Star.
London, England, 1820-05-06 00:00:00

lite Ott's, question, in oppositiote ttl
'view of its principle, in the face of.isum'crous
.precedents of mischievous abuse derived from Us-.
tory—if now the House neglected the opportunity of
wiping away a foul blot on the honour of the country,
by .giving up a vile relic of feudal barbarism, useless
for any natiodal purposes, and serving only as an oc-
casion of calumny to our carping rivals and bitter
enemies—if now, when this mischief could be done
away, without injury to the Crown and with benefit
to the People, the House should suffer the opportu-
nity to be lost, it would, in fact, go the length of say-
ing, that these Droits ought to remain for ever a last-
ing anomaly in the Law and Constitution, a peren-
nial source of abuses, and a perpetual stigma on the
character of the country !—(Lovd and repealed cheer-
ing for some minutes).—He should therefore move,
" That it is expedient that the House do take into its
consideration the Droits of Admiralty, the 4fr per
Cent. Duties, and other funds, not usually deemed
within the controul of Parliament, in order to make
such provision respecting the same as shall be con-1
sistent with the dignity of the Crown, with the inte-
rests of the People, and with the maintenance of the
Constitution."—(The cheering was repeated from all
parts of the House, when the Honourable and Learned
Gentleman resumed his seat).
Mr. CANNING rose immediately. He began by
observing, that if any person had entered the House
during the last few sentences of the Honourable and
Learned Gentleman's speech, without knowing what
had been his previous argument, such stranger would
have been induced, from his high tone of indignant
remonstrance, to imagine that the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman had been called upon by some pressing
necessity to make a stand against some new assault
of arbitrary power—some sudden encroachment of
Ministerial rapacity. He saw no grounds whatever
for a substantive motion on this subject, and the
course adopted was altogether an unusual one at such
a stage of the proceedings as the present. The in-'
variable usage had been, dui ing the last four reigns,
to settle the amount of the Civil List in the first pro-
ceedings of .every new Parliament, and he saw no
reason why there should be now a departure from
that rule. He perceived, however, the distinction
which the Hon. Gentleman attempted to draw, but
it could not be maintained by any argument either
of expedienc y or constitutional legislation. The change
which it was now sought to effect in the arrangement
of the fund in question was quite unprecedented, and
was but an ungracious return for the courtesy evinced
by Gentlemen on his side of the House, who con-
ceded a point at the beginning which it had net be-
fore been the practice to yield, as nothing was trans-
acted before the necessary provision was made for
the maintenance of the splendour and dignity of the
Crown. It aught to have been enough for the Hon.
Gentleman and his friends that they heard from the
Sovereign himself that no new burdens were to be
imposed, and that he asked for nothing beyond the
fulfilment of an engagement which had been made,
after mature deliberation. In favour of that arrange-
ment an argument rni vitt justly be offered that could'
not have been adduced with rest ect to any former
one—namely, that after the practical experience of
four years, it was found to answer satisfactorily all
the ends proposed. But it was, he must insist, a most
unseemly return for the generosity of the Sovereign
to say, when nothing new was wanted there remained
something which might be taken away. This, in-
deed, was what he could not have anticipated, even
from such zealous advocates of economy as Honour-
able Gentlemen on the other side. Nor could he
help thinking it hard that if a little excess was found
beyond the fixed allowance of the Sovereign, that a
charge of wasteful extravagance should be made.—
This, to say the least of it, might be termed a suspi-
cious economy, and was altogether unworthy the
sanction of the Legislature. If the suns established
was found sufficient, let it be adhered to ; but let it
not be diminished merely because no addition was
required to it—(Hear, hear, front the Ministerial
Bench:). Let them not say to the Sovereign, " Wei
find you are too well satisfied, but we shall see if
there be not something which might be taken away
from the funds at your disposaL" But the Honour..
able Gentleman proposed a suitable compensation to'
the Crown ; yet the question for the House to consi-
der was, not whether the funds were to be abo-
lished, but whether it would be consonant with long
established usage to make any change in their ar-
Jangement ? The Honourable Gentleman, in support
of his arguments for a change, had traced the his-
tory of these funds, and he (Mr. Canning) should
follow him as briefly as the nature of the subject
would admit. He should, therefore, begin with that
fund .which was known by the term '44 per cent.
