principle on which the bill was founded, and there would not have arifen fuch complaints as had been made relative to the fees at the Treafury for pals-ports to America and other ports. The conduct of the late Adminiftration must be brought forward in that refpect; and, that the Houfe might be fully enabled fo form a truer judgement of that truth and fidelity of which the right hon. Gent. had boafled, he fhould move for certain papers, fo that the Houfe would have before them, at once, their plans of reform, B and their practices of abufe.

Mr. W. Pitt wifhed for no better teft. The Hon. Gent. knew whether bring ing forward plans of theoretical reform, and being guilty of practical abufe, fitted the one or the other Administration beft; and the publick, he believed, would need no other proof to direct their judgement In the decifion than the part which fome people nad taken on a late tranfaction that will long be remembered; but, be that as it may, it is a strong proof how abfolutely neceflary fome fuch bill as has been juft read is to prevent official abuse, which the regulators of office have noto-D tioufly permitted.

The motion was carried; as was that for having the bill printed.

Mr. W. Pitt then moved, That there be laid before the Houfe accounts of all fees, gratuities, and perquifites, received and taken at the public offices which he E Ordered, That there be laid before the Houfe accounts of the annual incidental charges incurred in each of the offices.

named.

Ordered, That copies of the establish ment of the faid offices be laid before the Houfe, as they ftood at Michaelmas 1782, fhewing the numbers of the fevetal officers and clerks employed therein, with the falaries and allowances paid to each refpectively.

Mr. Burke faid, if the gentlemen on the other fide were fo eager to open their pedlars boxes, and lay their hands on every trifling peccadillo, he would produce his pedlar's box likewife. He concluded with moving for accounts of all fees received on pafs-ports given to any fhips from the 30th of November, 1782, at the office of the Secretaries of state, or any other office, and the quantity of the fame, and the diftribution thereof.

Mr. Pitt feconded the motion.

Mr. Burke then moved, That copies of all letters applying for redrefs, or complaining of the faid fees, be laid befure the Houfe.

Lord Advocate stated to the Houfe; that the evidence in defence of Sir Tho. Rumbold and Mr. Perring being clofed, it would be neceffary, before the Houfe could proceed any further, to have the evidence on both fides printed, efpecially as, during the profecution, the Houfe had been fo thinly attended as frequent ly to be counted out; and the evidence being fo voluminous as not to be poffible to print it in the fhort time the Houfe had to fit, he truffed the Houfe would fee the utter impoffibility of proceeding any further this feffion; and therefore he would move, That leave be given to bring in a bill, to provide that the proceedings on the bill. now depending in parliament, for inflicting certain pains and penalties on Sir Thomas Rumbold, Bart. and Peter Perring, Efq. for certain breaches of public truft, &c. be not difcontinued by any prorogation or diffolution of parliament.

Mr. Kenyon feconded it.

Earl Nugent oppofed the motion, on the ground of the Houfe not being competent to decide upon it. If there was no law against murder, he would not have a man fuffer for murder.

Sir P. J. Clerke was of the fame opinion. Mr. Sawbridge exprefied himself very warmly against keeping the gentlemen in fufpence another year. It was totally fubvertive of every principle of humanity and juftice.

Sir T. Rumbold made a moft pathetie fpeech, in which he defcribed his futterings in ftrong terms. He called upon Minifters to accelerate his caufe; cited Magna Charta as the great bulwark of British liberties, in which it is exprefsly declared there should be no delay of juf tce. Whatever the fentence of the House F might be, he wifhed it to be pronounced,

Mr. Fox was of opinion the evidence ought to be printed; and, if it could be done this feffion, he faw no reafon to delay it. He declared he had never fat as a Minifter on the hon. Baronet's caufe, nor ever would attempt it. His caufe was, of all others, that on which nothing Gbut candour and juflite fhould govern the minds of thofe who were to decide upon it; and it was for that reafon that he wifhed the evidence to be printed.

Mr. Eyre was confident that the pro ceedings against Sir T. R. were illegal.

Lord North was of a different opinion.

