George Rose

“ It has always been justly held in a free country, and particularly in this, to be one of its greatest privileges, that the chief aristocracy, as far as relates to the management of its public concerns, should be an aristocracy of talent and of virtue, as well as of rank and property; which principle would be destroyed if remuneration for public services should be withheld; and the community would be deprived of all its advantages. Not only the great offices of slate, but some others of most efficiency must then be confined to men of hereditary wealth and independence ”

“ Not to go back to the more ancient periods of our history, when the great weight of the prerogative bore down all opposition, whether of the parliament or the people; even since the prerogative has been defined and limited by the Revolution, when the people, having recently shaken off their yoke, were likely to have stretched their newly-acquired rights to the utmost, there has not been a reign in which the influence of the Crown has been so unceasingly controlled by the jealousy of the House of Commons as that of His present Majesty. ”

“ It must not be deemed invidious, however, if, while we urge a fair and adequate remuneration for public services, we distinctly and plainly state our opinion of the propriety of preventing, by every possible means, all secret emoluments. The public loses much more than the money by allowing any part of its income to be converted or employed to the. use or emolument of its servants:- it is the advantage, and ought to be the condition, of a fair, open, and liberal reward for public service, through all its gradations, to supersede every other source of remuneration. ”

“ If their accuracy shall stand the test of the closest scrutiny, ought any one, in future, to indulge himself, for the fake of popularity, or from any other motive, in making declamations, either in or out of parliament, about the increased and increasing influence, of which we have frequently heard so much of late [44] , and the immense charge to the public, with the attendant accumulations of patronage to the minister by the management of new taxes? ”

“ May we not then venture to ask, whether it is reasonable, or whether it would be politic, that such persons should, after spending a great part of their lives with industry, zeal and fidelity, in the discharge of trusts and public duties, be left afterwards without reward of any fort, and their families entirely without provision? ”

“ The first is an encouragement to honest and honorable merit in the performance of that service with zeal and fidelity; the last has an evident tendency to taint the purity of office, and to turn into other channels than those of the public interest the exertions of its officers. Nor is it possible for any servant of the public to impose too strict a guard upon himself against deriving the smallest advantage from his situation by any indirect means whatever. ”

“ Among other advantages derived from the labours of the Committees of Finance, the public is accurately informed of the burthens upon it, and bow every part of its income is dispofed of. Hence we are enabled to state, with precision, the charge incurred by pensions and sinecure employments, and to compare that with the whole of the revenue, which it appears to be desirable should be done, as many well-intentioned persons have taken an impression, that if all those were put an end to, the public might be relieved from a considerable proportion of its burthens. ”

“ Such, I agree with that author, are the iegitimate and respectable functions of Opposition, considered as a practical branch of the constitution of Great Britain: such powers, and such jealousy, it is hoped they will always exercise and entertain.
The most degrading corruption of a statesman, or his friends, is indeed, by the influence of money; but public men may be corrupted by the love of power, as well as by lust of gain; may be bribed by means of their pride, their obstinacy, or their resentment; they may be milled even by mistaken ideas of virtue. ”

“ An invariable adherence to that principle must always be of the very utmost importance: but above all in times like the present, when our war-establishment of every fort is not only the instrument of our national glory, but the means of our national safety, the provision for our national existence. The other branch of saving, that by which the same services may be performed at a cheaper rate, deserves the most serious investigation, and, it is hoped, has undergone the most anxious consideration, in order to the attainment of that laudable end. ”

“ Least of all should any one declaim on the imperceptible influence, which has been sometimes much dwelt on. While the practice of making close loans was in use, which afforded opportunities of gratifying long lists of private friends secretly; and beneficial contracts were made with members of parliament, or their friends, from favor only, to a great amount; and so long, too, as leases of the landed property of the Crown were renewed from time to time, on terms of great advantage to the lessees, and of loss to the Crown ”

“ That management in truth derived great advantage from the suppression of the description of offices here noticed, as the possessors of them, holding by patents, conceived themselves amenable only to the Treasury or the King, and sometimes formally disclaimed any responsibility to the Commissioners of the Customs, to the manifest inconvenience, if not to the loss, of the revenue. ”

