162 Summary of Proceedings in the prefent Seffion of Parliament. violating the rights of the people? He begged the indulgence of the house, to fay a few words, not fo much in anfwer to what had fallen from the Right Honourable Gentlemen relative to Lord Macartney, as to pay his tribute of praise to that noble perfon, whose character was undoubtedly unfullied. That noble Lord had fo far approved of the India bill, as to deliver in, unafked, an account of his effects, in conformity to the principle of the bill, though the letter of it did not affect him. Having done with India affairs, the management of which, he faid, had been delegated by parliament to other hands, he proceeded to anfwer the allegations that had been held forth relative to the conduct of minifters refpecting Ireland; and infifted, that it was by the gentlemen who fat oppofite to him that the idea of what was beneficial to the manufacturers of this country was prejudicial to the manufacturers of Ireland, and vice versa, was first propagated. The Right Honourable Gentleman had ftated the business as it now flood in the odious light of states on the eve of going to war with each other. Was this a fair reprefentation of the matter? Was it the part of a good citizen to speak on a fubject of the utmost delicacy in the unguarded inflammatory manner the house had just heard? Has the Right Honourable Gentleman, in the warmth of his Gentleman. To the next question, whether any new alliances had been made, or the friendship of foreign ftates cemented during the recefs, he would anfwer, that there were the strongest allurances of friendship from the Emprefs of Ruffia, who was by no means either cold or indifferent to this country, as had been ftated. With respect to the charge of no notice having been taken of the league with the German princes, he fhould anfwer, that none was neceffary. And as his majefty's minifters had not thought it advifeable to mention the league in the fpeech, he did not think himself bound to affign their reafons; however, thus much he would fay, that the miniftry of this country did not think themselves refponfible for the politics which it might he thought neceffary for the Elector of Hanover to adopt for the fafety of his German dominions; nor had any league been entered into with any German princes that could involve this country in the confederacy. This, he hoped, was enough to gratify private curiofity; and to fay more would be highly improper. Having faid this, he adverted to what the Right Honourable Gentleman had exul tingly asked, Why India affairs were left out of the fpeech? The answer was ready complaint had been made to parliament of the mal-adminiftration of the government of that country, and parliament had provided a remedy, by appoint-zeal for the good of the fifter kingdom, ing a board of controul to check the enormities committed by the company's fervants, and to redrefs the grievances complained of by the natives. To the queftion: What had been the operation of the bill which had been framed for that purpofe? the answer fhould be the fame no as formerly, "the more the bill "come to be known, the more it would be approved ;" and as to the finances of the company, the affertion that errors would be difcovered, not of fractions, but of millions, he was confident, that, on examination, that affertion would be found of a piece with other affertions refpecting the bankruptcy of the company, which had been declared with unparalleled effrontery, and had reflected fhame on thofe who had propagated it. He compared them with the flourishing ftate of this country, and gave them the preference in more than a tenfold degree towards pay ing off their accumulated debt. He defended his India bill from the flander of violating the unalienable rights of the people; and afked, if trials by a court artial, which had exifted for ages, was faid a word of confolation on their internal arrangements, the flourishing state of their commerce, the increase of their revenue, and the reduction of their expences, except to afcribe all these benefits to chance, and the natural course of things; or to the mifcarriage of minifters plans to produce them? He, in the most unequivocal manner, made it appear, that no enemy to the British empire could poffibly accomplish his malicious defigns fo effectually against it as by impreffing the fifter kingdoms with an idea that the interefts of the one were incompatible with the other; and he called back to the recollection of the houfe the origin of this doctrine, that, while he and his friends were endeavouring to establish a perfect fyftem of inviolable friendship, on the folid bafs of reciprocal advantages, the Right Honourable Gentleman and his colleagues were labouring to de feat their arguments, by frenuously maintaining this diabolical doctrine, that the