The question was then put, and carried without a divifion, that the further reading of this Bill be poftponed to this day three months. Several public and private Bills were read in their respective ftages.---Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Mr. Tait was introduced and took the oaths and his feat for Inverkeithing. An Addrefs was ordered to be prefented nem. con. to his Majefty, to recommend the Rev. Wm. Busby, the Chaplain of that House, to fome preferment as a reward for his fervices. Addreffes were alfo ordered to be prefented to his Majefty, to recommend his Majefty to order 1409!. to be iffued to Mr. Hughes for 1500 copies of the Journals of the Houfe, from 1774 to 1790; 210l. to Mr George Williams, for an Index to the Votes; a compenfation to the perfons appointed to examine the accounts incurred by the Trial of Warren Haftings, Efq. and 1000l. to Mr. Samuel Dunn, as a final compenfation for his trouble, pains, and expence, in compiling an Index to the Journals of the Houfe, and the Houfe would hereafter make good the fame. A new Writ was ordered for the town of Northampton in the room of Thomas Powis, Efq. who has accepted the Stewardfhip of the Chiltern Hundreds. Refolutions of the Committee on the Eaft-India Budget were reported and agreed to. The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, that the Committee on the Wet Dock Bill fhould report the minutes of evidence in order to have them printed, which, after a defuitory converfation refpecting the regularity of fuch a proceeding, was ordered. The Pleasure Horfe Duty, Small Notes, Scotch Election, Stamp Deed Duty, Provifional Cavalry, Confolidated fund, and Legacy Bills, were read a third time and paffed, Upon the Order of the Day being read, for the Houfe to refolve itself into a Committee to confider of the Bill enabling his Majefty to call Parliament together within fourteen days, Mr. Wigley objected. When it came into the Houfe, it was read a first and fecond time immediately, and upon his inquiry whether there was any particular occafion for the Bill, he was told there was none; and yet, to his furprife, foon after, the Right Honourable Gentleman, (Mr. Pitt) moved to have it printed, to make it plaufible as having received the due confideration of Parliament. Had it not been for the delay of Public Bufinefs, which he fhould thereby have caufed in confeNo. 46. 10 I quence quence of the thin attendance, he would that day have divided the House upon the Motion for the fecond reading; and that was the reason why he had this day moved to have the Order for the commitment of the Bill poftponed till the other Orders of the Day were difpofed of. By the Militia Laws, in case of Invafion or Rebellion, his Majefty was at prefent enabled to convene Parliament in 14 days after having called out the Militia, and therefore he faw no neceflity for the Bill. He objected alfo for a different purpose, because he knew no statute law to fummon Paliament antecedent to the time of prorogation, though a precedent for fuch measure appeared on the Journals, in the 19th of Charles II. when Parliament was prorogued from the 26th of June to the 10th of October, and yet met in the interim on the 25th of July, being convened on account of the general fear of an invafion, though no invafion happened. By the Act of Geo. II. fuch power was not repealed. He had no objection to any temporary alteration, if neceffary; but he did not wish to make fuch a power permanent invafion, for although he did not fufpect Minifters of any bad intention in the perfent inftance, he feared it might be dangerous in future. In case of a demife of the Crown, he obferved, there must be a diffolution of Parliament, and then 14 days would not be fufficient, nor would it be fufficient if the notice of re-affembling Parliament was published within a day or two after the prorogation. The measure he conceived too great for difcufion at fo late a period of the Seffion, and therefore unless Minifters deemed an immediate diffolution of Parliament to be neceffary, he should move to have the commitment put off to that day three months. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was surprised at the Honourable Gentleman's jealoufy of Minifters upon a Bill which gave them no extraordinary powers. In the Honourable Gentleman's view, 14 days were fufficient for enforcing a Call of the House, and fince, from an alteration in various circumftances, there was a greater facility of communication than formerly, he did not fee why a Proclamation could not travel as faft as a Summons. If there were any time when fuch meafures were neceflary, it was when the Executive Government felt the neceffity of having recourfe to the other branches of the Legiflature, and without ftating any peculiar circumstances of the prefent moment, fuch great and important events had already happened, and might poffibly happen again, as he trusted muft to every perfon juftify the Bill. Sir William Pulteney objected to the general principle of the Bill, because in many cafes it would be dangerous, by adding to the influence of Minifters, when Gentlemen found it dilficult to quit their families in a remote corner of the kingdom, as if they were under a military government, upon fuch a fudden notice as that of 14 days. He wished the Bill therefore at most to be extended to a limited time only, and to specia! circumftances, and upon that he faid he fhould divided the Houfe. The Chancellor of the Exchequer explained. The Houfe then divided, and as it contained not more than ten or a dozen Members, of courfe immediately Adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS. Tuesday, July 18. The Bills on the Table went through the different stages. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Tuesday, July 18. The Report of the Wet Dock Committee was brought up and read. A Meffage from the Lords informed the Houfe that their Lordships had agreed to feveral Bills. Upon the question for the Speaker's leaving the Chair, previouly to the Commitment of the Bill for enabling his Majefty to call Parliament together in fourteen days, Sir W. Pulteney objected to the Bill, not as a temporary, but as a perpetual meafure. In the first place, he hoped that the Houfe would entertain a greater refpect for their ancestors than to fuppofe they had a ted wrong for fuch a number of years. It had been faid that fourteen days were a fufficient notice: but was the notice all that was required for a Member of Parliament? It was rever intended that the Reprefentatives of the People should be drudges to their public duty, and ready to attend the Minister's call at a moment's notice, like a military corps fummoned to the parade. The intention was that the Parliament fhould control the Executive Government; and as in the Militia it would be impoffible to procure refpectable Officers, if the Militia were to be embodied in time of Peace, fo would it be impoffible to procure independent Gentlemen to fit in Parliament, if this regulation were to be adopted, which would harass men, and prevent them from paying a proper attention to their private affairs. It was putting the Parliament under a kind of Martial Law. Befides, Gentleman would recollect from what quarter the meafure had proceeded; it had proceeded from the Lords. Was it fit that it fhould come from the Aristocracy of the country? And indeed the bringing it in at this late period of the year was extremely exceptionable. It was indecorous and indecent, and was not to be justified by any of the practices or principles of our ancestors. It fhould, above all, have been temporary in the firft inftance. The Militia Bill, though fo 10 I 2 falutary falutary a measure, was temporary in the first inftance. Mr. Grenville's Bill was the fame. No man could foresee the confequences of thefe kinds of regulations refpecting Parliament, and therefore he was decidedly against the measure. The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid, the worthy Baronet had yesterday flid it into a metaphor, that the giving the King the power to aflemble Parliament in fourteen days, was putting the Parliament under Martial Law. He had flept upon it fince, and had to day brought it forward, gravely, as an argument; what refemblance was there between the two cafes, the only difference created by the prefent Bill was, that the King would have the power of calling Parliament together in 14 days instead of 40. Was a notice of 14 days fufficient or not? That was the queftion. The worthy Baronet had told the House that such was not the custom of our ancestors, and that it would be unfafe to truft to thefe new lights. Probably in many great points it would. But if modern times had produced any better lights than the old, they had certainly produced them in two inftances; in the quick conveyance of letters, and in the more speedy communication between different parts of the kingdom. Thefe circumstances had made 14 days notice equivalent to what 40 days were formerly. But the fact was, that the measure merely gave the King the power to have the fpeedier recourfe to the advice of the Reprefentatives of the People. The worthy Baronet had faid, will Gentlemen thus be drudges to their Public Duty and fhail they be prevented from going abroad? Would there be any danger that fuch a number of Members would go abroad as to prevent a full attendance of Members? The only other circumftance related to the Bills originating in the Houfe of Lords. How was this indecorous? Had the worthy Baronet forgotten that a Prerogative applied to the Lords as well as to the Commons? In his own opinion, if there was any point in which lefs jealoufy fhould be entertained of the Lords than another, this was the point. Mr. Wigley was against the Bill. The Houfe divided. The Bill was then committed, read a third time, and paffed. HOUSE OF LORDS. Wednesday, July 19. His Majefty's Royal Affent was given, by Commiffion, to the Infolvent Debtors Bill, the National Debt Bill, the Horfe Duty, the Clock and Watch Bills, and feveral other Public and Private Bills. The The Commiffioners were, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Spencer, and the Earl of Weftmoreland. The Eaft India Judicature Bill was received from the Com-" mons, read a firft and fecond time, committed, read a third time, and paffed. Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. The Speaker, attended by feveral Members, went up to the given, by ComAmong the Pub New Writs were ordered to be iffued for the election of Members to ferve in Parliament for the following places: For Dover, in the room of Charles Small Pybus, Efq. who is appointed a Lord of the Treafury. For Penryn, in the room of Thomas Wallace, Efq. who is appointed a Lord of the Admiralty. For Newark, in the room of Tho. M. Sutton, Efq. who is appointed a Welch Judge. For Orford, in the room of Lord Caftlereagh; and for Arundel, in the room of Sir G. Thomas, both of whom have accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. A Meffage from the Lords informed the Houfe, that their Lordships had agreed to feveral Bills. Among them were the Eaft India Judicature Bills--with amendments. The Speaker drew the attention of the Houfe to these amendments. When the Bills paffed the Commons, it was ftated, that the Pensions should have the fign manual of the King, and be counterfigned by the Firft Commiffioner for the Affairs of India. The alteration made by the Lords was, that they fhould be counterfigned by the Secretary of State. As this amendment might contingently affect the revenue of this country, it could not be agreed to confiftently with the privileges claimed by the Houfe. There were two ways of acting in the present cafe, the one was to defire a conference with the Lords, the other to reject the Bills altogether. Mr. Dundas acquiefced in the propriety of the above remarks, and moved, that the confideration of the Amendments fhould be poftponed to this day three months. But as both House were agreed fubftantially upon the Bills, he should afterwards propofe to bring in another Bill, comprifing all thofe parts of the two Bills in which the two Houfes concurred, and omitting the parts upon which a difference of opinion exifted. The Motion was agreed to. Mr. |