puties, and by it the property of Scotland was therefore put into unsafe hands. He made other objections to the bill; and said, that if it should pass into a law, it would cause the greatest confusion in Scotland, and strike the whole people with immeasurable astonish ment. Mr. Lyttelton made some sarcastic observations on the attachment to emolument avowed by the last speaker, and said that he was fully convinced that the true reason why the influence of the aristocracy was so debased, was, because these places had been continued. He gave his opinion that there was never a fitter time for wresting this power of augmenting influence from the hands of the crown, when it was known that there prevailed in the court a base system of unprincipled favouritism-when it was notorious that the Regent was surrounded and hemmed in with minions, among whom, if there was a man of note or talent, there certainly was not one of any character. Mr. Courtenay attempted to shew that the proposed bill, instead of being a measure of economy, would be one of profuseness, and would tend to increase the improper influence of the crown. He objected to the whole principle upon which the pensions, which were to be substituted for the sinecures, were grounded. Under the bill, they would be given to those who ought not to have them, and withholden from those on whom they ought to be conferred. would be no other test of merit in bestowing rewards, than having possessed a place. He observed, There also, that it was contrary to all parliamentary practice to interfere with offices appertaining to the hereditary revenue of the crown, without the consent of the crown previously signified. Lord A. Hamilton urged in support of the bill, the disappointment which would be felt by the people at large, if, after the expectations held out to them, some measure of the kind were not adopted. Mr. Bastard took the same ground, and dwelt upon the grievous burdens under which almost all classes were now suffering. He could have wished that every separate office had been put to the vote, and a bill prepared conformably to that decision. It was at least incumbent on those who talked of the necessity of remuneration, to shew the reality of the service. He was convinced it would be difficult to point out ten in the whole list that partook of this character. The public money was too often given, rather as a consideration for accepting office, than for the services performed in it. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that he felt himself bound to state his objections to the bill, both in its details and principle. In considering the former, he mentioned several instances in which its provisions were either inconsistent or unjust. With respect to the principle, his opinion still was that it was perfectly wrong and mistaken. It went to say that the crown should not have the power of securing for its service men whom it might judge to be the most capable, if they happened not to be in a situation to resign all other pursuits in order to enter into the public service. He put this case strongly, and not without a personal allusion. He then adverted to the influence of the crown, and appealed to the house whether it was too great; referring to the division upon Colonel M'Mahon's appointment: and desired them to consider whether the bill would not tend to a diminution of influence hazardous to the monarchy. Mr. Bankes thought it somewhat extraordinary, and contrary to parliamentary usage, to suffer the bill to be read a second time, and pass the committee, without observations, and then come forward in this stage to condemn not only its principle, but those details which might have been altered in the committee. He then made replies to some of the particular objections which had been advanced; and desired that when the offices proposed to be abolished, and their responsibility were spoken of, it should be recollected that they were rather quasi offices with quasi responsibility, neither of which appeared to him too great to be confined to such men as would usually be appointed deputies. As to the power of the crown, he said it was impossible to look at the immense expenditure of the country, with all the establishments and patronage connected with it, without being convinced that dependence on the crown was extended to all parts to a degree quite unexampled in former times. It was also no light consideration that some of the greatest commercial and corporate bodies were in the habit of looking up to the ministers of the crown, Mr. Canning made one of those balanced, indecisive speeches which had lately distinguished his manner of debate, but declared that he should support the bill, because he approved its principle. That the general sense of the house was decidedly in its favour, was proved by the division, on which the numbers were,-for the motion 134, against it 123; majority 11. The bill was then recommitted, when various amendments were proposed, some of which were carried, and others rejected. The report was then received, and the bill was ordered for a third reading. This took place on June 15th, when various objections were started against the bill, which, however, was read without a division. Mr. Bankes then moved the additional clause, " Provided always, that nothing in this bill should be prejudicial to the rights and interests of those who are now chief justices;" which was agreed to. Various clauses of amendment were then put, most of which were rejected. A motion for omitting that clause in the bill which limited the pension list of Ireland to 40,000l. a year produced a division; for the motion 59, against it 60. The bill afterwards passed the house without further opposition. The bill did not arrive to its second reading in the House of Lords till July 3. On that occasion the Lord Chancellor spoke of its provisions with great contempt,. and said that such a bill never met the eye of a lawyer ever since the establishment of law. He pointed out some of its most objectionable parts, and concluded with the mo tion, that it be read a second time that day three months. Some