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honourable gentleman, he said, had such a happy talent of rendering even the driest subject lively, that his pleasant allusion to the charge of one halfpenny for bread, in Falstaff's tavern bill*, when he came to take notice of the 1000l. amount of silver remaining in the treasury of the East India company, had so far caught his fancy, that it was not till a minute or two afterwards that he glanced his eye a little higher in the same page of the company's account, and saw an entry of money to the amount of 142,794/. Mr. Pitt dwelt upon this for some time, and went into a discussion of the observations of Mr. Fox, upon the entry 280,575l. for bonds, which he strenuously maintained the company had a right to give themselves credit for. He also entered into a long argument respecting the sums credited for freights paid, defending them from Mr. Fox's objections. He likewise defended the entry of 253,6167. as the value of the company's houses and buildings in London, declaring, that as the company understood themselves to stand charged with bankruptcy, they felt it necessary to state the value of the whole of their assets in the schedule of the particulars of their estate. He reasoned for some time on the assertions of Mr. Fox upon the prime cost of four cargoes on their passage from Bengal, and said, notwithstanding the arguments of the honourable ger.tleman, that when the freight and duties were paid, there would be a loss rather than a profit on the investment, he believed the reverse would be the fact; for he generally understood when an investment was made in India, the prime cost was at least doubled in the price the cargoes fetched in England. He

* The passage in Mr. Fox's speech, which is here alluded to, may not be improperly inserted.

"After enumerating," said Mr. Fox, "their millions afloat; their millions in the warehouses: they (the company) come to the calculation of their specie, and it amounts to the sum of 1000l.! This reminds me of an article in one of our great bard's best plays, where speaking of one of his best characters, it is said, 'so much for sack; so much for sugar; so much for burnt hock; so much for this, and so much for that; but for the solid―the substantial—the staff of life-bread, one halfpenny!' So it is with this flourishing company; they have millions of goods, of bonds,

opposed Mr. Fox's observations on the different entries under the head of quick stock, at the various presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, and at Bencoolen, and in China, contradicting many of them, and upholding the company in their statement. He declared he did not know what the right honourable gentleman alluded to, relative to the private debt incurred by the Madras presidency. With regard to the debts due from the Nabob Asoph ul Dowla, and the Nabob of Arcot, he said the honourable gentleman had taken such advantage of those facts to display his oratory, that the House was lost in a blaze of eloquence, and so dazzled with the lustre and brilliancy of the right honourable gentleman's talents, that they were deprived of the exercise of their sober reason, and rendered incompetent to weigh the propriety of the company's making any mention of debts, some of which they expressly declared would be lingering in their payment, and others they acknowledged to be precarious.

After going through the whole of the observations and objections of Mr. Fox, and contending that the right honourable gentleman had uniformly declined any sort of discrimination as to the different periods of time that the company's debts would come upon them, but had argued as if the whole were due at the present moment: Mr. Pitt said, the last matter urged against the company, viz. their capital, was, to his mind, the most extraordinary of any thing he had ever met with. He had often heard when traders were bankrupts, or when it became necessary that their affairs should be vested in the hands of trustees, that it was incumbent on them to discover the whole amount of their debts to others; but he never before knew, that it was either incumbent on them to state, or necessary for the creditors to know, how much they owed themselves. Having put this very strongly, Mr. Pitt denied that there was any deficiency whatever in their capital, contending on the other hand, that the company, though distressed, were by no means insolvent, and that they ought to be allowed an opportunity of proving the whole of the statement of their affairs at the bar of the House. The right honourable secretary had accused the temerity of the company in bringing before that House the accounts of the company in

a state exceedingly fallacious. He had asked, "what indignation and censure was due to the individual who dared to have thus trifled with truth, with decency, and with the dignity of the House?" What then shall be said of a minister, who ventures to rise up in his place, and impose on the House a statement every way absurd and erroneous?

