402 The HISTORY of the laft its junction with the Swale, a number of proprietors of eftates, merchants, manufacturers, mine- adventurers, and traders, joined in a petition that a bill might be brought in for improving and making more navigable the river Swale, from Widdington Ings, and extending its navigation from Topcliffe to Morton-bridge, and for making the above brook navigable from the Swale to the town of Bedale. A bill was therefore ordered to be drawn up, which paffed through the house in the ufual manner, and without oppofition. At the fame time a petition of feveral gentlemen, merchants, traders, and others in the North Riding of Yorkshire, was prefented to the houfe, fhewing, that the brook Codbeck, which runs thro' the borough of Thirsk, might, at a moderate expence be made navigable from the Swale to that borough, and be of great benefit to the trade of that town. This petition met with fame happy fuccefs, and three acts were thus paffed for extending the navigation of the rivers that fall into the Ouze. On the other hand, another petition was prefented to the house for extending the navigation of the river Hull, which met with the fame good fuccefs, and will doubtless be of confiderable advantage to the East Riding of Yorkfhire, as the others will be to the North and Weft. The improvement of harbours, and rendering them more commodious for fhipping, is another national concern of extreme importance to trade, and the fafety of our mariners; to the merchants, to the royal navy, and to the nation in general, and therefore I fhall make no apology for giving the following concife account of an attempt made by the town of Kingston upon Hull, in the fame county, to obtain an act for the improvement of that harbour; an attempt, which though recommended to the houfe by his majesty, who generously confented to give the land neceffary for accomplishing the works propofed to be made, failed of fuccefs; from the impropriety of the means by which the money was to be raifed for carrying them on, and which induced the other trading towns in the county to petition warmly against it. Seffion of Parliament. Aug On the 29th of January was present. ed to the houfe, a petition of the mayor and burgeffes of Kingston upon Hull, the guild or brotherhood of mafters and pilots, feamen of the Trinity houfe of that town, and of the merchants and owners of fhips belonging to the faid town: At the fame time, the Chancellor of the Exchequer informed the house, that his majesty, having been informed of the contents of this petition, gave his confent, that the house may do as they shall think proper, and recommended this petition to the confideration of the house. The petition was then read, fetting forth that the haven of the faid town is narrow, and a very incommodious ftation for fhipping; but that it would much conduce to the advantage of the town and port, and be of confiderable utility to his majefty's fhips of war, and to all perfons trading to the northern parts of this kingdom, if docks were made for the reception of fhips, and the haven rendered more fafe and commodious by placing dolphins therein, and the paffage out of it more easy, by enlarging and extending the fouth-end jetty of the faid town; and that in order to promote an undertaking fo conducive to the fecurity and improvement of commerce, his majesty had moft graciously condeicended to fignify his royal pleafure, to grant for the abovementioned purposes a piece of ground of a triangular form, part of the land belonging to his majesty's citadel at Kingston upon Hull aforefaid, amounting to about five acres. That the expence of making and maintaining the faid docks, or other works, will be confiderably larger than the inhabitants of the town can defray; and the petitioners conceive the fame cannot be effected without fuch moderate rates and du ties on fhipping, as may be propor tionable to the ends proposed; and therefore praying that leave may be given to bring in a bill for effecting the purposes aforefaid, in fuch manner, and under fuch regulations, as to the houfe fhould feem proper. On which the petition was ordered to be referred to the confideration of a committee of the whole house. Accordingly on the 12th of March, the house refolved itself into a committee on this petition, and leave was 1768. The HISTORY of the laft Seffion of Parliament. given for bringing in a bill for making docks and other conveniences for the ufe and accommodation of fhips, lengthening the fouth end jetty, erecting dolphins, and other works, in the haven and port of Kingston upon Hull, and for appropriating certain lands belonging to his majefty to thofe ufes; and that Mr. Weddell, Lord Robert Manners, and Mr. Hewet, do prepare and bring in the fame. This bill was prefented to the houfe on the 19th of February, and then read the first time; but being on the 3d of March read a fecond time, a petition was presented on the 11th from the mayor and commonalty of the city of York, fetting forth, that the petitioners humbly apprehend, that it would be highly unjust that veffels paffing through the Humber, up and down the river Ouse and Trent, and feveral navigable rivers in the great commercial county of York, and never putting inte, or stopping at, the haven or port of Kingston upon Hull, fhould be loaded with a new