On the motion of sir A. Wellesley, the deputy clerk of the crown was ordered to attend the house forthwith. He brought in the return for the borough of Carlow, which was read; and by which it appeared, that lieutenant-colonel Arthur Symes had been returned for the borough of Carlow. The precedent of the borough of Newtown, in the county of Southampton, in which Ewan Law, esq. was, by mistake, returned for Evan Law, esq. having been. read; the returning officer for Carlow (Mr. Turpin) was called in, who, on being questioned by the Speaker, declared, that, by mistake, the word Arthur had been inserted in the return instead of Michael. On the motion of sir A. Wellesley, the name of Arthur was ordered to be erased, and the name of Michael substituted— On the motion of of Mr. C. Wynne, a new writ was ordered to be issued for the borough of Buckingham, in the room Of the right hon. T Grenville, who, since his election, had accepted the office of president of the board of controul, being one of the commissioners for the affairs of India, with a salary annexed.—On the motion of Mr. Vansittart, the Ordnance Lands bill was read, a third time and passed. Colonel Wood, alluding to the above bill, complained that it had been carried through the house in so hurried and irregular a manner, that he was by no means aware it had arrived at its last stage. It involve in it considerations, which required the utmost deliberation, and the best advice. Mr. Vansittart supposed, that the hon. gent. meant to direct his observations against bill that was in its progress through the house; this, however, Colonel Wood denied. The Speaker interposed, observing, that after a bill had passed, such a conversation Was totally irregular; he added, that the bill in question had passed through all the proper stages, and that it had always had its place among the orders of the day.—Mr. Combe brought up a bill for repealing the. London Additional Force act. Read a first, and ordered to be read a second time on Friday.—The Expiring Laws bill; the Land-Tax Commissioners Assessment bill; and the Bankrupt Laws bill, were read a third time and passed.—Mr. Vansittart brought up the following bills—A bill for Reducing the Bounty on Refined Sugar; a bill for Allowing certain Goods to be Warehoused without Duty; a bill for permitting the Importation of French Wine from Ireland, in Bottles and Flasks; a bill for Granting an Additional Bounty on the Exportation of the Silk Manufactures of Great Britain; a hill for Allowing the Exportation of certain Articles from Gibraltar and Malta; a bill for Prosecuting Offences against the Stamp Laws; a bill for Regulating the Legal Quays of the Port of London; a bill 'for Enquiring into the State of Windsor Forest; a bill for Allowing the Importation of Masts, Yards, and Bowsprits from the British Colonies in North America; a bill for Repealing the Act of James II., for Presenting the importation of Gunpowder, Arms, and Ammunition from Ireland; and also a bill for Allowing the Exportation of Raisins and Figs, Duty-free; all of which were read a first time and ordered to be read a second time to-morrow.—The Clerks Of Chancery bill, the Innkeepers' Rates bill, the Crown Lands Leasing bill, and the Irish Excise Countervailing Duty bill, were read a second the, and ordered to be committed to-morrow.—The Newfoundland Bounty bill, the Masters of Chancery bill, and the Accomptant General's bill, went through Committees; the reports of which were ordered to be received to-morrow.—Messengers from the lords announced their lordships' assent to the Irish Distillery bill, the Irish Imports and Exports bill, the Irish Poor bill, and the Assessed Taxes Allowance bill.—On the Motion of lord Temple, it was ordered, that the house should, to-morrow, resolve itself into a committee on that part of the act of the 2d of James 1. which related to the penalties on the regrating and engrossing of bark. On the Suggestion of Mr. Fellowes, the penalties on the forestalling of hides were ordered to be taken into consideration by the same committee.—The Malt Duty bill, and the Lottery bill, were read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Friday.—Mr. Hobhouse brought up the report of the committee on the Insolvent Debtors' bill. Sir W. Elford wishing to introduce a new clause, the bill was re-committed to a select committee.