the petitioners from St. Christopher's) whilst all the other colonies, old as well as new, are free from it, is most partial and oppressive:

"That it further appears to this House, that this partial and oppressive tribute from the sugar and rum of the leeward islands is converted, for the most part, into pensions for persons of the higher orders in the mother country, including even members of the royal family, ministers of the Crown, members of both Houses of Parliament, their families or connections, and that under the present deplorable condition of the Leeward islands, the further exaction of this tribute from them is a scandal upon the mother country, and an intolerable grievance upon these colonies, which this House, appealed to as it has been, is alike bound, in honour and justice, to see removed forthwith."

that he had declined the pension, choosing to wave his particular right, and commute it for a pension of half the amount to persons who had direct claims upon his protection [Hear, hear]. He remembered, also, with great satisfaction, that, at the time, that choice was considered as a considerable sacrifice on his part. Having said thus much for himself, he had little to add upon the general question. Certainly, it was open to parliament to deliberate upon particular in stances in the disposal of this fund, if a case of indiscretion were made out. The hon. gentleman had exerted that right in a manner of which he would not complain. He had gone into instances, and complexions of instances, which he thought fit subjects for the observation of parliament. The hon. gentleman well knew that if he (Mr. Canning) chose, he could have taunted him with the names of persons in the same situation who were connected with parties highly respected by the hon. gentleman. But that mode was too invidious a one for him to follow. The House had a right to examine into supposed abuses as to the application of this and of any other branch of the revenue. But he must say, that the hon. gentleman did not seem to him to have made out any case which was likely to bring upon it a vote of censure from the House.

Mr. Hume said, that the present mode of supplying the deficiency of the fund was an innovation on all preceding practice, and ought to be put a stop to. A part of the droits of the Admiralty had of late been made applicable to the demands on that fund, and he thought the whole of the pensions now defrayed by the West-India-Island duties ought to be taken from those droits. He saw no reason why the colonies should not be freed from the tax in that way.

Mr. Secretary Canning said, that the question consisted of two parts. The first affected the right of the Crown to this particular branch of revenue; the second, affected the right of the Crown to appropriate it in any manner which might be deemed suitable by his majesty's government. These topics had been frequently discussed within the walls of that House, and on each occasion both of these rights had been affirmed. He admitted, that the present state of the West-India islands was such as to make the House desirous of affording to that interest all practicable relief; yet it was also clear, that when the tenure of the fund was considered, no argument could be derived from the manner in which it was applied, as a ground for its abolition. With respect to the right of the Crown to dispose of this fund, it had never been denied, and when Mr. Burke introduced his measure of financial reform, he still left it at the disposal of the Crown. The hon. gentleman had specified instances of the Mr. Brougham said, his hon. friend manner in which this fund had been dis-had, in the reference which he had made posed of, and in which he supposed some to the names of individuals, only perindiscretion to have been practised. As formed a painful duty, which he felt himto what had been stated with respect to self bound to discharge, and which, withhis own connexion with the fund, he was out any invidiousness, he had carried ready to admit the fidelity of the hon. into execution. He had stated a case gentleman. It was true that, many years with which he (Mr. B.) perfectly agreed. ago, he had held an office, on retiring The Four and a Half per cent. duties had from which, by constant and uniform been formerly left to bear the burthens practice, he became entitled to a pension upon them as well as they could, but now of 1,2001. a year. It was true that he another fund was drawn in, which was to had retired from that office with the ful- make up the deficiencies. That was a lest claim to this pension. It was true strong argument for their abolition. Ano

ther good ground seemed to be the pecu liar circumstances of the times. When the West-India Islands were in a flourish ing condition, the case was different. But they were now overwhelmed with unexampled distress, and his hon. friend had called upon the House to take the subject up in virtue of their petitions. The question therefore was not taken up uncalled for. The petitions from the Islands complained of the burthens imposed by those duties which were at all times inconvenient and heavy, but which | were now utterly unbearable, when the colonies were afflicted with the greatest calamity. From time to time, this subject had been pressed on their notice without success. Mr. Burke, in his History of the European Settlements in the West Indies, had denounced this tax as most burthensome. It was indeed a tax not upon income, but upon gross produce. It was not regulated by circumstances, or modified according to the pressure of the times. It was as high when the crop was bad, and when the nett gains were nothing, or even when there was an actual loss, as when the planter was in the most flourishing circumstances, Mr. Burke, by an extraordinary accident, had lived to receive himself a pension out of this very fund. He did not mention this as a bad instance of its application, for he thought that, if any political pension could be justified, it was that of a man who had lived all his life out of office, and whose exertions had been the means of a great saving to the country. He, however, after denouncing the tax, had certainly enjoyed a large pension out of it. The hon. and learned member then proceeded to state, that this tax had been attempted to be extended to the newly-ceded colonies. He cited the case of Hall and Campbell, in the King's Bench, by which it appeared that an effort was made to inflict the tax on Grenada, which was one of the newly-ceded colonies, and it was insisted on the part of the Island, that government had no right to tax them after having given them a constitution, without the consent of the constituted authorities under such a constitution. If any county of England, for instance Cornwall, the fertility of which was not remarkable, were surrounded by counties that paid no tithes, while that one was liable to the full payment of tithe, would it not be a monstrous and crying iniquity, that the one county should be singled out to bear the

