"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"It is a great pleasure to me, that, at the close of this session of parliament, I am able to acquaint you, that the hopes I had conceived and given you, of seeing very suddenly a happy period put to the troubles and disorders which had been so long apprehended, are now, by the Treaty signed at Vienna, answered and accomplished.

"A project of a Convention betwixt the Emperor and the Maritime powers, for accommodating the differences and disputes that were subsisting, having been formed, the Treaty is concluded and signed by me and the Emperor; and is now under the consideration of the States General, the forms of that government not admitting a previous concert in a negociation of this nature; and, as this Treaty principally regards the execution of the Treaty of Seville, it is likewise communicated to the courts of France and Spain, as parties to the treaty of Seville and I have just received advice, that the ratifications between me and the Emperor are exchanged.

"The Conditions and Engagements, which I have entered into upon this occasion, are agreeable to that necessary concern, which this nation must always have for the security and preservation of the balance of power in Europe: and as the uncertain and violent state of affairs, to which Europe was reduced, and the mischiefs of an immediate general war, which began to be thought unavoidable, are now removed; this happy turn duly improved, with a just regard to our former Alliances which it shall be my care to preserve, gives us a favorable prospect of seeing the public tranquillity re-established.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons, "I return you my thanks for the effectual Supplies, which you have granted me for the service of the present year, and for the proper disposition you have made of the Public Funds, towards lessening and discharging the National Debt: The remarkable dispatch and unauimity which you have shewn, at this critical conjuncture, has added very much to the credit and weight of your proceedings; and you shall find as great a readiness on my part to case the burthens of my people, as soon as the circumstances and situation of affairs will admit of it, as you have shewn to raise the Supplies necessary for the service of the public.

"My Lords and Gentlemen, "I hope at your return into the country, you will find all attempts to raise a spirit of discontent among my people, by unjust clamours and misrepresentations, vain and ineffectual. All malicious insinuations to the prejudice of my measures must surely vanish, when it shall appear that my first and principal care has been for the interest and honour of this kingdom. Let it be your endeavour to remove all groundless jealousies and apprehensions, that the satisfaction of this nation may be as general, as it is my earnest desire that their happiness may be; let all my people, let all orders of men enjoy, quietly and unenvied, the rights,

privileges, and indulgences, which by law they are entitled to; let no innovations disturb any part of my subjects in the possession of their legal property: let all that are zealous in the support of me and my government partake in common the benefits of the present happy establishment; and let your good will to one another be as extensive as my protection, which all my good and faithful subjects have an equal right to, and may equally depend upon."

Then the Lord Chancellor prorogued the Parliament to the 27th of July. It was af terwards farther prorogued to the 13th of January.

FIFTH SESSION

OF THE

SEVENTH PARLIAMENT

OF

GREAT BRITAIN:

The King's Speech on Opening the Session.] January 13, 1732. The Parliament being met in pursuance of their last prorogation, his Ma

:

"The state of the nation during the remainder of the year 1731 was far from being tranquil the violence of party pamphlets continued to such a degree, that even the most sacred repositories of friendship were broken up and exposed to every vulgar eye. This served only to exasperate matters, and to render party controversies merely personal. It was generally supposed to be somewhat of that kind, which prevailed upon his Majesty in council to strike the name of Mr. William Pulteney out of the list of the privy counsellors, and his Majesty farther ordered, That the said William Pulteney be put out of all commissions of the peace; and that the several lords lieutenants who have given him commissions, do revoke the same; and the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, and his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, were directed to give the necessary orders therein." Tindal.

July 12, was to have come on the trial of Mr. Franklin, the bookseller, for printing the Craftsman of the 22nd of January last. A vast crowd of spectators of all ranks and conditions were gathered about the court to hear the said trial, and the court was crowded with noblemen and gentlemen, particularly my lord Winchelsea, my lord Bathurst, Mr. Pulteney, sir William Wyndham, sir William Young, &c. but when the Jury came to be called, there were but 11 of the 24 appeared; whereupon some debates ensued about adding one to the jury, or calling a new jury; at last the trial was put off till next term. It was remarkable that Mr. Pulteney, who is presumed to be one of the patrons of that weekly paper, was loudly huzza'd by the populace as he went out of Westminster-hall. Which shews the fondness of the people of England for the liberty of the press." Political State,

A

"My Lords and Gentlemen;

"It is a great pleasure to me, that I am able to acquaint you, that the expectations which I have from time to time given you, of seeing the general tranquillity of Europe restored and established, are now fully answered.

