HOUSE OF COMMONS.

July 23. In the Committee of Supply, Mr. S. Rice moved a grant of 15,000/, on account of the proposed "National Gallery" at Charing Cross. The Records also to be deposited there. The payment of that sum is to be spread over three years. The building is to be of stone.Sir R. Peel, Mr. Colburne, &c. supported the motion, and highly eulogised the proposed building, and the site selected for it. A discussion arose on various grants, but a division only took place on that for the Ministerial plan of Education for Ireland, when the Ministers had a majority of 51.

July 24. Mr. Hume moved for a return of the number of persons who had been imprisoned for selling Unstamped Publications, observing that the punishment seemed to have been very unequally awarded, and that it was impossible to execute the law, as it at present stood, without great injustice.-Lord Althorpe did not object to the motion; but observed, that it was necessary to protect those publications which paid a duty to Government. He thought it might be advisable to reduce the Stamp Duty on the public Journals, but was not prepared to submit a measure of that description during the present Session.The motion was agreed to, after some debate. On the motion that the House go into Committee on the Irish Tithes Composition Bill, Mr. Sheil moved, as an instruction to the Committee, that the preamble should recite, that the composition was to be extended, with a view to levying the first-fruits according to their real value, and the appropriation of tithes to such purposes of religion, education, and charity, as Parliament, after making a due provision for the Established Church, should seem proper. The proposition was rejected by a majority of 73 against 18, when the Bill went through the Committee.

July 25. Sir E. Sugden expressed his regret that the office of the late Mr. Scott, in the Court of Chancery, had been filled up. He also complained that the salary of the Lord Chancellor had not yet been fixed.-Lord Althorp said, that the Lord Chancellor had only temporarily filled the place, having named his brother to it, subject to the fate of a Bill for the abolition of that and many other offices which it was intended to introduce.

July 26. Sir F. Burdett called attention to the state of the Sewers of the Metropolis; intimately connected as the subject is with the pure and healthy supply of water, it was a matter that ought to be investigated. He intimated his in

tention of hereafter bringing forward a specific motion on the subject.-The Russian Dutch Loan Bill was read a third · time, and passed.

July 27. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made his annual development of his financial arrangements for the current year. He commenced by showing a comparison of the receipt and expenditure for the years 1830 and 1831. In the former year the income exceeded the expenditure by 2,768,600. In 1831 the expenditure exceeded the income by 600,0007. to 700,000. This seeming default, however, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer satisfactorily showed, had not arisen from any diminution in the consumption of taxable commodities. The remission of duty on coals and slate coastwise, the less amount received for duty on corn, and remission of certain excise duties exceeded, by more than a million, the deficiency in the receipt; the increase of consumption, however, had not, he admitted, equalled his expectation, and thereby accounted for the expenditure exceeding the income. The present and prospective state of the finances was next submitted to the attention of the House. After giving his predecessors credit for reducing the salaries and pay of the subordinate employés of the Govern ment in the years 1828 and 1830, to the extent of 340,000/., the Noble Lord took credit to himself for having already effected a similar reduction to the extent of 234,000, and promised to extend it to another 100,000.; and, after recapitulating other reductions, he summed up the estimated expenditure for the current year as amounting to 45,696,300l. against 47,858,4001. for the past year, being a diminution in the expenditure of 2,162,1007. To meet this expenditure, after anticipating an increase on the last year of about 430,000l., by the expiring of bounties on linen exported, and increase of proceeds on wine, tobacco, &c., and a diminution of 100,000. on the articles proposed for reduction of duty in the schedule now before the House, 80,000. for remission of duty on sugar lost by drainage, and the absence of all duty on corn, consequent on the favourable prospects of the pending harvest, the Noble Lord represented the Customs duty as likely to produce 15,871,000, being 404,000. less than in 1831. In reference to this diminution the Noble Lord adverted to cholera, the past political excitement, contraction of currency, and the exchanges having been against us, as having tended to occasion a less favourable result than wished for. The Excise, which last year the Noble Lord represented to have pro

