presented a Petition from the inhabitants of Westport, in the county of Mayo, in support of the Claims of the Roman Catholics. The hon. member expressed his great happiness at the prospect now rising upon the united kingdom—the prospect of peace and reciprocal good will, hitherto so lamentably and so vainly sacrificed.

presented a petition against any further concessions to the Roman Catholics, from the rural dean and the clergy of the rural deanery of Gloucester.

said, he bad been requested to support the prayer of this petition, and to state, on the part of the reverend petitioners, that the rural deanery of Gloucester, contained the spot on which bishop Hooper suffered martyrdom; that the ashes of that prelate lay entombed there; that his fate urged them to implore the House not to consent to any measure which should give further power to the intolerant church, whose ministers had been guilty of so barbarous a murder, whose creed was unchanged, and whose spirit would be destructive if not restrained by Protestant domination.

said, he had a great respect for the rural deanery of Gloucester, and for the spot on which bishop Hooper suffered martyrdom; but, for all that, the petitioners ought to have confined themselves to facts. The petition prayed the House to reject those claims now, which it had repeatedly rejected before. Now, whatever knowledge the petitioners might have of what passed respecting bishop Hooper, they appeared to be very imperfectly acquainted with what passed in modern times; for it was a fact, of which the rural deanery seemed ignorant, that instead of having repeatedly rejected the measure of Catholic concession, the House of Commons had repeatedly approved of it.

said, that the objection of the hon. member for Westminster, was not well founded. The House had not acceded to the claims of the Catholics, but only to the appointment of a committee to inquire into those claims.

said, that the hon. member for Oxford seemed to have forgotten the case he had risen to prove. The petitioners stated, that the House had repeatedly rejected the claims of the Catholics. Now this was not the fact; nor was such an assertion supported by the argument of the hon. member, when he said, that the House had only granted a committee, and not the claims.

said, his argument was, that the House had not repeatedly granted the claims of the Catholics, which the hon. member for Westminster said it had.

said, that the hon. member for Oxford was still wrong. The House had twice passed a bill for the relief of the Catholics. He must be allowed to say, that the view taken by the hon. member for Gloucester of this question was most dangerous, when he called upon the House to recollect that the blood of mar tyrs had been shed, and that that blood cried for vengeance. It was a mistake, too, to suppose that the constitution would be infringed by granting the claims of the Catholics. When the time came, he should be prepared to show, that, far from changing the Protestant constitution of this country, the effect of concession would be to unite all men in the defence of it.

inquired of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether government had made any arrangement for the abandonment of Sierra Leone.

said, he was not aware that such a question would have been put to him that evening; but he was perfectly ready to answer, that it was not the intention of government to take any immediate measures for the abandonment of the colony of Sierra Leone. It had been their object to reduce the expenses of the colony as much as possible, and, by other means, to pave the way for an abandonment of it at some future period; but there were several considerations which prevented its immediate relinquishment; and, among others, the important one that there was a large number of liberated Africans in the colony, who, if the colony were abruptly abandoned, would inevitably return to the condition from which they had been taken.

observed, that in answer to a question which he had put last year, he had been given to understand that arrangements were in progress for removing our establishments entirely from the colony of Sierra Leone. If he had not so understood it, he would have brought the subject under the consideration of the House. It was with deep regret, he found his majesty's government determined upon retaining a colony, which had been notoriously the tomb of a greater number of Englishmen than any other possession on the face of the globe; and that, without a single advantage attending it, in spite of the mortality which occurred year after year—one governor dying off after another, and one corps after another. The reason assigned by the right hon. gentleman, was also most unsatisfactory; for we were every day paying large sums to add to the number of the captured Africans, and thus adding to the difficulty of which the right hon. gentleman complained. There were many ways in which those unfortunate individuals might be disposed of, better than by leaving them in a condition which was worse than ordinary slavery. He pledged himself to take up the question during the present session, and he regretted that he had been prevented doing so last year, in consequence of the intimation that the colony was to be abandoned.

said, he did not recollect having last session given the hon. member the intimation to which he had alluded. He repeated, that an arrangement was in progress for abandoning Cape Coast Castle, but he was not aware that there was any intention at present of abandoning Sierra Leone. The difficulties in the way of the latter, were difficulties, for the creation of which he was not responsible.

said, he had never intimated, during the time that he had held the seals of the Colonial Department, that it was in the contemplation of government to abandon Sierra Leone. Every practicable step, however, had been taken to reduce the mortality in that colony; and with that view the duties of it had been made to devolve as much as possible on the voluntary residents in the colony, and on the African corps. When he stated, that the private property in buildings, &c. in the colony, amounted to above a million sterling, it would at once be seen, that any sudden abandonment of it would be attended with injustice as well as with difficulty. The same obstacles, however, did not exist with reference to Cape Coast Castle.

