enough George may praise the constitution! George and his family receive, under this inestimable constitution, not less then ten thousand good pounds a year. Where will he find such another constitution in the whole world?--The marriage settlements came out at last. That is excellent. I suggested, I believe, a few weeks ago, that the places and, pensions, granted to some persons, had an effect the contrary of that of "checking population;" and, I had, I must confess, heard, that, upon two especial occasions, Hymen, in the shape of an old usurer of a father, had actually refused to light his torch, 'till Cupid, in the shape of a minister of state, had made his appearance with a most moving piece of eloquence written upon parchment, having a patent seal upon one corner; but, we are now told plainly, in the Honourable House, that there are some who could not have "their marriage settlements without pen sions, reversions, &c. &c." We are told this plainly; and that, too, in the Honourable House itself, there being no contradiction to it. Nor, as to the sinecure, enjoyed along with his place of 4,000l. a year, did Mr. Huskisson make any reply. What an excellent country this is for Mr. Huskis. son! What an invaluable constitution!! This little interesting digression being over, Mr. Perceval proposed his amendment, which made the motion this : That there "should be an instruction to the Committee of Public Expenditure to procure a List of "ALL Offices, Places, Pensions, c.speci-· fying by whom they were held, with the "exception of the Army and Navy, and Officers below 200l. a year in the Revenue; "and cause this list to be laid on the table of the House."- -Why any exceptions at all? But, observe, that this list would have confounded members of parliament with others; so that, to have found them and their wives, children, sisters, and mothers out would have been not only a work of several weeks for any one man; but, it would have been morally impossible for him ever to have arrived at the point which lord Cochrane had in view; for, how would any examiner of such list be able to say, whether such or such a child, or such or such a woman, was related to a member of parliament ? This amendment was, in fact, a negative upon the motion; and, accordingly, the House having divided upon lord Cochrane's motion, there appeared, for it 61; against it, 90; leaving the ministers a majority of 29. -After this Mr. Perceval proposed his motion, to which lord Cochrane proposed, as an amendment, to leave out all the latter part and to substitute the words of his motion. -Now another excellent debate followed.. We have it only in substance; but that sub. stance is beyond all praise. I must beseech the reader to go over it with attention; for, the day will come, when it will, every word of it, be to be re-considered.- "LORD HEN"RY PETTY again repeated the objection. 66 formerly urged by him, that by the con"stitution of the Committee of Finance the present was an inquiry which was already "before them, and which if they failed to investigate, they would not do their duty. "To prove this be requested that the order appointing the Finance Committee might "be read. This being done, he said, if it "" was meant that the Committee should quit every other subject of inquiry, and "attend to this alone till they could make "their report, and that such report could "be made immediately, he should have no objection to it, as then it might be of some utility; as the motion stood, however, it could in his opinion produce no good. MR. WM. SMITH thought an "order of the house to every public office 66 to produce the lists in question, would "do better than adopting the motion as it now stood. He hoped the motion would "be so worded as to instruct the committee "immediately to proceed in the inquiry in "question, or that it would be withdrrwn, "and the papers be called for by an order "of the house.- -MR. PERCEVAL said he "had already stated, that he at first thought "of this mode of proceeding; but it after"wards occurred to him that the committee would disgrace itself. Those who respect. "ed the house at present would suspect "that all was not right, and those who al"ready suspected them would have their "suspicions confirmed.-MR. BANKES "wished that the accounts might be order"ed to be laid before the house, that the "committe might not fall into disgrace It was IMPOSSIBLE THEY COULD RE"PORT THIS SESSION, AND IT WAS " EQUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY "HOW EARLY THEY MIGHT BE " ABLE TO DO SO IN THE NEXT. "If the returns were to be made to the "house, no time would be lost in complet ing them, and then if it was thought the "committee could be of service, it would "be time enough to refer the papers to them. "It would be but doing them slender jus"tice, to allow the delay which might "take place in making the returns to seem to attach to the committee.-MR. SHERIDAN thought it impossible, after what had fallen from the Chairman of the "Committee of Finance (Mr. Bankes), that "the Chancellor of the Exchequer could "persevere in his motion, or if he did so, "that the house would support him in it. "It was nothing but an evasion of the no"ble lord's motion. Its object was to see how many members of this house were "possessed of sinecure places, pensions, ""&c. and of course might be supposed to " be under the influence of the crown. "The motion of the Chancellor of the Ex"chequer, however, went to exhibit a List of all persons whatever having any place, pension, &c. This was to over"whelm the inquiry, and to strangle and "suffocate the object which the noble lord ❝ had in view.MR. VYSE supported the "motion of the Chancellor of the Exche object sought to br gained, but that the "evidence to be obtained by it might also "be of importance in other respects."DR. LAWRENCE lamented to see gentle men who talked of their independence, "and prided themselves on that circum stance, so entirely forget in what it con"sisted as to lend their countenance to a "deception on the public.