pecting honest men, from whose associations much good might arise; but it should be reversed when applied to the dishonest. The association of the bad must produce evil." Separate and reform," is the maxim to be attended to in the management of thieves. But though a friend to proper separation and seclusion, he disapproved of long confinement in solitary cells, which, he feared, had too often been inflicted even for slight offences, since the 31st Geo. 3d, for the better regulating of prisons, which carried the power of the penitentiary act into general use, and gave to all magistrates the power of punishing all offences within their cognizance by solitary imprisonment; a punishment which by the former act of the 19th Geo. 3d was restricted to the judges of assizes, and to offenders guilty of crimes of such magnitude as were usually doomed to transportation. This act of the 31st, therefore, ought to have been accompanied by a revisal of our code of penal law: for since the penalty of imprisonment was greatly increased by solitude, the duration of the term ought to be proportionably diminish, ed, and for trivial faults should be very short, It was a strong and potent remedy; and, like all strong remedies, should be administered with a cautious and discreet hand; what was good for physic, was not good for food. On the whole, sir Charles reprobated the practice of sending felons sentenced to transportation for seven years, to a barren spot in one of the remotest corners of the globe, at which, when they arrived, after much trouble and expense, they were to be preserved from perishing by famine, by corn and meat sent from England; the precarious arrival of which had subjected them to frequent alarms and distress. The colony, since its establishment in January 1788, had almost always been on a reduced ration; as governor Phillip, though he thought the settlement, from the present state of its cultivation, would soon be able to supply itself with grain, recommended that a suf. ficent quantity should be sent thither to serve till the year 1794. And as supplies of beef and pork would be wanting for four or five years more, sir Charles advised the sending ships for those articles to the fruitful island of Madagascar, from whence they might be procured at a much cheaper rate than from great Britain. Perhaps, indeed, it would be wiser rather than to send provisions from hence to the hungry inhabitants of Sydney Cove, to send them to the provisions, as Madagascar was a place infinitely more eligible for a settlement, abounding not only in corn and cattle, but in various natural productions most serviceable in trade and manufactures. Sir Charles thought of the inferior delinquents, whom the laws deemed corrigible, and sentenced for the limited term of seven years, the very old, the very young, the crippled, the infirm, and the penitent, might be usefully employed in that labour best suited to their capacities in a well-regulated penitentiary house, and by proper care and discipline their morals might be amended, and their bad habits reformed. The propriety of this mode of treatment he thought himself justified in recommending, as it had not only received the repeated sanction of both Houses of parliament, but in those counties where, by the liberality of the inhabitants, and the laudable zeal and attention of the magistrates, the prisons had been so constructed and regulated as to try its operation, the most beneficial effects had resulted from it, and the great object of all punishments in some degree attained, many having been reformed, and many deterred from the commission of crimes. The remainder of these criminals, if the American States refused to receive them, he advised, should be sent to Hudson's Bay. When America refused to receive our convicts, penitentiary houses were proposed; but in consequence of the great expense, this scheme was not carried into execution. The next plan adopted, was that of sending them to Botany Bay. After recounting the miseries these unfortunate people underwent in prison, on board the hulks, and in their passage, in glowing colours, sir Charles proceeded to state the estimate of the expense incurred by government by their transportation. The public since the establishment of the settlement, had paid 600,000/ There was a plan proposed, he said, by the ingenious Mr. Jeremy Bentham, to build penitentiary houses in a circular form, which would facilitate the inspection, and thereby rendering the strength of the walls less necessary, would take away the only objection to them, viz. the expense, by reducing it to 251. per cent. less than the hulks. Thus, well-regulated prisons, calculated to reform offenders, and to convert the dissolute and idle into good and industrious subjects, would be provided at a cheaper rate than vessels in the Thames, in which, from the free and contagious in tercourse of the convicts, the most dangerous combinations were formed, and instead of being, as they ought to be, schools for reformation, they might, with more propriety, be termed " schools for instructing youth in the arts of robbery. This observation applied still more forcibly to their treatment in the unimproved gaols, in which they were never allowed to work, and on board the ships during their passage to South Wales. Mr. Bentham proposed also a subordinate es tablishment, in which he would receive and employ such as could not find employment elsewhere, all those persons of blasted character, who, though acquitted for want of legal proof, were thought to be guilty, and those the terms of whose sentences were expired. This was an establishment, which to the disgrace of the country, had long been wanted, and which merited the