On these, and many other accounts, Mr. Pitt was clearly for deferring the debate. This position he argued very elaborately; and said, as it was perfectly reasonable to allow the House time to enquire into and examine the truth of the papers then on the table, the falsehood of which ought not to be taken for granted upon the bare assertions of the secretary of state, so introduced and made as they had been, he should hope there could be no objection to adjourning the debate for a single day, and should therefore reserve his sentiments upon the principle of the bill for the present, and move" that the debate be adjourned till to-morrow (Friday) morning."

Mr. Pitt's motion of adjournment was negatived,

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* On the 18th of December at twelve o'clock at night a special messenger delivered to the two secretaries of state a message from His Majesty, intimating that he had no further occasion for their services, and desiring them to render up the seals of their offices; at the same time mentioning, that it was the royal pleasure that they should be delivered to him by the under secretaries, as a personal interview would be disagreeable. Early the next morning letters of dismission signed, "Temple," were sent to the other members of the cabinet. Earl Temple, who was appointed secretary of state, resigned two days after-and the following arrangement was at length completed:

Right Hon. William Pitt..... {

First Lord of the Treasury, and
Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Marquis of Carmarthen....... {Secretary of State for the Foreign

Lord Sidney............

Department.

{Secretary of State for the Home

Department.

January 12. 1784.

Mr. PITT and the other re-elected members having taken the usual oaths and their seats, Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt rose at the same time, and the friends of both gentlemen were very loud in procuring for each the preference of being heard. — The Speaker decided, that Mr. Fox was in possession of the House, as he had been up, and was interrupted by the swearing in of the re-elected members. Mr. Pitt spoke to order, and declared that he knew not that Mr. Fox was in possession of the House; but he thought it requisite for him to say, that the reason for his rising was to present to the House a message from His Majesty, conceiving, as he did, that the House would be disposed to hear that in preference to other matter.

The Speaker then, from the chair, announcing that Mr. Fox, having begun his speech, was clearly in possession of the House, and was en. titled to go on,

Mr. Fox said, that nobody would believe that he was inclined to prevent the right honourable Chancellor of the Exchequer from presenting a message from His Majesty; but having risen to move for the order of the day, and the right honourable gentleman having it in his power to

Earl Gower (succeeded by President of the Council.

Lord Camden)

Duke of Rutland (succeeded

by Earl Gower)

Earl Howe.........

Lord Privy Seal.

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Lord Thurlow.....................Lord Chancellor.

The above composed the Cabinet.

Duke of Richmond..............Master-General of the Ordnance.

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Duke of Rutland............... Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
Thomas Orde, Esq............. Secretary to do.

present the message after the business of the day as well as before, and knowing at the same time, from the nature of the message, that there would be no injury in waiting, he wished that the House should go into the committee on the state of the nation, where a motion of the most immediate consequence to the House would be made, and which, in his mind, ought to precede all other business. He therefore begged leave to move the order of the day.

Mr. PITT now rose:

He was by no means anxious, he said, to prevent the House from going into the committee on the state of the nation, or to keep the right honourable gentleman from the possession of the House, to the gaining of which such art and such accommodation had been used. He could not be at all surprised that those men, who before the recess had been so clamorous and so petulant, and who had gone such strange lengths, at a time when those persons, who unquestionably ought to be present at the discussion of all important questions, were necessarily absent, should now have proceeded in the same way, and taken the advantage of absence to bring on a measure, by which he, as the minister of the crown, should be prevented from delivering a message from His Majesty. It was not his desire to prevent gentlemen from saying any thing that they might imagine would support that clamour which they had endeavoured so insidiously to raise in the country, any thing that would support that petulance which they had shewn before the recess, that unjustifiable violence and those unprecedented steps which they had taken, for the purpose of inflaming the country, and exciting jealousies, for which there was no real foundation. He was happy to see the House met again, that now the ministers of the crown might be able to face the assertions, the insinuations, that were thrown out; for nothing in the shape of a charge had been brought forward, nothing had even been attempted to be proved: now they would have it in their power to meet the enquiries and the propositions that might be agitated in the committee on the state of the nation; and he assured the House, that he should not shrink from any question, charge, or insinuation, which the gentlemen on the other side might chuse to bring against him.

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