regretted that some misconception of negligence on his part in the discharge of his duty had been formed by an hon. admiral on a former evening. It was true that the navy pay books had not been made up since 1786, but this arose solely from the difficulty of so doing, not from any neglect on the part of those who should make them up. No blame could attach to the navy commissioners. The opinion of the late comptroller of the navy, whose merits were too highly appreciated by the House to require his eulogy, was in favour of their being made up, though he regretted the pressure of business had prevented that being done. He would not say that no positive loss had resulted to the public in this point, but he assured the House that as soon as the most pressing busines was over, the books should certainly be made up.

said, that this statement justified the opinion he had formerly given, that no efficient clerks should be discharged till this business had been expedited. It was a matter of very great moment, and would, he trusted, be no longer overlooked.

presented a petition from about five hundred merchants and tradesmen in Westminster, against the insolvent act. He wished to extend the object of the inquiry now carrying on by the committee up stairs on this subject, by referring this petition to them. It would be found that the greatest of all possible evils consisted in the very great liberty granted by the rules of the King's-bench, the confinement of which prison was very little indeed. It was a place where an individual went with 3 or 4,000l., and after spending it, took the benefit of the insolvent act. He had known instances of persons going to the continent for three or four months, after giving security to the marshal for their return. That security might be satisfactory to the marshal, but it could not answer the purposes of the creditor. In fact, going to the King's-bench prison was merely taking a lodging on the other side of the river. He believed, had it not been for this abuse, that the complaints against the act would have been very limited in comparison to what they now were.

thought the rules were a very great incitement to insolvency.

was of opinion that it was proper to refer the petition to the committee, as it would throw some additional light on the subject. He thought the rules afforded too many facilities of evading the payment of just debts, as he believed many persons had gone thither with an honest intention, but had been prevented from paying by means of the society with whom they associated.

was of the same opinion, and considered the evils of which the petitioners complained to be owing to this last remnant of bad law, the rules of the King's-bench, a system which he thought radically imperfect.

added, that this abuse could only be committed by rich and fraudulent individuals.

said, it was common for persons to take the rules of the Fleet in winter, and of the King's-bench in summer.

The Petition was then read; setting forth,

"That the petitioners have recently presented to the House a petition for the repeal of the insolvent debtors acts, and that in such petition they have humbly represented the extensive frauds and injurious consequences arising from the operation of the said acts; that the petitioners are fully convinced that a great portion of the said evils originate from the privilege of the rules of the King's-bench and Fleet prisons, by which imprisonment is commuted for almost an imaginary restraint, and the intention of the law thereby rendered nugatory; that the said rules, by their extent and privileges, are in their consequences destructive of national industry and national morals, especially by the facility they afford to debtors of wasting the property of creditors, which ought to be surrendered on commitment, through which omission a deep and extensive evil arises, by thus placing it in the debtor's power to use it in litigation and profligacy; that it is an unjust and cruel discrimination in making the indulgence of the rules a privilege of property, the poor debtor having to endure close confinement, without the means of purchasing any mitigation, whilst the rich one converts it into a means of hostility to his creditors, and thereby adds aggravation to wrong; that the privilege of the rules not only afford all the convenience and comforts of private life, without any line of difference or distinction known from established householders, in the enjoyment of their liberty and pursuits of pleasure, but also enables them to keep up expensive establishments, in carriages, horses, servants, &c. with all the opportunities of visiting and travelling, not only throughout the United Kingdom, but also to the continent, during a great part of the year; thus rendering imprisonment but a name, affording at once an injurious protection and a greater facility to practices of fraud; that the rules are purchased with the creditor's property, which becomes a source of profit to the marshal, and thus a powerful interest is raised in the debtor's favour, to the creditor's injury, both in respect to the waste of property and abuse of the rules; that the creditor's property is thus made chargeable for an indulgence on behalf of those from whom he has sustained injury, and the marshal reaps emolument without being made chargeable for watching over the debtor's imprisonment, a task now imposed by the law upon the creditor beyond his power to exercise; that it is notorious that many have boasted of having reaped all the advantages of the insolvent acts without having suffered imprisonment; and that many have resided for years, and often for life, within the rules, subsisting on their creditors' property, whilst the law permits the debtor to I hold the creditor at defiance, without affording the latter the means by which to compel its distribution; that the abolition of the rules would effectually reduce the number of prisoners, and incline debtors to make a fair arrangement with their creditors; that the losses of trade ultimately fall on the landed interest and capitalist, increasing the price of every article of consumption, and which losses are seriously increased in their retrogressive steps by intermediate sacrifices and charges to a most destructive extent; the petitioners, therefore, humbly implore the attention of the House to the consideration of these serious grievances, the complete abolition of the rules aforesaid, and in compelling an immediate surrender of the debtor's property on his going to prison, by which the whole train of subsequent evils would be materially checked, a salutary terror would operate on the dangerous and unprincipled character, a valuable improvement to the creditor's property, reduction of risk, and general amendment of national morals."

