the lord-lieutenant should send a warrant authorizing and directing it. There was, indeed, to this regulation the obvious objection, that, by the delay which it must occasion, the opportunity of preventing the mischief might be lost. But he was convinced the advantages which would result from showing the people that government was determined to give them as much liberty as possible, consistent with those precautions, which were necessary for the general safety, would more than counterbalance any evil that might result. There was another part of the insurrection act which he proposed likewise to alter. By that act, if any person, conceiving himself injured by the act of a magistrate, should apply to the law for redress, and the jury should give a verdict in his favour, the judge had the power of declaring, (if the facts of the case appeared to him to warrant him in so doing,) that the magistrate had a justifiable cause for what he had done; and in that case the person suing, although the jury had found in his favour, was only entitled to sixpence damages and no costs. But if the jury should find in favour of the magistrate, he was entitled to treble costs. This clause was, he had no doubt, very necessary when it was enacted; but as the necessity of it did not appear to him any longer to exist, he should propose to repeal it, and in future to place both parties on an equal footing. In the present improved state of the country, he did not think it required such strong measures for the protection of magistrates." The only other business of the ses sion respecting Ireland, was a vote for adding 10,000l. to the salary of the lord-lieutenant; the 20,0001., at which it was fixed in 1783, being found altogether inadequate to support the dignity of that important station. It was objected to by Sir J. Newport, Mr Martin, Mr Littleton, Mr Parnell, and Mr Bankes. Mr Tighe said, he saw no reason why the civil government of Ireland should cost ten times more than that of Scotland, nor why the farce of a vice-regal court should be kept up in Dublin. Mr Grattan did not think the proposed increase was too much, but he thought the bare assertion of the minister ought not to induce parliament to burden Ireland with the additional charge. Mr Whitbread objected to it upon the same ground. Mr Tierney went farther, and declared he saw no necessity why a person serving the public in a high office should be enabled to live entirely independent of his private fortune. If the Duke of Richmond had spent 20,0001. ayear in Ireland of his own fortune, it was an expence which that fortune could well afford. His belief was, that the increase was not intended for the duke, but that his liberality and private virtues were mentioned to induce the house to vote this increased income, which was designed as a temptation to some other lord, with whom ministers were bargaining, to go over to Ireland as his successor. Such an insinuation was not worthy of being contradicted, and the vote passed by a majority of 95 to 51. CHAP. VI. Measures of Reform. Offices in Reversion. Sinecures. Remarks on the Economical Reformers. Mr Brand's Motion for Parliamentary Reform. Sir Samuel Romilly's Reform of the Criminal Law. Poor Clergy. Benchers of Lincoln's-Inn. ONE of the first proceedings of the economical reformers during the session, was to renew their attack upon the practice of granting of Jan. 31. fices in reversion. Mr Bankes moved, that the act for suspending it should be made perpetual; and the sense of the house was so deci dedly with him, that though Mr Perseval would rather have extended the duration of the act than have perpetuated it, it was carried unanimous ly. When the bill reached the Upper House it was again thrown out. Mr Bankes, therefore, finding, March 6. he said, that there was a determined principle to resist the measure, and that it had no chance of passing the lords, moved, as the only constitutional course which remained, an address to his majesty, as had been done on a former occasion, praying him not to make any such grant till six weeks after the next session. Mr Ryder, observing that the house should be cautious how it legis lated for the country at large, except in cases of absolute necessity, proposed that they should pass a limited bill, which they had every reason to believe would meet with the concur Feb. 12, rence of the peers. To this Mr Bankes assented; but this second bill was in like manner rejected by the lords, with a pertinacity, on the part of its opponents, not less injudicious in itself, than offensive to the public feeling. A kindred business was brought before the house by Mr Fuller, who moved for "leave to bring in a bill to abolish all sinecure places, and to reduce the exorbitant emoluments arising out of others to a standard equal to the service performed, after the lives of the present possessors; and shame," he said, "upon England, if such a bill should be rejected! It would not, he hoped, be imagined, that he meant this as an attack upon the power and influence of the crown. No; he was glad to see the influence of the crown increasing in proportion as the national wealth of the country increased, when of course its morals got worse; but this was sufficiently done by the immense collection of our revenue. His attack was upon those avaricious members of the aristocracy, who think it their duty to lay hold of these sinecure places, in order to save them the expence of providing for their young er children, by paying them large sums out of the pockets and the sufferings of individuals, a thing neither done nor thought of, he believed, by any other class of his majesty's subjects whatever. The sum total of these places, if he were not wrong in his calculation, amounted to 355,6121. 