matter should be submitted to parliament.

With regard to the appointment of the gazette-writer in Scotland, it was one that ought to be excepted out of the general rule. It was a case that peculiarly depended on its own circumstances, and when these were examined, it must appear obvions to every candid and liberal mind, that no blame could attach to that instance. This appointment had been conferred on a person eminent for talents, literature, and science. He had, through a long course of life, devoted himself to the public service, and to the promotion of the interests of learning and knowledge. Mr. D Stewart was one of the most distinguished characters of the age, and had performed his important duties in the most zealous and honourable man. ner, yet his salary did not amount to much more than £100 a year. It was thought right, considering the high importance of his services in the department of science and literature, to grant him this apointment, which he might enjoy without any encroachment on his other avo. cations. It was not on such men the public money was in danger of being wasted. The appointment was certainly, as the right honour able gentleman had stated, taken out of the hands of the editors of the newspapers, where, no doubt, he would have continued it in preference: that was the sort of literature which they cultivated; that was their science! The gentleman who received it from the late ministers,

had no claim whatever upon them, excent that of uncommon merit in a department of the last importance to the public and the human race. When the present government could find such another man, he certainly would not object to their being equally libera!. The right honourable gentleman had taiked of a pension to a civil and criminal judge in Scotland. With the circumstances of that case he was not acquainted, and therefore could say nothing respecting them, at present. He had replied to such of the charges as he was more immediately acquainted with. No government could per haps, in the present state of the expenditure, guard against every possible abuse; and therefore he was, a friend to all committees of inquiry; whether appointed like the commissioners of military enquiry, or composed of members of this house: hoth might be eminently useful, and recourse ought to be had to them from time to time, under every government; for in such a large expenditure, all governments must be liable to abuses.

satisfactory manner, evinced by Mr. Adam, who was not in the house on this day, but who brought on a conversation on the subject, two days thereafter, July 2. He also urged very strong arguments in defence of the patent, granting a pension of £400 a year to lord Cullen, with the reversion of £200 a year to Mrs. Cullen. Having given a statement of lord Cullen's circumstances, he contended that it would be cruel to deprive the crown of the power of giving a pension for life to a judge, who, by some accidents, arising from no fault of his, should be reduced to a situation in which his salary could not enable him to support his dignity and do justice to his creditors. Lord Cullen was a man of the most profound learning, particularly in his own profession, an agreeable compa. nion, and most perfect gentleman. He was the son of Dr. Cullen, one of the greatest ornaments of the cele. brated medical school at Edinburgh. His father had been too much engaged in scientific pursuits to be very careful about his circumstances. Lord Cullen, as the eldest son, was in some degree saddled with, and anxious to pay his father's debts ; and two thirds of his salary as judge was devoted to that purpose. The honourable and learned gentleman then entered into particular statements of the case, and said, that it never was intended to grant a judge a pension during pleasure, nor could it be done by law. It was expected to be for life, and intended to be so given. The reversion suf. ficiently proved this, for a reversion of a pension during pleasure was an absurdity. If the warrant stated that it was during pleasure, it was a mistake, which would of

course have been rectified, when it should be returned to the treasury from the barons of the exchequer in Scotland. The gentlemen on the other side might be sufficiently aware, that mistakes might be committed in the hurry of official bu siness. This was sufficient to prove the rectitude both of the judge and the late ministers. The intention of granting a pension to lord Cullen, did not originate with the late ministers, but with their immediate predecessors. Mr. Adam concluded with moving an address to his majesty, for copies of the warrants for appointing the new sheriffs, and of the warrant for the pension to lord Cullen. Though the appointment of the sheriff's was condemned by se. veral of the Scotch members, Mr. Adam's motion was acceded to without opposition.-It appeared, in the discussion about the committee of finance, that Mr. Canning, though he objected to the pension intended for lord Cullen, and the office of writer of the Edinburgh Gazette, &c. &c. had received from Mr. Pitt, the grant of a pension, not indeed for him. self, but, by his own confession, "to a near and dear relation, who depended on him." Objections were made to the exclusion of any of the members of the last from the new committee of finance, by Dr. Laurence, sir Samuel Romilly, Mr. Bankes, Mr. H. Addington, lord Cochrane, C. Shipley, and lord Howick. But a committee was appointed, consisting of the members proposed by the chancellor of the exchequer. They were ordered to proceed on their inquiries immediately, and to report from time to time, as they deemed meet. The minutes taken before the former committee,

committee, were referred to their consideration.

