POSTSCRIPT.

SATURDAY NIGHT.

Ministers had proof last night, that when they propose a just and popular measure, and manfully support that measure themselves, there is no cause to quail under the most strenuous opposition of

the Tories even in the present Parliament. Mr. SPRING RICE made his promised motion for a Committee on the Pension-list. Whatever he may have done in the Civil List Committee, here he fully redeemed his pledge , by taking the very words of Mr. Harvey's motion, that " a Select Committee be appointed to inquire how far pensions granted in virtue of 1st William I V. c. 24, and charged on the Civil List, and in virtue of 2d and 3d William I V., c. 116, and charged on the Consolidated Fund, ought to be continued ; having due regard to the just claims of the parties, and to economy in the public expenditure." With vehemence, and an evident, but as it turned out a rather unnecessary exhibition of anxiety as to the result, Mr. Rice appealed to the House to support him. He relied on the unpopularity of voting 150,00W. for pensions without inquiry as to the deserts of the recipients. This Was for Members who are obliged to pay attention to the wishes of the People. The Tories and Trimmers were assured by Mr. Rice that the inquiry would be delicately conducted, and that the result thereof would be to disabuse the public mind of many errors injurious to the pensioners, who in future would be unmolested. To defend himself from the charge of inconsistency, was a difficult task for the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but he took shelter under the limitation contained in the words "due regard to the just claims of the parties."

Sir ROBERT PEEL immediately followed Mr. Rice, with an amend- ment elaborately drawn up. It recited that part of the Report of the Whig Civil List Committee of 1831, which declared the equitable right of the pensioners to the undisturbed receipt of their pensions; and then proceeded, in the form of a resolution, as follows- " That it appears to this House, that the course advisedly taken on the acces- sion of his late Majesty, by the Crown and Parliament, was calculated to justify increased eonfidence in the continuance of the then existing pensions, and in the permanence of 'family settlements and arrangements of various kinds,' made by parties ' relying on the adherence to invariable custom,' and that whatever harshness or injustice there might have been, on the accession of his late Ma- jesty, in overlooking on that occasion the uniform preceding usage, would on the [present occasion be greatly aggravated, not only by the lapse of time, and the intervention of a whole reign, but by the direct sanction given in 1Ea31 by the Crown and Parliament to an expectation that the principles then acted on, so far as applicable to the then existing pensions, would he thereafter adhered to. "That, under these circumstances, it is the opinion of thia House, that regu- lations having been established in respect to the grant of future pensions, and precautions having been taken in respect of the revisal or discontinuance of them on new settlements of the Civil List, it is advisable now to make such provision as shall enable the Crown, if it shall BO think tit, to continue those pensions which were continued by the Crown on the accession of his late Alajesty, or which were granted by his Majesty."

Sir Robert supported his amendment in a speech consisting for the most part of apposite quotations from Burke, and from the speeches of the present Ministers on motions for a revision of the Pension-list, which they had strenuously resisted. He dwelt also upon the annoy. mice and hardship the inquiry would inflict on sensitive persons; many of whom would submit, he doubted not, to the severest privations, rather than make the diselosures the Committee would require. But he laid the greatest stress on the assumption that the proposed inquiry would violate the principles of "eternal justice." The telling manner in which Sir Robert Peel delivers cited passages from the speeches of friends and foes, made that part of his harangue effective which strikes the reader as prosy. The general impression from perusing the report of his speech is, that he did not make the most of the streng Parlia- mentary ground he had taken up.

Many speeches followed ; but those of Mr. Wenn and Lord EBRINGTON alone need be noticed. Mr. Went) was evidently glad that the time had arrived when be could consistently support a motion for purging the Pension-list; and Lord EBRINGTON avowed that the Poor-law, which deprived paupers of allowances which they had been led to regard as "vested interests," compelled him to support the motion for inquiry into the pensions. The simple truth probably is, that Lord Ebrington's Whig friends have found it convenient to change ; and he, as their devoted partisan, changes with them.

Three new Members spoke on the Tory side—Mr. .ACLAND, Captain IVOOD, and Mr. Allures: they gave no "promise of future excellence."

The debate languished till Mr. HARVEY rose. He, in a most effec- tive speech, full of close and cutting argument, mingled with sarcasm and broad wit, contributed most materially to the ultimate success of the motion. Indeed he may be said to have carried it. Well may the Morning Post describe Mr. Harvey's speech as " inisch:r vous." It is impossible to do justice to this powerful appeal by quo ations. It deserves to be printed verbatim, and should be read entir. —that part of it especially in which Mr. Harvey graphically descrih■ s the very different treatment of poor applicants for parish relief, e relations are "well to do" in the world, from that which aristociata al paupers with wealthy and ducul connexions, whose ancestors came from Nor- mandy or Fairy Land, receive from the advocates of " etert sl justice." A stinging reproof of Lord STANLEY, for " sneering," i 'ed up that fiery person ; who gravely defended Mine& from the i I 'nation of arisraeratical arrogimee,—though he admitted his inabilityI cstrain his feelings of disgust at the debasing inquiry which Minist, rs !auctioned. A great portion of Lord Stanley's spit eh was made upm f personal equeks on the Ministers for their inconsistency, and quit, thins from the ever.convcnient Burke.

Lord. Jolt e RUSSELL reminded the house that Lord Stanley was in le habit ref vituperating his opponent's, and had even stigmatized Lord Grey and Lord Althorp as " thimbleriggers." Lis own consistency

Lord John left to take care of itself; his excuse for supporting the motion being, that the legal right of the pensioners no longer existed, and that inquiry was expedient.

Mr. Rice replied ; and took the same ground as Lord John Russel —that the compact of the Crown with the pensioners was at an end ; and that, consequently, there was now no bar to an inquiry, on many accounts so desirable. It is plain enough that this plea does not rebut the eherge of inconsistency; for the present Ministers refused inquiry in 1831, precisely on the same grounds that Sir Robert Peel now takes up. But that is their affair, not ours. The numbers on the division were—

For inquiry into the Pension.list 295 For Sir Robert Peel's Resolutions 233

Majority 62 The Committee is to be named on Monday.

Now, let not the public entertain exaggerated expectations of the benefit to be derivedfrom the success of last night. Its value will de- pend entirely upon the use which may be made of it,—on the selection of a Committee, on that Committee's industry and firmness, end on the final treatment of the Committee's Report by Ministers and the House. We cannot forget what became of the minute thrift of the Civil List Committee of 1831. Be it remen 'Pred, too, that only a small portion of the actual pensions—an exceedingly small fraction of the annual expenditure—is to be even submitted to investigation. Moreover, supposing that the whole were swept off, how much will the aristocracy lose thereby, in proportion to that which they will be allowed—allowed by Lord JOHN RussELL's Landed Ascendancy House of Commons—to retain in various ways for their exclusive be- nefit? For instance, by means a the Bread-tax alone, they plender the community, on a very moderate computation, to seventy times the amount of the whole Pension-list annually.

It is not in our power to make room for the Division-list this week ; but we find in it the following eleven Tory Members voting with the Liberals—

Captain Alsager, Alderman Thompson, Mr. Brownrigge, Mr. Tollemache,

Mr. Diek, Sir Eardley Wilmot,

Mr. Plumtre, Alderman Copeland,

Mr. Rid:ford, Mr. John Ennis Vivian,

Sir George