The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1809-03-22 00:00:00

xi be coatessied, that it is 'leen ill the army Ite such ly to Jain item upon it int mateuded, that the duties were heqoestly so blended . it extremely desirable to t the be Board. Where lety of Colonel Welsh's they mom to the question its, his services would be Iris integrity and disinte. :nowt' ; and it was uot be ith Lord Mulgrave that he is station. Every thing he olooal would apply to Cap. 'a heady of whom i• might ill the sons were brave, and uus." lie then again ad. 'tied the strange conduct of ; a truism for 11 resolution, titer ideas then what it up. e upon the Board of Ad ere ea, not the slightest d by inoviug tlitt' previous d, that the accounts were , ell undersiciod ; but it had thin luippeued. The floe. explain the most desirable agreeable to lino to sped' r in any degree to be pt., persons alleged to- be re. lairman, upon hi. full saki vauced age ;—e inure able re to find; and it was a blu r fact, that the person op- Chairman was his senior in 'h older, but inure illiirltle had been resioived. Mr, 1 \ tory to Lord A !vine, an i is of business. One of th been removed; and it Wei ...counts were so complex--- , such should have been the been removed, we should resignation. The country pensions, would expect to f the removal of such per. ;ointment of othecs. The inittits were very poor ; he i consequently seemed very As to what had been said upon men in office, if every deemed an aspersion, there who had not occasionally rse who had not been guilty The motion reeommended professional experience to of the Navy; bat the Hes. iotter to look to the Aresy d entered into is vindiestioo earn-.M wes happy . they e characters, but thee had professionid abilities. lie s of the Hon. Gentleman ig; whet' he wished to intro miumge . the alliirs of the try best suited to the office; zodnee a lawyer, none so had be wished to introduce rut would have been the here was room for • cons at-lee, *ben persons, as fib reinoved, vritireSsi any Y. a copcluded by declaring ii the motion of the Hon. led the Honourable Bart. supposed to be attributed ember who spoke last, of !sent motion from improper ember had said, there *no id, which it wan not thought old ask him did he know ,lus to action as public mo ve in the existence of a de n rendering a liervii!e to the vas satisfied was the motive id in this business. It wee lotion was intended to ope h none such was expressed, is to be opposed. This he ion wholly without founds. aterrupted the Honourable se of disclaiming all itupu- Ives in the conduct of the ird continued by observing. ate had considered the mo cation, though notin terms. tea open the Victualling A untie ntlell was iatended, at the Report itself tar. :twilling Board, se it stood 'lace, it had bees asserted to .ruction, and in the conduct lac it could not pnesibly con ition ; and yes if this were Members of it were punished 3of His note Friend had a alluded in _ki,,jLo ids totem/ was, lisa. whatever, it was the COW form who made the ells ; and the !louse wes merely die conclusions *hick thin.e was from the facts stated io r words in explanation. ma said, he was supposed uer night, that the former Victualling Board were so atcsosary they should be res mg use of any such words ; the tomer mode of con that department, was found re the removal of some of ard, and also to amend the •y hid proceeded. He ad le Ho:mutable Baronet ass II the warmth expressed by , (Mr. Ward), ia a Podia , and he as glad to And by confining litreself aseie tlie Tenth Report, epee and wilt the imeensity of mitt stated; he ans. how,- big Baronet Aid not, at the tr Report., hifrh were oleo • •. beam the Hootie.- ate want 'the Eleventh and Tooth Moporks, as the (cal; was astrirly.confined to the Victualling board in the turtrumulia. The Eleventh Report goes to meoluanatemeht at the re- ' riousotitponts, suet was so connected with the far mer, that in Order to'come to a jiia conduit:in, they must isteessarily go together.. If he bad rend that Report, he would have fontid various initiatives ; of mismanagement; at Ilytuoittli for instance ; sod that the former system was Ma imperfect. that an Officer at that port had actually passe.l four thousand casks inure than he was called to account for. He would also have found iu the Twelfth lteport similar instances of mistuanageinritt iu the accounts of the several fureigu statioiis. Bp these Report's he would also have perceived. that appropriate remedies were very distioctly paint ud out for all those evil,. Of the gene -it •iterits of the Iteports themselves, he did not IP to speak slightly, but yet there were some ••., ,t•.alictimis he enithl nut wholly pass by un it. nn