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possible use any member can be of is to carry on this same work of exposure.Mr. Canning's amendment, proposes, conclusion to assure the King, that whatever may have been the misconduct of his miristers, he and his associates are ready to second them in whatever measures they may adopt for drawing money from the people, and, of course, for maintaining this same sort of power, of the exercise of which he complains! There is no doubt of that. Nobody was foolish enough to imagine that he, or his associates, meant to do any thing hostile to the system; and, unless that be done, there is no man of sense that expects the least good from their hostility.We will now leave Mr. Canning and his amendment, and proceed to other matters.

-On the 22d of December, Mr. Vansittart, a Secretary of the Treasury, rose, in the House of Commons, and moved, in about six words, that a supply be granted to His Majesty, and that the whole House should, the next day, be formed into a committee to take the motion into consideration. Not a word, by way of preface, appears to have been thought necessary for this. If any member wants to have a document relative to the expenditure of the public money, he must give a notice, several days before hand, that he intends to make a motion; but, here, where millions are going to be granted, no notice at all is thought necessary; and, upon such occasions the game debaters do not attend, it being certain that no one will presume to make any objection! And yet we are told about guardians of the people's treasure; and bose romance writers, De L'homme, and others, amuse us with tales about their holding the purse strings!On the next day the House went into a committee (Lord Henry Petty in the Chair) to consider of the motion for granting a supply to his Majesty. As soon as the formality of taking the chair was over, Mr. Vansittart moved, that a supply be granted to his Majesty, which was instantly agreed to without a word by way of speech upon the subject; and the report of the committee was ordered to be received the next day. On the next day it was accordingly brought up. And this is the way in which millions

fulness as if to grant money had been the habit and the delight of their lives. On the 24th of December, Lord Folkestone, who had, on a former day, presented a petition from certain Electors of Westminster against the return of Mr. Sheridan, stated, that, on account of the great mass of evidence that was to be brought before the committee appointed to try the merits of this petition, it would be necessary to name a more distant day than the 13th of January, (the day before named) for the meeting of the con mittee. He accordingly made a motion to put it off until the 24th of February Mr. Sheridan, in assenting to this motion, took occasion to notice what Mr. Perceval had. in the debate upon the address, said about the horses of government being yoked to his, Mr. Sheridan's car. This sarcastic observation of Mr. Perceval was noticed in my last Number. Some reply was to be expected. Things would have been in a bad way indeed, if the royal blood of the house of Sheridan (see his speech at the Play Actors' dinner) had not shewn a little warmth upon such an occasion, The cause of royalty, regular government, social order, morality, and religion," as his friend John Bowles has it, would have been indeed a falling cause, it this champion of them all could have hammered out of his head nothing to say, by way of answer to Mr. Perceval. What has been, in the news-papers, reported as his answer, the reader shall now see; and, the friends of "royalty, regular government, "social order, morality, and our holy re"ligion," which words, according to their use of them, mean such a state of things, no matter what it be, as will enable them to live in idleness upon the fruit of the people's labour; truly, I am of opinion that this loyal and godly description of persons will experience no small pain at perceiving that two persons, whose sentiments, as to all the main points, that is to say, the points relating to places and pensions are precisely the same; yes, I cannot but think, that the friends of our holy religion,' as John Bowles says, will be grieved to the very soul at witnessing the marks of a misunderstanding between Messrs. Sheridan and Perceval, But, whatever grief it may occasion, I must

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not a single estimate; not a voucher of any king, whether as to receipt or expenditure, was yet before the House How were the members to know what money ought to de granted? How were they to possess any information upon the subject? They were new men; or, a new House at least; but, the moment they are met, they fall to granting money with as much alacrity and cheer

called, beginning with the printed speech ascribed to the royal-blooded Treasurer of the Navy- "He would take this occasioni to advert to something that had fallen from a learned gentieman opposite (Mr. Perceval) on a former day, in his absence — (Hear! hear from Mr. Perceval.) He was happy to hear this challenge from the "learned gent., particularly as it was 4

was not till the government horses had "been yoked to his car that he had been brought in. Now though His Majesty "had thought him worthy to hold an office "of trust and emolument, he was bold to "think, whatever the learned gent. and some few other clamorous persons may "think, that his claim to public support

