POLITICAL ALTERCATIONS.
In the early part of this session Mr. Adam left the ranks of opposition, and took his place under the ministerial standard. In doing so, he declared that he could not concur in the pretended necessity of new counsels, or new counsellors, since among those who stood candidates for office he was unable to single out one by whom the state was likely to be better served than by the present ministers. Charles Fox replied to Mr. Adam, and his reply, as reported in the newspapers, being thought to convey a personal reflection on Mr. Adam, a duel was the consequence, in which Fox was slightly wounded. Duels appeared likely to become the order of the day among members of parliament. In consequence of the sudden removal of two lord-lieutenants, apparently on account of their conduct in regard to county petitions, associations, and votes given in parliament, Lord Shelburne moved for an address, to desire that his majesty would be graciously pleased to acquaint the house whether he had been advised, and by whom, to dismiss the said two noble lords for their conduct in parliament. In the course of the debates on this motion, which was negatived, Shelburne indulged in some personalities at the expense of Mr. Fullarton, member for Plympton, and late secretary to Lord Stormont in his embassy to the French court. Fullarton complained to the house of commons of the behaviour of the Earl of Shelburne, and shortly after a duel was fought between them in Hyde Park, in which the noble lord was wounded. These transactions induced Sir James Lowther to observe, in the house of commons, that this method of fighting, in consequence of parliamentary debate and hasty words, seemed growing into such a custom, that it behoved the house to interpose its authority, as otherwise all freedom of debate would be at an end, and the British parliament would be reduced to the condition of a Polish diet. The friends of Mr. Fullarton said, it would be indelicate to enter into a discussion on the subject in his absence; and the friends of Lord Shelburne contended, that the words spoken by him were strictly parliamentary, and contained nothing which could be interpreted in a private or personal manner. But the house was not disposed to put its ban on this false code of honour. The conversation ended in nothing, except the hope that duels and wounds would make honourable members speak with better manners. This hope, however, proved to be fallacious. An altercation occurred on the 13th of March, between the speaker and Lord North himself, in which much bitter language was used. Négociations were in progress for the promotion of the attorney-general to the office of chief-justice in the Court of Common Pleas, which office had been promised to the speaker by the Duke of Grafton. Sir Fletcher Norton expressed much dissatisfaction at his being set aside for another, and Lord North denied that he was responsible for the promise of his predecessors. The consequence was that the speaker, from this time, joined the ranks of opposition, and loudly repeated their cries of crown influence, abuse of prerogative, and rights of the people. Being dissatisfied at not having his unjustifiable demands allowed, he suddenly turned patriot, so that if he lost, the people might congratulate themselves at having an advocate for once sitting in the speaker’s chair of the house of commons.
DEBATES ON THE INCREASE OF CROWN INFLUENCE.
During the above debates county petitions were daily laid before the house, and by the month of April the speaker’s table was almost buried beneath them. They were ordered to be taken into consideration by a committee of the whole house, and on the 6th of April a great public meeting was held at Westminster, with the advice and concurrence of the corresponding committee in the other parts of the kingdom, and with the avowed intention of giving weight to these petitions. On the same evening the house resolved itself into a committee, and Mr. Dunning moved his celebrated resolution, “That the influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished.” Dunning remarked, that all the petitions agreed in one great fundamental point; namely, that limits ought to be set to the alarming influence of the crown, and to the expenditure of the public money by means of which that influence had been obtained. He then exhibited, in a continued series, the history and philosophy of constitutional law, and animadverted on measures which endangered British rights and liberties in former years. Afterwards he drew a highly-coloured and exaggerated picture of the conduct of present ministers, and endeavoured to show that it tended to produce similar mischiefs to those which had been produced by the counsels of the House of Stuart. In particular, he criticised the conduct of ministers with regard to Burke’s economical plan of reform, which, he said, they were reducing to a nullity—to a thing naked and shorn, and useless to the country; and he expressed a hope that the people of England would resent the insults they had received from men who added mockery and contempt to oppression and neglect. Those who supported Dunning maintained that it was solely through the corrupt influence of the crown that Lord North had retained his office so long; that his sole occupation for years past had been to frame excuses and expedients, in order to procure supplies from year to year; and that he had neither method in his financial department, nor any comprehensive scheme of any kind. The speaker, less convinced by the eloquent pleadings of the petitions before him, than by his recent disappointment, took part with the opposition. He insisted strongly on the exorbitant power of the crown, and the increase of corrupt influence; and contended, that it was the duty of the house to attend to the demands of the petitioners. The effect which the arguments of the opposition had upon the country gentlemen was so great that ministers became alarmed. The lord-advocate of Scotland, Mr. Dundas, attempted therefore to stifle inquiry, by moving, that the speaker do leave the chair; and this failing, Lord North rose to defend his own conduct. He spoke at considerable length, and in the course of his speech declared that he was ready to retire from office whenever his sovereign and the people desired it; adding, that if he had continued so long in office, it was because the country had no faith in the wisdom and patriotism of his opponents. His speech seemed to be lost to the members of the house, and Mr. Dundas rose again to his rescue, proposing this time, as an amendment to the original proposition, the prefix of the words, “That it is now necessary to declare.” This was carried by a majority of eighteen; and Mr. Dunning, pursuing his success, proposed and carried a second proposition—namely, “That it was competent to the house to examine into and to correct abuses in the expenditure of the civil list revenues, as well as every other branch of the public revenue, whenever it should seem expedient to that house.” A third motion, strongly opposed to ministers, was also carried by Mr. Thomas Pitt, which set forth “that it was the duty of the house to provide immediate and effectual redress of the abuses complained of in the petitions.” Nor was the minister permitted yet to retire to his peaceful slumber. Fox moved, that the three resolutions should be immediately reported; and though Lord North contended that this was unusual, violent, and arbitrary, the resolutions and reports were severally reported and received, and were agreed to and passed by the house without a division.
