houses and schools which they are opening throughout the kingdom, and by their printing Popish books, and publicly exposing them to sale; and that Popish bishops, priests, jesuits, and schoolmasters, now openly exercise their functions, whereby the people, especially the rising generation, are in danger of being led into superstition, idolatry, and rebellion; and that Papists can now purchase what lands, tenements, or hereditaments, they please, and inherit the same; that they will thereby influence our elections in future parliaments, and that this must tend to the destruction of our happy constitution; and that as Papists can now, by legal autho rity, confess the ecclesiastical or spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope and See of Rome, which our laws, before the passing of the late Act, have constantly disavowed, the petitioners are very much alarmed lest they should be involved in the guilt of perjury, when called to declare upon oath, That no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, hath any jurisdiction or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, in 'this realm; and that Popery is in its nature intolerant, in a Protestant country seditious, and in this kingdom disaffected to the present reigning family, and therefore to encourage it tends to the subversion of the state, to dethrone the King, and to set aside the succession of the illustrious House of Hanover to the crown of this kingdom; and that as England and Scotland are united, the petitioners cannot but think it a hardship upon the people of England, to have Popery countenanced among them by law, when their brethren in Scotland have been officially assured, that no law shall be made to favour Popery in that country; and the petitioners presume, that their peaceable deportment, and the constitutional steps they have taken to obtain redress, will meet the ap-. probation of this honourable House; and that the petitioners do not desire to persecute the Papists, but to preserve themselves and their posterity from a repetition of those rebellious and bloody scenes which Popery, under pretence of promoting the interest of the church, has exhibited in these kingdoms: wherefore, to preserve the succession of the illustrious House of Hanover in the Protestant line, and to secure our civil and religious liberties against the incroachments of Popery to the latest posterity, the petitioners humbly pray, That leave may be given to bring in a Bill to repeal the Act lately passed in favour of the Papists."

Ordered, That the said Petition be referred to the consideration of a committee of the whole House. Lord George then moved, that this House do now resolve itself into a committee of the whole House, to consider of the said Petition: this was seconded by Mr. Alderman Bull. A motion was made, and the question being put, that the House do now adjourn; it passed in the negative. Then the main question being put, the House divided; the Yeas were directed to go forth: but not being able to do so, on account of the tumultuous crowd in the lobby; and the Serjeant at Arms attending this House having informed the House, that it was not in his power to clear the lobby; Mr. Speaker directed him to send for the sheriff and other magistrates of the county of Middlesex and city of Westminster, to attend the House immediately. And after some time, several justices of the peace of Middlesex and Westminster attending accordingly, they were called in; and, at the bar, Mr. Speaker informed them, that a tumultuous assembly of people had surrounded the House, and rendered it very difficult for the members to come into or go out of the House, which disorder had continued for many hours; that it was their duty to preserve the peace; and for that purpose they had authority to call forth, if necessary, the whole power of the county to their assistance: Mr. Speaker therefore directed them to use their utmost exertions to restore peace and good order. And then they withdrew. And the House, after some time, being informed that the lobby was cleared; the Yeas went forth. Tellers.

So the question passed in the negative; and the House resolved to take the Petition into consideration on the 6th. The members who voted with lord George Gordon were, sir P. J. Clerke, sir M. Le Fleming, sir James Lowther, Mr. Polhitt, Mr. Tollemache, and earl Verney.-At eleven the House adjourned to the 6th.

June 6. Notwithstanding the alarms of particular members on account of the mul titude, about 200 members attended in their places.

Mr. Buller made several observations as well upon the alarming conduct of the

Mr. Burke made a very animated speech upon the alarming and dangerous proceedings of the populace. He was ex

capable of misleading the people to such violent outrages against the laws and constitution of their country, as well as against reason, justice, and humanity, and he dealt his censure with vehemence against government, for that relaxed state of the

2. "That the taking possession of the lobby and the avenues to this House, on Friday last, by a large and tumultuous assembly of people, and maintaining the same, to the great obstruction of the business of this House, though frequently desired by the Serjeant at Arms attending this House, and by several members, to withdraw, was an high violation of the privileges of this House, tended to controul the freedom of debate, and was a gross and notorious insult on the dignity and constitution of parliament.

3. "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, That he will be graciously pleased to give directions to the Attorney General, forthwith to prosecute all such persons as shall be found to have been the instigators or abettors of, or active in promoting, the riots and tumults that were on Friday last in Old Palaceyard, and the avenues to this House, and that were concerned in any of the outrages committed upon the houses and chapels of any of the ministers from foreign states, or in any outrages against the property and houses of any of his Majesty's subjects.

