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HISTORY O 



iii the speaker of either House to 

 ijiutilaleor alter any motion; other- 

 A'ise freedom of expression would 

 - radually be obliterated. He nio- 

 > sd in consequence, that moticjns 

 should be put in the words they 

 weie made. 



Lord Ihurlow contended, that 

 the proceeding complained, of v. as 

 orderly, and used with the. sole 

 view of obviating a more disagree- 

 able manner of rejecting liie mo- 

 tion. — A warm discussion followed, 

 ■which was terminated by an ad- 

 journment, and the question itself 

 left undecided. 



In the midst of these parliamen- 

 tary altercations, the pubic saw 

 withmuchsatistactiona biil b'"ought 

 into the House of Commons, of 

 such national utility, as to claim 

 and command at once the concur- 

 rence of all parties. This was a 

 bill introduced by Lord Hawkes- 

 bury, to take place at the end of 

 the war, and by which a great 

 number of seamen that must in 

 consequence be discharged would 

 immediately be provided with em- 

 ployment. The principal inten- 

 tion of the bill was to oblige all 

 Eritish merchanlmen to be manned 

 wiUi th''ce-fourths of British iail- 



EUROPE. 



.N^' 



i'-- 



249 



ors ; a..d coasting vessels to admit 

 of no foreign seamen duiing peace. 

 This latter regulation would pie- 

 > " 'gners (r.m becoming ac- 

 ; . . wiih our sea-ports ; a know- 

 li-dge often attended with danger 

 in time of war. By another pro- 

 vision of thii bill, iioship, withinit 

 being duly registered as belongin;r 

 to this country, should liave the 

 freedom of British ports. This 

 would exclude vessels belonging to 

 lf.rei^n<rs tVom the eiijoymeut of 

 this privilege, ah; tend to augment 

 fhe nuuiber of our uv, ii iiicrchuiit- 



men. He stated the quantity of 

 shipping in Great Britain at sixteen 

 thousand vessels, measuring more 

 than one million of tons, and man- 

 ned witli one himdred and eighteen 

 thousand British marineis : twelve 

 thousand of these vessels belonged 

 to Engkind ;done, and t-mpioyed 

 one hundred and ^even thousand of 

 I hose mariners. To such a summit . 

 of prosperity had the naval power 

 of Great Britain risen within the 

 last hun.^red years, that during the 

 American war, Lierpool alone had 

 firted out privateers exceeding in 

 tonnage and nwmber of seamen the 

 whole of the grand fleet employed 

 by England against the Spanish Ar- 



. maia'in 1588. At the restoration, 

 in the year l663, the shipping 

 of England amounted to 95,000 



,'tons ; at the Revolution, twenty 

 years after, 190,000 ; at the acces- 

 sion of the prest^nt Roval Family, 

 in the year 1714, to 421,000: in 

 th.e year 1750, to 6:)9,GOO; in the 

 year l77-i) the year before the 

 American war, to 79'J.O30; and in 

 1792, the year preceding the pre- 

 sent war with France, to 1,3;^0,000. 

 The strong probability that the 

 war wi:uld continue longer than 

 had been confidently predicted by 

 its approvers, began at this time 

 to excite great alarm in the public 

 mind. I'he majority had flattered 

 tliemselves, that if the coalition 

 were not able to compass all the 

 designs it had originally proposed, 

 still it would succeed in accomplish- 

 ing many ; and at ail events, that 

 France would be compelled to ac- 

 cede to such terms as might atlect 

 the tran(]uill!ty of Europe,, and 

 leave the Fnunl) ihemselves in pos- 

 session of an internal ^jy.itcm of go- 

 veruujcnt, which, tho' not 1 epugaant 

 to the gcnefal aeuiimt^iUs oi tiiat na- 

 tion. 