was sorry to hear his right hon. friend treat the question of the abandonment of Sierra Leone as one of economy, and not of humanity. If government persisted in keeping up that colony, he should feel it his duty to move for a return of the number of Europeans who had perished there since the first establishment of the colony. He considered the colony one of the most ruinous undertakings, both as respected human life and money.

trusted, that he possessed as much humanity as the gallant member. It was not entirely on a principle of economy that he looked at the question of the abandonment of this colony; but he would remind his gallant friend, that this was a case in which there was humanity against humanity. The establishment was first set going with a view to humanity, and now continuing it would show a want of humanity. He would only repeat, thar arrangements were making, which would pave the way to the abandonment of the colony.

said, he was aware that the present was not a fit occasion for entering upon the immense question of the state of the civil government in the Canadas, and he would, therefore, confine himself to asking the right hon. Secretary, whether it was his intention to propose, during the present session, any measure respecting those colonies, or to lay before parliament any information respecting them? He confessed he was peculiarly anxious to obtain satisfaction on those points, before the House was called upon to vote a large sum of money for the purpose of fortifying the Canadas. A declaration from the right hon. Secretary of his intention to do every thing in his power to conciliate and pacify the colonies would be an act of grace before the vote to which he had referred. He perceived by the newspapers, that the same unfortunate disputes which had so long agitated the colonies still prevailed. He thought it was impossible to establish peace in those colonies, unless they were governed in accordance with the feelings of the local legislatures and of the people. He did not make these observations from any feeling of distrust of the right hon. Secretary; although he confessed, that, from something which had fallen from him, he feared the right hon. gentleman was not fully sensible of the importance of the subject.

begged leave to state, that he was extremely desirous to bring before the House a measure respecting the state of the Canadas, and he felt confident that that measure would be found to effect the desirable object in view; but he could not, for various reasons, at that moment enter into a description of what that measure would be. One reason was, that there was a great deficiency of information respecting the state of the colony, which deficiency he expected would be very shortly supplied.

The resolutions of the committee were then read and agreed to.

