The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-03-27 00:00:00

. •
mut whiCh could occur at that Court. The sum
charged in the estimate for the embassy to Switzer-
land was 4.5001. for a service which was formerly
done for 2501. a year. It might be said peeshep.
. that all these appointments were nrcessaiy to pre-
serge the present excellent arrangement of the bis-
' hence of power in Europe—but if they said the ba-
lance of power in the House of Commons, he be-
lieved they would be nearer their real object. If
the miss•inn to the Swiss Cantons were placed on a
reduced scale, the safety of the Republic would
be etolangered ; if those to the minor Courts of
Germany were wiihdrawn, the larger Powers would
swallow up the smaller ; if the expellee of the em-
bossy to the Hague were dinitni-hed, France would
speedily overrun Holland and the Netherlands. In
that manlier, nu doubt, it would be argued that all
these appointments were necessary to maintain the
balance of power in Europe. But it was strange,
and rather unfortunate for such an argument, teat
so many linter:cell of non-residence occurred amoug
the persua.e at the head of these diplomatic mei-
'iota. It was also extraordinary that nit the mere
rumour of the intention of the King of Portugal to
return to Lisbon, it should have been thought ne-
cessary to appoint an Ambassador Exeruordinary
to that Cruel at a salary of 15.000/. a year ; bat
now that the King had actually returned, a &err-
cretary of Leper ton as Charge d'Affaires was thought
adequate to the service of that mission. What be
chiefly complained of was, that advantage had
been taken of every pretext that offered to ioe
crease these appointments, and to carry them
to too high a pitch, but that when a favours.
ble opportunity was offered by a change of
circumstances to reduce them, he could not
find that any diminution was made in the ex•
pellet. It would perhaps be said that the increase
its the allowances was not more than was necessary
to meet the expenses, and to reward the services of
the persons who tilled the appointment.. He be-
lieved indeed that the money was spent ; but if the
pay and ollowairres were deubled, tray, if they were
quadrupled, he had nut the smallest doubt that the
whole of what was paid would be spent, end an in-
crease to soy amount might he .equally us well de-
fended on the score of its tirces'ity to meet the ex•
penises incurred. lie really believed that influence
mid patronage were the ohjects which were the real.
cause of all these great addition, to the expense and
the number of aec•h appointments, for that was
the vital principle which pervaded the whole sys-
tem of our establishments at present. Ile found
the Treasury swallowing up nearly all the patron-
age of the public Boards in every department. If
he looked at the revenue, which was collected at an
expense of 4 or 5,000,000/. a year, in the several
departments of custom., excise, post-office, and
as d taxes—if he looked at the augmented esti-
blishmeot of the office of Commander in Chief—
if lie looked at the India Board, and the office
of third Secretary of State, the former of which
was, in his opiuiou, wholly useless, fur if a third
Secretary of State were at all necessary, it was for
the Weirs of the Colonies, to which India naturally
belonged—it was plain to him that influence and
patronage were the objects for which the exteusite
establishments of these several departments were
kept up; end they had at length come to hear the
uvuwal made, thee to keep up the Menem. of Go-
vernmeat, ce►tain offices. no matter whether useful
or useless, most be retained. Of all the operations
that the present Ouvermnent had ever planned—of
all the campaigns that it had ever directed, there
was cone of which the success was so unquestion-
able as that which it had carried un against the in-
dependence of Parliament. They knew that their
power depended chiefly on the means of aetiolying
the claims of their friends and followers by whom
they were supported ; and they refused to save ma.
liuo•, because if such SUMS were cut off, nothing
would be left to gratify the cupidity of their friends.
The Noble Lord concluded by inuring—

" That an humble address he presented to his Majesty,
staling 1110 be the .'pinion of th.t Mouse, that the expeusee
of the civil government of the country had beta greatly and
unnecessarily Mertes. din various branches and deparuneeia,
but miter esperi.lly its that which, under the regulations of
the Aet of the 56th of his late Majesty's reign, formed the
third class of the Civil List; and humbly praying his Ma-
jesty to be graciously pleased to give the accessary orders
for redu&ne the amoaat of the 'Hid expenses, as far as the
tame could be done consistently with the dignity of the
Crown and the interests or the country."