duced 16,516,632, after anticipating an increase on malt, hops, and spirits to the amount of 690,0007., and a diminution by the repeal of the duties on candles, &c., he expected would produce 16,850,000.; and other branches of the revenue he expected to produce the same as last year, making the aggregate net income to be 46,470,000, being a surplus, over and above the estimated expenditure, of 773,6241. This, of course, will be set against the deficiency of the year 1832, which will reduce the deficit upon the two years to 446,789. Honourable Members, would, he trusted, do him the justice to admit that he had endeavoured to state the prospects of the country as low as he possibly could. For the year now going on, the revenue, as compared with the estimates, ought to yield a surplus of 770,000l. He had now stated the views of Government with regard to the income and expenditure of the country, and had only to add, that, after the most deliberate consideration, he found himself called upon to move the renewal of the Sugar Duties, without any reduction. He moved that the several duties, hitherto levied on Sugar and Molasses, be continued till the 5th of April, 1833.-Mr. Goulburn reprehended the policy of the Noble Lord for having reduced his receipt below the expenditure; and Mr. Keith Douglas reminded him of the breach of promise made by Lord Goderich to the West India interest, that in the general financial arrangement of the year that interest might expect some substantial relief.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer said it was not the intention of Government to make any alteration in the Sugar Duties during the present financial year. The reason why Government had not brought forward any measure to relieve West India produce from the burdens which were imposed upon it, was, because that relief was contingent upon the adoption in the chartered colonies of the Orders in Council regulating the treatment of the slaves. It was the intention of Government to introduce a measure by which crown colonies would be relieved from a great por tion of their local taxes, which was the readiest mode of fulfilling the promises which had been made to them; for any fiscal measure, distinguishing their produce from that of the other colonies, would be unjust, and the method of relief which he had suggested would have an equally beneficial effect on their agricultural produce. As far as he could see, there was no reason to be apprehensive of

sion. The Noble Lord also stated, that hopes were entertained of a favourable arrangement being accomplished with France, relative to the trade between the two countries. His Lordship, in answer to Sir R. Peel, said, he could not see the utility of attempting the settlement of the Bank question before the next Session of Parliament. The resolutions were then agreed to, and several sums were voted to make good the supplies for the year.

July 30. The Speaker, agreeably to previous arrangement, intimated that at the close of the present Session he should resign the Chair. He adverted briefly to the arduous character of the duties of his office-to the anxiety with which he had endeavoured to discharge those dutiesand to the liberal aid which he had ever received from the several members in his efforts to forward and to maintain the order and the privileges of the House.— The Chancellor of the Exchequer afterwards moved a vote of thanks to the Speaker, for his conduct in the Chair during six Parliaments, or seventeen years. He highly eulogised the Speaker's urbanity and conciliatory demeanour in the Chair-an eulogium in which several other Members afterwards warmly joined. The Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed regret that the retirement had been resolved on, as he should be glad that the country, as well as the House, might have the benefit of so experienced a Speaker to preside over the proceedings of the new Parliament. The vote was carried literally by acclamation.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer then moved an Address to the King, to be pleased to bestow on Charles Manners Sutton, Esq., some distinguished mark of Royal favour, and to assure his Majesty that the House was ready to make good any expenses that might attend the same. The Motion was also unanimously adopted.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward, in a Committee on the Civil List Act, the Civil List Charges left unprovided for-namely, the mode of paying the Judges' Salaries, the Speaker's Allowances, the Diplomatic Charges, the Pensions, &c.; all of which, previously to the present reign, were chargeable upon, and paid out of, the Civil List. He stated that these matters had been frequently before the House, and were referred to a Committee, which recommended these charges to be separated from the Civil List, as not forming part of the King's Expenditure. The Noble Lord went into extensive details of those charges, enumerating the amounts, and how they are henceforth to be paid, which will be chiefly out of the Consolidated Fund. He also generally adverted

to the savings that would be effected, observing that, when the whole arrangements respecting what formerly constituted the Civil List Charges came into full operation, there would be a diminution of Charge to the extent of 253,000. In speaking of the Judges' salaries, his Lordship observed that those Puisne Judges who were appointed before the regulation of 1828 were to have 5,500. a year-subsequent appointments 5,000l. a year. The Lord Chancellor's retiring salary is to be raised from 4,000l. to 5,000l. a-year, with a reservation respecting the present Lord Chancellor.

