DEBATES ON ECONOMICAL REFORM.
While Lord North was endeavouring to allay the bad passions of the Irish people, a spirit of disaffection arose in England. The cause of this was the expenses of government: expenses which were for the most part unavoidable, but which in some cases may have arisen from lavish expenditure. But whatever was the cause, there was a long, loud, and universal cry in the country for economical reform, and it soon became the subject of debate in both houses of parliament. On the 7th of December the Duke of Richmond moved in the lords for an address to beseech his majesty to reflect on the manifold distresses and difficulties of the country; to represent that the waste of the public treasure required instant remedy, and that it was necessary to adopt that economy, which, by reforming all useless expenses, creates confidence in government, gives energy to its exertions, and provides the means for their continuance; to submit to his majesty that a reduction in the civil list would be an example worthy of his paternal affection for his people and his own dignity, and calculated to diffuse its influence through every department of the state; and to assure his majesty that the lords would readily concur in promoting so desirable a purpose, and that every one of its members would cheerfully submit to such reductions of emoluments as he might think proper to make. In support of this motion, the Duke of Richmond entered into a detailed statement of the existing vast military establishment; showed by a number of calculations the great increase of the national debt since the commencement of the American war; and urged the necessity of economical reform, suggesting that the king himself should set the example, that all classes of society might follow it. In the course of his speech, his grace contrasted the state of this country with the wise system of economy adopted by France under Neckar; asserting that our formidable neighbour was rising to wealth as fast as we were sinking in poverty. Yet with all his zeal for reform, the Duke of Richmond advocated the continuation of the pensions bestowed on the Pelhams, Walpoles, and Pitts, families of his own party, as being too sacred for the sacrilegious hand of parliament to touch. In reply, the lords in administration confessed that the expenditure was enormous, and that there had even been some want of economy; but while they made this confession, they opposed the motion, chiefly on the ground that it could not be of any great service, or at all adequate to the object proposed. It was insisted by them that the civil list could not bear any diminution; that it would be degrading to parliament, after having voted an augmentation, now to declare their inability to pay it; that the complaint of the waste of the public money was not substantiated by any kinds of proof; and that the nation was not so poor or reduced as the noble duke had represented. The motion was rejected by seventy-seven against thirty-six.
The subject of economical reform was introduced into the lower house by Mr. Burke on the 15th of December. Burke gave notice of his intention to propose some very important regulations after the Christmas recess, and in doing so, he also took occasion to extol the financial system of Neckar, to which he attributed the re-production of the French marine out of the wrecks and fragments of the last war. He anticipated, he said, a cool reception of the propositions he should make, since they would have a tendency to weaken court influence. He could only, however, make an offer, and if it was rejected the people must effect their own salvation. All the grievances of the nation, he observed, arose from the overgrown influence of the crown, and this influence was the creature of the prodigality of the commons. The operation of this influence, he said, was not confined to the superior orders of the state; it had insinuated itself into every section of the community. Scarcely a family in all England was so hidden or lost in the obscure recesses of society, which did not feel that it had something’ to hope or to fear from the favour or displeasure of the crown. Government, he argued, should have force adequate to its functions, but no more; for if it had enough to support itself in abusing or neglecting them, they must ever be abused or neglected. Men would rely on power for a justification of their want of order, vigilance, foresight, and every other virtue or qualification of statesmen. The minister then might exist, he said, but the government was gone. He continued:—“It is thus that you see the same men, in the same power, sitting undisturbed before you, although thirteen colonies are lost—thus the marine of France and Spain has grown and prospered under their eye, and been fostered by their neglect—thus all hope of alliance in Europe is abandoned—thus three of our West India islands have been torn from us in one summer, while Jamaica, the most important of all, has been neglected, and every inquiry into that neglect stifled—thus Ireland has been brought into a state of distraction which no one dares to discuss.” The disease of government, Burke remarked, was a repletion; the over-feeding of the stomach had destroyed the vigour of the limbs. He continued, that he had long ascertained the nature of the disorder, and its proper remedy; but as he was not naturally an economist, and was averse to experiment, he had not made hitherto any attempt to apply that remedy. Now, however, he was assisted by the temper of the times, and though he would not at that time disclose all the particulars of his plan, he would, nevertheless, state its end, objects, and limits. He proposed a regulation which would give £200,000 per annum to the public service, and annihilate a portion of influence equal to the places of fifty members of parliament, which would effectually remove the sources of corruption. This was the end and objects of his resolution. As regarded its limits, nothing, he said, which was held by any individual under a legal tenure would be invaded. Equity and mercy would be remembered in those cases where innocent persons had been decoyed into particular situations through the prodigality of parliament: the alterations would chiefly affect those who held offices from which they might be removed by ministerial arrangements. No employment really useful to the public would either be abolished or abridged of its emoluments, A fund, also, fully adequate to the reward of merit, would be left, and an ample provision would be secured to the crown for personal satisfaction, and for as much magnificence as was compatible with the distressed state of the nation. These propositions, Burke added in conclusion, were made with humility and integrity: he hoped that they would give confidence to the people, and strength to the government; that they would render the war vigorous, and peace refreshing. Burke’s plan received high commendation from several members on his own side of the house, and especially by his friend and disciple, Charles Fox; but on the ministerial side of the house a profound and ominous silence prevailed. As Fox observed, it was evident there was not sufficient virtue in the house, or rather self-denial, to carry such a plan of economical reform.