ffect the
repeal of the union; but whether he or any other agitator in Ireland
will ever be gratified by such an event demands a doubt.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

The chancellor of the exchequer opened the budget on the 8th of May.
From his statements it appeared that the revenue of the preceding year
so far exceeded his estimate as to leave a surplus of nearly L6,000,000
for the sinking-fund. For the present year, however, as the house
was anxious to abolish the absurd system of defraying the expense of
military and naval pensions, or the "dead weight" as it was called, by
postponing its burdens, he estimated the gross revenue at L51,347,000
and the expenditure at L48,333,593, by which means he left only a clear
sinking-fund of L3,000,000 for diminishing the public debt. The finance
committee had recommended that this sum should always be kept inviolate
for the purpose of reducing the national debt; and as the surplus
on which they could calculate was no greater, no part of it could be
applied to the reduction of the burthens of the country.

MOTION FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

The last parliamentary result of the measures passed in regard to
Ireland was a motion for parliamentary reform. On the 2nd of June,
the Marquis of Blandford, one of the ultra-tories, moved a series
of resolutions, which went to declare that there existed a number of
boroughs the representation of which could be purchased, and others in
which the number of electors was so small as to render them liable to
the influence of bribery; and that such a system was disgraceful to the
character of the house of commons, destructive of the confidence which
the people should repose in it, and prejudicial to the best interests of
the country. The Marquis of Blandford supported his motion on the ground
that late events had shown how completely the representative body could
be separated from the feelings, the wishes, and the opinions of the
people. An imperious necessity had also been added to the already
existing propriety of putting down the borough-monger and his trade:
all the rights and liberties of the country were in jeopardy, so long
as majorities were to be obtained by a traffic of seats and services.
"After what had happened," said his lordship, "the country demanded some
statutory provision to secure its agriculture, its manufactures, and its
trade; but more especially to secure Protestant interests against the
influx and increase of the