rized the magistrate to commit to immediate imprisonment whomever they thought proper to charge with seditious language, or behaviour, in any popular meeting. This they asserted was to constitute them, at once, judges and jury. The earl of Moira took pointed notice of an expression that had been used by the earl of Westmorland. The words of that nobleman were "send the people to the loom and to the anvil, and there let them earn bread instead of wasting their time in seditious meetings." This, said lord Moira, was degrading men below the condition assigned to them by the Almighty, who certainly could not have intended that any part of mankind should be doomed merely to work and eat like the beasts of the field. They too were endowed with the faculty of reasoning, and had certainly the right to use it. tinued together, however peaceably, to the number of twelve persons, an hour after proclamation made, they were adjudged guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy; and the presiding magistrate was authorized to use violence, even to death, in apprehending them. This clause was so unjustifiable, that he thought himself bound to oppose the bill, were it solely from this motive. The lord chancellor made a long and elaborate reply to lord Thurlow's objections, without advancing, however, any thing new in support of the bill. The question for its going into a committee was carried by one hundred and nine votes against twenty-one. The house of lords went, accordingly, into a committee upon the bill, on the eleventh of December, when the duke of Norfolk opposed the clause extending the operation of the bill to three years, and moved that it should be limited to one. He was seconded by lords Scarborough, Darnley, Radnor, and Romney. But the term of three years was supported by lords Grenville, Spencer, and Mulgrave, and voted by forty-five to eight. On the fourteenth of December, 1795, the bill was read a third time and finally passed. Strong and cogent arguments were produced, by lord Thurlow, to prove that the government of England could not, in justice to the nation, fetter it with new laws, merely to prevent the possible consequences, in this country, of those principles, the importation of which, from France, was apprehended. After signifying his general disapprobation of the bill, he pointed out its variations from the provisions of the acts of Charles II. and George I. respecting seditious proceedings. By the latter, known by the name of the riot-act, people unlawfully assembled did not, however, expose themselves to capital punishment, unless they persisted in acting in a disorderly and tumultous manner during a whole hour after the act had been These two acts were considerread to them. But, by the presented the most restrictive of any that bill, if people were assembled, in or- have been passed by an English der to take a subject relating to the parliament since the reigns of the public into consideration, and con、 Tudors; a family of which the re No law, enacted by the British legislature, was ever received by the nation with such evident and general marks of ill will and disapprobation as these two celebrated bills, on which the public bestowed the appellation of the Pitt and Grenville acts, in order to set a mark upon their authors, and hold them out to the odium of the people. membrance membrance is far from being agree able to the people of England; notwithstanding that it produced an Elizabeth, whose tyrannical disposition and maxims tarnished the lus. tre of all her great qualities. The despotism of that house was indignantly recalled to notice on this occasion, and the severity of the two acts in question, compared to the most arbitrary and oppressive proceedings of the sovereigns of England, previous to the commencement of the seventeenth century. It was owned, at the same time, by every candid mind, that if, on the one hand, there was danger to be apprehended, from measures tending to despotism, there was, on the other, danger in allowing an unrestrained freedom of haranguing the populace; a freedom that tended to anarchy and confusion. If, on the one hand, it be the nature of power to mount, with hasty steps, into the throne of despotism, it seems to be inseparable from liberty, on the other, to push its claims beyond a just and reasonable degree of free dom. Amidst a scarcity of grain; an accumulation of taxes; an unsuccessful, not to say unnecessary war; difficulties abroad; distresses at home-when the elements were troubled, and a storm so greatly threatened, silence was imposed on the ship's crew, and each man was fixed to his particular station. The danger to be apprehended from the operation of those laws did not consist so much in any immediate restraint they might impose on a reasonable freedom of discussion, and presentation of petitions to the legislature, whether for the redress or the prevention of grievances, as in the tendency they had to enervate the spirit of liberty. The consequences of many, nay most, innovations are not perceived at first: otherwise they would, in many instances, be imme. diately resisted. By the time that per nicious innovations are perceived, custom and habit have rendered them less odious and intolerable. Precedents, growing into authori. ties, rise into absolute dominion, by slow degrees; by accessions and dis tant encroachments, each of which, singly considered, seemed of little importance. The vanity of resist ance at last breaks the spirit of the people, and disposes them to unre served submission. Their political importance being wholly gone, they are degraded, more and more, and subjected to greater and greater oppressions and insults.