"The share of credit and influence, which the crown of Great Britain has had in bringing about this difficult and desirable work, and which redounds so much to the honour and interest of this nation; as it is universally confessed abroad, will, I am confident, be agreeable to my people, and acknowledged with gratitude by you.

"It is well known, that from the time of concluding the Quadruple Alliance, the several courts of Europe have been employed in finding means to execute what the principal powers had agreed to, for the Succession of Tuscany and Parma, in favour of an infant of Spain; but the various jarring and contending interests, hard to be reconciled and united in effectuating a point of so much importance; the extended views and hopes of obtaining on every side farther advantages; and the natural jealousies and distrusts arising-among the several powers concerned, from such opposite principles and purposes, had kept in suspence and unexecuted, what the court of Spain had very much at heart; and occasioned such troubles and disturbances, as embarrassed the affairs of Europe for many years, and particularly affected the interests of this nation.

"You have from time to time been informed of the different measures and negotiations, that have on all sides been carrying on during this long unsettled state of affairs; and you have enabled me to persevere in maintaining the rights and possessions of this kingdom, and in preserving the peace and balance of Europe.

"The Preliminary Articles and the subsequent transactions thereupon not answering the expectations of the court of Spain, and creating a coolness and dissatisfaction among the contracting parties of the first Treaty of Vienna, laid the foundation of the Treaty of Seville, and thereby dissolved that union, which had raised so many apprehensions, and so long alarmed the world.

"The execution of the Treaty of Seville was the great difficulty that still remained; and this, unsurmountable as it was thought, I have by your support, and by the confidence you reposed in me, been able to overcome by just and honourable Treaties, without coming to extremities, and without the hazard and expence of a general rupture, or kindling a war in any part of Europe.

"Parma and Placentia are now in the actual possession of the Infant Don Carlos; the 6,000 Spaniards are quietly admitted and quartered in the Dutchy of Tuscany, to secure, by the express consent and agreement of the great duke, the reversion of his dominions; and a Family Convention is made between the courts VOL. VIII.

"For perfecting and finishing this tedious work, conducted through a series of infinite changes and vicissitudes, and incumbered with all the different views of interest and ambition, I concluded the late Treaty of Vienna; wherein I have entered into no Engagements contrary to former Treaties, or tending either to aggrandize or reduce the power or weight of any potentate, calculated purely for preserving a due balance, and to avoid such confusion, as new changes and convulsions upon future events would unavoidably create, and wherein GreatBritain could never stand by, and be an idle spectator.

"When this shall be duly considered, and it shall be seen that the wounds which have been long bleeding are intirely healed, groundless jealousies will cease, ill humours will subside, and peace and good harmony return together; all diffidence and distrust, the natural effect of repeated delays, artfully instilled and industriously improved and aggravated, will be removed; and mutual satisfaction be the consequence of the punctual and effectual performance of all engagements on our side, which will ever be remembered with great regard and honour to this crown and nation, and leave an indispensible obligation upon those that are immediately concerned, to make such returns as honour and justice call for and demand.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons; "The Estimates for the service of the current year shall be prepared and laid before you, which you will observe to be considerably less than those of former years: It is a pleasure to me to give ease to my subjects, whenever the welfare of the public will admit of it. You have seen the happy effects of your former zeal and resolution; success has attended my mea sures, and you reap the fruit of my endeavours and of your confidence in me; and it must be a satisfaction to you to reflect, that all the expences, which you have lately made, are amply recompensed by preventing and avoiding far greater.

My Lords and Gentlemen;

"This happy situation of affairs, I promise myself, will inspire you all with such temper and unanimity, and such a seasonable zeal for the public good, as becomes a parliament sensible of the great blessings they enjoy: The duty and affections of my subjects are all the return I desire for my paternal love and concern for them. My government has no security, but what is equally conducive to your happiness and to the protection of my people; and your prosperity has no foundation, but in the defence and support of my government: our safety is mutual, our interests are inseparable."*

"It is very plain, from the whole tenor of this Speech, which is unusually long, that his Majesty and his ministers imagined the success and wisdom of their conduct must have stopped 3 K

The Lords Address of Thanks.] His Majesty being withdrawn, the earl of Marchmont moved the following Address of Thanks, which was agreed to and presented the next day :

"Most gracious Sovereign,

"We your Majesty's most dutiful, and loyal subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in parliament assembled, come with hearts full of duty and gratitude to return the humble Thanks of this House for your Majesty's most gracious Speech from the throne.