profperity of one country must be the means of impoverishing the other. Mr. Fox ofe to explain. He faid, that Summary of Proceedings in the prefent Seffion of Parliament. that when he had affumed a greater latitude of fpeaking of foreign powers than if he had been in office, no perfon that heard him could infer that he meant to disclose the secrets of ftate; his meaning was clear; that he night speak of France, for instance, as the natural enemy of England, which it would not be decent for a minifter to do. He juftified the manner in which he had stated the fituation of the fifter kingdoms. He infifted likewife, that while the K. of G. Britain and the Elector of Hanover were united in the fame perfon, if a war was declared on the continent against the latter, the former could not remain neuter, and fee his Majesty's hereditary dominions wrefted from him. Surely then a subject, that fo nearly concerned the interests of this country, fhould not have been omitted. He added, that if he was to understand the Rt. Hon. Gent, as difavowing all refponfibility for the advice given to his Majefty as Élector of Hanover, he fhould think he went a great way farther than he imagined any British minifter would have ventured to do. Mr. Pitt rofe likewife to explain. He did not, he faid, mean that this country should take no part in cafe of a rupture commenced on account of his Majefty's Electoral dominions; but had contended that there was no occafion for his Majefty's minifters to advife his Majesty to fignify to his British parliament, at this. period, what had been done by him as Elector of Hanover. He was ready, he faid, to meet the Right Honourable Gentleman on the question of refponfibility, now, or upon any future occafion. Mr. Francis role to controvert what the Right Honourable Chancellor of the Exchequer had faid refpecting the flou rithing ftate of the Eaft India Company; which, he had good reason to fay, was the very reverse. The company, on a former occafion, had ftated a furplus of a million and a half in their favour, when he was ready to prove a million and a half deficiency. Certainly fo capital a mistake in the accounts of a great trading company could not arife from mistake, but defign. It was a notorious fact, that at Bombay they were now fo deficient in cafh, as to be obliged to borrow money at 9 per cent. He read a letter as part of his fpeech, figned J. M'Pherfon, which ftated, that the devaftations were fo great in the Carnatic during the late war, as not to be repaired in a long term of years; and another letter, which com 163 plained bitterly against the India bil, and wondered that perfons, after having made ample fortunes in India, and obtaining feats in parliament, could vote for fuch a bill. The Honourable Gentleman enlarged upon the evil tendency of the bill, which, he faid, must be repealed in toto, or in part, or all India would be in revolt. Mr. Dundas role in reply, and charged Mr. Francis with mifreprefentation, by holding forth the general account, in which the war expences, and the winding up of the bottom, were included, as the annual account of income and difburfements. 'He defended the India bill, and endeavoured to clear up that part of Mr. Pitt's fpeech that related to the comparative fate of the debt of the Eaft India company, and that of the national debt of this country. Mr. Francis, in reply, pledged himself to prove that the Company's debts, inftead of being leffened, had increased confiderably. Major Scott pledged himself to prove the finances of the Company to be in a flourishing ftate. The eulogiums that had been juftly paffed on Lord Macartney for voluntarily delivering up an inventory of his effects, was equally due to Mr. Haftings, who had offered, and was ready to do the fame, whenever that house or the Company fhould call upon him fo to do. When the length of time, and the difficulties the latter had to struggle with and furmount, come to be compared with the fmooth path and flender oppofition which the other had to encounter; and when the fortune of the one comes to be balanced against the fortune of the other; it will then be feen whole merits have been most deserving, and whofe fervices have been moft amply rewarded. Mr. Martin rofe, and, after fome previous obfervation on the tendency of the debate, and expreffing the pleasure which every opportunity that offered gave him of praifing the acts of an administration he wished to fupport, very frankly owned that he could not help blaming them when he faw they did wrong. The appointment of an ambaffador to the court of Madrid, who never had refided there, was a useless waste of public money, and deferved reprehenfion. As to the India bill, he never could approve of any infringement on the Great Charter of the liberties of the people; and though the objects of the bill might