Star.
London, England, 1814-11-30 00:00:00

MR. G. ROSE.

- The Right Hon. GEORGE ROSE rose in conse-
quence of an allusion which had been made to a sum
of 100 guineas, which had been voted the night belore
as Clerk of the Parliaments. He observed that the
Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Whitbread) who had.
mentioned it was undoubtedly justified in mentioning
the subject at the time when it occurred to him,
though he (Mr. Rose) was not then in the House,
but, as he was therefore called on to explain the vote,
he should, with the permission of the House, state the
circumstances under which that allowance vas made.
There were maey allowances which had been made
to the Clerk of the Parliaments, trona time immemo-
ri.:l, among which was one of twenty five copies of
all acts of Parliament, which had always been turned
by theta to their profit. To skew that he had not
been over-anxious to make the most of his office, he
state that there was also a large allowance
to the office wnich he held, for stationary, under
which some articles not generally known by that
name, were included, such as Scotch coals, wax
candles, and satin bags, Fcx these articles his pre-
decessor had received £3BO. For this he (Mr. Rose)
had never received one farthing in money, merely
taking a moderate allowance of paper and pens, al-
though the Speaker of that House, and many other
public officers received allowancesia commutation for
stationary. As to the item in question, it appeared,
by a minute of the Treasury, that the value of the
twenty-five copies of the Acts of Parliament, given
to the Clerks of Parliament, was £132 a-year, and
that for this perquisite he had received, as an equiva-
lent, 50 guineas a year. The sum of 100 guineas
was the amount of the allowance for two years. As
it was important to the public to know how to appre-
ciate the character of its servants, lie should trouble
the House by stating how he had acted in the office
of Secretary of the Treasury. When he had first re-
ceived that office be found that the emoluments con-
, sisted in fees and perquisites, and finding himself
uneasy in such a situation, he desired a fixed salary.
The average emoluments in five years of peace had
been £3440, and in • five years of war resloo, for this
he accepted £3OOO a year only; aad when, at a sub.
sequent time, that allowance was thought inadequate
and increased to £4OOO a year, he had refused to
take advantage of the good will of the Lords of the
Treasury on th it occasion. [Mr. Rose reed the mi-
nute of the Treasury stating this fact.] lie had said
thus much to clear himself not only from blame, but
from the imputation of having done any thing mean
and shabby. When twenty years ago he had been
accused of being concerned in speculations he had
cleared himself in the like satisfactory manner.
Mr. WHITBREAD lamented that the Right Ho.
nourable Gentleman had not been in his place last
night, to make the defence at which he had to night
laboured so hard. His name had never appeared in
the papers before, and it was not extraordinary that
he (Mr. Whitbread) should remark upon it; nor
was it singular, coasidering the peculations and tricks
that were proved to have been practised formerly
in the office of the Right Hon. Gentleman, such
a; including supplies of Scotch coals, wax candles,
and satin bags, under the head of stationary, that
it should not be 4enerally known that so wonder-
fq .
l an alteratiou ykea place dating the Bra
•
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of purity of the Right Hon. Gentleman. Tf he
(Mr. Wl:thread) were called upon to state what he
really tlhougl t upon the subject, he must say that
he w:is very sorry thak, the 50 guineas had stuck in
Mr. ?low's throat, and that he should have got rid
of the o'Jstruction in the way the House had witnes-
RO6SE said that the Honourable Member was
the tint person that had ever made an objection to the,
sum given as an equivalent for Acts of Parliament—
it was enough for him (Mr. Rose) to hear any man
breathing objection to it, to iisduce him to assert that
he never would again touch a shilling of it—(Hear,
and I..vhter.)