im ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



observed, that the plan of choosing 

 ministers from among members of 

 parUament, though not established 

 by law, was sanctioned by the prac- 

 tice of the constitution ; and he was 

 convinced that it could not be 

 changed without great public detri- 

 ment. The House of Commons 

 must always want information on 

 various public subjects from the 

 members of administration ; and it 

 was much better that ministers and 

 other persons in ostensible situa- 

 tions should be spoken to in their 

 places, than brought up to the 

 bar like culprits. If no placemen 

 were to sit in parliament besides 

 ministers, when the present gene- 

 ration of ministers should be over, 

 they must be succeeded by raw and 

 inexperienced persons. He be- 

 lieved it would be admitted, that 

 both in that and the other House of 

 Parliament there were at least as 

 many persons holding pensions and 

 sinecures who voted against minis- 

 ters as for them. Mr. Ponsonby 

 himself had a pension for life ; and 

 yet the present ministry had al- 

 ways the benefit of his vigilance 

 and correction. He wondered 

 that Mr. Whitbread, who was him- 

 self a colonel of local militia, a 

 very conspicuous situation, should 

 consider appointments of that sort 

 as likely to influence the votes of 

 members.— Mr. Whitbread said in 

 reply to Mr. Canning, that so far 

 from having an idea of excluding 

 the members of administration from 

 the House of Commons, he had ex- 

 pressly said in the speech prefa- 

 tory to his motion, that it was his 

 wish that a liberal portion of the 

 public functionaries should be al- 

 lowed to sit there. The experience, 

 Mr. Whitbread affirmed, that re- 



cent circumstances afforded of al- 

 most the highest power in the 

 country yielding to the unanimous 

 feeling of the nation, must ensure 

 the cause of tlie reformation. The 

 great danger to be apprehended 

 was, lest the people, by any preci- 

 pitancy in pressing the question, 

 should throw themselves into the 

 power of their opponents. On a 

 division of the House there appear- 

 ed for Mr. Whitbread's motion 54 

 —Against it 113. 



House of Commons, June 19.— 

 Mr. War die called the attention of 

 the House to public economy ; 

 a most important subject ; upon 

 which, however, he should not 

 have thought it necessary to trou- 

 ble the House at the present mo- 

 ment, if he had not been so loudly 

 called upon to explain a statement 

 he had made on a recent occasion.* 

 On that occasion he had said, that 

 in the event of an efficient re- 

 form in parliament, the amount 

 of the income tax might be done 

 away, and thus upwards of eleven 

 millions a-year saved to the coun- 

 try. In consequence of that ob- 

 servation a great clamour, had been 

 raised, at which he should not have 

 been surprised if no preceding de- 

 claration of a similar nature had 

 been made by others ; but he con- 

 fessed he was not a little surprised 

 at the clamours and insinuations 

 that had been made, when he had 

 discovered that language similar in 

 its tendency, though much stronger 

 in itself, had been used by a states- 

 man so peculiarly respected by 

 gentlemen on the opposite side of 

 the House ; he meant Mr. Pitt. 

 That Mr. Pitt had used such lan- 

 guage, Mr. Wardle most com- 

 pletely evinced by ample quota- 

 tions 



• The occasion to which he alluded was a public meeting at the Crown and Anchor. 



