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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 REVIEW OF THE « PRINCIPAL PROCEEDINGS ■* •m X)r THR PARLIAMENT OF I784, 7 XONDON: Printed for R, EDWARDS, No. 142, Ne Bond Street. w J793. n t s '4 I INTRODUCTION. ■..<'■ m 1 HE maxim of the Roman mo- ralift, '' that the prefent day fhould be a difciple of the paft," may be applied, with equal, or, perhaps, gre. ter force, to nations as well as to individuals. In proportion to the extent and intricacy of public concerns, is the value of that fafe and falutary counfel which experi- ence affords for their diredion. The interefts of individuals, theory may fometimes venture to balance and decide ; but he muft be confident, indeed, who will commit to her guidance the interefts of nations, f B compli- 23969 -J. [ « ] complicated and uncertain as they are, if he can find in praftice and experience a fure foundation on which to build his opinions. Events, however, will fometimes arife for the condudl of which no precife direftion can be drawn from the hiftory of former times. In the management of fuch events, a Statefman muft rely upon his own capacity and genius, unfupported by precedent, and unaffifted by ex- ample. Events of this kind have been more frequent during the fpace of a few years back from the prefent time, than in any period of the fame duration with which we are ac- quainted. In this country, we are happy to think, the occurrences have ^ .7 A: M have been important, but not dif- aftrous ; the fcene has been change- ful and bufy, but it has been marked with no diftrefsful cataf- trophe ; we can look back on it for comfort as well as inftruftion, and profit from the warnings of vicif- fitude, without the fcverer correc- tions of adverfity. The Hiftory of the Parliament 1784 comprehends a feries of events, involving in a very uncommon de- gree the moft important interefts of Great Britain. The revifion of thefe tranfadlions can fcarcely be a matter of indifference to any fubjed of this country ; their importance, indeed, have been felt by the p-ople, and they have pronounced with very little referve on the nature and ten- dency of the meafures adopted du- B 2 Ting [ iv ] ring that period by their reprefenta- | This juclgcmcnt of the peo- | 1 11. r» M tivcs. pic, if properly regulated, is one of the moft ufefiil qualities of a free Government. It ities antiei pat es th( hiRorie fame of a good and a pure Adminiftration, the infamy of a wieked and a corrupt one. It gives to the prefcnt time that jurifdidtion which, in arbitrary Governments, is only cxercifed by pofterity, and fub- ftitutes an adual and folid advantage in place of ufelefs regret or empty :omium. '^ But the people, it has been re- peatedly obferved, though always right in fentiment, are not always right in opinion. Their opinions are liable to be milled by the warmth ol momentary impreffions, or by the prefcriptive authority of certain po- pular I [ V ] pillar ideas, which form the poli- tical creed of the great bulk of the community. It may be worth their while fomctimes to retrace thofe impreflions, to reconlider the juftice of thofc ideas ; to weigh, with re- trofpedive calmnefs, the reafons for their applaufe of fome meafures, for their cenfure of others ; to regulate the meafure of their future confi- dence, and to reftrain the haftinefs of future miftruft and apprehen- fion. With this view, it may be al- lowed to one of their own number to recall to their remembrance the conduft of the late Parliament in fome of thofe very important pro- ceedings in which it was its fortune to be engaged. Some of thefe may now be traced in their efFeds ; and all . i: vi ] all of them may be considered with a greater degree of impartiality than was coiinllent with the immediate •warmth of party-debate, or the agitation of oppofite and contend- ins: interefts. From the Hime con- fideration, he may alfo venture to fuggeft a review of thofe tranfac- tioDs to the preftnt reprefentatives of the people. This is the firft period at which fiich a review could be properly recommended to their attention. During the laft Seflion, befides the ordinary bufinefs which always attends the opening of a new Parhament, there were other circumflances not favourable to de- liberate difcuflion. With the pro- fpeft of peace, which the refult of the late negociations on the Conti- nent, and the general fentiment of European politics, may now reafon- ably 'i f [ vii ] ably afford, the prcfent Parliament, wc flatter oiirfelves, may Jiave leifurc for the uadifturbed excrcife of its deliberative fundions ; may have a full opportunity of providing for the completion and permanency of every ufeful regulation already efta- bliflied, as well as for the adoption of thofe of which its own wifdom and information may fuggpft the expediency. J ■vi H ERRATA. . «0, laft line, for betzvccn 62,000!. and 63,000!. &C. read ^Zi^w/ 6o,oool., &c. ?i2,line 17, m a kw of the copies, for 6,696,221, read 6,698,221 ^ ' 92, — 3, for and one million, read «/«.«/,/;V7<. h one million * % SECTION I. INDIA. India Bill of i^^'^.— India Bill of 1784.^ India declaratory Bill. — Impeachment of Mr. Hafiings. IN looking back to the commencement of the late Parliament, it is impoliible to for- get the conclufion of that immediately preceding. The meafure which produced its diffolution was one of that kind which holds no middle place in the political iyf. tern. -It was of a magnitude that roiized the attention of every man to whom the Conftitiition of his country appeared an ob- jea of importance. The introduction of Mr. Fox's celebrated India Bill was favoured by the neceffity which was felt of fome reform in the adminiftradon of our eaftcrn pofTeffions. The empire held, by Great Britain in the Eafl, had by that time grown much too unwieldy for the govcrrmient of * a mcr- H i - \ ti mercantile Company, with wliofe very nature and cwnftitution were interwoven fo many obvious caufes of the miimanage- ment and oppreffion of thofe territories^ The interpofition of the l^ritifli Legiflature to rc2;ulate that Government and to reftraia that oppreflion, was loudly called for by the jufticc and humanity of the natioil* ]3ut thofe very feelings were alarmed by the provifions, equally violent and unne- cefliiry, which this bill contained, tending to annihilate and deilroy not only the power, but the property and the com- merce, of the Eall--India Company. This ftruck the feelings of the people at large, which are eafily awakened to a fenfe of immediate oppreflion and injuilice; but to thofe who could inveftigate more deeply, the danger with which the bill in queftion threatened the moll eflential principles of the Britifh Conftitution feemed llill a greater and more extenfive obje^l of appre- henlion. The immcafurable influence and patronage which it placed in feven Com- miffioners named by Parliament, in viola- tion of the rights of the executive branch of the Government, whofe unity it de- ft roycd, f [ 3 ] ftroyed, and whofe exertions it muft fiuf^ trare, created, it was faid, a new power in the flate, of fuch a nature and fucli an extent, as to overbear every wholefome check which the wifdom of our forefathers had contrived againfl the encrouchments or preponderance of any one order of the ^ate*. A foundation, it was argued, was laid for an ariftocratical defpotifm, by whicli the hberties of moft European flates have J)ecn fatally overturned; a defpotiim by which '^ The extent of this influence is very fully and ]ufl]y flated in an excellent pamphlet written at the time by Mr. Pulteney, one of the moft intelhgent and independent Members of the Houfe of Commons. His words on that head are, « The whole influence' " of the offices of every kind in India, and at home, ^' belonging to the Company; and the whole influ- " ence ariling from the tranfa<5lions of their trade, « in the purchafe of goods for exportation, furnifh- " ing ihipping, ftores, and recruits; and the influ- « ence arifing from the method of felling their goods, ** by bringing forward or keeping back goods at tlie *' fales, or giving indulgencies as to payments, fo as « to accommodate thofe who are meant to be fa- *' voured; the influence arifing from the favour they '' may fliew to thofe who are now in England, and ■^« have left debts or efle^s in India, as to the mode * I " of [ 4 ] which the people had even in fome in- ftances heeii driven, as feeling it a lefler evil, to throw themfclves on the arbitrary rule of a Monarch. With thele arsiuments againil- the India- Bill of 1783, the public opinion feemed to *' of brintyinir home and receivin!]r tlieir fortunes: the " influence of contracts of all kinds in India; of *' promotions from Hep to ilep; of favour in the in- " iand trade; of intimidation with refpe(5l to every *' perfon now there, who may come home with a *' fortune, bolh with regard to recovering hiu debts, *' and the means of remittance, and with regard to *' inquiries into liis condufl ; tlie influence upon fo- *' reign companies or foreign flatcs, who h-ave efta- " bhlhnicnts in tiie countiy ; the influence upon the " native Princes of India, fome of whom have al- " ready founil tlie way of piocuring the eIe£)ions *' of A'cnibers of Parliament ; and many other means '• of iiidacnce which it is impofiible to forefee or to *' trace." The feizure of the Company's warehoufes, goods, books, &c. which this bill enadled, its ufurpation of their whole commercial management, feemed, at firft view, to the Public, a mere wanton exertion of arbi- trary and extravagant power; but thofc who had confulered tiie fubjedt more clofely, allowed it, at leaft, tlie merit of a motive; it was a part of that rapacity of patronage which was the dillinguifliing feature of the bill. coincide ; ■■ -J! I*' [ 5 ] coincide ; and the nation beheld rather with fatis£iaion than furprilc, the diimi/Hon of the Miniflers hy whom it had been intro- duced, though fuch dilmifiion was refifled by various refolutioiis of the Houl'e of Common.'. That Miqiflry had, indeed, 111 its fo]-mation, tlie feeds of great unpo- pularity. Tlic aihance of the tAvo adverfe parties of ^^ hich it was compoled, kemed fo much beyond the ufual phancy even of pohticLjs ; the perfblial violence of their former hoflihty L^emcd fo repugnant to Gvciy idea of jundion, that the natural integrity of the people felt the Cca/I^ion as one of thofe public violations of confif- tency, one of thofe public dcrelidions of principle, which deflroy all future confi- dence, and forfeit all future eiieem. A majority of the Houfe of Commons conftituted in this manner, and excited to fuch a purpofe, did not carry Its ufual and natural weight in the adoption of public Meafures. That majority complained loud- ly of the difregard that was fhewn to its --monftrances; impartial men felt as a precedent of 111 tendency, the abufe and coniequent dlfrefped of a power which the 1 1' ^1 i t 6 ] the Houfe of Commons had often exerted, for the benefit of its conftituents, with a vigour and an effect in whicli the friends of liberty rejoiced and triumphed. They iavv, with peculiar regret, that, in this war of party, the weapons which had been fo often wielded in defence of the Public, were blunted by the injuftice of the caufe in which they were employed. They la- mented that, in this inllance, the confti* tutional language and principles, which every lover of his country wifhes to pre^ I'erve in their fuUeft force, were perverted, as the people believed, to cover party ma-r chinations and defigns of inordinate am* birion ; they thus lofl the facrcdnefs of their ancient authority, and tlie democra- tical part of our Conftitution was expofed to a dansfer of which it was fortunate for the public tranquillity that tlie moderation of the Crown was not in the fmallcfl de-v gree difpofed to take advantage. In the diilblution of the Parliament the Crown afted with a reludant flownefs, which at the time was blamed by fome of ir,s friends as unneceffirv and hurtful. But it was a meafurc proper to be adopted only OH f "1 If!;! ,«*>■' r / J Oil that neceiTity which deliLeratiori -culd not overcome, and on that flroiig and im- perative voice with which the people con- tinued to demand the diffolution of the reprefentative body, who, in their opinion, had attempted to violate thofe great conftitu- tional principles which their conftitiients had entrufted them to guard. The bill which w^as introduced in the new Parliament in the room of the former which the Houfe of Lords had rejedled, was really founded on the principle of con' trolling an authority which had been mif- employed, and of corredling abufes -vhich had exifled in the Government of our Afi- atic poflelilons. It was efTential, for thofe purpofes, to eftablifh fomewhere a fuper- intending and corredive power, to reilfl and remedy that corruption which had ih Shamefully pervaded the Adminiflration of Indian affairs. To refcue the natives of that great country, which was now become a part of the Britifli empire, from the la- pacious tyranny to which they were ex- pofed ; to refcue the Company itfelf from 2 the ill n [ 3 ] the ruin which was likely to refult from the malvcri'ations of its fcrvants ; and, ahove all, to fave the empire from that enormous mifchief which the corruptions of thofe diftant provinces were likely to bring upon it ; were objc6ls to which no flight inconvenience to individuals could, in found principles of national policy or of national juftice,, be oppofed. But to make the provifions remedial, not oppref-' five, to limit their extent to the neceffity that occafioncd them, and to commit their execution to perfons neither interelled to flrain their fevcrity nor relax their jiiflice ; thefe were the objects to which it became the Legiflature to confine itfclf in the cx- ercile of the corredive fundlions which it was now called upon to employ. It re- trained therefore, thou2;h it did not abro- gate, the powers of the India Company in its political concerns; but it left uncon- trolled thofe flriclly commercial tranfiic- tions which did not interfere with the Government of Afia or the welfare of Britain. In th^ conAitution of that Board to which the fuperintendance of Indian affairs was of [ 9 ] UMs to be intruded, the new hill endea- voured to provide for the luibiaiTed exercife of that fiiperintendaucc, by withholding as much aspoffible the tcmptationsof influence or patronage. It gave the Commiflioners the power which was iieceflhry for correc- tion and control; but it denied them that whicli was likely to be fubfervicnt to do- m^ftic ambition, or to endanger that coun- tcrpoile by whicli the Britilh Conflitutiou is fupported. ■ For the correa-ion of abufcs in Indin -i l^ronger and more efficient government was neceflary in that country. We had luflcred as often from the want of power as fiom the want of integrity or ability iu our Governors. The bill iu queftion lodged m the hands of the Governor General and Councd in Bengal a degree of authority calculated to enforce the mcafures of re- form and good government, -.vhich the in- icrcfts of both the parent-ftate and the provmccs required. It took away the ne- ceflity which had fometimes exifted of compromifing with abufes from the weak- neis of the hand that fhould have checked them. It gave an immediate efficient con- ^ trol i'U ■i.-i I' ; ; "I i\' '.'. lii I !• I!-: II ill ! : ! i'il [ 10 ] trol upon the fpot, fuhici^ again to tlic i\\' periiittnduncc and rcvifion whicli it had efiabl'iihcd at home, in order that the rc- drefs of wrongs might neither he tardy or defedivc from the want of power, nor be precipitate or immoderate from the wai'.t of rcfponfibihty. The lame fuprcmc ef- feiftive authority in one of the IVcfidencies over the others, was ncccflary towards the unity of pohtical tranla6lions, which had been formerly often conduded with the wcaknefs of divided councils acting inde- pendently of each other. But the bill, with peculiar care, drew the line rclpcdl- ang the power of declaring war and com- jnencing hofl:ilities, at the fame time that it fludioully prohibited all fchemes of of- fenfive war, founded merely on the defu'c of conqueft, and of cxtcnlion of empire, it provided the means of acling with vigour and effe^It in every caio where war might become necellary on the principle of fclf- defence, and it gave to the Crovernment on the fpot the power of immediately adopting fuch meafures and entering into fuch engagements as might be neceflary for the purpofe of obtaining adequate, re- paration. / ■■ '.y ■ ■•^' € [ II J If: pnrntion, n.ul providing for fut.uc fczu- ri:_v *. Among tlie prnviiions v.ijich this bill cor,r.,Mcd for the prevention and punilh- ment ol Indian ddlnqucnry, that to which tlic cliu;f oppofition ^v.^3 mads was the in- lt.tut.oa of a new Board of Judicature for the tr.al of oftcnces committed in liidia. But " 24 Geo. nr. c. 55. Sec. ,4. " A„cl whcr... ,0 p,nfvc fcl.anes of conn„rft and cienlion of dominion in India, are mca(uves repugnant to the wifl,, the honour, and the policy of th>., nation, he it therefore further enaaed by the authonty aforefaid, that it fl.all ,,ot he lawful W-il ■ r'"''""' ^'""'^ ^"■■'' Council of Fort W.lham aforefaid, without the e.preft command nmUuthority of the faid Court of Direaors. or of t.re fccret Committee of the faid Court of Di- rectors, „, any cafe (..vay.. ^„5„v hMiia have a,- tuall, Uc„ commenced, or prepay athm c'luaUy m,de f,- the co,n^e„ecmr,n of hoflila:es asalnfl the BrwJT, ,e.ion '" {'"'"'' "- "S'-n/lfime of, he Pri.cn or Jlatcs de- tn,ac,u .:.reon, or -Mofe UrrUories the fl.:d ,.„Ued Com- P'.ny Ml he atfieh f.ne e„ga,cd hy any fnl^^Un. ,rea,y to dcfenu or guarantee) either to .leclare war or com- mence hofdlities, or enter into any treaty for m.ak- ;"g war againft any of the country Princes or fl.ates ■n l.'u:,a, or any treaty for guaranteeing the poflif- l.on. ot any country Princes or ftatcs; and that ;« C 2 _/„,;, :'i' m C •■= ] put the ftrong national attadiment to tLc Jury trial of England, naturally over-ruled t'ac ftich cafe lijhall not he lawful for the J'a'ul Covcrnor C- vcral and Council to declare ivar cr cinmcnce hojlilitlesy er cvter into treaty for making icar againjl any other Prince or State than fiich as ^fmll he atlnally committing hoftilities^ or making preparation as afcrr/aid, or to make fiich treaty for guarantee'ng the pojjcfions of any i'/ ince orfiatCy but upon the confideration of fuch Prince or Jiate atlually engaging to affifi ihe Company againfl fuch hofli' litics commenced^ cr preparations made as afore/aid; ami in all cafes where hpflilities fliall he commencee], or treaty made, the faul Governor General and Council fliall, by the moll expeditious means they can devife, communicate the fame unto the i"a:d Court of Directors, together with a full j'latc of tlie information and intelligence upon wltich they fliall have commenced fuch hoiiiiities, or maile fuch treaties, and their motives and reafons for tlie lane at larc^c." The provifions of this claufe could not have h< en more exj)Iicit, if they h.ad heen made with a view to the atonal circumlhir.ce.^ wliieh comjielled tlic Govcrr.mer/L of liidia to enter on thi.: j^refcnt Avar with Tipnoo, and to tlie me.iA;!..", v/l.icli ih^v thouplit ncceirarv for the vigorous lU'Okcution of \t. Ic feems particularly to reco^Miifc (wh.at indeed is ohvious) the necefiitv of decifive meafures in cale of an attack, or even preparation for an attack, not only againfl: the Britifli nation, hut againfl any i-f Its : to the J r- ruled rrnor C,- hoJlilit'ieSf any other ■cmm'ittlng or to make v:y Prince ICC 0* Jiaic Inch bojli- aid; niul imencce], cral and :ans they the i.ixl tc of lilC liey iiiall idc rue'i the I'airc lot have ■ with a MnjiellcJ : JMxTcnt iCi'i they UtioM of t iiulecd s in cale ack, not I: any o.f I '3 ] ill J uLjcdlons agaliift this mode of tiial, when It was obfcrvcd to he formed as nearly on t]ic lame model as the circnmftanccs ot* the cafe appeared to admit ; and tliat in the confrruaion of this Judicature every pre- caution was taken that could tend to fccure its refpedahihty and impartiality. It fcem- cd indeed very difficult, if not impomhle, to jrive either cfHciency or promptitude to any tribunal of which the: proceedings /lioiild be regulated precifely by the ancient cufiomary forms of the Ennllih law. The iajlurc of national juflice in the punifliment of Indian offences had been but too often pbfervablc. In the prcfl^nt inftance the objc^ioiis to a Judicature, formed fur the attainment of that juilice, arofe from men \\\\o(c eloquence had frequently lamented the oppreflion of Afia, which in Britain they found no adequate means to redrefs or to expiate, ,^ its allies ; and it exprcflly gives hi this cafe a liber- ty, ^which it withholds in ordinary times, to con- traa fuch engagements witli other powers in Unit country as may induce them cffcaually to co-operate with us in the profccuilon of a juil and neceilary war. Lefs 'T ; I i "'■r;i [ U ] Lefs rinimad'.ernon was made on the claufes eaafting a public uiicloriire and re- cord of the foraines broudit by iiidividu- •ils fiom India, though thefe provifions might be ieemed of an inquifitorial kind, averfe to the genius o^ eu: law, and de- grading; to the national charadjr. But the country was {o (Irongly impreii'ed with the ncccflity of correifting the peculation and corruption with which the naanagement of thofe didant provinces had been fullied, that it was willing to \cnture remedies of a ib'on;^ and fomewhat invidious kind, if they were fuch as did not trench on the public fafety. This mealure, however, produced very great difcontents in India, and was aftCLward.- repealed by the amend- ing}- acl of 1786. This lafl- mentioned law made anotlier material alteration in the fla- tute of 1784, by enabling the Governor Ge- neral, or tlie Crovernor of any of the fub- nrdinatc Prcridencies, in any cafe where he believed a mcainrc to be ciiential to the intereds of the Company, to order fuch meaf\ire of his own authority, even ag-ainfl the opinion of all tlic cilicr members of the Council; but it coupled this power with aa M r^f [ '5 ] r.r. ohlloatlori on fucli Governor to make oath^ to hi- beli.f of the irJhty of fuch meakirc, and an acknowltdgement of his lole refponllbiiitj for its conrequcnces. This ametidment was made en the principle al- ready nientioncd of the neceiikj of a llrong efficient Government in India. 