Star.
London, England, 1822-06-25 00:00:00

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those at whose will they held their places; that pen-
sioners would ,Look to their emolument ; that those
who possessed powh would think of the means of re-
taining it, when they had to give a vote which went
to support or destroy their various and combined in-
tereits. And he spoke the language of the Constitu-
tion, when he pronounced placemen, as such, to be
objects of mistrust; and when be said that Parlia-
ment had proscribed them from receiving its confi-
dence as placemen. This squeamishness at hearing
the known truth only rose up within memory—aye,
within his own memory. The language of Perim-
mene had always been the very oeposite of it till
within the last three or four years; and he feared
that it was only from the increased justness in the
application of the old language, that this modern
sensibility had arisen. In the very worst times of the
Constitution, it had been said that placemen were to
be watched as to their conduct, and lessened as far
as possible in their numbers. He need only appeal
to the Resolution of 1780, to establish his proposition
as to the manner in which Parliament had felt and
.expressed itself upon this topic; but it was also de-
sirable that the House should have their memories
refreshed, as to the manner in which it had been
treated upon other occasions. The first one was a Re-
. atiution which immediately followed that of 1780,
declarig the necessity of having yearly accounts of
the expenditure laid before the House, " for the sake
of preserving the purity and independence of Parlia-
ment ;" so as for that purity it tst to be corrupted, and
for that independence not to be attacked by. the in-
fluence of the Croivn. He should then refer them' to,
the statutes, and there would be found a law for ex-
cluding contractors, in order to preserve the inde-
pendence and freedom of Parliament. What was this
but saying to every contractor, as be would say to
every placeman—" You do not vote as you would if
you were not a contractor, or if you were not a place-
man?" He next referred to the Act of Settlement,
which provided, that as soon as the settlement should
be established, and the accession of the House of
Brunswick ensured, no placemen should be allowed
to sit in Parliament. He was aware that this was
afterwards repealed, and that the statute of Anne was
substituted in its place, by which certain placemen
were admitted. There was the Ist of George, the
first also which extended the admission to a certain
description of pensioners. He would not weary the
House by enumerating the various Acts, to shew
what had always been the practice of the best times
of the Constitution, but go to the important Reso-
lution of 1693, which led to the first Place Bill. That
Bill, having passed both Houses of Parliament, was
lost by the refusal of the Royal Assent. A Resolu-
tion of the House was then carried by a very large
majority, declaring that the persons who advised
such a refusal were the worst enemies to their Ma-1
jesties. Having thus endeavoured to justify his title
to impeach the conduct of Members of Parliament
who were placemen, as being influenced in their sup-
port of Ministers, as well by themselves as by their
friends and relations; and to say that their admission'
was a breach of the independence of Parliament, he
should proceed to shew the increase in the influence
of the Crown since the passing of the Resolution of
1780. lie knew of no other means of shewing that
increase than by a reference to the enormous increase
in the expenditure of the country. He must, there.
fore, beg the House to look at what the establish-
Merits were when that Resolution was come to, and
compare them to those of the present time. The expense
of the Civil Government in 1780, was £1,130,000.—
That, it would be recollected, was a time of war,
and the military and naval expenditure for this coun-
try and Ireland amounted to fourteen or fifteen mil-
lions. The collection and management of the Reve-
nue cost 2,22.5,0001. So that, including every par-
ticle of expense which-coold be incurred, the whole
civil and military expenditure of the country
amounted to no more than 18,000,0001. Now let the
House see how the patronage of the Crown stood
with regard to the comparative expenditure over
which it exercised controul at the present period.
'The civil and military expenditure of the country, in-
dependent of the expense of the colonies, amounted
now to twenty-seven millions and a half. The whole
expenditure of the colonies could not be estimated at
less than a million sterlieg, which made the whole
expenditure at the present time 28,500,0001. instead
of 18,000,0001. as in 1780. But it should be remem-
bered that this was a peace revenue and expenditure,
and that the other was in a time of war. If, there.
fore, they looked to what would have been likely to
be. the peace establishment at that time, it would be
found not to have exceeded, in all probability, the
amount of seven millions. In fact, that was the per-
manent establishment agreed to after the close of the
war in 1791. Taking then the permanent peace
establishment at that time, and comparing it with
that of the present period, the latter would be
found to have increased tour fold. Alley were there-
fore to consider the influence of the Crown to be qua-
drupled in point pf money, and in the number of per-
sons holding places under the Crown, as their em-
ployer. How mtsch more were they called upon, if
they valued the Isilance of the powers of the Consti-
tution, and if they valued the independence of Parlia-
ment—how much more were they called upon than
their ancestors of 1730 to declare, that the increased
influence of the Crown ought to be diminished? It
might be objected to his calculation that the patron-I
age of the same quantity of money was more valuable
at that period than now. To prevent any cavil of
that nature, he would say that one pound then was
worth two now, and thus the Crown would have a
double patronage now upon the increased amount of
Revenue. If they took the number of men employed
by the Government, they would find it doubled.
They would find the proportion of increased influence
going on in all its various branches. The number of
men. raised in the year 1780 was 56,000 English
troops: He 'was aware that there was a subsidiary
army of 30,000; but influence could only be given
by the appointment of British subjects. He appre-
hended that it could not for one moment be argued
that paying the Landgrave of Hesse could be any
source of support to the Crown. The number of Bri-1
tight Officers then employed was 2,000; new there
were 8,800 Officers in the British service, and if he
included the 10,800 upon the half-pay, the whole
weed amount to upwards of 19,000. In P7BO, the
Naval Officers were 1;800 rnow they were 800; but
the half-pay there would be 7,000.
be prepared to say that this was not

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