company. This proposal was rejected: and the exclusive privilege vested in the company was, by act of parliament, protracted to the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, upon the following conditions: That they should pay into the exchequer the sum of two hundred thousand pounds towards the supplies of the year, without interest or addition to their capital stock: that the annuity or yearly fund of one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, payable to them from the public, should be reduced to one hundred and twenty-eight thousand: that after the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, their right to the exclusive trade should be liable to be taken away by parliament, on three years' notice, and repayment of their capital.

§ XXII. On the fifteenth day of May* the king went to the house, of peers, and closed the session. In his speech he expressed his joy, that notwithstanding all the clamours which were raised, the parliament had approved of those matters which fell under their consideration; a circumstance which he said, could not fail to inspire all mankind with a just detestation of those incendiaries, who, by scandalous libels, laboured to alienate the affections of his people; to fill their minds with groundless jealousies and unjust complaints, in dishonour of him and his government, and in defiance of the sense of both houses of parliament. The emperor was so much incensed at the insult offered him in the treaty of Seville, with respect to the garrisons of Tuscany and Parma, that he prohibited the subjects of Great Britain from trading in his dominions: he began to make preparations for war, and actually detached bodies of troops to Italy, with such despatch as had been very seldom exerted by the house of Austria. Yet the article of which he complained was not so much a real injury as an affront put upon the head of the empire; for the eventual succession to those Italian dutchies had been secured to the infant, Don Carlos, by the quadruple alliance; and all that An. 1730. g In the course of this session the commons passed a bill for making more effectual the laws in being, for disabling persons from being chosen members of parliament who enjoyed any pension during pleasure, or for any number of years, or any offices holden in trust for them, by obliging all persons hereafter to be chosen to serve for the commons in parliament, to take the oath therein mentioned. In all probability this bill would not have made its way through the house of commons had not the minister been well assured it would stick with the upper house, where it was rejected at the second reading, though not without violent opposition.

the emperor required, was, that this prince should receive the investiture of them as fiefs of the empire.

§ XXIII. In Great Britain, this year was not distinguished by any transaction of great moment. Seven chiefs of the Cherokee nations of Indians in America were brought to England by sir Alexander Cumin. Being introduced to the king they laid their crown and regalia at his feet; and by an authentic deed acknowledged themselves subjects to his dominion, in the name of all their compatriots, who had vested them with full powers for this purpose. They were amazed and confounded at the riches and magnificence of the British court: they compared the king and queen to the sun and moon, the princes to the stars of heaven, and themselves to nothing. They gave their assent in the most solemn manner to articles of friendship and commerce, proposed by the lords commissioners for trade and plantations: and being loaded with presents of necessaries, arms, and ammunition, were reconveyed to their own country, which borders on the province of South Carolina. In the month of September a surprising revolution was effected at Constantinople, without bloodshed or confusion. A few mean janizaries displayed a flag in the streets, exclaiming that all true musselmen ought to follow them, and assist in reforming the government. They soon increased to the number of one hundred thousand, marched to the seraglio, and demanded the grand vizier, the kiaja, and captain Pacha. These unhappy ministers were immediately strangled. Their bodies being delivered to the insurgents, were dragged through the streets; and afterwards thrown to the dogs to be devoured. Not contented with this sacrifice, the revolters deposed the grand Signor Achmet, who was confined to the same prison from whence they brought his nephew Machmut, and raised this last to the throne, after he had lived seven-and-twenty years in confinement.

XXIV. England was at this period infested with robbers, assassins, and incendiaries, the natural consequences of degeneracy, corruption, and the want of police in the interior government of the kingdom. This defect, in a great measure, arose from an absurd notion, that laws necessary to prevent those acts of cruelty, violence, and

rapine, would be incompatible, with the liberty of British subjects; a notion that confounds all distinctions between liberty and brutal licentiousness, as if that freedom was desirable, in the enjoyment of which people find no security for their lives or effects. The peculiar depravity of the times was visible even in the conduct of those who preyed upon the commonwealth. Thieves and robbers were now become more desperate and savage then ever they had appeared since mankind was civilized. In the exercise of their rapine, they wounded, maimed, and even murdered the unhappy sufferers, through a wantonness of barbarity. They circulated letters, demanding sums of money from certain individuals, on pain of reducing their houses to ashes, and their families to ruin; and even set fire to the house of a rich merchant in Bristol, who had refused to comply with their demand. The same species of villany was practised in different parts of the kingdom: so that the government was obliged to interpose, and offer a considerable reward for discovering the ruffians concerned in such execrable designs.