"We should appear insensible of our own happiness, and disregardful of the honour of this nation, if we did not beg leave to congratulate your Majesty, on your having made the crown of Great Britain so great and signal an instrument of restoring and securing the general tranquillity of Europe, and that in a manner the most advantageous and most honourable to this kingdom: Such is the success we may justly expect will ever attend the measures of your Majesty, pursuing steadily the true interest of your people, and assisted with the advice and support of a British parliament.

"Your Majesty has been graciously pleased to recapitulate the several treaties and negociations framed and carried on, during many years past, for the adjusting the different interests and interfering views of the great powers of Europe, which, though calculated with the greatest wisdom and justice for so desirable an end, have, through a long scene of violent contentions, met with those unavoidable delays, which your Majesty, in tenderness to your subjects, and out of an anxiety for their happiness, has so often been pleased to regret from the throne. We have now the great satisfaction to observe, that those very difficulties and distractions, those jarring and contending interests, opposite to the public good, and to each other, have, by your Majesty's wisely improving each critical conjuncture, by reconciling mutual pretensions and claims, or by defeating and disuniting dangerous, leagues and conjunctions, and above all, by an uninterrupted perseverance in maintaining the rights and possessions of this kingdom, been each made subservient and contributing in various ways, to the great work of peace, which your Majesty has so long Jaboured to procure for us, and has now happily accomplished.

The difficulties that attended the execution

the mouth of all opposition, and have satisfied the nation. It is certain, that the anti-ministerial party, during the recess of parliament, had repeatedly affirmed, both in their conversation and writings, that don Carlos never could be quietly settled, that the nation was upon the eve of a war with France, and that the negotiations with the emperor must prove abortive, or detrimental to Great Britain. They were mistaken in all those conjectures, but their opposition continued as strong as ever; though they had, since the last session, received a great blow by the death of Mr. Daniel Pultoney." Tindal.

of the Treaty of Seville, without coming to an open rupture, and trusting to the uncertain event of war, so much the grounds of just concern and apprehensions in some, and of secret hopes, or even boasts of others, have been entirely removed, with the express consent of those princes, who alone claimed a right to oppose it, and who have themselves become parties in the making it effectual; and such bave been the happy consequences of your Majesty's measures, that the most successful war, in which as experience teaches us the prosperous do not always reap the advantage, could, at the expence of the blood and treasure of this nation, have produced only that quiet and just balance of power, which your Majesty, by negotiations, and just and honourable treaties, has established.

"Your Majesty has not only given imme diate peace to your kingdoms, and extinguished those flames that must very soon have embroil ed all Europe, but in the finishing this glorious design has carried yet farther your great views for the public tranquillity, by framing and concluding the late treaty of Vienna; whereby the dangers which too evidently appeared likely to arise, or new differences and confusions upon future events, are, as far as human prudence can operate, obviated and prevented, without entering into any engagements contrary to former treaties, or having a tendency to raise or depress any power abroad: And it is from this happy situation of affairs, we may reasonably hope, that by our duly supporting and defending your Majesty's government at home, Great Britain, instead of being necessarily involved in new troubles and convulsions, may with safety, ease, and honour, share with our allies the happy benefits of a general peace.

"The whole series of your Majesty's actions had already proclaimed the gracious declaration, which your Majesty in your great goodness has been pleased to make from the throne, That the safety of the crown and of the people is mutual, and that their interests are inseparable. This lays us under the highest obligations to assure your Majesty, that we will proceed in discharging the trust reposed in us, with such temper and unanimous zeal for the public good, as becomes a House of Parliament, truly faithful and affectionate to the prince that reigns over them, fully sensible that our rights and liberties depend on the strength and security of your Majesty's government, and endeavouring to merit, in some measure, the blessings we enjoy."

