration that all those articles of manufacture which had been most fostered had most languished; that excessive duties made the smuggler’s fortune, while the manufacturer was disappointed, and the exchequer defrauded; that the apprehension which guarded our fabrics with high duties was unfounded; and that the true policy of the state, as well as the advantage of individuals, would be consulted by the reduction of duties sufficiently to countervail whatever might be imposed upon the raw material used in the different manufactures. Having shown the ungrateful return made by the United States of America, which had been allowed to trade with our colonies, he proposed to open their ports to all friendly powers on the same principle, though with some modifications, as that on which they now traded with Jersey or Ireland. With the further view of encouraging our own trade and that of our colonies with the countries of South America, he proposed to extend to certain ports in those colonies the benefits and regulations of our warehousing system as it was established in this country, by allowing goods from all parts of the world to be bonded and deposited in warehouses without payment of duty till proper opportunities of selling or exporting them should occur. Another boon proposed by him to our colonies and trade was, the abolition of the large fees which were levied for the benefit of public officers in almost all our colonial ports. He further proposed two alterations of a local and specific nature; the one relating to the Mauritius, and the other to Canada. That relating to the Mauritius lowered the duty on sugar to the same rate as that from the West Indies, and that relating to Canada admitted the importation of corn from thence on a fixed and permanent duty. The resolutions embodying Mr. Huskisson’s views were adopted _nem. con._, and were afterwards, with one trifling exception, carried into effect. That exception was, that the bill for establishing the free intercourse in the article of corn, subject to the duty of five shillings per quarter, between Canada and this country, should not be permanent, but limited in its operation to a period of two years.

The other part of Mr. Huskisson’s scheme for promoting commerce was brought forward on the 25th of March. These parts referred to protection rather than revenue, and to the affording relief to the shipping and navigation interests. He began by proposing a reduction of duties on the cotton and woollen trade, as well as those on manufactured linen. In some cases these rose as high as one hundred and eighty per cent.; and Mr. Huskisson proposed to lower them to ten, fifteen, and twenty-five per cent, respectively. He next adverted to foreign paper, books, and glass, which were almost prohibited by excessive duties. He proposed a duty upon all books, bound and unbound, imported into this country, of sixpence per pound; on paper threepence per pound; and upon glass bottles three shillings per dozen. He next proceeded to the duties on metallic substances, as iron, copper, zinc, and lead. The duty on foreign iron was to be reduced from £6. 10s. to £1. 10s. per ton; that on copper from £54 to £27 a ton; that on zinc from £28 to £14 a ton; and that on lead from £20 to £15 per cent. _ad valorem_. Upon tin he proposed to reduce the duty from £5. 9s. 3d. to £2. 10s. the cwt. Mr. Huskisson next proceeded to consider how far it was possible to reduce certain imposts on raw materials which interfered with the success of the capitalist, who was obliged to use them in his manufactures. He instanced the cases of articles used in dyeing, as well as olive and rape-oil. He wished to take off the duty from the latter altogether, and thereby enable the manufacturer to supply the farmer with cake instead of compelling him to procure it at a large cost in the foreign market. He proposed also to reduce the duty on all foreign wool imported at a lower price than one shilling the pound to one halfpenny. He concluded with proposing measures to relieve the commerce and navigation of the country. There was already a bill on the table to do away with the quarantine duties, which the committee on foreign trade had proposed to lay on the community at large. Mr. Huskisson thought this proposition was equitable, as the amount of these duties was considerable; and they were placed on the shipping interest for the protection of the country. lie proposed further the abolition of all fees on commerce with our colonies, and the removal of the duty payable on the transfer of any share in a ship, or of a whole ship, from one person to another. There was still another mode by which he proposed to relieve the shipping interest. This consisted in a reduction of stamps for bonds, required from exporters of certain goods to be delivered at certain places, from forty shillings to four shillings. He also proposed to apply the same principle to Custom-house debentures, or documents given by way of security to those who were entitled to drawbacks. As conducive to the same end, he further proposed an alteration in the system of our consular establishments, granting instead of fees a regular salary to the officers who superintended them, retaining only certain fees, which were to be small, for acts which were extra consular. Though some members of the house expressed an apprehension that these changes might prove injurious, yet in general they were acceptable both to parliament and the country. The resolutions in which they were embodied were adopted unanimously; and they were afterwards carried into execution by bills framed in conformity with them.

SURRENDER, OF THE CHARTER OF THE LEVANT COMPANY.

