upon a queftion taken, had been rejected. Thus, the Duke faid, marked the violent ipirit of the Houfe, when they voted the refo tions.

There were a few arguments paffed between Lord Loughborough and the Duke of Richmond, on the different ftrength of the last and prefent Administration; the prefent policing the confidence of that Houfe, with a majority again them in the other. While the old Administration poflelled the confidence of the Houfe of Commons, and had the majority of the House of Lords against them.

At length it being eleven o'clock, the Houfe divided.

The Earl of Effingham then moved his fecond refolution, which was carried, without a divifion.

The Earl then moved the following Addrefs.

"We acknowledge with great satisfaction, the wyjdom of our happy conftitution, which places in your Majefty bands, the undoubted authority of appointing to all the great offices of executive government. We have the firmest reliance on your Majefty's known wisdom and paternal goodness, that you will be anxious to call into and continue in your fervice, men the most deferving of the confidence of the Parliament and the public in general.

"In this confidence we beg leave to approach your Majefly with our most earnest affurances, that we will upon all occafions fupport your Majelly in the just exercise of thofe prerogatives, which the wijdom of the laws has entrusted to your Majefly, for the prefervation of our lives and properties, and upon the due and urinterrupted exercife, of which must depend the bleffings which the people derive from the best of all forms of government."

This was agreed to, and a Committee appointed to put it into the form of an addrefs, who brought it in immediately; it was then read, approved, and ordered to be presented to his Majefty by the Lords with white Staves. The Houfe rofe at twenty minutes pak eleven.

Thursday, February 5.

The Duke of Chandos acquainted the Houfe that his Majefty had appointed that day at half past three o'clock to be attended with the addrefs of the House.

Accordingly at a little past three, the Lord Chancellor attended by a great number of Peers, went in proceffion to St. James's.

HOUSE of COMMONS, Thursday, February 5.

HIS MAJESTY'S ANSWER.

Lord Hinchinbroke informed the Houfe, that he had the honour of Jaying their refolutions of Monday before his Majetty, who had ordered him to inform them, that he would take them into confideration.

UNION PROPOSED.

Mr. Hammer informed the Houfe that being animated with the most ardent defire to promote an union of all the different parties, into which the greatest and ablett men in the na tion were tplit, he intended to move that the refolutions of the Houle on the 12th and 16th of January be refcinded, because he underHood they were confidered as obftacles to an un'or. He gave notice that he thould bring on the bufinefs to-morrow.

COLCHESTIK PETITION.

The Earl of Surrey faid he wished to lay be fore the Houte a petition from Colchester, the object of which was to affect the feat of an honourable Member of that Houfe, Sir Ed mund Affleck, for the petitioners prayed leave to prove that the worthy Member had not that eftate, which the law expressly declared to be. neceffary as a qualification to fit as a burgess in that Houte. His lordship declared, that nothing could be farther from his inclination, than to do any thing uncandid towards the honourable Baronet; but the petition had been put into his hand merely because he had been a nominee on the Committee, to decide on the merits of a petition against the return of the honourable Member; and if he did not give notice previously to the honourable Baro net of his intention to prefent fuch a petition, it was because he had juft received it; and if he did not prefent it this day, he could not by the forms of the Houfe prefent it at all, this being the fourteenth day fince Sir Edmund

had taken his feat.

The Speaker informed the noble lord, that he was under a mistake, for it was not with in fourteen days after a Member had taken his feat but in fourteen days after the return of the writ.

The flanding order was read, and it appeared to be just what Mr. Speaker had flated it, therefore the petition could not be received.

SECRETARY EAST INDIA COMPANY.

Mr. Eden reminded the House, that he had before the holidays, moved that certain papers containing an account of what aid the Eaft India Company expected from Parliament, thould be laid before the Houfe. His object was to find out what agreement had been made between the Chancellor of the Exche quer and the Directors of the East India Company, in confideration of which the Company's confent had been given to the India bill (Mr. Pitt's lately rejected by the House.

Mr. Lushington faid, that the accounts had been made out, but they not appearing adequate, further accounts were ordered, and that the Company would chearfully obey the order of the Houfe.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid, he understood the accounts were in a state of readinefs.

Mr. Eden faid, as his motion had produced the end he intended by it, he should withdraw it.

UNION.