Mr. Solicitor-General was of opinion the proceedings against the hon. Baronet were illegal, and would be found fo on the day of trial.'

Mr.

Mr. Dempfer obferved, that the whole of the evidence having been heard, and it now appearing that Sir T. R. had not A been guilty of the enormous crimes with which he had been charged, he ought not to be restrained by a bill of pains and penalties, but only held to bail.

Mr. Speaker then got up, and explained the matter in a light very different from that in which Mr. Eftwick had reprefented it. He faid, the alterations complained of had been made, not in private, but in the face of the House, before the Speaker, who had put the question Lord Advocate faid, fome regulations on every one of the claufes; but, as he might be made when the bill was brought understood, the parties concerned were in. The motion was then put, and paf- all agreed, and that no oppofition was fed without a divifion. B to be given, he had put the question in a low tone of voice, merely to be heard by the parties themselves, who, at the time, ftood all round the chair, as was ufual in all fuch cases where the fenfe of the parties was known.

June 3.

The Lord Advocate brought in the reftraining bill.

Sir T. Rumbold defired to know if the reftraint on his perfon, for preventing him from leaving the kingdom, was to be continued.

Ld. Advoc. anfwered in the negative. Leave was then given to bring in the bill. A motion was made for the third reading of the Pay-office bill.

Mr. Burke faid the fact was just as the Speaker had reprefented it. Nothing Ccould have been farther from his inten tion than to take the Houfe by surprise. He had given notice to feveral honourable members, but, he confeffed, not fo early as he could have wifhed, because the fervice preffed exceedingly for the bill, and he had learned, though late, that fome of the claufes alluded to would

of the claufes, he faid, incapacitated for ever any clerk in office, who should take fees. He thought this too grievous a punishment, and that three years fufpenfion was fufficiently fevere. If gentlemen, however, were advocates for the oppofe them, but would enter his proteft eternity of punishment, he should not against the cruelty of the measure, He diverted the Houfe with the ftory of a divine at Neufchatel, who, thinking the juftice of the Almighty ought to have fome bounds, preached against the eter nity of the damned. This doctrine fcandalifed his auditors. The divine F perfifted in his preaching; a tumult enfued, and the Pruffian commandant complained to the king, who returned this laconic anfwer, Les Meffieurs de Neufchatel foient damnés eternellement.—Let the people of Neufchatel be damned eternally if they like it,

Mr. Eftwick rofe, and gave a very minute account of a tranfaction that feemed to bear hard upon the conduct of fome gentlemen in power, who, notwithstanding, cleared themfelves of any bad inten-Dbe highly prejudicial to the fervice. One tion, to the fatisfaction of the Houfe. An alteration, he said, had been made in fome claufes of the above bill, on the motion of his friend, Col. Barré, when the bill was in committee; to which, it was generally underflood, no oppofition was to have been given on the report and yet, to his utter aftonishment, het found that three of them had been totally expunged, and a fourth altered, which he difcovered when he went to look into the bill in the engroffing clerks' office, He inftantly made the Speaker acquainted with the difcovery, who, he faid, addressed him in thefe words: "Sir, I have "a very great refpect for you; but ftill "I cannot believe what I hear, unless I "fee the alterations you have been speak"ing of." On this he produced the bill to the Speaker, who, being convinced, faid, "he hoped Mr. Eftwick did not "think that he connived at this bufinefs, "or had been in any degree an accom-G "plice in it." Mr. Eftwick complained to the House of these alterations, which he afcribed to Mr. Burke, obferving, at the fame time, that if an individual member could thus alter the records of parliament, there was no fecurity for the lives and fortunes of the fubjects; and, in order that perfons fhould not avail themfelves of fuch practices, he infilted that the claufes which had been expunged hould be restored.

GENT. MAG. Nov. 1783

it

Sir G. Yonge ftated the tranfaction as ftruck him, not exactly the fame as either the Speaker or Mr. Burke had ftated it.

Mr. Fox defended Mr. Burke; and faid, if he had been to blame in any thing it was in fuppofing he thould meet with any degree of candour from a certain quarter. He ought to have re. collected the obfervation of the English poet,

That little things feem great to little men,"
Mr.