- -MR. H. MAR"TIN objected to the delay which was like"ly to result from the business being re"ferred to the Finance Committee; and "stated, that when the Committee ap "pointed in the year 1797 were retiring "from office, they made a report that their precepts had not been obeyed. This was a conduct which no public office should "dare to pursue to that house.—Mr. "Rose supported the motion, maintaining "that all the places, pensions, &c. were "already well known, and that sinecures were not now so numerous as they had been.——— "MR. CALCRAFT observed, that such a list as was now spoken of, might, if any person were to give himself the trouble to do so, be collected from papers that were already on the table of that House. The object of the motion he conceived to be simply this, to bring fairly before the "House in one point of view the names of "all the members of that House, who either "held places or enjoyed pensions, or else, "whose wives or children derived a similar emolument from the crown. He could not "avoid remarking, by the way, the great activity of the member for Yorkshire (Mr. Wilberforce) in interposing with his shield over those who were in that situation. with regard to the hon. and right hon. gentlemen on the opposite bench (the Treasury bench) he might certainly find "some room to compliment them on their ingenuity upon this 9.casion; but he was "certain that they had not left him the smal lest opportunity to compliment them on a "much more solid qualification-their sin &c. he would have no objection. It would "be an object of great curiosity. He thought that the subject should be gravely "considered in parliament. He was of opinion, that many would be ashamed of public view, and therefore desired to give "them publicity."--In this last particular his lordship was mistaken. It is owing to his inexperience, that be supposes that some of the members of the Honourable House would do any thing that they would be ashamed of. No, they do nothing that they are ashamed of. It is for common mortals to do things to be ashamed of; this is never the case with a man after he becomes a member of the Honourable House II. PRECIOUS PRIVILEGE.On the 8th instant, there was made, in the House of Commons, a report from what they call there, a committee of privileges, of which, it would seem, George Rose is at the head. This report related to the case of a Mr. George Galway Mills, who, it appears, was in the King's Bench prison at the time of his being elected to serve in parliament. Some petitions against his being released had, it appears, been presented to the House. But, I dare go no farther. I must now confine myself to the report of the debate, just as I find it in the Morning Post Newspaper of the 9th instant, to which report I beseech the reader to pay attention. It will do him great good, if his mind be fluctuating upon these matters. It will tend to give him feelings such as the times, and especially the approaching times, call for. MR. ROSE cerity." After this a division took place, many of the Honourable Members having, in the mean while, come, from ac-"these practices if they were exposed to cident, I suppose, into the House: For Lord Cochrane's amendment 60, against it, 161. Mr. Perceval's motion was then put and carried without a division.This, then, is the state of the case; 1st, Lord Cochrane makes a motion, the object of which is to ascertain how many of the members of the present House of Commons, receive, either directly or indirectly, money from the purse of their constituents, and what is the amount of, the receipts of each; 2dly, Mr. Wilberforce expresses his gladness that the motion has been made, and is confident that it will convince the people that all their suspicions are groundless; 3dly, Mr. Perceval proposes to new-shape the motion, and instead of an inquiry confined to members of parliament and their relations, to instruct the Finance committee to make out a list of all pensions, places, &c. &c. &c. held by all manner of persons, and not distinguishing members of parliament and their relations from other persons; 4thly, Mr. Bankes, the chairman of the Finance Committee, states, that it is impossible, that the committee should make their report, upon this motion, during the present session, and equally impossible to say how early they may be able to report upon it in the next session; 5thly, Mr. Wilberforce says, that the motion of Mr Perceval is completely adapted to the object sought to be gained!This is a fair statement, and this statement I leave to my readers with an expression of my earnest hope, that they will not forget any part of this day's transactions.In one part of the debate, Lord Cochrane "observed, that "his sole motive for making this notion was a regard to the public benefit. He "wished to include the Army and Navy, "because of the manner in which he had "observed commissions to have been disposed of in the latter service. The assent to this "motion would tend to establish ministers "in their situations; for, though they "should secure all the votes in the house, brought up the Report of the Committee "of Privileges, to whom the letter address"ed by George Galway Mills, Esq. to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and "the petitions presented against the said G. "G. Mills, Esq. had been referred. The Report stated, that the Committee had exa"mined and found that the said G. G. "Mills, Esq. was a member of the house of commons, and that he was then in the custody of the marshal of the King's Bench. The committee had consulted precedents, and had abstained from examining the allegations contained in the petitions which had been ;eferred to them, conceiving that even had those allegations "been proved, that would not have influenced their judgment, or prevented them 66 "as a member of the committee, and as "having himself presented a petition to the "house against Mr. Mills, stated a few "points, which, in his opinion, the house, “duly regarding its own honour and dignity, "circumstances much more important "than the privileges of an individual, ought "deliberately to consider. The petition to "which he alluded had been presented by "him with the concurrence of the person "against whom it was directed, and for "whose interests he and others had exerted "their utmost efforts; those efforts had "been fruitless; because that hon. gentle"man did not choose to abide by his own "propositions. Mr. Mills's debts, of va"rious descriptions, exceeded £30,000.