be enormous offenders, yet the enormity of their 164 Summary of Proceedings in the prefent Seffion of Parliament. nish them. Mr. Pitt role in reply, and thanked the honourable member for the opportunity he had afforded him of stating to the houfe the reason that had hitherto prevented the Earl of Chesterfield, amballador to the court of Spain, from appearing in that character at Madrid. The fact was, that when his lordship was first appointed, it was imagined that an amballador of equal rank would have been fent from Spain to this kingdom;, but no fuch ambaffador having been fent, and it feeming that no fuch ambaffador is intended to be fent from Spain, his Majefty's plcafure, for the earl's return, has been fignified to his lordship, and therefore his appointment is to be confidered as determined. What the honourable member has farther faid, relative to the India bill, has already been anfwered, he hoped, to the fatisfaction of the honourable gentleman, whofe candour he had often experienced. Major Scott, on fecing Mr. Burke come into the houfe, rofe to remind him of his promife to the houfe, in the courfe of the laft feffion, to bring forward fomething in the prefent against a gentleman juft arrived from India [Mr. Haftings]; if, therefore, the Right Honourable Gentleman meant to keep his word, he hoped he would have the fairnefs to fay when he intended to proceed, and hoped it would be foon. 1 Mr. Fox, in reply, faid, that, if his right honourable friend fhould fo far neglect his duty as to forget to fulfil his promife, there were others in that houfe who would not fail to bring the matter into difcuffion. At length the question was put on Lord Surrey's amendment, and negatived; and afterwards the addrefs voted. Wednesday, Jan. 25. His Majesty's fpeech was, upon motion, ordered to be taken into confideration; and Mr. Smith having brought up the report from the committee, Lord Surrey ftated, that as it had been faid in the fpeech, that the burdens to be this year laid on the public would be very fmall, he begged to know, whether they were intended to make up the noneffective taxes? In that cafe he would not oppose them; but, if they were meant to extend farther, he certainly would. Mr. Fox, when the fecond paragraph of the addrefs was read, rofe, to demand an explanation of the right honourable gentleman on the fubject of the German confederacy. That confederacy seemed of material confequence to this country, and fhould be perfectly understood before the houfe could approve, by their addrefs, of what minifters had done in the Elector of Hanover's answer to the King of Pruffia's communication. The anfwer, or rather no anfwer, which the right honourable gentleman chofe to give yesterday upon the fubject, did not fatisfy those who had the intereft of England nearly at heart; nor could it be believed that the King of Great Britain, binding himself as Elector of Hanover to fupport the German confederacy, did not allo involve this country in the fame caufe. Is it poffible to fuppofe that, the special interefts of this country, calling upon government to take an active part with the Emperor in oppofition to this confederacy, that the King of Great Britain draw his fword against the Elector of Hanover? How then can it be gravely faid, that the interefts of Hanover and the interefts of Great Britain are two feparate and independent interefts! German wars were of the most fatal nature to the lives and purfes of the English nation; and every thing that has the moft diftant tendency to engage Great Britain in thofe wars, fhould be guarded against in the ftrongest manner. He was there. fore anxious to know the full extent of this German league. With respect to the anfwer given to the Pruffian memorial, it is generally understood to amount to a promise of fupporting the confede racy. Similar memorials had been fent to other courts; but those courts wifely confidered their own interefts. Ruffia, in particular, faw no occafion for any fuch league; France made no answer at all; but England gave an answer that put it in the power of the confederacy to call upon the Elector of Hanover to fupport his German interefts again the British empire, and to draw his fword in one country against himself as king in another. Mr. Pitt, in reply, faid, that the answer he had given yefterday was all the information that he thought requifite on the occafion. The right honourable gentleman's motives needed no illufira tion. He wanted to create a jealousy in foreign powers, and to fpread diftruit among the people at home; but was that the part of a good citizen? was it the part of a good citizen, to hold forth language that must be injurious to the public peace? was it the part of a good ci tizen, to aim at the difclofure of matters which were not proper to be publicly known? 