The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-02-17 00:00:00

LORD WELLINGTON'S PENSION. •

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The House;'-on the motion of 'the Chancellor of I
the Exchequer, resolved into a Committee on his
Majesty's most gracious Message, relative to the
grant of a pension of 20001. per anima,,/. Lard
Viscount Weliington.'
The CHANCELLOR, of the EXCHEQUER
rose, and said, !hal in consequence of his Majcs-
ty's most gracious Message, recommending to that
House the grant of a Peniiati 49 - Lord , Viscount
Wellington, it would not he ifeedwary .for Itim to
trespas4 lung upon the time of thi•Committee, in
order to impress them with thoproptiety of adopt.
ing the Motion he hail to propose. He could cer..
tainly nut anticipate any objection to the motion,.
which would have the effect of inducing the House
to o it hhoti its concurrence ; but in order to vendee
the grounds upon which his motion was founded'
more clear, he should, in the first place, state to
the Committee' the circerasiances under which. it
was brought forward; and unless the HonW
should depart from Its uniform and established
praMice in all similar cases, he was .persuatled it.
1 would not dissent from the proposition' with
which'he should eynclode. Wise facts.were these;
Ms Majesty, it. soon as the intelligence had beets
received if ,the brilliant, glorious, and- decitivisl
tictory of Talaiera, bad ?conferred upon the gat.'
Rant Officer who coniumnded in that memorable.
action, the honour of a title—an honour W.,
which all those who devoted their talents and lives
to military pursnits, looked up with the most ardent
;and laudable anxiety—an' honour, the proudeft
distinction that can be conferred on a brave sol-
dier—the highest object of
,his generous am.
-bition ; and at the same time the best
.reward
of, mbinent services...-[Wear, hear n---fit con.
ferring this mark of his Royal approbation and
favour, his Majesty has thought it right to re.
commend by hot Message to 'Parliament, that. it
should be accompanied by a grant of some pecu-
niary pension, in the same warmer as was usual
in all such cases. Li consider* the propriety,
and estimating the justice of the advice' which had'
beeti given to his Majesty in both instances, it
might perhaps be proper to confine the House (la-
the simple consideration of the distinguished and
wiled merit of the Noble Viscount upon the
particular occasion. But it would neither be just
to his Majesty nor to Lunt Wellington, that this
should be looked upon in the,sanse light as the case
.of an Officer for the first time presenting himself,
by his services, to the notice of ' his Sovereign
and the admiration of his countrymen, in estimat-
ing the claims of 14ril Wellington to the divine.
that* conferred upon liini, and the, provision pro.
poseil to accompany it, they should loOk to what
he had been-'—consider his past conduct, sial ate.
rive, from his former distinguished services, strong
accessary grounds for his present honours and re-
wards. .fttenr, twee!) - But trieerbeveo by the
test of his late services, Mdes did that gallant Of-
ficer preiint himself to his Sovereign and his coon.
try ?• He had, by the glorious operations he had
conducted, and the victories he achieved, he could
nut say raised, but certainly most eminently
sustained the military renown of ar.oy, and
the unfailing lustre of the British name and
chiracter. • He presented him4elf to his Ma-
jesty, as the• ditinguisbed Commander, who
had already &tended the glory of the British arms.
over the pehinsula of India: he presented him..
self -as the conqiieror of Soolt—an:l the General,
who, by the ilgnal victories he gained ita Porto-
gal, expelled-the Frcech from that country, and
rescued a kingettain, the rightful inheritance of our
ally, from the grasp of the enemy. ' In short, he
presented hiMself to his Majesty with such an ar.
cumulation of merits—such an aggregate of cmi.
neat services=siteli an unvaried c ireer, an uni-
form teneur of victory and triumph, as could not
fail toribtein for him the moil signal. mark of
his Majesty's favour, and the unlimited gra.:
!Etude. of his country.—(Dear, hew-, hear !)
Looking, therefore, to all these ton'sideratiou•—!-
looking also to the vote of thanks, which liikd been
:lased by that House, and which must be eonsi-
rod as expressive of its sostiments, he could not
steppes" any motet's objection to his motion. The
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vote df thanks, he Must admit had eyey
some opposition 1 yet the general seats' of
House was yo strongly in its favour, ,list a
ttw:h.icith who n i
htar ,tub tier, wetoouuci :(I)ilmtooestitstbireosill.
sufficientyo°troig,i ca:tes:el ossbfkl
impression on the House. lithe House, thetlt
.41k1 nut disapprove of that tote, whels —4l
required as the foundation fur his mode: ,4
there ass instance upon record that would ;211,
Parliament in refusing the grant of hie • 179
posed ? amount of that pension tips
lars,r*
year to Lord ‘tellingtoti, to descend toir.
next heirs its sum ession horn the title II
devolve. This provision was 110 more um.
been griotted to Lord I, ike ; it was precis; •
WM; OS the pension that hail !seen granted to
7
H hod nson [flear, hear !] ; precisely the:
ast
us :sid been Nettled noon Lord Minces% [flee.
hear, hear, hear?]; precisely the same as
given to Lord Ciillsegw nod poor. Its