ed. They would find it stated in the Eighth ttepart, that the iss iiiii g of provisions and store, at the 'squalling-Office; in 180.1, appeared to be conducted with great regidarity and order; and yet it appeared, in ouc instauce, there was a surplus 0,4,0:4 to no less au amount than 4000 tons, while in another instance there was a deficiency to the :amnia of 3090 tons. It appeared also by the Tenth Number of the Appendix, there was the *ante variation in several article* of prevision, to a very considerable degree, as in the article of bread. In that of ruin there wee a surplus. while in that of brandy there was it deficiency ; and this was sup paved to have t/VCllo , etrioaorl by the tinning of the %slier. through mistake, for the former. This was c••riainly u very curious sneeitnen of the regularity h“istril of in the Reohrt In the article of pork bl.eaise, there had been found a deficiency in the naunil pieces, sad • surplus in ; six-pound pieces ; nod vet of thu irregularity the Commis. @Whirrs had tea 'thought tit to make any coin plar *Lae they believed, accordingtutheir statement, that I the mistake was occmioned by the issuing et four-noniid fur six-puao,d pieces; now he would ask, ilia ever any one hear 01 such excuses attior -1.. :allele of floor tin , also a deli :ry of no lass thao 76$ VOUtIIIII, And this mis take was said to have beers occasioned through the hurry caused by the pres.nre of business ; this was certainly • very carious way of euchring such an error. Thu Report likewise contained a long his tory on the subject of the casks, some of which had bean foulard at a neighbouring brewer's ; and 3.4, although a prosscohno bud been commenced, loit which had failed, no iiivestig•ttian what ' ever into the besiness had ever taken place. The true rause a the irregularity, however, as he hod found upon inquire, was owing to the mode of charging a certain quantity of tontsege by the nets bee of staves, hut which had proved errenemsa, as the some number had been found in some instances to produce a surplus, end in others a deficiency in the amount of the tonnage. In order to skew the titter impossibility of the pr.sent Victualling Board, in tunes of such pressure of business as the present, to do every thing that might he expected frmn them. at *act, hi rend a letter from the Vic tootling Booed 'to the Commissioners, in mower to one from them, and which was written about a month after the Hsu. Bernuet had gone eat of of ice, stating, that none of the au-ports of the gout missionrre haullkin transmitted to them officially, nor had any requisition whatever been made to them, to act en inch Reports. This soffioently sheaved the Commissioners bad net themselves done all that haul been required or expected from /lotto by the country ; and therefore some allow ance should be made for the Victualling Board, if at this time every thing was nor dose which might be expected, when it was considered the great press of public business that existed.-1V oh respect to the resig in ci o n s spoken of by the Honourable and Learned Gentleman, he must premise be was sot st all personally acquainted with them; but when 1).1 looked to the then state of the Victualling Board, he did certainly think there could no effec tual reform take place, without the removal of Some at least of the Members from their situations. Titus was saficiontle proved by the circumstance. stated in the Tenth Ileport. of the arrears aroottal nig to no lees than eleven millions and a half. and ' which was owing to the accounts of twenty-five rears standing not having .heen looked into by the Victualling Board. The cmifnaimi arising from this was such as to make it kite to hope for reformation by any other means than removal.— The flononra4le Baronet, in his statement, had eritainly avoided alluding to any individuals in particular; and yet the Honourable and Learned Ilerstlenson had made his attack by entering into a defence of those who had been removed ; but upon this occasion his information had not been so correct es it might have been, and he would set him right is some particulars. —He had stated that Me. Moldy was the best account ant that could be found. Of that Gentleman hr was reedy to admit, that the public had no more sido servant, but like all other servants, his powers had, lay this time, suffered a physical decline. This appeared by his (two statemeo, in a lettor•ed dressed to 'Lord Mulgrave, looting hi, public ser. vices-since the year toao ; that after a service of 49 years, hie sight and health were impaired, and soliciting his superannuation upon his full salary. This request he had hilorelf hacked with the Noble Lord; hut who, to his very great regret, found it impossible