GENERAL HISTORY. 



[il 



the decisions of cur prize courts. 

 He lirmlly contended, that every 

 plea on which the Orders of Council 

 had been founded was proved erro- 

 neous by the experience of four 

 jears ; and he concluded by mov- 

 ing " For the appointment of a 

 select committee to take into con- 

 sideration the present state of the 

 commerce and manufactures of the 

 country, particularly with reference 

 to the effects of the Orders in Coun- 

 cil, and the licence trade." 



Earl Bathurst, in reply, went 

 through with great clearness all the 

 particulars which could he adduced 

 in refutation of the arguments of 

 the noble mover, and endeavoured 

 to prove the great advantages which 

 had arisen from the system adopted 

 by government. He also referred 

 to the origin of this system, which 

 be traced to the administration of 

 ■which the opposition was now 

 composed. He assigned other 

 causes for the late commercial em- 

 barrassments, and affirmed that 

 the clouds were now dissipating, 

 and favourable prospects were 

 opening ; whence he could not 

 accede to the proposition submitted 

 to the house. 



Lord Holland, in replying to 

 the last speaker, thought that it 

 would be an acceptable thing to 

 the house to bring back their at- 

 tention to the actual motion under 

 consideration, which was, the ap- 

 pointment of a committee of in- 

 quiry ; and he argued that the 

 more doubt there was, which of 

 the many orders in council had 

 produced the mischiefs complained 

 of, the greater was the necessity of 

 such an inquiry, that it might be 

 repealed. With respect to the 

 topic introduced by the noble earl 



relative to the original authors of 

 these orders, he said it was dis- 

 graceful to the legislature, and 

 disgusting to the people, that mea- 

 sures which affected the best in- 

 terests of the country should be 

 discussed, not upon their own jne- 

 rits, but as questions of consistency 

 or inconsistency on the part of this 

 or that administration. 



After several other lords had 

 spoken on the subject, the house 

 divided ; for the motion .34, proxies 

 o7, total 71 ; against it 66, proxies 

 69, total 135 : majority 64, 



On March 3, Mr. Brougham, in 

 the House of Commons, made a 

 similar motion with tliat of the 

 Marquis of Lansdowne, for the ap- 

 pointment of a committee upon the 

 Orders of Council. Of his long 

 and elaborate speech to prove the 

 impolicy and mischievous effects 

 of these orders, and of the argu- 

 ments used by the other speakers 

 on both sides, it is impossible in 

 an abstract to give any adequate 

 idea ; even on perusing them at 

 length, the mind is distracted by 

 reasoning opposed to reasoning, 

 and fact to fact. The time, how- 

 ever, was not yet come in which 

 the question could be regarded 

 apart from the coiisideration of the 

 support it was to receive. The 

 ministers were still resolved to 

 maintain their system, and of 

 course, the votes under tiieir in- 

 fluence were given against the 

 motion. It was, however, truly 

 stated by the mover, in his reply, 

 that the votes of this night were to 

 determine the point of peace or 

 war with America. The propor- 

 tion of members in favour of the 

 proposed inquiry was greater in the 

 House of Commons than in the 



[E 2] House 