was not thereby lessened. There was a "sort of report that he was to take another "office, the Chiltern Hundreds, for the 66 purpose of vacating his seat. (A laugh.) "He had no objection to take that office, "if the learned gent also would take it, and "bring his popularity to the test by facing "him on the hustings in Covent-Garden." (A langh.)”—A laugh! What at? Do you see any thing to laugh at here, reader? Here are three laughs put down; and, if one could believe that they really took place, no better criterion would be wanted whereby to judge of the audience. Does the rehder see any wit? Any point? Any thing calculated to throw ridicule upon the opponent? A shake of the head, accompanied with a smile of contempt, this publication may occasion in a company of sensible men; but, as to laughter at such blunt and bungling attempts at sarcastic wit, it never can find place, except amongst such oats as are seen shaking their sides at the grimaces of the Drury-Lane pantomimes.But, before we proceed any further in our comments, let us see the speech attributed to Mr Perceval, as it was published in the news-papers —“He said, that instead of forcing this "matter forward on a former night, he had "expressly abstained from agitating it, on "the ground of the absence of the right hon. "" gent. The noble lord (H. Petty) had,

however, ingeniously put into his mouth "the expressions now brought forward by "the learned gent., but he had disclaimed "them. He had, however, no hesitation

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right hon. gent., and those who sat with "him on that side of the house. With "respect to himsef, he was not aware of any such deficiency in adhering to his "opinions, as the right hon gent. imputed "to him. Certainly his opinions on the subject now before the house had undergone no change, and he saw no reason to change them With respect to the right "hon. gent's, challenge to meet him on the "Hustings at Covent-Garden, he had to "excuse himself, on the ground that he had "constituents who had shewn him uniform "favour, since they had returned him to "the first Parliament he had sat in. These "constituents he was attached to, and was

unwilling to desert them for the ambition "of representing any greater place. The right hon. gent, had at times spoken of a "similar attachment, though he had after"wards found it so easy to get rid of it. At "least such was the amount of what was represented in the news-papers, in the

right hon. gent's. name. But, perhaps, "what was thus stated on the subject, was "not authentic. It was easy to credit an "excuse of that kind from the extravagan"cies contained in the speeches imputed to "the right hon. gentleman."The only laugh given to this speech was natural enough. Not that there is any thing very original or witty in Mr. Perceval's account of the triumphal car; but, it was impossible to be put in mind of that car; it was impossible for any one to mention it with apparent seriousness, without bursting out into laughter. The thing was so ridiculous, it was such a studied attempt to disguise a defeat; there was such a similarity between this procession and that of Blue-Beard; there we e so many of the persons and of the materials of the Theatre Royal actually employed about it; the piece was so well known to have been got up by Johnson, the Property-Man of that play-house; and the trick so completely failed, the laurels were so thickly covered with mud, by the very persons whom the device was intended to blind and mislead ; in short, the thing had been a subject of such universal ridicule, that, to excite a burst of laughter in the House, Mr P reeval had only to allude to it.The tenant of the car, the hero of the panto nime, seen ed to feel this, as appeared from his repiv. He "denied that he had deserted the Electors

of Stafford. He had offered himself for "Westminster by their express permission. "The triumphal car, which had excited "the learned gentleman's spleen, was not so very brilliant, that it might not have escaped his sarcasmı, (hear, hear!)

"ed of, but the prejudice they were calcu"lated to cast on a contested Election, on"which the learned gent. himself may be "called upon to be a judge."--No; the car was not so very brilliant, indeed, unless a mixture of laurel-leaves and mud make a brilliant appearance. It has been denied by some of the suborned daily prints, that mud was thrown at the herocs, seated in this car; but, in their zeal for those heroes, these same prints, not aware of the consequences, told their readers, of the contemptuous and insolent (as they had the assurance to call it) behavour of the populace, one of whom was actually taken up, and carried before the magistrates at the police-office, for throwing mud at the tenants of the triumphal car. Oh, what would the princely family of Sheridan now give, if the great head of it had never mounted that car! I have heard that the gentleman is fond of fame; and that he has now taken the right road to it no one can doubt.The speech ascribed to Mr. Sheridan taunts Mr. Perceval with a changeable disposition. I have never perceived such a disposition in that gontleman. It has not; as far as have observed, boon, visible in his actions. He has uniformly and steadily stuck to Pitt and his system; and, my objection to him is, that he clings to the system even now. But, as he is reported to have observed upon this eccasion, such a charge sounds rather oddly from Mr. Sheridan, who has, both in geneva's mid particulars, abandoned, since be and his son came into the receipt of the public mene, every great principle that he ever before professed, and every pledge he ever gave I will mention two instances by way of specimen. He has been always a loud declainier for the liberty of the press and for publicity upon all subjects. During the last session of parliament he attended in the House to take a part in discussion cely five times; and, one of those times was for the express purpose of preventing the first and most important charge against Lord Wellesley from being printed; in which undertaking he succeeded. The other instance that I shall now mention is, that, when Mr. Nicholl had undertaken the affair of the Carnatic, seeing that Mr. Sheridan was backward about it, the latter resumed the undertaking, pledged himself most solemnly to bring it forward, called for papers, the printing of which cost the nation many hundreds of pounds, and then be, in the last sessions of parliament, abandoned it, from the same motive, and with full as little compunction as his worthy associate the Discounts 4

