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 A 
 
 SHORT ACCOUNT 
 
 OF A LATK 
 
 SHORT ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Price 6d,
 
 8. GosMSLL, Piiuur, LitUe Uu«eh Suctt.
 
 SHORT ACCOUNT 
 
 or 
 
 A LATE 
 
 SeOET AjDMINISTKATION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 rHINTFD rOR JAMES FIDCWAT, NO. I70, rtrrADMLY^ 
 OPPOSIT^BOND STRUT. 
 
 )807
 
 J 
 
 t'f-sy 
 
 Itch's ■■^'^-
 
 ^'S^J 
 
 SHORT ACCOUNT 
 
 OF A LATE 
 
 SHORT ADMINISTRATION, 
 
 The late Administration came into em- 
 ployment on the yth of February i8o6, 
 and was removed on the 24th of March 
 1807; having lastcil just ouc year and forty- 
 five days. 
 
 In that space of time, 
 
 The system of the army has received the 
 most important improvement of which it 
 was susceptible, by iuniting the period of 
 
 A 2
 
 + 
 
 service. The character and station of the 
 soldiery are raised, by delivering them from 
 a tenure of servitude for life : and the in- 
 ducements to enter into the service are both 
 increased, and addressed to a better class of 
 population, by the grant of a provision for 
 life, at the end of the .soldier's ^engage- 
 ment. 
 
 The Slave Trade has been abo- 
 lished. 
 
 An effortc^'as made,- in the negotiation 
 'with France ^ to restore to this country and 
 to the rest of Europe the blessings of peace. 
 That sincere wish was disappointed by the 
 ambition and duplicity of the enemy; but 
 the negotiation affordt^d His Majesty the 
 opportunity of maniTcsting to the Court of 
 Russia his faithful .adherence to the spirit 
 and principles of their, alliance, and of 
 strengthening that connexion,; so irnpprtant
 
 to the liberties of Europe, by the strictest 
 union of councils and measures. The 
 fidelity which was preserved towards all 
 His Majesty's allies throughout that dis- 
 cussion, and in the subsequent communi- 
 cation to Parliament, restored the confidence 
 of foreign courts, which had been recently 
 shaken by a mischievous and dishonourable 
 publication of state papers. 
 
 All projects have been discountenanced, 
 of exciting to premature and unavailing 
 struggles the wasted force of the continent, 
 that, under a wise reserve, it might coll.c't 
 itself for an effectual exertiosi. At the bame 
 time, no opportunity has been passed over 
 of aiding, from the resources of l.-lngland, 
 such of the foreign powers as were brought 
 into conflict with France, by the progn.'ss 
 of her unbounded encroachments. Our 
 rights of maritime warfare, contested only 
 l^y ignorant declamations, have been main- 
 
 A 3
 
 taincd in unimpaired possession ; while the 
 true interests of the nation have been saved, 
 and its high character confirmed, by for- 
 bearance towards the neutrals in their dis- 
 tress. The misunderstandings Vi^Iiich threat- 
 ened a rupture with America, have been re- 
 moved by the moderation of both parties ; 
 and the foundations have been laid of a per- 
 manent relation between the two states of 
 the world most naturally allied to each 
 other, by origin, by a common language 
 and liberty, and by the mutual interests of 
 an immense commerce, 
 
 A system has been framed, and already 
 completed, in almost all its details, for 
 controlling the collection and issue of the 
 fublic fnoney, in such a manner as effectually 
 to prevent in future abuses and embezzle- 
 riicnts similar to those which were brought to 
 light by the Commissioners of Naval and 
 Military h"iquiry. Acts have passed for re-
 
 1 
 
 gulating the receipt of all the great branches 
 of the public revenue, the Customs, the 
 Excise, the Post-office, and the Stajiips ; by 
 which all remittances and payments are car- 
 ried immediately to the public account at 
 the Bank of England ; and checks -are csta. 
 blished which render it impossible, without 
 complete detection, to apply monies drawn 
 from the Bank to any other than the public 
 service. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners for audit" 
 ing the public Accounts has been new-mo- 
 delled, in order that the enormous arrcar of 
 outstanding accounts may be examined and 
 settled without farther procrastination ; and 
 at the same time to eijtablish, as the most 
 effectual check upon the cinrent expendi- 
 ture, an immediate audit of the accounts 
 of each preceding year. These Commis- 
 sioners, under the special instructions they 
 liave received from the late Board ot 'l're;i- 
 
 A 4
 
 Bury, may likewise be considered as a per- 
 manent establishment for inquiring into 
 abuses in the public expenditure* 
 
 The establishment of the staff has been 
 greatly reduced. There has been a great 
 diminution of expense in the barrack de- 
 partment. There has been a reduction of the 
 establishment of the commissariot. The debt 
 incurred upon the civil list, by its excesses 
 since the last estimates presented to the 
 House of Commons, has been defrayed out 
 of droits of Admiralty which fell to the 
 Crown : and an attempt has been made to 
 prevent the recurrence of such excesses, by 
 directing quarterly estimates to be previously 
 made of all the heads of expense, and all 
 former demands to be satisfied before new 
 expenses can be incurred ; by introdu- 
 cing a more m-inutc specification into the 
 accounts, and by securing a more strict 
 appropriation, of the several sums issued, to
 
 9 
 
 the services for which they were allotted.' 
 Thirty-six offices in the customs in Ireland 
 have been abolished by an Act of the pre- 
 sent session. 
 
