Star.
London, England, 1819-07-03 00:00:00

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great improvement .. gene-
ration. But he was to be opposed on the ground that
there was no precedent for the Motion he was about
to make, or if precedents somewhat similar could
be adduced, it would be found that they were con-
nected with public improvements. Without going
back to the Adelphi, he could name four or five in-,
stassees where Lotteries,had been sanctioned thathad:
net far their object any public improvement. The
Adamses, he might remark, had been allowed to have
recourse to a Lottery, not to effect any public im-
provement, but to dispose of buildings, which having
begun, they found themselves unable to finish. He
Might refer to the Pigot Diamond Lottery; to the
Lottery sanctioned by Parliament to enable the un-
fortunate speculators in Pickett-street to pay their
debts; and also to a Picture Lottery, recently au-
thorized. On a recent occasion too, it would be recol-
lected, that the House had granted a Lottery to the
Bankrupts connected with the Bridge at Sunderland.
flehiving become a creditor there, had had four
tickets in that Lottery, and the House would be stir-
prized when he read to them the letter which he bad
received concerning them. He had not knoWn that
it was iu his possession till that morning, when in-
quiring of one of his family what had gone with the
tickets ? they were produced, with an extraordinary
note,, which he would read—(The note was from the
AsiElgaaes to the bankrupts, and addressed to the cre-
ditori:' It stated, that having by great perseverance
atid private interest, obtained an Act of Parliament
foi raising £30,000 by the sale of tickets for a Lot-
tery, they now required the assistance of the credi-
tors to dispose of the same, erithoet which the Act
stead prove abortive. They proposed that each
creditor Shotlid take tickets to the amount of 2s. in
the Poundl.---In this note, it would, be seen, there
was Absolutely an assertion made that the Solicitor
to the Bill had used " private interest," in order to i
get •it passed. This would he thought, appear to
*Uouseo, as it did to him, to be .a most extraordi-
miry declaration. In the case immediately before
the House, that which the Duke of Kent wished
sirti this, that he might be enabled to pay off his
debts by the sale of the property beforementioned.
—lie could wish every man, from She Prince to the
peasant, animated by the same feelings ; and he
should not care how many such Lotteries were pro-
Posed. His Royal Highness bad for several years
bees in the habit of putting aside three-fourths of his
income to pay his debts. Half of them had thus been
liquidated, and he was willing now t. give up his
property to pay the remainder. Not one shilling of
tire money so raised would be kept from his creditors,
and if it should not be sufficient to satisfy their claims,
he would still go on depriving himself of a large pot-
don of his income as heretofore. He had now done
his duty in bringing this subject forward, and it was
for the Gentlemen opposite, who had candidly told
him that they meant to oppose his motion, to stare'
tkir reasons for dCing so. The tlouse of course, if
dreiTo agree to the present motion, would not
401"111111111.111rIP".141
pestle Bill till the value of the property was proved.
Ifecotat'reded by moving for leave to bring in a Bill
to eelable his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent to
dais m of ~the Manor-holise Of castlebar, in the parish
of , cOtility of Middlesea, by Public Lottery.
Mr: ELL was of opinion that the public
services of the Royal Duke, the value cf the pro-
perty, and 'the for Mer Lotteries which had been re-
ferred to, had nothing to dp with the question now
beforethe House. He called upon the House to con-
:lda what 'Would be the consequencei of sanctioning
a principle like that on which the present motion was
foundeL'lf on this occasion they favoured a Lot.
tery to enable the Duke of Kent to raise £70,000, on
what principle could they refuse permission to any
other individual to dispose of property in the same
way ?—(dear, hear.)—He thought they owed it to
themselves not to suffer such a Bill to be brought in.
Mr. HUME would be much disposed to concur
with the Honourable Member for Marlow in what
had just fallen from him, if this had been the first
measure of the kind ever proposed to the House, but
after five or six such Bills had passed, it was rather
odd that it should now for the first time be disco-
vered that to accede to a motion like that before the
House would be to establish a dangerous precedent.
The course taken by the Honourable Member near
him, who had questioned Ministers on a for nrer oc-
casion as to what they meant to do with respect to a
Private Bill before the Committee reported on it ?
was, in his opinion, a proceeding wholly without a
precedent. Was it because the Duke of Kent was
son to the King that he was to experience opposition
that would be offered to no other subject ? If this
were not the feeling, why should a question be asked
on a topic of which little or nothing could be known.
When he (Mr. Hume) applied to the Chancellor of
the Exchequer on this head, he had been told that
there was no precedent for such an application ; he
had, however, found, that the possessor of the Pigot
Diamond had been allowed to dispose of it by a
public Lottery, and it could therefore only be said
that there was no precedent for the application; be-
cause the applicant was a Royal Duke, attit had not
the rights of a humbler subject. The Right Hon.
Gentleman, however, had stated in a candid and
manly manner, that he disapproved of the applica-
tion altogether. On finding that there was a pro.
cedent, in the case of the Pigot Diamond Lottery,
for that which had been desired in favour of the
Doke of Kent, he had made a second represeatation
on the subject to Ministers, but without effect. For
duce years past the Duke of Kent had retained of
his income but L'7ooo, the remaining A:17,000 having
been regularly set apart for the liquidation of his
debts. It was only when it became a question whether
he should sell his property or desert the country,
that his /loyal Highness had determined on taking
the step on which the motion now before the House I
was founded: it was then that he said—" I will put
myself in the situation of any other subject, apply for',
permission to dispose of my property by a public
Lottery,T and I hope Ministers will not refuse my re-
%nest.' • He was sorry that the approbation of Mi-:
nisters had rapt been obtained (for the Chancellor of

