was described as the president. If he was the president, it was for the House to determine, whether that place was a place of profit and emolument.

Mr. Bathurst replied, that the salary belonging to that office was in the appointment of the Crown. Now, the Crown had not, as yet, appointed him any salary, as he was already in possession of another office under it.

Mr. Tierney had to congratulate the House at last on a piece of economy on the part of ministers. One of them held the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster and the presidency of the Board of Control-and yet only received the emoluments of one office!

Lord Milton had always understood, that the late sir James Pulteney, whilst secretary at war, had received no salary; but he had never understood, that on accepting that office, he had been excused from vacating his seat in consequence of it. The acceptance of the office vacated the seat quite as much as the acceptance of the salary.

Mr. Creevey remarked, that it mattered not whether a member accepting office declined receiving any salary, or thought proper to give it away. The question was, was it an office of profit under government? If so, the member of course vacated his seat. He was of opinion, that the right hon. member had vacated his seat, by accepting the office of president of the Board of Control.

Mr. Bathurst referred to the act in question, which, he contended, did not include members holding offices without salary. He then proceeded to argue upon the question before the House. His noble friend had no objection to the principle of the motion, but he conceived some delay necessary, in order to procure the documents called for. They were not to be picked up in the streets, nor in the shop of a bookseller, but must be had from the most authentic sources.

Sir James Mackintosh remarked, that if ministers had not seen the documents now moved for-if they had not entered into that investigation of them into which they ought to have entered, then in reality they could not know whether the examination of them might not be decisive of the illegality of the measure in question. If they had examined them, as they said they had, what need was there of a moment's previous notice? If they were not now possessed of them, it was VOL. IV.

clear that they were still ignorant upon what grounds the measure rested which they had adopted so inconsiderately eleven months ago.

The Solicitor-General said, that his learned friend laboured under a very erroneous impression. He had stated that, because these documents were not in the possession of ministers, ministers had no justifiable grounds for erasing her majesty's name from the Liturgy; but he had been completely misinformed: for he ought to have known that there could be no alteration in the Liturgy without an order of council. He could assure the House that ministers had consulted the documents then moved for,

Mr. Scarlett said, that the information given to the House by the solicitor-general, differed so much from that given to it by the noble lord opposite, that the House would find some difficulty in reconciling it. The noble lord said that the Queen's name had been erased from the liturgy after a full examination of all the necessary documents; whilst the solicitor-ge neral, at the same moment that he confessed that they had consulted these documents, disdained to rest upon them, and left the matter to be defended by the order in council. The motion was not pressed by the learned mover, from any intention of anticipating the debate, or from any wish to prolong the discussion. The noble lord had therefore taken a wrong course in meeting it by the previous question. If the principle were acceded to, there might be no objection to some delay in the production of the neces sary papers. His noble friend, too, might then be induced to postpone the motion of which he had given notice, to a more distant day, or he might, after considering the reasons urged in favour of such delay, find them unsatisfactory. He himself entertained not the smallest doubt, that if the motion were now acceded to, there would be no difficulty in obtaining all the documents in the course of a single morning.

Mr. Serjeant Onslow was desirous of stating the considerations which would induce him to vote for the motion of his learned friend. Undoubtedly it was the usual practice of the House to postpone, on the first day of the session, the discussion of every question until after the Speech from the throne had been taken into consideration. This rule, however, was not uniformly observed, nor could it

D

ADDRESS ON THE KING'S SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE SESSION.] The Speaker acquainted the House that that House had been in the House of Peers, where his Majesty had delivered a most gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament, and of which, to prevent mistakes, he had obtained a copy. [See p. 1.] After the Speaker had read the Speech,

Mr. George Bankes rose, and spoke to the following effect:-Mr. Speaker; In proposing an Address to his Majesty, of acknowledgment for the gracious Speech which we heard some hours ago, and which you have at last had an opportunity of reading to us, I shall not trouble you with any expressions of conscious insufficiency, because I am aware they are a very poor excuse for the presumption of a voluntary undertaking, and because I do not apprehend any thing very difficult in returning a suitable acknowledgment for gracious intimations and assurances, every way calculated to inspire a dutiful and affectionate feeling. As one of his majesty's many, many loyal subjects, I propose, Sir, that we approach his Throne, to assure him of the fidelity of a nation which is sound at heart-a nation not so intoxicated by the splendor of unparalleled triumphs, nor so lulled to apathy by the security of a profound peace, as to visit with ingratitude the promoter of those triumphs and the procurer of this honourable repose. In a nation in which all are free, folly must have her freedom, and mischief will mark her for its tool; folly will discharge her debts of gratitude by denying their amount-by forgetting the danger from which she has been delivered, though ever when in peril herself the loudest to complain and the foremost to despair. The spirit of mischief can