upon inquiry to +secede to it. consist ently with the regular practice, which was, to re tire upon three-fourths of the salary. That flentlrman, however, upon miderstanaing thus determination. had, in a sutosequelit letter. requested to withdraw his resignation. It was. notwithstanding. found necessary iv remove hint. With respect to Mr. March, be had retie d throe-fourths of his salary. Ile had himself been called on to make itopones into the powers of this Gentleman to e'er-toe the duties of hi,. ,sffice, and he bid found him to be a Gentleman of moot etc celleut character, but not capable of executing those reform, whirls were ronsnler , ll sa indiven tuntay necemory. Mr Budge, in like manner. was. I'y Kant. or snroe such j! - ClipnritAtt4l from attending to the duties o f hi e office, a. 41 was therefore removed. Ilc vow cam.- i the considera tion of the successors of those Gent:. n .1, of whom it was insioutited, as if the renal/v., were node solely for the purpose of making room toy twat. rr ---- r •• - ‘r esp t-- gat trim' Viliatd star, ' • t the bead et . the Admiralty. linwirni vivi ttly " 1 7 r:rageapb in the Rep ort ioniser cousiderrti on, , at:tn.:lly called z r iris naval adrir.n, for the express uorpoie of reeorain2adisig thewattest per -11001 to lilt those stations, and they hail done so ate c•rdissitly, uuder the very terms of the Report.--e Two of theta, Mews. Browne and Hokin, who had been nursers, his Lordship had nett, seen be fore their apposatinent. As to Colonel Welsh. who, tiy the bye,Seas no more a Colonel than be was, au 1 Capt. Stotirt, wlio, likewise. was no Captain. they bed been appointed long before the Report had been made. Ott the subject of extrava gance, as charged upon Administration, they were so far from hating guilty of it iii the formation of the Board, that whereas it had been recommended to constitute the Victualling 'Soar(' of three Com mittees, tor the conducing the business, yet it had been resolved, for the purpose of saving, it possible, the axpensei, to try if two might not be found adequate, and accordingly two only were iippowt ed. These appointments took place in December last. The old iirrear had amounted to upwards of 11,009,000, and a million and a half had accumu lated siw•e the Trbith Report; notwithstanding which, no accumulation whatever h:id been suffer ed since the appoiatinuat, and in addition, no lea. n snot than 6,900,0001. had been investigated and settled since the new appointineut. Tins at least was a proof of the manner in which the business was transacted under the present onler of 1 hings.— Under all these circumstances, he should vote for the previnus question. Mr. Wiener ast declared lie had formed his opinion on the subject now under discussion, only by what be had heard since he came into the House, a great portion of which, however, he considered as wholly irrelevant. as he considered the attack on the worthy Bar.: wt olio had made the motion. as well asthat on the Commissioners of Naval Revision, as having nothing whatever to do with the merits of the question. The simple point, as lie coaceived, b-fore tite:a, was, boa fir it was 11 , CPSSiry to rt , move . certein Commis,ioners from the Victualling Beard. and with what propriety their place's had hem sapplied ? And this could only be decided by an examination into their Writ' respective ly. Now from any thing he had heard, the :a rm' complained of in the time of the former Cnnunissioners, might as well be owing to tiv! great increepe of husinese in that office ; as ho from experience knew it to be the ciao! in the Wur Office. How then would they brine about the reform sonzlit after ? Not by a iiiia•i i .ce of syetein, hot merely that of pereons! A very eon eise mode this, and certainly no less agrees. .!e to those who were practising it, sad Ito less ready in the provice. Then comm an examination in detail, and as it were nomination of the persons who had been put out, and of those who were appointed in their places. Now it happened, that r.f *ll of them he knew only Mr. March; when therefore he heard what was said, he could not i but think it soinewhet sospicinus, because at the time he knew him. he certainly was, physically speaking, fully competent to the duties of his office, and bud the character of being a very well informed and intelligent roam ; but these were questions in which the Home was perfectly help lase, and left to decide swell on the opinions which might be stated mi the sue yids or Ow other. In Mcxely's case, he was stated to have expressed a wish to resign, from infirmity; and in that of Budge, his resignation was imputed to gout. If these cases were made nut to their eatisfactioie there was an end to