On the 15th of June Mr. Thomas Townshend moved for an address, praying his majesty not to prorogue parliament, until the inquiry into the conduct of affairs in America should be completed. This motion was negatived, but, on the next day, Lord North gave some information which necessarily prolonged the session. He acquainted the house that the Spanish ambassador, after delivering a hostile manifesto to the secretary of state, had suddenly quitted London. This manifesto, North said, together with a message from the king, would be laid before parliament on the morrow. On the 17th, therefore, the message and the manifesto were introduced. In the message, his majesty declared, in the most solemn manner, that he had done nothing to provoke the court of Spain; that his desire to preserve peace with that court was uniform and sincere; and that his conduct towards that power had been guided by the principles of good faith, honour, and justice. He was the more surprised, he said, at the declaration of Spain, as some of the grievances enumerated in that paper had never come to his knowledge, and as those which had been made known to him had been treated with the utmost attention, and put into a course of inquiry and redress. His majesty’s message concluded by expressing the firmest confidence in the zeal and public spirit of parliament, and the power and resources of the nation. His majesty’s declarations concerning his conduct towards Spain were fully borne out by the manifesto, which was a loose rigmarole, in which scarcely anything else was clear than that war with Great Britain was fully resolved upon. The opposition in both houses took credit to themselves for having prognosticated, in the spirit of true prophets, a war with Spain, and taunted ministers with folly and blindness in imagining that such an event would not take place. Both houses, however, were unanimous in their indignation against Spain, and in their determination of supporting the war against the Bourbons. Addresses to this effect were agreed to; but Lord John Cavendish moved for another address, to be presented at the same time, praying that his majesty would give immediate orders for the collecting of his fleets and armies, and to exert the whole national force against the House of Bourbon. As this motion involved the withdrawal of the troops from America, ministers opposed it, and the secretary at war having moved an adjournment, it was immediately carried by two to one. In the lords, an amendment to the address, moved by the protesting Earl of Abingdon, was also rejected by a large majority; as was also a motion made by the Duke of Richmond, similar in its nature to that made in the Commons by Lord John Cavendish.
DEBATES ON THE MILITIA BILL.
On the 21st of June Lord North proposed that the number of the militia should be doubled, and that individuals should be authorised to raise loyal corps to assist in the defence of the kingdom. This was agreed to in the commons; but in the lords the clause enabling the king to double the militia was rejected, thereby leaving the bill a mere skeleton. When it was brought back to the commons thus mutilated, Lord North was taunted by the opposition with having at length, after spreading the spirit of disunion and discord on every hand, seen it enter into the very cabinet itself. In reply, North, with wonderful equanimity of temper, observed, that he could not agree in their lordships’ judgment in considering his proposition impracticable: that his own experience as lord-lieutenant of a county induced him to believe that the militia could easily be doubled; but that his experience could not control the opinions of the other house, where there were so many lord-lieutenants of counties. However, he said, he accepted the power of augmenting the home force as crumbs falling from their lordships’ table. A debate subsequently occurred on the question which was mooted by a member of opposition, as to whether or no the Militia Bill was a money-bill. It was insisted by some that it was such to all intents and purposes; that no amendment of the lords could be admitted in such a bill, without a surrender of the most valuable privileges of the commons; and that, therefore, the bill must be totally rejected. It was decided by a majority, however, that it was not a money-bill, and consequently it passed.
BILL FOR THE IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN.
On the 23rd of June, at a late hour of the night, the attorney-general moved for leave to bring in a bill for manning the navy, by resuming protections granted to certain descriptions of seamen, watermen, and their apprentices, and by taking away the right of habeas corpus from all persons of those classes impressed before the passing of this bill. The late hour at which this motion was made was purposely chosen, in order that the effect of the press-warrants might not be impeded by the disclosure which the newspapers would have made throughout the country, and in order that the fleet, on which the safety of the country depended, might be manned without impediment. The attorney-general admitted this, and the opposition could not deny the necessity of dispatch, or that there were no other means of manning the fleet; but they denounced the bill as a violation of sacred rights, and a treacherous irruption into the dwelling-houses of citizens. The bill, however—which was called the “Indemnity Bill,” from its retrospective operation—was read twice on the same night, and when the house met again it was passed and sent up to the lords, who agreed to it, after inserting a clause in favour of colliers: it immediately received the royal assent.
GEORGE III. 1779-1780