duty for the improvement of that haven, from whence they cannot receive any benefit; and therefore praying, that, if the faid bill fhould pafs into a law, proper provifion may be made therein to exempt all fhips, or veffels trading up or down the river Oufe, and not putting into the haven or dock of Kingston upon Hull, from being fubject to the payment of any rates, or duties to be impofed for the purpofe of improving that port or haven. This petition on being read, was referred to the confideration of the committee to whom the bill was committed, This laft petition being however fucceffively followed by others from Gainf borough, Leeds, Pontefract, and Hallifax, all to the fame purpose, the confideration of the bill was poftponed and at length dropped. I fhall now mention an unfortunate application to parliament of a different nature from the foregoing. On the 31ft of January, a petition of the governors and company of the merchants of England trading into the Levant feas, was prefented to the house, and read; fetting forth, that the trade between this kingdom and Turkey has, for a long feries of years, been carried on by a fociety of merchants, incorpora 403 ted by charters, and regulated by acts of parliament; and, that the faid trade is in no fenfe a monopoly, it confifting of an unlimited number of members, who each engage feparately, in the faid trade, at their own rifque, and into which company, any British fubject may be admitted, upon payment of twenty pounds; and that, in order to carry on the faid trade with fafety, and for protecting his majesty's fubjects, in the Turkish dominions, it has been found necessary, that there should be an ambassador fent from England to refide at Conftantinople, and that there fhould be confuls, viceconfuls, and other officers and fervants, in the other parts of the Turkish dominions, where any British subjects refide, or where the English carry on trade, the whole expence whereof has hitherto been borne by the Turkey company, and together with other neceffary expences, incident to the carrying on the faid trade, has, of late years, amounted to upwards of 100001. per annum ; and that the chief of the exports, from hence, to Turkey, have been the produce and manufactures of there kingdoms, viz. woolen cloth, of which the faid company, for a long term of years, did not export less than fixteen thousand pieces, and very confiderable quantities of tin, lead, and other goods; and the chief imports have been raw materials, for our manufactures, fuch as filk, mohair, yarn, cotton, and goats wool; and alfo fruit, drugs, and many other commodities; and that the faid trade, to and from Turkey, once fo flourishing, is now, from many unavoidable events, and concurring circumftances, much reduced; and the petitioners are fenfible, that they should not discharge the duty incumbent upon them by their charter, nor the juftice they owe to the public, if they did not declare their inability to proceed any further, unless relieved by parliament; as, on account of their declining trade, they have unavoidably incurred confiderable debts, and are now under the neceffity of levying very high duties (more than their trade can fupport) in order to raise fupplies equal to their expences; and therefore praying the houie to take the premifes into confideration, and grant Еее г the 404 The HISTORY of the laft Seffion of Parliament. Aug. vice is, for the future, to proceed on principles of equity, and it might per haps be a happy regulation with refpect to this trade, if the governor of the Turkey company, and a particular council, were invested with fufficient authority to call fuch members of their own body, who have thus injured them, to an account, and when found guilty to punish them by an ignomini ous expulfion, and the forfeiture of all the goods unfit for fale. A public office might alfo be appointed at the expence of the company, like that of the linen hall in Dublin, to examine and mark the goods before they are fent abroad. [To be continued in our next.] A Letter lately fent from the Hon. House of Reprefentatives of Maffachufet's Bay, to the Right Hon. the Earl of Chatham, My Lord, НЕ This petirion was however ordered to lie upon the table, and no farther notice was taken of it.- -Thus this opportunity of examining into circunftances of fuch confequence to the trade of the nation was loft, and the commerce of the company fuffered to continue in the fame languishing ftate, without any attempt to provide a remedy against it. Indeed, if the declining condition of the Levant trade be owing to fome unworthy members fraudulently fending goods of little or no value, and feiling them at a high price, as hath been publickly fuggefted; the company have only to blame thofe unworthy members of their own body, who by the groffeft injuftice have facrificed the interefts of all the other Turkey merchants to the vile confideration of perfonal advantage and prefent profit: who from the molte particular attention you were pleafed to give to the intereft of fordid and mercenary views have not the American fubjects when their only difgraced the Turkey company rights were in danger; and your nobut the nation in general, and the ble and fuccefsful efforts in fupport of christian religion among the followers them, have left in the breafts of