VOL. XV. No. 20.] LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1809. [Price Is. "MY iords, I think it is due to the age and country in which we live, to state what, indeed, is "universally believed, that there never was a period in the history of this country, or of any other, in "which the characters of persons, in an exalted station of public life, were so free from all suspicion of this species of offence (corruption) as at the present moment."-MR. PERCEVAL'S Speech on the Trial of Philip Hamlin, 22nd Nov. 1802. 737] -[738 It MR. MADOCKS'S MOTION.thing to a point; indeed to an issue; aye to a clear and unequiTHE Debate upon Mr. Wardle's vocal decision.This Debate, introduction of his Charges I therefore, is, beyond all comparithought so very important, so son, the most important that I necessary to be read by every one, have ever had any knowledge of. and to be speedily put into a si- It will, I hope, be read by every tuation, where it might be easily man that can read, in this whole referred to, that I deviated from kingdom. Those who take in my usual practice, and inserted the papers containing it, should lend whole of the Report of it in the them to their neighbours, who Register, as that report stood in do not. It should, if possible, be the news-papers.If there was got by heart; and repeated once good reason for doing so, upon every week, in every family in that occasion, how much stronger the kingdom. Boys at school is the reason for it in the present should have it to read, in preferinstance! The charge then was, ence to every other thing. in every point of view, of trifling should be printed in all shapes consequence; indeed of no con- and sizes; and be perpetuated in sequence at all; of a sort not all the ways in which any act, worthy of a moment's attention, or event, can be perpetuated. A compared to the Charge brought concise statement of the charge forward by MR. MADOCKS, on and the decision should have a the 11th of this month; and the place in all the Almanacks; all Debate upon which is infinitely the printed Memorandum Books ; more interesting to us, than the in Court Kalendars; Books of fate of any, or of all the nations Roads; and, I see no harm in its upon the continent of Europe, having a place upon a spare leaf and of all the colonial possessions in the Books of Common Prayer. and commerce in the whole world. It should be framed and glazed; In short, after years and years of and hung up in Inns, Town-Halls, disputation, relative to the means Courts of Justice, Market-Places, by which men get to be Mem- and, in short, the eye of every bers of Parliament; after hun-human creature should be, if posdreds of prosecutions against sible, constantly fixed upon it. those, who have, at different I mean merely the naked times, written and published re- fact: The bare record, unaccomlative to those means; at last, panied with any comment whatMR. MADOCKS has brought the ever.Nor shall I, upon this occasion, or any other, that I can at present foresee, offer any comment, or opinion, upon any part of this Debate, as far, at least, as it relates to the Charge. I shall take it, word for word, and letter for letter, as I find it reported in the MORNING CHRONICLE newspaper of the 12th instant, and shall leave the reader to form his own opinion. He will, indeed, need no opinion of mine. The thing will speak for itself. It is plain matter of fact, unencumbered with any thing that can give rise to a difference to be settled by reasoning. The Charge, as will be seen below, in Mr. Madocks own words, was this: “I affirm, then, that MR. DICK 'purchased a seat in the House of "Commons for the borough of "Cashel, through the agency of "the Honourable Henry Welles"ley, who acted for, and on be"half of, the Treasury; that, upon 66 sued upon this, the question was REPORT OF COMMONS, On the 11th of May, 1809, upon the Charge made by MR. MADOCKS, against Mr. PERCEVAL and Lord CASTLEREAGI, relative to the selling of a Seat in Parliament to MR. DICK, and to the influence exercised with MR. DICK, as to his coting upon the recent important question. a recent question of the last oF THE DEBATE, IN THE HOUSE importance, when Mr. Dick "had determined to vote accord"ing to his conscience, the noble Lord, CASTLEREAGH, did inti"mate to that gentleman the necessity of either his voting with "the government, or resigning his "seat in that House; and that "Mr. Dick, sooner than vote against principle, did make "choice of the latter alternative, "and vacate his seat accordingly that the Resolution of that House on the Ma. MALOCKS began by moving "To this transaction I charge the 10th Dec. 1779, be then read-it was read "Right Honourable Gentleman, accordingly, and stated in substance, that "MR. PERCEVAL, as being privy it is « Highly criminal for any Minister "and having connived at it. This "or Ministers, or any other Servant of the "Crown in Great Britain, directly or in"I will ENGAGE TO PROVE directly, to make use of the power of "BY WITNESSES AT YOUR" his office, in order to influence the elec"BAR, if the House will give "tion of Members of Parliament, and that "me leave to call them."