with difficulties and embaraffments in the great business with which their attention was occupied. He concluding by expreffing a hope, that the communication would be made with as little delay as poffible, and that it would prove decifive and fatisfactory. 10. The Duke of Atholl moved the third reading of the Edinburgh road bill on Thursday. The Duke of Norfolk oppofed the motion on the ground, that the bill as it now ftood, militated against the principles of good faith, and against the established cuftom of Parliament. In the general road act there was a claufe, he believed, which tended to exempt every fpecies of manure from toll. No fuch provifion had been made in the bill in queftion, and he therefore confidered it as unjustifiable, that thofe perfons who took lands contiguous to the road defcribed by the bill, fhould be fo injuriously disappointed by its operation, precluding them from conveying lime and other manure with out additional expence.-A divifion took place, and there appeared for the motion, 65-Against it, 15. 12. Upon the motion of the Duke of Atholl, for the third reading of the Edinburgh road bill, The Earl of Suffolk oppofed it, on the ground of its being directly in the face of a general road bill, whereby mapure is exempted from all turnpike duty. The prefent bill, he obferved, was deftructive of good faith between tenant and landlord, and would be detrimental to agriculture in that part of the country. He moved that, the general road bill be read. The Duke of Atholl oppofed it on the ground, that it did not extend to Scotland. The Duke of Clarence spoke to order, and maintained that it could only be known by hearing the title of the bill read, whether it extended to Scotland. The title feemed to regard England folely. The Earl of Morton fupported the bill, and answered the objections of Lord Suffolk. The question being put, the house divided, contents for the third reading 69-Not contents 16-Majority 53. Lord Carrington moved the fecond reading of the Nottingham Ele&ion Regulation bill. Lord Derby faid, he should not oppofe the bill in its prefent ftage, but if any thing fhould be faid to crimi nate the conduct of the Magistrates, he fhould claim for them the right of being heard at the bar in their own defence, parfuant to the prayer of their petition. His Lordship then prefented a petition, from 4000 of the electors of Nottingham against the bill. Or dered to lie on the table, and permiffion granted to support it by counfel. The Lord Chancellor conceived that the very ground of the bill, implied a high degree of culpability on the part of the Magiftrates. The evidence before the commitee of the other house, left a very unfavourable impreffion of their conduct on his mind, yet be was open to a contrary impreffion, if the evidence of the petitioners tended to that effect.-The bill was read a third time, and ordered to be committed. The first report of the commiffioners of Naval Enquiry was prefented and ordered to lie on the table. 13. Lord King rofe to draw the attention of the house, to the accounts relative to the revenue, and expendi ture of the nation, entered into a minute examination of the different papers, pointed out their variations, and went into a firing of calculations, from which he concluded that the revenue was by no means equal to the expendi ture, and moved that these accounts be referred to a commitee. Lord Auckland replied, went through the fame accounts, and drew a very different conclution, and fo far from being a deficiency, it appeared by his statement that there was above L. 9,000,000 for contingent applica tion. After fome futher converfation on the fubject, the motion was put and rejected without a divifion. 16. Lord Pelham brought down the the following Meffage from his Majefty, which was read, first by the Lord Chancellor, and next by the Clerk at the table. "G. R. "His Majefly thinks proper to acquaint the Houfe of Peers, that the dif cuffions which he anounced to them in his Meffage of the 8th of March last, as then fubfifting between his Majesty and the French Government, have been ter terminated; that the conduct of the French Government has obliged his Majefty to recall his Ambaffador from Paris, and that the Ambaffador from the French Republic has left London. "His Majefty has given directions for laying before the Houfe of Peers, with as little delay as poffible, copies of fuch papers as will afford the fulleft information to his parliament at this important conjuncture. "It is a confolation to his Majefty to reflect, that no endeavours have been wanting on his part to preferve to his fubjects, the bleffings of peace, but under the circumftances which have occurred to disappoint his juft expectations, his Majesty relies with confi dence on the zeal and public spirit of his faithful Commons, and on the ex. crtions of his brave and loyal subjects, to fupport him in his determination to employ the power and refources of the nation, in opposing the spirit of ambition and encroachment which at prefent actuates the Councils of France; in upholding the dignity of his Crown; and in afferting and maintaining the rights and interefts of his people." Lord Pelham then moved, that it be taken into confideration on Monday f'ennight. The question being put by the Lord Chancellor on this motion, Earl Stanhope rofe, and lamented the occafion that forced us into another war. He defcanted, in a ftrain of defpondency, on the poffibility of the whole British Navy the bulwark of the country, being annihilated, by the invention of an American gentleman, which had been communicated to the French Government. No means had been adopted to prevent this difafter, fo that our fleets might be deftroyed by an unfeen hand, in our own ports. The motion of Lord Pelham was then agreed to nem. con. 17. The Royal affent was given, by commiffion to 36 public and private bills. 