any charges were to be brought against him, he would, as far as his recollection enabled him, refute the charges. One of them was the appointment of a comptroller and collector, for Buenos Ayres. Would it not be supposed that this reversion, as he called it, would have been immediately on its appointment a burthen to the public? It was therefore a gross want of candour in the right honQurable gentleman not to have stated, since he brought the affair forward at this time, that the burthen would only commence in consequence of the possession of the place, and that the appointment was without salary. The want of such officers had been severely felt, when the place was first taken, and this was the reason that they were appointed to act in case it should be retaken. Then the right honourable gentleman adverted to the surveyors of taxes, but acknowledged that the suggestion had come from the board of taxes. But he believed that the fact was, that the appointments had not actually taken place until the matter should be submitted to Parliament. Some notices might have been given, but he had heard that several recommendations had been received, to which the answers had been that no appointment could take place till the measure was finally adopted. This was the state of the case as far as his memory served him at present. With regard to the appointment of the Gazette-writer in Scotland, it was one that ought to be excepted out of the general rule. It was a case that peculiarly depended on its own circumstances, and when these were examined it must appear obvious to every candid and liberal mind, that no blame could attach to that instance. This appointment had been conferred on a person eminent for talents, literature, and science. He had through a long course of life devoted himself to the public service, and to the promotion of the interests of learning and knowledge. Mr. D. Steward was one of the most distinguished characters of the age, and had performed his important duties in the most zealous and honourable manner. Yet his saJary did not amount to much more than 1001. a year. It was thought right, considering the high importance of his services in the department of science and literature, to grant him this appointment, which he might enjoy without any encroachment on his other avocations. It was not on such men that the public money was in danger of be ing wasted. The appointment was certainly, as the right honourable gentleman had stated, taken out of the hands of the editors of the newspapers, where no doubt he would have continued it in preference. That was the sort of li terature which they cultivated. That was their science! The gentleman who received it from the late ministers had no claim whatever upon them, except that of uncom mon merit in a department of the last importance to the public and the human race. When the present govern ment could find such another man, he certainly would not object to their being equally liberal: The right honourable gentleman had talked of a pension to a civil and criminal judge in Scotland. With the circumstances of that case, he was not acquainted, and therefore could say nothing respecting them at present. He had replied to such of the charges as he was more immediately ac quainted with. No government could, perhaps, in the present state of the expenditure, guard against every pos sible abuse, and therefore he was a friend to all com mittees of inquiry, whether appointed like the commis sioners of military inquiry, or composed of members of this House. Both might be eminently useful, and recourse ought to be had to them from time to time; under every government, for in such a large expenditure, all governments must be liable to abuses. He would now say a few words as to the formation of this com mittee. The right honourable gentleman had anticipated his wish, in having the committee appointed openly, and in excluding all persons in office under government... He had also anticipated it as to the honourable baronet, against whom a charge now depended. This led him to advert to the gentlemen who had been members of the former committee, and had done their duty in the most Zealous and honourable manner. Why were so many of these excluded? The right honourable gentle man had maintained that the dissolution was not in any degree intended for the purpose of putting an end to the committee of finance. If that was the case, why should not the former members be appointed as far as that could possibly be done? Why not leave the committee as much as possible in the same state as before? After naming all the members of the former committee who were in the present Parliament, with the exception of the two already mestioned, he would still have had eight to supply, and T2 this this might surely have satisfied him. He must appeal to the sense of the House, whether some of those who were left out had not merited confidence by the diligence and fidelity with which they had done their duty. He concluded by reading the names of the following persons, who, he said, ought all to have been in the list: Mr. H. Thornton མ་ Mr. Bankes. Lord Mahon Mr. Lambe Mr. Biddulph Lord Archibald Hamilton Mr. Calvert Mr. Western Mr. Shaw. He proposed that the right honourable gentleman should in the first place propose the names retained of those who had been in the former committee, to which there would be no objection, and the rest afterwards. Mr. Boyle, Solicitor General for Scotland, thought the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Perceval) had acted more candidly in particularizing the different instances in which he alleged that the late ministers had done amiss, than if he had in general accused them of improper ex ercise of their power. Had he done otherwise, the noble Ford opposite would have said, "Give me instances of what you charge against me?". The right honourable gentleman did so, and now the noble lord said, he