Ordered to be referred to the select committee appointed to inquire into the effects which have been produced by the acts of 53 and 54 Geo. 3, for the relief of insolvent debtors in England.

presented a Petition, signed by 10,000 inhabitants of Hudders-field and its vicinity, setting forth,

"That a people who make their own laws, either personally or by representatives, are free; but a people who are subject to laws otherwise made, are not free: a free people, through error, either in the making or in the executing of laws, might experience inconvenience or misfortune, but, being free, error would be no sooner discovered than corrected; for no people, who made their own laws, would knowingly injure themselves; neither would they allow their representatives, nor those who executed the laws, nor those who administered justice, to violate their laws and liberties, or in any way to do them wrong; but it is now known, that the people of this kingdom do experience flagrant wrongs and great misfortunes, because their birth-right, of making their own laws, has, through the decay of ancient boroughs, as well as through fraud and usurpation, been taken from them; it being notorious, that the nation are not represented in the House; that by boroughmongers, most of them peers, in whom it is peculiarly offensive, its seats are usurped by wholesale, even by hundreds, and that by wholesale again those seats, through the gross venality of monopolizing corporators, are profligately bought and sold, and that contrary to the sacred principle on which every vote of parliament, equally with every verdict of a jury, ought to be preserved pure and unsuspected, a large proportion of the members of the House, who can only sit there as representatives of the people, are nevertheless placemen and pensioners of the Crown, and as openly as indecently receive, in salaries and emoluments, nearly 200,000l. a year out of the taxes; nor is this all: for, by the operation of the septennial act, made contrary to the constitution, and evidently against justice, the entire political liberty of the people, independent of all other violations, is wholly annihilated, for six parts in seven of human life, in this complication of decay, injustice, and wrong, in this utter ruin of the constitution, whereby the people have been defrauded of the self-preserving power of making, through real representatives, their own laws; the House must see the causes of which all the present calamities of our country are the effects, here and here only the cause of war, here the cause of public debt, here the cause of an intolerable taxation, here the cause of trade's decay and paper money, here the cause of a general depravity in morals, here the cause of a million and a half of our fellow-citizens having already sunk into the melancholy condition of paupers, here the cause, not only of silent misery for the want of bread, but of desperation and disorder; and here the cause, that, instead of a remedy being sought in the healing balm of reformation and a restoration of rights, the law, through the resistless power of those who have usurped the seats in the House, assumes a severity revolting to humanity, and is but too often carried into execution by the military instead of the civil power; wherefore the petitioners feel it to be their duty to protest against that corrupt and factious usurpation of seats in the House, by which all freedom is destroyed, and our unhappy country is threatened with convulsion, slavery, or subjugation; for, in a usurpation which inflicts on the whole community taxation without representation, nought but despotism can be discovered; from such a usurpation, nought but ruin can proceed; and as the obvious remedy of political wrong, as the sure preventive against an increase of public evils, as the sole mode of providing for all practicable redress of grievances, and as laying the only solid foundation for secure and permanent peace, the petitioners, on behalf of themselves and of the nation at large, claim, first, representation co-extensive with direct taxation; secondly, that such representation, as a common right, be throughout the community fairly distributed; and, thirdly, that parliaments henceforth have only a constitutional continuance, that is, not exceeding one year; and seeing the House, in whatever relates to the elective and legislative rights of the people, exercises the functions of a court of judicature, they farther claim that justice may neither be denied nor delayed, considering the hateful character of a usurpation which blasts every fruit of the admirable constitution of our country, converting its blessings into curses, and at the same time considering the self-evident rectitude and necessity, as well as the extreme facility to parliament of effecting this reform, the petitioners trust that the virtuous part of the House, and the nation at large, will never relax in their efforts, will never cease, by united exertion, to claim and insist upon those rights and liberties on which the reform depends, until it shall be obtained."

