The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-05-06 00:00:00

was iundelping sublime and mysterious in the for-
titer plan which" weighed match with the vulgar
miud. No such •thing ; there was no longer any
ignorance among the people which could he so
practised on. He adverted to the confused manner
of keeping those accounts. The allowances to the
younger branches of the Royal Family were di-
vided, some of them being charged on the Civil List
mill lone on the Consolidated Fund ; sonic were
"Kant titsidrd, alt it were, into two, and received part
of their allowance from each of those funds. But
this was nut all; the House would be astonished
to find *bat company hi. (*lkey was lowed to
keep in this loot; no German Baron or petty
potentute ever held such promiscuous compataion-
ship. Among the allowances of the 7th class would
be found that of the Vicar of the Tower.—(
laugh.)—That great State officer (tie could not help
I wi,liii,g that the other offices of State could be
managed as cheaply) received for his services in
watching the welfare of Ins country, 1/. 134. 4.1.
(Langkier) —llis was an office of considerable
dignity ; he was ranked in the seventh class, and
yet lie cost his adlicted country no more than
I!. 13s. 41—( Lattglater.l—The,e was another
cheap allowance to the Vicar of St. Botolph ;
there were others to churchwardans sod to school-
masters. The ark held not such a variety as might
be found in this list. There was no corporation of
which it did not contain • specimen ; numerous in
some instutaces ; in other., one. as if for the sake
of seeming variety. There were allowances to
Mayors ; a grant to the town of Lynn Regis, for
the repair of a pier ; then there were allowances for
celestial objects as well terrestrial ; instance that
of the Asurinsomer Royal. Descending from these
lofty subjects, they Caine to those of field sports,
the Master of the Hawks. From sports of the
field, the transition was ea.y to those of the dance,
there was an allowauce to the Msster of the Cere-
monies. Next came the Keeper of the lions in
the Tower: then the Exchequer ‘Vatclimen. He
could not say if the Right Hun. Gentleman oppo-
site was one of them. These great officers received,
for guarding and preserving the public treasure, 1 081.
%Vita, share of the service the Right Hun. Gentle-
' main or any of his friends took in this important
office to entitle them to their aliquot parts of this
1081. he could not say, but he felt sure that their
vigilauce would avail but little as long as the Civil
List cositiuued to be, as at present, an inextricable
man of absurd inysteries.—He would next call the
attention of the House to the alteration which lie had
to propose. Whatever was necessaty to the support
of the state of the Monarch should be at once
fairly and openly voted ; and that not from year to
year, but to continue so long as the Crown and the
Parham-wet should be both satistiA with the agree-
ment. Why was there a Civil List at all ? Because
the King surrendered his hereditary revenues. What-
ever was thus taken by Parlietnent should be atonce
amply compensated. Let the House observe the
consequences of neglecting so to do. In the long
reign of George 111. there were no less than six new
orrangements made with him as to the Civil List,
besides !laying oft half a million of debts, arrears
of the Civil List. An addition of 100,0001. was
made in 1777, and yet it was only nine years before
that the Parliament had paid off half • million of
arrears. The obvious remedy for this would be to
take the hereditary revenues as they were offer-
ed, to form one fund from them and other sources
and give back • compensation not t tidy sufficient
to make good the loss, but enough for the
just splendour and dignity of the Sovereign.
Let this allowance he separated from those of the
Chancellor, Judges, Speaker of the House of
Commons, &c. (perhaps no sum, next to that of
the Monarch, was more cheerfully paid, or more
deservedly acquired, than the last which her bad
named.) If possible, he thought it would be most
odvi.able to have the estimates first. Let the Act
before them be read—let the grants of 32.0001. to
one. and 22,000/. to another, be examined, with
many similar, and it would be impossible for may
one to believe that Parliament would have granted,
in all the cagey, similar sums for similar services.
Let the estimates be first produced, like the army
or any other estimates—let them be discussed,
subjected to questioning and deliberation, and if
they went through this trial, little doubt would re-
main of the justice of granting them. It might,
perhaps, be too delicate a subject to touch on to
examine the expenses of the household of the Sove-
reign. Upon that subject he had no opinion to give.
