GENERAL PEELsaid, he wished to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If it is his intention to ask for any vote of credit on account of China during the present Session? He wished also to ask, Whether, if that be the case, any portion of the amount will be applicable to the service of the present year; and if it be not so, out of what fund the expenses not provided for in the Estimates are to be met?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERreplied, that the right hon. Gentleman had put a question of which he had not given notice, as well as that of which he had given notice, and he could only answer with respect to the subject to which the question on the Paper referred. There was no intention to ask the House for any Vote of Credit on account of China. There was an unexhausted authority remaining upon former Votes of Credit of about £700,000, and the ex- 425 penses of the year on account of the Vote of Credit would be, as he had estimated them in March last, about £500,000. He was not aware that that Vote would be applicable to any operations that had taken place since the pacification of China. Certainly the purpose for which it was asked was to complete the payment on account of the war with China; and, speaking without the power of any minute investigation, his impression was that the application must be exclusively confined to the settlement of that account. If the right hon. Gentleman, however, required further information upon that point, he would give it with perfect precision on a future day.