the same as !g id been settled noon tise;ht
.of (.suers! Sir It.slph A liercromby. ff
hear, hear, hear t
be is,-2
position idiotic'. Gesitlebnen, it gas hotAisigare
or his wish to take upon him lbs•
ungracious office of entering into id l.• compariss:
but if the task were imposed epos' him, he rs,j
assure the lion. Gentlemen opposite, that he woo
have no cause to shrink from it. up.in
strength of the instances to which he had retren
co, and o Welt were five in nmulser, he ihouierti
the defence of the proportion of pensian wh'
chk
meant to propose. Massy other cases, he had
doubt, could be produced in support of es
amount of the intended granti which would alio
that it Was consisting with the uniform peados
Parliament in rewarding the services of distingsio,
ed Officers. lie would defy any Gentleman
thew any case to the contrary; unless, perisA
in the instance of Officers of opulence, to elus
the amount of the provision must have bees,'
less value, than the honours orthe Peerage. Upe,
what ground any 'opposition could he mach is
the grant of the Pension in this case, he was g
a loss to conceive. W 44 it on the ground otos
limey that it was to be refused ? Were Gentles%
then prepared to say, that on the occasion of wall
services, such grants as that under consideration
,should be refused upon such a ground ?
principle of. narro w economy ought to be Inferd
to arrest the grant of such Pensions and Rewi,
as were calculated not alone to recompense pet
services, but to kindle an active emulation in meg
branch of the public service, &mica!l forth thsesas
strenuous exertions and ambirion of gallantandes.
terprizhig individuals? Nothing could be *,anti
pOwerful iticitenient to zeal, activity, and esertim
than the prospect of such distinction as had boo
conferred upon Lord Wellington. But the bareti.
,thrisas hot sufficient, sinless accompanied by Wile
.siviequate. provision iu the form of a Pension. re
withhold illse pension, therefore, he emits*:
would be injurious to the individual, injurioas le
the public service, and itscostsistent with the jsce
rice and' liberality of Parliament. Having
enosish to impress the Committee with the paw
pricty of the grant, he should not trfspus legit
on theirlime) .but move,
f 4 net It is the opintoh or that Comnsitipubdasilse.
01 2,431. peronaues.be settled on• Lord
and uts the two next heirs to his title in succession, &e."
On the question being put upon this SOON%
Mr. HOWARD rose to oppose it; but spoke
in too low a ton° to be audible iu the galkrri:
We understood him to have dwelt strongly mi
emphatiCally on the impropriety of the advance
of the army to Talavera, and to have uried.• tlgt
retreat and disasters which folloired the wife,/
grounds fur withholding the pension.
Mr. CALCRAFT thew rose and obsersed,
that the able speech of the Honourable Geathnist
who preceded him, had rendered it, en
for him to go as much at length as belts lateadst.
into the question. He congtatulated that Rt.
nourable Gentleman and thelionse, on the um.
siees of eloquence it acquired in hat lion. Gen-
tleman. Though what he had to say might sot
coincide with the seniiitteuts of the. majority of
that house, or with the public, yd no consider,
.mien of that kind should deter him from doi*t
what lie considered to be his duty. • The Rigltt.
Hon. Gentleman ooposite (the Chancellor of tba
Exchequer) had asserted, that, because lik
jelitY had been advised to advance Lord Wciliade'.
ton to the Peerage, it would be a deviation froa
the uniform practice of that House nut to add to
that lionouy the grant of a pension. Surely the
Right Honourable Gentleman could not think
ill malting any comparison between the service+
of Lord Wellington and the services of the di.
tinguishett Officers to whine cases he had referreit,
in order to justify the amount of pension prepood
,to be granted. He could not compare the battles
of
_Talavera with the victories of Mien. Did
the Right Honourable Gentleman mean to says
that the claims of Lord Wellington were equal to
those of Sir Ralph Abercrumby, who closed a long
life of eminent and meritorious service, by crowns_
ing it with alsignal and brilliant victory ? (11e4t:
hear!) For himself, lie could hot consider either
it tlic actions for which Lord Wellington was to
he rewarded, as a victory. (Bear ! hear!). Re.
would repest Coe assertion, that neither had been
followed by any of the consequences of success,
neither had they the characteristic of ricoary; bat,
on the, contrary, both exhibited every symptom of
a:defeat ! (near, hear, hear !) Again he would,
repeat his•stationent. Fsxamitie the battle of Ta:
lavera. Did you advance ? •Disliou not, on the
contrary, retreat in the most disgraceful manner, •
and under the must calamitous circumstances
(!tear, hear !) yogi not leave at 'relaters
sisse.tcsolli part of your army ? As to the 'amount
of loss in battle, that could be no.proof of tic-.
• tory or defeat. But h• should oyes contend, that
the advance of Lord Wellington to a situation is
which his army was in danger of sterling, en" '
he should fight against superior numbers, or mho
*disgraceful !light, was a great snilittry ere Or.
, The (Mlle had not keen of his deist. 'lle.**
otiligettto beta; and if it had not bocci to the
tiess, hravery, and discipline oaf the colantim »Qlaft
he seal forwar+to stfoport the aslraaced ditistuell

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