4. "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, That he will be graciously pleased to give immediate directions, that an enquiry be made into the amount of the damages occasioned by the outrages which have been committed upon the houses and chapels of any of the ministers from foreign states; and humbly to desire his Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to order such satisfaction and recompence to be made for the same as his Majesty in his wisdom shall think proper and to assure his Majesty that this House will make good the expence

that shall be incurred on that account."

These several motions met the general approbation of the House, and were carried without a division.

legislature itself from violence, and insult at their very gates. In short, he felt so much for the debased dignity of parliament at that moment, that he lost all temper, and bitterly lamented the fate of such times, when those who pretended to be the advocates of freedom, were establishing the most wretched slavery, and exhibited the unhappy prospect which was then at their gates-a bludgeoned mob, and an armed soldiery! He lamented in the most melancholy terms, the dreadful necessity that obliged the military power, the notorious bane of liberty, to be called in, to defend not only the freedom, but the very existence of parliament !

Mr. Fox also lamented the necessity of calling in the assistance of the military, which he attributed solely to the weak administration of public affairs. He reprobated, in terms equally as warm as those of Mr. Burke, the promoters of the riots; the violence of which would degrade us, he said, in the eyes of Europe; for the world would see, that those men who were at the head of administration, were incapable of governing the affairs of a state.

"This day a detachment of foot guards took possession of Westminster-hall, the doors of which they at last closed to prevent the mob entering there: several members of both Houses who walked down on foot were thus prevented from getting into the House for a considerable time, among whom was Mr. Burke, who was presently surrounded by who expostulated with him on his conduct, in some of the most decent of the petitioners, abetting sir George Savile's motion for the Roman Catholic Bill; Mr. Burke in his defence said, he certainly had seconded the motion for the Bill, and thought himself justified in so doing; he said, he understood he was a marked man, on whom the petitioners meant to wreak their vengeance; and therefore he having done nothing that deserved their cenwalked out singly amongst them, conscious of sure in the slightest degree, having always been the advocate for the people, and meaning to continue so. Mr. Burke at last got rid of his troublesome interrogators." London Chron.

Sir George Savile spoke on the same side, blamed the rioters and ministers alike, and remarked, that it was not a little singular in the present mobs, that they should equally direct their violence against the friends and enemies of liberty. He however thanked the ministry for the use of the military in protecting the shell of his house.

Colonel Herbert, observing lord George Gordon with a blue ribbon, declared that he could not sit and vote in that House at a moment, whilst he saw a noble lord in it, with the ensign of riot in his hat; and declared with great firmness, that if his lordship would not take it out, he would go across the House and do it.-Lord George's friends interposed upon this, and his lordship not being willing to take out his cockade, they in a manner forced it from him. Mr. Dunning spoke nearly the same sentiments as Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox, condemning the ministry, the military, and the mob.

It was the general opinion of the House, that no act could be legal which was agreed to whilst the House was beset with the soldiery and the mob.

at such a time would be more injurious to the dignity of the House than any other measure they could take: but it was the general opinion of the House to adjourn.

On the motion of sir William Meredith, a committee of the whole House was appointed to enquire into the causes of the riot in the lobby and avenues leading to the House, on the 2nd instant. The House then adjourned to the 8th.

June 8. The Speaker, attended by a sufficient number of members to authorise his taking the chair, went down to Westminster so early as twelve o'clock, and opened the House; immediately on which Mr. Dundas arose, and after expatiating on the very alarming insurrection, moved, That the House should be adjourned to the 19th.

Sir P. J. Clerke said he did not rise to oppose the motion, for it met with his hearty concurrence; he wished only to explain a circumstance to the House which had distressed him. At the late tumultuous assembly of the mob on Tuesday last at the House, he owned he was much alarmed, and therefore requested lord George Gordon to take him under his protection, which he did, by putting him into his lordship's coach; that he requested to be set down at Whitehall, but unfortunately for him, the mob took the horses off his lordship's carriage, and to his own un

Lord George Gordon said, that if the House would appoint a day to discuss the business, and promise to do it to the satisfaction of the people, he made no doubt but they would quietly disperse.

Sir George Osborne said he had been out to see how matters were going on. He had told the mob that after the King's proclamation should have been read, the military might, and probably would receive orders to fire among them. They answered," we will repel force by force." Lord George Gordon was about to go out of the House, in order to harangue the populace; but some of his friends detained him, not without a degree of violence.

