extended over all the world, and must be
maintained, though at a great expense. Now the expense necessary for the
maintenance of the honour and interests of this country (and over that
alone have we any control), is at present only 12,000,000 l. of money;
for there has been a decrease, in the present and last sessions of
Parliament of not less than 2,000,000 l. on this part of the
expenditure; and your Lordships must know that there are other portions
of the national expenditure, which cannot be touched at all. With
respect to that part which cannot be touched, his Majesty's Government
have effected all that they possibly could. Having said this, I must
claim for myself and my colleagues in office, credit for an anxious
desire to do everything in our power to diminish the expenditure. With
respect to the amount of expenses incurred on account of our Colonies, I
believe that the number of troops in the old colonies and places
occupied by a military force previously to 1792, is now reduced lower
than it was in that year. This country, however, in the course of the
last war, made very considerable conquests; those conquests require for
their maintenance large bodies of men, and, consequently, create a great
additional expense. They require for their protection very nearly as
many troops as the old colonies. Before the war we were not masters of
the Cape of Good Hope, of the Mauritius, or of Ceylon. In the
Mediterranean, we had no station, unless Gibraltar can be deemed one,
which is not the case now. My Lords, it is obvious, that all the new
stations which we have acquired, demand a larger force for their
protection. These things considered, it appears to me, that the military
establishment has been reduced as far as it can be reduced, a proper
regard being had to the interests of the empire.

_March 4, 1830._

_Difficulty of Legislating on the Poor Laws._

It should be recollected that some of the greatest men that ever lived
in England--including Mr. Pitt and Mr. Whitbread--attempted to deal with
the difficult subject of the poor laws, and failed. It is a subject
equally important, difficult, and complicated. The system, as far as
local practice and arrangements go, varies in almost every parish of
England more or less; and, I repeat, it is almost impossible to deal
with it successfully. We ought not to enter into the subject of the poor
laws hastily, or at an inopportune period like the present. It will be
better to