A. D, 1765. 415 



burthen employed by them. But, as thefe advantages were to ceafe on 

 the 22(1 of Odobcr 1767, and the charter wouk! not expire till the 22d 

 of ■' Jdlober 177T. Tue aiinuity and tunna^e bounty were prolonged for 

 the remaining four \cars of the charter. [5 Geo. Ill, c. 22.] 



The rates of portage were raifed. Ships bringinc^ letters were oblio-ed 

 to deliver them at the polt-nffice. The poflmaftcr-general was empow- 

 ered to eftablifh a penny poft-olFice m anv town ni the Britifli domi- 

 nions. Letters brought by the general poll for peopld' living beyond 

 the delivery of the general pofl-office, and in that of the penny-poft, 

 were directed to be delivered by the penny-pofl: with an additional 

 charge of one penny for each letter, whether fmgle or double. No 

 packets weighing above four ounces, except general pofi; letters, were 

 henceforth to be carried by the penny-poft. Embezzlement of letters, 

 taking notes or bills out of them, and robbing the mail, were made fe- 

 lony [5 Geo. HI, c. 25.] 



The feudal fovereigTity of the illand of Mann had been granted by 

 Henry IV to Sir John Stanley, anceftor of the earls of Derby, and was 

 now poil'eiTed by the duke and duchels of Athol as heirs of the earls of 

 Derby. But many inconveniencies being found to proceed from the 

 ifland being independent of the Britifh government, it was now given 

 up to the crown for a valuable confideration paid to the duke and 

 duchefs. 



By an abftrad of the whole revenue drawn by the duke of Athol 

 for ten years, from 1754 to 1763 inclufive, it appears to have been 

 ^^85,085 : 6 : 6y ifland currency, which, being to fterlmg money as fe- 

 ven to fix, makes ^72,930 : 5 : 7 fterling, the annual average of which 

 is/?7293: o: 6^ rterling, whereof above /^6ooo wtre cuftoms paid to 

 the duke as fovereign. [5 Geo. Ill, c. i(i.'\ 



The journeymen lilk-weavers, and thole of the other trades connect- 

 ed with that branch in London, who were futfering by the fafliion of 

 wearing French filks, alfembled in vaft numbers on the day appointed 

 for the meeting of parliament (loth January), and marched with drums 

 and colours by feveral routes to the pal;ice and parliamem-houfe, in or- 

 der to preient petitions praying for relief by a total prohibition of fo- 

 reign-wrought filks ; and they alio perlonall_^ applied to feveral mem- 

 bers in their way to the houfe, in the humblelt terms imploring them 

 to have pity on the wretched lunation of the inklvcs and their families. 

 The fight of luch a multitude of people, thrown idle for want of em- 

 ployment, and probably ready for the commiffion of delperate deeds, 

 together with a report that the weavers of the inland towns were pre- 

 paring to fet out for London, fpread a dreadful alarm, elpeciall) aiiiong 

 thole who conceived themlelves obnoxious to their reientment. 1 hey 

 however did no other milchief than breaking the windows of feme 

 houfes, where they fuppofed French filks were Ibid, and were appeafeJ 