warmest encouragement of government, as it tended to prevent crimes to which, he feared, many who now sought employment in vain were driven by necessity. Sir Charles next proceeded to state the mortality among the convicts during the voyage, and the expense. He said, the maintenance of each convict, during the two first years, cost the country 60%. a year, which was the salary of an exciseman. In speaking of the mortality, he stated, that out of 500 passengers on board the Neptune, but 42 were able to crawl over the ship's side; the rest were carried, and eight out of every ten died at Sidney Cove. The detail of the sufferings of these wretched convicts would be tedious and painful; suffice it to say, that by the depositions taken by the solicitor of the treasury, they were equal to any endured in the slave ships. That in another instance, out of 1,863 on board the Queen and other transports in autumn 1791, 576 on landing were sent to the hospital. Governor Phillip wished to punish the author of these calamities, but doubted his power over offences committed on the high seas. It was necessary, therefore, that an admiralty court should be established at Sydney Cove. Sir Charles concluded by moving the following Resolutions, on which he desired not an immediate decision, but left them for the consideration of gentlemen, and particularly of his majesty's ministers, to whom the care of felons, after conviction, devolved. 1. "That by the general improvement which has taken place in the gaols and bridewells throughout the kingdom, the punishment of convicts by imprisonment and hard labour on board of vessels in the river Thames and elsewhere, is rendered unnecessary, and ought to be discontinued. 2. "That the promiscuous confinement of felons under sentence in Newgate, and other gaols destined for accused persons only, and likewise on board of hulks for several months until ships are ready for their transportation, is impolitic, and productive of many evil consequences. 3. "That a proper prison should be provided for the reception of such felons immediately after their conviction, with working rooms for select companies, and separate apartments during the hours of rest. 4." That the distance of the settlements at Sidney Cove and Norfolk Island, the length and peril of the voyage, the expence of conveying and maintaining the convicts when there, is so great, as to make it advisable to send thither only such as shall be sentenced to transportation during their lives, or at least for the term of fourteen years. 5. "That it is expedient, that inquiry should be made whether the North American States would be inclined to receive and employ, as heretofore, any, and what number of convicted felons; and also, whether a settlement might not be allotted to those under sentence of transportation for seven years in any other part of the North American continent, or the adjacent islands, or elsewhere, to which they might be sent at a moderate expense, where the soil is fertile, and where they might be usefully employed in the fisheries and commerce, and thereby contribute to their own support, and the advantage of this country. 6. "That to preserve those criminals who may hereafter be transported from a calamity similar to that which destroyed the greater part of the unfortunate crew of the Neptune, and to rescue them from the dangers of foul air and famine, it seems expedient to allow a space of at least two tons for each person; and that in addition to the salutary regulations proposed by Mr. Secretary Dundas, in his letter of June 23, 1791, to the commissioners of the Treasury, a premium should be given to the contractors, on the arrival of every felon in good health at the place of their destination; and likewise that all the provisions on board of the ships hired to carry convicts, should be purchased for the extirpation of his guiltless family. But an approbation of that revolution went still farther. It declared, that if, by any service of government, and the surplus, at the end of the voyage, be deposited in their storehouses." Mr. Martin approved highly of the re-means-by force or by fraud,by violence, solutions, which he hoped to see carried into effect. Mr. Dundas complimented sir Charles on his intentions, and said, he would give every aid to carry such of the resolutions into effect as met his approbation. From the latest accounts from Norfolk island, he had every reason to believe that it would soon grow sufficient corn for the convicts and their families. He would therefore move, not for the purpose of getting rid of the question, but to consider the resolutions more maturely, that the debate be adjourned to that day three months, which was agreed to by the House. or by corruption-if these wholesome and necessary constitutional provisions should by any means be taken away or frustrated, the same objects would again justify the same national struggle, and the same extremities, unless they could be recovered and reobtained by more gentle, more peaceful, and therefore more happy means. He asserted (and said he risked nothing by the assertion, for no man would be hardy enough to deny it, and he pledged himself to prove it in a committee of the House), that all that was valuable to the people of this country, all the provisions which were stipulated to secure the peace and prosperity, the individual liberty, and the general property of the people of this land, had all been, since the Revolution, taken away. All. He must intreat the attention of the House for a few moments, whilst he very briefly brought back to their recollection what this country established by the Revolution. First to avoid all future mistake, and that the contract between prince