PARLIAMENTARY MEASURES.
Early in this session Mr. Canning moved the house on the subject of the slave-trade. He made two motions: the first being a preliminary relating to the cultivation of the land in the island of Trinidad, lately ceded to England, which, some contended, should be performed by negro slaves; and the second a distinct motion on this subject. In his second speech he remarked, “In considering the acquisition of Trinidad, it seems as if Providence had determined to submit to the trial our boast of speculative benevolence and intended humanity, by placing in our power a colony where, if we pursue our old course, it must be purely for its own sake, without the old inducements or the usual apologies. This is a day of tests; I trust we shall abide the trial.” During this session an important act was passed for consolidating the existing militia laws, and for augmenting that force: it was agreed that the militia should remain permanently 60,000 strong, and that 40,000 should be called out in the first instance, and the remainder when the king deemed necessary. In announcing his budget, on the 5th of April, Mr. Addington stated the intention of government to abolish the income-tax, and fund the £56,000,000 with the payments of which it was charged. This announcement gave great satisfaction, and the resolutions upon the budget were agreed to without a division. Provision was made during this session for their royal highnesses the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, and the Prince of Wales’s embarrassments were taken into consideration; the magnificent sum of £60,000 annually was granted him for three years and a half, commencing from the 5th of January, 1803, and ending the 5th of July, 1806. Sums of money were voted to Dr. Jenner for the promulgation of his valuable discovery of vaccine inoculation; to Mr. Greathead for his invention of the life-boat; and to Dr. Carmichael Smith for a discovery of nitrous fumigation, for preventing the progress of infectious disorders. Parliament was prorogued on the 28th of June by the king in person, who congratulated the country on the peace and prosperity it was enjoying; and on the next day it was dissolved by proclamation.