poffeffed, without being able to turn it to any advantage worth mention, the free exportation of manufactured iron and fteel, as well as of fail cloth. From hence it is evident, that the petitioners have not felt from the reality what they dreaded in the idea; and it is fairly to be inferred, that the other matters of apprehenfion contained in the petitions are as as groundless as thefe; and are only founded, like them, upon mere conjecture. It also appears evidently, that the advantages poffeffed by the English are fo far fuperior in thefe respects, that the Irish were not able to profecute thefe manufactures to any purpofe, nor confequently to turn their liberty of exportation to account. And this, he faid, was fo truly the fact, that every fpecies of iron manufacture, in particular, was actually exported in incredible quantities to Ireland. He fhewed from other inftances, as well as the prefent, how haftily and erroneously manufacturers are liable to form their opinions upon fubjects of this nature; and upon what flight grounds alarms are raised, and apprehenfions propagated amongst them. Particularly, when, fome years ago, a bill was brought in for the free importation of woollen yarn from Ireland, an univerfal alarm was excited, and petitions were fent in from every quarter, ftating and complaining of the ruinous confequences which it would produce; the bill, however, paffed into a law, and now, upon a full experience of its effects, they both feel and acknowledge its beneficial tendency. But it But it was abfurd, he faid, to think, that a participation of manufacture would be detrimental to this country. Had we not feen the woollen manufactory planted in different parts of this country; and had we not alfo feen that it throve by the com. petition? He concluded with lamenting that it could happen in any one inftance, that his confcience should direct him to take a part contrary to the opinion of his conftituents. It had been his invariable aim to protect their rights and interefts, and to act at all times as became the fenator and reprefentative of the people. In this inftance he had dared to act contrary to the wishes, though, he was fenfible, not to the interefts, of his conftituents. And if, from his conduct in this bufinefs, he fhould be deprived of his feat in that Houfe, as he apprehended he might, his conduct being difapproved by many of his chief friends and fupporters, as well as by all who had opposed him at his election, he had the fatisfaction of being perfectly affured, that he fhould fuffer in the very cause of those who had inflicted the punishment. He fhould not blame them if they did reject him; the event would afford a very ufeful example, on the one hand, of a fenator inflexibly adhering to his opinion against interest, and againft popularity; and, on the other, of conftituents exercifing their undoubted right of rejection; not on corrupt motives, but from their perfuafion, that he whom they had chofen had acted against the judgment and intereft of those he reprefented. Other gentlemen, on the fame fide, confidered the propofition of going into a committee as little better than a direct negative. It held out no fecurity, but a vague promife promise to move a committee, which committee fhould appoint another committee. They faid, it would carry too unbecoming an appearance of trifling with the fifter kingdom; and they knew the temper of the people of Ireland too well to hold any doubt of their not being fatisfied with fuch treat ment. The minifter coincided in this opinion. He faid, that as the expectations of the Irish were raised from what had been already done, it would be unwife to protract the bufinefs for another fellion. The gentlemen who oppofed the bills feemed all to agree that fomething ought to be done for the relief of Ireland, though they differed about the nature and extent of what ought to be done. He could fee no reason, however, why the prefent bills fhould not pafs, whatever other measures they might take hereafter. The Houfe might, notwithstanding, appoint a committee to enquire into the general ftate of the trade, and, upon their report in another feffion, a more extenfive plan might be framed and adopted. He concluded by faying, that he held it as a duty of obligation upon Britain, to give Ireland a degree, at leaft, of recompence for the exertions fhe had made, fuppofing even we were not inclined, in policy, to give her relief from the reftrictions the laboured under; and he hoped the House would agree, to the prefent bills, as a teft of their intention and inclination to befriend her more fubftantially in future. The motion was rejected upon a divifion, and the bills accordingly committed. The death of the Earl of Chatham called forth the ftrongeft marks and expreffions of grief, with the greatest eulogiums on his public virtues, from one fide of the Houfe, and was attended with the moft exalted and lafting teftimonials of public efteem and gratitude, with which