ment by this infamous procedure, being, through the intereft of his friend fir Thomas Dundas, chofen member for the borough of Kirkwall, in the Orkneys; on which occafion Mr. Pitt, in the height of his exultation, gratified his feelings by a farcaftical delineation of his antagonist, as a man on whom a fort of sentence of banishment had paffed-who had been driven by the efforts of patriotic indig nation as an exile from his native clime, and forced to feek for refuge on the ftormy and defolate fhores of the "Ul tima Thulé."

On the 24th of May a refolution was moved by Mr. Lee, late attorney general," that the high bailiff of Weftminster on the day upon which the writ of election expired ought to have returned two citizens to ferve in par liament for that city." A violent debate enfued; and the previous question having been moved by fir Lloyd Kenyon, it was ordered that the high bailiff fhould attend the houfe on the day following. The fole pretext on which that officer refted his defence was, that having ground to fufpect the validity of many votes taken in the courfe of a poll of fix weeks duration, he had granted a scrutiny, till the termination of which he could not in confcience make the return. To this an obvious and decifive answer pre-. fented itself. The fcrutiny is nothing more than a revifion of the poll by the returning officer; and if fuch revifion is not, and cannot be, completed previous to the period at which the writ is returnable, the officer is bound, by the nature of his office, and the tenor of his oath, to make the return agreeably to the poll as it was actually taken. For if vague prefumptions of the nature now alleged were admitted as juft caufes of procraftination, elections would be thrown entirely into the hands of the returning officer, who, if gained over by the court, might for any indefinite term prevent thofe who were obnoxious to the administration for the time being from taking their feats in parliament; and the reprefentation of the king

dom

dom would be thus rendered flagrantly corrupt, partial, and imperfect. Had the high bailiff really felt those scru ples of confcience by which he pretended to be thus embarraffed, the law of parliament allowed him to include all the candidates in the fame return, which would at once have transferred the talk and burden of the decifion from his own confcience to the confcience of the houfe. After long pleadings by counfel at the bar of the house on either part, the motion was renewed," that the high bailiff be directed forthwith to make the return." To the difgrace of the new administration, this motion was vehe mently oppofed, and on a divifion finally negatived-the ayes being 117, the noes 195. It was then moved and carried, "that the high bailiff do proceed in the scrutiny with all practicable dispatch." Thus was this business laid at reft during the prefent feffion; but the character of the new minifter fuffered, in confequence of the part which he took in the conduct of it, an indelible stain. Though as yet of years immature and unhacknied in the ways of men, he was indignantly perceived capable with alacrity and eagerness to justify injuftice, and to become an active and voluntary inftrument of mean and infidious revenge.

On the 16th of June a motion was made by Mr. alder. man Sawbridge, and feconded by Mr. alderman Newenham, both of them reprefentatives of the city of London, that a committee be appointed to enquire into the prefent state of the representation of the commons of Great Britain in parliament. The measure itfelf had the concurrence and fupport of Mr. Pitt, though the new minifter profeffed in the ufual language of minifters that the time was improper; and indeed the motion appears to have been calculated and defigned rather to embarrass the minifter than to promote the propofed object. Mr. Dundas, who had fupported the former propofition of Mr. Pitt, luckily found a distinction which enabled him to oppose

the

the prefent motion, without in the leaft diminishing his reputation for confiftency. His objection was, that the committee now moved for was a felect committee, whereas the committee for which he had formerly voted was a committee of the whole houfe. On the divifion upon the previous queftion, the numbers were 201 to 127.

