Star.
London, England, 1830-12-27 00:00:00

PENSIONS.

(Cosesiusksaissy the Them)
The pensions of the Civil List are now before me, and
I must confess I am affrighted at the task I have engaged
to perform. It is Herculean, and I would sooner adventure
to attack the Phrygian Boar, or Newman Lion, than ana-
tomize the pages which my eye has scarcely scanned.
however, am pledged to you and the public, and will proceed,
invoking Cato's spirit and all his Roman virtue, to accom-
pany Ins in my labours. I will, if possible, spare no one, but
I will not intentionally drag any one before he public gaze, but
who I consider it indispensable to bring forth from the dark
recesses of this hitherto forbidden forest into public view ; it
is impossible but that I must be guilty of some mistakes, for
as the mere names are only given, without any relation to
services, or why these pensions have been granted, I can
make no distinction, but dress up all alike, as if they were
all undeserving. I must be allowed to remark, that the abo-
minable system of pensions, as the whole exhibits, ought to
be totally done away with. There should be no such an
establishment attached to the revenue voted to the sovereign.
The monarch's allowance should be distinct. It cannot be
objected to, that such allowance should be liberal and equal
to maintain the royal consequence, as long as the people are
pleased to consider their happiness bound up in royal pro-
tection. I would uphold the royal establishment in splen-
dour as long as there shall be such an establishment, but then
that splendour should be really the recompense for those sa-
crifices which are exacted of those persons who play the
royal part; but royalty should be no covert for the abuses
of the servants of the state. The royal name should not be
abused for the provision of a set of noble proletaries, or other
useless beings, who are foisted on the public maintenance,
to lighten the burdens of their own immediate relatives. The
allowance to the sovereign should be such as to enable him
not only to be generous but to be splendid ; but then all
such acts of generosity and splendour should emanate
from his own bosom, and his Ministers should have nu pretext
of using his name in granting rewards from the public purse
to their own satellites. It is not the amount of the sums that
I so much complain of, but it is the lamentable system of
corruption which it introduces, and the sad example which it
holds out to the producing classes of society, that the con-
veniences of life are obtained by so many drones on their
industry, without the necessity of any labour. The trap-
pings of monarchy, however costly, are nothing in compari-
son to the corruption of courtiers, who in all ages have been,
and still are, heedless of their masters' interest if they can
indulge in their own baseness. The King must be relieved
of the odium of granting pensions to most undeserving per-
sons, of whose very existence he is even ignorant. No pen-
sion in future should be chargeable on the civil list; there
should be none but what originates in acts of parliament, for
services performed by the individuals themselves, or by rela-
tives so near of blood, whose existence was essential to their
maintenance.

s. d.
The Engliah Pensions amount to .. 73,973 7 0
The Irish ... 53,921 410
The Scotch .. 32,023 18 8

Total 0150,91810 6
The public must bear in mind that this sum is totally in-
dependent of that which is charged to the Consolidated
Fund by particular grants of Parliament, or upon a general
principle of compeosations for retired allowances, and also
charges upon the extraordinaries of the army for services
performed, as I shall exhibit, particularly when I come to
the ordnance department. Out of this sum of 160,0001,
taken from the industry of the people, I shall be able clearly
to show that one-third of it has not been earned in the
public service. As becoming one who has breathed the air
of a Court, I shell begin, as in due order, with the uoble
personages who claim relief from the public purse, under
the pretext of being poor Peers, and which is a sufficient
argument against hereditary legislators. As some ha:e
double charges, I shall bring the whole together, distin-
guishing the lists upon which they are separately charged—
as E. English, I. Irish, and S. Scotch. I shall, in many
instances, he obliged to recapitulate in my remarks some-
what of my former letters ; but it is unavoidable, if the
system is to be correctly exposed. I shall begin, and go on
alphabetically. Some of the pensions are of such an age,
that their exact date cannot be ascertained ; but these were
all granted previous to 1784.

POOR PEERS.
Auckland, George John, Baron.

X a.
E —July 21, 1814 - - - - 300 7
-
This noble Lord holds besides a lucrative office in Green-
wich Hospital, of which no mention is made, and has
been lately appointed to the office of President of the
Board of Trade and Mutter of the Mint. I trust his
Lordship. as long as he holds such offices, will not deign
to accept his paltry pension.
Audley, George John, Baron.
E.—. March 17. 1821 - - - - - 462 16
Gifford, Robert Francis, Lord
R—March 26, 1827 . . 800 8
.
L—June 27, 1827 - - - - 204 6
B.—August 17. children of the late Lord . - 198 16
Here is seen the evil of calling legal officers to the House
of Peers beyond the period of their own lives.

Hereford, Henry Fleming, Viscount.
E.-111ay 29,1800 - . . - - 176 19
E.--Se 'ember 17, 1800 - - - - 467 12
This nobleman was lately the Captain of the Band of Pen-
sioners, with a salary of 2,6001. and enjoyed his pension
all the while.

Huntingdon, Earl of.
E.—August 26, 1829 - - - - - 400 lb
With a whole tribe of brothers and slum, as will be here-
after shown.

linto, Earl of.
E.—April 2. 1800 . 998 10
Thl.l pension seem. a great abuse.

Montford, Henry, Lord.
R..m.October 8, 1800 . - - - - 467 12
-
E.—March 10, 1803 - - 135 2
-
Why this Lord should have obtained a second pension, Is
not shown.

Portmore, Thomas Charles, Earl of.
E.—April 15, 1825 - - - . - 233 5
S.—October 25, 1824 - . - - • 276 10
Rockford, Earl uf.
E.—February 10, 1782 - - - - - 780 0
Tyreonnel, John Delaval, Earl of.
IL—March 9, 1813 - • - -
I.—June 16, 1813 - -
Walsingharn, Lord, and de Grey, Thomas.
E.--July 27, 1794 - . -
Aylmer, Lord, and H. F. W. Aylmer.
I.—February 24, 1783
My Lord Aylmer is a Lieutenant-General, has a regiment,
and is now Governor of Canada.
Allan, Viscount.
L-Beptember 15, 1821 - - - - 266 18
Blaquiere, John, Baron de.
L—December 8. . - - 893 13
This nobleman's father went over an adventurer to Is-
land: a very handsome man and by his intrigues at
the Cards, obtained many good things, and got him.
self created a Peer, and the public are charged with his
descendants.

GOO 8
445 19

338 10

364 8

Cavan, Earl of. •
I. June 7, 1706 . . - . - 286 18 4
This nobleman is a General Meer. has a regiment, and is
Governor of a Fort.
Kingsland, Viscount.
I.—October 10, 1828 . • -

192 6 $

Mountioy, Lord, Representatives of.
I.—October 8, 1794 _ . . - 177 11 $
Ditto ditto _ . . . - 183 2 4
Why the representatives of this nobleman should have had
any pension is most extraordinary. He bad large es-