the greater part of this furplus arifes from a parliamentary fund, which had no exiftence in the year 1760, and to which, if it had, the crown could not have laid the fmallest pretenfion. This fund was created by the poft-office act of the 5th of the prefent reign. and in this estimate, with an evident view of impofition upon the public, and deception on parliament, is artfully brought to account on the fide of the crown, under a fuppofition, that the multiplicity and perplexity of figures, with the indolence and inattention fo prevalent in public affairs, would effectually operate in preventing detection. They faid, that if one falfe article in any account could be proved, and that it was manifeftly brought in by defign, as in the prefent inftance, it was a fair and allowed deduction, that the whole account was falfe. They concluded therefore, that from the withholding of all fpecification, and every voucher, which could afford the colour of authenticity to one part of the accounts, and the grofs and glaring impofition attempted in the other; it was equally juftifiable in point of argument and fact to infift, thet the whole was a fcene of unparalleled deception, delufion, and impofi tion. Comparative estimates were entered into of the amount of feveral heads of expenditure, during two periods of eight years each in the prefent reign, and two equal periods which terminated at the conclufion of the former. The excefs in feveral of thefe articles during the last eight years was confiderable, and arofe principally under the heads of the cofferers account, the board of works, penfions, annuities, fecret fervice, and ambaffadors. It was obferved, that the excefs in thofe penfions, which were paid by the paymafter of that department, in the late period, compared with the expenditure under the fame head of the lat eight years of the late reign, amounted to 113,298 1. That the excels in penfions and annuities paid at the exchequer during the fame periods, amounted to 80,846 1. And that the excefs under the head of fecret fervice, was 63,559 1. although the last eight years of the late King, included the greatest part of the late glorious war, when the demands for that fervice muft have been great and neceffary, and events fufficiently told, that the expenditure was applied to purpofes truly national. Thus, faid they, the excefs, under thefe three fufpicious articles only, does not fall greatly fhort of one half of the prefent incurred debt; and if to this was added the excefs in others, and the amount of the wanton or unneceffary expenditure (which can be gathered even from a view of the present mutilated accounts) in several, the whole would confiderably exceed the demand now made upon public. And though the correction of these exorbitances could not discharge the prefent incumbrance, it would render the propofed augmentation needlefs, prevent the crown from falling into fimilar diftreffes, and a people from being further fpoiled, who are already groaning under the heaviest burthens. the It was obferved, that the large fums of 171,000l. and 114,000 1. were charged in two lines for fe cret eret fervice, under the difpofal of two Secretaries of the Treafury. The iffuing of fuch fums through fuch hands, without any. fpecific fervice affigned, was reprefented as carrying a very myfterious and dangerous aspect. That money, without ftint, or public account, should be entrusted to the Secretaries of State for the purpose of foreign intelligence, was allowed to be right and neceffary; but that the officers of the treafury, who can have no public connection beyond their own office, much lefs any intercourfe with foreign ftates, fhould be the agents for difpofing of the public money in fecret fervice, was faid to be a matter of the moft alarming nature, and which carried that fort of internal evidence along with it, that put an end at once to all doubts as to defign or application. The expenditure charged under the refpective heads of the cofferers office, the board of works, and that of foreign Ministers, was said to be fo enormous, as to exceed all limits of propriety and reafon. It might well be fuppofed, from feeing that above 80,000l. was applied yearly to the latter fervice, that we were realizing the wretched policy recommended by James the First, of maintaining an army of ambassadors. Yet, with this vaft diplomatique expence, and the prodigious fums allotted to fecret fervice, will the Minifters venture to boast of the cultivation or fupport of our foreign interefts? will they point out the commercial benefits we have obtained, and the political fecurity and ftrength we have derived from late treaties? or does the profperous ftate of our affairs, the refpect with which we are treated by the other powers of Europe, and the fuccefs attending our public measures, proclaime wifdom of our negociations, and the excellency of our intelligence. Above half a million, they obferved, was ftated under the head of the board of works, without a fingle item to fhew, to whom, or for what purpofe it was difpofed; or on what palace, houfe, park, garden, or royal work of any kind, the money had been expended. Thefe were matters, they faid, which