Since the decision of the last session relative to the test and corporation acts, the Protestant dissenters had not relaxed in their efforts to increase the number of their friends in the house of commons. Moreover, they had held provincial meetings in all parts of the kingdom, and by their public resolutions, in contemplation of a general election, earnestly recommended the friends of equal and universal liberty to the choice of electors. Unfortunately at these meetings, in their speeches and resolutions, they warmly applauded the principles of the French revolution; and they appear to have thought that this season of change was favourable for pressing their old claims upon parliament. Under this impression they resolved to bring the subject before the commons; and instead of Mr. Beaufoy, the friend of Pitt, Fox, the tried friend of liberty, was requested by them to become their advocate. Fox moved for the repeal of the two acts in question, and supported his motion by a long and able speech, in which he showed himself anxious to prove that the application of his clients had nothing whatever to do with the principles of the French revolution. It certainly did not emanate from that movement, for the first application had been made three years ago, when the keenest sagacity could not have formed anything like a conjecture of the events which had taken place in France. It is most certain, however, that the Protestant Dissenters, in seeking their claims, had uttered language which savoured of a spirit of innovation. It may have been only out of generous sympathy, but they had been among the warmest approvers of the French revolution; and this gave offence in high places. Hitherto, Pitt, although he opposed the repeal of the corporation and test acts, had done so with temper and moderation; but now, in opposing the motion, he spoke of their conduct with the utmost indignation. At the very moment, he said, when they were reprobating the test laws, they discovered their intention of forming associations to impose a test on members of the house of commons. Pitt also vindicated the necessity of a church establishment for the good of the state; and endeavoured to show that such an institution could not exist if toleration were extended to equality of privileges. Burke was more emphatic in his opposition to the motion than Pitt. A wild spirit of innovation was abroad, he said, which required not indulgence, but restraint; and he asserted that the avowed leaders of the dissenters had, in their speeches, resolutions, writings, and sermons, given countenance to the revolutionary spirit which everywhere prevailed. Burke read some extracts from dissenting divines in proof of his assertions; and he adjured the house to let the events which had taken place in France, and the sudden downfall of the church in that kingdom, awaken their zeal for the preservation of our own establishment. Fox rejoined, and urged the injustice of deciding a general question of right upon the conduct of a few individuals; but the motion was rejected by a majority of two hundred and ninety-four against one hundred and five. This decided hostility to the measure chiefly arose from the time at which it was brought forward, and the means which had been employed to ensure success. Many members, and among them the amiable Wilberforce, who had before voted for the repeal of these laws, now voted against it, from a conviction that it would give an impetus to the innovating spirit which so universally prevailed.
FLOOD’S MOTION FOR REFORM OF PARLIAMENT.
On the 4th of March, Mr. Flood, a celebrated Irish orator, moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the representation of the people in parliament. This bill proposed to add one hundred members to the present house of commons, in a proportionate ratio to the population of each county, to be elected by resident householders. In his speech Mr. Flood boldly asserted that the members who sat in the house were not the adequate representatives of the people. He would not deny that they were the legal representatives, and he acknowledged that they were a useful and honourable council; but, to the honour of the British constitution, we were entitled to something better. Although Mr. Flood avowed that he was no friend to revolutions, and that he considered them an evil, yet it was evident that his motion arose from an innovating spirit; and as such it was opposed. Mr. Wyndham, member for Norwich, and the professed admirer of Burke, said, that if he had approved of the measure, he should still have objected to its being brought forward or adopted at the present time. Where was the man, he asked, who would advise them to repair their house in the hurricane season? Speculatists and visionaries were at work in a neighbouring country, and that, he thought, was sufficient. There was project against project, theory against theory, frontibus adversis pug-nantia. He entreated the house to wait for the event, and to guard with all possible care against catching the French infection. Pitt followed Wyndham, and he declared, “that if the motion before them were the precise resolution which he himself had formerly proposed, he should now vote against it, from a thorough conviction of its impropriety.” He recommended its withdrawal, promising, on some future day, to make the subject of parliamentary reform a ministerial measure. Fox rose to support the motion; and he affirmed, in the course of his speech, “that no season could be more proper for the commencement of repairs than when a hurricane was near and ready to burst forth.” At the same time he acknowledged that he felt convinced the opinion which he supported was neither that of the majority of the house nor of the people. Burke combated the whole scheme and all the arguments that had been adduced in support of it; and asserted that these attempts at parliamentary reform were not countenanced by the people. Other members, as Wilberforce, Granville, and Powys, spoke on the same side, and the motion was at length withdrawn. These were the only great political questions which engaged the attention of the commons during this session. All change met with such an unyielding and decided opposition, that its advocates deemed it their wisdom to remain silent. In this line of conduct they were confirmed by the good temper of the people, who wisely exhibited a disposition to submit to any little wrongs they might be called upon to endure, rather than by a refractory spirit to run the risk of incurring greater.
EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.
On the 31st of March Mr. Dundas presented to the house an account of the financial state of India. He announced a great increase of revenue in Bengal; which he looked upon as the strongest proof of the prosperity and good government of the country. Dundas said, that in a few years he trusted the company would be enabled to pay off the whole of their arrears, and that the British possessions in India would be more flourishing in wealth, commerce, and manufactures, than any other part of Hindustan. In the present state of things, he remarked, we had nothing to fear from any European nation: Holland was our ally, and France was in no condition to disturb our foreign possessions. Tippoo Saib, he acknowledged, was an enemy; but without European auxiliaries, and the support of other native powers, he could never become formidable to the British empire. Dundas, indeed, indulged himself in the pleasing vision that this country was likely long to enjoy an undisturbed peace at home and abroad.
PITT’S FINANCIAL STATEMENT, ETC.
Pitt opened the budget for the year on the 15th of April; and in doing so he congratulated the house upon the prosperous state of the finances. He regarded the increase of revenue as progressive, and spoke with triumph of the growing greatness of England. Like Dundas, he spoke of the continuance of peace as certain; and he concluded his speech with an encomium upon the British constitution, to which, under Providence, the prosperity of the nation was to be ascribed. About the same time that the budget was opened, the house voted several sums as a recompense for services or indemnification for losses in the cause of the country. Thus an annuity of £1000 per annum was granted to the Rev. Dr. Willis, who had been instrumental in restoring his majesty’s intellects; the speakers salary was increased from £3000 to £6000; and the family of Penn had a perpetual grant of £4000 per annum bestowed upon them out of the consolidated fund, for the losses they had sustained during the revolt of the American colonies.