and people might be clearly understood, the Revolutionists began by altering the oaths of the contracting parties. They altered the coronation oath for all future sovereigns in this realm, and they al Mr. Wharton's Motion respecting the Provisions made by Parliament at the Revolution in 1688, &c,] Mr. Wharton rose to make his promised motion. We heard, he said, on every side, of the glorious Revolution in 1688, and of the constitution, as settled at the glorious Revolution. It was a note which he had always listened to with pleasure, and he repeated it with rapture. But what was the rational foundation of our satisfaction at the recollection of the glorious Revolution? It assuredly was not that the possession of the throne, and the regular hereditary succes-tered the oath of allegiance for themselves sion to it, were at that time disturbed and interrupted, It was not that we expelled one king and one family, and appointed another king and another family in their room. The necessity of such changes was at all times to be deplored; and the events themselves could only be justified by the necessity. The only rational foundation of our approbation of that Revolution must be, that at that time such principles were confirmed, and such wise and wholesome provisions made for our constitutional security and happiness, as might prevent all future necessity for a similar Revolution. Whoever approved of that Revolution, declared at the same time, that the constitutional provisions then obtained were wise and wholesome provisions; that they were worthy objects of a national struggle; that they not only justified resistance, but made it meritorious; and that they were cheaply purchased at the price of all the blood that was shed upon the occasion, as well as the dethronement of a guilty king, and the [VOL. XXX. ] and for all future subjects. They cut up by the roots the damnable doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, by emphatically specifying and ordaining the following words of their former oath, 1st Wm. and Mary, ch. 8, " I declare that it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatever to take arms against the king," &c. should not from thenceforth be required or enjoined. It was not so much to relieve the conscience of the subjects that these words of their former oath were selected, recited, and abolished; for no oath of slavery ever did, or ever will, or ever ought to bind a nation or an individual. It was something worse than perjury or sacrilege to keep an oath of slavery. This alteration was made to prevent the future sovereigns of this country from being misled, as the four preceding sovereigns had been, to trust to a senseless superstition about royalty, which, though many persons for their interests have professed, no man of common sense ever entertained. Their next care was to provide for the [3 Q] independent of the crown. 12th of William the Third, chap. 2. Now, all these provisions (the objects and consequences of the glorious Revolution) would have no value; they would be nugatory and worthless; they would be a mockery: unless they went effectually to obtain and secure to the people of this land these three important points: first, an honest and responsible exercise of the executive authority: secondly, real, independent, and faithful representatives of the Commons in parliament: thirdly, a fair and impartial administration of justice in the courts of law. We had no predilection for any family whatever (except as connected with these objects), in the words of our ancestors at the time of the Revolution, did now again "Claim demand, and insist upon all those, as our undoubted rights; the true, ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties of this kingdom." 1st. Wm. and Mary, ch. 2. If then, by various means, it had hap pened (as he asserted, and undertook to prove in a committee of this House), that this provisional responsibility of the privy council no longer remains; that the election of the House of Commons is neither fair, nor free, nor frequent; that this provisional independence of its members is gone, and that the House at present swarms "with persons having offices and due administration of the executive power, and the responsibility of its confidential advisers. They therefore enacted, 12th Wm. 3. chap. 2, that "all matters and things relating to the well-governing of this kingdom, which are cognizable in the privy council, by the laws and customs of this realm, shall be transacted there; and all resolutions taken thereupon shall be signed by such of the privy council as shall advise and consent to the same." Thereby guarding, as far as laws could guard, against that accursed engine of despotism, a cabinet council, or that more accursed instrument, an interior cabinet. Their attention was next directed to the double representation of the people; the only possible security for all their other provisions-their representatives in parliament, and their representatives in courts of justice-the House of Commons and juries. They passed over untouched, and left as they found them, the nobility and the church; they were considering the solid and substantial parts of the constitutional edifice, and did not much concern themselves about the gilding and the varnish. They therefore proceeded to establish the principle of a fair, free, and frequent election of the representatives of the Commons in parliament, as might be seen by a reference to the acts passed in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of William and Mary. And having thus, as they imagin-places of profit under the king, and reed, provided for the real election of the representative body in parliament, they secured the independence and integrity of that body after its election, by enacting, that "no person who has an office, or place of profit, under the king, or receives a pension from the crown, shall be capable of serving as a member of the House of Commons." 