2s. 7d. ; so that if 55,0001., speaking in round numbers, were to be allotted to the payment of those places which there is a necessity of preserving, the public would, after the lives of the present possessors, be a gainer of 300,0001. He thought this measure would, instead of lessening the influence of the crown, give it still more strength, as it would enable it to reward those who really deserved rewards, instead of paying those who are idle. It was to the manly virtues of our gracious sovereign, to the courage and skill of Lord Nelson, and to the divine mind of Mr Pitt, that, in his opinion, we owed our present exalted character as a nation; and he should be sorry to see his benevolent sovereign, perhaps, compelled in his old age to do what Sir Robert Walpole was said in his last moments to have desired his physician to do for him; that is, to turn his head to the wall, that he might no longer look at the villainies, or the base political ingratitude of those he had formerly served, and that he might hide from his view the iniquity that prevailed." Mr Fuller, however, withdrew his motion at the suggestion of Mr Bankes, who undertook, as a member of the finance committee, to bring the matter forward. Accordingly, when the report of that committee was under consideration, Mr Bankes moved a resolution, that it was expedient to abolish sinecures, except such as were connected with the personal service of his majesty or the royal family; and to reduce the salaries of such as were executed by deputy to the sum for which the service was performed, with an allowance for the additional responsibility;-all to be done after the present interest in these offices had expired. "It would be better," he said, "that services should be rewarded by direct pensions, instead of having what, in fact, were direct pensions, lurking under the name of offices. The granting of pensions would be notorious and unequivocal, and this very notoriety would prevent their being conferred in a profuse or glaringly improper manner; but there was no such secu rity with regard to sinecure offices. Therefore, he thought the proper measure would be to abolish these offices altogether, and give his majes ty the power of granting pensions to a limited amount, in lieu of the offices abolished; the power of giving the additional pension always commencing with the fall of the sinecure. This was necessary, in order to prevent the crown from having for a time double power; and without this caution it would not be a measure of economy in the first instance, but a measure of extravagance. The substitution would take away all objections to the abolition, while it would be more agreeable, not only to the country, but to such meritorious officers as were entitled to reward; for sinecures had fallen so much into disgrace, that a brand was fixed upon those who accepted them, and instead of conferring honours they attached a stigma, so much did the people revolt against them. He did not expect, that by any measure of this nature the clamour of certain persons could be satisfied; they were not to be satisfied by any thing which that house could, or ought to concede. But whatever might be the conduct of the factious, the house would never lose sight of the propriety of consulting the wishes, and cultivating the good disposition of the sound and rational part of the community, who would materially be conciliated by the adoption of a measure so long and so unanimously called for." Mr Martin supported the resolution. "One circumstance," he said, "struck him most forcibly, which was, that when a person of large hereditary fortune had done meritorious services, he ought not to expect the same degree of remuneration as a person who had dedicated his whole life, without any fortune of his own to support him, save only his own exertions and superior talents." Mr W. Smith spoke on the same side, and objected to sparing the offices attached to the crown and princes of the blood, saying, "that the dignity and honour of the crown would be more effectually consulted in attaching the affections of the people, than by pensioning twelve lords of the bed-chamber at 1000 1. a-year, who had votes in the other house, and generally voted one way." "There was a ferment abroad," Mr Bastard said; "the principle of retrenchment must be followed up in every department; and even if the house was not inclined to be honest from principle, the time was come when it should be so from necessity." Mr Wharton replied, "that the retrenchment of sinecures would not lessen the burthens of the people in any degree worth notice. The influence of the crown, instead of increasing, had in fact