The particulars respecting this fund, he found to be
involved in much difficulty, and they had been so
for a long time past. In the beginning of the reign
of Queen Anne, a representation was made by cer-
tain persons connected with Barbadoes, which in-
duced the House to assent to the expenses of that
Island being defrayed out of the 4it per cents. and
the condition of such a measure was, that quit rents
and some other charges were to be done away. It
was certainly true, that upon the receipt of an Ad-
dress, communicating the representation, Queen Anne
said, she would give directions accordingly; but the
revenue arising out of the 44 per cents. which had been
secured in the Civil List of king William, had been
taken from Queen Anne, and was not included in the

Civil List of the Sovereigns for the four last reigns.
If then the House had before them this usage of a
revenue existing in the hands of the Crown which
made no part of the Civil List, there was sufficient
precedent of the Crown granting pensions out of the
funds from which it proceeded. But could it be for'
a moment denied, that the custom of granting such
pensions was co-existent with the first mention of
our Parliamentary history? A distinction, however,
had been drawn between these and other funds by
the Hon. Gentleman, who said, that when pensions
were asked on the part of the Crown, there was no
difficulty i• coming to Parliament and claiming
them; but that these funds were for particular pur-
poses, which it was deemed prudent to conceal. It
was, indeed, a most singular character for the funds
in question, and one which must appear extraor-
dinary to the House, that they had as petitioners
upon them two men, who, of all others that ever

existed, were the. least disposed to elude strict in-i
quirt'. These were the Earl of Chatbam and Ed-
mund Burke, names which, if the whole history of
the country were examinsd, were not to be surpassed

eterythiitt associated with public 'oiitue and
griatness of soul. it was quite impossible for any
set of Ministers tb be so mistaken as to expect con-
cealment from those Wen `upon any subject which
concerned the public interest. What I would it he
said that the Earl of Chit/lain was a 111:11A 11- ia
the course if his splendid career, would lather ;iave
concealed 'facits than led to ter detection? Or
would the same be said of Edmund fturke, who
must live in the. respect and admiration of ages,
himself too a professed Reformer? No;—such an
assertion could never be made, and he should leave
it to others to find contolation in defeat from at-
tempts to degrade departed virtue!—(lleetr, hear!
tsaffiioer! cheering from the Ministerial lienelfes)..._-_
Burke was new placed far beyond the teach of all
human assaults; he had well earned what a grateful.
country-had given him, and his autliority was the
best that could be adduced, to shew that the Fund
out of which he bad received a Pension was trot mit::
appropriated. If then no quesLitm should remain
but with respect to the possibility of ahrise,ioalroucit
as there were no States which weie stoditsus of ite:
form, when the Pension List was lett entirely to the
Crown, without any superintending contioul. To
this he should give the best possible answer, namely;
that in future all disbursements froiti those Funds,
and the purposes to which they were applied, should
every year be submitted to Parliament, not by a di.-
tinct motion, but as a matter of course. It appeared
to him very strange that the HoisourableGeatlemz-..
if he wished these Funds to he at all continued, had
not explained how they were to be administered, un-
less by the Crown ? It was certainly cotopetent to
Parliament to see that they weie properly applied :
but so it was to Parliament to watch over any other
of the prerogatives of the Crown. He now came to
consider the details of those Funds, from which it
would appear how little bad been expended but ftir
'the public service. In the course of the late rt.ign,
the Funds had increased to £9.700,000, a..d a suns
of £5,700,000 was paid to the captors of ships, ot::
of the Droits of the Admiralty. leaving a fund of
£4,000,000, of which sum £2.700.000 itidl-evn Fait
in aid ot the 41,4 per cents. and the remaining sum,
after having defrayed the char!..ec at. the Royal Phy-
sicians, the expenses ot enter raining Foreign Aruba,
sadors, and other incidental del:llan:is wonld become
matter of new arrangement in future. He wished it
to be distinctly understood, that it was iniende,i, in
the course of evet y Session, to lay before the House
an account of the sums issued from these funds, as
well as a distinct statement of their applcatiim. lie
saw no TCASon whates er that could induce ;Ile House
to depart f--om that course, with regard to them. which
was sanctioned by the authority ct the C. nstitution.
