lords fhould take up the performance of a duty appertaining to them. And now, when a bill of the fame tendency, which originated with, and peculiarly relates to themselves, is unanimoufly paffed, and fent up by that house, the fame noble lord endeavours with all his might that it fhould be rejected, without the fmalleft confideration of the danger of a breach between the two houfes, which he had on the former occafion held out as an object of fo much terror.

They concluded, by a ftrong appeal to the neceffities and the temper of the times, and by hoping, that the lords would have too full and lively a fenfe of what they owed to their own honour and dignity, to fuffer that houfe to become an engine in the hands of the minifter; and thus to do that for him, which he was afhamed and afraid to attempt doing for himfelf in the other.

The question being put, after a very long debate, the bill was rejected by a majority of 20; the numbers being 61 to 41. A proteft was entered, figned by 25 peers; and in the greater part by another.

Nothing ever happened more fortunately in favour of any adminifiration, than the illness, at this peculiar juncture, of the fpeaker of the house of commons. It feemed as if nothing else could at that time have faved them. The recefs, indeed, was not long; but it produced extraordinary and unexpected effects For befides that the ardour and animation which ever attend new enterprize, and perhaps more in cafes of reform than any other, naturally cool and

flacken under a ceffation of action; the recefs likewife afforded time and opportunity, which were by no means loft or neglected, for ufing effectual means to bring the numerous deferters from the court, who had been afraid to oppofe the late popular torrent, back to their original standard.

In effect, the meeting of the houfe of commons, after this short recefs, prefented fo new a face and appearance of things, and fuch a total change of temper and difpofition, that it feemed no longer the fame identical body.

April 24th.

The first public queftion of confequence before the houfe, was a poftponed motion of Mr. Dunning's, which had been deferred on the laft day of meeting, on account of the fpeaker's illnefs. The motion was for an addrefs to his majefty, requefting that he would not diffolve the parliament, nor prorogue the prefent fellion, until proper meafures fhould be taken by that houfe, to diminish the influence of the crown, and to correct the other evils complained of in the petitions of the people.

This motion brought out great and long debates; in the courie of which, almost every ground, that we have hitherto feen trodden, re lative to the various great objects of the prefent controverfy, was again, upon fome occafion, and in fome degree taken. Whether it was, that the leaders of the oppofition understood, or that they only ap prehended, the defection of their late but new allies, they however took all imaginable pains, and ufed every potlible argument, to fhew the neceflity of their supporting their own determinations; as

[M] 3

well

well as the shame and difgrace that must attend a dereliction of those principles, which they had fo recently avowed and established. They had already fubftantiated, they faid, by the refolutions of the fixth of April, the grievances complained of in the petitions; and they had alfo bound themfelves, by the fame refolutions, under the most indiffoluble obligation to the people of England, to procure full redress for thofe grievances. So that no gentleman, who had fupported thofe refolutions by his vote, could, without the most fhameful inconfiftency of conduct, and a dereliction of principle fo manifeft, as to afford room for the moft odious furmifes, refufe giving his fupport to any fair measure that was propofed for obtaining that redrefs, unless he could himfelf fubftitute a better, or at least fhew, that the means offered were in themfelves eiientially faulty.

A few, though but very few, freely declared, that they neither did nor fhould, whether upon the prefent, or upon any future occafion, hold themselves at all fettered in their conduct, by any former refolutions or opinions. They fhould eftimate every question that came before them by its own intrinfic value; and confider its probable confequences, merely as it then appeared, without the trouble of any retrospect. It by no means neceffarily followed, that thofe who fupported the refolutions of the 6th of April, were to approve of the prefent motion; no charge of inconfiftency could therefore be incurred by their op pofing either that, or many others which might pofiibly be held out under the fame idea. If they

promifed their endeavours to procure redress for the people, they did not thereby give up the right of exercising their own judgment, whether in chufing the most eligible means of obtaining that end, or in deciding upon the measure of redrefs which it might be right and neceffary to obtain.