—Sir J. Newport brought up a bill for granting certain Drawbacks on Goods exported from Ireland. Read a first, and ordered to be read a second time to-morrow.—The house Went into a committee on the Sugar Drawback act, in Which, on the motion of Mr. Vansittart, it was resolved, that the same bounties should be granted on the exportation of sugar-candy,.as were already granted on the exportation of fine sugar from Great Britain. The report was ordered to be received to-morrow.—On the motion of lord Temple, the house .having gone into the further consideration of the report of the woollen manufactures of Great Britain, the resolutions were agreed to, after some observations from Mr. Pattison which related merely to two numerical errors. Lord Temple called to the recollection of the house the anxiety which had been ever manifested by him, that some decision should be made upon the subject during the present session. The late period, however, at which the report of the committee had been made, seemed to make this (to the extent that could be wished) impracticable. In Saying this, he begged not to be understood to impute any unnecessary delay to the committee, to whose abilities, energy, and activity, on the contrary, he bore the highest testimony. Although all could not be done that it was de sirable to do, he trusted, that, before the house separated, they would, at least, consent to a bill to make some regulation in the contending interests on this subject; and, as early as possible in the next session, he trusted, that an ultimate arrangement would be agreed to. The noble lord then moved for, and obtained leave to bring in a bill, pursuant to the resolution of the said committee.—The house resolved into a committee upon the Nabob of Arcott's Debts bill.—Lord H. Petty proposed clauses to empower the commissioners, under this bill, to apprehend persons refusing to attend, and to commit persons refusing to answer questions; also to order the commissioners to make a report of their proceedings to parliament at least 21 days after the meeting of the sessions; and, from time to time afterwards; such reports to comprehend lists of the claims preferred, and of the decisions provisionally or absolutely made thereon, together with a statement of the grounds upon which such decisions were made. After some conversation between Mr.Perceval, Mr. Windham, lord H. Petty, Mr. Paull, Mr. Grant, and Mr. W. Keene, these amendments were agreed The house resumed, and the report was ordered to be brought up to-morrow.—The secretary at war laid on the table the estimates for additional pay to the officers of the army, and gave notice of his intention to move resolutions, grounded upon those estimates, in the committee of supply, on Friday. The right hon. gent. thought it proper to inform the house, that it was not proposed to extend the increased pay to a certain rank of officers in the militia, who, for obvious reasons, stood in need of no such addition. It was, therefore, meant, as there was a clause in the militia act, extending the same pay to that body, as was received by the regular army, to prepare a short bill, which his right hon. friend (Mr. Windham) would move for to-morrow; and the object of which would be to amend that clause, so as that it should not interfere with the resolutions which he should have the honour of submitting to the committee on Friday. Mr. Windham gave notice of his intention to make, to-morrow, the motion referred to by his right hon. friend. Mr. Huskisson asked to what degree the proposed augmentation was to be carried, and to what class of officers extended? The secretary at war replied, that the augmentation was to extend to all ranks in the regular army, but to none above subalterns in the militia. He felt, that it would be inconvenient to go into each article of augmentation at present. The Speaker observed, that there being no question before the house, such a statement could tot be regularly, gone into, at least, without creating a debate.—Mr. Huskisson gave notice of his intention to move, on Friday, certain resolutions respecting the revenue and expenditure of the country. These resolutions, the how. gent added, would not be of the same nature with those which had been annually submitted to the house for some years back, but would relate rather to the mode of making up the public accounts.