House of Commons, July 3.The house having resolved itself into a committee of supply, Mr. R. Ward stated, that the navy estimates were, with very little variation, the same as the last estimates; he had, therefore, nothing more to do than to move the same resolutions; which were put and carried.-As to the army estimates, it was calculated by the secretary of war, that the sum which had already been proposed, would cover all the additional expence on this head for the part of the year now No estimate, therefore, had become necessary.-A treaty had been entered into, in the current year, with the king of Sweden, for subsidizing a certain number of Swedish troops, to be employed on a particular service. This rested on the basis of a former treaty: the only difference being, that in stead of 14,000 men, for which the former treaty stipulated, the present treaty made an addition of 4,000 men, making, in the whole, 18,000. It has been above noticed, that the sum of £80,000 had been advanced by the late administration, for the relief of the king of Prussia. In addition to this sum, the present ministers had made a farther addition of £100,000, and assistance in arms, ammunition, &c. to the amount of £200,000. These sums, namely, that which would be necessary for fulfilling the subsidiary engagement to the king of Sweden, and the £300,000 advanced to the king of Prussia, were, in consequence of a message from his majesty, July 28, made good by a vote of the house of commons. -August 1, a vote of credit was

agreed to, of £1,500,000 for Great Britain, and £500,000 for Ireland; being, in al', £700.000 more than that proposed by lord Henry Petty. Of these sums, £800,000 was appropriated for making up last year's subsidies to foreign powers.

House of Commons, July 22. Lord Castlereagh, in pursuance of notice given, rose to propose, he said, a measure of great energy, which would put the country to much inconvenience, but which was rendered indispensable by the cir cumstances of the times, and the measures of the late administration. The country, since the events of last winter and spring in Poland, was in a situation still more dan gerous and alarming than before. No voluntary, or other local force, was adequate to the wants of the country. A regular and efficient force must be substituted. The new military plan he had to propose, in general, was to increase the regular army from the militia, and to supply the deficiencies occasioned by so great a transfer from the militia regiments to the regular army, by supplementary militia. By this plan, 38,000, at least, would be added to the gross military force of the country, and 28,000 to the regular army. He, therefore, intended to move for leave to bring in two bills: one for transferring a portion of the militia to the line; and another for raising a great number of men for the militia. And it would be unquestionably advisable to give to the militia enlisting in the line, the option of a limited or unlimited term of service: of course, with an increased bounty to the latter; that those who were not so sensible of the R 3

charis

charms of a limited term of service as the late secretary at war, might be enabled to make their election accordingly. He did not, however, mean to make this a part of the general measure, but would submit it in a separate clause.Long and animated debates en sued, at different times; but every argument of weight, on either side, had been even repeatedly, and to satiety, urged in the discussions that had already taken place, on the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the different modes of recruiting and reinforcing the army. Suffice it, therefore, to say, that leave was given..to bring in the bills moved for: which, together with the separate clause, on the 5th of August, were read a third time and passed.