Connected with the above changes was the surrender of the charter of the Levant Company. That company was established by royal charter in the reign of James the First, when considerable privileges were bestowed upon it. Thus they were allowed to appoint all the consuls in the sea-ports in the Levant; to levy duties on all English ships for the maintenance of their consuls; and to exercise a certain jurisdiction within the territories of the Ottoman Porte. These powers and trusts had been exercised by the servants of the company with general fidelity for two centuries; but, considering the state of the countries in which the company’s consuls resided, in apolitical point of view, it was now deemed expedient that the public servants of this country in Turkey should hold their appointments from the crown. A meeting of the company was called in consequence of a communication from the ministers; and Lord Grenville, the governor, having proposed the surrender of their charter, the company acceded to it; and an act of parliament was subsequently passed for carrying that surrender into effect.

REPORT OF TREATIES.

During the month of May the secretary for foreign affairs laid three papers on the table of the house of commons, which were of considerable importance. The first of these papers was a treaty of commerce with the independent states of Rio de la Plata; the second, a treaty concluded with Russia, settling the disputed claims which had existed between the two countries with regard to territories on the north-west coast of America, and to certain rights of trade and navigation in the Pacific Ocean; and the third was a treaty between Great Britain and Sweden, having for its object the abolition of the slave-trade, as carried on under the flag of either nation. The effectual measure of visitation and detention was, with a manly policy, adopted by both powers; so that the cruisers of either under certain limitations, were permitted to stop, and bring in for adjudication, slave-vessels trading under their respective colours.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

On the 28th of February the chancellor of the exchequer gave an exposition of the financial situation of the country, and of the pecuniary arrangements for the year. From his statement it appeared that, notwithstanding the reductions made in taxation during the last session, the finances continued to improve. There was a surplus, he said, of £1,437,774; and he proceeded to show that the receipts of the customs, though about one million pounds sterling had been taken off some of the articles it comprised, had been equal to those of former years. He asked:—“What are the causes which have produced this result? The proximate cause, doubtless, is the increased capacity of the people of this country to consume the produce of other countries, aided and invigorated by the reciprocal facility which our consumption of foreign articles gives to other nations in the extended use of the products of our own industry. That increase may arise in some degree from the demonstrated tendency of population to increase; but, independently of that cause, there is a principle in the constitution of social man, which leads nations to open their arms to each other, and to establish new and closer connexions by ministering to mutual convenience; a principle which creates new wants, stimulates new desires, seeks for new enjoyments, and, by the beneficence of Providence, contributes to the general happiness of mankind.” The chancellor of the exchequer next stated that the produce of the excise and of stamps had been greater than had been anticipated by government; and then proceeded to make his calculations for the present year. He calculated the produce of everything at £56,445,370; and that the expenditure would be £56,001,842, including £5,486,654 for the sinking-fund. This would leave a clear surplus of £443,528. He argued from this, that a surplus of £864,676 might be expected for 1826; and of £1,254,676 for 1827. This, together with the surplus of 1824, namely £1,437,744, would make a total of £4,000,624; and in applying this surplus to the diminution of the public burden, the chancellor of the exchequer explained that he had three objects in View: increased facility of consumption at home, in conjunction with increased extension of foreign commerce; the restriction of smuggling; and some alleviation of the pressure of direct taxation. To accomplish these objects, he proposed to lower the taxes on various articles to the amount of £1,526,000. This relief was in general judiciously applied: the imposts reduced were on hemp, coffee, wines, British spirits and rum, cider, and those articles in the assessed taxes, as husbandry-horses let to hire, taxed carts, etc., which pressed particularly on the lower classes of society. Of this it was calculated that there would be lost during the present year about £600,000, so that the total surplus of this and the two ensuing years, estimated at more than £4,000,000, would be sufficient to meet the diminution. Some parties were dissatisfied because there was not a greater diminution of direct taxation; others, because greater relief was not given to the West Indian interests; and others, because the duties on tobacco were not lowered. On the whole, however, Mr. Robinson’s financial statements were satisfactory to the public at large. The estimates for the year were voted with little opposition.

PROPOSALS FOR THE ABOLITION OF CERTAIN TAXES, ETC.