-It was ob served by many, even of those who were disposed to admit the temporary expediency of the two unpopular and odious acts, that the greater part by far or our new laws have a reference, either to public revenue or to the security of the monarchical part of the constitution and that few, of any extensive operation, are of the class that may be denominated po pular and paternal. The only alleviation that accom panied the two acts, was the time limited for their duration. This kept up the spirits and hopes of the people, that however their representatives might have been prevailed upon suspend the exercise of those privi leges, on which the national freedom depended, they were too wise, as well as too honest, to trust them in the hands of the executive power, any longer than they might be convinced was requisite for the fermen tation of the times to subside, and for the people to revert to their former temper. CHAP. CHAP. IIL In the House of Commons, Regulations respecting the Sale of Flour, and the Making of Bread.-Motions by Mr. Lechmere and Mr. Whitbread, respecting the Causes of the Scarcity of Wheaten Flour, and the Hardships incident to the Labouring Poor.-Negatived.-Bill for Encouraging the Cultivation of Waste Lands.-Motions for the Support of the Land and Sea Service.-Strictures on the Conduct of Ministry in the War Department.— Replied to by Mr. Windham.-Debates on the Erection of Barracks.— A Statement of the Expences of 1796, amounting from twenty-seven to twenty-eight Millions sterling.-Debates concerning the Terms of the Loan. -Vote approving the Conduct of the Minister on this Subject.-New Taxes.-Debates thereon.-Message from the King, intimating his Disposition to enter into a Negociation with the present Government of France. -An Address moved, expressing the Readiness of the House to concur in such a Measure.-Amendment thereon, moved by Mr. Sheridan.—This rejected, and the Address carried.-Motion for Peace, by Mr. Grey.Negatived. URING these parliamentary houses were not unmindful of the critical state of the country,through the alarming scarcity of corn that had prevailed for some time. On the thirtieth of October, 1795, the second day of the session, Mr. Pitt moved, that the bill, allowing the importation of corn,duty free,should be extended to another year. Fle proposed at the same time several flour, and the making of bread. It was observed by Mr. Lechmere, that no remedy could be applied to the scarcity without investigating its causes; the principal of which he believed to be the monopoly of farms, and the jobbing in corn. Public granaries ought, he said, to be erected, where every * one It is one of the most pleasing as well as important tasks imposed on the journalist to record, with due approbation, and point out as much as possible,such public counsels and actions as originate in sound patriotisin, and are eminently conducive to the public good. We wish that Mr. Lechmere's observation on the baneful effects of monopolization of land had met with more attention, and been made a subject of parliamentary inquiry and regulation. It is with great satisfaction that we notice the efforts of feeling and enlightened men, who, whether by speaking or writing, recommend attention to the labouring poor. Whoever peruses "Mr. Newte, of Tiverton's Tour in England and Scotland," and "An Essay on the Right of Property in Lind," ascribed to professor Ogilvie, of Aberdeen, will be abundantly satisfied, that, by a due encouragement of agriculture and the fisheries,which may be considered as a species of agriculture,sources of unfailing prosperity naght be opened to this island, amidst one might purchase without the intervention of corn-dealers. He therefore moved for an enquiry into the causes of the scarcity. amidst all the possible veerings of commerce, and even under progressive taxes. But the best stimulant to agriculture, according to the just observation and reasonings of the very worthy, as well as ingenious and well-informed authors just mentioned, that could possibly be devised, would be to invent some means, whereby the actual labourer might be animated with the hope of rising to the situation of an actual cultivator of the soil; such as restraints on the excessive monopolization of land; long, and in some cases perpetual leases; a judicious distribution of waste lands, and various contingencies improveable by the legislature in favour of the peasantry of this country, without injuring the great proprietors of land, but even promoting their interest in particular. That this is practicable has been experimentally proved bythe duke of Bedford, the earl of Winchelsea, the earl of Suffolk, and other real patriots and benefactors to their country. There is a strong temptation to throw different farms into one, in the circumstance, that by this means the landlord avoids the expence of keeping up different farm-steads. In order to counteract this inducement,to the excessive enlargement of farms, it was wisely enacted,in the reign of king Henry VIII. that the landlord should be at liberty to dispose of his lands as he pleased, but that he must nevertheless keep up in goodrepair all the ancient mansions and farm-steads. The preamble to this law, which has now unfortunately become obsolete,is worthy of serious attention at the present day. It is a melancholy consideration,that the most prosperous career of arts,manufactures,and commerce, in any individual nation or empire, (not their migration into different countries) carries in itself the seeds of corruption. Mechanical arts and manufactures,bringing together great crowds of people into factories and great towns, confining their bodies to close and narrow spots, and their minds to a very few ideas, are prejudicial to the health, the morals, and