HC Deb 23 August 1848 vol 101 cc457-60

On the question that a sum of 20,000l. he granted towards completing the sum necessary for Civil Contingencies,

MR. OSBORNE

objected to the item which was included in this vote of 4,045l. for gratuities for extra services in the Treasury and Commissariat Departments: 2,500l. of that sum had been given to Sir C. Trevelyan. Now, this was a very gross case. Sir C. Trevelyan might have laboured hard in the discharge of his duties; but so had the coast-guard of Ireland, whose services could not possibly have been dispensed with, and many of whom had contracted a violent fever in consequence of their labours, and yet no gratuity had been given to them. He would move to reduce the sum of 4,045l., and would divide the Committee upon this vote.

The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

would simply say, that so far from this being an unprecedented matter, the Government had only followed the usual mode of remunerating persons who had performed extraordinary services.

MR. J. A. SMITH

thought it only a fair act of justice to Sir C. Trevelyan to say, that though he had not the honour of his personal intimacy, he had had an opportunity of seeing the extraordinary devotion which he had shown in the discharge of his arduous and responsible duties in superintending the application of the money for the relief of the Irish. He was not saying more than the truth, when he said that thousands and thousands of the people in Ireland owed their preservation to the industry, intelligence and zeal. Sir C. Trevelyan had displayed. It would be a great misfortune to the country, if such services as those which had been rendered by Sir C. Trevelyan should appear to be underrated by that House.

LORD G. BENTINCK

hoped his hon. and gallant Friend would divide upon the question. The Committee had been informed that Sir C. Trevelyan had none of the responsibility of this particular office, and, therefore, bore none of its demerit. If so, then he presumed that that gentleman was not in a position to claim any merit that might attach to the office. If it really had been a question of merit, he should have been prepared to challenge Sir C. Trevelyan's claim, for he (Lord G. Bentinck) had read all the evidence, and he was not inclined to think that there had been such a display of ability in the discharge of his duties as some hon. Members seemed disposed to attribute to him. He would refer to one instance only as an illustration of the system which was sanctioned by that gentleman—when oatmeal was being bought for 14l. a ton at Cork, Sir C. Trevelyan was having it sent out to Ireland from Deptford, where it was purchased at eighteen guineas a ton.

The Committee divided on the question, that the sum be 15,950l.:—Ayes 14; Noes 73: Majority 59.

List of the AYES.
Bentinck, Lord G. Moore, G. H.
Christy, S. Muntz, G. F.
Dick, Q. Tyrell, Sir J. T.
Goulburn, rt. hon. H. Urquhart, D.
Greene, J. Williams, J.
Henley, J. W.
Keogh, W. TELLERS.
Kershaw, J. Osborne, R. B.
Locke, J. Dunne, Col.
List of the NOES.
Abdy, T. N. Freestun, Col.
Adair, R. A. S. Frewen, C. H.
Anderson, A. Grey, rt. hon. Sir G.
Armstrong, Sir A. Grey, R. W.
Arundel and Surrey, Earl of Hawes, B.
Hayter, W. G.
Bellow, R. M. Hobhouse, rt. hon. Sir J.
Berkeley, hon. H. F. Hobhouse, T. B.
Bowring, Dr. Hood, Sir A.
Boyle, hon. Col. Howard, P. H.
Broadley, H. Humphery, Ald.
Brotherton, J. Inglis, Sir R. H.
Bunbury, E. H. Jervis, Sir J.
Campbell, hon. W. F. Jones, Capt.
Clements, hon. C. S. Labouchere, rt. hon. H.
Cowper, hon. W. F. Lewis, G. C.
Craig, W. G. Matheson, A.
Cubitt, W. Matheson, Col.
Drummond, H. Monsell, W.
Ferguson, Sir R. A. Morpeth, Visct.
Fox, W. J. Morris, D.
O'Brien, Sir L. Tancred, H. W.
Ogle, S. C. H. Tenison, E. K.
Owen, Sir J. Thicknesse, R. A.
Paget, Lord A. Thompson, Col.
Paget, Lord C. Thornely, T.
Palmerston, Visct. Turner, E.
Parker, J. Ward, H. G.
Plowden, W. H. C. Watkins, Col.
Reynolds, J. Wellesley, Lord C.
Rich, H. Willcox, B. M.
Romilly, Sir J. Wilson, J.
Russell, Lord J. Wilson, M.
Scrope, G. P. Wood, rt. hon. Sir C.
Sheil, rt. hon. R. L. Wood, W. P.
Sheridan, R. B.
Smith, J. A. TELLERS.
Somervilie, rt. hon. Sir W. Tufnell, H.
Talfourd, Serj. Hill, Lord M.

Vote agreed to.