cease.

Above three hundred families, who lived here in

affluence, had quitted the country, on whom various trades in this metropolis depended for their chief support. He said, that the last resolution to grant bounties, would be ineffectual without the others; for though something might be got from Canada, Nova Scotia, and St. John's, yet no effectual supply could be expected from those places. The navigation to Canada was open but once a year, and that at a time when lumber was not wanted; that the higher prices would be sufficient to bring it from Nova Scotia and St. John's without any bounty; but several ships had gone to those parts, and could get no lumber at any price whatever. Therefore, should not assent to that proposition without the others, as it would prove inadequate and delusive.

Mr. Bayly observed, that by Lord North's refusing to grant the license for staves and other lumber to be exported from New-York, he thereby denied the whole relief which this bill was meant to give to the West India colonies; for as to granting bounties, they would do very little service, especially as the noble lord had now said they would be but sınall, and granted for two years only (though we were given to understand at first, that these bounties were to be considerable, and continued for some time, without which indeed it cannot be expected to be of the least use) so that unless the resolution for granting such licenses were admitted, all hopes of benefit from the bill would prove delusive and vain; he therefore left the noble lord to reflect, how this treatment to the West Indies must appear, when it was known that he had added this fresh instance of cruelty to the many other oppressions and distresses which his lordship had already brought upon the unhappy inhabitants of those colonies. And as a farther proof of which, he begged to recall to the memory of the House, the evidence which had been given in the clearest terms by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Walker, [see volume I. page 327] and how ably the fatal consequences had been pointed out to them by that great and good man, Mr. Glover, [see volume I. page 357] whose predictions had hitherto been verified in every instance; nay, matters, had even proved worse, for excepting a few West-India gentlemen, who are possessed of very opulent fortunes, and had providentially laid up something here out of their income, the rest were gone back to their ruined estates in the utmost despair; and the destruction it had made amongst our merchants, the Gazette gave us but too melancholy proofs of; besides which, many opulent houses had stopped, tho their capitals were great and undoubted. Indeed the hardships of the West India colonies, and every one concerned therewith, were too gloomy and numerous to be now related. He said, he had not asked any body to attend this business, nor were there scarce any of the gentlemen who owned West India estates present, well-knowing that it was in vain to expect any thing from the House, but what the noble lord chose to grant; and therefore he must leave it to his determination, who, as he had already gained the merit of having lost North America, might now reap the glory of totally ruining, and by that means losing, the West Indies also. He called upon the noble lord to cite a single instance of protection or assistance that government had afforded the West Indies during this unhappy contest with the Americans, and nained the conduct of the captains of men of war (who were meant, and ought to have taken care of the merchant ships) for that of all the convoys from Jamaica, not one of the men of war had yet brought home one ship safe; and that out of the last July fleet, more than one quarter part were taken by the American privateers, owing entirely to the neglect of the men of war. He concluded with saying, that after such impolitic and cruel treatment, the noble lord ought to answer for its consequences, which would be, he feared, that as soon as North America became independent, the West Indies must declare in their favour, or seek the protection of some other power, in hopes of finding that relief which had been so inhumanly denied them by our own government.

Sir Grey Cooper and Mr. Dempster spoke against the resolutions, and Mr. Penant for them.

The House agreed to the third resolution, but disagreed to

the others.

May 1.

Mr. Alderman Sawbridge made his annual motion to shorten the duration of Parliaments. No debate. For the question 28, against it 98.

No debate. Adjourned to the 5th.

Not members sufficient to make a House.

May 2.

May 5.

Bills passed by the King.

The speech * of the Speaker of the House of Commons, this day, upon presenting to his Majesty the bill for the better support of his Majesty's household, and of the honour and dignity of the Crown of Great-Britain, which then passed the royal assent.

Most Gracious Sovereign,

The bill, which it is now my duty to present to your Majesty, is intituled, " An act for the better support of his Majesty's household, and of the honour and dignity of the Crown of Great-Britain;" to which your Commons humbly beg your royal assent.

By this bill, Sir, and the respectful circumstances which preceded and accompanied it, your Commons have given the fullest and clearest proof of their zeal and affection for your Majesty. For in a time of public distress, full of difficulty and danger, their constituents labouring under burthens almost too heavy to be borne, your faithful Commons postponed all other business, and, with as much dispatch as the nature of their proceedings would admit, have not only granted to your Majesty a large present supply, but also a very great additional revenue; great, beyond example; great, beyond your Majesty's highest expence †.

