from the principles of free trade; and the evils of persevering in the contrary system. Seeing that our finances were likely to return to their flourishing condition; that our trade was likely to increase; that Ireland was prosperous; that South America was forming so great a mart for our united industry, and reflecting also upon the success and glory of our arms, in the only country in which they are engaged; under these circumstances could it be said that our prosperity had gone by, or that our grandeur-was upon the decline? A passing gale may have stopped the tide of our prosperity; but as soon as the storm shall have gone over, Great Britain would again hold that preeminent station which she had hitherto held amongst nations; and the page of future history would record the present panic as the passing events of the day, which had produced no lasting mischief.

cognised them. We were not to be intimidated by any foreign powers, into the withholding or delaying our recognition; but, at the same time, we would not rush madly into a war,when we could obtain our object more effectually without it. We might undoubtedly feel a satisfaction at Liberty extending her blessings over those vast and hitherto ill-governed regions; but, at the same time, it did not behove us to be led away by individual feelings; it was necessary to act upon sound and general principles of justice and international law, as well as upon views of general policy. The results had justified the views which the government had taken upon the subject. We had secured the friendship of those states, by declaring that, although we should withhold our recognition of them until their independence should be unequivocal, we would resist the attempts of any other government that should endeavour to assist Spain in her efforts to re-establish her power over her colonies. The arguments which had been so often brought forward, that because Spain had interfered in the early part of our own war with our American colonies, we should therefore be justified in assisting her colonies against her, were arguments quite untenable. It was a principle of retaliation upon which no individual would guide himself in his private transactions, and upon which no Englishman who felt for the national character would wish to see his country guide her public conduct. He had now only to refer to the subject of Finance. The late shock which had been given to the commercial transactions of the country, had had their effect upon the revenue; but it was highly satisfactory to reflect, that, notwithstanding this unexpected event, the revenue for the year was, upon the whole, greater than what the chancellor of the Exchequer had anticipated. He trusted that the difficulties under which the country was at present labouring would be soon removed; and that our commerce would speedily receive all those benefits which could not fail to arise from the principles of free trade which government had adopted. Although the commerce of the country had undoubtedly flourished under the system of restrictions, he was convinced that but for them it would have advanced more rapidly and with less precarious results. He had little doubt but that, in the course of a short period, the other governments of Europe would see the advantages arising VOL. XIV.

Mr. Brougham said, it was a subject of great regret, that ministers had departed from the old and established practice of delivering a copy of the king's Speech, for the information of members, a few days before they were called on to discuss it and to vote upon its contents. This want of courtesy on their part was attended with considerable inconvenience. Although there were not many definite propositions laid down in the Speech just delivered from the Throne, there were a variety of important matters touched upon in it, and the House were called upon to discuss and vote upon them, without half an hour's previous notice, or any means of making up their minds upon the subject. Members were thus called upon to accede to the address, which was foisted upon them by a side wind, and no option was afforded them but of either moving an adjournment, or of blindly voting for that into which they had no opportunity of inquiring. Although it was not his intention to move an adjournment, or even to oppose the present address, he thought it necessary to protest against its being inferred that he therefore acceded to its contents; on the contrary, he reserved to himself the future occasions that might arise for discussing the topics which it embraced, as fully as if he had not voted for it that evening. He could not help feeling, that the address would go to the public, as if there were a general concur. rence of the House in the statements which it contained; whereas no such inference ought to be drawn from the circumstance

of its passing without meeting with an expressed and formal opposition. The country would feel not a little surprised, when they found that the distress, which had been so severely and extensively felt, was treated in so slight a manner, and mentioned in terms totally inadequate to the extent and severity of the evil. It was talked of as if it were something of a very temporary nature, and confined to partial and almost immaterial transactions; whereas it was well known to be general and severe, to have spread the greatest possible embarrassments throughout the most important branches of our industry, and to have entailed the greatest sufferings upon numerous classes of the people. Yet, notwithstanding the extent and variety of this distress-for that it did exist to a great extent it was impossible to deny there was one topic in his Majesty's Speech of a most consoling nature, as it clearly proved, if any argument to prove such a fact were necessary, that they did not arise out of those sound and wise and liberal principles of commercial policy, which had recently been proposed by his Majesty's government, and which, he was happy to say, had received the sanction of parliament. If the distresses which at present prevailed were confined to one single branch of our trade; if, for instance, it were found to exist in our silk trade alone, it might afford some little argument though certainly not one upon which much stress could be laid, in favour of those who opposed themselves to the alterations recently made in that trade. But when it was found that our woollen, our cotton, our linen trade, and various other branches of our manufactures, were labouring under a similar depression, it was as vain to attempt the proof of the assertion on the one hand, that this distress was wholly attributable to our late commercial policy, as it was needless to contradict it on the other. He was aware that people speaking of this experiment, said, that, like others, it had been tried, and had failed. That assertion, however true of cther experiments, did not hold good with respect to this. True it was, that the experiment had been introduced; but it had not been tried. Time for its trial had not yet been afforded, and therefore it could not be said to have failed. If they reflected a little, they would find, that if any portion of the distress in the silk trade was attributable to the recent alterations, it was to be attributed to a

