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fent loan, as worse than it ought to have been, and worse than it might have been; advised the noble Duke to be upon his guard: ftrange ftories were in circulation relative to the prefent loan: complained of having been called the avowed advocate of influence; appealed to his conduct refpecting the contractor's bill, and gave it as his opinion, that the minifter ought to be hanged, who corruptly diftributed the loan, with a view to influence.

The Earl of Derby expreffed his furprife, that the learned lord fhould now, for the first time, find fault with a mode of making loans, that had obtained for years, without his ftarting a fingle objection. He retorted on Lord Sydney for his charge of the interreg num upon the prefent adminiftration, and faid the laft administration having loft the confidence of the Houfe of Commons, had caufed it; and called upon Lord Shelburne to fhew how the plaufible promifes in the King's fpeech had been fulfilled, before he urged the noble Duke and his friends, who had been but a fortnight in office, to produce the acts of their adminiftration, in proof of their good intentions.

Lord Shelburne replied to all that had been faid against his motion. He did not believe that he had loft the confidence of the House of Commons, but let the Houfe of Commons take care, or they would lofe his confidence. With regard to the promifes in the King's fpeech, they had begun to be fulfilled; a Custom-house bill had been prefented to the Houfe of Commons; other great and effential plans of reform were ripening, and would foon have been matured, had he and his friends remained in office. Let the noble Earl enquire at the Treafury; he would learn there that great reforms were in preparation, when he was obliged to quit his ftation. The Admiralty was, he mult own, the leaft active of any great department, with a view to reform. He meant no attack, but fuch was the fact. In answer to the queftion, why the last adminiftration did not make the loan? it was to have been brought in, the very next week after the refolution upon the

peace paffed the House of Commons. Let the Houfe adopt or reject the refolutions, he was perfectly indifferent; nonfenfical as they had appeared to a learned lord, he was content to let them reft on their own bottom.

Lord Keppel bid the noble Earl recollect, that he was at the head of the Admiralty while we were engaged in a war; his attention, therefore, had been directed to the greater objects of actual and immediate fervice, and not to plans of reform, that could only be attended to in times of peace.

Some altercation between Lords Shelburne and Keppel enfied, to which the Houfe thought proper to put a stop. Both the refolutions were negatived without a divifion, and the loan bill was read a third time, and paffed.

In the House of Commons, Lord Maitland read a petition, figned by four perfons, complaining of the commander in chief, for not having, at their request, ordered a court-martial to try feveral complaints brought by them against Sir James Lowther, for peculation, oppreffion, and other mal-practices, while he commanded the Weftmoreland militia. The petition had been three months in his hands, and being informed there were proofs to fupport the allegations, for the truth of which, however, he would not pledge himself, he thought it his duty to prefent it. He, therefore, moved, that the petition be brought up.

Mr. D. P. Coke feconded the motion.-General Conway gave a detail of the whole bufinefs, and faid that having the beft proofs that the charges were groundless, he had not fent the honourable baronet to trial.

Sir James Lowther entered into a defence of himfelf, and proved to demonftration, that there was not the leaft ground for any one of the charges contained in the petition.

Mr. Fox did not approve of fuch pctitions being brought to that Houfe, because it would in the end become a court of appeal from every man, who fhould think he had caufe of complaint against a court-martial or court of enquiry. The motion was negatived nem, con, and the Houfe adjourned.

May

May 6th. The Houfe of Lords went into a committee on the American trade bill. On reading the firft claufe, an amendment was propofed by Lord Walfingham, and rejected. On reading the fecond claufe, Earl Bathurst faid, that it was undoubtedly the intent of Parliament, that the difcretionary power granted to his Majefty fhould ceafe on the expiration of the bill; he, therefore, moved, that an amendment to that effect should be inferted in it, and that the duration of the bill fhould be only till the 20th of December, 1783. This amendment was agreed to, after which the bill was read, and ordered to be reported the next day.