The King's Answer.] To this Address his Majesty gave the following Answer:

"My Lords;

"I thank you for this affectionate and loyal Address. As the interests of my people, and the securing the peace and balance of power in Europe, has been my chief care and concern, the satisfaction you shew in the success of my endeavours cannot but be extremely ac ceptable to me,

Mr. Shippen spoke next, as follows:

Mr. Speaker;

I rise not only to offer my sentiments against the terms of the Address proposed, but likewise to make a motion. It has, Sir, upon such an occasion, been the ancient custom of this House, to present an Address of Thanks to his Majesty, for his most gracious Speech from the throne, but such addresses were in former days always in general terms; there were in them no flattering paragraphs, no long compliments made to the throne, for transactions and successes which had never been laid before the House, and of which, by a necessary consequence, the House must have been supposed to have been entirely ignorant: It is true, Sir, we have of late years fallen into a custom of complimenting the Throne upon every such occasion with long addresses, and this custom has been followed so long, that I am afraid it may at last become a Vote of course, to vote an Address to his Majesty, in such terms as shall be concerted by those very men, whose measures are approved of by the compliment made to the throne. I confess, Sir, that I am so little of a courtier, that I cannot return Thanks for what I know nothing of; nor can I applaud before I know a reason for such applause. I am not at all against an Address of Thanks in the ancient usual style; but though I should happen to be single and alone in my Opposition, which I hope I shall not, yet I am resolved to oppose addressing in the terms moved for, if it were for no other reason but this, that such a motion may not stand upon the Journals of this House, as agreed to nem. con. for if not taken notice of in time, such humble addresses to the throne may at last come to pass as a matter of course; and be as little regarded or opposed, as some affairs now are, which at first stood a long contest before they could be introduced.

Sir, It is no new thing in me to oppose such Addresses I have always opposed them; and though I do not thereby appear to be a good courtier, yet it shews that I have some respect for the honour and dignity of this House; besides, Gir, when such Addresses have been proposed, it has been promised, and we have been assured, that no advantage should afterwards be taken of any words contained in the compli menting part of such Address; but every member in this House knows, that when the House. had an opportunity of examining things more particularly, and debates ensued thereupon, they have then been told that they could not censure any of the past transactions, because they had approved of them all by their Address of Thanks to his Majesty for his most gracious Speech from the Throne. I hope, Sir, for the sake of my country, that all things are well, that our affairs both abroad and at home are in that prosperous condition, in which they have been represented to us; but as we cannot as yet judge from the effects, and as the Treaties, from which this gret prosperity and lasting tranquillity is to arise, have not yet been

Mr. Speaker,

I am very willing that an Address of Thanks be presented to his Majesty, for his most gracious Speech from the throne; but I cannot agree to an Address in the terms proposed by the noble lord who made the motion, because they seem to imply an approbation of all that has been transacted or negociated by his Majesty's ministers; I am the more obliged upon this occasion to declare my opinion, because of the motion's having been made by that noble member, lest some of my friends should be thereby misled, and made to believe that I am for the motion in its full extent. We ought to thank his Majesty for his most gracious Speech, but I cannot see any reason we have to thank him for our Liberties and Properties: they are secured to us by our constitution; and as subjects of Great Britain we have a natural right to them, and his Majesty is far from having the least thought of making any incroachments upon them: But as for the Treaties and Negotiations abroad, and the honours and advantages we have by them acquired, I do not think that we can take notice of them, for till they be laid before the House, we must be presumed to be ignorant of them. For my own part I shall be glad to know that we are now at last got into a right way; but supposing that all is now right with us, I am certain there was a time some years ago, when we might have been as right as we are now, and upon the same conditions. If we had embraced that opportunity, a great deal of money would have been saved to the nation; but in those days, the guaranty of the Pragmatic Sanction was looked on as inconsistent with the interest and happiness of this nation, and was represented as such even by those who have now agreed to it; what were their reasons for representing it in such a hideous shape at that time, and for placing it now in so amiable a view, I cannot comprehend: For my own part, Sir, I do not see any necessity we were under of agreeing to it, even at this prescut time; for by our agreeing to that Guaranty, we lay ourselves under an obli gation of assisting the Austrian Family, whenever they shall be attacked by any potentate whatever, except the Graud Signior; they may happen to be attacked, when it will be much against the interest of this nation to engage itself in a war upon any foreign account; and if they should acquire many more territories, it may be for the interest of the nation even to join in the attack, in order to preserve the Balance of Europe, the establishing of which