him, in a time of trial and difficulty, to take from his civil expence, that he might add to his military establishment; to take from fhew that he might add to fubftance; to make his people happy, that he might make them vigorous; to make his war a war of exertion, that his peace might be honourable and fecure.

After placing the fubject in every advantageous point of view, and adapting arguments to every fituation, he informed the houfe that he laid before them the fame plan, which had engaged fo much of the time and attention of the laft parliament to fo little purpofe. He had made no alterations in it; and he requested the houfe, and laid it before them in a hope and confidence, that if they meant to give it countenance and attention, they would do fo with fairness and candour, and not with infidious respect in its outfet, tempt it to a death of flow and lingering torture. He called upon the noble lord in the blue ribbon, who was to be the arbiter of its fate, and begged that, if he meant ultimately to give it a death-ftroke, he would fave himfelf and the houfe much fatigue, and the nation much anxiety and difappointment, by ftrangling it in its birth. Let them try the matter on that day, if it was to be tried. He called upon him to do this, and to be, at least for one day, a decifive minifter.

Mr. Burke then moved, "That leave be given to bring in a bill for the better regulation of his majefty's civil eftablishments, and of certain public offices; for the limitation of penfions, and the fuppreffion of fundry ufelefs, ex

The minifter, in anfwer to the call made upon him, faid he would very candidly declare, that his opinion on the fubject had not at all varied from that which he had entertained on it in the preceding year, and that though he did not difapprove of the plan in toto, yet the parts which appeared to him proper to be adopted, borc fo fmall a proportion to the whole of that very comprehenfive scheme, that he thould be obliged to oppofe it in fome future ftage of the bill; he did not think it would be decent or candid for him, upon his own private opinion, to fet his face against the bill in its firft stage, by oppofing its introduçtion; efpecially as there were many new members in the house, who, though they might have a general knowledge of the fubject, could not be fo fully informed upon it as was, neceffary to their coming to an abfolute decifion he would therefore referve himself until the bill was printed, and the members were in poffeffion of the neceflary information, when he fhould think it his duty to ftate fuch obfervations and objections as might occur to him, to the houfe,

Under

Under this unfavourable aufpice, the bill was carried through to a fecond reading; when it was again doomed to experience the weight of that influence which it was intended to reduce, but which for the prefent it was unable to furmount. As no new ground could be taken upon this fubject, we shall not attempt repeating the arguments which were used in the preceding parliament, and which we fully flated in our last volume. Feb. On the day appointed for 26. the fecond reading of the bill, it brought out great debate; if it was ftrongly oppofed on the one fide, it was no lefs ably and powerfully supported on the other; and the divifion not only furprized many, but was more clofe than the minifter himfelf expected. Mr. Burke wound up the debate, by combating all the arguments that had been brought against his bill, with a degree of ingenuity and ability, which furprized even thofe who were molt acquainted with them. Mr. William Pitt, fon to the Earl of Chatham, and the young Lord Maitland, were highly diftinguifhed, by their ability and eloquence in fupport of the bill.

The motion for the second reading was, about midnight, overruled upon a divifion, by a majority of 233 to 190, By a fubfequent refolution, the bill was put off for fix months.

.

Of all the acts of the minifter, during fo long a government of public affairs, fcarcely any brought upon him fo much feverity of reprehenfion within doors, or per haps fo much cenfure without, as the loan of the prefent year, Twelve millions were borrowed,

upon terms fo advantageous to the lenders, that the price of the new ftock rofe at market from nine to eleven per cent. above par.

Before this circumftance was, however, known, the loan was, on its own bottom, ftrongly objected to, and both its manner and principle feverely condemned, by Mr. Fox. For on the day March 7. of the minifter's opening the budget, as it is called, when he had neceffarily laid before the houfe the nature and circumftances of the loan, that gentleman, in a fpeech of great length, and in which, along with his ufual ability, he difplayed fuch a fund of financial knowledge, as feemed to excite furprize, endeavoured to eftablish, by incontrovertible data, and by arguments that appeared no lefs irrefragable, that the bargain was exceedingly difadvantageous to the public, and that the money might have been obtained upon much better terms.