2 Summary of Proceedings in the prefent Seffion of Parliament. 165 known? Such conduct bespoke the enemy, and not the friend of his country. If there be any folidity in the right honourable gentleman's argument, the weight of it recoils upon himfelf. If parliament were to interfere in the bufi nefs, then parliament muft stand pledged to fupport the confederacy; whereas, at prefent, the Electorate of Hanover only ftood pledged, and Great Britain had nothing to do in the affair. Mr. Pitt faid he was ready at all times to meet the right honourable gentleman on fair ground of argument; but not all the force of his much-admired eloquence fhould wreft from him more than he had already faid upon the fubject. Mr. Fox in reply faid, that the right honourable gentleman need be under no apprehenfion of his difclofing fecrets; for the fact of the confederacy, and the interference of England, were notorious to all Europe. All that was now meant was to have it formally communicated by the minifter to the country which was the most interested in the event. Mr. Sheridan, on hearing the paragraph refpecting the Irish bill read, rofe, and in plain terms charged the minifter with the breach of his word in that bufinefs. He faid, the right honourable gentleman had feriuced the houfe into a belief of his integrity; but, after pledging himself to do one thing, he did another. The fact was upon record beyond the power of contradiction. When he brought forward his bill, he pledged his honour to the house, that it contained nothing that differed in any respect from the refolutions, except in the form; the very contrary of which was the fact; for, when it came to be produced in Ireland, it was a thing quite different from the refolutions, and bound each country in a very different manner the one to the other. This, he faid, was a notorious breach of honour, a forfeiture of promife, a bold, an unprecedented infult on the commons of Great Britain, unparal leled in any former feffions, which deferved the ftrongeft reprehenfion. Mr. Attorney General turned to the addrefs prefented to his Majefty on that occafion; which addrefs mentioned the fubftance of the refolutions to be as altered in the bill; the honourable gentleman might, therefore, as well fay, that the addrefs itself was ftolen upon the house. Mr. Sheridan replied, that he was well aware of the fubterfuge; and believed that the tricks and little manoeuvres of adminiftration in that bufinefs had more injured their caufe than the badnels of the bill itself. The imposition on the credulity of the house, and the forfeiture of the minifter's veracity in a matter on which he food pledged to parliament, were in full force, and never could be done away. The addrefs was read without further interruption, agreed to, and ordered to be prefented in the ufual form. A motion was made for the chaplain to preach before the houfe at St. Margaret's church, Westminster, on Monday the 30th inftant. Thursday, Feb. 26. Lord Courtown reported, that his Majefty had been waited upon, to know when he would be attended by this house with the addrefs, and appointed this day at two o'clock; which was accordingly prefented. 1 A motion was made, that a fupply be granted to his Majefty. Friday, Jan. 27. The Speaker reported his Majefty's anfwer as follows: 66 Gentlemen, I thank you for this véry loyal addrefs. I receive with great fatisfaction the allurances of your difpofition to enter with zeal and industry into the confideration of thofe important and falutary objects which I have recom→ mended to your attention." The order of the day, That á fupply be granted to his Majefty, was then read, and a committee appointed to take the fame into confideration. A great deal of private business, but no debate. Tuesday, Jan. 3. Ordered, That the thanks of the house be given to Dr. Heathcote, for his fermon preached at St. Margaret's church Jan. 30. Read the first time, a bill for confining the trade from America to Newfoundland, to bread, flour, Indian corn, and live ftock. Hon. Charles Marfoam rofe, to move for leave to bring in a bill for amending and rendering all the laws relative to the militia into one act. His reafons were, that he deemed the militia the natural and moft conftitutional defence of the kingdom; that nothing could be fo prejudicial and injurious to the fervice as holding it cheap; and that a fet of Gentlemen, who like himself had ferved in the militia, had exerted their endeavours towards difcovering the best means of rendering it refpectable. It was, he said, with this view that he meant to bring forward the motion of which he had given notice. [Here he declared his opinion, in high terms of panegyric, of the fairnefs and candour of the prefent minifter 166 Summary of Proceedings in the prefent Seffion of Parliament. minifter.] And having done that, he proceeded to remind the