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Brecon. Sir Charles Gould. CARDIGANSHIRE. Wilmot, earl of Lisburne. Cardigan. John Campbell. CARMARTHENSHIRE, John Vaughan. Carmarthen. George Phillips. CARNARVONSHIRE. John Parry; attorney-general for North Wales circuit, and constable of Conway castle.

Chiltern Hundreds in the county of Buckingham; a new writ ordered, January 12, 1784.--John Galley Knight. Beverley. Sir James Pennyinan.-- Evelyn Anderson; a lieutenant of dra. goons; made a lieutenant in the foot guards; made a major of a regiment of foot. Northallerton. Henry Pierse.---Daniel Lascelles; made steward of the manor of East Hendred in the county of Berks; a new writ ordered, November 1780.--Edwin Lascelles. Pontefract. Robert viscount Galway; made steward of the three Chiltern Hundreds in the county of Buckingham; a new writ ordered, February 8, 1783, he was chosen for York city. Nathaniel Smith; deputy chairman of the directors of the East India Company; not duly elected.--John Smyth ; son-in-law to the duke of Grafton; duly elected, and ought to have been returned.--William Nedham.

CINQUE PORTS.

Hastings. Henry, viscount Palmerston; made a commissioner of the treasury; a new writ ordered, December 1777, he was re-elected.--John Ord; attorneygeneral of the duchy court of Lancaster, and a master in chancery. Dover. John Henniker; succeeded his father-in law, sir John Major, as baronet in .--John Trevanion. Sandwich. Philip Stephens.--Sir Richard Sutton; a cominissioner of the treasury. Hythe. William Evelyn.---Sir Charles Farnaby; changed his name to Radcliffe in 1783.

New Romney. Sir Edward Deering.-John Smith; solicitor to the East India Company; made steward of the three Chiltern Hundreds in the county of Buckingham; a new writ ordered, June 9, 1784.

Rye. Thomas Onslow.--William Dicken

son.

Winchelsea. John Nesbitt.--Charles W. Cornwall; chosen Speaker of this parliament.

Seaford. John Robinson; made his election for Harwich; a new writ ordered, November 2, 1780.--Christ. D'Oyley. --John Durand.

WALES.

ANGLESEA. Thomas James, viscount Bulkeley; on the dissolution of this parliament he was created baron Bulkeley of Beaumaris, in the county of Anglesey. Beaumaris. Sir George Warren; fatherin-law to viscount Bulkeley. BRECONSHIRE. Charles Morgan.

Carnarvon. Glynn Wynn; made receiver-general of the king's quit rents in North Wales; a new writ ordered, July 5, 1781, he was re-elected.

DENBIGHSHIRE. Sir Watkin Williams Wynne.

Denbigh. Richard Myddelton. FLINTSHIRE. Sir Roger Mostyn. Flint. Watkin Williams. GLAMORGANSHIRE. Charles Edwin.

Cardiff. Sir Herbert Mackworth. MERIONETHSHIRE. Evan Lloyd Vaughan. MONTGOMERYSHIRE. William Mostyn Owen.

Montgomery. Whitshed Keene; a com

missioner of trade and plantations; made master of his majesty's board of works; a new writ ordered, June 5, 1777, he was re-elected; made a commissioner of the admiralty; a new writ ordered, April 7, 1783, he was re-elected. PEMBROKESHIRE. Hugh Owen; succeeded his

father as baronet.

Pembroke. Hugh Owen.

Haverford West. William, lord Kensington.

RADNORSHIRE. Thomas Johnes.

Radnor. (D. R.) Edward Lewis; duly elected, and ought to have been returned.--John Lewis.

SHIRES OF

SCOTLAND.

Aberdeen. Alexander Garden, Ayr. Hugh Montgomery; not duly elected.---Sir Adam Ferguson; duly elected, and ought to have been returned; made a commissioner of trade and plantations; a new writ ordered, December 22, 1781, he was re-elected. Argyle. Lord Frederick Campbell; second brother to the duke of Argyle; Jord register of Scotland. Banff James, earl Fife.

