fpread, Why then, where Britain from her wave worn fleep Looks down indignant on the subject deep, Amidst the countless wealth which Heav'n has lent, Her fons ftill want the brightest gem Content ? Alas! that freedom, which, of all mankind, Has the rank weeds of vanity unbound, Hence every fool, on whom high Heav'n bestows Wifdom enough to follow his own nose, Blind to the means, and ignorant of the end, Blames ev'ry scheme he cannot comprehend; Lays to the charge of those who rule the State Inevitable ills, the acts of Fate ; Hence then he fighs, becaufe th' Almighty Mind His lot in life to fome low rank cenfin'd, And placed him not on high, where he might guide. tide The nation fafe through Fortune's changeful Hence 'tis that he Heav'ns proffer'd boon declines, And, thankless for the good, at fancied ill repines. Walworth, March 30th. THE SERENADE, J. B. C. WHEN the drear hour of silent Midnight reigns, And Nature fleeps in undisturbed repofe, How pleafing to the ear are Mufic trains, While in the air the charming cadence flows. How foft thofe fweetly-penfive, soothing airs Re-echo in the floating zephyr's breeze; And fofter far to me whofe heart's fad cares Prevent the comforts of a bed of cafe. With each long note it now begins to fwell, And ftrange fenfations run through all my veins, While charm'd I feel with Harmony's fweet fpell And in a reverie forget my pains. Not far from hence the lovely maiden fleeps, The only object which my heart defires } Roar in cach blast, and thunder round his Perhaps the hears thefe founds while Carics JOURNAL of the PROCEEDINGS of the FIRST SESSION of the EIGHTEENTH PARLIAMENT of GREAT BRITAIN. [Continued from Page 281.] HOUSE OF LORDS. MONDAY, MARCH 27. THE Royal Affent was given by Commiffion to the Bill for providing Clothing for the Army; the Bill authorizing Bankers, &c. to iffue fmall Notes; the Bill for explaining and amending the County Quota Bill; and to feveral private Bills. DEBTORS AND CREDITORS. Earl Moira, in an excellent fpeech, ftated the hardships which Debtors la boured under by being fubject to imprifonment on mefne procefs, and fre. quently being obliged, for want of bail, to lie twelve months in prifon before the plaintiff would bring the matter to a trial. He alfo fhewed the hardships which many hundreds of others fuffered by being imprisoned in execution, and, where the plaintiff did not proceed, being kept in gaol fometimes for many years from want of money to liberate themselves by fuperfedeas. The Society for the Relief of Perfons contined for Small Debts liberated by their benevolence in the last year one hundred and thirty unfortunate perfons under this wretched predicament. His Lordship moved, "That a Committee be appointed to confider the state of the laws between debtor and creditor, and to make their report on the fame." Before his Lordship fat down, he mentioned that the Learned Lord then on the woolfack had put into his hands a fcandalous letter, which the Learned Lord had received from fome perfon, who therein accufes the Learned Lord of authorizing a long lift of enormities which prifoners for debt were fubjected to, and which, he faid, he was fure there was not one 1.ord in that House who would not all together difbelieve. Lord Kenyon began by alluding to the letter mentioned by the Noble Lord, and declared, by all that was facred, and as he hoped for mercy at the Day of Judgment, that every word in it, fo far as related to himself encouraging enormities in the prifon, or in any refpect whatever promoting corruption, was abfolutely and pofitively falfe. He hoped, nay he entreated and conjured their Lordships would appoint a Committee to enquire into his conduct in VOL. XXXI. MAY 1797 this refpect. On the fubje&t of the Committee moved for by the Noble Lord, he oppofed it, on the ground of the injury that any alteration in the Law of Arrefts would do to the credit of this country as a commercial one. Earl Moira deprecated the idea of a Committee to enquire into the Learned Lord's conduct, and paffed fome very high encomiums on his Lordship's character, of the truth of which he was fure every Noble Lord was convinced. It was only an anonymous letter, and not worthy of notice. He had a fimilar one in his pocket, from a man who called himself a Desperate Creditor, and who threatened to kill his Lordship himself for the exertions he was using in favour of unfortunate Debtors. He hoped, therefore, the two anonymous letters might be allowed to pair off together, without any further notice be. ing taken of them. The question being called for, a divi. fion took place: Contents 21, NotContents 37-Majority 16. MOTION FOR THE REMOVAL OF The Earl of Suffolk offered himself a jail. When deceased, his body was feized on, and for a confiderable time denied the rights of burial. Their whole fyftem was to govern by influence; they had libelled the loyalty of the people, and branded every man with the epithets of Jacobin and Democrat who oppofed their measures. In tracing them through every Court on the Continent, from the Treaty of Pilnitz to the prefent moment, duplicity, incapacity, and corruption were difcernible in all their measures. The Noble Earl faid, in reviewing the circumstances of the War, he found Minifters as incapable in their plans of hoftility, as they were in their negociations for Peace; and after commenting at fome length on the fituation to which they had reduced the finances of the country, he concluded by a motion to the following effect: "That an humble Addrefs be prefented to his Majefty, praying that he would be graciously pleafed to remove from his Councils his Minifter, namely, the First Lord of the Treafury, who by his mifconduct had forfeited