rose, pursuant to notice, to call the attention of the house to this subject. The evidence to which his motion would refer, bad now lain before the house for a considerable time, without any report being made upon it, and this could nut be considered, by any means, fair towards any of the parties concerned, but particularly towards the petitioners, who had been for many years applying to parliament for redress. Their case was of such a nature as to call for a satisfactory decision, and he felt encouraged to persevere in his exertions to obtain it, from the result of the investigation respecting the woollen manufactures, which the house had heard to-day, and which he had never relaxed his endeavours to produce. While the parties, in that case, were left in suspense, the determination of their business being long postponed, great distress prevailed among them; and such must naturally be expected to arise among the parties in this instance also, it the house declined much longer to decide upon the object of their application. He did not mean to propose taut the house should come to a final decision upon the subject, in the course of the present session, but merely to refer it to a committee, who would not, he ventured to state, require more than one hour's deliberation to determine upon it, in such a way as should satisfy the parties, and form the basis of a legislative arrangement, which be pledged himself to bring forward early in the next session.

was glad to understand hat it was not the hon. gent.'s intention to propose any legislative provision in the course of the present session, as the attendance was so thin from the Northern part of the country, to which his business was so particularly interesting.—The mo- tion was agreed to, and a committee appointed to sit to-morrow.

brought in the bill for granting additional annuities to the younger branches of the royal family.

said, he took great shame to himself, that he had not, by attending his duty on a former evening, had an opportunity of stating his sentiments upon this subject when it was originally brought forward. That such a proposition should have been submitted to parliament, under the present circumstances of the country, and particularly by the noble lord, so distinguished for the profession of economy, was, to him, he confessed, no less a matter of regret, than of astonishment. The house, in general, indeed, must have been taken by surprise in this proceeding; for nothing had, he ventured to say, ever been brought before parliament in a similar manner. He begged the house to recollect, that the noble lord had, in the first instance, introduced this measure to the house, as a bill merely to rectify a mistake in a former act; but, immediately afterwards, comes a proposition to make a considerable increase in the salaries allowed to the junior branches of the royal family, recommended by a message from his majesty. When the situation of the country was taken into view, when it was considered that the income tax was raised to 10 per cent., that several persons, of a certain rank in life, paid 17½per cent., and that, indeed, most people paid no less, in public contributions, than 50 per cent. of their whole revenue, the country must be amazed to hear of this bill. For the illustrious personages, who were the objects of this bill, he professed the utmost respect; and he would be very ready to pay his own proportion of any contribution that might be necessary to the maintenance of their splendour and happiness. If the lords and commons were, alone, called upon for a contribution of this nature, he would most cheerfully assent to it; but, feeling for the people, who were already so borne down, he could not consent to increase their burthens, particularly upon such grounds as were stated by the noble mover of this. bill. That noble lord dwelt upon the depreciation of money, and the enhancement of provisions, which so much affected other people, as a reason for this bill; hut, he took no notice of this fact, that the royal persons, to whom this bill referred, were quite exempt from the taxes which so ma- terially operated upon others; and that the amount of such exemption formed a considerable virtual addition to their salaries; and, also, that each of them possessed either a civil or military office, or both, yielding, in general, not less than four or five thousand pounds a year. If, therefore, the situation of these distinguished persons were compared to that of the nobility of the country, who paid taxes, how much would the revenue of the former prove to be superior? and yet, to this revenue the noble lord proposed to add one-third; which, by the bye, upon further explanation, appeared to be one-half. The hon. officer expressed his regret, that the noble lord, to whom he. alluded, should not have been present, to hear those observations winch a sense of duty urged him to offer, and which he did not mean to address with any feeling of opposition to the right hon. secretary, to whom he did not mean to impute the slightest blame. For, that right hon. secretary was doing nothing more them his duty. But, upon the first occasion that should occur, in the presence of the noble lord who moved this bill, he would enter further into the subject, and fully state his protest against such improvident waste of the public money.

had no doubt, that the hon. gent. acted from his conception of public duty; but, he could wish that, at least, the hon. gent. could have reconciled with that conception of duty, to postpone his observations until his noble friend, to whom they were more particularly addressed, should be present to hear them. Had the hon. gent. been in the house, to hear the arguments of his noble friend, on a former evening, most probably, the objections which he urged, on that evening, would never have been started. If, in addition, the hon. gent. had been aware of that which was mentioned only the preceding night, namely, that the establishments of tables, coals, candles, &c. heretofore allowed to the princes, was to be withdrawn, and which establishment was nearly equivalent to the proposed augmentation, the lion. member would have been, perhaps, still less disposed to resist this bill. The noble lord was persuaded, that every just, reflecting man must feel, that an adequate increase of allowance should be granted to the members of the royal family, at a time when the salaries of even the subordinate clerks in the public offices were generally augmented, in consequence of the depreciation of mo- ney, and the enhancement of provisions, which formed the grounds upon which this bill professed to rest.

said, he was one of those who felt the burthens of the times as strongly as any man; hut, he was convinced, that it was his duty, as a public man, to provide the proper means for securing to the royal family that splendour which the present provision was, in his opinion, totally inadequate to maintain. These sentiments proceeded from a sense of public duty, and from that alone; for, he had not the honour of being known to one of the illustrious personages who were the objects of this measure.