Berwick. Hugh Scott; nephew to the earl of Marchmont, not duly elected, and his election being declared void, a new writ ordered.-- Hugh Scott. Caithness and Bute. John Sinclair. Kinross and Clackmannan. George Graham.

Cromartie and Nairn. George Ross. Dumfries. Sir Robert Laurie; made a lieutenant-colonel of dragoons. Dunbarton. Lord Frederick Campbell; brother to the duke of Argyle; lord register of Scotland; not duly elected.George Keith Elphinstone; third son of lord Elphinstone; a captain in the navy; duly elected, and ought to have been returned; in 1783 made secretary to the prince of Wales for Scotland. Edinburgh. Henry Dundas; in July 1782, he was made treasurer of the navy; he was re-chosen for the borough of Newton in the county of Southampton; made steward of the three Chiltern Hundreds in the county of Buckingham; a new writ ordered, Dec. 10, 1782, he was re-chosen for this county; again made treasurer of the navy; a new writ ordered, December 24, 1783, he was re-elected.

Elgin Lord William Gordon; made vice-admiral of Scotland; a new writ ordered, March 26, 1782, he was reelected.

Fife. Robert Skene; a major-general, and colonel of a regiment of foot. Forfar. William, earl Panmure; died, a new writ ordered, January 21, 1782.-Archibald Douglas; nephew and heir to the late duke of Douglas.

Haddington. Hew Dalrymple; eldest son of sir Hew Dalrymple. Inverness. Simon Fraser; died, a new writ ordered, February 11, 1782.--Archibald Campbell Fraser; brother to the deceased member.

Kincardine. Lord Adam Gordon; made colonel of the 1st or royal regiment of foot in 1782.

Kirkcudbright.

Peter Johnstone; his election declared void; a new writ ordered, March 5, 1781.--John Gordon; not duly elected.---Peter Johnstone; duly elected, and ought to have been returned.

Lanark. Andrew Stuart; made clerk register of sasines in Scotland; a new writ ordered, 1781, he was re

elected. Linlithgow. Sir William Augustus Cunningham.

Orkney. Robert Baikie; not duly elected.--Charles Dundas; second son of Thomas Dundas, esq.; a counsellor at law; duly elected, and ought to have been returned.

Peebles. Alexander Murray; his ma. jesty's solicitor-general for Scotland; made a lord of session and justiciary; a new writ ordered, February 28, 1783.-Alexander Murray; nephew of lord Elibank, now lord Elibank.

Perth. James Murray; made a majorgeneral.

Renfrew. John Schaw Stewart; made steward of the three Chiltern Hundreds in the county of Buckingham; a new writ ordered, July 15, 1783.--William McDowall.

Ross. John Mackenzie; commonly called lord Macleod, as heir to the attainted earl of Cromarty; colonel of a highland regiment of foot, and a major-general. Roxburgh. Sir Gilbert Elliot. Selkirk. John Pringle.

Stirling. Thomas Dundas; succeeded his father as baronet in October 1781. Sutherland. James Wemyss. Wigton. Keith Stewart. Edinburgh City. William Miller; not duly elected.--Sir Lawrence Dundas; duly elected, and ought to have been returned; died, and the Speaker issued bis warrant for a new writ to the clerk of the crown, October 12, 1781.--James Hunter Blair; a banker in Edinburgh.

BURGHS OF

Kirkwall, &c. Charles Ross; lieutenantcolonel of the 39th regiment of foot; made colonel of a regiment of foot. Inverness, &c. Sir Hector Munro ; barrack-master-general for Scotland; made a major-general in 1782.

Elgin, &c. Staats Long Morris; made a lieutenant-general in November 1782. Aberdeen, &c. Adam Drummond. Forfar, &c. George Dempster. Crail, &c. Sir John Anstruther; made steward of the three Chiltern Hundreds in the county of Buckingham; a new writ ordered, December 2, 1782.--Jobn Anstruther; second son of sir John Austruther, bart.; a counsellor at law, and receiver of the bishops' rents in Scotland.