said, he rose, in pursuance of an intimation which he gave at the conclusion of last session, that he would, at the commencement of the present, introduce a measure to authorize the granting of Annuities by the commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt. He would briefly state the principle on which he intended to proceed with respect to the bill. His object was to extend the principle laid down in the former act, repealed last session, with respect to the granting of Annuities, and to establish a more accurate basis for calculating the value of Annuities, in order to combine, with the greatest possible convenience to that part of the public interested in the purchase of Annuities, security against loss on the part of those who granted them. With respect to the extension of the principle, he begged to call the attention of the committee to the act hitherto in force for regulating the granting of Annuities. It prescribed the rules under which parties might purchase Annuities, either on their own lives or on joint lives, or reversionary Annuities; but beyond that the act did not go. He intended to give to the commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt the power of granting Annuities for terms of years, either for a definite period or terminable upon the death of any individual as agreed upon. He was quite aware it was not likely there would be any very general disposition amongst people to purchase Annuities, by an immediate payment of money. Many were naturally averse to pay away a portion of their present means, in order to secure a subsequent provision. But, although he did not calculate on any very large purchases of annuities in this way, yet he was sure that many would be anxious to procure life or permanent Annuities, to commence after a term of years; and, as the act was intended to comprehend every possible variation or combination of life and permanent Annuities, it would be calculated to meet the wants of all who desired to secure a provision of this nature. He proposed to add another provision, which had not been in the former bill. Although many would not be likely to pay a sum of money at the present moment to purchase permanent, or perhaps not even life Annuities, yet it appeared to him that if a general power were given to the commissioners to receive annual payments to secure deferred or re versionary annuities, a large class of the public would be anxious to avail themselves of such a resource. Thus, all who chose to make such annual payments to the commissioners would have it in their power to secure this deferred annuity, to commence at whatever period they should think proper. By extending the principle in this manner, the public would be enabled to make a future provision, not by encroaching upon their capital, but by the exercise of thrift, by paying a portion of their annual income.—The next and most important point was to state briefly the nature of the alterations which it was proposed to make in the tables of calculations for these purposes. The House was aware, that the former acts had adopted the tables which had been long in use, and which were acted upon in most of the great insurance offices in London; he meant the Northampton tables. But those gentlemen who had been members of the Finance Committee, or indeed, any one who had turned his attention to the subject of Life Annuities, must know that those tables gave a less favourable representation of the duration of human life than the experience of the present day authorised.—He believed he might state this to be no recent discovery. For some time, from the calculations of the deaths which took place, and from the great profits derived by the insurance-offices, it had been generally felt and acknowledged, that those tables did not contain a fair estimate of the average length of life. It was supposed by some that the longevity of the human race had increased much of late years. Perhaps there might be some truth in this supposition. Perhaps, also, those who looked minutely and accurately into the mode in which the Northampton tables were formed, would see in it full reason to comprehend, why they were not perfectly accurate in their representation. It was notorious that they were formed in reference only to the deaths in one particular town, and that the persons upon whose deaths those calculations were made had been within the observation of the author only for a limited period. It was worthy of remark that, during the whole of that period, the deaths at Northampton exceeded the births, and that, notwithstanding that circumstance, at the expiration of the period, the population exceeded the amount of the population at its commencement, It was obvious, therefore, that in taking the account of the deaths others were admitted besides those who were the objects of the calculation; for, in order to ascertain accurately the duration of human life, it was necessary to make the calculation upon the same persons from the commencement of a particular period down to the termination, without the admixture of other persons, who might enter into the community of a particular place at an advanced age, and who thus swelled the number of deaths.—However, without entering more minutely into the causes of the inaccuracy, it was sufficient that it had been established, to the satisfaction of the Finance Committee, that these tables were inaccurate. To correct this defect a calculation had been made, some time since, upon other data, which gave a different and a more satisfactory result. It had been judged necessary to form the estimate upon the lives within the united kingdom; for with whatever accuracy or ingenuity the subject might be treated in other countries, it did not follow that the mortality was the same in all; and as this plan was expressly to regulate British Annuities, it was necessary to form it upon British lives. It had been also judged expedient to take those who had purchased annuities of the government; because there was an accurate register of the ages of those parties, when they commenced the annuity, and there was a similar register of their deaths. Therefore there would be the advantage of having the same individuals in view, from the commencement of the period until the end. This would furnish as nearly accurate an account as possible. The basis to be taken for the calculation was the following:—Those who had been included in the Tontine which commenced in 1693, and ended, in 1782; those who received Exchequer Annuities in 1745, 1746, 1757, 1766, 1778, and 1779; the holders of Irish Tontine, in 1773, 1775, and 1778; and of the English Tontine in 1789. To these would be added the lives of those who had purchased Annuities, for the last twenty years, under the act which regulated Annuities for lives: The mass of lives on which the observations would be made would amount to about twenty-four thousand. When it was considered how small a number of persons were the subject of Dr. Price's observations, not more, he believed, than seven thousand or eight thousand, the House would perceive that the new calculations could not fail to be more accurate. It was not a little extraordinary to observe how different were the results arising from the two modes of calculation. He would briefly state to the House his reasons for adopting the new calculations. According to the calculations of the Northampton tables, out of ten thousand lives which reached the age of forty, two hundred and eighty-four died before they reached the age of forty-one. But, calculating according to the same tables, he found that, out of ten thousand lives at the age of fifty years, one hundred and eighty four died before they reached fifty-one years. By the new tables now to be proposed, out of ten thousand lives at the age of forty years, the deaths before they reached forty-one were calculated at one hundred and seventy-six; and of ten thousand lives, at the age of fifty, the deaths were one hundred and twenty-four before they reached fifty-one years. The difference was, in the one period, one hundred and eight in favour of longevity: and in the latter period the difference wa sixty on the same side. These were the two periods of human life in which it would be most desirable to have exact tables, as it was at these periods that persons were most likely to make provision for themselves by Life Annuities. It was remarkable that, at the age of fifty years, and from that to fifty-one, lives were less likely to falloff than in the earlier period of forty to forty-one years. There was one other circumstance which he was desirous the committee should observe. It was the extraordinary difference between the longevity of men and women at those periods, when both were likely to apply for the purchase o Life Annuities. Of ten thousand women, aged forty years, only one hundred and twelve died before they reached the term of forty-one years; while the number of men dying under the same circumstances amounted to one hundred and eighty-four; and of women of the age of fifty only one hundred and twenty died before they reached fifty-one; while one hundred and sixty-six men died between the ages of fifty and fifty-one. It was a question, therefore, whether different tables should not be constructed for each sex. He thought it would be better to have separate tables, and this would be found to be the more necessary, when it was considered, that of the persons who purchase Annuities about that period, the number of women was one hundred and sixty, while that of men was only fifty; and at later periods of life the disproportion was still greater: so that if the tables for both were the same, women would obtain Annuities on terms much more advantageous than men. It was right, then, under such circumstances, that separate tables should be made for each. But then the effect of separate tables for each sex, and for each kind of annuity according to the price of stocks, would be, that the tables would be too voluminous to be appended to the act.—It would not, however, be necessary so to append them. The act itself would not be constantly referred to by the purchasers of annuities. It was his intention, therefore, that the tables should be published in the London Gazette, and that afterwards copies should be kept by the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, and also at the Treasury, where parties applying for the purchase of Annuities might ascertain at once the price, in stock or money, of the annuity they might require. By this means much of the cumbrous machinery at present in use would be got rid of.—So much for the extension of the principle of Life Annuities. He would now say a word as to another point. As the Finance Committee had recommended that the reduction of the national debt should proceed henceforward on a principle different from that which had been hitherto adopted, and as in a few days, he should have to introduce another measure for applying the surplus revenue, he intended to avoid the intervention of the commissioners of the national debt in the payment of the Annuities; so that when a party applied for an annuity to be paid for by the transfer of a certain quantity of stock, the stock so transferred would be cancelled, and the annuitant be paid out of the consolidated fund. In this manner, there would be a certain, gradual, and, as far as the Annuities went, a considerable reduction of the national debt. Besides, this mode of granting Annuities would afford a mode of making provision for lives on terms certain and advantageous to the individuals, and eventually beneficial to the public. The right hon. gentleman concluded by moving, "That the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt be authorised to grant Annuities on such terms as shall be specified in the Tables, to be from time to time approved of by the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury."