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t.
4

had had the candour to say his ,
d unchanged) but he thought Mmes.
ice to the Duke, to state the grounds
considered him to be entitled to tb
had applied. Few perhaps were awa
the Duke of
nuHloeinhs 18,
ne
madet he Hanover
such
commoner in that
raiof,ns 7tathhhheer eeapyeamr ohbverliej:ll o7i nnBesd
place l not receive a higher allowance from
home than his Royal Highness. It would hardly be
believed that for five years atter he went abroad, no
more than two pistoles a week were allowed him
for pocket money. Coming in contact, as he must,
day after day, with the sons of wealthy commoners;
what could be expected but that he would be coma
pelted to borrow ? This he accordingly did. It was
indeed in his situation unavoidable, and in 1790, the
debts thus contracted amounted to £20,000. Had the,
same provision been made for him as for his elder
brothers, he meant to pay his debts in an honourable
manner, but he was never permited to enjoy the same
allowances. From Hanover he was removed to Gi-
braltar, and from Gibraltar to Canada, where he re-
mained for some years the Colonel of a Regiment,
receiving but a small table allowance. Front 1790 to
1799, exposed to all those calls for charity which
never fail to pursue an individual of his exalted
rank, it was not to be expected that he could
do any thing to reduce his debts. Not only was
he incapable of doing this, but they necessarily in.
creased. In the year 1793, his Royal Highness Te 4,
ceived orders to put himself under the command of Sir
Charles Grey, to proceed to the attack of Martinique.,
Instead of waiting, as some officers would have done,
to be taken up at Canada, in order to avoid unnecesK
.ary delay, he immediately proceeded without leer
of time, through the United States of America, toirl
wards his destination. During this, he had the mis-
fortune to lose the whole of his equipment on one of
the Lakes. For this loss he received no remuneta-
tion till thirteen years had elapsed. At last, during
the administration of Lord Henry Petty, he received
the sum of 20001. in consideration of the loss be had
sustained, the interest of which alone had cost his
Royal Highness 5000/. He knew it wduld be said{
that the Duke of Kent had received a sum of money
from the Droits of the Admiralty: This was true,
but every shilling of it had gone to his creditors.—
At Martinique, Guadaloupe, and St. Lucia, he had
distinguished himself, and aftewards returning to
Canada, he served there till ill-health compelled him
ta leave America for England. It was not, however,
till ill-health made it absolutely necessary that he
should return, that his Royal Highness 'quitted Ca-
nada, instead of leaving it as other officers do, with-
out any such reason to offer. He returned to Eng-
land, and at last, at the age of 32, he received his
Parliamentary allowance of 12,0001. per annum. He
was then loaded with a large debt, the interest of
which up to that time hz had regularlyipaid, and
which he had attempted to reduce by a sinking fund
plan, which, however, as in another case, had not
prevented the increase of the debt. The House would
remark the great distinction made between the Duke
of Kent and his Royal Brothers. The Duke of York
received his Parliamentary allowance at the age of
gl, and a large allowance it was—the Duke of Cla-
rence, who was only two years older than the Duke
' of Kent, had his Parliamentary allowance when he
was 24 years old—the Duke of Kent, as he had al-
, ready stated, did not receive his till he had attained,
the age of 32. Why was this difference made be-
tween the Royal Brothers? It was the withholding
of the allowance of his Royal Highness so long that
u as the cause of his getting in debt. It was not by
debauchery that he had become involved. Not a
shilling had he wasted, unless indeed it were in acts
of charity. Some had supposed that, because he was
in debt, it followed of course that this must be the
result of dissipation and heedless profusion. He de-
nied that this was the fact. Economy and propriety
had marked the Duke's conduct, and the systeM
which he had adopted was rot surpassed by that of
any private gentleman in that house. In fairness
and in justice he would say, that his kcyal Highness
was entitled to receive his Parliamentary allowance
of 12,000/. per annum for the years which had passed
from his being twenty-four years old to his attaining
the age of thirty-two. This would be hut 96,0007.
and this granted to him his Royal lii;liness would
not be one shilling in debt. The Doke °flit nt had
not received his Parliamentary allowance when his
brothers did, and had therefore beer. unable to pay
his creditors, but from the moment of his °ix:alining
his present income he had begun to make large sa-
crifices to get out of debt, but this lie had never been
able to accomplish. It had been his misfortune-la
Canada to lose 23,000/. at three different times. The
burden this had thrown on him claimed every shil-
ling advanced to him from the Droits of Admiralty,
and una'ile to satisfy his creditors w!th his present
means, he now came forward to ask no more than
any other subject might ask to be allowed to dispose
of his own property by a Lottery. After a service of
eleven years, his Majesty was pleased to promise his
' oyal Highness the first vacant Government. Gib-
raltar fell vacant in 1802. He was removed to it,
not because he was the son of the King, but because
he was entitled to it by his military services. It was
well known on what grounds he had• been recalled,
y many who did not know the circumstances—it was
thought a charge against him that the mutiny had
broken out—( Cries of Order.)
Mr. CANNING spoke to order. He called upon.
the Honourable Gentleman, as a matter of discretion,'
to consider if the present motion necessarily led to
the discussion of the mutiny at Gibraltar; and he put
it to him If it would be well to disturb such topics at
that moment.
Mr. HUME said, if the Right Honourable Gentle-
man had known what was to follow, he would not
have objected to his speaking of what had taken place
at Gibraltar.
Mr. CANNING had only spoken of the mutiny,
as that which ought not to be touched upon.
Mr. HUME knew charges were abroad against
his Royal 'Highness on account of the mutiny (Cries
of Order!) One cause of the embarrassment of the
Duke of Kent arose from the allowances which he
was entitled to, -us Governor of Gibraltar, being
stopped from him. They were transmitted to Eng,
land, but never brought to public account. That
sum which his Royal Highness ought to receive went
to tome fund or other in England, on which fund he
had a fair claim to the amount of such remittances.