Kirkaldy, &c. John Henderson; eldest son of sir John Henderson, bart.; succeeded his father as baronet in 1782. Inverkeithing, &c. James Campbell; brother of the late member; knighted in 1788.

Glasgow, &c. John Craufurd; chamberlain of the county of Fife. Selkirk, &c. Sir James Cockburne. Haddington, &c. Francis Charteris. Dumfries, &c. Sir Robert Herries; banker in London.

Wigton, &c. William Adam; treasurer of the ordnance; again appointed to the same office; a new writ ordered, April 9, 1783, he was re-elected.

Ayr, &c. Sir Archibald Edmonstone.

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SIXTEEN PEERS OF SCOTLAND.

Duke of Gordon,

Queensbury,
Athol,

Marquis of Lothian,

Earl of Glencairn,
Eglintoun,
Cassilis,

Abercorn,

Galloway,

hon. gentleman's constitution was much impaired. It would, therefore, neither be decent in him, nor would it become the House, to shew so little gratitude and respect to the right hon. gentleman for his many and acknowledged services, were he to propose, or they to adopt the proposition for the putting that gentleman again into a situation, the fatigue of which were too heavy a burthen to be imposed on him,

Loudoun; died in 1782, (earl of considering his precarious state of health.

Lauderdale in his stead)

Dalhousie,

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Debate in the Commons on the Choice of a Speaker.] The Commons being returned to their House,

Lord George Germain rose, and addressed himself to Mr. Hatsell (the clerk), said the business first to be proceeded upon, was that which his Majesty had been pleased to direct, which was the choice of a Speaker. His lordship then descanted on the duties of a Speaker, and the necessary qualifications for executing the office. He said, to be capable of filling the chair with dignity, the person proposed must understand the constitution of the state, be well acquainted with the law of the land, and, above all, be perfectly master of the law of parliament. He must have a zealous attachment to the rights and privileges of the Commons of England, and a sufficient degree of ability and integrity to support, maintain, and defend them; he must be diligent without being precipitate, and firm and decisive without being arbitrary or rash; and that, which he considered as a Speaker's most important duty, was his conducting himself with the strictest impartiality on every occasion. The late worthy Speaker, his lordship remarked, had, for nearly two parliaments, gone through the duties of his high office, with great honour, great diligence, and great dignity; the office, he said, was a very laborious one, and required full health and vigour; the right hon. gentleman who last filled the chair, when he was first elected to that high situation, was in possession of every qualification both of body and mind, which the duties of the office called for; but the House had, unhappily for the right hon. gentleman, and unhappily for the public, been witnesses in the course of the last session, that the right

For that reason, and from that consideration only, it was that he had turned his mind to another gentleman, and meant to conclude what he had to say with a motion, proposing that gentleman to fill the chair. His lordship trusted that when he named Mr. Cornwall, all those who had sat in former parliaments would think he named a gentleman possessed of those qualifications which were requisite for the due execution of the duties of the chair. Mr. Cornwall, before he came into that House, had done his country essential service, and acquired great personal honour by the very able and active share he took in the adjustment of some public accounts, submitted to the investigation of certain persons commissioned for that purpose; Mr. Cornwall had also sat several years in parliament, was well acquainted with the law of the land, the law of parliament, and all the forms, orders, and rules of proceeding peculiar to that House; he therefore flattered himself that it would not be thought, that he made an improper motion, when he proposed Charles Wolfran Cornwall, esq.