'Tis a Ge- neral truth in the character of manldnd, that great fituations ma];e great minds, cd peciallv when men are deprived of the Shelter of divided rclponllhihtv, and can look in their own. individual perfons to the pride of good anions, or the difgracc of 111 ones. Let it, however, be remen-bered, that this obfervation is not an argument in fa- vour of arbitrary Government, but rather one of the many proofs of the advantacres of a free Conftitution, which is enabkd on great emergencies to delegate the ncc^f. fary degree of difcretionary power, becauVe It can provide a rcfponhbility adequate to the importance of the trulL Such are the principal outlir.es of that ^atute, which was one of the fnil greui public ads of the laft Parliament. It was a meafure iadifpenfable in thecircumflanc^ s of [ i6 ] of the empire, a duty in the Legifldturc! vvhich liad been often recommended to them by the Sovereign. It became the virtue nnd the dignity of Parliament to interpofe in this vigorous and coercive manner for the interefts of the llate, as well as for tlic lake of public juftice and humanity; it was confonant to its wifdom to endeavour to accomplifli thofe ends, w^ithout forffettino; the re^rard that is due to the franchifcs of individuals, and tho great political rights of the community. Amidfl: the weaknefs and corruption of the India Company's Government, its fi- nances could not but fuffer a confcquent derang-emcnt. Its filuation was held out by the fupporters of Mr. Fox's India Bill to be fo defperate, as to amount to bankrupt- cy ; and indeed, even in the fober colour- ing of truth, the view of its atiairs was fa gbomy, that it rc.',uircd an immediate and vigorous exertion of parliamentary interpo- fition and affiilancc to redeem them. To provide for the difcharge of itb debt, and at the fame time not to iink its credit by a fudden ledudion of its dividends, required an arrangement of its future tranfadions, I ivi.d [ '7 ] and a rigid adherence to its future econo* tny, which the operation o^ the regulating law, and the ftridlefl attention of the Board, which it had eftablifhed, could only effect. But in great concerns like thofe of the Eaft-India Company, the re- form as well as the abufe in detail pro- duces a refult which always exceed com- mon expe£lation. By the effe£l oi the falutary meafures adopted for the reftora- tion of its affairs, the Company iias been enabled fo effe6luallv to retrieve them, as to be in a condition to provide for the pay- ment of its debt, and to increafe its tra- ding capital to the extent which the Com- mutation adi has neceflarily occafioned. The confidence of the Public in the prefent fituatidn of the Company, and in the pre- fent management of Indian affairs, is beil: afcertained by the prefent rate of its ftock, which from 1 20 per cent, at which it flood before the paffing of the a(5l of 1 784, is now at 188, even amidft the uncertain events of a diftant and expenfive war. The e- Vents of that war, (occurring indeed out of the period to which this review parti- cularly applies) ihew in a very pointed D manner o\ bill rll m m M w i , ■■/■ 'm YM [ '8 ] manner the efFedls of the prefent manage- ment of India on the revenues of the Com- pany. Notwithftandhig the immenfe ex- ertions that have been made, and the very great expence attending them, an expence fwelled beyond all probable calculation by untoward and unlooked-for accidents, the treafury of the Company in India is able to anfwer every exigency of the v^ar, with- out difappointing its mercantile inveil:- ments. This department of finance, though ori- ginally ariiing out of the management of a Commercial Company, may now be fairly reckoned a national one. Parliament con- iiders it as fuch, and expe^ls it to be an- nually laid before them, not only in the arithmetical rcfult prefcribed by the bill hereafter to be mentioned, but with that particular detail which is open to exami- nation and canvafs. This expcdation indeed did not fo much arife from Parliament itfelf, as it was fug- gefted to them by the laudable pradice of the gentleman who prefides at the Board of Control. There [ '9 ] There was indeed, as I have noticed above, in the conftrudion, as there is in the con- duct of the Board of Control, a principle of pure and difintcrefled management, which naturally led to economical arrange- ments. A province was affigned to it fe- parate from that of the former managers of India fo frequently cenfured, in which immediate advantage and immediate patro- nage w^ere often at war with the great and permanent interefts of the [Company and the empire. The fituatlon of the mem- bers of the Board of Control is one which prefents objeds as an inducement to the difcharge of their duty, capable of furnifli- ing the higheft poffiblc gratification to an honourable ambition ; on the other hand, the proportion of patronage and the means of abufe will be found to be fo inconfide- rable, that even in the moil unfavourable view of human nature, they can hardly be thouoht to operate as a temptation in the oppofite fcale. This fubjed being very much connected w^ith the debates refpedling the powers in- tended to be veiled by the India Bill of 1784 in the Board of Control, which took D 2, place i„.- if im m it mi •■'•II Ml [ 20 ] place on occafion of the declaratory bill brought into Parliament in 1788, it may be proper, though not in the order of time, to take notice here of the proceedings ori that declaratory law. On the alarm occafioned by the diftur^ bances in Holland, the Directors of the India Company had concerted with Govern- ment to fend out to India four re<3[iments of the King's forces, which were to be tranfportcd in the fhips of the Company, and the expences incident to which were to be defrayed out of its revenue. But when the Dutch bufinefs was fettled, and af- fairs had refumed their former pacific ap- pearance, the Dire6lors, with that oecono- my wliich, in mercantile men, perhaps fometimcs fuperfedes forefight, declined burthening their mihtary eflablifhment with what they conceived an unnecefl'ary reinforcement. The Board of Control, who had the beft authority for beUevins: the propofed augmentation to be eflential to the lafety of the Indian territories, in- fixed on lending the regiments by their own authority, in virtue of the powers conferred on them by the adl of 1 784. But 3 doubts [ Zl ] doubts havins: arifen on the conflru^lion of o that ad, and oninions of very refpe(flable weight in the law having been given on the Tide of the Directors, it was judged proper to fandlion the ineafurc by the in- terpofition of Parliament ; and the Mlnii- ter occordinp-ly broun:ht in a bill " for " removing any doubts rcfpeding the *' powers of the Commiffioners for the *' affiiirs of India, to direct that the ex- pence of raifuig, tranfporting, and main- taining fuch troops as may be judged ' neceffary for the iecurity of the Britifh pofl'ellions in the Eaft Indies, Ihoiild be *' defravcd out of the revenues arifins: from " the faid territories and pofleilions.** This meafure was immediately repre- fented as an attempt to acquire power of a dangerous extent ; and the recolledtion of the flrong and violent provilions of the bill of 1783, while it made the Public awake to every impreffion of this nature, was a motive for oppolition to canvafs the prefent bill with all the acrimony which the difappointment and unpopularity of their own meafure naturally infpired. In fhis qucflion there was more than the oN- dinary c, > i ^ C 2^ ] iliuary i)h]cd. of refiil-ance to adminiflration ; It was the contefi: of rival pretcnfious, on a fiibjcd: which had thrown the one party out of power, and invedcd the othet with their prefent authority. Againfl: the principle of the bill it was contended, that a declariJtory law cannot fupply the omiffions, or enlarge the pro- vifions, of the original flatute which it is meant to explain ; for this would be to declare what never exifled. Parliament, by paliing fuch a declaratory law, ufurps in its own caufe a judicial power to which it is only entitled on an obvious ambiguity of expreffion in the ftatute to be explained, or the clafliing of judicial decifions in the courts. Let this be called an enading law, and the abfurdity of its title at leaf}: would be avoided. But whatever name it afium- ed, it was equally (fald the oppofers of the meafure) a violent and unjufl attack upon the rights of the Eaft-India 'Com- pany. It went to the annihilation of the power of that Company as much as the -f^o ^^rrainfl: which fo much cla- 1)111 of J» "6^ mour lira been railed, but it did that in- fidioully and indiredly which the other meant [ ^3 ] meant to do in an open and manly manner. *' This bill, they argued, gives to the Board of Control complete power over the whole revenue of India ; under the pre- tence of providing for the fafety of their territories, that Board may employ what force it pleafes ; apply the revenues to the maintenance of that force, and fo difap- point the Company of its ncceilary inveil- ments. This virtually goes to the control of their commerce, which, it was ex- prefsly declared, the bill of 1784 was to leave at the abfolute difpofal of the Com- pany. It gives to the Board all the patro- nage which the difpofal of the revenue creates, all the power which that neceffarily infers ; power in the worfl podible way, without refponfibility.'* ** In a conllitutional view, it was urged, befides this enormous patronage, which had in the a«5l of 178^ been deprecated as a means of overthrowing the balance of the Conftitution, there was in the prefent bill an acceflion to the power of the Crown of the moft alarming kind, a power of maintaining what troops it pleafed in India without the confent of Parliament. That, in rii ■'fc kfi'i'l^ [ 24 ] in the cafe in quellion, the fet^ding thofc? regiments to India would be attended with the moft hurtful cffeds to the fcrvice there, by the offence which it could not fail to give to the officers of the Company, under ivhom their arms had hitherto triumphed over the numerous enemies with which their territories were furrounued. If the juftice of their claims was not lillened to, jet the danger of dlfregarding them be confidered. Let it be remembered, that to fuch difcontents in the French army the ruin of their affairs in India might be imputed ; and that there were not wanting inftances of the moil lerious dano;er to ourfelves from the operation of luch dif- contents in our own army." In defence of the bill it was urged,. *' thrit it only w^nt to declare that power which the former law had undoubtedly meant to lodge in that Board which it con- ftituted for the control and fupcrintendance of Indian affairs, and which power the Board of Control had accordin2:ly exer- cifed fince the earlieil; period of its inftitu- tioa. That Board, in its vCiT eflablifh- ment under the ail: of 17S4, had been meant [ 25 ] 'fneant and declared to be an adihe and 'efficient inji'ttiiilon. But if it were to exer- cife the crippled and innperfefl jiirifdidion which it was now contended was only meant by that ad to be given it, its adli- vity would be ufelefs, and its efficiency would be deftroyed. The Commiffioners were refponfible for the fafety of the terri- torial pofleflions, for the political govern- ment of India; they muft. therefore have the difpofal of the revenue arifing out of the provinces applicable to their defence and fecurity. Of all powers, it was faid-, this is the moft neceflary to the Board, becaufe it is a control of what was moft likely to be faulty in the management of the company. Immediate profit and emo- lument is the natural object: of trading companies ; but the Board of Control mufi: not forget that the defence of a country is more neceflary than its opulence, and muft provide for the firft of thefe objedts, if they fhall happen to interfere^ in preference to the latter. The Diredlors indeed might be naturally fuppofed, in the prefent fitua- tion of the Company, to have an additional motive for preferring inveftment to fecu- E rityj m ;|;| 1'=^;. vh [ 36 ] rity, III tlic view of the approaching cxpl-- ration ot" ihcir charter; but the great ufc of the Board of (\)iUrol was, to look to the permanent interells of tlic empire, and not to barter national fecurlty for commer- cial cmohuTicnt. For attaining this lecu- rity, the meafure of fending out the regi- ments in (|uefl:ion was necelfary ; nobody could fay how prelhng that neceiiity was ; entrulled as that Board was with the poli- tical intereft of tlic country and the nation, with the fafety of provinces fo eflcutial to- both, Vvcis it to wait the flow pro^rrefs of judicial decifion, and fulTcr meanwhile the territories of the Company to be lofl or endangered ? If interference with the reve- nues of India in the Board of Control was illegal, and an i farpation of the rights of the Company, it was now for the firfl: time that it was difcovered to be fo. That interference had benefited the Company many crorcs of rupees annually ; it had rc-eftablifiied their crecli'. abroad ; it had furnifhed the means of paying a large part of their debts at home ; it had given fecu- rlty to the land-holders in India. As earl/ as the year 1785 it had prevented a mutiny ill r *7 ] in their army by applying the revenue in tlic lirft inllancc to the payment of th.e troops, in preference to all other demands. Even in a mercantile view it had benefited them eflentially, hecaiHe it had enabled .them to increail' their invefhnents by the regulation of their affiiirs and an oecono- mical retrenchment in the expences of their eftablithment.'* " As to the unconflitutional power which thio bill was faid to lodG:e in the vCrown, it was argued, the idea was foud- ed on a miOake. Every Britifli foldier, wherever employed, is under the control of Parliament; and for the very regiments now in queftion the Houfe of Commons had voted the eflimates. The mode of raihng thofe regiments was abiblutely ne- cefiary towards the expediticj. with which they were required. The nomination of their officers was of courfe with the Crown ; but the Crown had allowed to the Company one half of the appoint- ments, a proportion as high as could reafonably be expeded, when it was re- membered, that there were 2S00 o.licers pn the half-pay lift to be provided for, E 2 many m :■■¥■ m^ i.J; mil. I 28 ] many of whom had fcrvcd with dhHn6t:i(>[>. XII India, and helped to maintain and de- fend the territories of the Company." The candour of the Minifter in his: defence of this declaratory bill made a ftrong imprefiion on the Houfe. He de- clared his own perfe' ■./jjicie- men would fife the bih in this rlp^d co the bottom, and lie would than ki' illy re- ceive any provifions agai:rfl luci' 'l:i;igcr that could he propofed i 'l iL^v:] come from what quarter of the ' '^-ufj, or ., : de- livered with what aipeijt" •.•(" laiiL'uajrc they inight. Himfelf wviid r.i the mean time propoie fome clauicb ..hich he thought would ciicdually rciiiavc fuch npprehen- fion either from the power of the Crown, or the patronage of the Commiilioiiers." Three claufcs were accordingly added to the bill by the Committee ; ifl:, .or limit- ing the number of the King's troops and the Company's European forces in India ; 2d, for preventing the increafe of any fa- lary in India, or the payment of any extra- ordinary allowance from the Comj)any's revenue there, by the Board of Control, without the con fen t of the Dircclors, and an account laid before Parliament; 3d, for the !■;■* I [ 3' ] the DlrciTtors to lay every }car before Par'- HameiU an acccunt of the annual produce of the revenues, the dcburfcments and' debts of the Company. It may be gratifying to the Public to recolledl: the parties i^.u-s of this difcuffion,. and to -coinpurc tlnin. vAth. the fucceeding events in India. This ai'G^nientation of our force fortunately took place before any oc- cafion arofe of a(ftually putting our flrengtli to a trial ; the vvr^r v/hich has iince broke out, and the events whicli have attended it,, are a fufficient proof of the neceflity of thefe precautions ; and the profpcift of final fuccefs may principally be afcribed to that ftate of complete preparation which enabled us to meet this ludden emers-encv with a proptitude and vigour before unex- ampled. Enough of the adminiflration of India is now known to qualify us to judge ^^f the effects of the power of the Board of Cjntrol, which was reprefented as fo dan- gerous ; by the exercife of that power the Company has been enabled to attain its preienr flate of growing wealth and credit, and to furnilh thofe refources the extent of which has been fo fully manifelled ia I the ■'( ' I 32 ] the operations of tlic prefcnt war. As to the fears of the effc(fl of this hill on the Company'^ army in India, they will heft be anfwered hy its late fervices ; by its dif- cipline and its valour. hf'h Previous to thofe permanent laws for the regulation of the affairsof the IndiaCompany, Pariiament had frequently taken occafional and temporary meafures with a view to cor- redl the abt '.'' ^"hich had occurred in the management o s political and territorial concerns. Among thefe was the appointment of Committees, particularly of the fecret 7\n(\ fele^t Committees in 1781, which had invefligatcd with unwearied affiduity the fubjedl of Indian Government, and had laid before the Houfe reports containing a very large and interelHng body of evidence on that fubjed. One of the members of the leledl Committee was a gentleman not more admired for the extent of his infor- mation, the depth of his knowledge, and the brilliancy of his talents, than refpeded for the virtues of his private character. In the courfe of his enquiries in this de- partmenty [ 33 1 partment, he had conceived a wcxy (Irong and decided opinion, that the late Gover- nor General of Bengal had been guilty of great official nralvcrfation, and had of- ten fignified to the Houfe, in very point- ed terms, his inteiidoa of making the va- rious abufes of that gentleman's Govern- ment the fubje^t of parliamentary enquiry. Some of the friends of Mr. Haftings, with a zealous attachment to his perfon, and a perfect confidence in the merits of his ad- mlniftration, had frequently prefled this gentleman to come forward with his threat- ened accufations, which they faid Mr. Haftlngs, now returned from his Govern- ment, was extremely delirous to meet, Mr. Burke^ thus called upon, at lail: brought forth the charge he had meditated ; and on the 17th of February, 1786, (after having read a refolution of the Houfe in 1782, which contained a cenfure on cer- tain meafures of the Gcjvcrnor General, and declared the opinion of the Houfe of Commons that he ought to be recalled, he proceeded to move for certain papers to be' laid before the Houfe, on which he meant to found an impeachment againil Mr. Haf- F , tings, ^•■'11 -n |:"i «|'!1 I. ^1- J rinccs, for h\.-^ various djUnqucnckh in Iii- dh, lie aft<.rvv..r(ls coilcdcd his charges into one paper, which wr.s h/ui hetore the Ilouic, a' (.1 circulited thruiurli the nation. The natioiu tr,ou;:h. iievtr tlchcient in a fenfc cA iijffice a; id hi^manitv- was in this cafe favourably difpoied lo the pcribn whom thefe char:^cs held forth as a dehnquent. The imprefiion of the vijour and ahihty of his (.jovcrnmciit in India, during a crifis very important to this country, had been pretty generally received. He had been continued in h.is Cjovernment there, fub- fecjuent to thofe rcfolutions in i 782, which his accufcr had afliiined as tlie fctundatioa of his charges ; and it was a prevailing opinion among men moil: converfant with India, that his conducl: in that Govern- ment had extricated this country from the various difficulties and dan«>ers of a war o which had threatened the very exigence of the B'itifli power in that quarter of the globe, ^uccefs is too often the criterion or zhc peopk-'s opinion. In this cafe, they compared ih^ fuccefs of Mr. Haftings in India, v/idi tiie r.alionai difaflers in another h;miipht:;i;e> wheie the enormous corrup- tion [ :>:) ] tion and abufc oi" individuals Lad nor been redeemed by a fiiigle ad.a.'Un^re to the ^\iblic. The charaaer oi" Mr. r!;^}inp;s's acciifer, though highly refneaabk ior its virtue and its ability, was tinclurcd \-ith a degree of enthuiialin of vvhich the Pui;- lie was ditpoied to doubt the difcretion or the juftnels. In piirlliit of a fivoiiritc iTieafurc, with all in intrinfic wo-th, its iiati\-e e!]ergy, and its acquired endow- ments, the mind of Mr. Burke was often a lets late guide or public opi^^ion than thoic of much inivricn- n\cn. ]:.; qnaliti-s were fi-equently carried ro -m excel-;, in \vbich i;hcv lefl their efrimation and their iiie. Til- wrmdi of his fcl/i^s fb:i]c- titnes bvtraycd Jdni into what had the ef- ieJls of in'icnianity, ajid his ienle of n-ht puihed to an extreme, bccanje ininltice. Dliiruilful oi the wannth of his accn- iation, an.i inclined to give Ah'. liaOinc^s credit iv,v the lucceisful iiliie of his Go- verninent, wUhoiit exandning roo nicny i)]e d-taii of hi^ conducl, t!ie i^cbl^c look- ed to the iinpeacluncnt asa n^aiure which t]:c Hciiiic: of Commoiis w^^s not bkclv to !,-.,-.■!. '■"01-. ... --r.^,- r> ,,1 >, 'T f 7 i- i u- y s..s.i:-L\.l'^\'. .^-.li . i iLiiLm'.-J'S to adopt. i' 2. liaVf 1^ ■ '! ti: Mih I ft :1:"' 'yi ^i rl^ii: Bi'''i [ 36 ] have anfwered with that general reference to the fucccfs of his adminiftration which themfehv'cs were accuflomcd to make : " I " prefer ved for the Company and the na- ** tion then- Allatlc domhiions, when af- " failed by a combination of powerful and " determined enemies ; amidft a war in mofl other places difaftrous, my exer- tions repelled the attacks of their ene- mies, maintained the reputatijn of your army and the fecurity of your poflef- fions, and finally accomplifhed that peace " which laid the foundation of the ex- " tended commerce and the increafing re- *' venue of your Eaft-hidia Company. If *' in the attainment of thefe great and ar- " duous ends, fome irregularities may " have occurred, which the nature of ''• the country, the extent and multipli- city of objecls, or the exigency and the p refill re of the time may have occa- ' fioncd, thefe are the tax which is com- monly paid for the efficiency and vigour of public meafures. Thefe 1 leave to your judgment, and abide the cenfure which you fliall think they deferve. It may perhaps blunt your cenfure, it will " at < cc n ■ [ 37 ] " at Icaft alleviate my feeling of it, to re- " fiecl, that by tboie means, in wliich '* pjy accufers may find imperfc61:ions and *' error, 1 have faved an empire to my " country." Such was not the khvd of defence on which Mr. H-iflin^s chofe to rely. He flopped from behind that (hicld which the opinion of his fervices and the gratitude of tlie Public might have fpread before liim, and challenged an enquiry into every feparate tranJinftion wliich his accufer had detailed af;ainll; him. He rave to the lioufe CD «_> of Commons and to the Public a particular and elaborate anfwer to cvcrv article of the charge which Mr. Burke had exhibited. That anfwer was unfortunate m fome points, and as to thefe Mr. Flaflings was afterwards obliged to depart from it. This threw a difcrcdit on his defence in gene- ral, while the mode of it remained as ob- je6lionable as before. It obhgcd the Houfe of Commions to pronounce on each fepa- rate individual char2;c on which Mr. Haf- tings was thus at iffue with his accufer. After an afliduous and impartial examina- tion of the evidence, their decilion was un- favour- |.