The Earl of LIVERPOOL said, that whatever
might have been felt formerly on the suhject of the
expenditure of the country.% hatever might have liven
thought or the expense of its establishments. and
whatever might be the language which had heretofore
beeii used iu speaking of the conduct of the Go.
vernment in regard to the want of economy and the
profusion of its administration, it was with the ut-
most surprise that he heard such a charge brought
against it at the present little, as that which the No-
ble Lord had just been making, of a wanton
disposition to odd to the burdens and distresses of
the country, by increasing its expenses, by the
maintenance of unnecessary appointment% or by
placing the establishments of any department upon
sic extravagant scale. Their Lordships had before
them the Reports of Committers at former periods;
among others they lend the Report of the Finance
Committee. appointed by the House of Com.
minis to 1817, which, lifter an inquiry into the
siliole of the civil and military expenditure of
the cuoutry, slated what it considered to be the
amount at stanch it was likely to be thereafter
permanently fixed ; they had also before them the
fact that by the exertions of the Goveroment
the estimate of the expenditure hail been re-
duced 1,200,000/. a year below what that Cont-
mince bad reported as its probable future scale.
That being the fact, was lie lint home nut in saying
that the Noble Lord wits nut warranted in the
charge which lie hod made alpinist the Govertiatent
of a disposition to increase the expenditure or the
country beyond the just demands of the exigencies
of the State ? In the views which they were in the
habit of taking of this question, !Jetsam. were
always in the habit of overlooking the enormous
amount of the dead expense which had grown up
out of the extraoidsuary circumstances of the late
war, which it was not in the power of Parliament,
without injustice, to touch. When it was consi-
dered that the amount of that charge fur hall-pay
and similar allowances hoe past services during the
war, which could not be reduced, was 5,000,000/. ;
when the proportion *lnch that M.llll bore to the
whole amount of the expenditure was considered,
he would ark how such a charge as was now wade

• . .
again', the Goveriment marl fora morn nt he No.
held ? With 'aspect to the observations of the Nog,
Lord oil the effect of the joriadiction of comer,' of
Parliament over the rxtrrissrs of the Civil I.ist,
begged to remind the Noble Lord, that lbs.*, 4,,
had most deeply con-idered the asilojett, that intally'
even of those who wile the moat areuirgly eppe.o
to Govennuerit, had maintained that the great el.
vantages of an established civil list were, that as
long as the expenses were confined within the limbs
of the prescribed nllowance, no inquiry *mold lbs
made into the particular applicator,' of the rota„
expended, and that sneh uti exception of the l fair
List from inquiry would operate as an iodises-
meta to the Crown to econono., 'is
Yte
PO as to keep it within the i.l:O~Te. n. „,,_
rtpoed, however. that the braiteli to which the
? -Isle Lord had tiarticular:e addressed himaseif
was placed out of consideritlOtliti that airange-turn:,
and was ordered to he prodded for 1.1 an express
annual grant, in order that it might lie submitted
to the fare control and discretion of Pali:num.
But the Noble Lord was smog in supposing that
when the Report of the Committee of 1816 nee
made. on which the scale of the Civil List,
adopted four year afterward., at the commrc„,,,,..it
of his present Nlajesty's reign, was founded, ,octi
depreciation of the currency prev.iled a. wacc:c/
materially alter the effect of chst scale on the cir.
cunistancer of the present period. For that tuuojlC
was made not with reference to the circmustances of
any former period, not with reference to any erne-
lag depreciation of the curreocy, but with a bee
to the circumstances of the iirne—when the
ex-
changes were in favour of this country, when gold
had fallen in price, when a large coinage of golu
was issuing, when the prices of commodities were
falling, and when every thing tended to render the
arrangement most f,ronrable to the country. Their
Lordships were aware that in thar,aod in the other
House of Parliament, Addresses were moved, pm.