even the intellectual powers of a people. There is more strength, self-command, natural affection, and general knowledge and contrivance among tillers of the ground, pastoral tribes, and even savage nations; all of which conditions of men are accustomed to employ their cares, and to turn their hand to a vast variety of occupations. While the wants of men are increased by luxury, their natural resources are diminished: they become inactive and slothful, less and less fitted to bear up under hardships, and to adapt their labour to different exigencies and circumstances. They know but one art. The manufacture in which they are employed fluctuates with the artificial state of society, out of which it sprung. The enervated artisan is thrown on the mercy of the public. A similar ratio holds with regard to nations; each succeeding generation becomes more luxurious than the last; each becomes less capable of exertion. There is, for a long time, a curious struggle between the wants and exertions of men and of nations: but the exertions at last yield to the enervating influence of luxury, and hence we may say of the reign of the arts, what Sallust observes of political empire," that it is in the course of things always transferred from the bad to the good." The immensity of our national debt, which imposes on the hand of industry the fetters of immoderate taxation, added to all these considerations, casts an air of melancholy over our political horizon. This gloom, however, is not a little brightened up by three circumstances. First, there is yet a very large scope in this island for the extension and improvement of agriculture, which breeds a race of men innocent, healthy, and hardy. Secondly, there is still a greater scope for the extension and improvement of our fisheries and navigation, which nourish a hardy race of mortals, maintaining great activity and virtue, amidst occasional excesses. While any land remains to be cultivated, cultivation is better than manufactures, not only in respect of the health, happiness, and morals of the people, but of public revenue. This reasoning is confirmed by the wise economy of America; by the econo mists of France, and the writings of their disciples in this and other countries. See particularly. "The Essential Principles of the Wealth of Nations, illustrated in opposition to some False Doctrines of Dr, Adam Smith, and others." After After a long discussion of the causes of the scarcity, they were found to be of so complicated a nafure, that it proved difficult to remove them. A bill was however brought in to prohibit the manufac ture of starch from wheat and other grain; to lower the duties on its im portation, to prevent the distilling from it, and all obstructions to its free transportation though every part of the kingdom. It appeared, in the mean time, from the information laid before the committee of inquiry into the high price of corn, that, with an exception to wheat, the harvest had been very productive: thus by mixing flour of different grains good bread might be made; a measure the more indispensible, that from a variety of causes no sufficient supplies of corn could be expected from abroad; a bounty of twenty shillings was how ever agreed to for every quarter imported from the Mediterranean, until the importation amounted to three hundred thousand; a bounty of fifteen shillings a quarter upon that from America, till it amounted to five hundred thousand; and five shillings a quarter on Indian corn, till it amounted also to five hundred thousand. The hardships incident to labourers, tradesmen, and manufacturers, were, on the twenty-seventh of November, brought before the consideration of the house by Mr. Whitbread, who observed, that the highest extent of wages to husbandmen was fixable by the magistrate, but not the lowest. On the ninth of December he brought in a bill to authorise justices of peace to regulate the price of labour at every quarter session. Herein he was supported by Mr. Fox, Mr. Jekyll, Mr. Honeywood, and other memVOL. XXXVIII. bers; and opposed by Mr. Burdon, Mr. Buxton, Mr. Vansittart, and Mr. Pitt. The latter was of opinion, that, in a matter of this kind, the operation of general principles ought to be attended to, preferably to uncertain and precarious reme dies. It was dangerous to interfere, by regulations, in the intercourse between individuals, engaged in the various businesses of society. Many of the distresses complained of originated from the abuses that had crept into the execution of the laws relating to the poor, which required much amendment. They did not sufficiently discriminate between the unfortunate and the idle and dissipated. All application for relief should be founded upon unavoidable misfortune, and, if possible, the relief should consist of employment, which would not only benefit the individual applying, but the community itself, by an increase of labour and industry to the common stock. He recommended the institution of friendly societies, to relieve poor families proportionably to the number of their children, and the loan of small sums, payable in two or three years. After a laborious discussion of this subject Mr. Whitbread's motion was negatived, as well as that which had been made for the benefit of the actual labourers, or cultivators of the soil, by Mr. Lechmere. The opinion of the public did not coincide with that of ministry. The wages of labourers and of workmen in all situations ought, it was universally affirmed, to bear a due proportion to the price of the necessaries of Life. This alone would prevent distress, and untimately diminish the number of poor to be provided for according to law. In order to alleviate the wants of the indigent [E] classes, |