Mr. Dun. combe. Etna bomb Carcafe ditto Explofion fire-fhip' forward, and are now in fequence of the peace. Ditto, Woolwich At their respective ports, for ufe Deptford, ordinary mark have all been fince brought commiffion, or just paid off in con With this mark are now abroad on foreign service. February 24. Mr. Duncombe prefented the Yorkshire petition, an immenfe volume of parchment, for a more equal reprefentation of the people in Parliament. He faid, that it was figned by ten thou and freeholders of the county of York; a number greater by 1700 than the petition contained, which was fent to that Houfe a few years ago, praying for economy in the expenditure of the public money: over against the name of each of the petitioners was a column, containing the name of the freehold, in right of which each had figned the petition as a freeholder. He then launched into a panegyric of Mr. Pitt, who had undertaken to bring the ftate of representation before Parliament; and cenfured Lord North for having declared himself an enemy to reformation on that queftion; and faid that it would be with reluctance that he should fupport an administration of which that noble Lord should form a part. Mr. Mr. Burke wifhed the honourable member had waited till Mr. Burke. that noble Lord had been prefent, before he attacked him for his fentiments on the queftion or measure which the petition was calculated to promote: the noble Lord had not, in fact, faid that he was an enemy to reformation; but he had faid, that he was an enemy to any alteration in the conftitution of this country. As to the fupport which the honourable member faid he would reluctantly give to any adminiftration of which the noble Lord fhould form a part, he would only fay, that, in his opinion, it ought never to be given or withheld on account of men, but of measures: the honourable member, however, feemed to think differently; for he was refolved to confider men, and not measures: now, for his own part, he would fay, that, in general, it was with reluctance that government ought to be oppofed, and that the measure should call forth fupport, even where the men were difliked; and no government fhould ever have his fupport, whose measures fhould not be fuch as would make even the most reluctant give them the ftrongeft fupport: fuch an administration, he hoped, would be the refult of the arrangements now carrying on; for the country ftood in need of a ftrong adminiftration, and a fteady fupport. Mr. Duncombe replied; he said that he had not dropped a Mr. Dun fingle expreffion of the noble Lord in his abfence, which he combe. would not have used if he had been prefent: he might have been incorrect in the choice of the word reluctance, with respect to fupporting an administration of which the noble Lord fhould be a member; he would therefore mend it, and fay, that he never would give any fupport to fuch an adminiftration; and in thus fpeaking of that noble Lord, he wished to have it thought that it was the measure he had in view rather than the man: for from paft measures he judged what the noble Lord was capable of; and thence he concluded, that he would act in future as he had for the paft; and therefore, if he was an enemy to the man, it was on account of his measures, for the measures thew the man. Mr. W. Stanhope expreffed his furprife at feeing an ho- Mr. W. nourable gentleman ftand up the defender of a noble Lord, Stanhope. whom that very member had more than once declared to be a fit object for impeachment; and against whom he once went fo far as to fay, that he had an impeachment ready drawn in his pocket. He next fpoke of the petition, and faid it was fupported by the Lord Lieutenant of the county, and figned even by the Commander in Chief of his Majesty's forces in that district, who is a freeholder of the county. VOL. IX. Ddd The Sir Cha. The petition was brought up, read, and ordered to lie upon the table. Sir Charles Turner brought up a petition to the fame effect from the corporation of the city of York. He faid, that in the infirm ftate in which he then ftood, nothing but a matter of fuch magnitude as was the fubject of the petition could have brought him down to the Houfe. The petition was of as aftonishing a nature as a coalition, which had taken place in that Houfe between two parties, that had been as oppofite in their principles as could well have been conceived. The great and opulent gentlemen, inhabitants of York, had for centuries paft been endeavouring to break the power of the corporation of that city, or at leaft to deftroy the monopoly of franchifes which the latter enjoyed to the exclufion of the former. The corporation had refifted them hitherto with fuccefs; but now on a fudden, feeling how partially the pecple were reprefented in Parliament, were defirous, by a strange turn or revolution of affairs, to abridge their own power, and adinit a great number to a participation of their privileges this revolution might be faid to make the corporation felo de fe: they were now come to Parliament to pray for that enlargement of franchife which they had fo long refift ed, during a conteft which had almoft ruined a great part of the gentry in and about York, among others, fome of his own ancestors. The petition was read and laid upon the table. Lord Newhaven informed the Houfe, that certain events having lately taken place, he would defer the motion he inLord New. tended to make this day, for copies of inftructions fent to Sir Guy Carleton, for negociating with Congress for peace between this country and America. haven. The Sacre tary at War. After this, a motion for adjourning till to-morrow was put and carried, though it was generally understood before the motion was made, that the Houfe would adjourn for a week, in order to afford time for the necellary arrangements of the new adminiftration.