Mr. Hammet faid the House might recollect that he had this day expreffed an intention to move to-morrow for the refcinding the refolutions of the 12th and 16th of January last, because he was of opinion, they stood in the way of that union of all parties, fo evidently withed for by every true friend to his country. He had, however, fince altered his opinion as to the day on which he should make his mo tion: he had cenferred fince with fome members; and by their defire, he would put it off till Monday. He faid further, that he would not even on that day prefs it upon the Houfe, if he should not find it to be the general fenfe, that fuch a motion would have a tendency to promote an union; of which he understood fome gentlemen entertained a doubt.

MOTION RESPECTING THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Lord Beauchamp begged leave to fubmit to the Houfe a motion, to which he did not believe there could be any objection; he confeffed he had no better grounds for making it than rumour; but he was of opinion that every one would allow rumour was a very good ground for enquiry. From rumour he had heard, that the House of Lords had taken in to confideration a refolution which this Houfe had paffed on the 24th of December, and made it the foundation of what he conceived to be a very unwarrantable attack upon the priviJeges of the Houfe of Commons. His furprize was great indeed this day, when he was informed that the Houfe of Lords had been fitting last night in folemn deliberation on a refolution which he had proposed in the House of Commons, and which had been adopted on Christmas eve. That refolution conveyed to the Lords of the Treafury an opinion relative to the further acceptance of bills drawn from India on the Eaft India Company; and he understood that this resolution had been conftrued to amount to an affumption on the part of the House of Commons, of a power to fopercede an act of Parliament, or in other words, to take away by a refolution of one branch of the legiflature, a power granted by all three. But this furely was a conftruction which the refolution would not admit; and nothing but captious malignity could think of torturing it, fo as to make it speak a language fo little, in the contemplation of the Houfe when it agreed to the refolution. The Houfe of Commons affumed no new power, when it

attempted to state to a public board, how far that board ought, in the opinion of the Houfe, to exercise a power which they might or might not exercife, at their own difcretion: there were a thousand inftances in the Jour pals, of inftructions given to all the publie boards, with respect to the exercise of powers vefted in them by act of Parliament; and there was not before yesterday, one fingle inftance in which fuch inftructions had been declared to be an attempt to difpenfe with an act of Parliament. The right honourable Gentleman at the head of the Treasury had, at the conclufion of the laft feffions of Parliament, moved a refolution that certain places, which it was clearly the juft prerogative of the Crown to fill up, thould not be difpofed of until the next meeting of the Parliament, becaufe there were certain regulations relative to thefe places, then actually depending in the Houfe. Had any one ventured to affert that the right honourable Gentleman in moving, or the House in adopting his motion, had attempted by the refolution of one branch of the legiflature to take away from the Crown a prerogative, vetted in it by the law of the land? No one had been so ́absurd as to advance fuch a propofition: and if it was not improper to flate to the King an opinion of the Houfe of Commons relative to the exercife of a power given to his Majefty by law, could it in fairnefs be faid that it was improper or unconftitutional for the Houfe to flate an opinion to a public board? It ought to be particularly obferved on the prefent occafion, that the refolntion which had given the Lords fo much offence, and which it was to him matter of furprize they had not long fince taken into their confideration, related to a fubject in which the public purfe, of which the Commons were peculiarly the keepers, was deeply concerned. The Directors of the Eaft India Company are by law empowered to accept bills drawn upon the Company to the amount of 350,000l. but when the fums drawn for, exceed 350,000l. then the Directors muft apply to the Lords of the Treasury for leave to accept fuch bills, or as many of them as exceed in value that fum; and the Lords of the Treafury have a difcretion to grant or withhold that leave, as they fhall think fit; or to grant it to what extent they may judge expedient. Now it was well known that bills to the amount of between one and two millions sterling had already been drawn and received: and that many more were expected from India. The fums for which thefe bills had been drawn were immenfe, and far beyond any thing that had been imagined by Parlia ment when the act alluded to was paffed. If the Treasury fhould permit the acceptance of all the bills, the public credit would be thereby pledged, and bound to provide for the payment, if the Company fhould not be able to take them ap; and would any man be bold enough to affert, that the Houfe had not a right to give an opinion in a cafe which might