During this session Mr. Maberly moved for the repeal of the assessed taxes, which was lost by a great majority. On the 5th of May, also, a resolution, proposed by the same member, respecting the duties on beer was negatived. The same fate awaited a motion made by Mr. Hobhouse, for the repeal of the window-tax; and likewise a motion for the repeal of the duties on soap and candles. A more than ordinary share of the time of the members was occupied this year in the consideration of private bills. So great was the passion for joint-stock companies, and so abundant the capital ready to seek employment in schemes of local improvement, &c., that four hundred and thirty-eight petitions for private bills were presented, and two hundred and eight-six private acts were passed.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued on the 6th of July by commission. The speech announced that foreign powers were amicably disposed; regretted the continuance of the war in the East Indies; and expressed satisfaction at the measures adopted by parliament for the extension of commerce. “These measures,” said the speech, “his majesty is persuaded, will evince to his subjects in those distant possessions the solicitude with which parliament watches over their welfare. They tend to cement and consolidate the interests of the colonies with those of the mother country; and his majesty confidently trusts that they will contribute to promote that general and increasing prosperity on which his majesty had the happiness of congratulating you on the opening of the present session, and which, by the blessing of Providence, continues to pervade every part of the kingdom.”

GREAT COMMERCIAL PANIC.

The golden prospects unfolded in the speech of the chancellor of the exchequer when making his financial statements, and reiterated in that of his majesty at the close of the session, soon vanished away. The causes of this reverse were manifold. The abundance of capital, and the consequent low rate of profit, during the last three years, had greatly increased export manufactures. As the system of country banks continued in operation, this apparent prosperity of manufactures attracted much capital to them; and a system of credit was generated which caused a still further extension. Speculation added its impulse to this system; until, in the course of this year, paper money thrown into circulation, increased the currency beyond what the causes determining the supply of gold could sustain. The exchanges now turned against us; the currency became depreciated; and gold, the sinews of a nation’s prosperity, began to flow out of the country. The Bank of England finding that the demand for gold diminished its stock of coin, contracted its issue of notes and its discounts. In this way, if the state of trade had been good, the currency might have been reduced so as to restore the exchanges to par; but the reduction in quantity took place first among those who had pushed their credit to the utmost; and these persons being unable to meet their engagements became bankrupts. The distress soon reached the bankers themselves. Some of the country banks stopped payment; and apprehensions springing up from thence with respect to the stability of the London banks, caused such a run upon them, that many failed. In the month of December all the usual channels of credit were stopped, and the circulation of the country completely deranged. In this state of affairs several cabinet deliberations took place; and it was at length determined that one and two pound bank notes should be issued for country circulation. This measure was carried into effect on the 16th of December; and an order was also issued to the officers of the Mint to expedite an extraordinary coinage of sovereigns. For one week one hundred and fifty thousand were coined daily. In the meantime meetings were held in London and the great trading towns, in which resolutions were adopted for the support of commercial credit and these had the effect of restoring mutual confidence to a considerable extent. Such was the contrast between the commencement and the close of the present year: it began in visions of prosperity, it closed with a certainty of adversity. The derangement of commercial affairs doubtless arose from the dangerous mania of speculation, aided by a vicious system of making paper money, which increased the currency, drove gold out of the country, and then caused a demand for it in exchange for paper, which it was impossible to meet. The natural consequence was an almost general breaking up of those who depended on paper money, and an approach to its utter annihilation.

THE BURMESE WAR.