Elated by success, on the 10th of April, the committee being re-assembled, Mr. Dunning continued his attack. He moved, “That in order to secure the independence of parliament and obviate all suspicion of its purity, the proper officer should lay before the house, within seven days after the meeting of parliament, every session, an account of all monies paid out of the civil list, or any part of the public revenue, to, or for the use of, or in trust for any member of parliament.” This, though opposed by ministers, was carried; and Dunning then moved, “that the persons holding the offices of treasurer of the chamber, treasurer of the household, cofferer of the household, comptroller of the household, master of the household, clerks of the green cloth and their deputies, should be rendered incapable of sitting in the house of commons.” This motion produced a long and earnest debate, but it was carried by a majority of two, the numbers being two hundred and fifteen against two hundred and thirteen. Thus far the opposition had been triumphant: three days after, however, they were doomed to receive a check. A bill, brought in by Mr. Crewe, for excluding all revenue-officers from voting at elections of members of parliament, was rejected by a considerable majority. Business was now interrupted for ten days, by the sudden illness of the speaker; and when the house re-assembled the sentiments of members were found to have undergone a change. On the 24th of April, Dunning moved for an address to the king, deprecating “the dissolution or prorogation of parliament before proper measures were adopted to fulfil the objects of the petitions.” This motion, which was warmly and eloquently supported by the mover, and Burke, and Fox, was rejected by a majority of fifty-one; the numbers being two hundred and fifty-four against two hundred and three. Enraged at this sudden and unexpected check, Mr. Fox rose to reprobate the conduct of those members who had receded from the solemn engagements into which they had so recently entered. A rude roar of voices was raised to put him down, but Fox would not be silenced; and his friends appealed to the chair to stop by its authority the disgraceful disorder. Silence being imposed on every tongue in the house by the speaker, Fox then delivered one of the severest philippics that was ever delivered within the walls of the house of commons. The vote of that night, said the impassioned orator, was scandalous, disgraceful, and treacherous: it was impossible to contemplate without surprise and indignation, the conduct of men, who, after resolving that the influence of the crown was increased, and ought to be diminished—that the grievances of the people ought to be redressed—and who had pledged themselves to that house, the nation, and their constituents, to redress the grievances complained of, now shamefully fled from their solemn engagement. It was not against ministers and their friends that he lodged this complaint, he remarked: it was against the men who sat on his side of the house, and who had voted with him on the 6th of April. As for the ministerial phalanx, he observed, he held them in the greatest contempt. They were slaves of the worst kind, because they had sold themselves to work mischief. Yet, base as they were, they had some virtues to pride themselves on. They were faithful to their leader, consistent in their conduct, and had not added to their other demerits the absurdity and treachery of one day resolving an opinion to be true, and the next day declaring it to be a falsehood. They had neither deceived their patrons, their friends, nor their country with false hopes and delusive promises. Dunning spoke after Fox, and declared that the division of that night was decisive as to the petitions of the people: it amounted to a total rejection of their general and ardent prayer, and that all hope of obtaining redress for the people from that house was at an end. Lord North replied in a long speech, in which he endeavoured to throw a protecting shield over those who had subjected themselves to Fox’s reproaches, and to show that Dunning’s fears were unfounded. The resolutions of the 6th of April, he said, were still in existence, and that other measures might be proposed on them in which those who did not approve of the means of redress proposed this day might readily concur. Opposition, however, were evidently of opinion that their cause was lost. Yet, on the 19th of May, Sergeant Adair moved the withholding the grant of any further supplies till the grievances of the people were redressed; and this motion being negatived, a week later Dunning moved, “that the two resolutions passed on the 10th of April, be reported.” A motion, however, from the opposite side of the house, “that the chairman leave the chair,” which amounted to a dissolution of the committee, was carried by one hundred and seventy-seven to one hundred and thirty-four.
Such was the termination of one of the most critical struggles which had occurred in the house of commons during the reign of George III. Out of doors astonishment was expressed on the one hand at the encouragement which Mr. Dunning’s motion received from a large party who had so warmly taken up the American war; and on the other, at the sudden change of sentiment which had taken place among many who had supported that motion. By some historians this change is attributed to influence, corruption, and treachery. The charge, however, is not well founded, for none of these causes could have been at work when they quitted the ranks of ministers to vote with opposition. It seems, therefore, rather to have arisen from the peculiar temper of the times, and to the condition in which the nation was placed at this period. The violence of opposition, also, and their exultation on their triumphs may have had their effects on the minds of the more sober-thinking members of the house: they may have become convinced that the movements of the leaders of opposition, so far from being adopted from a love of their country, had their origin in that bad feeling of human nature—self-interest.
LORD NORTH’S PROPOSAL RESPECTING THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.
On the 23rd of March, Lord North informed the house that the East India Company had made no satisfactory proposals for the renewal of their charter, and he moved that the speaker should give them three years’ notice, as ordered by act of parliament, previous to the dissolution of their monopoly; and that the sum of £4,200,000 due from the public to the company should be paid on the 25th of April, 1783, agreeably to the tenor of the said act. Fox inveighed against this measure, as tending to deprive us of our East Indian as well as our American possessions; but Lord North having represented that a new corporation might be formed, if the company did not offer a fair bargain to the public, his motion was carried without a division.