departed merit can be honoured, from the whole. This celebrated nobleman, (but once more celebrated commoner) who had for feveral years been a victim to a moft excruciating dif order, which reduced him to a flate of extreme feeblenefs with refpect to his bodily powers, ftill retained all that vigour of mind by which in better days he was fo much diftinguifhed; and was feized with a fainting fit, the forerunner of his death, fome days before in the Houfe of Lords, in the midft of an eager fpeech which he was making upon American affairs. Thus, he may be faid to have died, as he lived, in the fervice of his coun try. The Earl of Chatham expired at his feat at Hayes, in Kent, on the morning of May the 11th, 1778. The high pitch of power and glory to which this country had rifen under his adminiftration, have placed his public character in fo confpicuous a point of view, that any attempt towards a further difplay of it would ap pear, at leaft, fuperfluous. It may well be feared, that the fatal con fequences of his removal from power will not be less remembered. Some errors and inconfiftencies in his public conduct may well be overlooked among fuch a cloud of public virtues and fervices. He acknowledged himfelf, in the first affembly of the nation, that that he had been deceived at a moft critical time, and upon a moft critical occafion. This is the more to be lamented, if (as many think) all the fubfequent misfortunes and calamities of the British nation and empire have derived their fource from that deception. He will, however, at all times, hold an exalted rank among the first names of ancient or modern ftatef men. The evening was pretty 11th. far advanced before the account of this nobleman's death was received in the Houfe of Commons, and fome business, then in hand, rendered it late before the event could be publicly announced. That melancholy office was undertaken by Colonel Barre, who, with the ftrongeft marks of the moft profound concern and grief, and with as much eloquence as agreed with fuch feelings, pronounced a fhort eulogium on the merits of the deceafed Earl, and then, taking fuch a fketch of the obligations which the nation owed to his public virtues and fervices, as the time and fituation would allow, moved an addrefs to his Majefty for directions << That the remains of WILLIAM PITT, EARL of CHATHAM, be interred at the public expence. The motion was feconded by Mr. Townshend, and feemed to receive the moft general approbation. It is fo well known, as fcarcely to require obfervation, that, for many years, the fervices of the late nobleman had been fo far from being acceptable at court, that his name was not even frequently mentioned, by those who were well verfed in the etiquette of converfation, proper to be obferved in fuch fituations. A gentleman, high in office, accordingly endeavoured, with his ufual addrefs, to get rid of the motion, by a propofal, which, without conveying the ungracious and unpopular appearance of directly oppofing the honour intended to the memory of the deceafed, would, however, if adopted, ferve greatly to leffen its effect. After expreffing the greateft refpect for the unrivalled talents of the late ftatefman, and regret, that his country fhould be deprived of them at a time when they were fo much wanted by her, he said, that he would undoubtedly vote for the motion, if the honourable gentleman thought fitting to perfift in it; but he could not help thinking that a monument to his memory would be a more eligible, as well as a more lafting teftimony of the public gratitude, than the defraying of his funeral honours. This propofal produced a directly contrary effect to that which was fuppofed to be intended. The oppofition received it with joy, as a happy recollection of what they had overlooked in the paroxyfms of grief, excited by fo great a public and private lofs. But inftead of a fubftitution, they tacked it as an amendment to the original motion, in the following words: "And "that a monument be erected in "the Collegiate Church of St "Peter, Weftminster, to the me66 mory of that great and excellent "ftatefman, with an infeription, "expreffive of the fentiments of the "people on fo great and irreparable a lofs, and to affure his Majetty. "that this Houfe will make good "the expence." At this inftant the minifter entered, who, having quitted the Houfe Houfe for the night, before this fubject was introduced, and receiving afterwards intelligence of what was going forward, returned in the greatest hafte, in order to prevent the oppofition from carrying away the whole credit and po. pularity of the meafure. He declared his happiness in arriving time enough to give his vote for the motion, which he hoped would pafs unanimoufly, and lamented that he had not breath enough, from the hurry in which he came, to exprefs himfelf with that degree of refpect, which he wished to fhew on fo great an occafion. Thus both parties vied in the honours which they paid to the deceafed Earl, and