ficient operation of the measures instituted by a noble member of another house (lord Sidmouth) at the conclusion of the late war, and at the commencement of the present. With this system the brightest hopes, and best future prospects of the country were intimately connected. He had said in a former session, that, as far as a powerful navy, a powerful army, though not so powerful as under better and wiser regulations it might have been; and as far as legitimate, steady, and unbounded resources were concerned, no country had ever been handed over by any ministers to their successors in a more triumphant situation than this country at the late change.Whatever might be the want of authenticity in the statement, as coming from him, he had met witha considerable personal rebuke. But he had to express his gratitude to the noble lord for bearing out all his statements, which were rather below than over the truth. If he had then stated what the noble lord did now, that the war might be carried on by the system of double loans without any great increase of the public burthens, he might have been open to animadversion, but certainly his nerves were not equal to that statement. He had then only to submit his resolutions to the house, which he hoped they would receive with the same indulgence with which they had heard him. He offered them rather as his objections to the sy. stem of the noble lord, than as principles upon which he should be disposed to found any system. If they were incorrect, the noble lord would be able to expose the fallacy of them. The noble lord then concluded with moving his first re

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solution, proposing that the debate should be adjourned to Monday next.

Lord Henry Petty did not feel it necessary to say more than a few words on the present occasion, because it was neither desirable for the house nor for himself that he should follow the noble lord through his very able speech, and the clear view he had given of his objections to the new financial system that had been submitted to the house on a former night. It was, however, necessary for him to make a few observations upon one point, which had been touched upon by the noble lord, in order to prevent any misconception of what had fallen from himself on a former night from going further. The great objection of the noble lord to the system that had been submitted to the house was, that it went to legislate for the future. Though the noble lord admitted that it would be right to look to the future in the arrangement of any system, he did not think it desirable that any legislative enactment should be resorted to for that purpose. He had himself stated, that it would be necessary for the house to look prospectively to the situation of the country, in the adoption of any system; but that it would not be desirable to make any legislative enactment on an assumption of future events, which might prove contrary to all calculation, and were solely under the control of Providence. He had expressly asserted, that if any essential alteration were to take place in the plan, it would not arise from any such alteration of events, or of the circumstances of the country. What were the changes that were likely to take place? An increase of expenditure,

expenditure, from the demand for foreign subsidies from without, or from the rise of labour, or of the price of stores within. He had particularly adverted to contingent circumstances, and stated, that in proportion as any increase took place in the expenditure from either of these causes, that increase was to be provided for by an increase of the supplemental loans, and an increase of the interest thereon. Another change which he had adverted to was one which might arise from the failure of any of the duties imposed; but for this there was a provision in the plan, because parliament was pledged to make good such deficiency by other duties. Having stated this, he had only to request of the house, and of the country, that they would receive his proposition such as it was, and as it candidly pro

fessed to be, and not look upon him as responsible for any alteration that might take place. If he continued to fill the situation which he then held, it would be his duty to explain the cause of the change when it occurred.

Mr. Rose did not propose to enter then into the discussion of the resolution: he was not satisfied with the data of the noble lord opposite, or those of his noble friend, though the latter seemed less liable to objection. The plan of the noble lord, however, appeared to him a permanent one; and if once adopted, it would not be possible to make any alteration in it for twenty years, without convulsing the whole system.

The debate was then adjourned to Monday.

Pitt, Mr. Rose, and others, should be liable to no objections could not be expected. The general principles could not be disputed; and it will be regretted by every lover of his country, that circumstances should have arisen to have set the

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question at rest before its merits had been discussed, and its advantages fully explained. The condition of the labouring poor; of those who, in addition to poverty, are drinking deep of the cup of affliction, requires and demands the attention of parliament; and we trust that, whatever party assumes the reins of government, this subject may no longer be neg. lected.

On the 13th of February, after the usual business in the house of commons, in the course of which several petitions against the abolition of the slave trade were presented and received:

Mr. Ashton Smith, according to the notice he had given, rose to call the attention of the house to the petition lying on the table, complaining of the undue influence of certain members of the government, in the late election for members to serve in parliament for the county of Hants. The honourable member then desired the petition to be read; which being done, he desired the clerk to read the resolution of the year 1799, December 10th, which constituted it a high breach of the privileges of that house, for any member of the government, or peer of parliament, to interfere in the election of any commoner to serve in parliament. He then proceeded to the object of his motion. It was a dificult and irksome task to be obliged to call in question the conduct of any of the members of the government; and it was doubly so when, as in this case, the person adverted to was a gentleman for whom he individually entertained the utmost esteem; and as he had previously acquainted him with the nature of his intended motion, so he now assured him, that he bore

him no personal dislike, and he would conduct no charge against him but what should be fair and open. The charge exhibited in the petition against him, was that of applying to the barrack master general, to exert his influence in favour of the court candidates, at the then ensuing election for Hants, and which influence was so exerted that it succeeded as it was designed; by which means a very worthy gentleman lost his election, who had served his country with fidelity for upwards of sixteen years (Mr. Chute). This, he said, was a matter of the most serious concern to the county; it was of the most important consi:leration to the country at large, and to the constitution. It was a gross violation of our civil rights, and such, as far as related to the county of Hants, as must operate to sacrifice it for ever to government. He was a witness to the effects of it himself, and he never beheld a county so panic struck, as when these effects were traced to their cause. The credit of mini. sters was at stake, and their reputation was deeply involved in the matter. It certainly was in their discretion to grant the nation that redress which the subject loudly demanded; and trusting in the persuasion that the boon would not be refused, he should move that a committee be appointed, and that the committee should be a committee of privileges, to which the said petition should be referred, and that such committee do report their proceedings to that house.