-At "an attempt to exercise that influence "was an attack upon the dignity, the hothe end of the Debate, which en"nour and the independence of Parlia "ment, an infringement of the rights and "the liberties of the people, and an attempt "to sap the basis of our free and happy Constitution.”—Mr. Madocks next moved the Resolution of that House on the 25th April, 1809, be then read-it was read accordingly, and alledged in substance, That while it was the bounden duty of that "House to maintain at all times a jealous guard upon its purity, and not to suiler any attempt upon its privileges to pass "unnoticed, the attempt in the present "instance (that of Lord Castlereagh and "Mr. Reding), not having been carried "into effect, that House did not think it "then necessary to proceed to any crimi"natory Resolutions respecting the same." that if instances of corruption did exist, it was the duty of the House to hunt them out, and drag them to light. In that feeling he shared with those hon. gentlemen, and trusted that the indignation they seemed to express at the theory of corruption would not be allayed by an exposition of the practice. He for his part, was no party man-he was bound to no man, or any set of men, except as far as he agreed with those who were anxious for the extirpation of corruption and abuses of every kind, and the restoration, in their original purity, of all the good and sound old principles of the Constitution. This was what he looked for, and what, if the House and the country were true to themMr. Madocks then said, that before selves, he did not yet despair of attaining. he proceeded to redeem the pledge he had It was a favourite opinion with some of the given to the House of bringing forward rt. hon. gentlemen, that no times were less the Charges he had that day to adduce, he corrupt than the present-that this was, as thought it right to remind them of the it were, the age of purity. If such an opiopinion they had recorded of that crimi- nion was well founded, it would be rather nal conduct, of which he then rose to ac- inconsistent with such an opinion, and not cuse two of their own body. Before he very conformable to the spirit of such entered directly into the statement of his times, to resort to any party expedient, in Charge, he trusted that the indulgence of order to resist or to evade any direct the House would allow him to make a few charge of corruption against any indivipreliminary observations, arising out of dual whatever. Gentlemen, therefore, and bearing upon the subject. In his who thought so purely of present times, attempt at that time to discharge his and public men, would no doubt, with a duty, he hoped that he would discharge suitable jealousy, insist upon every charge it in a manner that became his sense of of corruption being directly met, minutely it; and in the first place, he was most examined into, and impartially decided anxious to abstain from every thing perso- upon. Upon a former night he had been nal, from any thing that could give pre-accused of having been guilty of a violatence for an imputation of the kind-fortion of the usual courtesy of that House, in he could in truth say, that no such charge not having given the customary notice to could be justly imputed to him. He was the hon. gentlemen particularly interested influenced by no personal motives, it was in the charges he had to bring forward. to measures he looked, not to individuals. To this he could only reply, by reminding He entirely overlooked the Men in the the House that two or three years ago, System-a system which seemed to say, when a Member of that House (Mr. Ashethat corruption was necessary to govern ton Smith) presented the Hampshire PetiEnglishmen a system, which seemed to tion, it was objected by the gentleman say that the English Constitution was in charged with undue interference in the adequate without the aid of corruption to Southampton election, (Mr. Freemantle), the purposes of good government, was and complained of by his friends, that no insufficient without corruption for social notice whatever had been given that gent. order, foreign relations, or self-defence. of the charge to be preferred against himbut it was at the same time contended by those now composing his Majesty's Government, that the Petition should be received, and that the allegations contained in it should be brought under the special consideration of the house. In that opinion the House concurred; thinking then, as he hoped they would now, that where the charge was of so serious nature, involving the paramount question of their own privileges, it would not become their dignity He denied, in the name of the Constitution, the necessity of such a system, and thought that