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"Some copies issued without the introductory section. Section 5. Dispute with Spain [over the Nootka incident]" -- Strathern, G. M., & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 244.
vii, 178 pages ; 22 cm
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1r $\ Q^Astf&L, *?.V7frTs(? ~Ti & XVrt REVIEW OP THE PRINCIPAL PROCEEDINGS OF THS PARLIAMENT OF 1784. INTRODUCTION. I ] HE maxim of the Roman mo- ralift, { c that the prefent day ifhould be a difciple of the pall," *nay be applied, with equal, or, perhaps, greater force, to nations as well as to individuals. :> In proportion to the extent and intricacy of public concerns, is the value of that fafe and falutary counfel which experience affords for their direction. The interefts of individuals, theory may lometimes venture to balance and decide; but he muft be confident, indeed, who will commit to her guidance the interefts of nations, ._ ; V |rj9 I; I compli- n complicated and uncertain as they are, if he can find in practice and experience a fure foundation on which to build his opinions. Events, however, will fometimes arife for the conduct of which no precife direction can be drawn from the hiftory of former times. In the management of fuch events, a Statefman muft rely upon his own capacity and genius, unftpported by precedent, and unafiifted by example^ y Events of this kind have been more frequent during the fpace of a few years back from the prefent time, than in any period of the feme duration with which we are acquainted. || In this country, we are happy to think, the occurrences -h h^ve E ill ] have been important, but not dif- aftrous; the fcene has been changeful and bufy, but it has been marked with no diftrefsful cataf- trophe; we can look back on it for comfort as well as inftru&ion, and profit fromf the warnings of vicif- fitude, without the feverer corrections of adverfity. ' ' /r|w >$M The Hiftory of the Parliament 17S4 comprehends a feries of events, involving in a very uncommon degree the moft important interefts of Great Britain. The revifion of thefe tranfaftions can fcarcely be a matter of Indifference to any fubjecffc of this country; their importance, indeed, have been felt by the people, and they have pronounced with very little referve on the nature and tendency of the meafures adopted du- B 2 [ iv ] ring that period by their representatives. This judgement of the people, if properly regulated, is one of the moft ufeful qualities of a free Government. It anticipates the hiftoric fame of a good and a pure Adminiftration, the infamy of a wicked and a corrupt one. It gives to the prefent time that jurifdi&ion which, in arbitrary Governments, is only exercifed by pofterity, and fub- ftitutes an actual and folid advantage in place of ufelefs regret or empty encomium. But the people, it has been repeatedly obferved, though always right in fentiment, are not always right in opinion. Their opinions are liable to be milled by the warmth of momentary impreffions, or by the prefcriptive authority of certain po- ir ■*r £ i rf-. pular ideas, which form the political creed of the great bulk of the community. It may be worth their while fometimes to retrace thofe impreffions, to reconfider the juftice of thofe 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 confidence, and to reftrain the haftinefs of future miftruft and apprehen- fion. I With this view, it may be allowed to one of their own number to recall to their remembrance the conduct of the late Parliament in fome of thofe very important proceedings in which it was its fortune to be engaged. Some of thefe may now be traced in their effe&s; and • - 1 I all *rrw'*r*? all of them may be confidered with a greater degree of impartiality than was confiftent with the immediate warmth of party-debate, or thq agitation of oppofite and contend-* iog interefts. From the fame confederation, he may alfo venture to •foggeft a review of thole traniac- tions to the prefent representatives of the people. This is the firft period at which fuch 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 Parliament, there were other circumftances not favourable to deliberate difcuflion. With the pro- iped: of peace, which the refult of the late negociations on the Continent, and the general fentiment of European politics, may now reafon- ably IL L vn J ably afford, the prefent Parliament, we flatter ourfelves, may have leifure for the undifturbed* exercife of its deliberative fun&ions; may have a full opportunity of providing for the completion and permanency of every ufeful regulation already efta- blifhed, as well as for the adoption of thofe of which its own wifdom and information may fuggeft the Ttcy. ERRATA. 71, line I4> for exaffments, read enaBments 80, laft line, for between 62,000!. and 63,0001. &c., read #&?«/ 6o,oool., &c. 82, line 17, in a few of the copies, for 6,696,221, read 6,698,221 92* — 3, for and one million, read amounting to one million ECTION I INDIA. India Bill of 1783.—India Bill of 1784.——* India declaratory Bill.—Impeachment of Mr. Hajlings. IN looking back to the commencement of the late Parliament, it is impoffible to forget 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 fyf- tet& It was of a magnitude that rouzed the attention of every man to whom the Constitution of his country appeared an ob- je£t of importance. The introdu&ion of Mr. Fox's celebrated India Bill was favoured by the neceffity which was felt of fome reform in the adminiftration of our eaftern pofleffions. The empire held, by Great Britain in the Eaft, had by that time grown much too unwieldy for the government of s a mer- -w y**^**^ & mercantile Company, with whole very nature and conftitution were interwoven fo many obvious caufes- of the milmanage- ment and oppreffion of thofe territories. The interpolation of the Britifh Legiilature to regulate that Government and to reftrain that oppreffion, was loudly called for by the juftice and humanity of the nation. But thofe very feeling's were alarmed bv the provisions, equally violent and unne- ceffary, which this bill contained, tending to annihilate and deftroy not only the power, but the property and the commerce, of the Eait.-India Company. This ftruck the feelings of the people at large, which are eafily awakened to a fenfe of immediate oppreffion and injullice; but to thofe who could investigate more deeply, the danger with which the bill in queftion threatened the moil: eiTential principles of the Britifh Constitution feemed ftill a greater and more extenfive object of appre- heniion. The immeafurable influence and patronage which it placed in feven Com- miffioners named by Parliament, in violation of the rights of the executive branch of the Government, whofe unity it destroyed, m ■■■: " [ 3 ] ftroyed, and whofe exertions it muft fruf- trate, created, it was faid, a new power in the State, of fuch a nature and fuch an extent, as to overbear every wholefome check which the wifdom of our forefathers had contrived again St the encroachments or preponderance of any one order of the State*. • A foundation, it was argued, was laid for an ariitocratical defpotifm, by which the liberties of moft European States have been fatally overturned; a defpotifm by which * The extent of this influence is very fully and juitly flated in an excellent pamphlet written at the time by Mr. Pulteney, one of the moll intelligent and independent Members of the Houfe of Commons. His words on that head are, gj The whole influence fj of the offices of every kind in India, and at home, " belonging to the Company; and the whole influ- cc ence arifing: from the tranfaclions of their trade, " in the purchafe of goods for exportation, furnifh- " in'g {hipping, ftores, and recruits; and the influ- " ence arifing from the method of felling their goods, P by bringing forward or keeping back goods at the iC fales, or giving indulgencies as to payments, fo as a to accommodate thofe who are meant to be fa- <6 voured; the influence arifing from the favour they $t mav Shew to thofe who are now in England* and ^ have left debts or effects in India, as to the mode •B Z *< of which the people had even in fome in-* 'Stances been driven, as feeling it a leSier evil, to throw themfelves on the arbitrary rule of a Monarch. With thefe arguments againSt the India- Bill of 1783, the public opinion feemed to ?' of bringing home and receiving their fortunes; the ^ influence of contracts of all kinds in India; of |r promotions from ftep to ftep; of favour in the inr ^ land trade; of intimidation with refpecT: to every if perfon now there, who may come home with a m fortune, both with regard to recovering his debts, % and the means of remittance, and with regard to ** inquiries into his conduct; the influence upon fo- " reign companies or foreign States, who have efta- *c blifhments in the country; the influence upon the W native Princes of India, fome of whom have alii ready found the way,of procuring the elections % of Members of Parliament; and many other means % of influence which it is impoflible to forefee or to <c trace." The Seizure of the Company's warehoufes, goods, books, &c. which this bill enadled, its ufurpation of their whole commercial management, feemed, at firfb view, to the Public, a mere wanton exertion of arbitrary and extravagant power; but thofe who had coniidered the Subject more clofely, allowed it, at Jeaff, the merit of a motive; it was a part of that rapacity of patronage which was the diftinguiming feature of the bill. coincide; [ 5 ]• coincide ; and the nation beheld rather with fatisfa£tion than furprife, the difmiffion of the Ministers by whom it had been introduced, though fuch difmiffion was reSiSted 7 D by various refolutions of the Houfe of Commons. That Ministry had, indeed, in its formation, the feeds of great unpopularity. The alliance of the two adverSe parties of which it wras compofed, feemed fo much beyond the ufual pliancy even of politicians ; the perfbnal violence of their former hostility feemed fo repugnant to every idea of jundtion, that the natural integrity of the people felt the Coalition as one of thofe public violations of confif- tency, one of thofe public derelictions of principle, which deStroy all future confidence, and forfeit all future eSteem. A majority of the Houfe of Commons constituted 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 loudly of the difregard that was Shewn to its remonftrances; impartial men felt as a precedent of ill tendency, the abufe and confequent difrefpe£t of a power which m the ■ is i [ 6 ] ' the Houfe of Commons had often exerted,, for the benefit of its constituents, with a vigour and an effedt in which the friends of liberty rejoiced and triumphed. They faw, with peculiar regret, that, in this war of party, the weapons which had been {6 often wielded in defence of the Public, were blunted by the injustice of the caufe in which they were employed. They lamented that, in this inStance, the constitutional language and principles, which every lover of his country wiShes to pre- ferve in their fulleSt force, were perverted, as the people believed, to cover party machinations and deSigns of inordinate ambition ; they thus loft the facrednefs of their ancient authority, and the democra- tical part of our Constitution was expofed to a dan9;er of which it was fortunate for the public tranquillity that the moderation of the Crown was not in the fmalleSt degree difpofed to take advantage. In the dillblutioii of the Parliament the Crown afted with a reluctant Slownefs, which at the time was blamed by fome of its friends as unnecellary and hurtful. But it was a meafure proper to be adopted only oil [73 on that neceffity which deliberation could not overcome, and on that Strong and imperative Voice with which the people continued to demand the diffolution of the reprefentative body, who, in their opinion, had attempted to violate thofe great constitutional principles which their constituents had entrusted them to guard. The bill which was introduced in the new Parliament in the room of the former which the Houfe of Lords had rejected, was really founded on the principle of controlling an authority which had been mif- employed, and of correcting abufes which had existed in the Government of our Asiatic poffeffions. It was ellential, for thofe ptirpofes, to eStabliSh fome where a fuper- intending and corrective power, to refiSt and remedy that corruption which had fo Shamefully pervaded the Administration of Indian affairs. To refcue the natives of that great country, which was now become a part of the Britifh empire, from the rapacious tyranny to which they were ex-* pofed; to refcue the Company itfelf from 1 ' 3 ' . the i[ 8 3 1 the ruin which was likely to refult front the malverfations of its fervants; and, above all, to fave the empire from that enormous mifchief which the corruptions of thofe distant provinces were likely to bring upon it; were objeCts to which no flight inconvenience to individuals could, in found principles of national policy or of national juStice, be oppofed* But to make the provisions remedial, not oppref- five, to limit their extent to the neceffity that occasioned them, and to commit their execution to perfons neither interested to Strain their feverity nor relax their juStice ; thefe were the objeCts to which it became the Legislature to confine itfelf in the ex- erciSe of the corrective functions which it was now called upon to employ. It restrained therefore, though it did not abrogate, the powers of the India Company in its political concerns; but it left uncon« trolled thofe StriCtly commercial transactions which did not interfere with the Government of Alia or the welfare of Britain. In the constitution of that Board to which the fuperintendance of Indian affairs was wras to be intruSted, the new bill endeavoured to provide for the unbiaffed'exercife of that fuperintendance, by withholding as much as poffible the temptations of influence or patronage. It gave the Commissioners the power which was neceffary for correction and control; but it denied them that which was likely to be fubfervient to domestic ambition, or to endanger that coun- terpoife by which the Britifh Constitution is fupported. For the correction of abufes in India, a Stronger and more efficient government was neceffary in that country. We had fuffered as often from the want of power as from the want of integrity or ability in bur Governors. The bill in queftion lodged in the hands of the Governor General and Council in Bengal a degree of authority calculated to enforce the meafures of reform and good government, which the interests of both the parent-State and the provinces required. It took away the ne- ceffity which had fometimes existed of compromising with abufes from the weak- nefs of the hand that Should have checked them, It gave an immediate efficient con- c trol ' f [ I0|] ■ ■"•■ ":. trol upon the fpot, fubjeCt again to the fu- perintendance and revifion which it had eStablifhed at home, in order that the re- drefs of wrongs might neither be tardy or defective from the want of power, nor be precipitate or immoderate from the want ■ relponlibmty. I lie lame lupreme ef- feCtive authority in one of the Prefideneies over the others, was neceffary towards the unity of political tranfaCtions, which had been formerly often conduced with the weaknefs of divided councils aCting- inde- pendently of each other. But the bill, with peculiar care, drew the line refpeCt- ing the power of declaring war an^d commencing hostilities, at the fame time that it Studioufly prohibited all fchemes of offensive wrar, founded merely on the deilre of conqueSt, and of extension of empire, it provided the means of aCting with vigour and effeCt in every cafe where war might become neceflary on the principle of feif- defence, and it gave to the Government on the Spot the power of immediately adopting fuch meafures and entering into fuch engagements as might be neceffary for the purpofe of obtaining adequate reparation^ F/Mrp«f [ 11 paration, and providing for future Security Wi Among the provisions which this bill contained for the prevention and punifli- rnent of Indian delinquency, that to which the chief oppofltion was made- was the institution of a new Board of Judicature for the trial of offences committed in India.. ■ ' ; ' f| ■ #§* / ■ But * 24 Geo. III. C. 25. Sec. 34. *' And wrhereas to purfue fchemes of conqueft and extension of dominion in India, are meafures repugnant to the with, the honour, and the policy of this nation, be it therefore further enacted by tthe authority aforefaid, that it mall not be lawful for the Governor General and Council of Fort William aforefaid, without the exprefs command and authority of the faid Court of Directors, or of the fecret Committee of the faid Court of Directors, in any cafe (except where hojiillties have actually been commenced, or preparations q.clually made fcr the commencement of hoflilities againft the Britifh nation, in India, or againft fome of the Princes or Jiates dependent thereon, or whofe territories the faid united Company Jhall be at fuch time engaged by any fubftfting treaty to defend &r guarantee) either to declare war or com- Jo ' mence hoflilities, or enter into any treaty for making war againft any of the country Princes or ftates in India, or any treaty for guaranteeing the pofTef- fions of any country Princes or ftates; and that in C % fuch IgfSttg But the Strong national attachment to the Jury trial of England, naturally over-ruled til* w fuch cafe iijhall not be lawful for the faid Governor Qc- ■ neral and Council to declare war or commence hoflilities^ er enter into treaty for making war againft any other Prince or State than fuch as Jhall be actually committing hoflilities, or making preparations as aforefaid, or to make fuch treaty for guaranteeing the poffeffidns of any Prince -or ft atey but upon the confideration of fuch Prince or flat e actually engaging to afjifl the Company againft fuch bofti- Ttiies commenced, or preparations made as aforefaid*, and in all cafes where hoflilities ihall be commenced, or treaty made, the faid Governor General and Council ihall, by the molt expeditious means they can devife, communicate the fame, unto the faid id Court of Directors, together with a full ft ate of the information and intelligence upon which they ihall have commenced fuch hoflilities, or made fuch treaties, and their motives and reafons for the fame at large." ;T'he provifions of this claufe could not have been more explicit, if they had been made with a view to the actual circumftances which compelled the Government of India to enter on the prefent war with Tippoo, and to the meafures which they thought necefTary for the vigorous profecut-ton of it. It feems particularly to recognife (what indeed is obvious) the neceiiity of decifive meafures in cafe of an attack, or even preparation for an attack, not only againft the Britifh nation, but againft any of It! : . c | i the objections againft this mode of trial, when it wras obferved to be formed as nearly on the fame model as the circumstances of the cafe appeared to admit; and that in the conftruCtion of this Judicature every precaution was taken that could tend to fecure its refpedtability and impartiality. It feemed indeed very difficult, if not impoSflble, to give either efficiency or promptitude to any tribunal of which thejproceedings. Should be regulated precifely by the ancient IcuStomary forms of the EngliSh law. The failure of national juStice in the puniShment of Indian offences had been but too often obfervable. In the prefent inftance the objections to a Judicature, formed for the attainment of that juStice, arofe from men whofe eloquence had frequently lamented t-h^ si a r tne oppreuion or Ana, wnicn in iintain they found no adequate means to redrefs or to expiate. Us allies; and it expreflly gives in this cafe a liberty, which it withholds in ordinary times, to contract fuch engagements with other powers in that country as may induce them effectually to co-operate with us in the profecution of a juft aifd aecefTary war, jj|i JLefs I; .■ ' l i4 |e . . . ; Lefs anlmadverfion wa's made on the claufes enaCting a public difclofure and record of the fortunes brought by individuals from India, though thefe provifions might be deemed of an inquisitorial kind, averfe to the genius of our law, and de- grading to the national character. But the country was fo Strongly imprelled with the neceffity of correcting the peculation and corruption with which the management of thofe diftant provinces had been fullied, that it was willing to venture remedies of a Strong and fomewhat invidious kind, if they were fuch 'as did not trench on the public fafety. This meafure, however, produced very great difcontents in India, and was afterwards repealed by the amending aCt of 1786. This laSt-mentioned law made another material alteration in the Statute of 1784, by enabling the Governor General, or the Governor of any of the fub- ordinate Presidencies, in any cafe where he believed a meafure to be effential to the. interefts of the Company, to order fuch meafure of his own authority, even againSt the opinion of all the other members of the Council; but it coupled this power with an an obligation on fuch Governor to make oath to his belief of the utility of fuch meafure, and an acknowledgement of his fole refponfibility for its confequences. This amendment was made on the principle already mentioned of the neceffity of a Strong efficient Government in India. 'Tis a ge- neral truth in the character of mankind, that great Situations make great minds, especially when men are deprived of the Shelter of divided refponfibility, and can look in their own individual perfons to the pride of good aCtions, or the difgrace of ill ones. Let it, however, be remembered, that this oblervation is not an argument in fa- vour of arbitrary Government, but rather one of the many proofs of the advantages of a free Constitution, which is enabled on great emergencies to delegate the neceffary degree, of difcretionary power, becaufe it can provide a refponfibility adequate to the importance of the truSh Such are the principal outlines of that Statute, which was one of the firSt great public aCts of the laSt Parliament. It. was a meafure indifpenfable in thecircumStanees of ' I •. i M l-.V * of the empire, a duty in the Legislature which had been often recommended to them by the Sovereign, It became the J o virtue and the dignity of Parliament to interpofe in this vigorous and coercive manner for the interefts of the State, as well as for the fake of public juStice and humanity; it was confonant to its wifdom to endeavour to accomplish thofe ends^ without forgetting the regard that is due to the franchises of individuals, and the great political rights of the community. Amidft the weaknefs and corruption of the India Company's Government, its finances could not but Suffer a confequent derangement. Its Situation was held out by the Supporters of Mr. Fox's India Bill to be So defperate, as to amount to bankruptcy ; and indeed, even in the fober colouring of truth, the view of its affairs was fa gloomy, that it required an immediate and vigorous exertion of parliamentary interposition and affiftance to redeem them. To provide for the difcharge of its debt, and at the fame time not to fink its credit by a fudden reduction of its dividends, required an arrangement of its future tranfaCtions, i and and a rigid adherence to its future ecoild^ my, which the operation of the regulating and the StriCteft attention of the Board, which it had eftablifhed, could only effeCt. But in great concerns like thofe of the Eaft-India Company, the reform as well as the abufe in detail produces a refult which always exceed common expectation. By the effeCt of the falutary meafures adopted for the restoration of its affairs, the Company has been enabled fo effectually to retrieve them, as to be in a condition to provide for the payment of its debt, and to increafe its trading capital to the extent which the Commutation a£l has neceffarily occasioned. The confidence of the Public in the prefent Situation of the Company, and in the prefent management of Indian affairs, is beft afcertained by the prefent rate of its Stock, which from 120 per cent, at which it Stood before the pafllng of the aCt of 1784, is now at 188, even amidft the uncertain events of a diftant and expensive war. The e- vents of that war, (occurring indeed out of the period to which this review particularly applies) Shew in a very pointed d manner [ i8 ] manner the effeCts of the prefent manage meiit of India on the revenues? of the Company. Notwithstanding the immenfe exertions 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 fcreafury of the Company in India is able to anfwer every exigency of the war, without difappointing its mercantile investments. This department of finance, though originally arifing out of the management of a Commercial Company, may now be fairly reckoned a national one, Parliament considers it as fuch, and expeCts it to be annually laid before them, not only in the arithmetical refiilt prefcribed by the bill hereafter to be mentioned, but with that particular detail which is open to examination and canvafs. This expectation indeed did not So much ariSe.from.Parliament itfelf, as it was fug- gefted to them by the laudable practice of the gentleman wfeo prefides at the Board of Control. ,-.