The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-28 00:00:00

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of Acts which existed previous to 1834, it would be found
that before that time pensions had been granted in con-
travention of the terms and conditions of preceding Acts of
Parliament, :Se, indeed, was plainly made manifest upon
the first production of the Pension List,—( Hear, hear.)
In order to show what had been the conduct of prc•vions
Governments in respect to pensions, and that those Go-
vernments were as much restricted by the existing Acts,
es the present Government could be by the restriction of
1834, or the Civil List Act of the present year, in which
that resolution was embodied, be proposed the following
amendment to be irserted before the paragraph regarding
the Civil List Pension : —That bv, an Aot of 22 George
HI., c. 82, it was declared—" Ad wheress much con-
fusion and expense did arise from having pensions paid at
various placea and by various persons, and a custom bath
prevailed of granting pensions on a private list during his
Majesty's pleasure, upon a suppcsition that in some eases
it may not be expedient for the public good to divulge the
names of the persons in the said list, or that it may be dis-
agreeable to the persons receiving such pensions, to have
it known that their diatresse; are so relieved, or for saving
the expense of fees and taxes on small pensions, by MC:II3
of
which said usage, secret and dangerous corruption may
hereafter he practised ; and ts hercas it is no disparagtes
ment for persons to be relieved by the Royal Bounty in
their distress, or for their desert ; 'but, oe the contrary,
it is honourable, in just cause, to be thought worthy of
reward," &c —.That this limitation to persons in their dis-
tress, or for their desert, not having proved a sufficient
check on the grant of unmerited pensions, this House. is
the year 1834, entered into certain resolutions concerning
pensions. He thought it desirable, as the Honourable
Gentleman had gone into a history of the grounds on
which pensions had been granted, to show whether
in the fifty years preceding 1632, any pension-s
had been granted on other grounds than the po-
verty of the parties and their public cervices. The
last resolution of the Hon. Member contained an expression
of opinion, and accordingly it was his (Lord M.'s) intention
to convey in his amendments an expression of opinion, but
somewhat different from that of the Hon. Member fcr
North Durham. The difference was this—that whereas
the Hon. Member's last resolution stated that the grant to
Sir John Newport ought not to be drawn into a precedent
—and the amendment showed that it could not be drawn
into a precedent—for granting pensions to persons who ;
had not just claims upon the Royal benevolence, these
amendments were—" That it appears to this Hoase that
the Right Honourable Sir .John Newport, in his official ca-
pacity of Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, exerteel
himself to the utmost to restrain useless expenses, to pro-
mote education, and to improve trade and intercourse be-
tween Ireland and the other parts of the United Kingdom ;
that while in the said office he directed, and after leaving
office suggested, various inquiries, which led to the adop.
tion by Parliament of measures highly conducive to the
better administration of the law and beneficial to the reve.
nue; that after serving for five years in the konourable
office of Comptroller of the Exchequer, being then upwards
of eighty years of age and eftlicted with bodily infirmity, he
withdrew from public life, respected for the unblemished
integrity of his character, to pass in retirement the re-
mainder of his days. That, considering that Sir John
Newport was not in affluent circumstances when be thus
withdrew from office, this House is satisfied that a pant of
a pension to a retired Comptroller of the Exchequer, in
circumstances so peculiar, cannot be drawn into a precedent
in favour of persons who have not " just claims on the
Royal beneficence," and are not distinguished by " the
performance of duties to the public." As he wished that
every part of the transaction under consideration should be
closely looked to, he would freely say that if any objection
could be made to any part of it, it was to the period of life at
which Sir .John Newport was appointed to the °rice of
Comptroller of the Exchequer.--( Hear.) But that ob-
jection was not made in the very candid speech of the Hon.
Member for Tamworth the other night.—( Hear.) No
such objection was made at the time of the appointment
none was made in the intervening period—and, what was
more to the purpose, none was made by the Hon. Member
for North Durham, and he thought he might take it for
granted, with that long acquiescence, that non• could
fairly be stated.—(Hear.) That Sir John Newport bad
performed the duties of the office no one denied; and 110
one who witnessed the manlier in which he discharged theta
up to the time when he requested to resign, could call in
question his perfect competency.—( Hear, hear.) The Hen.
Member had introduced into his speech, by inuendo and •
with much sarcasm,: some points which he had not the ooa
rage or the consistency to introduce into his resolution.--
( Hear, hear, and a laugh)—and he agreed with the Hen.
Gentleman himself, that if he had done so the courage
would be very great, but he thought the Hoe. Gentleman
would find the consistency quite desperate of attainment.
(A laugh.) In reprobrting the circumstances under which
Sir Jelin Newpert's pension had been granted, the Hen.
Gentleman had attacked Lord Monteagle with much satire
an some not very new quotations. The Hon. friescbst
gave it to be understood that Sir John Newport resigned
to make way for Lord Monteagle. Now be (Lord M.)
gave that statement the most unqualified contradiction, on
the part of all who were concerned..—( Hear, hear.) And ,
if any one disbelieved the solemn assertion of those per.
sons, he would cheerfully leave to that person the full en.
joyment of his scepticism, in all its latitude. —( Hear.)