As to all the other charges, new that opportunity
offered for doing so, they should be separated from
those of the Monarch, and paid out sal the Coesolt-
slated Fund. Ile would next go into the considers.
nun of the Droits of the Admiralty, a subject which
had been frequently before the House, and with
which Members must be familiarly acquainted.
These Droits had all the bad qualities of • casual
and arbitrary disposable fund. First, its proceeds
were uncertain; large manes of money were often
suddenly accumulated by it. There then war much
mistake among Gentlemen who supposed that the
I roils of the Admiralty were the only source by
which these sums were accumulated. In 1817 there
was a sum fell into the Crowns of 113,000/. is con-
sequence of the lunacy of a rich prison. In 1807
a person died without heirs, and left too will, by
which 47,0001. fell to the possession of the Crown;
by another, 62.0001.—1 t was a very bad quality, in
any fund so dispcsable. to fell in so irregularly and
casually ; it might, iii particular instanter, wholly
endanger the constitution. A week before a gene-
ral election, for instatice, what might not be effected
by the unexpected acquisition lay the Govern•
talent of one million pounds? Then there were
the immense accumulations from the Droits of the
Admiralty. In 1804 they a 1111 l tinted, in one in-
stance, to 105,0001.; on another occasion to 10,0001.;
in 1798 to 55,000/, ; on tone occasion in 1806 to
455,000/. ; on another to 165,0001. Then there were
the Dutch prizes, amounting to 1,030,0001. ; and
the Spanish prizes two minium and upwards. As
a sample how these funds gathered in their amount,
his late Majesty had come noun to the House in
1800, and made ".grant to the country, in coital-
&ninon of the heavy burdens which the war had
occasioned to the people, of 1,000,0001. foe ihieh
boon the House returned its must. dutiful 'and
grateful thanks. He was very far frost Magnin
the House for shelving its grittitude on so extraor-
dinary an occasion. Bet how would their ances-
tors hate been astonished had they witnessed this
iustrsion of all foraser 'known anti acknowledged
Habits of policy; Is see a Sovereign, WNW of '

having to come to his Parliament to seek assist-
ance in upholding the vaaits of his government,
or defraying the expenses of his wan-in: teal
of requiring their sequieicetice to gather hie
fourth, his eighth, or, bia tenth of the substance,
of that Parliament so enormous a sum in
Foment of the rkigencier of the country !
Another part of -these funds was, though more
permanent, scarcely lees ertiimesital. He alluded
to the four cud a 11.411 per evil. from the Lee-
ward Islands, sod the Scotch revenue. From these
funds were granted pension" to the amount of
30,0001.1601controlable by Perlirmeist, for goodser-
vices or fur bad services, as it might happen. By di-
viding the Droits of the Admiralty fur the lost five
year., it would he seen that from a million to a
million arid a lialf were disposable without the will
of Parliament, and. as lie conceived, could be used
in 110 way that would not tend to do mischief.--
While these funds were actively taken posses run
of, and employed to create fresh influence, regular •
one, were wit wanting to lilt and secure such as was •
already acquired. %What liras the consequence ? If
money was wanting to reward the liceiisni of Lord
St. Vi netut, to do jose.ce to the heirs of Lord Nelmis,
Ministers bad rio scruplri. is coming down with an
epithet:non to Parliament ; they would neglect their
duty to their country if they did not do so. But it
was 110* thus that they contrived to remunerate those
of their favuuriteil, who not hating been engaged in
fighting the betties of the country, yet possessed
• species of merit which could not go owe-
warded. He did not mean any disparagement to
the Gentlemen opposite who had ',envious; many
of those of his own party possessed them like..