The motion was seconded by sir Henry Mildmay, who complimented the last speaker for the moderation, candour, and talent with which he conducted the business. The interference was in direct defiance, and in the teeth of the reso

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lutions of that house, and his honourable friend called upon that house to assert their rights and main tain their own resolution; he hoped gentlemen would do so, as then they would establish the principle of that resolution, which would never be violated again with impunity. There was no county in the king dom so susceptible, or so liable to be affected by ministerial influence, as the county of Southampton; it was so circumstanced that it must have infinitely greater weight there than elsewhere. It abounded with church and collegiate property, it had dock-yards, and was one of the great arsenals of the kingdom. The dock-yards alone possessed upwards of four hundred voters, exclusive of the number of gentlemen and others employed under the comptroller of the navy, and navy contractors, together with their several connections, all under government influence; and when, in addition to these, the whole phalanx of the barrack department is annexed, the interference of the government, when applied, must ever prevail, and, if continued, must constitute that respectable county a complete ministerial borough, and no independent man would ever venture as a candidate to represent it. He would do the gentleman opposite to him (Mr. Freemantle) the justice to believe, that the corrupt influence did not originate either with the secretary of the treasury, the comptroller of the navy, or the barrack master general. No, it was a settled and arranged plan of the government to turn out a man who had upnightly and honestly served his country sixteen years. (Here the honourable baronet read an extract from the first letter of sir William Heathcote to the Hampshire club,

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stating the application of lord Temple, authorised by lord Gren-" ville, to himself, intimating to him, that government would not oppose his re-election in the event of a dissolution, if he did not coalesce with Mr. Chute, against whom government proposed to set up a candidate, Mr. Chute having put himself in systematic opposition to government.) The honourable member then read a copy of a letter from Mr. Freemantle to the barrack-master general, to support the cause of Messrs. Herbert and Thistlethwaite (at this instant there was a general cry of Hear! hear! from the opposition benches.) He said, that in pursuance of this instruction, and in compliance with the request, major Davis was commissioned to exert his efforts in the isle of Wight, Lymington, and Southampton; and the major's answers state, that his success was beyond his most ardent expecta tions. In addition to these letters, the honourable gentleman read a correspondence beteen the barrackmaster general and major Davis, wherein it was set forth that the expenses of his journeys must be defrayed by himself, as they could not possibly be introduced in any of the public accounts. He animadverted with much asperity on what he supposed might therefore exist, a public and a private account of the moneys of the people: if such prevailed, and indeed the mystery with which the subject seemed to be communicated justified the supposition, then that alone was ground abundant to bring the question before the commons of Great Britain, and call for redress. He next adverted to a letter, which involved the name of a nobleman of such high reputation, that he could hardly bring himself to think G

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he would allow himself to interfere in such a business; he who, when himself a member of that house, most probably lent his patriotic aid to fix on its journals that record of manly diguity, that in the year 1799 first graced its records. He stated to the house the written evidence in support of this case, and he undertook to prove at their bar, that the barrack office carried into effect the commands and instructions of the honourable gentleman. He had several facts to establish what he asserted; that which he had already recited was, however, enough for the house to grant the motion ::-- Ex uno disce omnes." This is a question of magnitude, it strikes at the vitals of the constitution, and "comes home to men's business and bosoms." Their honour and dignity demanded an inquiry, and he emphatically asked, who would pay any attention to the resolutions of that house, if one of such importance should, with impunity, be violated? He then concluded with drawing a comparison between the letter of the duke of Chandos, in 1799, which caused that resolution to be recorded upon the journals of the house, and argued, that the letter of Mr. Freemantle was infinitely more dangerous to the people.

Mr. Freemantle being especially called upon, as he considered, to repel the unfair accusa ions made against him, availed himself of the first opportunity that presented it. self, to acquit himself in the eyes of that house, and the world, of the foul aspersion, and convince mankind that he was not that culpable person which the petition would induce them to suppose. He acknowledged that he entertained fers and apprehensions on the oc

casion, but they were those alarms that proceeded not from any consciousness of guilt, but from the dread he felt of being incapable to do justice to himself when he was attacked in a way that involved his character, honour, and fame, and every thing that was dear to man. He therefore supplicated the indulgence of the house, whilst he should endeavour to justify himself in that way, which if not ornamented with talent or eloquence, would, nevertheless, be founded upon truth. The honourable baronet tells the house, that the paper he read, which contains the matter complained of, was a copy of a letter; he appealed to the house whether such an instrument could be held forth as evidence against him! He would, however, produce the original letter, which he obtained from general Hewitt, and he would justify it. Here the honourable gentleman read the letter, which was dated the 22d of September last, some time previ ous to the dissolution of parliament, and contained, for the most part, much of the matter specified in what purported to be a copy of that letter. He then appealed to the house, whether this was written in his public or his private capacity, and whether there was any token of official import about it. It was marked "private," as was his uniform custom when writing on private business, and was written in behalf of an intimate friend. He then adverted to the petition, which charged him with writing the letter in his official capacity; but he trusted he had fully removed that insinuation. He could in like manner tell the house that he was a freeholder of the county of Hants, that he had had that freehold many years, and that his con

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