who, to be fure, was not biaffed by British property, who had Mr. Brooke Watfon faid as reference had been made to the Mr. Brooke fentiments of the people out of doors, respecting the popula- Watson. rity of Minifters, he would ftate to the House the opinion, though not of the body, yet of a confiderable body of the people on that fubject. It was that of the citizens of London affembled in Guildhall last week. At that meeting, they had given an explicit fentiment in favour of Administration. He dwelt on the hazards arifing from poftponing public bufinefs as connected with public bankruptcy. He faid that the meeting which had given its fentiments refpecting Ministry, was not affembled improperly, was not tumultuary; there was no huftling or joftling there, but all was decency and respect. tor General The Solicitor General expreffed his furprise that a noble Lord The Solici (Lord North) who had expreffed in his fpeech his apprehenfion, with respect to the prefent crifis, fhould at the fame time, and during the progrefs of his fpeech, have fhewn fo much levity, and indulged fo much humour. These were contrarieties of manner which he could not eafily reconcile. He then combated an idea, which he ftated had been thrown out by Mr. Fox, that a cafe fimilar to the prefent, in which Majefty had refused to attend to the voice of the House of Commons, and the Houfe of Commons had on that account refused to grant him fupplies, had occurred fince the time of the Revolution. Here he was reminded by a general cry of the Houfe, that Mr. Fox had reftricted his period to that of the Sir Wm. Rr. Powys. the acceffion of his prefent Majefty. He affirmed, however, that Mr. Fox had confined himself to the era of the Rovolution, and he was of course entitled to reafon on that point. He would ftate, in oppofition to this mode of reasoning, a cafe directly in point. On the 13th of May, 1701, the Houfe of Commons, after various refolutions, at laft agreed to addrefs his Majefty to remove for ever from his prefence Lord Somers, Lord Orford, and the Earl of Portland. After doing this, however, did they fufpend the fupplies till fuch time as his Majesty's inclination was known? No; for the very next day, on the 14th of May, they voted a fupply for guards and garrifons, which was nearly the fame thing with an ordnance estimate. He adverted to the precipitancy of the manner in which the refolutions had been paffed, and contrafted that circumftance with the affected moderation of the prefent motion. He faid, teft in office had been called for from Minifters. The Houfe would not allow them to give evidence of their ability and character. It infifts on the Minister's retiring, and by fuch a refignation declaring himfelf guilty. He expatiated on the popular qualities of the Minifter, and declared, that he was the Minifter of the people. He reafoned on the late addreffes which had been prefented to the Throne, and infifted, with many fignificant nods, that they were not the effects of imposture. Sir William Dolben faid the motion and the whole of the late conduct and proceedings of the Houfe tended to abridge the prerogative of the Crown, and to leave nothing but the fhadow of prerogative. That which would be left would refemble Sancho's feaft of prerogatives, where he must not touch one of them. He objected to all this violence therefore, and hoped he fhould fee the House return again to moderation and their temper. Lord Delaval, Mr. Gilbert, Lord George Cavendish, and one or two other members fpoke; but the queftion was fo loudly called for, the Houfe divided. Ayes, 208; Noes, 196. Majority for the adjournment, 12. It was agreed to poftpone the motion till next day. February 19. Mr. Powys requested the Houfe would indulge him with a moment's attention, while he fhould fay a few words invindication of his character, 'which, in common with the reft of thofe members who compofed the majority laft night, had been improperly attacked by the Chancellor of the Ex chequer, chequer, a little before the Houfe adjourned: That right ho nourable gentleman àfcribed motives to the majority on the laft night's divifion, which he could venture to declare did not actuate his conduct. The right honourable gentleman charged the majority with having refufed the supply; but he would as roundly affert, that the majority did not refuse the fupply. He could fpeak beft for himself; and for one, he affured the Houfe, that when he voted last night against the motion for bringing up the report from the Committee of Supply, nothing could be farther from his intention than to refufe the fupply; his only motive, and that he believed of the whole majority, was merely to delay the confideration of it, until the Houfe fhould have time to take fome previous fteps, which the exigencies of the times required: and in order to convince, the right honourable gentleman that this was his motive, he would to-morrow prove to him, by voting for the fupply, that he did not mean ultimately to refufe it: at the fame time, however, he thought it proper to say, that the vote of fupply ought to be preceded by fome fuch refolution as he propofed laft night; and therefore he would endeavour to new model it in fuch a way as to remove any ambiguity, to which it appeared liable in the opinion of fome gentlemen laft night; and having fo given notice, he faid, he would move it to-morrow before the House fhould proceed to vote the fupply. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that as he did not The Chanmean to anticipate the debate upon the motion, of which the cellor of the Exchequer. honourable gentleman had just given notice, he would not fay any thing at prefent on the fubject. He agreed with the honourable member, that the most effectual mode by which he could convince him and the public that by his vote of laft night he did not intend to refufe the fupply ultimately, would be to grant it to-morrow. When that event fhould have taken place, he would then retract the opinion he delivered last night, that the intention of the majority was to refuse the supply. Mr. Fox faid, that when the right honourable gentleman Mr. Fox. was pleased to say that the majority of the House, on last night's divifion, meant wholly to refufe the fupply, he did fo in direct oppofition to the declaration of every man who fpoke on the queftion, which was carried by the majority; for they one and all declared, that they had not the least intention to withhold the fupply; but that they thought it neceffary to paufe a while, in order to confider what measures ought to be taken in fo new and extraordinary a fituation of affairs The Chan affairs he thought then, and he thought fo ftill, that the fupply ought not to be withheld; but he thought also that it ought not to be voted unconditionally. Some meafure ought neceffarily to be adopted; fuch, for inftance, as that which had been alluded to by the honourable gentleman who spoke laft but one; upon the fuccefs of fome fuch measure he was ready to vote the fupply, relying, with the utinoft confi. dence, that His Majefty would attend to the voice of his faithful Commons, and gratify those wishes with which their anxiety for the Conftitution infpired them. The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid he would not enter into cellor of the any compromife; he would not ftipulate any condition for the Exchequer. paffing of the fupply. When any propofition fhould be fabmitted to the Houfe, it would be for the House to difpofe of it as they should think proper; but he would never make a compromise on the fubject. Mr. Fox. The Hon. C. Mar am. Mr. Fox replied, that he wanted no compromife; but he defired the right honourable gentleman would recollect, that he (Mr. Fox) was not pledged to vote for the supply; he thought it ought to be voted; but at the fame time he thought the vote ought to be, preceded with fome other, without which he was of opinion the supply ought still to be poftponed a little longer; and the more fo, as this particular fupply was not in its nature very preffing. The Hon. Charles Marsham declared, that in voting last night for poftponing the fupply, he never entertained an idea of refufing it entirely; and therefore he felt himself not a little hurt by, finding that the Chancellor of the Exchequer ascribed to him, and to the other very refpectable and independent gentlemen who compofed the majority on the queftion of last night, motives which they never felt. The right honourable gentleman faid, the majority meant wholly to withhold the fupply with refpect to him, the charge was not fupported even by the fhadow of truth; for he declared laft night, and he now repeated it, that he meant only to poftpone the vote, until the Houfe fhould have confidered what previous ftep ought to be adopted. He therefore advifed the right honourable Chancellor of the Exchequer, not to take up flightly, opinions that were injurious to the characters of men who refpected their characters. For his own part, he did not think he ought to confider himself in a better light than that of a Frenchman, who met in an affembly with others, to register the edicts of a Sovereign or his Minister, fince he was not to dare to exercise his freedom of acting, without bringing down upon himfelf the most ill grounded grounded charges from the Minifter of the Crown, which would make him appear in an odious point of view, as if he had refused the supply. The right honourable gentleman ought to recollect, that when he threw out fuch reflections against members, he must not expect to be looked upon in his private capacity of a member of that House, but as his Majefty's Minifter, whofe menaces are injurious to the cause of liberty and the freedom of debate. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, that he did not take The Chanup his opinion lightly; he thought last night, and he thought cellor of the fo ftill, that to pafs fuch a vote as the Houfe paffed laft night, Exchequer. was, under all circumftances, tantamount to a refufal of the supply; and it was not upon flight grounds he formed that opinion; and furely he had a right to deliver those fentiments which occurred to him on a tranfaction in Parliament, `without giving the honourable member any reafon to think himself in that affembly for the fole purpose of regiftering edicts of Kings or Minifters. Mr. Fox with fome warmth charged Mr. Pitt with having Mr. Fox, fhewn the most fovereign contempt for the Conftitution, and with having arrogantly and infultingly trifled with the opinion of the House: in defiance of which he had dared to give fuch unconftitutional advice to his Majesty, as made him give fuch an answer to his Commons as none of his race ever gave before. force. Mr. Wilberforce declared, that to him the vote of last night Mr.Wilber appeared in no other light, than in that of an attempt wholly to refuse the supply, and by that idea he had been guided in the vote he gave. Mr. Honeywood faid, that when he voted for poftponing Mr. Honeythe fupply, he never dreamt of withholding it entirely; he wood. looked only for a fhort delay, until the House fhould have time to confider what ought to be done in fo critical a fituation of affairs as the present. Mr. Powys hoped his character was fo well known that it Mr. Powys. was not neceffary for him to declare, that whatever he thought, he dared to fay, and whatever he faid he dared to think; and therefore he flattered himself that it was not neceffary for him to affure the Houfe, that when he said he meant only to delay, not to refuse the supply, he meant what he faid. If he wished not to poftpone merely, he would have done like a noble Lord (Lord Camelford) who a few years ago, diftinctly and avowedly moved, that no fupply fhould be granted. VOL. XIII. Y The |