time when the good citizen was exhorted to
increase his family, when the expenditure was
very heavy, the National Debt growing apace,
and financiers began to see an excuse for a
large outlay in a large and increasing population.

A great advance has been made during the
last quarter of a century in the art of sucking
Britannia. The amount drawn from the
resources of the country is still large—some
think, with good show of reason, unnecessarily
large—but it is drawn with less determination
to favour the few at the expense of the many.
The general apathy and ignorance existing with
regard to the details of national finance, is an
encouragement to Exchequer Chancellors not to
do their duty. Our budgets, in all probability,
would be wiser and more just if general education
included something about taxes and taxation.
At present, with the exception of the
small doses of political economy administered at
the universities, it includes nothing. Knowledge
about the National Debt, the Consolidated
Fund, and direct and indirect taxation, may be
picked up by inquiring youths, as savages pick
up the knack of wearing dress-coats and riding
in cabs, but this can only be done by "self-
help" and studying, not reading the newspapers.
Few public teachers step forward to teach such
lessons, the task not being showy and popular,
but occasionally a speaker or lecturer is found
who cares more for utility than popularity. Such
a lecturer has appeared lately in the person of
Mr. Thomson Hankey, the well-known banker
and member of Parliament, who judiciously
employed what little leisure he had during the
parliamentary recess in delivering a descriptive
lecture on taxes and expenditure.* Mr. Hankey
is not an avowed financial reformer, and seems
inclined to support the existing state of things,
but the value of his lecture will be found in its
clear statement of details. How little, the
lecturer considered was known of those details,
even in banking circles in the City, may be
gathered from the fact that the lecture was
delivered at the Bank of England Library and
Literary Institute. At this expiring season of
parliament we may profitably employ a few of
our pages in giving the substance of this lecture,
with a few remarks which may seem to us good
in passing.

*Published by Effingham Wilson.

In former times there used to be a great state
officer called a Lord High Treasurer, who often
had no treasure to guard, and who often had to
deal with payments in kind, which might be
wool or any other material. This treasurer,
however, has been superseded by a set of
commissioners appointed by the Crown, whenever
there is a change of ministers, the chief of whom
is called the First Lord of the Treasury, and is
generally, though not necessarily, the prime
minister. The financial duties of the ministry,
however, are always performed by another of
the commissioners, called the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, whose special duty it is to see that
the proceeds of Sucking Britannia are equal to
the cost of Ruling Britannia. He calls for
estimates, some of which, such as the amount
required to be spent on the army and navy, are
supposed to be considered by the cabinet, that
is, by the ministers in a body, and when these
estimates have been approved, their total is
ascertained, and then begins the task of selecting
the taxes. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer
has to propose a larger expenditure than his
last year's or expected forthcoming income will
meet, he has then to ask Parliament to sanction
an increase in some old tax, or the imposition
of a new tax; but if he can make out an excess
of probable income on paper, he asks it either
to reduce or abolish one or more existing
imposts. When his scheme has been sanctioned
by Parliament his duties may be considered
theoretically at an end. The heads of each department,
such as the army or navy, ask Parliament
to sanction their own estimates, and when there
is no special representative of the department
in the House of Commons—the House in which
all money bills originate—the duty then
devolves upon the Secretary of the Treasury, but
not upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The
Secretary of the Treasury is the generally recognised
authority respecting the expenditure of the
country, excepting for the army and navy.

The estimates, having been already laid before
Parliament for some weeks previous to their
being taken into consideration, are then put to
the vote in the House of Commons, and when
voted, the first step, but only the first step, has
been gained. No money can really be got at
until an Act of Parliament has been formally
passed for a transfer of money from the
Exchequer Account at the Bank of England or
Ireland. This Act is very properly called a
Consolidated Fund or Ways and Means Act,
and it directs the Comptroller of the Exchequer
to obey a royal warrant granted by the Crown
to the Lords of the Treasury, and to order a
transfer of money from the Exchequer Account
to such other accounts as require money for
those services in ruling Britannia which have
been specified in the votes of the House of
Commons. It is the duty of the Speaker to
take care that no larger sum is granted for the
use of the Treasury in this way, than the total
amount of the votes which have actually been
passed from time to time in Committees of
Supply. Formerly, a much larger proportion
of the expenditure than at present was
sanctioned by previous Acts of Parliament,
consequently, a much smaller sum came annually
under the control of Parliament. All the money
received on account of the government is
considered to belong to the Consolidated Fund.
It is paid in as received to the Bank of
England or Ireland, placed to the Exchequer
Account, and cannot be touched without the
sanction of an Act of Parliament, either passed
at the time, or which has already been passed,
and is then in full force. Towards the close of
every session the financial legislation is
completed by the passing of an Appropriation Bill,