The daily gazette., 1881-02-22
PERPETUAL PENSIONS.
LONDON, Fe b. 10, 1881.


the return. he was informed that al
tention should be paid to The subject as
soon as the government was relieved
from the pressure OF Irish business.
ANNUITAHTs.
II the return made by MIR. Gladstone
is at all thorough it will reveal many
curiosities in the existing pension list.
The longevity Of annuilants is proven
bial. A representative of George Ill q
household is still living to receive flO
and one of Queen Caroline's servants
costs her country El5 per anuum.
"Persons who suffered by the rebellion
10 Ireland in 1893" have their woes allie
Waited by few pounds, and the daugh.
ter of tle Attorney General OF Florida
received until last year pension as COM
pensation for her fathers loss of office,
the colony having been coded to Spain
nearly century ago. 1t is military
tradition that for more than hundred
years there regularly appeared in the
army estimates, owing to the careless
ness of auditors and the apathy of copy
lists, the pay of sergeant whom Mari
borough had left to guard some stores
after the battle Of Blenheim, and whose
descendants we're officially supposed still
to be keeping watch aud ward over these
ghostly munitions of war. The per-
petnal annuities which disturb the
eqnanimity of the member for North
ampton, illustrate some curious phases
Of English history. The London Stand.
ard gives list OF them. The most no
torious is tina. granted to the Duke of
Schomberg, Dutch noble who was in
1890 killed at the Battle OF the Boyne
by an accident shot from his own side.
HIS los, was SO deeply deplored by Will
liam Ill. that he bestowed on his heirs
a perpetual pension Of $4,000 per an
mum. Who these heirs are ii is at pres
ent little diGlcult to say. The Duke,
dom of Schomberg has long ago dlsap-
peared from the peersge, though as the
Earl of Bath is understood ID draw part
OF the pension and the Duke OF Leeds
redeemed bis moiety OF IL in 1876 for a
gross sum of Ego, POI, it is presumed
that these mobiles represent the Batavian
General whose untlmely death has cost
England in round figures f690, 900,
though in 1854 the pension was reduced
one-hali. The descendants 0f William
Penn were voted yearly sum of f4,-
900 "foreYer" as compensation for the
loss of their proprietary rights in Penn
sylvania.
The Duke OF Marlborough received
after the battle of Families, grant Of
$4,000 per annum in perpetuity, which
pension, locked Of fl 600, the present
holder of his title still receives. Nelson's
dying confidence 10 his country's gener-
osity was met by grant Of G120,000
and pension of f5,000 to Ills brother,
the Rev. William Nelson. The Duke OF
Grafton derives pension from his an.
cestor, who was one of the six sons Of
Charles IL. raised TO the pee rage. Or
iginally the pension consisted Of f7, 1911
rs. payable out Of the excise revenue
E3, 1884 out of the Post Office and g.
7s0 as "Sealer of Kings Bench and
Common Pleas" The two former
offices he redeemed in 1857 for the
sum of G255, IN 10 s. 3D., and as com
pensation for the latter sinecure he
receives an annuity of fS43. The Dukes
of Richmond are descended from the
son of Louise dc Querouaille, to whom
Charles III, granted s. per chaldron
on all coal shipped in the Tyne for
consumption in England. In the reign
of George Ill, the Dukes interest in,
the coal exc Use was purchased by Par
Lament for the annuity of $4,000.
sINRcUREs.
These pensions date from a period
when "plase" with no wor to do,
or sum of public money without
even the pretence of return in SER
vice, was the recognized means of pay
ing partisan or oribIng an opponent.
Every Minister had scores OF Parlla-
mentary pensioners at his call. Sir
Robert Walpole kept clear majority
in Westminster and comfortable
working minority in st. Stephens by
this means. The Courts of Europe
swarmed with them, and W hen the
rolls were examined they were found
to contain names entirely unknown or
whose claims on the national bounty
were of the tlimsiest description. ST.
Eecures were another form of pensions
and when the snecure was swept
away, compensation for loss Of office
took the place of the original annuity.
Some of The nominal holders of these
Offices afford sufficiency amusing in-
sight into the abuses to which the
pension system had gone.
Early in this century high born gen.
tlemen filled the posts of clerks, tide
walters, harbor masters, searchers,
gaugers, packers, craners, wharfin-
gers and prolhonotaries. Sometimes
ladies were the incumbents OF the Of
flee, and not unfrequently children
were supposed to do the work for
which their guardians drew tho salary.
A dowager duchess was Collector of
the Customs Outward" lat tho rate of
CO, per annum) baroness was
Sweeper of tie MALL" and another
lady was "Chief Usher" in the Court
OF Exchequer. A peers wife was
"Custom Brevlum, whilst her brother
was swine faster" on the Irish Civil
List. One peer was "Compttoller of
First Fruits" and another "Clerk of
the Pine" part of whose duties was 10
hold up the Lord Chancellor 8 train.
In 1885 clergyman was "aearcher
in the Customs" Cat salary OF 81, 900
per annunD Lord Leitrim was "port
searcher in Dublin" and several gems
tlemen were receiving more or less
considerable sums after lives we'll
spent in cutting the wooden tallies on
which up to that date the national ac-
counts were kept. These sinecures
and pensions were endless, for tho
funds on which the pensioners could be