The Sun.
London, England, 1813-05-28 00:00:00

LICENSES,

Mi.: WHITBREAD wished to ask the Right Hon,;.,
Gentleman opposite (the:Chancellor of the Ex-
'chequer) a question; on the subject of licenSes
granted: to Annericiur vessels. bound to. the port of
Lisbon, which were 'to protect them :from being
molested, nOtwithstanding-' ary hostilities that
might mkt place. between the two c_ktlntrie.s.
thg faith of this protection many speculations had
been entered into, yet ilewasintormed. that Ame-
rican vessels sailing undrr these liCell,3e§ had been
taken or detained by any blot;katling squadron.
He wished to know if the Right [lon. Gentleman.
could tell him on what principle LicenSes issued
at a time when war was contemplated between the
two countries, and which, according,to the word-
of„thent, embraced all:hostilities, were set
aside, when one particular species of -hostility,
that. of blockading the Anlerican ports, vas re•;'
sorrel; to ? To him this uppeared,a breach of the
national faith, and he therefore wished to llein-
tormed.on what principle such a-measure bad been
'adopted.
The CHANCELLaIt of the. tixclnEtturrt wished
the Honourable Gentleman to write to the. Hoard
of Trade of the subject, as be would then Obtain
a more satisfactory answer than it Was' in his'
power to give. .The Licenses alluded to had, he
believed,' been gynnted• before a; blockade of .0
the _American ports w%,.s contemplated, hitt he
did not know ,under Aviiat particular cireum-
StaneeS. .

Mr. tirtiIT.IIREAD repeated, the licensef; bad been
so worded, that should hove thought they Would
have embraced every circumstance of war. They
had never been revoked, and therefore be ' cnn.:
ceivca any seizure or itetenti,on tinder them to he
unjust. . .

Mr. Alderman ATICTI:ZS 'and Mr. WitrrnaiAr;
-exchanged a few words across the table, alter.
which Mr. Robinson having entered,
Jr. WfilTlTßEAD,,seeing the Secretary to the.
Board of '1 rack in his place, begged to ask him:,
the iinestion .which he h4il jest pat to the chaa-
cellos of the Exchequer., He accordingly re-
peated it.:
Mr. ItomNSON had not heard of any such cir-
cumstances as the seizure of air American vele!.
sailing under licenses of the 'description alluded
to by the Hon. Gentleman. Some licenses, bad'
been granted preyions,to the'issuinsg of better!kcif
Marque, and anterior to the declaration of war,
and-vessels about to sail, under these, Sir J. B.
Warren had tot allowed to proceed. Several
American vessels bad beep stopped, but not cap-
tured.

Ml': WHITBREAD said, as the war between the
two countries had bee contemplated at the time
these ticenses.cre issi.d, 'he thought thctr Might
fairly have been interpreted to exempt those to
whom they were, granted, from all interroinion
and molestation arising out of,the hostilities be-
tween the two countries, They 'oughi:, • not to 1)e
interfered with by a blockading sqildrotr. Such
interference might cause the parties much injury,
severe losses, and even ruin, though their vessels
were not captured.

Mr. ROBINSON thought the Licenses in qUestion
were datLd the 14th or Eith of September. These
set forth, that those who -held them were not to
be molested in the event of hostilities breaking
out between the two countries, but it was not
meant that this protection should give permission
to break through a blockade. The Licenses were
intended to protect-American ships on their voy-
age, but if a port were blockaded it gave them uttr
right to break the blockade.
Mr. A. BARING' said, the licenses !lad been.
granted to enable American ships to carry provi-
sions to our armies in the Peninsula, and there-
fore they were protected a.gainst fie
would put it to.any man understanding the Eng-
lish language, if it might not fairly be assumed,
from the wording of these licences, that their
owners might sail from any American twit to any
port not blockaded, though they Might not be.
perm'tted to return to the port t'roin wllich they
had • s if that port were put In a state o
blockalr •

Mr,RonmsoN still contended that thc,Al Ii
ceases, granted before the commenccancilt t,i the!
war, could not he understood to give peen;ission
.to those who' held them to break tiny ble:•cliade
which had sobsetinetli-heen vcsolved eal► gin.
•
Mr. Patsfric,l was proceeding to offer some
marks, on the subject,
;
ivhen ttw Speaker remind-
ed the House that no picstion was before thm,
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer then rose,
I%)irlw)lErd'-"lthewletetiottioontlo'ei given by be *Zincr;
resiNPier'.4ll*?tgrattit'tec yCi:viiiisirleitsit'
to, be :'llowed t
thlt his 116 n. Friend, fot'-Whont he had g'rvesnal:(e):
tice of a motit:nwaress3pteienti;gm?it)ic;ritirttilsttet of the
he was obliged to leave town and
American war,
coudosed that
not bring
it f°llvard "'TuestlaY) the diiy for which it now'

