by an abuse of power, by oppres sive and illegal acts, damps and discourages the spirit of the people, which cherishes and sustains that system. The principal use and object of power is the protection of popular liberty; when it is employed for a contrary purpose, its existence is an evil, and the people living under it cannot be interested in its security. The defenceless state of Scotland, instead of extenuating the conduct of the learned lord, only served to place it in a more aggravated point of view; for it had a direct tendency to check exertion, and to disgust public feeling. With respect to the observation, that Morison might have his redress for any private injury by appeal at law, he wished to ask how that redress was to be obtained? If the application be to the criminal law, it should be remembered, that in Scotland the lord advocate is the only criminal prosecutor, and there is no grand jury to whom a bill of indictment can be preferred. In the person of the lord advocate centres the power of criminal prosecutor and grand jury. How then was Morison to proceed? If an action for damages were recommended, what success was a man likely to have, who should be described to a Scotch court as Morison has been, and who should stand forward as the adversary of the lord advocate? That a case had been made out in this instance to call for parliamen tary interference, and that it was the duty of the house to notice it, he entertained not the least doubt; for the house must be aware, that its first study is to watch the conduct of public officers, in order to prevent them from abusing their authority; and, whenever the dis position to such abuse appeared,

immediately to interfere. Under all the circumstances of the ques tion, he hoped the house would not suffer it to go abroad that it sanctioned the principle of punishing a man upon the presumption of his criminality, and upon mere ex parte evidence. The order of the day, which had been proposed to get rid of the motion, did not appear to him consistent with decency. He could not approve of the motive or tendency of such an evasion; for he was of opinion that the purity of public justice, the liberty of the subject, the protection of private character, the defence of loyalty, and the due encouragement of the volunteer spirit, depended upon the original motion. The debate was continued till a late hour, when the previous question was carried by a majority of 77 votes.

On the 2d of July, the house, upon the motion of the chancellor of the exchequer, resolved into a committee of supply, to which several accounts relative to an augmentation of the civil list were referred. It appeared that the arrears of the civil list amounted to the sum of 591,8157. 3s. 10d. This excess, it was stated, had arisen from a variety of expenses incurred by services which could not be foreseen. As this explanation had been deemed satisfactory in the year 1802, when the house voted the discharge of the arrears then due, which amounted to about 230,000, it was expected that the present arrears would, upon the same ground, be readily discharged. With respect to the future state of the civil list, it was proposed that several charges upon it should be annually discharged by parliament. The charges intended to be transferred amounted to the sum of 135,000

They related to fluctuating expenses; principally to printing for the court of exchequer and for parliament, to the police and incidental improvements, and to various other public services. A positive grant was also proposed to be given, as an addition to the civil list. When the increasing expense upon private bills, and upon household necessaries, was considered, it was conceived that the sum of 60,000l. would not be thought an extravagant augmentation of the civil list; particularly as the ease and comfort of the royal family were objects to which the house had always attended. In the memory of many persons in parliament, the household expenses had increased 60 per cent. The arrears of the civil list had grown out of the necessities of the times, or unforeseen political events. The civil list was stated to be about 921,000.; the expenditure upon it, at an average, was 975,000. The annual deficiency, therefore, was 54,000% But it was proposed, instead of the 54,000, to make the more liberal addition of 60,000%

When the last application was made to 'parliament for a discharge of the debts of the civil list, it was believed that measures would be taken to prevent the recurrence of a similar application, by guarding against the accumulation of arrears. This effect, it was stated, might have been produced, if the provisions of Mr. Burke's bill had been duly attended to. It was, however, asserted that the provisions contained in Mr. Burke's bill had been found to be impracticable. In reply to the argument that a time of war ought not to have been selected for an application of this nature, it was said that it was become necessary to do

