65 1768: The Hiftory of the laft Seffion of Parliament, &c. The Hiftory of the Seffion of Parliament which began Nov. 11, 1766, being the fixth Seffion of the Twelfth Parliament of Great-Britain, with an Account of all the ma terial Questions therein determined, and of the Political Difputes thereby occafioned without Doors. Continued from p. 14. On the 27th of May the bill was N the 27th of May the bill was ted to a committee of the whole house. On the 3d of June the house refolved itself into the faid committee, went through the bill with feveral amendments, and ordered the report to be then received, which it accordingly was, and the bill with the amend ments was ordered to be printed. On the 16th, the bill was read a third time, paffed, and Mr. Onflow was ordered to carry it to the lords, and defire their concurrence, which their lordhips were pleased to grant without any amendment, and it received the royal affent by commiffion on the 29th of June. On the 14th of May leave was given to bring in a bill for the further quieting and establishing corporations; and for rendering more Speedy and effectual proceedings in writs of Quo Warranto, and informations in nature of a Quo Warranto, and proceedings in writs of Mandamus; and several learned lawyers, together with Lord George Sackville, were ordered to prepare and bring in the fame. What was the design of this bill does not appear, but fuch a number of hard names, I fuppofe, alarmed the gentlemen of the houfe; therefore on the third of June, after the bill had been prefented, read a fecond time, and committed to a committee of the whole houfe, it was refolved, that this houfe will, on this day three months, refolve itself into a committee of the whole houfe upon the faid bill: In the mean time, that is to fay, on the 28th of May, there was leave given to bring in a bill for regulating the proceedings of public companies and Corporations, trading with joint stocks, in the cafes therein to be mentioned; and that Mr. Dyfon, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. Jackson, do prepare, and bring in the fame. On the 12th of June Mr. Dyson pre feated the bill to the houfe, when it was read a first time, and ordered to Feb. 1768. be read a fecond time, which it was on the 15th, and committed to a com mittee of the whole house; after which it paffed through both houses in common courfe, and on the 29th of June it received the royal affent by commis fion, being now intitled, An act for regulating the proceedings of certain public companies and corporations carrying on trade, or dealings, with joint ftocks, in refpect to the declaring of dividends; and for further regulating the qualification of members, for voting in their respective general courts. I fhall therefore, because of the connection, give a thort abftract of these two acts together, beginning with the laft as being the most general; the preamble of which fets forth, that by vir tue of divers acts of parliament, and of royal charters founded thereupon, certain public companies, or corporations, have been inftituted for the purpofe of carrying on particular trades or dealings with joint stocks; and the management of the affairs of fuch companies has been vefted in their general courts, compofed of the members at large of fuch companies refpectively; in which general courts every member, poffeffed of fuch fhare in the ftock of the company as in and by the faid acts and charters is limited, is qualified and intitled to give a vote or votes: And it further sets forth, that of late years a most unfair, and mifchievous practice has been introduced, of splitting large quantities of ftock, and making feparate and temporary conveyances of the parts thereof, for the purpose of multiplying, or making occafional votes, immediately before the time of declaring a dividend, of chufing directors, or of deciding any other important queftion; which practice is fubverfive of every principle upon which the establishment of fuch general courts is founded; and if fuffered to become general, would, leave the permanent intereft of fuch companies liable at all times to be facrificed I to 66 The HISTORY of the laft Seffion of Parliament. to the partial and interested views of a few, and those perhaps temporary proprietors, therefore it is enacted, that from the first of Auguft, 1767, no member of any of the faid companies, or corporations, fhall be deemed quafified, or admitted to give any vote, in any general court of fuch company, in respect of any stock transferred to him after the faid first of August, until he fhall have been poffeffed thereof fx calendar months; unless fuch ftock fhall have been acquired, or hall have come by bequeft, or by marriage, or by fucceffion to an inreftate's eftate, or by the cuftom of London, or by any deed of fettlement after the death of any person who fhall have been intitled for life to the dividends of fuch stock.That the refpective oaths and affirmations required to be adminiftered to, or taken by, members, at or before giving their votes, fhall, from and after the 1ft of Auguft, 1767, be altered in fuch manner as to extend to, and comprize the further qualification required by this act, in refpect of the continuance of the poffeffion of such stock; and the faid oaths and affirmations, so altered, fhall be adminiftered to, and taken by the members of fuch companies, in the place of thofe heretofore required.That from and after the roth July, 1767, no declaration of dividend fhall be made by any general court, other than one of the half yearly or quarterly general courts, at the distance of five calendar months at the leaft from the last preceding declaration of a dividend; and no declaration of more than one half yearly dividend fhall be made by one general court; and no queftion upon any propofition for increasing the rate of the dividend, shall be decided otherwife than by ballot, taken at the diftance of three entire days, at the leaft, from the adjournment, or breaking up of the general court in which fuch question hall have been propofed. After having given fo full an abtract of this general law for regulating all fuch companies and corporations, I fhall only add, with regard to the act for regulating the East-India company, that much the fame regulations were established for the future government of that company, with onTy a little variation as to times, and Feb. with this restriction, that it shall not be lawful for any general court of the faid company, at any time