was proceeding to urge some fresh arguments against the bill, when he was prevented by the speaker, who observed that he must confine himself to explanation. On intimating, that the speaker did not deal with him as with others, the speaker, appealed to the house, Whether he deserved the reproach that the hon. gent. had cast upon him. [Loud cries of chair! chair!]—The bill was then ordered to be read a 2d time to-morrow.

moved, that the house should go into a committee of supply, and that there should be instructions to the committee, to make compensation to the Commissioners of Naval Enquiry, and to make some allowance to the Commissioners of Military Enquiry; and that the Veterinary College petition, and Bell Rock report, should be referred to the committee. Ordered.—In the committee, lord Henry Petty stated, that the first resolution which he should have to propose was, one respecting an increased allowance to the princess Sophia of Gloucester, founded on the particular circumstances of her case. The other princesses bad not lost their parents, and had the benefit of survivorships; which was not the case with her. Instead, therefore, of 4,000l. annually, which had been voted before, he would now move, that an allowance of 5,000l. a year, should be made to the princess Sophia of Gloucester, in lieu of 4,000l. which had been charged on the aggregate fund; and, also, an additional allowance of 2,000l. to commence from the death of her mother, the duchess of Gloucester. Agreed to.—The next resolution which he had to propose was, a compensation to the Commissioners of Naval Enquiry, who had drawn near to the close of their labours. This, no doubt, would be granted, with plea sure, by every member of the house. He, therefore, moved, that the sum of 26,500l. should be granted to the Commissioners of Naval Enquiry, as a recompense for the diligence and ability with which they had discharged the trust reposed in them by parliament; and that this sum should be paid without any fee or deduction whatever. Ordered.—He next moved, that 10,500l. should be granted, on account, to the Commissioners of Military Enquiry; and that this should be paid without any fee or deduction.

agreed most cordially in the grant that had been made to the Naval Commissioners; but, as to the present resolution, he thought that we ought to see a little more of the labours of the military commissioners, before such a sum was voted for them; as yet, they had done nothing to deserve it; but, he would not insist on the objection, if the noble lord was resolved to carry his motion.

said, that the sum was different from that granted to the Naval Commissioners, and the sum was only granted on account. He agreed, that we had not equal experience of their services, nor could we as yet; but, as nobody could say that they had not done their duty satisfactorily, it was reasonable to grant this suns on account. Besides, the hon. gent. seemed to have forgot, that they had already presented a laborious report to the house, stating a particular abuse; and he was happy to have it to state to the house, and the public, that, in consequence of the discovery which they had made, and the steps taken upon it, government was in possession of security for the balance due to the public.

said, that the principle upon which the hon. gentleman's argument seemed. to proceed was, "no abuse, no pay." Were the commissioners to be paid, only in case they discovered abuses? It was rather to be wished, that they should have nothing to discover in this way.

stated, that commissioners had applied to the, late government, and that it had been deemed expedient to make them some allowance on account. In commissions of long continuance, this would be, in general, absolutely necessary.

supported the resolution, from the knowledge that he himself had of some of the commissioners, and his observations of the diligence with which they did their duty. He suggested to the noble lord, whether some allowance should not be made to a meritorious set of commissioners, he meant those for investigating the claims on the New Forest?

said, that this had not, as yet, particularly engaged the attention of government; but, that the suggestion would be attended to.

Jones considered this was rather an unprecedented mode of granting compensation. He thought that it ought pot to be established as a precedent, that allowances should be given on account; otherwise, account would go on on account; and this was the mode in which the 450 millions of unaudited accounts had been raised.

stated, that no compensation had been made, by the late government, to the commissioners of naval enquiry; and, be thought, no allowance ought to be made to the present commissioners, till their labours drew to a period.

observed, that it might be a commission that could not go on without some allowance in the mean time; and it, in every case, we were to wait till the close of their labours, we could not know what bad effects this might have on such labours.