The minifters cheared their old or new friends with the warmeft plaudits, for; that liberality of fentiment, which difdained the trammels of vulgar reftraint. They likewife exclaimed loudly at the impropriety, indecorum, and in. delicacy of their antagonists, in endeavouring to put gentlemen out of countenance, by confronting them with their former conduct and opinions. This they declared to be unparliamentary and unfair. Nor could there be any lack of precedents or reafons, to fupport a change in either or both.

The question being put a little before midnight, in an unusually full houfe, the motion was rejected upon a divifion by a majority of 51; the numbers being 254, to 203.

Mr. Fox rifing to speak immediately after the motion, a most extraordinary scene of diforder was difplayed, arifing (as the minority affirmed) from the unwillingness of the majority to hear the deferters treated as they deferved. The chair being repeatedly called on to exercise its authority, the fpeaker at length, with the utmost vehemence of voice, called on every fide of the house to order; and having ordered the officers to clear the bar, required and infifted that every member fhould take his place.

This opened the way to Mr. Fox; and after all that had been fuppofed done to prevent it, the gentlemen concerned found themfelves condemned to hear, the keeneft philippic, that perhaps ever was spoken in that houfe. No calls to order, nor other means, could either check the torrent of his eloquence, or reftrain the bit ternefs of his invective. He declared the vote of that night, to be fcandalous, difgraceful, and treacherous. He did not apply thefe charges to the 215 gentlemen, who had, along with the minifter, oppofed the refolutions of the 6th of April. Thefe gentlemen acted an open, a confiftent, and a manly part, in their oppofing the addrefs propofed on the prefent day. They had differed from him; he was forry for it; but he could not blame themh, because they differed from him upon principle.

But who could contemplate, he faid, without a mixture of the greateft furprize and indignation, the conduct of another fet of men in that houfe? Thofe who had refolved that the influence of the crown was increased, and ought to be diminished; that the grievances of the people ought to be redreffed; who pledged themfelves to that houfe, to the nation, to their conftituents, to each other, and to themselves, that it was their duty to redress the grievances complained of; and who had now fhamefully fled from that folemn engagement! It was fhameful, it was bafe, it was unmanly, it was treacherous. The gentlemen he meant, he said, furrounded him; they fat at his fide of the houfe; he was forry for it. They were

those who voted with him on the 6th of April, and who voted with the minifter that night. No man held in greater contempt thofe who were at the devotion of the minifter, than he did himself: they were flaves of the worst kind, becaufe they fold themfelves; yet, bafe as the tenure of their places was, they had one virtue to pride themfelves on; their fidelity, confiftency, and gratitude, were fubjects of commendation. To all their other demerits, they had not added the abfurdity and treachery, of one day refolving an opinion to be true, and the next of declaring it to be a falfhood. They had not taken in their patron, their friends, or their country, with falfe hopes, and delufive promises. Whatever their motives or fentiments might be, they had adhered to them; and fo far as that went, their conduct was entitled to his approbation.

Mr. Dunning joined him in the charge of direct treachery to the nation. For that the counties, depending on the faith of parliment, for the redrefs held out by thofe refolutions, had relaxed greatly in the measures which they were purfuing for obtaining it by other means; and that the county of Cambridge in particular had, upon that dependence, refcinded its own refolution for appointing a committee of affociation. They both likewife declared, that the divifion of this night was totally decifive with refpect to the petitions; that it amounted to a full rejection of their general prayer; and that all hope of obtaining any redrefs for the people, in that house, was at an end.

The minifter anfwered Mr. Fox [M] 4 in

in a long fpeech; in which he expreffed the utmost astonishment at, and a good deal feprehended, the ftrange language, and the unbounded cenfure he had heard. The adminiftering comfort to his fuffering friends, was not, however, his principal object. He was much more anxious to obviate the impreffion, which the charges made, of rejecting by the prefent decifion the petitions of the people, might occafion without doors He accordingly laboured that point much, and upon the fame ground which had been before taken relative to the rejection of fome of the claufes in Mr. Burke's bill. He asked, whether any conclufion could be more extravagant, or irreconcileable to common fenfe, than that the giving a negative to a fingle propofition, fhould be confidered as deciding the fate of the petitions, and as amounting to a general rejection of the whole? The refolutions of the 6th of April were still in full being. Other measures might be propofed on them. And furely it might very well happen, that thofe who did not approve of the means in one mode of redres, might readily concur in others.

