Lord Temple, lord W. Russell, lord Ossulston, lord R. Spencer, lord Morpeth, Mr. Windham, Mr. Calcraft, and Mr. Erskine, took the oaths and their seats.—Mr. Whitbread moved, that lord Temple, lord R. Spencer, and Mr. Calcraft, be added to the committee appointed to prepare articles of impeachment against lord viscount Melville. Ordered.—On the motion of Mr. Calcraft, the following new writs were ordered to be issued, viz. for the borough of Inniskillen, in the room of sir W. Burroughs, who, since his election, had accepted the office of one of the judges in the supreme court, at Bengal; for the borough of Plymouth, in the room,of P. Langmead, esq. who had accepted the office of steward of his majesty's manor of East Hendred; and for the borough of Portarlington, in the room of T. Tyrwhitt, esq. who had accepted the office of steward of his majesty's Chiltern Hundreds.—Lord Henry Petty moved, that there be laid before the house an account of all offices granted in reversion in England, stating the nature of each office, the date of the grant, and the period of time for which it was granted,—Mr. Rose observed, that a return of this nature had been lately made, and therefore that the account need only be called for from the date of the last return. He had no objection, however, to the motion. The motion was then put and carried, without any amendment.—His lordship then moved, "that an account of all offices granted in reversion in Scotland, with the nature of each office, the date of the grant, and the period for which it was granted, should be laid before the house." Ordered. He made a similar motion for Ireland, which was also agreed to.—Lord Henry Petty moved, that there be laid before the house an account of the increase or diminution, between the 1st of Jan. 1805, and the 1st of Jan. 1806, of the salaries, emoluments, and expences of all offices in England. Ordered. He then moved for a similar account with respect to Ireland, which was also ordered.—Lord H. Petty brought down the following message from his majesty: "G. R His majesty, taking notice that by the act of parliament for allowing an annuity to earl St. Vincent, that annuity is limited to the earl and his two heirs male; and, being desirous that it should be further extended, recommends this object to the consideration of that house." On the motion of lord H. Petty, his majesty's message was ordered to be referred to a committee of the whole house on Thursday next.

rose, in compliance with a habit which had of late prevailed in the house, to give notice of a motion which he intended to bring forward. This habit, he observed, which rendered a previous notice necessary when a motion of importance, or one which was likely to meet with opposition, was to be proposed, had certainly not always prevailed there. But however, that he might not be deficient in any point of form, which had been deemed proper by the house, he now gave notice that to-morrow he would move for a paper relative to the finances of the East-India company. This motion would be founded on a question, and it depended on the manner in which that question should be answered, whether or not he should bring it forward at all. In case, however, it should be necessary, he hoped that this would be considered as a sufficient notice.

rose to give notice of a motion which he intended to submit to the house on Monday next, relative to the situation which the lord chief justice of the king's bench at present occupied in the cabinet.

wished that the hon. member would state more explicitly the nature of his motion.

replied, that he had not as yet framed it, so as to be able at present to be more explicit.

(General Fitzpatrick) observed, that he had last session given notice of a motion respecting the military justice of this kingdom. As this was, in his estimation, a matter of the highest importance, he had always been anxious to have it brought forward as soon as possible. But peculiar circumstances had prevented him from pressing it at the commencement of the present session, as he once intended to have done. At a later period, an event had occurred which rendered it necessary for him to postpone it still farther. Since that event, other circumstances had occurred, which induced him to abstain altogether for the present from urging his proposed motion; for the alteration which had taken place with respect to those by whom the affairs of the army were to be managed, and in his majesty's government in general, afforded well-grounded hopes that the defects of which he complained would be remedied by the executive power. With these sentiments, he thought it would be quite unnecessary for him to make these defects at present the subject of parliamentary investigation. Amendment was undoubtedly requisite in the points to which he intended to have directed the attention, of the house; but, for the reasons above stated, he would beg leave to wave his motion.

rose, and begged to ask a question of the noble lord, whom he then saw in his place, relative to a report which had gone abroad on a very important subject. It was by no means his intention to interfere with, or ask any questions relative to taxes; but he hoped there was nothing improper or irregular in requesting the noble lord to say, whether he had applied to the governor and directors of the bank, for information relative to appropriating a certain portion of the sinking fund towards payment of the interest of the new loan? Such a report was in circulation, and had occasioned considerable alarm and uneasiness in the public mind. He hoped, therefore, the noble lord would excuse his troubling him for an answer to what he had taken the liberty to ask.

