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other hand, the exigencies of the age having converted what was defigned to be the reward of industry, into the means of rendering fome offices lucrative to excefs, and of fupporting others that are ufelefs to the public, the fubject has a right to be relieved of that burthen and therefore we are of opinion, that all poundage fees, of every kind foever, fhould be fuppreffed, and totally abolished: and of this opinion was the privy council; who, by their order in the year 1695, above alluded to, fhewed their fenfe of a poundage, by directing it, in inftances therein mentioned, to be fuppreffed in the office of the treasurer of the navy.

The remaining head is that of Gratuities; a fpecies of emolument very liable to abuse: it may be a reward for civility, favour, or extra fervice; it may be alfo the purchafe of undue preference, expedition, and, in fome cafes, of procraftination. Flowing, at firft, from the liberality of opulence, the oftentation of vanity, or the defign of cunning, it very foon affumes the name of cuftom, and becomes a claim, fubmitted to, to avoid the imputation of meannefs, and frequently to the great inconvenience of contracted circumftances: nor is it confined to individuals only; the public pay their fhare: in the payments out of the deductions of twelve pence in the pound, there are two articles, making 6531. 12s. 8d. diftributed by the paymafter general of the forces in gratuities. The public voice unites with that of individuals, in demanding a fuppreffion of a fpecies of emolument fo eafily perverted to purpofes injurious to the intereft of

both.

But there is one other fort of gratuity, that requires particular obfervation; that is, what is paid to the officers and clerks in the pay office of the navy and army, for carrying on and making up the accounts of the treasurer and paymafter general after their refignation. It fhould feem, that in every office of accounts, the balancing the books every year, and as foon as poffible after the expiration of that year, is a duty incumbent upon the perfons employed in that office; or difficulty, confufion, and ignorance of the real ftate of their accounts, muft enfue; it is an essential part of their conftant yearly bufinefs, for which their annual ftipends are or should be an ade. quate reward; and the prefiding officer is bound to fee that this bu finefs is done. But in these two offices a different fyftem has prevailed: during the time the trea furer or paymafter general has continued in office, not one of his year's accounts has been ever made up; and it has been the intereft of the officers not to make them up: if they had, it must have been confidered as part of their official bufinefs, and paid for by their yearly emoluments; but, by delaying it for ten or fifteen years, they crave, on the ground of custom, and obtain of the treafury, a fpecial allowance for this bufinefs, as for extra-fervice they were not bound to perform. The final accounts of Lord Holland, ending in June 1765, are at length near being clofed; and the treasury allowance for making them up has been craved and allowed. This recent tranfaction, completed fince the is. fuing our precept for an account of these allowances, confifts of the memorial

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memorial to the treafury by the acting executor of Lord Holland; the diftribution of 11,320l. amongst the officers, and the fum of 3,6651. 10s. 6d. for incidental charges, craved by the memorial; and his majesty's warrant authorifing these allowances. If the profits of this office last year equalled the profits of the preceding year, as they probably did, the addition of this allowance would have increased the actual net receipt of the whole office to 34,8811. 1s. 8d.; and that of the cashier only to 9,8251. 19s. 6d. and, if he had received all his fees, to 11,0391. 15s.

The memorial ftates thefe accounts to be intricate and voluminous, and to amount to above 45,900,000l.notwithstandingwhich they have been made up by the officers and clerks mentioned in the diftribution, without any expence to the public for additional affiftance or allowance." If they have been made up in the course of thefe last years, the load of annual current business in this office, during the time of Lord Holland, could have been no impediment to their being made up at that time, or foon after his refignation, and with much greater eafe, whilft the tranfactions were recent and fresh in their memories.

There ftill remain to be made up the accounts of four treasurers of the navy, to the amount of 58,944,5881.; and of three paymafters general of the forces, amounting to 4,666,8751.; exclufive of the treafurer and pay maftergeneral in office; to the firft of whom has been iffued, to the 30th of September, 1780, 16,781,2171. and to the latter, to the end of the

fame year, 43,253,9111. and not one year's account of either are completed. So that of the money iffued to the navy, 75,725,8051.; and of the money iffued to the army 47,920,7861.together123,646,5911. (not including 10,647,1881. issued to the navy, and 8,121,000l. to the army, to the end of the last year) is as yet unaccounted for ; and for the making up of these accounts, if this cuftom is fuffered to continue, nine more gratuities are to be craved of the public. How much then does it behové them that this evil fhould be corrected!-An evil that furnishes another weighty reason, in addition to thofe urged in our former reports, for proceeding immediately to bring forward the long arrears in the accounts of thefe offices, in order for their speedy completion.