of two things;-either to refuse

the throne an adequate allowance, or to break in upon the establish ment of royalty. But it was not imagined that any man, merely for a saving of 50 or 60,000, would consent to an abridgment of that dignity which formed a necessary part of the monarchy, and therefore formed a necessary part of the constitution. It was represented that the proposed arrange. ment had no view to any advance in the quantum of magnificence, or the indulgencies which should belong to the royal family, as the only intention was to enable that illustrious family to maintain the rank which, according to the grant of 1786, it was admitted it ought to hold. The only effect of the proposed addition would be to equalize their revenue to the change of circumstances which had taken place. The economy, therefore, would be extremely misplaced, which, under such circumstances, should call upon his majesty's fa mily to retrench their necessary expenses, or refuse assent to this additional grant; particularly when it was recollected that the civil list was but a commutation which his majesty had accepted, on his accession to the throne, for a large hereditary revenue. The branch of hereditary revenue which had been en joyed by his majesty's predecessors, and in lieu of which he had thought proper to accept the civil list, had so far advanced, that it now amounted to between 1,400,000%. and 1,500,000. a year. The addition of only 60,000 to 900,000l. a year consequently left a considerable balance in favour of the public. It is almost needless to observe that the house readily assented to the two propositions of the chancellor of the exchequer; namely, to discharge the existing arrears, and to

make

make a permanent addition of 60,000/. to the civil list.

We have already had occasion to state the material points of the important debate which preceded the reference of the Middlesex election petition to a committee: we have now to report that, according to the opinion of the committee, Mr. Mainwaring, and not sir Francis Burdett, was duly elected; but as it appeared that Mr. Mainwaring had, by his agents, committed acts of treating, he was incapacitated to serve in parliament upon such election. Lord viscount Marsham reported to the house the following resolutions:

"Resolved, That it appears to this committee, that on the 13th, 14th, and 15th days of the poll, on the first of which there was a considerable majority of votes in favour of William Mainwaring, esq. the sheriffs, Robert Albion Cox, esq. and sir William Rawlins, knt. wilfully, knowingly, and corruptly, did admit to poll for sir Francis Burdett, upwards of three hundred persons claiming to vote under a fictitious right. as proprietors of a mill, purported to be situate in the parish of Isleworth, and called "The Good Intent Mill," by which means a colourable majority was obtained in favour of sir Francis Burdett, who was thereby returned as haying the greater number of legal votes.

"Resolved, That it appears to this committee, that on the 15th day, towards the close of the poil, after such majority was established, they rejected persons tendering their votes under the same cir

the validity of votes, and by deciding, in some instances, on the validity of such votes; that, in other instances, they refused to decide on the validity of votes which were objected to; and stated, that they would admit any persons to poll who would take the oaths, declaring themselves to be only ministerial officers; thereby acting in a manner contradictory to their practice in other cases, and in flagrant violation of their duty.

"Resolved, That it appears to this committee, that the obvious tendency of their conduct was to admit persons having no right to poll, and to afford the greatest encouragement to perjury."

The report was ordered to be printed, and to be taken into consideration on the 17th of July: but as the minutes of the evidence taken before the committee, relative to the conduct of the sheriffs, were not then printed, and as it was impossible that they could be ready in due time, at so late a period of the session, to enable the house fully and fairly to examine this important subject, lord Marsham moved the postponement of the further consideration of it, till the next session.

About this time, the sum of 29,000% was voted by parliament to support the civil establishment of Sierra Leone. of Sierra Leone. During the preceding year, the usual grant of 10,000. had been withheld: The investigation of the affairs of the company had been referred to a committee, who, in their report, recommended an addition of 4,000!. to the accustomed annual grant. The construction of forts for the defence of our settlements was deemed essentially necessary, under the circumstances in which that settlement was placed in the pre

M

sent

sent crisis. To carry this object into execution, another sum of 4,000l. was requisite. It was recommended to the house to direct its attention to the nature of the institution of this colony, and to the effects which were likely to result from it, with respect to the civilization of the natives of Africa. Whatever opinions might be entertained of the merits of the proposition for the abolition of the slave trade, it was expected that every man would be anxious to establish a connexion with the natives of Africa, more congenial to the principles of justice and humanity, and to the character of this country. From the report of the committee, such a connexion appeared to be practicable. The colony might thus become the basis of many and more extensive establishments for the melioration of the state of the unhappy Africans. The introduction of this system among them might also tend to the annihilation of the slave trade. But to promote this undertaking, the encourage. ment of parliament was indispensably requisite. As the Maroons and Americans settled in Sierra Leone were sent thither by govern. ment, the claims of the colony on the support of the house were materially strengthened. One very important fact was stated, relative to the beneficial effects likely to result from this colonial establishment. It had been urged, as an argument against the abolition of the slave trade, that negroes would never work for hire; but the contrary was now completely ascertained; for great numbers of them were in the habit of coming from a considerable distance, in order to labour for hire in the colony. This fact alone was represented as worth almost the whole expense that had

