way wish to assert an hereditary claim; on the contrary,
that his only claim was his having been elected by the
people of France; and he voluntarily declared that he
entirely accepted all the acts of the governments that
had taken place from 1814.

In a committee of supply, Mr. STAFFORD, after
briefly sketching the government plan for increasing
our Channel Defences, moved a vote for 6500 additional
men, including 1500 marines: and Mr. DUNNE moved a
vote of 2000 additional men for the artillery. Both
votes were agreed to.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved a vote
of £150,000 towards the Purchase of Land for a
National Gallery and Museum connected with science
and the arts in aid of the fund in the hands of the
royal commissioners of the Great Exhibition. After
some conversation the vote was agreed to.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL introduced a bill for
Defining the Law Affecting such Publications as 'The
Household Narrative,' and for declaring that such works
are not newspapers.

On Tuesday, Dec. 7th, Mr. TUFFNELL moved for the
appointment of a select committee to inquire into the
expediency of distributing, gratuitously, a selection from
the reports and returns printed by order of the house
among the Literary and Scientific Institutions and
Mechanics' Institutes throughout the United Kingdom.
He pointed out the advantages which would result from
such distribution, and reminded the house that all he
now desired was inquiry. No opposition was made by
government and the motion was agreed to.

The second reading of the Irish Tenants Compensation
Bill having been moved by Mr. NAPIER, Mr. Serjeant
Shee objected to the measure at great length; contending
that it did not deal fairly with the tenants, and would
stop for ever all claims under the Ulster or any other
custom. The forms and complicated arrangements
required by the bill would throw insuperable obstacles in
the way of all improvements. In conclusion, he
proposed that this bill and that which he had brought
in, should both be referred to a select committee. After
a rambling discussion, it was ultimately agreed that
all the bills connected with the subject—the Tenant's
Compensation, the Land Improvement, the Leasing
Powers, the Landlord and Tenant, and the Tenant Right
Bills—should be referred to a select committee.

On Thursday, December 9th, Mr. J. WILSON, moved
for certain papers connected with the state of the
British Sugar Colonies.—Sir J. PAKINGTON assented to
the motion, and it was agreed to.

On Friday, Dec. 10, in a committee of supply, the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER made his Financial
Statement. He claimed the indulgence of the house,
on account of the unusual circumstances of difficulty in
which he was placed, and the fact that the present
financial year was only two parts concluded.
Unlimited competition being established as the commercial
system of the country, it was his object to adapt the
financial system to this new state of things. And this
led to the consideration of the claims of those who
believed themselves to have received particular injury
from recent legislation. Those different interests were—
the shipping interest, the sugar-producing interest, and
the agricultural interest. The shipping interest believed
themselves to be labouring under injuries caused by the
repeal of the navigation laws, and, after attentive
investigation, their claims seemed to be founded upon truth.
For their relief the government proposed to abolish all
light dues, except those actually for the maintenance
of the lighthouses themselves; to entrust the
complicated questions of pilotage and ballasting to a
committee of the house, with a view to their reform; and,
with regard to various grievances, which he classified as
Admiralty grievances, and in which he included the
privilege of enlistment in the navy by merchant seamen,
salvage, and anchorage—it was proposed by the government,
with the co-operation of the Admiralty, to
modify or abolish them to an extent which would give
the merchant service additional privileges. With regard
to the claims of the sugar interest, the government did
not see any ground for entertaining them, with the
exception of the request to admit sugar to be refined in
bond for home consumption—which the government
proposed to concede, subject to certain conditions. The
next subject related to the general taxation of the
country. There was a body of taxation composed of
three rates—the highway-rate, the county-rate, and the
poor-rate. With regard to the first, the government
intended to propose a bill which he believed would
receive the confidence of the house and the country.
With regard to the county-rate, he might say that there
was not the slightest objection on the part of the
government to the introduction of the representative
principle into its adjustment; but, nevertheless, the
government was not at present prepared to recommend
any change. He next came to the poor-rate, and
described the progress of its diminution since 1848,
amounting to nearly twenty-five per cent. Considering
this fact, and the various circumstances bearing on the
question, he did not feel it necessary to make any
change in this law, or in local taxation generally. He
now came to the subject of the general taxation of the
country, under a system of unlimited competition. It
was the boast of hon. members on the other side of the
house that they had given cheap bread to the country.
But to carry out their principles, they must cheapen
every other article of consumption: and in carrying
out their principles they could not fail to benefit every
class and give particular relief to those classes who had
suffered from the system which they had introduced.
The house would not be surprised, therefore, when he
stated that he proposed to reduce the malt-tax by one-
half, and to abolish altogether the drawback on malt
in Scotland—the system to come into operation on the
10th of October next. He now arrived at another
article on which he proposed a reduction—tea. Since
the period when Mr. Pepys first enjoyed the "new
China drink," tea had every year been imported into
this country in larger quantities, and at a reduced
price, until 1851, when no less than 71,466,000 lb. were
imported; and the last reduction of duties had tended
to give a great impetus to this increase. The extent of
reduction which he proposed was 1s. 41/4d. per pound,
which would leave only 1s. per pound remaining—the
reduction to be effected gradually during a period of six
years. In cheapening another important beverage of
the people, they had to consider another duty—that was,
the duty on hops. He was not going to remove the
entire duty on this article—something must be left for
future statesmen. What he proposed was, to take off
the tax of 1d. per pound, which had been laid on during
the war. Reflecting upon the policy of these measures,
the right hon. gentleman combated the notion which
was entertained in some quarters that the consuming
power of the people was on the decline. The supposition
was induced by the large amount of emigration;
and it was true that there were more persons going out
of the country than were counterbalanced by the excess
of births over deaths in England and Wales. But it
should be taken into consideration that the calculations
of births and deaths were confined to England and
Wales, while the emigration calculation had reference
to the extent of about two-thirds of Ireland. Under
these circumstances, he could not but consider emigration
as a most beneficial symptom. Another great cause
of the prosperity of the country was the discovery of
the gold regions, which might have the effect of raising
it to a height which had never before been attained.
Under all these circumstances, he could not consider
that the consuming power of the people was on the
decline. The loss to the revenue by the reductions
would amount to between three and four millions
sterling. Then they would remember that one of the
principal sources of the revenue would soon terminate—
he alluded to the property and income-tax. He
recommended to the house the extension of that tax to
funded property and salaries in Ireland; and, with
respect to its general operation, he wished to introduce
a new principle, which was to acknowledge a difference
between permanent and precarious incomes; and to
recommend that on all industrial incomes the exemption
should commence at £100 a-year, and on incomes arising
from property at £50 a-year. After explaining the
details of the proposed plan by which the tax on
property would remain at 7d. in the pound, whilst, that on
income was to fall to 51/4d. in the pound, he added that