523 gentleman, and supported by his supporters, without any of those apprehensions for the safety of the navigation laws, or the ruin of our commerce, our navy, and our national power, which seemed that night to excite so much clamour in the vigilant guardians, of our prosperity and safety. Mr. Perceval spoke in opposition to the bill, and contended, that neither the noble lord who introduced it, nor those who supported it, really understood it: for that it did not merely, as they had alleged, open to the Americans the advantages of our navigation laws, with respect to the furnishing our West India islands with provisions, and other produce and manufacture, but that it opened the same privilege to all neutral ships of all nations whatever. Mr. Windham conceived that it was totally unnecessary: that his Majesty's ministers should rise seriatim to auswer arguments which had been so repeatedly advanced and overturned. If a bill of indemnity, however, had been spoken of, it was not the time to desire that yet; something must be done first, and when that time did arrive, he should hope that the House would indulge him so far as to say, that they did not see the necessity of it until Earl Camden came forward to ask for his indemnity for having; pursued a nearly similar line of conduct. Mr. Rose again, insisted that the present measure would be a gross infraction of the navigation laws. The question was very generally called for and the House divided, For the third reading Majority 85 30 -55. Previous to the passing of the bill Mr. Prinsep brought up his promised clauses, which, after some alteration, were adopted, and added by way of a rider to the bill, after which the bill was passed, and was ordered to the Lords. The bill for regulating the rank of the officers of the yeomanry and volunteer corps was brought in, read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time the next day." Mr. W. Smith gave, notice that he, would, on Friday. next, move for an account of all offices held by the different branches of the royal family, together with the salaries arising from each.. The different orders on the list went through their regular stages, and the House adjourned at half after two in the morning. 3 X 2 HOUSE HOUSE OF LORDS. WEDNESDAY, JULY 9. The further hearing of the appeal "Rennie v. Todd and others" was postponed till Friday. The further consideration of the case of "Lucina v. Crawford" was postponed till Friday. The Irish poor bill, the Irish spirit duty collection bill,, the Irish customs bill, and the assessed taxes allowances bill, were read a third time and passed. Mr. Alexander, and several other members of the House of Commons, brought up the American intercourse bill, the Greenwich chest bill, the Greenwich hospital bill, the Irish revenue bill, the Irish prizage bill, the Scots distillery bill, the postage bill, and the Westminster buildings bill, which were read a first time. The Greenwich chest bill and the Greenwich hospital bill were ordered to be read a second time on Friday. The Earl of Lauderdale moved for an account of extracts made in the court of session in Scotland, from 1800 to 1806, and for other documents respecting the proceedings of that court, which were ordered. Mr. Hobhouse, and several other members of the House of Commons, brought up the Portsmouth and Dover works bill, and the land-tax commissioners mistake bill, which were read a first time, and the former ordered to be printed. Adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. WEDNESDAY, JULY 9. Upon the motion of Sir A. Wellesley, that the deputy clerk of the crown should be ordered to correct the mistake committed by the returning officer for Carlow, in inserting in the return the name of Arthur instead of that of Michael Symes, the precedent for a similar correction in the case of the borough of Newton was read by the clerk. The returning officer for Carlow was examined at the bar, and the motion of the honourable baronet was agreed to. Upon the motion of Mr. C. Wynne a new writ was or dered for Buckingham, in the room of the right hon. Tho mas mas Grenville, who has accepted the office of president of the board of controul, The committee upon Simpson's divorce bill was postponed till Tuesday. Mr. II. Combe brought in a bill to repeal the additional force act for London. Read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Friday. Mr. Vansittart brought in bilis for reducing the bounty payable on the exportation of refined sugars and loaf from Great Britain, for warehousing goods without payment of duty, for permitting the importation of French wines from Ireland in bottles or flasks, duty free, under certain restrictions, for granting an additional bounty on the exportation of silk manufactures from Great Britain, for allowing certain articles to be exported from Gibraltar and Malta to our North American colonics, for the better preventing the forgery of stamps, for extending the time of purchasing certain quays and wharfs in London, for inquir ing into the state and boundaries of Windsor forest, in order to ascertain whether any encroachments have been made therein, for allowing the importation of ship-timber from our North American colonies, for repealing so much of an act of James the Second, as prohibits the importation into Great Britain of gunpowder, arms, and ammunition, manufactured in Ireland, for allowing raisins, currants, and figs, to be exported from Great Britain, duty free, under certain circumstances. These bills were severally read a first time, and ordered to be read a third time the next day; as was a bill brought in by Sir John