-f Si I' [ 38 ] fivournbh: oil nip.ny of thofe articles; and i:i L\)ntcq'.i'jncc the impeachment was vo- ted. u L I i ;r impeach iT.ent i:'. ftill dcpcndlii T. aiKi lii uici h a lla'jo ot tlic bulinei'^; It were irapropcr to enter more particularly into its luced th :mc e con- iiatiirc or its progrcls. li. 'las p.-o<. imt'orrant conleou-i^nrc in ictthn iliturional point of the h^r.i-abntc^nent of an hirf'-edcbmciit by a li/^iolntion of P arluviient ; \ point V 'hlrl 1 u IS lor tne honour ot tiic tini':;-, that tb>c Minilkrs of the Crown warmly contended to ehahulli. The ad- herents of Mr. Ilaftings, v,it!i a friendihlp ah;K)i[ nl'.v;iv,s ir.iia]ipl:cd, :i zeal ahnoll al- \va' !VUL lak e:i, eii (led rl ic continuance oi 1 proc'-edip.cr, hv wliich alone t!ie honour •i^' ot that ^^entlen'ian C(Vu]vl be cleared from t\^ artacivs winch had hcen maJe upon it; and on iomc lublequeiit occalions fecmed to recent the opinion wliich tljc immediate oiiiccrs of the Crown h.ad niven on that fub jecT, lo much to the honour of their ibi d iinoiaiiea niteg-t-itv 0\\ the other hand, the iv^n^^ continuance and enormous cx- pcr.ce or this profecutioi;i have imprc iVed the u [ 39 ] the Public with an idea of the hartUlilp of the proceeding by impeachment, and broil o hr 1 •ocee bmew hat of odium and dilVco: on til is f^reat prerogative of tlie people. Eut it is not the lefs faiutary in its exig- ence, though in this particuhir inlLancc it may have been a hardfliip on the indi- vidual. That it fhoul(i- be fparingly ex- erted is equally fuitable to its dignity and its juftice ; but that it (liould be capable of exertion, is important to the purity of public truit, to tiic fafcty and the freedom of the community. k f" :,;'*"' \^:)S «mBar*>*Mnm SECTION II. TRADE. Iri/Jj PropoJitio7is. — Commercial T^reaty zvilb France, — Corifolidation of the Ciiftcms, — 'TraiJe with ylineriau — Comparative State of Trade and Navigation. Another part of the empire whicli, ecjually with India, feemed to require the imme- -1-^ , W >i 1 i' «■;'! ^ [ 40 ] immcJiatc attention ot' ( Jovonimcnt, was Irclaml. At the pcrii)ci of diilrcrs and em- haratlincnt which Cheat Britain felt durinjjr the coiirfe of the hue unfortunate war, lreh\nd had wrun'^ from our weakncfsor our fear, what our juflicc fhould have for- mer! vallowcxl her, a participation of the he- nefits of conimirce with forciQ:n couna-ies, and with our colonies. But the commercial intcrcourfe hetween this country and Ire- land was hahle to a variety of rellri£lions and prohlhiiions, of which Irekuid then loudly compkfined, ah tending to create an inequahty in the encouragcnicnt of the national indudry of the rcfpecl:ivc coun- tries; and Vvhlc:? inequality Ihc threatened to take nicalurcs of an unfriendly fort to overcome. To remove this ground of complaint; to adjuil the commercial inter- cimrle bjtxvccn the two countries on a fair and equitable footin';-; to unite both kin"'- doms, if poiiible, by reciprocal advantage, cind to take away that fort of mutual jea- lom'y a: id alienatiini which the prohibitions ag:iinll a free interchange of the commo- dities and manufactures of each necefiarily tended to create, were objeds which had becQ [ 41 ] bcr- particularly nxommendcd to Parli;i- iTiciic from ihc "I'lnonc, and wliich every pciToii wilhlng well to the hr.ppinels of either country could not fail to dell re. With a view to attain thefe objeds, certain proportions had been brought into the Irifh Parliament by His Majelly's Miniders in that country, on which a fet of refolu- tions had been adopted by the Irifli Parlia- ment, which were foon after fubmitted to the conlideration of the Britifli Houfe of Commons for its acquiefcence in the gene- ral meafurcs they fuggefled. Tlie balls of thefe refolutions was, as the fivd of them exprefled, the extenlion and encourage- ment of the trade between Great Britain and Ireland, fo important to the general interefts of the empire ; and a fettlement and regulation of the intercourfe and com- merce of the two countries on permanent and equitable principles for the mutual be- nefit of both. The particular propofitions arifing out of this general principle were briefly as follow : That foreign articles fliould be import- able from either kingdom into the othei- iinder the lame regulations and duties as a when ..? Mr %\: I iik R:. i II f 4-- ] whcu imported direclly from the place of their growth or maiiufacflure. That on articles of the produce or ma- nufadure of either country, no prohibition fhould exift to prevent their importation into the other country, and that if fubied: to a duty, fuch duty (liould be equal ill both countries. Tiiiit for this purpofe, articles charged in either kingdom with an internal duty on the manufa6lure, or a duty on the material of which it is com- pofed, Ihould be charged on importation from either kin'jxlom into the other with a duty equal to fuch internal tax on the ma- nufacture, or to an amount to countervail t)\c dutv on the material. That in order to give permanency to the fcttlemcnt, no prohibition or additional du- ties lliould hereafter be impofed in either couiUry on the importation of any articles of the produce or manufidure of the other, cxct pt wl^at might be neceflary to balance the duties on internal confumption before mentioned ; and that no fuch prohibitioa or additional duty iljould be hereafter im- poled in either kingdom on the exportatioa of any native article to the other, except where [ 43 3 wiiere prohibitions already exifl which are not reciprocal, or duties which are not equal. And the fame regulation was adopt- ed to equalize bounties. That the inmportation of foreign articles into either kingdom fhould be fo regulated from time to time as to afford a preference to the importation of limilar articles, ths produce or manufadure of Great Britain or Ireland. In return for the benefits w^hich fhe was fuppofed to receive from this commercial regulation, Ireland agreed to contribute to- wards the naval force of the empire, what- ever fum the hereditary revenue of that kingdom fliould produce beyond 656,0001., which was its amount at the time. Between the time of the firfl introduc- tion of chefe propolitions in the Houfe of Commons, and the day to which their confideration was adjourned, a report was laid before the Houfe from a Committee of the Privy Council, (now the only fub- flitute for the Board of Trade, abolifhed by IVIr. Burke's reform bill,) who had been ufliduoufly employed in confid-ring the effeds of thefe propofitions, and in G 2 cxamunng [ 44 ] exami:iing many of the princlpLil merchants aiul maiiufci'fluiers with regard to their pro-' bable tendency. Mean time the natural jealoufy of trade, even exclufive of the alarm which party oppofition might be fiippofed to excite, had prompted fevcral meetings of perfons inte- rcflcd in the articles of commerce and ma- nufaifturc to which the propolitions related; in which meetings their effects on the Jiomc and forcitiii markets for fuch articles were caiu'aflcd. Many of the principal maniifainurers were examined before the Committee of the Hoiife in addition to the evidence which had before been taken by the Committee of Privy Council. It is but juilicc to thofe gentlemen to remark, that mod: of them delivered themfelves with a candour and liberality, as to the pro- :tition of Ireland, 'V 'Y has been generally allowed to the prejudices of profeiTuaial cliarafter ; though in fome inflances pcrliaps there appeared a tinv^ure of that fpiiit of monopoly which dreads any chance, howe\'er dillant, of the par- ticipation uf ethers in its proiks. Fr om [ 45 ] From the information thus obtained, many new lights were thrown upon a fub- jed: of a very extenfive and complicated kind ; and the Minifler was enabled, at the diftance of feveral months from the firft introdu!.- i 1 !. S ": il *,; I <•* I, Sri C 46 3 encouragement of her marine, bv lllpii- latlng that the Legidaturc of Ireland fliiould pafs the hkc laws in order to impofe the laine reflrahits, and cr«nfer the fame bene- £ts, on the fiibjei^ts of both khigdoms. A protedion againfl: introducing fo- reign fpliits, that is, fpirits not the pro- duce of our own colonies, into Great Bri- tairi from Ireland, Certain provifions for the fecurity of the revenue in both countries, by the life of bond>5, cockcts, and (Uher cuftom-houfe inllruments, in the trade between the coun- tries ; and of plantation certificates for Weft- India commodities imported from Ireland into Great Britain. An exception of corn, meal, malt, flour, and biicuits, from the free importation fti- puiatvd for the articles of the one country into the other; rcilrictions on thcfc articles belni>' deemed neceflaiy to be allowed in time oi Icarcity, incidental to cither coun- try. A ilipulation was hkcwiie annexed to the piopofitlon for a redii-'ion 'f the duty in the kingdom where it was hitihefl:, to in' Its Lmount in the kingdom where it was lowell, provided hicli rccki'liuu fhould not t 47 1 not bring it down below the rate of lof per cent. An equalization in the two countries of duties and burthens on the imports from, and exports to, the Brltifh colonies in the Weft Indies and America, or fettlements on the coaft of Africa ; and a like equali- zation on goods imported from the North- American ftates. To thefe proportions, brought before Parliament in this amended form, a very violent oppofition was made. A variety of objections were urged againft thofe which related to foreisra commerce as well as thofe which regulated the mutual inter- courfe between the two countries. '* The former, it was fald, expofed this country to the danger of having the produce of her own colonies brought to her market through the medium of Ireland, which would thus reap the advantage of being the carrier for Great Britain if ilie did not even import them on her own capital. In the lafl: cafe (he could fend her manufic- tures to the colonies cheaper than England, and by exc^^u^ging them for colony pro- duce, underfell this covintry. That there Vvac-. :. ,S' -1:* I i-f [ 48 ] tl' was a farther and illU greater danger frorrt the Imiuj^ixhno; of forcin;u colony produce CO O O ml from Irehmd into (rreat Britaui under co- lour of its being the growth or produce of Britifli colonics. That by thefe propoii- tions we entrufled che execution of oitr navigation laws to Ireland, whofe attention to their obfervance we could not expe6^, and whofe encouragement to their violation there was reafon to fear. That the guard we meant to provide for thefe laws in the new propofitions, by which it was condi- tioned that the Irilh Parliament fhould pafs limilar laws for Ireland to thofe which Great Britain fhould hereafter find it necef- fary to cnadl for the benefit of her marine, was a flipulation which the Irifh would never agree to, as it would in facl be a re- nunciation of that right to leglflate for tbemfelves whicli they had fo nobly ftrug- gled for and obtained. AgainH: the other part of the propofitions which regarded the interchano;e of commodities between the two countries, it was urged, that the chcapnefs of provilions and low price of labour in Ireland would Q-lve a decided ad- o vantage to that country ia the fale of fuch commo- 11 [ 49 ] commoilitlcs. Tliat an emlcrratlon of our artiiliiis and manufacfturers was on ihdh accounts a danger reaionably to be feared^ and that bv the encouragement which thcfe propofitions held forth to Ireland, we ri(kcd the exiilence of our manufaclures, and that very great internal revenue which the flate draws from their produce." '* The compenfation, it was argued, which Great Britain was to receive for the boons :iow granted to Ireland was nuga- tory in the extreme. The hereditary re- venue of that kingdom at prefent yielded little more than one half of the fum now Aipulated to be firfl: appropriated to Ii eland, after which Britain was only to receive the furplus. That this furplus, if ever it amounted to any thing, would be received bv Great Britain in a manner adverfe to the wife and falutary guards of her Conflitu- tion, which granted money for the execu- tive purpofes of Government only by way of temporary fupply, and not for a perma- nent and independent period.'* In vindication of this meafure, and of Its general tendency, it was argued, " that it was only a ncceflary fupplement to thofc H meafures 4 4 I I 'm II W' [ 5* ] meaiures which had been formerly adopted for the purpol'e of more clofcly uniting and fccurlng the coniiecllon between the two countries, fo necefl'ary towards the flifety and prolnerity of both. Parts of the fame empire, ("jreat Britain and Ireland were not to look on tije growing profperity of each other witii the unfriendly afpedl of foreign rivalfliip. C-onne(5led as they were, it was not to be afiluned that whatever one country gained was loft by the other ; on the contrary, the fair and equal cxtenfion of their induftrv and conmierce would in moft cai'cs be the mutual advantage of both countries, and increafe the feparate wealth, populatioj], and power, of each, as well as the au;iM. M m II.:! [ 5^ ] Irlfli coriuimptlon, it was a double rifk, firft, agaiiifl the provlfions of the Iiifh, and next, airainft tlioie of the Erltifli revenue laws, which was not near lb likely a me- thod for the fmugglcr to pradife as that whiich at prcfent was open to him, of fmua;o;HnG: articles from forci'Ji:n colonies into our Klancb, and thence importing them under talfe certificates into this kliif^fdom. That the v)hje61:ion, of thcfe propoiitions trullinc the execution of our navlgarioi^ laws to Ireland, ap[)licd to the a^fls already p:;fietl ill the 20th and z^a year of his pre- fent Majellv's reifj;n, and vet that wc had hea/d (jf no complaint ot any hurtful re- laxation oi' tiiofe laws by the Irilh officers. To the objcclion, on the other hand, that Ireland could not be expelled to confent to tiic adoption of our future regulations 'for the benefit of our marine, becaufc that would be to allow our Parliament to lepil- late for Irehuid, it was anfvv-ercd, that the veiy reference to the Parliament of Ireland made in the propofition alluded to was an acknowledgcmcnr of the indcpendaiit legif- lation of that country ; but that the ftipula- tion to adopt iimilar laws to thofo which this country [ 53 ] country fliould cnacl:, was a condition ne- ceflary to the common f-atl ty and protec- tion of the empire, which depended on the prc-pcr fiipport of lier naval force; and that it was no more a dependant and ab- Iblute obhoatlon on the IrlHi Parliament than ie'/cral of the other reciprocal obliga- tions contained in this agreement, or than any Aipulation by treaty between two ab- folutely indepen.dant dates." Jn reply to the ohjedions againil the fecond part of the proportions, relating to the intercoiirfe between the two countries, it was contended in general, " that the nominal cheapnefs of labour, and the low price of many articles of provlfions in one country, was amply compenfated by the fuperiority of (kill and of capital in the other. That there was a diftinclion be- tween the mte of wages and the ra/e of labour 'i and though tlie firft might be lower in Ireland, \et in fadt the lad was rather cheaper in Britain, as had appeared from the evidence of a principal Iriih manufac- turer. That the removal of an efl:abli(hcd manufadlure was everv^ where a matter of the 2:reateft difficulLv ; and tliat Ireland was * •.r i. ■ riraln. The com- mercial mifchlcfb to be apprehcndccl from them to Ireland were now argued as de- cidedly on that fide of" tlic water, as the disadvantages wliich they were to produce to the lirter kingdom had been held forth on this. The pride of newly -acquired power rejedled any thiiip; which lookec' like an iiifrinc^emcnt on t)ie national inde- pcndance of Irehnul. Circar ofienxe ''.vas taken at the iu[)[njild attempt to trench oil the lc(2:iflative authority oi" Iver Parliament; and the appropriation of the furpiii^ of her hereditary revenue, low as it flood in the r irelent period, was coniideri pel d ns" ec treous jually dii'advanta- to her intercil". Tlie OlAc. for to 1 - 1 erogatory to licr t!iL';nny, ai\u L li 1 ninnfi m a bin tor carrviii CJ turns into e ifecl \va o c a 1 d rriecl by lo he pr>>poi Irnall n majority^ that tlie oiiicers of the Crov^ in IrcKind did not th.ink ir p;v>por to pcriifl: in a m-adire repuraiant to tl'e wiihes of fo confidcrable a p-ui ot tlie reprclcntatives oH the p eo.i'e Such wai tl, L ieccption or thofc prop 0- fitions In Irelan.l. h h.Ki been irni^ined by [ 57 ] by men who had confidered this fubjedt with the calmnefs of philofophy and ex- perience ; that any meafure which con- nci^tcd Ireland with a country fo much more advanced in civilization, in arts, in commerce, and manufactures, as Great Britain, would be received with avidity. It is no part of the plan of this work to enter into an invidious detail of the cir- cumftances v>'hicb counterad^ed the natural influence of thefe coniiderations ; from whatever caufes they proceeded, it muft be the deliberate judgment of hiftory, that they ol)il:ru6led a meafure, the confequen- ces of which would have been highly he- ncficial to Ireland as well as to Great Bri- tain. Another meafure adopted by the late Parliament, founded oa the fame liberal principle, but of a more fortunate ilRie than the preceding, wac the commercial treaty with France. National prejudices, m conjun6lion with, tliofc of commerce, had hitherto fliut the markets of France and England relpc(fl- ively'againil many of the commodities of the other. Between thofe countries there I was lj [ 58 ] was a war of pro'iibitloiis and high duties, which, hi mod articles of their mutual confumptlon, threw the trade into the h^Mids ot li"nnp;a;lcrs. The publications of an author, in whole mind, beyond that of any writer of his time, was genius chaf- tcncd by wifdom, and wifdom enlightened by knowledge, Jiad changed in a great nieaturc the opinions of mankind on the lubjecl of commercial reilriiftions, and Ihown how much was to be gained by re- (loring to trade its natural freedom, by which the furplus commodities of one country could be fiirly exchanged for thofe of another. France and England felt in a particular manner the juftice of his doc- trines ; and it was an article In the peace of 1783, that the two countries (hould take meafures for fettllnsr a commercial treaty between tiiem. , ' In purfuance of this agreement, Mr. Eden was difpatched to Paris in the' be- ginning of the year 1786, to negotiate a treaty of navigation and commerce with France. That treaty was concluded on the ioth of Seprcmber in that year. Par- ticular notice was taken of it in His Ma- jefty's [ 59 ] jcfty's fpeccli on opening the fcPurAi in Ja- nuary, 1787; and it was luon du^r hid before Parlianaent for the purpofe of their taking fuch meafures as might he nccellary tor carrying it into effcdl. The provifions of this treaty were cal- culated to take on thoi'e rcflraints which, the two countries had heretofore mutually impofed on their commercial intercourfe with each other — to give to the fubjedls of cither country that protedion for their perfons and properties which is dictated by the liberal humanity of modern times — to cflablifh a Tariff to fix the rate of du- ties, which for the moil part was not higher than 12 per cent., on the importation of thofe articles of tlie produce or manufac- ture of the reipcclive kingdoms which were moil likely to be the leading objeds of their commerce — to put on the footing of the mofc favoured nations the goods not particularlled in that Tariff — and to avoid by ffipuhitlons of a fiiendly fort the oeC'> lions of mifunderftaiiding and quarrel, which might chance ro arife in the navi- gation or commerce of cither power with gther countries. I 2 In ?n •'»! [ 60 ] III the diiciiilion which this treaty met with in Parliament, coiiliderable objetSbiou was made to it in a political view, as tend- ing to throw Great Britain into the arms of France, and to bhint that wholefomc jealoufy which this country had always enteitained of her rival nation. '•• France, it was maintained, was the unalterable po- litical enemy of Great Britain, and indeed the political enemy of the hbcrties of every flate of Europe. Amidfl: the levity and mutabilitv of her national manners, her cabinet had purlued an nnifbrm invariable iyflem ot univerfal dominion. In this {y^- tem (he had been checked and baffled by the oppofition of England, whofe power had often refcued the liberties of Europe from the attacks of her reftlefs ambition. It was unwiie therefore to agree to any meaiiires tending to abate our national dif- trufl: and jealouly of France, which had fo ofteji afforded a barrier agninft her en- croachments on the liberty and indepen- dence of the nations around her." In a commercial view the treaty was oppoied as a rafli and unadvifed alteration of a iyllcm under which this country had attained [ 6. ] attained a very high degree of eminence and profperity. " The great advantages we pofTeflcd ought not, it was argued, to be flaked againft the profpedl of diftant and fpecuiarive benefits. In our commer- cial intercourfe with France, we are to take her produce which is exclufively hers, and in which, from foil and climate, we never can rival her. But in the articles of our manufactures, fhe has already made confi- derable progrefs, and in a little time will be able to enter into competition with this country. The Tariff eftablifhcd between the two nations, would, it was obferved, caufe a great and immediate diminution of our revenue by the lowering of the duties on the ftaple commodities of France, her wine and brandy, and the confequcnt abatement that muil be made on the rum of our own colonies, and the wines of Spain and Portugal." . The danger to which this treaty with France expofcd our commerce with other countries, and particularly with Portugal, was ftrongly urged by the members in op- pofition. 