that part of the case • then came that of their aeccessors. If age were consider ed as a ground for removal, he would wish to know how Captain Towrey was retained ? The Honourable Centleman had reproached the worthy Baronet for the negligence with which the former Board of Admiralty had conducted them selves ; but surely he at the same time funnelled an excuse, in the pressure of bossiness, tepee which he had dwelt. As to those minute inquiries. of whether it was brandy instead of ruin, whether 48 casks. instead of another number, Ise thought there were points of infinitely More consequence to the pahlic, that might be necessarily neglected in the pursuit of such minute detail. ; upon such business as the fitting out of expeditions and fiesta, that great extent of rigour was productive of the worst consequences. Ile did not think that they should be detained by the slow proceediwes of office to wait for such voucher' , as' might be customary. Upon the whole. he concluded, that the proposi tion of the Worthy Baronet eught to be adopted lay the House, and therefore it should have his vote. Mr. PZIICEVAL said, that he did not mean to trespass long upon the patience of the House, but a tie remarks he thought necessary upon the pre sent occasion. The Right lion. Gentlemen op-• posite appeared to him to have mistaken the field, and eviueed an igniousice of the whole staltratitra upon which the Victualling Board rested. He hail come down to the House in the middle of the de bate, which accounted for the unprepared] manner 'n which he aleteureil to have met the question.— The worthy &newt had made a proposition which implied that soinethieg hail been done improperly by the Board of 'Admiral') , and it was only upon that ground, and from a convierinn that such a reflection was not deserved, that he opposed the prepositioe. The Honourable Gentleman seemed to think that the presort Board of Admiralty was acting upon a system introduced by them, in con sequence of the former Board, but nothing could be further from the fact. The Coal iniseioners of Naval Revision did think that there %111 something • incorrect in the system of the Victualling Board, which they proposed to remedy by dividing it into three Committees. These three emurnittees would require three Commissioners; but it was resolved by the Admiralty to try all experiment less bur densome to the'pliblii , and forbear the appoint ment of fhe three new Conioniseionees--for mettle upon sneh a *yawn, they were entitled to praise. To a Hoard so constituted, it lierartie ueeemeiry :hat two officers, experienced in the Navy. 'should he attache., : that they might he attached without itierewaog the expense to the public, it was necessary that two should be removed to make way for them ; and then the question was, whom it would be orlyieable to ninon. ? Mr. Birch, the Cheirmen, had been a long while . preventeel from discharging his duty iu consecinence of Ms in& reifies; 'anti 4411111 . t e•midefed dot • Chairman, ematitensid kr*oo, the old oriels , was not the peismigssist its carry a sew wae iuto effect, a new mie s dm very saaptlon it winch might he censitleied es' in some degree ref ectiag upon himself, they would see the propriety of thet rem oval; the other geatleusen was also far adenines ed in years. They were not removed measly is make way for DOW appointments, bat Weans* the appaiuitnient of two was aecomary for the reason already stated, and they were removed. to make the vacancies necessary to admit The Honourable Gentleman had, gene on for aurae tune, cnolly and calmly talkie% against AD Arrangement which he did not seem to wider stand. When Gentlemen did come forward with imputatioasagaiust individuals, or bodies of is they ought to consider, before they made their cliergw;—the fact was, that Mr. Moody had himself made application to be discharged. upon the ground of old age and infirmity. When Gen t!, men were not fully informed upon the.subject, they should come forward with the language, not of charge, but of inquiry. The Hon. Bareiset had not insinuated la the debate any thing as to the de merit of particular persons, but he wished the House to adopt a geueral proiscwition, which, if nothing had been done in the Admiralty, might be necessary, but which, if they had done their duty, was r st:grna that should not be tossed apes. them. There was, in his oeiniun, run eccasion for asserting it at the ()resew moment. Mr. WHIT/MAD said, that lie differed from the Right Hou. Gentleman& °midis, on away :patine. and in whatever way the worthy flirt. might have introduced his tnotiou, the Hon. Gentleman who followed him had treated it in a manner, he might almost saw, iinparlipmentary ; for his speech was not