QUARRELS BETWEEN THE LORDS AND COMMONS.
Ministers were still pressed by the opposition concerning the lingering negociations with Spain, and the incompleteness of their preparations for war. In the house of lords, the Duke of Manchester descanted in strong terms on the defenceless condition of Gibraltar, Minorca, and Jamaica. In the midst of his harangue Lord Gower desired that the house might be cleared of all persons except those who had a right to sit there. When motions like this, he said, were brought on by surprise, no one should be allowed to hear the debate except peers, inasmuch as in a crowded house, emissaries from the court of Spain and other powers might be present. He added that there was another reason why the house should be cleared. Persons, he said, had been admitted who took note of what was said, for he had in his pocket a paper which contained a speech recently made by a noble lord! This, he asserted, was contrary to a standing order, which standing order, No. 112, was produced and read. The Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Chatham warmly opposed such a step, but their voices were drowned by shouts of “Clear the house! Clear the house!” The Earl of Chatham, with eighteen peers, indignantly left the house, and the party who remained then insisted that all the members of the house of commons present should be turned out sans cérémonie! These members represented that they were there in the discharge of their duty, for that they were there attending with a bill. The bill was demanded, and they had no sooner delivered it, than they were hooted out of the house. A strong protest was made against these proceedings by members of both houses;—and on the same day, Mr. George Onslow moved in the lower house that it should be cleared—“peers and all.” This motion was made merely from pique at the treatment of the commons by the lords, and not with a view of encouraging the notion that debates ought to be open, reported, and published. A better motion was made by Mr. Dunning, who moved for a committee “to inspect the journals of the house of lords of that day, as to what proceedings and resolutions were therein, with relation to the not permitting any persons to be present in any part of the said house during the sitting thereof.” This motion was negatived; but no vote passed either in the house of lords or that of the commons could remove the stain which the ministers had brought upon their characters by these tumultuous proceedings, or allay the desire which the people entertained for the publication of parliamentary debates; and the opposition did what they could to render their conduct more odious than it really was The Earl of Chatham recommended that search should be made by the commons in the journals, and that a conference should be demanded with the lords. Acting upon this advice, Lord George Germaine moved in the house of commons for such a conference, but though he was ably supported by Lord George Cavendish, Burke, Dunning, and Barré, all of whom dealt in humour as well as argument, the motion was negatived. Lord Germaine then moved that the speaker should write to such eldest sons and heirs apparent of peers, king’s sergeants, and masters in chancery, as were members, and to the attorney and solicitor-general, and request them to be in their places every day at two o’clock, to assist in carrying bills to the house of lords; but the only result of this motion was a duel between the mover and Governor Johnstone, in Hyde-park, in consequence of some remarks which the latter had made in the course of the debate.
CONVENTION WITH SPAIN.
As the sincerity of the Spanish government was doubted by the ministry before Christmas, it was deemed advisable to adjourn parliament to the latter end of January, in order to afford time for the development of circumstances, and to enable the cabinet to decide upon peace or war. Ministers seem, indeed, to have learned of late that the plan of paying deference to the Spanish court was not founded in wisdom, and they changed their policy. On the 21st of December a messenger was despatched to Spain to recall our ambassador, and to intimate to the English merchants and commanders of ships, that it would probably be expedient for them to leave that country. This conduct alarmed the Spanish court, but it is probable that the King of Spain would have decided upon war, had not his views been disappointed in another quarter. He had invited the King of France to co-operate with him, and the Duc de Choiseul, his minister, was favourable to the cause of Spain, but during the month of December Choiseul was disgraced and exiled, through the influence of Madame du Barry, the king’s mistress, and he was succeeded by the Duke d’Aiguillon, who advocated peace. This had the effect of bringing the negociations to a close: Louis XV. wrote to the Spanish monarch with his own hand, that he would not have war, and instructions were immediately sent to London to Prince Masserano, the Spanish envoy, to accept the propositions offered by the British Cabinet.
CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY.
During the Christmas recess, ministers were employed in gaining converts from the ranks of the opposition, and in making arrangements to complete and strengthen the administration. Lord Weymouth having resigned the seals of secretary of state, they were given to Lord Sandwich, who was succeeded in his office of postmaster-general by the Honourable H. F. Thynne. Mr. Wedderburne, the pet of Chatham and the city, abandoned his friends, and became solicitor-general to the queen; while Thurlow was made attorney-general in the place of Mr. de Grey, who was created chief-justice of the common pleas. A chancellor was now also found in the person of the Hon. Henry Bathurst, who took the title of Baron Apsley. Lord Sandwich held the seals of secretary of state but for a few days. Having expressed a wish to be transferred to the admiralty, he was placed at the head of that board, instead of Sir Edward Hawke, and Lord Halifax succeeded him as secretary of state, giving up the privy seal to the Earl of Suffolk; Lord Rochford was removed to the southern department. Mr. Grenville had recently paid the great debt of nature, or he would have probably again come into office, but several of his friends were introduced into the ministry, by which it gained a considerable accession of talent.