-, ,. ,. There § - ; t 19 1 - |: There xvas indeed, as I have noticed above, in the conftruCtion, as there is in the conduct of the Board of Control, a principle of pure' and tdillnterefted management, which naturally led to economical arrangements. 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 patronage were often at war with the great and permanent interefts of the [Company and the empire. The fituation of the members of the Board of Control is one which prefents objeCts as an inducemqnt to the difcharge of their duty, capable of furnishing the higheft poffible gratification to an honourable ambition; on the other hand, the proportion of patronage and the means of abufe will be found to be fo inconsiderable, that even in the moft unfavourable view of human nature, they can hardly be thought to operate as a temptation in the oppolite fcale. : This fubjeCt being very much connected with the debates refpeCting the powers intended to be vefted by the India Bill of a/ 1784 in the Board of Control, which took d 2 I place ijjggj 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 on that declaratory law. On the alarm occasioned by the disturbances in Holland, the Directors of the India Company had concerted with Government to fend out to India four regiments of the King's forces, which were to be tranfported in the Ships of the Company, and the exoences incident to which were to be defrayed out of its revenue. But -when the Dutch buflnefs was fettled, and affairs had refumed their former pacific appearance, the Directors, with that economy which, in mercantile men, perhaps fometimes fuperfedes forefight, . declined burthening their military establishment with what they conceived an unneceffary reinforcement. The Board of Control, who had the beft authority for believing the propofed augmentation to be effential to the fafety of the Indian territories, in- Sifted on fending the regiments by their own authority, in virtue of the powers conferred on them by the aCt of 1784. But .. y 3 . .'■: '!:'■ ^ doubts doubts having arifen on the conftruCtion of th^t aCt, and opinions of very refpeCtable weight in the law having been given on the fide-of the Directors, it. was judged proper to fanCticn the meafure by the interposition of Parliament; and the Minif- •ter accordingly brought in a bill " for 4C removing any doubts refpeCting the 66 powers of the Commissioners for the <c affairs of India, to direCt that the ex- H pence of raifing, tranfporting, and main- fi taining fuch troops as may be judged "' neceffary for the fecurity of the Britifh " poflefilons in the Eaft Indies, Sliould be '* defrayed out of the revenues arifing from *' the faid territories and poffeffions." This meafure was immediately repre- fented as an attempt to acquire power of a dangerous extent; and the recollection of the Strong and violent provisions of the bill of 1783, while it made the Public awake to every imprefllon of this nature, was a motive for oppofition to canvafs the prefent bill with all the acrimony which the difappointment and unpopularity of their own meafure naturally infpired. In this queftion there was more than the ordinary i 22 i dinary object of refiftance to administration it was the conteft of rival pretenflons, on a fubjeCt which had thrown the one party out of power, and invested the other with their prefent authority. Againft the principle of the bill it was contended, that a declaratory law cannot Supply the omiffions, or enlarge the provisions, of the original Statute which it is meant to explain; for this would be to declare what never exifted. Parliament, by parting fuch a declaratory law, ufurps in its own caufe a judicial power to which it is only entitled on ^n obvious ambiguity of expreffion in the Statute to be explained, or the claShing of judicial decisions in th courts. Let this be called an enaCting law and the abfurdity of its title at leaft wou be avoided. But whatever name it affum- ed, it was equally (faid the oppofers of the meafure) a violent and unjuft attack upon the rights of the Eaft-India Company. It went to the annihilation of the power of that Company as much as the bill of 1783, againft which fo much clamour had been raifed, but it did that in- iidiouSly and indireCtly which the other meant e [ *3 meant to do in an open and manly manner, I This bill, they argued, gives to the Board of Control complete power over the whole revenue of India; under the pretence 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 neceffary inveft- 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 Company* It gives to the Board all the patronage which the difpofal of the revenue creates, all the power which that neceffarily infers ; power in the worft poffible way, without refponfibility." " In a constitutional view, it was urged, befides this enormous patronage, which iiad in the aCt of 1783 been deprecated as a means of overthrowing the balance of the Constitution, there was in the prefent bill an acceffion 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 V in the cafe in question, the fending thop regiments to India would be attended with the molt hurtful effeCts to the fervice there, by the offence which it could not fail to give to the officers of the Company, under whom their arms had hitherto triumphed over the numerous enemies with which their territories were furrounded. If the juStice of their claims was not listened to, let the danger of "difrbgarding them be considered. Let it be remembered, that to fuch diScontents in the French army the ruin of their affairs in India might be imputed; and that there were not wanting inftances of the moft. ferrous danger to ourfelves from the operation of fuch dif- contents in our own army.' In defence of the bill it was urged., " that it only went to declare that power which the former law had undoubtedly meant to lodge in that Board which it con- ftituted for the control and fuperintendance of Indian affairs, and which power the Board of Control had accordingly exer- cifed Since the earlieft period of its inftitu- tion. That Board, in its very eftabliSh^ rxient under the aCt of 1784, had beea meant meant and declared to be #« adiive and 'efficient injiitution. But if it were to exer- cife the crippled and imperfeCt jurisdiction which it was now contended was only meant by that aCt to be given it, its activity would be ufelefs* and its efficiency would be deftroyed. The Commissioners were refponfible for the Safety of the territorial poSlefiions*, for the political government 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 \)vas faid, jyfris is the moft neceffary 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 emolument is the natural objeCt of trading companies; but the Board of Control muft not forget that the defence of a country is more neceffary than its opulence, and muft provide for the firft of thefe objeCts, if they Shall happen to interfere, in preference to the latter. The Directors indeed might be naturally fuppofed, in the prefent Situation of the Company, to have an additional motive for preferring investment to fecu- .. - \ ," & %• rityj [ 26 I rity, in the view of the approaching expi-~ ration of their charter; but the great ufe- of the Board of Control was, to look to* the permanent interefts of the empire, and not to barter national fecurity for commercial emolument. For attaining this Security, the meafure of fending out the regiments in queftion was neceffary; nobody could fay how preffing that neeeSSity was ; entrufted as that Board' was with the political intereft of the country and the nation,, with the Safety of provinces fo effeatial to both, was it to wait the Slow progrefs of judicial decision, and fuffer meanwhile the territories of the Company to be loft or endangered? If interference with the reve- nues of India in the Board of Control was illegal, and an ufurpation of the rights of the Company, it was now for the firft time that it was difcovered to- be fo. That interference had benefited the Company many crores of rupees annually ; it had- re-eftabliflied their credit abroad ; it had furnished the means of paying a large part of their debts at home ; it had given fecurity to the land-holders in India. As early a* the year 1785 it had prevented a mutiey in ill ' " I' 27 1 ;lfi- :hi their army by applying the revenue in the firft inftance to the payment of the troops, in preference to all other demands. Even in a mercantile view it had benefited them efle&tially, becaufe it had enabled ..them to increafe their investments by the regulation of their affairs and an oecono- mical retrenchment in the expences of their establishment." " As to the unconstitutional power; which this bill was faid to lodge in the Crown, it was argued, the idea was foud- ed on a mistake. Every Britifh foldier, wherever employed, is under the control of Parliament; and for the very regiments now in queftion the Houfe of Commons X t had voted the eftimates. The mode of raifing thofe regiments was abfblutely ne- ceSSary towards the expedition 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 appointments, q. proportion as high as could reafpnably be expeCted, when it was remembered, that there were 2800 officers on the half-pay lift to be provided for, .-..-- • . E .3 - .j-;:,.. V .-■• many a a t 28e | jpaany of whom had Served with diftinCtiora, in India, and helped to maintain and defend the territories of the Company/' The candour of the Minifter in his defence of this declaratory bill made a ftrong impreffion on the Houfe. He declared his own perfeCt conviction, " that the bill introduced by him in 1784, gave to the Board of Control the power which this bill declared, otherwife he Should have thought himfelf blameable for bringing in a bill fo inefficient and nugatory. But he would not Stand on the queftion of conftruCtion ; he called on the Houfe to conflder the operation and tendency of the bill; to look to every queftion it involved. Questions had been-ftart- ed on it, more important than the powers of the Board of Control, the conduCt of the Eaft-India Directors, or even the territorial acquisitions of the Company; quef- tions affeCting the Constitution of Great Britain, which he held paramount to all others. If there were in this bill, or in that of 1784, any principles hoftile to the Constitution, better that this Shouldfbe thrown out, and the other repealed^ than thkt any fuch principles Should be enter- tiunecL, 1 s c 29 J 'M fained by a Britifh Legislature. But before fuch an alarm was taken, let the Houfe conSider its reality. This bill, he was decided in opinion, gave to the Crown no power to maintain an army in India independent of Parliament; if that were fo, he would he the SlrSt to vote againft it; but nothing appeared to him fo mistaken a notion. Parliament voted every foldier in the army wherever employed; part of it was fent to India as it might be to any other part of the empire; but the control over its existence refted, and God forbid that it Should ever ceafe to reft, with Parliament." " With refpett to the patronage faid to be conferred by this bill, he muft repeat, that the leading and anxious feature of his bill had been to give fuperintendance and control, but to withhold patronage. For remedy of the abufes in India, and for the future prevention of them, there muft be X * an accefllon of power fomewhere ; but his great objeCt from the beginning had been, to give the Board of Control every power and faculty neceffary for thofe falutary jpurpofes, but without the patronage, of which 9v? which he knew the danger to the Conffi» ^.ution. Every appearance of that danger, however, was too alarming to him, and he hoped to every Member of the Houfe, not tQ be provided againft by every poffible means. He begged, therefore that gentlemen would Sift the bill in this reSpeCi to the bottom, and he would thankfully receive any provisions againft fuch danger that could be propofed, let them come from what quarter of the Houfe, or be delivered with what ferity of language they might. Himfelf would in the mean time propoSe fome claufes which he thought would effectually remove fuch apprehension either from the pov/er of the Crown, or the patronage of the Commissioners." Three claufes were accordingly added to the bill by the Committee ; ift, for limiting the number of the King's troops and the Company's European forces in Indian 2d, for preventing the increafe of any fa- lary in India, or the payment of any extra* ordinary allowance from the Company's revenue there, by the Board of Control, without the confent of the Directors, and an; account laid before Parliament; 3d, for the the Directors to lay every year before PaP^ liament an account of the annual produce of the revenues, the deburSements and debts of the Company. It may be gratifying to the Public t6 recolleCt the particulars of this difcuSlion, Snd to compare them with the fucceeding events in India. This augmentation of our force fortunately took place before any occasion arofe of actually putting our Strength to a trial; the war which has Since broke aiK | events wiiick have attenaea it, are a fufficient proof of the neceftlty of theie precautions; and the profped of final fuccefs may principally be afcribed to that State of complete preparation whkk enabled us to meet this fudden emergency* with a proptitude and vigour before unexampled* Enough of the administration of India is now known to qualify us to judge of the effeCts of the power of the Board of Control, which was represented' as fo dan- gerous; by the exerciie of that power th€ Company has been enabled to attain its prefent State of growing wealth- and credit, and to furniSh thofe refonrces the extent of which has been fo fully manifested in f I the | [ 3* ] the operations of the prefent war. As £<J the fears of the effeCt of this bill on the Company's army in India, they will beft be anfwered by its late fervices; by its dif- cipline and its valour. Previous to thofe permanent laws for the regulation of the affairsof the IndiaCompany$ Parliament had frequently taken occafional and temporary meafures with a view to correct the abufes which had occurred in the management of its political and territorial concerns* Among thefe was the appointment of Committees, particularly of the fecret andfeleEl Committees in 1781, which had investigated with unwearied afliduity the fubjeCt of Indian Government, and had Jaid before the Houfe reports containing a very large and interesting body of evidence on that fubjeCt. One of the members of the feleCt Committee was a gentleman not more admired for the extent of his infor- rnation, the depth of his knowledge, and the brilliancy of his talents, than refpeCted for the virtues of his private character. In the courle of his enquiries in this department^ . • i 33 1 .." '' .; || partment, he had conceived a very Strong and decided opinion, that the late Governor General of Bengal had been guilty of great official malverfation, and had of- Its ten Signified to the Houfe, in very pointed terms, his intention of making the various abufes of that gentleman's Government the fubjeCt 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 administration, had frequently prefled this gentleman to come forward with his threatened accufations, which they faid Mr. Haftings, now returned from his Government, was extremely defirous to meet, Mr. Burke, thus called upon, at laft brought forth the charge he had meditated; and on the 17th of February, 1786, (after having read a refolution of the Houfe in '82, which contained a cenfure on cer tain meafures of the Governor 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 againft Mr. Haf- Hi F H tings, 31" tings, for his various delinquencies in India. He afterwards collected his charges into one paper, which was laid before the Houfe, and circulated through the nation. The nation, though never deficient in a 7 o fenfe of juftice and humanity, was in this cafe favourably difpofed to the perfon whom thefe charges held forth as a delinquent. The impreSlion of the vigour and ability of his Government in India, during a crifis very important to this country, had been pretty generally received. He had been continued in his Government there, fub- fequent to thofe refolutions in 1782, which his accufer had affumed as the foundation of his charges; and it was a prevailing opinion among men moft converfant with x O India, that his conduCt in that Government had extricated this country from the various difficulties and dangers of a war which had threatened the very existence of the Britifh power in that quarter of the globe. Succefs is too often the criterion of the people's opinion. In this cafe, they compared the fuccefs of Mr. Haftings in India, with the national difafters in another hemifphere, where the enormous corruption tion and abufe of individuals had not been redeemed by a Single advantage to the Public. The character of Mr. Haftines's accufer, though highly refneftabls for its . virtue ana its abmty, was tinCtured IVQ. a degree of enthuiialm. cf which the Pui lie wTas difpofed to doubt- the difcretion or the juftneis.. In purf.uk of a favourite raeaiure, with ail it; intriolic worthy its acaHired endow- 3» native energy, ana its ilk 1 o •» ■ J. &*S -thofe of much inferior men* Its Qualities VvCFC j ICJMLUii y LaTllCil to nil C/vLC* 1*1! t ,'"> 1 * /^ *■ • 1 Whini t'hpv fryfr tnf>ir p1iirT>'>?"?fV'\ i>r>'? *■» «■*•* /* T^ \ i.1 C 1 * C t * /" Hip i i^i ex \T>') i'lTt i "i J^t" i"5 ! O VP'ptf 111 fTC \ i^KY'V^ — ttiv* -i i-M-* VvctJiiltti \}L {Hit irciitit i> iW'IiiC— times betrajvU mm into wnat baa the. ei~ feCts of .iahuniani.ty* and his fenfe of rtscht pUlli^U lO -HI ^AtivUiC5 U^LfUii^ II iJUfHii-C* 4p/lili. Hit 1 U4r Ol Liiv VV4.I ilftii vJi liio a.Lvi4"* iation, and inclined to1 give iVlr^-rianings credit for the iuceeisfui UTbe of his Go- * t . * , * -t- V Cl il 114*^4.11 , VViti^xJLiL teA^ f IJ,ji,i^4iIM tvJKJs iii^W^^V the Houfe of Conimons. was nbt likely to adoot. They expe'Cted--Mi\ Haftiusa to y2 .4 3«r [ 36 ] have anfwered with that general reference to the fuccefs of his administration which themfelves were accuftomed to make: " I 44 preferved for the Company and the na- 46 tion their ASiatic dominions, when af- 44 failed by a combination of powerful and 44 determined enemies; amidft a war in 44 moft other places difaftrous, my exer- 4C tions repelled the attacks of their ene- 44 mies, maintained the reputatim of your 46 army and the fecurity of your poflef- 46 fions, and finally accomplished that pqace 44 which laid the foundation of the ex- 46 tended commerce and the increasing re- 44 venue of your Eaft-India Company. If 4C in the attainment of thefe great and ar- 46 duous ends, fome irregularities may 44 have occurred, which the nature of 45 the country, the extent and multipli- 44 city of objeCts, or the exigency and the H preSFure of the time may have occa- 44 Sioned, thefe are the tax which is com- <4 monly paid for the efficiency and vigour 4<; of public meafures. Thefe 1 leave to •4 your judgment, and abide the cenfure which you Shall think they deferve. It may perhaps blunt your cenfure, it will 44 at 44 at leaft alleviate my feeling of it, to re- 44 fleCt, that by thofe means, in which 44 my accufers may find imperfections and 44 error,.I have faved an empire to my 44 country." Such was not the kind of defence on which Mr. Haftings chofe to rely. He Stepped from behind that Shield which the opinion of his fervices and the gratitude of the Public might have fpread before him, and challenged an enquiry into every Separate tranfaCtidn which his accufer had detailed againft him. He pave to the Houfe of Commons and to the Public a particular and elaborate anfwer to every article of the charge which Mr. Biurke had exhibited. That anfwer was unfortunate in fome points, and as to thefe Mr. Haftings was afterwards obliged to depart from it. This threw a difcredit on his defence in general, while the mode of it remained as objectionable as before. It obliged the HouSe of Commons to pronounce on each fepa- rate individual charge on which Mr. Haftings was thus at iflue with his accufer. After an aSSlduous and impartial examination of the evidence, their decision was unfavour ite favourable on many of thofe articles; and in con Sequence the impeachment was voted. That impeachment is ftill depending, and in fuch a Stage of the bufinefs it were imnrnn ill or r to enter iysoi p rv rticularlv into its nature or its pro ere pi u j o u nas produced one id 1 »vii OV> .a La. ? r *i ititutional point or the non-abatement of an fettling the con- mfi, S> /7 /"•/-!;? J-? ///t //i 6-/ aifolutim ci r d /VrZ lament a point which it i s for the honour ot tl ie t tT"> es, that tl • * *v 1 ("=* /I F x.7. Miniiters or the Crown Ci warmly contender tO c ft clUll ih. Tl ic au a- ierents o n r. riattmes, witn a me no Him c»i molt always te >-> 9 m I V n i \ v ci V mutaf IVyii ilappiid re lifted' Ci /v^ c e it i kv^ oi i t* ft diillUlL cii* i • ■* i n roceeciiu tnp ,1 continuance or wmcn alone me no no LI or that srerit o Lidli LULL ki D'v VK/Ui e ;r 1 l U! «jt>in ittacl f 1, K ss wnicn i^p n mace upo nd on lome n pr uent occalions ieeme* the to relent trie opinion which fhp im j:«. C 11 V i mmpn tit"/2" .£E omcers or the Crown had given on t u t> 1 dl Cl fc 4.1- Jubject, lo much to the honour ol thei unDialled integrity o Oi 11 i p nt h p r nana! 1 t^e long; continuance and enormous ex- ^\ :> 9* \Jj this o r^ xvCtUlIO] ve impreSlec i Ul [ 39 ] the Public with an idea of the hardfhip of the proceeding by impeachment, and brought fomewhat of odium and'difreoute on this great prerogative of the people. But it is not the lels ialutary in its exut- ence, though in this particular inftance it mav have been a hardship on the indi- viduaL That it Should be Sparingly ex- erted is equally Suitable to its dignity and its iuftice: but that it Should be capable of exertion, is important to the purity of public truft, to the Safety and the freedom of the community. <es^an.'ymsrri0^j.-^t?r^a^js^rTarc^ sass S F C T I O M I*" i (A ) t1, JL xV X JL Jk-^* .I. J Irijh Proportions.—Commercial Treaty France.—Confohdatwn of the Cuftoms.— Trade with America.