Previous to reading the order of the day, Lords Thurlow, Mansfield, and Sydney fpoke as to the admiflion of a letter offered in evidence, at the bar of the Houfe, upon a divorce bill; when it was clearly laid down, that no confeffion, either of a wife or hufband, of the commilion of adultery, unaccompanied by facts, could be admitted as evidence of guilt, and that the cafe was no exception to the general rule. The bill was confequently rejected.

The call of the Houfe of Commons ftanding for this day, brought an uncommonly numerous attendance of members. When the clerk had called over the names, Mr. W. Pitt, feeing Lord North in his place, faid, it was reported, that the noble lord remained in that Houfe, only to oppofe the propofition that he intended to make tomorrow; he would, therefore, afk him, whether he would confent that it fhould be debated in a committee of the whole Houfe, a mode of difcuffion which he himfelf preferred, as allowing greater

latitude of debate.

Lord North faid, that to fpread a report, that he remained in that Houfe for any particular purpofe, was very indecent. It became not him to fay when he fhould be called to the other Houfe, or whether he should ever receive that honour. As to the queftion put to him, he, for one, would not confent that the refolutions, which the right honourable gentleman intended to move to-morrow, fhould be difcuffed

in a committee, as fuch confent would imply an approbation of the principle of making a reform in the House, to which he would not, at least for the prefent, give his vote.

General Smith defired to be informed, when the Lord Advocate intended to move for the fecond reading of the bill for regulating the government of India.

The Lord Advocate faid, that when government fhould have fettled how the blank left for the name of the new Governor-general fhould be filled up, he would move the fecond reading.

May 7. The important queftion, concerning the expediency and mode of a reform in the Houfe of Commons, aflembled an immenfe concourfe of people, in the lobby and avenues leading to the Houfe. A petition to that effect was prefented, by Mr. Masham, from the freeholders of the county of Kent; another from freeholders, whose. freeholds lie in the city of London; a third, by Mr. Byng, from the householders of the Tower hamlets; and a fourth, by Mr. Fox, from the electors of the city of Weftminfter. It may not be improper to premife, that though the debate involved a queftion of the firft importance, and though much ingenious and much folid reafoning was difplayed in the courfe of it, the fubject had been previously fo much and fo generally difcuffed, that it afforded little novelty of principle or argument. Mr. Pitt opened the bufinefs, by exprefling his embarrassment and anxiety, at finding himfelf obliged, for the good of his country, to difcover and lay before the Houfe the imperfections of the conftitution, upon the excellence of which, while it flourished in its origi nal purity, he expatiated in the highest ftrains of panegyric. He beheld it with wonder, with veneration, and with gratitude. It gave an Englishman fuch dear and invaluable privileges, fuch advantageous and dignified preroga tives, as were beyond the reach of the fubjects of every other nation, and approached nearer to a fyftem of perfect freedom, than any form of human polity that ever exifted. Raifed by it to greatnefs and to glory, England had

once

once been the envy and the pride of the world. But a feries of difaftrous events, which had eclipfed her glory, exhibited a fad reverfe of fortune. The ruinous confequences of the American war, the immenfe expenditure of the public money, the confequent heavy burden of taxes, and the preffure of all the collateral difficulties flowing from thefe, had put the people out of temper, by little and little, and at laft provoked them to turn their eyes inwards on themfelves." Searching for the internal fources of their foreign calamities, they naturally turned their attention to the form and practice of the conftitution, under which they lived. Upon looking to that Houfe, they found that from the great increase of undue influence, imperceptible in its origin, but rapid in its progrefs, the fpirit of liberty, and the power of check and control over the crown, and the executive government, were greatly leffened and debilitated. Hence clamours fprang up without doors, and hence, as was perfectly natural, in the moment of anxiety to procure an adequate remedy for a practical grievance, a fpirit of fpeculation went forth, and a variety of fchemes, founded on vifionary and impracticable ideas of reform, were fuddenly engendered. But it was not for him, with unhallowed hands, to touch the venerable pile of the conftitution, and deface the fabric; innovations were at all times dangerous, and fhould never be attempted but when neceffity called for them. Upon this principle, he had given up the idea which he had fuggefted to the House last year; and, therefore, his prefent object was not to innovate, but to revive and invigorate the fpirit, withcut deviating materially from the original form of the conflitution. Laft year he was told, that the fubject ought not to be difcuffed amid the din of arms; the objection then had its force, but happily could not now be renewed. This, therefore, was the proper time to enter on the bufinefs of a reformation. The House itself had difcovered that a fecret influence of the crown was fapping the very foundation of liberty by corruption: the