of the lords in its favour acknowledged that there were imperfections in it, but contended that no argument had been advanced against its principle, and that it might be amended in its future stages. On a division, however, the Chancellor's motion was carried by 35 votes against 8; and thus the bill was lost, and with it, all the hopes of alleviation of the public burdens which it might have raised. CHAPTER CHAPTER VIL Debate on Colonel McMahon's Appointment of Private Secretary to the Prince Regent-Debate on the Barrack Estimates-Motion respecting Military Punishments. AFTER Colonel McMahon had had been. The Chancellor of the been deprived of his place of pay-master of widows' pensions, he was remunerated by the appointment of keeper of the privy purse and private secretary to the Prince Regent. This circumstance was noticed in the House of Commons on March 23, by the Hon. J. W. Ward, who desired to be informed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer what salary was attached to these places, and what were their duties, as he did not know till now that such a situation existed. The right honourable gentleman, in reply, said, that he presumed the honourable member was not ignorant that Colonel Taylor had held the same offices under the King, and the same salary which he received was continued to Colonel M'Mahon; that the duties were various and important, although the offices would carry with them no official sanction, the home secretary of state being still the organ for receiving and communicating the pleasure of the Regent. Mr. Whitbread then inquired whether before the nominaton of Colonel Taylor as private secretary to the King, in consequence of his infirmity of sight, any such place had existed; and also, whether Col. M'Mahon was to be paid out of the same fund that Col. Taylor Exchequer admitted that no private secretary to the King had been appointed before this defect of sight; and upon being asked by Mr. Ward if he had any objection to name the adviser of the present appointment, he said that he had not the least difficulty in mentioning that it was himself. On the 14th of April, Mr. C. W. Wynn rose in the house, pursuant to notice, to move for the production of the appointment of Colonel M'Mahon to the new office of private secretary to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. He began with expressing his surprise at the intimation he had received that his motion was to be resisted, for surely the creation of a new office required as much as any thing to be submitted to the consideration of the House of Commons. With respect to the appointment of Col. Taylor, he denied that it formed any precedent for the present case, since it was only justified by the obvious necessity of the circumstances, of which nothing similar now existed. He alluded to former sovereigns who had dispatched a great variety of business without such an assistant, and especially the present King, who had paid a rigid attention to public affairs till the period of his unfortunate illness. After several observations to shew that the appointment in question was not necessary, the honourable member went on to say, that it was a most unconstitutional proceeding to allow the secrets of the council to pass through a third person, and he, perhaps, no counsellor. It might perhaps be said that Colonel McMahon was a privy counsellor: so much the worse! By his secretary's oath he would be bound faithfully to read communications to his Royal Highness, and faithfully to write what he should command: but in his character of privy counsellor he was bound by oath to give his advice upon what he read. Was it fitting that the cabinet ministers should have their advice to their sovereign subject to the revision of his private secretary? If, indeed, it were acknowledged to be consistent with the constitution to have both an interior and an exterior cabinet, he could not understand why there should be a fourth secretary to carry the communications from one to the other. He then made some remarks on the improper time in which this appointment had been given, when the burdens and distresses of the country were universally felt; and said that it would appear to the • public like a determination to create a place in order to compensate Colonel M Mahon for that of which the sense of parliament had deprived him. He concluded by moving, That there be laid be fore the house a copy of any instrument by which the right ho nourable John McMahon has been appointed private secretary to the Prince Regent in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty. Also for a copy of any minute of the board of treasury thereon, directing the payment of the salary attached to the same." Lord Castlereagh said, that the honourable gentleman had raised this question to a degree of importance which could in no view belong to it. He denied that there was any thing in the appointment which detracted in the slightest degree from the responsibility of the ministers of the crown. The nature of the office was precisely the same as that of any other private secretary in any other office of state, differing only in the rank of the personage under whom it was held, and there was no foundation for representing it as that of a fourth secretary of state. He asked whether it were possible for the sovereign of this country to go on, overwhelmed as he must be by the public documents that were heaped upon him, and scarcely able to disengage his person from the accumulating pile by which he was surrounded? He thought the necessity of the appointment apparent, and that there were no grounds for censuring it; wherefore he should oppose the production of the paper, which was nothing more than a grant of 2,000l. a year as a salary. Mr. Elliot observed, that there was a marked difference between the appointment of Colonel Taylor and Colonel M Mahon; for that in the former instance his Majesty had never called for the assistance of a private secretary till he was obliged to it by his infirmities, whereas the Regent was happily free from any thing of the kind. If merely the arrangement of papers |