refatory statement, a statement which must be taken
_cum grano_:

'The following heads of speeches in the H---- of C---- were given
me by a gentleman, who is of opinion that members of Parliament are
accountable to their constituents for what they say as well as what
they do in their legislative capacity; that no honest man, who is
entrusted with the liberties and purses of the people, will ever be
unwilling to have his whole conduct laid before those who so
entrusted him, without disguise; that if every gentleman acted upon
this just, this honorable, this constitutional principle, the
electors themselves only would be to blame if they reflected a
person guilty of a breach of so important a trust.'

Cave continued his reports in a very condensed form until he died, in
1754, and left his system as a legacy to his successors and imitators.
He was the father of parliamentary reporting, and it is for this reason
more especially that his name deserves to be remembered with gratitude
by all well wishers to the freedom of the press, which is the liberty of
mankind.

THE TREASURY REPORT AND MR. SECRETARY CHASE.

The military condition at the present time is highly encouraging; but
our armies have not always been successful in the field, and many of our
campaigns have ended either in disaster or without decisive results. The
navy, though it has achieved much in some quarters, has not altogether
answered to the reasonable expectations of the country or to the vast
sums which have been expended to make it powerful and efficient. Our
foreign relations, during the war, have sometimes assumed a threatening
aspect, and, it must be confessed, have not always been managed with the
skill and firmness due to our prominent position among the nations of
the world. But there is at least one department of the Government whose
general operations during all these vicissitudes have been the subject
of just pride to the American people. In the midst of great
difficulties, sufficient to appal and disconcert any ordinary mind, our
stupendous fiscal affairs have been conducted with unrivalled firmness,
ability, and success. All our military and naval operations, and indeed
our whole national strength at home and abroad, have necessarily been in
a large degree contingent upon the public credit, and this has remained
solid and unmoved except to gain strength, in spite of all the
disasters o