more simple and easy than any that could be now carried
into effect, an enormous amount of stock being exempt
from compulsory operation. But the government
thought that, although they could not accomplish such
magnificent results as were achieved at former periods,
the time had come when a beginning might be made,
which would be useful as far as it went. The plan they
proposed consisted of three portions. The first was
the liquidation of certain minor stocks, namely South
Sea Stock, Old and New South Sea Annuities, Bank
Annuities 1726, and Three per Cent. Annuities 1751;
the aggregate amount of which was about £9,500,000.
It was proposed to tender to the holders of these stocks
certain alternatives beside that of being paid off. A
moderate reduction of the rate of interest would thereby
be effected, which, if only a quarter per cent., would
produce a permanent saving of £25,000 a-year. If cash
were called for, the government would be enabled to
employ balances now lying idle. The second portion of
the plan related to the issue of Exchequer bonds, and
the third to a voluntary commutation of the three per
Cent. Consols and the Three per Cent. Reduced,
making together a capital of nearly £500,000,000,
thereby laying the foundation of a permanent,
irredeemable Two-and-a-Half per Cent. stock, which was the
ultimate aim of the government and the key of the
resolutions he should move. The Exchequer bonds
would be transferable by simple delivery; they would bear
interest at 23/4 per cent, for a time to be fixed by parliament,
reducible at the discretion of the Treasury, and
afterwards to bear 21/2 per cent, until the year 1894,
when they would be subject to redemption; the amount
of the bonds not to exceed £30,000,000. It was further
proposed that these Exchequer bonds should be
exchangeable for Exchequer bills, or against the new stocks
created by the resolutions, or be sold by the government,
and the proceeds employed in the purchase of stock for
cancellation. There were some points of difficulty with
reference to these securities, to obviate which he thought
the wisest course would be to intrust the government
with a discretion, the amount of the bonds being limited.
The Exchequer bonds, however, would not furnish a
basis sufficiently broad for the intended operation. He
believed they would not suit all holders of stock; that,
while they would be sought as commercial and trading
securities, they would not be held as permanent property,
especially by trustees. To meet the wishes of all public
creditors, therefore, it was proposed to afford the means
of voluntary conversion of the great Three per Cent.
Stocks, and until the 10th of October, to allow the
holders of Three per Cent. Consols and Three per Cent,
reduced, the option of exchanging the stocks, either
into exchequer bonds at par or into a new Three-and-a
Half per Cent. Stock, at the rate of £82 10s. of the latter
for every £100 of the former, which would give a permanent
income of £2 17s. 9d., instead of £3; or it would be
open to them to take, for every £100 stock, £110 of a Two-
and-a-Half per Cent, stock guaranteed for forty years.
But it was intended to limit the extent of this option.
The objection to the last alternative was that, in order to
reduce the annual charge of the debt, the capital or
principal would be increased; but Mr. Gladstone argued
that, taking the creation of this stock in conjunction
with that of the Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Stock, posterity
would suffer no disadvantage. On the contrary,
posterity would enjoy a reduction of the annual charge
for the debt. By the original draught of the resolutions
it was left to the option of all holders of the great Three
per Cent. stocks to exchange into the new Two-and-a-
Half per Cent. stock. This might have entailed an
increase of the nominal capital of the debt to the extent
of £50,000,000, and he did not think the risk of so large
an increase should be incurred. It was intended,
therefore, to limit the amount of Three per Cent, stock
to be commuted to £30,000,000, according to priority,
the holders of the Three per Cent. stocks having still,
however, the option of exchanging it for Three-and-a-
Half per Cents. or Exchequer bonds. The utmost
nominal addition that could be made to the capital of
the national debt would consequently be something
more than £3,000,000. It was proposed that the
Accountant-General in the Court of Chancery and the
Accountant in Bankruptcy should not have the power
of exercising the option of commuting the greater stock
standing in their names. Mr. Gladstone, in conclusion,
expressing his belief that if the plan succeeded the
saving would be very considerable, moved a series of
resolutions pointing out the differences between the
original and the amended draughts. A number of
observations and criticisms on the plan were made by
various members; after which the resolutions were
seriatim agreed to.

On Monday, April 11, on the order of the day for the
third reading of the Canada Clergy Reserves Bill, Mr.
WALPOLE moved that it be read a third time that day
six months. He adverted to the strange admissions
made in committee on the part of the government, and
observed that, under the plea of local self government,
the Canadian legislature were to be allowed to deal
with investments made in this country. So far from the
English and Scotch churches being placed on the same
footing as the Roman Catholic clergy in Canada, the
endowments of the Roman Catholics could not be
touched without the concurrence of the imperial parliament,
while the endowments given to Protestants in
Canada could be dealt with, and could be destroyed, by
a majority of the Canadian legislature alone. The
question was not of local self-government, a principle of
which he was in favour, it was rather a question of
trust and duty. By the settlement of 1840 a compromise
of rights was effected. The imperial parliament had
duties to discharge with regard to these trusts which it
could not get rid of. Assuming that there was a trust,
he denied that the question of local self-government
arose at all. Now came the material question—was
there such a trust? That must be determined by a
reference to the statutes and charters under which the
reserves were originally granted, and subsequently
confirmed to the Protestant clergy of Canada. The title of
these reserves was coeval with the cession of Canada
itself. At that period the colony was peopled by Roman
Catholics; and therefore the parliament of this country
most properly and most wisely, by a statute passed in
the year 1774, secured to the Roman Catholic clergy all
their accustomed dues and rights; but as it was thought
desirable to encourage Protestant immigration to this
new possession of the British crown, the other dues and
rights which had not been appropriated to the Roman
Catholic clergy were, by the same act of parliament,
secured to the Protestant clergy. The title of the
Protestant clergy was confirmed by the statute of 1791,
which set forth the permanence of the grant both
affirmatively and negatively. Let it be remembered,
that when the appropriation of these clergy reserves
was made, all the lands were the property of the
crown, and the crown had as much right to dedicate
them to purposes of religion as to any other
purpose whatever. They were so dedicated; that
dedication had been confirmed by parliament; and the
most solemn pledges had been given that the permanence
of the trust should not be altered. If ever a settlement
was solemnly made, if ever a guarantee was distinctly
given, if ever a duty was imposed upon parliament, that
settlement, that guarantee, that duty, were involved in
maintaining the existing settlement. He referred to the
guarantee contained in the words of Lord J. Russell in
1840, which was characterised as permanent. The
obligations in existence could not be repudiated without
a breach of national faith.—Mr. HUME deemed Mr.
Walpole's alarms baseless, asserting from what had
occurred in the Canadian assembly in past times on the
subject of the reserves, that the bill on the table would
have a healing, rather than an irritating effect. His
advice to Lord John Russell was " Be just and fear not."
—Mr. DRUMMOND described the measure as a bill to
effect church plunder. If passed it must lead to the
separation of every colony from the mother country.—
Mr. Ker Seymer, Sir Edward Dering, Mr. Frederick
Peel, and Mr. Bethell, supported the bill.—Mr. Liddell
and Mr. Smith Child argued against it on the ground of
national faith.—Mr. NAPIER adverted to the frequent
changes of argument adduced by ministers in support of
the bill. Was England, when she obtained lands by
conquest, to be prevented from applying some of them to
the promulgation of the national faith? The question
at issue was not one of endowment, or of church