any attempt to argue its necessity was one of the strongest proofs of its dangerous and fatal tendency. It was against such a system his hostility was directed, and when he stood forth in that House the avowed enemy of corruption, he felt he had a right to claim the alliance of the hon. gentlemen opposite in the same cause, who had recently stated 66 or their justice to suffer themselves to be led "ance of his power should become the away from so great an object by any light "sole object of their attention, and they objection to mere introductory informa- "should be guilty of the most violent lities. He did not wish to take any hon. "breach of Parliamentary trust, by giving gent. by surprise, nor was the charge he "the King a discretionary liberty of taxhad to bring forward calculated to do so. "ing the people without limitation or It was a charge that the moment it was "controul, the last fatal compliment they heard might be rebutted by an innocent "can pay the Crown-if this should ever man, unless it, would be contended that "be the unhappy circumstance of this nathere were degrees of corruption now so "tion, the people indeed may complain, sanctioned by prescription, that that House "but the doors of that place where their must necessarily connive at them. He complaints should be heard will be for was of an opposite opinion-an opinion" ever shut against them. Let country founded upon the history of better times. "gentlemen, by having frequent opporIn the whole course of the history of Eng-"tunities of exerting themselves, be land he no where found that Sinecure kept active in their contention for the Places and Offices, and Rotten Boroughs, were to be considered and venerated as comprising the palladium of England. He read no where that the constitution was only to be preserved by the preservation" unknown to the several Boroughs, have of its abuses. He rather believed that it "been able to supplant country gentlewould be best secured by rooting out "men of great character and fortune, such abuses; and that the spirit in which" who live in their neighbourhood."a memorable attack upon corruption had originated with an hon. friend below him (Mr. Whitbread), and in which another had been conducted so lately by his hon. friend, (Mr. Wardle), was the best stay to which the constitution could look for safety and support. Serious as the charges were which had been brought in both the instances he alluded to, they were comparatively trifling, when considered in relation to that most flagitious of all abuses, by which the influence of the Treasury was exerted in returning Members to that House. In the good old times of the country, the crime was looked upon in its proper light-it was considered as fraught with the most dreadful consequences. In 1734, sir John St. Aubin declared in that House that such a system alone could give the last fatal blow to the liberties of the country, and that if the Treasury governed that House, the popular part of the constitution was gone for ever-that the people might continue to exist, but that the doors of that House would be effectually closed against their wishes and their wants. But he would read to the House the passage. "For if a Minister should ever gain a "corrupt familiarity with our Boroughs, "if he should keep a register of them in "his closet, and by sending down his Treasury mandates, should procure a spurious representation of the people, "the offspring of his corruption, who will "be at all times ready to reconcile and justify the most contradictory measures "of his administration if the mainten 66 public good, this will raise that zeal "and indignation, which will at last get "the better of those undue influences, by "which the Officers of the Crown, though The nature of that influence branched out into so many and various ways of misapplying the money taken out of the pockets of the people, that it was impossible to have an adequate idea of its magnitude and danger, or to be too vigilant in retrenching the one and guarding against the other. He had already signified his intention of taking an early opportunity of submitting to the consideration of the House the present state of certain boroughs in England. He trusted that the statement he should then subunit to the House would induce them to a revision of the entire system of boroughs. He should take the liberty of adverting at present to one or two instances of this Borough influence. The first was the borough of Hastings, which consisted of only fourteen voters. The right of election being in the Corporation. This borough was the property of Mr. Millwood and his Son, who were agents for Government, and were the mayor of the town alternately. The younger Mr. Millwood was comptroller of the excise, with a salary of 1,4251. per annum, a place which was nearly, if not quite, a sinecure, though by the 5th of William and Mary, chapter the 30th, collectors and officers in the excise