The Speaker lamented the lost dignity of parliament. Many other members delivered their sentiments; some were for an adjournment till the House could proceed to business without being awed by any power either of the crown or of the populace. Others thought an adjournment

together through Temple-bar and the city; nor could he prevail upon them to let him out, till they were set down at Mr. Alderman Bull's in Leadenhall-street. He thought it incumbent upon him to explain this circumstance to the House, lest his being seen in that situation might be misrepresented, which he was very anxious to prevent.

The House adjourned to the 19th.

Proceedings in the Lords relating to the Riots.] June 2. The order of the day being read,

The Duke of Richmond rose to make his promised motion relative to annual parliaments, &c, He said he found himself exceedingly unhappy, that he should have to trouble their lordships with a motion, in the situation in which they were at present. He had been frequently charged with being too ready to rise and support the claims of the people. He had been always ready to do so; because he thought it was his duty as an English

given rise to the present system, It was dreaded, that if men of ability and integrity men, who having a weight and reputation in the country, and the confidence of the people, a kind of intrinsic strength, to put them beyond mere personal dependency, that it might reduce his present Majesty to a state of slavery, such as report had imputed to a former reign. If this reasoning might be fairly relied upon, he could not say, but the devisers of the present system had acted perfectly consistent; for certainly, if so much was to be apprehended from men of great talents, sound experience, and eminent integrity, they had carefully selected the weakest, most servile, and unpopular, that could be found; men every way unqualified for their high stations; for when wisdom was most wanting, the most consummate weakness was substituted in its place. The plan, such as it was, was most anxiously and unremittingly pursued since the commencement of the present reign. Administrations had been formed in rapid succession, for the first five or six years after his present Majesty ascended the throne; they were composed, it was true, of the most heterogeneous and discordant materials. Men of different principles and habits were called together, not to carry their respective opinions into execution; one party to govern this day, and the other the next; but to propose and sanction measures, equally repugnant to their own sentiments as to those of each other. Men thus inimical, found a gratification, at least, in throwing their weight into the opposite scale; that is, when any measure was proposed which was contrary to their own, as well as their opponents' principles, they vainly imagined, that when they supported the secret adviser's schemes, they were thereby fortifying themselves; but what was the consequence? They found them. selves, perhaps, in a very few days after, exactly in the same predicament, if the measure recommended corresponded with the sentiments of their adversaries. By this means, parties, and the remnants of former administrations, were set on to worry each other; while the balance was held by a secret invisible power, which directed the whole political machine at pleasure. He begged pardon for this digression from the subject he had caused their lordships to be convened to determine upon; he meant the most likely method of setting some limits, and restraining, at least, if

not reducing the increasing and alarming influence of the crown. Various methods had been devised by the several county meetings to effect so desirable an object: he had hit upon two modes. The one, a proposition for restoring the duration of parliament to its ancient stated period; he meant annual parliaments, in which the representative would be sent back to his constituents at the end of every session, or every year the other, a proposition to add one hundred members to the present representative body, by adding so many knights of shires, in order to balance what was usually called the dead weight of the rotten or ministerial boroughs. He should, with their lordships' permission, consider both those propositions with the attention which they seemed to him to deserve, and to the best of his abilities. It was not his intention to combat the impropriety, or to maintain the expediency of either of those propositions; the principle of the former clearly corresponded with his own general sentiments; the latter, perhaps, would be attended with some inconveniences; a very obvious one, however, struck him, and he would mention it; which was, that a room large enough to accommodate with ease and convenience 658 members would be very unfavourable to the purposes of deliberation and debate. His grace then began to open his plan more minutely, and distinctly; he said, if this free constitution was to be saved from ruin, parliament and the people, this House as well as the other, must go to the root of the evil. Burgage tenures must be abolished. The duration of parliaments must be shortened, they must be rendered annual, or if that could not be obtained, they must be shortened, and every man in the kingdom, of full age, and not disqualified by law, must be represented. His grace was proceeding, but was two or three times interrupted by lord Montfort. He complained warmly of the interruption, and appealed to the woolsack. He said, if he had uttered any thing disorderly, or against the rules of debate, he was ready to sit down; but he expected, if not, that he would be per mitted to proceed.

Before the noble lord on the woolsack had time to answer, lord Montfort, who remained all the time on his legs, begged the noble duke's pardon, and assured his grace, that he had not the least intention of giving him any offence; but as a peer, he thought it his duty to rise and acquaint