'The importance of a rigid ad- herence to the Mcthuen treaty, was argued r i ,^' i I \ it [ 62 ] from the advantages which it afforded us in a crreat annual balance of trade in our flivour, befidcs the acquihcion of two mil- lions of pounds of cotton, the raw ma- terial of one of our moll: valuable manu- factures. The aniuments for the meafurc were drawn from the relative iltuation of the two countries, which pointed out, it was faid, in tiie itrongeil manner, the advan- tajrcs to be derived to boih from a mutual exchange of their reipedivc commodities. " By nature France was much more richly endowed than Britain ; but the equahty of our laws, and the freedom of our Govern- ment, gave to our enterprifes an energy, to our induftry an animation, which fully balanced thefe advantages of foil and cli- mate. France had her produce to fend to Britain ; Britain her manufadlures to bar- ter with France. Such interchange, it was argued, was peculiarly flivourable to Bri- tain, who obtains a market of 24 millions of people in exchange for one of 8 mil- lions, h'rancc gained a market for her ])roducc, v^'hich employed in its prepara- tion but a few hands, gave little encourage- ment [ 63 ] nient to the navigation, and comparative! v but little increale to the revenue of the ftate. Britain opened a nnarket for her ma- nufacture wliich employed in their imme- diate operation a great number of her peo- ple, and in their diftant effeds, the impor- tation of raw materials and confumption of various commodities, paying internal duties, contributed mofl exteniivcly both to the public force and the public reve- nue." " In its political afpcCt, it was argued, the treaty promifed that moft efTcntial ad- vantage to both nations, the promotion of a friendly intercourfe between them, and the removal of that fort of prefcriptive animofity which had been the caufe of fo many wars dcftruclive alike to both coun- tries. The dodlriue of unalterable hofti- lity between two nations was reprobated as the weaknefs of vulgar prejudice, nei- ther founded on the experience of nations, nor the hiflory of man. But even if this argument, implying a latire on our fpecies, and a libel on political inftitutions, were allowed, the prefent treaty would not be afFeded by it. It gave up none of our 'i' f ''SI :=i l:i '} i WW ' -i w% it.- ■ i;* ft [ 64 3 our political power to France ; it weakened none of our national energy ; it lefTened none of our national revenues; on the contrary, as it increafed our commerce, it neccfTarily added to both." *' The danger of an interference with our commerce with other nations, it was faid, was perfedlly unfounded. The in- flance of Portugal fo much infifted on by the oppofers of the treaty, did not in the fmalleft degree apply. Explicit provilioa was made for the fulfilment of our en- gagements with Portugal, The interefts of that country and Great Britain are reci- procal, and therefore it is to be prefumed that the good fenfe of both countries will attend to them. But if there had appeared on the part of Portugal any inclination to deviate from the fpirit of the Methucn treaty, the miniftcrs of England would be more likely to obtain a fair and full execu- tion of it, having this commercial arrange- ment with France in their hands, than they could exped to obtain without it. " The probable elTcdls of this treaty on our revenue were argued as precifely oppo- fite to thofe which the members in oppofi- tioii [ «5 ] X:ion prcdided. When it was confidered that the prelent high duties on our Frenclx articles of conllimptlon threvv* by much the greatefl: part of the trade in thofe articles into the hands of the fmuggler, from >vhich France drew all the benefit which fhe would do on a lawful importation, while we loft the whole produce of the duties due on fuch commodities, it was a well- war ranted conclufion that our revenue would be increafed, inftead of being dimi- nifhed, by the lowering of the duty ou the articles fpecified *." To the alledged danger to our manufac- tures a general anfwer was given, *' that the manufadlurers thcmfelves, generally quick fighted and attentive to their iiite- refts, had, on this occafion, acquicfccd in the provifions of the treaty, and feveral of them had indeedTignified their approbation of the meafure, as one calculated to in* creafe and encourage the induftry of this country.'* * How this has turned out in experiencCi fee after* wards under the fubjedi of Financt. K la W %. s'.^■•, I' i»'' Pi' , [ 66 ] In onr of ilic dcbr.tcs rn tins treaty iil the Houlc of Commons, Mr. Ijurke ex-' patiattd, In that dowiiiji; Jan'juriuuifac- .rurcrs on that luhjcvll, from which they ar^jrued a fimilar clancT^er to the BritifPi ilia nu failures fiom the n:c!eiit meaihre, ihou?;h the manufaclurc'-s theinlelve^;, tempted by the profj^ecl of immediate ad- vantafK% had not come forward to fute it. i^dminiilration, though they iliil contcnd- icd that the objeclionsagaiiiil the Iri/h Pro^ pofitions were ill founded, endeavoured aho to (liowthe difference between the twp ^afes, and to refute the analo^v obfervcd between them. That there were (htte- rences between the two cafes mud: be al- lowed. On oi.c hand, ijie Irila were tc> receive fome advantages which the preleiu treaty did not give to tiic i\fcnch ; and Great Britain had not in the propofed in- tcrcourlb with Irehind the fame profpefl of an immediate and extenfue niarket as in that with France. Ou the otlier hand, her clofe connection with her filler khig- dom placed her communication with that country in a very different point of view ; the benefits to be derived by Ireland flowed Bot, as rnijlit be argued of thofe to i^'iance, K :, in ■I W^. 'f*- li, ki.m [ 63 ] m a nv;l or adverfc channel, hut would naturally tend to the general prolpeiity of the empire. But, to an impartial ohfcrver, the leaclhig principles of both cafes were the fame ; the extcnfion of produdlive in- duftrv, and the iiilcrcourfe of beneficial commerce between the two kingdoms. An impartial obiervcr of the prefent time will argue from what are the effeds of the French treaty to what would have been the effects of the Irifh, the mutual advan- tage of both countries. ... To the common eye, however, this mutual advantage is not always viiibie, and ancient prejudice does not eafily give way to truths which contradict her habits of thinkins;, how^ever demon ftrative they may feem to wifdom or philofophj. It is, I believe, a faift pretty well known, that the cotton manufa^fturers of Normandy remoii- Itrated with M. de Vergcnnes on the ruinous effects which the propofed Commercial Treaty with England v/ould have on their eftabliihments. That faracious itatelman replied, that if the Aipulated duty of \z per cent., added to the expences of tranf-- port on the Englifh comixiodities, were not , .^ fufficiei-t [ 69 ] fufficicnt to protedl thofe of Normandy, It was a proof either that indu ft ry was want- ing to the fliccefs of the latter, or that their induilry was miliipplicd to an impro- per obje^St. ' • ' ' . A meafure coeval and conne6led with the Commercial Treaty was the Bill for the ConfoUdation of the Cuftoms, Excife, and Stamp Duties. The branches of thofe revenues, particularly of the Cufloms, were compofed of fuch a number of minute and complicat'ed imports, which had been laid on at different times, as the nccei^ities of thofe periods required, that to compute the total aggregate of duty on any article was a matter of much intricacy and difficulty, and no man who was not conftantly em- ployed in the practice was equal to it. This I Kid thrown fuch computation and charge entirely into the hands of the officers of the revenue, on whom the merchants were, therefore, in a great meafure, depen- dent for its accuracy ; imd from the fame caufe there was a fort of agency eftablifh- ed in tlie former for the affairs of the lat- ^ ter, ' >• I ' IP [ ■o •l t<:r, improper in rliclr r«l"pe(.!>'isT (ituatlons. The plan, therefore, wlue'i ^-lis bill adopt- ed was to a})()i'h']) tho'ic virions and com- ,i; r flead ihcMttd tranches, and t;) sLs'jitiaite ni .Cr thci) Oiu: lini;l ^>' uiirv on cac?i a tich eq u; d in its aaiou.ni to uu: tot;il oi inch branchc; 13 V a reterence to t his I n' charge in the tables containioiv chc dintrent articles of nicj'c handi //. . tne (iiitv c. hie on each was inftantiy alcurtaincd,, and ail the ineonve- iiicncc, diulculty, and delay, io long felt 2nd complained of in facJi !)ufnu:fs, were removed. The Pnblic gLintcl, on tho wlh-Ie, a hnall a;.hanra>::e In- tlii.-^ rneafurej as on nvoil of the articles where a fradlion was i'ound m the: tot;;] of the branches the integer tinn innrcdiutclv above luch frac- T.io.M was adoptrv!. 'i Ic^ tri^lin. > addition was more than con-jpcnfated it. the tradet by the faciiiry wlncli it Uilonied in the trania6tion. 11 ns mcaiiirc uas iO obsioiifU- e\pe- dicnt, rbat all parties concnned in ,{> ap- probation. To a ULUi (.onvcr(ant in the fuhjeft of revenue rrnid.iiions it midit perhaps iu^igeil: anotlu!', in fome decree congenial to its fpirit and tendency, a Cou^ Ic'liJatloii ■■;■ m [ 1 iolklation of the Lazvs, as well as of the duties of rhe vai-ioiis departments of the Theltf arc liow fo niimc- 1 P' ibi iDuc revenue. rous and lo complicated as to form one ot the largefl: and motl difficult parts of the national code, and froiu the various refe- rences witli which '-ach fubfe^nent ftatutc is loaded an obkurityand perplexity at- tends them, oftt :. cmbarrafilntr to tlie of- fice th r or oppretiive to iiic tnu'cr m tJic exe- cution of their proviiions. The talk ot reducing' thclc into a Allcm, and formln'^ a revenue code, fjmpi'j and uniform in its exaclments, would indeed be a buhnefs of confiderablc diliicullv, anc mH>ht not meet with i\) favourable a reception as ti^.atjufl mentioned from tlie dhrerent parties con- cerned in its eifev^ts. But it would cer- tainly be a ufcful and not an impracticable talk, and nfigiit be, performed under tiic aufplces of a vigorous and popular Adijii- niilration. Under the fubied of Commercial Ar- rangements may be meiitioned the regu- lations for the trade with America, w hich was r Ji;| [ 7O wa6 one of the carllcft proceeding.^ of the Parliament of 1784; for this, in the new fituation which the independence of Ame- rica prefented, it was nccciiary to provide in fuch a manner as to give to the trade of the country, and her ftill remaining colo- nies, every advantage which intcrcourfc with the American States could produce, yet fo regulated as to incrcafe the marine of Great Britain, and to draw to the pa- rent (late thofe benefits which (he had for- merly beftowed on provinces now fevered from the empire. The regulations for thcfe purpofes were firft provided for by orders in Council, under authority of tem- porary adls of Parliament, and were after- wards, in 1788, fettled by a permanent ilatutc. Thcfe wore an allowance of the immediate tranfjiortutinn of UuDbcr ("/'. e. timber, barrel flavc?, and fcveral other articles of the like i.;iturc, whicfi arc im- mediately nectiTary to the trade anil ma- nufa*5lure of the WelVIndia ifland.^) from America to our iOand^, but that importa- tion confined to r>ritilli ihips navigated by Britilh iubjects. The dired exportation of fugir and other articles of the produce of thcfe [ 73 J OufJ^ iriiinds is allowed to America, but uiKicr tl:c fame coiuiitioii of its being car- lied ill loiitiih veilels, conformablv to the lahitary principle of our navigation Jaw. By tbeic provifions, and the allowance of her bringing her produce to Great Britain ill her own velVels, America has that de- gree of favour with tliis country wliich it Icems ih expedient to allow her, while the reflriclion which is certainly tb.e mod ufe- ful, or, as fome later political oeconomifls maintain, the only ufeful, reflridion in our commercial fyflem, is kept up in favour of the marhie of this country. The anxious proviiions of our law for the encourage- ment of our navigation have been enforced by I'cveral fl:atutes paffed in this Parlia- ment, containing regulations with regard to /Ij'ipping^ which Icem to be formed on a very pcrfedl kiiowledge of this great na- tional objecSt, without the fcvcrity which has been fometimes complained of in laws of that kind, as alKcting the interefls and cmbarraflinii the tranflicUons of fair and ex ten five commerce* The commercial intercourfe witli Amf- rica is an oh\c^ of the (nd im[)ortance to L wicai r [ 74 ] Great Britain. America is now, and will probably for a conlulcrable time remain, in luch a lituation as affords an extenfive mar- ket for tilt produce of Britidi induftry and manufadurc. I'he natural fertility of the foil of moil of the provinces of America, ivAd the great quantity of unoccupied ground which thefe contain, will give to their in- dullry and capital a natural tendency to- wards agriculture. It will be long before they will leave that fn-lT: flage of labour for the more complicated bufuicfs of manufac- ture, or the diftant fpcculations of com- merce. They will find in the manufac^ t'lres of this country what the wants of luch a lituation require, for which their natural produce may be advantageoufly ex- changed ; and the increahng popuLuion to which the agricultural (late is peculiarly huouraUc will increaie the number of cor^ fumcrs for tliofe articles which the Britifh arri/,an or mcp.hant can atfbrd them. To tlic Britilh arcizan or merchant thev will naturally be dlrcdcd not only by the I'ape- riority of the ariicles which theie caqi afford them, but by two circumftances^ which mail always have i powerful effecl m [ 75 ] in nfloclating and coniicdllng the two coiiu- tries, a common language and a commoa religion. This amicable and mutually ad- vantageous intercourfc has already begun to heal tirat animoiity which rankled in the bofom of America from the recollec- tion of the late unfortun irc contcil: ; and it is fome compenfation to this country for the lofs of honour and wafle of treafure with which that contef: was attended. To what extent the policy of thofe com- mercial regulations, of which tlie forego- ing Iketch has been given, has contributed to the prefent ftate of the trade of Great Britain, it may not be ealy precifely to de- termine. That they have efl'entially con- tributed to it is a conclution which will naturally be drawn by tlie unprejudiced. The refulr, however, from whatever caufe it may be held to arife, it is highly grati- fying to ll:atc. It appears, from the latell nnd beil: autlicnticatcd accounts, that the increafe of the trade and ihipping ot this countrv, lince the conclnlinii of \:\i\ war, lias been greater than rhc moll ianguine ideas could Iv.ne reached, in t'^.e year I. 2 'i V i » 1"P [ 76 ] I 7^3 there were cleared outwards fi\ m the various ports of the kingdom, of Bririlli vcflcls, - 7329 ForLic^n, - - 1544 In the iall: year of wliich an account has been taken, to wit, in 1790 the number was as follow s : Britiih, - - 12,762 Foreign, - - I5I40 Of our impoits and exports, during the iiime period, the increafc has been propor- tional. In 1783 the value of our im- ports was - ^.13,122,235 In 1 790 - - 19,130,886 In 1783 our exports amount- ed to - - 14,756,818 I n I to 20,IliO,I 21 It will not* cfcapc ohfervatiiMi, that tliouj^h the iiKMcafe ot" ( iihcr iuiHcicntly marks the irrowinir commerce of the State, :t tl yet tiie great augmentation ot our ex[)ort trade is a iiattering pr(K)f of the thrivino- fituation of our manufactures and the de- mand which ij made ioi' them in foreitru markets. SECTION [ n ] SECTION III. FINANCE. ComnniiaUon All. — RiJucli'^n of Dr.iy en Spirits. — Excifc up'm JVinc iind 'Tobacco.-^ /Id J or ii:c Prevention of Smuggling. — 'Manifeji AcL — Acl for appointing Com- viijjioncra to audit the public Accounts. — - Regukiiions rcfpcciing Revenue. — Addi- tional Taxt's. — Aci for a Implying the An- nual Million. — Comparative State of Re- venue a?id Exf-L ndiiure. 1 HERE is no deprj-tmciit of public bu- riiiefs to wliicl'i rli'j PailKTmcnt of 1704 paid a more uiircmlLting or a more fuc- cefsful attention tlian that of Finance. — A Report of a C;-mmittce, inilitutcd for the purpofc of inquiring into the abufe.s of S;nu[^c^limr, w is I'-lvcn In to the iloulc of Commons before the dole (jf the preceding Parfiament ; but the iitiiation of affairs at thot time waj WvAi as tj fi:fp. :k1 any mca- lurcs [ 78 3 Turcs for checking thcfc abuies ; they were confequcntly left to the active exertions of the fuccccding Parliannenr. It will he fatis- fadory to the Puhlic to trace their effects. The great articles on which the enor- mous fraiuls, reported by the Committee, arofe, were T^ea^ Spirits, JVim, and Tobacco, To thel'e, therefore, it was ncccflary for Parliament to dired their particular atten- tion. Tlic two fufl: were already fubje^lcd to every regulation and reftraint which the mode of levying and fecuring duties by excife, provides againfl fraud. But in ar- ticles of general confumption, if the duties are high, the encouragement to fmuggle overbears the rifk, at the fame time that it fharpcns ingenuity to defeat the provifions of the law. In fuch cales the leiTening that encourafj-ement bv a diminution of the duty, is the only means left to prevent imu'iolinu;. With regard to the firfl: of thefe articles, ITcii, this Dbjedl was endeavoured to be at- tained by t!]c acl of Parliament palled in 1784, known by tlie name of the Comtmi' iation Ad. \^ u as an experiment in finance which had been dilhuitly pn^pofcd at va- rious 1:^ [ 79 ] nous periods, and which the iieccHity of counteradling the alarming frauds reported by the Committee, now induced the Mi- nifter at the head of the Trcafury to bring forth for the fan(n:ion of Parhament. The quantity of tea annually fmuggled into the kingdom appeared, by the beft-founded cal- culations, to be not lefs than twelve or thir- teen millions of pounds weight, double the quantity legally imported by the Eaft- India Company. To take away from the fmug- gler the advantage under which this very great importation was made, the plan of the a(fl was to lower the duties on tea to about one fourth of their former amount. But as that would caufe a defalcation of re- venue of about 6oo,oooI., it was propofeu ro compenfate this by an additional duty on houfes and windows. The principle of the new tax, it was contended, was as nearly that of commutation, as it could be faid to be in the cafe of any new duty on two different fuhje£ls, bccaufe tea being now, by the habits of life, become a necefl'ary of uni- verlM confumption, almolT: every perfon paying the new tax on windows, would be freed from an equal amount of the old tax I I .,^1 [ U' ] on tea. Tliis principle of cotr.m'it.uiorl was wariiily tlilpiitcd hv tlie M' .rb.M's in OppDlicioii, tea being, as tii^ v CDi-ccMKictl, a 1 uxurv \v hich iriifiht or ini'j'-it not ;> con- llimcd, but lodpi?i7 aiiv! 11 Ut \>A'.\ fubili- tuted tax, and the rctiiaining duty on tea, between 62,oacl. imd 63,000!. per annum.; but [ 8' ] but its operation has been infinitely more important in contributing to the general lupprelfion of fmuggling, and the great augmentation of other branches of the re- venue ; befidcs the extcnfive commercial advantage to the nation of importing di- rectly for ourfelves this very great article of our confumption, a large portion of which was before fupplied through the channel of the fmugglcr by foreign countries. The relief which this meafure alfo afforded to the finances of the Eaft- 1 ndi-A Company, in which the nation is materially interefted, is an additional proof of its vvifdom and uti- lity ^^ The >irl ■' The increale ot' revenue arifmg from the Commutation Aft upon a comparifon of the average produce of foui years fucceed- ing it, with the average produce of five years prior to it, is ■■ — £. 79>9^7 But it is fair to dedu(5l the fum by which the average produce «f the old window duty fell fhort of its average produce prior to tills aa — i9»>39 6 Increafe 60,768 M B«C ''U ^ ry%. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ /. A t/. .d> 1.0 I.I ia||M Hi Ui ^ US 2.0 118 |l.25 |||.4 ||L6 ^ 6" ► v. y It Photographic Sciences Corf.K)ration fV •^ ^1 •s? :\ \ 6^ ^^IjT^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ( Mr-. A ■s [ 82 ] The fame principle of taking away the temptation to fmuggle by lowering the duty on legal importation, was adopted on the article of Spirits. The But the moft important advantages which the public have derived from this a(St are as follow : ift. The increafe of Britifli fiiipping, taken upon an average of the Jaft five years, compared with five years immediately preceding the pafling of this a9S.i 2dly^. The total value of exports to China, from 1776 to 1783, was jf* 995*673 From 1784 to 1791 — — 6,698,221 The amount of the value of the increafe is — — 5,702,548- Which on an average is annually —■ 7 1 2^ 1 S* The private trade has like wife much increafed. 3dly. Since this a6l paflcd, being, feven years and an half, there has been fold ^ 2 1,7 30, ^53 pounds of tea, which, duty included; fold for 21,058,497 Tfie^ Hm I S3 ] The llipulation with regard to t!ie Bran- <3Ie5 of France in the commercwl treaty, low- ered, cf courfe, the duty on that article; but the objea of efFeduallj preventing fmugghng made It defirable to reduce the duty even lower than to the ftipulated amount, and with the fame view it was ne- ceflary to make a proportionate reduaion on otherfpecies of foreign fpirituous liquors. wi'^ 4 The faTie quantity of tea, and of the fame quality, at the ave- rage price of tea ten years prior to the ad, (including the duties) would have amounted '°. " -.^ -. 40,876,730. The conclufion from this is, that there has heen a faving to the public upon the amount of what the fame quantity of tea would have fold for at legal . fales, if the Commutation A61 had net paiTed of — 19,818,233 The average upon feven years and an half is ^ . 2,642,430 And this gain is to be fet againft the charges arought upon the public by the impofition of this M 2 Yec •Vi: it' f'iS- [ 84 ] Yet {o hr was this rcdu£lion from having any efFedl prejudicial to the revenue, that on the contrary the duty on the article of fpirits Increafed after fuch redtidlion of it,? rate, to a very large amount. In 1786 the total net p^-oduce of the duty on foreign fpirits was 713^3761.; whereas in 179c that produce amounted to the fum of 1,082,2641. — an increafe of no lefs a fum than 368,8881. Befides this gain to the revenue, the fame fort of advantage as be- fore obfcrved on the commutation adf, is in fome meafure produced by every fair trade, in oppofitioh to a contraband one; that in the firll:, the national merchant profits, and the national feaman is employed ; in the latter, the foreign or the outlaw fmuggUr derives the chief profit of the trade, and the capital Centers in a foreign country. ' In the two other articles which have been before mentioned of wine and to- bacco, the efi^e£t of excife riegulations whicli appeared applicable to both' had never bccii tried. ' I'his experiment with refpeift to wine was made in the year 1786, and fuc- cceded fo well, that notwithflanding t};c lowering of the duty in confequcnce Qi ''^' .. -' . ■ ■ the- r 85 1 hat of it.? the ign •90 of urn the be- die commercial treaty with France, (o con- fiderably below its former rate, the total amount of revenue received for that article has annually increafcd ; the average re- ceipt for three years prior to the commer- cial treaty, and the excife regulations, hav- ing been 625,4541., and that for three years pofterior to thofe events ^14^010!., and in the year 1790 804,167!. The regulations of excile were likewile, in the year i 789, extended to the article of tobacco ; and though the provifions of this bill have not yet been completely effedual, and tobacco is ftill one of the very few ar- ticles in which a contraband trade con- tinues to be carried on, the benefit nevcr- thelefs has alreadv been extcnfive, and fuch as fully juflifies the mealure. The duty on tobacco on an average of three years, hnmediately previous to the commence- ment of this a<51:, amounted to the fum of 505,7081., and the drawback 81,9961.; whereas the amount of duty in the year 1790 was 676,2731., while the drawback Iras incrcafed only to 86,027!. 