consequence of those alterations with which the parties would be least likely to complain-he alluded to the fact, that upon the diminution of the duties, large sums were returned upon the stock on hand; a circumstance which, of itself, gave rise to considerable overtrading. When men were suffering under great and pressing distress, it was a painful, a delicate, and a thankless undertaking, to tell them that a part of their distresses was attributable to themselves. But he felt himself called upon, in the discharge of his duty, to declare that much of the distress under which the silk trade, as well as the other branches of our manufactures, at present laboured, was to be attributed to over-trading. He would not go back to what took place in 1793, or in 1797, in support of his argument, but would confine himself to a period more recent and more analogous to present times and existing circumstances. When, for instance, we had a new market opened to us in South America, speculation and enter prise became so great, that over trading to a great extent was the natural consequence. Again, when the peace of 1814 opened the trade of the continent to us, over-trading was carried to such an extent, that several of our merchants found it a profitable traffic to send to Holland, and there re-purchase and re-import our own manufactures. The markets of South America were equally glutted with our iron, crockery, and various other articles. This was the usual consequence of having a new market opened to us, and no persons could be blamed for the excess but the over-traders themselves. As well might it be argued, that we ought not to open a new market, or discover a new colony with which to trade, as that we were not to adopt sound, and wise, and enlightened principles of commerce, because the one as well as the other might give rise to over-trading on the part of certain individuals. He trusted, that upon this subject, there would take place in that House no such difference of opinion as would lead to any unjust conclusions, or delusive expectations, out of doors. Upon this point as well as upon that which followed it, he most fully concurred with the hon. mover and seconder of the address. In adverting to the late com mercial regulations, he might perhaps feel that it would have been better, had some little alteration been made in the mode of carrying certain measures into effect; but

of the Board of Trade. The subject of the passage was the balance of commerce, and he expected to be able to prove from it, that, without an essential alteration in our commercial policy, the greatest calamities would ensue. From this pamphlet be drew the following proposition-that the excess of the exports over the imports of a country is not a necessary inference of the prosperity of that country, or that the balance of trade was in its favour. It was only an indication that such a portion of the wealth of the country might be spared; it amounted, in the first instance, to no more than a proof of the capacity of the country to endure that expenditure and absence of surplus capital. It did not follow, according to the author, that that exported wealth or expenditure might not be beneficial to the country. Now, he (Mr. R.) was prepared to prove, that it was absolutely pernicious; that in the case of this country it was the direct cause of all the distress which prevailed. He took the excess of the exports over the imports, since the peace, at 189,000,000l., for which no return had been made to this country to compensate the loss thus endured. And yet this was but a gradual advance to what must be expected from a perseverance in the same system. At the close of the war, and in the first year of the peace, the excess of exports above imports was only 13,000,000l.: last year it was 24,000,000l. Could any country live and thrive under this drawing away and transfer of its resources? They ought to think seriously of the means to prevent the destructive consequences of such a policy. When Mr. Pitt governed the country, this system had not begun its operations. The state of things was something like this:-From the peace with America to the French war, the excess of exports was about 600,000l. a-year. This expenditure was readily accounted for by the pay of ambassadors, and other functionaries, together with the expense of establishments abroad: so that it would be readily shown that not a single pound sterling left the country, for which another pound, or a proper equivalent, did not come in. From 1797 to 1808, the excess in the same way of expenditure amounted altogether to about five millions and a half. In the continuation of the war, this expenditure continued to increase, but in a proportion which might be accounted for by the expense of extensive fleets, and the capture and occupation of garrisons abroad. The

expenses of our armies in the Spanish war alone would account for more than ten millions of the excess. At the peace, and ever since, the system had changed to an excess of this expenditure, which was continually increasing, without bringing back to the country any adequate returns-until it had reached the enormous sum of 189,000,000l. Let the House now allow him to show how this excess of 25,000,000l. of foreign expenditure worked among the various classes and interests of the country, and how it brought detriment upon the lowest as well as the highest. There being clearly that surplus of capital, its natural employment would be the application of it to the wages of labour among the increasing population of the country. For if the capital left the country in larger proportions than before, and the population continued to increase, the supply of labour must soon far exceed the employment given by the capital remaining; the labourers must be depressed, and the country impoverished. On this account, he could not but deplore that pernicious and pestilent doctrine which had obtained, that capital from England spent on the continent, or capital from Ireland spent on the continent or in England, was equally useful as the same capital spent in Ireland or in England. True it was, that such excess of expenditure abroad might have the appearance of prosperity; but it was only a speculative prosperity, big with national impoverishment. The House might ask how the surplus wealth was to be kept in the country? The question was not difficult to answer. Give such capital protection, and then it will stay at home and create a real prosperity, by bettering the wages of labour, and increasing the productive powers of the national industry. An absolutely free trade would let in foreign commodities. What would be the effect? The home manufactures must be pressed down by the competition; and capital, instead of being employed in compensating our own labourers, would be drawn in greater and greater quantities abroad, to bring in those supplies of foreign industry. He considered the doctrine of absolute free trade, as applied to this country, as the most vicious principle which had ever been adopted by thinking men. He begged pardon of the House for thus addressing them; but his feelings upon the subject were strong, and he could not repress them; so grievous were the results which