diligent and meritorious fervices, and of his faithful and upright conduct in the execution of that office; and recommends to them to confider of enabling him to grant an annuity, clear of all deductions, of 2000l. per annum, during the term of his natural life, to be paid out of the civil lift revenues."-On the 21ft Mr. Pitt moved for leave to bring in a bill for the purpofes above-mentioned, and was feconded by Mr. Burke, who faid, that having frequently interfered in matters of fupply, he could not avoid expreffing on the prefent occafion his conviction, that there never came a propofal for a grant on better grounds of acknowledged fervice and merit than the one before them; never was an office fo exalted and laborious filled with more diligence and integrity, and refigned with more dignity. The motion and the bill paffed both houfes unanimoufly. On Monday the 26th 26th March. *of March, the lords hav. ing been previoutly fummoned, lord Rawdon rofe to call their attention to a matter which he conceived to be of no finall importance, though it had hitherto apparently efcaped the notice of the public. The fubject which he had to offer to their confideration was that part of the convention concluded between his Britannic majesty and the king of Spain in July laft, which related to the furrender of all the British poffethons on the Mofquito fhore, for the paltry confideration of a few miles in the bay of Honduras. He stated, that the Mosquito fhore had been in the poffeffion of Great Britain for more than a century, and our right to it as valid as the right we had to Jamaica. It confiited 3 of a territory of near 500 miles in length, and was nearly of the depth of roo miles inland from the fea.— That there were on it various fettlements, and that the refidents at the time of its ceffion confifted of near 1500 British fubjects, black and white-That a regular form of government had been established on it many years fince; and that it was of great value and importance to this country, not only from the cotton, logwood, indigo, and fugar it afforded, but alfo from its being a protection to our other poffeffions in that quarter from the infults of the Spaniards. But another circumftance in this bufinefs deferved, he said, a ftill feverer cenfure. In the 14th article of the convention it was faid, that "his "Catholick majefty, prompted folely by motives of humanity, promifes "to the king of England, that he "will not exercife any act of feve"rity against the Mofquitos inha biting any part of the countries "to be evacuated, on account of "the connections which may have "fubfifted between the faid Indians "and the English." He commented upon this article with great feverity, contending that it was a mot degrading humiliation of Great Britain, and fuch as called loudly for the cenfure of that houfe on thofe minifters who had confented to fuffer it to ftand a part of the treaty. His lordship concluded with moving, "That the terms of the con"vention with Spain, figned on the 14th of July, 1786, do not meet "the favourable opinion of this "houfe." In anfwer to this charge, the marquis of Carmarthen begged leave to obferve, that if the Mofquito fhore had been given up and and evacuated upon a principle of exchange, as argued upon by the noble lord, who had brought this fubject before them, he fhould be mot ready to acknowledge that minifters deferved every poflible cenfure. But he well knew, that the convention had been formed on far different grounds than the mere exchange of territory. The 6th article of the definitive treaty of peace with the king of Spain rendered a convention neceffary, and on that ground it had been negociated and concluded. He was alfo ready to admit, that in peaceable times the Mosquito fhore might be looked upon as a valuable poffeffion; but confidering its fituation, with a jealous neighbour at the back of it, we might have found ample reafon to have regarded it otherwife. In this, as in many other cafes, where, upon the face of the tranfaction, minifters might appear to be to blame, there was ftrong and fufficient ground of juftification, if the difcretion due from men in high executive offices did not teach them rather to rifque their own character, and to be contented with a confciousness of their innocence, than refort to that mode of juftification, which muft neceffarily reft on a difclosure of facts, highly neceffary for the purposes of national fafety, and the continuance of the public peace and tranquillity, to be kept concealed. On the prefent occafion, he would not be the minifter mean enough to juftify himself by the betraying of any fecrets, that ought not to be made public without the confent of the crown, and which, if made public, might be attended with confequences prejudicial to the country. The duke of Manchefter faid that he rofe in confequence of the blame that might otherwise be thought imputable to him for the part he had taken in negociating and concluding the definitive treaty, under the authority of one of the articles of which it had been declared, that the convention with Spain was necellary. He owned he felt himself particularly embarrassed in what manner to fpeak on the prefent occafion, fince it was almoft impoflible for him to explain his own conduct without going into a variety of matters, that the house could not properly comprehend, unless they had all the papers before them, to