The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

?iv proposition of Mr. R. Gordon on TtievTay
nig] t let in, as is usual on Stich ociasian% a variety
of remarks on the wisdom and justice of CCOIIOIIIy
in the application of the public money, Mr. Gor-
don, taking for his text the rule by which half-pay
officers are obliged to relinquish their balf-pay
allowance, whatever it may be, on receiving any
pay from a civil appointment under the Crown, was
desiroes that the same obligation should be its..
posed upon officers in the receipt of full pay, when
raised to similate extra-professional offices. On it
less serious subject it might have been entertaining
to observe the very different lights in which the
_same objects are contemplated by men of opposite
inclinations. Mr. Gordon affirms, that if the half-
pay officer be deprived of his military income
accepting civil office, it is equally hard upon
him and on the public, to leave the officer on
full pay in the double receipt of that pay and of his
civil salary at the same time. Mr. Gordon's wish
is to cut away that indulgence from the rich
man which has already been withdrawn front

the poor; and, undoubtedly, we can yet -see no
reason why an officer on full pay, and prestimed to
be indemnifying the public by some sort of active
military duty, should continue to enjoy the pay in
circumstances which render it physically impossible
that he should discharge such du!y; and the unrea-
sonableness of this practice is aggravated by its gross
inconsistency, when we turn to the case of half-pay
officers, who are treated with no such overflow of
national munificence. Sir Henry Hardinge, on the
contrary, refuses to put the full•pay en an equal foot-
ing withthe half-pay officer, in respect of civil ap-
pointments, because, in the opinion of the gallant
Secretary, such equality of privation would be hut
the extension to both classes of military men, of
grievous wrong under which one class (the half-pay)
already suffers. Now, in our minds, the first of all
great public interests is justice. If the half-pay
officers are harshly and illiberally treated, the
country will in the long run sustain more:injury
than it will gain advantage by the' prolongation
of such a system; but if, as others in oppo-
sition to the gallant Secretary suppose, every shil-
ling that can be spared, no matter at whose expense,
ought to be so, what imaginable pretext can be set
up for granting to individuals in prosperous circum-
stances, an advantage of which the poor and humble
are deprived ? Or why venture to assert on behalf
of General Officers the plea of ". ancient usage,"
as a defence of their double emoluments, when no
validity whatever was allowed to that same plea in
the cases of Captains, Lieutenants, 8:c. whose loss
of half-pay has been a thing of modern introduction.
But General Officers are persons, we are told, who
had been exposed to toil and danger in many years
of active service. Some General Officers have, no
doubt—Sir G. Murray has been,so has the Duke of
Wellington, and they enjoy their:threefold or four-
fold incomes; yet Sir Henry Hardinge, who has
been shot at as frequently almost as either of them,
because he is only a Colonel in the army, and has
only half-pay, has been forced to sacrifice the latter,
and to be content with a civil salary for doing
civil work. On one side or other, we maintain
that there is no justice administered.—Mr. Huskis-
son opened a view of the subject of allowances and
superannuations generally, which the Right Hon.
Gentleman hinted at least, if not pledged himself,
that he would bring again before the House. We do

.rust that this xi,htile question will be honestly
looked at, and if little can be immediately done
towards reducing the actual amount of the " dead
weight," that a strict and detailed investigation
will be made as to the fairness or unfairness of the
practices by which it has been swollen to its present
enormous magnitude, and some prohibitory laws laid
down by which its abuses may be limited, and its
vicious progress checked. That system must hare been
deplorable through which the unserviceable and dis-
carded portion of the army cost the nation, within a
mere trifle (yearly) of the expense at which an effi-
cient force of almost 90,000 men is maintained. For
we find that 'of the Army Estieriates, amounting to
bete, een 6,000,0001. and 7,000,0001.--sterling, the •
fighting men and officers, from the highest to the
lowest, cost little more than 3,000,0001. So, with
regard to the Ordnance—the pay of engineers, sap-
pers and miners, horse and foot artillery, constitut-
ing the really serviceable or productive branch of
the ordnance service, amounts to about 405,000/.
per annum, while the extras, including; that most
prodigally paid establishment, •the Ordnance;•offiee
in Pall-mall, and at the Tower, bring up the sum
told to 1,245,000/.. Of the said " Office" we shall
just remark, that the nine -principal officers, includ- .
ing the Master-General, enjoy salaries (perquisite,'
not included) to the amount of more than 13,000/. .
per annum 1. Of these a tolerable proportion, we
have heard, have the honour to be Members of Par-
liament. Ministers, we are well aware, have the
strongest desire to retrench : we serve them, there-
fore, by pointing to these ample fields for the expe-
riment.— Times.

Sir Francis Burdett's conduct on the Estimates,
although it may surprise some simple persons, is
just what might have been expected from this the
most crawling of the apostate patriots of the day.
Ever since the Hon. Baronet gave his support tp
Canning, the boldest enemy of Reform, every man
of respectability or decent character had despised
him. If he have any feeling he will not soon forget
the castigation which Lord Althorp administered
to him on Tuesday. The motion of Mr. Gordon
was entitled to the support of the House, but espe-
cially of that portion of it who pretend to be
the advocates of retrenchment and a reduction of
taxation. It is well known that if any poor half-pay
officer, from a desire to maintain his family respect-
ably, or secure a pittance for his unprovided children,
ventures to hold a civil office he is instantly fleeced
of his military allowance. If, On the other hand, a
full-pay officer—an overpaid officer—a high-paid,
titled, and starred General of unreduced pay, chooses
to accept of a civil office, no matter how enormous
may be its salary, DO interference is made with
him, for he is allowed, to enjoy both his pay and his
salary. This is the case with the Duke of Wellington,
Sir George Murray, Lord Rosslyn, Sir Henry
Hardinge, and a long- list of other officers filling
civil and lucrative,
ucrative, offices under the Crown. The
system is iniquitous and abominable. It is little
better than robbery. It is an abuse of the public
money, while it is a most oppressive regulation
where the half-paylCaptain or Lieutenant is con-
cerned. But it was this system which Sir. Francis
Burdett supported and defended in the. House of
Commons I Electors of Westminster, what do you
think of your representative ? Purity men of the
Horns tavern, what have you to say for your pa-
triot ? It smells of corruption, gentlemen—it is
rank apostacy offered at the shrine of Ministers in
order to obtain promotion for the junior and mili-
tary Burdett.—Morning Journal.

Forty-two clergymen of the ebtablighed church
voted for Lord GEORGE BERVEYOED at the Waterford
election, and all the Quakers. Not one for Mr. BA►naon.
—Limerick Chronicle.

THE NEW FOREST.—WC ObSerYC that A Se-
cond Edition of this popular work, by the author of "Bram-
bletve House," is just published. The sarcasms and broad
tuns of humour which are to be found in this new work
of Mr. HoitacE SMITH'S, are not its only distinguishing
characteristics. The tragical mystery of the main plot,
and the singular fate of the principal character, maintain
a spell over the attention of the reader, who, having com-
menced the book, finds it difficult to lay it Down till he
has thoroughly perused the '' strange eventful history ;"
and we have no doubt it will become one of the most po-
pular of the author's productions.

DREADFUL OCCURRECIL—On Tuesday
last a woman icsiding at` Upper Alstone, lett home for a
short time, and locked three of her children in the house.
Two of them took the youngest, a child under, two years
of age, and laid it on some shavings in one etyma,. of the
room ; they then set the shavings on fire, and the poor in-
nocent was so dreadfully burnt before it was rescued front
the flames,: that it diod o 0 the following morning.--Chel-
tenham Chronicle.