The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-16 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-WEDNESDAY

Mr. HumE gave notice that on Tuesday week he would
bring forward his motion respecting the discontinuance of
the pension to the King of Hanover.

Mr. M. GIBSON asked if it was the intention of the Go-
vernment to persevere with the Factories Bill and the Eccle-
siastical Courts Bill, a general feelisig' being prevalent that
the former measure would be abandoned for the present ses-
sion, in consequence of the frequent postponements which
had taken place ?

Sir R. PEEL said that the postponements were attributa-
ble to the frequency of adjourned debates. llis right bon.
friend (Sir J. Graham) would however make a statement on
the subject of these bills last evening.

The house then resolved itself into committee on her Ma-
jesty's message, and
Mr. II oats: objected to the grant of a dowry to the Princess
Augusta of Cambridge, although he admitted that the con-
duct of the Duke of Cambridge in his private as well as pub-
lic life, as compared with that of the other members of the
royal family, was deserving of the admiration of the house.
He condemned the motion as emanating from the ministers
of the crown, and as calculated to render the princes of the
blood dependent upon the minister of the day, an evil of
great magnitude when it was considered what influence those
princes necessarily exercised over a considerable portion of
the public. He thought it right to grant pensions to princes
of the blood, but he was opposend to extending this to the
remote branches of the royal family, for if it were ne-
cessary to pay all the Princes well and liberally, they
ought to be made to provide for their own offspring.
He referred to the pension to the Prince Mecklen-
burg Strelitz, the father of the prince about to be mar-
ried to the Princess Augusta. That pension was granted
on the ground that he was the nephew of the Queen of
England, and as the money was borrowed by the country
at £5 per cent., the pension had already cost the country
£335,000 at compound interest. Wirere were these things
to end—where was the line to be drawn—or was the country
thus to be called upon to pension every branch of the royal
family, however remote? According to calculations he had
made, assuming that her royal highness should live forty- •
five years longer, this pension of £3,000 per snnum would
cost the country no less than £500,000. If her Majesty
was told that this grant might entail such a charge upon the
public, he was convinced she would never sanction it ; and
the ministers, therefore, were the parties to blame for not
stating the case fairly to her Majesty. The hon. member
several times complained of interruption, and at length said
lie would name the parties causing the interruption. There
was a party growing up in that house which called itself
" Young England," and though he might be running counter
to the feelings of Young England, he would still persevere
in stating his opinions. The payments to the royal family
exceeded £700,000 per annum, exclusive of parks, palaces,
&c., and this while the country was in almost a state of
bankruptcy, for it was unable to meet its engagements with-
out borrowing. The hon. member concluded by moving
"That it is the opinion of this committee that the ample
allowance granted for a lengthened period to his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Cambridge should have enabled him to
make provision for his children ; and that it was neither wise
nor just, in the present state of distress of the manufacturing
and labouring classes of the community, to propose any
dowry for her Royal Highness the Princess Augusta of
Cambridge."
Sir R. INGLIS contended that the crown had lost 47
millions, which sum the people had gained by the bargain
which it had made with the crown for the surrender of the
crown lauds. Having thus lost the means of making such
grants as the one before the house, the crown had a right to
call upon the parliament to enable it to do so.
Mr. F. BARING did not think the bargain a had one for
the crown. but he did not think that that had anything to do
with the question. He was of opinion that as the crown had
given up its means of making provisions such as the present,
it was but reasonable that parliament should be called

upon to do so. This grant was no extension of the line to
which former grants applied, and he thought it vas not un-
reasonable that parliament should be called upon to do so.
This grant was no extension of the line to which former
grants applied, and he thought it was not unreasonable to
give £3OOO per annum to the granddaughter of a king. lie
thought, however, that the grant should not come into ape_
ration until after the cessation of the pension of the Duke of
Mecklenberg Strelitz.

Sir ROBERT PEEL said it was the wish of the Government
to make to the house such a proposition as would be deemed
reasonable by every honourable member. There could be
no doubt but that the ihcome of the Duke of Cambridge was
a large one, but then the demands upon it for charitable pur-
poses were also very large; and it was for the interests of
the public that means should be given to enable royal prin-
ces to promote by their example the numerous charitable in-
stitutions with which this country abounded. The line was not
in this case extended, and the house, therefore, in agreeing to
this proposition would not be establishing a new precedent. In-
deed in the case of the Princess Sophia of Gloucester the grunt
was £7,000 a year, while, in the present case, which was not so
remote in blood, the grant proposed was only £3,000 a-year.
With respect to what bud fallen from Mr. El ume as to the
blame attributable to Ministers for not informing her Ma-
jesty that this pension might be equivalent to tli sum of
£500,000, he must say that if he had done so he feared her
Majesty would not have credited the statement—(much
laughter)—even on the high arithmetical authority of the
hon. gentleman. (Increased laughter.)
Mr. livmE replied ; and on a division the motion of the
hon. member was defeated by a majority of 223 to 57.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
house adjourned.

We beliere it is quite true that the Vice-Presidentship of
the Board of Trade, vacant by the promotion of Mr. Glad.
stone, was offered to Mr. Hogg, M.P. for Beverley, an East
India director, and chairman of the late Nottingham Election
Committee which unseated Mr. Walter, sen. Mr. Hogg
declined the office, and Lord Dalhousie, who married a
daughter of the Marquis of Tweeddale, and sister of the
Marchioness of Douro, was appointed to the vacancy.—
Argus.