The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1810-03-23 00:00:00

IRISH POST OFFICE.

Sir J. ICltiireilla sail. the principle of public
e•inocuy had been so often recognised in that
House. tluit it was scarcely necessary for Into to do
any thing more than propose the reiolotioti, it was
lois iltention to submit to them, and shorty to
state the circumstances of the cue. The Irish
!nuncio, in 17d4, hod passed an set to regulate the
rcunineration to persons rein ingfrorn public 144:e
at' er -25 yeas.' servic. or wring iticapvicttat :d try
wttn•.(l4, &c. from doml their duty. This ha
iafteraarils been recognis, by the Parliament or
thi. country, and was the princip!e act, rl on 1:1
tls Commissioners of Irish Finance, in whose
Sr h Report, the instance of misconduct to which
lof to dr.,w their attention• sa- stated. It
there appeared, as a violation of the a, r.s
and in direct ciotradicti•rn rt., 411 e prt:•cp!.s of
econo•ny on stitch they sc.••• kuirleti, that the
Trensivir of the Irish I'f .after heist in
that off..e for •,;11% .i.;fit mid 'lever hating
performed any ••1 •itities s.. superannuated tin
his lull ,nilary ol per annum, without having
d. i.e. ur. What more could they
do for their old. ai ,errant', if they thus lavished the
st r. surd• upan thu4e stliu had been no short a
tune in office ? The Ilort. Baronet co•icluilt by
'voting a re..olutio ti•clantary or the Irish Law in
7S4—The recognition of it by the
opinion of the Commissionei• for
Irish inquiry. and expressive of the tviire
of the ?loose for this deviation from these !a.
the rid slilished principles of rennamt.
Mr. VV.Put.,. *air' ,:• • r.'.., -••-::, • A

the necessity of attending to rational economy.
tier was there a pen,nii to the kingdom more aim-
loto to attend to the 1111ggrM1011, of the House of
Csietaanini on this point than the Noble Duke at
elsis head of the Onveiiiiiient of Ireland. In the
V= t instance. he thought he would shear the
that, Udmurt, and even the Corn-
laissioners themselves, were mistaken in thinking
the allowing Mr. Howard to retire on his full
salary of are hutuilett pounds a-year, was
at all &deviation from the law or principle/401'cm.
notuy. This Gentleman held the office from the
year 1800, (through successive Adasinistrations,) as
&inv. ruecure. As such lie had received it; fur
tlinugh it was constituted by a indent during plea-
sure., it was one of thole well understood to hr per-
manent, so long as the individual did not miscon-
duct himself. Whenever it was iieces.ary, in this
great reign of reform. to do away a rinecure place, a
e 1111 l pensatims was giver., and it was upon this ac-
knowledged print iple, that when the Post-office of
was new•modelled, and a sinecure Tres-
alter was removed to snake way for an ttliciriit
Officer. the salary was continued to the iwr,ini so
removed. This was the 'lain stair of the E:11.4..
Hr knew not for what the sinecure Wit* granted,
butionly that when necessary to re-model the office,
it would have hero thought unjust to call 011 a per-
son to do a duty in a situation which he had re-
ce..cil as a ceiruplete sinecure, or to dismiss him
with less titan his original salary. Under there cou-
biderationii, he would inert the resolutions by mov-
ing the previous question.
Mr. liATIIVIIST and • few words, in order to pro-
cure a fall expLitiatioir of the caw.
Mr W. POLE explained.
• ___ _

Mr. Wilmot:An contrasted the statement of the
Right lin). Gentleman, with the report of the
Commissioners, and contended, dat the lutter was
most deserving of the sanction of the House, and it
declared the superannuation of this Gentleman, to
be a eiolation of principle, the more rep►ehensible,
as he had never done any duty during the eight
years he was in office. The Right Hon. Gentle-
man had explained the nature of patent offices, hut
he could not conceive what kind of a patent office it
was, is which a person was to lose his situation from
sui4conduct, in a mere sinecure place. This Gent.
was, he understood, in the prime of life ; and if any
new duties were to be performed, the Government
unAlet to have called on him to execute them from
th of time forward, sod not burden tlw people with
another salary to another officer. If the (tight
thou. Gentleman was no the dark respecting the
cause of originally granting this inner-ore, he might
perhaps obtain some information from a Noble
Lord (Castlereagh) not now in his place, and a
Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Foster), who
bad often denounced the grants for certain purposes
in or about the year 1800. Was tt then possible
to come to the pre% ion. question, ml so scanda-
lous a job as this ? He could not ;where that Mt.
%Osten& dare do it. The public were saddled with
1.1001. for what was done by a Clerk at perhaps
WI. paid out of the pocket of the original holder
♦f the o♦fce. lie would ►ike to know what were
the ditties of the Treasurer now ?

Mr. W. Pima said, he had no objection to give
the Hon. Gentleman information on this point.
Tite CHAIICELLUI of the EXCIMICEII argued at
some length 011 the same side with the last speaker.
and contended, that this case did nut come within
the purview of the Acts alluded to.
Sir S. ROMILLY delimited coining to the pre-
vious question, and contrasted the weight that ought
to be given to the opinion of Commiwooners out oath,
and the bare iorsoutptions of the Hon. Gentlrm.tn
oppoite. The Commissioners considered the Geis-
tlenin having done no duty fur eight years. as an
aggravation of the sinecure ; but on this very ag-
grivalion the Right Hon. Gentlemen opposite rest-
ed their defelier. Hr cou•idered it as a gross job,
■nd would cote tgaiii,t Ike previone question.
Mr. Ultima made some excellent remarks on
the practice 4)l,min-remounting stout, able, healthy,
young men ; and thought it would be an amusing
;notion to have them all produced at the Bar, that
the House might judge of the efficiency of the
public offiz:ers by the ability of Clove removed for in.;
efficiency. He believed it, however, impossible for
any Ministry to resist all applications of this kind ;
and thought the House would do well by agreeing to
the motion of the Him. Baronet, to mark their de-
termination to resist any departure from the system
of economy laid down for the direction of those re-
tiring from public utficts.
Mr. P. Moore, sir. Giles, Mr. M. Fitzgerald,
and Mr. Barham, supported the original motion.
The. SoLICITOP-GEFIRIAL and Mr. DUNDAs
spote in favour of the A mend in.- tit.
After this, Sir Jona N gwpoar wade SA able re-
ply, and the [Luise divided—
__

Ear the pre halls Queshon
Against it

3lajuril y against th► Resolelies ....g I
LOCAL MILITIA.

On our re-admissi )))) , we found Mr. Sec. etary
nese"' on h's legs, moving for leave to bring in
the Bill, for amending the. Loral Militia Laws;
and understood that previous to our entry, he had
mentioned a clause, whereby a new oath was to be
imposed.
Upon this subject, • very desultory conversation
ensued, in which Mr. 11'hubread, Mr. W. Wynne,
Me. Giles, and Mr. Ryder, participated. The
former objected generally to the multiplication of
oaths. an suggested • roving of expense, by giv-
ing the Staff-oßicers on the Loical Militia, Captain's
pay, as had been dons with ,ne ~hl Militia.
Mr. liming had turned hi. attention to this sub-
ject, but we% of opinion the saving could not
effected till next 3 ear.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill, whieli
we. liroli4ht iu Acoriltugly, read • first time, and
ordered to be reed a second [line to-morrow.