'"'~f

P

stood. I:lll,ltr,tltritt elrtwnstltuce.s h tboltgl..,,t it
tuoA m.s} ectici to Om ;loose td put it oil—vine die.
Mr. nev,-.or inos ell fur accoutits rat rul,es 'of tin-
tit Fart- on rJoiis exported to itatii-,a by pri'vate
mercilanrx, from- 1790-40 18(2, aad other ac-
est ti,uls...---Oillered.

eivll# 1-I,llr.

'rite f the }:4;xcntwonv., ht bring •
nt; forntarAi the wol-i4n of which/ bad given
n•aticit, ytate(l, that_ there appeared an Increase of
expentliinre, «# 2i13,00tg, above. the ettii” ate of
8t ,1. ja the se' emyears foflowing.that the
nveiaize excess aver that eAtilYi3te %v as about
142,1,0 t 13t. Front this it would. he, stem, that.
though there appeared. an inerelnse of 203,080/.
*Oa the estimate of the year 1.804, the excess Of
" the year ending April the sth, 1813, w only the
dikercwe betweea. 12,4,0002. end.,2,q3,000/.,
.f4eit notired the. variant 'act's.. vriltith_ had been
P;),..3sed for the regniati*on of thef2tiil List, stMed
to. the House. the aids ,it hal teeeired„ mice 'the ad-
r itionut charges which. had been thrown on it.
The, additions tnada in the last year, in the: first
class, ..for the establishments of the Princese3,
thelnerease of the Queen's income, -and for the

• privy purge of the Prince 'Regent, threw On it a
.-ehorgeHia,f 120,0001. TOWArtli meeting this, a
isreverme of 70,0001. was given to it, which left
"1.50,0001. uoprovided for. The second class, which
inch:ay....4i the salaries of the Judges,. remained as
heretofore, The charge, of the 3d class,- under
which came the allowances to Foreign- Ministers,
had been on the ave-rage from 18()4 to
82,000/. Front the increase of the number of the
of Foreign Ministers, the charge for the
last year was 88,500/, The next slass branded
the toadesmen'l bills for the Royal lionschold.
These had been set flown in, the estimate of 1.804
at 172;5001. The actual expenditure of, the next
year was 296,000/. The expenditure of the last
star Was 277,000/ 'being 19,0001. less than the
ss:Aalal expenditure of the ,year immediately lot-,
lowing that in which the estimate was made. He,
expressed himself perfectly readyto• submit every
item in each class to the strictest examination,
and proteeded to go over tlie retraining classes,
acclaiming us he went on for every charge of any
importatiee. Ife explained at some length the
additional disbursements fora FOreign Ministers,
and particularly alluded to the Situation in which
Mr. C.,§tesvart was placed as a Member of the
Itegeney of Portugal,. and that of Sir H. IVelles-
ley, its ambaaandor to the Spanish Govertintent to
acconnt for the charge that Might itppear against
their names. , He set forth the magnificent esta-•
hlichment which was necessary for the former,
and the great expences ttnavoidahly incurred by
. the latter, together with the great losses' by ex-
' Change to which both were subjected, in order
*to exculpate those Gentlemen from any ebgarge of
extravagaoce that :might have been • thrown on
them. He gave a comparative statement, of the
contingent expenees; of the Treasury, and hoped
the House, .would Hous. would be satisfied that. no
,establish-
ments had been formed which were not dernaud-.
ed far the public service. On the whole of his
statement, be trasted it would bacieen'that great
part of the-increase of expenditure '‘vas occasioned
by Charges for political services, which must. be'
paid by the pi:hlir. antler Roy toms of government,
republican or other. He concluded by moving
for a select, COnarnittee, to take into consideration
the charges and revenue of the Civil List, to , re-
port their observatioos thereon-to the House, and
to recommend such lure er representations us
might appear necessary.
Mr. Warvinv.An,referring to the
,Committee
on the Civil List, observed, that all'the Acts and
acromits 'Mating thereto, seemed to him•to be
involved and arnbignott. He thought the House
had been guilty ot great laxity last year and they •
would now he neglecting one of their most ',int-
pertant ditties, if they did-not look minutely into
these matters. Mit one of the Quarters from
1894 to 1811, had-the fund been adequate to the..
expenditure, .and the surplus was drawn from
the Proits of Admiralm And other contingan- ,
cies, which were not permanent, and therefore it
appeared', Parliament, hadotrecome bound for
124,0002. in one year, with it providing to meet
the tleniand, The total .average of excess since
1804 amounted to '203,0()()/. and of this -it great
prooortion 'had lately ariseo. The Right HOnUur-
:Ode th.ntlernan had talked of extra expences, of
the Regent, as if thate had .not been otherwise
provided Corby the 40, between the two to which
hr had Iltitled, and, upon the • statement made by
Mr. Adam, by a further provisirfu, The Civil
List Was alwas in ari.ear, in 1782 end 1804, al-
thoagh the 'finances of the, ea'aiiitty were pushed,
ret house Was always wady to provide libe-
ally ior the splendour of the Crown ,; but it 'was
not till last year that so large, a .suni, had been
vot7i as was voted to the Prince Regent without
any account of. its application, or the probability
(dopy such account being hereafter rendered.—
It kvas tor the purpose of obtaining an elucidation
of this expenditure, that he should 'move forage-
Ltral iusteal) of at select Committee; was in
1,t'87 and 1705; that the embarrassments of the
Yrince of Wales came before Parilaineot, the na-
ture of which it rots now
.twe (Hess to enter into.
rhi the latter iiiria,4ol4 a provision was made to
pay off his (Was •in twelve years, but in 11304, at
ort her grant for the'sanie purpoic 1;6%3 proposed,
and 60,00 w. a-year for three years granted, which
it was understood would absolutely discharge all
•
the Prince of Wales's debts, and there would 'he to,
further occasion for time annuity. it was is aster- -
stood that the Prince, 'even with this mirtition,
would ' not be' able to resume his splendour ;
and the prop.ess niudeby the Commissioners was
to have been regularly announced in the GA,.
zette, This, however, had .beeo aoon discon-
1 before the
tinued, taut! there wore no fiCllllelltS
public to inform them on the subject. lle meant
to ilfrow no imputatiou oft the
Corwnissioners,
public, had oat way ot
hat only to say., that the 1 •
knowing tit Is.*'.fltsr 011 had faithfully- discharged
their duty or not..lt was amiaterial point of h
tory that-the .Vrince of Wales. was indebted either
legally, or in liooonr, to Foreign Powers,. and
t""ith this !night be unimpommt as u .Wbjeset,
yet when ire ettine to hold ths:: sovereign ,attfittAj
ty, it t right that the poldio shoidd.:know
what :tats these obligations remained. The tio-

