1734-35. Anno 8. Geo. 11 5th of December 1690, in the fecond Year of William and Mary, in relation to the Report from the Committee, to whom the Confideration of the Eftimates and Accounts relating to the Army, Navy and Treafury were referred, might be read; which was done accordingly. Then he mov'd for reading the Journal of November 9th, 1691, in the third Year of the fame Reign, in relation to appointing a Committee to infpect the Estimate of the Navy for the Year 1692, which having been alfo read, Sir William Wyndham ftood up again, and spoke as follows: Sir W. Wyndham's Motio for refer The Navy for the Year 1735, to a felet Committee. Mr Speaker, When I reflect on the long Peace this Nation has enring the Eftimate of joy'd, I am surprised how small a Part of our publick Debts has been paid off; but when I confider the vaft Sums that have been yearly raised, that the People have not been made quite free of any one Tax which the preceeding War brought upon them, nor any Tax, except one only, in the leaft diminished; I cannot comprehend how it was poffible, in every Year of this long Term of Peace, to find Pretences for putting the Nation to fuch a vaft Expence: And I must think, If our Parliaments, for these twenty Years past, had followed the Example laid down in the Precedents now read to you, and had always appointed a felect Committee, to examine the Estimates yearly laid before them, it would not have been poffible to prevail with them to agree that fuch an Expence was neceffary. ་ This, Sir, I wish had been done by every Parliament fince the Revolution; and as this is the firft Seffion of a new Parliament, I hope we fhall begin to follow that Example which was fhewn by the firit Parliament after the Revolution. I hope it will not be faid, but that Parliament had as good Reafon to put a Confidence in the Adminiftration as this Parliament has, or as any Parliament had fince that Time; and yet we find that Parliament, in their very firft Seffion, paffing an Act, and by Ballot appointing Commiffioners, for taking and examining the Account of all publick Money, and refolving that no Perfon fhould be one of thofe Commiffioners, who had any Office of Profit, or was accountable to their Majefties; and their Care of the publick Money, in their fecond and third Seffions, we may collect from the Journals now read to us. For this Reafon I am convinced, that what I am now to propofe cannot be thought fhewing the leaft Disrespect to his Majefty : It is only fhewing that prudent Care of the People's Money, which we ought always to fhew as their Representatives, even tho' there were no particular Reason for our being so careful. • But L ་ 1734-5. But at prefent, Sir, we have a melancholy Reason for Anno 8. Geo. II. refuming the ancient Usage of Parliament; It is well known that Estimates have been every Year laid before this House of all the Expences, which were then supposed to be neceffary for the enfuing Year; and notwithstanding those Estimates were much larger than were ever before ufual, yet in every Year ample Provifion has been made for the Expences of the enfuing Year, conformable to the Estimates laid before the House: This is known to almost every Man, and every Man that does know it must think it very odd, that in fo fmail a Number of Years fuch a great Debt should be contracted as is at prefent due upon Account of our Navy; but it muft appear ftill more furprizing when we confider, that in every Seffion of Parliament Accounts have been laid before this House, of the Deficiencies of all former Grants, and likewife of all Services incurred and not provided for by Parliament. If fuch Accounts had been rightly confidered, they would certainly have been made good, and the Services, if found to have been neceffarily incurred, would certainly have been provided for, out of the first and readiest of the Grants made for the Service of the next ensuing Year. This, Sir, is the only proper Way of providing for all Services incurred and not provided for in the former Seffion of Parliament: While this Method is regularly purfued, the Strength of the Nation is not impaired by loading Pofterity with Debts and Mortgages; nor can the People be fo efily prevailed on to fubmit to any unneceffary Expence; and the Facts being fresh in every Man's Memory, if any Fraud be couched under any of the Articles of the Accounts given in, it may be easily discovered; but when the Nation is thus fecretly run in Debt, the People being ignorant of their Expence, cannot find Fault with any of thofe extravagant Measures which occafioned that Expence ; and when Accounts are brought into this House in a Heap, and after the Transactions to which they relate are all forgotten, it is then impoffible for Gentlemen to discover the Fallacies that may be practised in the Manner of stating these Accounts. ⚫ Upon fuch a flight View, Sir, as I have taken of the Accounts now upon the Table, it is not poffible for me to enter into the particular Articles; but I cannot help taking Notice of one which to me appears very extraordinary. There is near 250,000l. charged, not for the Building of Ships, but for the Building of Houses; whether fuch Houses were neceffary I fhall not now pretend to determine; but i they were, I think it is too large a Sum for any Admi ftration to have expended, without a previous Author K 2 fr 1734-35. Anno 8. Geo. II. from Parliament; and that I am fure was never asked for. What the prefent Age may think of fuch a Sum, I do not know, but I am fure our Ancestors, even of the very laft Age, would have been extremely fhy of loading the People with at leaft Six-pence in the Pound upon all the Lands in Great Britain, for building Houses for the Of ficers belonging to the Admiralty; and I must think it a little extraordinary to fee Ministers, of their own Heads, undertake to do that which even Parliaments of old would fcarce have undertaken to have done. 