If these were given to him, and the sums which he
ebt, and. have
The
an excess in his hands of no less than £5OOOO.
hiiNadhbeef:oreuishd epwa ny
ohffis titoheywahl oHlei
HonoursbLe Gentleman referred to the manner in
be entitled
,
which Ministers had acted by James Cockburn, for-
goihnhersis
dto
merly Governor of Curaeoa, and contended that it
was not too much for him to call on them to do by
the Duke of Kent as they had done by others. He
(the Duke of Kcnt) had applied to the Government
"repeatedly, but withcut success. Before Mr. Pitt
died, an arrangement was in contemplation, which
would have enabled his Royal Highness to pay off
all his debts; but the death of Mr. Pitt prevented
this intention from being carried into effect, and all
subsequent claims preferred to the Treasury had
time, the
ineffectual. From 1816 up to the presentime, the Duke of Kent had regularly set apart
£17,000 from his income to liquidate his debts. He
deprecated Lotteries as much as any one, and so long
as he remained in the House this feeling would be
marked by his vote; but the present casehe thought
a fair exception. The Duke of Kent %night to be
Fa-
mily. Place him in the same situation with the Duke
placed on a footing with the rest of the Royal d
Sussex, the least favoured of all the Royal Fa-
mily. Give him the sums due to him as Governor
of Gibraltar, from the fund to which they were paid
in England, and.whieh, in the nine yews before lie
left Gibraltar, amounted to £9,000—give him the
arrears of his Parliamentary allowance, and he would
pay all his debts, and have £50,000 remaining.—
Without these, he had no means of paying his credi-
tors bat by the means now proposed ; and this being
known, he (Mr. Hume) was surprised at the manner
in which this question had been met. Knowing the
Duke of Kent to be pure—knowing the exertions he
had privately made, and the motives by which he
was animated, he could not but regard his case as a
very bard one (Murmurs.) If those who now ex-
pressed dissatisfaction felt for an individual as he did
for the Duke of Kent, they would not disapprove of
his warmth. He would detain the House no longer,
but he tould not help, for he felt that it was his duty,
offering this explanation of the motives, conduct, and
situation of the Royal Duke.
Lord CASTLEREAGH trusted that the House
would view the motion in in its proper light, and
agree with him in thinking that it ought not to le-
-1 ceive it; sanction—(Hear, hear.)—lf the House would
agree to .his proposition, he did not know where it
would stop. So far as the application came fi om a
Prince of the Blood, he was disposed to receive it
with respectful attention; but he must avow, that it
was the last case of which he would be willing to
make a precedent—( Cheers.) The worthy Alder-
man had alluded to the liberality of the Royal Duke
—his patronage and generosity to Charities and
Public Institutions. In what a situation was the,
Royal Duke placed? How could the House bring
itself to contemplate the case which had been brought
before it ? Nothing was more repulsive to the mind
than to be driven thus to associate with the character
of the Royal Duke, a scheme so contemptib:e, as
that of having recourse to the eleemosynary partia-
lity of the public for the purchase of a parcel of
guinea tickets--(Loud cheers.)—It would be unneces-
sary to follow the Hon. Member over the various