decreased; for though its patronage had doubled since the year 1782, the wealth of the nation since that time had increased in the proportion VOL. III. PART. I. "This sort of rea of five to one." soning," Mr Whitbread made answer, "would suit a discussion upon the assize of bread much better than a debate upon the propriety of restricting these grants of the crown. The country had but one opinion respecting sinecures; and scarce a man out of that house could be found to defend them. They were not suited to the taste of the army or of the navy, but Mr Long had said they were fitted for the civil department; that was, for such efficient public servants as himself. One of the evils arising from such grants was, that they prevented the necessary increase of salary to the great offices of state. Thus when it was intended to give Mr Perceval the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lan caster for life, it was contended in his favour that the salary of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not a sufficient remuneration: It was how. ever to be presumed, now that the same right honourable gentleman was also first Lord of the Treasury, that he would not condescend to take that of the duchy, and to receive the salaries of three offices." Here Mr Whitbread was informed that Mr Perceval did not receive the salary of Chancellor of the Exchequer, "This," he continued, "he had never heard before, and therefore it was not to be wondered at that he had made the mistake. But the option of such emoluments ought not to be left to any man, and sinecures ought to be abolished for their inherent impropriety, as well as for their lately incurred disgrace. To prove how grossly they were misapplied, it was enough to state that Mr Yorke had 27001. a-year, and Lord Wellington only received 20001. Thus it was that court favourites were rewarded above even those whom the ministers themselves thought deserving of reward." "As to the emoluments of Mr Yorke," Mr Perceval replied, " if it would afford the honourable gentle man any pleasure, he could inform him that Mr Yorke had, in consequence of holding the office of Teller of the Exchequer, relinquished the additional 2000 1. a-year, granted during the Grenville administration to MrT. Grenville as first Lord of the Admiralty. The proposition before the house," he pursued, "was recommended as being economical, and as tending to diminish the prerogative: toward the latter object it would do little, toward the first nothing, and if sinecures were commuted for pensions, not a particle of the clamour which had been excited against them would abate; in fact, the same objections would apply in the same force." To this argument Lord Milton replied, "that a sinecure, when it became vacant, must be conferred anew, whether there was, or was not, a deserving person ready to receive it, but this was not the case with a pension. He should vote for the motion," he said, "because, though it was otherwise indifferent in itself, it was possible, by agreeing to it, to separate those who felt well-grounded discontent from those whom nothing would satisfy." Mr Bankes' resolution was negatived by a very small majority,-99 to 93. That gentleman was more successful on a subsequent trial, when Mr Davies Giddy reported from the committee of the whole house their resolutions on the report of the committee of public expenditure. The first, containing the truism," that the utmost attention to economy in all the branches of public May 31. expenditure, which is consistent with the interests of the public service, is at all times a great and important duty," was carried unanimously. The second was, "that for this purpose, in addition to the useful and effective measures already taken by parliament for the abolition and regulation of various sinecure offices, and offices executed by deputy, it is expedient to extend the like principles of abolition, or regulation, to such other cases as may appear to require and admit of the same." Upon this Mr Bankes moved an amendment, to the same purport as the resolution which had before been lost. "He was one of those," he said, "who opposed any motion for inquiring into the state of the representation, because he was convinced that the greater part of the respectable class of society, whose opinions were deserving of grave and serious atten tion, did not desire that such a ques tion should be entered into: But there did exist in that part of society a real and sincere desire for every moderate and substantial reform which would not attack the frame and foundation of our constitution; and there never had been a time in which it was more necessary to draw a line of separation between these persons, and those who wished for no reform at all, but for the subversion of the constitution; for if the reasonable wishes and expectations of the moderate were opposed, they might be driven into an alliance with the designing and the desperate, whose intention was to destroy. It would be a dangerous opinion indeed to go abroad, that no sort of reform was to be expected from that house, constituted as it was at present. Moderate men knew and felt that there were abuses which ought to be redressed; as to |