measures of Government, that, though prefaced with professions of a desire to relieve all parties, they in reality benefit one class only; and that, introduced at a time when it is admitted the agriculturists are in a state of extreme depression, and the manufacturers are asserted to be in a state of unexampled prosperity, they are mainly calculated to add to the prosperity of the latter, and take nothing from the sufferings of the former. It is not difficult to see where the Reform Bill has practically lodged the power of Government in the British Empire. In the third place, and what is most material of all, the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer contains an admission in regard to the present state and past direction of our finances, since we have fallen under Liberal direction, of such moment, that we regard it as the most important statement that has ever yet been given in regard to the effect of the new measures on the national fortunes. It must be given in his own words, as reported in the _Times_ of March 16:— “If honourable gentlemen will refer to what has taken place during the last twenty years—the sums which have been borrowed on the one hand, and the amounts which have been applied to the reduction of the debt on the other—I think they will see that there is good reason for not being indifferent on this subject. In 1835 and 1836, a sum of L.20,000,000 was borrowed for the emancipation of the West Indian slave population; to defray the deficiency, in the year 1841, L.5,000,000 were borrowed; I was obliged to borrow L.8,000,000 to meet the necessities of the sister country in 1847; and when the House refused to increase the income-tax in 1848, I was obliged to borrow a further sum of L.2,000,000, to meet the extraordinary expenditure. Since the period I have mentioned, then, a sum of L.35,000,000 has been added to the national debt. When I turn to the other side of the account, I find that all the money which has been applied from surplus income to the reduction of debt, in the course of the last twenty years, amounts to only L.8,000,000; so that, _in a period of profound peace, an increase of debt of no less than L.27,000,000 has taken place_. (Hear, hear.) When, in 1848, the House refused to accede to the proposal I made for an increased tax upon income, I certainly did hope that, when a turn took place in our financial affairs, they would not, the moment there was a surplus of income, instantly press that the whole of that surplus should be devoted to the reduction of taxation. What should we think of a private individual who acted in such a manner (hear, hear)—a man who, whenever he found his income fall short of his expenditure, borrowed the money necessary to meet his liabilities, but who never thought of paying off that debt when, by a fortunate turn of affairs, he happened to be in receipt of an excess of income? (Hear, hear.) I must say that it will be hopeless