The Hor.Gentlentan, while he ::,roosed a change,
had not offered any just a:game:it in support of
it ; and, according t,e his statement. it was rather to
be assumed necessary f. om ir.ference than 0-actice.—
The Honourable Gentleman said, that if a !elision
was to be granted to a Nelson, a St. Vincei to or a
Wellington, there could be no difficulty about it, as
.dl must acknowledge it was well des..rved; but the
case was quite different with regard to political ser-
vices, where, in his opinion, Pall'arnetitat interfe-
rence was necessat y before any pensi n was :mauled.
Now it was for this very reason
..hat he (Mr. Can-
ning) thought the existir.g practice the most conso-
nant with the principles of the Constitution. He de-
sired rather to see these funds under the care of a
protecting Monarchy, than at the disptY al of a De-
mocratic Assembly, who should dole out their lar-
gesses e, the spirit of faction or the influence of a
successful canvass dictated. Faction must necessa-
rily sway the minds of such an Assembly, and there
had been of late abundant experience of what might
be done by a successful canvass (A langh). If on the
one hand the Crown was the best judge of the appli-
cation of the sums to be laid out, so, on the other, it
was the best trustee of the funds that remained. It
must be perfectly known to the Honourable Gentle..
man himself, that the change he proposed was at
variance with the best principles of our Conititution,
though, if he could but succeed in getting the Crown
to abandon those funds, he would not hesitate, for
the sake of a rhetorical flourish, to witness all the
mischief which would be consequent upon such a
measure. But if no change of this nature was called
for by necessity, and if, after the experience of more
than sixty years, the honourable Gentleman could
prove only one instance of abuse, the House would
find that the sanction and practice of experience was
decidedly against any alteration. As to the general
argument, that those funds, being in the-hands of the
Crown, offered a temptation to go to war, he thought
it had no 'foundation whatever. He entreated the
Honourable Gentleman to give not the least credit
to the views or intentions of the Administration, but
to look at them, even as he did, in the Minister of
Charles Ile—let them do this, but let them, at the
same time, take a view of human nature, and see if
it was possible that any set of Ministers would place
a twentieth part of the Droits of the Admiralty, as a
set off against an unjust war, commenced only in
disgraceful motives? It could not, he was convinced;
be denied, that the practice, which had hitherto
been followed, had in it something salutary,
In the period during which £9,000,000 of droits had
accumulated, if they once provoked war, they mote
than three or four times saved ns from hostilities.
As an instance of this fact, it was sufficient to men-
den the case of the Swedish Convoy, where restitu-
tion being made out of the funds in question, to the
parties who felt aggrieved, war was thereby pre-
vented. If the funds had been, at the time, under
parliamentary direction, the chances against any pa-
cific adjustment would have been multiplied tenfold,
from the number of obstacles which must have been
encountered. This country had invariably been ac.,
tuated by motives of high and romantic honour, and
she always sought rather to avoid war, than rush
into it without a sufficient cause. It was right then,
till all claims upon these funds Were • fairly adjusted,
that they should be kept out at the view and also the
official knowledge altogether of the Parliament.—.
'He believed in his conscience that they 'afforded the
very best means of avoiding. war. But if they were
placed-in the hands of Parliament, the consequence
would be otherwise. Either war was just or unjust;
and if unjust, the national honour was committed, and
ought consequentlyto be vindicated, -while the prod
posed change would tend to introduce various impel.
diments. - There was no proof of practical abuse-4-
none of any defects in the Constitution, or that those
-on his side of the House were called upon to do