mg his Majesty to direct an inquiry solo the offices,
the salaries of which had been increased sluice
1797, in order that they might be reduced to
a scale corresponding with the alteration in the
currency, and only making a fair alloaance far
any positive increase in the diaries of those offi-
ces. The Government might fairly have moot
there, and in strict execution of the terms of these
Addresses, have limited their application to those
offices, the salaries of which had been increased
since 1797, in conseqnence of the decreased Mae
of money ; but far from being actuated by any de-
sire such as had beers imputed to them, of unne-
cessarily increasing the allowances to persons iii the
service of the Government, or of keeping them up
to a higher scale than the mature of the services re-
quired, they had felt it to be their duty to recom-
mend to his Majesty to issue an Order in Cooncd,
directing a reduction of 10 per cent. on the salaries
of all the great Officers of State whatever, where no
increase had been made,with the exception of of
the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, either on account of the deprecia-
tion of the currency, or of the property tax ; hut
the same numerical amount of salary had been re-
tained, whatever property or income might have in-
creaped in value during the war, or diminished in
cousequerice of the peace. Knowing that the soh.-
ries of these offices were not too large, and he would
appeit on that point to any one who had ever Mb!
soy of those offices, they had yet felt it their dui,
while inflicting on others the necessary ieduction,
to sheer their disposition to bend to the distresses
of the country, and to recommend a like reduction
on those offices. There had been no necessity, even
if it had been their duty, to recommend a similar
sacrifice on the part of the Crown; but the redac-
tion which had been proffered of the charge on the
civil list and the four principal departments of the
houaehold, was the spontaneous act of the Sove-
reign. The effect of these exertions had been an
immediate reduction in the amount of the expenses
of the civil government of 400,0001; and a fso,
tare reduction. as the offices fell in, of 173,0001.
more. He would appeal therefore with confidence
to their Lordships to decide whether his Majesty's
Servants had not done all that could, under
the circumstances in which they were placed.
have been fairly expect'd of them towards
diminishing the expenditure of the country and
its pleasure upon the people. He now came
to the observations of the Noble Lord on the
third class of the civil list, namely, the Ambas-
sadors and Ministers in foreign parts. One Mil.
truant fact to which he wished to draw the attention
of their Lordships, and which lie had no doubt
they would be somewhat surprised, after what had
fallen from the Noble Lord, to hear, was, that the
scale of elluAances to foreign Ambassadors, which
they were culled on to consider as • fair proportion,
was formed as far hack as 17111. in which no alters.
two hod been made up to the year 1804, when
that stale was adopted, which it was iv 18lti
thought advisable to alter to the present rate.—
Now he would appeal to the knowledge and ear-
riestce of any one who had any experience on the
subject, whether that state of things was not such
as to make it mimosa to any one to enter into the
public service in the diplomatic lire unless
ofry
as
rpox uhrati usarde,
ex: se:: tsuuul ircehwoolitifi•ewesr less.hew eAre ndi formerliaidlee scalefr
wouldot hfet
Nheegit
to
iut
to the estimate and papers ou their Lordships'
bible in confirmation of his opinion, that the pri-
sons kidding such appointments et present did out
reciter
expense. of , mori hae was sufficient
offices.
to viler
wouldtli
eresseoc.di
Hb
on any person tout to the diplomatic line, but
who had ever been its foreign parts, to say
whether the appointments of any one of these situa-
tions writ wine than sufficient to cover the large
expenses which they erecesesrily incurred, and whe-
ther they were Veen equal to the due discharge of
all such rigorism'', without involving the wool,s
who held theme. unless they were possessed of some
considerable 'solvate fortune. Referrieg to the
observations of the Noble Lord on the embassy to
the Hogue, he declared that if it were determined
that but one embassy should be kept op, and all
the others should be abolished, he should have no
hesitation iii saying, that the one to the United
Proviricens alcoirld he the one to be kept up;
sod he was sure that no Englishman who referred
to she !lust eetweatous of this country will
those Provioces, and the union of their juiciest..
would come to any other conclusiou. The allow.
suers to the Ambassador at that Court were !WV'S.
Sin II) large, because the cbauge of the residever tit