The grand bufinefs of the prefent feffion, however, was the arrangement of a plan for the future government of India. For this purpose, Mr. Pitt on the 6th of July brought in a bill, founded on the general principles of that rejected by the former parliament, and to which the company had now given their flow and reluctant affent. By this bill a BOARD of CONTROL, compofed of a certain number of commiffioners of the rank of privy counfellors, was established, the members of which were to be appointed by the king, and removeable at his pleasure. This board was authorized to check, fuperintend, and control the civil and military government and revenue of the company. The difpatches tranfmitted by the court of directors to the different prefidencies were to be previ ously fübjected to the inspection of the fuperior board, and counter-figned by them; and the directors were enjoined to pay due obedience to the orders of the board, touching civil and military government and revenues; and in cafe fuch orders do at any time in the opinion of the directors relate to points not connected therewith, they are empowered to appeal to his majefty in council, whofe decifion is declared final. The bill moreover enacted, that the appointment of the court of directors to the office of governor-general, prefident or counfellor in the different prefidencies, fhall be fubject to the approbation and recall of his majefty. As to the zemindars, or great hereditary land-holders of India, who had been violently difpoffeffed of their property, and who, agreeably to the generous and decifive tenor of Mr. Fox's bill, were to have been univerfally,

and

and peremptorily reinftated in their zemindaries, the prefent bill provided only that an enquiry fhould be instituted in order to restore fuch as fhould appear to have been irregularly and unjustly deprived. Lastly, an high tribunal was created for the trial of Indian delinquents, confifting of three judges, one from each court, of four peers and fix members of the Houfe of Conimons, who were authorized to judge without appeal to award in cafe of conviction the punishments of fine and imprisonment-and to declare the party convicted incapable of ferving the East India Company. Thefe were the grand and leading features of the bill, and the most transient obfervation fufficed to fhew that the objectionable parts of Mr. Fox's bill had been anxiously and completely avoided, The management of their commercial concerns was left in the hands of the Company, who were divested only of that political power which they had fo grofsly abused, and of that civil authority to the due exercife of which they were fo manifeftly incompetent. And this authoritywas not transferred to perfons who like the commiffioners of Mr. Fox might attempt to establish an unconftitutional influence in parliament, not merely independent of, but in direct oppofition to, the regular and conftitutional authority of the crown; but in the effort to fteer clear of the rock of Scylla, it was evident that Mr. Pitt had plunged into the gulph of Charybdis, and that by this bill a vaft acceffion of influence refulted to the crown, already poffeffing a dangerous, formidable and increasing afcendancy over the other branches of the legislature.

Mr. Fox, with his ufual powers of discrimination, attacked the weak and exceptionable parts of this bill, although the utmost energy of his eloquence was found inadequate to excite the general attention of the public to the merits or demerits of the measure in queftion-prepoffeffed as they now aloft univerfally were in favor of the

minifter

minifter with whom it originated, and in whom they placed the most entire and unlimited confidence. Mr. Fox urged with great force and animation, that this bill established a weak and inefficient government, by dividing its powers. To the one board belonged the privilege of ordering and contriving measures; to the other, that of carrying them into execution. It was a fyftem of dark intrigue and delufive art. By the negative vested in the commiffioners, the CHARTERED RIGHTS of the company, on which fuch ftrefs had been laid, were infidiously undermined and virtually annihilated. If it were right to vest such powers in a board of privy counfellors, let it be done explicitly and openly, and fhew the company and the world, that what they dared to do they dared to juftify. Founded on principles fo heterogeneous, how could fuch a government be other than the conftant victim of internal distraction? The appeal allowed from the decifions of the board of control to the privy council was affirmed by Mr. Fox to be palpably nugatory and ridiculous. The bill he had introduced, exhibited at the first blush the features of openness, fairness, and refponfibility. The prefent plan was full of darknefs and difguife. In a covert and concealed mode, an immenfe patronage was transferred to the crown, which, inftead of correcting abufes, opened a door to every species of collufion and corruption. It was calculated to establish an Indian government of the island of Great Britain. Against the claufes of the bill refpecting the zemindars, Mr. Fox entered his strongest proteft. The zemindars ought, in his opinion, to be rated by a fixed rule of past periods, and not of a vague and indefinite future enquiry. The new tribunal Mr. Fox ftigmatized as a screen for delinquents; as a palpable and unconstitutional violation of the facred right of trial by jury. Since no man was to be tried but on the accufation of the company or the attorney-general, he had only to conciliate government in order to his remaining in perfect fecurity. It was a part of the general VOL. II. fyftem