Newport for further continuing a certain act for regulating the duties and drawbacks payable in Ireland. The London and Westminster inland navigation coal bill, the land-tax commissioners' name mistake bill, and the ordnance land bill, were read a third time and passed. Colonel Wood complained of what he called the precipitate manner in which the latter bill, which appeared to him of great importance, was passed through the House without a single remark apon it. Mr. Vansittart said that it went through the regular stages. The Speaker observed, that the bill having passed, no conversation could now be permitted to take place upon it. At the same time he felt it his duty to state that the bill had regularly regularly gone through the House, and also regularly been mentioned in the orders. The malt bill, the crown lands bill, the excise upon Irish hops, window glass, and tiles bill, the innkeepers' allowance bill, and the masters in chancery additional allowance bill, were read a second time, and ordered to be committed the next day, with the exception of the first, which was ordered to be committed on Friday. ROYAL FAMILY ANNUITY BILL. Mr. Vansittart brought in a bill for granting additional annuities to the younger branches of the royal family, &c. Colonel Wood said he took great shame to himself that he had not, by attending his duty on a former evening, had an opportunity of stating his sentiments upon this subject when it was originally brought forward. That such a proposition should have been submitted to Parliament under the present circumstances of the country, and particularly by the noble lord so distinguished for the profession of economy, was to him, he confessed, no less a matter of regret than of astonishment. The House in general, indeed, must have been taken by surprise in this proceeding, for nothing had, he ventured to say, ever been brought before Parli ament in a similar manner. He begged the House to recol lect that the noble lord had, in the first instance, introduced this measure to the House as a bill merely to rectify a mistake in a former act, but immediately afterwards comes a proposition to make a considerable increase in the salaries allowed to the junior branches of the royal family, recommended by a message from his Majesty. When the situ ation of the country was taken into view, when it was con sidered that the income tax was raised to, ten per cent., that several persons of a certain rank in life paid 171⁄2 per cent. and that, indeed, most people paid no less in public contributions than fifty per cent. of their whole revenue, the country must be amazed to hear of this bill. For the illustrious personages who were the objects of this bill, he professed the utmost respect, and he would be very ready to pay his own proportion of any contribution that might be necessary to the maintenance of their splendour and hap piness. If the Lords and Commons were alone called upon for a contribution of this nature, he would most cheerfully assent to it; but, feeling for the people, who were already so borne down, he could not consent to increase their bur thens, thens, particularly upon such grounds as were stated by the noble mover of this bill. That noble lord dwelt upon the depreciation of money, and the enhancement of provisions, which so much affected other people, as a reason for this bill, but he took no notice of this fact, that the royal persons to whom this bill referred were quite exempt from the taxes which so materially operated upon others, and that the amount of such exemption formed a considerable virtual addition to their salaries; and also, that each of them possessed either a civil or military office, or both, yielding, in general, not less than four or five thousand pounds a year. If, therefore, the situation of these distin-` guished persons were compared to that of the nobility of the country, who paid taxes, how much would the revenue of the former prove to be superior; and yet to this revenue the noble lord proposed to add one-third, which, by the by, upon further explanation, appeared to be one-half. The honourable officer expressed his regret that the noble lord to whom he alluded should not have been present, to hear those observations which a sense of duty urged him to offer, and which he did not mean to address with any feeling of opposition to the right hon. secretary, to whom he did not mean to impute the slightest blame. For that right honourable secretary was doing nothing more than his duty. But. upon the first occasion that should occur in the presence of the noble lord who moved this bill, he would enter further into the subject, and fully state his protest against such improvident waste of the public money. Lord Temple had no doubt that the honourable gentleman acted from his conception of public duty; but he could wish that at least the honourable gentleman could have reconciled with that conception of duty, to postpone" his observations until his noble friend, to whom they were more particularly addressed, shonld be present to hear them. Had the honourable gentleman been in the House to hear the arguments of his noble friend on a former evening,' most probably the objections which he urged on that evening would never have been started. If, in addition, the honourable gentleman had been aware of that which was' mentioned only the preceding night, namely, that the establishments of tables, coals, candles, &c. heretofore allow ed to the princes, was to be withdrawn, and which estab lishment was nearly equivalent to the proposed augmentation, the honourable member would have been, perhaps, 3 still |