. nottrable Genttem An then.weut On to notice th
anAtiunt granted to the Privy Purse by the 'Re
r,ency; the VariOus items of
.whieli he enumerated,
anti stank the total at lao,ooot. a year, out of
5.3,090/, Its they•lutil Iseen informed by Mr.
AtF4.1.311, WaS Seektoart to diseiturge the obligations
he had'ailuded ;to. Ile was flesirousAn know when
this fund would 'have completed its operatiOn, and
velten thepublier watild be relieved to' this extent.
i'he Privy Purse, on the accession of; the King,
raised from :;8,00.:)i. to 47/.oqol. a years and
in 17P3 further attgeneated to 60,000/. ; hut,not.
ell oueerypushed to so largean extent. For sap-
.
posing, at :tray time, the possibility' of .; (ukase,
that the EXecittive should'haVe points to
carry in opposition to Parliament, ho w frightful vas
it that the Crown should have this.. ancontrottled
150,000/. to apply at discretion, and no .account
to be given', 'Suppose it was appLed to obtain a
majority in Parliament, in the inirchase ot seats,
or tr,' secret services=-the cousequeves would
that the Crown would be too pOwerfid for Parlia-
- meta, and would have the Ability to overthrow "fie
liberties of the country. But without looking to
this, he Claimed for the public to know when this
53;000/. a year would be released ; and it tisag for
this purpose that he preferred a Committee ot the
Whole House to a Select Committee.. lie should
also desire that a Committee should have the pow.:
ere° examine witnesses, us ;the want of this had
rendered the labours of the Committee on the'same
matter lastycar nugatory, for it could only enter into
~comparative estimates of expenditure. `Phis was
not the way Mr. Pitt, Mr.' Fox, and Mr., Bty;kke,
treated the subject. They held that the expeudi-
'titre should be made to fit the Civil List ; not that
the Civil Lit, should be wade to fit the cxpendi-
titre.' The 100,0001. grnoted for the outfit of the
Regent, ought' alio to be accounted for, as 4(114
not oppeifr from the excesses of the Master of the
Home, and the Lord Chatuberii.in's accounts, that
it bad been employed in these departments. He
objected :to the adequacy of the reasons alleged
for those exe4,•sses in the purchase of horses and
plate.r lie did not wish to detract from the allow- •
anees made to the Royal Family, amounting to
341,0001: together with larg,e sums from the Con-
solidated Fond to the Queen and Princesses, mak-
ing the whole 'amount 'to more than half' a
million annually, Imt this ought to be equalized:
13,000/. a year to the Princess charlotte he con-'
ceived to be too small a sum ; and it was exces-
sively hard that
,one person , should 'be left for
whom :no allowance was made on fteconutof the
increase Olexpenditore of cvcty but to this
he Would advert ley and by.
;fie then notified one
or two items Of the accOunts,..sitch as the stint of
70001. paid for 'snuff-bOxes, or :pensions. to fo..
reigners, which he did not entirely condentn, but
hinted his snspicions that _they plantar liothe car-
rect. Rethought that, the flonse; as in' 178'2,
ought to take all these things ilifo consideration,
and 'his principal object,. his Jealousy for this, was
on account of the immense Stun voted to the Prince
Regent without controul. Here he recapitulated
the items of the sum, and. noticed that 17,000/. a
year was allowed Out of it to the Princess of IVides.
Nov he asked, if this was doing equal justice
if it was right that the Prince should not be advis
ed to make a larger allowance, in consideration of
the sulditionatexpenceupon
,every necessary arti-
ele: It was a low, an improperly lots, allowance,
and infidequate to support the. Princes's in every
thing that her station required. The Queen had,
while living with the. years then
58,000/. and last year:.6o,ooo/. The Princesses
hadl3,ooo/.,the Royal 'Dukes were amply pro-,
Aided for, and yet the Princess .of Wale* had no
ailvalice beyond what Parliament contemplated in
1,793. The Queen's jointure was 100,0001. tage-
them with Bueltingliam House, &P. and it was pra..
videdthat the Princess Of, Wales should have fifty
thousand paunch; a year,. in the event at the de
mist of the Priucd (which God avert). Was it
meet' that this should eontinne, and that no ad-
vice should be given to the Regent to increase the
SUM Of her alloniatrice? It was difficult to bring
the question hefore the' IlOnse, but he put it to
Ministers, whether some further provision ought'
not to be made'? Upen'the whole, he touhi pot
vote for the Select Committee without further in-
formation,-and concluded by moving au amend-
ment—That-the Accounts should be referred to a
conunittee (lithe whole Rouse, instead of a Select
Conitnittee.