Mr. Burke's eftablishment bill, after lying for fome time dormant, was brought forward a few days after. The 2 th. first claufe agitated was that for abolishing the office of the great wardrobe, and all those leffer offices and places depending on it. This question brought out long and very confiderable debates; and it was fupported by the framer with all his ufual vigour and ability. The claufe was, however, at length rejected upon

a divifion, by a majority of 21Q, to 183. The principle of reform being in effect abandoned by the late vote, the attendance on particular parts now grew daily less and lefs.

The committee then proceeded upon the fucceeding claufe, for abolishing the board of works. This brought out new debate, in which the mover of the bill distinguithed himself more than ever by the force of his arguments, the fertility of his invention, and the pleafantry with which he enlivened a matter apparently dry and infipid in itself; but the queftion being at length put, the claufe was rejected, upon a divifion, by a majority of 03 to 118.

The minifter's bill, for a commiflion of accounts, had brought cut upon him, in the various ftages of its progrefs, more afperity of language, and feverity of cenfure, than perhaps had ever been undergone upon a fimilar occafion, by any other minifter in that houfe.

This partly pro

ceeded from the manner in which, we have feen, he had taken the bill out of the hands of another gentleman, and partly from the measure of appointing commiffioners, who were not members of the houfe of Commons. This was faid to be directly fubverfive of the conftitution. That it was no lefs than a furrender of the first right of that houfe, that of managing, as well as of granting, the public money, and of directing and controuling its expenditure. And fome of the oppofition contended strongly that the houfe was not competent to fuch a refignation. That being only delegates themselves, they could not delegate to others.

They

They might as well appoint their own fucceffors. If they were incapable, or indifpofed, to difcharge the duties of the great truft depofited with them, they were bound in duty to return it into the hands of their conftituents. But they had no right to appoint deputies to tranfact that effential part of the business of the nation, which was entrusted only to themselves.

On the other hand, the minifter gave every affurance, that he had not the finalleft with or intention, either of violating any of the privileges, or of abating any of the powers of that houfe; and that he was fully convinced, that there were gentlemen on both fides within thofe walls, of as great integrity, honour, ability, and poffelled of as warm a zeal for the public welfare, as any in the kingdom. That he had already given one of his motives for propofing that the commiffioners fhould not be members of that houfe, which was to avoid the invidous reflections which that circumftance would draw both upon himself and them. That debates ran fo high, and the times were fo contentious, that almoft every gentleman in that houfe had taken one fide or other; a circumftance which must render their conduct, however pure, liable to great and continual mifconftruction Among a number of other reafons, he itated the prefent immenfity of parliamentary bufinefs, which would not afford leisure to the members for fo tedious and laborious an undertaking.

That the failure of former commiflions proceeded from their originating in party. And that the commif

fioners being members of that houfe, had laid the ground of frequent difference with the other. He likewife endeavoured to fupport the measure by precedent, and for that purpose referred to the 13th of Charles the fecond, when nine commiffioners were chosen by ballot, fome of whom, he contended, were not members of parliament; but upon examining the reference, the evidence was found defective, it not positively appearing that any one was not a mem、 ber, and it feeming certain that fome were.

The house being in a committee on the fub- May 1ft, ject, the nomination of the commisfioners brought out great and various debates; and the naming of Sir Guy Carleton, in particular, afforded room for much cenfure and ridicule on the fide of oppofition. They faid it was completing and rounding the prefent fyftem adopted in the government of the army; as well as extending it to new objects. In the first inftance, they dragged clerks out of offices, to place them at the head of regiments; and now, they pull the truncheon out of the hand of a brave and veteran commander, and placing a pen, an inftrument totally out of the line of his profeffion, in its place, oblige him, at a time of life little calculated for new habits or acquirements, to commence commiflary of accounts. It was ftill more abfurd and improper, becaufe Sir Guy Carleton was himself, at that very time, an accountant with the public. Why was not that gallant officer enployed in his proper fphere of action, in a feafon when his fervices were fo much wanted? On