The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-06 00:00:00

LORD KEANE'S ANNUITY.

The Order of the Day for bringing up the Report
of the Committee on Lord Keane's Annuity Bill having
been read,
Mr. HUME e•ould offer a few observations to the
House, which he hoped would induce them to post-
pone the further progress of the 1.1111.—(113ar, hear.)
He wished the House to consider the peculiar eircurn•
stances of the present Bill. On several occasions her
Majesty, in her messages ts that House, signifiel
her desire to confer acme signal mark of
her favour on individuals who had distin-
guished themselves in her Majesty's service. He wished
the House to consider what was the invariable rule in
those cases, and ho would refer to as an example to
the case of Lord Seaton. On the 30th of March
last year the House, in compliance' with a message
from her Majesty on the subject, voted the sum of
2,000/. to Lord Seaton, notwithstanding all the oppo-
sition which he (Mr. H.) had offered to the measure.
Now the point which he wished to bring under the
notice of the House was this, that the Report ought ot
to be brought up till they had placed on the table
of the House all the correspondence that passed be-
tween the President of the Board of Control and the
' Board of Directors of the East India ComPanY,t
orred-
lative to the propriety of the sum awarOedthat
to I,
Keane being paid out the funds of Com-
Fon
‘n.
ede.
werethe ptvaliadrqouuits
pang k ratherieg
to thanthe outfaet oft h
at
th e
thCeonsorlettred.d.s
oi
to the Marquis of Cornwallis,
of Wellesley, for their itrviees in
anldnditao
satisfaction which individuals would experience
of the funds of the East India Company, and to the
at tliese rewards being votd in open Court by
the Directors of the East India Company, he (Mr.
II.) conceived that it would be much the
to bsLtter way for
all parties that the, s,um, eci,w v te avine
_or- --e
should be paid out of the tunas of that Company. He
would request the House to.take into consideration a
circumstance stated in a letter which he (Mr. H.) had
received that morning. It was that every I/. sterling
granted for three lives would eventually cost the public
1091., and that the vote of 2,000/. would, in fifty years,
at compound interest, amount to 418,0001. He would
therefore heg to move the following- amendthent
" That the Report of the-Committee to that-llouee oR
the Bill relative to the Annuity to be granted to LoP4
Keane, and his two next surviving heirs, be postponed

till the correspondence which had taken place between
the Vresident of the Board of Control and the Board
of Directors of the East India Company, or the Se-
cret Committee of the Court, relative to the services of
Lord Keane, and the grant of-annuity to him, be laid be-
fore the House, in order that the House be made ac-
quainted with the reasons why the Court of Directors
refused to grant any annuity to Lord Keane ; also the
reasons which detcrmiced her Majesty's Ministers to
recommend that that proposed annuity should be paid
out of the Consolidated Fund.