wise—Lord Grenville, for instance, and as lie had
heard, Lady Grenville. Far was lie from thinking
that the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite
did not deserve his pension, or that Lord Grenville
was not entitled. in the fullest degree to his.—
(Hear, hear, from a member under the gallery.)—
He had been waitiog for r pop to his feeble
argument, and the Honourable Member had fur-
nished him with • most apt one. Had the pen-
sion in question been one to Earl St. Vincent, Earl
flows. or any distinguished chieftain, the Ho-
nourable Gentleman would have felt uo doubts,
but would, most likely, notwithetawdirig 111. gene-
ral reluctance so vote with Ministers-01 burgh
have heartily seconded the motion. Au instance of
• different kind °mimed to his mind—lie meant
that of Sir Houle Popham. That gallant officer,
eppieliensive of the enprosch of a lung peace,
dreading the inactivity of such a period, impatient
alike fur honour and busim ss, burning with the
love of glory, and longing with feverish anxiety
to sweep the surface of his favourik dement,
" Old Ocean," embarked on a smuggling ad-
venture. lie treed not • insist on the variety of
tastes which existed, some seeking honour in the
field of battle, others seeking profit by smuggling.
The gallant officer entered various investments out.
wards in a ship called the trweeo, bound from
one of the ports of Italy to the East Indies, Cap-
tain Robin ttttt who was also a naval officer, but
the object of whose einteitiou, and the boeiness of
hi. station, was the prevention of smuggling, seized
the ship of this distiogoithed contrabandist, and
brought him back. But instead of Cent. Robinson
receiving soy reward for his services 20,000/. were
paid to Sir Horne Popham, by way of solacing him
for hiv loss. Ilut this was not all. There was some
suspicion that the gallant officer had smuggled
romething on his return.—(A lawgh.)—He was, no
doubt, sincerely attached to his wife and family,
and perhaps had brought them home a present or
two. Having lari.ved the dangera of the sea, the
enemy, and the King's proctor, lie left the
Etrasco, and went ashore in a boat, to solace him-
self with the endearments of his domestic circle,
rendered, no doubt, additionally happy by the pre-
sents which lie had to I'lE2 to them. The gallant
officer was afterwards *Aced if he had not taken
away a boat ? His reply was, "to be sure" he
had, said he wished that lie had had twenty more
at his service to 'pie iii the same way.—( Lasighter.)
—lndeed it was remarked that the boat, as if not
contented with the honour of conveying the gallant
officer to his family, kept running to and fro be.
tween the ship and the shore during the whole
eight afterwards.—(Much laughter.i— But this
was not all. The ship belonged to Al .
Cliarriett, of Ostend, ainl, worse and worse, Memo.
Charnett. those celebrated smugglers, broke, and
in Hon. Friend of his, who held some amount on
their bilk Dever got his money. Now, whe-
ther it was right or wrong to reward Sir Home
Popham, the reward was a secret end not all open
reward, hut paid out of the Droits, and not by a
grant of Parliament. If these funds were suspi-
cious in their accumulation, and of probable den-
ier in their applicatioe, they were teu times more
objectionable to their origin. They were a tern-
tattoos to the Crowo and its Minister., which
ought not to be left in their way. He would
not say that may King, since the reign of
Charles the First, would, fur the sake of a mil-
lion or' two, make sudden and mijustifiable war
upon a weak neighbour ; but he had a right, it
was the principle of the constitution to be jealous
of the executive. This lure might riot have die
acme effect on all minds; bat in any case it would
make them go to war in an on-English manner; it
gave an interest in lowering the honour of the
British flag. Prize was to be made after the de-
claration of war—prize, which was formerly a
droit of the Crown, was given up; but captures
before declaration of war were not held to be
prizes, but fell to the Admiralty Droits, and by
consequence to the King's peon*. lie was now
only talking of prizes made without proolenvation
of war. On the fund. thus accumulated should
be inscribed, " These funds are the purchase-
money of the honour and good faith mid usisul.
lied fame of Esiglerid."—(Hear. hear, Aear.)—
He had before alluded to the behaviour of King
Charles in the Dutch war, in seizing the Smyrna
Beet, fur which Providence "'miner: to have ever-
erlwlnied troth him and his Alimoters in confusion
and disgrace. Then as to our owls times, what
could be said of the Danish prizes? what of the
Spanish prizes? the pour wretches on board them
having had rio sense of any Wing, except that the
property they were had made them .the
prey of au onezpsoiniC essanty. ~ loin these isst
were acquired 2.800.11N1A. He had never talked
with au lissOolo dot ites that subject who did
amt owl lioltsktuireptipped to hold up hi. head
at. Alm "61001, WOO. 441.1111 .. emmick
• - .a.