manner to redress the grievances complained of in the petitions of the people of England. Like the case of an individual who enters into a bond to pay a sum of money, or incurs a penalty, they had solemnly entered into a bond with the people of England, to reduce the undue influence of the crown, and to destroy that enormous overgrown corruption, and the penalty, in case of non-performance, was a forfeiture of the affections of the people of England. That most dreadful calamity, that most melancholy circumstance that could attend a House of Commons, the loss of the affections of those for whose advantage, and to promote whose happiness they were chosen, would be the fatal consequence of not fulfilling the conditions of the bond into which they had entered! But, said he, it is impossible that this can take place. Magna est Veritas et prævalebit.' The truth of what that House had determined, the solemn manner in which they had declared influence too great, and consequently dangerous, must prevail over every attempt to corrupt; and those who had solemnly bound themselves to redress the grievances complained of, would, in the end, overcome the purchased votes of a minister.

6

He answered the objections made to the motion on the ground that it tended to an infringement on the King's prerogative, hy shewing, that so far from assuming any power derogatory to that prerogative, it fully acknowledged it; and in reply to the argument urged against the motion, on the idea that parliament might, if the motion were carried, continue sitting for two years together, he said those fears were groundless and absurd, for that parJiament would die a natural death in October 1781; and as the motion only proposed that the House should sit, till proper measures were taken to diminish the influence of the crown, and correct the other abuses complained of in the petitions of the people; it was in the power of the House to put an end to the session, whenever it pleased, and if heartily and sincerely disposed to listen to the voice of the people, a very short time would suffice for effecting all that was necessary.

There was an old precept, he said, which in one cense was profoundly wise and admirable, but which in that in which administration practised it, he detested as the most destructive and wicked principle of government. In the opposite sense, in that in which he could explain it, he revered

and respected it as one of the best maxims that could direct the conduct of mankind. Divide et impera, in the common acceptation of the words, and as those who advised his Majesty had adopted them was the miserable principle to which he traced back all the innumerable calamities of this unfortunate reign. It was to that diabolical principle of divide and conquer, as practised, not against the enemies but the friends of the constitution, that had produced our present situation, which a noble lord (earl Nugent) who spoke early, so well described a ruinous war, a bankrupt treasury, and an impaired constitution! But as he would explain it, it was a principle that would establish freedom, maintain the constitution, and promote the happiness of England. To divide the good from the bad, to separate those who loved the constitution from those who abused it, to divide the uncorrupted and the virtuous from the bought and corrupted, to divide those who loved freedom, from those who wished the establishment of despotismsuch a division, forming an union of the great and good, would lay the foundation for all those reformations that were necessary to restore the freedom of an impaired constitution. But the wicked system (a system as weak as it is wicked) of those who had divided every other part of the empire, and now wished the division of the people of England, in order to maintain that fatal power which had cursed this country, and reduced it to its present melancholy situation, was to be withstood. He trusted, therefore, that 233 honest and unbought men would not allow themselves upon this occasion to be operated upon by that weak and wicked maxim, but that pledged as they were to the people, they would fulfil every engagement they had brought themselves under.

He interspersed these observations with frequent replies to Mr. Adam, particularly upon the argument he had made use of to shew, that the negativing the present question did not infer a necessity of adopting the measure of immediate dissolution or prorogation. This he answered by saying, that it did however leave an administration, hostile in every point to the petitions of the people, with the power of prorogation and dissolution in their hands, if they chose to make use of it. He likewise made some observations upon annual parliaments and increased representation, not supporting them, though at the same time not condemning them, but rather stating that the

as he understood that his learned friend had moved to have the committee on the petitions deferred till Monday next, he thought it better to make one further trial, as well out of respect to his learned friend and some other gentlemen who had taken an active part in the petitions, as to give those gentlemen who had separated from their friends on the question just decided, an opportunity of fully and unequivocally declaring their real sentiments; for he could not believe that it was posssible for those who supported the resolutions of the 6th of April, no sufficient cause nor colour or shadow of apology intervening, to desert and reprobate the principles which they maintained on that ever memorable night. He was proceeding, but during the whole time he was on his legs there prevailed a shameful disorder in the House, great numbers standing and talking on the floor, and about the table.

Sir Thomas Frankland during this confusion called frequently to order, as did likewise the Speaker, but to little or no effect. At length sir Thomas called on the chair to exercise its authority, and if possible to restore order.

The Speaker then called on every side of the House with great vehemence; commanded the Serjeant to clear the bar, and insisted that gentlemen should take their places.

