Star.
London, England, 1830-02-13 00:00:00

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• d'• .••• tveci-xred in the midst of a most important and dangerous wax. • •
• Otis to that we had a much lower criterion with respect to the
prim of tau/ army and navy. ' For instance, in 1793, the cost of the
arm ,' was only 2,500,0001. whereas it was now (including half-
pay) enci,it eight millions. In 1793, the expenses of the navy were
'2.750,090!. in 1829 they reached six millions. The ordnance depart-
-ment coat 459,000/. In 4793, and 1,500,0001. in 1829. Thus the
total cost of our warlike establishments in 1793 was 5,709,0001.
hut in 1829 they amounted to 15,500,0001. Let it not be forgotten,
that in 1793 wheat was 50s. a quarter, and that in 1830 it was 555.
a quarter ; so that, where one bushel of wheat was required for the
,•tipport of these establishments in 1793, three bushels were called-
tor at the present day,in consequence of their increased ex The
reportof the finance committee stated that the warlike establishments
.of :he country were required to be kept up, not so much with refs-
. 'ence to the possibility of war, but with a view to defend us against
toreign invasion; and recommended retrenchment. He was afraid of
ratigoinr, the house, but there were one or two points more
whtell he wished to touch upon. He was desirous of adverting to
ate per tentage charged on the collection of the revenue. He
thought that the time had arrived when it was desirable that the
gross receipts of the Excise should be carried to the public account,
so as to enable us to see the actual payments made without deduc-
tion. The per tentage in the collection of the customs was 81 per
cent. on 19,000,0001 ; on 22,000,0801. produced by the Excise, the
per centage:was 4L 9s. The expense of collection had gone on in-
creasing, for while in 1810 it only amounted to 4L 9s. per cent., it
was now 51. 19s. 2d., or in round numbers six per cent. He
did• not wish to do any thing invidious ; but there was
one salary to which he should call the attention of the house.
The father of the houaurable member fbr Notthamptonshire, in
1798, when at the head of the board which sent Nelson to con-
quer at the Nile and Duncan at Camperdown, was content with
salary of 3,000 L a year, yet now, with prices reduced to the
scale prevalent previous to 1798, we paid Lord Melville 5,0001.
per annum,—an increase of nearly GO per cent. upon the salary paid
to Lord Spencer. The number of persons employed in the civil ser-
vice in 1797 was (according to authentic returns) 18,287, and their
.salaries amounted to 1,374,5611. giving an average salary of 841
a year to each individual. In 1827, the number of persons em-
ployed had increased to 22,912, and their salaries to 2,788,0001. the
average salary being 1211. Thus it appeared that there had been au
addition of one-third to the number of emplogees,snd an increase of
fifty per cent. on their salaries in 1827, as compared with 1797.
The precious metals were the nominal, but bread COM was the real
standard of value. In 1810 wheat was 105 s. the quarter; at re-
sent it was fobs. So that in the former year, which was the mare
expensive period, it would have taken 500,000 quarters of corn to
pay what it would now require 1,000,000 quarters to pay. It was not
fair that the servants of the Crown should receive double salaries,
and pay half prices. (Hear, and laughter.) On this imperfect view
of the subject, be was yet willing to rest his case. He confessed
that he was one of those who viewed with the utmost jealousy the
elevation of the Duke of Wellington to the highest office in the
state in 1828. lie did not think that a military education was the
best preparation for administering the affairs of a free state. He
feared that the noble duke might transfer to the administration of
the government the doctrine of the camp, and recognise no con-
nexion between the prince and the people except that of rigid
command and implicit obedience. But reflection led him to see that
he who had achieved such actions, aided by the courage of the'peo-
ple of England—that he who had so frequently conducted to victory
a race of men who proved themselves by their conduct the lords of
the human kind.—would not fall into such an error, and he had not
been altogether disappointed in his expectations. On his first
accession to power, the noble duke supported the repeal of the test
and corporation acts. Besides, there was a more recent act of that
distinguished person, which had much delighted him: be abided
to the act of conferring the merited honours of his professional&
distinguished barrister, once an ornament of that house, nod
whom be wished again to see within those walls—a man who was
content to hazard the sacrifice of professional advancement in the
conscientious discharge of his duty towards an unhappy woman.
The noble duke had succeeded in carrying a measure which Mr.
Pitt declared to be the key-stone of the union between Englank
and Ireland, and which he was yet unable' to perfect ;
which Mr. Fox, though he had advocated it strenuously and
powerfully, did not venture to bring forward as a ministerial
measure ; for an attempt to carry which Lords Grey and Grenville
had been hurled from power ;—which Mr. °rotten, although ready
to sacrifice his life in the cause, had been unable with all his great
and varied talents to accomplish ;—which caused to Mr. Canning,
because be could not effect it, a degree of are and sorrow that
doubtless accelerated his death, and occasioned his impatient mind.
"A flay soul which, working out Its way,
Fretted his pigmy body to decay,
And o'ainformed the tenement of clay."