a reply to the speech of the worthy Baronet. hut to some speech supposed to have been made by him upon a former occasion ; if he disapproved of the public conduct, he did not think it fair to conclude that he was guilty of wipers towards an iudividold. lie decliiird °tiering any opinion upon the conduct of the present Admi ralty ; he had only their own word for their merit. His lion. Friend had proposed a Resolu tion, in winch he entirely concurred; he (Mr. %V.) had been for two years of his life engaged in an inquiry into public abuse , . and hr could pro nounce that they were many, and difficult to h e removed. The Hon. Gentleman had asked—Why did die Commissioners of Naval Revision, being Aleurarrs of Parliament, why did they not r. form the abuses they had detected ? But then the Honourable Geittlenisn had assumesl what was not the case; for there was but one Nleinber of Parliament, who was his lion. Friend, attached to that Committee; and it was a misfortune that their suggestions were not acted on. The lion. Gentle man himself had :Omitted, that the Victualling Board was found to he so vicious, that it Wes al most a question with them whether it should be broken up or lint. Pere the lion. Alember signified his dement from the statement.) He se understood bin, and was sorry if he had wiscouceired. It had ' been said, that those who were dismissed were too ill, and too old, &c. He wished to know what were the et esteraslP The Commissioners of'Naval Re vision had said, Oast improper persons were em ployed, and it was asked why did net his Honour- Able F.i isd, thewhole time he was in olio, amend what was wrong? It should he considered how long he really was in office, before that question was put, and it would be es,y to account for it upon the shortness of the tt. Ile could not agree with his Rt. lion. Fri, hair iu L. i epiuion of the accuracy that he ..:cousitod se trivial ; he slid not see what the •••• as to prevent the accounts of Go vernment feint being ke as accurately as the ac counts of merchants. The Hon. Gentleman op posite appeared to him not to have acted rightly when be made a speech, to which he also made an anuses. and notwithstanding all that bad been urged, he would beg leave to say, that it was fully competent to his Honourable Friend to object to any appointment, sin matter how nearly allied the object of that appointineut to ugly Member of the House. He did not know whether it was the its. tention to follow up the Resolution by any limber quent proceeding; but whether or not, he thought that if the House give that Resolution the g y, it would do away all the advantage which the Committee was intended and calculated to pro duce, and the Government might go on appointing pervous to situations upon the same system be. fore ; that is, only with a view to their Watered.— For these rearms, he would support the motion of his Honourable Friend. Mr. PeTeR MOODS said, that when the Gentle men opposite were so ready to enter into defence, it implied something like a consciousness that de fence was necessary to their conduct; and when his Ibis. Friend was attacked, it should be remem bered, that he was one of those who hid proposed reforms. which, had they been acted upon, would have been productive of udembige to the country, and which would have been acted upon. but for the circumstance of his being tunwd out. The Hon. Gentlemen opposite hail themselves acknowledged, that great shave existed, and he was ready to give them his support, or any body else, who would de termine to bring forward abuses. With respect to Colonel Welsh and Mr. March, he had known them for a long while, end he did not think they were incapacitated from age, or soy other canter he thought that Mr. March had not bemillainfis 'timely treated, his case was not like tbs. sr 1(r. Moody, who requested lessee to retire. Ittpett*, in those days, found their way upon the shelves of the House like so lunch waste paper; he be lievcd, before God, that if the Reports of that Cousluittee had been adopted in tine. the nation would hare been saved itahoon,oool. Mr. Psacevat. expkine.l. Admiral MAIIIIMADI agreed in the proposition of his Hon. Friend, which he thought should he in serted upon the Journals. Sir (7111.4aLSS POLO said, that he had DO ether object in proposing that measure, then the public service, he had aimed it at no intlividnal ; he did not wish to cult the slightest censure upon any otrs, brit thought that that was a proper measure by which the House might shew the country its intention of acting upon the reformatioes propoesd. He thought be we. right it) his object. However, if the Halter were inclined to r.egatise it. he would spot purli i‘ to the mac. • The Peri , .b eli e a bl rented without e Leal CA stiiiitsmii heettlillg ist state of dwarf.) , itet weed In PO was Offigridle 11111 the table mei Mr. Foetus proposed a bill ter tI went and grieirth of Ilaz-led is Ives reeds first time, and metered to be n time to-morrow. The Irish Drawback Sugar ain ant time, awl ordered for a secoes morrow. The Irish Corn Import MA Export a lea' time sad ordered for it strop( 11110frerr. Os the motion ejil - r. Refits leave its a bill be permit the registet of ships taken as prises. On the motion of Mr. IVELLS.SLI ?feral OMeers' Widows' Bill was time, and ordered to be printed, as ,epau Thursday next. IRISH MALT SPIRMI DUTY Mr. Fonts moved the Order of • Committee on the Irish Malt Spiri for the purpose of postpouing the natil Thursday next, the House be thin. and especially of Irish Member Sir Jons Naeiroar said, that he ender the necessity of opposing the before them. The reason advanced Hon. Gentleman, namely, that so fe tiers were present, did not exist, he his eyelet that mnsierit. Ample not given that the motion was to come House was then as fall or faller than when the Irish-business was brought The Right Hon. Gentleman genera tleit it sh.nild be ton early or too lei benefit Dia full Bootie, end a debt gation. The present certainly was titled to the fullest discussion, the m' sidered the more ruinous did it appe.i perky and tranquillity of the whole u He rose at that moment, not for t uljecting to the adjournment. but assigned, and worthd move g. that 100 day they should, adjourn to that day If the measure proposed by the Rt. 10411 wan our that could he mend progress through the Committee it w, of soy improvement, he would not that stage to oppose it ; but as it upon a principle radicilly wrong. tl the Malt 'lns, as it was not, capabli any amendment, he chose OW stag objections. hemmer it war the brat. he could 'fie's: the - House that i sible it could produce any . . tereoue point he would go, not to sperentition (Here the Hoe our.sble lEseronat weal comparison of the produce of the I several year. back, horn Which it ptai that, from the year 110, the additi produced comparatively teething; fi drew the inference that, the Matt D . at its acme of taxatiori„, and that er only evinced thislallemof soy seam crease.) The obvious met of the ebb by the Right Holsoumble Geutlemai produce au increase of the illicit peas in that eirentry. and-repreetetriftv Geutleman himself as beyond the poi meat to remedy ; with that impres miud, he had come forward with fuel to the flame, and by augment um. promote tbe extent of offence. T Gentleman might to hare takes a les fora .r augmentations ; he had pro; House, and succeeded in his eodeavoi for iucreasing the duty on Port W increase in words led to an actual the revenue. The Right Hon. Gel to have Icarus! before now, from hi euce, that in boanciul arithmetic, do not always make four; that vs do not even make one. Ili order ti ture of that manure plain to the necessary to reduce the messes to the measure of England, wl appear, than the perimmein malt lied was greater than iii Great Bri ing to the Report of .the Coruinii query, it appeared, that not oue-ha ed that ought to here been collect laud he knew that it was the wish had heard a persou high in office des the state of the country would admit tax that should be reduced was tl Haviug sant thus much to prove, tin of revenue it would nut be p would next proceed to shew. thit • productive in that respect to a swab could be looked for, there was sti count, upon which it should be (I effects upon the public peace. It I stated in that House, as a desirable quillise Ireland, and if ever there vrl snore calculated than tarnisher to pr sirable object, it was this nieasure, wl the people heck agora from beer toth exposed the in to all the consequence' If men get intoxiested upon beer, tt off the effects, but spirits set the would not go to water. He hops Honourable Gentleman would not them to that alternative ; they woul selves to spirits, end it wand coot little increase of revenue to support adequate to restrain their violence. of Govenirnent to encourage bre , country. It lied been said, that Sugar Spirits was too high last year it proposed to he remedied ? By gi encouragement to the illicit traders, ing their competition with the fair approved. and would vote against, incapable of affordnig any inertai mid, even if it *ere, he would ohject score of impolicy and injustice, for the itainitil Oily of ireiatiel. Mr. lowan *aid, the Right Hos statedoishisrteson for moving the ai the mesons would he the destroctri en's. He did sot understand his he hoped the Hen. Burnett would and understand it. He was not ing letters to the House, bat in ilea ' . .