'Tis true, Parliaments have of late become very good natur'd, they have put great Confidence in Minifters, and have generally, I fhall not fay blindly, approved of all minifterial Measures: This may perhaps have made Minifters prefume a little farther than they would otherwife have done; but I am very fure, that till very lately, no Minister would have dared to have drawn the Nation into fuch an Expence without an Autho rity from Parliament for fo doing. This Article would, I believe, Sir, have appeared a little extraordinary, in the most flourishing Circumstances that ever this Nation was in; but when the People are groaning under heavy Taxes, when moft of those Taxes are already engaged for the Payment of our Debts, I muft think it highly extravagant. We ought to make our Estate our own, we ought to free it from Mortgages, before we think of beautifying it with coftly Buildings. However, Sir, let me fuppofe that this Expence was abfolutely neceffary, yet ftill it ought to have been provided for by Parliament before it was undertaken, or at least the next Seffion after it was laid out: In that Cafe the Parliament would probably have taken Care to have faved as much upon fome other Article: By that means our being involved in fo heavy a Debt as we are at prefent would have been prevented, and we might have been in a Condition for acting that Part, which the prefent Circumstances of Europe may make incumbent upon us to undertake, The Revenues of a Nation, Sir, which always arife from those Taxes the People are to pay, may be compared to the Revenues of a private Gentleman's Eftate; and every Gentleman who has a Regard to his Family, or to his own Credit, will certainly proportion his Expence to the Revenues of his Eftate, taking Care to fave as much yearly as may be neceflary for providing for younger Children, and for answering future Accidents or Misfortunes: Such a Gentleman will confider that if, by his Way of Living, he spends more than the yearly Revenue of his Eftate may, according to this Computation, anfwer, he muft yearly deftroy a Part of his Eftate; and that the greater this Surplus is, the fooner E 1734-35. his Eftate and Family will be ruined. Let us fuppofe then Anno 8. Geo. 11. The Cafe, Sir, is the fame with this Nation at prefent: We have been made to believe, that what we were fpending yearly was no more than the yearly Taxes would anfwer: Thefe Taxes have been chearfully granted by Parliament, and as chearfully paid by the People, in full Expectation that these were all that were neceffary for answering our annual Expence; but now, Sir, when we are in Danger of being brought into a great and unforeseen Expence, we are told that we have run much in Arrear, that a great Debt has been contracted, and that for the Payment of this Debt, we muft either mortgage those Funds which ought to be referved for a Time of Danger, or we muft lay violent Hands upon thofe Funds which have been long ago declared facred, and religiously appropriated for relieving us from thofe heavy Burdens we at prefent groan 1 under. While we are Members of this Houfe, Sir, we are the Truftees of the People; and when the People have been infenfibly run into a heavy and unexpected Arrear, fhall we approve of the Accounts of thofe Services by which that Arrear has been occafioned, without examining strictly into every Article? I muft think we are, both in Honour and Confcience, bound to examine them in the stricteft Manner; and therefore I fhall beg leave to move, That the ordinary Eftimate of his Majefty's Navy, for the current Year, may be referred to the Confideration of a felect Committee, and that they do examine the fame, and report the Facts, with their Opinion thereupon, to the Houfe." Debate thereon. Sir R. Walpole. Sir William Wyndham being feconded by Mr Sandys, the Mr Sandys. fame occafion'd a great Debate, in which Sir Robert Wal- Mr H. Walpole. pole, Mr Horatio Walpole, Mr Winnington, Sir William sir W. Yonge Yonge Mr Winnington. Anno 8. Geo. II. Yonge, and Colonel Bladen, urg'd the following Arguments against the Motion. 1734-35. Col. Bladen. Sir, The Affairs of Europe, and the various Incidents that have occurred fince the famous Peace of Utrecht, are fo fresh in every Man's Memory, that I think it fufficient to obferve in general, that every Man, who knows any Thing . of the Hiftory of Europe for thefe laft twenty Years, may eafily give a Reason why we have not been able to pay off any confiderable Part of the publick Debts. There was no Method of paying off honeftly and fairly any of our Debts formerly contracted, but by increafing the publick Revenue, or faving a Part yearly of that which had before been eftablished and every Gentleman must acknowledge, that both thefe Methods have been purfued as much as it was poffible. We could not increase the publick Revenue by impofing any new Taxes, for our People think they are already burdened with too many; and if any fuch Method had been proposed, it would certainly have been oppofed, perhaps by fome of thofe Gentlemen who now find Fault with fo fmall a Part of our Debts having been paid off: The only other Method of increafing the publick Revenue was, by having the Taxes carefully collected, and thereby endeavouring to increase the Produce of each; and this has been pursued with the utmost Care, fo that most of our Taxes produce more now than they did twenty Years ago. With respect to the faving a Part of the publick Revenue which had been before established, it could be done no other way but by reducing the Intereft payable to the Creditors of the publick, or by reducing the publick annual Expence The firft of thefe Methods has been pursued, and luckily for the Nation, with great Succefs; and no Man can with Juftice fay, that for thefe twenty Years the Nation has been put to any Expence but what was abfolutely necessary, according to the Circumftances which the Affairs of Europe, or the Affairs of the Nation were in at that Time; nor has it been put to any Expence but what was regularly laid before the Parliament, and always approved of by Parliament; fo that the finding Fault with any Part of our Conduct for thefe twenty Years paft, is not really finding Fault with the Conduct of our Ministers, but with the Conduct of King and Parliament. I fhall agree with the honourable Gentlemen, Sir, that Estimates have been every Year laid before the House, of what was then fuppos'd to be neceffary for the Service of the enfuing Year; and I hope they will agree with me that it was right to do fo; but I never heard that the Gentlemen, who computed those Estimates and laid them before the Parliament |