—Comparative State of Trade and Navigation. NOTHER part of the empire which, equally with India, feemed to require the minis- n [ 40 ] jj immediate attention of Government, was Ireland. At the period of diftrefs and em- baraSTment which Great Britain felt during the courfe of the late unfortunate war, Ireland had wrung from our weakneSs or our fear, what our juftice Should have formerly allowed her, a participation of the benefits of commerce with foreign countries, and wTith our colonies. But the commercial intercourSe between this. country and Ireland was liable to a variety of reftriCtions and prohibitions, of which Ireland then loudly complained, as tending to create an inequality in the encouragement of the national induftry of the refpeCtive countries ; and which inequality She threatened to take meafures of an unfriendly fort to overcome. To remove this ground of complaint; to adjuft the commercial inter- courfe between the two countries on a fair and equitable footing ; to unite both kingdoms, if poffible, by reciprocal advantage, and to take away that fort of mutual jea- loufy and alienation which the prohibitions againft a free interchange of the commo- dities and manufactures of each neceSTarily tended to create, were objeCts which had been \ I, ' § beeii particularly recommended to Parliament from the Throne, and which every perfoii wishing well to the happinefs or either country could not fail to defirei With a view to attain thefe objeCts, certain, proportions had been brought into the Irifh Parliament by His Majefty's Ministers in that country, on which a fet of resolutions had been adopted by the IriSh Parliament, which were foon after fubmitted to the confidcration of the British Houfe of Commons for its acquiefcente in the general meafures they fuggefted. The bafis of thefe refolutions Was, as the firft of them cxprefled, the extension and encouragement 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 commerce of the two countries on permanent and equitable principles for the mutual be* nefit of both. The particular proportions arifing out of this general principle were briefly as follow I That foreign articles Should be import* able from either kingdom into the other under the fame regulations and duties as i« when [42 ] when imported direCtly from the place of their growth or manufacture. That on articles of the produce or manufacture of either country, no prohibition Should exift to prevent their importation into the other country, and that if fubjeCt to a duty, fuch duty Should be equal in both countries. That for this purpofe, articles charged in either kingdom with an internal duty on the manufacture, or a duty on the material of which it is com- pofed, Should be charged on importation from either kingdom into the other with 3. duty equal to filch internal tax on the manufacture, or to an amount to countervail the duty on the material. That in order to give permanency to the fcttlement, no prohibition or additional duties Should hereafter be impofed in either country on the importation of any articles of the produce or manufacture of the other, except what might be neceSIary to balance the duties on internal confumption before mentioned; and that no fuch prohibition or additional duty Should be hereafter im- pofed in either kingdom on the exportation of any native article to the other, except where t « 3 where prohibitions already exift which are not reciprocal, or duties which are not equal. And the fame regulation, was adopted to equalize bounties, That the importation of foreign articles into either kingdom Should be fo regulated from time to time as to afford a preference to the importation of Similar articles, the produce or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland. In return for the benefits which fhe was fuppofed to receive from this commercial regulation, Ireland agreed to contribute towards the naval force of the empire, whatever fum the hereditary revenue of that kingdom Should produce,beyond 656,0001., which was its amount at the time. Between the time of the firft introduction of thefe propofitioiis 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^ ftitute for the Board of Ti^de, abolished by Mr. Burke's reform bill,) who had been afSiduouily employed in confidering the effeCts of thefe propofitions, and in G 2 examining examining many of the principal merchants #nd manufacturers with regard to their probable tendency. Mean time the natural jealoufy of trade, even exclusive of the alarm which party opposition might be fuppofed to excite, had prompted -Several meetings of perfons interested in the articles of commerce and manufacture to which the propositions related 5 in which meetings their efFeCts on the home and foreign markets for fuch articles were canvafled. Many of the principal manufacturers were examined before the Committee of the Houfe in addition to the evidence which had before been taken by the Committee of Privy Council. It is but juftice to thofe gentlemen to remark, that moft of them delivered themfelves with a candour and liberality, as to the probable competition of Ireland, beyond what has been generally allowed to the prejudices of professional character; though in fome inftances perhaps there appeared a tinCture of that fpirit of monopoly which dreads any chance, however diftant, of the participation, of others in its profits. From ' t 45 ] " From the information thus obtained^ many new lights were thrown upon a Subject of a very extenfiyg and complicate4 kind; and the Minister was enabled, af the distance of feveral months from the firft introduction of the propositions, to lay before the Houfe a fet of refolutions formed, w7ith considerable alterations and corrections, with refpeCt to the detail of the general propositions tranfmitted from Ireland. Thefe confifted principally in the following particulars: A Stipulation for the exclufive trade of the Eaft-India Company, by Ireland's being debarred from trading to anv of the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan; giving however certain advantages to Ireland from the commerce of that Company, by allowing it to freight Ships from that country, to fend its veSTels to Ireland in their voyages from Britain, and to take on board there the commodities and manufactures of that kingdom. A fecurity for the execution of naviga- (tion laws which Great Britain Should find it neceSIary to enaCt for the insreafe and encourage: o ..' [46 ] - encouragement of her marine, by ftipu- lating that the Legislature of Ireland Should pafs the like laws in order to impofe the fame reftraints, and confer the fame benefits, on the fubjeCts of both kingdoms. A protection againft introducing foreign fpirits, that is, fpirits not the produce of our own colonies, into Great Britain from Ireland. Certain provifions for the fecurity of the revenue in both countries, by the life of bonds, cockets, and other cuftom-houfe instruments, in the trade between the countries ; and of plantation certificates for Weft-India commodities imported from Ireland into Great Britain. An exception of corn, meal, malt, flour, znd bifcuits, from the free importation fti- 7 X pulated for the articles of the one country into the other; reftriCtions on thefe articles feeing deemed neceffary to be allowed in time of Scarcity, incidental to either country. A Stipulation was like wife annexed to the propofition for a reduction of the duty in the kingdom where it was higheft, to its amount in the kingdom where it was loweSt, provided fuch reduction Should not : " ''. C 47 I ■ $J not bring it down below the rate of lof per cent. 1|| An equalization in the two countries of duties and burthens on the imports from, and exports to, the Britifh colonies in the Weft Indies and America, or fettlements on the coaft of Africa ; and a like equalization on goods imported from the North- American ftates. To thefe propositions, brought before Parliament in this amended form, a very violent oppofition was made. A variety of objections were urged againft thole which related to foreign commerce as well as thofe which regulated the mutual intercourse between the two countries. 44 The Former, it was faid, expoSed 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 She did not even import them on her own capital. In the laft cafe She could fend her manufactures to the colonies cheaper than England, and by exchanging them for colony produce, underfell this country. That ther was fflfl'fii 111 1 I E 43 ] / was a farther and ftill greater danger from the fmuggling of foreign colony produce from Ireland into Great Britain under colour of its being the growth or produce of Britifh colonies. That by thefe propositions we entrufted the execution of our navigation laws to Ireland, whofe attention to their obfervance we could not expeCt, and whofe encouragement to their violation there was reafon to fear. That the guard we meant to provide for thefe laws in the new propositions, by which it was conditioned that the Iriih Parliament Should pafs Similar laws for Ireland to thofe which Great Britain Should hereafter find it rsecef- Sary to enaCt for the benefit of her marine, was a Stipulation which the Irifh would never agree to, as it would in faCt be a renunciation of that right to legislate for themfelves which they had fo nobly Struggled for and obtained. Againft the other part of the propositions which regarded the interchange of commodities between the two countries, it was urged, that the cheapnefs of provisions and low price of labour in Ireland would give a decided advantage to that country in the fale of fuch commo- Ill ] . f I commodities. That an emigration of oiif artifans and manufacturers was on thefe iaccounts a danger reafonably to be feared^ and that by the encouragement which thefe propositions held forth to Ireland, we riSked the existence of our manufactures, and that Very great internal revenue which the State draws from their produce." 46 The compenfation, it was argued, \vhich Great Britain was to receive for the boons now granted to Ireland was nugatory in the extreme. The hereditary revenue of that kingdom at prefent yielded little more than one half of the fum now Stipulated to be firft appropriated to Ireland, after wThich Britain was only to receive the furplus. That this furplus, if ever it amounted to any thing, would be received by Great Britain in a manner adverfe to the wife and falutary guards of her Constitution, which granted money for the execu- {ive purpofes of Government only by way of temporary fupply* and not for a permanent and independent period." In vindication of this meafure, and of its general tendency, it was argued, 64 that it was only a neceflary fupplement to thofe H meafures Wl l h H Mm 1 i If ■ \jE 50 ] meafures which had been formerly adopted for the purpofe of more cloSely uniting.and fecuring theconneCtipn between ..the two counties, fo neceflarv towards the fafqty and proSperity of both. Parts of the Same empire, Great Britain and Ireland w^ere not to look on the growing prpSherity of each other with the unfriendly afpeCt of foreign rivalShip. Connected as they wore, it was not to be aSTumed that whatever one. country gained was loft by the other; oni{ the contrary, the fair and equal extenfion. 1 • of. their induftry and commerce would in moft cafes be the mutual.advantage of both countries, and increafe the feparate wealth, p#j>jj]ation,r^nd p#fwer, of each, as.well as tbp aggregate belonging to both nations jointly,Tas forming the two great limbs of the ij^ti.fli empire." In the detail of the propofitions it was contended, c.4 that moft of the, i objections on the Score of foreign commerce, and the intercourse of Ireland with, the Brrtifh colonies, were founded .on inattention to the prefent Situation of that kingdom in thofe particulars. Under ?the laws.* .at prefent fub$fting, Ireland could freely trade with 'ii,$M' ■ •" I' "■$ every every foreign State, fupply them with her produte and manufactures, arid bring home theirs in'ttturh. She had a fimilar privilege of a direCt trade with the Bririth colo- nies, and could fupply the firitiSh market with the produce of thofe colonies in Irifh Ships freighted immediately from the colo-^ nies to Great Britain. The only advantage therefore which Ireland was to derive from the prefent propofitions iti this refpeCt was, that She could land colony cargoes in ire- land,'and thence export to Britain the fur- phis Which herfelf did not confume, for the chdncenof an eventual market there. It was not likely that by this circuitous trade She' could underfell Great Britain in the Britifh market; the only chance She had for an advantageous fale there was, the extravagarit monopoly price which colony produce may fometimes bear in this country, of which the reduction is a meafure expedient as well as juft on the trueft principles' oFpdHcy" and of commerce. That as to the danger of foreign colony produce bdihg fm'uggled through Ireland into this country, beiides that the rifk would be run only for the chance of4 the furplus of the H z Irifh m ill . • I llllllf } '• " Irifh confumption, it was a double riSk* firft, againft the provisions of the Irifh, and next, againft thofe of the Britifh revenue laws, which was not near fo likely a me-? thod for the fmuggler to praCtife as that which at prefent was open to him, of fmuggling articles from foreign colonies, DO o O into our iflands, and theftce importing them under falfe certificates into this kingdom* That the objection, of thefe propositions trufting the execution of our navigation laws to Ireland, applied, to the aCts already paSIed in the 20th and 22d year of his pre-, fent Majefty's reign, and yet that we had heard of no complaint of any hurtful relaxation of thofe laws by the Irifh officers,. To the objection, on the other hand, that Ireland could not be expeCted to conSent to the adoption of our future regulations for the benefit of our marine, becaufe that would be to allow our Parliament to legif- late for Ireland, it was anfwered, that the very reference to the Parliament of Ireland made in the proposition alluded to was an acknowledgement of the independant legif- lation of that country ; but that the Stipulation to adopt flmilar laws to thofe which this coyntry |; j - C 53 1 I ' "' 1 '"• ' country Should enaCt, was a condition neceffary to the common fafety and protection of the empire, which depended on the proper fupport of her naval force; and that it was no more a dependant and ab- folute obligation on the Irifh Parliament than feveral of the other reciprocal obligations contained in this agreement, or than any Stipulation by treaty between two ab- folutely independant States." In reply to the objections againft the fecond part of the propositions, relating to the intercourfe between the two countries, it was contended in general, 44 that the nominal cheapqefs of labour, and the low price of many articles of proviilons in one country, was amply compenfated by the fuperiqrity of Skill and of capital in the other. That there was a distinction between the rate of wages and the rate of ' labour-, and though the flrft might be lower in Ireland, jet in fact the laft was rather cheaper in Britain, as had appeared from the evidence of a principal Irifh manufac- turer. That the removal of an eftablifhed manufacture was every where a matter of the greateft difficulty ; and that Ireland was . r 54 3 m was in a fituation by which that difficulty was exceedingly increafed. That the duty of io§'percent, was a fair protection for the home manufacture, becaufe it was un- wife in either country to apply its labour or its capital to any manufacture in which1 the other could underfell it with the burthen of iof per cent, fuperadded to the1 neceffary expence of carrying it to'! the market of the neighbouring kingdom. That of the articles at prefent prohibited from Ireland, or of which the importation is restrained by high duties, the principal are fuch as England poffefles great ad van-! tage[in, from her having the raw material cheaper or more at command ; and that with regard to the others, the equalising duties in proportion to our excife on the5 manufacture, would fully proteCt us from any bad effeCts which might arife from their introduction into Britain." .The compenfation to Britain by an Appropriation of the excels of the Irifh ■ hereditary revenue, beyond a given fum, ttrthe fnpport of the naval force of the empire, was defended from the charges made againft it in both the points of view above Stated. . '#f ' I'--, I It " t 55 ] % It muft from its very nature increafe, (it was faid), in proportion to the profperity of Ireland, which She was thus to recompenfe Great Britain for promoting. The permanent grant of it was a neceffary exchange O JO for the permanent benefits it compenfated; and being fubjeCt to the application of Parliament, could never tend to that unconstitutional relaxation of the checks on the executive power which was held forth by the oppofers of the meafure, as a danger to be apprehended from its appropriation.' Such were the principal arguments urged on either Side in a queftion equally delicate and momentous to both countries. After a difcuSSiQn of feveral months the propositions were aflented to by a large majority of both Houfes of the Britifh Parliament; and a bill founded upon them was brought x O in, and read a firft time before the clofe of the Seffion of 1785. It remained to procure the aSSent of the Parliament of Ireland to thofe propositions now returned to them with the amendments deemed neceffary to fecure an equality in the agreement to Great Britain. In the Parliament of Ireland they were oppoSed I ; e' |-. Ilf i ' . ■ , oppoSed as ftreniioufiy as they had been by the minority in that of Britain. The commercial mifchiefs to be apprehended front them to Ireland were now argued as de- cidedly on that fide of the water, as the difadvantages which they were to,produce to the Sifter kingdom had been held forth on this. The pride of newly - acquired power rejected any thing which looked like an infringement on the national inde- pendance of Ireland. Great offence was taken at the fuppoied attempt to trench on the legislative authority of her Parliament; and the appropriation of the furplus of her hereditary revenue, low as it Stood in the' prefent period, was considered as equally' derogatory to her dignity, and disadvantageous to her intereft. The order for bringing in a bill for carrying the proportions into effeCt was carried by lb fmall a majority5 that the officers of the Crown in Ireland did not think it proper to perfift in a meafure repugnant to the wiSlies of fo confiderable a part of the representatives of the people* |J| Such was the reception of thofe proportions in Ireland. It had been imagined by E 57 1 men who had considered this fubjeCl with the calmnefs of philofophy and experience ; that any mealure which connected Ireland with a country fo much more advanced in civilization, in arts, in commerce, and manufacture^,* 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 thfc circumstances which counteracted the natural influence of thefe confide rations ; from whatever caufes they proceeded, it muft be the deliberate judgment of hiftory, that they obftruCted a meafure, the confequen- ces of which would have been highly beneficial to Ireland as well as to Great Britain. Another meafure adopted by the late Parliament, founded on the fame liberal principle, but of a more fortunate iffue than the preceding, was the commercial treaty with France. National prejudices, in conjunction with thofe of commerce, had hitherto Shut the markets of France and England refpeCt- ively againft many of the commodities of the other. Between thofe countries there i was JCSCTriBM wras a war of prohibitions and high duties, which, in moft articles of their mutual confumption, threw the trade into the hands of Smugglers. The publications of an author, in whofe mind, beyond that of, any writer of his time, was genius chaf- tened by wifdom, and wifdom enlightened by knowledge, had changed in a great meafure the opinions of mankind on the fubjeCt of commercial restrictions, and. Shown how much was to be gained by restoring to trade its natural freedom, by which the furplus commodities of one country could be fairly exchanged for thofe of another. France and England felt in a particular manner the juStice of his doctrines ; and it was an article in the peace of 1783, that the two countries Should take meafures for fettling a commercial treaty between them. In purfuance of this agreement, Mr. Eden was diSpatched to Paris in the beginning of the year 1786, to negotiate a treaty of navigation and commerce with France. That treaty was concluded on the 20th of September in that year. Par- ticvlar notice was taken of it in His Ma- :■■'.■""" ill W SH I E 59 ] " £: jefty's fpeech on opening the feffion in January, 1787; and it was foon after laid before Parliament for the purpofe of their taking fuch meafures as might be neceffary for carrying it into effeCt. The provisions of this treaty were calculated to take off thofe restraints which the two countries had heretofore mutually impofed on their commercial intercourfe with each other — to give to the fubjeCis of either country that protection for their perfons and properties which is dictated by the liberal humanity of modern times —- to eftablifh a Tariff to fix the rate of duties, which for the moft part was not higher I i o than 12 per cent., on the importation of thofe articles of the producs or manufacture of the refpeCtive kingdoms which were moft likely to be the leading objeCts of their commerce—to put on ths footing of the moft favoured nations the goods not particularifed in that Tarifi>**and to avoid by Stipulations of a friendly fort Me occasions of mifunderftanding and quarrel, which might chance ro arife in the navigation or commerce of either power with ©ther countries. 12 In I mm [ 60 ] || In the difcuffion which this treaty met with in Parliament, considerable objection was made to it in a political view, as tending to throw Great Britain into the arms of France, and t© blunt that wholefome jealoufy which this country had always entertained oS her rival nation. 44 France, it was maintained, was the unalterable political enemy of Great Britain, and indeed the political enemy of the liberties of every State of Europe. Amidft tiie levity and mutability of her national manners, her cabinet had purfued an uniform invariable fyftem of univerfal dominion. In this fyf- tem She had been checked and baffled by the opposition of England, whofe power had often refcued the liberties of Europe from the attacks of her reftlefs ambition. It was unwife therefore to agree to any meafures tending to abate our national dif- truft and jealouSy of France, which had fo often afforded a barrier againft her en- croachments on the liberty and independence of the nations around her." In a commercial view the treaty was oppofed as a raSh and unadvifed alteration of a.Syftem under which this country had attained I -■-"■!! 6lP I attained a very high degree of eminence and profperity. 44 The great advantages we poffeffed ought not, it was argued, to be flaked againft the profpeCt of diftarit and fpeculative benefits. In our commer- j. cialintercourfe 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, She has already made confi- derable progrefs, and in a little time will be able to enter into competition with this country. The Tariff eftabliShed between the two nations, would, it was obferved, caufe a great and immediate diminution of ouir revenue by the lowering of the duties on the Staple commodities of France, her wine and brandy, and the confequent " 1 X abatement that muft be made on the run£- of our own colonies, and the wines of Spain and Portugal." "jf| • The danger to which this treaty with France expofed our commerce with other countries, and particularly with Portugal, was Strongly urged by the members in op* position. The importance of a rigid adherence to the Methuen treaty, was argued from 1 C 62 i mm from the advantages which it afforded us in a great annual balance of trade in our favour, befides the acquisition of two mil* lions of pounds of cotton, the raw material of one of our moft valuable manufactures. The arguments for the meafure were drawn from the relative Situation of the two countries, w7hich pointed out, it was faid, in the Strongeft manner, the advantages to be derived to both from a mutual exchange of their refpeCtive commodities. 44 By nature France was much more richly endowed than Britain ; but the equality of our laws,- and the freedom of our Government, 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 manufactures to barter with France. Such interchange, it was argued, was peculiarly favourable to Britain, who obtains a market of 24 millions of people in exchange for one of 8 millions. France gained a market for her produce, which employed in its preparation but a few hands, gave little encourage- ment to the navigation, and comparatively but little increafe to the revenue of the State. Britain opened a market for her manufacture which employed in their immediate operation a great number of her peo- x O 1 pie, and in their diftant effects, the importation of raw materials and consumption of various commodities, paying internal duties, contributed moft extensively both to the public force and the public reve nue.' ?