But he farther contended, that the lofs to the public, however great, and however ill able they were to bear it, was comparatively but a fmall part of the evil. For although the loan was liable to the strongest objections, both as a queftion of finance and a matter of œconomy, it was still much worse, and even highly dangerous, when confidered in a political view. He calculated the profits on the loan, under every probable contingency, at fomething near a million; and that great fum, he faid, was entirely at the difpofal and in the hands of the minifter, to be granted as douceurs to the members of that houfe, whether as compenfations for the expences of their elections, or for whatever other purpose of corrupt

{*M] 4

corrupt influence might beft fuit his views. Thus the attempt made by his honourable friend to correct and restrain undue influence, by controuling the civil lift expenditure, would have been of little avail if it had even fucceeded, when a fum equal to that whole revenue was to be annually thrown by a loan into the hands of a minifter, to be applied to the worst and most dangerous of all purposes, that of procuring and preferving a conftant majority in the houfe of commons upon every question; and thereby affording fupport and efficacy to all the views and defigns of a bad administration, however pernicious or ruinous, and without a poffibility of parliamentary redress to the public.

He particularly objected to the propofed lottery, which was added to the douceurs of the loan, and afforded a benefit of one per cent. to the subscribers. This he confidered as the most pernicious and deftructive of all fpecies of gaming; as immediately affecting the morals, habits, and circumftances of the lower orders of the people; and which, upon every principle of policy, fhould be carefully avoided. He trusted he had clearly convinced the house, that the benefits to the fubfcribers of the prefent loan were fufficiently great without the lottery; and he hoped they would render the greatest fervice in their power to the public, by preventing its inevitable ill confequences. He therefore moved, as an amendment to the minifter's motion for agreeing to the terms of the loan, that the latter claufe, refpecting the lottery, hould be omitted.

The motion of amendment on

a queftion of fupply brought out a good deal of debate. The minifter acknowledged, that the bargain he had made for the public was a liberal one; but he juftified it by ftating the neceffity of the cafe, and by pofitively afferting that the money could not have been obtained upon eafier conditions.

With respect to the ideas thrown out, that the loan was a fource of influence, and that half of it was taken in that houfe, they were, he faid, extremely ftrained. The loan was a public loan, very indifcriminately taken; and, as a matter of conjecture (for it could be no more on either fide) it was not reasonable to fuppofe that a large part of it would be taken by members of that house, at the time the terms were propofed. Nor did he believe that it would be fo found in fact. He fhould be forry to fee a bankrupt house of commons; but that would be the probable effect, if its members embarked in money transactions to fo vaft an amount as twelve millions. As to the intereft which any minifter could be fuppofed to procure by fuch a loan as the prefent, it was a very poor compenfation for the great fatigue and trouble of mind occafioned by fuch a burthen; he had full conviction that no bufinefs could be more disagreeable.

It was the undoubted province of the house to confider and judge of the terms of the loan; and it was in their power to accede to them or not. But he requested gentlemen to confider the ill confequences of their refufing to accede to the propofitions agreed on. The attention paid by monied men to the treafury would be lef-. fened; and if it were usual for the

house

houfe to fettle and alter the terms, they must go farther, and conduct the business, and make the bargain themfelves. That argument certainly would not go to the fupport of any thing materially and palpably wrong. In that cafe the houfe ought to interfere; but unless the objections were very material, which he trufted they could not be, he left gentlemen to confider the ill confequences of refufing to accede to the propofitions which had been agreed on. With refpect to the lottery, he faid it was a favourite part of every douceur with all money lenders; it was an encouragement and advantage to them, without its being any expence to government; on the contrary, 480,000l. was paid in, and remained without intereft for the greater part of the year.

Mr. Fox's amendment was rejected upon a divifion, by a majority of 169 to 111; and the minifter's original motion, with the refolutions appertaining to it, were paffed without farther difficulty.