Having thus ftated the mifchiefs attending the prefent establishment, both to the public and individuals, and the reasons for abolifhing the multifarious emoluments by which these offices are now fupported, it remains for us to propofe fuch a regulation, as appears beft calculated to avoid the like mifchiefs, and moft beneficial to the public fervice.

We are of opinion, that in the place of all thefe falaries, fees, and gratuities, there fhould be fubftituted and annexed to each of these offices, of whatever rank or dengmination, one certain falary, paid to the officer by the public quarterly, and free of all deductions: this falary fhould be an ample compenfation for the fervice required; and the quantum eftimated by the various qualifications and circumftances neceffary for the exe

cution,

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cution, and which, together, form the title to reward.

By this regulation the officer will know his income, the public will know their expence, and uniformity and equality will be introduced in the provifions for officers of equal rank and ftation in fimilar offices. The induftry of fome perfons requires the fpur of profits continually flowing in, or the hopes of increase others prefer the certainty of a known, fure income, paid at ftated times. No arrangement can fuit the difpofitions or occafions of all men; but time and ufage will foon reconcile one reafonable rule, extended through thefe departments of government. Notwithstanding this regulation throws upon the public the whole expence of thefe offices, which are at prefent fupported in part by individuals, yet, by adopting it, that whole expence will become lefs than the fum it now cofts the public; for that fum is fo great as to afford every liberal falary, and yet leave no inconfiderable faving. Not that this is the only faving propofed by the regulation: the public at prefent bear a much greater fhare of the burthen than is obvious at the first view. Besides fees and gratuities paid by public offices, and refunded to them out of public money, many payments, though made by individuals, are charged by them ultimately to the account of the public. For inftance, the contractor, when he calculates the terms upon which he may fafely engage with government, muft eftimate every article of profit and lofs confequential to his bargain to the account of the latter, he places all his charges, and amongst them the long cata

:

logue of fees, certain and uncertain. The first he knows; the last he will calculate not to his own difadvantage; and if by them he can procure credit, or preference, or expedition, he will charge them to government at their full price. If this head of various expences was blotted out of his column of charges, by fo much would the terms of his contract be more favourable to the public,

But befides this, fo very various and extenfive are the operations of government, that the number of perfons employed in their fervice conftitute a very confiderable body of the people; and their relief is a public concern. If, by difcharging an office, at prefent paid by a falary, from thofe fees and deductions to which it is now fsubject, that falary fhould become greater than the office ought in reason to have annexed to it, it may eafily be regulated, and reduced to its proper ftandard.

We have faid the falary fhould be paid free of all deductions; that is, as far as is confiftent with the laws in being. The falaries and fees of office are at prefent fubject, by three acts of parliament, to the land-tax, the fixpenny, and the one fhilling duties. Whoever takes a view of the above ftate of the official profits, will not wonder they fhould be decmed by the legislature a fit fubject of taxation; and, under the system then in use, no other mode of taxation could well be contrived, but that adopted in thofe acts, though attended with inequality; and, in many cafes, with hardship. Had one known falary been at that time the pay of office, and the necesfities of the ftate required the aid

of every fubject, in proportion to his faculties, it is poffible a diminution of the falary before it iffued, might have appeared a more eligible, more equal, and lefs expenfive mode of taxation, than paying it entire out of the Exchequer, and then bringing back again a part of it, delayed and defalcated by a variety of deductions in its circuit; but, as it is, the fums at prefent affeffed upon thefe offices must continue to be paid; becaufe, otherwife, in the landtax, it will occafion a deficiency in the fum to be raised by that divifion in which the office is af feffed; and, in the other duties, it will diminish the funds created by thofe acts, and confequently the fecurity of the creditors upon thofe funds. The land-tax and duties are now paid by the officers, at ftated times, to the collectors and receivers. If the mode of payment by a clear falary is adopted, the total fum, now affeffed upon all the officers in one office, may fill continue to be paid as 'one fum, in like manner, out of the fame fund with the falaries themselves.

