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 effectuallywithout it. Wemight 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.

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.

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 concurrence of the House in the statements which it contained; whereas no such inference ought to be drawn from the circumstance

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those measures having received the sanction of parliament, he felt that it would be exceedingly unfair now to turn round, and assert that they might have been carried into execution with more effect.There were only two points more alluded to in the Speech from the Throne, upon which he felt it necessary to say a few words. And first, with respect to our currency. Now, he would put it to any thinking man, to recollect what must have been his opinions, when he last year heard of a great event which took place on the continent, and which was likely to affect, in a material degree, the future peace of Europe: he would ask him, whether the first great objects of his attention, in providing for the security of England, would not naturally be the national debt, the currency, and the state of Ireland. The debt was, perhaps, not within their reach; but the currency was within their control; Ireland was within their control; and therefore he must feel that the latter must sooner or later come under the consideration of parliament. When he heard it stated, that Ireland had, for the last year and a-half, been not only tranquil, but progressively advancing in prosperity, he could not help expressing his sincere satisfaction at it; yet, on inquiry, he found that the tranquillity of Ireland was to be attributed to the expectations entertained by the people, that something would be done for them by parliament. He believed, in his heart, that the tranquillity of Ireland was mainly preserved by the steady attention with which they looked forward to the exertions of the House of Commons in their favour. To that House did they ardently and confidently look for relief; and, sincerely did he hope that, at a convenient time, they would not be allowed to look and hope in vain. If the people of Ireland were again (after a convenient time) allowed to look and hope in vain, in vain might England look to Ireland for unanimity and exertion, when both should be most required from her. He firmly believed that the peace of Ireland had been in a great degree preserved by the Catholic Association. As long as the Roman Catholics of Ireland remained firm and united amongst themselves as long as they continued to yield ready obedience to the laws, how ever opposed to the means by which those laws had been enacted-so long had they a right to entertain a just and reasonable expectation, that they would obtain, from

the justice of the legislature, an equal participation in those rights and privileges, from the enjoyment of which they had been for such a length of time debarred.-He had heard, with much pleasure, that part of his Majesty's Speech which had reference to our intercourse with South America. It was matter of pride and pleasure to reflect upon the glory achieved by the brave inhabitants of those republics a set of men who, unaided, unsupported, had succeeded in establishing their independence and freeing themselves, at once and for ever, from the detestable yoke which had so long and so ignominiously galled them. Those states were now at peace; their independence was recognized, and we were on friendly terms with them. That those friendly relations might remain unbroken, and that we should soon have united to us, by treaties similar to that with Colombia, all the other great republics in that part of the new world, who had achieved their liberties, was his most ardent wish, as their independence must afford matter of pure and sincere delight to every friend of freedom. There was another matter to which he wished to advert. He meant the treaty between Portugal and Brazil; in which the independence of the latter had been formally acknowledged by the former nation. He hoped that that treaty would not be ratified in its present form; containing, as it did, an article of foreign policy against which he must ever protest: he alluded to a clause by which each nation pledged itself to give up to the other-whom? All persons guilty of murder, forgery, and piracy? No; but all persons not found guilty, but accused of high treason, who should take refuge in the territory of the other. And who was to be the judge of the act which was to be designated high treason? Why, the accuser:-so that there was no escape. If either government wished to get hold of an obnoxious person, it was only to accuse him of high treason, and his business was done. Now, this undertaking would not only compel us to retain upon our Statue-book the alien law, which of all the laws which appeared upon it was one of the most dangerous and offensive; but it might also bind us to execute it against an individual who should be accused of the slightest political offence, or even only be politically obnoxious. For it would not lie with us to decide what did or did not constitute trea

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 he 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 13,000,000/.: 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