> 44 In its political aSpeCt, it was argued, the treaty promifed that moSi eSIential advantage 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 deftruCtive alike to both countries. The doCtrine of unalterable hostility between two nations was reprobated as the weaknefs of vulgar prejudice, .neither founded on the experience of nations, nor the hiftory of man. But even if this argument, implying a Satire on our Species, and a libel on political institutions, wrere allowed, the prefent treaty would not be affeCted by it. It gave up none of j or » I ii- S . E 64 ] , our political power to France ; it weakened none of our national energy; it leffened none of our national revenues; on the contrary, as it increafed our commerce, it rieceffarily added to both." 44 The danger of an interference with our commerce with other nations, it was faid, was perfectly unfounded. The instance of Portugal fo much infifted on by the oppofers of the treaty, did not in the fmalleft degree apply. Explicit provision was made for the fulfilment of our engagements with Portugal. The interefts of that country and Great Britain are reciprocal, 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 Spirit of the Methuen treaty, the ministers of England would be more likely to obtain a fair and full execution of it, having this commercial arrange- ' o o ment with France in their hands, than they could expeCt to obtain without it. 44 The probable effeCts of this treaty on our revenue were argued as precifely opposite to thofe which the members in oppofi- H tioa Mm ,|| [ 6s ] j§ j tion predicted. When it was confidered that the prefent high duties on our French articles of confumptipn threw by much the greateft part of th£ trade in thofe articles into the hands of the^ fmuggler, from jvhich France drew all the benefit which She would do on a lawful importation, while we loft the whole produce of the duties due on fuch commodities, it was a well-warranted conclusion that our revenue wouH be increafed, inftead of being diminished, by the lowering of the duty on the articles fpecified*." To the alledged danger to our manufactures a general anfwer was given, 44 that the manufacturers themfelves, generally quick Sighted and attentive to their interefts, had, on this occafion, acquiefced ia the provifions of the treaty, and feveral of them had indeed fignified their approbation of the meafure, as one calculated to in- creafe and encourage the induftry of this country." 5&H8 | | * How this has turned out in experience, fee aftef wards wider the Subject of Finance. K In ii i he Mi.i In one of the debates on-this treaty hi the Houfe of Commons, Mr. Burke expatiated, in that^glowing language for which he is fo confpicuouSj on the advantages and influence of Britifh capital* 44 The powers of this capital," he ob- ferved, M were irrefiftible in trade : it doll mineered, it ruled, it tyrannized in the 44 market: it enticed the Strong and con- ' " trolled the weak." It could only be from party prepofleffion that a mind fo penetrating and comprehenfive as< that of Mr. Burke did not fee how Strong an argues o ment this afforded for that extension of the Sphere and operation of this capital which was furnished by*the treaty in queftion. His extravagant ingenuity fuggefted the danger arifing from that fort of partnership which an open commercial; intercourfe might give to France in the English capital, and attributed to the French Councils the depth of fuch a defign, for wdiich they were content to allow to England fome temporary advantage in the prefent commercial Stipulations. It It was remarkable, that in the debates €>& the French treaty pointed reference was made I *7 ] - ' ' ep made by the minority to the IriJJj Propofi- fion$, and to the opinions of the manufacturers on that fubjeCt,-from which they argued a Similar danger to the Britifh manufactures from the prefent meafure, though the manufacturers themfelves, tempted by the profpeCt of immediate advantage, had not come forward to State it. o * Administration, though they Still contended that the objections againft the Irifh Propositions were ill founded, endeavoured alfo to Show the difference between the two cafes, and to refute the analogy obferved between them. That there wrere differences between the two cafes muft be allowed., On one hand., the Irifh were to receive fome advantages which the prefent ''vn a' * *?■ - -H ■v^ yVfcf■■'■ --3*+ >f &<* treaty did* not give to the French ; and Great Britain had not in the propofed intercourfe with Ireland the fame profpeCt of an immediate and extenflve market as in that with France. On the other hand, her clofe connection with her Sifter kingdom placed her communication with that country in a very different point of view; the benefits to be derived by Ireland flowed Hot, as might be argued of thofe to France, in ill II ■I; I ' i i L o 1 in a rival or adverfe channel, but would naturally tend to the general profperity of the empire. * But, to an impartial obferver, the-leading principles ''of both c&fes were the fame ; the extension 'of productive industry, and thev intercourfe of beneficial commerce between the1 two kihgdoms. An impartial obferver of the prefent time" will argue from what are the effeCts 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 visible, and ancient prejudice does not eafily give way to truths which contradict her habits of thinking, however demonstrative they may' feem to wifdom or philofophy. 'It is, I believe, a fact pretty weli; known, that the cotton manufacturers of Normandy remon- ftrated with M. de Vergennes on the ruinous effeCts which the propofed Commercial Treaty with England would have on their' establishments, j That fagacious Statefman. replied, that if the Stipulated duty of 12 per cent., added to the expences.of tranf- port on the EngliSh commodities, were not i M - fuSEcient x. >. *. -. -. Ill £ <?9 ] - ■!£ fuf^jcient to protect thofe of Normandy, k was a proof either that induftry was wanting to the fuecefs of the fatter, or that their induftry was mifapplied to an impro- J XX. x ■ per objeCt. A meafure coeval and connected witt^ the Commercial Treaty was the Bill for the Confolidation of the Cuftoms, Excife, and Stamp Duties. The branches of thofe revenues, particularly of the Cuftoms, were compofed of fuch a number of minute and comgjicated impofts, which had been laid. 6$ at different times, as. the neceffities 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 constantly employed in the praCtice was equal to it. This had 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, dependent for its accuracy; and from the feme cau'fe there was a fort of agency eftablifh- ed in the former for the affairs of the latter. k$H I 111 ter, improper in their refpeCtive Situations. The plan, therefore, which this bill adopted wras to abolifh thofe various and complicated branches, and to fubftitute in thein itead one Single duty on each article, equal in its amount to the total of fuch branches. By a reference to this Single charge in the tables containing the different articles of merchandize, the duty due on each was inftantly afcsrtained, and all the inconvenience, difficulty, and delay, So long felt and complained of in fuch bufinefs, were removed. ; The Public gained, t on^the" whole, a Small advantage by this meafure,' as on moft of the articles where a fraction* was found in the total of the branches the' integer fam immediately above fuch fraction was adopted. This trifling addition was more than compenfated to the trader5 by the facility which it afforded in the' tran faCtion. This meafure w^s fo obvioufly expedient, that all parties concurred in its approbation. To a man converSant • in the fubjeCt of revenue regulations it might perhaps fuggeft another, in fome" degree congenial to its fpirit and tendency, a Con-" folidatiQtv ■*< well as of th€ clb ■' f [ P'W^ [aticn of the Laws, duties of the various departments of the public revenue. Thefe are now fo numerous and fo complicated as to form one of the largeft and moft difficult parts of the O J- national code, and from the various references with which each fubfequent Statute is loaded an obfcurity and perplexity attends them, often embarraffing to the officer or oppreffive to the trader in the execution of their provisions. The talk of reducing thefe into a fyftem, and forming a revenue code, Simple and uniform in its exaCtments, would indeed be a bufinefs of considerable difficulty, and might not meet with-fb favourable a reception as thatjuft mentioned from the different parties concerned in its effeCts. But it would certainly be a ufeful and not an impracticable talk, and might be performed under the aufpices of a vigorous and popular Administration. Under the SiibieCt of Commercial Ar- JJ rangements may be mentioned the regulations for the trade with America, which was [ ] IH1 ivaS one of the earlieft proceedings of the Parliament of 1784; for this, in the new Situation which the independence of America prefented, it was neceffary to provide, in fuch a manner as to give to the trade of the country, and her Still remaining colonies, every advantage which intercQurfe with the American States could produce^ yet fo regulated as to increaSe the marine of Great Britain, and to draw to the parent State thofe benefits which She had formerly beftowed on provinces now fevered from the empire. The regulations for fhefe purpofes were firft provided for by orders in Council, under authority of tern- porary aCts of Parliament, and were afterwards, in 1788, fettled by a permanent ftatiitei Thefe were an allowance of the immediate transportation of lumber (i. c> timber, barrel Staves, and feveral other articles of the like nature, which are immediately neceffary to the trade and manufacture of the Weft-India iflands) fromf America to our iflands, but that importation confined to Britifh Ships navigated by British fubjeCts. The direCt exportation of. Sugar and other articles of the produce of thefe thefe iflands is allowed to America, but Under the Samte condition of its being carried in BritiSh veflels, conformably to the Salutary principle of our navigation law. By thefe provisions, and the allowance of her bringing her produce to Great Britain in her own veflels, America has that degree of favour with this country which it feems fo expedient to allow her, while the reftri6tion which is certainly the moft ufe- ful, or, as fome later political oeconomifts maintain, the only lifeful, reftriCtion in our commercial Syftem, is kept up in favour of the marine of this country. The anxious provifions of our law for the encouragement of our navigation have been enforced by feveral Statutes paffed irr: this Parliament, containing regulations with regard to flipping, which feem to be formed on a very perfeCt knowledge of this great national objeCt, without the Severity wrhich has" been fometimes complained of in laws of that kind, as affeCting the interefts and embarraffing the tranfaCtions of fair and extenfive commerce. The commercial intercourfe with America.is an objeCt of the firft importance to h Great .% 1 ■ -1 74 ] • ' Great Britain. America is now, and will probably for a considerable time remain, in Such a Situation as affords an extenfive market for the produce of Britifh induftry and manufacture. The natural fertility of the Soil of moft of the provinces of America, and the great quantity of unoccupied ground which thefe contain, will give to their induftry and capital a natural tendency towards agriculture. It will be long before they will leave that firft Stage of labour for the more complicated bufinefs of manufacture, or the diftant Speculations of commerce. They will find in the manufactures of this country what the wants of fuch a Situation require, for which their natural produce may be advantageoufly exchanged ; and the increasing population to which the agricultural State is peculiarly favourable wiltincreafe the number of con- fumers for thofe articles which the British artizan or merchant can afford them. To' the British artizan or merchant thev will naturally be direCted not only by the fupe- riority of the articles which thefe can afford them, but by two circumstances which muft always have a powerful effed m ' [ 75 i;. I n . in aflbciating arid connecting the two countries, a common language and a common religion. This amicable and mutually advantageous intercourfe has already begun to heal that anknofity which rankled in the bofom of America from the recollection of the late unfortunate conteft ; and it is fome compenfation to this country for the lofs of honour and wafte of treafure with which that conteft was attended. To what extent the policy of thofe commercial regulations, of which the foregoing Sketch has bepn given, has contributed to the prefent State of the trade of Great ^Britain, it may not be eaSy precifely to determine. That they have elfentially contributed to it is a conclusion which will naturally be drawn by'the unprejudiced. The refult, however, from whatever cauSe it may be held to arife, it is highly gratifying to State. It appears, from the lateft and beft authenticated accounts, that the increafe of the trade and Shipping of this country, Since the conclusion of laft war, has been greater than the moft Sanguine ideas could have reached. In the year Is 2 *7°3 C | ] ' 1783 there were cleared outwards frcm the various ports of the kingdom, of British veSIels, - 7329 Foreign, - - 1544 In the laft year of which an account has been taken, to wit, in 179a the number was as follows : British, - -1 12,762 Foreign, - - JM40 Of our imports and exports, during the fame period, the increafe has been propor-* tional. In 1783 the value of our imports was In 1700 / I :■■-. /. 13,122,255 19,130,886 In 1783 our exports amounted to - - -. 14,756,818 In 1790, to &» , - 20,120,121 It will not eScape obfervation, that though the increafe of either fufficiently marks the growing commerce of the State, yet the grea,t augmentation of our export trade is a flattering proof of the thriving Situation of our manufactures and the demand which is made for them in foreign markets* SECTION C 77 ] SECTION III. ;■:■:•... . FINANCE, \. s . Commutation A£l. — ReduBion of Duty on Spirits.—Excife upon Wine and Tobacco.—** JlEl for the Prevention of Smuggling.—* Manfefl A£i*—A^i for appointing Com- mijjioners to audit the public Accounts.—* 'Regulations refpedling Revenue.—* Additional Taxes. — Afi for applying the An* nual Million. — Comparative State of Re-* venue and Expenditure. JL HERE is no department of public bu- Sinefs to which the Parliament of 1784 paid a more unremitting or a more fuc- cefsful attention than that of Finance. -«# A Report of a Committee, instituted for the purpofe of inquiring into the abufes of Smuggling, was given in to the Houfe of Commons before rhe clofe of the preceding Parliament; but the Situation of affairs at that time was Such as to fu Spend any meafures I II [ 7« 3 s I iiires for checking thefe abuSes ; they were consequently left to the aCtive exertions of the fucceeding Parliament. It will be fatis- faCtory to the Public to trace their effeCts. The great articles on which the enormous frauds, reported by the Committee, arofe, were Tea, Spirits, Wine, and Tobacco. To theSe, therefore, it was neceSIary for Parliament to direCt their particular attention. The two firft were already fubjeCted to every regulation and reftraint which the mode of levying and fecuring duties by excife, provides againft fraud. But in articles of general confumption, if the duties are high, the encouragement to fmuggle overbears the riSk, at the fame time that it Sharpens ingenuity to defeat the provisions of the law. In fuch cafes the leffening that encouragement by a diminution of the duty, is the only means left to prevent fmuggling, | With regard to the firft of thefe articles* Tea, this objeCt was endeavoured to be attained by the aCt of Parliament pafled ii£ j784, known by the name of the Commutation ASf. It was an experiment in finance which had been distantly prooofed at various [ 79 ] idous periods, and which the neceffity of counteracting the alarming frauds reported by the Committee, now induced the Minister at the head of the Treafury to bring forth for the fanCtion of Parliament. The quantity of tea annually fmuggled into the kingdom appeared, by the beft-founded calculations, to be not lefs than twelve or thirteen 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 rery great importation was made, the plan of the aCt was to lower the duties on tea to about one fourth of their former amount. But as that would caufe a defalcation of revenue of about 600,000!., it was propofed to 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 fubjeCts, becaufe tea being now, by the habits of life, become a neceSSary of uni- verfal confumption, almoft every perfon paying the new tax on windows, would be freed from an equal amount of the old tax 3f 1 [ oy on tea. This principle of commutation was warmly difputed by the Members in Opposition, tea being, as they contended, a luxury which might or might not be con* fumed, but lodging and light being necef- faries which could not be difpenfed with* In fome few inftances this argument might hold, but in general it was certainly true^ that the great body of the people received, in the abatement of the duty on the one article, at leaft an equivalent to the advance on the other. And even if the title Corn- mutation Should, ftriCtly Speakings be denied it, the broad and general principle was founded in true political economy, that a tax by which a fraud was praCtifed on the public revenue to fo enormous an amount*, and which tended fo much to increafe Smuggling in other articles* was fuch as ought to be repealed, and a Substitute as little oppreSSive as poSSible* and as fairly, univerfally, and equally leviable, Should bd provided to replace it. Th$ event juftified the policy of the meafure* The public has gained in point of revenue on this fubfti- O X tuted tax, and -the remaining duty on tea, between 62,000!. and 63,0001. per annum; but but its operation has been infinitely more important in contributing to the general fupprefiion of Smuggling, and the great augmentati^L of other branches of the revenue ; befides the extenfive 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 fmuggler by foreign countries. The relief which this meafure alfo afforded to the finances of the Eaft-India Company, in which the nation is materially interested, is an additional proof of its wifdom and utility H M The increafe of revenue arifing from the Commutation A<5t upon a comparifon of the average produce of four years fucceed- ing it, with the average produce of five years prior to it, is — -— £• 79>9°7 But it is fair to deduct the fum by which *die average produce of the old window duty run r • m£:$ tfeirffd tell inort 01 its average produce prior to . [ §2 ] ; e . The lame principle of taking away the temptation to fmuggle by lowering the duty on legal importation, was adopted on the article of Spirits. 1§ . . ' Is M '■■■.-■.:": . - Th e But the moft important advantages which-the public have derived from this aCt are as follow : lit. The increafe of Britifh Shipping, taken upon an average of the fall; five years, compared with five years immediately preceding the pafling of this a£t, is 14,089 tons; fome of this Shipping was taken up at a high freight; but at the prefent freight, which is on an average 221. per ton, fne annual amount of the increafe would be £. 309,95!* adly. The total value of exports to Chinay from 1776 to 1783, was £. 995^673 From 1784 to 179! —j| 6,698,22)i The amount of the value of the increafe is — — 5,702,548 Which on an average is annually -— 712,81 & The private trade has likewife much increafed. 3dly. Since this a6t pafTed, being feven years and an half, there has been fold 121,730,453 pounds of tea, which, duty included, fold for 21,058*497 Th« The Stipulation with regard to the Brandies of France in the commercial treaty, lowered, of courfe, the dftty on that article ; but the objeCt of effectually preventing Smuggling made it defirable to reduce the duty even lower than to the Stipulated a^mount, and with the fame view it was ne- ceSlary to make a proportionate reduction on other fpecies of foreign Spirituous liquors. The fame quantity of tea, and of the fame quality, at the average price of tea ten years prior to the a&, (including the duties) would have amounted Theconclufion from this i-s, that there has b§en a laving to the^ public upon the amount of what the fame quantity of tea would have fold for at legal fales, if the Commutation A<5t had not parted of — 19,818,233 The average upon fevea years and an half is ■ —— 2,642,430 And this gain is to be fet againft the charges Drought upon the public by the impofition of this tax. $j| M 2 Ye? r i i Yet fo far was this reduction from having any effeCt prejudicial to the revenue, that on the contrary the duty on the article of fpirits increafed after fuch reduCHon of its rate, to a very large amount. In 1786 the total net produce of the duty on foreign fpirits was 7135376b; whereas in 1790 that produce amounted to the fum of 1,082,2641.