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fo very materially affect the property of their conflituents?--He did not expect that this right would have been questioned by any one, and much less by the House of Lords. The Commons had a right to exercife it at all times; but more particularly in an alarming fiteation of affairs, when the names of the Lords of the new Treafury Board were not fo much as known; fo that it would be improper for that Hoofe, and a breach of its duty to its conftituents, to truft fo important a concern to the difcretion of men, not known to them; and in whofe judgment and integrity no confidence could of courfe be repoled. He admitted that he propofed the refolution of the 24th of December, in a thin Houfe; but that was not his fauit: he did it not by terprize; nor with an intention to avail him fell of the advantage which he might be fup. pofed to derive from the absence of the right honourable Gentleman over against him, and of feveral other Gentlemen, who having vacated their feats, by the acceptance of offices under the Crown, were gone to new elections. The nature of the cafe, and the then situation of affairs, appeared to him to be such as to call for, and justify the motion he then made. However, he would not enter any further in to the subject at prefent; it would be firit necellary for the Houfe to know what had been done by the Lords, relative to the refolution he had made; and therefore he moved, "That a Committee be appointed to examine "the Journals of the Lords, and fee if any, " and what proceedings had been had by them on the fubject of a refolution agreed to by "this Houfe on the 24th of December laft; or any other refolution; and that they "make a report to the Houfe.".

Mr. Eden feconded the motion, but without making any fpeech.

The Chanceller of the Exchequer declared he had not the least objection to the noble Lord's motion: if he was defirous to know whether any thing had been done in the Houfe of Lords, founded on a refolution of this Houfe, the mode his lordship had adopted was certainly frictly parliamentary, and conformable to the practice of this Houfe. He did not mean to take any notice of what had been urged by the noble Lord, in fupport of his refolution, becaufe he did not with to anticipate what might be the subject of debate on the report which the Committee now moved for might make. He meant fimply to obferve, that he by no means believed the noble Lord had it in contemplation to take advantage of the abfence of feveral Gentlemen ip office, when he moved his refolution before the holidays, ftill it was very true, that it was paffed in their Houfe, when of courfe they had no opportunity to refift it.

Mr. Fox begged the right honourable Gentleman would recollect, that the circumBance of his abfence ought not to be mentioned as a kind of oblique cenfure of the refolution

moved by his noble friend; for fo far was the noble Lord from withing to take an an fair advantage of the right honourable gentleman's abfence, that it was that very abfence which made the refolution neceffary :for had he been then a member of that Houfe, and prefent, it was more probable the refolu tion would not have been preffed upon the House, or so much as moved; for the noble Lord would have put fome queftions to the right honourable Gentleman, and if, in anfwer, he had affured the House, that, until their next meeting after the receis, the Lords of the Treafory would not confent to the acceptance of any bills drawn upon the East India Company, there would have been no neceffity whatever for the refolution, and confequently it would not have been proposed.With respect to the proceedings of the Lords yesterday, there was fomething n them, which ftruck him as exceedingly fingular, and very well worth the attention of the House. The refolution, which gave their Lordships fo much offence, was paffed on the 24th of December: the Lords, who conceived it to be a daring encroachment on the part of the Commons, and a violation of the Royal prerogative on one hand, and of the privileges of the House of Peers on the other, met on the 20th of January; and yet, though they fat almost every day fince, they never once took notice of this bold attempt of The Commons till the 4th of February. Were the Lords indifferent during all this interval, about their own rights, and those of the Crown-Or did any thing recently hap pen, which had ferved to awaken their fenfibility Yes; for the House of Commons had, on Tuesday, agreed to a motion for lay. ing certain refolutions which they had patted, before his Majesty. The very next day, and not before, their Lordships proceeded to take into confideration the refolution, which the Houfe of Commons had paffed fo long ago as the 24th of December laft: fo that before they thought of taking this daring, this il legal refolution into confideration, they waited until the Commons had agreed to a mea fure strictly legal, ftrictly conftitutional, and ftrictly parliamentary, namely a measure for giving advice to the Crown. From this procedure of the Lords, this curious and alarming leffon might be collected, that as long as the Houfe of Commons thould agree in opibion with the minifters of the Crown, fo long they might pafs what refolutions they pleated, unheeded by the Lords; but that they no fooner fhould differ from minifters, and advife the Crown to remove them, than the Lords would ftand forth their champions, and commence hoftilities against the Ho of Commons. For his own part he had long fafpected, and the hiftory of the last three weeks confirmed his suspicions that there was a plan in this country, a confpiracy to fink the confequence of the Houfe of Commons, and vilify them to their Conflituents and to