13 ut the Parliament of 1784 was aware, diat though the redu^flion oi duty upon '*- ,. j^aiticular ! ", [ 86 3 particular articles would effe^lually conn-* tcra£l the Imuggler with refpedl to fuch articles, yet that imuggling prevailed to fo alaraiin^^ an extent, as to threaten the total ruin of the public revenue, if fuch mea- fures were not taken as would effedually fupprefs the general prad^ice of it. With this view a bill was introduced in the year 1784 for the betrer prevention of fmug^- gling. The objcfls of which were, to ex- tend the hovering laws, enabling the officer to Itlze vefiels employed in fmuggling at a greater diilance from the fhorc — to pro- hibit the buildii'iir or navii^jation of vefiels of a certain delcrlption, known to be thofe employed by the fmugpler — to prevent vefiels, when lawfully condemned from beine: fold as tlicv furmiCrly had been, in a manner which enabled the fmuggler to re- cover tlie poirdiion of them — to fuffer no vefiel to be i;rmed bcvond a certaia extent without a licenie from the Admiralty — to regulate the clearnnces of vefiels of all de- fcriptions — and to enlarge the powers of fcizure, bv authorizins^ revenue officers to feize vcfleis. having 0:1 board contraband commo- [ 87 J commodities In packages of a fmallcr hulk than allowed by law. Thefe were the principal regulations of this bill, and its effccl was to check, in a great meafure, that branch of fnuiggiinp- which at that time was carried on, in noto- rious defiance of the L.w, to a greater d^- gree than had ever before prevailed in this country. To the fame object the attention of Par- liament was direded in pading the JMani- feft bill in the year i ;S6. Frauds to a con- fiderable extent were pradifed by the maf- ters of fuch as were apparently regular trading veffels ; to prevent which, the bill requires every mafter of a trading fhip to produce the manifeil: of his cargo, contain- ing every article of which it confills, and prohibits the importation of goods into Great Britain, without the produ6tion of fuch manifeft. The ad likewife makc3 fome very important regulations to check the frauds pradi/ed in the exportation of goods entitled to drawback or bounty — and gives to the Commanders of his Ma- jefty's fhips a power to feize vcllcls or goods fubjed to forfeiture. J5»'',»'l I^h: 0\m ^1] ■iJ m '( '■m: ft ,!ii [ 88 3 It is impoflible to afcertain what precifr effccl thel'e adl.^ liavj had in the increale of our revenue ; but it is well known, that they have anfwercd the purpofes aimed af. by the Legiflature ; and it is probable that a great part of the increafe arifes from their beneficial effedts. Eefides thefe meafures^ which were di- rected to the improvement of the perma- nent revenue, an equal attention was fliewn to other objcdis conneclcd with general principles of econorhy, and tending to give the public the benefit of other rcfourceS which might be applied in aid of the an- 'lual taxes to meet the neccfTary cxpences. It is now fcarccly credible, that, prior to the year 17S5, the public accounts of the kingdom were paficd in either of the offices of the auditors of the imprefl:, who adled by deputy, and this fingle perfon decided on the particulars of the account. With^ out any reflecllon uj)on the charadler of whoever might be in i'uch a fituation, the impropriety of accounts between Govern- ment and individuals, in which millions were frequently to be decided upon, being examined in this manner, mufl: ftrike everjr ii oaft i 89 ] cue who confiders the fubje^V, were large balances remained due to Government — many accounts were iinfettled, and, per- haps, others paflcd without the neccflary inveftigation which accounts of this im- portance required. The ad of 1785 ap- pointed five Commifiioners for the purpofe of examining and auditing the public ac- counts of the kingdom, and inverted them with all the powers necelTary to render their appointment efficient. The benefit the country has derived from the appointment of thefe Commiliioners in. (he regularity of examining and pafling the public accounts, and in recovering large fums due to the public, which have been paid in confequence of thefteps taken by the Commifiioners for that purpofe, is the befl encomium upon the meafure itfelf, and upon thofe Commiliioners who have fo faithfully and diligently carried it into effcift. The fame difintereiled principle which has governed every proceeding of the pre- fent Adminiftration refpe£ling matters of revenue, is obfervablc in the mode of mak- ing loans and condudling lotteries. For- N merly ij [ 9° ] mcrly the ncccfllty of the public, to avail itidt of thcfe means of railing money, was made an engine of corinplion, and loans, lotteries, and contrails, were formed, not with a view to the public icrvice, but for the emolument of the individual to whom they were given. The mode adopted during the period uicluded in this work, has been that of receiving public propofals, ^nd accepting the offer which is moft ad- vantageous in its turn ; the theory of re- form is always popular, but it is feldom that, in a Government conflituted like ours, that there is public virtue enough in the Minifter to bring reform into adion, and abridge his own patronage. Though the resjulations above referred to have anfwered the purpofes for which they were made, and proved higlily beneficial to the public, it was obvious at the very be- ginning of this period, that the effect of regulation alone could not render the re^ venue equal to the cxpences which had been entailed on the country by the efFeds of the war ; it became therefore an indif- penfablc duty to find productive taxes to fuch an amount as, added to the benefic de- rived %«i [ 9' 3 rived from thcic rc.nilatlons, midu render tlie income equal to tlic expenditure, and enlurc a lurjdu,-, applicable to the rcducliou of debt. It is no imall [)roof of tiie pcr- feverancc o£ tbe Lc'riil-iturc, and the re- iburces ot the coinirry, that produclive taxes, to an n.niount cxccedin'^* on^ millioii annually, were impoied in the courieof the laft Parliament ; and t'/.at althoiuni every relource had been ii'j)poied to be prev.- ou.'ly exliaufrcd, they neither interfered \vith oihL:r branche;s of the revenue, or checked the commerce of the country ; both of which, on the contrary, have in- creafcd vv^irh unuiual rapidity. While Parliament v^-as thus fuccefsfuUy employed in rendering the public revenue m.ore ciieclual, it was proper, at the fame time, to take mcalures for applying that re- venue in a direclion molf profitable to the State. By tlie report of a Committee ap- pointed in 1786, the probable furplus of the public income, after paying the intereft of the national debt, and providing for the variuus eflablifliments, was calculated at N 2 900,000!. t ii-^M [ 9^ ] 900, cool, per annum. To this was added loOjOool. levied l.y a part of the additional taxes before referred to, and one million annually ; the amount of both was vefted in Commiiliontrs, to be appropriated to the extinction of the national public debt, by the purchafc of flock, on behalf of the public. The effedls of this operation, vnSling, as it docs, with a progrclfive in- creafe, are beyond what a flight view of the fubject would lead one to fuppofe. The fum paid off at the firft of February, 1^91, was 6,772,3501.; the intercft on which amounting to 203,1701., together with 5 1,634!. of expired annuities, amount- ing in the w'hole to the fum of 254,8041., are, according to the tenor of the plan, added to the annual million for the reduc- tion of the national debt, and increafe at compound interefl in fivour of the public. The appropriation of this million is a trufl for pofterity, and never fliould be in- fringed. For contingencies beyond the or- dinary and eflablifhed expence of the na- tion, the moft manly, as well as tlie mofl economical mode of proviiion, is by raifing the capital of the fum laid out witliin a fhort ^»M [ 93 ] fliort determinate fpace of time. Of this an example was fliewn. In the lafl: ScfTion of Parliament, on occafion of providing for the cxpcnccs incurred in our difpute with Spain. Tliefc expcnccs amounted to a ium of about 3,ooo,oool. Temporary and pro- duclivc taxes were provided to the amount of 8oo,oool. per annum ; part of which were to remain till a large portion of this debt was cxtiiiguiflied, and tlie remainder till the whole fliould be completely dif- charged, wliich would be effcded in about four years. ExccpL !")me unforefeen event fhall arife, for wh.'c'i the nation cannot provide in this manner, there will be no- thing to counteract the rapid eftecfi: which the appropriation of the furplus revenue muft produce in no very diftant period to- >vards relieving the country from a large proportion of its heavy incumbrances. It will be a fubjedl of juft fatisfa6llon and triumph, to every one who feels for his country, to recapitulate the advantages which have been produced within the pe- riod of this ftatement, partly by the mea- fures now detailed, and ftill more by the natural effedls of peace, and the continu- 5 ally li' t,:, I.. [ 94 ] ally IncreafinG: exertions of national in- (hifliy. Few iiiflances occur in hiftory of io rapid and unexpedled an improvement in ■ the fituation of public affairs ; and the change becomes more Uriking from having immediately followed a period equally re- markable for as fudden a tranlition from a flate of opulence and profperity to weak- nefs and diflrefs. A war which was pro- dudtive of nothing but calamity, and which terminated by the feparation of thirteen flourifiiing provinces from the empire, had, in the courfe of feven years of fruitlefs conteft, added above one hundred millions to the capital of the national debt. The taxes impofed to defray the intereft of this fum had fallen ihort of the total amount of the intereil adually incurred during that period by much more than tu'o millions. They left at the conclulion of the war an annual deficiency in thofe funds only of near 400, cool. The reft of the revenue defined in times of peace to pay the intereft of debt previouOy contratftcd, or to fupport the ordinary cftablilhmcnts, had in the mean time declined ; and slic Vvholeof ihe annual revenue, includi:ig the produce both [ 95 ] both of the taxes fubfifting before the war, and thofe hnpofed in the courfe of it, amounted, at thxC end of 1 783, only to about one milhon fix hundred thoufand pounds more than in T776, though a debt had been incuired in the fame period, ei- ther funded, or remaining to be funded, the whole intereft of which would occafion an addition to the annual and (as it was then thought) the perpetual charge on the public of a little lefs than five millions*. The total of the permanent anfiual charges on the aggregate fund^ including the civil lift, and the addition of the in tereft of Ex- chequer bills, as they ftood at that period, w^as iOj6oo,oool., and the total of the an- mal re'veniie arifuig from the permanent taxes was about 10, 200, cool. In addition to this deficiency there re- mained the whole burden of providing for the annual expences of the army, the navy, the ordnance, the charges for tlie planta- tions, and the other neceflary ferviccs, tb.e . ,1? ■ * The total amount of intereft on the national debt at the end of the year 1776 was 4,475,000!., sind in 1786, 9,273,000!. amount 1^ tiK\ [ 96 I arhonnt of which could not be calculated at lefs than 4,ooo,ocol. To meet thefe charges, the only remaining refource, without recurring to freih taxes, was the annual vote of the land and malt, which is nominally eflimatcd at 2,750,000!., but which in fadl produces about 2,530,000). The melancholy refult of the whole was, that there exifted a deficiency of the a£lual amount of the revenue below the annual expenditure, on the loweft eftimate, of above 1,800,0001. Some relief was undoubtedly, under any clrcumflances, to be expected from the re- turn of peace ; but it feemed lefs to be re- lied upon at this period than at any which had before occurred. Befides the difficul- ties already mentioned, the public credit (which is the center on which every thing turns, where a large debt has once been; created) had funk even more than the pub" lie revenue. The price of annuities, at an intcrefl of 3 per cent., which, hi times of profperity, had frequently been above par, and feldom lower than 90, had, at the conclufion of the year 1 785, or the beginning of 1 784, fallen ta Htl [ 97 ] "to ^^, This depreffion of credit had fwal- lowed np and annihilated for the time al- mofl: half the value of the funded property bf the kingdom. The price of lands had funk from the fame caufes, though, per- haps, not in an equal degree. The univerfal difficulty of obtainino- money, and the adual fcarcity both of fpe- cie and of bullion, had every where checked circulation. There appeared (as it were) a general ftagnation in all the exertions of the country; clandeftine and illicit trade was the only one which Was profecuted with vigour, and the enterprife and induflry which had formerly contributed to the wealth of the nation feemed to be flowing into channels where it could only operate to compleat the corruption of its morals, and the ruin of its revenue. Under thefe calamitous circimiftances even the Iplrit of the nation was broken, the feeling and temper of people, of all de- fcriptions, rel'embled the difmay of an army which had fuflained fome unex- pedled and diigraceful defeat; when, un- lefs means can be found to revive their courage, and inipire them with frelh con- o iidence §^ ,b If ' '■ sM w [ 98 ] fidencc in rhemfclves, they will never again bj led to viclorv and to glory. Everything depended upon the influence ot opinion ; but to remove the defpondcncy, and to raife the hopes of tlie nation, iccmed a talk as ciiiicult as to retrieve its credit, and to re- pair its relources. If it were pra£licable at all, it was tliought to require an union of all the talents, and all the efforts of the different parties in the llate. But here un- fortunately the danger was flill increafed ; inflead of either an union in the public cauie, or a generous emulation and rival- fliip in iiipport of the public intercf}:, the natioii was torn and dillracled bv the utmofl violence of fat^lion, which for a time fufpendcd the funtflions of executive go- vernment, and even threatened the ex- tremes of anarchy and confulion. At length, however, the fl:orm fubfided, and as foon as there was the appearance of a fettled (Tovernment, an attempt w^as made, (under all the dilcoura2,enients which have been ftated), the lucctls or failure of which Vv'ould be decidve on our future fituation The immenl'e load of unfuiided debt which had accumulated during the war preikd more [ 99 3 more than any other circumflance on the credit of the country ; its amount proved near 30,000,000!. ; yet large as this luni is, the efted of it operated in a llili higher proportion, from its being neither h.|uiia- ted nor afcertained. In the beginning of the new Parliament meafures were taken for funding the whole of this debt, and for providing efficient taxes to defray the charge which it would occalion. Tliis alone was a pledge and earnef: to the world o^ a difpolition to en- counter all the difficulties of the fituation, and to endeavour at Icaft to equalize the public income to its expenditure. A lingle ikp of this nature went f:ir to dillipate the gloom which then hung over the country. Men began to recollc(!t tliemfelves, to en- tertain truer notions of t! 1 extent of our refources, and to remember the nrli: dut^ of good citizens, " never to dclpair of the republic." The fuccceding exertions of the country, and the meafures taken lor the improve- ment of the revenue, enabled Parliament, as early as the year 1786, after making eood the deficiencies beiore ftated, and al- f ♦? ': O 2 allotting [ 100 ] lotting a fnfficient proviiion for other ne- ceffary public expcnces, to enfure (in the manner ah'cady flatcd) the appropriation of a million annually, at compound intereft, to the difcharge of the national debt. The cotnmercial treaty with France fucceeded, which put an end to a fufpenfe unfavoura- ble both to trade and revenue, and by opening to us an additional and extenlive market on favourable terms, gave a new fcope and a frefh incentive to the fpirit of indullrv and commerce. After thefe two events the tide was completely turned, and its courfe ever {n\c& has been uniform and rapid. Our revenue has been gradually rifing, and in the lall year has exceeded the amount of the year 1783 by nearly four millions llerling. About one million of this fum feems to have arifen, as has been already flated, from the impofition of addi- tional and produ6llvc taxes ; nearly aix equal proportion has accrued on thofe arti- cles which have been enumerated as the fubje£l of fpecific regulations ; the remain- der proceeds from a caufe ftill more fatif- fadory, a gradual augmentation diffufed over 'teti [ .01 ] over almoft every branch of the revenue, which can only be afcribcd to the iiicrcafed confumption and the incrcaled wealth of the empire. We hnve already feen that a correfpond- ing improvement has taken place in the ftate of our trade, which both furniflies an explanation of the great fource of our advantages and gives us jull: ground to ex- pect their continuance. In the mean time near (even millions of the capital of our debt have been difcharged, a fum larger than has ever been paid off in the longeft interval of peace, fnice the commencement of the centurv. The finking fund now applicable annually to the difcharge of debt has already grown to about one million ^hree hundred thoufand pounds. The rife in the value of the ftocks fc ems to open the profpc(St of a redudion of intc- reft on thofe funds which a^e redeemable ; and if we were to look bej'ond the period to which this work is confined, wc ihouid perhaps find the profped ilill brit^htening. We may even be allowed to hope that the moment is not diilant which may compl. te }hc contraft with our former diiheiies, and vvhtn 'ftp. [ I02 ] when, iiiftead of Increafing incumbrances, and impi;lrccl refoiirces, we may find cur revenue iiifficient to accelerate the reduc- tion of the national debt, and at the fame time diminifh in fome degree the burthen of the taxes now levied upon the people. i I SECTION IV. InUrference of Great Britain In the Settle- mcnt of the Afairs of Holland* X HE internal arrangements of revenue and finance, though not interrupred in fyf- tem, were fomcwhat abated in their effeds, by accidental occurrences in foreign poli^ tics, which obliged Cireat Britain to inter- pofe in the fituation of countries materially coiMiec£l:ed with our own. Ir requires but little fagacity to pronounce, that the pa- cific ly llem now generally allowed to be for tfje iiuerefl: of every country, is pecu- liarly for tlie Intcreft of Great Britain. But 'till [ 103 J But to prcfcrvc peace, it is ncccLaiy to maintain the iruriiitv of a nation unim- paired ; to make liei* friendlhip valuable, and her rcfentment, when unavoidably rouzed to jull: refentmcnt, formidable to other nations. It is with ftates as with in- dividuals ; their independancc and their power procure them friends and allies. The laft unfortunate war had left us with- out an ally ;^ France had, by mutual ad- vantages, drawn clofer the ties of the family compact with Spain ; and fhe direded almoll at will the councils of Holland. That country, with which, for more than a century before, Great Britain had been connected by numberlefs engagements, had, for fome time paft, been devoted to the interefls of her rival power, who, feeing the importance of the acquiiition, had, with unceafmg policy, and at an enormous expence, prolecuted and attained the objefl of gaining an entire alcendancy in the Dutch Government. The difturbances v/hich, during the year 1786, and for fome time preceding, had prevailed in the various provinces of the Republic, were at lad, by the vio- lence ^* i'!