{GEORGE IV. 1825—1826.}

During this year the hostilities against the Burmese were prosecuted actively and successfully, but yet without producing any decisive result. After the successes gained by Sir Archibald Campbell, towards the end of the previous year, he remained unmolested at Rangoon; and the only military operations in that quarter in the month of January were some unimportant skirmishes. During that month it was discovered that the Burmese generalissimo had stationed himself at Donoobew, about fifty miles up the river, where, having drawn to his army all the resources of the Pegu vice-royalty, he prepared himself to sustain an attack. It was now determined by Sir Archibald Campbell, though his invading force was small, and his Siamese allies reluctant to join him, to advance into the interior of the empire. He joined the camp on the 13th of February at Mienza, passing through forests lined with formidable stockades, a deserted country, and destroyed villages. On the 26th he arrived at Soomza, of which the governor of the place gave him possession by retiring from his post. In the meantime, Donoobew had been attacked by a division of the British force which had proceeded thither by water, under Brigadier-general Cotton. The outworks of Donoobew were carried, but the main-work was too strong to risk a further advance, and the troops were withdrawn for a time. By the 18th of March General Campbell crossed the Irrawaddy to the west bank in some of the country canoes, and on the 25th reached Donoobew. He pitched his camp before the extensive works of Maha Bandoola on the 2nd of April. During that morning the enemy kept up a heavy fire on our ranks; but towards noon it ceased. A calm succeeded; but it was the harbinger of a storm. About ten o’clock, when the moon was fast verging towards the horizon, a sharp sound of musketry mingled with war-cries roused the sleeping camp. The soldiers seized their muskets and formed into a line; and this was scarcely effected, when the opposing columns advanced with an intention of turning our right, and at the same time keeping up a distant fire against the left and centre. On their outflanking the right, our two extreme regiments changed front, and by a constant discharge of musketry checked every attempt, so that the assailants were compelled to retreat. A series of various petty actions now took place by river as well as by land; but in the meantime preparations were being made for the attack of the enemy’s works. The mortar-batteries and rockets began their work of destruction on the 1st of April, and on the following day the breaching batteries opened, when two Lascars, who had been left prisoners in the fort, came out to inform Sir Archibald Campbell that Bandoola had been killed the day before by a rocket, and that the garrison, in spite of the remonstrances of the other chiefs, had fled. This information was quite correct; for the enemy had retired, leaving behind them all their guns and a large depot of grain. In this service the British commander was ably seconded by the navy under Captains Alexander and Chads, who assisted in forcing the stockades, capturing the formidable war-boats, and conveying our troops to the best places of attack. After the dispersion of Bandoola’s army, Prome was considered the best place to stop the invading troops, and the utmost energies of the local authorities were employed in fortifying that place and organizing a force for its defence. All the disposable force of the empire was, in fact, concentrated at this spot: a spot memorable for the many battles fought there with the people of Pegu. But all the Burmese preparations were wholly disconcerted by the rapid movement of our army: Sir Archibald Campbell entered Prome on the 25th of April without firing a shot. Before they withdrew, the enemy had set fire to a part of the town, and one quarter of it was reduced to ashes. In their flight, also, the Burmese troops burned and laid waste all the villages in their route, driving thousands of helpless people to the woods. This now became their mode of warfare; and it has been said that Russia in her memorable resistance to the French armies did not offer to the invading hosts such a scene of desolation as did the Burmese empire to the British troops. Neither man nor beast escaped the retiring columns; and heaps of ashes, with groups of howling dogs, alone indicated the spots where villages and towns had stood. While these movements occurred, a series of actions had put the British in possession of the kingdom of Arracan, and the Burmese were totally expelled from Cachar and Assam. Thus terminated the second campaign of this desolating war. The British army took up its winter-quarters at Prome, where cantonments were provided for the troops, and preparations made for future operations. Nor was the Burmese monarch idle; rejecting all overtures made by the British general, troops were levied in every part of the kingdom, and the tributary Shan tribes bordering on China were called on to furnish their contingent force. Before the end of September a disposable force of 70,000 men was ready to act against the British, who threatened to advance on the capital. At the close of the year an armistice was agreed upon, and negociations were entered into for a definitive treaty of peace; but as there was no honesty on the side of the Burmese, and no lack of penetration on that of the British, all proposals failed.

REVIEW OF FOREIGN RELATIONS.

Among the events of this year that which seemed pregnant with the most important consequences to Europe, was the death of the Emperor Alexander of Russia. This appeared capable of putting not only the tranquillity of the empire in jeopardy, but of changing the whole course of its foreign policy. This event however, was not felt beyond the limits of Russia; the grand duke Nicolas succeeded to the throne, and professed a determination to pursue that course of policy which had been adopted by his predecessor. France was this year occupied in the coronation of its monarch, whom the people was soon again to repudiate. Sweden, Denmark, and Germany remained without much alteration of circumstances; but Spain was not only in the possession of foreign troops, but was distracted by the miseries of factions, revolts, and changes of administration. In Portugal, the king was induced, chiefly through British influence, to recognise the independence of Brazil, the sovereignty of which was ceded to his eldest son, Don Pedro. The interior state of Brazil, however, was much disturbed by the tyrannical, conduct of its new emperor, and war was also commenced between Brazil and Buenos Ayres. In Italy and Austria all were tranquil; but the relations between Turkey and Russia still continued to be in a very critical state, though no hostilities were commenced on either side. Greece was torn by internal dissensions, and assailed by barbarian foes, who reduced Navarino, and invested Missolonghi. In the United States, Mr. John Quincy Adams was chosen president; and in South America the various republics were proceeding to consolidate their power, though Chili was much disturbed, and Paraguay had fallen under the tyranny of D Francia. The independence of the united provinces of Rio de la Plata was formally recognised by Great Britain, and a treaty of commerce and friendship was concluded between the two powers. A treaty of amity and commerce was also concluded with the congress of Columbia, and with the new sovereign of Brazil.