“ If, therefore, 15 contractors, the number stated to parliament in 1781, are added to the smallest number of persons holding employments between 1739 and 1782, it will be seen that the persons now in office, in the House of Commons, are exactly equal to the half of the lowest number, at any time within that period.
Those, however, who complain of a prevailing influence in the House of Commons, do not confine their objections to civil employments, but resort to the great numbers of naval and military officers, who, from the great increase of the navy and army, have feats in that house. ”

“ Besides the general construction (if the phrase may be allowed) of our government, adapted at all times to the purpose of checking excess as well as abuse in its expenditure, there should be an occasional adoption of enquiry to suit particular cases and particular departments. This mode is rendered indispensible from the complication, as well as the novelty, of many articles of public expence to which important and critical periods give rise ”

“ On the more extensive consideration respecting the charges to be incurred for the great branches of the public service, whatever strong opinions the author entertains on the subject, it is not meant to enter into any detail here, as it would not be useful, on his sole authority, to do so: he will content himself with repeating an observation he has made in public ”

“ The charge of managing the whole revenue of the kingdom appears now annually in the accounts laid before parliament, an attention to which will convince any one who has considered the subject extensively, that there is not a country in Europe where the taxes are collected at so moderate an expence as in this [43] : it may indeed be questioned whether there is any person possessing very extensive property whose receipts are managed with such œconomy as the public income of Great Britain. ”

“ It has been shewn how far there is a ground for the call for further retrenchments, and the extent to which the utmost possible stretch of these would lighten the burthens of the people. It is, in truth,, one of those clamours where loudness is substituted for force, but of which the found is much more powerful than the justice. The retrenchments which have been suggested on more sober grounds, though occasionally by persons not the most conversant either with the resources or the necessary expenditure of the state, have been of two kinds ”

“ In guiding or opposing counciis, by which great public interests are fought to be promoted, men must look to the means by which the country may be benefited, independently of private interest, and in possible cases, independently of private reputation. In the machine of State are many movements with which the people are not acquainted ”

“ To what extent influence is derived from the dispofal of commissions, in either service, from the large establishments of both, to persons not in parliament, the author has not much better means of judging than the public at large, who fee the appointments in the daily papers; as he has good reason for believing that Mr. Pitt interfered very little with the patronage of the Commander in Chief, or the Admiralty. ”

“ Something must certainly be allowed for mere favor; but when the instances are clearly improper (and if is not meant to contend there are no such) , they are at least open to public animadversion; as they are now regularly laid before parliament, and printed from time to time, which certainly affords a considerable, if not an effectual, check against abuse. ”

“ The first ought scrupulously to be investigated, at least as far as the examination may be made without endangering the dignity of enquiry: and we admit, most unequivocally, that the latter ought to be carefully and anxiously watched. We are aware that the general axiom, that wealth is power, is peculiarly applicable to our present state; and that the husbanding our resources is necessary for the continuance of that power which is to provide for our own safety. ”

“ A virtuous statesman must act from higher motives than either his own immediate interest, or his own immediate reputation: his intereft, a patriot states- man must remember, is that of his country; his reputation must often be left to the justice of posterity. ”

“ In times not very remote, indulgence was shewn to persons in lucrative employments, holding large sums of public money in their hands, in some instances for many years after they retired from them, from whence they derived immense profit, at a considerable risk, as well as certain loss to the public ”

“ The offices of the Auditors of the Land Revenue for England and Wales next attracted the attention of Mr. Pitt. The duties of these, it appeared to him, were of a nature which would very well admit of their being performed by the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accompts: one was held by two gentlemen for their joint lives, the two others during pleasure. These were abolished by law in 1799 [8] , at which time the reversion of the most valuable, worth more than 3000l. ”

“ What fairness, justice, or reason is there then in marking the character of the official man alone with disrespect, and himself as unfit to have reward in any case, beyond an annual stipend for his labour and services, just sufficient for his necessary current expences, however faithfully and diligently he may have discharged an important trust for a long feries of years? ”

“ None of those, however, continue to exist; and, with the exception of Crown livings, every man who looks into the Court Ivalendar will be nearly as well informed of what the minister has to dispofe of as those most immediately in his confidence. What he does dispose of is constantly published in the papers of the day. ”

“ But if from the total sum received from sinecure places and pensions, deductions were made of such as have been given as rewards for public services, the amount would be very greatly reduced; pensions to foreign ministers, in particular, whose appointments are hardly, in any instance, suifficient for their maintenance. ”