infidious and political purpose, replied without hefitation, " that it was impoffible for him to serve the king and country either with lord Bute or lord North; and that if any thing could prevent the confummation of public ruin, it could only be new counsels and new counsellors-a real change, from a fincere conviction of past errors, and not a mere palliation, which must prove fruitless." There are no doubt fituations of extraordinary difficulty and danger, which call for the united exertions of those who have been most opposite in sentiments and conduct: but the nation was not at this time disposed to believe, that any peculiar danger to the country existed under the administration of the earl of Shelburne, who, whether in or out of office, had uniformly shewn himself a friend to liberty. The terms of the peace were generally deemed as good as there was any previous reason, from the relative situation of the belligerent powers, to expect; and the COALITION of perfons and principles radically hostile, and which no effort of art or length of time could affimilate, was universally branded as a gross and palpable facrifice of every fentiment of honor, consistency, and rectitude, on the altar of ambition, interest, and revenge. One of the first measures of the new ministry was to expedite the paffing of a bill, before pending, " for the purpose of preventing any writs of error or appeal from the kingdom of Ireland from being received by any of his majesty's courts in Great Britain; and of renouncing in express terms the legislative authority of the British parliament in relation to Ireland." This was a neceffary consequence of the general plan of Irish emancipation; for the mere repeal of the declaratory act did not, in the view of the common law, make any difference whatever in the relative fituation of the two countries. Soon after this, a bill was introduced by fir Henry Fletcher, chairman of the East India company, " for fufpending the payments of the company now due to the royal royal exchequer, and for enabling them to borrow the fum of three hundred thousand pounds, for their farther relief." Lord John Cavendish declared this bill to be only a branch of a larger plan; and that it was brought forward separately, in order to answer an exigency which did not admit of delay. His lordship viewed the territorial acquifitions of the company as a fruitful fource of grievance. "It would," he said, " have been more for their advantage, had they confined themselves to the character of merchants. As these acquifitions, however, had been made, they must be preferved, and it was his opinion that the relief necessary to the company should be granted." Lord Fitzwilliam, in the upper house, dwelt, on the almost defperate fituation of the East India company, and affirmed, " that, unless it passed, their bankruptcy would be inevitable. The expenditure of their settlements had far exceeded their revenue: bills had been drawn upon them which they were unable to answer without a temporary fupply, fo that the existence of the company depended upon the fuccess of the bill;" which accordingly passed both houses with little difficulty or oppofition. In the month of April 1783, the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward his plan for raising twelve millions by loan. The most remarkable circumstance attending it was, that the money borrowed was funded at three per cent. at the extravagant rate of one hundred and fifty pounds stock for every hundred pounds sterling; so that an artificial capital of fix millions was created beyond and above the sum actually paid into the exchequer. This abfurd and pernicious mode of funding was expofed and reprobated with much ability, by Mr. Pitt in the lower house, and the earl of Shelburne in the upper, but with no effect. The former motion of Mr. Pitt for an enquiry into the state of the representation being negatived, he now brought forward forward, May 7, a specific plan for adding one hundred members to the counties, and abolishing a proportionable number of the burgage-tenure and other small and obnoxious boroughs. This plan, though supported by Mr. Fox, was negatived by a great majority; the numbers on the divifion being 293 to 149. As there must of course ever be a stronger oppofition against any fpecific plan of reform in the first instance, than to a comprehenfive and general motion of enquiry only, the latter is evidently the most politic as well as reasonable mode of introducing the question to the notice and discussion of the house; and had it been adopted by Mr. Pitt on this occafion, it could not have so egregiously failed of success. The motion was opposed in a very able speech by lord North, who with an happy allufive pleasantry declared, " that while some with LEAR demanded an hundred knights, and others with Goneril were fatisfied with fifty, he with Regan exclaimed, no, not ONE!" His lordship, in a graver and more argumentative strain, said, " it was not true that the house of commons had not its full and proper weight in the fcale of government; -his political life was a proof that it had. It was parliament that had made him a minifter. He came amongst them without connection. It was to them he was indebted for his rife, and they had pulled him down; he had been the creature of their opinion and of their power; - his political career was confequently a proof of their independence; the voice of the commons was fufficient to remove whatever was displeasing to the fentiments and wishes of the country; and in fuch a fituation to parade about a reformation was idle, unneceffary, inexpedient, and dangerous." This reasoning might perhaps have had some degree of weight, could it be loft to the public recollection, that the noble lord was originally advanced to the premiership by the fiat of the executive power, and was continued in office, during the first and last years of his administration at least, by the influence of the fame power, in daring contrariety to the clear, unanimous and decided sense of the nation, His lordship's compulsive refignation at the last, proved only that there are limits, beyond which even the complaisance of the representative body does not extend : and the infatuation of the minifters became at length fo notorious, that parliament alarmed at their rashness, and astonished at their folly, happily and critically interpofed to fave the nation from destruction. A bill for regulating the trade of the African company being introduced towards the close of the feffion, with a clause prohibiting the officers of the company from exporting negroes, that humane, intelligent, and respectable class of citizens known by the appellation of quakers, convened in their annual assembly in the metropolis, embraced this favorable occafion to petition the house of commons, " that the claufe in question might be extended to all perfons whatsoever, profeffing themselves deeply affected with the confideration of the rapine, oppreffion, and blood attending this traffic :- Under the countenance of the laws of this country, say the petitioners, many thousands of these our fellow-creatures, entitled to the NATURAL RIGHTS OF MANKIND, are held as personal property in cruel bondage. Your petitioners regret, that a nation profeffing the christian faith should so far counteract the principles of humanity and justice." This petition excited in a remarkable degree the attention of the house and of the public; and laid the foundation of the subsequent noble and generous, though hitherto* unfuccefsful efforts, to effect a total abolition of this deteftable and inhuman commerce-efforts which, however they may terminate, will, in the volume of the recording angel, " on leaves more durable than leaves of brass," enroll the names of WILBERFORCE, of SMITH, of DOLBEN, and many others, in the illustrious catalogue of the friends and A. D. 1794. and benefactors of mankind; and more particularly of that despised and unfortunate race of men born only to mifery, and to whose wretched and most compaffionable lot it has fallen " to plough the winter's wave, and reap defpair." Much business, comprehending details not fufficiently important to demand a place in general history, having been completed, the parliament was at length prorogued, July 16, by a speech, in which his majesty intimated his intention of calling them together at an early period, in order to refume the confideration of the affairs of the East Indies, which would demand their most serious and unintermitted attention. In the course of the summer, the king, as legally empowered by an act passed for that purpose, ifsued an order in council, limiting the commerce between the continent of America and the British West India islands to ships British built. This was conformidable to the grand principle on which the act of navigation was originally founded; and though this restriction gave extreme offence to the inhabitants of the United States, they could not in reason complain that they were precluded from enjoying the advantages of dependence and independence at one and the fame time. The definitive treaties with France, Spain and America, were at this period figned with no material alteration: also preliminaries of peace with the states general, by which all the conquests of England were restored, except the town of Negapatnam on the coast of Coromandel, which their high mightinesses found themselves, however reluctantly, at length compelled to cede. During this interval of political repose in England, it will not be improper to cast a tranfient view at the general posture and relative situation of the great continental powers. One of the most interesting events which, fince our last notice of foreign politics, had taken place in Europe, was the |