between the 8th of May, 1767, and the beginning of the next feffion of parliament, to declare, or refolve upon, any increase of dividend beyond the rate of 1ol. per cent. per annum, being the rate at which the dividend for the half year, ending the 24th of June, 1767, is made payable. Although I have given a very particular abstract of the first of these two laws, yet I hope no gentleman will think it tedious, if he confiders that there is now above fix millions a year of the property of British subjects, or their friends abroad, that must for the future be directed in its management by these two fhert and intelligi ble laws; for by the last state of the na tional debt it appears, that there was then, 4,707,223 1. growing due yearly for paying the intereft of our public debts, and if to this we add the increafed dividends payable to the Bank proprietors, and the trade and India revenues of our Eaft India company, the whole must amount to at least fix millions a year. If we consider that the whole of this immenfe property muft belong to perfons who refide in or about London, or who have their agents or factors refiding here, we may eafily account for the vast increase of the cities of London and Westminfter within these last thirty or forty years. Early in this feffion of parliament, as well as fome of the former, feveral of our cities and boroughs began to amufe the starving poor with ligning petitions to parliament, reprefenting the great diftrels to which the poor were reduced by the high price of provifions. Thefe petitions were at first referred to the corn committee, but afterwards on the 19th of November, it was refolved, that the house would, on the Monday following, refolve itself into a committee of the whole houfe, to confider of the prefent high price of provifions. On the 28th of January Sir Jofeph Mawbey. moved, and it was ordered, that it might be an inftruction to the faid committee that they do confider of the present high price of foap and candles; and on the sth of February the house agreed to the following re • Secour laßt vol. p. 370. folution $768. The HISTORY of the laft Seffion of Parliament. folution of the faid committee, That the importation of tallow; hog's lard, and greafe, be allowed for a limited tim, free of duty; upon which refo lution it was ordered, that a bill be brought in, and that Mr. Cooper and Sir Jofeph Mawbey do prepare and bring in the fame. The next day Sir Jofeph Mawbey prefented to the house a bill to discontinue, for a time to be limited, the duties payable upon the importation of tallow, hog's lard, and greafe; when it was read a firft time, and ordered to be read a fecond time; after which it paffed through both houfes in common course, and received the royal affent on the 27th of February. On the 4th of May, the houfe, according to order, refolved itself again into the faid committee of the whole house, to confider further of the prefent high price of provifions, and came to feveral refolutions, which were reported next day and agreed to, as follow ft. That all forts of falted meat and butter be allowed to be imported for a limited time free of duty. 2d. That the importation of rice, fago powder, and vermicelli, from any of his majefty's colonies in America, into Great Britain, be admitted, for a limited time, free of duty; and then it was ordered, that a bill or bills be brought in upon the faid refolutions; and that Mr. Onflow, the Lord Clare, Mr. Garth, Sir William Meredith, Mr. Edmonstone, and Sir Ellis Cunliffe, do prepare and bring in the .fame. May 11, Mr. Ondow prefented to the houfe according to order, a bill for allowing the free importation of falted meat and butter, into this kingdom, for a time to be limited, which was read a first time, and ordered to be read a fecond time; and at the fame time he prefented to the house, according to order, a bill for allowing the free importation of rice, fago powder, and vermicelli, into this kingdom, from his majefty's colonies in North America, for a time to be limited, which was then read a first time, and ordered to be read a fecond time. This bill paffed foon afterwards through both houses, and received the royal affent on the 20th of May. But as to the other bill, when the order of the day for the fecond 67 reading of the fame was read, a mo tion was made, and the act of the 5th of his prefent majefty, chap. I. was read, by which our fellow fubjects of Ireland were obliged to pay the falt duty on any falted meat, or butter, they imported here, and it was juftly deemed hard to allow foreign falted meat or butter to be imported duty free, whilft they were obliged to pay fuch a heavy duty. However our zeal for the relief of the poor got the better of this folecifm in politicks, and the only remedy that could be thought of was an alteration of the title, in the committee, by calling it a bill to allow for a limited time, the free importation of falted meat and butter into this kingdom, from any place except Ireland; under which title the bill paffed, with fome difficulty, through the house of commons, but their lordfhips, it seems, did not think fit to put fuch a mark of diftinction upon our fellow fubjects of Ireland in any bill paffed by them. Thus we find, that in this feffion the committee for inquiring into the high price of provifions, had done more towards the relief of the poor, than had been done by all the committees upon this fubject, ever fince this diftrefs firft began to be complained of; and if they had included, inftead of excepting the falted meat and butter of Ireland, I am perfuaded the lords would have paffed that bill likewife: I know indeed, that there are two maxims which our minifters are always obliged to have a particular regard for, the first of which is to avoid doing any thing that may incroach upon that facred fund appropriated to the payment of our debts, and the extinction of our taxes, and the next is to avoid doing any thing that may oblige our landholders to lower the high rents, to which they have been enabled of late years to raise the rents of their land eftates, by the monopoly that has for fo many years been eftablished in their favour; but when the people have been by accident brought into any remarkable diftress, it is the duty of minifters to run the risk of ftriking a bold ftroke for their relief, and, if upon this occafion, they had included the falted meat and butter of Ireland, the deficiency of the falt duty fund might have, for fuch a small I a number |