all, of Mahomet: Nor can the French, the indelible marks of gratitude. The who have fupplanted the English be houfe of Reprefentatives of this his blamed for taking advantage of their majefty's province, having reason to wickedness and folly. Other circum- be affured, that in every inftance of ftances may indeed have contributed to your public conduct, you are influen the declining state of this trade, for ced by the principles of virtue, and a which no perfons can be to blame, difinterefted public affection, beg leave as the French having invented a light to manifeft to your lordship a teftimoer, thinner, and cheaper kind of ny of their full confidence in you, by cloth than ours, more agreeable to the imploring your repeated aid and paTurks, and more proper for the tronage, at this time, when the cloud warmth of the climate: But this alone again gathers thick over them. would not put a stop to the fale of our broad cloth, whofe fuperior excellence in many particulars must be acknow. ledged; and is most adapted for winter. But if there be any truth in the reports of our cloth being expofed to fale, with the inner end of a piece worse than that expofed to view, and of many thousand watches fent to Turkey, that would not tell the hour for a fingle day, we cannot wonder that the trade should at once decline; for a trade founded on fraud can never be lafting. In this cafe it ought not to be fuppofed that the reprefentatives of the nation would contribute to the fupport of a trade thus ruined. The only remedy that can be of real fer It muft afford the utmoft fatisfaction to the diftreffed colonifts, to find your lordship fo explicitly declaring your fentiments in that grand principle in nature, that what a man hath boneftly acquired, is abfolutely and uncontrolably his own. This principle is established as a fundamental rule in the British conftitution, which eminently hath its foundation in the laws of nature; and confequently it is the indifputable right of all men, more especially of a British subject, to be prefent in perfon, or by reprefentation, in the body where he is taxed. But however fixed your lordship, and fome others may be, in this car dinal point, it is truly mortifying to many 1768. Letter to Lord Chatham. many of his majefty's free and loyal fubjects, that even in the British parliament, that fanctuary of liberty and juftice, a different fentiment feems of late to have prevailed. Unwilling to intrude upon your at tention to the great affairs of state, the houfe would only refer your lordship to an act paffed in the fourth year of the prefent reign, and another in the Jaft feffion of parliament; both impofing duties on the Americans, who were not reprefented, with the fole and exprefs purpose of raifing a revenue! What, my Lord, have the colonists done, to forfeit the character and privi. lege of fubjects, and to be reduced in effect to a tributary fate? This houfe may appeal to the nation, that the ut moft aid of the people has been chear fully given, when his majefty required it: Often, on their own motion, and when almost ready to fuccumb under the expence of defending their own borders, their zeal has carried them abroad, for the honour of their fovereign, and the defence of his rights: Of this, my Lord, not to mention any more, the reduction of Louisburgh in the year 1745, and the defence of his majesty's garrison at Annapolis, and of all Nova Scotia, will be a ftand, ing monument. Can there then be a neceffity for fo great a change, and in its nature fo delicate and important, that instead of having the honour of his majesty's requifitions, laid before their reprefentatives here, as has been invariably the ufage, the parliament fhould now tax them without their confent! The enemies of the colonists, for fuch they unfortunately have, may have represented them to his majesty's minifters, and the parliament, as factious, undutiful, difloyal: They, my lord, are equally the enemies of Bitain: Such is your extensive knowledge of mankind, and the sentiments and difpofitions of the colonies in general, that this house would freely venture to reft the character of their conftituents on your lordship's judgment: Surely, it is no ill difpofition in the loyal fub jects of a patriot king, with a decency and firmness, adapted to their character, to affert their freedom. The colonies, as this house humbly conceive, cannot be reprefented in the 405 British parliament: Their local cir cumftances, at a diftance of a thoufand leagues beyond the feas, forbids, and will for ever render it impracticable This, they apprehend, was the reason, that his majesty's royal predeceffors faw fit to erect fubordinate legiflative bodies in America, as perfectly free as the nature of things would admit, that their remote subjects might enjoy that ineftimable right, a repre fentation. Such a legislative is conftituted by the royal charter of this province. In this charter, the king for himself, his heirs, and fucceffors, grants to the inhabitants all the lands and territories therein described, in free and common foccage; as ample eftate as the subjects can hold under the crown; Together with all the rights, liberties, privileges and immu, nities of his natural fubjects born within the realm; of which the most effential, is a power invested in the General Aflembly, to