of the burgh, they had given what they called the following decreet arbitral; which was a sentence,

That the burgesses, deacons, &c. have no right to hold meetings, to confer, or treat upon subjects of this sort." By treating, it was not meant, entertaining, as canvassing at an election, but merely arguing upon matters respecting the burghs; and in this manner they discharged and forbade all such complaints, and declared the rights of the burgesses in that part of the kingdom, on matters in which no one could deny that their interests were materially concerned. Such, Mr. Sheridan said, they found to be the liberal free cess of one burgh, agreeably to their present constitution, or rather according to the interpretation which the convention gave to that constitution. Another cess which some boroughs enjoyed, no doubt, for the same purpose of promoting harmony, peace, and good order amongst the inhabitants, was of a nature that prevented certain degrees of consanguinity, such as fathers and sons, brothers, and so on, from holding offices in the magistracy; a circumstance, the wisdom and propriety of which he did not mean to enter upon at

this time.

Mr. Sheridan's original motion was then put, and negatived.After which, he adopted Mr. Fox's amendment, and moved,

"That the house will early in the next session of parliament, take into consideration the matter of the petitions, and other papers, presented to the house in the last parliament, relating to the internal government of the royal burghs of Scotland."

Mr. Erskine seconded Mr. Sheridan's motion, which was agreed to, nem. con.

MAY 30.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF FINANCE OF 1786.

Mr. SHERIDAN rose, and moved, that the notice, which stood as the order of the day, for him to move for a committee to take into consideration the re

port of the committee of finance, of 1786, and the report of the committee of 1791, might be read. The same having been read, Mr. Sheridan stated, that there were certain papers to be presented that day, which it might be material for him to refer to; and, therefore, he thought it right to move to have the order discharged and entered for the next day. He said, he hoped he should have no occasion to refer to the papers in question, but as it was impossible for him to say beforehand whether he should or not, he would move for the discharge of the order. It was discharged accordingly, and entered for this day.

Mr. Pitt, who happened not to be in the house at the time the foregoing motion was made, but came in just after, said, he understood the honorable gentleman opposite to him, had moved to put off the consideration of the two reports from the committees of finance, till the next day. He hoped, however, the discussion would really be brought on this day; and, as the honorable gentleman had called the attention of the house to the subject, he gave him notice, that if ke moved any propositions, he should either object to them, or move amendments upon them; or, perhaps, move such other propositions as would bring the whole state of the subject fairly and fully before the public.

Mr. Sheridan, in reply, said, it appeared to him to be rather premature in the right honorable gentleman to talk of objecting to his propositions, or of moving amendments, before he knew what those propositions would be. He did assure the right honorable gentleman, that he would endeavor to make it as difficult as possible to the right honorable gentleman, either to object, or move amendments upon his propositions, which would be resolutions of fact, founded upon figures, to which it would be almost impossible for the right honorable gentleman to object.

When the papers were afterwards presented, Mr. Sheridan moved to have them printed.

A short conversation then took place between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. Sheridan, on the ground of its being impossible to have all the papers printed in time for the next day. In the course of the conversation it came out, that a material point in the discussion

would be the consideration of the disposal of the money voted for the fininishing of Carlton-House, and that Mr. Pitt had yesterday morning received a letter on the subject officially from Lord Southampton, which Mr. Sheridan wished to have laid before the house. Mr. Pitt said he really had not had sufficient leisure to consider what was proper to be done with it, or what answer to send, but the honorable gentleman need not be afraid of his wishing to conceal it ; since, if he could have any such desire, it was not in his power to carry it into effect, as the person who sent it might furnish a copy.

JUNE 2.

SUMS VOTED FOR CARLTON HOUSE.