20. Lord Boringdon rofe and remarked that vouchers were wanting to fupport fome of the statements in his Majefty's declaration, especially with regard to the violence which is afferted to have been offered to the veffels and property of his Majefty's fubjects, and no juftice afforded to thofe who have been aggrieved, or a fatisfactory anfwer given to the reprefentations of his Majetty's minifters; the arreft and imprifonment of Captain D'Auvergne, an officer in the British Navy, without its being publicly known on what ground fuch grofs infult was offered; and lafly with regard to the military preparations which were carrying on in the ports of France and Holland, ftated as the ground of calling on the country for an armament. Another matter, his Lordfhip faid, was the contre projet reported to have been handed to Minifters fince Lord Whitworth left Paris. He concluded by moving for the papers relative to the firft object he had mentioned. Lord Pelham had no objection to the firft motion, and said that he poffibly might be able to state on Monday next, what were the reprefentations made by his Majefty's Minifters. The affair of Captain D'Auvergne was accommodated, and required, he thought no further obfervation- A contre projet respecting Malta and the conditions on which his Majefty fhould hold it for ten years had been communicated, but in fo fecret and unofficial a manner, that he thought it highly improper to lay it before the House, and cautioned their Lordships against relying on it as the basis of any negociation. Lord Boringdon expreffed himself perfectly fatisfied with the explanation which had been given, and confented with leave of the houfe to withdraw his motion, at the fame time thanking his noble friend for his openness and candour. Earl Fitzwilliam rofe, and proceeded to ftate parts of his Majefty's declaration which were unfupported by any documents found among the papers on the table. Thefe referred to the warlike preparations which France had affumed, when his Majesty's Minifters advifed the King to fend down the declaration of 8th March laft; their interference refpe&ting Switzerland, the Cape of Good Hope, and the republic of the Ionian Sea, and the remonstran ces of the British Government against the First Conful, fending French forces into Holland. Lord Pelham in reply faid, that his Majefty's Minifters could have no objection to the fulleft inquiry into their conduct, on all the points alluded to 4 H2 but but he did not confider that this inquiry made a part of the matter to be difcuffed on Monday. On the subject of funding French troops to Holland, he now prefented to the Houfe, a paper which he doubted not would be quite fatisfactory to the Noble Earl After fome further converfation, in which the Earl of Carlifle, Lord Hobart, and Earl Spencer took a part, the motion of Lord Fitzwilliam was withdrawn. May 23d. The order of the day for taking into confideration his Majefty's meffage being read, Lord Pelham rofe, and after fome preliminary obfervations, flated, that the great queflion to decide from the papers on the table was-Whether there were fufficient grounds for the two meffages fent by his Majefty to the Houfe? whether in fact, there was fufficient ground for war; and in his opinion, war was inevitable, with the view of preferving our national honour, of protecting our commerce, and of fecuring our liberty, and our exiftence, as an independent ftate. His Lordship ftated the proceedings with regard to Malta, the reprefentations of the French government, refpecting the freedom of the prefs in this country, the removal of the French Emigrants, the anfwer by his Majefty's Minifters, the jealoufy which exilted on account of Sebaftian's tour in Egypt, and the dread of that country becoming the property of France. If any doubt remained of the views of the First Conful on the latter object, the language of Bonaparte to Lord Whitworth put an end to it. Malta, His Lodhip confidered as the beft fe curity to this country againit the ambi tious views of France, and therefore, his Majesty's Minifters had advised Leeping poffeffion of it. His Lordship conclu led by moving an addrefs to his Majefty, expreffive of the indignation of the Houfe at the conduct of the French government, with full affurance of their fupport in the struggle with fo ambitious an enemy. The Duke of Cumberland, in a very animated fpeech, went over feveral of the topics which had been difcuffed by Lord Pelham, and particularly took notice of the attack of Bonaparte on thelliberty of our prefs, on which he pro. pofed reftraints which