were interdicted from any interference in elections. If the sum of 1,4251, be multiplied by seven, it would be found that it cost the People for every Parliament 9,9751. -With respect to the borough of Rye there were but six electors. Mr. Thomas Lamb was agent for the Treasury, and this gentleman was in the enjoyment of the lucrative situation of Tally-cutter, another in the Exchequer, and was also cursitor of Hampshire. This borough was under similar restrictions as the last mentioned borough of Hastings.The next borough he should advert to was that of Cambridge. Here the agent for Government was Mr. John Mortlake, a banker, and resident at Cambridge. This gentleman was receivergeneral of the Post-Office, with a salary of 8001. per annum, and had a deputy, a Mr. Bowden, at a salary of 500l. a year, though by the 9th Anne, chapter 10th, officers of the Post-Office were prohibited from interfering in elections.The next borough he should mention was that of Queenborough. The influence of this borough was divided between the Ordnance and the Admiralty. The amount of the salaries of the places held by the freemen of the borough under the Ordnance and the Navy Boards was annually 2,3681 So that the public money paid to the electors of Queenborough, during a Parliament of seven years or sessions, independent of other sorts of influence, amounted to no less a sum than 14,5761. Not to mention that the boroughs of Westbury and New Romney were openly sold for money.But of all the various corruptions and abuses-of all the fatal misapplications of the public money, none, he thought, so imperatively called for an immediate check as the corrupt interference to which he had already alluded, exercised by the Treasury, to procure the return of Members to that House. mental to the return of Members to this House, either by actually buying or selling seats with money, or by applying annually part of the taxes taken out of the pockets of the people towards the keeping up a corrupt influence in the boroughs which return Members at the nomination of the Treasury, while those Members again pay a certain sum of money to the Treasury for their seats, which money is carried to a certain fund, and then doled out to carry elections in other places.- -But, Sir, having enumerated these cases, which, in my opinion, ought to be submitted to a Committee to examine, sift, and regulate, I now come, Sir, to a case of what I consider as aggravated in the extreme, and one that calls for an immediate investigation at your Bar. I mean, Sir, the case of the Borough of Cashel in Ireland, in all the transactions relating to which at the last General Election, and since that time, it will be found that the Treasury have conducted themselves not only directly in the teeth of your Resolutions, but have exercised an influence beyond all parallel, and have not only violated the constitution in the most unequivocal manner, but, have inflicted signal injustice on a most honourable individual, because he had too strict a sense of propriety to vote against his conscience, and what he felt to be his right line of duty. The conduct of the hon. gent. to whom I allude, has in this instance been so strikingly correct, manly and upright, that I am confident he will meet with, as he is entitled to, the esteem of every honest man. This is not an inchoate or unfinished act. Sir, it is to this case that, for the present, I propose to call the particular attention of the flouse, and to conclude with a motion for hearing evidence at the Bar, in support of the statement, the facts of which I am fully prepared to prove. I have so far departed from the proceeding of the other night, though I cannot, on a revision of the precedent, find that I am not fully justified in such a course. I AFFIRM THEN, THAT MR. DICK PURCHASED A SEAT IN THIS HOUSE FOR THE BOROUGH OF CASHEL, THROUGH THE AGENCY OF THE HONOURABLE ENRY This, continued Mr. Madocks, is poisoning the fountain of health. The only quarter to which we can look for the prevention or redress of other corruption. What, Sir, can be more fatal than to suffer any thing to vitiate the legislative, inquisitorial, and remedial branches of the Constitution? It has been always held, in all periods of our history, that any corruption practised by individuals to obtain seats in this House, is an offence against the Constitution, and laws have from time to time been enacted conformably to that principle; but for the Executive Power to WELLESLEY, WHO ACTED FOR AND ON BEHALF attempt to corrupt the Legislative, has been considered as most fatal, and your Journals and Resolutions proclaim the enormity of such offence in the eye of the Constitution. Treasury influence, from the various shapes it assumes, may, in its nature, be divided into several classesbut that the most alarming and obnoxious is where public money is made instru OF THE TREASURY; THAT UPON A RECENT MR. DICK HAD DETERMINED TO VOTE AC- |