GENERAL HISTORY. 



[73 



pafliament. He should, therefore, 

 wish to vote for the first six reso- 

 lutions, and that a committee be 

 then appointed to examine how far 

 parliament had in former times in- 

 teri'ered in reducing the salaries of 

 offices for life. 



Lord A. Hamilton denied the 

 similarity of this case to that of 

 bishops, who had great and im- 

 portant duties to perl'oi m ; whereas 

 the offices in question had only 

 grown and increased with the bur- 

 dens and distresses of the country. 

 He put suppositions of a future 

 enormous addition to these emolu- 

 ments ; and said that if called upon 

 to give his vote whether the house 

 could or could not interfere in this 

 matter, he must give it in behalf of 

 the public. 



Mr. Whitbread, while he ad- 

 mitted the legal and vested right in 

 the fees of their office, contended 

 that parliament was entitled to re- 

 gulate and confine these emolu- 

 ments when they became exorbi- 

 tant, and beyond any thing that 

 could have been in contemplation 

 when the office was created, or 

 when the present possessors ob- 

 tained their grants: and he in- 

 stanced, with respect to the teller- 

 ships, the sums paid for the ex- 

 tinction of the national debt, and 

 the income tax. There could not 

 be a doubt that when the house 

 voted additional supplies, they had 

 the power to exempt them from 

 the operation of these fees; and if 

 the principle of vested right could 

 be interfered with at all, it might 

 to a greater extent. 



Some other members spoke to 

 the question, for the most part in 

 favour of the rights of the tellers, 

 but nothing additional was advan- 

 ced in point of argument. 



The six first resolutions of Mr. 

 Creevey were then severally put, 

 and the previous question was car- 

 ried against each of them. Mr. 

 Brand moved, as an amendment to 

 the seventh, " That a committee 

 be appointed to iuquire into the 

 precedents which exist as to the 

 deduction from, or suppression of, 

 any fees payable to the tellers of 

 the eschecjuer formonies issued out 

 of ihe same." 



The house divided upon this 

 amendment ; for it 38, against it 

 146. The original resolution was 

 then negatived without a division. 



The subject of reform of par- 

 liament was again taken up in 

 the House of Commons at this 

 part of the session. On May 

 8th, Mr. Brand rose, pursuant to 

 notice, to submit to the house a 

 motion on the present defective 

 state of the representation. He 

 began with some general remarks 

 on the notorious existing corrup- 

 tions prevalent in the elections of 

 members of parliament, and on 

 the dangers which threatened the 

 constitution from the number of 

 members returned by places now 

 desolated, or which possessed so 

 few inhabitants that it was a 

 mockery to continue to theai the 

 elective franchise. He said, that 

 it appeared from facts which he 

 had collected, that 182 individuals 

 returned by nomination, or other- 

 wise, 326 members ; that there 

 were above 70 placemen in the 

 house, and above 40 persons who 

 were returned by compromise. 

 How could that be called a full and 

 free representation, in which there 

 were 292 persons so brought in that 

 they could not exercise a fair discre- 

 tion on the subjets brought under 

 their consideration ? Having stated 



Bome 



