The Sun.
London, England, 1813-01-01 00:00:00

il.til'i'.„l:.A;f,,4l,lA'-',4,;‘V:i•-:,',

INY'LMNCE .R 'l:l2:l.',4p.i\ArriVl;i

•
Li ;it - trt %ttrn,pt to remove,certitin Poll; vol .
' 1 ecti the PNsent It:el:Ik/list!
and 1,;() Eit:OtEST. r 4 Is 3, Esq.
Itarri.sl.er at Law.

(Continued from our Paper of the tilh
" Something probablywill be oP.Mted, about
the great number of boroughs, which „ Trk.„„ry
bus now at its command. However,tlr-1 is a very
hackneyed .trgument : and really, whtl,
(lit his been given for the influence by the
Treaqtry may he suppos-ed to iutrcba:,e
it is not a little unt,casonulde to make 110,.,(1,ev
charge, about the seat i thetsm.lves. The rf.,l(.lin-

ists are welcome to•direct their antic k in the ,1„10e.
Of 'an objection to the influence
seats, or in the sbnpe of an objection to the 4,4.„.,

„so purchastli, but not both in the one 41“1-
the other. nesidei, is there any thing new ttis
,power of the Treasury ? is it soniethiu,l
.sprouted up since We equipoise of thc, ti•
was settled at the tevolut,on ? Any •

take the trouble Of looking into Mr. Joi,y' i ;
Tical Retleetiom, will find th,ot the Cro , 01.-
.Ways been heavily powerful in the elect i
House of-Commons, from a period as e;3;
reign, of I.l3iiii) and 111ary : and, indeed, weyijit
otherwise, I know not bow it would be po,',3i7r)le
to conduct the ordinary business of the country for

a single- fortnight..
But it is thought that the -.number
of placethen now in Pariiankein. is gremly ,beyond
what it %vas in auy former perio3 of our history.--.

The. facts, as .stated ley _Mt% ,110§e, zir 4 shortly'
these: That in the Parlif.tments from the yearl732

to the ar-176`2, inclusively, the number of niem-
.bers, holding_ places of profit, (luring pleasure,. ift
Ur era Britain, tinctuato from biNT y -tiy.e to ninety-,
six. 'That, in the Parliament of 1769, it was
; in that of 1775 it was seventy-eighti
in that ofl7Bl, it was sixty-five, Vic,. &c.. In the

_ •
present Parliament, we 'find it. tobe exactly forty,
being rather less than One-half of the average
number for nearly :half a century preceding - the
you' 1781.
" Of pensions and sinecures there appears t,
leave :been. no .increase • whatsoever:

readers, no doubt, will he not :a-little ;iurprised,
when they learn that, (exclusively of the occasi-
onal pr;imaentP,ry grac,ts voted for eminent ser-
icei, an.l exclusively of a few sinecures, which
appertain to the Conrts rof Law, and
which Government has no concern), the whole
annual amount- of pensions and sinecures, in
England, 6cotland, and all the foreign settle 7
ineut4, is only two hundred and furtyLtwo thou-
sand:pounds.
" The revenue of Great Britain, observes Mr.
is more than sixty millions a year"; the
charge on which for pensions and sinecure em-
Ploy:Dents, at bonze and abroad, is between three
farthings %tut: one penny in the pound.' By_the
-etxtinction' therefore of sinecures and pensions
aalerton paying itaxes to the amount of 01. a
Year would save about four shillings. Sueli a sav-
ing we are far irons thinkinV.bhonld he treated as
trilli;ig or insignificant ; it would, become, the
author to. do scr em the other iwoM, .
hr would this fall short of .the expectation that has
been held; out.' •

~ .

" Still it is of course, undeniable, that. the re-
cent eirebtustances of. Europe have greatly increas-
ed the public expenditure; and .it .sceins to 1)
e
apprehended:that this increased' expenditure must
isestow,,-tipim the, MirOters, as far as it goes,
thesatne.sort of influence which a rich man, by
merely qiending his ,moticy, enjoys in his own,
neighbourhood. I. Formerly this really '"was the
'ease; tor while Government .could select thexon.
Aractors, the obligation, even of a fair preference
alone, would creiter ;a considerable influence in
transactions so extensive; but now, as the com-
petition is generally open, (except, perhaps, in
.some retail purchases, and iii certain cases ofout-
tit where secrecy is especially -requisite) the Go-
verninent bus no choice of the deale”.who • shall
supply the public ; and these persons, therefore,
obtaining the contiacts only from the lowness of
their terms, man feel no. private obligations td the
Ministry which .has :employed them.
" ;But though 1 thus admit that the public ex-
penditure is far greater it these titues,,than it was
wont to be, while Europe remained in what may
be cancel her natural btrtte, yet I inie,t ab re-
mark that the increasels in reality by no means
what to a careless observer, it. would set:tit:
rapid, diiring a great number of years, has been
the progressive diminution of the value of money.
There is a calculation by. Sir George Shuel b utp,
in the BSth volume of the Philosophical Trillium-
dons, whence it appears, that the proportion be-
tween the value of moneyat the end Of Queen
Anne's reign, and .itS:Nalue at the time of that
.calcdiation, was nearly as 257 to 5(2;2, ; that is to
say, the sum which would have parch,e,3ed
three quarters of wheat at the death of Anne,
tvould purchase only fifteen at the ,tiine of Sir
George z.ilitickburgh!,scalculation. • x WIICIA it
is recollect od how great the depreciiitif.n lAbeen,
even since the latest„perCod: included • IHJ jr• G
''11(41(1)11114,11.-"(alid 1 am not n0,..v,..0.:;.;.1ki,:;;; Of BilDk
tiisthiguiihed from but of the '
eireul4llg 'DP.44.1111)-71. nut lac. can6dt-red
c •
-as,going much 41.4 r for the Sake Ql rci9l-10.
niiinhers, tlyat the surie sum) *hich
•,, •
would i•.?,-„,a puichased thirty-three qini.rters of
wheat the death of Queen Anne,for at toe tie-
CeSi;.:.A.l of George J. an ,d at the time
Ceorge ,Slincli.burgli•.s calculation, Would scarcely
patella:tie itdozen,at this day ; or, in other,woro,
that money bears now • little niorti than ;third of
raitte,which it bore in the reign of Anne or
of George: J. if
.two or three millions I.;terling
pry, therefore rcquisite 0.1 this, day, to purchase
what oue ninety years ago, the
eNpenditureof two or three at thii day
will,alrord to the Ministers :.o gpntter iufinence,
Hiatt ti!ti vronid have derived in- the last century
Troia the expenditure:of one:
(To hr c,r.tiaw•ri.) ,