the perfons and properties of the citizens of Dublin; that an act of parliament was paffed in the feventeenth and eighteenth years of his present majesty, entitled an act for improving the city of Dublin, and the petitioners are humbly of opinion that a law founded on the principles of the said act, as to a wardmote, would afford a conftitutional guard for this city, effectual for the protection of the inhabitants, at less than half the expence of the present police establishment; and therefore praying that the said acts of the twentyfixth year of his prefent majesty of the last session may be repealed, and that an act may be paffed for establishing a nightly guard or watch in this city, founded upon the principles of the faid act of the feventeenth and eighteenth of his prefent majefty.

CHAP. VI.

Earl of Westmoreland Lord Lieutenant-Sessions open'a" in January, 1790-Mr. Grattan's fpeech on the address to his Majefty-proceedings refpecting public expences.-and on fiats in actions of flander.—place-bill and pension-bill rejected.— Speaker's Speech on presenting the money-bills.-prorogation.diffolution of parliament.-new Election.

THE

HE marquis of Buckingham, having previously ap pointed Lord's justices, retired to England, after the close of the laft feffion-and was fucceeded in the Vice-regency of this kingdom by the Earl of Weftmoreland; who opened the feffion on the 21 of January 1790.- -The Speech contained nothing remarkable,—but on the usual address to his majesty being propofed, Mr. Grattan arofe, and faid, tho' he did not intend to give any oppofition to the address, yet he felt himself called upon to make fome obfervations upon the transactions which had taken place during the interval of time which had elapsed from the close of the last to the opening of the prefent feffion; and though he could freely declare that he had not the smallest personal diflike to the minifters who had governed during that period, yet it was impossible for him to avoid reprobating their measures; it was impoffible for him to avoid declaring that the conduct of those minifters was little less than a daring outrage on the liberties and the morals of the people, for at no period VOL. II.

O

fo many inftances of corruption and coercion had occurred. He therefore chose the earliest part of the feffion to mark his disapprobation of them. In the last five years, you have added, said he, at the rate of 200,000l. per annum, annual increase to your national expenses; a fum more than the whole intereft of the nation's debt, and equal to one-fifth of her annual expencé.

You are astonished !-you have reafon-it is near one-fifth of your net revenue, and more than the whole interest of the national debt: part of this increase can be justified-the expence of annual feffions, the return of the army, the charge of the post-office, and fome other articles; but, after every fair deduction, and every candid allowance, from such an increafe, in fo fhort a period, this propofition is established --that you have been ill governed !-Part of this increase is owing to the civil list, and the most exceptionable part of the civil lift, the penfion lift. Scarce had the new taxes, on the credit of the expected commerce, been granted, when the commerce was perverted, and the taxes mifapplied, granted on an engagement to equalize. Where is your equalization? Like that commerce, vanished. Our eyes about that time beheld with aftonishment, in return for new taxes, a new pension lift, which we were not able to pay, nor the minifter able to justify; but we have fince beheld. with much more aftonishment, a viceroy complain of that extravagance, and then augment it. We propofed to strike off the obnoxious penfions; we were refifted by that viceroy; we propofed to limit and curtail that penfion lift, we were refifted by that viceroy; but the fecretary, who had contributed to its increase, became the object of his reward. With every refpect to the memory of the Duke of Rutland, and without the fmalleft perfonal difrefpect to Mr. Orde, let me fay fomething in favour of the Marquis of Buckingham, when he refifted-though I can fay nothing for him when he acceded to that pension.

I fpeak

I fpeak of the principal, not of Mr. Orde; a lord lieutenant's secretary has no official pretenfion to an Irish provifion; chofen without public confidence, often continued without public advantage, he may retire without public gratitude.

In England they do not usually penfion their fecretaries; -the late lord Chatham was penfioned, but penfioned for a special service, for conquering France; and if Ireland were the natural enemy of England, fome of her secretaries would have like pretenfions. This penfion was the more improper, because you had raised the falary of the fecretary to prevent it. In 1783, you raised the falary of the fecretary and the vtceroy. Lord Buckingham was a party to that augmentation-Lord Northington, who profeffed nothing, refused; Lord Buckingham, who was nothing but profeffion, acceded to it. In his difpatch, which I have seen, he expreffes his fenfe of the merit of the refusal, and his approbation of the increase and his pretence was the magnificence of the office. He has lived to refute the rcason by his private œconomy, to prove that the increase of the viceroy's falary was useless as by his public prodigality he has rendered the increase of the fecretary's falary fruitless. This pension was aggravated by another grant to another absentee secretary, the brother of the late viceroy.-Sir, the fon of the author of the American stamp act, and the colonial doctrine of taxation, without representation-the brother of that man who queftioned the privileges, and who has fince attempted to destroy the integrity of your parliament-himself the advocate for the propofitions, has no right to the best reverfion in your country, unconnected with this kingdom by refidence, and now only connected by the crimes of his family, and the stigma you have justly imposed upon them.

Sir, this reverfion was the more improper, because you had just paid immoderate compenfation to buy home absentee employments; but it seems that a viceroy has over this

country

country certain predatory rights, and having done much public mifchief, is entitled to gratify his corrupt affociates.

want men,

I have ftated that the civil lift had greatly increased (within five years above 30,000.) but that is not the only increafe; the military lift has increafed much more, fince 1784, 100,000l. per annum. I know part of this charge is transfer, but I know a great part is not; the late viceroy increased your number of men in place, when you did not and when you did want money. The statement fubmitted by the late viceroy was fallacious; it set forth that you only increased your military expences 2000l. per annum that is not the fact: it fet a temporary reduced expence against a perpetual expence incurred. The expence was not avowed, nor the object; the effect has been, more men for the plantations, without difcuffing or queftioning the propriety of fuch an object. I must observe, that fo great an addition in peace to the military expences of the country, makes every unneceffary addition to her civil expences doubly criminal and prostigate.

The civil and military charges are not the only ones which have increased, the collection of the revenue has in the course of five years increased, including the post-office, above 100,000l.-part of this increase took place under the late viceroy, who, with refpect to thofe charges, may be faid to have found them extravagant, to have declared them to be extravagant, and to have refifted their retrenchment

more, he has increased all these charges, he has added to this extravagance he has been actively mischievous-he is guilty of economy omitted, economy refifted, of prodigality added, and of prodigality for corrupt purposes.

In ftating the expences of government, I muft not omit the Police, and charge it to the late viceroy, as well as to the administration who devifed it, becaufe perfectly ap prifed of all its corruptions, he continued it; it seems the prodigality of the court had reached the docility of the city;

an