the

the world. There was a fettled defign fomewhere to render the Commons fubfervient to the will of the Crown, and confequently ufelefs to the Conftitution. He remarked that it was the conflant practice of minifiers, when they found themselves fupported by the Houfe of Commons to exaggerate their power and their confequence, but when they happened to be in oppofition to minifters, then they were cried down, then the prerogative of the erown was mentioned in lofty ftrains; and the Lords were called upon to vindicate their rights, which they were prompted to believe invaded by the exercife of the most conftitutional powers of the Houfe of Commons. Thus praifed when they fopported minifters, vilified and traduced when they oppofed them, the Commons must at lait be rendered contemptible in the eyes of the public, and consequently unfit for any one of the purposes for which they formed a branch of the legiflature. To render the House of Commons contemptible, and confequently ufelefs, was the obvious with and object of thofe who had entered into the confpiracy against it; the life of the Houte of Commons was aimed at; of this he declared upon his honour he entertained not a doubt: and when he spoke of the Houfe of Commons, he did not mean the Houfe then fitting, but the Houfe of Commons in an abftract fenfe, as forming one of the three great bodies of the legislature. If this was not the defign of the confpirators, would the world have feen that phenomenon in this country, a minifer infulting the Houfe of Commons, by daily appearing on the Treafury-bench as a minifter, after the Houfe of Commons had declared they could place no confidence in him; and after they had laid before his Majefly their refolutions, by way of advice to the Crown, to remove him and his colleagues? And would the Houfe of Lords been called upon to enter into refolutions against the House of Commons, if there had not been a fettled defign to infult and trample upon them? Was it not known, that in his Majefty's cabinet there were not wanting thofe, who were not the warmcft friends to the conftitution in its prefent form? Was it not known that there were in high Jegal fituations in this country, perfons who held and avowed in public, principles the most abhorrent from the conftitution? Could then the houfe reft at eafe under thefe circumftances? He hoped they would not; but he hoped alfo that they would proceed not only with temper and moderation, but even with extreme temper and moderation. It imported much, that in the proceedings into which they must go, they fhould not only be temperate, but that also they should be in the right; for if they had of late done any thing that was wrong, it became their dignity, their honour, and their justice, to recant their errors with all convenient fpeed, and to return 10 the right path of the conflitution. If on the other hand, it should turn out upon en

quiry, that they had acted hitherto with the conftitution on their fide, it became them to be firm, and not to furrender their own and their country's right to any power whatever. He would wait therefore the refult of the enquiry, which was the object of his noble friend's motion, before he should fay any thing further on the proceedings of the Houfe of Lords. The Chancellor of the Exchequer observed, that the Right Hon. Member might, if he pleased, have recollected, that though the Houfe of Lord did not proceed till yesterday to take into confideration the refolution alluded to; yet the noble Earl, who introduced the bufinefs yesterday to the Houfe of Lords, mentioned it foon after the reccfs, if not on the very day their Lordships met after the holidays, and that there, was no very good ground for the obfervations the Right Hon. Genteman had made on that part of the fubject. The Right Hon. Gentleman had alfo taken notice, that though the Lords had taken no ftep to express their difapprobation of the refolution in queftion, they did not fail to do it the very day after the Houfe of Commons had agreed to lay before his Majefty their advice to him to remove his Minifters. The Lords probably knew that bis Majesty's present Mnifters had had the uniform fupport of the Houfe of Commons ever fince the recefs till yesterday; and if they did know this, (which no one in the world knew but themselves) there might be a foundation for the obfervation which the Right Honourable Gentleman had made out on that head. But if it should fo happen that the Lords knew that ever fince the prefent Minifters came into office, they found themfelves conftantly in a minority; and that refolutions, no lefs unpleasant to Minifters, bad paffed on the fixteenth of Janua ry than that which paffed on Wednesday laft, he fhould really be at a lofs to discover how the Right Hon. Gentleman could think of building his obfervation on fo abfurd a found ation, as that on which it actually food. Pretty much as well founded was the obfervation that there was a confpiracy to deftroy the Houfe of Commons, and that there were even in his Majesty's Council fome perfons (he knew not how many exceptions the Right Hon. Gentleman might make) who were hoftile to the prefent conflitution. There might poffibly be perfons fo credulous as to believe fuch an idle and abfurd obfervation; and to fuch perfons it would be in vain to fay any thing. The Right Hon. Gentleman however had gone fo far as to point out a learned Lord high in a legal office, as a perfon who holds in public, principles the most oppofite to the conftitution. He withed the Right Hon. Gentleman was lefs fond of general infinu ation; and that he would be good-natured enough to remember fome of the expreffions of that learned Lord, on which he might be tried, on which he might defend him felf until the Right Hon. Gentleman fhould produce fome fpecific charge, he thould not atempt to de

fend