been bestowed on the settlement. Notwithstanding this appeal to the feelings and judgment of the house, it was maintained, that the settlement was not likely to promote its object; and in one instance the subject was considered in so nar row, limited, and selfish a point of view, as to produce the observation, that while there was so much distress among the people of this country, every proposition to grant their money for the support of visionary schemes of philanthropy was to be condemned. To soften the resistance of those who were so sensibly alive to the prodigal appropriation of a few thousand pounds to the object of establishing a system, which might possibly tend effectually to alleviate the miseries of a large proportion of the human race, to emancipate them from cruel bondage, and diffuse among them the valuable blessings of civilization, it was stated, that although the preservation of the settlement was deemed advis able, it was not to be understood that parliamentary aid was to be permanent. The grant of such aid, it was proposed, should always depend on the case made out upon each application.

In the statement usually presented of the affairs of India, it has hitherto been customary to enter very minutely into specific financial details, which, however inter. esting to those who make the concerns of the East India company their peculiar study, are of much less importance than the general results, from which alone the dechine or prosperity of this vast establishment is to be determined. In stead, therefore, of entering into a tedious minuteness of financial statement, we shall confine ourselves to such observations as may

best

best explain the actual situation of the affairs of the company.-When lord Castlereagh submitted to the consideration of the house the statement of the affairs of India for the year preceding the last, his lordship expressed a very san guine expectation of general improvement, which unfortunately was not realized, in consequence of a variety of unforeseen circumstances having occasioned a mate rial increase of expenditure. The war in Europe, as well as the very extensive war in India, had very greatly contributed to produce this effect. The total increase of debt for the year 1803-4, it appears, amounted to 1,229,8211. and the net increase of assets, to 1,959,3961. The net improvement was consequently 729,5751.; but from this sum it is necessary to deduct the amount of the cargoes arrived in India, previous to the 30th of April 1803, and included in the quick stocks there, which formed part of the cargoes afloat, outward, in the assets at home. This sum amounted to 417,000, which being deducted from the abovementioned amount left 312,575., liable to further adjustments, when the final arrangements of the claims of the company upon government shall be completed.

Such is the result of the statement which lord Castlereagh on the 10th of July submitted to the committee. His lordship then proceeded to make a few general observations. He wished to call the attention of the committee to the estimates which he had brought forward for 1802-3, when his lordship expressed a firm conviction, not only that the public would receive a participation of 500,000l., but that the company would be able to establish a sinking fund for the extinction of their debt, to the

amount of two millions a year. But it was in the contemplation of the continuance of peace, that this declaration was made. In order, however, to show that he had not proceeded on light and trivial grounds, his lordship adverted to the estimates which he had laid down, and compared them with the real amount of the revenues and charges. The estimate of the revenue was 12,693,000%., whereas the actual amount of the revenue was 13,427,000l., leaving a large surplus above the estimate. The charges had been estimated at, 9,998,000l., but the amount was above the estimate, being more than 10,000,000. But the excess in this case was to be accounted for without difficulty. Sums to the amount of 800,0001. had accumulated from causes which, at the time the estimates were formed, could not be anticipated. On the item of military expenses alone there was an excess of 600,0002., which could not be foreseen when the estimates were produced. The calculations, however, which his lordship had made, rested, he said, upon a solid foundation. From territorial revenue he had expected an excess of considerably more than a million, and he had calculated the surplus on the net produce and assets at 400,0001. In consequence of the causes to which he had alluded, this last calculation, founded on an average of three years, had not only failed, but there had been an actual deficiency of upwards of 200,000l. This being the state of the case, the public had no claim on the first 500,0007., which were to form the stipulated participation. Of the expected surplus of a million, the first 500,000% were to be appropriated to the payment of interest. The deficiency of 200,000% would conM 2 sequently