Lord J. RUSSELL said the Hon. Gentleman had
made no case for the interruption of the proceedings
with regard to the present Bill% The Hon. Gentle-
man had stated that a correspondence had taken Owe
between the Board of Control and the East India Com-
pany. He (Lord John Russell) had no hesita-
tion in admitting that that correspondence did
take place. His Right Hon. Friend had asked a
question as to tie intention of the East India Company,
and the result of the correspondence was that the East
India Company stated it bad not been usual for the
Company, in cases of that kind, to confer the grant of
a pension—that they could not grant a pension beyond
the period to which their Charter extended—and that it
was not their intention to move in the matter. Of
course it was not in the power of his Right Hon.
Friend to more the Court of Directors upon the sub-
ject ; all that he could do was to require their atten-
tion. Now the House had rhe tdy heard from an Hon.
Member of that House, who was a Member of the
Court of Directors (Mr. Hogg), the reasons why he
was of opinion the E Ist India Company ought not
to be called upon to provide a pension for Lord
Keane.—(Hear, hear.) That Hon. Member stated
very truly that the East India Company were
et a great expense, or rather that the pesple of India
contributed very largely to the support of the Queen's
army in India—that the expenses of that army were
very largely defrayed by the East India Company, and
that in his opinion it was better to take that which was
by far the more usual course, name',y, ti at Parliament
should provide the reward ef Lord Kesne's services.
Now it was not denied that eery large sums were paid
for the army in India, but how far that was or was not
a ground why they should not entertain any proposition
of this kind, was a gees:ion which he did net n.ean to
argue. His opinion was that the East India Directors
not feeling it their duty to move in the matter, it would
be totally unbecoming in the House to say that, al-
though Lord Keane had performe I greet. services, they
td:oald stand buxtering and eh/ilia:Mg with the East
India Company to deprive him of his reward.—(Hear,
hear.) The reasons of t'le East India Company
might be very good, but whether they were or
not he repeated that it would be most unjust
to Lord Keare and degrading to Parliament to make it
a matter of barter, and compromise, and bargain between
the East India Company and themselves, as to whether
Lord Kea: e was to have 2,000/. per annum or not.
He hoped that neither the House nor the country was
reduced to that state that they Would be ohliged to try
and throw !h.: payment off upon the East India Com-
pany, and if they did not choose to do it, that then
Lord Keane was to b I left without any reward. In
the course of the debate last year the merits of Lord
Keane had been allowed by all parties, from the Duke of
Wellington down to the Hon. Member for Kilkenn3a--.
(A laugh.) He trust, d, therefore, the Hon. Member
wool I offer no further opposition to the measure.
Mr. MILES believed the Home lied no power of
enforcing the cla;m of Lord Keane upon the East In-
dia Company. The general feeling was that Lord
Keane war highly deserving of the reward, but at the
same time he hoped the House would he cautious be-
fore it would come down with any similar proposition
in the pre-eat state of the finances of the country. Her
Majesty's Government were about to greet Lord Keane
for his services in a single campaign the same pension
that had been given to Lord Nelson, which lo did not
think the circomst aces of the case would tvarrant.
Sir H. VERNEY was opposed to the views of the
Hon. Member for Kilkenny ; he thought the parties
who benefi ed by the services of Lord Keane were the
British publ.e.
Lord STANLEY wished to correct an error in a
sta'emeet of his Hon. Friend near him (Mr. Mies).
His Hon. Friend had said that they were about to
grant the came pension to Lord Keane which had been
settled on Lord Nelson. Now it was true that 2,000/.
a-year had beer conferred on Lord Nelson when he
had been raised to the pcerege. But after 'his death
a pension of .5,0001. a-year had been settled. on his heirs
for eve! ; and besiee3 a sum of 90,000/., and a sum of
20,000/. were vested in land for the use of his family,
with a power given to the trustees to use these sums its
endowing his sisters. He (Lord Stanley) thought it
right the Hou e should be in possession of these facts
before they carne to a decision on the" present subject.
The House divided, when there appeared—
For the motion 35
Against it
Majority —92

The Report ma; then brought up, and the Bill or-
dered to be read a third time on Monday next.

RUM DUTIES.

Mr. LABOUCHERE said he had found it Leces-
silty to make some alterations in the East India Rum
Bill, and, therefore, he should move that the Bill be
re-committed pro forma, and printed, in order to intro-
duce (hose alterations.

The 1111 then went through Committee, .and was
ordered to be re-printed.
SUPPLY—NAVY ESTIMATES.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL moved the Order of the
Day for going into Committee of Supply on the Navy
EitimateF.