could neither be brooked nor tolerated. He hoped we would remember the nature of that conflitution which had been handed down to us by our anceflors, and would tranfmit it unimpaired to ou pofterity. If the ambition of Bon parte was not refifted, our nobility would be annihilated, our alan would be overturned, and the glory of Britain would be let for ever. Oi the contrary, if we remained true to our Sovereign and our rights, and interelts, we would continue as we had all along been, the freeft and most independ ent kingdom in the world. Our foca have had the presumption to alledge, that Britain, fingle handed, was not able to cope with France. He was, however, confident to say, that Britain, fingle handed, had never yet wanted an arm to check injustice, and to counteract ambition. Earl Stanhope thought, that the dif ferences with France might have been accommodated, that she had not been aggrandifed, but on the contrary, by the lofs of St Domingo, was now weaker than at the time of figning the treaty of Amiens. The Duke of Clarence obferved, that this was one of the most impor ant quellions that ever had been difcuffed in a British parliament. It a mounted to this, whether England fhould maintain her ancient rights and independence, or bow the neck to the yoke of a foreign power. Immediately after figning the treaty of peace, part of Italy was made an integral part of France, the independence of Switzerland was violated, and Holland was at this moment over run by French troops, and held in complete fubjugation by that ambitious govern ment. Still greater was what was a wowed with refpe&t to Egypt. The chief Conful made no fecret of his intention, that fooner or later that province muft fall within his power. In fupport of this, his R. Highnefs referred to the infamous report of Sebaftiani who had calumniated the British conduct, and the British Commander in Egypt. This was alfo proved by the converfation of the chief Conful with Lord Whitworth, in which he contradicted flatly the declaration of his own Minifter Talleyrand, who had given out that Sebaftiani's expedition was merely commercial. Befides thefe jut grounds of complaint, they had dared to demand demand that we should change the fundamental laws of our conftitution-they fought to fetter the liberty of the British prefs, under whofe freedom the freedom of the country had equally flourished. With respect to the infraction of the treaty on our part, Malta was the only thing they ventured to urge; but as no guarantee from the intervening circumftances, had been found, according to the flipulation in the treaty, that it fhould not be ceded till it was guaranteed. Malta having been refufed to be delivered up, could not be confidered as any violation of the fpirit of the treaty. On this question his Highnefs trufted that the Houfe would be unanimous-that they would exert every nerve-and if war must be entered into, we fhould purfue it with ardour and unanimity; he hoped that the refult would be glorious for this country, and fortunate for the happiness of the world. Lord Mulgrave expreffed his fatisfaction at hearing the laft fpeech, which he thought highly worthy of a prince of the House of Brunfwick. His Lordhip went over the principal points of aggreffion, or the part of France fince figning the treaty of Amiens. He ridiculed the idea of reftoring Malta to the ancient Order of Knights, which in fact no longer exifted, he ridiculed alfo the propofition of France, for the interference of the Pope in the election of a Grand Mafter, which at no period of the Maltefe hiftory had been attended with beneficial confequences. And if the demands of France had been agreed to, or countenanced with regard to laying restraints on the liberty of the piels, and violating the rights of hofpitality, by driving the emigrants from this country, he would not be furprised to have heard a demand, that we fhould receive Napper Tandy as a commercial agent, and Arthur O'Connor as pro-conful of Ireland. Viscount Melville declared, that fince the negociation had been entered into, he felt no small degree of anxiety, from the apprehenfion that Malta fhould eventually be ceded to France. The treaty of Amiens, as it refpected Malta, was incapable of execution; for the guarantee of the different powers of Europe, propofed by that treaty, had not been acceded to. He placed the higheft value on the friendhip and attachment of Ruffia, which he confidered as calculated to promote the material advantage of both countries; and it was in his opinion, the beft thing that could happen to the intereft of Ruffia, that Malta fhould continue in the poffeffion of Britain, the only Naval power that could fecure the independence of its inhabitants. It was by the means of Malta, that Bonaparte had been capable of overturning Egypt, and it was owing to its recovery by this country, that Great Britain had been able to refcue Egypt from the ambitious power of France. And as we were now going to war chiefly on account of Malta, he hoped there would be an end of every pretext for that ifland being garrisoned by any other than a Briuh garrifon, and that not for a limited time, but in perpetuity. He trufted that henceforth, this country would be induced to confider