demanded the utmost attention and ftricteft inveftigation of parliament. They were the conftitutional checks, to reftrain the wanton profufion, or the defigned application of the public treasure to dangerous purposes, by ministers. They were entrusted by the people with the public difpofal of their property, and they were bound by every idea of duty and juftice to prevent its being fquandered; but ftill more, to prevent its being employed against their dearest interests. On the other fide, the Ministers and official members, attributed the defectiveness imputed to the accounts, to the conduct of their predeceffors in office, who had carried away, from their respective departments, thofe papers and documents, which would have been neceffary to afford that unusual degree of fpecification and accuracy, which were now demanded. They faid, that the treafury had done every thing in their power to remedy that deficiency; they had fpared no pains, by examining and comparing the warrants with the books, to give every fatisfaction in their power to parliament. Such vouchers as could be found they 8 produced; produced; they were not to be blamed for thofe which were removed, loft, or miflaid; if the manner in which the accounts were kept, or the nature of the expenditure, rendered them obfcure and perplexed, it was no fault in them. They fhewed regularly the fums which they had iffued, and the departments by which they were drawn; that was all that lay with them, and they had no enquiry to make into their difpofal, or specific application. Thus, faid they, all the charges of withholding explanations and vouchers, of fabricating defective, or prefenting mutilated accounts, for the purpose of perplexing or deceiving parliament, fall entirely to the ground. But it was further contended, that far from treating parliament with contempt, or from any defign of misleading them or keeping them in ignorance, they had exceeded their predeceffors in exactnefs and detail. That no accounts at all, or at most only fuch grofs and loose estimates, as it was now become the fafhion fo much to cenfure, had been laid before parliament upon former fimilar applications from the crown. Such they faid was the cafe in the year 1710, under the reign of Queen Anne; in that of George the First, when two fuch applications were made; at the acceffion of the late King, when the annual augmentation of 100,000l. was made to the civil list revenue; in the year 1747, under the fame reign, when parliament granted 450,ocol. to difcharge that Monarch's debts and fuch, they oblerved finally, was the cafe in the year 1769, upon the former application to parliament by his present Majesty. It was alfo contended, (but more particularly, and much more firenuously infifted on in the House of Lords) that the crown had a just and equitable claim to the provifion now demanded, in confequence of that moft generous and liberal act of his Majefty in the beginning of his reign, when, from a truly paternal feeling for the burdens of his people, and a moft princely defire of contributing to their ease, he furrendered the civil lift revenue of the former reign, which was fully competent to all the expences of his household and civil government, and accepted of the prefent income, which, without any experience to decide upon, it was then hoped, would have been fufficient for thofe purposes. They faid, that those revenues during the fixteen years of the prefent reign, had exceeded the amount of the actual royal income, by confiderably more than two millions, and about doubled the aggregate of the fum granted by parliament in the year 1769, and that demanded for the discharge of the prefent debt. From thefe premifes they contended, that the discharge of the prefent incumbrances, as well as the future augmentation, were evidently matters of right and juftice, though applied for, and wished to be received as favours and that in fuch circumstances, the fcrutinizing of accounts, and entering into minute enquiries, was equally abfurd and petulant. All that was neceffary to be known, was the amount of the expenditure, and of its excefs beyond the ftanding revenue; the deficiency in the latter latter must be provided for, as a matter of course, of neceffity, and of right. Royal beneficence had induced an experiment in favour of the public; upon long experience and repeated trial it is found incapable of its object; was the goodness of the Sovereign, and his tenderness to his people, to operate to his perfonal lofs? and his well-intended, though ineffectual attempts, to reftrain his expences within certain limits of his own affigning, to be given as reafons why he should abide by that determination, however impracticable it was found in the execution ? As this doctrine of right was not fo much infifted upon in the Houfe of Commons, at least not by the Minifter, other arguments were ufed in fupport of the prefent application under both its heads. It was afferted, that the greatest practicable frugality and economy prevailed in the feveral court departments; but that the revenue was really and truly infufficient for its affigned purposes. It was impoffible, they faid, nor would it be fitting if otherwise, to