pressure of so heavy and oppressive `a burthen? Yet this was the situation of the Islands whose case had been stated by his hon. friend, and with whose statement he perfectly agreed. He also concurred in what had fallen from the hon. member for Aberdeen, with respect to the application of the droits of the Admiralty, and entered into a narrative of his motions on the question of those droits in the years 1810, 1812, and 1820, on the first of which motions, the important concession was made by the then minister, Mr. Perceval, that although the droits of the Admiralty were not, in consequence of the compact entered into with the late king at his accession, liable to parliamentary control, yet they were liable to parliamentary inspection, and accordingly annual accounts had been laid on the table as a matter of course ever since.

The House then divided: For Mr. Creevey's Motion, 57. Against it, 103.

EXPENSE OF THE CORONATION.] On the question being put, "That the Speaker do now leave the chair,"

Mr. Hume said, he took the earliest opportunity of calling the attention of the House to a transaction of an extraordinary nature, and which demanded inquiry. He alluded to the Expenses of the Coronation. An estimate of those expenses had been laid before the House, and the then Chancellor of the Exchequer had stated, that the amount would not exceed 100,000/. but the account now brought in was upwards of 238,000l. Was the estimate, then, a fair or an honest one? Some of the items were disgraceful in the highest degree, and the House ought not to vote a shilling until an inquiry had been instituted. The House had taken the estimate of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1820 as a correct one, but it had been so extravagantly exceeded as to make the estimate appear a gross delusion, and certainly as long as estimates were managed on that principle, they would be a mere farce. Another strong ground of complaint was, that the additional 138,000l. was supplied out of the French Indemnity Claims of 1815; and he should like to know what right government had to apply a single shilling of that money, which had not been appropriated to that purpose by a distinct vote of the House. Some of the items of the estimate were enormous. There was 111,000%.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that the hon. gentleman ought not to be surprised that the actual expense of the coronation had exceeded the estimate of

[830 for the furnishing and decoration of granting any further Supply to his MaWestminster Abbey and Westminster jesty, to appoint a Select Committee, to Hall. Why, any minister, however weak, inquire into the circumstances which have must know that was a most extravagant occasioned that excess of charge, and charge. Then there was 24,700l. to the into the several items constituting that master of the robes, for a robe for his charge, and also to inquire by what auMajesty. If his Majesty had been clothed thority the sum of 138,2381. has been apin gold, it was scarcely possible that such plied to discharge the Coronation exa sum could be expended. How could penses without the previous sanction of ministers reduce clerks with small esta- this House." blishments, and establish checks to minute details of expenditure, while they consented to so profuse an expenditure in one item alone? Then there was a charge for a diamond crown. He under-1820, when it was recollected, that that stood that that bauble had been got up estimate was founded on the supposition by a jeweller in the year 1819, and that the ceremony was to take place in that it had been kept on hire at an ex- that year; and that a considerable prior pense of 8,000l. or 9,000l. a year. Was expense had been incurred in consequence. it possible to conceive a greater waste of When, however, his majesty was advised the public money? Then came 50,000l. to postpone the ceremony until the next to the surveyor-general of the works for year, that expense was of course lost. It fitting up Westminster Abbey and Hall. was clear, therefore, that 100,000l. would When the gaudy and tinsel-like manner not cover the whole expenditure. With in which they had been fitted up was re- respect to the particular items of charge, membered, it was evidently impossible as the hon. gentleman had given him no that so much money could have been ex-notice, he was not prepared to explain pended on them. A variety of items them. But, as to the fund out of which followed. One of them, although small in amount, might well have been spared. It was the sum of 3,000l. to sir George Naylor, towards making public the ceremonial. Now really the account of the ceremony might have been left to be handed down by the historian. To apply a sum of the public money to such a purpose was as wasteful as it was ostentatious. In the whole affair, his Majesty's government had acted with bad faith. They must perfectly well know, that, if they had originally proposed a grant of 238,000l. such a vote would never have Mr. Curwen said, he should vote against been agreed to. Then came the consi- the amendment, as it did not appear deration of the manner in which the any public money had been mis-appro138,000l. that had not been voted, hadpriated by the Crown. been paid. In taking money for that pur- Mr. Brougham hoped his hon. friend pose which had not been voted, the Chan-would persevere in his amendment. Under cellor of the Exchequer had violated a any circumstances, an inquiry by a comresolution of that House; for any appro-mittee into the authority by which the priation of the public money by his Majesty's government without a previous Appropriation-bill, was, if not a misdemeanor, a high disrespect towards the House. He would therefore move as an amendment, That, as the amount of 238,000l. for the expense of his Majesty's Coronation, as stated in an account late laid before Parliament, so greatly exceeds the estimate of 100,000l., submitted to this House in 1820, it is expedient, before