This was hisisincere opinion with respect to Mr. Canning, and he
sow expressed It, notwithstanding the calumny and misrepresents.
tion to which that statesman had been subjected. The noble duke,
-nothing daunted at the failure of his predecessors, made the attempt,
and won the day, effecting an unequalled triumph in the establish-
ment of civil and religious pace. These were great obligations which
the Duke of Wellington had laid upon his country, but they were
not sufficient. Time hurried on, day by day we were eallal upon
for our decision upon points of economy and retrenchment, and our
decision could not long lag behind the public expectation. The
Duke of Wellington's administration was said to be founded on the
dissolution of party feeling—it was intimated that the noble
duke possessed a receipt for the dispasion of party, and the blending
of men of all sides and opinions. For instance. there was Lord Rosa-
lyn, Lord Privy Seal; and the other day the Mint was offered to the
. noble lord the member for Buckinghamshire : we had a Whig At-
torney. General, and another hon. gentleman from the same ranks was
lately appointed to a high judicial office in Scotland. Then drop.
ping among the free traders, the noble duke picked out a tame ele-
phant for the Board of Control. (laughter.) This was an admirable
nostrum. No doubt the noble duke possessed the secret of dispers-
ing and neutralising factions and preventing the existence of
party; but was the nostrum equally efficacious for the purpose of
forming a party ? Or could a government be carried on without
one ? It would seem as if the noble duke possessed a crucible,
whereby all parties were to be fused down into one mass, for the
exclusive benefit of the great alchymist who blew the coals..—(Hear,
and laughter). For his part he did not much approve of this
and saw no safety for the public interest except in dealing wrtihuceeat
individual question, as it happened to be brought forward, upon its
own abstract merits, without reference to the quarter from whence it
proceeded ; without reference to the motives which dictated its intro.
duction, or the effects which it might have on the *fortunes or dors-
sion of the administration. It might be thought that the time
was come when it was necessary to form a party on behalf of the
tak-payer. He perceived nothing dishonourable in the conduct of
tae hon. member for Kent, or in the conduct of his hon. relative,
the member for Yorkshire, in the course they proposed to pursue,
and be was willing to act in concert with them for the furtherance
of public objects. He would not be deterred from discharging his
duty by the imputation of improper motives. He owed it to his
constituents thus to discharge his duty. He sought for nothing at
the hands of ministers, and he should continue to Act independently
so long as he had the honour to address the Commons House
of Parliament, which, with all its faults, he considered the oohing
assembly of freedom in the world. The honourable baronet
concluded by moving a resolution to the effect, that whereas subtle.
quently to the act of the 37th Geo. 111. by which a suspension of
cash payments was effected, large augmentations bad taken place in
the salaries and pay of persons in civil and military employments,
on account of the diminished value of money, and whereas the al-
leged reasons for such augmentations had cowed to operate in eon-
sequence of the passing of the 59th IIL which restored a me-
tallic standard of value, resolved that, in order to relieve the country
from its excessive load of taxation, it was expedient to revise our
present system of expenditure in respect of all such augmi,tiowi,
tor the purpose of making every possible reduction tW amid be
effected without violation of good faith or detriment to pubßejeatiew
Mr. O. DAWSON admired the eloquence of the hon. =
which he could not imitate. His business was to apply
to facts. The proposed measure would affect the interest, MI
he might say the existence of thousands. It was easy to talk at
establishing a fixed principle In paying salaries, but it was not ne
easy to reduce it to practice. He contailled that almost all the re.
commendations of_ the finance committee had been acted upon.
The Governorship of the Cinque Ports wee abolished, as were
the auditorships In England and Ireland ; and in all thirty4wo
sinecures, many of which were se high as 4,0001. aless, wad
in all cases it was required that persons holding situations *mid
themselves perform the duties of their respective situations. NM
the honourable gentleman went into a detail of the several vela.
dons made by Government. The effect of this resolutiokbe
said; would be to give the high officers of government a NOM
salary than they had at present; the fact wee, it was,
salaries of the inferior officers which had Wm i
what the principals had not as much as in 1797; andi iaubslit
not think the House would decrease the salaries. of those who
could less afford it. The truth was, also, great semisoft!.
had been made by government in the consolidation of pohne ales
there had been a reduction of 930,0001. in the eantams abler
3073 an had been removed from' that department, and whop
vacancies occurred, those gentlemen who were
were appointed, and their allowances saved to theipiblic
present system oceuXimen to large not Olio* For bof
mOB
hes, wbielk bad ket.
werly been amounts. b
that the inferior officers in ail the departments use lealaS
and if the Loootamble &Oman would conelisr
mutton (load laughter,) he would repeat it, ipso% .ang
the other Deassmies Of Oh. iihich had Mama in pelea slaps ims
they would not be inclined to reduce public Wanes. ComPiaime.ej
grist distress, in Ithleind have been made, sad ea a Mow mad"
had.been pirikukey alleded to. NWT the &cruse that

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