was necessary to have an ambassador with whom he could have the most confidential intercourse. Neither of these noble lords had since returned to burden the pension list. He removed no other man without some special reason, except Mr. Drummond; and if he had appointed Lord Amherst to a diplomatic situation, it was certainly not with the least idea of his ever claiming a pension for his services, and he would venture to say, that however he might have sinned in the appointments be made, his sin was not against public economy. He then defended the appointments of Mr. Villiers to Portugal, and of Mr. Douglas to Sicily. The latter had been private secretary to Lord Pembroke, and was a young man of considerable attention to business. He would never allow the principle that until all the old diplomatists are exhausted and used up, that no young men of talents and attention to business should be taken as recruits..

Mr. Bankes cited the instance of a secretary of legation at Dresden who had been pensioned, and of a Mr. Drake, who had been consul at Venice, having been also pensioned. He instanced the same thing in the cases of the consuls at Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis.

Mr. Secretary Canning explained. The pension of the first had been granted under peculiar circumstances. It was to a man very far advanced in years, who had been 40 years in the public service. Mr. Drake, the consul at Venice, lost the whole of his fortune on the subversion of the Venetian government. He recommended that he should have a pension, not on the ground of right, but as a case of compassion. In this application he did not suc ceed.

Mr. Rose allowed that the seat of Mr. Jeffrey was vacated by his acceptance of the appointment.

Mr. Johnstone thought, that if ever the old system, of things returned in Europe, and all our consuls were paid fine salaries, they should not be allowed to sit in that . house, or otherwise ministers could bring their consuls from Flanders to vote as readily as their friends from Ireland or the Orkneys.

Mr. Huskisson said, that the consul at Venice, on account of his great losses, received a pension not as a consul, but from the civil list. The consuls at Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis, might be considered diplomatic characters in those places.

The question was then put, and a new writ was ordered for the borough of Poole.

Mr. Huskisson moved resolutions in the committee of ways and means, pursuant to the resolutions which had been passed in the committee of supply, continuing the malt tax, the pension duty, and other annual taxes; and also for raising by loan on exchequer bills for the service of the year, the sums of 10,500,000%. and 1,500,0001. The committee of supply was postponed.

MILITIA ENLISTMENT BILL.

The bill was read a second time. Upon the question for the Speaker's leaving the chair,

Sir T. Turton said, that he by no means felt himself pledged to agree to an augmentation of the army, unless the necessity of such augmentation could be made out. The noble lord had only said that the country might be placed in circumstances where a greater disposable force would be necessary. He could hardly guess that those circumstances could be, when we are told that we have a regular army of 210,050 men, of which 124,000 had been voted for Great Britain and Ireland. Besides

this great force, it was also known that upon any emer gency, 25,000 men could be got from the militia. He therefore wished the noble lord to point out what probability there was of the country ever wanting a greater disposable force than it now possesses.

Mr. Herbert spoke at some length in support of the ideas he had before stated of endeavouring to induce the militia of every part of the united kingdom to volunteer their services to any other part of it. He was convinced that the militia from the distant parts that were brought up to the metropolis returned considerably improved in every respect both moral and religious. They acquired a greater attachment for their common country, and were more willing to defend it. After dwelling for some time on the advantages of an interchange of service between the English and Irish militia, he said, he should propose a clause in the bill to that effect.

Lord Castlereagh said, that such a clause would not apply to the present bill, which was for the augmentation of the regular army. It could better be proposed when the other bill should be before the house, for raising men to supply the deficiencies which this measure would occa

sion in the militia. The honourable gentleman must, however, perceive, how repugnant such a clause would be to the feelings of many militia officers.

The bill then went through the committee without any material alteration, and the report was ordered to be received on Thursday next.

MALT DISTILLERY BILL.

The Chanceller of the Exchequer moved the second reading of the malt distillery bill.

Sir James Hall said, that he conceived that distillery and exportation of corn amounted precisely to the same thing to the country. It was of no consequence whether the corn was put into a still, or whether it was sent out of the country. He thought the great point was, that there should not be too great a glut in the market. There were two bad consequences which resulted from too great a plenty of corn at the market. In the first place, it injured the farmer, by not allowing him a sufficient profit; and in the second place, it encouraged an exube. rance of population which must be fed. He thought an exuberance of population was a great evil to a country, as times of scarcity might come when they could not obtain food.