Malta as a British poffeffion, and for British purpofes, as well as fecuring the fafety of the rest of Europe. For he was perfuaded there was no protection for the people of Malta but by Great Britain alone, and that becaufe this country alone had a Naval power able to protect them. The Marquis of Lansdowne, thought that on a difpaffionate confideration of all the circumstances, there did not appear to him fufficient grounds for going to war. It was more the province of Ruffia and Auftria, to interpofe in checking the ambitious views of France, with regard to Italy and Switzerland than of this country. He was not inclined to lay fo much stress on the poffeffion of Malta, being a fufficient ground for going to war, as a Noble Lord had done. He ftill hoped that an opening was left for treating, fo that the object might be obtained by negociation, and the horrors of war averted. The Duke of Norfolk faid, that he fhould still advise his Majesty's Minifters, not to withhold Malta from those to whom its ceffion by the treaty of Amiens had been ftipulated, provided the effectual guarantee of Ruffia could be procured. Yet if Ruffia, should not engage to guarantee its independence, according to the fpirit of the treaty; treaty; and if there were other infults and aggreffions by France, he was perfuaded that every Briton would ardently fupport his Majefty's Government in a war, which if thus waged, must be waged for the honour and independent exiftence of this country. Lord King thought the queftion, fuch a one as the Houfe ought to decide, chiefly upon the confideration of prudence, which if duly confulted, would determine their Lordships not haftily to concur in any refolutions that would rather tend to inflame, than to foften the exifting hottility. Noshing had yet paffed to render a fpeedy reconciliation utterly impoffible. He therefore moved an amendment, the object of which was, to affure his Majefty of the fupport of that House, in every juft arrangement which his Majefty might be graciously pleased to make for the prefervation of peace." Lord Ellenborough faid, that it was not now to be afked, for what we were going to war, after the accumulated infults and aggreffions offered to this country, by the ambition of France, and he conceived it fcarcely poflible, for the Houfe to contemplate the wantonnels of France in aggreffion, without being unanimoufy excited to condemn its injuftice in the decifive language, of the propofed addrefs. Earl Moira thought, that there was fufficient ground for the ftep which was now taken by the evident fpirit which actuated the enemy; a fpirit, which like the poifoned blaft, carried calamity wherever it reached, pervad ed all national confideration, and blighted every folid intereft. The queftion was not, whether Malta was, er was not a light concern, but whether British Society fuch as it is, was ftill to fubiift in this country, or whether we were to regulate ourselves by an obfequious and contemptible fubmiffon, to the will and caprice of the fift Conful. Earl Spencer, Earl Roslyn, and Lord Grenville feverally delivered their fentiments, and concurred in the opinion that there were fufficient grounds for going to war, to check the boundless ambition of France, and to fecure our own independence; after which the Houfe divided on the amendment, Non-contents 142-Con tents ro-The original queftion was carried without a divifion. June 2. Earl Fitzwilliam ftated his reafons, in fupport of the various grounds of complaint against Ministers, and he moved several refolutions, con fidering their conduct, both in making the peace, and in conducting the negociation. After a long debate, the house divided on the first refolution, Contents 17-Non-contents 86,-Majority 69.The other refolutions were negatived without a divifion. 11. The 1oyal affent was given by Commiffion to the General defence bill, the Militia completion bill, the Dyfart harbour bill, the Scots paroc. hial Schoolmatters bill, and to feveral private bills. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Continued from page 485. May 16. The Chancellor of the Ex. chequer prefented the following mef age from his Majefty: His Majefty thinks it proper to acquaint the Houfe of Commons, that the difcuffions which he anounced to them in his meffage of the 8th March laft, as then fubfifting between his Majefty and the French Government, have been terminated; that the conduct of the French Government, has obliged his Majefty to recal his Ambalfador from Paris; and that the Ambaffador from the French Republic has left London. "His Majefty has given directions for laying before the Houfe of Commons, with as little delay as poffibie, copies of lach papers as will afford the fulleft information to his Parlia ment at this important conjuncture. "It is a confolation to his Majefty to reflect that no endeavours have been wanting on his part to preferve to his fubjects the bleflings of peace; but, under the circumftances which have occurred to difappoint his juft expectations, his Majefty relies with confidence on the zeal and public spirit of his faithful Commons, and on the exertions of his brave and loyal fub jets, to fupport him in his determination to employ the power and refour ces |