Colonel Johnstone. And, is it this man, whom we now hear reproaching others with a disposition to change! Talk of the face of George Rose, indeed! I have noted down five and twenty public pledges that Mr. Sheridan has abandoned. They shall all be detailed one of these days.--The part of the reported speech of Mr. Sheridan which relates to the place bestowed upon him by his Majesty, and the doctrine, that he was not, on that account the less entitled to public support, are passed over in silence in the speech attributed to Mr. Perceval. They were here. brothers," and they might be "both in the wrong." But, does Mr. Sheridan think, that we are so ignorant as not to understand enough of such concerns to be able to perceive how it was that “ his

Majesty had thought him worthy to hold an office of trust and emolument? Does he think, that we do not understand all this; This is not the first time by thousands that we have heard men urge, as a proof of their worthiness, the possession of that of which we contend they are unworthy. This was the standing argument of Pitt and all his minions. It was the argument of Cavendish Bradshaw at lonton; where he, too, told the people, that his Majesty had thought him worthy of a place of trust and emolument. In short it is the argument of every one who lives upon the taxes, from the very highest to the very lowest of the innumerable host.

-A to the electors of Staiford giving Mr. Sheridan their express permission to stand for Westminster, I have no doubt of the fact, which, I think, is pretty fully proved, in their giving his son permission also to stand for Westminster, or any other place that he, or his father, might choose. Nor do I at all doubt of the unshaken attach"ment of Mr. Perceval's constituents to him. They have always returned him, he says, and, I dare say they always will remain as firmly attached to him as the free and independent electors of Gatton are to Colonel Wood. Mr. Perceval is a prudent man, and he does very right to decline a meeting with Mr. Sheridan upon the hustings in Covent Garden; not that I think he would be defeated; for, really, the electors would be fairly pused, as the old women say; but, Mr. Perceval saw, he says, the triumphal car, whence he would not fail to take the hint! It was bravery truly worthy of the royal fàmily of Sheridan to throw down the gauntlet to Mr. Perceval. As if he had said, I'll face you at any rate! I am not so unpopular as you. Will he meet Mr. Paull? Will he ever dare meet him, or any man of the

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It was nct, however, the severity of the same spirit and the same principles? He has afflcted contempt for Mr. Paull; but, "at the bottom of his heart, he dreads him more than he does all the other men in the world. His life will now be a life of continual anxiety and alarm. The petition may, possibly, fail of success. He may here be saved by some difficulty in bringing home the acts to himself or his agents. But, he is never, for one moment, secure against another dissolution of parlia ment; which may happen any morning or afternoon that he lives. He may awake any day, and find himself no longer a law-giver. And then comes on his shaking fit. Give us, où, good ministers! give us but another dissolution! Give us but one more opportu rity to demolish him! Toss him down only once more before us! And if we suffer him to return to you a member for Westminster, then despise us as much as he hates and fears us nov. Enough; for the present, of the contest for popularity between Messrs Perceval and Sheridan. A subject of a more serious nature calls for your attention; I mean the motion made où the 24th of December, in the House of Commons, by Mr. BIDDULPH, for discontinuing the salary or allowance to the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. The reasons, upon which this motion was founded, cannot be better stated than in the reputed speech of Mr. Biddulph himself He

adverted to the economy which the Speech delivered in his Majesty's Lame, on opening the Session, recommended, "in the great exertions that would be necessary, in addition to those already borne by his Majesty's people. It was essent al "to the public, that his Majesty's paternal recommendation was not a mere dead let

was thought, by many persons of deep reflection, that some great change was necessary to save the country. A ri gorous economy Lad not yet bien "tried, and he recommended it as the "first and easiest expedient. He moved.

a resolution: That the practice of giv “ing ɑ salary to the Chairman of the Com

mittee of Ways and Micans was unpee “sary, "and in the present circumstances of the "country inexpelient.” — -Let us hear the answer of Lord Howick before we proceed to make our remarks; though one would naturally have wondered what other ansiver than that of immediate gasent should be given to a preposition so reasonable as this expresse ed in ills resolution; what then most have been the sorrow of every man, who wishes well to the country, at being informed by the reports of the debates, that it wag same time before any members could be founik tọ second the motion! His Lordship

thanked the Honorable Gentleman, tor "the favourable sentiments, he entertained "of his Majesty's Ministers, who he assit"red hina were determined to practise the