called upon him, without preparation, to answer a number of specific charges. As to the first instance, namely, the appointment of collectors, comptrollers, &c. for Buenos Ayres, he left it with the good sense of the House, if this was a judicious and proper exercise of power. Did they properly discharge their duty in appointing men to offices which did not exist? This was indeed a new species of reversions. The second instance was one which imposed a grievous hardship and burden on the country, for whatever might be the merits of the person on whom it was bes stowed, it was no other than the creation of a new place, that too a sinecure, the purest of all sinecures, as he shewed by a statement of the duties of the office from its original appointment in the year 1793, when it was be stowed on the proprietors of the Mercury, Courant, and Herald of Edinburgh, they being intitled to nothing but the profits of the paper. Here, however, the grant was made to Dr. Stuart, his heirs, and assignees, for the pe riod of 21 years, with a salary of 3004. per annum. The appointment appointment of new sheriffs, much as he respected the gentlemen who had been nominated to those newly es tablished offices, he regarded as a thing most unnecessary, and, therefore, as a very improper waste of public money, He was perfectly satisfied that those gentlemen who formerly held the joint charges, did ample justice to the duties of both. Mr. Biddulph said, he could not be supposed to have any particular predilection for the gentlemen who formed the last committee, for though he had made the motion, in consequence of which the committee had been appoint ed, they had not been named by him. He could assert, however, that the spirit of candour, of justice, of inquiry, and of impartiality by which they had been actuated, had not, and could not be exceeded. It would have been im possible for any person unacquainted with the gentlemen who composed it, and who only judged from their conduct there, to have discovered the political creed of any one of them. The only act they had done was that of instructing their chairman to move for leave to bring in a bill to prevent the granting of offices in reversion. It might have been supposed they might have done more, but a great part of their time had been occupied in sending about and making inquiries. The right honourable gentleman (Mr. Perceval) seemed to think that the committee last appointed was for investigating the accounts of one set of men, and that to be appointed by him for investigating the accounts of another set of men. In acting so, he surely did himself essential injury. If he wished the acts of any future committee to be esteemed acts of fairness, impartiality, and justice, for God's sake let them go forth as the acts of the committee originally appointed. This could alone satisfy the public. The names proposed by the right honourable gentleman were, no doubt, unex ceptionable in themselves. At a proper time he should take an opportunity of proposing the name of a person known to entertain the keenest sense of public wrongs, and who was particularly zealous in his desire to alleviate the burthens of the people. Mr. Brand conceived, that the House was called on to appoint such a committee as would satisfy the anxious wishes of an expecting and oppressed people. He might be presumed to think well of those men who composed his majesty's late government, of whose conduct he had hi therto therto approved, and, to many of whom he was bound in the firmest ties of regard; but if the accusations against them should be true, he would be one of the first to sup port any inquiry, investigation, and accusation against them. When he looked, however, on the treasury bench; and saw that there were not two on it who had not pensions, reversions, expectancies for themselves, and their families and friends, he wished to see a general and fair inquiry. This he asked in the name of his constituents and of an expecting people. He wished that a fair, or rather an accusing committee, should be appointed. If those with whom he had hitherto acted, should differ from him in this, he should think it high time for him to leave them. When, however, he saw persons anxious for inquiry, dismissed from the committee, and when he saw the present government, though in possession of eight vacancies in the committee, which it was in their power to fill up as they pleased, not satisfied with doing so, but anxious to pro cure a majority of their own friends into the committee, he could not believe that it would continue that eager, zealous, and beneficial committee, which the country required. He should, therefore, suggest the propriety of allowing the names in the former committee again returned to Parlia ment to continue in it, and to move on some after-day for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the other charges now first exhibited. Mr. Canning had no doubt that the honourable gentleman who spoke last, delivered the genuine sentiments of his mind, in thinking well of the gentlemen with whom he was connected, and that he would also think, that the fairest and most useful committee could be formed from among them. As no part of the conduct of the House, however, was wanting to shew that there are parties in it, he saw no danger in acting in the present case on those practical grounds by which their conduct, was in general regulated. The public knew well, that a party feeling pervaded the public life and public conduct of the members of this: House. It would be ridiculous, therefore, as well as improper, to endeavour to blind the public mind, by pretending, on an occasion like the present, that all their usual habits and feeling forsook them. The best way was to ap point persons of different ways of thinking, lest, if all ofone party, their prejudices might lead them, without regard. to the real merits of a case, all to incline one way. It: would |