the amended motion was carried without a diffenting voice. The ready compliance of the Crown with the terms of the addrefs, being, on the following day but one, announced by the 13th. minifter, Lord John Cavendish arofe, and faid, that he hoped the public gratitude would not ftop at what had been done. That great man, and invaluable minifter, he faid, had diftinguished himfelf as much by his difintereftednefs, as by his zeal, ability, or any other of his great qualities. The confequence of this exemplary virtue was, that while he conducted the affairs of the public with unparallelled advantage and glory to them, he had fcorned or neglected all means of advantage to himself; fo that, with the greatest opportunities in his hands of acquiring an ample fortune, he had, notwithstanding, left his family deftitute of all fuitable provifion. His Lordship, therefore, hoped, that virtue fhould not, in this inftance, be merely its own reward; but that the gratitude of the public to Lord Chatham's defcendants fhould be the means of exciting an emulation in those yet unborn to copy fuch an example. The minifter fell in with the fentiments of the noble Lord in a manner that did him honour; and the whole Houfe feemed to participate of a general pleafure in their approbation of them. A motion was acc rdingly made by Mr. Townshend, which (contrary to the general courfe of that gentleman's fortune) was unanimoufly paffed, for an addrefs to his Majefty," That he would be graciously pleafed to make fuch a lafting provifion for the family of the late William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, as his Majefty in his wifdom and liberality fhould think fit, as a mark of the fenfe the nation entertains of the fervices done to the kingdom by that able statesman; and to affure his Majefty that the Houfe would make good the fame." Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke fpoke upon this occafion, in a manner which did equal honour to their abilities and their hearts. This meffage occafioned the bringing in and paffing of a bill, by which an annuity of four thou fand pounds a year, payable out of the civil lift revenue, is for ever fettled on thofe heirs of the late Earl to whom the Earldom of Chatham may defcend. This exalted inftance of national gratitude, and honourable reward of departed merit, was followed by a grant of twenty thousand pounds from from the Commons, towards difcharging the debts of the late Earl All this bufinefs was condated with a liberality which did the highest honour to the Houfe; there not having been the fmallest altercation, nor a fingle diffentient voice, upon any one propofition that was made on the subject. CHA P. IX. Sir George Saville's motion for a bill to repeal certain penalties and dif qualifications to which the English Roman Catholics were liable, univerfally agreed to. Event of the Irish bufinefs. Debates relative to the Toulon papers; Sir William Meredith's first motion, at length rejeaed. Motion of adjournment, by the Minifter, carried. Circumfances relative to the arrival of General Burgoyne. Motion by Mr. Vyner, relative to the Canada expedition. Amendment moved by Mr. Fox. Explanations of his fituation and conduct by General Burgoyne. Debate. Mr. Fox's amendment rejected on a divifion. Original motion fet afide by the previous queflion. Motion by Mr. Hartley against the prorogation of Parliament, after confiderable debates, rejeded on a divifion. Similar motion by Sir James Lowther, meets the Jame fate. Motion by the Duke of Richmond for withdrawing the forces from North America. Previous queflion moved and carried on a divifion. Great debates on the Earl of Effingham's motions tending to an enquiry into the fate of the navy. Effective motions rejected; two others agreed to. Duke of Richniond clofes the enquiry in the general Committee on the fate of the nation. Moves an addrefs of great length, founded on various matters of fact, which had been established in the courfe of the enquiry. Debate broke off on the fudden illness of the Earl of Chatham, and adjourned to the following day. Address rejected. Proteft. Refolutions, founded on the Toulon papers, moved by the Duke of Richmond. Juftification of naval affairs and conduct, by the noble Lord immediately concerned. Interefling particulars ftated by the Earl of Briflol. Motions fet afide, Motions fet afide, on a divifion, by the previous question. Proteft on the Chatham annuity bill. Earl of Derby's motion relative to the Saratoga bufinefs, fet afide by the previous quefiion. Duke of Bolton's motion for deferring the prorogation of Parliament, after long debates, rejected on a divifion. Speech from the Throne. However neceffary the penal laws against Roman Catholics originally were, whilst the conftitution was yet ftruggling into reformation, and afterwards confirming itself in that happy fettlement, as the cause of perfecution had long ceafed to operate, men of humanity could not avoid lamenting, as all true |