PARLIAMENTARY CORRUPTION.
“Examine well His milk-white hand; the palm is hardly clean— But here and there an ugly smutch appears. Foh! ’twas a bribe that left it: he has touched Corruption. Whoso seeks an audit here Propitious, pays his tribute, game or fish, Wild fowl or venison; and his errand speeds.” —COWPER.
It had been for some time reported by opposition that government had made, and was making, a regular traffic in East India appointments. A select committee of the house of commons was appointed to inquire into this matter; which committee reported that it appeared many places had been disposed of in an illegal manner. One source of corruption brought another to light. In the course of the examinations it was discovered that Lord Castlereagh, as president of the board of control, had placed a writership at the disposal of Lord Clancarty, which writership Clancarty was to give to one Mr. Reding, as the price of a seat in parliament for himself, the said Mr. Reding meaning to sell the said writership for 3000 guineas. Lord Archibald moved that Lord Castlereagh had been guilty of a violation of his duty, of an abuse of his influence and authority as president of the board of control, and also of an attack upon the purity and constitution of parliament. The noble lord’s defence was that when this transaction took place he had no notion that such a person existed as a trafficking-broker for places; that Reding had represented to him that a member of the house of commons, who intended to vacate his seat, had a nephew whom he wished to send out to India as a writer, and would favour the election of any friend of his. His lordship remarked:—“I perceived no impropriety in the case, considering it perfectly fair for one friend to serve another at an election.” The house acquitted Lord Castlereagh of any intention to do wrong; but this exposure enabled Mr. Curwen to carry a bill for better securing the purity and independence of parliament, by preventing the obtaining of seats through corrupt practices, and also for the more effectual prevention of bribery. While this bill was pending, Mr. Maddocks brought forward a charge against the treasury of corrupt conduct in the purchase of parliamentary seats, which were filled by members attached to the interests of ministers, and bound to support all their measures; but a motion for a committee of inquiry was negatived by three hundred and ten against eighty-five. During this year, also, the commissioners of naval inquiry and revision presented another report, which brought to light many more abuses in that department. Moreover, the commissioners of military inquiry, who still continued their labours, presented several reports, showing that large sums of money, and large powers in money transactions, had often been entrusted to various persons, without the necessary securities, checks, and precautions; that in the West Indies a regular and unchecked system of peculation had been carried on in the most unblushing manner; that the paymasters, the agents of the commissary-general, and others in our West India islands, had been in the habit of committing great frauds, &c., for a series of years. Corruption, in fact, pervaded at this time all orders of public men, and this was the more inexcusable, because the war necessarily imposed heavy burdens on the people. These burdens were made heavier by the extravagance which prevailed in the expenditure of the country, and which had been augmented since last year by the enormous sum of nearly eight million pounds sterling. The extravagance of government was attacked in the month of June by Colonel Wardle, who seems to have set himself up for a reformer of abuses; but, though from his statements many came to the conclusion that great saving might be effected, there were few who thought that he had pointed out a proper mode of retrenchment. Moreover, many of his statements were incorrect or unfounded, so that he failed to sustain the character he had assumed. He who wishes to reform public abuses should prove their existence to all the world, and be able to point out how they may be remedied.