The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-09-14 00:00:00

They have descended gradually downwards till they can
exist only by purchasing the smiles of a mendicant at the
expense of the patronage of Ireland, and by widening the
circle of ministerial influence through every artifice the most
corrupt minister of ancient days invented or employed. To
this have they come at last, with all their fine professions,
their essays on English government, their articles in the Edin-
burgh Review, their motions on the influence of the crown,
aud their calculations of the extent of patronage fresh in the
recollection of the people they have deluded. Yet what care
they fur the memory of the past or tle. shame of the present
hour, so long as they can cling to places and pocket pay?
They have deluded the nation, but even more to that nation's
than their own. What excuse has any man for allowing
himself to be duped by a Palmerston, taken in by a Mel-
bourne, or entrapped by a Glenelg ?
But then, perhaps we may hear some whig, blinded to all
-sense by party spirit, and ignorant of all necessary informa-
tion, put in here a claim for mitigation of censure, by assert-
ing that if hundreds of offices have been created (as no one
will ever deny) many have been abolished. It is sometimes
the pleasure of whig journals to prate boldly about reductions
and retrenchments and so forth. Now we are quite content
to take the issue on this point, and to inquire into these
boasted and patriotic proceedings. We hear of reductions
made by the whits. We ask, what have they reduced? The
yeomanry, of which they had not the patronage. But what
have they increased? The army, the navy, the legal situa-
tions, the commissions, and. some of the public offices of
which they have the control; and, not content with this, they
have made new modes of employing partisans, as we have
before described, in every part of the country. We heal• of
retrenchments. We ask, what have they retrenched? Cer-
tainly not the public expenditure; perhaps their own duties.
Of the expenditure it is only needful to say that for the year
1838 it will be nearly £53,000.000; just about 1.3,000,000
more than the year 1835. We have no hesitation whatever
in declaring that the expense of carrying on the government
at this present moment, independently, of course, of the
charge fur interest on the national debt, is considerably
more than in 1832, when a motion was brought forward im-
peaching the Liverpool administration. Lord Londonderry
then stated that expense to be £18,000,000 per annum;
sum less than is at present yearly devoted to our establish.
ments. If the whies have neglected to retrench this'enor-
mous charge they have failed not from want of good examples.
illr. Pitt abolished 416 places, with salaries of £265,748, and
all these unconnected with the collection of the revenue,
while he created only 197, with salaries of £77,000.* In the
revenue department, though compelled to increase taxation
with the progress of the war, and so to extend also the num-
bir of places in the excise and the customs, he yet, with a
rigid hand, curtailed every unnecessary expense, and abolish-
ed in the -salt department alone 500 places. How dues it
happen that the reforming ministers we are now blessed with
have not attempted to do likewise? Lord John Russell enu-
merates, under the following several hands, the various
means of exerting crown influence. t

1. The Collection of the Revenue.
2. The Civil List and the Subordinate Offices of Civi
Government.

3. The Colonies.
4. The Army, Navy, Ordnance, &c.
5. The Law. •
6. The Church.
7. The influence of Honours.
MI these things still exist, and are still used by the govern-
ment for their political and party purposes. If they afforded
such ground for jealousy and suspicion in 1822, how does it
happen that now, when each several department is increased
in its operation on the independence of Parliament, when
there are more placemen than ever, that we hear no murmur
from the Constitutional Whigs, and catch Ito whisper of regret
or anxiety ! How does it happen that we find in the Navy
List the names of young persons in command of vessels who
are notorious for nothing but relationship to Whig partisans?
Among the most recent pramotions we find the Hon. Henry
Keppell, Edward Stanley, the Hon. Joseph Denman, the
Hon. Byron Cary, the Hon. Frederick Pelham, the Hon.
Dudley Pelham, Thomas Eden, Adam Camperdown Duncan,
Granville Lock, William Henry Quin, Robert Otway, Lord
Francis Russell, George Elliot, Lord Henry Russell, the
Hon. Edward Howard, the Hon. George Plunkett, Edward
Troubridge, the Hon. Chas. Elliot, the Hon. Admiral Elliot,
and very many more Twydsons, D'Eyncourts, Pagets, Beau-
clerks, Carnacs, Codringtons, Greys, &c., whose names alone
sufficiently and satisfactorily account for the display of Mi-
nisterial interest in their welfare. On glancing at the list of
flag-officers employed, we find only 12, and of that small
number the following approved Wbigs
:
Lord Amelius Beauclerk, uncle of the Duke of St. Alban's.
Sir Robert Otway, uncle of the member for Tippetary.
Sir Charles•Paget, brother of Lord Anglesea.
Sir John Ommany, the defeated Whig candidate for Hamp-
shire.