—an increafe of no lefs a fum than 268.880I. BeSides' this gain to the revenue, the fame Sort of advantage as before obfervcd on the commutation a£i, is in Some meafure produced by every fair trade, in opposition to a contraband one; that in the firft, the national merchant profits, and the national feaman is employed ; in the X J ' latter, the foreign or the outlaw Smuggler 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 tobacco, the effed of excife regulations which appeared applicable to both had never been tried. This experiment 'with refpeCt to wine was made in the year 1.786, and fuc- Cpeded fo well, that notwithstanding the lowering of the duty in coniequence of the h i c the commercial treaty with France, fo con- Siderably below its former rate, the total amount of revenue received for that article has annually iacreafed ; the average receipt for three years prior to the commercial treaty, and the excife regulations, having been 625,454!., and that for three years pofterior to thofe events 714,010!., and in the year 1790 804,1671. J|. The regulations of excife were likewife, in the year 1789, extended to the article of tobacco ; and though the provisions of this bill have not yet been completely effectual, and tobacco is frill one of the very few articles in which a contraband trade continues to be carried on, the benefit never- thelefs has already been extenfive, and fuch as fully juftifies the meafure. The duty on tobacco on an average of three years, immediately previous to the commencement of this aft, amounted to the fum of 505,708 b, and the drawback 81,996!.; whereas the amount of duty in the year 1790 was 676,2731., while the drawback lias increafed only to 86,027!. But the Parliament of 1 784 was aware, |hat though the reduction of duty upon particular Wt ,■'. v.'t I.HIiil particular articles would effectually coun^. teraft the fmuggler with reSpeCt to fuch articles, yet that Smuggling prevailed to fo alarming an extent, as to threaten the total Tuin.of the public revenue, if fuch meafures were not taken as would effectually fupprefs the general praftice of it. With this view a bill was introduced in the yeaj: 1784 for the better preventioft of fmug- gling. The objeCts of which were, to extend the hovering laws, enabling the oSEcer to feize veflels employed in fmuggling at a greater distance from the Shore — to prohibit the building or navigation of veflels of a certain defcription, known to be thoSe employed by the Smuggler -— to prevent veSiels, when lawfully condemned from being Sold as they formerly had been, in a manner which enabled the Smuggler to recover the pofleffion of them—to fuffer no yeSJel to be armed beyond- a certain extent without a licenfe from the Admiralty—to regulate the clearances of veffels of all descriptions— and to enlarge the powers of feizure, by authorizing revenue oSficers to feize veSSels, having on board contraband commo- ; '".. ■ I 8' 1 s commodities in packages of at fmaller btilk than allowed by law. Thefe were the principal regulations of this bill, and its effeCt was to check, in a great meafure, that branch of fmuggling which at that time was carried on, in notorious defiance of the law, to a greater degree than had ever before prevailed in this country. To the fame objeCt the attention of Parliament was direfted in pafiing the Mani- feSl bill in the year 1786. Frauds to a considerable extent were praftifed by the maf- ters of. fuch as were apparently regular trading veffels ; to prevent which, the bill requires every maSter of a trading Ship to produce the manifeft of his cargo, containing every article of which it confifts, and prohibits the importation of goods into Great Britain, without the production of fuch manifeft. The aft likewife makes fome very important regulations to check the frauds praftifed in the exportation of goods entitled to drawback or bounty — and gives to the Commanders of his Ma- jefty's Ships a power to feize veffels or goods fubjeft to forfeiture, d ■. i*, % it L 88 ii It is impoffible to aScertain what precife. effeft thefe afts have had in the increafe of our revenue ; but it is well known, that they have antwered the purpofes aimed at by the Legislature ; and it is probable that a grfeat part of the increafe arifes froni their beneficial effeCts. -IS Befides thefe meafures, which were directed to the improvement of the permanent revenue, an equal attention was Shewii to other objeCts connected with general principles of economy, and fending to give JV i J T O O the public the benefit of other rcfources which might be applied in aid of the annua! taxes to meet the neceffary eXpences. It is now fcarcely credible, that, prifer to the year 1785, the public accounts of the kingdom were palled in either of the offices O x • of the auditors of the impreft, who afted by deputy, and this Single perfon decided on the particulars of the account. Without any reflection upon the character of whoever might be in fuch a Situation, the impropriety cf accounts between Government and individuals, in which millions were frequently to be decided upon, beihg. examined in this manner, muft Strike every ■ ' ' c 89 J ' I one who conflders the fubjeft, were l^rge balances remained due to Government— riiany accounts were unfettled, atid, per-* haps, others pafled without the neceffary investigation which accounts of this importance requiredi The aft of 1785 appointed five Commiflioners for the purpofe of examining and auditing the public accounts of the kingdom, and invefted them with all the powers neceffary to render their appointment efficient. The benefit the country has derived from the appointment of thefe Commiflioners in the regularity of examining and pafling the public accounts, and in recovering large fums due to the public, which have been paid in confequence of the Steps taken by the Commiflioners for that purpofe| is the beft encomium upon the meafure itfelf, and upon thofe Commiflioners who have fo faithfully and diligently carried it into eflfeft. The fame disinterested principle which has governed every proceeding of the prefent Administration refpefting matters of revenue, is obfervable in the mode of making loans and conducting lotteries. For- N merly ... I ' C 9° 1 \ . I ; marly the necefllty of the public, to avail itfelf of thefe means of railing money? was made an engine of corruption, and loans, lotteries, and contrafts, were formed, not with a view to the public fervice, but for the emolument of the individual to whom they were given. The mode adopted during the period included in this work, has been that of receiving public propofals, and accepting the offer which is moft advantageous in its turn; the theory of reform is always popular, but it is feldom that, in a Government constituted like ours, that there is public virtue enough in the Minister to bring reform into a€&rn, and abridge his own patronage. Though the regulations above referred to have anfwered the purpofes for which they Were made, and proved highly beneficial to the public, it was obvious at the very beginning of this period, that the effeCt of regulation alone could not render the re-* venue equal to the expences which had been entailed on the country by the effeCts of the war; it became therefore an indif- penfable duty to fiftd productive taxes to fuch an amount as, added to the benefit derived rived from thefe regulations, might render the income equal to the expenditure, and • tenfure a furplus applicable to the reduction of debt. It is no Small proof of the perr Severance of the Legislature, and the re- fources of the country, that productive taxes^ t0 &n amount exceeding one million annually, were in&ipofed in the courfeof the ■laft Parliament; and that although every refource had be$n fuppofed to be previa I 1 i. X oufly exhaufted, they neither interfered with other branches of the revenue, or checked the commerce of the country ; both of which, on the contrary, .have in- ereafed with unufyal rapidity. m While Padiament was thus fuccefsfully employed in rendering the public revenue more effectual, it was proper, at the fame time, to take meafures for applying that revenue in a direft.ion moft profitable to the State. By the report of a Committee appointed in 17$6, the probable furplus of the public income, after paying the intereft of the national debt, and providing for the various establishments, was calculated at >T2 ' 9005000h :[ :92§3 - J 900,cool, per annum. To this was added ioo,oool. levied by a part of the additional taxes before referred to, and one million annually; the amount of both was vefted in Commissioners, to be appropriated to the extinction of the national public debt, by the purchafe of Stock, on behalf of the public. The effeCts of this operation, afting, as it does, with a progreSlive increafe, are beyond what a Slight view of the iubjeft would lead one to fuppofe. The fum paid off at the firft of February, 1791, was 6,772,350!.; the intereft on which amounting to 203,170!., together with 51,634!. of expired annuities, amounting in the whole to the fum of 254,804b, are, according to the tenor of the plan, added to the annual million for the reduction of the national debt, and increafe £it compound intereft in favour of the public. The appropriation of this million is a truft for pofterity, and never Should be infringed. For contingencies beyond the ordinary and eftabliShed expence of the nation, the moft manly, as well as the moft economical mode of provision, is by raifing the capital of the fum laid out within a Short C 93 1 ,| ' Short determinate fpace of time. Of this an example was S!>ewn, in the laft SeSfion of Parliament, on occafion of providing for the expences incurred in our difpute with Spain. Thefe expences amounted to a fum of about 3,000,0001. Temporary and productive taxes were provided to the amount of 86o,oool. per annum ; part of which were to remain till a large portion of this debt was extinguished, and the remainder till the whole Should be completely di£ charged, which would be effefted in about four years. Except fome unforefeien event J X Shall arife, for which the nation cannot provide in this manner, there will be nothing to counteract the rapid effeft which the.appropriation of the furplus revenue muft produce in no very diftant period towards relieving the country from a large proportion of its heavy incumbrances. It will be a fubjeft of juft fatisfaftion and triumph, to every one who feels for his country, to recapitulate the advantages which have been produced within the period of this Statement, partly by the meafures now detailed, and Still more by the patural effefts of peace, and the continu- #• 3 ally gife ffi? Mli m i 941 ", ally increasing exertions of national induftry. Few inftance^ occur in hiftory of io rapid and unexpected a& improvement in the fituation of public affairs; and the change becomes more Striking from havi||g immediately followed a period equally remarkable for as fiudden a transition from a State of opulence and profperity to weak- nefs and diftrefs. A war which was productive of nothing but calamity, and which terminated by the feparation of thirteen flourishing provinces from the empire, had, in the courfe of Seven 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 Short of the total amount of il\e intereft aftually incurred during that period by much more than two millions* They left at the conclusion of the war an annual deficiency in thofe funds only of near 400,cool. The reft of the revenue deftined in times of peace to pay the intereft of debt previously contracted, or to fupport the ordinary .establishments, had in the mean time declined ; and the whole of the annual revenue, including the produce both £• C 95 3 . # •' both of the taxes fubfifting before the w#f $ and thofe impofed in the courfe of it. X 7 amounted, at the end of 1783, only to about one million fix hundred thoufand pounds more than in 1776, though a debt had been incuired in the fame period, either 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 annual charges on the aggregate fund, including the civil lift, and the addition of the intereft of Ex- chequer bills, as they Stood at that period, was io,6oo,o.ool., and the total of the annual revenue arifing from the permanent taxes was about 10,200,000!. In addition to this deficiency there remained the whole burden of providing for the annpal expences of the army, the navy* the ordnance, the charges for the plantations, and the other neceffary fervices, the 5 The total amount of intereft on the national debt at the end of the year 1776 was 4,475,000!^ and in 1786, 9,273,000!, amount HOBS e [ 96: ] amount of which could not be Calculated at lefs than 4,000,000!. To meet thefe charges, the only remaining refoufce* without recurring to frefti taxes, was the annual vote of the land and malt, which is nominally eftimated at 2,750,000!., but which in faft produces about 2,550,000b The melancholy refult of the whole wasy that there exifted a deficiency of the aftual amount of the revenue below the annual expenditure, on the lowTeft eftimate, of above i,8oo,oool. Some relief was undoubtedly* under any circumstances, to be expefted from the return of peace ; but it feemed lefs to be relied upon at this period than at any which had before occurred. Befides the difficulties 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 public revenue. The price of annuities, at an intereft of 3 per cent,, which, in times of profperity, had frequently been above par,, and feldom lower than 90, had, at the conclusion of the year 1783, or the beginning of 1784, fallen; to [ 97,1 . ' .f;. to 55. This depreffion of credit had fwat- lowed up and annihilated for the time al- moft half the value of the funded property of the kingdom. The price of lands had funk from the fame caufes, though, perhaps, not in an equal degree. The univcrfal difficulty of obtaining money, and the aftual fcarcity both of ipe- cie and of bullion, had every where checked circulation. There appeared (as it were) a general Stagnation in all the exertions of the country ; clandestine and illicit trade was the only one which was profecuted with vigour, and the enterprife and induftry 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 circumftances even the fpirit of the nation was broken, the feeling and temper of people, of all de- fcriptions, refeml^led the difmay of an army which had fuftained fome unex* pefted and difgraceful defeat; when, un- lefs means can be found to revive their Courage, and infpire them with freSh con- o fidence C 98 I fidence in themfelves, they will never again be led to victory and to glory. Every thing depended upon the influence of opinion ; but to remove the defpondency, and to raife the hopes of the nation, feemed a tafk as difficult as to retrieve its credit, and to repair its refources. 'If it were practicable at all, it was thought to require an union of all the talents, and all the efforts of the different parties in the State. But here unfortunately the danger was Still increafed ; inftead of cither an union in the public caufe, or a generous emulation and rival- Ship in Support of the public intereft, the nation was tprn and diStrafted by the utmoft violence of faftion, which for a time fufpended the functions of executive government, and even threatened the extremes of anarchy and confufion. At length, however, the Storm fubfided, and as Soon as there was the appearance of -& fettled Government, an attempt was made, (under all the discouragements which have, been Stated),* the fucceis or failure of which would be decisive on. our future Situation. The immenfe load of unfunded debt which, had accumulated*-during, the war prefled more: 11 ;' l> " If: - more than any other circumftance on the credit of the country; its amount proved near 30,000,000b ; yet large as this fum is, the effeft of it operated in a Still higher proportion, from its being neither liquidated nor ascertained. 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 occafion. This alone was a pledge and earneft to the world of a difpofition to encounter all the difficulties of the fituation, and to endeavour at leaft to equalize the public income to its expenditure. A Single Step of this nature went far to diffipate the gloom which then hung over the country. Men began to recoiled: themfelves, to entertain truer notions of the extent of our refources, and to remember the firft duty of good citizens, " never to defpair of the republic.'* The fucceeding exertions of the country, and the meafures taken for the improvement of the revenue, enabled Parliament, as early as the year 1786, after making good the deficiencies before Stated, and al- m m ...'.' ' .§' M I0°; 1 ' :1 lotting a fufficient provifion for other ne- cefl'ary public expences, to enfure (in the manner already Stated) the appropriation of a million annually, at compound intereft, to the difcharge of the national debt. The commercial treaty with France fucceeded, which put'an end to a SufpenSe unfavourable both to trade and revenue, and by opening to us an additional and extenfive market on favourable terms, gave a new fcope and a freSh incentive to the Spirit of induftry and commerce. After thefe two events the tide wras completely turned, and its courfe ever fince has been uniform and rapid. Our revenue has been gradually rifing, and in the laft year has exceeded the amount of the year 1783 by nearly four millions Sterling. About one million of this fum feems to have arifen, as has been already Stated, from the impoiltion of additional and productive taxes ; nearly an equal proportion has accrued on thofe articles which have been enumerated as the fubjeft of fpecific regulations; the remainder proceeds from a caufe Still more fatif- faftory, a gradual augmentation diffufed over over" almoft every branch of the revenue, which can only be afcribed to the increafed confumption and the increafed wealth of the empire. We have already feen that a corresponding improvement has taken place in the State of our trade, which both furnishes an explanation of the great fource of our advantages and gives us juft ground to ex- peft their continuance. In the mean time near Seven millions of the capital of our debt have been discharged, a fum larger than has ever been paid off in the longeft interval of peace, Since the commencement of the century. The Sinking fund now applicable annually to the difcharge of debt has already grown to about one million three hundred thoufand pounds. The rife in the value of the Stocks feems to open the profpeCt of a reduction of intereft on thofe funds which are redeemable ; and if we were to look beyond the period to which this work is confined, we Should perhaps find the profpeCt Still brightening. We may even be allowed to hope that the moment is not diftant which may complete the contraft'with our former diftrefles, and when [ IC2 1 I when, inftead of increasing incumbrances, and impaired refources, we may find our revenue fufficient to accelerate the reduction of the national debt, and at the fame time diminish in fome degree the burthen of the taxes now levied upon the people. SECTION IV. Interference of Great Britain in the Settlement of the Affairs of Holland. JL HE internal arrangements of revenue and finance, though not interrupted in Syf- tem, were fomewhat abated in their effeCts, by accidental occurrences in foreign politics, which obliged Great Britain to inter- poSe in the Situation of countries materially connected with our own. It requires but little fagacity to pronounce, that the pacific Syftem now generally allowed to be for the intereft of every country, is peculiarly for the intereft of Great Britain. m t Pm ■ v " But [ lo3 1 . But to preferve peace, it is neceflary to maintain the dignity of a nation unim* paired; to make her friendship valuable, and her refentment, when unavoidably rouzed to juft refentment, formidable to other nations. It is with ftates as with individuals ; their independance and their power procure them friends and allies. The laft unfortunate war had left u& without an ally; France had, by mutual advantages, drawn clofer the ties of the family compact with Spain; and She direfted almofl at will the councils of Holland. That country, with which, for more than? a century before, Great Britain had been connefted by numberlefs engagements, had, for fome time paft, been devoted to the interefts of her rival power, who, feeing the importance of the acquisition, had, with unceafing policy, and at an enormous expence, profecuted and attained the objeft of gaining an entire afcendancy in the Dutch Government. The disturbances which, during the year 1786, and for Some time preceding, had prevailed in the various provinces of the Republic, were at laft, by the violence Am - . j 104 ] lence of the Anti-Stadtholderian party* brought, in the. fpring of the fucceeding year, to the iffue of an armed conteft. The mediation of France and Pruffia had only produced, in its failure, that freSh and redoubled animofity which always at-* tends a fruitlefs endeavour at conciliation* Thfc province of Holland adopted refblu* tions fubverfive of the union of the ftates, and in direft violation of the Constitution of the Republic ; thofe refblutions it pre-* pared to enforce by an army recruited with French foldiers, and affifted in its opera* tions by French officers. A civil war had' aftually begun in the province of Utrecht, and in another quarter; the city of Amsterdam experienced a fcene of confufion and horror little Short of the fack and devastation of a victorious and unreftrained Soldiery. In the progrefs of thofe violent meafures, which the enemies of the Stadtholdei* purfued, they committed a perfonal out* rage on the Princefs of Orange, which rpuzed the refentment, and juftified the immediate interposition of her brother the King of Pruffia. They refufed the -fatif- faftion [ I05 ] --4-e4;.- fa$iqn which that Monarch demanded for the infult offered to his Sifter, with an obstinacy and a confidence, infpired not lefs by the hopes of foreign fuccour, than by the Strength of their party in the Republic. The conSequent meafures of the Court of Berlin ^re fufjiciently known. They were taken with a promptitude and a decifioq. which they could fcarcely have poffefled without a reliance on that co-operation which Great Britain had refolved to afford in refcuing. the Constitution and rights of the United Provinces from the tyranny of a faftion as hoftile to the interefts of this country, as to the eftablifhed Government £>f its own. The Court of France was too fenfible of the importance of maintaining its influence in the Republic, eafily to ac- quiefce in the defeat of that party by whofe means that influence had been fo long fup- ported. Its refolution to interfere in iup- port of that party was notified to the Court pf Great Britain about the fame time that the anfwer by the States of Holland re- fufling the fatisfaftion which the King of Pruffia demaijcjed was delivered to his Am- taflador. This was one of thofe critical p junctures ISif I illl! J junctures in which firmnefs of councils and vigour of exertion were able to obtain an objeft of the greateft importance to the future political interefts of this country. The immediate equipment of a formidable fleet, the increafe of our own military force, and the fubfidiary treaty with the Landgrave of Heffe Caffell for a body of auxiliaries, put this country in a condition effectually to counteract the interpofition of France on the oppoflte Side. The fud- dennefs and expedition of the preparations in this country, which actually took place within three days of the notification from France, and almoft at the fame moment that the PruSfian troops were entering Holland, added not a little to the effeCt of the meaSiire. This decifive conduft, fo much beyond the energy She had lately found m the operations of this country, France appears not to have been prepared for, and at that junfture, preffed by the embarraflfed Situation of her finances, She was unable to withstand it. Awed by the firmnefs of the Britifh Councils, and the inftant and formidable exertions of her national Strength, She gave up the Dutch republicans I io7 ] . ^ t cans to their fate; the Stadtholder enjoyed the full fruits of the Duke of Brunfwick's lably-condufted and highly-fuccefsful expedition, and was reinstated in the fulleft powers which his family had ever held Juice the union of the provinces. In fo Short a Space of time, and from the promptitude with which Government took advantage of circumftances proceeding from caufes in themfelves inconsiderable, was that afcendancy which France had So long held in the Administration of Holland, overthrown, and Great Britain freed from thofe dangers which the foundeft of her politicians had often predicted from its effeCts. When this bufinefs was laid before Parliament, the manner in which it had been condufted on the part of this country received the approbation of all parties. The leaders of opposition, while they gave that approbation with a very laudable franknefs and candour, remarked the wifdom, now proved by recent events, of that jealouSy of France which they had formerly recommended* In point of political forecaft, they now ventured to recommend that p 2 fyftem & Ill [ 108 ) iyftem of continental alliance, without which Britain muft be left, as was her misfortune in the laft war, infulated and friendlel's amidft a combination of enemies; that Syftem which, tending to preferve the balance of power in Europe, gives the beSl affurance for its tranquillity, and is fo ef- fentjgjrto the interefts and fafety of Great Britain. " This Syftem, (faid Mr. Fox,) which has been Sometimes called romantic, is a ierious Iyftem, and fuch as it is the intereft of this country to be governed by ; a Syf- tem founded on that found and folid political maxim, that Great Britain ought to look to the Situation of affairs upon the Continent, and take fuch meafures upon every change of circumftances abroad, as Shalt belt tend to preServe the balance of power in Europe." Upon that maxim, he faid, he had founded all his political conduft, and convinced as he was of its juftnefs, he Should continue to adhere to it. Mr. Burke declared, " that he highly approved of the Syftem of meafures pur- fued with teSpeft to Holland, and the renewal. 3 e t lo9 I - li|- neWal bf continental connections. That was the fyftem on which alone the country could expeft to Stand with fafety and honour. It was during our adherence to that fyftem that Great Britain had been a glorious country, the objeft of the admiration of other countries. The fubfidiary treaty with Hefle,, as a Single, unconnected meafure, he muft difapprove, becaufe, by continuing our guarantee to that Prince, we might be involved in a war on his account; but as part of a Syftem comprehending Pruffia and Holland, it was a wife meafure, and as fuch it Should have his Suffrage." e : ,' '■ f The expediency of this Syftem of Continental connections might occur to minds lefs enlightened than thofe of Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke. But the national prejudices of this country are againft it. In every country the bulk of the people look not to dif- tant events, nor will eafily confent to make provifion for them at the expence of present inconvenience. If at any time the tide of this prejudice fliould run againft the meafures of Government, it were perhaps more virtue than we are entitled to look ~ ' ' ^ II0 ^ i look for in a StateSman to contradict t&a£ prejudice in favour of a rival. Syftem vtfill probably then be forgotten, or that Syftem only remembered wMch is paramount to every other, the Syftem of party. One of the moft immediate advantages, though imperfeftly known at the time, which Great Britain derived from this fuc- cefsful interference in the affairs of Holland, was the fafety of our Eaft-Indian Settlements, on which the French party in Holland had meditated a very ferious at- tackj in conjunction with France, and Tip* poo Saib, who-had lately fucceeded his father, the celebrated Hyder AH, in the fo* vereignty of Myfore. 