§ XXV. In the speech with which the king opened the session of parliament on the twenty-first day of January, he told them, that the present critical conjuncture seemed in a very particular manner to deserve their attention: that as the transactions then depending in the several courts of Europe were upon the point of being determined, the great event of peace or war might be very much affected by their first resolutions, which were expected by different powers with great impatience. He said, the continuance of that zeal and vigour with which they had hitherto supported him and his engagements must at this time be of the greatest weight and importance bath with regard to his allies, and to those who might be disposed, before the season of action, to prevent, by an accommodation, the fatal consequences of a general rupture. The former scene was repeated. Both houses, in their addresses, promised to support his majesty, in all his engagements: yet the members in the opposition demonstrated the absurdity of promising to fulfil engagements, before they could possibly know whether or not they were for the service of Great Britain. Another bill was brought into the house of commons, to prevent pensioners

from sitting as members of parliamenr: and after a third reading, carried up to the lords for their concurrence. When the supply fell under consideration, the debates were renewed upon the subsidies to the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel and the duke of Wolfenbuttel, which however were continued; and every article was granted according to the estimates given in for the expense of the ensuing year. Two petitions being presented to the commons, representing the delays of justice, occasioned by the use of the Latin tongue in proceedings at law, a bill was brought in for changing this practice, and enacting, that all those processes and pleadings should be entered in the English language. Though one would imagine that very little could be advanced against such a regulation, the bill met with warm opposition, on pretence that it would render useless the ancient records which were written in that language, and introduce confusion and delay of justice, by altering the established form and method of pleading: in spite of these objections it passed through both houses, and obtained the royal assent. A great number of merchants from different parts of the kingdom having repeated their complaints of depredations and cruelties committed by the Spaniards in the West Indies, their petitions were referred to the consideration of a grand committee. Their complaints upon examination appeared to be well founded. The house presented an address to the king, desiring his majesty would be graciously pleased to continue his endeavour to prevent such depredations for the future; to procure full satisfaction for the damages already sustained; and to secure to the British subjects the full and uninterrupted exercise of their trade and navigation to and from the British colonies in America. The bill against pensions produced a warm de bate in the house of lords, where it was violently opposed by the dukes of Newcastle and Argyle; the earl of Ilay, and Dr. Sherlock, bishop of Bangor. This prelate, in a remarkable speech, represented it as a scheme to enlarge the power of the house of commons, and to break the bal ance between the powers essential to the constitution, so as, sooner or later, to prove the ruin of the whole. The great barrier providing against bribery and corruption by this bill consisted in an oath to be imposed on all members of

the lower house, by which they must have solemnly sworn and declared, that they had not directly, nor indirectly, any pension during pleasure, or for any number of years, or any office in part, or in the whole, held for them, or for their benefit, by any persons whatsoever; and that they would not accept any such pensions or offices, without signifying the same to the house within fourteen days after they should be received or accepted. The bill was vindicated as just and necessary by the earls of Winchelsea and Strafford, lord Bathurst, and lord Carteret, who had by this time joined as an auxiliary in the opposition.'

§ XXVI. The house of peers proceeded to consider the state of the national debt:* they read a bill for the free importation of wool from Ireland into England, which was fiercely opposed and laid aside, contrary to all the rules of sound policy. They passed the bill for carrying on proceedings at law in the English language; and a fruitless motion was made by lord Bathurst for an address, to desire his majesty would give directions for discharging the Hessian troops that were in the pay of Great Britain. On the seventh day of May the parliament was prorogued, after the king had given them to understand, that all apprehensions of war were now happily removed, by a treaty signed at Vienna between him and the emperor. He said it was communicated to the courts of France and Spain, as parties to the treaty of Seville, the execution of which it principally regarded; and that it was likewise submitted to the consideration of the states general. He observed, that the conditions and engagements into which he had entered on this occasion were agreeable to that necessary concern which the British nation must always have for the security and preservations of the balance of power in Europe: and

h Nothing was heard withindoors in parliament, but sarcastic repartee and violent declamation between the two parties, who did not confine their altercation to these debates, but took the field against each other in periodical papers, and occasional pamphlets. The paper called the Craftsman had already risen into high reputation all over England, for the wit, humour, and solid reasoning it contained. Some of the best writers in the opposition, including lord Bolingbroke and Mr. P. made use of this vehicle to convey their animadversions upon the minister, who on his side, employed the most wretched scribblers to defend his conduct. It was in consequence of two political pamphlets, written in opposition to each other, by lord Hervey and Mr P. and some recrimination they produced in the house of commons that his lordship challenged the ther to single combat, and had well nigh lost his life in the duel, which was fought in Hyde Park.

• Au. 1731.