Mr. Welbore Ellis seconded the motion, and said, that although the noble lord, by so fully stating to the House the duties of the office, the qualifications requisite for the person chosen to fill the chair, and the praises due to the late worthy Speaker, had left him little to say, he could not content himself with merely seconding the motion. He then went into a discussion on the subject, under the three heads of, the nature and importance of the office itself, the compliments and thanks merited by sir Fletcher Norton for his able discharge of it, while he held it, and the reasons for expecting that Mr. Cornwall would prove capable of filling it to the satisfaction of the House and to his own honour. With regard to the first, he said it was an office of considerable dignity, and of great emolument; that the duties of it were laborious, and he that filled it must expect to be in some degree a sufferer, in

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proportion to the good the House and the public derived from the exercise of his talents and the constant employment of his mind. This sort of exchange of health and honour, he observed, no elevated situation was free from, and therefore, though he sincerely lamented, that the late Speaker should last session have had occasion to complain of the impression made upon his constitution by the fatigues of his situation, he could not but own, he considered it as a natural consequence, and as it was a proof that his country was the more indebted to the right hon. gentleman for his services, he thought it necessary, now an opportunity offered, to afford him the relief the House had in its power, by choosing another Speaker. Considering the critical situation of public affairs, there would undoubtedly be many debates in that House, and possibly there might arise much contention; the person to be elected Speaker, ought therefore, exclusive of a competent share of knowledge of the common law, and the law of parliament, to possess temper to allay heats, prudence to prevent irregularities, and spirit and firmness to repress the rising storms of passion and contest. With this view it was that he looked upon Mr. Cornwall as a proper successor to sir Fletcher Norton.

Mr. Dunning expressed his astonishment, that the noble lord (North), had not risen, and saved him the trouble of proposing the late Speaker to continue in the chair. He was, he said, exceedingly surprised, on coming down to the House, to hear that it was generally understood that Mr. Cornwall was to be Speaker. There was no gentleman for whom he had a higher regard, nor for whose abilities he had more respect; and if the chair had been, in the fair and ordinary sense of the word, vacant, the proposition would not have met with the smallest objection from him; but at a time, when, in fact, there was no vacancy, when the late Speaker was in the House, and to all appearance as capable of executing the duties of the office, as much to the satisfaction of the House, and as much to the honour of himself, as ever, (and no man could execute the duties of it more satisfactorily nor more honourably), it struck him as the most singular of all measures, to confess, as the noble lord and the hon. gentleman had done, that the late Speaker was the properest of all persons to fill the chair with dignity, and in the very moment of

making that confession, to propose another candidate. He had expected, when the bad health of sir Fletcher was urged as a ground for not continuing him in the chair, that either the noble lord, or the hon. gentleman would have stated to the House that sir Fletcher had formally ap plied to them, declaring his desire to resign the chair, and assigning as a reason for his so doing, that his health was in that impaired state, in which they had both declared it to be, although every man in the House could see, that if appearances were to be relied on, or if assurances were to be believed, sir Fletcher was as well, as fully in health, and as fully capable of going through the duties of the office, as ever he had been since he was first chosen. Mr. Dunning mentioned the happiness he had experienced in a long and intimate acquaintance with sir Fletcher, spoke of his character in terms of the warmest eulogy, and concluded his speech with moving, "that sir Fletcher Norton be called to the chair."

Mr. Thomas Townshend and sir Fletcher Norton rose together, but the former continuing on his legs, he was heard first.

Mr. Thomas Townshend began with apologizing for the seeming rudeness of his conduct in persevering in his endeavours to be heard before sir Fletcher, declaring that as he meant to second the motion just made by his hon. and learned friend, he thought it more regular to do it, previous to the right hon. gentleman's dropping any thing on the subject, than afterwards. He then warmly expostulated with the noble lord who made the first motion, on the singularity of it, and objected to Mr. Cornwall, as an improper person to fill the chair, were there any vacancy. He said he was, on the first view of the question, somewhat distressed for fear it might be considered as a personal one, and that, in consequence, any thing he might wish to offer, should be attributed to views very foreign from those with which he looked at the subject. He was happy, however, to find, that it would not be so considered, and as he meant to give no personal offence to any one, and least of all to the gentleman who was made the object of the motion offered by the noble lord, he would according to his custom speak out plainly and unreservedly. It had in former times, he observed, been always customary to see the chair of the House filled by men who were independent, and men who represented either a large county, or some

those who were newly chosen, would feel properly on the occasion, and join with him in supporting the motion of his hon. and learned friend.

