§ Mr. Goulburnsaid, in conformity with the motion which had been made in that House, papers had 1183 been laid on the Table, purporting to contain the correspondence between her Majesty's Government and the East India Company, as to the arrangements for paying the expenses of the armament now preparing for service in China, but that correspondence appeared to be extremely short, and, in fact, only stated that the expense was ultimately to be borne by the Government of this country. The question he now wished to ask was, whether it was the intention of the Government to lay before the House any estimate of the amount which would be required for that service? It should be remembered that the service was undertaken on orders from home. The Government, therefore, must be aware of the nature of the expedition, and could calculate pretty nearly the expenditure which it would require; and it certainly was not correct with regard to the House of Commons that an expense of this nature should be gone into with no other assurance than that, ultimately, at some definite period, the expense was to be borne by this country, without any previous communication as to the extent of the expense.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer.It is not my wish to enter into any detailed statement; but it is the intention of the Government to bring the subject before Parliament previous to the close of the Session, and to ask a vote upon it.