Sir Thomas Frankland thanked the Speaker for his interposition; took notice of the improper conduct of the members, who after repeated admonitions endeavoured to throw every thing into confu sion; and said, that it was cruel and unworthy treatment to the Speaker, who being in an indifferent state of health, and who must be supposed to be much exhausted after so long a debate, in so full a House, to oblige him under such circumstances to exert himself in the manner he had been compelled to do. He then proceeded to make some observations on the probable consequences of the vote given that night; talked of the distressed state of the country in general, the fall in the value of lands, the fall of rents, heavy taxes, increasing burdens, and the general discontents which prevailed in every part of the country in consequence of those various and intolerable evils; affirming, he most sincerely believed, if something was not done by that House to avert them, and give the petitioners and people at large some satisfaction, that those aggrieved would seek a remedy in their own efforts,

and no longer look up to that House for redress.-Order was not yet restored; at length

Mr. Fox rose, and the members taking their places, as he entreated an hearinghe said, since he had first sat in that House he never felt himself so hurt, mortified, and filled with indignant resentment as that night: so much so, but for the circumstance already alluded to, relative to his learned friend, and his adjourning over the committee, that he, for one, was determined, so far as related to himself, to adjourn over the business of the present session, and never more enter that House, so long as the majority entertained similar sentiments to those they apparently embraced by the vote they had given that night. It was a scandalous, treacherous, and disgraceful vote [called to order by the Treasury-bench.] He did not mean to say that it was scandalous or disgraceful in those who opposed the vote of the 6th of April to oppose the Address moved by his learned friend; on the contrary, he thought they acted consistently, like men. Most clearly those 215 gentlemen who declared their opinions that the influence of the crown was not increased, and ought not to be diminished, had pursued an open, direct, and consistent conduct; they differed from him; he was sorry for it; but they differed from him upon principle. They declared roundly and expressly what they thought upon the subject; and they would have been guilty of the most shameful versatility if they abandoned that principle which they had so recently avowed. But who could contemplate, but with a mixture of surprize and indignation, the conduct of another set of men in that House, who on the same night resolved that the influence of the crown was increased, and ought to be diminished, and that the grievances and complaints of the people ought to be redressed; and who pledged themselves to that House, to the nation, to their constituents, to the people at large, and to themselves, that it was their duty to redress the grievances complained of; but who on the only two occasions that offered, shamefully fled from that solemn engagement, by rejecting the means proposed! It was shameful, it was base, it was unmanly, it was treacherous. The gentlemen he alluded to surrounded him; they sat on his side of the House; he was sorry for it. They were those who voted with him on the

upon the general declarations contained in the resolutions, then moved and carried; "We agree with you, respecting the ground-work, but by the propositions you would raise upon it, we differ totally with you. We meant this, and not that; we will agree with you in such and such measures, but we must dissent from those you now offer." This, in his apprehension, would have exculpated them from all blame; would have wiped away all suspicion. A difference of opinion might arise, but it would be such a difference as was agreeable to that liberty of assent and dissent which every man was entitled to, whose opinion could be deemed free. But, to agree to certain general propositions, and to refuse to propose any effective ones, or agree to those offered, was a paradox, he believed, in party and politics. It was taking in their friends. He was taken in, deluded, and imposed on. [A loud laugh from the opposite benches.] He acknowledged it; for, in his conscience, he thought the assistance of such men did more harm than good. It tended to lull the nation into a dangerous security, to impose on the petitioners, and, in short, to spread through the nation every species of popular delusion.

6th of April, and who voted with the minister that night. No man held those who were at the devotion of the minister in greater contempt than he did; they were slaves of the worst kind, because they sold themselves; yet, base as the tenure of their places was, they had one virtue to pride themselves on, that of fidelity, gratitude, and consistency; to all their other demerits they had not added the absurdity and treachery of one day resolving an opinion to be true, and the next of declaring it to be a falshood. They had not taken in their patron, or their friends, with false hopes, and delusive promises. Whatever their motives or sentiments might be, they had adhered to them, and so far as that went their conduct was entitled to his approbation. He could forgive the man he saw voting regular with the minister, through thick and thin, upon every question; he could behold him, in his servile state, with pity, he could forgive him for cringing and bowing at the levee of the prince or the minister, without exciting in his breast any other sentiment; but on the other hand, when he beheld the conduct of some men, affecting different principles, supporting a minister who had very fairly, he would acknowledge, opposed and denied that the influence of the crown was increased, and ought to be diminished, it filled him with horror. What breast but must be filled with the warmest resentment and the keenest contempt, to see those who pretended that the complaints of the people ought to be redressed, that the influence of the crown had increased; who had pledged themselves that they would reduce one, and remove the cause of the other, vote in a majority with those who denied that either existed, and that the petitions were only fabricated by faction, and ought not to be attended to! He was at a loss for words by which he could give vent to what he felt on the occasion. Why had not those who voted on the 6th of April in the majority, explained themselves? If they approved of the general tendency of the resolutions, why had they not proposed some effective measures? Why had not they described the fabric they meant to raise, or which they wished to have erected on that basis? Why did not they, when propositions were moved, which they could not approve of, manfully stand forth in support of their own sentiments, and declare to those who united in opinion

He thought it his duty, while on his legs, to declare, that the defection which he had alluded to originated chiefly among the county members, many of them of great weight and respect; but however high they might stand in the estimation of their friends in their counties, or in that House, he should ever judge of men by their conduct, and not by their professions. He doubted not but they had their reasons for voting contrary on one day to what they had resolved the preceding. The last vote, most probably, was agreeable to their real sentiments; the vote of the 6th of April was to answer ends merely personal. We were on the eve of a general election; the gentlemen alluded to would soon go down to their constituents: the first and most natural question would be, "What have you done in consequence of our petitions? Is the influence of the crown diminished? What redress have you procured for us? Has a more œconomical expenditure of the public money been determined upon and adopted? Have our burdens been lightened? Are all useless and sinecure places abolished? And have you established a reform in the expences of the King's houshold?" "No: but look at