The Sun.
London, England, 1822-06-25 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

East End, Finchley.
SIR---Pertnit me) through the medium of your
-Per, to offer a few observations relating to some malicious
and undeserved attacks made upon me on various occasions
-4' the John Ball Newspaper. Nearly a twelvemonth has
bow elapsed since the Editors of that Paper circulated and
published a report, that a man of the name of Haywood
Was at ray house in Tavistock-square, when his Royal High-
"
,els the Duke of SUSSEX honoured me with his presence. I
leleranlY declare that I never knew of the existence of that
unfortunate man, but through the medium of the public
Press ; yet the Editors had the cruelty to call him my especial
`IIQ- What could have been their motive for publishing
a 3tatertterlt so base, false, and malicious, is best known to them-
Nivea. I was in hopes that common justice would have
~.111.Pted them to contradict the libel, and make the amende
th—rable. They have done no such thing ; on the contrary
~.eY have availed themselves of every opportunity to assail
a;',e, with ill-nature and obloquy. A few days since an inflated
in"a ridiculous paragraph, which appeared in some of the Morn-
thePaprs, professing to give an account of a dinner party I had
fer,,,wallour of giving to some distinguished individuals, called
." again the spleen of the John Bull Newspaper. Were I
avtalPable of writing or countenancing such an absurd account as
nat I allude to, I should indeed conceive myself to be justly
Lavebject -of ridicule. I have not the faintest idea who could
fool as
sent the paragraph in question. I am not such a vain
oil has to th published]ng a party at Finchley or elsewhere
t to be and bruited forth. When I read the
frieat in the Papers I was extremely mortified, as my
. s can testify. I never in my life wrote or sent a puff
ja,:nY Newspaper. If the John Bull can, by abusing me, en-
it—'w9e the sale of their paper, they are welcome ; I shall bear
lwitiYlll.thPatience. But they must allow me, with all due humi-
strietto say, that they have wronged me very much, that their
urFs Were too severe and unmerited ; I owe them no ill-
the lt requires great talent and greater ill nature to enter
3ts With
One lion t, such consummate writers : I possess neither the
the only he other. I have not the vanity they ascribe to me
robeti„„varliry I acknowledge is to continue to deserve the ap-
rresa I" of tne public to my professional exertions. To the
togity e much ; I shall always feel grateful. To the gfrie-
IliabCirlu right feeling which have ever distinguished a British
1.; I leave the cause of your obliged and humble Servant,
JOHN BRAHAM.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1822

take a different view of its-merits from that declared by the Hon.-
Member for Wareham. The entire abandonment of the tax
would do more injury to particular interests, than it would do
good to the public.
Mr. CALCRAFT anticipated, that when the Budget came
forward,the income of the country would be found to be in a
most flourishing state, and he trusted, therefore, that the Right
Hon. Gentleman would yet see the justice of relieving the pub-
lic from the tax altogether.
Mr. J. WILLIAMS and Mr. Cunwr ti made aliw observa-
tions to the same effect.—The Petition was ordered to be
printed.
Mr. S. RICE presented a Petition from the Grand Jury of
the County of Kerry, complaining of the unequal application
of taxation to lands in Ireland.
After a few words from Mr. CHICHESTER; Sir J. NXWPCIRT,
and Mr. GOULBURN, the Petition was laid upon tt*table.
Mr. S. RICE gave notice, that on Thursday the litlinf July
he should move certain resolutions, founded upon'lne Your-
teenth Report -of the" Commissioners for inquiring. into the
Courts of Justice in Ireland, relative to the condoer. of the
Lord Chief Baron.
Mr. HUTCHINSON presented a PetitiOn iwytt.fih..ll.4tv.: •
ley LasceLles,tomplaining of abutes-in;.the Rebrd Office in
Ireland. Ordered to lie upon the table.
Mr. HUME said, that the Petition contained an allegation
which demanded inquiry.
CANADA TRADE.
Mr. WILMOT brought up the Report of the Canada Trade
Committee. The Resolutions were read and agreed to. '
SUPPLY.
Mr. BROGDEN brought up the Report of the Committee
of Supply. Upon the resolution for advancing 109,1)01)1 to
Ireland,
General GASCOYNE said, that he thought the House was
not in possession of the-real causes of the distress in Ireland.
The Resolution was ageeed to.
CANADA GOVERNMENT AND TRADE BILL.
Mt. WILMOT moved the Order of the Day for going into
a Committee upon the Canada Government and Trade Bill.
He said, that the intention was only to go into the Committee,
pro forma, for the purpose of embodyingt the Resolutions of
the Committee in the Bill.
Mr. BRIGHT did not mean to give his consent to any part
of the progress of this Bill. It went to effect changes as great
as the proxithate cause of the American Revolution.
Mr. ELLICE suggested to his Hon. Friend the expediency
of allowing the House to go into the Committee, as it would .not
pledge him to the Bill.
Mr. BRIGHT explained, and the Bill was committed. The
Report was Ordered to be received on Fridal, the sth of July.

IRISH WINDOW TAX.
The WiniloW and Hearth Duties (Ireland) Repeal Bill was
read a third dine,, and passed.
The Kilmairiliam Pensions Bill was read a third time, and
passed.
Messiike from the Lords announced their Lordships' as-
sent to the Tonnage Duties Repeal Bill, and several Private
Bills.. .