^! gf I til I. I [ 104 ] leiice of the Antl-Stadtholdcriim party^ brought, in the fpring of the fuccceding year, to the lli'uc of an armed contell:. The mediation of France and Pruliia had only produced, in its faihirc, that frefli and redoubled animofity which always at- tends a fruitlefs endeavour at conciliation. The province of Holland adopted refolu- tions fuhverfive of the union of the ftatesj and in dire6l violation of the Conftitutioii of the Republic ; thofe refolutions it pre- pared to enforce by an army recruited with French foldiers, and aliifted in its opera- tions by French officers. A civil war had acftually begun in the province of Utrecht^ and in another quarter ; the city of Am- fterdam experienced a fcene of confuiiou and horror little (hoit of the fack and de- vaftation of a vi(florious and unreftrained foldiery. In the progrefs of thofe violent mea- sures, which the enemies of the Stadtholder purfued, they committed a perfonal out- rage on the Princefs of Orange^ which rouzed the reientment, and juflified the immediate interpoiition of her brother the King of Pruilla. They refufed the fatif- fadion SIS- [ *^5 ] fadion \vhich that Monarch dcmaaJcd foi the infult ofFcred to his lil1:cr, with an ob- fliiiacy and a confidence, inlpired not kis by the hopes of foreign fuccour, than by the ftrength of their party in the Repnbhc. The confequent mealures of the Court of Berlin are fufficiently known. They were taken with a promptitude and a decilion which they could Icarcely have poillllcd without a rchance on that co-opcratioii whicb Great Britain had refolved to atFord in refcuing the Conftitution and rights of the United Provinces from the tyranny of a fiiclion as hoflile to the iiiterefts of this countrv, as to the eftablifhed Government of its own. The Court of F' ranee was too fenfible of the importance of maintaining its influence in the Republic, eafily to ac- qulefcc in the defeat of that party by whofe means that influence had been {o long fup- ported. [ts refolution to interfere in fup- port of that party w^as notified to the Court of Great Britain about tlie fame time that the anfwer by the States of Holland rc- fuffuig the latisfadion which the King of Pruliia demanded was delivered to his Am- baflador. This was one of thole critical f jundlures ii m |nl [ '°6 ] jiiiiv^iire'; in whlc'i firmncl'^ of councils and vl:,our of excrtloji were able to ohaiii nn (^.bjc'(!ft of the grcitcfl impoitancc to the fiit'irc poLtlcal iiitcrcfls of this coiMtiy. The hnmcJiato equipment of r. foriniJ.ible fleet, the incrcafc of our own nfilicary force, ai:cl the fubfidi'U'y trcMy wlt'i the Landcrravc of Hcffc Cailcll for r budv of auxillnrics, put this country iii a condition cfFc(flually to countcracl: the intcrpofitioii of France on the oppofite fide. The liid- dcnnefs and expedition of the preparations hi this countiy, which a6\ually took, place within three days of the notification from France, and ahiioft at the lame moment that the Pruflian troops were entering Hol- land, added not a little to the effecl of the meal'ure. This decifive condu£l, (o much beyond the energy flic had lately found in the operations of this country, France ap- pears not to have been prepared for, and at that juncture, prcfled by the embarraflcd fituation of her finances, flie w^as unable to with (land it. Awed by the firmncfs of the Britifh Councils, and the inflant and formidable exertions of her national ilrength, flie gave up the Dutch republi- cans [ 107 ] cans to their fate; the StadthokLr enjoyed the full fruits of ilie Duke of Brunfwiek's ahly-coiidu6lcd and liighly-fuccefsful ex- pedition, and was rcinflated in the fulled powers which his family had ever held ihice the union of the provinces. In fo fhort a fpace of time, and from the promp- titude with wlilch Government took ad- vantage of circumflances proceeding from caufcs in thcnifelvcs inconfidcrahle, was that afccndancy which France had fo long held in the Adminiftratiou of Holland, overthrown, and Great Britain freed from thofe dangers which the foundefl of iier politicians had often predicted from its effedls. When this hullnefs was laid hefore Par- liament, the manner in which it had been condudled on the part of this country re- ceived the approbation of all parties. The leaders of oppofition, while they gave that approbation with a very laudable franknels and candour, remarked the wilHom, now proved by recent events, of that jcalouiy of France which they had formerly re- commended. In point of political torccafl, they now ventured to recommend that p 2 fvflem [ Jo8 1 fyflcm of continental allumce, wlthoiic which Britain muil: be left, as was her misfortune in the lail: war, infulated and friendlefs amidft a combination of enemies ; that fyftem which, tending to prefcrve the balance of power in Europe, gives the bed affurance for its tranquillity, and is fo ef- fential to the interefts and fafety of Great Britain. " This fyftem, (faid Mr. Fox,) which has been fometimes called romantic, is a ferious fyflem, and fuch as it is the hiterefk of this country to be governed by ; a fyf- tem founded on that found and folid politi- cal maxim, that Great Britain ought to look to the lituation of aftairs upon the Continent, and take fucli mcafures upon every change of circumftances abroad, as fliall beft tend to prefcrve tlic balance of powxr in Europe." Upon that maxim, lie faid, he had founded all his political condudl, and convinced as he was of its juflnefs, he fliould continue to adhere to it. Mr. Burke declared, " that he highly- approved of the fyflem of meafures pur- fued with refpe<5l to Holland, and the re- 3 newal [ ^09 ] nevval of continental conne6llons. That was the fyftem on which alone the country could expedt to ftand with fafety and ho- nour. It was during our adherence to that fyftem that Great Britain had been a glo- rious country, the objed of the admira- tion of other countries. The fubfidiary treaty with Hefle, as a fingle, unconneded meafure, he mufl: difapprove, becaufe, by continv'ng our guarantee to that Prince, we might be involved in a war on his ac- count ; but as part of a fyftem compre- hending Pruilia and Holland, it was a wife meafure, and as fuch it fhould have his fuffi :i'i rage. The expediency of this fyftem of Con- tinental connexions might occur to minds lefs enlightened than thofe of Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke. But the national prejudices of this country are again ft it. In every coun- try the bulk of the people look not to dii- tant events, nor will cafily confent to make provifion for them at the expence of pre- fent inconvenience. If at any time the tide of this prejudice diould run again ft the meafures of Government, it were per- haps more virtue than wc are entitled to look [ no ] look for in a ftatcfman to contradlcl: tliat prejudice in fiivour of a rival. Svftem will probably then be forgotten, or that fyftem only remembered which is paramount to every other, the fyftem of party. One of the moll: immediate advantages, thouQ-h imDerfci^ly known at the time, which Great Britaifi derived from this fuc- cefsful interference in the affairs of Hol- land, was the fafety of our Eaft- Indian lettlements, on w liich the French party in Holland had meditated a vcrv ferious at- tack, in conjundlion with France, and Tip- poo Saib^ who had lately luccceded his fa- ther, the celebrated Hycicr Al'i^ in the fo- vercignty of My/ore, Abfolute Sovereign, though under an ufurped title, of an extenfive and populous empire, the force of which is concentrated for attack, while itfelf is defended by a barrier of almoil: impaflable mountains ; with a reftlels and u?ibcunded ambition, lupported by great abilities, and unreflrained by good faith or principle ; with tliat com- mand over the minds of hii followers which is naturally infpired by his own talents, und which receives additioiral wci, on t)ie other hand, that warm, t -cs. viporous -.mpulfe, which the fentiment or a fre^ co'^iiiiv in- fpires, when fatlsfied of th'^ jufrice of the caufe which it is called to 1 ;.:pori. Ine anfwer of Parliament was unanimou:^ and cordial ; [ "8 ] li i cwdlal^ the feelings of the nation were in unifoa with the voice of its reprefentatives, who exprefl'ed their determination " to *' concur with His Majcfly in the mod *' zealous and effcAflual manner in fuch meafures as may become requilite for ' maintaining the dignity of His Majef- *' ty's Crown, and the eliential intereft of *' his dominions/' Fortified wiih this refolution of Parlia- ment, and the congenial fpirit of the peo- ple. Admin id: ration continued their war- like preparations with fuch earneft and ef- fetSlive difpatch, that in the fhort fpace of about two months, a ileet of between 50 and 60 fhips of the line was ready for fea. Nor did they fecm wanting in furefight of future events, any more than in applica- tion to the pre fen t emergency. In Ame- rica and the Weft Indies, it is underftood, they had prepared the different Governors for the poflible event of a Spanifh war, in fuch a manner as to prevent :iny danger of an unlooked-for attack in that quarter where Spain might naturally be fuppofed niofl: in condition to meditate fuch an attempt ; and thougii the pnrticuh^r-proje'fis of the war t>Mi [ .,9 ] war were ftudioiifly concealed, the prepa- rations made fufficiently fhewed that it was the intention to carry on the mod vigorous operations in the Southern hemlfphere. One of the mod: immediate objcds of attention in the Biitifli Government, and one which was attended with the moft ■pleaHng fuccefs, was the apphcation to Holland for its alliflance on this occafion, in virtAie of the late alliance with the Re- public. The friendfhip of Holland was not only unequivocally declared, but its aiTiftance was given with an alacrity and an adivity which have not been often exemplified in the exertions of a country fo conftituted as tliat of the United Pro- vinces. A Dutch fleet failed to Portf- mouth early in the month of July, and provifion was made for a fpeedy reinforce- ment to this fquadron if the exigency of affairs ihould require it. Afiu ranees are alfo known to 'rave been received from Pruffia, of a readinefs to luniilh its ftlpu- lated fuccours, in any manner in which they could moil: conlribute to the fuccefs and the exertions of this country. Thefe M \m m % t '-« ] Thefc were the firH: fruits of that alli- aiict, >vhlch our iiiuerpollrioii in the afKiirs of the Rcpu!)lic in 1787 had produced between Oeat Biitaiu, i^uftia, and Hol- land, and fl:c;vcd the policy of a fyftem, which attpchcd to us one of the fu'd: miH- tary, and one of the fnil naval powers in Europe, Tlie formidable preparations which Bri- tain was fj foon enabled to complete ; the zeal and ardour of the nation ; the firm- nefs of its Councils, aid-d alfo by the par- ticular fituation of Frr.ncc, and its equivo- cal lano-uare on the fubjcdl of the family compact, induced the Court of Spain, af- ter fomc months of exp-anation and delay, to abate tliat lofty and unbending deport- ment which Ihc had held on the firfl olit- fet of this builiiefs. On the z+thof July, 1 790, a declaration and counter-declara- tion was executed at Madrid between the miniflers of Britain and Spain, by which the latter ac'reed to that latisf;i6lio!i for the injury committed, rellitucion of the vef- Icls Icized, and indeniniiication to thsir owners, on which the former had uni- formly infided as a preliminary ftep to every [ .2. ] every other adjuftiiicnr < f the prefcat dll- pute, or arrangement for pi'cventiii.i:;; Tiicli difputes ill future. But the uecvxriphdi- mcnt of fuch future arrangement was an ()hjc6l which it wa^ liighly important for Britain to obtain ; and which, in the dif- cufTion of tliis affair in Parhament confe- quent on the King*s meflage, had been mentioned by all parties as a meafure which the prefent circumftances of the two Courts afforded the bell: occafion to enforce. This was the fubjedt of a negociation, which from its nature mufl: have been of confi- derable difficulty, and which was not RmUf fettled till the 24th of Oclober. On th.vj day a Convention was entered into at Ma- drid, between the minillers of Great Bri- tain and Spain, in behalf of their refpec- tive Coints, by which, in addition to the refloration of ihe property whereof the Britilh fubjcds had been difpoflefied at Nootka, and an adequate compenfation for their lofies, which had before been ftipu- lated, the important concelfion of our equal right of navigation and nlhery in the Pacific ocean or South fea?, and oi landing on the coafts -unoccupied by the K Spa- [ 121 ] Spaniards, for the purpofe of commerced ■'A ith the natives, or of making fettlcmcnts on fuch unoccupied phu cs, was obtained for the fubjetfls of this country. Amicable provifions were alfo made for a friendly in- tercourfe of trade between the two nations on the north-wedern coaft of America, and the adjacent illands ; and for the preven- tion of any hcftile or violent meafures be- tween their refpedlive fubje«f^s in thofe dif- tant regions. The iffue of this bufinefs was Hattering to (ireat Britain. The refources and lorcc of the empire were proved and exerted ; and that power and dignity Vvhich the mis- fortunes of the lafl war had been fup- pofed fo much to abate, were now reftored to this country, and employed with a mo- deratio!!, and at the fame time with aflrm- licfs and an etTe(5^, which tended alike to exalt the nati'Mial characl'-r, and to fccurc the public tranruillity. SECTION I J23 3 *»(l SECTION VI. it Releal of the 'Teji and Cor per at ion Ach, 1 WO public meafiires of confiderable importance, which Iiave not yet been ad- verted to, were brouglit forward in this Parliament, and both of them were fup- ported by a ref])e£table part of the reprc- fentative body, and of tliC people at larcre — I mean a motion for a Repeal of the ^ejl and Ccrporation Acls^ and an enquiry on wliich to found a bill for the Alornionof the Slave Trade, Of thcie, although the firfl- was rejected by the 111 Parliament, and the i cond lias iince been rcj^xled In the piricnt, it leems proper, in tliis hiftorical review, to tike ibme notice, becaufe they agitated at the time, and fiiil continue ^) agitate, tlie opi- nions and the feellfigs of the PubHc. A petition of the Difienters, prayin>r for a repeal c^f the acls above mentioned, was [\v'i[ prcfented to the iiouf;^ of Com- R 2 mon3 [ '^4 ] mons on the 28 rh of Marcli, 1787, by, Mr. Beaiifoy, and f'upportrd by Mr. Fox, arid fevcral other very rcfpedlablc Members of the Houfe. In fiip})ort of the petition it was argued, " that every man has a rigiit to judge for himlclf in religious matters ; nor ought his exerciie of that right to be branded with a mark of inflimy, fuch as the excluficn froui olficco and triifls, which is part of the p nnhmcnt inftidcd by the law on feveral inranicuL) crimes. Tiiat it was difgraceiul to a cciuitrv fo eniighteued as England to retain, in the prcfent mild and I), il I'uiics, :o much intolerance and perkcu- tiori. That opinion merely, ought not to be ar all lubjcd to public cognizance, which fliouid only be applied to rr.en's atlicns. That, in facl, there ib no tel^ of civ'd opi- nion ; for a man may hold opinions a\erfe to every principle of the Conflitution, and vet attain the hi' heft fituations in the State.'* " The indecency and impiety of applying a facred rite of religion, th:; Sacrament of our Lord's Supper, to lecular and political purpofes, was \v-armly urged. That this ' • ^ kind [ 1-5 ] 1^1 kind of tefl: is as inefficacious as indecent^ bccaufe perfoiis compelled by ncceflity, or allured by intereil, may take the Sacramciu; after the manner of the Church of Enr- land, without fuppoiing themfelvesby that compliance to declare their approbation of the form or conllitution of the Church ; and Papifls, againft whom only, and not th-c Proteflant Dificnrcrs, tliC tefl a6l was originally intended to operate, may, cxclu- five of the general difpenfition of their Church, take this teft without conceivinj^ it to bind their confcicnccs, as many of tiicm hold the Prottflant Church to be noChurch, its Miniders no Minifiers, and its Sacra- ment no Sacrament." *' The Church of England, it was faid, is fecured in her dodrincs, her difcipline, and her privilege, without the teft adl, and its repeal would render more eafv, as wt.ll as more pure, the exereile of one of the moft fiicrcd fnu'^tion^ of l:er Alinlfcers, who, as the law nowf!:an'io, cannor, with- out beint::: fubi^ct to an a6ion fw dam.ar^es, refufe the Sicramcnt to any p'trion who willies to qualify himlelf for lji Oilicc, and yet, by the Iblcmn irjundions of tiic Ch'jrch, I 126 J Church, are chr;ri{ed not to adminlfler it to blai i" icmers. adult crers, an d others, in a ftate unworthy of receiving it." " The DillLnters, faid the friends of the motion, alk nothing derogatory to the efta- blifhed rehgion of the country, or in the fmalltfl: degree trenching on her prero- gatives ; it is only a civil equality they fue for; a relief from thofe unjufl: and grievous difabihtics which the prefent laws impofc •on tlicn"! ; incapacity of any civil or mili- ..f a re. tary anpointment, or triiu: or omcc m any ( ;'^i'^!iir-ity or cor]joranon, even tliou -h th. dull le h0Ul« d t; ! fhcd it by tlieir in- ': ' or endowed it !)'/ th._ir bcnevo- TiCC jKl, in ()j d oiains: any otnce W Nvithout haviuh: lubmiited to this tcfl, a )fc rolcnr'tion io c in( 4 1( 1 ULii; e or niaiiiiaiij or iuit in e^uiitv, cf b V -J » k-gally iny a£lion at law, a e^-ardian. an xutoi", or even vc^ >vni a In fo reieii counti:.:s, 1 1 -r- T ( ! >] reu'^ions oi^jtrv hi LllV^J v.. 1 > I ■ ic.ii; J C>Xi ;l th ;!■ •n en* a relipious tell: from ci or iTi tiit.'ii ap- ntments : t-ic tiand, HiCi d iCU ulCi ill *^ I U 1/ fl ;cd t; ■» f > L : i I, tC^L ji ta- in j:1.ukI [ '^7 1 Ireland the Dlfienters obtained, iii i -79, the repeal now follclted here ; in none of thofe countries are any ill effeds found to refult from the want of this pretended guard to the religious eftablifl'innent." " The DJffenters, though incapacitated for the meaneft office, are yet eUgible to Parhament ; ih inconfnlent, as well as un- juft, are the exchifions againfl them. The advocates for fuch exclufion are reduced to the ahfurdity of confiding their religious interefts to diffeiiting legiflators, who, if they had the inchnation, might poffels the power of altering the Church Ellablifh- ment, and yet of maintaining, that it is dano-erous to truft Diilenters with ofRces and appointments, which confer, iu tliat refpea, no power or influence whatfo- ever. ?» " The impolicy of thofe f.ntutcs, it was mfided, was equal to their injuAice ; they fcparate and alienate from the general in- terefts cf the State a large and refpeaable body of the citizens. Take away, it was faid, this odious line of fepnration, and tlie Dificnters will be mingled with their fel- low fubjeds, and all diiiiaclion of a reli- eiou J [ '^8 ] .It gious party will be for ever abolidied and fo gotten. The prayer of this petlilon, and the mo- tion in confequence of it, were oppofcd,' amons: others, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and by Lord North, who, thouirh he had a little while before had the o misfortune to lofe his eyeiight, caine down now, for the hrfl lime, to the Houfe, to op-- pofe a meafure which he conceived io alarmino; to the fifcty and welfare of the country. " The quefllon, it was argued by the oppofers of the repeal, when flripped of thofe colours in wliich eloquence and ab- flra-ft ar'i;uments of natural equity mi,^ht drefs it, was hmply this : — Ought ^ve to rcrmquinT, at once, thofe provilions which had been ad(^ptc'd. by the u lidom of our an- ceflors, as a buly.Mi-k to the national church j of V. hie!) tlic^ coiiilitution and the fafety were fo intimately connected and interwo- ven with thofe oi rhe Stuce r" *• The reafonablenefs of toleration was not difputed ; *' but it is n(>t toleration, it was faid, that is afkcd by the DiiTenters, but equaliiv: th.e free cxeicife of their own cq jnocl(? i ;'%\ mode of worfr/ip is not denied them ; but it is to thofe only who follow the worihip of the eftabhOied Church, that the Conili- tution has thought proper to enrrufl the cr.- joymcnt of offices and appointments, with the Adminifrration of wiiich t:;e iafery both of Church and State is cop.necled." " Redriclions applying to ofiiccs, whicli are objedls of favour and of trufl, rouft never beconiulercdas an infringement on Liberty. There are manv inftanccs of ceitain ri'^hts being confined to certain orders aiul auali- fications of men ; but the title of* the State to make fuch rellridions has never been called in qucftion.'* " If a6tions only, and not opinions or tenets, were to be matter of public cogni- zance or provifion, there would be au end of all that preventive Vvifdorn vvhich p-uards the avenues ofdano;erto the community. In fa^fl: and experience, the teft laws have been tiie bulwark by whicli the Confatu- tion hns been laved. But for them, the fairnly of Stuart mndit now have h^ld the Thrr-ne on its own delpotic terms, and no ConAitution had been left us to value or to ■ucienut s ♦' If « [ I ::o 1 ** If ail edabliflinient of religion beat all ijcceirary, (which will hardly be de- iiird) this advantage and protti^lion arc ne- ccliary to its jiipport. Without any re- fl^-flion oi) th.': Diiicnters, who are a very rei'icv!iah]'j body of men, and whofe merits ';' Mi i':vcral periods ot public danger wi 11 readily be allov/cd, it may fairly be lup- pok" Id d by t :ai iga inft the efLabliilied Ciiurch ; as honeir and conldentious men, Loldino: rhiit Church \n a cert; 'in \m icffree fin fid and id».»latrous, it is thfir duty to eroi ploy cVi-l' y lf2"al means in thcii r power fo i 1 4( 16 UL'P !. ad, inn ■)i ''e penalties and difabilities wdiich have been invciehcd a^ainft as Co harfli and tyrannical, do not apply to the reli- gio',.b renets or writings ot the Difienters. Againit them there is no penalty what- loever ; only a preventive refiraint of the law, that men holdinf'- fuch dovliines, fl'jall not be en titled to cilices and appoint- mcn t^, in Vv'iilch they migiit have t h( power of i:urtii!g the religious eilablifh- meut of the country. Tiie penalties fo much [ '3- J inuch complained of, arc only incurred by a breach of that law; they arc not provi- lions of the flatutcs in quefrion, but ianc- tions to fecure their obfcrvance, '* " In the foreign contitries, c'^'cd as ex- amples, it was laid, the arbitrary i:uirure of the government fupcrfed.s tlie necefllty offuch provifions ns thofe contained in the laws widied to be repealed. The ted adl of England was founded on a jealoufy of the Monarch, natural in a free country, li- miting his power of nomination to ofRces, by a reftriaion for the fecurlty of the Church and the Conftitution. In Scot- land the Dillenters are chiefly Epi^(v^pa- lians, againd: whom the Prdbyterian efia- bliChment is guarded by a iolemn pledge at the Union. In Ireland, the non-confor- mity only to be dreaded is Popery, which there are other legal proviiions to re- Arain." A diftir.aion was Oated between the danger arifing from the eligibility of Diiienters to Parliament, and that which w(^uld arife from allowing them to hold ofiices or places in corporations. If Dii- fenters were admitted into Corporations, s s they i i [ n2 ] they might, in fome liiftances, obtain an ex cliifi ve P' f til cikiiioii of them, ni mm ht return pcribn3 of principles wholly unfa- vourable to the Cliurch; whereas a Uii- fenter at prefent has no chance of fitting in Parliament, unlefs his principles are lb modcraiie as to induce Members of the Church of Eni^land to elc6l him their re- prcfentative. it was admitted, that the principles before flated would have juftified withholding even this privilege, but the circumfrar.ce of having granted it, when it was of little importance, could furuiih no argument for other conceffions of a more dangerous tendency. It liad been faid by the fi'iends of the motion, that it tlie repeal was granted, the Diffenters would then reft fatisfied, would trouble the J.xriilature for no farther in- dulgence, and iuueed would lofe altogether the diftinclion of a religious party. But this, it was contended, was contrary to ex- perience an dtol luman nature. Me n are generally emboldened by fuccefs, and rife iti future demands from bavin-?: obtained the iirf>. )onie or Ciie Diilenrers, u was s af- hrmed, did not ferui»!c to dc •I.,-, U I vU * th eir avcruon ,.y [ '33 ] nvcrfiou and enmity to the cflablKLcd Church, and certain publications were quoted to Ihew the dcdgnr, which Ibme ot the lenders of that party harboured againd it. The repeal of the tcfl ixCc would let in the moll obnoxious and mofl violent, as well as the mofl: moderate and inoflcnfive ; or rather the firfl would be mofl likelv to pufh forward into offices, and trufls, from a zeal of which it was prudent to watch the progrefs, and to guard againll the cffcds. This application to Parliament on the part of the Diflcnters, after being rcjeftcd on the prefent occafion by a xnajority of 178 to 100, was afterwards twice renewed, with a perfeverance, which, by its friends, was argued as a proof of the judice of the claim ; by its cppoijcnts as the ciilcl of an obilinate combinati(.>n which migain by Mr. Beaufoy, when his motion was negatived by a divi- fion of 222 to 102 ; and in March, 1790, by Mr. Fox, when, notwithflanding the utmoil exertion of his eminent abilities, the majority againll it was ccnfldciably iii- creafcd, the numbers being 20^ ;q j^r. Thefe m f '34 3 Tlicfc Incrcar..