which thofe matters referred; the production of which his majesty's minifters might not think it prudent to permit. He would not therefore attempt to fay any thing that might be confidered as betraying ftate fecrets; he would content himself with merely declaring that the convention went a great deal farther than the definitive treaty made it neceffary to go. The duke wished it to be thoroughly understood, that he felt no unwillingness to go fully into the matter, but was ready to do it, if the papers in queftion could be brought regularly before the houfe. The lord chancellor left the woolfack, for the purpofe of anfwering the various arguments that had been urged in fupport of the motion. The Mosquito fhore, he obferved, had been talked of as a tract of country extending between four and five hundred miles, without the smallest mention of the fwamps and moraffes, with which it was interfperfed, or any allowance for the parts of it, that were actually impoffible to be either cultivated or inhabited. With regard to fettle ments, ments, it would be imagined by thofe, who were ftrangers to the fact, that there had been a regular government, a regular council, and eftablished laws peculiar to the territory; when the fact was, there neither had exifted one nor the other. His lordship went into the hiftory of the fettlement, tracing it down from the year 1650 to the year 1777, mentioning lord Godolphin's treaty, and all its circumftances, and deducing arguments from each fact he mentioned, to prove, that the Moiquito thore never could be fairly deemed a British fettlement; but that a detachment of foldiers had been landed from the island of Jamaica, who had erected fortifications, which had been afterwards, by order of the government at home, abandoned and withdrawn. He adverted to what paffed on the fubject at the peace of Paris in 1762, when governor Littleton governed Jamaica. He endeavoured to thew, that this country, by the peace of Paris, had renounced whatever claim the might before that period have fancied he had, and had given a fresh proof of her having done fo in the year 1777, when lord George Germain, the fecretary for the American department, fent out Mr. Lawrie to the Mofquito fhore, to fee that the ftipulations with Spain were carried fully into execution. With regard to the degradation of the country, which the 14th article. was pretended to hold out, he denied the fact. The Mosquitos were not our allies; they were not a peo ple we were bound by treaty to protect, nor were there any thing like the number of British fubjects there that had been ftated, the number having been, according to the laft VOL. XXIX. report from thence, only 120 men and 16 women. The fact was, we had procured a ftipulation, or, if no ble lords pleafed, the king of Spain had gratuitously promifed not to punifh thofe British fubjects and Mofquitos, who had poffeffed themfelves improperly of the rights belonging to the Spanish crown, and in confequence of fuch irregular poffeffion had perfifted for a courfe of time, but with frequent interruption, in the enjoyment of thofe rights. His lordihip repelled the argument, that the fettlement was a regular and legal fettlement, with fome fort of indignation; and fo far from agreeing, as had been contended, that. we had uniformly remained in the quiet and unqueftioned poffeffion of our claim to the territory, he called upon any noble lord to declare, as a man of honour, whether he did not know to the contrary. Would they fay the trade carried on from the Mofquito fhore was any thing,either more or lefs, than a fmuggling trade upon the Spaniards and their fettlements? And would any noble lord fay, that a Britifh minifter, in any given fituation, ought to maintain and fupport fuch a trade in the face of parliament, or in negotiation with any one foreign court whatever? Lord Rawdon rofe to confirm by additional proofs the arguments he had before used. He produced fome documents figned by general Dalling, when governor of Jamaica, to prove that a fuperintendant had been fent over tothefettlement onthe Mofquito fhore at that time, with a view to form a government. His lordship alfo quoted a state paper, dated in the year 1744, as one proof that there had exifted a council of trade, &c. publicly recognized by this [H] country country fo long fince. With regard to there having been mutual claims equally urged by Great Britain and Spain, the ability of minifters, he faid, would have been proved by their having made good our claims, and not by their having ceded them to the claims of Spain. At length the question was put, and the houfe divided: Contents 17 53 Not contents On the twenty-eighth 28th March. of this month Mr.Beaufoy, member for Great Yarmouth, at the requeft of the deputies of the diffenting congregations in and about London, made a motion for taking into confideration the repeal of the corporation and teft acts. The points which Mr. Beaufoy endeavoured, in a long and able fpeech, to prove, were chiefly three. First, that the test act, which conftitutes the most extenfive grievance of which the diffenters complain, was not originally levelled againft them; and that the caufes which dictated the corporation act have ceafed to operate. The former act, which paffed in the year 1672, at a moment when the firft minifter of state and the prefumptive heir to the crown were profeffed papifts, and the king