his imprisonment. The Dey also became | Then I told him that we should make an bound to abolish Christian slavery, and in future to treat all prisoners of war according to the usages of civilized nations. After the treaty had been negotiated, Lord Exmouth learned that a Spanish merchant and the vice-consul of Spain were still detained in prison and in irons, under the pretence that they were confined for debt. Having made inquiry into their case, and ascertained that they were unjustly imprisoned, the British admiral demanded their release. This, however, was refused; and a second proposal, that they should be freed from their fetters, and allowed to quit their dungeon and be placed in the custody of the Spanish consul, was peremptorily rejected by the Dey. This procedure boded ill for the observance of the treaty just concluded. But Lord Exmouth was not thus to be trifled with; and he demanded the immediate release of the two prisoners, with the assurance that, in the event of a refusal, hostilities would be at once commenced. His firmness produced the desired effect-the sufferers were released from their long and severe captivity, and the noble admiral had the satisfaction to know, on his departure with his fleet (September 30), that he had not left a single Christian slave or prisoner in the Algerine dungeons. The slaves who were liberated by this enterprise, 1083 in number, were immediately conveyed to their respective countries. Salome was intrusted with the duty of receiving the rescued captives from their oppressors. When I arrived on shore,' he says, 'it was the most pitiful sight to see all these poor creatures, in what a horrible state they were; but it is impossible to describe the joy and cheerfulness of them. When our boats came inside the mole, I wished to receive them (the slaves) from the captain of the port by number, but could not, because they directly began to push and throw themselves into the boats by crowds, ten or twenty persons together, so that it was impossible to count them. exact list of them, in order to know to what number they amounted. It was indeed a most glorious and an immemorably merciful act for England, and all Europe, to see these poor slaves, when our boats were shoving with them off the shore, all at once take off their hats and exclaim in Italian, “Viva il Ré d'Ingliterra, il padre eterno! e 'l ammeraglio Inglese che ci ha liberato da questo secondo inferno!-Long live the King of England, the eternal father! and the English Admiral, who delivered us from this second hell!"' On his return to England, Lord Exmouth received the well-merited thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and was elevated to the rank of Viscount. The enterprise against the Algerine pirates was most creditable to Britain, both as regards the motive in which it originated and the courage and promptitude with which it was carried out. It was undertaken entirely at her own expense, for no interested purpose, but purely for the general benefit of humanity-for the repression, by the strong hand, of a system of rapacity and cruelty-to 'break the oppressor's chain, and set the captives free.' It would have been well for the honour and welfare of mankind if warlike enterprises had never been undertaken except for similar purposes. There is another important ground for congratulation on account of the circumstances under which the overthrow of the Algerine power was achieved. The cause of Christianity had again united the British and the Dutch, and the flags of Britain and Holland had shared the dangers of the battle and the glories of the victory. Situation, religion, tradition, and taste pointed to a firm alliance between Holland and England. Both of them were placed on the most northern frontier of Europe. Both of them had accepted the tenets of the reformed faith. Both of them had stood in arms to resist the ambition of Catholic Spain. England had on one memorable occasion obtained a king from Holland. The Dutch | thrown away upon them. The Dey very and English shared between them the speedily set about rebuilding the ruined carrying trade of Europe. Yet though Holland and England had so many grounds for close alliance, they had too frequently been engaged in warfare with each other. The keen rivalry which had animated the fleets of Blake and Van Tromp was remembered by the sailors of the Batavian republic. Holland ranged herself on the side of France, and the Dutch and English again contended for the mastery of the seas. The expedition to Algiers had the merit of effacing the recollections of the long war. The glorious success obtained by the Dutch and English combined fleets obliterated the traditions of Camperdown and Walcheren.' It is almost matter of regret that the piratical powers at Algiers had not been rooted out, instead of being merely punished by Lord Exmouth, for in no long time it became evident that forbearance was utterly fortifications of his city, and putting it into a more formidable state of defence than ever. These pirates did not indeed venture again to attack the ships or to molest the commerce of Great Britain; but they seem to have thought themselves a match for the navy of any other European power. The French consul made a strong remonstrance against the injuries inflicted on the trade and commerce of his own country; but instead of receiving redress, he was treated with gross insult. The French government on this, provoked beyond bearing, declared war against the Dey. Hostilities on an extensive scale were carried on for a number of years; and after an enormous expenditure of blood and treasure, they terminated in the complete destruction of the piratical power and the conversion of Algiers into a