observed that, after the two first years of the labours of that deserving set of commissioners, Which had been appointed, some time ago, to investigate the public accounts,compensation had been annually allowed them, for the services of the preceding year. This was a precedent for money on account, though the other mode was the more common. The resolution was then agreed to—Mr. Windham proposed, that 1,500l. should be granted to the Veterinary College. Ordered.—Sir John Sinclair stated, that the commissioners of the Northern light-houses had a fund of 30,000l. which they could not immediately use, but which they would pledge to the public, as security for the sum necessary to erect a light-house on the Bell Rock. He, therefore, moved, that 25,000l. be granted to these commissioners, for the above purpose, and on the above security. Ordered. Report the next day.—The house then went into a committee on the Bell Rock report; where the sum of 25,000l. was voted. Report the next day.

moved the order of the day, for the 2d reading of the Volunteer Officers' Rank bill. On the question being put, that the bill he now read a 2d time,

wished. to be informed, whether the operation of the bill was to extend to the present officers of Volunteer Corps, or to be confined to those who might, hereafter, be appointed?

replied, that the provisions of the bill were to apply to all officers of Volunteers. The bill was to enact a regulation which, he was sure, no gentleman could entertain a doubt of the propriety of adopting, namely, that no yeomanry, or volunteer officer should command a field officer of the line. It had been, at first, his intention, to provide, by a legislative measure, that no volunteer officer should command a captain of volunteers, provided that captain was in the command of a corps; but, in consideration of seine suggestions made on the subject, he was disposed to recede from that intention. It appeared to him a Matter of such obvious necessity, to provide against the possibility of field officers of the line being commanded by volunteer officers, that, he was confident, no such officer would feel any objection to the measure.

admitted, that it would be right to adopt such a provision, if the rank of volunteers was now, for the first time, to be adjusted; but, as they derived their rank from .an act of parliament, he should feel it his duty to oppose this measure, which was to deprive them of it.

observed, that this bill was intended, merely, to correct an unadvised grant of rank,contained in the act of the 44th of the king. The hop. gent, admitted, that it would have been right, in the first instance, to withhold this rank. What ought not to be granted at all, ought, certainly, not to be continued, when unadvisedly granted.

asked, whether it was intended to apply the same regulations to militia officers; or, whether they were to stand, on the same footing with the regulars?

replied, that this bill was not to apply to officers of militia, in the same manner as to volunteer officers. There were different descriptions, and different degrees of discipline; and the nearer any one approached to the perfection of the regulars, the less. necessary it was to resort to such precautions as that contained in the bill.

then added, that there were many persons colonels, commanding regiments of volunteers, who had served in high rank in the regulars; and who were as well, if not better, qualified to take the command of officers of the line, than any militia colonels.

thought the effect of the measure would be, to produce a degradation of the commanding officers of volunteer corps, in the eyes of those they commanded He wished to know, whether the operation of ale bill was to have force only in the event of the volunteers being called out into actual service?

replied, whenever the volunteers may be drawn out to act with the army; unless in that case, the provision of the bill would be a mockery. The bill was then read a 2d time.

moved the order of the day for the 2d reading of the Auditors' bill.

had no expectation, that any thing he could say would induce the noble lord to abandon the bill; but could not omit that opportunity of entering his protest against the measure; which, according to the noble lord's own statement, Was to allow a part of the. 450 millions, which were unaccounted for, to pass as paid, and without any vouchers.

said that, on a former discussion upon this subject, he had endeavoured to convince the noble lord opposite, that be was entirely mistaken in the statement which he had made, as to there being 450 millions of the public money actually unaccounted for; he wished to know, wile. there or not the noble lord, on more mature consideration, was now convinced; that the Calculation, which he (Mr. Rose) had taken the liberty of making, was correct.

intimated, that he was still disposed to adhere to his former opinion upon that subject.

