the others, nothing would be so disagreeable to them as to see any measure of reform adopted; their conduct was an unceasing endeavour to degrade and vilify the house, and that system would be defeated, if the house were to adopt wholesome and rational, but temperate measures. The abolition of sinecures was a thing which he had never recommended for mere economy; it was only in the great establishments of the country that material retrenchments could be looked for, and there, he hoped, great retrenchments would be made. His plan was to give pensions to those who had filled for a length of time high and efficient offices of the state, and he would make the fund to be appropriated for this purpose equal to the produce of sinecures in any year of his majesty's reign. This fund he wished to leave at the disposal of the crown. The king should be the fountain not only of honour but of reward: such a power ought not to be intrusted to the House of Commons, because it would be subversive of the first principles of the constitution, and because he should be afraid of that excessive liberality which they were apt to display to individuals. Such services as were alluded to must be rewarded in some way or other; for if no reward were given, men of the first talents in the country might be driven from political pursuits, and the country might lose much for the want of their abilities. It was perfectly notorious that there were men eminently qualified to serve their country in high offices, who had not inherited great possessions, and therefore could not devote their time to the public service without a recompense. Let reward be given fairly and openly where it is deserved; do not present it in this ob

noxious and unworthy form. Do something like an act of grace, by acceding to what is so ardently expected. Let us see whether sinecures ought to exist;-whether they have a foot to stand on; and if they have not, let us immediately abolish them, not, by refusing so to do, aid the cause of those, who, under the name of reform, seek for revolution."

It was objected by Mr Bathurst, that there was no object of practical utility in view. From the nature of the proposed substitute for sinecures there could be no saving; and was there any reason to suppose that the substitute would not soon become equally unpopular, nay more so, because it held out to the public the semblance of a desire to remove a burden, while it only got rid of a name; because, in fact, it involved an attempt at delusion.-Such an argument, Mr Wilberforce replied, he could hardly consider as serious; sinecures were most unpopular; pensions, in many instances, popular and justifiable: and it could never be supposed, that when money was to be demanded from the nation, it made no difference to their feelings whether it was paid for real services, or given to lazy and luxurious sinecurists. The amendment was then carried by 105 voices to 95.

Mr Bankes may be considered as the ostensible head of the state economists, whose labours have for some years past excited much discussion in parliament, and considerable interest in the public. The attempts which they have made toward the abolition of reversionary grants and sinecures have been the most popular of their proceedings; the former should have been conceded to them, as a practice peculiarly liable to abuse, and which mortgages the influence of the crown, while it offends the feelings of the

people. Sinecures also have been made offensive to the people; but the necessity of some mode of remuneration for public services was fully admitted by Mr Bankes, and there can be no doubt, as was objected to him, that under whatever name that remu. neration may be awarded, the same feeling toward it would exist as long as any party in the country should think proper to raise a cry against the existing circumstances of government. Some mode, however, must exist, under any form of government, which does not, like that of ancient Carthage, confine public offices ex. clusively to the wealthy. Aristotle, comparing together the several forms of government then in the world, praises the institutions of that commercial state above all others, excepting only this limitation of office, and the right of the populace to interfere when the senate was not unanimous: from these causes that prince of philosophers, the most sagacious man whom the world has yet produced, seems to predict the downfall of that flourishing commonwealth, which was in fact produced by these causes. The French are fond of reminding us of Carthage; we should do well ourselves to bear in mind the history of her downfall, not with any reference to external danger, which we may despise as long as we have sense and virtue to defy it, but with a view to those internal circumstances in which some analogy may be found to those which brought on the ruin of the Carthaginians.

The mere object of commuting sinecures for pensions, if it had not engaged the attention of parliament, would be too trifling to deserve consideration, being obviously a change of name, and of nothing else. In what form the reward is bestowed, the peo

ple care not, provided it be well bestowed. The vote of money for the Nelson estate, the pension to Lord Wellington, and the sinecure which Mr Pitt possessed, were regarded by the people with equal satisfaction; however bitterly Mr Pitt was attacked by his political enemies, that he was warden of the Cinque Ports was never objected to him as one of his offences. By the mere change nothing could be gained, and something is always lost by an unsuccessful attempt at currying favour with a party whom it is not possible to conciliate. Upon the point of economy, the warmest advocates of the measure do not pretend that much is to be gained; the probability in fact is on the other side, and as the arguments for the abolition of sinecures lie on the surface, it so happens that we need not go deeper for the arguments against it.

The emoluments of office almost in every department, and especially in all the highest, are notoriously inadequate. Suppose a man capable of assuming the reins of government, and conducting the nation to prosperity and glory, a man endowed with those powers of mind which Mr Pitt was supposed to possess; and like him without such an hereditary fortune as allows of idleness, or precludes the necessity of increasing it. If such a man be offered an office, he hesitates at quitting his profession to accept it, because the salary is not adequate to the expences which the situation brings with it; in the changes of politics he may be driven out, and find himself a ruined man. To these objections, while sinecures remain, there is this reply; time and chance happen to all, take the office, no doubt some sinccure will fall, and you will be provided for in case of dismissal. This argument will ge

complex arrangements of the Exche quer. But though, from reverence to antiquity, the sinecures of the Exchequer ought least of all others to be abolished, nothing can be more unreasonable than the present purpose of building a new Exchequer at another place. It is one thing to retain a few harmless offices in being, and another to expend half a million in erecting a palace for their reception. Besides the charm of antiquity vanishes the moment you carry the Exchequer from its old situation on the bank of the Thames.

The abolition of sinecures would be, to say the least of it, a measure of doubtful utility. But other measures of this economical committee, which has been lately appointed from year to year, for the purpose of checking and lessening the public expenditure, principally aiming at the diminution of salaries and emoluments, are unequivocally mischievous. When it is considered that the value of money, and consequently of these salaries and emoluments, is every day sensibly diminishing, and within the last twenty years has been thus virtually lessened a full half, the time does not seem propitious to these well-meant efforts. Salaries for services not then overpaid have been necessarily aug. mented, and he must have performed a very light duty indeed who could bear the defalcation of half his stipend without remonstrance. From these causes, perhaps, it has arisen that the labours of the committee have produced no perceptible benefit, and the expediency of its continuance, under such circumstances, may therefore well be doubted. In reality, there is reason to suspect that its effects are exactly the reverse of what is intended. To place this in its proper light, we must consider the

situation of the public and of its servants. The revenue of the united kingdom is about seventy-one millions per annum, applicable to national objects, of which the charge on account of the national debt for interest, principal repaid, and management, is about thirty-eight: this ha ving been replaced by an annual loan, averaging at about thirty millions since the commencement of the present war, the money expended may be taken at sixty-three. No individual of as many thousands per annum, (and our opulent country fur nishes many examples of much larger incomes) would deem it advisable to employ not the best, but the cheap. est servants, in all his affairs which relate to receipt and expenditure; and he would be pointed at by all mankind as signally imprudent if he did. How is it possible that the same liberal economy should not be advisable in the management of a national income and expenditure, a thousandfold in amount, and of national affairs a thousand-fold in importance?

The reward of the higher officers of state ought to be sufficient to maintain them in suitable dignity and splendour, which is notoriously not so in fact. It is known that Mr Pitt, a man of no private fortune, but also of no superfluous expences, and unincumbered with the maintenance of a family, after being prime minister for twenty years, died deeply involved in debt, by merely keeping up the indispensible appearance of his office; and it is well known that, except the lord chancellor, no public man has the least possibility of saving any thing from the scanty reward of his labours. This is unjust. But it is supposed that the gratification of ambition stands in place of payment, and hitherto indeed no want has been ex