House of Commons, July 9.Sir Arthur Wellesley, in pursuance of his notice, rose to move for leave to bring in a bill for the suppression of insurrection in Ireland, and to prevent the disturbance of the peace in that country. The house would remember, that the circumstances, which preceded and attended the suppression of the late rebellion in Ireland, had rendered stronger measures than the established laws afforded, necessary in that country. An act was there fore passed by the Irish parliament, in the year 1796, to prevent unlawful assemblies, and to authorize the lord-lieutenant, on a report of the magistrates, to proclaim any county where disturbances existed. That law required all persons in such counties, to keep within their dwellings between the hours of sunsetting and sun-rising; and gave to the magistrates the power of sending persons, who should be found to

offend against it, on-board his majesty's navy. The act had provided effectually for the suppression of the insurrection, as appeared from the acknowledgement of the leaders of that insurrection, before a committee of the Irish parliament. But, though such a law might be necessary, it was the duty of that house to guard against the abuse of the powers which it gave. The bill he proposed to bring in, contained the same provisions as the Insurrection act, with respect to the power of the lord-lieutenant to proc aim disturbed counties, and the autho rity of the magistrates to arrest persons who should be found out of their dwellin s between sunsetting and sun rising; but, in order to prevent hardships to the subjects, the bill required that persons so arrested should be tried at the quarter-sessions by the magis. trates and assistant barristers, assisted by a king's counsel, a ser jeant specially sent down for that purpose. Besides this bill, he meant to move for leave to bring in an. other, to prevent improper persons from keeping arms, by obliging all persons to register their arms, and authorizing the magistrates to search for arms. These bills had been pre pared by his predecessor, and the only difference was, that the bill of his predecessor gave a negative to the king's counsel or serjeant, which he proposed to take from him, as it appeared to him, that such a negative would render the measure nugatory. He meant, however, to substitute a clause, which should, in case of any difference between the serjeant and the bench, suspend the execution of the decision of the magistrates, till the serjeant should have reported the matter to the

lord.

lord-lieutenant. Leave was given Leave was given to bring in these bills; which, through the usual stages, though not without a good deal of opposition, were passed into laws. The expediency, and indeed necessity of them, was admitted by Mr. Grat

tan.

House of Commons, July 7.Lord Cochrane, after a suitable introduction, moved, that "a com. mittee should be appointed, to inquire and report what places, salaries, and emoluments derived from the public, were held by members of pe-liament, their wives, or other de, ndents, or others in trust for them, in possession or reversion, throughout the whole of his ma. jesty's dominions." This motion was seconded by Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, and supported by Mr. Curwen, Mr. John Smith, Mr. Lethridge, Mr. Lyttleton, sir J. Sebright, Mr. William Smith, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Calcraft, and lord Henry Petty. Mr. Banks thought it invidious and improper to convey to the public, an insinuation that members of parliament were influenced by considerations of prirate advantage, for themselves or their dependants. It was most essential that, at this critical period, the character of the house of commons should not be degraded or depreciated. On the whok, however desirous to afford information to the public, he could not consent to the noble lord's motion in its present form. Mr. Whitbread, concurring in principle with the noble lord who had brought forward the motion, was of opinion, that if the motion were referred to the committee of finance, with an instruc. tion to inquire into, and report upon the matter contained in it,

the report would probably be of a most useful description. Agreeably to this idea, the chancellor of the exchequer proposed that the motion should run as follows: "That there should be an instruction to the committee of public expenditure, to procure a list of all places, pensions, &c. specifying by whom they were held, with the exception of the army and navy, and offices below £200 a year in the revenue; and cause this list to be laid on the table." The house divided on lord Cochrane's motion:

Mr. Perceval then moved his amendment. Mr. Whitbread observed, that it was unquestionably lord Cochrane's meaning, that there should be exhibited during the present session of parliament, a list of all the members of that house, holding sinecure offices, places, &c. under government, and in that way liable to have their conduct influ enced. If such a return should not be made, the house would disgrace itself. Those who respected the house at present, would suspect that all was not right; and those who already suspected it, would have their suspicions confirmed. Mr. Sheridan also observed that the amend ment proposed by the chancellor of the exchequer, which went to exhibit a list of all sinecure placemen and pensioners whatever, was nothing but an evasion of lord Cochrane's motion. It was to overwhelm the inquiry, and to suffocate and strangle the object which the noble lord had in view. After some further debate among other members, the house divided, when Mr. Perceval's motion was carried by a great majority.