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 harrier of aim oft impaffable mountains; with a reftlefs and unbounded ambition, -fupported by great abilities, and unreftrained by good faith or principle ; with that command over the minds of his followers which is naturally inSpired by his own talents, and which receives additional weight from the [ III ] the celebrity of his father's name; with an hatred, like that of Hannibal to Rome, hereditary and inveterate againft the English nation ; with an army regularly established, trained by the difcipline, and at Sifted by the prefence, of a confiderable number of French officers and foldiers— Tippoo Saib is by much the moft formidable enemy which Great Britain has to fear in Afia. With him, as with his father, France had been at great pains to conneft herfelf. With him, in conjunction with the Mahrattas and the Soubah of the Dec an, it is understood that France, and Holland, under the influence of France, propofed to enter into an alliance offenfive and de- fenfive, againft the British power in India. And there is great reafon to fuSpeft that meafures had been aftually concerted for fpeedily carrying the fcheme into execution. The Dutch Revolution, (if that term can be applied to the restoration of the constitutional Government of the United Provinces) joined to the embarraffed Situation of France, which indeed was on$ great cauSe of the events in Holland, destroyed PL*JH iff is2 ] • Stroyed this dangerous combination J It did not, however, extinguish the reftlefs and ambitious views of Tippoo, who, unfup- ported by any European power, has engaged in tneafures of aggreffion againft an old and faithful ally of the Britifh nation in India, tinder circumftances which will probably lead him to repent the folly and prefumption of the attempt. rz*?zrBi>i5& ** w «*«ji»b SECTI V Di/pute with Spain. ANOTHER difpute, which threatened to interrupt the tranquillity which Great Britain was fo much interested to preferve, was that which arofe with Spain, on the Seizure of fome Britifh Veflels at Nootka Sound, on the North-weftern coaft of America. One of the laft great public afts of the late Parliament, was to give its firm e I » 1 firm and decided fanftion to the meafures which His Majefty thought it advifeable to take* for maintaining the national honour, and protecting the national interefts, againft the violence which had been offered to both. The firft intelligence of this event came through the channel of Spain itfelf. At the fame time that it tranfmitted an account of the feizure of one of the Ships in queftion, the Court of Spain juftified the detention of the vefl'el, on the ground that the trade and intended fettlement at Nootka, which was the objeft of the voyage, Were a direft violation of the right of the Court of Spain to-thofe territories, founded, as it was faid, on oiri|^akdifcovery, recognifed by folemn treaties, and confirmed by immemorial poffeSSion ; it even aflbmed, from thefe premifes, the language of complaint againft the fabjefts of this country, for an infringement of the rights of the Spanifh empire, which it prayed His Britannic Majefty to prevent in future/ At the fame time it Signified an approbation of the Governor of Mexico's conduft in releafing, as it was faid he had done,, Q. the : %"i ■ " *■ 1I4 ^ ■ Ir the veflei and crew which had been feized at Nootka, on the ground that nothing but ignorance of the rights of Spain could have induced the fubjeft of any nation to refort to that coaft with the idea of making an eftabliShment, or carrying on commerce there. The extravagance of thofe pretenfions, and the avowed-aft of injuftice and violence to which they had in the prefent inftance given rife, were of themfelves Sufficient to alarm the ministers of this country: but the arrival of Captain Meares, one of the owners of the veffels feized at Nootka, and the narrative given by him of the tranfaftion, Shewed the conduft of the Spaniards to have been even of a more hof- tile kind than the former intelligence had given any real on to SuppoSe. From his relation it appeared, that in confequence of a previous tiade opened with the North- weftern coaft of America, under the patronage of the Governor General of India, he had, in conjunction, with other Britifh merchants, fitted out two veflels, with w?hich he arrived at Nootka in May, 1788; purchaSed fome ground from the natives for for the purpofe of a fettlement, and had aftually built a houfe, and hoifted the Bri- tifh colours. That in the following year two other veflels were fent by this aflb- ciated Company, with artificers of various kinds, and other perfons intended as fet- tiers at this part of Nootka. That after thefe veflels had been fome time there, and one of them had been difpatched on difcoveries to the adjoining coaSts, a Spa- nifh Sloop of war appeared in that quarter, whofe commander, after fome mutual civilities which had been employed on his part to diiguife the hostility of his defign, Seized the Britifh veflels, and made the Captain and crews prifoners, whom he treated with a wanton infolence and cruelty which not even'an aftual State of war would have juftified, on the humane and liberal principles of modern times. Accounts were at the fame time received of certain warlike preparations of the Spanish Court, which feemed to indicate her refolutions to Support the pretentions of her fovereign- ty, if not to vindicate the afts of her officers. a .2 1ft In ii [ n6 ] In this pofture of affairs, it became the duty of Administration to take immediate meafures for placing the country in a fitua- tion to enforce her demands of juStice, if the Court of Spain Should refufe that fatis- faftion which this infult on the flag, this outrage againft the fubjefts in Great Britain, required. Notice of the bufinefs in agitation was fent to the different Confuls in Spain ; and on the 4th of May, a general and very effectual prefs took place. It was by this incident that the Public were firft led to the knowledge of any difpute between the two Courts ; a fecrecy of a very uncommon but highly ufeful kind, having hitherto covered this tranfaftion from tha eye of every perfon except thofe whoSe confidential Situation made them neceSIa- rily acquainted with its progrefs. On the 5th of May a meffage from His Majefty was delivered to both Houfes of Parliament, informing them of the Seizure of the veflels at Nootka Sound; the demand made by His Majefty for an adequate fatisfaftion, which had not yet been made or offered, and the claim aflerted by Spain to to an exclufive fovereignty and commerce in that part of the world. That His Majefty had inftrufted his minister at Madrid to make a frefh reprefentation on the fub- jeft ; but having in the mean time received information of considerable armaments in the ports of Spain, 6i he had judged it in- P difpenfably neceflary to make fuch pre- H parations as might put it in his power " to aft with vigour and effeCt in fupport W of the honour of his Crown, and the " interefts of his people; and exprefled " his firm reliance on the fupport of Par- " liament in taking fuch ineafures as might " be eventually neceffary for that pur- " pole." - Jv * ' ■- The anfwer was fuch as might be ex- pefted from a Britifh Parliament on fuch an occafion. If limited monarchies fome- times want that prompt and ipeedy exertion, of which abfolute Governments are fufceptible, they poffefs, on the other hand, that warm, that vigorous impulfe, which the fentiment of a SVee country in- fpires, when fatisfied of the juftice of the caufe which it is called to fupport. The anfwer of Parliament was unanimous and cordial; I • r us 1 cordial; the feelings of the nation were in uniSon with the voice of its reprefentatiyes, who exprefled their determination " to 44 concur with His Majefty in the moft " zealous and effeftual manner in luch 46 meafures as may become requifite for "■ maintaining the dignity of His Maief- |J ty's Crown, and the eflential intereft of " his dominions/' Fortified with this refolution of Parliament, and the congenial Spirit of the people, Administration continued their warlike preparations with fuch earneft and effective difpatch, that in the Short Ipace of about two months, a fleet of between 50 arid 60 Ships of the line was ready for fea. Nor did they Seem wanting in forefight of future events, any more than in application to the prefent emergency. In America and the Weft Indies, it is understood, they had prepared the different Governors for the poffible event of a Spanifh war, in Such a manner as to prevent any danger of an unlooked-for attack in that quarter where Spain might naturally be fuppofed moft in condition to meditate fuch an attempt; and though the particular projects of the war ml II9 I" ■ war were ftudioufly concealed, the preparations made fufficiently Shewed that it was the intention to carry on the moft vigorous operations in the Southern hemifphere. One of the moft immediate objeCts of attention in the Britifh Government, and one which was attended with the moft pleafing Succefs, was the application to Holland for its affiftance on this occafion, in virtue of the late alliance with the Republic. The friendship of Holland was not only unequivocally declared, but its affiftance was given with an alacrity and an aftivity which have not been often exemplified in the exertions of a country fo constituted as that of the United Provinces. A Dutch fleet failed to Portf- mouth early in the month of July, and provision was made for a fpeedy reinforcement to this fquadron if the exigency of affairs Should require it. Affuranees are alfo known to have been received from Pruffia, of a readinefs to furnifh its Stipulated fuccours, in anv manner in which they could moft contribute to the fuccefs and the exertions of this country* Thefe ')!■!»■ J t I2° % M . Thefe were the firft fruits of that alliance, wdiich our interposition in the affairs of the Republic in 1787 had produced between Great Britain, Pruffia, and Holland, and Shewed the policy of a fyftem, which attached to us one of the firft military, and one of the firft nayal powers in Europe. The formidable preparations which Britain was fo foon enabled to complete; the zeal and ardour of the nation; the firmnefs of its Councils, aided alfo by the particular fltuation of France, and its equivo- cal language on the fubjeft of the family compaft, induced the Court of Spain, after fome months of explanation and delay, to abate that lofty and unbending deportment which She had held on the firft outlet of this bufinefs. On the 24th of July, 1790, a declaration and counter-declaration was executed at Madrid between the ministers of Britain and Spain, by which the latter agreed to that fatisfaftion for the injury committed, restitution of the veffels feized, and indemnification to their owners, on which the former had uniformly infffted as a preliminary Step to every ev$ry other adjustment of the preSent difpute, or arrangement for preventing fuch difputes in future. But the accomplishment of fuch future arrangement was an objeCt which it was highly important for Britain to obtain; and which, in the dif- cuffion of this affair in Parliament confe- quent on the King's meffage, had been mentioned by all parties as a meafure which the prefent circumftances of the two Courts afforded the beft occafion to enforce. This was the fubjeCt of a negociation, which from its nature muft have been of considerable difficulty, and which was not finally Settled till the 24th of Oftober. On that day a Convention was entered into at Madrid, between the ministers of Great Britain and Spain, in behalf of their refpec- tive Courts, by which, in addition to the restoration of the property whereof the BritiSh fubjefts had been difpoflefled at Nootka, and an adequate compenfation fo£ their loffes, which had before been Stipulated, the important conceflion of our equal right of navigation and SiShery in the Pacific ocean or South feas, and of landing on the coafts unoccupied by the R •pa- If ' ' ■■" ' [ l22 ] ~ . Iff' Spaniards, for the purpofe of commerce with the natives, or of making fettlements on fuch unoccupied places, was obtained* for the fubjefts of this country. Amicable provisions were alfo made for a friendly in- tercourfe of trade between the two nations on the north-weftern coaft of America, and the adjacent iflands ; and for the prevention of any hoftile or violent meafures between their refpeftive fubjefts in thofe dif- tant regions. |f| The iffue of this bufinefs was flattering to Great Britain. The refources and force of the empire were proved and exerted ; and that power and dignity which the misfortunes of the laft war had been fup- pofed fo much to abate, were now reftored to this country, and employed with a moderation, and at the fame time with a firmnefs and an effeft, which tended alike to exalt the national character, and to fecurc the public tranquillity SECTION I23 3 SECTION VI. Repeal of theTeft and Corporation A£fs. *TT* X WO public meafures of considerable importance, which have not yet been adverted to, wrere brought forward in this Parliament, and both of them were fup- ported by a refpeftable part of the repre- fentative body, and of the people at large —1 mean a "motion for a Repeal of the Tefl and Corporation A Sis, and an enquiry on which to found a bill for the Alolitionof the Slave Trade. Of thefe, although the firft was rejefted by the laft Parliament, and the fecond has Since been rejefted in the prefent, it feems proper, in this historical review, to take fome notice, becaufe they agitated at the time, and Still continue to agitate, the opinions and the feelings of the Public. A petition of the Diflenters, praying for a repeal of the afts above mentioned, was firft prefented to the Houfe of Com- r 2 mons [ 124 ] mens on the 28th of March, 1787, by Mr. Beaufoy, and fupported .by Mr. Fox, and feveral other very refpeftableMembers of the Houfe. In fupport of the petition it was argued, " that every man has a right to judge for himielf in religious matters ; nor ought his exercife of that right to be branded with a mark of infamy, fuch as the exclufion from offices and trufts, which is part of the puniShment inflifted by the law on Several infamous crimes. That it was difgraceful to a country fo enlightened as England to retain, in the prefent mild and liberal times, fo much intolerance and perfecu- tion. That opinion merely, ought not to be at all fubjeft to public cognizance, which Should only be applied to men's aftions. That, in faft, there is no teft of civil opi^. nion ; for a man may hold opinions averfe to every principle of the Constitution, and yet attain the higheft Situations in the State." . §f The indecency and impiety of applying a facred rite of religion, the Sacrament of our Lord's Supper, to fecular and political purpofes, was warmly urged. That this te kind kind of teft is as inefficacious as indecent; becaufe perfons compelled by neceffity, or allured by intereft, may take the Sacrament after the manner of the Church of Erig- land, without fuppofing themfelves by that compliance to declare their approbation of the form or constitution of the Church ; and Papifts, againft whom only, and not the Proteftant Diflenters, the teft aft was originally intended to operate, may, exclusive of the general difpenSation of their Church, take this teft without conceiving- it to bind their confeiences, as many of them hold the Proteftant Church to be no Church,- its Ministers no Ministers, and its Sacrament no Sacrament." " The Church of England, it was faid, is fecured in her doftrines, her discipline, and her privilege, without the teft aft, and its repeal would render more eafy, as well as more pure, the exercife of one of the moft facred functions of her Ministers, who, as the law now Stands, cannot, "without being fubjeft to an aftion for damages, refuSe the Sacrament to any perfon who wifhes to qualify himfelf for an office, and yet, by the folemn injunctions of the Church, I i ^2 ■!;■■ PP J ; '.;■ Church, are charged not to administer it to blafphemers, adulterers, and others, in a State unworthy of receiving it." " The Diflenters, faid the friends of the motion, aSk nothing derogatory to the established religion of the country, or in the fmalleft degree trenching on her prerogatives ; it is only a civil equality they fue for; a relief from thofe unjuft and grievous mJ -.J » difabilities which the prefent laws impofe on them ; incapacity of any civil or military appointment, of truft or office in any community or corporation, even though they Should have eftabliShed it by their induftry, or endowed it by their benevolence ; and, in cafe of holding any office without having fubmitted to this teft, a proscription fo cruel as the being legally incapable of maintaining anyaftion at law, or luit in equity, of being, a guardian, an executor, or even receiving a legacy." " In foreign countries, amidft all their religious bigotry, there is no exclufion by a religious teft from civil or military appointments ; the Epifcopalians in Scotland, who are Diffenters from the Church established there, are fubjeft to no fuch teft ; in Ireland [ I27 ] Ireland the Diflenters obtained, in 1779, the repeal now folicited here; in none of thofe countries are any ill effefts found to refult from the want of this pretended guard to the religious establishment." |S The Diffeaters, though incapacitated for the meaneft office, are yet eligible to Parliament; fo inconsistent, as well as un- juft, are the exclusions againft them. The advocates for fuch exclusion are reduced to the abfurdity of confiding their religious interefts to difienting legislators, who, if they had the inclination, might poififs the power of altering the Church Establishment, and yet of maintaining, that it is dangerous to truft Diflenters with offices and appointments, which confer, in that refpeft, no power or influence whatso ever. 99 " The impolicy of thofe Statutes, it wTas infifted, was equal to their injuftice ; they Separate and alienate from the general interefts cf the State a large and refpeft&ble body of the citizens. Take away, it wa.s faid, this odious line of feparation, and the Diflenters will be mingled with their fel- low fubjefts, and all diltinftion of a reli- giou [ »8 ] gious party will be for ever abolifhed and forgotten." t> The prayer of this petition, and the motion in confequence of it, were dppofed, among others, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and by Lord North, who, though he had a little while before had the misfortune tolofe his eyefight, came down now, for the firft time, to the Houfe, to op- pofe a meafure wdiich he conceived fo alarming to the fafety and welfare of the country. % The queftion, it was argued by the oppofers of the repeal, when Stripped of thofe colours in which eloquence and ab- ftraft arguments of natural equity might drefs it, was limply this : — Ought we to relinquish, at once, thofe provisions which had been adopted, by the wifdom of our ancestors, as a bulwark to the national church, of which the constitution and the fafety were fo intimately connected and interwoven with thofe of the State ?" 46 The reafonablenefs of toleration was not difputed ; " but it is not toleration, it was faid, that is afked by the Diflenters, but equality ; the free exercife of their own mode ft § - r mam i HI 1 itiode of wcrfhip is not denied them ; but k is to thofe only who follow the worShip of the eftabliShed Church, that the Constitution has thoughtproper to entruft the enjoyment of offices and appointments, with the Administration of which the fafety both of Church and State is connected." 44 Restrictions applying to offices, which are objeCts of favour and of truft, muft never be considered as an infringement on Liberty.- There are many inftances of certain rights being confined to certain orders and qualifications of men ; but the title of the State to make fuch reftriftions has never been called in queftion." 1§ • 9 1 4< If aftions only, and not opinions or fpnp ts, were to be matter of public cognizance or provifion, there would be an end of all that preventive wifdom which guards the avenues of danger to the community,,' Jn faft and experience, the teft laws have been the bulwark by which the Constitution has been faved. But for them, the family of Stuart might now have held the Throne on its own defpotic terms, and no Constitution had been left us to value or to iefend." "e\ H :.Jt - : s ■" - f6 if i [ l3° | 44 If an establishment of religion beat all neceSfary, (which will hardly be de-* nied) this advantage and protection are ne- ceflary to its fupport. Without any reflection on the Diffenters, who are a very refpeftable body of men, and whofe merits in feveral periods of public danger will readily be allowed, it may fairly be fup- pofed, according to the principles they profefs, that any acceffion of power would be ufed by them againft the eftabliShed Church ; as honeftand confiientious men, holding that Church in a certain degree Sinful and idolatrous, it is their duty to employ every legal means in their power for its degradation." 44 The penalties and difabilities which have been inveighed againft as fo harSh and tyrannical, do not apply to the religious tenets or writings of the Diflenters^ Againft them there is no penalty what- ioever; only 3 preventive restraint of the law, that men holding fuch doftrines, ihall not be entitled to offices and appointments, in which they might have the power of hurting the religious establishment of the country. The penalties fo much el S ■ ;. ' [ ' *3l ] t . aiiuch complained of, are only incurred by a breach of that law; they are not provi- ffons of the Statutes in queftion, but fanc- tions to fecure their obfervance.*! 4i In the foreign countries, cited as ex- ^mples, it was faid, the arbitrary nature of the government fuperfedes the neceflity of fuch provilions. as thofe contained in the laws vyiShed to be repealed. The teft aft of England was founded on a jealouSy of the Monarch, natural in a free country, limiting his power of nomination to offices, by a reftriCtion for the Security of the (Shurch and the Constitution. In Scotland the Diflenters are chiefly Epifcopa- J x XV lians, againft-whom thePreSbyterian efta- bliShmerit is^guarded by afolemn pledge at the Union. In Ireland, the non-conformity only to be dreaded is Popery, which there are other legal provifions to restrain, fp A diftinftioii was Stated between the danger arifing from the eligibility of Diffenters to Parliament, and that which Would arife from allowing them to hold offices or places in corporations. If Dif- f|nters were admitted into Corporations, s s' they 1. [ '3* 1 y might, in fome inftances, obtain an 6xciufive poSf ffion of them, and might return perfons of principles wholly unfavourable to the Church; whereas a Dif-" feuter at prefent has no chance of fitting in x O Parliament,' unlets his principles are fo'' moderate as to induce Members of the C hi.fch of England to eleft him their re- piv tentative. |f was admitted, that the principles betore Stated would have juftified withh^hn'ig even tins privilege,' but the" ciscun) Stance ol having grained "L," when if was of little importance, could funvfli no argument for otfcu r conceffionl m a liiore dangeroub tendency. \ It had been Said by the friends of the motion, that ir tne repeal was granted, the Diflenters | ould then reft fatisfied, would tn-unle tlie JLegiSktture for :no farther in- mdgence, and indeed 'would lofc altogether th,.