"forces in the West-Indies at 31. per day: "this gentleman deserves so handsome a "reward, as his inspecting talents extend to "no less than the distance of three thousand "miles from his charge, for nearer than "this distance he never looked at the "West-Indies or it's forces. The huma"nity of the Minister is touched with the

neglected state of the sick and wounded "soldier in America, and in 1778 he provides "them a comforter in a Superintendant

general of the Hospital of the grand army “at the rate of 31. per day; but the piety "of the superintendant-general recollects, "that Heaven is the best comforter of the "sick; to Heaven therefore he leaves the

care, he quits not the English shore, and,

only to transmit it to Heaven, receives the "modest reward of so merciful an insti"tution.-A Receiver-general of the king's "revenue in Canada possesses the same "wonderful faculty also of doing all his duty at home, and what he has transmitted to the treasury is yet to appear; but h3

'

" it

"it already appears, that he has received "seven thousand pounds from the treasury ❝ to make certain payments in Canada. To "these must be added a host of commissaries, "and under commissaries, with all their "retinue of clerks and servants, altogether " forming a Many-headed Monster, which, “ though but of yesterday's birth, is grown "to a formidable size, and already eats the "honest bread of thousands and of thou"sands. They are things of such undescri“bable nature and use, that not only a mi"nister, but general officers, and commissa"ries general, can create as many of them "as they please. A cargo of about twenty were consigned to a commissary-general "in America; but though he reported that

દર

he had no occasion for them, the cargo "was not returned as improper for the "market, and they each continue to devour

their allowance from the treasury. Some "judgement may be formed of their expense to the nation from the confession of "the secretary at war, that by the death of

❝ only

only one of them, one pound ten shillings per day was saved to the treasury.

"Such are the facts which I proposed to "lay before you, as exhibiting a much "more alarming view both of the waste of "the public treasure, and of the dangerous "influence which this abuse must give to "the minister, at whose will it is distri""buted. The saving to the public, if the 66 prayer of your petition be granted, is not "now to be estimated by thousands, nor by "hundred thousands, but by millions. If "the expense of the most interesting periods, “when the national glory was carried to it's

highest, as in the last war of George II, be "stated as a decent rule of expense to these "feeble and exhausted times, it will on the "most moderate calculation save to 'the

kingdom two million four hundred and "one thousand seven hundred and sixty❝ seven pounds per ann. Which sum, bỷ "the retrenchment of unnecessary pensions, "useless places, fees of office, scandalous “contracts, and a thousand other wanton "módes

h 4

"modes of waste, cannot be increased to "less than three millions; more, by a vast "sum, than the whole amount of the Land "and Malt Taxes, those two great pillars of "the national revenue.

"And to what are these immense sums, " which neither candour nor party can carry "to the account of real use, applied? Wanton "as ministers are in the throwing about the "public money, they have some end in "yiew; they do not incur the curses of their "country for the pure delight of being "cursed; they do not give to their enemies, "to their opponents in or out of Parliament, "to those who set their faces against their "iniquities, but to their enlisted friends, "their abettors, and confederates. And what "the amount of this debasing, this over"whelming influence must be, is no diffi"culty to conceive; it is dreadfully felt, "and is the most important ground of the "nation's fears, of all those petitions and "associations, which the people who pay "the price of this corruption, and are doom

"ed

"ed to be the sacrifice of this influence, have "at length thought it to be their duty to "themselves, to their ancestors, and to their "posterity, to engage in,

"If therefore, in spite of a concealment "which may well be supposed to cover a “thousand other iniquities, such a scene of "profusion here meets the public eye; can

any one, I do not say, who has common "honesty, but who has only that interest "in himself as not to be delighted with "ruin, hesitate a moment in interposing to

stop the progress of a mischief, which, if "it proceed a few steps further, will pro

bably render all interposition vain? Is "this the trifle, forsooth, which a high-spirit"ed nation must despise as beneath their

notice? In the cause of country, of liberty, "of repelling the ambition of an implaca"ble foe, it is generous, and worthy of a "Briton, to face every difficulty, to be cheer"ful under every burthen. But a Briton "is not so fond of want, as with more than a servile tameness to submit to private di66 stress