influence of the crown had been felt within thofe walls, and had often been ftrong enough to ftifle the fenfe of duty, and to over-rule the propofitions made to fatisfy the wishes of the people. The Houfe of Commons, in former parliaments, had been bafe enough to feed the influence that enflaved its members, and thus was at once the parent and the offspring of corruption. At length, it had rifen to fuch a height, that men were afhamed to deny its exiftence, and the Houfe had been driven to the neceffity of voting that it ought to be diminished. Of the various expedients that had been devised to effect fo falutary a purpofe, one was, to extend the right of voting for members to ferve in parliament to all the inhabitants of the kingdom indifcriminately, without the diftinction of freeholder, or freeman of a corporation, under the idea that it is inconfiftent with liberty for any man to be bound by laws, to which he has not given his confent, either in perfon, or by his reprefentative. This mode he condemned as utterly impracticable, and contradictory, in effect, to the fpecious principle on which it profeiled to be built, becaufe, in the ftrictnefs of this doctrine, the minority on every election, and the conftituents of the minority on every divifion in that Houfe, would be bound by laws enacted not only without their confent, but exprefsly against it. His idea of reprefentation was, that the members once chofen and returned to parliament were in effect the reprefentatives of the people at large, as well of thofe who did not vote at all, or having voted gave their votes against them, as of thofe by whofe fuffrages they were feated in the House. The fecond expedient was, to abolish the franchife of fending members to parliament, which feveral boroughs now enjoy; thefe places were known by the popular appellation of rotten barcaghs; he held thefe boroughs in the light of deformities, which in fome degree disfigured the fabric of the conftitution, but which, he feared, could not be re'moved without endangering the whole pile. Borough members, confidered in the abftract, were, no doubt, more

liable to the operation of that influence, which every good man wifhed to fee deftroyed, than thofe members who were returned by the counties; and, therefore, though he was afraid to cut up the roots of it, by disfranchifing the boroughs, ftill he thought it his duty to counteract, if poffible, that influence, the inftruments of which he was afraid to remove. The boroughs ought to be confidered as places where the franchise was, in fome measure, connected with property by burgage tenure, and, therefore, he was unwilling to diffolve them. This brought him to the third expedient, which was, to add a certain number of members to the Houfe, who should be returned by the counties and the metropolis. It was unneceflary for him to fay, that the county members were almost neceffarily taken from that defcription of gentlemen the leaft liable to the feduction of corrupt influence, and the moft deeply interested in the liberty and profperity of the country. This expedient appeared to him the leaft objectionable, becaufe it had the merit of promifing an effectual counterbalance to the weight of the boroughs, without being an innovation in the form of the conftitution. He would leave the number of additional members to be inferted in a bill which, if the refolutions he meant to propofe fhould pafs, he intended to move for leave to bring in. He would fay, however, that the number ought not to be under one hundred. It was true the Houfe would then be more numerous than he could wifh, but he was not without an expedient, which would in time reduce the members to nearly the prefent number. Whenever it fhould appear before the tribunal appointed by law to try the merits of contefted elections, that the majority of any borough had been bribed and corrupted, the borough fhould then lofe the privilege of fending members to parliament, the corrupt majority fhould be disfranchifed, and the honeft minority permitted to vote for knights of the thire. By this expedient, he was fure the boroughs would be preferved free from corruption; or else they must be abolished