Mr. Pitt infifted, that the clauses expunged fhould be reftored, that fuch a mode of expunging might not be drawn into precedent.

A

agreed for a twelvemonth and a day, they fhould have his hearty vote for the fitch of bacon.

Mr. Ewick moved for leave to bring Lord North thought it a little furprif-up the first expunged claufe, which, having that the Hon. Gent, who preferred ing been granted, was read the first time, the complaint had not fo much as at- but, on the queftion for the fecond readtempted to prove the alteration for the ing, the Houfe divided, Noes 103, Ayes worfe; this he had wifely declined; but 75.-The bill was afterwards read the he muft ftate this to the Houfe, that his third time, as altered, and paffed. right hon. friend had, by his alterations, June 5. made fenfe of nonfenfe.

B Mr. Wilberforce fupported Mr. Pitt's argument, and contended that no alteration fhould be made in a bill without the full and public confent of the Houfe. Mt. Adam, who had just come in, fpoke ftrongly on the fide of Miniftry. Lord Advocate fupported the argument of Mr. Pitt, whom he called the firft political character of the age, and predicted that nothing would profper till that gentleman was preffed again into power.

Mr. Fox, in reply, defcribed the Lord Advocate as a political weather-cock, ready to veer with every breeze that pointed to felf-interest.

Several petitions were offered from divers places, praying that the tax on receipts might not pals into a law; but the Speaker reminded the House that it was an established rule never to receive any petition whatever against a money bill.

Mr. Fox moved for a committee of the whole House to take into confideration Cthe expediency of allowing a drawback of the whole duty on the exportation of rice. A committee was accordingly ap pointed. And

Mr. Eden took the chair, when it was unanimously agreed to allow the draw. back, and a bill ordered accordingly.

A committee was appointed to confi der of the importation of corn, fo far as relates to Scotland, and Mr. Pulteney took the chair. Some papers were read in the committee, which proved that many of the poor Highlanders in Invernefsfhire had died for want; and the dif ferent accounts gave a melancholy relation of the indigence of the country, by reafon of the late bad harvest.

Mr. Hill faid, when he first had the honour of a feat in that House, he was weak enough to fuppofe that he fhould find every member voting according to the dictates of his confcience, but experience had taught him wifdom. He had heard an hon, member, who had just entered the Houfe, fpeak decidedly to the question, while he, who had heard the whole of the debate, could not help dif- Mr. Dempfter faid, the poor of the fering from him widely in opinion. The northern parts of Scotland lived chiefly queftion was not, he conceived, as the upon oatmeal; that last year the fnow noble Lord had flated it, which was for fell in great quantities before the time the best, but whether a private mem- arrived when the oats were ripe enough ber of parliament had a right, by his to be got in, and buried them entirely. own authority, to alter, change, and mu- F In December, after fcraping the fnow away, the poor farmers got in their corn, but, when they came to thresh it, what little they got out of it was fcarce fufficient to fow their land for the enfuing year; and, befides, was fo bad, that fcarce one-third of it vegetated at all, and what did vegetate came up fo weak and fickly that many were obliged to Gplough their lands afresh, and to fow barley.-Mr. Dempfter enlarged upon thefe facts, and obferved that the people who were thus vifited were a valuable race of men, many of whom had diftinguished themfelves by their bravery in the fervice of Great Britain. He there fore moved, That his Majefty fhould Hebe enabled to allow the importation of corn, for a time, into certain ports of Scotland, under certain reftrictions.

tilate an act of that Houfe? And if a berty of that fort was to be allowed, there must be an end, not only of the dignity of Parliament, but even of Parliament itfelf. The noble Lord alluded to had, on some occafions, spoken much against innovations. If he could defend fuch an innovation as the prefent, there is nothing fo bad that he would not fupport. He expreffed his furprife to fee thofe who, lately, durft not truft themfelves in a room together, now cordially embracing each other's opinions. The Houfe might fuppofe he meant the Right Hon. Secretary for the Whig department, and the noble Lord in the blue ribbon for the Tory department. would not deny but he did, and begged to affure the loving pair that, if they

The

The Marquis of Graham feconded the motion, and recommended it very ftrongly to Adminiftration to attend to the unfortunate fituation of the people, which was truly deplorable.

