The Sun.
London, England, 1817-05-06 00:00:00

;
,1 'Tor be bad trvOtVed' that It Woidd do neither; but
becutie, the Public mind had
obeen,polSoned with
"respect, tiisiliectires,. and 'be htiPerl the, proposFd
labolitiOn or correction, of a few.; would rethoce
-,the impression. The Noble Lord ' thotighi,the
:country would give hint credit. for a theasure.whieh
neither tended to reduce the influence of the Crown
~ , .
nor to economy, and he was glad•to citrry pll4lle
faVotir by:taking advantage-of that feeling i,etiels
of poison !—(Hear,
he had represent eaas the effect
hear !)---The Committee had been formed,ro ex-
'amine into the incuuie and expenditure of the
country. The Noble Lord himself bad some for-
ward to prove its necessity, and toalemstild inquiry
hat° the Finance of the State ; but 'bat was in or-
der to take tie itivestig,ttion in his o-rti. hands.---,
( Hearihear!)--.Tba t.C.'animittce had nowsat wit pin
three days of 33 months, .and what had it produced ? .
After its log period Of gestation, and many I
thrmcs, it' h'ad come down With the prestik Re-
port ! Ought •not its Menlbers to have first con-
sidered the income and expenditure of the Coon-.
try, the branches which had failed, and those
which bad iMptoverl, that the ITotise might. know
the situatitin of the State ? But they had brought
forth one, Report on Sinecures, and another on
the Army EitittiateS. The next WOll,lll probably
be on the Ordnance Estimates, and the last on
the means of making the public income and ex-
penditure meet ! Was that what-onght to have
been expected frOm such a Committee ? If the
House ,had thont;ht that it - wool& confine-its la-
-boors to such objects, would it not have appoint-
ed•anOtlier ?' As to the whole saving to be effected
by acting On the Report, he would enable the
Douse to judge, by giving the following short
abstract of the Report :-4 reecimmt:tided the
abolitiiM of twenty-eight ofteei in England, and
eighteen in Scotland. By the abolition of these a
.saving of 51,1781. annually would be made, and
on this saving the Committee proposed to grant
pensions to the amount of 3Q,0601. per aturnm• ,
•SO that the • utmost saving to the country which
could he effected, even if all was done that the -
Committee recommended, was 10,060/ a year.
He did not wish to take a
,melancholy view of the
subject, but he di.d.say'the present state of things
could not last. When the situation of the GO-
Vertiment came to be such that it could no longer
'rake the supplies necessary to Meet the expentli-
tore, it was quite:evident that some change in the
system
,on which Government, acted- must take
place. He did not'rise• to oppose the motion, for
to hint it .was a matter of peqect indifference %che-
ater it was carried or whether it was lost. Bui

he hnped he would 'tint find himself de-
ceived ; that the Noble Lord would not be re-
warded with the popularity which he seemed to
exit, et &Out these measures.—aie Hun. Geittle-
tmut vat flow ri ►mid loud cheering from the Op-
puvitiou Itenehes

Mr. littskissoN having been nne of those who
ga%e hil St1111)011 in 1812 to a meastire of some-
what n similar nti ore to: that now proposed, erns,

he contrsseil, ,4):orwhat onxioos to hear the tea
sons of tho,c, who Hgreetl with him ii

1812,
now agreed tti!ti the Ilob: Member for
Corte Castle. (Mr. ltanket), in opp 'sine a similar
. measure now, they now scented to think
quite worthless.
bite 111)1„ and Learned Gentle•
man who spoke last, and who ugly ti day
ago in tide his first appearance for this Session,
was certainly not exactly the person to 1 relit a
lesson oil the idleness of those who attended the
Cornmittee whose report was now under their con.
8114 a latigh.)----As it scented
to Ire' the place of the'Hon. Gentleman opposite to
make an attack upon this report, they were pro.
hably right to put forward the Horsortrable and
Learned' Gentleman (Mr. ,11 P. Grant) to com-
mence the attack; for it would not exactly has'
suited the Right lion. Gentleman (Mr. Ponsubby)
to have followed the line of argument adopted by
the Hon.'and Learned Gentleman. Ile well re-
. membered when this Committee Was
,first pro-
, pnied, the cry from the other sitle•tit the House
%VAS, "Is COmmittee to inquire gene-
rally Into our financial situation---into the state of
our inerinte and' expenditure ? If it be, it is un-
necessary, for that is What the House itself is,ca.;
pableot doing folly and sufficiently, at any time',
. without the InterventiOn Of a-Committee.'' These
Gentlemen at that ante objected to the Com-
us tree, c,tt no-otlier'ground than that it merely in-
finite(' into general financial questions; that it
WOUld not begin by inquiring what offices were
unnecessary anti might be abolished consistently
with the public service:-.4llear, hear, hear !.1)-;-,
AVte&the-COmmittee was appointe&, the
Gentlemen opposite, day after clay, were bring=
ln:g down tO the notrie.Petitious agaitist.sinectires ;
Pefitions'praying-that the whole system of sine-
cures might' be 'revised and abolished, and that
then the people would bear their burdens with
cheerfulness. The prayer of these Petitions, and
the ntimber of them, skewed to what'ektent the
minds Of'the people had been iatienced anti poi-
soned'oir this subject. Bia the Committee, in
consideration, of the stateiof public feeling, and
exervisitig that diScretion in the pursuit of their
inrptiries whieh` every Comniiitee on such a sub-
ject, ought to have, did think that the inquiry
sliould-not-begin-'with the general•financial inves-
tigations recontmended by .theAlottOurable.and
Learned 'Gentleman. And :wily not Because
on that part of the subject • twiner Commit-
tees' had already fully reported. The mon. HMI
Learned Gentleman went into a minute criticism
of the Report', but in •that he wda not quite fair.
Nowr was there a measure brought forward more
calculated ,to 'attain the end in view than that
now tinder eonsitlerat ion. The objections brought
against it were perfectly. Itth iir. The- Uonotirable
and Learned Gentleman (Mr. J. n -Grant). Com-
plailied that a general statement of the finabcial
situation of the country had not been brought
forward, and .said it -might have been done with-
out going into the E,4stitnates for the year. But
what .was interesting to the country, namely, the
reduction of the establishments, by:which alone
retrenChment could be effected, wag' all cantor°.
mised'in the discussiott of the estimates.' liver
them the House should exercise the utmost vigi-,
lance. But as ti) the fixed burdens of the countly
in managing the public debt, it waa that in winch
no reduction vould -be-evade, 'soul yet 1116 was the
object on which the flon. and Learned• Gentleman
would 'have bad the Committee bestow its first at-