APPENDIX

TO

VOL. II.

No. I.

Extract from Mr. Curran's Speech on Pensions.

"THIS polyglot of wealth, this museum of curiosities, the pension list, embraces every link in the human chain, every des◄ cription of men, women and children, from the exalted excellence of a Hawke or a Rodney, to the debased situation of the lady who humbleth herself that she may be exalted. But the lessons it inculcates forms its greater perfection :-it teaches, that sloth and vice may eat that bread which virtue and honesty may starve for after they have earned it. It teaches the idle and dissolute to look up for that support which they are too proud to stoop and earn. It directs the minds of men to an entire reliance on the ruling power of the state, who feeds the ravens of the royal aviary, that cry continually for food. It teaches them to imitate those saints on the pension list, that are like the lilies of the field-they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet are arrayed like Solomon in his glory. In fine, it teaches a lesson which indeed they might have learned from Epictetus-that it is sometimes good

not to be over virtuous: it shews that in proportion as our distresses increase, the munificence of the crown increases also-in proportion as our clothes are rent, the royal mantle is extended over us.

BUT, notwithstanding the pension list, like charity, covers a multitude of sins, give me leave to consider it as coming home to the members of this house-give me leave to say, that the crown in extending is charity, its liberality, its profusion, is laying a foundation for the independence of parliament; for hereafter, instead of orators or patriots accounting for their conduct to such mean and unworthy persons as free-holders, they will learn to despise them, and look to the first man in the state, and they will by so doing have this security for their independence, that while any man in the kingdom has a shilling they will not want one.

"SUPPOSE at any future period of time the boroughs of Ireland should decline from their present flourishing and prosperous state-suppose they should fall into the hands of persons who should wish to drive a profitable commerce, by having members of parliament to hire or let; in such a case a secretary would find great difficulty if the proprietors of members should enter into a combination to form a monopoly; to prevent which in time, the wisest way is to purchase up the raw material, young members of parliament just rough from grass, and when they are a little bitted, and he has got a pretty stud, perhaps of seventy, he may laugh at the slave-merchant; some of them he may teach to sound through the nose, like a barrel organ; some, in the course of a few months, might be taught to cry hear! hear! some, chair! chair! upon occasion, though, those latter might create a little confusion, if they were to forget whether they were calling inside or outside of those doors. Again, he might have some so trained that he need only pull a string, and up gets a repeating member; and if they were

so dull that they could neither speak or make orations, (for they are different things) he might have them taught to dance, pedibus ire in sententia.—This improvement might be extended; he might have them dressed in coats and shirts all of one colour, and of a Sunday he might march them to church two by two, to the great edification of the people and the honour of the christian religion; afterwards, like the ancient Spartans, or the fraternity at Kilmainham, they might dine all together in a large hall. Good heaven! what a sight to see them feeding in public upon public viands, and talking of public subjects for the benefit of the public. It is a pity they are not immortal; but I hope they will flourish as a corporation, and that pensioners will beget pensioners to the end of the chapter."

No. II.

MR. PITT'S LETTER TO THE PRINCE OF WALES.

"SIR,

The proceedings in parliament being now brought to a point, which will render it necessary to propose to the house of commons, the particular measures to be taken for supplying the defects of the personal exercise of the royal authority, during the present interval, and your royal highness having some time since signified your pleasure, that any communications on this subject should be in writing, I take the liberty of respectfully entreating your royal highness's permission, to submit to your consideration the outlines of the plan, which his majesty's confidential servants humbly conceive

(according to the best judgment they are able to form) to be proper to be proposed in the present circumstances.

"It is their humble opinion, that your royal highness should be empowered to exercise the royal authority, in the name and on thebehalf of his majesty during his majesty's illness, and to do all acts which might legally, be done by his majesty; with provisions, nevertheless, that the care of his majesty's royal person, and the management of his majesty's household, and the direction and appointment of the officers and servants therein, should be in the queen, under such regulations, as may be thought necessary. That the power to be exercised by your royal highness should not extend to the granting the real or personal property of the king, (except as far as relates to the renewal of leases,) to the granting any office in reversion, or to the granting, for any other term than during his majesty's pleasure, any pension, or any office whatever, except such as must by law be granted for life, or during good behaviour; nor to the. granting any rank or dignity of the peerage of this realm, to any person except his majesty's issue, who shall have attained the age of 21 years.

"These are the chief points which have occurred to his majesty's servants. I beg leave to add, that our ideas are formed on the supposition, that his majesty's illness is only temporary, and may be of no long duration. It may be difficult to fix before hand the precise period, for which these provisions ought to last; but if unfortunately his majesty's recovery should be protracted to a more distant period, than there is reason at present to imagine, it will be open hereafter to the wisdom of parliament, to reconsider these provisions whenever the circumstances appear to call for it.

"If your royal highness should be pleased to require farther explanation on this subject, and should condescend

to signify your orders, that I should have the honour of attending your royal highness for that purpose, or to intimate any other mode, in which your royal highness may wish to receive such explanation, I shall respectfully wait your royal highness's commands.

To this letter his royal highness wrote the following answer, which he delivered to the lord chancellor, January 1, 1789.

"The Prince of Wales learns from Mr. Pitt's letter, that the proceedings in parliament are now in a train, which enables Mr. Pitt, according to the intimation in his former letter, to communicate to the prince the outlines of the plan, which his majesty's confidential servants conceive to be proper to be proposed in the present circumstances.

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Concerning the steps already taken by Mr. Pitt, the Prince is silent, nothing done by the two houses of parliament can be a proper subject of his animadversion; but when previously to any discussion in parliament, the outline of a scheme of government are sent for his consideration, in which it is proposed, that he shall be personally and principally concerned, and by which the royal authority, and the public welfare may be deeply affected, the prince would be unjustifiable, were he to withhold an explicit declaration of his sentiments. His silence might be construed into a