Mr. O'I3RIEN said there were two subjects which
appeared to him to deserve the notice of the House.
The first was thr.t a-true bill had been found against
Mr. M'Leod, on the allegation that he was present at
a transaction which was conducted under the Colonial
Authorities on a charge of murder and arson. The Other
was a resolution of one of the Legislatures of the United
States, t 3 the following effect: that tlx Government be
authorised to take immediate measures to remove the
troops of the Queen of Great Britain from the dis-
puted territory, and that the resources of ti.e State be
placed at the disposal of the Governor for that pur-
pose. lie did not know what degree of authority to
attach to the document, but if it were true it could be
taken as nothing short of a declaration of war. Lie
was as much opposed to war as any one, and looked
upon it as a great calamity, particularly with America,
because in that case it assumed a fratricidal character,
At the same time he would say, that if war took place
it would not be of their seeking, but they could not
command the allegiance of their Colonial subjects if
they were not able to extend protection to them.
The Noble Lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
had shown great exertion and vigour in another part
of the world, in which their interference was of a more
doubtful character, and l3e trusted the
.Noble Lord
would indicate some portion of that vigour on the pre-
sent occasion. He felt it his duty es an individual
'Umber to say that in his opinion their interest would
be much batter secured if thoy bad a strong fleet within
reach of the American ports than if they had a large
military force along the frontier line. He knew not
whether ti:e estimates were on a sufficiently' large scale
to roect exigencies of that sort, but the Government
would be waritlng in its duty if it did not come down
to that House prepared to meet them.

.
Mr. EWART could nil sce any necessity for anti-
cipating hostilities.—(Hear, hear.) He believed that
the mass of the People in the United States were
bit:-
dined for peace with England.---(Cheerf-) He
they'-
wheisvetosby any
cunhzspy)
H. 2
diffe-
rences between the two countries•—(
ee
thatundeprsetaocoed
disturbedtco well their
!interests to
tot; of his
would not venture to follow in the
Hon. Friend by drawing a distinchteto
•f°:tshetween the
people of that
actions of the Government and
wet
were unprepared
country. He hoped that whileee
made to anticipate
for no enemy no attempt wouldo
knew that the feelingg
the host irfes,—(Cheers.) H, of this country were iu
of the manufacturing intere,trisd he knew that the same
favour of peace—(Che2rs)lllo
ss
of the people of th.s
ich:agupisr:sb)re' differences.ut_toHa
~:villi
arms,tb rtiandb.winonort,
not only
which
feeling existed among th; no trusted that these un-
Unitel States. (
C wouldl I
he
ea" . be terminate] without any re-
aciught that if such were the.
my in accordance with the feel-
-5 t
wheoefulNbdootbirileeen7L:o.terrdietS•hweould give
case it would be
pre'udic>.,
a that
interferenceh e was awarej
of
"P
I;itin:hacc: rteoa tceadll. foNrot the Nothing
hostiletll
some
whichmh ead ht"en`
the G 0 r t, Nothing hal yet taken place, but
ion of civil law ; and it was too much
u neaoder the a
1 to war when they were not aware whether
t° °Prhad.., token pace was not in accordance with the
laws-
what,, f the State. He trusted the Noble Lord would
assure
the House that nothing had taken place but
what could be settled in an amicable manner.
Ea mn ec et
NAVY ESTIMATES.
The House then resolved itself into a Committee of
Supply. _ _ .

X vote of 570,507/. was then proposed for payment
of the wagts of workmen in the Dock-yards.
Mr. BARNARD objected to the inadequacy of the
wap,e3 paid to the shipwrights in the Dock•yards. He
had hoped that either higher wages would have beers
paid to than, or that a system of job-work would hate
been had recourse to. if they were adiqustely paid
there would nel er be wanted a supply of skilful work-
ing men to build up the wooden wilis of Old England.
The vote was then agrced to.
was;.
wa:3repose
erd proposed
r ag
la2blishments abroad.
G
f'oVrneasVaolfitores,
work-
menAA i‘‘noattLheeeoonf .
of
outfittings, and steam-machinery.
rt tu(1)(1 T
particulariseEßltAl4L said,
any
Mr. HUME wished to kaow if any naval stores
had been I Inded on the coast of Syria.
thef
he Hwonnu.ldGeinn:
tio
thatsto i
re

form him. •
Mr. FIUME could not particularise ; he asked ge-
i.eragy 'if -airy of tbc'etores under the care of 'the Ad-
Miralty bad been-landed-on the coast of Syria?
Mr. M. OTERRALL—Not any. •
Sir T. COCHRANE expressed an opinion that the