said, that the new tables should be accessible to the public, in order that it might be seen whether they were calculated correctly. He did not think it was necessary to give the proposed tables to the extent at which Mr. Finlayson's calculations went. It was only necessary to give calculations on the lives of different individuals, at some assumed price of stock. He repeated his hopes that the tables would not be kept locked up at the offices where they were proposed to be deposited, but would be printed for the public use.

also thought it necessary that the tables should be published, for the information of the House and the country. Before the tables now alluded to were completed, a person had been employed for ten years, at a salary of 500l. a-year, to complete a table of calculations, and during that time government had been acting in error. The Northampton tables were looked upon as correct in their time; but it should be recollected, that the introduction of vaccination had greatly altered the chances of mortality; so much so that government had been acting in error, and one Insurance Company had realised no less than sixty per cent in purchasing and re-selling Annuities. Government, however, although told that they were wrong, continued in their error for ten years, and at an expense of 5,000l. He knew not whether the same gentleman had been employed upon the present occasion, but he thought there was ground to doubt the correctness of the tables, and he hoped the right hon. gentleman would lose no time in laying them before the public, in order to enable them to judge for themselves. The statement of the right hon. gentleman was undoubtedly clear, but it would be more satisfactory to form an opinion upon an examination of the tables themselves.

repeated, that if the tables were appended to the act it would be too voluminous; but he promised that a summary of them should be before the public.

agreed in the utility of the proposed regulations, and also thought that an opportunity should be given to the public of inspecting the tables. He suggested that the tables should be printed for the inspection of members, and that the bill should be deferred till after Easter. The calculations in general use were on a general average of life; but it should be considered that the parties who would in general apply to government for the purchase of annuities were picked lives.

said, that that circumstance had not been lost sight of in the calculations.

said, that if so, the principle of the alteration was a good one.

wished to know whether the tables rested on the calculations of one individual, or had been checked by others, so as to have the better chance of avoiding error? He would suggest, that as government were now opening an Insurance Office against all others—and he did not object to the principle—the public should get the advantage of the Stamp-duty which those offices were obliged to pay. No doubt, if this advantage were given, most purchasers of Annuities would prefer having them from government, on account of its greater stability. With respect to the tables and calculations, if they were as large as Johnson's Dictionary he would have them printed: the advantage would more than counterbalance the expense.

said, he was glad to see the proposed arrangement, because it would afford a great accommodation to a large class of the community, and on terms which would guard the public against the disadvantage of granting those Annuities at a loss. As his right hon. friend had intimated his intention of submitting a measure for the future application of the surplus revenue, he would suggest to him, that a saving might be made with respect to the Russian loan, made in 1814 and guaranteed by this government. That loan was in the progress of payment by a Sinking-fund; but there still remained 2,000,000l. of it undischarged. Five per cent was now paid for that loan, but he thought it would be advisable to apply our surplus revenue to discharging it all at once; or if there was not sufficient for that purpose, a loan might be raised for a part or the whole, if necessary. Government might easily obtain that sum at four or even three and a half per cent. and by this means we might save 20,000l. a-year, and get rid of the necessity of paying five per cent to foreign countries. The sum that might be thus saved, it was true was not much; but still it might as well be saved.

said, that if he recollected right, the loan in question was made in virtue of a treaty to which two other powers were contracting parties, and that any alteration in it could not be made without consulting them.

asked, whether a fair opportunity did not now present itself to ministers for getting rid of the Usury-laws? Those laws had long been an injury to public dealings, and the sense of the enlightened portion of the community was opposed to them.

The resolution was agreed to.