gradually, and the number of members of that Houfe reduced to its prefent ftandard. This disfranchifing of boroughs would be the work of time; the neceffity of disfranchifing any one, whenever that neceffity fhould appear, would fanctify the meafure; it would appear, what in fact it would be, an act of justice, not of party or caprice, as it would be founded not on furmife, but on the actual proof of guilt. After amplifying on this for fome time, and fhewing that it was equally founded in policy and in juftice, he urgently preffed the neceflity of fomething being done, in compliance with the petitions that had been prefented, and took abundant pains to caution the House against adopting any extravagant plans of reform, that might be fuggefted by enthufiaftic fpeculatifts, on the one hand, and obitinately refufing to take any step whatever, in compliance with the petitions, under a childish diflike and dread of innovation, on the other. He then read his three refolutions, which were in fubítance as follows:

I. "That it is the opinion of this Houfe, that meafures are highly neceffary to be taken for the future prevention of bribery and expence at elections."

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wifdom of the Houfe fhould appear neceffary. He, therefore, fhould not 5: hold any gentleman, who chose to vote for his refolutions, as containing general propofitions, pledged either to

fupport that bill, or any claufe it might contain. And again earnestly preffed the Houfe either to adopt his propofitions, or to fuggeft fome other equally calculated to remedy the grievance.

MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.

FOR THE LONDON MAGAZINE.

ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF FICTITIOUS HISTORY.

HE human mind is naturally difTpofed to embellish the narration

of facts, and the delineation of characters, by fictitious circumftances. The bare and unadorned occurrences of real life are infufficient to fill the mind, or to gratify the imagination. There is a mixture of what is great, and what is little: of what is noble, and what is mean, together with an air of uniformity and famenefs, in the ordinary events and characters that occur in the world: and hence the affairs of common life have affumed a drynefs and infipidity which are ill calculated to amufe the idle, or to fix the attention of the diffipated.

The extent of the natural powers of man are soon ascertained by experience; and the imagination immediately affigns bounds to their probable effects. With refpect, therefore, to the natural and unaffifted exertions of man, the regions of fiction are foon circumfcribed by proper limits. Another field must be fought, on which the imagination may exercife its creative faculty; and other agents must be obtained, to perform thofe fplendid achievements which astonish and amuse the mind.

We find accordingly, that the belief of fuperior powers, who mingle and intereft themselves in the affairs of men, has been very univerfal in the world. From the imagined interpofition of these beings, the poet has derived ornament to his verfe; and with this, the minstrel has embellished his legendary tale.

It would be an amufing and curious fpeculation to trace the various opinions which have been entertained in LOND. MAG. Nov. 1783.

different ages and nations, concerning the manner of thofe extraordinary in

terpofitions. The Greeks, from whom the Romans borrowed their mythology, feem to have reduced their notions on this fubject to a regular fyftem. But their deities foon loft that dignity which feems to belong to fupernatural agents. In Homer, the appearances of the gods are fo frequent and fo familiar as to have banished that furprise with which men are ftruck, when they fancy themselves the witnesses of extraor➡ dinary power.

The notions of our German and Scandinavian ancestors have been, I apprehend, much more natural and fimple. They inhabited a wild and inclement divifion of the globe. Their habitations were thinly fcattered; and their intercourfe frequently interrupted. During the long and gloomy intervals of folitude, while furrounded by the most folemn objects in nature, by rocks, and woods, and lakes, fancy was naturally led to create companions of their retirement. Every rock, every wood, and every lake became the refidence of fome power, who, in general, was believed to be jealous of his rights, and difpofed to punish the audacious mortal who dared to intrude on his retreat. Thefe gloomy notions were the natural confequence of the circumftances in which our ancestors lived. Doomed to an unkindly foil, and an inclement fky, they were often expofed to fatal accidents from the viciffitudes of the feafons, and from the diforder of the elements. The Goddefs of Death frequently rode on the whirlwind, or defcended in the rapid torrent: the avenging angel was armed 3 D

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