Sir J. Marbey threw out fome contemptuous allufions against Scotland, which he thought should be left to provide for itself.

Ld J. Cavendish faid, this was not a time for trifling, when calamity was ftaring us in the face. He wished therefore that not a moment might be loft; and recommended it ftrongly to thofe gentlemen to fee the indulgence to be granted carried fairly into execution; and that corn fhould not be taken from one part of the country and carried to another, which would only change the place of diftrefs for the emolument of a few individuals. The question was then put and agreed to.

out of the first aids that shall be granted by Parliament, fuch expences as fhall be incurred by his Majefty in relieving the mifery to which his Majefty's unhappy fubjects may be reduced by this deploArable calamity. This likewife was agreed to; and

The order of the day read for going into a committee on the tax-bills-This occafioned fome poignant converfation, in which almost all the fpeaking members took a part; but produced no material Balterations in the Minifter's plan. On the receipt tax, the Ld Mayor of London contended much for exempting all receipts for fums under 1 from duty, and moved the House upon it.

Mr. Demper followed his firft by a fecond motion, "That the commiffioners of land-tax, for the counties before enumerated, be enabled to levy a fum not exceeding 141. Scots on every 100l. Scots, of the valued rent of faid counties, and to apply the fame to the relief ofD fuch of the inhabitants as are or fhall be reduced to poverty by the failure of laft year's crop.

Marquis of Graham feconded the mozion.

Sir Grey Cooper obferved, that, if this exemption did not deftroy the whole tax, it would certainly render the refidue not worth contending for. The House divided upon it, Ayes 21, Noes 126, against the Ld Mayor's motion.

June 6.

The Houfe in a committee of fapply. Ld North moved feveral fmall fums, according to cuftom, for the civil eftablifhments of the two Floridas, Georgia, St. John's, Nova Scotia, and Senegambia. He explained the reafons for moving for fettlements that were to be ceded to the enemy, because the balances to the civil officers were fill unpaid; but no further application to Parliament, for fuck Sir Adam Ferguson obferved, there aid, would be neceffary. He juft hinted at were three claffes of people in thofe E fome additional expence for Nova Scotia, counties; the rich, who could purchase as the late Deputy Gov. [Commod. Sir corn at any price; the middling, who And. Hammond], having other employcould purchase it at the price which a free ments, had no falary from Government; importation would reduce it to; and the but as that was not the cafe with the prepoor, that were now ftarving, fent Deputy Gov. Col. Fanning, a brave and gallant refugee, his Majefty had ordered him a falary of 500l. a year, an income which he had dearly earned by his attachment and loyalty to Great Britain. Alfo an increase of 200l. a year to the falary of the C. Juftice. His Ldp concluded by moving the different fums, which were granted without oppofition. reading of the bill for preventing alufes in different offices, &c. which, he faid, he was the more anxious to have palled this feffion, as a noble Ld [North] had faid in a former fpeech, that in the Treafury there was not the leaft trace to be found of any of the reforms that were fo pompously announced in that grand fabric, the King's fpeech. This bill was to convince his Lop that one part of the reform announced was in forwardness, and the remaining parts Bhould be ready

Sir Edw. Aftley thought there were other parts of the kingdom, as well as Scotland, where the pooreft fort of people were greatly in want of relief.

This motion was likewife agreed to.

And

Mr. Dempster moved a third, That a bounty be granted on 60,000 quarters of corn, to be imported into the ports of sof

Scotland.

This meeting with fome oppofition as to the mode, Mr. Dempfter withdrew it; and, in its room, moved an Addrefs to the Crown, moft humbly to befeech his Majefty, that he will be graciously pleafed to give fuch directions as may tend moft effectually to avert the evils that are to be apprehended from the above calamitous ftate of the northern parts of Scotland and to affure his Majefty, that this Houfe will make good,

Mr. W. Pitt moved for the fecond

as foon as Miniftry was difpofed to receive them.