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economy recommended in his Majesty's Speech. He did not, however, think that "the retrenchment recommended by the "Hon. Gent. could come within the desire "of his Majesty or the expectation of the

public. The Hon. Gent. was mistaken. in thinking that any one had been appointed to the office. The office was still va "cant till it should be the pleasure of the "House to call somebody to the, Chair,

when the House should resolve itself into "the Committee. The Hon. Gent, was also mistaken in thinking there was a sa

lary annexed to the situation. There had "been a salary from the Civil List from the "Revolution, till within these few years, "when it seemed to the House inconsistent "that any Officers of its body should have .. a salary from the Crown. An annual vote "of remuneration was then substituted, to "which the labour of the office was well "entitled. The chairman of the commit"tee of ways and means had to perform in "the chair of that committee the same du"ties as the speaker in the chair of the "House. He had to attend to all public "bills that came before the House, to watch "their various stages, and to be present every day in the House, from its meeting to its rising, for the purpose of doing his duty with respect to them. Was this a "task undeserving of remuneration? As to "the idea of its being distributed between "the members, it would in that case be every body's business, and that would be "nobody's business. With respect to the

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duty being performed by any other ser"vant of government, if the hon. gent, "thought there were any servants of go66 vernment who had no business attached "to their offices, let him move for the abo"lition of those offices. The business of "this office was certainly enough to de"mand the whole attention of an able and "attentive person, and ought not to be ex"empt from remuneration, such as in the "opinion of the House it should appear to "merit at the close of the session, when "the vote was brought forward. That "would be the proper time for the hon. "gentleman's motion, on which he should "move the order of the day."--Which | he did; and thus this first proposition, made to the new parliament, for saving the public money, was got rid of! A truly auspicious commencement!-It is no matter, whether the 1,2001. a year, given in this way to a member of the House of Commons by the members of the House of Commons; taken out of the public purse by "the guar"dians of the public purse," and given to one of themselves; taken out of the purse by one of" the holders of the purse-strings" and given by themselves to one of them selves; a part of the supplies of which be himself is to attend to the granting of: it is no matter, whether this sum be paid under the name of salary, or allowance, or remuneration it is a sum, which the House of Commons takes from the people annually and gives to one of themselves, and it is attended with this peculiar circumstance, that it is given to him for services which he perforins as a member of parliament, which are

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performed within the walls of that House, and which it is the duty of every member of that house to understand and to perform, if required. No matter, therefore, my Lord Howick, whether it be called a salary or a remuneration.Nor is there, my lord, any force in your argument built on precedent. Many bad things were done about the time of the blessed Revolution; and, if the House of Commons thought it inconsis tent that the Chairman should stand upon the Revolution footing, it proves that the establishment was not so deeply covered with the hoar of antiquity but that it might be touched. It is only, therefore, touching it a little harder, and down it goes. In the act of settlement, though Mr. Whitbread seems to have forgotten it; in the act of the people of England which settled the crown upon his Majesty's family, it was most carefully provided, that no placeman or pensioner should sit in the House of Commons. Look round you, my Lord, and you will see some hundreds of proofs that this provision has been annulled. Why, then, refer to the period of the Revolution for precedents which are to silence every objecter? From precedents from which there lies no appeal either to the reason of the case or to the necessities of the times? Unless, indeed, your Lordship be prepared to maintain, that acts and customs favouring the liberty and the property of the subject are, and ought to be, mutable; while every act and every custom making against that liberty and property, are, and ought to be, unchangeable in their nature and eternal in their duration. This was not the sort of doctrine, which your lordship used to delight in, when, under your former, and, with me, better name of Mr. Grey, you described, and inveighed against, the waste of the public money, and the numerous corruptions, which you expressed so anxious, and, as I thought, So sincere, a desire to see reformed.--Begging your pardon for having thus digressed, and especially to remind you of your language and opinions when out of office, I now proceed to observe, that the printer has made your lordship say, that the duties of the Chairman were like those of the Speaker; where an inference was left to be drawn, that, as one had a salary, so qught the other. But, my lord, Mr. Biddulph had made the distinction between the Speaker and the Chairman; and, the fact is, that the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, as such, has no more to do than every chairman of every committee of the whole House has; that is to say, to read the motions, to put the questions, to call to order, and to make the report. You tell us, that, it is the