have no account of gratitude to settle with the peace maker; it is a spirit obnoxious to repose; in war and tumult it can be content to hope all evil to the good order which it hates; but in peace, it must counsel and contrive it; it is then that it is seen walking restless through the dry places of the land, instigating the owner of each poor and barren plot, not to cultivate and improve, but to curse the little portion he is heir to. It was this same spirit that could heretofore with mischievous exaggeration deck out the avowed implacable enemy of its country with irresistible might, with infallible sagacity, and inexhaustible resource, and with prophetic fervor could foretel the stability of all that he should set up, and the ruin of all he should denounce; the same spirit that could boldly excuse and justify all his crimes, or more boldly could deny them. When baffled in its every hope, belied by every prophecy, this bankrupt firm of impudent invention has still new fictions ready for new credulity, new idols for folly's worship, and honourable attributes for every new disturber of the public quiet. If it be true that each several nation has a peculiar national character belonging to its inhabitants, the king who finds himself at the head of a frank, a gallant, and a generous people can wish to exchange the subjects of his government for no others on the face of the earth; in their valour he is renowned abroad-in their honourable allegiance he is secure at home; but there are circumstances that will invariably work a change in every national character, and perhaps the strongest changes are the most generous and the best. Such is the circumstance of great national success in war-this will infuse a chivalrous ardour-a zeal for enterprise-a restless desire of still finding something to oppose, and something to defend-a chivalry that will delight in the mimic circumstance of war, the polished armour and the nodding plume-a chivalry that will combat imaginary oppressors, that will liberate convicted culprits, and commission them to carry their chains and their innocence to the inspiring genius of its romantic history. Such drawback to national successes in the wild enthusiasm they inspire, it may be well for a prince, on his own personal account, to estimate before he voluntarily engages in a war; in defensive warfare, however, he can have no option, and where upon first assuming the reins

of government, he finds the kingdoms of his rule already engaged up to the very crisis of a contest, no alternative remaining but between perseverance in much peril, or submission in lowest degradation, he has then only to elect whether he will choose to reign over a broken-hearted humbled people, who will never infringe his prerogatives, nor question his rights, nor obstruct his functions, nor presume to insult his person, or whether, dismissing all selfish consideration, at the risk of the throne he sits on, unappalled by the fate of his neighbour kings, then captives or in exile, unintimidated by those at home whose patriotic prudence would suggest more cautious counsels-whether he will, disdaining all compromise of national dignity, rouse the ardour of his empire, and dare to rely upon it. If he shall have pursued this course, and if in doing so he shall have saved for his kingdoms every thing, and their honour, it is no small drawback that shall cancel the gratification of his bosom; and could he, at a moment when popular ardour is misled, regret the deliverance he has worked and the laurels he has planted, he might perhaps deserve that those whose deliverance he has worked should withhold from him their gratitude and affection. The partial abuses of benefits conferred will not check the further efforts of beneficent minds; if they did so, all national improvement must stand still, the illiterate must remain without instruction, because those who had hitherto abused their ignorance are now poisoning the new springs of their knowledge. Unhappily, this wickedness has not spared us, it is, Sir, the " unkindest cut of all;" that benevolent, christian, good-will towards man, which had spared neither toil nor cost, by education, to enlighten, and, by enlightening to improve, is doomed to suffer, like the wounded bird of the Poet, who

"Saw his own feather on the fatal dart, And winged the shaft which quivered in

his heart;

Keen was the pang, but keener still to feel, He nursed the pinion which impell'd the steel."

As one who can share a pride in the intellectual improvement of his fellow subjects; who can admire the zeal which excites, and the liberality which promotes it; who can appreciate the laborious research which renovates pious endowments, long since sleeping with their founders;

as one who can pay the humble tribute of his praise for all that has been done and is doing in this cause, I cannot but deeply share their mortification who deplore the base perversion of such noble purposes. It is no new thing, indeed, for slander to arraign all that is high and holy; but the tongue of slander, however venomous, can inflict no wound, can effect no puncture, in the character that is sound and whole; it is the pen of the libeller, against which innocence is no shield; and at a time when the evil eye of discontent not only envies its neighbour's goods, but covets its neighbour's character, we have, Sir, to dread and to repel one general levelling system, both of property and of good name.

The barrier of the constitution will not fall down at the first giddy shout of the multitude; the high tribunals which are its bulwarks will yet stand, though treason deny their authority, and conscious guilt their justice; blasphemy may rail at the holy place, and hypocrisy defile it with her pageants, long, long before the dome will totter; but the ruin must come at last, if the remedy be not fitly interposed. When the league of what is base and false, profligate and malicious, shall unite honour and integrity to oppose it, the evil then works its own cure, and the remedy is near at hand; we know its efficacy, we have proved it scarce a twelvemonth since. In the shows and processions of the year which has just expired, who but must have called to mind the like exhibitions of the twelvemonth which preceded it? The music, the march, and the banner, the meeting, the resolution, and address; those first were the very prototypes of these last arrays; the same in their real origin, and in their real object, differing only in their method of pursuing it; the first pursued its object by denouncing the aristocracy, the second by denouncing the Crown; the aristocracy was then true to itself; the representatives of the people were then faithful; and if the highest duties of fidelity be now as well fulfilled, the country is yet safe.-If we turn our eyes from the cares of domestic solicitude and look abroad, the whole world is to us a scene of calm, of tranquillity; our flag flies on every sea, our busy industry plies in every port; our merchants are the rulers of kingdoms, our character every where high, and our credit every where firm. If this honour, if this power, if this peace, have been worth winning, we might, Sir, think them