34] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



tion, that the bill be read a second 

 time this day six months, which 

 was carried by 55 votes to 52. A 

 third division on the motion " That 

 the house do novf adjourn," was 

 rejected by 59 against 45. 



On March 10, Mr. Bankes 

 moved for leave to bring in a bill to 

 prevent the granting of offices in 

 reversion for a time to be limited. 

 He said that the proposed bill 

 would be exactly the same with 

 that introduced into the House of 

 Lords during the last year, and 

 which liad passed that house. 

 Leave being accordingly given, he 

 immediately brought in the bill, 

 which was read the first time. 

 The term of limitation which it 

 proposed was two years. No op- 

 position being made to it in its 

 progress, the bill was brought into 

 the House of Lords, and ordered 

 for a second reading on March 24. 

 On that occasion Earl Grosvenor 

 said, that he had a strong aversion 

 to temporary measures, and was 

 thoroughly convinced that these 

 grants ought to be entirely abo- 

 lished. He made a variety of ob- 

 servations to shew the importance 

 of such an abolition, and asserted, 

 that if it had taken place at the 

 beginning of the present reign, se- 

 veral places which now existed 

 would have been abolished altoge- 

 ther, to the saving of many mil- 

 lions to the state. He concluded 

 with announcing his intention, 

 when the bill came to be com- 

 mitted, of moving to extend the 

 prohibition to twenty years. 



On April 10, the house having 

 resolved itself into a committee on 

 the bill in question. Earl Grosvenor 

 rose, and after repeating some of 

 his former remarks, moved, as an 

 amendment, that the suspension. 



instead of being continued till 

 1814, should be continued to 

 1840. 



The Earl of Lauderdale said, he 

 would support the amendment, in 

 order to get rid of the repeated dis- 

 cussions on this subject, which he 

 thought tended to mislead the pub- 

 lic, and produce a false supposition 

 that an important saving might be 

 made. He then went on to shew 

 that this would not be the case, 

 nor would the bill have any tend- 

 ency to reduce the influence of the 

 crown ; and he asserted that this 

 influence was much less now in 

 the two houses, and had been less 

 since his political career commenc- 

 ed, than at a former period. 



Earl Grey was called up by this 

 assertion of his noble friend, who 

 began with observing, that though 

 he did not attach much import- 

 ance to the immediate operation 

 of the measure, yet he attached a 

 great deal to the principle. He 

 would wish to shew to the people 

 of this country, suffering under 

 excessive burdens, that parlia- 

 ment was anxious to relieve 

 them ; and when a question of re- 

 form was agitated, it was of great 

 importance that it should be car- 

 ried through. He knew three of- 

 fices in reversion, producing, he be- 

 lieved, an annual sum of 60,000/. 

 which from being thus held could 

 not be regulated by parliament, as 

 being looked upon in the light of a 

 freehold ; though without that cir- 

 cumstance they would probably 

 have been abolished. The noble 

 earl (Lauderdale) had told them 

 that the influence of the crown in 

 parliament had diminished. He 

 was aware of the fact as far as it 

 concerned the direct influence, but 

 it was impossible to doubt that its 



influence 