- diici'Kftion If a religious' p, rty. But in is, it \vr.b contended, was 'contrary to experience and to human." nature. Men are generally emboldened by Iucceis,. and rife in future demands irom having obtained the firft. Some • <)■ the Diflenters, it was affirmed, uid not Scruple to declare their aver Jioii [-. l33 ] averfion and enmity to the eftabliShed Church, and certain publications were quoted to Shew the defigns which fome of the leaders of that party harboured againft it. The repeal of the teft a^: would let in. the moft obnoxious and moft violent, as. well as the moft moderate and inoffenfive; or rather the firft 'would be moft likely to pufli forward into offices, and trufts, from a zeal of which it was prudent to watch the progrefs, and to guard againft the effeCts. This application to Parliament on the* part of the Diflenters, after being rejefted 6a the prefent occafion by a majority of 178 to 100, was afterwards twice renewed, with a perfeverance, which, by its friends, was argued as a proof of the juStice of the claim ; by its opponents as the effeCt of an obftinate combination which might be the ground of alarm. In May, 1789, it was", brought forward again by Mr. Beaufoy, when his motion was negatived by a divi- C3 Jt fion of 222 to 102; and in March, 1790, by Mr. Fox, when, notwithstanding the utmoft exertion of his eminent abilities, the majority againft it wasconfiderablv in- creafed, the numbers being 294 to 105. Thefe 11 Thefe increafed majorities were proha- iyly more owing to the circumftances of' the times when the queftion was renewed^ than to any novelty or fuperior force in the arguments by which the meafure was, refifted. A Spirit of innovation and revolution had begun to arife, of which prudent and moderate men were afraid, and- which in a country, and at a period that could boaft fo much aftual profperky and happinefs, they Saw no reafon to encourage. The flourishing fit nation of that body of men, on whole behalf this queftion was now Stirred, did not feem to imply the existence of any material grievance, any oppreffive reftriftion attached to their peculiar form of worShip. The prefent meafure, it was faid, bore rather -^he appearance of a Step towards incroachment on the rights of the eftabliShed Church- than of a mere defence of that of their own. Such, at leaft, it was aSIerted, might fairly be fup- pofed to be the intentions of certain factious and defigning men, of confiderabl influence among the Diffenters, who had in fermons and difcourfes, avowed thei a w hopes of a fpeedy abafement of'the hie- rarchy ■0: ' \ • I' l35 1 ' / f ' f-archy of the Church of England ; a'ndy in the fame publications, had breathed $ congenial Spirit of difaffeftion to the wifely- eftabliShed monarchical part of our civil government. Such, it was allowed, might not be the fentiments of the great body of the Diflenters : they were too much interested in the national welfare to rifk its peace by fuch attempts ; but to men whofe turbulence and ambition overcame at once the mildnefs of religion, the principles of patriotifm, and the considerations of prudence, it was neceflary to oppofe any juft and legal barrier which could guard the tranquillity of the empire, or the fafety of the constitution. ECTION VII. Abolition of the Slave Trade. 1 HE idea of abolishing the Slave Trade had firft arifen, feveral years prior to its. being e . . t'-Jif 1 being brought forward in Parliament! among the Quakers, a fet of men whofe principles of peace and meeknefs often ill- according with the corruptions bf fociety or the political interefts of nations, were very naturally averfe to a traffic which had its chief origin in war and rapine, and was fupported by a great degree of violence and cruelty. In Britain the Suggestions of benevolence are always listened to with partiality. The addrefs of the Quakers on the SubjeCt or the Slave trade was favourably received in this country by many whole feelings were interested by the humanity of its motives, without having had leifure to confider its policy. A fociety was formed in England for the abolition of the Slave trade, and considerable fubfcriptions raifed for the purpofe of an application to Parliament in that behalf,- and of carrying on inquiries tending to eftabiiSh the juStice and the expediency of the meafure. §§ In this Spirit of aftive humanity petitions were preSented to the Houfe of Commons from Several public bodies, praying an abolition of this trade. A very full. and 1 , ' [ l37 ] and elaborate inquiry was made by the Privy Council into the fubjeft, and a number of perfons examined concerning the nature of this branch of commerce, from its firft Stage on the coaft of Africa to the fale of the negroes in the Weft Indies. This inquiry alfo comprehended the treatment and condition of the Slaves in the plantations, and the confequences to be expefted from the abolition or regulation of the traffic in queftion. The matter of the before-mentioned petitions was firft Stirred in the Houfe of Commons in the feffion i 788 ; but the general queftion of abolition being then postponed till the whole of this great, queftion Should be investigated to the bottom, a bill was in the mean time paffed for regulating the transportation of Slaves from Africa to the Weft Indies, in which various provisions were made for their health and accommodation, and bounties were humanely granted to the captains and furgeons of Slave Ships, of which the cargoes Should be tranfported with the leaft poffible lofs upon the voyage. t On ■ jffflrL m [ *38 ] - On the 12th of May, 1789, Mr. Wil- Perforce moved a String of refolutions declaratory of the existing abufes of the Slave trade, and laid a ground for a law to abolish it. On this fide of the argument, embracing almoft every topic that can give warmth to fentiment or force to language, lay the field for eloquence : in the mover of thefe reSblutions, a man of the moft amiable and refpeCtable character, that elo- quence was known to be founded on principle, and kindled by humanity. He was fupported by moft of the leading members of the Houfe ; among whom were the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. Fox. '7f; ..'.•:' ■, ; ,; Thofe refolutions, enforced with a zeal equal to the abilities of fuch men as I have mentioned, lay on the table of the Houfe of Commons as a text for the future difcuffion of the fubjeft. But a great variety of additional evidence, on both fides of the queStion, was afterwards taken by a Seleft Committee, which occupied the remaining period of the Parliament; and it was not till the firft feSEon of the next that the Houfe came to any decision. I f W ;S The '§■-'; I 11 *39 3 -' .: :1. ■ •■# The Slave trade," faid Mr. Wilbei> force and the other fupporters of his motion, H might, a priori, from its very na* ture, be pronounced a trade of inhumanity, oppreffion, and guilt. But we are not left to fuppofition — a body of evidence is laid before the Houfe, which Shews it to be in kind what indeed we muft have fuppofed it, but in degree beyond what the imagination of a good man could have led him even to conceive.'51 4< In its firft Stage, what a fcene of horror and devastation does it produce I The wars of the Africans are not prompted by thofe motives, favage as they are, which have fo often dazzled the fancy of cruel and unthinking men* Theirs is not the pride of conqueft, or the plume of glory —■-it is the mere vulgar rapacity of a thief, or the avarice of a cheat, that rouzes the kings of Africa to arms* We teach them wants, and the method of purchasing what thofe wants require by the blood, or, in the properer phrafe of the Shambles, l^y the fleSh of their own fubjefts, or the fubjefts of their neighbours. The feparation of parents and children, pf huSbands and :' -: ;■'. I I4° i|. .-• wives, the tearing afunder every bond of affection or of tendernefs, are the firft evils' to which the furvivors of thofe wars are 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 mifery condenfed into fo little room, it is hardly poffible for thofe to conceive who never gafped in the tainted air of a Slave Ship, under the heat of a vertical fun.'' The detail of that Situation was Said to be too horrible and naufeous for repetition : they prefented, therefore, a Silent picture of it to the eye, which had a powerful effeCt upon the Public—the feffion of aflave fkip, Shewing the manner of Stowing the wretched negroes on board, where, in the clofe package of airlefs holes, they often endured every degree of pain, difeafe, and filth, that is terrible or loathfome to nature. The mortality, in confeqpence, was affirmed tov be enormous-—about 50 per cent., which is ten times the amount of deaths in ordinary Situations. ■ jy h ,^&>*t^i; "Did : [ Hi ] •■:f';' . " Did there," it was faid, If exift |j| neceffity (as our interested luxury ufes the word neceSfity) for this cruel traffic for the cultivation of our Weft-India iflands, even that neceffity would not juftify the continuation of a trade fo repugnant to juStice ; but no fuch neceffity exifts, and the abolition of the Slave trade is as reconcileable to our true political interefts as it is confo- nant to the eternal principles of right, of confcience and humanity." " The intereft of the planters," it was argued, " was hurt by the exceffive lofs of the imported Slaves into the Weft Indies, and the very great expence in renewing them. This is owing to a variety of caufes, which would not occur if the culture of the iflands were carried on by any other mode. The inequality of the fexes, the diforders contracted in the middle paf- fage, the profligacy of their manners, the natural oonfequence @f that negleft in point of inftruftion to which a Slave muft always be fubjeft, who is considered as a beaft of labour rather than a moral agent; the ill treatment they receive, particularly the females in a State of pregnancy, or of nurfing *r6 L I Ev I nurfing their infants, from their mafter% or Still more from their managers or over- feers; the fcanty allowance of provifions to which they were often ftinted. All thefe evils," it was faid, " would be prevented, or leffened, by the falutary neceffity, which the abolition of the African market would impofe, of a proper degree of care, attention, and mild treatment of the negroes. Befides the probable introduction of cattle and machinery, inftead of Slaves, in the culture of the plantations, the Stock of negroes, if negroes muft be tifed, may be. profitably kept up without importation : it is fo in America, where, from good treatment and a certain degree of domeftication, their increafe has been great and rapid ; and even in the Weft Indies, notwithstanding all the caufes which Still fubfift for their decreafe, moft of which the abolition would remove, that decreafe has gradually, from the late improvements in their treatment, diminished; and in fome of the laft years the native Slaves in feveral of the iflands have aftually increafed, the decreafe being only oh the imported Slaves." m , " if [ x43 ] '•" « ■ ft If we feel not for the unhappy Afri* cans,,: it was faid, 44 yet we may be touched with the diftreffes of our own feamen. To them this traffic is nearly as mortal as to the negroes : and befides the lofs by death, feamen often fall a fa- crifice to the vengeance and retaliation :of the Africans on the coaft, or to the villany and covetoufnefs of the mafters of the Slave Ships after the difpofal of their cargoes in the Weft Indies, who being obliged, for their fafety on the paflage thither, to have a greater number of hands than is neceSiary for their homeward voyage, take every opportunity of leaving part of their crew in the iflands, or oblige them by ill ufage to defert from their Ships, when they often periSh miferably from difeafe and want. Such are its effeCts on our marine, one of the grounds on which thofe who argued for the trade thought themfelves Strong, It has been defended as a nurfery of feamen — it is, in faft, their dishonourable grave. *» 44 If feeling its confequences in point of juftice and humanity we are to conde- fcend to compute its advantages in a com? mercial f 144 . J mercial view, thofe boafted advantages will be found to have been greatly over-rated. In Liverpool, considered 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 lofing trade on the whole. But if this inhuman traffic in men were abolifhed, Africa has many other articles for which a much more lucrative trade might be carried on : even in its preSent Situation that country affords thefe ; but their increafe would be infinite, if, inftead of the idlenefs, the vice, the murders, we teach them by the Slave trade, we taught them, by the communication and reciprocal advantages of an honeft traffic, the habits of induftry, and the arts of agriculture and of manufactures." The oppofers of the abolition lay under many difadvantages which the natural, it may be Said the laudable, prejudices of mankind, the pompleftion of their arguments, and the appearance of partiality which their intereft in the queftion threw upon thofe arguments, necefl'arily createdr They endeavoured to appeal to the fober. under-* [ H5 1 "understanding, to the cool deliberate prudence of the Houfe, and cautioned it againft the dangerous conlequences which the Legislature's yielding to this momentary ebullition of romantic humanity might produce. 44 JuStice, they argued, is antecedent to compaffion, and the rights of property are as facred as thofe of humanity. The property vefted in the Weft-India iflands, was So vefted under the fanftion of numberlefs afts of the Britifh Legislature, deliberately, and fome of them recently paffed, feveral of which exprefsly authorife and encourage the Slave trade. Seventy millions of property is computed to be vefted in the Weft-India iflands. Is Parliament prepared to Strike off 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 feamen it employs ? 44 The motive muft be Strong indeed that can authorife fuch a breach of public faith to the planters, fuch a violation of the duty of Parliament to their country and their constituents. That motive is yik IT humanity; humanity; but the fanaticifm of hurfaa- nity, like the fanaticifm of religion, is deaf to reafon and to truth, and often destructive of the very virtue to which it pretends. Does our humanity never think of the confequence of the wiShed-for abolition to the thoufands of our own countrymen, whom it will reduce to diftrefs and poverty ? What crime have they committed* that their poffeflions Should be laid wafte^ and their property confifcated ? Thefe per- fons, our national humanity, now awakened by a fociety of enthufiafts, after it had Slept for 200 years amidft all the virtue and wifdom of our anceftors, thefe it oveilooks, to indulge in the ideal profpeft of diftant objeCts on the continent of Africa. . ... ... .;. / ^:&e e. w But even to the natives of Africa our mistaken compaflion will not be humanity. We can only aboliSh this trade for our- felves, for no other nation will be fo vtn- ivife as to aboliSh it. In France, wilder than the wildeft of us in abftraft notions, fond as She is of revolution, and in the very honey-moon of liberty, the propafal of abolishing the Slave trade was decidedly rejefted [ '47 J rejefted by the National Affembly. Other nations therefore will, as in every other cafe, command the market which we have relinquished. They will purchafe only what Slaves, they chufe, and the remainder will be butchered by their owners, w7ho, is well known, take this method of dif- burthening themfelves of the Slaves they cannot fell. It is not in Africa as in civi- vilized countries, wrhere the demand regu- 7 E> lates the fupply. The whole Syftem of that great continent muft be changed, be- fore we can apply to it our ideas of political institution or commercial arrangement, 'Tis a Syftem of defpotifm and Slavery throughout, where a few tyrants command the lives, and have a property in the paribus, of the millions who inhabit it. The neighbouring nations go to war from a thou land different caufes, as has always been the cafe in a barbarous country. The captives are either killed or fold into Slavery. The encouragemeat which the trade in Slaves gives to fome of thefe wars, will Still remain from the traffic carried on by other European nations on the coaft. The price indeed will fall, from our declining u 2 the , ' [ '43 1 I • - , the purchafe ; we Shall not only lofe the trade ourfelves, but throw it, with a double advantage, into the hands of rival powers. 44 Many of the cruelties charged on the Slave trade have, in truth, no relation to it, but arife from the depravity of individuals, which will every where be found to produce oppreflion and cruelty, if an in- quifition like the prefent will but fearch and hunt for it. If our Legislative humanity is to fearch after private abufes, there is Scarce a trade or manufacture in this country where fuch abufes will not be found to exift. In feveral of our manufactures the mortality of the children brought by their parents (the word fold might be ufed, for the parents bring them for the gain they are to make by their labour) is treble the amount of that on a Weft-India plantation, or even of a well- appointed and well-managed flave-Ship. 44 The mortality indeed, both of the feamen and of the negroes, in the middle paf- fage has been greatly exaggerated. On board thofe in which a common degree of attention is paid to the health of the Slaves, (to (to which their value, iridependant of all feeling in the mafters of the veffels, naturally incites) that mortality was by no means great, even before the regulation aft of 1787. The provisions of that aft will leflen it Still farther. Regulation the Weft-India proprietors will gladly confent- to and adopt. Shew them any regulation that will tend to the health and comfort of their negroes, and their intereft, if yon will not allow them any better motiv^ will keep pace with your humanity." 44 But you will not allow them to know their own intereft, or the beft method of carrying on the bufinefs of theft" plantations. You adopt that fyftem of legislative interference and reftriftion on trade, which it is the greateft boaft of modern philofo- phy to have exploded. You fay that if the Slave trade were aboliShed, they could keep up .their Stock more profitably by attending to the breeding up of their native Slaves, than they now do by importation from Africa. They know perfectly well the inconvenience and expence of the ireimportation, and the fuperior value of Creoles. But with all the attention which this I [ ffl ] this experience can excite, they are not yet in a condition to keep up a fufficient Stock for their plantations, without new pur- chafes of negroes. The experiment has been tried in fome of the Dutch plantations, which, by an impolitic prohibition of foreign Slave Ships, were almoft ruined,' Moft of our Weft-India eftates are understocked even in their prefent Situation; but are they to be prohibited from any extension of their plantations, any means of improvement of thofe wafte lands, amounting in Jamaica alone to about a million of acres, now patented from Government, for which large quit-rents are already paid, and large funis inverted ? The calculations of the advocates for abolition, even allowing their data, which however are grofsly erroneous, are made on the prefent extent of the plantations, and on the State of the Stock in ordinary years ; they make no provifion for thofe difaftrous feafons in which hurricanes or epidemic difeafes deflate the iflands. They add to thefe natural evils the profpeCt of remedilefs bankruptcy and ruin to the proprietors; for a Weft-India eftate is but a fort of manu- K faft u re. [ g; 3 fafture, and a prohibitiofi to recruit the number of the hands employed in it, is a virtual confifcation of the property." 44 Equally fallacious are thofe methods of culture which the theory of thofe who argue for the abolition haye pointed out to the planters. Repeated attempts have been made of cultivating the plantations by whites, and even great encouragements held out by the colonial aflemblies for that purpofe; but even with thofe encouragements the attempt w7as found impracticable. The Same thing has happened with the experiments anxioufly made of culture by cattle and machinery ; but thofe things which their experience has long ago found impoffible, the confident theorifts of this new fyStem hold out as eafy and even profitable." The ill treatment of the Slaves in the Weft Indies was confidently affirmed to be neither general nor common; and appeals %Vere made on that fubjeft, to the testimony of fome of the moft refpeftable characters in the army and navy of Great Britain, fome of whom had refided long in the iflands, and had the beft opportunity ■"'I fI 1 ' of ■■'- i !v I5Z 1 ■ ■ i ©f witneffing the treatment of the negroes* The faft was faid to be, that they were not only mildly and humanely treated, but that they enjoyed a greater degree of eafe and comfort than the common labourers in many parts of Britain. Inftances of barbarity might no doubt be found ; but fuch ' were known daily to happen in England, where apprentices have died under the cruelty of their mafters; but the law did not therefore propofed to aboliSh apprenticeship, Some of the opponents of the trade allowed a great improvement in the treatment of negroes in later times, and founded on the increafe occafioned by it, an argument againft the neceffity of importation. —- 44 Suffer them then, it was faid, to benefit by this gradual and progrefllve improvement, and do not, with raSh and unadvifed hand, cut off the chance of future profpe- rity in the planters, and of the confequent melioration in the State of their negroes, whofe Situation muft*always be proportionate to the flourishing or diftrefled Situation of their mafters." To fome of thefe arguments in defence of the prefent fyftem it was replied, 4' that grantee ; [ *53 ] granting Africa to be in a State of as much barbarity as was reprefented, that barbarity was maintained and increafed by the trade in queftion. That if the other branches of commerce, of which that country is fufceptible, were encouraged, which would be the natural effeft of the abolition of the Slave trade, induftry and civilization would take place of thofe favage manners which were now made an excufe for our own guilt and inhumanity, to which their continuance was chiefly to be afcribed.'' The conclusion drawn from the intereft of the Slave merchant and the planter prompting their good treatment of the Slaves, was repelled as contrary to all experience and knowledge of human nature. 44 Intereft, it was faid, has never been able to control the violence of paflion, or the extravagance of caprice, when there was an unlimited power of indulging them# The familiar in Stance of the treatment of our beafts of burthen, to which the condition of the negroes is too nearly fimi- lar, was cited as an example in point. Under this argument of the prevalence of intereft over inclination, half the crimes and x follies C *54 f ',- follies of civilized life, it was urged, might be demonstrated to be impoflible." " That the fituation of the Slaves was happy and comfortable, was faid to be an aflertion repugnant to every one's feelings. But there was a horrid proof of the contrary in the many inftances of fuicide a- mong the negroes. The iiifurreftions too, which they Sometimes ventured, defperate and hopelefs as they wrere, Shewed Strongly their Senfe of the fufferings they endured. This was one of thofe evils which the Syftem of Slavery neceffarily inflicted on the mafters of Slaves, the fufpicion, the fear, the danger, with which they were fur- rounded." 44 The argument againft the interference of the Legislature in the management or conduft of the planters, might, it was ob- ferved, be carried the length of precluding all improvement whatfoever. Here again, the argument of attention to their proper interefts is fet up, to prove the impracticability of any change in their mode of cul- ture. But the indolence of habit overcomes in the bulk of men the motive of intereft, if that intereft is not a very direft and immediate J *55 J'. mediate one. The fame objection of the impossibility of any other than the estab lished mode of cultivation might have been made, fome centuries ago, to any man who Should have ventured to propofe the emancipation of the Serfs as a practicable meafure. Yet it will not be denied, that the improvement of modern Europe is chiefly owing to that circumftance." otwithstanding the eloquence^ with which thefe arguments were enforced, and the weight and authority of thofe Members by whom they were urged, the abolition of the Slave trade, which had been only brought the length of inquiry in this Parlk-, ment, was negatived, at a pretty early period of the fucceeding one, by a majority of 163 to 88, [ 156 ] SECTION VIIL The Regency. 