VI. 1784. and were stopped by armed cutters, in the ser- CHAP. vice of the states general; and the captains of the brigs, in obedience to the emperor's orders, refusing to comply with what was required of them, the Dutch officers took possession of both. Information of these events was conveyed to the emperor, then in Hungary, who immediately ordered his ambassador to leave the Hague, and his minister at Brussells, to put an end to the negotiations. Both the emperor and the states general, wrote to the different courts in Europe, to explain and justify their respective proceedings; and they called upon those powers, powers, with whom they were in alliance, to furnish the assistance stipulated by treaty. On the 7th of November, the garrisons of Lillo, Frederick Henry, and Cruikshanks, fearing a sudden attack from the Austrians, which they were not in a state to repel, cut their dykes, opened their sluices, and laid all the neighboring country, a considerable portion of which belonged to Austrians, under water; and in consequence of the alarm at first caused by this unexpected and mischievous measure, some shots were exchanged between the advanced posts of the Austrians and one of the Dutch garrisons. No farther act of hostility was committed; but preparations for war were made by both parties, with as VI. CHAP. much activity as the season of the year would permit; and there was reason to believe that other powers would be involved in the contest. 1784. UNDER this expectation of approaching warfare in the immediate neighborhood of Great Britain, parliament met on the 25th of January 1785; and the king, in his speech from the throne, alluding to the circumstances which have been just related, informed the houses, that notwithstanding any appearance of differences upon the continent, he continued "uniformly to receive from all foreign powers, the strongest assurances of their good disposition towards this country:" he mentioned the success which had attended the measures taken in the last session, for the suppression of smuggling, and for the improvement of the revenue, as an encouragement to parliament to apply itself with renewed assiduity to those important objects; he recommended to its consideration the adjustment of such points in the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, as were not yet finally arranged; and such farther regulations as might appear to be necessary in the different offices in the kingdom, conformably to the suggestions in the reports of the commissioners of public accounts. The addresses were carried VI. 1785. in both houses without any division. In the CHAP. house of commons, Mr. Pitt was the only speaker on the side of government. He replied, in two speeches, to lord Surry, Mr. Burke, lord North, and Mr. Fox. Nothing material occurred in the debate, except an acknowledgment from Mr. Fox, that "the measures lately pursued for the prevention of smuggling, had been effectual:" and assurances from Mr. Pitt, that the commutation tax, which was censured by Mr. Fox, had been proved by the test of experience, to be a wise, efficacious, and beneficial measure; and that the board of control, which Mr. Fox asserted, had increased peculation and corruption, had laid the foundation for checking those very evils, while in other respects it had already produced the most salutary effects. THE first business brought before the house of commons, was, the Westminster scrutiny. On the 1st of February, Mr. Welbore Ellis moved, that the high bailiff should attend on the 4th, "to give an account of what he had done" in the scrutiny; and on the following day, colonel Fitzpatrick presented a petition from certain electors of Westminster, in which they complained, that the city of Westminster continued unrepresented; and praying CHAP. VI. 1785. "that the house would immediately take such measures as would restore it to its undoubted right of having representatives in parliament." Mr. Fox being unable, on account of indisposition, to attend the house on the 4th, nothing was done till the 8th. On that day, the high bailiff, and Mr. Hargrave and Mr. Murphy, who had been successively his assessors, underwent a long examination; from which it appeared, that the scrutiny had continued for eight months; that in the parish of St. Anne, 25 votes had been struck from the poll of Mr. Fox, and 27 from that of sir Cecil Wray; that in the parish of St. Martin, 80 had been struck from the poll of Mr. Fox, and 60 from that of sir Cecil Wray; and that the inquiry into sir Cecil Wray's supposed bad votes in that parish, was unfinished; that the high bailiff was not yet enabled to make a return satisfactory to himself; that the proceedings of the scrutiny had been studiously delayed by the long examination of witnesses, and the long speeches of counsel; that it would probably last two years longer; that the high bailiff had long since proposed to enter upon the parishes of St. John and St. Margaret, in which the greatest number of bad votes was suspected, but that Mr. Fox objected; that the high bailiff had no power to administer an VI. 1785. oath, to compel the attendance of witnesses, CHAP. or to punish them for prevarication or falsehood; and that from want of sufficient authority, he had been treated with contempt, while presiding in the court of scrutiny. These examinations, and the conversations to which they gave rise, occupied so much time, that it was necessary to adjourn the business to the following day, when Mr. Ellis submitted to the house the same motion, which he had made in the beginning of the former session, requiring the high bailiff to make an immediate return of two persons to serve in parliament for the city of Westminster. Lord Mulgrave opposed this motion; maintaining, that there was no law which enjoined the high bailiff to make a return immediately upon the meeting of a new parliament; that it had always been an established maxim, founded on justice and equity, that upon the demand of a scrutiny by any party, the returning officer should satisfy his own conscience, and either grant or refuse a scrutiny, as he thought most conformable to the tenor of his oath; that in the present case, exercising the discretionary power vested in him by the constitution, he had granted a scrutiny, and that he ought not to be compelled by the house to stop it: he therefore moved, as an |