French colony. State of Commerce and Manufactures-British Parliament on the Taxation of the Country-Horner's Speech against the Occupation of the Frontiers of France by an Allied Force-The Property Tax-Financial Position of the Government -Great Distress in the Country-Luddite Riots-Marriage of the Princess Charlotte. THE war which the restless, unprincipled | a highly remunerative price for their proambition of Napoleon had renewed and ductions, partly from the Government, to protracted on the Continent had not only exhausted the energies and wasted the population of his own country, but had carried bloodshed and incalculable suffering into every country in Europe, with the single exception of Great Britain. Agriculture had in consequence necessarily languished on the Continent, as the labourers had been forced into the military service, and old men and women alone were left to cultivate the fields. Manufactures were even more injuriously affected; for not only were the skilled artizans and mechanics withdrawn from industrial pursuits, but capitalists could not venture to lay out their money in erecting factories which invading armies might at any moment destroy, or to employ their energies in the production of goods which an enemy was almost certain to appropriate. To crown all, the extraordinary expenditure which the continental nations were compelled to undergo in order to equip and maintain the enormous armies that had been raised to resist the reiterated aggressions of the French, not only crippled their industry, but loaded them with an overwhelming burden of debt which seriously hampered the enterprise of succeeding generations. But this very state of matters, so injurious to the other European nations, proved for the time highly advantageous to the interests of Britain. Her security from foreign invasion enabled her agriculturists to sow their fields and gather in their crops in perfect security, and, besides, obtained a ready sale and carry on its warlike operations, partly from the manufacturing classes, whose increased wages made them profitable customers. The demand, both at home and abroad, for British manufactured goods greatly stimulated both the ingenuity of inventors and the increase of manufacturing establishments; so that while the war lasted Britain had become the great workshop and commercial emporium, not only of Europe, but of the world. The official value of her imports rose during the war from £19,659,358, in 1792, to £32,620,771 in 1814. During the same period the official value of the exports of British produce rose from £18,326,815 in 1792, to £41,712,002 in 1815. The foreign and colonial produce exported increased from £6,568,349 in 1792, to £19,157,818 in 1814. It was evident, at a glance, that the return of peace must inevitably produce a very great effect on such an inflated state of affairs, in retrenchment on the part of Government, in the fall of prices, the diminution of the demand for labour, the reduction of wages, and the consequent want of employment on the part of the working-classes. The effect of the peace, therefore, was to reduce the price of manufactured goods from a half to a third of their previous value. In some cases the reduction was even much larger. The price of copper, for example, fell from £180 to £18 per ton; that of iron, from £20 to £8; that of hemp, from £118 to £34; and other commodities were affected, though not to so large, yet still to a great extent. Taking an aggregate estimate of the result | and with France, which, after having been of the peace on our commercial interests, acted upon for several months, were then its immediate effect was to reduce our import trade by nearly twenty per cent., and our export trade by sixteen per cent., and to deprive Great Britain of the advantage which the war had given her-of being the great entrepôt for the world. about to be laid before Parliament, and pledging the House to a speedy revisal of the civil and military establishments according to the principles of the most rigid economy, and a due regard to the public interests.' His lordship complained that, Strange to say, the Government appear to in a speech which gave the House an have had no knowledge of the real state of account of the affairs of Candy and Nepaul, the country, and no apprehension of the there was no allusion to the cause of the magnitude of the difficulties they were present distress. This was the more unacabout to encounter. Although the duties countable, he said, because during many which devolved upon Parliament at this years, when it was represented that the crisis were of the most onerous kind, its effect of such unbounded taxation would be meeting was delayed until an unusually in the end ruinous, the answer uniformly late period. The speech of the Prince given had been a reference to the flourishRegent, delivered by commissioners, con- ing state of the country. But now, after gratulated the House of Commons on the glory on glory, all this prosperity had flourishing condition of the manufactures, vanished. The farmer could not pay his commerce, and revenue of the United King-rent; the landlord could not pay his taxes; dom; although the Irish members were and from the lowest labourer of the land to unable to attend in consequence of the the peer who stood next the throne, all felt 'pecuniary distress and partial disturbance' that our prosperity was gone, except, inwhich existed in Ireland. His Royal High-deed, those who were paid out of the public ness assured the Commons, however, that purse. Evidently for the purpose of drawthey might rely upon every disposition ing from the Government a declaration of on his part to concur in such measures of their financial