B R I T A I N. 



G5S 



ami of an opposition binding up the hands of the 

 executive, hy withholding their assent to payments 



1 being issued from the bank, or the exchequer, for 

 public service. It was even moved in the house, and 

 declared, that the continuance of the present minis- 

 try would !v i: TUXIS to his majesty, and to the peo- 

 ple; but the minister still kept his place. The king, 

 by a message to the Duke of Portland, delivered in- 

 directly through the medium of Mr Pitt, expressed 

 his desire that an interview might take place, betv, 

 his Grace and the young premier, for arranging a 

 new plan of administration, on fair and equal terms. 

 The Duke required that lie might be permitted to 

 construe this message as a virtual resignation on the 

 part of Mr Pitt. This interpretation was refused ; 

 the supplies were postponed, and ministers continued 

 to be outvoted by their opponents. The peers, how- 

 ever, were roused, by this obstinacy of the lower 

 house, to pass two resolutions, expressing their dis- 

 approbation of the conduct of the commons, and their 

 determination to support the crown in the choice of 

 its ministers. 



It is difficult to pronounce what would have been 

 the issue of this contest, if the wishes of the crown 

 and the commons had continued to be fairly balanced 

 against each other. But the public voice was de- 

 cidedly expressed in favour of the new minister, whose 

 popularity was recorded in the numerous addresses 

 in his favour from every quarter of the nation. The 

 majorities of the opposition, in the commons, were 

 also visibly declining, and their last remonstrance 

 was carried by a solitary vote. The measures of 

 the coalition grew less bold, as their ranks were 

 thinned by desertion ; so that, in March, the supplies 

 were regularly voted, and the mutiny bill passed with- 

 out a division. Still, however, it was thought un- 

 safe to trust farther to a parliament, from whose re. 



.sistance the executive had escaped, only by the de- 

 sertion of temporising members. It was, th.-refore, 

 in spite ot the late promise of his majesty, dissolved 

 on the 25th of March, and a new one convened on 

 the 18th of May. 



The elections for the new parliament were wholly 

 favourable to ministers ; and so complete was the 

 rout of the coalition party, that of 160 members 

 who lost their seats, nearly the whole were the 

 friends of either Mr Fox or Lord North. The 

 most important business of the first session was the 

 arrangement of a plan for the future government of 

 India. The bill which Mr Pitt introduced for this 

 purpose, was founded on the same principles with 

 one which lie had formerly proposed, but which the 

 late parliament had rejected, during their struggles 

 with him, after his first appointment. By this bill, 

 a board of controul was to be established, of which 

 the commissioners were to be of the rank of privy 

 counsellors ; they were to be appointed by the king, 

 and removpabk 1 at his pleasure. They were to check, 

 superintend, and controul, the civil and military go- 

 vernment and revenue of the company. The dis- 

 patches, transmitted by the court of directors to the 

 different presidencies, were to be previously subjected 

 to the inspection of the superior board, and counter- 

 signed by them.. The directors were enjoined to pay 

 obedience to the orders of the board, touching civil 

 and military government, and revenues ; and in case 

 ! i order?, at any time, related to points not con- 



nected with tluse, they were empowered to appeal Britain, 

 to lu , whose decision wa:i to be Imal. The ' ~ -~ -* 



appointment, by the court of directory, to the of- GKI>KG*IU. 

 fice of governor general, president, or counsellor in 

 tli. 1 different pri-sidcticie 1 ;, was to be subject to the 

 approbation and recal of his majesty. A high tri- 

 bunal was created for the trial of Indran delinquents, 

 consisting of three judges, one from each court, of 

 four peers, and six members of the House of Com- 

 mons, who were authorised to judge without ap- 

 peal, to award, in case of conviction, the punish- 

 ment of fines and imprisonment, and to declare the 

 party convicted incapable of serving the East India 

 company. Mr Fox, in opposing the bill, pronoun- 

 ced it, at once, insufficient, insidious, and uncon- 

 stitutional. It pretended to take a controul over 

 the company without invading their charters ; but 

 it did inv-ide their charters, by the enlarged power 

 of ;he board of controul. Yet it did not transfer 

 that power to the proper channel, to which all power 

 ought to revert to the parliament, but drew the 

 richest servants ot the company into a dangerous 

 dependence upon the crown. But Mr Fox, with his 

 accustomed eloquence and powers of discrimination, 

 was unable to excite the general attention to tl' 

 demerit! of the measure in question. The bill had 

 received the assent of the East India company ; 

 though slowly and reluctantly given, it was carried 

 triumphantly through both houses, and was the sub- 

 ject of but little emotion without the walls of par- 

 liament. The public, who beheld with indifference: 

 the whole patronage of India, virtually vested, by 

 one act, in the crown, expressed considerable dis- 

 approbation at an act which passed during this ses- 

 sion, entitled " the commutation act," by which the 

 ancient duty on tea was lowered, and the deficiency 

 to the revenue made up by a tax upon windows. 

 The supplies of the year returned a loan of six mil- ^j pj (t . s 

 lions, which was negociated by the minister, at f; nanc j a i 

 nearly five per cent., with a douceur, to the subscri- arrangr- 

 bersof six lottery tickets, for every thousand pounds. meats.. 

 Provisions were made, during the session, for paying 

 off the arrears of the unfunded debt, left at the 

 conclusion of the war, amounting to nearly 20 mil- 

 lions, by other taxes, which, upon the whole, were 

 allowed to be happily and judiciously chosen. The 

 peace which the nation now enjoyed, and the firm i 

 hold of his power, which the minister kept, enabled 

 him to bestow his attention on plans of commercial 

 and financial arrangement. On the 24-th of January 

 1785, the session was opened by a speech from the 

 throne, the principal feature of which, was a recom- 

 mendation to parliament to apply their earnest at- 

 tention to the adjustment of such point?, in the com- 

 mercial intercourse of Great Britain, as had not been 

 yet finally arranged. 



By a laudable and wholesome bill, which was 

 passed during this year, considerable reformation was 

 effected in the auditing and examining of public ac- 

 counts, and the regulation of public offices. The balan- 

 ces of the navy and ordnance offices, and of the pay- 

 master of the forces, were ordered to be paid into the 

 bank. Many of the inferior departments of office, 

 or heads of service, were consolidated ; and the whole 

 assumed an aspect of regular and rational system. 



Provision was made for funding in the 5 per cent. 

 stock, the remaining floating arrear of debt, consisting 



