The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-12 00:00:00

that such claim should be attended to. iie.o e"tog tat
propriety of grants of this kind, the lienour,Ole Mem-
ber for the City of London, at the time of the
passiog of the Act, had stated that it would be
an inducement to the Crown to appoint young parsons.
Such an objection could not be made to this appointment.
But the main objection seemed to be, that S;r John New-
port ought 'not to have been permitted to retire. That
was a matter so entirely dependent on the particular state
of a man's health, and on the infirmities under which he
relight belabouring, that it was impossible to lay down any
rule upon the subject. The fact was, that in 1838, Sir
John Newpert had been attacked by severe illness. and
bad expressed to Lord Melbourne a wish to rt tire. Lord
Melbourne had stated he regretted exceedingly this cir-
cumstance; and as his illness, which had at first assumed an
alarming character, gradually wore off, Lord Melbourne
induced him to remain. In 1939, Sir John Newport
went to Ireland, and f and his infirmities increase to such
an extent that he declared he could not return to England
with any comfort to himself. The office was one not of
great labour, certainly, hut it required some knowledge of
financial details, and it was important that no error should
be committed whilst the Comptroller was in the manage-
ment of the office. He thought, therefore, they ought to
leave it to a person of eighty-four or eighty-five years of
age to decide, if he were competent to the execution of
the duties of the office, or not ; and he did not think that a
First Lord of the Treasury would be justified in not taking
Sir John Newport's own account of his health, and insist-
ing on his continuing to hold the office; perhaps at the risk
of his life. The Right Hon. Gentlemen had said that it was
dangerous for the Crown to reward Parliamentary services.
He would say the same, if the pension had been
granted to a person in the vigour of life, and likely to con-
tinue engaged in Parliamentary conflicts ; but no one
would make any objection, if a statesman bad been cut off
in the midst of his career, to a pension being granted to
his widow and family. S;r J. Newport's life had been
prolonged beyond the usual period. His neces,ities re-
quired that he should have some assistance, and that was
act a less reason why they should be administered to, be-
cause the pension was grantcd.to himself, instead or to his
relatives. After what his Right Hon. Friend had said,
be would net enter into a minute detail of the services of
Sir John Newport. lie had known much of his labours in
1806, en the subject of education, of the Established
Church, and of the building of hospitals and alms_? ousps in
Ireland. Nine Acts of Parliament had passed in conse-
quence of the attention he hal paid tr these sub-
jects, which at that time were not considered
as party subjects, but in which be took a great interest, as
being likely to benefit his native country. He, therefore,
did not think that Lord Malieurne had done anything hut
what was right in granting him a pension of 1,0001. The
Hon. Gentleman who had brought forward the motion had
insinuated that Sir John Newport had performed no public
service whatever. This showed that he cud have paid
but little attention to what had passed during the time S'r
John Newport was in Parliament—(Cheers)—and certainly
the Hon. Gentleman ought to have better informed himself
of the history of those times—( Loud cheering)—before he
had made a speech attacking the int.‘grity cif Sir John
Newport.—( Cries of " No, no," from the Opposition, an-
swered by cheers from the Ministerial Benches.) The other
part of the question which the Right Hon. Gentleman had
connected with this, was a question totally separate
and distinct from it. Sir John Newport being unable
to continue, the question was, could any one be found more
fit for the appointment than Lord elonteagle ? He was
convinced that no one was more fit—would pay mo o at-
tention to the duties of his office—or was better qualified
for it. When the office was originally formed, Lord Auck-
land had been propesed to hold it ; and so desirous had
they been to secure his services, that a special clause was
introduced to enable him to hold the appointment with the
Commissionership of Greenwich Hospital. Ile had stated
at the time what he thought ought to be the qualifications
possessed by the gentleman who shculd bold that office.
He ought to be a man of high political character, who had
had considerable previous acquaintance with financial de-
tails; and although it did not require that a person pos
sessing it should be constantly attending to the duties of
his office, yet occasions might arise in which it we:'ld be
unfortanate if the office should be placed in the hands of a
person who should be ignorant, 01' careless, or inattentive.
With regard to the whole motion, he thought that his
Right Hon. Friend had explained most satisfactorily all
the circumstances that had taken place with respect to the
retirement of Sir J. Newport and the appointment of Lord
Monteagle.—(The confusion during the address of the
Noble Lord, from Members leasing the House, rendered it
impossible to catch two consecutive sentences of what he
stated.) _ _

Lord G. SOMERSET said that the question of the
Hon. Member for Kilkenny with respect to the first inti-
mation of the intended retirement of' Sir J. Newport had
not been answered. The House were in doubt as to whe-
ther that intimation had been given to the Government by
letter or otherwise.
Lord J. RUSSELL could not say whether any memo-
randum was existing with reference to the retirement of
Sir J. Newport or nor. All that he knew about the sub-
ject was from the statements made to him by Lord Mel-
bourne and Lord Daneannon.
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON wished to know whether the
Noble Lord had not said that Sir J. Newport was in Ire-
lsnd when he expressed a wish to retire.—( Hear. )
Mr. IIUME could not agree with the Right Hon.
Baronet, the Member for Tatnworth, that pensions should
be granted for Parliamentary services.—( Hear, hear.)
His own opinion was, that Sir J. Newport had no right to
the eension.
After a few observations from Sir R. PEEL,
Mr. LIDDELL replied, and the Returns were or
dered without a division.