— "Not one of his creditors wished to inter"fere with the privileges of parliament; "but they thought, and certainly they were "justified in thinking that while the house "of commons attended to the preservation " of their privileges, they should also at"tend to the demands of justice, and to the "preservation of their credit with the pub"lic. As far as time would allow, the "committee had examined all the prece"dents which appeared to bear upon the present subject, but in his opinion, not " one was found that met the case stated in "the petitions. The petitions contained this allegation, that the petitioner had ob"tained his seat in Parliament as a temporary protection, in order to evade the demands of his creditors, and ultimately, he was compelled to say so, to defraud them. "He was sorry to be obliged to use such language when speaking of one with whom " he had been in habits of intimacy; but in a case so glaring, which so strongly excited "the public attention, at times like these, it "would be well for the house to pause be"fore they granted to any man under such "circumstances, the benefit of the privilege by which the ends of public justice would be defeated. He had proposed to the committee to go into the allegations con"tained in the petitions. The report can didly stated, why they had not done so. "There might be peculiar cases in which it "would be advisable to grant privileges "without such an examination; but this "did not appear to be one of them. Was "it proper that he should be a legislator, "who himself attempted to trample upon "law?MR. ROSE observed, that there was a precedent as nearly in point as "could possibly be expected; it was that "of Mr. Basset, in the reign of Charles I. who had been arrested on a mesne process, when it was resolved that he was decided 66 66 "ly entitled to the privileges of parliament. "On this ground, and on the ground that "even were the allegations proved, they "could not influence the resolutions of the "committee in this respect, those allega"tions had not been gone into.Mr. C. "WYNNE agreed most cordially with the report of the committee. The house were bound to support their privileges " which were given to them, NOT FOR " THEIR ADVANTAGE, BUT FOR "THAT OF THE COUNTRY AT "LARGE. The privileges which mem"bers of parliament enjoyed of freedom " from arrest, was as good for the electors as for the elected; were it not so, many of "the former might be unrepresented. There was not a single instance on the Journals "of the House, refusing the privilege when "clearly defined. Should the abandonment "of this privilege be argued, he trusted it “would be argued not on a particular but " on a general view of the subject; not "with a reference to the individual imme"diately concerned, but with a reference "to the honour of parliament, and the ad"vantage of the community --MR. "COCHRANE JOHNSTONE thought that a "special report ought to have been made "by the committee on an inspection of the petitions which contained so strong a charge on the character of one of the "members of that house: they stated that' "he had procured a seat in that house for "the express purpose of enabling him to " evade the payment of his debts and to escape to the West Indies. He under"stood that four or five persons now in the " King's Bench were anxiously waiting the "decision of the house, in order that if that decision were favourable to Mr. Mills, they might avail themselves of his example, and take similar steps in order to re"lieve themselves from similar embarrass"ments. He entreated the house, for their "credit's sake, before they ordered the li"beration of this gentleman, either to refer "the petitions back to the committee, or to "take the subject into their grave and se"rious consideration. MR. ELLISON "declared, that the committee had entered "this subject generally, yet if it were deem 46 66 46 66 46 "that the accused should be within the ed adviseable to take it up particularly, he "would go as far as any man to rescue the "house from the imputations that might "otherwise be cast upon it. if there was one duty more solemn than another, it was, that at the present moment the house should keep itself as clear as possible from any suspicion of dishonour..--MK. SIMEON observed, that no imputation could possibly rest on the house, because the allegations contained in the petitions had not yet been examined. The committee "of privileges had nothing to do but with "the simple case, whether Mr. Mills was a "member of the house, and whether he was in the custody of the civil law?-mended upon a subject like this; and, there"MR. BARHAM deprecated any interference "with the privileges of the house on this 66 46 single case. If it could be proved that "Mr. Mills had procured his election for fraudulent purposes, that would be a fit subject for the consideration of an election "committee; he thought that Mr. Mills had "been rather hardly treated, in having such grave accusations urged against him in his absence, when he was unable to reply to "them.--THE CHANCELLOR of the ExCHEQUER declared, that it was impossible not to approve the conduct of the commit"tee, in refraining from entering into the fore, I shall content myself with a word or represented!" Aye, you stupid people, do · you not hear? If there were not a privilege, exempting members of parliament from being confined for debt, while the rest of us are liable to be confined for debt for our. whole lives; if this were not the case, many of us would be unrepresented!" Do you understand it now? If you do, I need say no more; and, if you do not, you are unworthy of the few words that I have already, bestowed upon you.-—III. IRISH INSURRECTION BILL.- This bill, which was introduced on the 9th of this month, is now upon the point of becoming a law. provisions are such as one might expect in a case where the whole, or nearly the whole, of the people are suspected of a wish to avail Its |