The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-10-04 00:00:00

MINISTERIAL RETRE,NCIIMENT.

Ti,e following is given as a specimen of Mi-
nisterial Retrenchment in one of the Public Establish-
meats, the Audit Office, and proceeds from a Gentle-
Mill) who ►s considered well acquainted with the sub-

jest :-
51ini.,:ers have just given a remarkably strong proof
of their insincerity, in professing an intention to relieve
the miseries of the people by adopting aocourse of eco-
nomy. From the first constitution of the Audit Board
in 17t45, down to 1806, that Board c:msisted of five
Commissioners, at a thousand per annum each, two ef
whom, however, received only live hundred a year as
Commissioners of Audit, their retnainkg 500/. being
raid them as Comptrollers of Army Accounts: the
total salary of the Audit Board eras, therefore, only
4,000/. per annum. In 1506 this Audit Board was
soddenly wade he consist of nine Commissioners at
1,20:0'. a year each, and a Chairman with a salary of
1,500/, a year—making a total salary of 12,300/. per
annum ; taut as the tie o Comptrollers of Arauy Accounts
vt ere excluded Irons this Commission, and made to
tisteive their former allowance of A edit Commissioners
how the ColeeptroP era' (Mee, and as two others of the
Conamissionees of Audit were allowed to retire on pen-
sions of 7501. per annum each, the total annual charge
of these. Audit Commissioners amounted to 14,800/.
But the Audit Establishment of 1806, which thus nearly
yeaelrupled the salary of the old Audit Board, and the
Act of 46 Ueo.lll. c. 141, relating to this subject,
provided a prospective remedy fur this enormous
charge, by prohibiting Government's filling up any
saibneies until the number of Commissioners should
he reduced to five. Mortality has recently reduced
t:,c number to three, who, considering the diminntion
of business, were ample enough for the public service.;
'ter four, at all events were amply sufficient ; but the
Illuisters compel the ohl Chairman of the Board to
retire on a pension of 1,000/. per annum ; they sub-
btitute another Chairman with a salary of 1,500/. per
annum, and appoint three new Commissioners at
1,200/. per annum each ; so that the expenses of the
Audit Board stands thus—
Two Comptrollers of Army Accounts, for-
merly paid as Auditors - - - £lOOO 0 0
Pensions of two Commissioners retired in 1806 1500 0 0
Pension of Mr. Serjeant Praed, adieu 15 years
• service - HMO 0 0
A Chairman to supersede Mr. Serjennt Praed 1500 0 0
Mr. John Whishaw and four other Commis-
sioners - -

• ; 6000 0 0

.Cll,OOO 0 0
The Clerks of public establishments are to be re-
duced in number to the standard of the year 1797, and
their salaries are to be diminished in the same propor-
tion. Now, in 1797, a Commissioner of the Audit
Office enjoyed a salary of only 1,0001. per annum, and
the total salaries of the Board amounted to 4,0001.—
Now, an individual Commissioner receives 1,2001., and
the salaries and pensions of the Board amount to
11,0001. In settling the claims of Clerks and Com-
missioner, this is what the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer may call " even-handed justice." A clerk can
retire on a pension, only upon the ostensible plea of ill
health, or of old age ; and by the Act, his pension
cannot exceed one half his salary. But—.

A physician of Madrid, who is said to have nide the
yellow-fever the object of his study for twenty years,
has published a letter against the tneasures of precau-
tion adopted by the Oovernment. He observes, that the
fears which these measures excite, the want of care ex-
perienced by the sick who are abandoned, and the fa-
mine which follows the suspension of all communica-
tion with a town, are all circumstances which extend the
ravages of the fever to those who would otherwise have
resisted the contagion. He advises the cleaoing of the
places where the disease prevails, and the allowtog per-
!boas not affected to remove to healthy districts.

..own _ . .
;Woe orW,rial party oominetrd moor (3,llow-
ion, J. Bakes WllkindM, and itithem were
--AtAbOttr. Breckies, James CoolfillidrT:
Crowe, flirlhccfiges.o.f Water bailiff, Guide to the
Hotta!: and Town CrituTits
OCTOZE,iII7en. the
,tlite..; lalter. .were elected,. taae
.kgain 'ilktnitottr,by.,ppjorilies of RAi
79, and 6S; The la)* they proceeded to the
of St.litiriTower in due form to lirar divine
.service.., to the ovening upwards of one httmlred'per
4
ions 'sat down to an• excellent dioserlO
hall.. The room was decorated with bahnits.,api
propriately inscribed, and.' the'' fliritre of
placed over the canopy at of the tabo
which crossed the end tfirickiin. Sir Robei
Harland, the inewireleiteri Ililth Steward; and
cesiful opponent of the Rake of Weliington, took, Al
chair, supported by Slr llosyley,
bury, Sir •W. Pelker, Sir W: Ni.idlettin the fn. F.

