MEASURES ADOPTED BY PARLIAMENT, ARISING OUT OF THE LONDON RIOTS.
The house of commons met on Friday, the 9th of June, but as Westminster was thronged with troops, and the capital had the appearance of being under martial-law, the members adjourned till the 19th. On that day his majesty met both houses, and exhibited a general view of the measures which had been employed during the suspension of regular government. In his speech he stated that he had directed copies of the proclamations which had been issued to be laid before parliament; and he concluded by declaring that it was his first duty and chief glory to maintain and preserve the established religion. The common danger seems to have had the effect of procuring a greater unanimity in both houses than had been exhibited for many years before. Addresses were carried without opposition; though some members blamed ministers for negligence and delay, and for not employing the troops sooner. A question was moved in the lords respecting the legality of military interference; which point was accurately examined and constitutionally settled by Lord Mansfield. His lordship said that the late riots amounted to overt acts of high-treason, and were besides accompanied with felonies, as the burning of houses, property, &c., all of which was sufficient legal ground for the king’s proclamation calling out the military. Under such circumstances he said, the military must act with and under the civil power, and that if the soldiers exceeded the powers with which they were invested, they must be tried and punished, not by martial law, but by the laws of the realm. This being the law, he added, it was an ill-founded apprehension that the metropolis was under martial-law, or that the military had more power since the riots than before. The noble lord made one allusion to his own serious losses, which greatly affected all the peers present. He had been obliged, he said, to form his opinions without the aid of books; adding, “indeed I have now no books to consult.” On the following day the house of commons having resolved itself into a committee upon the petitions for repealing Sir George Saville’s tolerating act, which had been made an occasion of so much mischief, adopted five resolutions, on the motion of Mr. Burke, expressing satisfaction in the law as it now-existed, together with an abhorrence of the late tumults, and of the misrepresentations which led to them. Many members, however, thought it necessary to do something to quiet the minds of the petitioners and remove the dread of Popery; and a bill was brought in to deprive Roman Catholics of the right of keeping schools in which there were any Protestant scholars. This bill passed in the commons, but it was rejected by the lords, as carried by the fear of popular outrage, and therefore derogatory to the dignity and independence of parliament. All signs of popular rage had now, however, disappeared; and government had evidently derived an accession of strength out of doors as well as within the walls of parliament. The minds of the public had become impressed with the danger arising from popular assemblies for political purposes; and the associations of reform were therefore deserted by members who had hitherto supported them. Men found that it was easy to raise the storm of human passion by exciting language; but that it was the most difficult thing in the world to allay it when once lashed into fury.
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