referred him rather to what was paffing in his mind, than to what he had committed to paper; there was, however, no knowing what he meant, nor did he perhaps know himself. The fubfidiary letter certainly had a reference to fome painful circumftances interesting to his private feelings, and referred to the uncertain fituation in which he was going. The count was defirous that the nature of his command should be afcertained; and that was the object of the letter; but in a public view it had, he contended, no importance whatever. He ftated, that fo far from having fent away this gallant man upon fhort notice, he had, upon knowing of his intended marriage, advised him to defer his departure, partly hoping that the expedition might be delayed, partly from the conviction, that, fhould he be abfent on that expedition, he would be ready and ardent for any other. But to this the heroic gallantry of the count would not liften. As he was only going to carry out a body of troops from the Elbe, he would know at the place of deftination what he was to do, as all fubordinate officers do; and that would be fufficient. The letter did not, he afferted, juftify the accufation brought against him; and he charged gentlemen on the other fide of the houfe with having fuppofed it loft, when they fo earnestly moved for its production. This charge was,

however, folemnly denied by Mr. Fox,

General Smith contended that the letter concerned the public fervice, and only that, excepting the character of count de Sombreuil, who, anxious for the juftification of his conduct, had made the publication of it his dying requeft. The geneal expatiated upon the ignorance under which the count had acted, and contended, that, had he known that the command was to be trufted to Puiffaye, a man whom many officers would think it a difgrace to ferve under, he never would have gone upon this fhameful expedition. The defire which the count had evinced to vindicate himself from having had a fhare in the expedition, was alfo infifted upon by Mr. Fox, who confidered the emigrants as the chief advifers of it; but thought their fituation no excufe for the rafhnefs and folly of it, which was degrading to the understandings of British minifters. He thought the fecretary at war was bound to publifh the letter to which the count referred, as exculpatory of his being concerned in planning this calamitous expedition; and that if the Quiberon expedition fhould become the object of a general difcuffion, this paper would throw confiderable light upon the fubject. After fome further debate upon this motion, it was evaded by the order of the day, which was again moved for by Mr. Pitt.

1790.

I

СНАР.

N the fecond of May the mar

quis of Landowne, who had previously moved for feveral government papers, entered into a difcuffion in the houfe of lords on the conduct of adminiftration. His lordship faid, that, from the improbability of every exertion he could make producing a change of fyftem, he had hefitated whether he fhould ever again trouble the houfe; but that he had been deterred by the neceffity he fhould then have felt himself under of explaining the grounds on which he acted, and had been influenced by circumftances which, if difclofed, might tend to raife difcontent, which he profeffed himself anxious to avoid. On the 15th December 1779, and on the 8th February 1780, his lordship faid, he had propofed two motions, in order to fuggeft that fyftem of public operations with which it was his wifh that the refolutions then to be brought forward fhould be followed. In this fyftem he had been fupported by many of the present adminiftration, who appeared to have fince abandoned it. His with, therefore, was to afford them an opportunity of fhewing whether they ftill adhered to their former refolution, "that the influence of the crown was encreased, is encreafing, and ought to be diminished;" or, if they had apoftatized, that the public fhould be in poffeffion of documents upon which to form an impartial eftimate of their character. It was not, he

faid, his wifh to draw the attention

of the houfe to all the papers on the table: the first to which he should direct their attention was that for the confolidation of the different boards into one: this would have abolished fifteen out of twenty-five places, and occafioned a confiderable diminution of influence. This, therefore, it was his great furprize to fee, had never been acted upon. The next paper to which he should call their attention, was the gth report concerning the pay of the army: this was justly stated in the report to be a fcene of compofition and decompofition, of fraud, ambiguity, and myftery. Why there fhould be complex and separate accounts for agency, cloathing, fubfiftence, &c. &c. which could only ferve to accumulate expences upon the country, his lordship faid, he could not fee, except it was as a pretext for fupporting a parcel of idle clerks by the fweat of a deferving foldiery, and to enable minifters undetected to apply the public money to purposes different from its original deftination. The next report, his lordship faid, to which he would advert, was the 11th, relating to the unfunded debt, the object of which was to acquaint the people with the real extent of the burthens they incurred in the course of a war, and to provide against the debt encreafing more rapidly than the means of payment. This regulation had, however, been neglected by the prefent minifters. In the

