therefore it would be more proper for the right honourable gentleman to wait till he should have seen the return called for by the noble lord.] Mr. Burke said, that though there was no question actually under discussion, he was not of opinion that, in any thing he had said, he had been out of order. The situation of the felons who were to be transported, called for immediate attention. He understood that seventy-five of them were now on board a ship, which might sail before morning, and the wind would soon carry them out of the reach of the interposition of parliament. He was now appealing to the minister for his interference. The king, by his coronation oath, had bound himself to execute judgment in mercy; and the right honourable gentleman was the trustee of his majesty's oath. There were at the moment that he was speaking, nests of pestilence in the country; the gaols were crowded beyond measure; there was a house in London, which consisted at this time of just 558 members; he did not mean the House of Commons (though the numbers were alike in both), but the gaol of Newgate: they attended in their places much more punctually than the members of the former; and reform in one would not be less agreeable than reform in the other. Pestilence might be the consequence of so many persons being crowded in one house; and the public safety, no less than a humane regard to the individuals in question, called for the interposition of parliament.

Here the business rested for this day.

MR. PITT'S MOTION FOR A REFORM OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE IN PARLIAMENT.

April 18.

THE question of a reform in parliament was this day brought before the House by Mr. Pitt, who concluded a speech of considerable length with moving, "That leave be given to bring in a bill to amend the representation of the people of England in parliament." The plan which he proposed for this purpose, was to transfer the right of choosing representatives from thirty-six of such boroughs as had already, or were falling into decay, to the counties, and to such chief towns and cities as were at present unrepresented - That a fund should be provided, for the purpose of giving to the owners and holders of such boroughs disfranchised, an appreciated compensation for their property- That the taking this compensation should be a voluntary act of the proprietor, and if not taken at present, should be placed out at compound interest, until it became an irresistible bait to such proprietors. He also meant to extend the right of voting for knights of the shire to copyholders as well as freeholders. Such was the outline of Mr. Pitt's system. The motion was opposed by Mr. Powys, Lord North, Lord Mulgrave, Mr. Burke, Mr. Rolle, and Mr. Young; and supported by Mr. Duncombe, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Fox, the Attorney-General, Mr. Arden, Lord Frederick Campbell, and Mr. Dundas.

Mr. BURKE, after entertaining the House for a considerable time on the subject of Mr. Dundas's conversion from the principles of anti-reformation, proceeded to discuss the merits of the present question, as well as the manner of bringing it forward. It held out, he said, the alternative, either for the House to adopt this limited, confined plan of reform, or be perhaps liable to receive one from the Duke of Richmond, on a more enlarged scale. Between the

say,

the same line of conduct pursued, as if a robber were to enter the house of a man, and "Let me take away such things as I please, and I will lock the door and keep out any other thieves; but if you refuse the offer, then take your chance of losing all." The doctrine which had gained so much ground, and in conformity to which this plan had been now introduced, was that of universal representation. But this measure, he was convinced, was only an illusion, from which no solid benefit. would ever result. The influence of the country gentlemen in parliament was always known to preponderate, when they were united in opinion. Mr. Burke took a very extensive view of the present state of our representation, and asked if the proprietors of boroughs had not been already sufficiently paid in the profusion of the honours of this country, without now opening the purse of the nation. He adverted to the con duct of the reverend Mr. Wyvill. He took particular notice of the variety and extent of the reverend gentleman's correspondence, which he said, was not confined to the chancellor of the exchequer, or to the volunteers of Ireland. Lord Shelburne and Mr. Macgrugar had not been forgotten; and other celebrated names had been handed down to posterity by this reforming divine. After reading several extracts from this correspondence, he proceeded to remark, that the right honourable gentleman who had formerly submitted to the House two plans for a more equal representation of the people, each of which was perfection itself, now came forward with a third, still more perfect than either of the former. He would allow that the present plan had many more palliatives in its composition than either of its brethren, for its operation was not likely to affect any of the members of the present parliament; and he could not sufficiently admire the address of the right honourable gentleman, in thus rendering his plan palatable to all parties. For his part, he considered the whole of it as a mere delusion, an ignis fatuus, calculated to mislead and to bewilder. He insisted that the right honourable gentleman had abandoned the ground on which he originally took up this question.

The House divided on Mr. Pitt's motion: Yeas 174: Noes 248. So it passed in the negative.

IRISH COMMERCIAL PROPOSITIONS.

May 19.

THE House having this day resolved itself into a committee to take into further consideration the Irish propositions, Mr. Pitt moved the third resolution: viz. "That towards carrying into full effect so desirable a settlement, it is fit and proper that all articles, not the growth or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, should be imported into each kingdom from the other reciprocally, under the same regulations, and at the same duties, if subject to duties, to which they are liable when imported directly from the place of their growth, product, or manufacture; and that all duties originally paid on importation into either country respectively, except on arrack and foreign brandy, and on rum, and all sorts of strong waters, not imported from the British colonies in the West Indies or America, shall be fully drawn back on exportation to the other." The resolution having been opposed by Lord North, and supported by Mr. W. W. Grenville,

Mr. BURKE remarked, that the language held out by the right honourable gentleman who spoke last, at the close of his speech, reminded him of sentiments somewhat similar that had been delivered from the same bench some few years ago relative to the American war; but he hoped he had heard them this day under better auspices. When the American war was about to commence, the language of the House was, the supremacy of parliament must be maintained.' But alas, this supremacy was soon renounced, and revenue became the fashionable word; so that the pursuit after contribution had succeeded the pursuit after

had been renounced; but the idea of contribution followed closely at the heels of the renunciation of dominion. He hoped in God the conclusion of this business would not be like that of the contest with America! What had fallen from the right honourable gentleman who spoke last, made it necessary that he should ask the chancellor of the exchequer a question, relative to the fund from which this contribution was to arise. Though he was not pleased with the notion of making Ireland pay any tribute as a compensation for what we were to concede; yet, since she was to pay it, it would be well worth the while of the committee to be informed of the probable amount of that tribute. He wished to know, then, whether the hereditary revenue was to be separated from every other fund in Ireland, so that the charges of the public might not first exhaust this before any other was touched: and also, whether the expence of collecting was to be charged upon it, and deducted from it, before any disposable surplus could come out of it?

Mr. Pitt expressed his surprise, that Mr. Burke had been able to find any analogy between the contribution which might be expected from Ireland in consequence of the adjustment that was then under consideration, and the revenue which some gentlemen had had it for their object to raise in America. The question in the latter case was, whether men interested in alleviating the burthens of themselves and their constituents, should, by the supreme power of parliament, impose taxes upon persons whom they did not represent, and raise a revenue to be applied to the ease of England, without leaving to the Americans the right of ascertaining either the quantum of that revenue, or the mode of raising it? The contribution from Ireland was to be levied and granted, not by England, but by the very representatives of the people of Ireland; not for the purpose of easing the burthens of any part of the king's dominions, but to maintain the navy, by which the common interests of both England and Ireland were to be defended and supported. Could any man see any one feature in this case that resembled, in the least degree, the picture of the rise and progress of the American contest? He hoped the right honourable gentleman's comparison of two questions that had not a shadow of resemblance to each