The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-05-22 00:00:00

IRISH SECREr SERVICE MONEY.

Sir rose, in pursuance of his
motion, to draw the attention cf the House to a
subject which appeared to him of considerable im-
portance. By referring to the proceedings on the
an of the sth of His present Majesty, the House
would perceive, that it lad frequently been pro-
posed to Parliament, and as often 60c...1—nor had
it passed into a law, till the pension list of Ireland
was augmented to nearly double its former amount.
The whole of the secret service money for that
country, up to the time alluded to, had only
' amounted to I TO.OOOI. whit", however, was thought
an err:sea/ant sum—and the Parliament enaCted,
that, in future, the secret service money of Ireland
should not exceed the annual sum of 5,0001.
etrclu-
sively of what may be expended in the detenion and
prevention of treasonable conspiracies and rebellion.
For the last service. no other account was required,
than the oath of the Chief Secr:t.ry of State ; but
the appropriation of the former was made subjett
to the revision of the louse. The aft also provided,
that any sum of money for private service, for three
years successively, should be deemed a pension;
but no such provision was made, in relation to grants
made by the Lords Lieutenant. He did not deny,
that the obje& of his motion was, to make disclosures.
which, to some persons, might not be altogether
agreeable. It had not been concealed, that a vast
sum of money was paid, for the purpose of bring-
ing about the Union, which was held out as a mea-
sure calculated to produce the most important and
beneficial consequences, which, he was sorry to say,
were not yet very likely to result from it. Ever
since the year 1793, it was notorious that no account

was given to Parliament of the disbursements for
secret services ; and he regretted the absence of a
Noble Lord (Castlereagh), whose assist: tee he had
a right to expeet, upon the present occasion. (Same
laughter was here excited, as Lord Castlereagh,
though, of tearer, ■nreen by Me Horourable Barger',
cos Mrs Paled iu kis place). Ile hoped, he said,
that the House would now pay more :mention than
formerly to the disbursements of Ireland, as the
English Members were aware, that our country had
to defray two•seventeenths of the expences. The
expellees of some, though not all, of the pro-
portions in Ireland, ware now before the House,

amounting to the sum of 110,0001. and his motion
would be tor a secret committee to enquire into that
expenditure. On looking into the Journals, he
found la precedent for his motion, in the reign of
William and Mary, November 1638, when a mo-
tion was passed, calling for an account of the mo-
ney paid for secret services to Members of Parlia-
ment, and was presented by Mr. Secretary Harley,
in the December following. As he did not taped
to have the right of the public, to know what they
attnally did pay, disputed, he moved, " That a Se-
cret Committee, of 13 members, exclusively of such
members as held any public offices at the will of the
Crown, be appointed to enquire into the disburse-
ments of secret service money in Ireland, from the
year 1793, to the eA of 1301., inclusive, except-
ing such slims as might have been paid for the de-
tedion of any conspiracies, and distinguishing their
respeltive amounts, and the names and services of
the persons to whom they were paid."
Mr. VAXSI ITA Rl' said, that he should, per-
hapi, have no great objection to the motion, if it
had been properly worded—though he ecnsidered it
altogether unnecessary, as the aa of Parliament po-
sitively limited the secret service money of Ireland
to 5,0001. annually. It was determined by the fi.
nance committee, in 1782, that the Government of
this country could not go on without the expendi-
ture of secret service money ; after which, Mr.
Burke's bill limited that disbursement to 10,0001.
for England, and 5,0001. for Ireland. This list
country, it must be remembered, was, for some
years past, in a very peculiar situation, and the ac-
counts on the table would shew, that considerable
sums uf rormey had been paid for information, to
various persons, whose names could not be disclosed,
without imminent hazard of their being murdered.
If, in the course of these proceedings, any improper
expenditure had been pointed out, it might fairly
furnish a proper grcitind of enquiry ; but, at pre-
►ent, he had heard of nothing which the House
could be called on to proceed upon. The account
of the money laid out in the purchase of boroughs,
in cw.sequence of the Union, could he regularly
obtained at any time; and, as to the abuse of pen-
sions, and some other points animadverted on by
the Hon. Baronet, he considered them totally un-
conneCted with the subjeCt. The accounts required
by the oat of King William, which had been refer-
red to, were already before them; as also the account
of the amount of 110,0001. secret set vice money,
which, he believed, could not be thought unreason-
able, during a period in which there existed two re-
bellions, cr, at least, insurreCtions. The whole ex-
pence, he understood to be, about 20,0101. a great
part of which was paid for foreign correspondence.
to Jetta the contletion between domestic and fo-
reign enemies.
Mr. DS BKOWNE defended the necessity of con-
siderable secret service money in Ireland, for many
years past, as it was known that the rebellious con-
spiracy began in the year 1790, though it did not
break out for three years afterwards. He bestowed
great praise on the zeal and atlivity of Mr. Edward
Cooke, at that time Secret :try in Ireland, to which
he, in a great measure, atuibuted the deteEtion and
defeat of the conspiracy.
The question was then loudly called for, and
strangers ordered to withdraw—when
Sir JOHN NEWPORT, in reply, contended that
the public had a right to be accounted with for
whatever sums were paid out of the public treasury.
He did n' t demand any account of the sums paid
for the det,Ction or discomfiture of treason,
.which
were left to she oath of she Irish Secretary as pro-
vided by law ; but 'any other money should be sub-
je.l to the revision of the House. If the House re.
j arc' this enquiry, particularly the sums lavish-
ed for the purposes of the Union, they would an-
swer the public call in the same manner that Sir
William D'hvenant related of Lord Stair, who,
wfins called upon for an account of the sums paid
in quieting the Highlands of Scotland, • eplied, s, 11. e
money is all spent, the Highlands are taaset, and that
is the best account that I can give you." In the
same manner, the Noble Lord opposite him may
say, " The money is hone, the Union is accomplish-
ed, and you may now he satisfied, for that is the
best account that I can give you."
The Hnnse then divided on the Motion, for it 67
—against it 93—majority 26.
On the third reading of the Bill, appointing Com-
missioners of Military Enquiry;
Admiral BERKELEY asked whether the Bar-
rack Department was included To which
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
replied, that it was expressly mentioned.
The Bill was then read a third time and passed,
as was also the Rill for continuing the powers of
the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry, to which the
Chancellor of the Exchequer added a clause, the
purport of which was—that no witness before the
said Committee should be compelled to answer any
questions which might tend to criminate himself ;
but should be obliged to answer all questions which
might criminate others.