the confidence of the People." Lord Grenville very ably replied to the variety of topics in the Noble Earl's Addrefs. He vindicated the conduct of Minifters with refpect to the War; he faid, every nerve had been trained to profecute it with vigour and effect; and contended, that as far as the arms of Great Britain were concerned, the defired fucceffes generally enfued. The mifcarriages of the Allies on the Continent could not fairly be imputed to Minifters; and they feized the first opportunity, where it could be done with honour and advantage, of bringing about a Peace, which overtures were notorioudly counteracted by the enemy. With regard to the tenor of the motion, he muft fay, he never knew any inftance of the kind, where fuch a motion was brought forward without any one fpecinc charge alledged of mifconduct or malverfation against the perfon in queftion; it was therefore unneceffary to dwell on that head. He thought it neceffary, however, to fay, that one part of the Noble Lord's accufation had no foundation in truth. The Treaty of Pilnitz, he afferted, was not only entered into without the participation, but even without the knowledge of the British Government. A long debate enfued, at the conclu. fion of which a divifion took place: The Earl of Oxford moved, That the House be fummoned on Thursday to take into confideration the ftanding order, No. 114, relative to the entering of Protests on the Journals. THURSDAY, MARCH 30. The Earl of Oxford begged leavė to bring a very important bufinefs before the Houfe. In confequence of his motion for Peace being negatived (See Page 271, 272.) he had come down ta the Clerk's room next day to enter a Proteft upon the books; but to his furprife he found that Lord Kenyon had carried off the motion in his pocket. He therefore moved, "That a Lord Chancellor carrying away a motion from the Table of their Lordships, was guilty of a high breach of the Privileges of their Houfe; and that Lord Kenyon, acting as Rro-Chancellor, having car. ried away his motion,had been guilty of a high breach of Frivilege, and ought to be cenfured." The Bishop of Rochefter moved, "That the 77th standing Order of that Houfe fhould be read, which declares it to be a high breach of Privilege to print any part of the proceedings of that Houfe without the authority of their Lordships." When he came down to the Houfe on this day, he conceived that the Noble Earl had it in contemplation to move that the Printer and Publisher of a Newspaper called The Oracle, had been guilty of a breach of Privilege in publishing, under the title of an Address to the Nation, an account of a debate which had taken place in that Houfe, accompanied with remarks figned by the Noble Earl's title of honour. This infamous thing, which the Printer of that Paper had had the audacity to publifh, was certainly a high breach of the Privileges of their Lordfhips; and as the Noble Earl feemed to be implicated in the publication, it would have been very becoming in him to have come forward and vindicated his own dignity along with that of the House. The Rt. Rev. Prelate proceeded to advert to one or two of the paragraphs in thisAddrefs, and reprehended, with much feve. rity, one in which Lord Grenville's reply to the Noble Earl's motion is termed termed poor, weak, and rude; and likewife the concluding fentence, in which the Parliament is called their, that is, the People's Parliament. He faid, that the Houfe of Commons, as chofen by the People, might properly be called their Reprefentatives; but that Parliament, as compofed of Lords and Commons, was, in conftitutional language, and by the law of the land, the King's Parlia ment. He mentioned this phrase in particular, because when rath and inexperienced young men made ufe of fuch expreffions, there was fometimes more meant by them than met the ear. He concluded with faying, that were it confiftent with perfonal refpect for his Lord hip, he would term the prefent a moft petulant motion. Marquis Townshend could not agree with the Noble Prelate, that the Parliament was the King's Parliament; it was reprefentative of, and confequently the Parliament of the Nation. The Bishop of Rochester explained, that what he meant was, that Parliament as an aggregate body, and compofed as it was of Lords and Commons, was the King's Parliament; he was fubject to correction if he was wrong. The Noble Prelate added, that he would have moved, that the Printer and Publither of the Oracle had been guilty of a high breach of privilege, had he not conceived that fuch a motion would have come with more propriety from the Noble Earl (of Oxford). Marquis Townshend faid, that he would have no objection to a motion being made by the Noble Prelate, that the Printer and Publisher of that Paper had been guilty of a high breach of privilege; the more fo, as he had obferved an infamous falfehood in another Morning Paper of this day, ftating the fubftance of an answer faid to have been made by his Majefty to a Noble Earl, when no answer had been made at all. The Earl of Suffolk ftated, that certainly no answer had been made by his Majesty on the occafion alluded to, and that what he had faid had been grofsly mifreprefented in the fame paper. The motion being put, The Earl of Oxford was the only Peer who faid Content. Nothing material occurred in the Upper Houfe from this time till MONDAY, APRIL 24. The Royal Affent was given by Commiffion to Lord Cadogan's Divorce Bill, and 29 other public and private Bills. The Duke of Grafton expreffed his furprize, at the abfence of Minifters, when their Lordships and the Public might naturally be fuppofed to be anxi. ous for fome information refpecting the rumours which had lately been in