said, he was extremely happy in having an opportunity of assuring the worthy alderman, and the public, that there was no foundation whatever for the report he had heard on that subject.

rose, pursuant to notice, to move for leave to bring in a bill relative to the first fruits in Ireland, and the regulation of Dr. Boulton's charity. This was a fund which had been left about 50 years ago by Dr. Boulton, archbishop of Armagh, to assist in maintaining the poorer clergy. The fund had of late very much increased. The object of the present bill was merely to enable the trustees in cases where the incomes of curates, &c. were below 100/. a year, to raise them to that sum from this fund, as far as it would go. He concluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill to amend the act of the 29th of George II., relative to the first fruits in Ireland, and for the better management of Dr. Boulton's charity. This motion had been made last session, but had from some accidental circumstances been deferred till now.

thought that this might be a very proper motion, but the reason why he now rose, was to suggest to the learned gent. that however unexceptionable the thing might be, it was desirable that he should wait till another gentleman was present, who might wish to attend to this bill through every stage of its progress. This was the practice of the house, and a practice founded not only in decorum but in use too, and might be peculiarly proper in this case, as the hon. gent. alluded to, would in all probability hold a very high situation in Ireland.

replied, that he was perfectly disposed to comply with this practice, but on the present occasion it was unnecessary, as the hon. gent. referred to, had last session an opportunity of examining this measure, and had then stated no objection to it.—Leave was then granted.

brought up a petition from certain freeholders of Middlesex, against the return of Mr. Mainwaring, on the ground that he was not properly qualified. The ground of qualification was the only point to which the petition went. A petition on this ground had before been presented; but at that time Mr. Mainwaring, by the decision of the committee, was not a member of the house, and of course the petition fell to the ground. The object now was to renew this petition. He thought it right to state, that this petition had been put into his hands only about ten minutes previous to the meeting of the house this day, and therefore he could say nothing more about it than that it was presented at the instance of certain gentlemen whom he understood to be freeholders of the county of Middlesex. The house would therefore consider whether it was to be received.

observed, that if the matter of the petition came within the election laws on the subject, then the hon. member had a right to insist that the petition should lie on the table. If there was any doubt on that point, the passage of the act that bore upon it ought to be read, and then the house might judge upon the case.

said, that from the first view of the thing he thought it impossible that this petition could be received, as it followed the decision of a committee, which had been appointed to try the merits of this election, before which this point might have regularly come. It would have been better to have brought forward this point there instead of going on from time to time harassing the house. He had not had such an opportunity of investigating the point of law on this subject as to enable him to give a positive opinion, but upon principle and analogy he thought it clear that it ought not to be received.

admitted that his first impression was, that this petition could not be received, but if it was possible to have it deferred till to-morrow, as he understood it was, it might be proper to do so, that the members might have time to consider the peculiar circumstances attaching to this case. The circumstances were these: a petition had been presented against the return of Mr. Mainwaring, and the committee had decided on the return generally, declaring that sir F. Burdett ought to have been returned. The question of qualification could not come in here. But a petition had been presented on the part of Mr. Mainwaring, sir F. Burdett had declined defending his seat, and the freeholders had come forward in his place. If sir Francis had persisted in his defence, the qualification might have been here brought forward, butt as the matter stood there was certainly cause for consideration, in order to remove difficulties, if they existed, and prevent their recurrence for the future. He hoped therefore that the matter would be allowed to stand till tomorrow.

complained of the manner in which the house had been used in this business. It was evidently the intention of the persons concerned to take the house by surprise, by deferring the presenting of this petition till the last day, and then only putting it into the hands of the hon, gent. a few minutes before the meeting of the house.

said, that this affair depended not on the common law, but on a particular statute, and the question was, whether the qualification could have been properly tried till now?

then read the passage of the act, from which it appeared, that the freeholders who took up the cause in the place of any member, stood, to all intents and purposes, in his situation, so that the qualification might have been tried before.

said that his doubts were removed.

contended, that this petition could not be admitted on this ground, namely, that it was a petition to renew a petition that had been presented last session, which was not now renewable; because, in all cases of this nature, such a petition for a renewal must be presented four clays after the commencement of the session.

observed, that the hon. gent. was perfectly correct in his remark. It was the duty of every gentleman who presented a petition, to make himself master of the contents, in order that he might explain them to the house; he therefore requested the hon. gent. would have the goodness to state, whether or not this was a petition for the renewal of a former petition.

replied, that he believed he might take upon himself to say, that it was a petition for the renewal of a former petition.—On which the Speaker declared, that the rule of the house was perfectly clear, which rendered any such petition inadmissible.