then rose again, and entered into a 'minute statement and calculation in order to shew the impossibility of there being such an immense sum as 450 millions actually unaccounted for. He was still more fully convinced than ever, of his former statement having been just; and he now had occasion deeply to regret, that the noble lord seemed inclined to press for ward this measure in the present session o parliament. He thought it would be fa: better, were the noble lord to content him self, in the mean time, with the appointment of some overseers, or inspectors, to ascertain whether or not the former corn, missioners were going on properly. It would cast no reflection upon these former commissioners, even although it were found proper that they should be instructed to pursue a different course. if the noble lord had waited a few months longer, he might, by further enquiries, and more minute investigation, have become of opinion, that the whole business. might be sufficiently well carried on by the appointment, merely, of additional clerks, instead of new commissioners. He had, certainly, heard the noble lord with considerable surprise, when he stated in that house, that there were 450 millions unaccounted for; when, by the closest examination, he (Mr. R.) could give to the subject, he had ascertained, clearly, that there were only 21 millions actually to be audited by the commissioners, out of 217 millions, the exact amount of the whole unaudited accounts. The cause of the noble lord's mistatement arose from various circumstances. There were various representations in his (lord Petty's) mode of calculation; several desperate accounts were included, which ought to have been omitted; and there wee, also, some irregularities in the manner of transacting some payment made by the bank. The paymaster-general's accounts had been retarded, merely from there not being a possibility of clearing them. There had been a practice grown up, since 1783, which empowered the pay-master-general to issue sums of money, merely on a letter from the secretary at war, and no regular vouchers had ever been obtained. On the very first day on which he came into the pay-office, he looked into these matters, and discovered great irregularities. He required of his colleagues, to produce regular warrants for all the sums that had been so issued; but, on the impossibility of doing so for such a length of time, he did not wish to throw impediments or obstacles in the way of their daily business. He, however, lost no time in making complete and new arrangements, so that the pay-master's accounts were no longer kept in arrear. The evil of the these outstanding accounts would not be cured by this bill. The noble lord was perfectly mistaken, if he supposed that, by this new appointment of auditors, he could audit accounts which it had been, formerly, found impossible to examine, on account or the want of vouchers. On the whole, he could not help repeating, that an additional number of inspectors would be better adapted for keeping the present auditors going on with the business expeditiously. In other respects, be did not see much to object to the bill, as it bore such an affinity to the one formerly brought into parliament. He approved particularly of that part which respected the comptroller, and that was still the only part which was new. As to the other clause, which he himself had Suggested, it was still unintelligible. What he wished was, that governors of provinces or settlements abroad, who receive and expend the public money, should be the accountants themselves. At the same time, he would not dispute, that there might be cases occurring, when the commissioners might have an option, whether to make these general officers their accountants, or those who were employed under them to expend the money. It should also be provided, that the commissioners of the treasury should not make any allowances, but under certain provisions. On the whole, this bill went to create great additional and unnecessary expenses upon the country, without any advantage whatever. If he could prevail upon the noble lord to defer this bill till next session, to give to the former commissioners a few additional inspectors, and, in the mean time, to examine the accounts more deliberately, before doing any thing, he should be perfectly satisfied, as be was fully. convinced the noble lord would see the impropriety of the measures be was now so imprudently adopting.

replied, that the measure under consideration had been adopted on the representations of those best qualified to judge of the propriety and expediency of it; representations which,he had reason to think, had been made to the late, as Well as the present, treasury. He contended, and, when experience would afford a criterion of the tact, should contend, that this measure cotained provisions both new and efficient, both in the distinction of the boards, and the classification of the accounts into those in arrear there now under audit and the current accounts. The noble lord then refer red to the authority of the auditors themselves; and read an extract from a letter, from them to the treasury in 1800, to shew, that the bank accounts were part of the public accounts that ought to be audited by a separate and independent board.

allowed, that the delay of auditing public accounts was an encouragement to fraud, and went to prevent proper persons from wishing to become public accountants. He spoke in commendation of the system adopted by the late chancellor of the exchequer. He bad the fullest confidence in the commissioners who composed the present board of audit, and the clerks annexed. He complained of the mode of swelling the sum now said to be unaccounted for, by including the same incidental sum several times in every accountant's hands through which they had to pass. It was only those accountants that had a discretionary power that ought to be checked. It was the intention of the late chancellor of the exchequer, to prevent any considerable discretionary expence in any department of the public service, without the previous sanction of the treasury, which was to undertake all the responsibility.—The bill then went through a committee.—The report was ordered to be received to-morrow.