cir. culation. Whether those rumours were falfe, or whether they were founded in fact, he was unable to determine; but of course he concluded they were false, because he had no authority to ftate them to be true. Their Lordfhips must have known, through the medium of the public prints, and popular report, that three very great and alarming events were faid to have taken place during the recefs. The first was, a feparate Negociation for Peace between his Imperial Majefty and the French Republic, which must be impoffible. fince no perfon in Adminiftration had chofen to apprife their Lordships. The fecond was, the report of increased difturbances in Ireland, which must be equally erroneous; and the other was, a fort of detailed and circumftantial account of the infurrection of the Seamen on board of his Majefty's Fleet at Portfmouth, which must be equally untrue, or their Lordships would have been officially acquainted with it, and informed of the measures adopted to reftore peace and fubordination. they had been true, their Lordships ought to have been informed of every circumftance by a Message from the Crown, unless it was the intention of Minifters to realize an opinion which he had heard fome time ago, that their Lordships merely fat in that House to regifter the acts of Administration. He warned their Lordships to be cautious how far they repofed an unconstitutional confidence in Ministers; and, though he had no motion to offer, he hoped he fhould foon hear further of the points which he had ftated, and refpecting which the public mind was fo much interested. If ed. With regard to Ireland, he believed that every thing was much in the fame ftate now as it was before the recefs, and that accounts in newspapers were fo much exaggerated that they ought not to be relied on. As to the fleet at Portfmouth, he believed he could affure their Lordships that every part of it was in a state of tranquillity, and that the Sailors had returned to the HOUSE MONDAY, MARCH 27. OF MR. Alderman Anderfon prefaced a motion for leave to bring in a Bill for the better regulation of the affize of bread, by enumerating the various abuses practifed under the prefent Act.-Leave was accordingly given. The Bill for repealing the A&t of the laft feffion, which permits the importation, and prohibits the exportation of Corn, was brought in by Mr. Ryder, read a first time, and ordered to be read a fecond time to-morrow. BANK INDEMNITY BILL. This Bill being recommitted to a Committee of the whole Houfe, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved for the introduction of a claufe, to make Bank notes a legal payment to the Collectors in every department of the public revenue. The claufe was received, and read a firft and second time. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then ftated, that he had to propose another claufe of much more importance, and which related to the commercial intercourse of individuals. At prefent, however competent perfons might be to the payment of their debts, they were liable to be arrested if they were not able to make their payments in fpecie. His object was, not to make Bank notes a legal tender, but to provide that no perion fhall be arrested, on firft process, who shall tender Bank notes to the amount of his debt. Such a claufe would do no more than give to Bank notes the effect of special bail; but it would fill be in the power of the creditor to make his debtor depofit the Bank notes in Court, and there would be no fort of interruption to further procefs, or any alteration in the ultimate refult of the fuit. It would give relief to perfons against the feverity of immediate procefs, but without going to the extent of ren dering Bank notes a legal tender. The claufe was paffed, and ordered to be added to the Bill. ordinary difcharge of their duty. The late arrival of the Mail might, he thought, in fome measure account for the absence of his Majesty's Ministers that day; and he had no doubt but that to-morrow they would be ready and willing to give the Noble Duke every information he might require on these fubjects. COMMON S. A claufe was then brought up by Mr. Fox, enacting, "That no further advances in cash or notes should be made from the Bank to Government, as long as the former was reftrained from paying in fpecie." Mr. Pitt moved an exception with refpect to thofe Exchequer bills to the amount of 600,000l. The claufe, thus amended, was paffed, and ordered to be added to the Bill. TUESDAY, MARCH 28, Mr. Ryder moved the order of the day for the fecund reading of the Bill for repealing that part of an A&t of the prefent Seffion which prohibited the exportation of Corn. Mr. Alderman Combe oppofed the motion. Brewers, he faid, had fuftained very heavy loffes from the enocmous price of barley, and it was but reafonable that they should have an opportunity of indemnifying themselves now that the price was fomewhat reduced. Mr. Whitbread spoke to the fame effect, and moved, as an Amendment, "That instead of now, the Bill be read a fecond time this day month." Mr. Ryder and Mr. Yorke opposed the amendment, because it had a tendency to affect the agriculture of the country. A divifion took place, when there appeared for the amendment, Ayes 24; Noes 59. The Bill was then read a fecond time. Col. Wood made his promifed motion respecting the defence of the country, which was feconded by Sir John Sinclair; but the Colonel, finding the fenfe of the Houfe much against him, did not prefs his motion to a divifion. THURSDAY, MARCH 30. Mr. Edwards reported from the Inverkeithing Committee, that they had determined, that Sir A.Cochrane Johnfon was duly elected, and that the Petition of Sir John Henderson, complain ing |