INFLUENCE OF THE CROWN.
11r.BROUGHAM said, that Parliament had hitherto been
occupied in investigating the expenditure of the overgrown
establishments of the Government, and it was not unnatural
that that great subject of complaint on the part of the people,
knowing it as they did, to be the cause of that wide-spreading
and almost, unbearable distress which pressed upon them,
should have engrossed the whole time and attention of the
House. But it appeared to him, without meaning to under-
rate the imPortance of that point, certainly with no disposition
to blame the -111eMbera of that House who had devoted their
attention to that subject and with still less disposition to blame
the people themselves ?or confining their cflbrts to the getting
rid pf the pressure of these enormous establishments upon
them—yet, nevertheless, it appeared to him, that he should
riot be doing his duty to the people, or following the example
of the free constitutional measures of their ancestors, if he did
not propose to the House to take a view of the most pernicious
conseqttences of such increase in the establishments, and its
worst possible efiect upon the welfare and happiness of the
country. He meant its tendency to add to the power of the
Crown, and to break down the balance of the Constitution by
abridging the influence of the people. It was with a view to
supply this, the only defect which he had observed in the con-
duct of his side of the House during . the last five years, that
he had taken the liberty of giving notice that he should bring
the subject forward. He should have begun by requesting
that there might be read the celebrated resolution of the 16th
April, 1780, did he not know that it would be present to the
mind of every one as soon as the subject was pronounced.
He should therefore proceed at once to compare the state of
the Constitution at the present moment to what it was at the
time when the House of Commons thought it necessary to
declare that the influence of the Crown had increased, and
ought to be diminished. He must first, however, advert to lan-
guage which he had heard in that House, and which was re-
peated as often as the question was broached. It was asked
whether Gentlemen on the other side, who' held their seats by
virtue of certain services and places, would so far forget what
was due to honour, as to vote differently upon any question
from what they would if they did•not hold such places. Was it
possible that Gentlemen of honour could be so unconscionable,
because they happened by a concurrence of circumstances—by
mere accident, to hold places of honour, of power, of emolu-
ment, '(all things indeed calculated to influence men's motives
and actions) was it possible that their sound judgment, and its
honest exercise, could be affected by such matters? To say
that they could, he was told, was the height of extravagance
and indelicacy. " What !" it was said, " could men think of
nothing but sordid wealth and tinselly honours ? Was there
no sense of duty to themselves and to their country ?" In the
discharge of his Parliamentary duty upon this occasion, he
should not violate the regulations of the House, which forbade
the attributing improper motives to Members, very naturally
presuming that all motive for their conduct must be pure.—
With the private character and the personal conduct of no man
had he a right to interfere. But lie had a right to maintain,
and a duty to perform—that duty he would perform, although
it might lead to the extravagance of asserting, that Placemen
would lean to those at whose will they held their places; that
pensioners would look to their emolument ; that those who
possessed power would think of the means of retaining it;—
when they had to give a vote which vent to support or destroy
their various and combined interests. And he spoke the lan-
guage of the Constitution when he pronounced Placemen as
such, to be objects of mistrust ; and when he said that Perla-
ment had prescribed them from receiving its confidence as lace-
men. This squeamishness at hearing the known truth only
rose up within memory ;—aye, within his own memory. The
language of Parliament had always been the very opposite of
it till within the last three or four years ; and he feared that it
was only from the increased justness in the application of the
ancient language, that this modern sensibility had .risen. In
the very worst times of the 'Constitution it had been said, that
placemen were to be watched as to their conduct, and lessened
as far as possible in their numbers. He need only appeal to the
resolution of 1780, to establish his proposition as to the manner
in which Parliament had feltand expressed itself upon this topic ;
but it was also desirable that the House should have their me-
mories refreshed as to the manner in which it had been treated
upon other occasions. The first one was a resolution which
immediately followed that of 1780,'declaring the necessity of
having yearly accounts of the expenditure laid before the
House, for the sake of preserving the purity and indepen-
dence of Parliament," so as for that purity not to be cor-
rupted, and for that independence not to be attacked by the
influence of the Crown. He should then refer them to the
statutes, and there would be found a law for excluding con-
tractors, in order to preserve the independence and freedom
of Parliament. What was this but saying to every Con-
tractor, as he would say to every Placeman--" You do
not vote as you would if you were not a Contractor, or
if you, were not a Placeman ?" He next referred to the
Act of Settlement, which provided that as soon as the settle-
ment should be established, and the accession of the House-
of Brunswick ensured, no Placemen should be allowed
to in Parliament. He was aware that this was afterssards
repealed, and that the statute of Anne was substituted in
its place, by which certain placemen were admitted. There
was the lit of George, the first also which extended the admis-
sion to a certain description of pensioners. He would not
weary the House by enumerating the various Acts, to shew
what had always been the
.practice of the best times of the
Constitution, but go to the important resolution of 1693,which
led to the first Place Bill. That Bill, having passed both
Houses of Parliament, was lost by the refusal of the Royal
Assent. A resolution of the House was then carried by a very
large majority, declaring that the persons who advised such
a refusal were the worst enemies to their Majesties. Having,
thus endeavoured to justify his title to impeach the conduct of
Members of Parliament who were placemen, as being influ-