house of the origin of the militia, the manner in which its fervices had been formerly received, and to fubmit it to the confideration of the house, what measures were proper to re-inftate it on a respectable footing. In the year 1756 or 57, when the war before the laft broke out, a body of Hanoverians and Heffians were brought into this kingdom for its internal fecurity, which foon occafioned fome diftur bance. The English revolted at the idea of not being able to defend themfelves. It was then that the militia was fet on foot; and fo effectually did it answer the idea that was formed of it, that it was encouraged and established as a national defence the very fame feffion; and at the end of the war the officers who had ferved in it received as a reward the efpe cial thanks of his Majefty and of thi. houfe; and fo highly acceptable was this mark of approbation received, that the colonel of the corps in which he had the honour to ferve [the Kentish militia] ordered a copy of the vote of thanks to be printed, and fent to each individual officer, to take home with him when the militia was disbanded, to preferve it as an honourable teftimonial of the fenfe the king and the reprefentatives of the people entertained of the fervice he had done his country. After the peace, the militia were called out, embodied, and trained once a year; and it was remarkable, that when the French had concluded a treaty of amity with the United States of America, and of course declared themselves hoftile to this country, the militia camp was formed as early that year as in any year of the war, owing to the habits of difcipline and duty to which they had been kept while fo embodied. How different had been the conduct of government at the end of laft war! He had predicted what would be the confe quence, and what he had predicted had happened. Though the militia had acted as well during that war as at any time during the former wars, they were not thought worthy of notice: no thanks had been given by the crown; no thanks by that houfe; and for three years together they were not called out once. The confequence has been, that gentlemen have grown indifferent about the fervice, and difgufted at the neglect with which they had been treated. Mr. Marsham made a handfome apology for taking up fo much of the time of the houfe, and begged their patience for a few moments to ftate fome of the views with which the bill he fhould move for leave to bring in had been prepared. The gentlemen who had affifted him were all of opinion that one means was to reduce the various laws into one; and another material object of it was to change the time of the duration of the fervice, and to alter it from three years to five. There were, he obferved, three objections generally made to the militia: one, the great expence to the kingdom; another, the prejudice it did to the recruiting service of the army; and a third, the heavy burden it entailed on the country. All these he obviated, and concluded with moving for leave to bring in the bill. Mr. Pye feconded the motion. Mr. Pitt rofe, to return his thanks to the honourable gentleman, for having fo properly brought under the confideration of the houfe a matter of fuch truly national importance as the militia; the interval of peace was undoubtedly the fittelt moment poffible for them to unite in endeavouring to put that great and moft conftitutional defence of the kingdom upon a refpectable footing; and, much as he profeffed himself the friend of economy in that, as in every other branch of the public fervice, he was not fo much a flave of his opinion, as by any means to wish to leffon the advantages the country had felt from a well-regulated militia; but, he confeffed, he did not entirely think with the honourable gentleman, that it was fo entirely neceffary for the militia to be embodied every year. He thought it would be attended with an expence that would produce no adequate advantages to the nation; but, as he did not difapprove of the principle of the bill, he fhould not oppose its being brought in. Mr. Marfbam thought the calling out of the militia regularly every year fo effential to the prefervation of that force on a refpectable footing, that, if it was the right honourable gentleman's refolution to fet his face againft it, he fhould not think it worth his while to give himfelf any more trouble about it, but would leave the matter as he found it. Mr. Pitt made a fhort reply. He faid, he was far from thinking lightly of the establishment of a well-difciplined and well-regulated militia; and appealed to the houfe, if any thing that had fallen from him could justify a thought of the kind. All that he meant to fay was, that the beft means poffible to be adopted for the purpofe was a matter of future confideration, when the bill came regularly into difcuffion. The |