This bufinefs, however, did not end here. Mr. Fox's difcuffion of the loan, having probably excited or increased a spirit of enquiry, much information had in the intermediate time been obtained, relative to the circumftances of that tranfaction, and to the price of the new flock at market, which occafioned an unufual and determined oppofition to the report.

Sir Philip Jennings Clerke took up the business, and arraigned in the bittereft terms the bargain made by the minister; which he faid was fo much against the pub

lic, as to become the fubject of converfation, complaint and furprize in all places. He should therefore move for recommitting. the report, in order that the house might amend the terms, and prevent, what he termed, fo fhameful and extravagant a prostitution of the public money. He faid the diftribution of the loan had likewife been fcandaloufly partial. That instead of being diftributed' among men of known reputation and character, who had always been the fupporters of government in fuch cafes, it had been given to the minister's creatures and friends, as a reward for past, and a retainer for future fervices; and particularly he affured the houfe that he had been well informed, that the favoured contractor, whofe name had been fo long familiar to them, had no less than the prodigious fum of 3,300,000l. of the Ioan, affigned to his fhare, or at least difpofal.

He was fupported by Sir George Saville, Mr. Burke, Mr. Fox, Mr. Byng, and fome other gentlemen, who befides reprobating the loan in all its parts and circumftances, infifted that the house was not in any manner bound to confirm the conditions.

Nothing, they faid, would tend more to injure public credit, than to fhew the world, that it was not parliament but the minifter that regulated the finances of this country. It was the idea of parlia ment's examining and controuling the public finances, that had raifed the national credit to fuch high eftimation. It was that which gave the ftamp and publicity to all our financial operations, and gave fecurity both to the public and

the

the creditors. That while the enemy were beginning to adopt a mode which they faw proved fo highly advantageous to us, the minifters of Great Britain were endeavouring to turn parliament into a court of registry, which was to have no other concern with taxes and loans, than to give a fort of official fanction to whatever bargains the minifter thought proper to make. Such a conduct would fink the credit of parliament, and confequently that of the nation, to nothing.

On the other fide, Lord North contended, that he by no means confidered his reputation as a minister to be staked in the prefent tranfaction. He had made the best bargain he could for the pub. lic; but if the houfe did not approve of it, it would not be bind. ing either on him or on them. Though the committee had agreed to it, if the houfe did not choofe to confirm their refolution, he fhould be releafed from the fubfcribers, as the public would from the bargain. Let thofe, who thought themfelves more competent to the business make another. But even fuppofing the bargain to be a bad, and he allowed it not to be a hard one; yet he could not bring himself to think, that any reduction that could be now made from the profits of the fubfcribers, (even fuppofing them to be as high as they had been reprefented), could in any degree balance the mifchief to the public credit, which fuch a measure muft occafion; and the infuperable difficulties which would be thrown in the way of all future loans, when it was found that the minifter had not authority to afford perma

nence to a bargain, and that the lenders were liable to be fript of the benefits arifing from any favourable change of circumftances, the chance and hope of which, had been among the principal inducements for parting with their money. But parliament certainly had a right to judge; and if they fhould think that public credit would neither fuffer nor be endangered by lopping off the lot. tery, then undoubtedly, as ho. nour did not stand in their way, they would and ought to do it.

The terms of the loan, he faid, were perhaps too great; but it was impoffible to pronounce with any certainty on that head, from the tranfactions which had taken place at change. Every bargain which had been hitherto made refpecting the new loan was illegal, as thofe who made them could have no certainty that they had any fhare whatever in it; nor could it be known until that houfe had confirmed the refolutions of the committee of ways and means; then, and not before, the lift of the fubfcribers, and of their refpective fhares, would be made out and fent to the bank. Every body knew how eafy it was to make bargains in Exchange Alley; and how cufomary it was to make them, not at any fair or market price, but at an extravagant premium for fome finifter purposes; thefe fort of bargains might be made only for fome fmall fums, and then the point was gained of publishing that the ftocks were fold at fuch a high premium. But it was not from fuch tranfactions that the value of stock could be afcertained; nor could any tranfactions in the alley, until the lift of fubfcrib