The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-05-02 00:00:00

plats, to bring it onder the consideration of
the House, io the first instance. It might ,hi
asked, " Why did not the Chancellor of the
efuliter take it on himself to make a bargain, amt.'
then bring the terms of she bJrgsin which he ion*
have concluded under the consideration of Rehire
rata. ?" His answer was, that the subject was one
..po Duvet a description in its nature, so muck
oat of the ordinary channel in which the finest.
coat operations of the country had hitherto
beta conducted, that he did not think himsett"
authorised to enter into a bargain of that kinds
until the House had given it a general sanciion.

by assenting to the -principle of the measure.
The ptan which he wits now about to propose, was
mai • separate and detached part of the whole
sistement of his Noble Friend. It involved no
consideration whatever of the important question of
the currency of the country, respeciiiio which he
had • communication to make, nor with another
spsestiou, on which he was not yet prepared to make
any communication, though he expected to be so
prepared in the course of a few days, be meant the
niodificatiots of the charter of the Bank. The
simple question which he had now to propose to
their consideration was, how far the sum annually
voted by Parliament for the payment of the various
annuities granted as compensations end allowances
for services in the army and navy, and certain civil
superannuation., might be considered in the nature
of public debt, and, if it were so considered, whe-
ther it might not be commuted for a fixed and per-
marmot charge of • smaller annual amount for a
determined period. He apprehended there could
be no doubt that the party who had spent • great
part of his life in the naval or nillitsry service of
the country, had acquired, subject to the regula-
tion* of the service and the pleasure of the Crown
as to the continuance of his appointment, • title to
the pension which, by the rules of the service, was
allotted in the rank he held, and the period
for which he had served, as complete as that
of the public creditor to his annuity for the money
which he had advanced. In other countries this
species of charge was completely recognised as
a part of the public debt; iu France particularly
it was so much au as to be provided for tinder the
herd of the charge foe the public debt. He wiesed
to leave the whole of the regulation of the several
claims to these pen.iena entirely as it now stood;
and not to make any alteration either in the suture
of the claims, the regulations to which they were
subject, or the mode of payment; neither would he
alter the right of the parties to exchange from half
to foil pay. It might be proper it, state particu-
larly the epos of pensions which the commutation
Was intended to comprehend. lie meant it to
comprehend the whole of the naval and military
pensions, and the superannuation allowances for
civil services which were now payable. The
pensions which he proposed to exclude from the
arrangement were those chargeable on the con-
solidated fund, amounting to from 4 to 500,000!.
which consisted of allowances made to the Royal
and other illustrious persona, by Parlia-
mentary grants, for enabling them to maintain with
becoming splendour the rank to which they had
been raked as • reward for their public services:
He would also exclude the peasions on theatre!
and the 4} per cent. duties. The sums, therefore,
which he had to bring under the consideratioo of,
the Committee, amounted in the whole to about
5,000,000/. ■ year. subject to gradual reduction by
the death of the parties. Appended to the printed
copy of the Resolutions which was iu the hands of
Membere, was a tablesslowing nearly what was
the variation that might be expected to take
place in the event of these peusioue in eaFh
successive year, calculated on the general principle
by which life aunuities were its general calculated.
That estimate was fouodel ou an average of 15,000;
lives, being about a fourth part of the number of
ffersons receiving pensions, the whole number at,
present somewhat exceeding 60,000. Besides its
character of debt, therefore, this charge formed a
species of annnity 'mooning at present to
4,000,0001. subject to a year's decrease, in the pro-
portion set forth in that table. The calculation
extended only to the term of 45 years; some of tbe
lives might certainly be prolonged beyond the ave-
rage length, but according ,to the general appear.
once of plobebilities, the amount might be ex-
pected at the end of 45 years to be reduced to a
small sum exceeding 300,000/. It was by nu means
essential either for the individuals who might be
interested on the one side, or for the public on the
other, that the calculatitnir should be minutely cor-
rect; general correctness was all that could be re-
quired. It might be objected perhaps that by com-
muting this charge into as equal annual annuity ; a
vested interest would be given to the parties who
.contricted, which the holders of the pensions did not
now by law possess. But it should be observed
op the other hand, that the contract was liable to
the greatest possible uncertainty, from the contin-
siepcies which were likely to arise to the disadvan-
tage of the contractor, for which no consideration
re, made in the formation of the contract. The
proposition which he Should make was, that a sum
should be given by Psi liameut as a fixed annuity to
such persona as may be willing to contract fur
the payment of the pensions he had mentioned,
for the term of forty-flve years. Whether this pro-
position were adopted, by which the charge would
determine at the period he had mentioned, or who-
teer the Committee should prefer to recommend the
extinction of it by permanent annuities, subject to
redemption, under the provision required by the
Act of 4211 Geo. 111. cap. 55, he spprehended
the plan would stood wholly clear of the existing
sinking fund. Another circunastmice to be consi-
dered was the extent of the charge to be provided
for winch had arisen out of the exirsordivary cir-
somsiances attendant upon the long duration and
exteo4d exertions of the late war. The Reedit-
lion stated that presto°, to the commencemeitt of
the late war, the amount of this charge did not
exceed 650,0001, as appeared from the Report of
the ?silence Committee. That sum was now in-
creased to 5,000,000!., partly by the enormous
extent to which the naval mud military service, of
the country were carried during the war, and
partly by regulations !which bud placed the allow.
suces on a wore, liberal footing thou that in which
the:y'roteterll 4,04.. The preseusseale of pensions
to Privatesolafersirei islitsno entirely new since the
wriod firstetentionetc 1?i!I been adopted by
the wiodorii aprilibeiality of Porlianynt, to reward
that class of personator %belt seance, and also as a

.