topics which he had discussed. Wherever the Hon.
Member got his authority, he (Lord Castlereagh)
worid tell that Honourable Member, that nothing
.was more unjustifiable than any insinuation, however
remote, which tended to impeach the parental treat-
ment of the Royal Duke—(Hear,hear.)—No sugges-
tion was more uncalled for—nqre less in unison with
the feelings of the House—(Cheers.)—He would add,
that nothing was more painful than to hear compa-
risons drawn, and contrasts invidiously urged, .be-
tween the Duke of Kent and his Royal Brothers.—
(Hear).—Such topics ought not to have been gone
into. Not to speak of other periods, there was a
time during the administration of Lord Grenville—
the situation of the junior branches of the Royal Fa-
mily were brought into formal consideration. Had
his Royal Highness claims to urge, that would have
been his time. But at this time of day, it was too
bad to be reviving questions involving so many de-
licate considerations, nand characters who should
not lightly be subjected to public view. Whatever
the Hon. Member might think, the illustrious Father
of that Royal Duke knew how to conduct the edu-
cation of his son, and was capable of discerning the
proper time when he should present him to Parlia-
ment for a proper provision—(Cheers).—That Royal
Duke bad many advantages which the Duke of Cla-
rence never enjoyed—he had the emoluments of his
Government in Gibraltar for 19 years. His allow-
ance was successively increased to £24,000 a-year,
being about £ll,OOO more than that of the Duke of
Clarence. But in whatever light the relative situa-
tions of the Royal brothers may be found to exist, it
was enough for the House to know, that this was an
application that, consistently with every feeling of a
public and private nature, ought to be discouraged. 1
:b
tieiisst
rfersiepen dais waillido
wmhoos te
nw
d•
His Royal Highness may yet feel, that they were his
loyuroepdpotosetdealicihs
hwiisshceosuni a.
arearnv
~sellors that this was not the manner in which the
Duke of Kent should be treated—(Loud cheering)
'Mr. HUME,In explanation, said, he had meant to
draw no invidious comparisons between the ' •
situations
of the Royal Dukes, nor to throw any reproach on
been the his Majesty. He understood it to have
pri-
vate intention of the King, before his lamented
ill-
ness, to interfere in behalf of the Duke of Kent.
Mr. FORBES supported the motion. He thought
the case deserved the attention of the House, and
hoped, if unsuccessful now, the Mover and Seconder
would bring it forward again early in • the
ensuing
Session, by which time he thought the public would
be prepared to take a very different view of the ques-
tion. He contended the Duke of Kent had not been
treated as the other branches of the Royal Family
had been. He wished him placed on the . same foot-
ing with them, and he wished also the same anxiety
to get honourably free of debts unavoidably incurred,
which was displayed by his Royal Highness
, was
more frequently witnessed. He contended that his
allowances had been inadequate, and reminded the
House of the inducements held out to the Royal
Dukes to marry some eighteen months ago, when a
general alarm prevailed lest the succession should go
out of the direct Brunswick line. These remem-
bered, they ought now to be liberal, and avoid op-
posing the present motion.
Sir C. BURRELL observed, that it had
been stated