14th report, refpecting the patent officers of the customs, they were divided into claffes of illegal, ufelefs, thofe who exercifed their truft by deputies, and fuch as may be confolidated. To abolish thefe offices, was the intention of one of his refolutions. In the port of London there were, he faid, 61 in number, enjoying falaries to the amount of 26,00ol. a year. In the outports there were 157 perfons of the fame defcription, with falaries to the amount of 40,000l. His lordship stated several abuses which exifted in thefe offices, and faid that in many cafes one perfon held two or three offices, which were intended as checks upon one another. Why the bill for the reform of patent offices had been fuffered to deep, he could not tell. In circumstances like the prefent, it was of the utmost importance to inveftigate and reform every abufe. Much reform, his lordship thought, might be made in the mint, and refpecting the crown, lands. The fyftem of barracks, and the army in all its departments, his lordship confidered as proofs of the encreased and encreafing influence of the crown. The commiffioners of accounts had reprefented the extraordinaries of the army likewife as an evil which called for remedy in the loudest terms, Minifters might fay, that in the papers on the table, there was no inftance of money loosely, extravagantly, or corruptly fquandered; but they were, in fact, fo myfteriously drawn out, that it was impoffible to underftand them: upon the prefent fyftem, any thing might be deemed extraordinaries. A great many fums were entered under the general title for the public fervice, and ditto ditto very frequently recur

red; the accounts, on the whole, inftead of being arranged and produced on the first day of the feffion, were obfcure and kept back till they were reluctantly torn from minifters at that late period.

Another article in the long lift of abufes was, his lordship stated, the appointment of a third fecretary of state. But, however minifters had neglected the fuggeftions of the committee relative to the abolition of old offices and boards, they had fcrupuloufly complied with their ideas refpecting new ones. Of thefe, the tranfport-board, the treafury-board, and the victuallingboard, were, he conceived, useless and unneceffary; as one active man would do more bufinefs than a board. After enumerating several abuses, his lordship obferved, that time would fail him for mentioning all which had been introduced and fanctioned by the prefent adminiftration; and he was tired with infpecting the red book, that register of corruption. Yet all this had taken place under the conduct of two noble lords, who came into office abetting the principle that the influence of the crown had encreased, was encreafing, and ought to be diminifhed. His lordship further deprecated the patronage obtained by the India bill-that of government police in the city of Westminsterand, above all, the unlimited credit upon the bank, which, from its magnitude, was fufficient to fwallow up the reft. This, his lordship obferved, had been voted to the minifter in a bill repealing a falutary ftatute of William and Mary, which restricted the credit of government upon the bank, and which would unnoticed have passed the houfe, but for the vigilance of the earl of Lauderdale. By the repeal

of this act, the bank might stretch their credit to government at pleafure, and the minifter, without confent of parliament, had an ample refource within his reach. His lordfhip profeffed that it was not his intention at that time to enter into any question of finance, as the papers were too voluminous to be gone through at a fitting; they opened, he faid, however, a more dreadful picture of our fituation than it was poffible almost for the imagination to conceive. The marquis concluded by moving, that, perceiving no effectual fteps taken to realize thofe measures of reform for which minifters at their entrance into office ftood pledged, or those recommended by commiffioners appointed by parliament, it was neceffary to inquire into fo extraordinary an omiflion, as well as whether any new offices have been created?whether any old falaries had been encreafed on flight pretences? whether any falaries had been granted for fpecial purpofes, and continued when the reafon for them ceased? - whether any warrant for beneficial grants had been directed? - and, on the whole, whether the public expences had encreased beyond the fupplies annually granted by parliament? His lordfhip proceeded to cenfure the war as bloody and profufe beyond example, and our fituation on the whole as calling for the moft accurate investigation; and concluded with moving for an inquiry into the feveral abufes which he had pointed out.

Lord Grenville, in reply, faid that he never could affent to the principal points which had been adduced; fince, contrary to what had been ftated, feveral bills for reform had been brought in, and received the fanction of parliament.

1

Though these reforms might be thought neceffary by the commiffioners at the time, they might not, he obferved, apply to the prefent or future times. With refpect to confolidating fome of the public offices of revenue, if he was confulted, he fhould fay the plan was impracticable, from the large encrease of the revenue; nor were there any men whofe abilities and alacrity entitled them more to public reward. As to the army extraordinaries, many regulations had been made by Mr. Burke and colonel Barré,, which had afforded much falutary reform. With respect to what had been urged refpecting the mysterious mode of negotiating loans, and the lottery had been mentioned as one bad part of them, this was the firft administration in which the lottery formed no part of thofe loans. It was next faid, that the unfunded debt ought to be afcertained. Formerly, the navy, ordnance, and unfunded debt, used to lie over; but lately they had been laid upon the table of the house of commons within the year. As to patent offices, he obferved, they were held by legal tenure, and could not be withdrawn without reasonable compenfation; which would be a more confiderable expence to the public than the continuance of the patentees in office. Such as could, would be abolished on their becoming vacant; and none but one had been renewed. His lordship warmly commended minifters for the care they had taken in auditing the public accounts. With refped to the crown lands, very much had been done by the perfon to whom they were entrufted. Excepting thefe, the confolidation of the revenue boards, and the arrangements in a new coinage, recommended in the re

ports,