(J majorities were proba- bly more owing to ihc ciicunifliniiccs of the times when the quelliofi was renewed, than to any novelty or liiperior force in the arguments hy whicli the mcafure was refifted. A I'pirit of innovation and revo- lution had begun to aiii'e, of which pru- dent and moderate men were afraid, and which in a country, and at a period that could boad fo much adual profperity and happinefs, they law no rcafon to encou- rage. The floui idling filuation of that body of men, on whofe behalf this quef- tion was now dirred, did not feem to imply the exiftence of any material grievance, any onnreihve rcflriclion attached to their pecu- liar form of worlhip. The prefent mca- fure, it was faid, bore rather thf* npear- ance of a flep towards incroachmt... ..n the rights of the eOabliflicd Church, than of a mere defence of that of their own. Such, at lead, it was afferted, might fairly be fup- pofed to be the intentions of certain fac- tious and defigning men, of confiderable influence among the Dillenlcrs, who had, in fermons and difcourfes, avowed their hope5 ';f a fpecdy abafemcnt of the hie- rarchy ..jt [ ^35 J rarchy of the Church of England ; iwu], m the fame puhlications, had breathed a congenial iphit of difaffedtion to the wifcly- cOabhflicd monarchical part of our civil government. Such, it was allowed, might not he tlic fcntiments of the great body of the Diflenters : they were too much intc- rcfted in the national welfiu-e to riik its peace by fuch attempts ; but to men whofe turbulence and rcmbkion overcame at once the mlldnefs of rehgion, the principles of patriotifm, and the confiderations of pru- dence, it was nccellliry to oppofc anyjufl and legal barrier which could guard the tranquillity of the empire, or tlic fafcty of the conflitution. SECTION VII. JboUticJi cf the Slave Irade. The idea of abriliihiivg the S^avc "frnde had fira arilen, feveral years pr.or co its bemg [ >36 ] being brc'.ight forward In Parliament, among the Quakers, a fet of naen whofe principles of j)cace and nieekneis often ill according with the corinptions of fociety or the pohtical intcrcus of nations, were very naturally avcrfe to a traffic which had its chief orii^in in war and rar,ii:e, and was liipportcd by a great degree of violence and crucky. In Britain the fnggcdions of benevolence are always liflcncd to Vv'ith partiality. The addrcls of the Qu^akers on the iLibjecl: of the ilavc trade was favourably received in this countrv bv manv whofe fecli:ips were intercfrcd bv the humanitv of ics motives,, without hiiivino: h.aa Icifnrc to contider its policy. /\ fociety Wd.s formed in England for the abolition of tiic (live trade, and confiderable fuhfcriinions railed f ;r tlie pur- pnfc of an applicatirm to r.'.ili.imciit in tiiat behalf, and of cariyii.g on inquiries tend- hh]':h m to efi ^\^' i. » tX X iu;i iv,v anc i t! ic ex pe. licncy of tlie m ure, In t i)j IS Ipi.jc of af.i\- hurn.uiity peti- tions were nr^ X lied to th: VI ou'e (j om- mons from 1 IV I s. t lli. 1! PU )0 r. r f \'y an abjiijicn of this tr A full I* * \ 4 Vi . [ ^37 ] and elaborate Inciiiiiy wns made by the Privy Council into the fubje^t, and a nuiii- ber of perfons examined concerning the nature of this branch of commerce, from its fn-ft flage on the coail: of Africa to the ■iale of the negroes in the Weft Indies. This inquiry alfo comprehended the treat- ment and condition of the (lives in the plantations, and the confequences to be expelled from the abolition or regulation of the traffic ir. queHion. The matter oi the before-mentioned pe- titions was firfl: ftirred in the Houfe of Commons in the felfion 1788 ; but the ge- neral queftion of abolition being then pofl- poned till the whole of tins great ques- tion fliould be inveftigated to the bottom, a bill was in the mean time pafled for rea;ulating the tranfportation of ilavcs from Africa to the Weil Indies, in which various proviUons Vvcre made for their health and accommodation, and bounties were hu- iTjanely granted to the captains and furgeons •of Have (hips, of which the cargoes ihould be tranlborted with the Icaif poffible lofs ypou thi: voyage,. X On ' ■■1 [ ^3« ] On the 1 2th of May, 1789, Mr. JVil- perforce moved a ftring of relohitioiis de- claratory of the exiting abufcs of the flave trade, and laid a ground for a law to abo- lilh it. On this fide of the argument, em- bracing almofl; every topic that can give warmth to fentiment or force to language, lay the fidd for eloquence : in the mover of thefe reibluiions, a man of the mod amiable and rtfpeclable chara'ftcr, that elo- quence was known to be founded on prin- ciple, and kindled by humanity. He was lupported by moft of the leading members of the rioufe ; among vvliom were the Chancellor of the Exchequer a'.id INIr. Fox. Thofe refolutions, enforced with a zeal equal to the abilities of fuch men as I have mentioned, lay 0:1 tlie table of the Houfe of Commons as a text for the fu- ture dhcuflion of the fubj^d. But a great variety of additional evidence, on both fides ot" th. quLfUon, was afterwards taken by a ireicct Committee, which occupied the remaining p'riud oi the ParliameiU ; and it v.cis n )t till the hrif feilion of the yext that the Honle came to a.iv dcciT.on. The [ ^39 ] ^' The {lave trade," faid Air. Wilbei- Force and the other fupporters of his mo- tion, " might, a priori, from its very na- ture, be pronounced a trade of inhumanity.; oppreifion, and guilt. But we are not left to fuppoiition — a body of evidence is laid before the Houlc, which fliev/s it to be in kind what indeed we mull: have fuppofed it, but in degree beyond \\\\?X the imagi- nation of a eood man could have led him even to conceive i» " In its nrR ftaec, what a fcene of hor- ror and devafl:ation does it produce ! The wars of the Africans are not prompced by tliofe motives, lavage as they are, which have fo often dazzled the flmcy of cruel and unthinkini>; men. I'heirs is not the pride of conqucfl:, or the pkur.e of glory — it is the mere vulg:. r rapacity of a thief, or the avarice of i cheat, that rouzes the kiri2:s of Africa tu .41ns. We teach them wants, and the method of puichaiing v, hat thole wants require by the blood, or, in the properer phrafe of the fliamblc^, by the flelh of their own fubjecls, t the fub- jecls of their neighbours. Tlic reparation of parents and children, of hufbp" ;s and T 2 wives. ■J, M [ HO 1 wives, the tearing afunder every honi of aitc^ftion or of tenderiicrs, are the fiifl: evih to whieh tlic lurvivors of thole wars arc doomed." *' But this," continued the favourers of the motion, " is only the opening fcene of the tragedy. The tranfit of the negroes from Africa to the Weft Indies, fo much mifcry condenfed into (o little room, it is hardly poflible for thofe to conceive who never gaiped in the tainted air of a (lave ihip, under the heat of a vertical fun." The detail of that fituation was laid to be too horrible aiid naufeous for repetition : they prcfl-nted, therefore, a iilcnt pi^flur'S of it to tlic eye, which had a powerful ef- fcvil upon the Public — the fe^iion of ajlavs Ih'ify, (hcvv'inL,^ tlie manner of ftowinsj the wretched negrof s on board, where, in the clofe package of alrleis holes, they often endured every degree of pain, difeafe, and filth, that is tLriible or loathlome to na- ture. The moituUty, in Cv.nlcquence, was affirmed !) be enorm.ous — about 50 per cent., which is ten times the amount of deaths la ordinary liiuations. '" Did! til ^" Did there,'* it was fa'ul, *' exill i ncceflity (as our intercfled luxury uics tlm word neceliity) for this cruel traffic for the cultivation of our Wefl-hidia iilaiids, even that neccrfity would not juflify the conti- nuation of a trade fo repugnant to juAice ; but no fuch iiecefRty exif. s, and the aboli- tion of the (lave trade is as rcconcileable to our true pclitical interefls as it is cnnfo- iiant to the eternal principles of right, of coijicience and humanity." " The intercll: of the planters," it was argued, " was hurt by the exceifive lofb of the imported Haves into the Wt-fl Indies, and the very great cxpence in renew! f.g them. This is owing to a variety of caufes, which would not occur if the cul- ture of the iilands were carried on by any other mode. The inequality of the fexes, the diforders contraded in the middle pal- farre, the profliiKicv of their manners, the natural oonfeqiicnce of that negletfl: in point of inftrudtion to which a (lave muft always be llibje£t, who is confidercd as a bcafl: of labour rather than a moral agent ; the ill treatment they receive, particularly the females in a (late of pregnancy, or of nurfuicr i H2 ] niirfing their infants, from rhcir mnfrers^ or Hill more from their mnn:i2ers or over- feers ; the fcafity allowance of provilions to which they were oitcn flintcd. All. thefe evils," it was fald, " would be pre- vented, or IcfTeneJ, by the falutary necef- llty, which the abolition of tlie African market v\-oiild impofe, ot a proper degree of care, attention, and mild treatment of the negroes. Bciidcs the probable intro- dufiion of cattle and m::chinery, inflead of fiaves, in tlie culture of the plantations, the Hock of ne-^rocs, if nca;roc3 mud: be ufed, may !)e profit. .bly kept up without importation : it is lo in America, where, from .q;ood treatment and a certain degree of (lomcfLication, their increafe has been great and rapid ; and even in the Weft Indies, nctwithftanding all the caufes which ftill fubfill for their deereafc, mod of w^hich the abolition would rcmovi-, that decreafe has gradually, from the late improvements in their treatment, diminifhed ; and in 1(;me ot the lait years tliC native flaves in Icveral of the iilnnds have aiflually in- ercafed, the decreafe b.'ino; nnlv on the im- ported flaves," Mi [ >43 ] ^^ If we feel not for the unhnppy Afri- cans," it was fald, " yet we may be touched with the dillrefles of our own feamen. To them this traffic is nearly as mortal as to the negroes : and befides the lofs by death, feamen often fill a fa- crifice to the vengeance and retaliation of the Africans on the coaft, or to the villany and covetoiifnefs of the maflcrs cf the (lave iliips after the diipofal of their cargoes in the Weft Indies, who being obliged, for their fifety on the padage thither, to have a y^reater number of hands than is neceflary for their homeward voyage, tal^e every op- portunity of leaving part of their crew in the idands, or oblige them by ill ufage to deiert from tliclr fliips, when they often pcridi miferably from dileafe and want. Such are its effe^ls on our marine, one of the orounds on which thole who argued for the trade thought themfelves ilrong. It has been . defended as a nuriery of fea- men— it is, in faa, their difhonourable c;rave. *» " If feclinr^ its confequenccs in point of julVice and humanity we are to condc- fcend to con-iputc its advantages in a com- mercial w [ M4 ] snercial view, tliofc hoafled advaiilages will be found to have been greatly over-rated. In Liverpool, confidered as the very center of this commerce, it forms but a thirtieth part of the export trade, and is but a fort of lottery, profitable indeed to individuals, but rather a I'-fing trade on the whole. But if this inhuman traffic in m.cn were abolifhed, Africa has many other articles for which a much more lucrative trade might be carried on : tvcii in its prefent fituation that country affords thefc ; but their incrcafe would be infinite, if, inflead of the idlenefs, the \ ice, the murders, we teach them by the flave trade, we taught them, by the communication and recipro- cal advanta^jes of an honed trafiic, the ha- bits of indullry, and the arts of agricul- ture and of man u futures." The oppofers of the iibolltion lay under many difad vantages which the natural, it may be faid the laudable, pn-judices of manl:!i:d, the complidion of their argu- ments, a"".] the appearance of partiality which tiicir iiitcrcil: in the qu'-Oion tlirew upon tliole ar'j:uii;:!il.-^, ncc. liari I v created. j'hcy cnJca\"ciir:d to :"ppcai to ihc lobcr Tl Ui"'. '.'.cr~ [ '45 ] utiderftarid'iDg, to the cool deliberate pru- dence of the Houfe, niul cautioned it againfl the dangerous conieouences which the Lcgiflature's yielding to this momen- tary ebullition of romantic humanity might produce, " Judicc, they argued, is antecedent to ccmpafiion, and the rights of property are as facred as thofe of hu nanity. The pro- perty v-fted in the Weft-India ifland^, was fo vefled under the landtion of numberlefs a£i:s of the Britiih Legiflature, deliberately, and fome of them recently paiicd, feveral of which cxprefsly authorife and encourage the ilave trade. Seventy millions of pro- perty is computed to be veiled in the Weft-India iflands. Is Parliament pre- pared to ftrike oft' at once, or highly to endanger, this great mafs of the national capital } to forego the induftry it fets in motion, the revenue it produces, the fea- men it employs ? *' The motive muft be ftrong indeed that can authorife fuch a breach of public f-iith to the planters, fuch a violation of the duty of Parhament to their country and their coiiftituents. That motive is V humanity; \ I ..4 4 [ '46 ] h;jmanity ; but the fanaticifm of huma- nity, like the fiuiaticifm of religion, is deaf to reafon and to truth, and often deftruc- tive of the very virtue to which it pretends. Does our humanity never think of the confequencc of the wifhed-for abolition to the thoufands of our own countrymen, whom it will reduce to diflrefs and po- verty ? What crime have they committed, that their pofl'eflions Ihould be laid wafte, and their property confifcated ? Thefe per- fons, our national humanity, now awa- kened by a fociety of enthufiafts, after it had (lept for 200 years amidft all the vir- tue and ' Sdom of our anceftors, thefe it pverlooks, to indulge in the ideal profpedl. of diftant objcds on the continent of Africa. ** But even to the natives of Africa our. iTiiftaken compadion will not be humanity. We can only abolifh this trade for our- felves, for no other nation will be fo un- wife as to abolifh it. Iii France, wilder than the wildeft of us in abftratSl notions, fond as fhe is of revolution, and in the very honey-moon of liberty, the propolal of abolifhing the (lave trade was decidedly rejeded t '47 ] Veje^lcd by the National AfTembly. Otiier nations therefore will, as in every other cafe, command the market which we have relinquiftied. They will purchafe only what flaves they chufe, and the remainder will be butchered by their owners, who, is well known, take this method of dif- burthening themfelves of the flaves they cannot fell; It is not in Africa as in civi- vilized countries, where the demand regu- lates the fupply. The whole fyllem of that 2:reat continent muft be chanoed. be-» fore W'e can apply to it our ideas of politi- cal inftitution or commercial arrangement. *Tis a fvflem of defpotifm and flavery thronghoutj where a few tyrants command the lives, and have a property in the per- fons, of the millions who inhabit it. The neighbouring nations go to war from a thoufuid didersnt caulbo, as has always been the cafe in a barbarous country. The captives are either killed or fold into (la- verv. The encouraoremcnt which the trade in flaves gives to fome of thefe wars, will ftill remain from the traffic carried on by other European nations on the coafl:. The priae indeed wUl fall, from our declining V 2 the [ .48 ] the puivliafc ; wc ih:\\\ not only loie the trade ourfclvcs, but throw it, with a dou- ble advantac^e, into the hands of rival powers. *' Many of the cruelties charged on the flave trade have, in truth, no relation to it, biit arifc from the depravity of indivi- duals, which will every where be found to produce opprefhon and cruelty, if an in- quiiition like the prefent will but fearch and hunt for it. It our LcG;illarive huma- nity i: to fearch after private ahufcs, there is Icarce a traile or manufaclure in this country where Inch abufes will not be found to exiih In feveral of our mani'- fadlures tlie mortality of the children brought by their parents (the word fold might be uled, for the piirents bring them for the 2:aiii thcv are to make by their la- hour) is treble the amount of that on a Weft-India plu^tation, or even of a well- appointed and Well-managed flave-ilnp, " The mortality indeed, both of ti^e fea- men and of the negroes, in the middle paf- fage has been greatly exaggeratec' On board thofe in wnich a cominon degree of attention is paid to the health of the (laves, [ 149 1 (to which their vaUic, indcpcr.daiit of all feeling in the makers of the vclTcls, np.tu- rally incites) that niortahty was hy no n.eans great, even hctorc the regulation a6t of 1787. The provilions of t'r.it adt will Icfieu it flill farther. Rasuhilim the Weft-India proprietors will [^.Kully confcnt to and adopt. Shew them any regulation that will tend to the health and comfort of their ncgroc.i, and their intcicll, if you will not allow them any Kttcr motive, will keep pace with your humanity." " But vou will not allc>\v them to know heir own intereft, or thi bcil methvul of carrying on the bufniefs of their planta- tions. You adopt tiiat fyftcm of legiilativc interference and rcfi:riLl:io:i on tnide, which it is the greateft b /aft of modern philofo- phy to have exploded. You lay that if the flave trade were abolKhed, ihey could keep up their ftock more profitably by at- tending to the breeding up of their native llives, than thev now do by importation from Africa. 1' know perfc'£lly well th e inconvenience and expence oi th( im- portation, and the fupcrior value of Cre- oles, But with ail the atccntioa which \i th IS t ^50 ] this experience can excite, they are not yti in a condition to keep up a fufficient flock for their phintatl )ns, without new pur- chafcs of negroes. The experiment has been tried in feme of the Dutch planta- tions, which, by an impolitic prohibition of foreign (lave flilps, were ;ilnu)(l: ruinedi Mod: of our Well-India tftates are undcr- ftocked even in their prcfcnt iituation ; hut arc th.cv to be piohibifod from ar.y ex- tenfion ot their pbuitatioiis, any means of improvement oi thole waflc laiub>, amount- ing in J.imalcn alone to about a million of acres, now patented froai Government, for whlcli large quit-pnts are already paid, and laro:e fum3 Invelved r The calculations of the advocates for abolition, even allow- ing: their data, whi^^h however are oTofblv erroneous, are made on th •; prelent extent of the plantations, and on the if.ite of the ilock in ordinary ycar.^ ; tb.cy make no proviiion for thoie difillrous feafons in which hurricanes or epidemic dilcales de- lolatc tlie iflaiids. They add io thefe na- tural evils the profped oi remediicfs bank- r\»prcy and mi i to the proprietors ; for a WelVIndiu cflatc is bat. a f ?it vi irann- fidlure^ [ 'S' ] fiidlurc, and a prohibition to recruit the number of the hands employe^ in it, is a virtual confifcation of the property/* " Equally fallacious are thofe methods of culture which the theory of thofe who argue for the abolition have pointed out to the planters. Repeated attempts have been made of cultivatii g the plantations by white-., and even great encouragements held out by the colonial afllmblics for that purpofc ; but even with thole encourage- ments the attempt was found impracti- cable. The iimie thing has happen ; with. the experiments anxioufly made of culture by ':attle and machinery ; but thofc things which their experience has long ago found impoftlble, the confident theoriils of thisi new lyfcem hold out as eafy and even pro-. iitablV' The ill treatment of the flaves in the Weft Indies was coiiiidcntly affirmed to be neither general nor common ; aiid appeals were m^de on that fubj.d, to the lefti- monj of feme of the moll refpcilable cha-. raclers in the army and navy of Great Britain, lomc of whom had refided long in the iflands^ ai.d r.ad tlie beil opportunity of [ Is2 ] f)C wiriierniis; the treatment o^ the neiri'oes. The fact was iliid to be, chat they were not only rnikllv and humanely rreat.d, but that thev eiijr./eJ a crearcr d.g-ree of cafe and corntbrt thiui the comrrion labourers in many parts of !hltain. In (lances of bar- barity might no doubt be found ; but fuch were known daily to happen in Eno;land, where apprentices have died under the cru- ehy of their maders ; but the Liw did not therefore propoied to abi^ll'h apprenticefhip. Some of tiiC opponents of the trade allowed a great improvement in the treatment of ne- groes in later times, and founded on the increale occaiioned by it, an argument aoaiPiil: the ncceflity of importation.— '* Suiter them then, it was f^\ld, to benefit hy this gra lual and pro^reffive improve- ment, and do not, with rafli and unadvifed hand, cut off the chance of future pro^^pc- rity in the planters, and of the conlcqucnt melioration in tlie Hate of tlieir negroes, whofc fituation mud always be proportioii- nte to the fiourilluncr or diftrefled fituatiou cf their mailers. '* To fome of tlicfe arguments in defence of the prefect fyflem It was replied, " that erant- [ '53 3 granting Africa to be in a ftate of as much barbarity as was reprcfeiitcd, that barbarity Avas maintained and increafed by the trade in queftion. That if ths other branches of commerce, of which that country is fufceptible, were encouraged, which would be the natural efFedl of the abohtion of the Have trade, induftry and civilization would take place of thofe favage manners whicli were now made an excufe for our own guilt and inhumanity, to which their con- tinuance was cr.iefly to be afcribed." The cohclufion drawn from the intereft of the flave merchant and the planter prompting their good treatment of the flav^es, was repelled as contrary to all ex- perience and knowledge of hum.:'"i nature. " Interefl, it was faid, has never been able to control the violence of pafiion, or the extravagance of caprice, when there was an unlimited power of indulging them* Tiie familiar inilance of the treatment of our beatls of burthen, to which the condition of the negroes is tco nearly limi- lar, was cited as an example in point. Un- der this argument of the prevalence of in- tereft over inclination, half the crimes and X follieb I I f*' C '54 ] follies of civilized life, it was urgec?« might be d'-inonjfl: rated to be impofiiblc." " That the fit nation of the flaves was happy and con^ fort able, was fa id to be an r.fll-rtion rci-uornant to every one's feelings. But tliere was a horrid proof of the con- traiy in the many inftances of fuicide a- jnono- t!ic iieoTocs. The inlurreclionM too, which they fomctimes ventured, deipcrate and hopelcfs as they were, fiiewed flrongly their fenfe of the fufferings they endured. This was o:ic of thofc evils Vv'hich the lyilcm of flavery necellarily infii^lcd on the niaffer^ of llavcs, the fufpiclon, the fjar, the danger, with whicli they were fur- rounded." " riic argument a^aind the interference of the Lcpjiilature in the management or conduct: (5f the pKinters, miuht, it was ob- fcrved, he carried the len;?;th of precluding all irj'-. rove aunt whatlocver. Here a'J:ain, the arj.unicnt ot attention to their proper ..intereils is fct up, to prove th.e impra^fli- ca[)illtv of anv chance in their mode of cid- ture. llv.t the i : idt)lcnce of habit overcomes in the bulk of m-;n the motive of interefl, if that interell is not a very dirccl and im- mediate. ^ [ 155 ] 5i:icdiate one. The fame objeaion of the rnpoiiibillty of any other than the cftab- liihcd mode of cultivation might have been made, fomc centuries ago, to any man who lliould have ventured to propofe the eman- cipation of the Serfs as a practicable mca- fure. Yet it will not be denied, that the improvement of modern Europe is chiefly owing to that circumftance." Notwithftanding the eloquence witli which thefc arguments were enforced, and the weight and authority of thofe Members by whom they were urged, the abolition of the flave trade, which had been only brought the length of inquiry in this Parlia- ment, was negatived, at a pretty early pe- riod of the fuccccding one, by a majority of 163 to 83. X 2 SECTION [ 156 ] SECTION VIIL T'he Regency, Of one event, fortunately as tranfient as it was unexpcaed, by which the delibera- tions of this Parliament on any other fub- jea: were for a time fufpended, I have noif hitherto made mention. 