4 
1797+] 
cutive government need not act on the 
refolution of the Houfe which granted 
the money ; but when once a loan was 
contracted for, the payments mutt be 
made. Mr. Pitt repiied, that power was 
to be referved in the Bill, to authorize his 
Majefty, if necefiary, to puta ftop to the 
continuation of advances, and to put what 
farther payments were to be made to the 
publicaccount. Mr. W’. Smith, Mr. She- 
ridan, Mr. W. W. Bird, Mr. Curwen, 
and General Tarleton focke againft’ the 
Refolution; Mr. Wilberforce, Sir. W. 
Pulteney, and Sir James Murray Pulte- 
ney fupported it. On the divifion there 
were, Ayes :193—Noes 50. : 
On the sth of May, the Houfe, mm a 
Committee of Supply, voted the fum of 
So,coo]. as a marriage-portion to the 
Princefs Royal; Mr. Curwen obferved 
upon this occafion “ that at a period like 
the prefent, his Maje(ty would have done 
well to have made the required provifion 
aut of Lis own private property. 
On the rothof May,Mr. WHITBREAD 
made his promifed motion of cenfure 
upon the conduct of the minifter for de- 
laying the bufinefs relative to the feamen 
then in a ftare of infurrection on board 
the fleet near Portfmouth. He obferved, 
that when the demands of the failors, 
made in the firft mutiny, were complied 
with by Government, it was underiftood 
that thofe compliances were to be ratified 
immediately by Parliament, and that 
without fuch ratification they did not 
mean to put tofea. Hence it was clear 
that the feamen were not contented with 
the mere promife of the Minifter. It 
was his duty, therefore, to have brought 
down a meffage as foon as poffible. On 
the 23dof April, the bufinefs was ad- 
juted with the failors;,on the 26th it 
was referred to the Council; and on,the 
3d of May the Order of Council was 
iffued. He contended, that there could 
be no rational ground for this delay, and 
that the Houfe was bound to cenfure 
a Minifter whe, to al! his other mf 
conduét, had added this laft moft calami- 
tous and fatal one. No meflage to that 
hour had been brought down! the Mi- 
nifter excufed the delay, by urging the 
neceflary forms preparatory to the efti- 
mate. Surely the prefent Muinifter could 
not fhelter him{elf under the plea of ob- 
ferving forms—‘* he who had trampled 
- on all the forms of that Houie, and upon 
all the principles of the Conftitution.”’ 
‘The Houfe would recollect, that when 
‘he deemed it neceffary to abridge the l- 
_berties of the people, he ufed the utmof 
Public Affairs—Great Britain, 
895 
difpatch ; with what celerity was the fuf- 
penfion of the Habeas Corpus act paffed! 
When he conjured up plots, and fright- 
ened the nation, then he could find no 
time for delay. Mr. Whitbréad con- 
cluded by moving, | 
«That the Right Honourable William 
Pitt, in having fo long delayed prefenting 
to this Houfe the eftimate of the fum ne- 
ceffary for defraying the expence of the 
increafed pay of the feamen and marines 
of the Fleet, and for the propofed iflue 
of the fullfallowance of provifions, has 
been guilty of a grofs neglect of his duty, 
and deferves the cenfure of this Houfe.” 
Mr. Fox feconded the motion. 
Mr. Pitt, in his own juftification, faid, 
that though he did not with to transfer 
any degree of blame from himfelf to any 
of his Majefty’s minifters, he felt it a 
duty he owed to himfelf to obferve, that 
he neither did prefent it, nor was it any 
part of his duty to prefent or to prepare 
it. The Houfe then divided. For the 
motion 63, againft it 237. | 
Mr. WILBERFORCE, onthe 1sth of 
May, moved, inthe Houfe of Commons, 
for Leave to bringin a Bill for Abolithing 
the Slave Frade, at a Time to be limited. 
He prefaced this motion with a fpeech of 
confidermble length, in which he appealed 
to the humanity of the Houfe with his 
ufuat eloquence. He faid, if he could 
but bring the Members to a fenfe of 
their duty towards God and’ man, he 
fhould accomplith his purpofe. He ob- 
ferved ‘* that all who believed in a moral 
providence rnuft fee, that our perfevering 
in this horrid trade, only confiftent with 
practical atheifm, had provoked the divine 
vengeance, which appeared to have giver 
us up tothe effect of our own perverfe 
princioles.””.- Mr. Hobhoufe, Mr. Mar- 
tin, (Mir. Pitt, Mr. Canning, and Sir 
William Dolben, fupported the motion 5 
Mr.. Ellis, Colonel: Gafcoigne, 8c. op- 
pofed the motion, which at length was 
negatived by 82 avainft 74. 
Mr. GREY, on the 16th of May, moved 
aferies of Refolutions, founded upon the 
Report of the Seleét Committee on the 
Finance ; which brought on a debate of 
confiderable length, but they were nega- 
tived by a great majority. One of thefe 
Refolutions contained a direét cenfure 
on Mr. Pitt. Lhe divifion upon this 
queftion was, Ayes 60—lWNoes 206. 
‘His grace the duke of Bedford, on the 
rsth of May, {poke for two hours upon 
the fubjeét of the Stoppage of the Bank ; 
and he difplayed great abilities upon that 
bufinefs. At length he produced a num- 
‘ 
5 ber @ 