We have faid the falaries fhould be annexed to the office: it ought to be a full and competent recompence for the execution, and no more. The whole of it ought to be paid to the perfon who executes, independent of the officer who prefides, but who fhould ftill retain the fame power of appointment, and the fame controul that he now exercises over the inferior officer. Where the profits exceed what the officer is in reafon entitled to, the overplus fhould be abolished, and the public reap the benefit, not a perfon who earns no part of it.

In the pay-office of the army,

fome of the offices of the deputy paymasters abroad are finecures: though deputies themselves, they execute thefe offices by their deputies, being themfelves engaged in very different employments under government.

Inftances are not wanting, in all thefe offices, to warrant this regulation of payment by a falary. The treafurer of the navy and his paymafter, the paymafter-general of the forces, the paymafters of exchequer bills, and their officers, are all paid by falaries only; and why the fame rule may not be extended to the reft, no fufficient reafon has hitherto occurred to us. It might feem too fanguine, to fuggeft how far this rule may be applied to other offices, without a previous examination into their peculiar circumstances; and yet the advantage it holds out to the public, its fimplicity, and aptitude to be accommodated to all offices, however diftinguifhed, afford great reafon to believe it may be applied to every department of government.

The principle of œconomy by which we have been guided, has led us to the conclufions we have formed, and the regulations we have fubmitted to the wifdom of parliament: conclufions ftrictly deduced from that principle, and regulations made neceffary by the preffing exigencies of the times.

GUY CARLETON,
T. ANGUISH,
A. PIGGOTT,
RICH. NEAVE,

(L. S) (L.S.).

(L. S.)

(L. S.)

SAM. BEACHCROFT, (L

S.)

GEO. DRUMMOND, (L. S.)

Office of Accounts, Surryfreet, 9th February, 1782.

CONTENTS.

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Ireland. Retrospective view of the internal state of affairs in that country. Attempt to reform the conftitution, by fhortening the duration of parliaments. Mutiny bill paffed. Meetings of the Irish volunteers to obtain a parliamentary reform. Ineffectual attempt to induce them to difband. Bill for effecting a parliamentary reform-rejected by a great majority; and reJolution thereupon. Addrefs to his majefty on that fubject. Counter-addrefs. Another bill prefented, and rejected. Propofition for the relief of the Roman catholics. Petition of the delegates conveyed to Mr. Pitt. Mr. Pitt's anfwer. Difunion among the volunteers, on the fubject of the Roman catholics. Lord Charlemont thanked by the city of Dublin for his conduct. Steps taken by government to prevent the meeting of the delegates. Letter from the Attorney General to the sheriffs of Dublin. High fheriff of the county of Dublin profecuted, fined, and imprisoned; others alfo profecuted. Meetings of delegates nevertheless held. Another bill prefented, and rejected. Dif treffes of the manufacturers of Dublin. Committee appointed for their relief. Mr. Gardener's plan-rejected by a very great majority. Violent ferment amongst the people. Outrages of the mob, who are difperfed by the military. Bill for reftricting the liberty of the prefs. Petitions against. Modified, and paffed. Non-importation agreements entered into. Precautions to prevent enormities. Lord Lieutenant inčurs popular odium, and is openly infulted. Commercial arrangement between Great Britain and Ireland. A set of refolutions prefented to the house of commons in Ireland; agreed to; tranfmitted to England. Bufinefs opened in the house of commons there by Mr. Pitt; his fpeech. Propofitions minutely investigated. Ten new propofitions added. Propofitions paffed. Very strongly oppofed in the house of lords; paffed. Bill thereupon. Propofitions tranfmitted to Ireland; their reception there. Bill moved for, correfpondent to that in England; debates thereupon. Speeches of Mr. Grattan and Mr. Flood. Bill brought in; ordered to be printed. Further profecution of the meafure declined. Mr. Orde's Speech on the occafion. -Intended emigration of the Genevefe to Ireland. Reception of their commiffioners there. Difagreement between the parties. Scheme proves abortive. [1

CHAP. II.

Retrospective view of continental matters, which, through the multiplicity and importance of other foreign or domeftic affairs, were, of neceffity, passed over in our late volumes. France. Death of the Count de Maurepas,

and

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