. .
Lumley, T. B. Lennart!, Esq., 'M.P. for 1p5iv4;.t0.,31
'Macdonald, Em , 51. P., the Rev. C. 04rnwalii‘" knit
several other eraineetnpposihon gentle Men. On' di
cloth heinx removed, Sir It. Ilarlan'd gate the Itiailq
of the " King," and as their political opponents, he
said, seemed to measure loyalty by cheers, he would
propose that U should he drunk:with three tiutejArees;
to preave that the loyalty of-the meeting was• intkirlet
their own. Several other loyal and 'pathetic toasts(
followed, and many exec ieni speeches were Atillyreill
in the coatiebf the evening, by the gentlemen natant,
the above, 'stud other persons. While Mr. Mai;
donald, M.P., MIS speaking, a piece of .brick
.was
;1
thrown through She window,from the street, aitstruele,
the opposite wall with great, force. Mr. Maitdooal, '
begged no one would disturb himself, and remarked,
that the cause of freedom could only be answered by
such means. No farther notice was talc sa of ibis ill.I•
IidOUS transaction, and the remainder of the evening
was spent iu great hilarity. .

LONDON:

THURSDAY SWENIND, OCTORLR 4, 1821.

STOCK EXCHANGB, TIVIELVE O'CLOCK.
This looming the market looks •ery heavy, and
scarcely any business is transacting. Consols up to
the present hour are 771.

-~.-- -

Sir llonEtyr IVILSON has fuifilled the general ex-
npetation, by addressing a letter to his constituents,
which is dated PariP, September Having referred
to the order which, in his Majesty's name,hat removed
him from the army, lie assures the elector's that his
demand for charge and trial was instantly despatched.
The Duke of YOIIK, however, it is reported, has re-
fused to grant Sir llonctur the Court Martial he de-
manded, and the Court Advocates today justify his
Royal Highness's 'dossl on the ground that even while
Sir R. was a half-pay officer be was not subject to Mar-
tial Law, and now that he is no officer at all it would he
still wore illegal to constitute a military tribunal to
take cognizance of his conduct. Without stop-
ping to consider the cruel and anoma!ous posi-
tion in which a half-pay officer is placed,
with ail the remuneration for his past services,
and all the returns of his purchase money, at
the mercy of a Commander-in-Chief, who without
affording him an opportunity of learning the impu-
tations against hiw, or of uttering a word in his
deferce, can cashier him on a private and ex-parte
investigation, All allow him no appeal ; without
pointing out particularly the inconsistency- of these
proceedings with the principles of general justice,
and especially with the boasted frankness and fair-
ness of all our English Courts of Jurisprudence,
we would only notice the tendency which such a case.
if established as a precedent, must have to extinguish
every spark of in:lependent spirit in a military breast.
end enslave and debase every mind which it does not
drive from the vice in disgust. With what consistency
can officers of either the navy or army, however eini-
sat their services or illustrious their characters, hence-
fordi address the electors of any part of the kingdom
with the face or spirit of a free and independent candi-
date for the suffrages of free and independent men ?
Their public and their private conduct, their parlia-
mentary. and even their personal biasses expose
them, without a moment's warning, to the severest pro-
fessional punishment which dishonour itself could
deserve. Their fate is in the hands of those who are
disposed to view with prejudice, the slightest devia-
tion from the dominant political system ; and firm

Ow"! minflofthe,piincipleyoft untourtly politics.
Pp, this occasion._ which on,,pallalio And gerseral,-an
well as on,personal and particular grounds, is to us a
Au' roe of mortification and pain, it is no small _COMO*
Igplation to- find that the letter of Sir ROilltltT ' Wile
/MN to hissconstituents, does rot afford to Ids enemies
o opportunity, for which thke iere war g!,'
of finding a handle of soma .further cha
in what he might offer in 'his .defence. 'IIA
l'Alinistertr al Paper of this. morning cannot concen,
its disappointment and chag
4
t:iii 'at: ftir,RonzaT's. I
jecting " exery opportunity of:clearing himself:. :
hirvitbin hiS grasp." To-mtwanw, rmiever, itn!say,
;;Bloy Batter themselves, afford them another chance;
'fir' to-unitirtyrolri in expected to. arrive ih town,
,•_.
and perhaps, they think, appear at the Meet-
ing of ' his Constituents in the Borough. Vibe-
Air he appear at that meeting- not ant, we doubt
. not the proceedings of the day will be condutled
so as still *ore to disappoint the nialignity of
`l,is adiersarics, and lay the basis of a " Nation!,
,Testimonial" to be erected to his fame, more valuable
than even the pecuniary contributions that will there
i coinistenre;• ;rinin : durable than any monument of
perishahle materials and unassailable by the spite
lind:peraecl4ion of his ungenerous and relentless
enemies..it '