Ordered to lie upon the table.

reported from the Committee appointed to inquire into Precedents of Cases of Naval and Military Officers accepting Offices of Profit from the Crown, and continuing to sit as Members of this House; that they had inquired accordingly; and had directed him to make a Report there-of to the House: and the Report was read as follows:

REPORT FROM COMMITTEE OF PRECEDENTS.

The COMMITTEE appointed to inquire into Precedents of Cases of Naval and Military Officers accepting Offices of Profit from the Crown, and continuing to sit as Members of this House; have, pursuant to the Order of the House, inquired accordingly, and have agreed upon the following REPORT:

In prosecuting the inquiry directed by the House, your committee have thought it the most expedient course to submit to the House, first, a list of all cases, since the passing of the acts 4 Anne, ch. 8, and 6 Anne, ch. 1, in which the House has directed new writs to be issued in the room of officers in the army or navy, who have accepted appointments of profit under the Crown, which may appear in any manner to be connected with their respective professions; together with, secondly, a list of all such cases, in which the House has either refused or omitted to issue such writs; so far as the same can be ascertained from a comparison of the lists of persons holding such appointments, furnished from the different offices, and the return books.

TABLE.—No. 1.

Stating the PLACE, PERSON, OFFICE, and Date of WRITS ordered.

Arundel. Viscount Shannon, lieut.-general.— Deputy-governor of Dover Castle.—Feb. 28, 1708.

Northumberland. Earl of Hertford, colonel.— Governor of Tinmouth Castle.—February 17, 1710.

Camelford. Bernard Granville, Qy. If an officer?—Lieut, governor of Hull.—February 1, 1711.

Renfrew. Sir Robt. Pollock, Qy. If an officer?—Governor of Fort William.April 25, 1715.

Castle Rising. Charles Churchill, colonel.— Governor of Chelsea Hospital.—June 10, 1720.

Carlisle. Brig.-gen. Stanwix.— Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull.—April 3, 1721.^*

^*Previous to the order for issuing this writ, a copy of the commission is laid before the House, and entered in the journal; after which a resolution is moved, That the office of governor of the town of Kingston-upon-Hull is an office in the army. The House divided: Yeas, 75; Noes, 81.

†

Sudbury. Wm. Wyndham, colonel.—Lieut.-governor of Chelsea Hospital.—April 27, 1726.

Bury St. Edmund's. Thomas Norton, colonel, —Lieut.-governor of Chelsea Hospital, May 7, 1730.

Northampton. Hon. Edw. Montague, afterwards brig.-gen.—Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull.—January 18, 1732.

Bath. George Wade, general.—Governor of Berwick.—January 22, 1732.

Lestwithiel. John Hill, lieut.-gen.—Lieutenant-general of the ordnance.—June 21, 1712.

Arundel. Tho. Micklethwaite.—Lieutenant general of the ordnance.—March 20, 1717. Totness. Charles Wills, afterwards general.— Lieutenant-general of the ordnance.—April 17, 1719.

GloucesterCounty. The hon. George Cranfield Berkley, captain in the navy.—Surveyor general of the ordnanc.—March 27,1789. Dover. Matthew Aylmer.—Admiral and commander in chief of the fleet.—November 26, 1709.^*

Plymouth. Sir George Byng.—Rochester. Sir John Leake.—Commissioners to discharge the office of lord high admiral.—November 15, 1709.†

Portsmouth. Sir Charles Wager, rear-admiral. —Comptroller of the navy.—March 25, 1715.

Weobley. Savage Mostyn, captain.—Comptroller of the navy.March 21, 1748.

Heydon, Charles Saunders, captain.—Comptroller, of the navy.—Nov. 15, 1755.

Plymouth. Sir George Byng, treasurer of the navy, December 9,1720.

Plympton. Mr. Byng, treasurer of the navy. —April 18, 1724.

Westloe. Sir Charles Wager.—Treasurer of the navy.—December 16, 1742.

Dartmouth. Lord Howe.—Treasurer of the navy.—December 17, 1765.

Dover. Matthew Aylmer, admiral.—Master of Greenwich Hospital.—March 20, 1717".

Rochester. Sir John Jennings, admiral.— Master of Greenwich Hospital.—December 8, 1720.