levy proportionable and reasonable taxes on the estates and perfons of the inhabitants, for the fervice of his majesty, and the neceffary defence and fupport of his go vernment of the province, and the protection and prefervation of the inhabitants. But though they were originally, and always, fince their fettlement, have been confidered as subjects remote, they have ever cherished a warm affection for the Mother State, and a regard for the interest and happinefs of their fellow fubje&s in Britain. If then the colonies are charged with the most distant thought of an independency, your Lordship may be affured, that with refpect to the people of this province, and it is prefumed of all the colonies, the charge is unjust. Nothing would have prevailed upon the houfe to have given your Lordship this trouble, but the neceffity of a powerful advocate, when their liberty is in danger: Such they have more than once found you to be; and as they humbly hope they have never forfeited your patronage, they intreat that your great intereft in the national councils may still be employed in their behalf, that they may be restored to the standing of free fubjects. That your lordship may enjoy a firm ftate of health, and long be continued a great 406 SOME STRICTURES a great blessing to the nation and her colonies, is the ardent with of this house. Signed by the Speaker. To the AUTHOR of the LONDON MAGAZINE. Some Strictures on a late Defence of into ierant Popery. THERE can be nothing within the compafs of human conception, more aftonishing than the confident ftare of popish publications, under the fcepter of George III, and of the many which have made their ap. pearance, A free examination of the common methods employed to prevent the growth of popery, 1766, none seems to have a more hardened countenance. Remarks have been made upon this in folent, this daring piece, by feveral pens in the public papers, and by pamphlet writers; fuch as Mr. Benjamin Pye, in his five letters, profefledly written against that performance; and by Mr. Francis Blackburn, a deacon of Cleveland-who have fhewn, with great evidence, the intolerant fpirit of popery. The editor, not content with what had been advanced by him in defence of a profeffion, that has been the highest disgrace of human na ture, and the most reverse of chriftianity, prefumes to charge the above clergymen with what he fneeringly calls the "pious purpose of enflaming the ligislature, against a set of their wretched countrymen who lie at their mercy." This is done in a poftfcript, just now added to the Free Examination; which has the run of twenty pages, full of the most unpardonable reproaches thrown upon proteftantifm; and this, under the nofe of a British protestant government. Denying the belt authenticated facts, insulting and abufing, the most venerable defenders of the proteftant caufe; and instead of admitting that the principles of popery are intolerant, affixes the diabolical charge upon proteftants who avow the rights of private judgment. How ftupined must be the age of Britons, when fuch an outrage upon the reafon and common fenfe of mankind, can expect to meet with any favourable reception!-when bitter can be put Aug. for fweet; falfehood for truth; darknefs for light! and with all the air of an undisturbed confidence, an ungiv. ing brow. I do not prefume to take the post. fcript out of the hands of the above gentlemen, who are well able to expose and scourge the audacity of this writer: yet could not omit a remark or two upon that popish defender of a fyftem, which is in open enmity to the civil and religious rights of mankind. One remark I would make is this, the editor, jefuit-like, in evading the charge upon papifts acknowledging a foreign power; most artfully refers to the French nation's not admitting of the infallibility of the pope.But what of this? nay, what of more than this? the freedoms at this day taken with the pope-" every one, fays he, knows, that not only the great and popifh powers refufe to pay the pope an implicit fubmiffion, but that the petty princes and states of Italy in his neighbourhood, infult him."-and what then? there is not any thing at all new in all this.-Many have been the inftances of popish powers taking as great freedoms with his holiness. But how will this prove, that popery does not retain a fupreme acknowledgment of a fpiritual head, which religiously binds the conscience?not at all. This very writer will tell you this fame thing: for he adds," yet, that they remain in communion with him, as well as in perfect_security.” p. 170. They do fo, notwithstanding they do not pay him an implicit fub, million. Again he fays, "They are willing to give any teft that can be offered of their loyalty and fidelity to a proteftant government, in all the affairs that regard this life; they always called eagerly for fuch a teft, and were always induftriously denied it, by tacking to the oath of allegiance an oath of fupremacy, which no honeft papift, nor even any proteftant who is not of the mo narch's religion, can take with a good confcience." p. 173. Here the ground of refufing popery a toleration explains itfelf; for fo long as the papifts religiofly own a foreign but vifible infallible head of his church, whatever he may profess of allegiance to his prince, in matters re |