the expenses had been defrayed, the hon. gentleman was under a mistake. The hon. gentleman supposed that they had been defrayed out of the surplus of the contingency which had been paid by the French. Now, that surplus had never been appropriated by any vote of the House. It was, therefore, evidently competent to the Crown to apply the money to the purposes of the coronation.

Mr. Bennet characterised the whole charge of the coronation as a most wicked expenditure of the public money.

that

appropriation was made could not be injurious. With respect to the items of the charges, some of them were scandalously enormous. The country ought not to be insulted by such an expenditure as 24,000l. merely for a robe for his majesty.

Mr. Bright protested against the ap propriation by the Crown of any portion of the public money without the previous sanction of that House.

Mr. Hobhouse supported the amend

under the proposed alteration of the law. He could not bear to hear it said that they were legislating to the injury of the working classes. He would not stand up in support of the measure, if he thought for one moment that it had any such tendency. The existing law was more in

ment. Adverting to the enormous fees which, on the demise of the Crown, resulted from the formal re-appointment of individuals to places they already held, he trusted that a bill would speedily be brought in, to prevent such a practice in future. The House divided: for the Amend-jurious to the workmen than to their emment 65; against it 119.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Wednesday, June 11.

SILK MANUFACTURE BILL.] Mr. Huskisson having moved the third reading of this Bill, the Lord Mayor moved an amendment, "That the Bill be read a third time that day six months."

ployers; because, at periods when the trade was brisk, it empowered the magistrates to interfere, and prevent their wages from rising as much as they would if the law imposed no shackles on the regulations of the trade. He was in possession of a number of cases, in which the decision of the magistrates had been reassisted, either by the workmen or their masters, where counsel had been employed, and the masters had at length given up the dispute rather than incur the trouble and expense of continuing it. He was perfectly satisfied that, if the present bill should pass, there would be a much greater quantity of work for the weavers in London than there was at present. With respect to wages, he was persuaded, that, in all the common branches of the manufacture, they would not fall; for at the present moment they were as high in the country, with reference to those branches, as they were in London.

Mr. W. Smith said, he was satisfied that at no very distant period the fears of those who were now so much alarmed at the measure would turn out to be unfounded, and that, instead of injury, benefit would accrue to them from the alteration.

Mr. Peter Moore was persuaded that if this bill passed, it would compel thousands of journeymen to seek parochial relief.

Mr. Hudson Gurney said, that he hoped this bill would not be hurried through the House, it being merely a repeal of local regulations, where the parties themselves, if mistaken in their supposition, would be the only sufferers by the law remaining as it stood. The fact, as far as he could learn, being, that under the present Spital-fields acts there was a committee of workmen who met a committee of the Mr. Bright said, that the working masters, and who settled the rate of classes believed this measure to be inwages between themselves-the magis-jurious to their interests, and it was the trate merely signing it for form, and being bounden duty of the House, therefore, to the authorized mediator in case of differ- inquire into all the circumstances conences. Something of the sort took place nected with it. The committee on the in all trades. Make what combination silk trade in the House of Lords, so far laws you may, the necessity of an under- from advising the repeal of the existing standing between parties will always ab- laws, recommended an extension of them. rogate them in practice; and where there He deprecated most strongly the preciwas a committee of journeymen in compitation with which a measure so deeply munication with a committee of employers, power of mediation on contested points existing somewhere seemed no unreasonable provision, and one which, in the present instance, appeared to have given satisfaction to a large body of people, who felt that in repealing it, the House was taking from them a necessary protection.

Mr. Ricardo contended, that the effect of the existing law was, to diminish the quantity of labour, and that, though the rate of wages was high, the workmen had so little to do, that their wages were, in point of fact, lower than they would be

affecting the interests of a large body of the working classes, and which must necessarily have the effect of diminishing their wages, was hurried through the House without inquiry.

Mr. Hume was satisfied that this measure would in its results be highly beneficial to the working classes.

Mr. Ellice trusted, that if the right hon. gentleman was determined to press the third reading of the bill, he would accede to a committee in the next session, to consider the propriety of a repeal of the combination acts, and other oppressive laws by which their interests were affected.