^* It is stated in Mr. Hatsell's Precedents, Vol. 2, p. 35, on the authority of Mr. Onslow, that this is the case of a person who had formerly been in the sea service, but had been dismissed from or quitted it. But this can scarcely be correct, as it appears, from an account presented from the admiralty on the same day that the writ is ordered, that Mr. Aylmer had held precisely the same commission in the year 1708. He is also called admiral Aylmer in the vote appointing the committee of privileges on the 22d November 1708.

†This appears to have been the uniform practice ever since, and on account of the number of instances, no others are inserted. Hythe. Hercules Baker, captain.—Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital —March 29, 1736.

Captain Philip Cavendish, appointed treasurer of Greenwich hospital on the 20th of April 1721, appears to have been returned for the Borough of Beeralston, on a new writ ordered April 14, 1721, but on petition is declared not duty elected. Sir Charles Saunders was appointed to the same office, April 11, 1754. Parliament having been dissolved on the 8th of April.

TABLE.-No. 2.

GOVERNORS AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS OF FORTS.

Proceedings in the Case of General Carpenter.

February 21, 1716. "The House being informed, that lieutenant-general George Carpenter having, since his election, accepted of a commission from his majesty, constituting and appointing him governor of the island of Minorca, and the town and garrison of port Mahon, and the castle and forts, and all other military works and fortifications thereunto belonging, or elsewhere situated in the said island, desires to know the sense of the House thereupon, whether he may sit in the House, in respect of the Act 8 ^* Annaæ Reginæ, cap. 4, sec. 26, &c. The said act was read. Then the commission and instructions were produced and read. After which, the sense of the House being that it was a military commission, the said lieutenant-general came into the House."

Proceedings in the Case of Lieutenant-General Wade.

June 9, 1733. "The House being informed that lieutenant-general Wade, a member of this House, hath, since his election to serve in this present parliament for the city of Bath, in the county of Somerset, accepted the office of governor of Fort William, Fort Augustus, and Fort George, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland; and the opinion of the House being desired, whether, by the acceptance of the said office his seat in parliament became void; And the 29th section of the act, made in the fourth year of the reign of queen Anne, intituled, "an act for the better security of her majesty's person and government, and of the succession to the Crown of England in the Protestant line," being read: A motion was made, and the question being put, that a committee be appointed to search precedents, as to the seats in parliament becoming vacant, of officers in the army, being members of the House of Commons, by their having commissions to be governors, or lieutenant-governors, of forts, citadels, and garrisons, in Great Britain; it passed in the negative.

^*So in the printed Journal. It should be: —4 Anne, cap, 8.

"Then the Journal of the House, of the 28th day of February, in the seventh year of the reign of queen Anne, in relation to the making out a new writ for the electing a burgess to serve in parliament for the borough of Arundel, ill the county of Sussex: And the Journal of the House, of the 17th day of February, in the ninth year of the reign of queen Anne, in relation to the making out a new writ for the electing a knight to serve in parliament for the county of Northumberland: And the Journal of the House, of the first day of February, in the tenth year of the reign of queen Anne, in relation to the making out a new writ for the electing a burgess to serve in parliament for the borough of Camel-ford, in the county of Cornwall: And the Journal of the House, of the 25th day of April, in the first year of the reign of his late majesty king Geoge the First, in relation to the making out a new writ for the electing a commissioner for the shire of Renfrew: And the Journal of the House, of the third day of April, in the 7th year of the reign of his said late majesty, in relation to the proceedings of the House in the case of brigadier-general Stanwix, a member of this House: And the Journal of the House of the 18th day of Jan. last, in the present session of parliament, in relation to the making out a new writ for the electing a burgess to serve in this present parliament, in the county of Northampton: And the Journal of the House of the 22d day of January last, in the present session of parliament, in relation to the making; out a new writ for the electing a citizen to serve in this present parliament for the city of Bath, in the county of Somerset;—were read:

"And a motion being made, and the question being put, That the accepting a commission of governor or lieutenant-governor of any fort, citadel, or garrison, upon the military establishment of his majesty's guards and garrisons in Great Britain, by any member of this House, being an officer in the army, does vacate the seat of such member in this House; The House divided: Yeas, 18; Noes, 96; so it passed in the negative."