* February 25. The Secretary at War gave notice, that on Friday or Monday next, he would move that the remaining eftinates of the ex *After the divifion on the 21ft, the kingdom continued for several weeks in a state of great diforder; no new adminiftration was appointed, and the negotiations for power were, through the feveral conjunc tions of partics, carried on with much violence and animofity. extraordinaries of the army fhould be referred to the committee of fupply. The Lord Advocate faid, he was going to make a motion, The Lord which he trufted the Houfe would not think unneceffary or Advocate. improper; it was, "that the House, at its rifing, should adjourn to Friday next;" it was not unknown to gentlemen that arrangements were now making for a new adminiftration; and it would be but proper that the Houfe fhould adjourn over a few days, in order to afford time for completing the arrangements: he concluded by making the motion. Earl Nugent oppofed it; he faid, that a bill of the greatest Earl Nuimportance relative to Ireland was to be referred to a committee of the whole Houfe to-morrow, and gentlemen must fee the impropriety of putting off a bulinels affecting fo materially fo great a part of the empire, merely that minifterial arrangements might be made, when the bill had nothing to do with minifters; it was the great work of the people of England. gent. The Lord Advocate declared himfelf a friend to the ad- The Lord Advocate. journment for the very reafon that moved the noble Lord to oppofe it; the bill to which he alluded was of too great a magnitude to be agitated during what he might call a minifterial interregnum; it was a bill that ought to have the marked countenance and fupport of administration. Earl Nugent replied, that there was nothing farther from Ear! Nu. his wifh than that the bill should be carried through Parlia- geat. ment by minifterial influence; nothing could do more honour to this nation, or give more fatisfaction to Ireland, than that the bill fhould originate, and be carried through in a conviction in the minds of the people of England, that the bill was founded in juftice, policy, and equity: the people of Ireland could have but little reafon to deem the bill a fecurity to their conftitution, if they fhould be by any means led to think that it had been carried by the influence of adminitration, against the wifhes of the people: nothing could fatisfy the people of Ireland but the idea, that the people of England with one voice agreed to the paffing of this bill, from a conviction that it was fit it fhould be paffed, and without being biaffed in their judgment by minifterial influence; it was not upon floating adminiftrations that stability could be founded; and therefore it was to the people of England, not to minifters, that Ireland appealed; and the people of England reprefented by that Houfe, could alone give permanency to measures; they never could derive it from D dd 2 the General Smith. The Secre the infecure tenor of minifterial influence; minifters had nothing to do with the bufinefs; the people were concerned, and their reprefentatives in that Houfe might therefore proceed with the bill without giving themfelves any trouble about minifters; he cared not who were, or who were not minifters; he was under no obligation either to those who were in, or to those who, from report, he understood were likely to be their fucceffors; the bill concerned the nation; and the reprefentatives of the people, who were moft intimately concerned in it, ought to proceed in their own bufinefs without waiting for minifterial arrangements; for if they did, an idea might go forth, which ought to be crushed, that the bill was to be fupported by the influence of adminiftration. General Smith faid, that very little had been done in the bufinefs of Sir Thomas Rumbold for the laft fortnight; he therefore wifhed that the Houfe would not adjourn, but fuffer the private bufinefs to be carried on. The Houfe at laft divided on the motion, when their appeared, for it 49, against it 37; majority for the adjournment 12. Counfel were then called to the bar to be heard on Sir Thomas Rumbold's bill; and after proceeding for fome time in it, the House adjourned to Friday. February 28. The Secretary at War stated, that 1,300,000l. having been tary at War. already voted on eftimates for the extraordinaries of the army, there ftill remained 1,616,000l. to be voted; so that the whole of the extraordinaries would amount to upwards of 2,900,000l. This, he faid, was a confiderable fum ; but he had the pleafure to inform the committee, that it was lefs by 800,000l. than the eftimates for the fame fervice for the year 1781; this was a faving to fo prodigious an amount, that he was fure the committee must feel infinite fatisfaction at the circumstance. He concluded by moving for 1,616,500l. The motion paffed without any debate, and the House was immediately réfumed. Mr. Burke. Mr. Burke then faid, that in order to eftablish many facts, on the knowledge of which he had grounded his bill, for explaining the act relative to the regulation of the Pay-office, it would be neceffary to order Mr. Bambridge of that office to attend the Houfe but this he would not do, unless he should be informed, that Government intended to object to the prin 4 ciple |