 A Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons has been appointed to examine 
 and consider what regulations and checks 
 have been established^ in order to control 
 the several branches of the public expendi- 
 ture in Great Britain and Ireland, and how 
 far the same have been effectual ; and what 
 farther measures can be adopted for reducing 
 any part of the said expenditure, or dimi- 
 nishing the amount of salaries and emolu- 
 ments, without detriment to the public 
 service; and to report, with their observa^ 
 tions, to the House. 
 
 A new plan of finance has been adopted, 
 which will defray the ordinary expenditure 
 pr the war, without any immediate increase
 
 lO 
 
 of taxes ; and provides for that expenditure 
 tliroughout the utmost probable duration of 
 hostilities, with the smallest practicable 
 increase of taxes in any future year. It is 
 another principle of this new plan, that, 
 while it accelerates the operation of the 
 Sinking Fund, it will distribute its effect 
 more equally over all the years of the period. 
 
 The West India colonies have been se^ 
 cured in a supply, no longer precarious, of 
 articles of the first necessity, by the Aine- 
 rican Intercourse Act -, which provided by 
 Parliamentary authority a regular course of 
 remedy for an acknowledged evil, in the 
 room of continual violations of the law and 
 bills of indemnity. • 
 
 The final purpose of the Union with 
 Ireland has been kept distinctly in view ; a 
 full participation by both countries of the 
 same liberties, civilization, and wealth-
 
 II 
 
 The first step has been made towards an 
 entire freedom of commercial intercourse 
 between the islands, by the Act to permit 
 the free interchange of every species of grain 
 between Great Britain and Ireland. By 
 placing a wise reliance in the constitutional 
 powers of the law, conspiracy and insur- 
 rection have been suppressed without de- 
 parting from the forms of justice. The 
 Habeas Corpus Act has not been suspended. 
 There has been no recourse to martial law^ 
 The administration of that country has 
 been conciliatory and firm, and guided by 
 a disposition to give real effect to tliose laws 
 which have already conceded, in part, the 
 just rights of the people. 
 
 The late Ministers hail already made 
 considerable progress in arrangements for 
 extending, still further, to all descriptions 
 of the King's subjects, the benefits of equal 
 laws and the privileges of the English con-
 
 i2 
 
 stitiJtion. Among such plans, the reform 
 of the Scottish judicature, especially the 
 introduction of jury-trial in civil causes, 
 was so far advanced, that it would be impro- 
 per not to point it out in concluding this 
 enumeration. 
 
 In the prosecution of these measures, the 
 Ministers had to contend with an Opposi- 
 tion of a peculiar character. Parliament 
 exhibited the novel and extraordinary spec- 
 tacle, of Ministers, required and refusing, 
 to arm the Executive with powers beyond 
 the law; and of an Opposition, invariably 
 resisting every thing like concession and 
 indulgence to the subject, and maintaining, 
 on all occasions, the prerogative of the 
 Crown against the rights of the people. 
 Most of them were already placemen, pen^ 
 sioners, or reversionarics.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
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 When the late Ministers were called to 
 the Councils of the King, Parliament and the 
 People expressed a firm confidence in their 
 integrity, experience, and talents. They 
 have made no sacrifices to popularity ; they 
 risked it all, to discharge faithfully and 
 consistently their duties to the public. 
 They have made no sacrifice for the sake of 
 power ; but considered it no longer the ob- 
 ject of their ambition, when it ceased to be 
 compatible with the free exercise of their 
 judgment for the public good. Their claims 
 to the confidence of Parliament and the people 
 are confirmed and multiplied. Their services 
 are the acts of little more than a single year; 
 but they were not mere expedients to get 
 through the year : they were measures found- 
 ed upon large principles, and productive of 
 lasting and extensive cfFccts. They will 
 form an a?ra in the history of the couiitry ; 
 and the authors of them woulvi be inscn-
 
 sible to tlieir own certain fame, if, in re- 
 tiring from power, they felt any other regret 
 than at being disappointed in those farther 
 councils which they had prepared for the 
 security of the state and the happiness of 
 the people. 
 
 THE ZKV* 
 
 printed by S. Goshem, Little Queen Siieet-