The quotion being.
'Lord Y,,iii:4oErrit 81101 a!-' a; Privy Coun-
-80.06 he could not supply the Hon. Gentleman
With the inftirmation he lecwe'd to desire respect-
'lilt; the application of file :53,0001, a-year- under
the COuirnislon. It the Hun. Member had Men-
tioilM the ciectinistanc.e to, hint yeiterday, he
would lizivq been able to stm.e to ithn the parti-
culars of this whieh,
„in -oi•der: to do away
any improper impression atilt What had fallen front
him might make, he could assure him', and the
House, had.been ntbst faitagully applied.

MrAViitTna&AD said he was not aware of any
necessity that should prompt hint toJnake this
iptiry of the Noble Lord, as the Regent had re-
sponSible _Ministers to give.jhe intbrtuation.—
What-he asked, was through these Minister;t,con-.
stitnriotrstlly,and not-indiruetlythrOugh the 'ohle
Lord, who was in no .situation that .be knew of
Which resuNred him. competent to reply;
Lord 'Y A }17,10 observed, that the him& al.
tinted to was a private fund in the hancls or'trtni-
tftcs, empowered to act by Parliament, and that
therclore,•any netuber Was as competent as Mil,
sisters to give information upon it.: What he
had said wan only to do, away the • ill.impression
,which might arise Iron; the HOnourehle Men-linen
Speech.
Mr. WiikTIMEND explained.
Lord CASTLEREAH If was Hot r surnrised tliat the
Niible Lord should feel desirous pt giving the ex-
phinatiOn, in order to prevent the erroneous ith-
pression- likely to, result (rein. the Hon. Menthees
statements, as it was well known that the Noble
LOrtl, from his situation, had same contronlo'ver
that fund. Ile denied dial Ministers had'any
siness-.to know the apßplic4ion: of 'tl.;s loud of
53,00 W. per alumni,. ut since the lion. Mew-
herh
ad expressed bis anxiety to learn how this
Wft3 applied; as if he Suspected-it was used for
proper purposes, it was only natural and twain-

LoNpON TuomAs WOOL), of Nn. 112,., Strand ; awl Publist
At the Swri Orkua, No., 112, Strzn4, wticre-iideortivemeall, Orders