12th W. 3. ch. 2. Having thus secured the purity and independence of the people's representatives in parliament, they proceeded to the other important branch of their representation by jury; and they decreed" that juries should be fairly taken, without partiality; and should act freely, without influence." 1st Wm. and Mary, ch. 2. They also decreed, that excessive bail should not be required; that excessive fines should not be imposed; and that illegal and cruel punishments should not be inflicted; and to secure these objects, they ordained, that thenceforward the judges commissions should be made, quam diu se bene gesserint; and that their salaries should be ascertained and established; in order to make the judges ceiving pensions from the crown;" that juries are not fairly and impartially taken; that they do not act freely and without influence; that excessive bail may be, and has been, required; that excessive fines may be, and have been, imposed; that illegal and cruel punishments may be, and have been, inflicted; that the judges are not independent of the crown; that pensions may, and have been, granted to some of them; and that lucrative offices may be, and have been, conferred upon others; by which means it cannot be said that their salaries are ascertained and established. If these facts were so, he held it to be the duty of all those who, without hypocrisy, praised the Revolution, to endeavour to return us again to our constitutional situation at that period, and to recover those lost or neglected provisions, that so we might effectually secure to our selves and our posterity, what our ances tors endeavoured at the Revolution to secure to themselves and to us. He concluded with moving, "That a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and T which of the provisions made by parlia- Tellers. YEAS Mr. Wharton Colonel Macleod 11 of the other charges, till a considerable later period, probably not less than four or five weeks from this time." Mr. Townshend then moved, "That a message be sent to the Lords, acquainting them with the reasons why this House cannot proceed on the trial of Warren Hastings, esq., at the time appointed; and to desire, that the same may be put off to a farther day." Mr. Wigley opposed the motion, because, from the nature of the case, the managers could not stand in need of another week's delay to prepare themselves for a reply, on a subject with which they were so very intimately acquainted, particularly the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Burke) who was the soul of the impeachment. But if they could make any colourable pretence for delay respecting some of the charges, there was none for delaying their reply to the Benares charge, the defence to which had been closed by Mr. Hastings thirteen months ago. Here he stated the hardships suffered by the defendant in being kept so long upon his trial, a trial which had already lasted six years, and which had been protracted to so unexampled a length, principally by the managers, who had repeatedly offered evidence to the court, which had been repeatedly rejected. He said, that out of 116 days, which the Lords had sat May 30. Mr. Charles Townshend made during the present trial, 74 had been the following Report from the said Com-Hastings had contrived to make his defence consumed by the managers, whilst Mr. NOES Captain Berkeley Mr. Henry Hobart So it passed in the negative. 71 Debate in the Commons on the State of the Impeachment against Mr. Hastings.] May 28. On the motion of Mr. Burke, a Committee was appointed to consider the State of the Impeachment against Mr. Hastings. mittee: "Your Committee have made inquiry into the matter referred to them, and find, from a consideration of the defendant's case having been closed sooner than there was reason to expect, and of the time which will be requisite for printing such part of the evidence as is not yet printed, as well as for copying out the speeches of the counsel on the different charges, that_the_managers can, in no case, be sufficiently prepared to begin their reply at the time appointed by the Lords for further proceeding in the trial. That the managers, waiving their right to make a general opening (which they have informed your Committee they are ready to do for the sake of dispatch, though it is not otherwise the most desirable mode of conducting the cause) may be able to begin their reply on the Benares charge on the 12th of June, but that the necessary materials will not be ready, so as to enable the managers to reply on any in 42. Mr. Fox said, that the learned gentleman had opposed the motion upon fair ground, namely, upon the ground of delay; that delay he had pretty plainly imputed to the managers. The question, therefore, must be with regard to that learned gentleman's objections, whether the managers had been guilty of any unnecessary delay? First of all, he begged leave to declare, that to his knowledge there had not been, on the part of the managers, any delay whatever. He did not say that there had not been delay somewhere, nor that such delay might not have been ne cessary; all that he asserted was, that it did not proceed in any one instance from the managers. Supposing, therefore, for a moment that this was the case, which he promised he should be able to prove, he would then ask, whether there was a man in that House, or in the country, who knew any thing of the nature of this proceeding, who did not know that that |