§ The Earl of Harrowbybegged leave, on presenting a petition from the Corporation of Tiverton, against the Municipal Corporation Bill, to rectify 1232 some statements respecting his own conduct, in the Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners. The noble Earl then proceeded:—It is stated that there was produced to them a copy of a letter, without address, in the handwriting of Mr. Bevis Wood, a late Town Clerk, desiring the person to whom it is addressed to use his influence to procure the appointment of Duntze as Receiver General of one of the districts of the county of Devon.— This letter is written in the name of the corporators, said to be thereunto subscribed. The postscript is as follows:— "You will please to remember that this our recommendation of S. Duntze is on this condition, that he reside and keep his offices in the town of Tiverton, and that he agree to make an annual allowance to the corporators of the sum of 20l. for every shilling in the pound land-tax, which now amounts to 80l. yearly." It is further stated, that this letter was sent to me, and that P. S. Duntze was appointed, and regularly paid the Corporation the stipulated sum of 80l. per annum for a certain period. It is, however, added, that the late Town Clerk, Mr. John Wood, said that I was not a party to the condition attached to the recommendation of P. S. Duntze. I cannot rest satisfied with this half-accusation and half-acquittal. If these were, in reality, all the facts of the case—if I had been really cognizant of this transaction, and acquiesced in it, I must plead guilty to the implied charge of having been a party to it. The whole of the facts, however, are these; and although at the distance of thirty-four years, my recollection of them is sufficiently accurate to enable me to verify the substance of them in the most solemn manner. On the occurrence of the vacancy, P. S. Duntze, who was the son of my late colleague, and a personal friend of mine, applied to me to procure for him the vacant office. At his personal request alone I asked this favour of Mr. Pitt, and received every possible encouragement short of an absolute promise. Subsequently to this interview an intimation reached me (whether by the receipt of the above letter and postscript, or by some other written communication I cannot now be certain, but it is of no importance) that some arrangement of the nature there mentioned had been in contemplation. I took this communication to Mr. Pitt, and told him that unless I received the most 1233 unequivocal assurances that all ideas of such an arrangement was abandoned, I must withdraw my application. I wrote to that effect to Tiverton. I received those assurances—I communicated them to Mr. Pitt, to whom, as well as myself, they were perfectly satisfactory, and P. S. Duntze was appointed. The fact of annual payments having been made by him is stated in the appendix. He may have made them voluntarily, under an erroneous impression that his appointment was in fact owing to the recommendation of the Corporation, whereas it was that interference which produced the only difficulty. It was certainly kept carefully out of my knowledge, as when I served the office of mayor some years afterwards I never heard of any such payment. It is further stated that a similar payment was made by Mr. Hamilton, also one of the Receivers General; but as his appointment was made in 1765, I do not think it necessary to say anything in my own behalf, or in that of the present Corporation. The Commissioners proceed to say that the extraordinary nature of these arrangements induced them to institute a strict inquiry as to this portion of the corporate revenues (as if it were a regular item.) "We found that very numerous appointments in the Church, as well as in various departments of the public service, had been obtained by members of the Corporation, and by their friends and connexions; but it did not appear that the Corporation derived any direct pecuniary benefit from any of the appointments so obtained, except in the cases of P. S. Duntze and Mr. Hamilton. It must, however, be stated, that, from the negligent manner in which the accounts of the Corporation have been kept, it was impossible to obtain any accurate or satisfactory account of the receipt or expenditure for very many years." This insinuation I can positively aver to be perfectly groundless. No application, to the best of my recollection, was ever made by the Corporation, except in one case for an office of very small amount, as a mere matter of charity. To the accusation, as far as it respects myself, of having as opportunity offered, during a connexion of forty-seven years, done service to those who were doing service to me and to my family, I should be sorry to be able to plead not guilty. Such an interchange of good offices is a legitimate bond of friend- 1234 ship in public as in private life; and if any noble Lord who has been connected with Parliamentary interest will assert that he has not done the same—is not now doing the same—and will not persist in so doing —I am willing to submit to the whole weight of his censure. Petition laid on the Table.