CHELSEA HOSPITAL. April 14, 1809.⚫ Sir Francis Burdett this day complained to the House, that certain ground, belonging to Chelsea Hospital, lying along the bank of the Thames, and particularly calculated for the air and exercise of the pensioners of that great national establishment, was about to be consigned over to the use and possession of Colonel Gordon for building; by the erection of which the infirmary would be cooped up to a degree injurious to its inmates. The honourable baronet concluded with moving for a copy of the warrant under which the said grant was made to the Colonel. Mr. HUSKISSON said, that the plan of the infirmary had been transmitted to the Treasury by the governors, physician, and surveyor of the hospital, and they had fixed upon the spot as the most convenient and best situation. Colonel Gordon, having been informed that the land in question was to be let for building on, had offered the terms of the valuation, and if the honourable baronet had applied and offered more than any other person, he would The following is a List of the Ministry, as it stood at this time: Cabinet Ministers. Earl Camden......... Lord Eldon Earl of Westmorland Duke of Portland ............ Lord Mulgrave...... Earl of Chatham Earl Bathurst Lord Hawkesbury................. .President of the Council, .....Lord Chancellor. .........................Lord Privy Seal. ...First Lord of the Treasury. {Secretary of State for the Home Right Hon. George Canning...{Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. {Secretary of State for the Depart ment of War and the Colonies. Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. have had it. He denied that the infirmary would be cooped up in the manner described. The Treasury had been cautious that no house should be built, so as to annoy the hospital, and a special instruction had been given to the surveyor-general on that head. The motion was then agreed to; but, on the 20th, Mr. HUSKISSON took occasion to call the attention of the House again to the subject. He observed, that as, from the statement which had been made, there was some reason to apprehend that the building about to be erected by Colonel Gordon would interfere with the comfort and convenience of the inmates of the hospital, he had thought it his duty to make a personal inspection of the ground alluded to. This duty he felt that he owed to the House and to the honourable baronet; and he was free to confess, that the result of his visit was a conviction, that Colonel Gordon's house was about to be erected upon a site very inconvenient for the infirmary. But, at the same time, he Not of the Cabinet. { Rt. Hon. Robt. Saunders Dundas... President of the Board of Control. S Vice-President of the Board of Trade, and Treasurer of the Navy. .........Secretary at War. Right Hon. George Rose Sir James Pulteney, Bart. } Joint Paymaster of the Forces. Joint Postmaster-General. Secretaries of the Treasury. .......Master of the Rolls. .........Attorney-General. .....Solicitor-General. Ministry of Ireland. Sir Thomas Plomer .......... Sir Arthur Wellesley ...............Chief Secretary. Right Hon. John Foster ............Chancellor of the Exchequer. wished it to be understood, that this discovery involved no contradiction of the statement which he had on a former evening submitted to the House, with regard to the conduct of the Treasury. In consequence, however, of this discovery, he had thought proper to take a Lord of the Treasury to inspect the premises, and the effect of that visit was, that, upon a consultation with the governors of the hospital, it was determined, that the site of Colonel Gordon's house should be removed. MR. WARDLE'S PLAN OF PUBLIC ECONOMY. June 19. Ar a public meeting, held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on the 23d of May, to celebrate the anniversary of Sir Francis Burdett's return for Westminster, Mr. Wardle, in the course of his address to the company, stated, that he had studied the subject of finance and was convinced, that the amount of the Income-tax might be done away, and that thus upwards of eleven millions a year might be saved to the country. He added, that if he should at any time be called upon to say how this great saving might be effected, he would readily accept the challenge. Upon this, Mr. Tierney, two days after, from his place in the House of Commons, called upon the honourable gentleman to produce his plan, or stand convicted in the face of the country. Mr. Wardle replied, that before the end of the session he would state the grounds upon which he had formed his opinion. Accordingly, he this day, in a speech of considerable length, went over the various items, in which he conceived savings might be effected, to the extent of 16,316,1937. 13s. 4d. He concluded by moving for a series of accounts, twenty-four in number, which if produced would, he said, enable him to go further into detail, early in the ensuing session. On the question being put upon the first motion, Mr. HUSKISSON rose, and said: Mr. Speaker: With whatever feelings of surprise and regret I may have witnessed the conduct of the honourable gentleman, on the occasion of his first broaching, in another place, the subject which he has now at last brought under the consideration of the House, those feelings have by no means been weakened, either by the explanation which the honourable gentleman has just given of the motives by which he has been actuated, or by the statement which he has submitted to the House in support of his proposition. If, in the first instance, I observed with astonishment a member of this House, one of the guardians of the public purse, and one too who professes to watch over the public expenditure with more than an ordinary degree of jealousy and anxiety, seeking an opportunity, not during the recess of parliament, but in the middle of a session-not in this House, but at a public meeting-of stating that he could point out a plan by which eleven millions a year might be saved to the country, that astonishment was, if possible, increased when I saw the honourable gentleman attending, day after day, in his place here, without giving the House any intimation of the means by which this most desirable object might be effected. The honourable gentleman could not be ignorant that, on the one hand, such a declaration was calculated to make a strong impression out of doors; that, from the character of the meeting at which it was made, it would be disseminated through the public with a mischievous activity; and, on the other hand, that it was only in this House that the plan could be discussed with a view to any beneficial result, or that any practical measure could be taken for attaining its professed object. And yet, Sir, the honourable gentleman has just informed us, that it was not his intention to have brought forward any part of this notable scheme in the present session. In a tone almost of anger and complaint, he tells us, that he has been goaded and challenged by the frequent calls made upon him here; that, yielding to such importunity, and not to any sense of his public duty, he, on this the last day of the session, condescends to point out the means of relieving the public from the pressure of the property tax. What, Sir, is the light in which the honourable gentleman places his own conduct by his statement of this evening? Two months ago he had ascertained, to the entire satisfaction, I presume, of his own mind, that a tax producing upwards of eleven millions a year could be taken off, without any detriment to the public service: he had, at that time, so completely matured the measures of reform, by which this saving could be effected, as publicly to record his opinion; and to-night he tells you, that it never was his intention, in this session, to follow up that opinion by any proposition in this House! In the view of the honourable gentleman, then, the saving of eleven millions is a matter of such little moment, that the means of effecting it being discovered by him in the middle of one session, it consists with his sense of public duty to postpone the application of those means till the next. But it also consists with this same sense of duty, in the mind of the honourable gentleman, to send forth the assertion to the public, under such circumstances, and coupled with such sentiments, as appeared to the meeting at which it was first uttered, best calculated to create an impression, that the blame of the continuance of this tax is solely to be attributed to the corruption of this House. The blame, if blame there be, of not having investigated the honourable gentleman's plan of economy in this session must fall entirely upon himself. The mischief likewise, if mischief ensue from his indiscreet assertions, must be laid entirely at his door. The delusion and the disappointment are equally of his own creating. That the honourable gentleman's plan will end in the disappointment of those who gave credit to his assertions |