Mr. SHERIDAN rose, and observed, that the return made to his motion for papers relative to Carlton House, was so far defective, that a paper which he considered as of very considerable importance, had been wholly omitted. This omission he by no means ascribed to design, but merely to accident. To explain the nature of this paper, he read a resolution moved some years ago by the right honorable gentleman over against him, (Mr. Pitt) and agreed to by the house, namely, "That an address be presented to His Majesty, that he would be graciously pleased to issue from his civil lis, the sum of £20,000 towards completing the works at Carlton House, as soon as estimates of the whole of the expense for completing the same should have been laid before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury." From this resolution it appeared that the money ought not to have been issued untill estimates of the whole expense should have been previously procured by the Treasury : but the Lords of the Treasury had in point of fact issued the money, without having previously taken care to have estimates made out by the Board of Works. That it was by the King's and not by the Prince's servants that the estimates ought to have been made out, appeared from this, that Carlton House belonged not to the Prince of Wales, but

to His Majesty; and consequently the money having been voted for repairing a house, which in reality belongs to the King, and not to the Prince of Wales, it was by the King's surveyors, and not by those of the Prince, that the estimate ought to have been made the person therefore to whom the money was issued, ought to be considered as a public accountant, and bound to render to parliament an account of the expenditure. In this light Mr. Holland ought to be called to give an account of the expenditure of the several sums which had been voted for Carlton House.

This, Mr. Sheridan said, he thought it necessary to say, as a report, as strange as it was false, had got abroad, that the money voted for completing Carlton House, had been taken out of the hands of those whose duty it was to apply it to the purpose for which it had been voted; and that it was applied to purposes of a very different nature. The unfinished state of Carlton House might induce people to believe this, who did not know that His Royal Highness, not considering the money as his, but as voted for the repair of his father's house, had made it a point never to touch a shilling of it. Mr. Sheridan then observed, that in a letter from Colonel Hulse, in the printed accounts, it was stated that several papers were inclosed to Mr. Pitt, one of which, marked No. 5, contained Mr. Holland's estimate of the works, and an account of the money expended upon them. Now it so happened, that this paper, marked No. 5, had not been laid before the house; he moved therefore that it be laid before the house.

Mr. Pitt said, that an estimate had been delivered to him for His Majesty's perusal, stating the amount of the sum necessary for completing and furnishing Carlton House; in which so few alterations were made by the King's surveyors, that he thought it best to pay the whole sum; and it was accordingly paid into the hands of the Prince's Treasurer: As to the paper for which the honorable member had moved, he believed it was actually in the printed accounts,

though it was by mistake marked No. 6, instead of No. 5; for Colonel Hulse's letter mentioned no more than five inclosures; this No. 6, was therefore the precise paper which ought to have been marked No. 5.

Mr. Sheridan said, the right honorable gentleman was mistaken; for if he would read Colonel Hulse's letter again, he would find that it mentioned things as contained in No. 5, of which nothing appeared in No. 6. He still insisted, that the minister, in obedience to the resolution of the house, ought to have ordered the King's surveyors to make out an estimate for work to be done at a house which belonged to the King, and not to the Prince.

Mr. Sheridan's motion passed without a division. He afterwards wished to know if Mr. Pitt had any objection to a motion for a copy of a letter written to him (Mr. Pitt) by Lord Southampton on this business. Mr. Pitt having in reply stated the letter to be private. Mr. Sheridan gave up his intended motion.

Mr. Grey's motion for an address, imploring His Majesty not to prorogue the parliament without communicating some distinct information relative to the cause of the present armament.

Mr. Grey moved that an humble address be presented to His Majesty, to express the deep concern his faithful commons felt at being called upon for a promise to make good the expense of new preparations for war, after having been so recently obliged to impose on their constituents additional taxes on account of the late armament against Spain.

66 Humbly to represent to his Majesty, that in the answer which they gave to His Majesty's most gracious message, his faithful commons, acted on by a firm reliance that His Majesty's paternal care and regard for the welfare of his people, would not suffer him, by a causeless interference in the disputes of other countries, to endanger the peace and tranquillity of this.

"That no inquiry was made into the particular circumstances which had induced His Majesty to arm, and a promise of support was given, as indefinite as the object for which it was demanded.

"That since that period two months have elapsed. The preparations for war are still continued. The expense for which His Majesty's faithful commons must hereafter provide is daily increasing. No information as to its cause or object has yet been given; and if parliament should now be prorogued, His Majesty's faithful commons will be placed in the disagreeable, and hitherto unprecedented, situation of returning to their constituents, after having subjected them, by a vote of this house, to new burdens, the extent of which