§ Lord Althorphaving moved the Order of the Day for bringing up the Report of the Committee of Ways and Means,
Mr. Goulburnsaid, as the present was, in all probability, the only occasion on which a question of supply would be brought under the notice of the House during the present Session, he wished to take the opportunity which it thus afforded, of putting a question to the noble Lord, on a subject connected with the supply and public expenditure of the country. He wished to know from the noble Lord, at what time he intended to bring forward any measure for making provision for the civil charges of the Government, which the late Ministers had been precluded from bringing forward at the time they proposed the measures for providing for the maintenance of the dignity of the Crown? It was, he thought, of very great importance, that this question should be disposed of without any further delay. The House was aware, that, at the period to which he alluded, the Crown had expressed its willingness to make great sacrifices, in order to lighten the burthens of the country. A gracious communication from the Throne showed that his Majesty was prepared to make sacrifices of his hereditary revenues, greater than had been made by any other monarch who had governed these kingdoms, and the House of Commons, on that occasion, marked its sense of the gracious disposition of the Sovereign by its answer, in which it declared, that it would make due provision for the honour and dignity of the Crown. Such provision had been made but, of any arrangement for pro- 385 viding for the civil government of the country, though a period of eighteen months had since elapsed, nothing had yet been beard, though the House stood pledged to some measure of the kind. In the preamble of the Act for making provision for the Civil List, it was stated, that his Majesty's most faithful subjects, the Commons, were desirous to make due provision for the maintenance of the civil government of the country by Acts of that Parliament. Nothing, however, had been done on the subject in that Session, and they were now arrived at a late period of the second Session, and still the House had heard nothing of any such provision being brought forward by Ministers. Let the House consider what were the charges for which no other provision had been made but by payment of instalments on account. One was the payment of the Judges of the land. Could anything be more unwise, than that the highest judicial officers of the country should, in a time of excitement like the present, be left without any other provision than that of payment by temporary instalments. The Committee which had sat on the civil charges had, without entering further into that subject, stated it to be highly expedient that provision should be made for the salaries of judicial officers by fixed charges on the Consolidated Fund. Another charge which was left without a fixed provision was our diplomatic expenditure, which, though not equally important to that he had already named, was certainly of too much importance to be left without a permanent settlement. Considering these circumstances, he hoped the noble Lord would not consider that he (Mr. Goulburn) was unreasonable in asking him at what time he intended to bring forward some measure for placing those charges on some permanent footing.
§ Lord Althorpfully agreed with the right hon. Gentleman, that the course which he had taken on the subjects to which allusion had been made was not desirable, but his excuse for it was, the circumstances in which he had been placed, which had prevented him from bringing forward the measures to which he had alluded at an earlier period. He concurred with the right hon. Gentleman that it was desirable that the charges of civil government should be placed upon a permanent footing, and he pledged himself to the right hon. Gentleman and to the 386 House, that, as far as depended on him, those charges should be settled in the present Session.