COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. The House, on the motion of Mr. Vansittart, resolved itself into a committee of supply, to which the several accounts presented by Mr. Vansittart on the 12th and 18th instant. were referred; Mr. Hobhouse in the chair. The following are the principal sums voted in the committee: To make good sums issued by his Majesty, To make good the award respecting the ship accounts Building the new mint Additional clerks in the office for auditing. public accounts To the Rev. Bruce Clerk, for his trouble re- To William George Rose, and other officers £. S. d. 5,382 17 8 11,538 11 6 5,397 2 0 5,000 0 0 4,252 1 1 731 11 11 1,216 17 0 7,549 2 0 282 5 0 762 10 0 619 12 0 Henry Cooper, clerk, for attendance on trial of Lord Melville 224 12 0 William Chinney, dito 973 3 0 John Meux, Esq, clerk assistant to the commissioners for the affairs of India 972 54 James Reid, Esq. for a plan for establishment of a horse patrole, on the road leading to London Contingent expences of the commission of 3,172 IS 0 naval inquiry 1,060 19 0 Several other sums were voted too minute to be detailed. Он On the House being resumed, the report was ordered to be received on Monday next. The coffee warehousing bill passed through a committee, and was ordered to be reported on Monday next. The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the House adjourned to Monday. HOUSE OF LORDS. SATURDAY, MARCH 21, The mutiny bill, the sugar drawback bill, the Bahama salt bill, and the Paddington Canal bill were read a third time and passed. The Irish licence bill was read a second time and committed for Monday. Adjourned till Monday. HOUSE OF LORDS. MONDAY, MARCH 23. COMMISSION. The royal assent was notified by commission to the mutiny bill, and to several other public and private bills. The commissioners were, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Auckland, and Lord Walsingham. ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. The Earl of Westmoreland presented a petition from the merchants trading with the West In lia colonies, stating the critical situation of the island of Jamaica, and praying, that under such circumstance, the bill for abolishing the slave tra le may not pass into a law. The petition was ordered to lie on the table. Lord Grenalle then moved the order of the day for taking into consideration the amendments made by the Commons, in the bill fo, abolishing the slave trade; which being read accordingly, his lordship said, that he presumed he might expect the same countenance and support of the bill as had been marked by that House in the course of its former stages. The expectation he grounded upon the reflection that the amendments did not at all militate with the principle of the bill; but, on the contrary, that they might tend to facilitate the execution of its provisions. He himself, no doubt, in conjunction with those who were more warm and anxious about the success of the measure, might have wished to see it pass without any alteration in the preamble; but this was his feeling merely as an individual, and not the expression of any intention to oppose the amendments; on the contrary, he thought, that as much had been done to meet the wishes of the friends of the bill, so also something should be allowed in consideration of the respectable class of people who opposed it. Indeed, perhaps, it may be found that such concessions, by making the bill less unpalatable to its opposers, would, in the end, reconcile them to it, and win their co-operation in its support. On the amendments being read, The Bishop of Landaff rose to deliver his opinion of the bill, which he had not till then an opportunity of doing. The learned and reverend prelate observed, that in judging of the propriety of the preamble as its originally stood, or of the amendments that had been made in it, the different states of slavery as they existed at different periods of the world should duly be considered. Certain conditions of slavery existed in the antediluvian world full seven hundred years before Noah; and such must have existed both before and after the formation of civil society. Under the circumstances of those times, multitudes must have existed, who could derive sustenance only from their labour, and who, in order to secure the means of support, were willing to surrender up that labour, and with it their freedom. Such a state of slavery might not indeed be considered as contrary to justice and humanity, because it was a voluntary act on the part of those who submitted to it; but, although that state of slavery might not be judged inconsis tent with justice and humanity, it did not follow that other descriptions of it might not be highly inhuman and unjust; for what could be more contrary to justice and humanity, than to excite civil war in a country, and then take advantage of the calamities arising from it to force away the miserable inhabitants into an hopeless captivity? Such he conceived to be the nature of the trade which it was proposed to abolish. Its abolition was an act of national humanity and justice; it was an act that would never bo plotted out in the records of divine mercy. It was an act which proved, that although Providence does not always manifest manifest her out-stretched arm, yet that her silent admonitions were sooner or later attended to. He was ready to confess, that the most keenly exploring eye might not be able to dive into the consequences of such a measure; but as it evidently springs from the root of undissembled piety and humanity, it should not be supposed to be productive of evil; but, on the contrary, that it must be healing and beneficial to mankind. The Earl of Westmoreland could not let slip this last opportunity of entering his protest against the bill; he must therefore repeat some of his former objections to it, though he was aware that the repetition must in some degree be irksome to the House. At least he must remind them that one more occasion presented itself to allow them to rectify their opinions, which they should be the more induced to do from the awful warning contained in the petition which he had that day laid on their lordships' table. From that petition they might collect the dreadful consequences which even the resolutions of last year was producing in Jamaica. Every thing there seemed to indicate the approach of an organised insurrection, which might receive a new stimulus and encouragement from the bill now on the eve of assing. It, therefore, called again for the most serious consideration of their lordships, and that consideration would shew them that the proposed clauses involved the greatest inconsistencies, absurdities, and even impossibilities. As to the preamble, nothing could reconcile him to it. No good could be expected from it, while it might be attended with much mischief: he was, therefore, for leaving it out altogether. As to the consequences of the measure, they certainly appeared to him most alarming. If ever St. Domingo and Cuba were in the hands of our enemies, and if they resolved to carry on this trade, that alarm would prove but too well founded. He would even venture to say, that it was to the existence of the slave trade that their lordships were indebted for their being now sitting in that House. Our existence depended on the strength of our navy, and the strength of our navy was chiefly derived from the slave trade. Their lordships must be convinced of it, if they but reflected that the town of Liverpool alone now sent out a greater number of privateers than were employed by the whole of the country against the enemy, in the time of Queen Elizabeth. VOL. II. 1806-7. 3 B The The Marquis of Sligo disapproved of the clauses, and contended, that the preamble contained a gross calumny. The Duke of Norfolk was not very anxious on formet occasions to support the measure of the abolition; because he knew that many of those who were loudest in its praise, were far from being sincere in their wishes for its success. Now, however, when it was taken up by ministers who had his confidence, and who, he was satisfied were incapable of any duplicity, the bill should have his most cordial support, and he should rejoice to see it pass. The question was now put on the several amendments,' and which were all agreed to, with the exception of a trifling alteration, without any further opposition. Lord Grenville then moved, that the bill, with the amendments, &c. as agreed to, be sent to the Commons, and, on the notion being agreed to, His lordship again rose, and congratulated the House on having now performed one of the most glorious acts that had ever been done by any assembly of any nation in the world. Lord Grenville moved, that it be an instruction to the committee on this bill, that they divide it into two or more Bills; and that the committce be further postponed upon it till Wednesday next. Ordered. Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. MONDAY, MARCH 23.` A message from the Lords, announced their lordships' assent to the mutiny bill, and the sugar drawback bill. The deputy usher of the black rod appeared at the bar, and summoned the House to attend in the House of Peers, and hear a royal commission read. The Speaker and a number of members accordingly attended. On their return the Speaker informed the House, that the royal assent had been given, by commission, to the sugar drawback bill, the Irish tobacco bill, the mutiny bill, and the royal marine mutiny bill, CHANGE OF ADMINISTRATION. Lord Euston presented a petition from the chancellor, masters, |