But all this, Sir, they have done, in a well-grounded confidence, that you will apply wisely what they have granted liberally; and feeling, what every good subject must feel with the greatest satisfaction, that under the direction of your Majesty's wisdom, the affluence and grandeur of the Sovereign will reflect dignity and honour upon his people.

When the Speaker returned, it was moved, That the thanks of the House should be given to him, for his speech to his Majesty this day in the House of Peers, and that he be desired to print the same. Agreed to nem. con.

May 8.

The order of the day for the House to go into a committee of supply being read, the House went into the committee, and Lord North moved the three following resolutions, which were agreed to, and were ordered to be reported the next day.

* This is the speech as published by the Speaker. + Several members, who took notes of this speech, wrote wants instead of expence.

That

That 41,820l. be granted to his Serene Highness the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, to make good expences of foreign hospitals during the late war.

That 32,934l. be granted to his Majesty, to reimburse him for a like sum distributed among his Majesty's subjects in America, for the losses they have sustained since the commencement of the present troubles in that country.

That 1879l. be granted for the support of convicts working upon the river Thames; and,

That 13,060l. be granted to his Majesty, to make good the like sum, issued by his Majesty in pursuance of addresses from this House.

The first and second of these resolutions occasioned a debate in the committee, which continued till seven o'clock, when the question being put on the first resolution, the committee divided, ayes 38, noes 20. The second resolution was agreed without a division.

Colonel Barré condemned the conduct of administration in very severe terms, particularly for what he called their public profusion, and the House for its tame acquiescence in every thing proposed by the minister, however scandalous and barefaced. He enumerated the several douceurs the Gerinan princes had received, in order to induce them into a mercenary bargain for the sale of human blood, to be spilt in a quarrel they had no more eventual interest in, than in that now waging between the Turk and the Sophy of Persia, or the scenes of murder, oppression, and pillage, acting within the Mogul empire. Every request, however unreasonable, was granted; every offer, however absurd, preposterous, and humiliating, was made to those petty princes, to induce them to forward the schemes of a set of men, who were determined to extirpate our subjects on the other side of the AtJantic, or compel them to submit. They had double subsidies, levy-money, ordnance, and staff: they were paid for killed and wounded men, and still their corps were to be recruited to their full complements previous to their return to Hesse and Brunswick, so that they were doubly paid, doubly officered, and were to have double subsidies. Levy-money was even paid for their officers, a circumstance unknown, he believed, in the military annals of mankind. After this warm and pathetic exordium, the Colonel directed his attention more immediately to the question before the committee. He observed, that fourteen years had elapsed since the stale claim, now revived, was first made; that a commission was appointed to take the whole of the German demands into consideration, to examine and liquidate them; that after the most full and laborious investigation of the subject, several of the claims, among which the present was one, were totally rejected, neither being properly vouched nor authenticated; and of those that had a colour of justice to support them, the commissioners thought they acted generously by liquidating the demands at eleven-pence in the pound discount; that is, instead of paying the German princes twenty shillings, they gave them just twenty-pence. He observed, that an expression had fallen from him in a former debate (upon the American extraordinaries) which he now begged leave to retract. He said, that House held the public purse. Fool, that he was, for being so deceived; for reflection, derived from an uniform experience of some years past, might have taught him better. He might have long si since learned, that whatever sum the minister thinks proper to ask is instantly granted, is voted without hesitation, without account; and is forced down the throats of opposition, even without reason, or a colour of reason.

Mr. Cornwall rose to justify the resolution. He said, he was one of the commissioners who were appointed to liquidate the German demands; but denied that the charge for hospitals was totally rejected, or at all rejected. It did not properly come under the cognizance of the board, because it depended upon another account, not at that time made up, that of Mr. Bishop, who was purveyor to the hospitals. So far from the demand being stated, it was kept up from the time it was first incurred, to the present year, in a regular official manner; and when it came before the commissioners, it was neither refused nor reprobated, but was merely postponed, as not being regularly before them. From what appeared then, as well as what he learned since, he was convinced that the claim was a just one, and ought to be paid.

Mr. Burke said, he always understood that the German accounts had been settled many years ago; Parliament and the nation, he presumed, understood so too. If he was mistaken, he was mistaken in good company; and all he could say now was, that the commissioners, among whom he might include his honourable friend, had not done their duty. This demand, which, it seems, was known to every one but those who ought to have been thoroughly acquainted