The order of the day having been read for the second reading of the distillery bill,

Sir J. Hall rose to oppose it on the ground he had formerly done; viz. that it was a bill which in its principle and tendency was adverse to the agricultural interests of the country, and ought not therefore to be continued, without very sufficient reasons being given for such a measure. He was more particular in this opinion at the present moment, as he understood that by the present bill Ireland was to be exempted from its operation; a measure which he thought was by no means just or fair; for as it was intended as a matter of accommodation and benefit to the West India interests, he thought that both countries ought to bear an equal proportion of the burden on their agricultural concerns.

Mr. Foster said the honourable gentleman did not put the question on its fair and proper ground. The circumstances of Ireland, with regard to grain, were differ ent from those of this country, especially that part called Scotland, the distillers of which could sell their spirie

after exporting them to Ireland, more than 2s. a gallon lower than those of Ireland, which was a most serious grievance to the legal distillers of that part of the empire, and gave encouragement to private stills, by which means a great quantity of grain was consumed, for the private distillations were all from grain, and the revenue was at the same time deprived both of the duty on the malt and the duty on the spirits.

Several other members spoke, and the bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Thursday. Adjourned.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

TUESDAY, FEB. 7.

Their lordships having met at an early hour, the house resolved itself into a committee on the Borringdon divorce bill. Counsel were heard at the bar on the part of Lady Borringdon. Several amendments were agreed to, and the bill was reported, and ordered to be read a third time on Thursday next. A temporary adjournment took place until five o'clock.

THE DUKE OF YORK.

The house being resumed, his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent observed, that he thought it necessary to address a few words to their lordships, in consequence of some documents that were before the house. It had been insinuated that he had given his sanction to the charges which were made against an illustrious relative of his. He begged to disclaim, on his own part, being any way privy to these imputations. He did not believe them; he was convinced the illustrious person at the head of the army was incapable of such practices as those of which he was accused. He could also take upon him to say, that the whole of that illustrious person's family were of the same opinion, and that there was not the smallest foundation for the rumours that there was a schism in that family respecting these charges, or on any other subject.

Lord Grenville deferred his motion respecting America until Tuesday, when he hoped every necessary information would be before the house. His lordship concluded with moving for an account of duties levied on exports in the course of the last year, in consequence of the orders in council.

!

The Earl of Liverpool replied, that every information in the power of ministers should be granted; but as it would be necessary to send to the out-ports, he feared the returns up to the 5th January could not be prepared in time. His lordship moved that an account of the produce of the consolidated fund for the four quarters ending the 5th January, 1809, comparing them with the four respective quarters of the two preceding years, be laid before the house.

STATE OF THE NATION.

The order of the day for summoning their lordships having been read,

Earl Grovesnor said, that he rose for the purpose of submitting to their lordships the motion of which he had given notice some days ago. After the recommendation in the speech, at the opening of the session-after the repeated declarations of ministers, that they were willing every part of their conduct should undergo the strictest investigation, he could not have expected that the smallest objection could be made to the motion he intended to make. Rumours, however, had reached his ears since he came down, that it was intended to oppose it. If it should appear that ministers had disappointed the hopes and expectations of the nation, it was his intention to follow up his motion by an address to remove them. The important, or rather the calamitous, events that have recently occurred the portentous state of all Europe-must have made a deep impression on the minds of their lordships. If it should appear that these calamities were principally owing to ministers having misemployed the resources of the nation, there could be no difference of opinion as to the necessity of immediately placing the guidance of the national concerns in abler hands. Before he went into the consideration of the last campaign, he was anxious to direct their attention to some other subjects. It was now upwards of twenty years since the revolution broke out in France, and in the course of that time the consequences of it had been felt by every nation in all Europe. This nation, in consequence of that revolution, had now suffered for seventeen years, with the intermission of only a few months, the calamities of war. The question was not whether peace with France, as France now is, would be a benefit. For himself, he enter tained no hope of peace as long as the hostile mind existed in the ruler of that country. What advantage had been