policy, Lord John referred economy as would be found consistent with to the report that ministers intended to the security of the country and the station propose the continuation of a great part of which it occupied in Europe, and the speech the income tax. He feared, however, that concluded with expressing his determination, when they came to milk the cow they by the justice and moderation of his con- would find her dry. There could be no duct, to endeavour to maintain the high more dreadful calamity for this country character which Great Britain had acquired than the continuance of the tax in question.' with the world, and his hope that the same union among the people, which had brought the eventful struggle on the Continent to so happy an issue, would continue to promote the public prosperity. In the House of Lords there was no amendment proposed to the address. In the Commons it was moved by Mr. Brand, and seconded by Lord John Russell (who had entered Parliament in 1814), that it was the duty of ministers to have convened Parliament with the least possible delay for the purpose of communicating those important treaties with the allies VOL. I. The amendment was supported by Mr. Brougham, Lord Milton, Mr. Tierney, and Sir Samuel Romilly, who all dwelt on the pressure of taxation as one main cause of the existing distress, and argued that the public burdens could be diminished only by the introduction of the most rigid economy into every branch of the public service, and reducing where it was practicable the military, civil, and financial departments. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Castlereagh, on the other hand, contended that the revenue was generally in a flourishing state, that the existing distress was by 6 The division on the address took place at an unexpected time, when the House was so thin that only twenty-three voted for the amendment, and ninety against it. Both the mover and seconder of the amendment were absent when the division was taken. no means so great as had been represented, | millions. It appears from documents recently and that it would be only temporary. The published in the memoirs of Mr. J. C. HerChancellor, in addition, avowed that it was ries, then Secretary to the Treasury, that the the intention of the Government to continue prime minister and the Chancellor of the the income tax on the modified scale of five Exchequer were personally opposed to per cent., and boldly affirmed that of all the the extravagant scale on which the estimodes that could be thought of for raising mates had been laid before Parliament, but the public revenue, 'none would be equally that they yielded, contrary to their own advantageous and economical, or less op- better judgment, to the pressure of the pressive and burdensome to the community departments.' 'A good, wise, and economiat large.' cal budget,' says Mr. Herries, 'has crumbled in our grasp; the higher powers have yielded to the subordinate departments, and we have a supply of thirty millions to bring forward without having any arrears to provide for; therefore a fair prospect of thirty millions for a peace establishment. The army alone amounts to thirteen millions. We had much better be at war than allow so great an expenditure to continue during peace.' Mr. Herries' biographer justly remarks that in order rightly to appreciate the magnitude of this outlay (£30,457,550), which was looked upon with amazement by the Tory commissary-in-chief, it is necessary to consider that since 1816 the wealth of the kingdom has been more than quadrupled, and that consequently the real burden of a given charge upon the tax payers was probably four times as heavy as it would be now.' The income or property tax had always been a most unpopular impost. It was originally imposed by Pitt in 1799, and at a ten per cent. rate yielded about six millions a year. It was allowed to drop at the Peace of Amiens, but was revived in 1803 in the shape of a duty of five per cent. Three years later the impost was doubled, and continued at a ten per cent. rate till after the peace. It had throughout been regarded as a war tax, and the country had taken it for granted that on the termination of hostilities the impost would be abolished. The Ministry, however, were of opinion It soon became evident that the proposal that the income tax was both advantageous to continue the income tax, in any form or and economical, and they appear to have to any extent, would meet with the strong had no idea of the state of feeling against disapproval of the people. The Opposition it among all classes and political parties. very naturally adopted a similar view of It yielded a revenue of fifteen millions a year; the obnoxious impost, and insisted that the and having resolved to maintain a large naval and military establishments of the and costly peace establishment, they could country should be reduced to a point which not see how it could be possible to dis- would render a continuance of the tax pense with a source of income so large unnecessary. The Government asked for and so convenient. The expenditure of the 149,000 soldiers and 33,000 seamen, of year had been estimated at £66,581,295, whom 99,000 were intended for home serwhile the income, exclusive of the property vice, and pleaded that this force exceeded tax, would only amount to £52,365,000. by only 7000 the number that was thought There was, indeed, a surplus of six millions necessary before the war. They further in the Exchequer; but even taking this sum argued that Europe had scarcely subinto account, the repeal of the property tax sided into peace; and that even if peace would involve a deficit of more than eight | were preserved, the events of the war had |