1 fhould, indeed, have been unwilling to take notice of it at all, had it not produced difculiions, as well as refolutions o^' the reprefentative body, of the firft importance to the Conftitution. I mean the illncfs of the King, and the pro- ceedings on the fuppofcd impending Re- gency, in the end of the year 1788, and the beginning of 1789. Parliament had been prorogued, in the cuftomary manner, to the 20th of Novem- ber 1788, but without its being intended to meet at that time for the difpatch of bu- nefs. The tranquillity, even the profpeiity of the State, were fuch as not to require its meeting till a later period. But that tran- '• quillity L K^7 3 quilllty WTo interrupted by the iinlookccV tor event of I lis Maj^ily's being fcizcd vvltli an indilpolltion of the moil Icrioiis and af- fliding kind, b.y which he was totally inca- pacitated from meeting Parliament, from any mental exertion, or from tranfadingr any fort of bufinel's. This was a!inounced to the Hoiife of Commons, on the above-mentioned day of their meeting, by the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, who at the fnme time moved aa adjournment to that day fortnig"!it. The Houfc aficnted, with a fdence impreflcd by the ftriking and melancholy event which had I)een communicated to tliem. The fame impreliion was flampcd on the mi.id of the people, who looked up to their re* piefcntatives with that carnell and I'olcmii cxpc6larlon whicii dillrcfs excites, for a calm, deliberate, impartial determination^ reipecl:ing the meafurcs which it became theiu to rake on this Intcrciling and awe- fa 1 occafion. The rioufe was afterwards futhcr ad- journed to the 8th of Dec-mber, on which dav a Committee was appointed to examine the nhviicinns wlio iiad attended His Ma- jcftj- I .i 4 •-'« [ «58 ] jefty clui'n;^ hi; illnels. On the loth of ;ct\.j :»l.r r!..it Cominirtee made its re port. View ihu'- report it .~.|)pc;ircd, rhat Mis Ma- il- [tctrly blc of viy iLcapuDie ot exeiciung lus fi?::i5li()ns ; and thou?li it contained flrono: hopes of his lecovcry, yet iuch cxpcdcd recovery was too utiLX-rtain, and might be too diftr.nt to admit of a delay in taking thofe flcps v/hich the exigency of the time revjuired. Another Committee was there- fore appointed " to fcarch for and report *' precedents of fuch proceedings as may ^* have been had in cafe of the perfonal *' exercife of the royal authority being *' prevented or interrupted by iiifancy, " fickneis, iiinrmity, or othcrwifc, with a " view to provide for the. fame." It was on this occafion that Mr. Fox broil o;ht forth that memorable claim which provoked fo much eifciiiiion both in Par- liament and among the people, that *' the *' He.'r JpfaraU of the Crown, beitig of " full are and capr.eirv [oexcrcifj" t!^-" roval ♦' power, lias as clear and expref'5 a right ^* to i'.aunie the reins of C.TOvernmc.it, du- ** riiis' the continuance of the illnefs and o *^ incapacity with which it has plcaicd God *'to [ '59 ] *• to afHicl Mis Majelly, ns in ihc cafe c «£ Ci His Mai(:;n"y bavin q; uudci'Tonc a natural aiK pe rf'ccl dcini This c]:\im fcciii-jJ., frosu the afpccl of the rioiiCe, to be tavoureJ by a conlidcruble party in it. Jjy a maiv)riry, }u)WCVLr, it was received witli er,nal iurpri/.j and dii- approh^iticn. The Chnnrti'lor (f tlic ICx- cheqiier, with a wr.rmth natural iii th.e caulc of frecdc>m in a h'cc country, de- clared, " that to al'ert fueh a ri[:,ht in tlic " Prince of V/alr^j or any one die, inde- " pendant of the dccihon of t];e two " lloufcs of Parliament, was lirde lefi '' than treafon to vlie C- i il-Pition. Tiie *' aflertion of fuch a ri,<;,:!t, i -e kid, (hewed, " in the {lro:ii'"cll m.n-'v , Lie iijccuitv oi " the enquiry tor ^vhich he had moved. " It belioved them to nicet this .l,.i;n on *' the furef!: grounds ; tokarn i.ndioalcer- (( t( tain tl Kir own riohl to protcCL tn( I rie ditj d s and n*iter .n *' and the intcroft and honciir c: a bove- oi: tnc d L ^l ^vJjl.li. :ucnts, (i; d reien Geiervec Vli^e Jol in 1; pe 0[UJ. ri- ll lie cautiontd the Iioule at:ai;iii •' ralhiy <( anni hilat ill' ant 1 ■ nuliiiv: th •■> -M". f l! U i '. ill ty <• of Pariian^enl, in whieh ilu e".Jile?icc of <( I'll [ i6o ] ** the ConAltutlon was fo Intimately iii- *• volvcd." Air. Fox, on a luMctjiicnt tlay, ahatc'd fomewhat of tl.c fl:icii;nh of t!ie claim which he had made, by cxjdaining his meaning, tmhcrfallv miiiind.rlh)od before, to have bee:n, not that this right was lucli as the Prince could alilimc of himfclf, but fuch onlv as attached to lliiri on the Kinj^'s incapacity h^ing declared hv )?arliamer;t. i\frcrwards tlie j arty, wl^.o had rather iin- advifedly brouglit forth this claim, wilhed to avoid its difcuilion altoircthtr ; a id though one L'x-ntlcman, affccling to be much in the Prince's confidence, raflily ventured to throw out a fort of threat againft pro- Viiking its afleftioii, the more politic Mem- bers on the Oppoiition \k\c of the Iloufe argued the incxpedienc/ of interrupting or protra»511ng their proceedings by agitating a (^iicillon of this abfiract kind. But it was a queilion which, iiavingonccbcca flirred, ivas of a magnitude nut to be overlooked. ]t produced a lot^.g a. id fjlcmn debate, wdiich ended in the adoption, by a confider- able majority, of three refolutions moved by the Chancellor of the Exclicquer, of vrhich [ '6' ] ^vIlich the feccnd went cllrc£lly to tlie cie- tcrmifiation of this point, fo elVential to tlu- conflitution of the country. Thcfc rcfo- lutions were : I ft. " That HisMnjcfty is prevented by his prefcnt indifpofition from comin^r tohis Parliament, and from attending to public bufinefs ; and that the pcrfonal cxcrcife of the royal authority ib thereby for the pre- fent interrupted." 2d. " That it Is the ri-ht and duty of the Lords fpiritual and temporal, and Com- mons of Great Britain, now aficmbied, and lawfully, fully, and freely, reprefenting all the eftates of the people of this realm, to provide tbe means of fiipplying the defedt of the peifonal exercifeof the royal autho- rity arifuig from His Majefty's faid indif- pofition, in fuch manner as the exi^2:encv of the cafe may appear to require." 3d. " That for this purpofe, and for maintaining entire the conftitutional autho- rity of the King, it is nccefiliry that the faid Lords fpiritual and temporal, and Com- mons of Great Britain, fl^ould determine on tlie means, wherebv the roval afl'ent Y may I' [ '62 ] may be given in Parliament, to I'uch bill as may be pafled by the two Houl'cs ot" Parliament, re^pcding the cxercife of the powers and authorities oF the Crown, in the name and on the behalf of the King, during the continuance of His Majefty's prefent indifpoiition." With thefc rcfolutions the voice of the nation fcemed decidedly to concur. It was not, indeed, without a great degree of fur- prife that the people had heard men, whom they had been accuflomcd to regard as the fupporters of thofe maxims of a free go- vernment, known by the name of JVJjig principles, pronounce an afl'ertion fo nearly allied to that doflrine of hereditary and in^ defeajible rights which the prefent age can fcarcely believe to have been one of the fol- lies of the la ft. The claim in queflion was, indeed, fo weakly defended at the time, and has fmce been fo entirely abandoned, that it may, perhaps, be thought needlefs to have mentioned it fo much at large ; but it is necefl'ary to record public dodlrines, how- ever extravagant or ill founded, becaufe,. by an equal violence or blindncfs of party, * • • they [ '63 ] they may, on fomc future occafion, be urged. The rig/jf of Parllanicnt being thus fo- lemnly recognized, the mode, as well as the extent of its exercife of that right, was the fubje£t of much future dlfcuflion and debate. As to the firfl, it was, indeed, dif- ficult to apply to the mould of eftabliflied forms a proceeding of a new and unprece- dented kind. The mode propofed by the tlilrd refolution, of a bill to be pafled by the two Houfes of Parliament, receiving the royal afltnt in virtue of a commiffion ilfued under the authority of an a(fl of the Parliament itfelf, involved a legal fidlion which, though it might be juftified by the neceflity of the cafe, afforded much oppor- tunity for the argument and the ridicule of Oppofition. But it was a mode fug- gcfted by a juft and fcrupulous adherence to the analogies, and to the forms, of the Con- ilirution, and a refpe£l which, perhaps, the circumftancGS of the moment might ftrengthen for the regal office. It was Im- portant in providing for this exigency, that the power inherent in Parliament, as the y 2 ^1 I or^jjan ,* ■f. C 164 ] organ of the people to iVipply in this ciT>er- gcn cy the dcficitiicy of tli veriimciu, fhouU! not <]-o beyond th ie executive 2:0- e ne- cedity on which it was founded; and that the mode of exerciV//, brought iii by the Mljiiiler on ti.e 5th of February, 1789. ]>y tliat bill the Prince of Wales was eiii powered " to exercifc tlie royal uuthoriry during lUa Mnjell:)*s ilhvtfs ; " with a provifionj however, that tliC care of il'is Majelly's perfon, and the mnn;un?m:nt of his houfhold, iiicludin to t!ie direction and appointment of all the olficers and iervants rf tiiat houfhold, fhould be veiled in Her ALijejly, Tlie ]>owerii of the Regent w^ere ful)jt*ch,:d to cer- tain rcllridlosis. Tiiey v/crc not to extend to the graiitjng of Pc<.Ta«^^ea, except to any of l\h .Majc;ny*s iflue whtn ani\cd at the age of 21 *, nor to granting njiy oifice in re- vcriion; nor to c:rantln:?: for any otlicr term 7 tii:-a [ >65 1 than during pleafare, any penfion, or any office, except fuch as the law dircds to be granted during life or good bc'saviour; lior to granting any of the real t r perfciial property of the King, except the renewal of Icafcs held uiider the Crown. Theie rcftridlions were ilreiiuoufiy op- poled in both I/oufesof Parlir.rriCnt. They were rcprcfenrcd as laying a foundation for a weak, a ciefe6^.1ve, aJiu a divided Govern- menr. The riglits of the Cr(i\vn, it was contended, were given it for the benefit of tlie People to enable it to carry on the fuHv^ions of the executive power with that energy and etlecl which are ncccflary to the Welfare of the Stat^\ The crippled and mutilated authority which thii bill left with the Regent, would be Inadequate to thole laliUary purpoic^ ic^ reflric- tions, it was aigued, feparated froiri the regal office, the royal fund ions, and pre- rogatives whiei) the C(;nllitn'ljn h.td de- termined to be neccfl'afy to lupport the le- girimate power of the Sovereit'^n, which, without them, therefore, nu.il be funk be- low that place which the Conrituticn liad wifely aliigned ir. It [ .66 ] It was maintained on the oppofitc fide, that the Redri^lions in qucftion were in- dii'penfcible in the prcftnt cafe. Parlia- ment was not now m.ikino; a Kins; ! it was only providing for a temporary fufpenfion of the kingly fundions ; and ic was bound to confider the perfonal rights of the exill- ing Monarch, and to piovidc for his re- fumption of his pohtical rights, whenever it (hould pleafe God to rcHore his capacity of exercifuig them. The powers of the Regent ought to be limiced by the fime unfortunate ncccffity by which they were created, and Parliament was called upon by every principle of duty to their country, by every feeling of loyalty to their King, to take care that His Alnjelly Ihould find, on his recovery, his rights entire, uninfringed, and unabated, by any a^ft of his People, or fi- tlieir rcprefcntatives, unnp; an nidilno 'g 1' tion, of which they hoped and muft ])ro- vide for the ccliiition. In the Houfe of Lords the proceedings were fimilar to thole in tbe Iloufe of Com- mons, and the annimeins in debate were founded on the fame principles. During [ '6; 3 Duiing the debates which the various proviUoiis and rcfliiciions of the Regency Bill occafioncd, which kifled till the mid- dle of February, the Public watched with a degree of intercll and anxiety propor- tioned to the importance and nature of the fvibjc6t, the opinions of individuals, and t]ie movements of party. They had fomc- tlmes to rcG^ret the violence of the one, and the intemperance of the other, fo ill accor- ding with that folemn and awful imprcT- fion v/hich the confideration of their fbvc- rcign's afflid:ive Aatc, ahd of the probable fituation of pubhc affairs, was calculated to produce. They heard exprellions applied to the firfr, by men whofe talents and whofe chara£lci'5 they willicd to rcfprcl:, equally devoid of dignity, of delicacy, and of feeling. They faw that party wliom it was fuppofcd the cflabliihmcnt of ihc Regcicj would introduce into Admliiillration, for- got, in the inordinate dcliic, in the xoraclty of power, the iiitcrcfis of then- country, and the ri2:hts of tlieir Kine. Thev looked \\ idi the regrets of affedion, on the condudx of tlic illudrious and aniia!»le perlbnagc, who was [ '68 ] WAS underllood to be the fupport of that par- tv. It was the firfl: time thcv had heard the name of a Prince of the Houfe of Brunf- wick jar with thoie principles of freedom and the Conflilution by which (the prouded: cf all titles) his Family h.id alcended the Throne. They lamented his being, as they conceived, milled by dcfig^ung men, who, bending his int^ijfis in fuLierviencc to their to own, endangered their leparatioii from thcfe of the conniry ; and they looked with a gloomy prefagc* to the elevation of fuch men into power, which they had an- ticipated with fo httle regard to the weltare or the feelings of the People. The mea- iurcs of that party fhey contrailed with thofe of their opponents, with a partiality to the latter, which perhaps their mafter's fituation tended to excite. Covered with the Ihade of his aflliclion, his Mini/lcrs challenged the rcfpe^t and tlivour of his People ; who, witli an equal zcai of Patrio- tifm, and a fympathctic atTcdion of loyalty, favv t'ncin prc-pare, v.ith a calm and con- fcious dignity, for a difmiiFion from place and power, rcgardlels pf thcmielvcs, and only [ 16? 3 only tenacious of the rights of their fcl* low-citizens, and of their Sovereign, But the virtue which the people fup- pofed in the one, or the amhition which they imputed to the other, were equally Aopped in their exertion, by the happy event of His Majefty's recovery, which took place about the middle, and was com- municated to Parliament before the end of February. The joy of the nation was as unbouuded as it was fincerc, and the King had the pecuhar felicity to find himfclf re- ftored to health, of which the enjoymciit was rendered doubly a blefiing by the mofl fignal proofs of the fidehty and aficdion of his fulijecls. It was a fituation new, as it was intcrelVmg, in the fate of a King, who can ftldom have the good fortune to experience, after iuch a viciifitudc, the pure affeaions of his People, unbribcd by the opes s of f ivour, or uii dazzled by the glare )f vivitory. To hciir that voice (as the Apothcofis of the poets have feigned of Kings after their di.-at!i) which had cer- tainly arikn undcbaied by the fears of the weak, the expedations of the feltiih, rr the z iiatiery [ '7^ ] flattery of the mean. The People, by a combination not Icis iiniirual, while they enjoyed the rcfloration of their Monarch, felt the energy of the Conllitution, and tri- umphed in thr virtue of the Parliament. They relied with peculiar fatisfaclion on the late recognition of this great conflitu- tional principle, that in Parliament alone, as their Rcprell-ntativc, refidc^ the power of reg'.dating cwry emergency not already provided f )r by the cxpr^fb law, or by the known cfl.ibruhcd cudorii of the realm. C O N C L U S I O xM. JL Iia\e til Lib, with a flight, L\.M 1 hujje lu.t iHifalthlul pencil, Ikctched the ])ri!]cipal featurei of the rarliiancnt 17S4. Its pro- ceedings were io momentous, whether we regard their importance at tliclime, 01 liujk to dielr cu.'ifec^uence.s in future, that I think 1 laall [ '7> ] 1 lb ill be rcadilv cxcuied tor ncnllinir tlum to the rcmLini)ranc(-' of the pu'ojic. Any rnmmcnts with which I have vciUuicd to accompany tlicir iLciral, I leave to the jud'i;emcnt of my fellow citizens ; wirh the more coniidence, bccaiile 1 have only en- deavoured toexprcfs what I l)el:eve to have been the f'eiitiments of the unhi.illed and relpedahlc part of the cotnmuniiy. Init the impartiality of the people is not indiilcr- ence ; they feel, and I partici[)are in their feelings, a pi'oper [;ratitude to thofo whofe meafures thev believe to have conduced to the proiperity ant! hoiioui' of \\\ii State ; and they feel a proportional»le dilapprt^bi- tion, when fuch meaiures are^ embarrailcd and impeded, if they conceive the oppofi- tion to them to have arilen tVoni eiiv\-, li.lf- intereil:,or anibition. A preference foundcvl on thefe confideratic^ns is not an attachmeni to party— -it is I'.ie attachment of a g;>od ciil/en to his countrv — of a «z,ood man to viitue. 'i'hou-h it may iv)!: be a popular doc- trine, yet I believe it i.> (^ne vvhieli mt'clerate and thinking men \'. ill admit, tliat in Circat I z Britain [ 1/2 ] Britain, the nature of its Government, the continual fuperintcndance of Parhament, the weight of public opinion, and the in- fluence which all thefe circumftances mud have on the charader and conducl of per- Idus in official fituations, afford a much greater probability than in otlicr countries that the Adminillration will ordinarily be at Icaft right in its intentions, and will adopt its meafures from a belief that they arc fuch as will lend to the benefit of the nation. I'he men wht) attain the hidi de- partments of the State in Britain, are com- monly iucli as, from their education, their habits of life, and their fituation with re- gard tu the community, have much flronger motives to purity and uprightnels in their puMic conducl, than to the contrary. The ar-fiocracy of Crreat Britain is eficntially difkrent from the ariflocracy in other mo- iu\rcliical Gv)vernments of Europe ; its ri;j,iito arc more attacjied to pcrfonal merit, and iels lo accidental advantages ; it is as niucli an ariftocracy of talents as of rank, "i lie term gejiilcmdn in Britain, is a title wlueh is annexed not exclufiveiy to birth, as [ '73 ] ns In other countries but to aunlitlcs \s bv which thoie obvious ones, otten mentioULd on the fidj of Adminillration, I arc [ '75 3 arc balanced ; if, on the one hand, pa- tronage llrcngthens Adminidration, on the other, the dilcontent and envy of the dif- appointed are often thrown Into the fcale of Oppofilion ; if Adminidration has fii- pcrior opportunities of information, Oppo- lltiou is not retrained by official fecrecy ; if Adminidration impofes by its dignity, Oppofition wins by its familiarity with the People ; and if Adminiflration enjoys ac- tive occafions of acquiring popularity, Op- poiition, on the other hand, fulTcrs none of the embarraiiimenLS which refult from delicate and perplexing fituations. Cen- fure has not the refponfibihty of aclion ; and in debate or diicuifion, he who objetfls or blames may often obje6l at random, and blame without certainty ; the burden of proof is almod always thrown upon Admi- nidration. Oppofition is feldom obliged to a6l on the dcfenlive, but lias always the warmth, the vivacity, and the enthufiafm of an adliilant. I'he rcfpecb, as well as the ufcfulncfs, of this cenforial repreilntativc of the Peo- ple, (if I may be allowed to give it that denomi- IMAGE EVALUATrON TEST TARGET (MT-3) <- 1.0 I.I 1.25 tlit2£ MiS |50 '■^" M^H ui 1^ i: Hf Ufi 12.0 12.2 IIIIIM 1-4 ill 1.6 ^^ vl ^?. V .^ Photographic Scences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)672-4503 ^^^ if ^ f^ r 176 ] denomination) depends on the manner in which its faculties are exerted. If its re- iillance to the n^^alures of Government 'uy unreafonablc, or its objedions captious ; if it paffes thofe hounds within which the jufticc of the People would conhne its cen- fure, and departs from that confiflcncy in argument, or that principle in condud, which their underilanding is always able to perceive, and which their honefly al- ways expects, the confidence of the Public is proportionally withdrawn, and the re- Jpeaability of Oppoiition diminidied. But, above all, if the purity of its motives be impeached, or the dignity of its ciiaradler degraded ; if it holds an intcrefl: oppofite to that of the nation, of ^vhich it enjoys the calamities and repines at the luccefs ; if it breathes an ambition of tiiat unprin- cipled lort tiiat would build its own ad- vancement on thtM-uin of the ConfHtution, no talents, no abilities, can redeem its re- putation with the cuuntrv. The miinpplication of thofe abilities, the perverfion of thofe talents, may, how- ever, •iometlmcs have cflLds more perni- cious [ ^7 ] cioiis thr.n the Muhority of ihe men who pofvds ihem ihould be able to produce. Bniain is fertile in fpeculation. In poli- tics, as in fcience, tiitrc are fo many ipe- cukitirts in this country, that if Oppo- fition, or the worf^ and mofl defperate part of Oppofition, applies itfelf to make pro- felytcs againll the Conftitution, it will tind, in the difcontent of the f!)lenetic, or the caprice of the fanciful, converts to any fy ilcm that has novelty w.d bcldnefs to recommend it. In this fituation, the people will ]u6^q for themfelves ; they will not reft on the authority of men, whofe talents, in their pcrverfion, are armed againll the happinefs of their fellow-citizens. Thcv v/ili review with impartiality the train of public m.ca- fures which their obfcrvation has enabled them to trace, and coniidor the etil-ds whicli thofe meafures have produced on thz nation. The diflruft of power is natu- ral, and an inquiry into the ufcs to which it has been applied is tfie priviletrc of fi-ee- men. The wife and the good, however, ^vill certanily feel a fuiofadlon in the A A favourable [ ^7^ ] favourable refult of fucli iuquiiy ; to Uich men, to pralfc a Miiiiiler will be more aFreeable than to ccnlure him; — but that conlkieratioii is of little importance — tne o-ratification which they will feel, is thq o profperity of their country. THE SNC.