'F one event, fortunately as tranfient as it was unexpected, by which the deliberations of this Parliament on any other fub- jeft were for a time fufpended, I have not hitherto made mention. I Should, indeed, have been unwilling to take notice of it at all, had it not produced difcuffions, as well #s refolutions of the reprefentative body, of the firft importance to the Constitution. I mean the illnefs of the King, and the proceedings on the fuppofed impending Regency, in the end of the year 1788, and the beginning of 1789. Parliament had been prorogued, in the cuftom^ry manner, to the 20th of November 1788, but without its being intended to meet at that time for the difpatch of bu- nefs. The tranquillity, even the profperity of the State, were fuch as not to require its meeting till a later period. But that tranquillity ■quillity was interrupted by the unlooked- for event of His Majefty's being feized with an indifpofition of the moft ferious and afflicting kind, by which he wras totally incapacitated from meeting Parliament, from any mental exertion, or from tranfafting any fort of bufinefs. This was announced to the Houfe of Commons, on the above-mentioned day of their meeting, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who at the fame time moved an adjournment to that day fortnight. The Houfe aSTented, with a Silence impreffed by the Striking and melancholy event which had been communicated to them. The fame impreffion was Stamped on the mind I X of the people, who looked up to their re- prefentatives with that earneft and folemn expectation which diftrefs excites, for a calm, deliberate, impartial determination, refpefting the meafures which it became em to take on this interesting and awe- ful occafion. The Houfe was afterwards farther adjourned to the 8th of December, on which day a Committee was appointed to examine the phyficians who had attended His Ma- X J HsfP M* ; | [ *5« ] " ' jetty during his illnefs. On the 10th of December that Committee made its report. From that report it appeared, that His Majefty was utterly incapable of exercifing his functions ; and though it contained Strong hopes of his recovery, yet fuch expefted recovery was too uncertain, and might be too diftant to admit of a delay in taking thofe Steps which the exigency of the time required. Another Committee was therefore appointed 44 to fearch for and report 44 precedents of fuch proceedings as may || have been had in cafe of the perfonal 44 exercife of the royal authority being 44 prevented or interrupted by infancy, 44 ficknefs, infirmity, or otherwife, with a 44 view to provide for the fame." It was on this occafion that Mr. Fox brought forth that memorable claim which provoked So much difcuflion both in Parliament and among the people, that 44 the 44 Heir Apparent of the Crown, being of 44 full age and capacity to exercife the royal 44 power, has as clear and exprefs a right 44 to affume the reins of Government, du- 44 ring the continuance of the illnefs and 44 incapacity with which it has pleafed God 44 to ' [ *59 1 44 to afflift His Majefty, as in the caSe of 44 His Majefty having undergone a natural 44 and perfeft demife." This claim feemed, from the afpeft of the Houfe, to be favoured by a considerable' party in it. By a majority, however, it was received with equal furprize and disapprobation. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a warmth natural in the caufe of freedom in a free country, declared, 44 that to aflert fuch a right in the 44 Prince of Wales, or any one elfe, inde- 44 pendant of the decision of the 44 Houfes of Parliament, was little lefs 44 than treafon to the Constitution. The 44 aflertion of fuch a right, he faid, Shewed, 44 in the Strongest manner, the neceffity of 44 the enquiry for which he had moved. 44 It behoved them to meet this claim on 44 the fureft grounds; to learn andtoafcer- 44 tain their own rights; to protect the 44 rights and interefts of their constituents, 44 and the intereft and honour of a Sove- 44 reign defervedly the idol of his people." He cautioned the Houfe againft 44 raifily 44 annihilating and annulling the authority 44 of Parliament, in which the existence of 44 the - I ' 1 i«o ] . ' . ; *4 the Constitution was fo intimately in-* 44 volved." Mr. Fox, on a fubfequent day, abated fomewhat of the Strength of the claim which he had made, by explaining his meaning, univerfally mifunderftood before, to have been, not that this right was fuch as the Prince could afi'ume of himfelf, but fuch only as attached to him on the King's incapacity being declared by Parliament, Afterwards the party, who had rather un- advifedly brought forth this claim, wiShed to ayoid its difcuffion altogether ; and though one gentleman, affefting to be much in the Prince's confidence, raflily ventured to throw out a fort of threat againft provoking its affertlon, the more politic Members on the Oppofition fide of the Houfe argued the inexpediency of interrupting or protracting their proceedings by agitating a queftion of this abftraft kind. But it was a queftion which, having once been Stirred, was of a magnitude not to be overlooked. It produced a long and folemn debate, which ended in the adoption, by a confider- X 'J able majority, of three refolutions moved by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,, of wmcn '[ i6x ] ■'■ " ' .% ivhich the fecond went direftly to the determination of this point, fo eSfential to the constitution of the country. Thefe resolutions were : i ft. 44 That His Majefty is prevented by his preijent indifpofition from coming to his Parliament, and from attending to public bufinefs ; and that the perfonal exercife of the royal authority is thereby for the prefent interrupted." 2d. 44 That it is the right and duty of the Lords Spiritual and temporal^ and Commons of Great Britain, novv affembled, and lawfully, fully, and freely, representing all the eftates of the people of this realm, to provide the means of fupplying the defeft of the peiSbnal exercife of the royal authority arifing from His Majefty's faid indifpofition, in fuch manner as the exigency of the cafe may appear to require." 3d. 44 That for this purpofe, and for maintaining entire the constitutional authority of the King, it is neceffary that the faid Lords Spiritual and temporal, and Com- inons of Great Britain, Should determine on the means, whereby the royal aflent y may i6i may be given in Parliament, to fuch bill as may be pafled by the two Houfes of Parliament, refpefting the exercife of the powers and authorities of the Crown, ire the name and on the behalf of the King, during the continuance of His Majefty's prefent indifpofition." With thefe refolutions the voice of the nation feemed decidedly to concur. It was not, indeed, without a great degree of fur- prife that the people had heard men, whom they had been accuftomed to regard as the fupporters of thofe maxims?'of a free government, known by the name of Whig principles, pronounce an afiertion fo nearly allied to that doftrine of hereditary and in- defeafble right, which the pre Sent age care fcarcely believe to have been one of tftie follies of the laft. The claim in queftion was, indeed, fo weakly defended at the time, and has Since been fo entirely abandoned, that it may, perhaps, be thought needlefs to have mentioned it fo much at large ; but it is neceflary to record public doftrines, however extravagant or ill founded, becaufe, by an equal violence or blindnefs of party, ^ \ " they • . -' 1.163 ] : :.■§;■ tthey may, on fome future occafion, be wged. The right of Parliament being thus fo- -lemnly recognized ^ the mode, as well as the extent of its exercife of that right, was the fubjeft of much future difcuffion and debate. As to the firft, it was, indeed, dif- -ficult to apply to the mould of eftablifhed forms a proceeding of a new and unprecedented kind. The mode propofed by the third refblution, of a bill to be palled by the two Houfes of Parliament, receiving the royal affent in virtue of a commifliore iffued under the authority of an aft of the Parliament itfelf, involved a legal fiftion which, though it might be juftified by the rieceffity of the cafe, afforded much opportunity for the argument and the ridicule of Opposition, But j it,r was a mocjf -Suggested, by a juft and forupulous adherence to the analogies, and to the forms, of the Constitution, and a refpeft which, perhaps, the circumftances of the moment might Strengthen for the regal office. It was important in providing for this exigency, that the power inherent in Parliament, as the y 2 organ • nf^y "is** "*^f**r^ 1 "i <&*. n,» I 164 } . organ of the people to fupply in this emergency the deficiency of the executive government, Should not go beyond the ne- ceffity on which it was founded^ and that the mode of exercising it Should recognife, on the very faft of it, the regal authority as an effential part, ot the Constitution. The diicetionary Exercife of this power involved feveral particulars, which were afterwards compriied in the Regency Bill, brought in by the Minister on the 5th of February, 1789. By that bill the Prince of Wales was empowered 44 to exercife t.he royal authority during His Majefty's illnefs ; j with a provision, however, that the care of His Majefty9s perfon, and the management of his .houfhold, including the direction and appointment of all the officers and^fervauts t f that houfhold, Should be vefted in Her Majefly. The' powers of the Regent were Subjected to certain reftriftions. They were not to extend to the granting of Peerages, except to any of His Majefty'.s ifliie when arrived at the age of 21; nor to granting any office in re- verlion; nor to granting for any other terrn than ,,'i : - I<S5 I <jhan during pleafure, any penfion, or anj. office, except fuch as the law direfts to be granted during life or good behaviour; nor to granting any of the real or perfonal property of the King, except the renewal of leafes held under the Crown. Thefe restrictions were ftrenuoufly op- pofed in both Houfes of Parliament. They tvere rep re fen ted as laying a foundation for a weak, a defeftive, and a divided Government. The rights of the Crown, it was contended, were giveq it for the benefit of the People to enable it' to carry on the functions of the executive power with that energy and effeCt which are neceffary to the welfare of the State. The crippled and mutilated authority which this bill left with the Regent, would be inadequate to thofe Salutary purpofes. Its restrictions, it was argued, feparated from the ^egal office, the royal functions, and prerogatives which the Constitution had determined to be neceffary to fupport the legitimate power of the Sovereign, which, ^vithout them, therefore, muft be funk below that place which the Constitution had wifely affigned it. * f * It was maintained on the oppofite fide? that the Reftriftions in queftion were in- difpenfable in the prefent cafe. Parliament wag not now making a King ! it was only providing for a temporary, fufpenfion of the kingly functions ; and it was bound to confider the perfonal rights of the existing Monarch, and to provide for his re- fumption of his political rights, whenever it Should pleafe God to reflate lfas capacity *pf exercifing them. The ;powers of the Regent ought to be limited by the fame unfortunate neceffity 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 Majefty Should find, on his recovery, his rights entire, uninfringed, .and unabated, by any aft of his People, or their reprefentatives, during an indifpofi- stion, of which they hoped and muft provide for the ceffation. In the Houfe of Lords the proceedings were Similar to thofe in the Houfe of Commons, and the arguments in debate w*ere founded on the fame principles. During During the debates which the various* provifions and reftriftions of the Regency Bill occafioned, wrhich lafted till the middle of February, the Public watched with a degree of intereft and anxiety proportioned to the importance and nature of the fubjeft, the opinions of individuals, and the movements of party. They had fome- times to regret the violence of the one, and the intemperance of the other, So ill according with that folemn and awful impref- o x fion which the consideration of their fove- reign's affQftive State, and of the probable Situation of public affairs, was calculated to produce. They heard expreffions applied to the firft, by men whofe talents and whofe characters they wifhed to reSpeft, equally devoid of dignity, of delicacy, and of feeling. They faw that party whom it was fuppofed the establishment of the Regency Would introduce into Administration, forget, in the inordinate defire, in the voracity of power, the interefts of their country, and the rights of their King. They looked with the regrets of affeftion, on the conduft of the illuftrious and amiable perfonage, who ii was 1 ' f I x68 ] S tvas underftood to be the fupport of that party. It was the firft time they had heard the name of a Prince of the Houfe of BrunS^ wick jar with thofe principles of freedom and the Constitution by which (the proudeft of all titles) his Family had afcended the Throne. They lamented his being, as thev conceived, mifled bv defigning men. who, bending his interefts in fubfervience to their to own, endangered their feparatioit from thofe of the country ; and they looked with a gloomy prefage to the elevation of fuch men into power, which they had anticipated with So little regard to the welfare x O or the feelings of the People. The meafures of that party they contrasted with thofe of their opponents, with a partiality to the latter^ which perhaps their mafter's lituation tended to excite. Covered with the Shade of his affliction, his Ministers challenged the refpeft and favour of his People ; who, with an equal zeal of Patriotism, and a fympathetic affeftion of loyalty, faw them prepare, with.a calm and con- fcious dignity, for a difmiflion from place and power, regardlefs of themSelves, and only only tenacious of the rights of their fel<* low-citizens, and of their Sovereign. But the virtue which the people fup* pofed in the one, or the ambition which they imputed to the other, were equally Stopped in their: exertion, by the happy event of His Ma] e fly's recovery, which took place about the middle, and was communicated to Parliament before the end of February. The joy of the nation was as unbounded as it was Sincere, and the King had the peculiar felicity to find himfelf re* Stored to health, of which the enjoyment was rendered doubly ableffing by the moft Signal proofs of the fidelity and affeftion of his fubjefts* It was a fituation new, as it was interesting, in the fate of a King, who can Seldom have the good fortune to experience, after fuch a viciffitude, the pure affeftions of his People, unbribed by the hopes of favour, or undazzled by the glare of victory. To hear that yoke (as the Apotheofis of the poets have feigned of Kings after their death) which had certainly arifen uridebafed by the fears of the weak, the expectations of the felfiSh, or the ; <- . '-. z flattery . [ 17° J flattery of the mean. The People, by a combination not lefs unufual, while they enjoyed the reftoration of their Monarch, felt the energy of the Constitution, and triumphed in the virtue of the Parliament. They refted with peculiar fatisfaftion on the late recognition of this great constitutional principle, that in Parliament alone, as their Reprefentative, refides the power of regulating every emergency not already provided for by the exprefs law, or by the known eftablifhed cuftom of the realm.. *3K.?»grpfSfc^tegsK:gw.:jCOTfcj^s CONCLUSION. X Have thus, with a Slight, but I hope not unfaithful pencil, Sketched the principal features of the Parliament 1784. Its proceedings were fo momentous, whether we regard their importance at the time, or look to their confequences in future, that I think i. " 3E$ I I Shall I Shall be readily excuSed for recalling them to the remembrance of the public. Any comments with which I have ventured to accompany their recital, I leave to the judgement of my fellow citizens ; with th< more confidence, becaufe I have onl endeavoured to exprefs what I believe to have been the Sentiments of the unbiaffed and refpeftable part of the community. But the impartiality of the people is not indifference ; they feel, and I participate in their feelings, a proper gratitude to thofe whofe meafures they believe to have conduced to the profperity and honour of the State ; and they feel a proportionable difapproba- Xibn, when fuch meafures are embarrafled and impeded, if they conceive the oppofi- tion to them to have arifen from envy, felf- intereft, or ambition. A preference founded on thefe confiderations is not an attachment to party — it is the attachment of a good citizen to his country—9 of a good man to virtue. * Though it may not be a popular doc- O J xx trine, yet I believe it is one which moderate and thinking men will admit, that in Great z 2 Britain MfiSRt. *9F | l7* J - . . Britain, the nature of its Government, the continual fuperintendance of Parliament, the weight of public opinion, and the influence which all thefe eircumftances muft have on the character and conduct of per- fons in official fituations, afford a much greater probability than in other countries that the Administration will ordinarily be at leaft right in its intentions, and will adopt its meafures from a belief that they are fuch as will tend to the benefit j of the nation. The men who attain the high de- partments of the State in Britain, are commonly fuch as, from their education, their habits of life, and their Situation with regard to the community, have much Stronger motives to purity-and uprightnefs in their public conduft, than to the contrary. The aristocracy of Great Britain is effentially different from the aristocracy in other mo- narchical Governments of Europe ; its rights are more attached to perfonal merit, and lefs to accidental advantages ; it is as much are ariftocracy of talents as of rank. The term gentleman in Britain, is a title which is annexed not exclusively to birth, as [j l73 ] . ' t as in other countries, but to qualities ge- 7 x o nerally indeed attendant on a certain rank in fociety, a liberal education, a well-in- formed mind ; to elegant deportment and honourable fentiments. Hence arifes a very great difference in this from other countries, both in that order of men out of which Ministers are to be taken, and in that clafs alfo by which they are to be judged. The firft has no privilege by which it can impofe, nor the laft any feeling by which it can be impofed on, in the conduft of public meafures. There is ire Britain no protection for the Court againft the prevailing opinion of the community, that could cover the diffipation, the debauchery, the capricious extravagance, the thoughtlefs inhumanity, which, from the interior of fo many palaces, have Spread oppreffion and ruin over devoted millions. It is material to confider from whence arifes this general fafeguard, which the Public poffeffes againft the malverfation of Minifters, againft the intentional abufe, or the ignorant mifapplication, of the powers with which they are entrufted, The popular Jar nature of our Government furnifhes, as has been already Stated, a check, of which the operation is conftant, becauSe it is excited by natural and unceafing caufes. The opportunity which Parliament affords to the young, the buftling, the ambitious, of canvafiing public meafures, is oneofthoSe falutary counterpoifes which our constitution affords againft the weight of the ex- ecutive power. The Oppoftion in Britain is a fort of public body, which, in the practice at kaft of our Government, is perfeftly known an4 eftabliShed. The province of this ex-official body, when it aCts in a manner Salutary to the State, is to watch, with jealoufy, over the conduft of Admini- ilrarion ; to correft the abuSes, and to re- fift the corruptions of its power; to restrain whatever may be exce'ffive, to moderate what may be inconfiderate, and to fupply what may be defective in its measures. In the exercife of fe functions, if they may fo be called, Opposition has advantages by which thofe obvious ones, often mentioned on the fide of Administration, are C l75 ] are balanced ; if, on the one hand, patronage Strengthens Administration, on the other, the difcontent and envy of the disappointed are often thrown into the fcale of Opposition; if Administration has fu- perior opportunities of information, Oppo- fition is not restrained by official fecrecy \ if Administration impofes by its dignity, Oppofition wins by its familiarity with the People ; and if Administration enjoys active occafions of acquiring popularity, Oppofition, on the other hand, fuffers none of the embarraffmencs which refult from delicate and perplexing Situations. Cenfure has not the refponfibility of aftioil; and in debate or difcuffion, he who objefts or blames may often objeft at random, and blame without certainty ; the burden of proof is almoft always thrown upon Administration. Oppofition is feldom obliged to aft on the defensive, but has always the warmth, the vivacity, and the enthufiafm of are affailant. ,|| The refpeft, as well as the ufefulreefs, of this cereforial reprefentative of the People, (if I may be allowed to give it that denomi- MM. 1 . denomination) depends on the manlier iti which its faculties are exerted. If its re-* fiftance to the meafures of Government i9 unreafonable, or its objections captious ; if it paffes thofe bounds within which the juStice of the People would confine its cenfure, and departs from that confiftency in argument, or that principle in conduft, which their understanding is always able to perceive, and which their honefty always expects, the confidence of the Public is proportionally withdrawn, and the re- ipeftability of Oppofition diminished. But, above all, if the purity of its motives be impeached, or the dignity of its character degraded ; if it holds an intereft oppofite to that of the nation, of which it enjoys the calamities and repines at the fuccefs ; if it breathes an ambition of that unprincipled fort that would build its own advancement on the ruin of the Constitution, no talents, no abilities, can redeem its reputation with the country. The mifapplication of thofe abilities, the perverfion of thofe talents, may, however, fometimes have effeCts more pernicious [ I77, 1 ' • f, cious than the authority of the men who poffefs them Should be able to produce. Britain is fertile in fpeculation, In politics, as in fcience, there are fo many fpe- culatifts in this country, that if Opposition, or the worft and moft defperate part of Oppofition, applies itfelf to make pro- felytes againft the Constitution, it will find, in the difcontent of the fplenetic, or the caprice of the fanciful, converts to any fyftem that has novelty and boldnefs to recommend it. In this Situation, the people will judge for themfelves ; they will not reft on the authority of men, whofe talents* in their perverfion, are armed againft the happinefs of their fellow-citizens. They will review with impartiality the train of public mea- fures which their obfervation has enabled them to trace, and confider the effeCts which thofe meafures have produced on the nation. The diftruft of power is natu*- ral, and an inquiry into the ufes to which it has been applied is the privilege of freemen. The wife and the good, however, o 7 7 will certainly feel a fatisfaftion in the a a favourable I . • ; Dpi 1 . ^vourable refult of fuch inquiry; to fuch men, to praife a Minister will be more agreeable than to cenfure him ;—but that consideration is of little importance—-the gratification which they will feel, is the profperity of their country. THE END.
Includes errata. Other Copies: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/518707443
Legislative proceedings
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University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. JN539 .R4 1792
Great Britain. Parliament
A review of the principal proceedings of the Parliament of 1784
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