In 1837, Sir J. Newport expressed a wish to resign, but
he was persuaded, upon the improvement of his health, to
continue some time longer. But in 1639 he sought and ,
obtained a personal interview with the First !lord of the
Treasury, on which he placed the disposal of the office in
the hands of Lord Melbourne; and be (Lord Morpeth)
had the most distinct assurances, that if, in May last, the
Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth had sue.
seeded in forming a Ministry, he would have found the
office of Comptroller of the Exchequer at his absolute dig.
posal.—( Cheers.) It was true that on Lord Melbourne's .
return to office he postponed for a time the acceptance of
Sir John Newport's resignation, and the filling up of his
office ; but so far from that having anything to sio with
Lord Monteagle's appointment, not only was the
office, in the interval, offered to another, but it
was known to many Gentlemen on that (the Mi-
nisterial) side of the House, to many upon the
opposite side—and to none more so than to the Right
Hon. Speaker himself—that up to that time the views of
Lord Monteagle were centered upon another, and very
different office.—(Cheers ) Leaving for a time the
speech of the lion. Member for North Durham, be would
now turn to the resolutions. Tha Hon. Gentlemen had
said that Lord Monteagle always knew bow to make the.
best of a bad cause, but he (Lord Morpeth) assured the
Hon. Gentleman that be could not compliment hits in the
same terms—( A laugh)—and he would show how she
Hon. Gentleman endeavoured to twist and torture the
facts which were the groundwork of his resolutions. First,
he (Mr. Liddell) stated that Sir J. Newport held the
office of Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland only for
thirteen months. It was not pretended that Sir John
Newport had any legal claim to a retiring pension for kis
official services. But he l Lord Morpeth) would presently
consider whether he had a claim for such a pension for his
public services in and out of office. The Hon. Member's
second resolution was an answer to those who sug-
gested that Sir J,lin Newport could perform the duties
of the office of Comptroller-General of the Exchequer by
deputy, if the honourable and delicate sense of proprie.y
which governed him, would allow him to retain the name
and emolument of office by such an expedient. Was it
to be inferred from those two resolutions, that the person
who filled that office was not only to be deemed as dis-
entitled to any retiring allowance, or superannuation, on
account of that office, but that, if circumstances should
compel his retirement, by reason of his inercasing years
and growing infirmities, and his conscientious sense of in-
capacity, then whatever might have been his public ler-
in other respects, and however much he might be a
fit object for the bounty of the Crown, he should be ,
entitled t• any advantage from it?—( Hear, hear.) Ila
believed that it was specifically enacted by Act of Parlia-
ment, that the Treasurer to the Ordnance should not be
entitled to any retiring allowance by reason of that office,
but that did not prevent Gentlemen opposite, when in
office, from rewarding Mr. William Holmes by a pension
—of course not for his services in that office—( A laugh)
—nor in the way the present Government had rewarded
Sir Jahn Newport, who was a man advanced in age—let
by giving a pension to his son, who was in the full pos.
session of youth and vigour.—( Cheers.) lie MIS not
questioning the propriety of that grant—he only stated
that it was made, notwithstanding an express Act of Par-
liament precluding the holder of the office of Treasurer to
the Ordnance font any retiring allowance. The question
for the House was, did the services and the circumstances
of Sir John Newport warrant the Government in exorcising
such discretion in his case ? It therefore was his duty to •
inquire with reference to the sixth resolution, which re..
cited the terms of the well-known resolution of that
House, afterwards embodied in the Civil List Act— l
whether the case of Sir John Newport brought him within
the conditions specified in that resolution ? in addressing
himself to that part of the question, he did I
not wish to appeal to the sympathies and feel-
ings of Hon. Gentlemen, but would deal with
it only upon public consideratioas.—( Hear, beer.)
He might appeal to sympathies which be thought he
shared in common with the Honourable Member for North
Durham. He might, for instance, go back to the early
days of Sir John Newport's long and well-spent life, when
he had the honour of having Lord Wellesley and Lori
Grenville for his fags--( Hear, hear, and a laugh)—who.e
friendship tied esteem he had ever continued to retain.
Of course, he did not mention that as a ground of appeal I
to sympathy in such a case as this.—( Hear, bear, and a !
laugh.) What, then, were the public services which en-
titled
Sir John Newport to a pension from the Crown
The facts spoke for themselves, and ccmment, then, we.a
superfluous. He came into Parliament in 1104, and con.
tinned to be a Member of the House of Commons abort
thirty Years. In the first year he put an end to the Union
Compensation Commission, in which the Commissioners had
been accustomed to sit only one day in the week, and thee
did nothing.—( Hear, and a laugh.) In 1106 he held tie
only Parliamentary ffice he ever held, and that was the
Chancellor of the Exchequerahip for Ireland ; and in the I
course of the year he carried, or put in the way of being
carried, several important measures. Perhaps the moil
important of these was the opening of the trade in core
between Great Britain and Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) Be_ ;
fore that time the restrictions upon that trade were as
severe as upon the trade in corn between this kingdom and '
any foreign country. And what had been the result of
that measure ? Why, Ireland had since become the gra.
nary of England Hear.) The productiveness of that
country had vastly increased, and was increasing every
year—( Hear, hear)—in fact, every year showed a marvel-
lous increase of her productiveness--( Hear, hear)—and
she had since that period afforded the most profitable tsar-
ket for the productions of English industry—(Hear, hear) .
--and that measure, as much as any other, had promoted
the safety, and, he might even say, had preserved the ex-
istence of the empire.—(Cheers.) In 1806, in conjunc-
tion with the father of his Noble Friend beside him (Lord '
John Russell), the Duke of Bedford being at the time
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he took the first step towards
the institution of a system of national education, by the
appointment of the first Commission, upon the Fourteenth
Report of which was founded, the present system of na- I
tional education.—( Hear, hear.) Sir John Newport alas.
I procured the abolition of sinecures in the Customs; and
as a non-official Member of Parliament, he was constantly
bringing in measures for the correction of abuses, at,