The Palatine Emigration. 



117 



the house of commons so far as to obtain resolutions 

 of severe denunciation to be introduced at the end of the 

 committee's report on the Palatines (from which we have 

 already quoted). The language of the second and third 

 resolutions was: 



" Resolved, That the inviting and bringing over into this 

 kingdom the poor Palatines, of all religions, at the public 

 expense, was an extravagant and unreasonable charge to 

 the kingdom and a scandalous misapplication of the public 

 money, tending to the increase and oppression of the poor 

 of the kingdom, and of dangerous consequence to the 

 constitution in church and state." 



" Resolved, That whoever advised the bringing over the 

 poor Palatines into this kingdom, was an enemy to the 

 queen and to this kingdom." Week after week, a day was 

 set for the adoption of these resolutions, but they were 

 never passed, and all further inquiry was dropped. 1 



It was pretended that in the whole affair of Palatine 

 importation there was a design of the Whigs against the 

 established church, and to increase the numbers and 

 strength of the dissenters. And when a letter was read 

 which had been written by the Earl of Sunderland in the 

 queen's name to the council of trade, ordering the council 

 to consider the best mode of disposing of the emigrants, it 

 was moved to lay the load of the whole matter on the earl, 

 with very strong votes ; although at last that measure also 

 was abandoned. 



Simultaneously with the introduction of this partisan 

 measure of investigating the origin of the Palatine emigra- 

 tion, the new house of commons introduced a bill on the 

 same day for the repeal of the new naturalization law, as 

 if they regarded it as a measure equally reprehensible, 

 having been of Whig origin. They pretended that it had 



1 Anderson's England ; TindaVs England. 