July 31. Sir Francis Burdett moved for a Survey of the Sewers of the Metropolis-a subject that was defective, and that as loudly called for amendment, as its supply of water, He stated that upward of 200,000/. was annually collected for sewers, yet in many parts of the town there were no sewers. He urged this inquiry on the House as one that was of the greatest consequence to the health of this healthily-situated metropolis.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer concurred in the motion, admitting that the proposed in quiry was very desirable.-The Report of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's resolutions regarding the Civil List Act and Civil Charges was presented, and the resolutions were agreed to without any comment of consequence.-The Attorney General moved the third reading of the Forgery Bill; and in doing so he strongly urged the mitigating the capital punishment. The Bill was read a third time, and passed.

August 1. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a Committee on his Majesty's answer to the Address on the retirement of the Speaker, repeated his commendations of Mr. Manners Sutton, detailed the course that had been pursued heretofore as to the granting of Pensions to Speakers on their retirement, and moved a grant of 4,000l. a year to the Right Honourable Manners Sutton for his life, and 3,000. a year to his son. The latter grant is only to be enjoyed in the event of his not coming into an office in Doctors' Commons (worth, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, some 8,0007, or 10,000. a year) of which the son has the reversion. -Mr. Hume bore testimony to the great merits of the Speaker, and to the justice of his claim to reward-but protested against the notion that pension was to follow as a matter of course. The resolution was eventually adopted.

August 2. Mr. H. L. Bulwer rose to bring forward a motion on the subject of the declaration of the Germanic Diet, proposing an Address to his Majesty to

use his good offices to avert the threatened inroads upon the liberties of the German people. He addressed the House at considerable length, detailing, generally, the state of Germany, and the security promised to the different portions of it; and pourtraying, in strong colours, the delinquency and positive breach of faith, as well as of principle, that characterises the recent attacks upon, and declarations against, the liberty of the press in Germany. He urged the necessity of the interference of England to resist these combinations of powerful potentates against the liberties and improvement of mankind; and contended that it was not the policy of England quietly to behold the chain thrown over the mind of Europe. The Honourable Member concluded by moving, that an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, requesting him to exercise his influence with the Germanic Diet, in opposition to the course it has pursued in respect to the liberties and independence of the German people.-Lord Palmerston, without defending the resolutions of the Diet, denied the right of this country to interfere with the proceedings of confederated sovereigns in regard to their own dominions; for it was the external relations of states as separate nations that alone interested this country. On grounds of discretion, therefore, his Lordship would oppose the motion.-The motion was eventually withdrawn.

August 3. In the Committee of Supply, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved a grant of 2,500l. to Sir Abraham Bradley King, on account of the abolition of his patent for supplying the Public-offices of Ireland with stationery. -Mr. Hume resisted the grant as unjustifiable, and because the referees had come to their conclusion on an erroneous case; they were led to believe the patent was for life, whereas it was only during pleasure.-Mr. S. Rice remarked, that the abolition had already produced a saving to the country of 10,000.- Mr. Hume pressed his division on the grant-Against it, 2; for it, 50.-Lord Howick subsequently moved a grant of 57,000l. for the relief of the Crown Colonies in the West Indies. Agreed to.

August 6. The Tithes (Ireland) Bill was read a third time, and passed-after which the Bribery Bill again went through a Committee. The Greek Loan Bill passed by a majority of 43.

August 7. Colonel Evans brought forward the question of Poland, in a speech reflecting strongly on the conduct of the Russian Government to that unhappy people, and concluded by moving a resolution to the effect that the renewal of cer