Note 114 — JOURNAL OF ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND (continued 2)

Charles Abbot (1757–1829). He first entered Parliament in 1795, and was made Speaker in 1802. He retired in 1816, and was then created Baron Colchester.

The Bill was the result of a Committee appointed by Pitt in 1797, with Abbot as chairman. It was designed to put an end to the habit, prevalent in the preceding century, of persons in high office placing the public moneys to their own account and appropriating to their own use the interest which thus accrued. It was not even considered necessary to refund the capital sum at the expiration of their term of office, when the accounts were closed, and the matter was allowed to drag on, as in the Hollands’ case, until it was found convenient to pay off the whole.

The monies were outstanding from Lord Holland’s grandfather’s (Henry Fox, first Lord Holland) Paymastership. The practice was looked on as a right, though certain statesmen of the time—the Pitts and others—refused to benefit by it, and thereby obtained the praise and increased confidence of the public. The retrospective clauses were not finally included in the Bill.