by an Honourable 'Member, ttat his Royal High
had refused, for the payment of his debts, a coati:,ct
which he, for one man, thought would have been
'most advantageous. It had been said, that his Ituval
' Highness disposed yearly of 127,000 for that pia.
pose, reserving to himself onlyl"7,(XX) pqr annum.
Now, on referring to varies's authentic documents,
he found that his allowances were.
Out of the Consolidated Fund -
For his salary, as Govitnor of Gibrahar
Parliamentary grant, last year 0,-t o
Besides some additional allowances for clethi:v,.;,
to which, in common with other heads of regin.c
he was entitled ; and for his sogiment sornztl
more than 11600, making altogether Ez,1,'.2.75. '1
Honourable Member had spoken ofehis Royal lii

XlB,OO

cow

ness's income as 1:21,000.
Mr. HUME, in reply, begj the Honour thl..y
ronet.to consider that the grant which he haci :dimd
to of 0,000, was to br considered as only for 1.
current year—(Hear.). Having' been voted erly
year, he (Mr. Hume) was justified in tak;n7 the •
as stated; £17,000 were applied by the Duk.,
lignidation of his debts, and the remaining
were so reserved as he had mentioned.
Loid LOWTHER thought the Honourable
ber should have taken the advice which -v.:s
him, to withdraw his motion. He who ro often
stood forward as the deprecator of Lotlejes, oi!;1:t
not to have proposed one on so 'ungracious a subj:Lt.
The Duke of Kent had received a grant snore

2.~~ ~t )i

ago, which was understood to be for the in.'s of
baggage. If this Bill was allowed to Frocezd
ther, he should think it hi, ditty to say soinetliiiK;
ftirther against it.
Mr. Alderman WOOD disclaimed the idea cf
bringing for.vaTd this measure with any such view as
that supposed by the Noble Lord on the Treasury
Bench—namely, that of rewarding the alke ai
Kent for his exertions in the cause of public charity.
Fir these exertions indeed his Royal Highness saes
entitled for a higher and more dignified reward. hat
his Royal Highness himself had in fact' no concern
whatever in bringing forward this measure, for it Was
pressed upon him (Alderman Wood) by others—
namely, by the Trustees for liquidating the Dule's
debts-4 Some coughing). The worthy Alderman here
requested the House to favour hini with a little cf i:s
attention, in order to save time, as he was determined
' never to sit do;vn, whatever interruption
,he
'need, when he had' any thing to say which he telt it
his duty to submit to the consideration of that Hout:l
—View, hear). The worthy Afeiet man concluded
by expressing his consent to withdraw the motion.
Lord CASTLEREAGH expressed his satisfaction
to find that the illustrious personage alluded to Was
no party to a measure of this nature.
Mr. GRENFELL declared that in what he had
said upon this subject he was not actuated by aq
persOnal motive whatever,—Motion withdrawn.

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(# the Exchequer 1
'., v. e was at the head of almost all the ition,rernainesi
.t ' * :• ; , • City, and so much was his time oc- boa in Judie
' 3•""" ..Mat there was hardly a day in which on sihich •he ct
••••••• • ,4 ,
1. , , $-. r. ~ ed upon to 2Kend a charity sermon or for which be hs
,t‘'' 1=• .. '" ~: t).!—(A kagh )—This might excite a that at the age
-.• '• -"t i ..:. ; but he would say to those who indulged in Kent went to E
it, "go thou and do likewise -" and, if this advice Guard, when SI
were taken, he was confident ihe effect would be, a that there was 1
tritest improvement in the morals of the rising gene- place who did
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