The budget was opened by Lord Henry Petty on the 28th of March. From his statement it appeared that the unredeemed debt of Great Britain and Ireland was about £566,000,000, of which the annual interest was about £27,500,000. The supplies of England and Ireland for the year were estimated at £62,187,465; and among the ways and means, were a loan of £18,000,000 and an augmentation of the new taxes to £19,500,000, to be effected principally by raising the income-tax from six and a half to ten per cent. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer also imposed a duty of forty shillings a ton on pig-iron; an additional duty on beer and spirits, in Ireland; and a paltry tax on appraisements. The duty on pig-iron and the increase of the income-tax raised a storm of opposition; but they were nevertheless decreed. As the burdens of the people were so increased, it was deemed expedient that some attempt should be made to prevent the misapplication of the money raised from the public. It was proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that, beside the five commissioners to whom the task of general investigation had hitherto been confided, particular auditors should be appointed; and though this new arrangement was to cost from £28,000 to £42,000 per annum, his proposition was agreed to. Some slight improvements were likewise made in the acts regulating commercial intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland; and a law was passed for permitting the free interchange of grain of every kind between the two islands. By the burdensome imposts of this year the new ministry obtained much odium, the friends of Pitt taking care to enhance their disgrace in the sight of the nation by ridicule and reproach. Mr. Canning, in particular, assailed them both by his oratory and his pen, impugning even their motives. “All the talents,” as this ministry was called, indeed, stood in no very enviable position in the sight of the country at large.
TRIAL OF LORD MELVILLE.
The trial of Lord Melville commenced in Westminster-hall, on the 29th of April, before the lords, the members of the house of commons being present in a committee of the whole house. Although there were ten charges preferred against him, there were only three in substance. These were:—“That as treasurer of the navy, Lord Melville had applied divers sums of public money to his private use and profit. That he had permitted his paymaster, Trotter, to take large sums of money from the Bank of England, issued to it on account of the treasurer of the navy, and to place it in his own name, with his private banker; and that he had permitted Trotter to apply the money so abstracted to purposes of private emolument, and had himself derived profit therefrom.” Lord Melville pleaded “not guilty” to these charges, and then Whitbread produced his evidence to prove his guilt. In this, however, he failed as regard’s Melville’s personal delinquency. All that was made clear in the course of the trial was that Mr. Trotter had increased his salary by deriving profit from the banking-house of Coutts, on the deposits; and that while Lord Melville had made use of some sums of money, he had nevertheless repaid those sums with interest. The trial lasted sixteen days, and then the lords voted on the several charges, acquitting the accused of every charge. “Henry Viscount Melville,” said the Lord Chancellor to him, “I am to acquaint your lordship, that you are acquitted of the articles of impeachment exhibited against you by the commons, for high crimes and misdemeanours, and of all things contained therein.” Melville made a low bow, and then retired; and the Chancellor having announced that the impeachment was dismissed, the lords and commons retired to their respective chambers. A motion of thanks to the managers was subsequently voted in the commons, and thus this business, which had cost the country some thousands of pounds, ended. This impeachment, however, was not without its moral effects: while the impeachment of Hastings set limits to the exercise of a too arbitrary power in India, that of Melville taught ministers to be more careful of their public accounts at home.
THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.
The glory of this session and this ministry was a blow struck at the slave-trade. A bill was introduced by the attorney-general prohibiting, under a strict penalty, the exportation of slaves from the British colonies, after the 1st of January, 1807. This bill was carried, and then Mr. Fox proposed that, as it was contrary to the principles of justice, humanity, and sound policy, effectual measures should be taken for putting an end to the slave-trade, in such a manner and at such a period as might be deemed advisable. The mover of this motion remarked:—“If during almost forty years I have enjoyed a seat in parliament, I had been so fortunate as to accomplish this, and this only, I should think I had done enough, and should retire from public life with comfort, and conscious satisfaction that I had clone my duty.” This motion was carried by one hundred and fourteen votes against fifteen; and a similar motion, made by Lord Grenville in the upper house, was adopted by forty-one against twenty. The last step taken on this subject during the present year was a joint address from both houses, beseeching his majesty that he would take measures for obtaining the concurrence of foreign powers, in the abolition of this abominable traffic. That amiable philanthropist, Wilberforce, was delighted at the success of his labours; and he expressed a hope that during next year he and his coadjutors in this noble work would witness the termination of all their toils and anxieties. On the fact that Fox was mainly instrumental in carrying his wishes into effect, he writes:—“How wonderful are the ways of God! Though intimate with Pitt all my life, since earliest manhood, and he most warm for abolition, and really honest, yet now my whole dependence is placed on Fox, to whom this life has been opposed, and on Grenville to whom I have always been rather hostile till of late years, when I heard he was more religious.” It has been assumed, because Pitt did not make this a cabinet question, that he was lukewarm in the cause of abolition; but it is clear if he had done so, he could not have carried it before parliament, and the country were prepared for it. Up to this period the temper of the public mind may be discovered in these noble sentiments of the poet Cowper:—
“Canst thou, and honoured with a Christian name, Buy what is woman born, and feel no shame? Trade in the blood of innocence, and plead Experience as a warrant for the deed? So may the wolf whom famine has made bold, To quit the forest and invade the fold: So may the ruffian, who, with ghostly glide, Dagger in hand, steals close to your bedside; Not he, but his emergence forced the door— He found it inconvenient to be poor. Has God then given its sweetness to the cane— Unless his laws be trampled on—in vain? Built a brave world, which cannot yet subsist, Unless his right to rule it be dismissed? Impudent blasphemy! so Folly pleads, And, avarice being judge, with case succeeds.”
At this time, however, the labours of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and their friends had prepared the majority of the country and of parliament for alleviating the sufferings of the human race; some there were still whose avarice led them to defend the inhuman system of trafficking in the blood, bones, and sinews of man; but the many now saw its iniquity, and were prepared to wipe the foul stain from the annals of England.