Hon. George Elliot, brother of Lord Minto.
Hon. D. Bouverie, brother of the Earl of Radnor.

- -
Among the commanders of the ships in commissson, are
a few equally distinguished by Whig names, and favoured
by Whig connexions. We merely select a few of the most

glaring experiments :
Britannia, 120 guns, Captain Dundas
Britomart, 10 guns, Lieutenant Owen Stanley
Champion, 18 guns, Commander G. King.
Charybdis, 3 guns, Hon. Robert Gore.
Cleopatra, 26 guns. Hon. George Grey.
Columbine, 16 gnus, George Elliot.
Comus, 18 guns, Hon. P. P. Cary.
Conway, 28 guns, Captain Bethune.
Griffon, 3 guns, Lieutenant D'Urban.
Harlequin, 16 guns, Commander Lord F. Russell
Hastings, 74 guns, Captain Loch.
Howe, 120 guns, Captain Paget.
Lynx, 3 guns, Lieutenant Broadhead.
Magicienne, 24 guns, Captain G. St. John Mildmay.
Pearl, 20 guns, Lord Clarence Paget.
Rodney, 92 guns, Captain Hyde Parker.
• Rover, 18 guns, Commander Eden.
Royal Adelaide, 104 guns, Sir William Elliot.
Royalist, 10 guns, Hon. E. Plunkett.
Russell, 74 guns, Sir William Dillon.
San Joseph, 110 guns, Charles Seale.
Scylla, 16 guns, Hon. Joseph Denman.
Talbot, 29 guns, Captain Codrington.
Tweed, 20 guns, Hon. F. Pelham.
Wasp, 16 guns, Hon. 1). Pelham.
Wolf, 10 guns, Edward Stanley.
Wolverine; 16 guns, Hon. E. Howard.
The promotion of most of these fortunate and libera
gentlemen has been singularly rapid, and their employment
almost constant and unceasing. The vessels they command
form no inconsiderable portion of the whole naval force in
commission; and if so, bow few ships remain for the veterans
who fought for their country before many of these "honour-
able?' were born ! Truly, Lord pinto has "reformed" the
naval service in a peculiar and effectual manner; he has
introduced a degree of patronage and favouritism never
attempted before; a system which, if it had been acted on
during the war, would have consigned the bulwarks of the
nation to inexperienced hands, and probably have ruined not
only the service, but the cause it was required to defend. It
was not by such a system the unfriended Nelsons, Culling-
woods, and Rodneys gained the opportunities of fame. But
tempora niutantur ; we play at war on the coast of Spain, and
it requires no heroes to win bloodless victories. Nelson was
not more fitted to conquer at Trafalgar, or Wellington at
Waterloo, than any defeated whig candidate is now at Barce-
lona, or General Evans at Fontarnia and Iron. An attack
on a Sardinia schooner, or a grand movement against a few
Carlist guerillas, is all that is expected now-a-days from our
navy and our legions; it is perfectly right, therefore, that
ministers should prove that they consider that any one can
execute tasks so mighty and important.
We might proceed to examine in detail other departments,
but we refrain from doing so. We have mentioned enough
to call' attention to the subject of whig-radical corruption,
and we trust that another session of Parliament will not be
allowed to pass without the extortion from the ministry of a
complete list of all the new places created since 1830, the per-
sons filling them, and the salaries apportioned to each. It
will be found by such returns, that under the pretence of ex-
tending the system of centralization, the amount of govern-
ment patronage has been augmented snore than in any pre-
ceding eight years during the whole history of the country.
It will be seen that every charge formerly levelled by the
Whigs for factious purposes, and with fraudulent professions
against their political opponents, applies now with redoubled
force to themselves, and strikes them severely with a back-
handed blow. For instance, it used to be the whi,g practice
to select certain families for in viduous notice, and hold them
up to public odium, by representing them as fastened on nu-
merous places, and gorging with ill-gotten gains. But we
ask if ever a family thus made the object of vituperation,
displayed a nepotism and grasping selfishness equal to the
whig families of Grey, Elliot, Adam or Ponsonby ? A list of
the Greys in places once went the round of the papers, and
even now, though Dr. Grey, Bishop of Hereford, is dead,
and Earl Grey and Mr. Edward Ellice have retired from
office, makes a tolerable appearance. We may mention as
specimens of these patriots, Viscount Howick, Secretary at
War ; Hon. Colonel Grey, commanding 71st Regiment;
Hon. John Grey, Rector of the rich royal living of Wooler ;
Hon. Frederick Grey, Under-Secretary of the War Depart-
ment; Sir George Grey, Under-Secretary in the Colonial
