was unsparingly ridiculed by Mr. Burke, who, when he had exhausted this part of his subject, made a vigorous attack on the plan itself. It offered, he said, one alternative, either to adopt this limited, confined plan of reform, or be, perhaps, liable to receive one from the Duke of Richmond on a more enlarged scale. He took an extensive view of the state of representation, and animadverted with severity on the correspondence of a reverend gentleman (Mr. Wyvill), from which he read extracts, and remarked, that whatever address the right honourable gentleman had shewn in rendering his plan palatable to all parties, he considered it as a mere delusion, an ignus fatuus, calculated to mislead and bewilder. CHAP. LVIII. 1785. Mr. Bankes observed, that, although a friend to Mr. Bankes. reform, he must reprobate the present motion. Its absurdity was conspicuous; it declared that the right of voting in certain boroughs was not a property to be used in the way of traffic, and yet a sum was allotted for the purchase. Mr. Pitt acknowledged that this observation hurt Mr. Pitt. him more, as it proceeded from a friend. He defended this portion of his plan but feebly; it had become a necessary evil, if any reform was to take place. rejected. On a division, the motion was lost by a majority of Motion seventy-four*. It is remarkable that, in this protracted debate, Observations. which did not terminate till nearly four o'clock in the morning, no member who spoke in favour of the minister's plan pursued its different parts into their effective details, or hazarded a prediction that general good to the people or great satisfaction to any considerable portion could be the result. No such result was to be expected. They who had prepared their minds for annual parliaments and universal suffrage, would view this mitigated measure with contempt. Many, balancing the advantage to be gained against the evils to be incurred, would doubt whether the ex * 248 to 174. CHAP. 1785. periment could be worth its risque; and all who venerated the constitution, both in form and in practice, must shrink with terror from a plan which, although it would give no immediate satisfaction, would yet be a precedent for any innovation, however bold and extensive. A strenuous advocate for the measure undertook, after it had been rejected, to explain it to the public, in hope, as he said, that it would meet their full approbation and support; and that their general sense, conveyed to Parliament, next winter, in decent and respectful petitions, would obtain a legislative sanction. The number of voters throughout the kingdom, which would be acquired by this change, was calculated at ninety-nine thousand, of whom seventy-two thousand would be copyholders, dispersed through fifty-two counties. The benefit, therefore, to be thus obtained, would, if the statement were correct, be that of enabling this number of additional voters to assist in elections, from which they had before been excluded. But the number would be considerably diminished when it should be considered that women and trustees are often copyholders, but cannot vote; and that many persons in every county are freeholders as well as copyholders, and would therefore want no assistance to enable them to give their suffrages. It might be fit that copyholders should take their share in elections; but a measure of disfranchisement and compensation could hardly be called for, in order that so small a number should obtain this right. Other parts of the plan, which were not explained in Parliament, were disclosed in this publication. Ten thousand householders were to return four members for the parishes of Mary-le-bone and Saint Pancras. Seven thousand freeholders of London were to be made voters. Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, and Leeds, which were supposed to contain nine thousand householders, were to return six representatives; and Scarborough and other towns, in which the right of voting was to be thrown open, were estimated to contain seven thousand additional electors*. On this plan, it is almost needless to observe that the prediction of its advocate was not verified, nor his hopes realized. The winter came, but petitions never appeared, and the project was not resumed. CHAP. LVIII. 1785. Feb. 17th. Regulation of public offices. In the speech from the throne, the attention of Finance. Parliament was called to the subject of finance. For the investigation of public accounts, a Board of Commissioners had been appointed during Lord North's administration, and they had presented twelve voluminous, able, and well-digested reports. In moving for leave to bring in bills founded on them, Mr. Pitt observed that the objects of attention had been the manner of collecting the revenue; the several offices of expenditure, the mode in which the public money was issued, chequed, controlled, and accounted for. Parliament had already made sufficient arrangements with respect to the collection; they had assigned fixed salaries to the commissioners of the land-tax, instead of fees and poundages; and the Post Office was so improved, that, instead of seven hundred, it was now paying into the treasury the weekly sum of three thousand pounds. The Pay Office had also been regulated; but, in the Navy Office balances had been suffered to accumulate in the hands of officers, long after they had quitted the public service. The present treasurer of the navy, Mr. Rosc, had most laudably recommended that every treasurer, while in office, should close his accounts at the end of each year; and, on retiring, transfer the balances in hand to his successor; which should all be paid into the Bank. The latter regulation was to be extended to the Ordnance and Pay Offices. He proposed also, in conformity with the reports, to consolidate the different offices of audit for the several departments of expenditure into one general establishment, with efficient powers. When first he was in office, he had observed that, through relaxation and neglect, accountants had been permitted to retain balances, some even to the term of forty years. He had sug See Wyvill's Summary Explanation of Mr. Pitt's intended Bill. Political Papers, vol. ii. p. 357, and p. 584. gested an inquiry, and afterward, when out of office, had stated that the sums unaccounted for amounted to no less than forty-four millions. The subject was treated, at the time, with great pleasantry, as a mere chimera, a supposed discovery of stolen money, which he could rescue from the hands of the robbers; but, in reality, what had been treated as a romance, had proved itself the tale of truth. Twenty-seven millions unaccounted for had been discovered; a balance of two hundred and fifty-seven thousand pounds would be immediately collected; and, on further inquiry, he expected that the balance would be considerably increased. He moved to bring in bills for better examining and auditing accounts, for appointing commissioners to inquire into the fees of offices and examine abuses, and for better regulating the office of treasurer of the navy. After a few unimportant observations from other members, the motions were agreed to, and the bills passed without much debate. A few words of opposition were offered on the third reading of that for appointing commissioners of accounts, which Mr. Sheridan considered unnecessary, Mr. Fox unconstitutional, and Mr. Burke a direct violation of Magna Charta. In the selection of taxes for raising the supplies, the minister was not very fortunate. The annual sum required was four hundred and thirteen thousand pounds; and, to meet the demand, an additional tax was imposed on male, and a new one on female servants; on retail shops, according to the rent of the houses; on post-horses of one half-penny per mile, a stamp duty on gloves; a licence to be taken out by pawnbrokers; and, in addition to these, a regulation on salt. The principal attacks of opposition were levelled against the assessments on shops, and on female servants. On the shop tax, much good argument was employed; and, in hope to reconcile the parties, a licence was imposed on hawkers and pedlars. On the maid servants, much argument, some wit, and, to say the truth, a little ribaldry, were displayed. The bills passed. There were besides, in the course of the session, taxes imposed, by way of licence, on coach makers, and on sportsmen carrying arms with intent to kill game, and a sum was raised by a lottery; but the two most obnoxious taxes were, after the experiment of a few years, repealed; the duty on gloves also was, upon a longer trial, found to be less beneficial to the state than injurious to vendors and to society, by the great encouragement it afforded to informers; and it was also discontinued. CHAP. LVIII. 1785. The session was not closed by a speech from the August 2nd. throne, but merely adjourned. End of the session. |