himfelf generally believed to be one in fecret, bears the exprefs title of an act for preventing dangers which may happen from popifh recufants. The minifter, lord Clifford, who was a catholic, attempted to perfuade the diffenters to oppofe the bill, as fubje&ing them to penalties, who confeffedly were not in any respect the objects of the law. The diffenters, on the contrary, through the mouth of alderman Love, member for the city, declared, that in a time of public danger, when delay might be fatal, they would not impede the progress of a bill, which was thought effential to the fafety of the kingdom, but would truft to the good faith, the juftice and humanity of parliament, that a bill for the relief of the diffenters thould afterwards be paffed. The lords and commons admitted, without hefitation, the equity of the claim, and accordingly paffed a bill foon after for their relief; but its fuceefs was defeated by a fudden prorogation of parlia ment. A fecond bill was brought in, in the year 1680, and paffed both houfes; but while it lay ready for the royal affent, king Charles the fecond, who was much exafperated with the diffenters for refufing to fupport the catholics, prevailed upon the clerk to fteal the bill. With refpect to the corporation act, which paffed in the year 1661, when the kingdom was still agitated with the effects of thofe ftorms that had fo lately overwhelmed it, it was allowed to have had the fectaries of that day, who had borne a confpicuous part in the preceding troubles, for its object. But the diflenters of the prefent day were not refponfible for them, and were as well affected and peaceable fubjects as thofe of any other defcription. The fecond point which Mr. Beaufoy endeavoured to prove was, that every man having an undoubted right to judge for himself in matters of religion, he ought not, on account of the exercife of that right, to incur any punishment, or to be branded with a mark of infamy; but that the exclufion from military fervice and civil trufts was both a punishment and an opprobrious diftinétion.To prove that it was in ftri&tuefs a punishment, punishment, he obferved that it was in fact that punishment which the laws inflicted upon fome of the greatest crimes. Has an officer, he faid, in the civil line of the public fervice been detected in a flagrant breach of the duties of his truft? Has he violated his oath wilfully and corruptly? What punishment does the law inflict upon his deliberate perjury? It declares him incapable of ferving his majefty in any office of honour, emolument, or truft: it imposes upon him the fame fpecies of difability which it inflicts upon the diffenters. Thus the punishment which is annexed by the law to one of the greatest crimes, the punishment of perjury, is inflicted upon a large proportion of his majefty's loyal and affectionate fubjects, not for any crime committed, not for any charge or fufpicion of guilt, but for opinions merely; for opinions that have no relation to civil interefts; for opinions that weaken none of the obligations which bind the individual to the ftate; for opinions that diminish none of the motives which urge him as a citizen to a faithful discharge of his duty--but for opinions purely religious. The only queftion, he obferved, that remained to be confidered was, whether the public good required that the diffenters fhould be fubjected to thefe penalties and fligmas. He allowed that a regard to the general good ought to control all other confiderations. But then confiderations of general good can never juftify any invafion of civil rights that is not effential to that good; and therefore the third point he undertook to prove was, that the continuance of the acts which invade the rights of the diffenters were not neceffary to the general good of the kingdom, nor to the fecurity of the established form of government, or of the established national church. For this purpose he remarked, that being admittedwithout hesitation or referve to the higher truft of legiflative power, it was abfurd to fuppofe they might not fafely be entrufted with the lower executive offices: it was abfurd to fuppofe that a ftronger pledge ought to be taken from thofe who are to execute laws, than from those who are to make them; that greater fecurity thould be required from those who cannot change the established conftitution either in church or state, than from those who can. Mr. Beaufoy took this occafion of vindicating the diffenters from the charge of republicanifm, by referring to the known principles of the Scotch nation, and to the conduct of the English dif fenters ever fince the revolution. And with respect to the established church, he faid, that her establishment confifted in the exclufive enjoyment of her revenues, and not of civil or military offices; and that the diffenters had never claimed, nor ever wifhed to claim, a participation in the former. On the other hand, he believed that the abolition of the penal law would give additional fecurity to the church, by removing the only ground that exifted of their refentment againit it, and the only bond of union by which they were induced, in their various denominations, to make a common caufe, and support each other. Having cleared up thefe points, Mr. Beaufoy proceeded to obferve, that if he thould be atked, what teft he meant to establish in the room of the facramental? He answered, thofe [H] • only |