'Department; Hon. Francis Grey, Rector, with a valuable
living; Hon. Harry Grey, Aide de-Camp in Ireland; lion.
Sir Henry Grey, General, and Colonel of a regiment in the
army; Mr. Charles Wood, (son-in-law of Lord Grey,) Se-
cretary of the Admiralty; Mr. F. T. Baring, (married a
niece of Lord Grey,) Secretary to the Treasury; Earl of
Durham, (son-in-law of Lord Grey,) Governor of Canada;
Lord Ponsonby, (brother-in-law of Lord Grey,) Ambassador
to Constantinople; Mr. E. Ellice, jun., (nephew of Lord
Grey,) Secretary of Lord Diirham, &c. NW believe the
Elliots make a still better shbw; nor are the owaris, Rus-
sells, and Abercrombies quite forgotten. The judges they
have made, after all their fine promises of rewarding merit,
and merit.only, are those on the bench who have had least
practice as counsel, and are least learned and efficient as in-
terpreters of the law; we refer to the Williamses and Colt-
mans, whoie political principles were their sole ostensible
recommendations. In the church they have dispensed their
patronage amongst the Bishops in a manner to which we
have already alluded, and, not content with this, have sought
out as recipients of other favours only anti-church-rate agita-
tors, such as Dr. Joynes, of Rochester, and Dr. Knox, of
Tunbridge, of pamphleteering and political dinner-speaking
notoriety.
.And then in the colonies they send a Lord Dur-
ham to Canada, with Messrs. Charles and Arthur Buller,
Thomas Turton, Thomas Duncombe, and Edward Gibbon
Wakefield; and to New South Wales, Sir Maurice O'Con-
nell, a fit and proper insttument for carrying out that infidel
system of education which is adopted to please the Roman
Catholic emigrants, and against which the excellent Bishop
Broughton has in vain protested. To India they have sent
Lord Elphinstone, the youthful cornet of Life Guards, as
governor of the important settlement of Madras; and with
exquisite discrimination, while appointing these notable per-
sonages, have displayed their judgment and discretion, by
recalling Sir John Colborne, who saved Lower Canada, Sir
Francis Head, who saved the Upper Province, Sir Pere-
grine Maitland, who will not (scrupulous man!) commit the
trifling offence against God of sanctioning idolatry in India,
and Sir Benjamin D'Urban from the Cape of Good Hope.
With a Lord Glenelg at home, and only such governors
abroad as exactly suit his Lordship's purposes and views,
and have not more vigour about them than he considers ne-
cessary, who will say our colonies are not secure, and are
not certain to flourish ?
With more materials in our possession, a much stronger
case than we have here made out, (although this statement is
perhaps amply sufficient) might easily be produced against
the Whigs. But, in truth, it is not easy to discover all their
sinuous windings and all their extended and increasing cor-
ruption. It would be desirable to be able to ascertain the
exact number of Roman catholic chaplains and schoolmasters
now paid by the British government in India and the other
colonies. The number is not small, nor their influence
insignificant The publication, too, of such a return as we
have suggested, of all the newly created places, would also
be beneficial; but in the absence of the necessary documents
from whence information on this subject can be gained, we
are left more to generalities and conjectures than we could
desire. Still enough remains, and enough we hope has been
stated in this paper to prove that the whig party have long
been striving to strengthen themselves by the unscrupulous
abuse of patronage, and even by the extension of ministerial
influence in every possible direction. It is natural to a weak
government that it should be tempted to the use of arts a
strong one can neglect, and an honest one would despise.
And in proportion to the increasing weakness of its position,
and the experienced failure of former intrigues, must be the
increased temptation to fresh and extended corruption. The
Melbourne ministry, then, which hitherto has been tottering
in increasing imbecility; which never enjoyed public respect,
and, therefore, had no inducement to struggle to retain it;
which has found session after session end in greater weakness,
trick after trick issue in new disappointment, must now in its
decline and approaching fall, in its distress rising to despair,
be peculiarly tempted to preserve its contemptinle existence
by bartering places for votes, and honours for neutrality or

* Rose on the influence of the crown.
t Lord John Russell on English Government, p. 40