The bill was fuffered to be read the fecond time with little oppofition; and the third reading committed for the Tuesday fe'nnight following.

The order of the day, for the second A reading of the bill to prevent expence at elections, being read,

be faid to have been before rejected; for the clause of which his Ldp had given notice to be intended to make a part, had not yet been offered.

Mr. Pitt took notice of what the Rt Hon Sec faid of important business, and wished to know what that business was.

Mr. Fox mentioned the E. India bufinefs, and feemed to hint at an establishment for the Pr. of Wales. And

Ld Mahon faid, that a bill having paffed to prevent bribery, this bill was Ld Surrey mentioned another matter of intended to prevent expence. Among great importance, in confequence of a other claufes, he meant, he faid, to pro- late decifion of the H. of Lords, by pofe one, to prevent cockades being given B which what had been thought the law of away at elections. the land for more than 200 years had been overturned. (See p. 550.) He then fpoke in favour of the bill.

C

Mr. Fox thought it ftrange to bring in, in a new bill, claufes that had been already regularly negatived by the House. The noble Lord had formerly brought in a bill, fome of the claufes of which had been received and agreed to by the House, and others rejected. Upon this the noble Lord got rid of that bill, and brings in two new ones; one with all the claufes which had been approved; the other, with all the claufes that had been difapproved. The former had paffed; and the latter was that now offer-D ed to the confideration of the Houfe. Mr. Fox wifhed the Houfe to take notice that the claufe for the grand regulation of cockades was wanting, his Ldp not having yet clogged his bill with any new matter, and therefore, as the Houfe had no time for trifling, he fhould move for the fecond reading of the bill that day three months.

Sir of. Mawbey poke in favour of the bill. He faid, if the Rt Hon Secretary had paid for the cockades at his laft election but one, he would have known what a heavy article of expence that was to candidates.

Mr. Martin declared himself a friend to the bill. He enlarged upon that article of expence which led to much fraud and impofition; haberdashers not only charging extravagant prices for their ribbons, but fending in bills for twenty times more ribbons than they ever had in their fhops.

And on a divifion on Mr. Fox's motion, the ayes were 37; noes 45; the bill was therefore read a fecond time, and committed. The House adjourned till June 11,

When a motion was made to bring in a bill to repeal fo much of an act 35 Henry VIII. as prohibits the exportation of brafs.

Sir J. Wrottefley oppofed the motion, on the ground of its being prejudicial to the great manufactories of Sheffield, Birmingham, &c. that claimed the greateft attention and encouragement of Par

liament.

Mr. Brickdale, on the contrary, fupported it. He fhewed that the exportation of brafs was no new practice, but was carried on with advantage till it was lately discovered, that there was an old obsolete law againit it. So the question was now plainly this, Shall the merchants who had amaffed great quantities of that metal be permitted to export it, or be obliged to keep it hoarded in their warehouses, F for no manner of ufe?

The Houfe divided, for exporting 126, Againft exporting 13.

The Sheriffs of London prefented a petition from the city, against taxing re. ceipts. This produced a long debate, in which Mr. Bonfoy diftinguished himGfelf by a very fenfible fpeech, which, however, produced no manner of effect. June 12.

Mr. Pitt obferved, that tho' every claufe yet in the bill had been lost on a divifion, yet that the fact, extraordinary as it might feem, was this: the divifion took place, and the debate followed. Now, as a debate's coming after a divi-H fion was an inverse of the ufual mode of** proceeding, his Ldp's defire was, that his claufes fhould be fairly debated firft,, and be decided upon by a divifion afterwards. Nor could the whole of the bill

The Houfe refolved itself into a committee on a bill for altering the law in many refpects relating to property.

A claufe was moved, and admitted, for preventing a tenant for life from alienating estates vested in the remainder man, but in the grants for which the granter had omitted to appoint trustees.

Another claufe was noved, That in all cafes of diftrefs for rent, when there

was