Sir Fletcher Norton said, he had risen before, in order to save the House trouble, and tell them that he came down with his mind made up to the business of the day, and with a full resolution not to go into the chair again on any consideration. When he was first chosen Speaker, he brought into the chair a hale constitution; and such poor abilities as heaven had been pleased to bestow upon him were in their fullest vigour. The very great and increased duties of the office, had, as the House must have witnessed, impaired his constitution materially, and he feared, had weakened his intellects; his advanced years, as might naturally be supposed, not enabling him to resist the force of his disorder, but rather giving way to it. As a

neighbouring borough. Mr. Onslow was no placeman. Mr. Cornwall held an office disposable at the pleasure of the crown, and was the representative of one of the I Cinque Ports. The Cinque Ports, he was I free to own, had as much right to have I their member Speaker of the House of Commons, as any other place which sent members, but he must own he wished the person chosen Speaker not to be a member for one of the Cinque Ports. The Cinque Ports, as the late elections had shewn, were not allowed a free choice of their representatives; these were objections which might appear trivial to other men, but they struck him very forcibly. The office of Speaker ought to be filled by a person free from all influence of the crown. It was the first duty of the Speaker to guard the rights and privileges of the people, against the increased and increasing influence of the crown. Was Mr. Cornwall, a placeman at pleasure, a pen-proof of what he had said, the public busisioner, and representative of one of the Cinque Ports, a fit guardian for the privileges of the people? And after all, why was there to be a new Speaker? It was confessed, even by those who proposed Mr. Cornwall, that no man could discharge the duties of the chair more satisfactorily, or with more dignity than sir Fletcher Norton. Why, then, change him, and appoint a successor? The noble mover and the hon. seconder, had both talked of his ill state of health, and the latter had been particularly diffuse in his praise; Good God! if sir Fletcher Norton was so worthy, why dismiss him from the chair? But there was another reason, a reason, which neither the noble lord, nor the hon. gentleman, though they had both of them expressed their wish that every Speaker should discharge his duty with impartiality, had thought proper to hint at. This lurking reason originated in sir Fletcher having exercised that very impartiality, which was so much enforced both by the noble mover and the seconder, it was this: sir Fletcher had made a speech on a memorable occasion, which did him the highest honour; a speech, which proved his impartiality, as a Speaker, his zeal for his country, his feeling for the national distresses. That was the reason of the present attempt to disgrace and insult him; and as it was unmanly and illiberal, he trusted every member, young and old, those who sat in the old parliament, and

* See Vol. 19, p. 213.

ness had, in the course of last session, been twice interrupted, solely on account of his infirmities; he had then intimated a desire to resign, and his family knew that had the parliament sat another session, it was his resolution to ask leave to resign the chair to some more healthy successor. He therefore thanked his hon. and learned friend for the high opinion he entertained of him, and for the motion he had made to reinstate him, but he must beg leave to decline acceding to that proposition. If he was so happy as to be honoured with an election, his returning to the chair would appear strange to the public; it would be asked, why a man, confessedly too infirm for the office, would undertake it? and some persons perhaps would be ill-natured enough to say, that he was ready to receive the emoluments, though not equal to the discharge of the duties of the place. Under these circumstances he must repeat, that it was his determination to decline all thoughts of it, and to assure the House, that though he had sat in the chair for nearly two parliaments, and though his health was very greatly im paired, in consequence of the fatigue of public business, his fortune was not bettered. He was happy in seeing so many members of the late parliament present, and took that opportunity of returning his most grateful thanks for all their goodness to him, the impression of which was his chief happiness, and could never be erased from his mind. He begged leave also to thank the noble lord who made the motion

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