Since this vote there is no instance of a new writ issuing in the room of any officer appointed to be governor or lieutenant governor of any fort, &c. Field marshal sir Robert Rich was appointed governor of Chelsea Hospital on the 6th of May 1740, being at that time member for the borough of St Ives; and no new writ was issued. Lord George Henry Lennox being appointed constable of the Tower of London, and a copy of his appointment being laid before the House, on the 3d March 1784: "A motion was made, and the question being put, That the acceptance of the office of constable of the Tower of London, by lord George Henry Lennox, being an officer in the array, does vacate his seat as a member of this House; it passed in the negative."

ORDNANCE.

MASTER-GENERAL AND LIEUTENANT-GENERAL.

Proceedings in the Case of General Wade.

June 22, 1742. "The House being informed that general Wade (a member of this House) hath, since his election to serve in this present parliament for the city of Bath, in the county of Somerset, accepted the office of lieutenant-general of his majesty's ordnance: and the opinion of the House being desired, whether, by the acceptance of the said office, his seat in parliament became void:—And a motion being made, and the question being proposed, That the accepting the office of master-general or lieutenant-general of his majesty's ordnance, by any member of this House, being an officer in the army, does vacate the seat of such member in this House: —The House was moved, That the 28th section of an act, made in the 6th year of the reign of queen Anne, intituled, An Act for the security of her majesty's person and government, and of the succession of the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant line, might be read: And the same being read accordingly: And the question being put, That the accepting the office of master-general or lieutenant-general of his majesty's ordnance, by any member of this House, being an officer in the army, does vacate the seat of such member in this House;—it passed in the negative, nem. con.

SURVEYOR-GENERAL.

The hon. James Luttrell, a captain in the navy, is stated to have been appointed surveyor-general of the ordnance on the 22d May, 1784. He appears to have been returned for the port of Dover in the parliament which met on the 18th of May in that year; but no new writ was issued.

GOVERNORS AND MASTERS OF GREENWICH HOSPITAL.

Proceedings in the Case of Sir William Gifford, Knt.

February 10, 1710. "The House being moved, to take into consideration the case of sir William Gifford, knight, who has been adjudged duly elected to serve in this present parliament for the borough of Portsmouth, in the county of Southampton, whether he, being governor of Greenwich hospital, is capable (according to the act, 6 Annæ Reginæ, for the security of her majesty's person and government, and of the succession to the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant line) of being a member of the House of Commons;The act was read.—Ordered, That the constitution of Greenwich hospital, and also the patent constituting sir William Gifford governor thereof, be laid before this House."

February 12, 1710. "The House being informed, that a person from Greenwich hospital attended, he was called in; and, at the bar presented to the House, the constitution of the said hospital; and also the commission to sir William Gifford, to be governor; — and then withdrew. —And the said constitution was read.—And it appeared, that the constitution of the said hospital, whereby the governor thereof was appointed, was before the act of 4th Annæ Reginæ, for the security of her majesty's person and government, and of the succession to the Crown of England in the Protestant line.—After which sir William Gifford came into the House, and took his place."

Admiral lord Archibald Hamilton, appointed March 26, 1746, had been elected for the borough of Clifton Dartmouth Hardness, upon a new writ, ordered March 16, 1741–2.

Admiral sir George Bridges Rodney, appointed December 3, 1765, had been returned for Penrhyn, in the parliament which met November 3, 1761.

Admiral Holburne, appointed February 6, 1771, had been re-elected for Plymouth on a writ issued Feb. 21, 1770. Notice of his death in the Gazette, July 20, 1771.

Sir Charles Hardy, appointed September 23, 1771, was elected in his room for Plymouth.

Viscount Hood, appointed April 13, 1796, had been elected for Westminster in the parliament which met November 25, 1790.

MARINES.

Admiral Boscawen having been elected in the parliament which met on the 31st of May 1754, member for the borough of Truro, was appointed in 1759 general of marines; but no new writ was issued in consequence.

Several other naval officers have since accepted similar commissions of different ranks in the marines, without having vacated their seats in parliament.

Previous to the new establishment of the marines in 1759, there are three instances of members of parliament accepting the office of paymaster of marines, and new writs being ordered in consequence; viz.

Flint County. Sir Roger Mostyn.—Dec. 10, 1711.

Monmouth County. Mr. C. H. Williams.— Dec. 4,1739.

Whitchurch. Mr. J. Selwyn.—Dec. 19,1746.

But since that period no such instance has occurred, though that office has frequently been held by members of parliament.

The Report was ordered to lie upon the table, and be printed.

The House adjourned to Wednesday the 24th instant.