^6] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S12. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Debate on Colonel M'Mahon's Appointment of Private Secretary to the 

 Prince Regent — Debate on the Barrack Hslimatcs — Motion re- 

 specting Military Punishments. 



AFTER Colonel M'3Iahon had 

 been deprived of his place of 

 pay-master of widows' pensions, 

 he was remunerated by the appoint- 

 ment of keeper of the privy purse 

 and private secretary to the Prince 

 Regent. This circumstance was 

 noticed in the House of Commons 

 on March 23, by the Hon. J. W. 

 AVard, who desired to be informed 

 by the Chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer what salary was attached to 

 these places, and what were their 

 duties, as he did not know till now 

 that such a situation existed. The 

 right honourable gentleman, in 

 reply, said, that he presumed tlie 

 honourable member was not igno- 

 rant that Colonel Taylor had held 

 the same offices under the King, 

 and the same salary which he re- 

 ceived was continued to Colonel 

 M'3Iahon ; that the duties were 

 various and important, although 

 the oflices would carry with them 

 no official sanction, the home secre- 

 tary of state being still the organ 

 for receivins^ and communicating 

 the pleasure of the Regent. Mr. 

 AVhitbread then inquired whether 

 before the nominaton of Colonel 

 Taylor as private secretary to the 

 King, in consequence of his infir- 

 mity of sight, any such place had 

 existed; and also, whether Col. 

 M'Mahon was to be paid out of 

 the same fund that Col. Taylor 



had been. The Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer admitted that no pri- 

 vate secretary to the King had 

 been appomted before this defect of 

 sight; and upon being asked by 

 Mr. Ward if he had any objection 

 to name the adviser of the present 

 appointment, he said that he had 

 not the least difficulty in mention- 

 ing that it was himself. 



On the 14th of April, Mr. C. 

 W. Wynn rose in the house, pur- 

 suant to notice, to move for the 

 production of the appointment of 

 Colonel M'Mahon to the new 

 office of private secretary to his 

 Royal Highness the Prince Re- 

 gent. He began with expressing 

 his surprise at the intimation he 

 had received that his motion was 

 to be resisted, for surely the crea- 

 tion of a new office required as 

 much as any thing to be sub- 

 mitted to the consideration of the 

 House of Commons. With re- 

 spect to the appointment of 

 Col. Taylor, he denied that it 

 formed any preced<;nt for the 

 present case, since it was only 

 justified by the obvious necessity of 

 the circumstances, of which no- 

 thing similar now existed. He 

 alluded to former sovereigns who 

 had dispatched a great variety of 

 business without such an assistant, 

 and especially the present Kiug, 

 who had paid a rigid attention to 



public 