reftrain the expences of a great Sovereign, and those in the numerous depart ments of the household and civil government, within the limits of an exact and ftrict œconomy. A certain degree of profufion must prevail in feveral inftances, and would ftill continue to do fo, in defiance of all attempts to the contrary. Cuftom had given a fanction to extraordinary expences in courts, and was too firmly rivetted by time to be broke in upon without much difficulty. They were among the confequences of high rank, and the appendages of roy alty; the parfimony, which would be highly commendable in a private gentleman, would become meanness in a Monarch; fomething must be facrificed to opinion in many cafes; and a certain magnificence of expence, was as ceffary to difplay the grandeur of a great nation, as to fupport the luftre of the crown. ne They obferved the prodigious rife in all the neceffaries of life, and increase in every article of expence and mode of living, which had taken place during the laft fifty years, being the period fince certain funds were affigned to the fupport of the civil litt eftablishment, which were intended, at leaft, to produce 800,000l. a year revenue. This rife in the value of things and increase of expence, they faid, proceeded from the great influx of money, the extenfion of commerce, aud the confequent increase of wealth, which had taken place in that period. Though this rife was fenfibly felt by the nobility and gentry in their private economy, they were however generally indemnified by a proportional increase in the rents of their eftates. Was then the Sovereign to be the only gentleman in his dominions, who was to be embarraffed and diftreffed in his private affairs by this change of circumftances? and instead of benefitting by their profperity, was he to experience the fingular fituation, of being impoverished in an inverte proportion to the general affluence and increafed wealth of his people? The happy and numerous increafe of the royal family was alfo dwelt upon. However great the fatisfaction derived from this ciscumftance, it must naturally and inevitably inevitably be productive of great additional expence. Other occafional, or extraordinary expences were alfo mentioned. The revenues of the crown had been confiderably diminished in confequence of the public calamities. By thefe the American quit rents, at leaft for the prefent, were loft. And by judgments of the courts of law, the four and half per cent. West India revenue was greatly leffened. A great clamour was made about the increase of penfions, and they are talked of in grofs as means of corruption-vaguely and idly. What! would they cut off the rewards for officers of the law, to whom age, and conftitutions worn down by the toils of adminiftering juftice, had rendered an honourable repofe as neceffary as it was equitable. Muft minifters at foreign courts, who had spent their youth, and certainly not increased their fortunes in that fervice, retire to fpend their last years in difcontent and mifery. They contended, that the late King's revenue, including the 450,000l. which had been granted for the discharge of his debts in the year 1747, exceeded the average income of his prefent Majefty fince his acceffion, even taking into the account the half million which had been given by parliament in 1769. And they infifted, that if proper allowance was made for the increase in value of the neceffaries and luxuries of life, it would be found, that 900,cool. a year, at prefent, was not worth fo much, that is, would not purchafe fo much of thofe commodities, as 800,000l. would have done, in the carly, or even middle part of the reign of George the Second. They alfo infifted, that neither the discharge of the prefent debt, nor a grant of the propofed augmentation, would be any lofs to the public, as the excefs of the hereditary revenue, which had been relinquished by his Majefty, would be fully equivalent to both. But that even without refting upon that foundation, fufficient furely though it was, the conftant practice of near 70 years, would have afforded an unquestionable fanction to the application for the payment of the prefent debt. Parliament, without any fuch claim upon it, had at different periods, which were all thofe that it was applied to, from the year 1710 to the prefent time, regularly. difcharged the incumbrances of the crown. Nor were any of thofe applications productive of that contumely and reproach upon minifters, nor thofe illiberal charges of prodigality upon the crown, by which the prefent was fo particularly distinguished. The repeated charges from different quarters, of an undue and dangerous influence obtained to the crown, by the application of the revenue to the creation of standing majorities, were faid to be equally unjuft, illiberal, and fubverfive in their tendency, of all parliamentary freedom of enquiry and action. If fuch a doctrine was admitted, it would cut up by the roots every pretenfion to a conduct founded upon opinion or principle. There could be no reafon given, why majorities fhould be less actuated upon by these motives than minorities. It was more just in fact, reasonable in argument, and candid |