;
• ~.Ilil

• By a reference to rte.'Weufetwarso, in almost every
• ~ . ,
aunaber since the dismissal' of Sir nosiurr .WlLsorc
front the army, it wilt appear that we fully prOinOsti:
cated that refusal of satisfaction to the wounded honour
of a soldier, which any. soldier had a right to expect ;
we clearly pointed out the improbability of his receiv-
ing any redress from a quarter who could advise so
petty-fogging a measure. But the public are not sur-
prised at any act of weakness from the same source ;
the same scurvy scribes who abuse Sir RosaaT
WiLsox, panegyrize MORILLO, and would in the same
strain, exalt the royal properties of the Grand Turk
for his science in decapitating the Christians. We
noticed the silly farrago of the Old Jacobin in Isis
legal raving on the effect of Military law on half-
pay
Officers, anil if shame had not for many years.)
been a stranger to shins he would have blushed at
Isis own insignificancy. Toquoirow's meeting of the
Electors of Southwark will give Ministers a taste
of public opinion on their wantonness, as it is likely
to be marked with the greatest reprobation that
freemen can bestow upon protected weakness and
narrow usiuded malice. The fiat of the Electors will give
a tone to the country at large, and if possible add tothe
disgust so generally and so deservedly excited on the
occasion, in the breast of every real lover of his country ;
they will show to tie country that those who would pu-
nish Sir ROBERT WILSON for his respect to the ashes of
a Royal Martyr, would taut hesitate to give countenance
to peculation, to the buying asol selling of seats in the
Council of the Nation, or advise the KING to act so
different to his English and Irish subjects, and to
discharge the first and most able officer in his MA-
JesTv's service from a paltry feeling of political .dif-
ference of opinion. An enquiry would have answered
every purpose required; if there was a charge of
guilt, that charge would appear uwnifesi, and crime
should then be justly followed by punishment, but the
sorry noodles dreaded the light of day. They shud-
der at the mirror of truth, and dare nat look at it,
least the reflection should siak them in that disgrace
that is already pronounced by every lover of the, army,
as the protectors, but not the agents of the people's
wrongs. trot they dare to bring Sir ROBERT to a
trial, even by a Court Martial at the Horse Guards, he
would tell such a tale and would show the people at
large how business was managed in some of the
mountains and highways. He would, like the purest
gold, coos c out of even that fiery ordeal, and appear
rich in value, and additionally resplendent. He would
become (if possible) more dear to his friends, and an
eternal scourge to the malignity of his enemies.

BLOCKADING SQUADRON BEFORE CARTHAGENN
'fo COL. MONTILLO, COMMANDER IN-CHIEF.
SIR-I have the honour ti communicate to your
Excellency that I have carried into effect the project
of cutting out from under the forts of the City of Car-
thagena the three gun boats, mounting each a twenty.
four pounder, the three barks and three launches,
each mounting an eight pounder, and all the nit of
the eneinies armed boats I likewise succeeded in scut-
tling the brig of war Andalusia. The loss I have ex-
perienced is very small, not amounting to more than
three Lilted and 9 wounded. Our boats have sustained
some small damage. The contest was decided in a
short time by the bravery of our crews, who put to
the sword more than 200 of the enemy.
June 23. (Signed) J. PADILLA.
Accounts from Lima state that the Vice Roy
has permitted the various merchant•vessels at Callao
to arm themselves, and to take on board volunleers
I for the purpose of bringing the blockading Nita-
! dron to action. In consequence of whit+, they hive
compelled the division left by Lord Cochrane who
was otf Truxillo, to abandon the blockade, and that
the port of Callao was by the last advice+ declared open.

Paris papers of Monday have come to hand. By
these we learn that his Britannic Majesty left Lille
on the morning of the 27th of September, for Brus-
sels. As on his arrival, all the garrison were under
arms, and lined the streets from his hotel to the

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?. •V.' • p ,411i401 .. ' ' . a geleed, must that.in bit in the tuldit.
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,o a oo an perverse genera* ,n, who, after title
Et.evetozi' et: BOROU4H $ MILER ' 1. ,• ... -... .
e ample-, can assert, without the fear of profcbsional
las-day (Saturday last) die election of the suhorainate
firers fits_the krough of .42.sigt,seek.igaii6.‘abeopliaaaiowasi•froasoiarr loiii-thenthnestrotto wr-.