THE QUESTION OF THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION.
The question of the Middlesex election was again brought forward in the lords on the 30th of April, when; the Duke of Richmond moved for expunging the resolution adopted on the subject. The Earl of Chatham delivered a long speech on that occasion, which was forthwith published in the Public Advertiser. The orator appears to have been unanswered, but the motion was negatived.
THE QUESTION OF THE DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.
On the 1st of May, the Earl of Chatham moved for an address to the king to dissolve the present parliament at the end of the session, and to call a new one with all convenient dispatch. The speech, which he delivered in making this motion first drew a sad contrast between the state of the country at the time it was uttered, and the condition it was in only a few years before. He then descanted on the treaty of Fontainbleau; the late convention with Spain; the occurrences in St. George’s Fields, which he called “murders;” on the affairs of America; and on the immense private debt contracted by the crown. “All these circumstances,” he observed, “have justly alarmed the nation, and made them attentive to the operations of parliament. Hence the publication of the parliamentary debates. And where is the injury, if the members act upon honest principles? For a public assembly to be afraid of having their deliberations published is monstrous, and speaks for itself. No mortal can construe such a procedure to their advantage; and the practice of locking the doors is sufficient to open the eyes of the blind;—they must see that all is not well within. Not satisfied, however, with shutting the doors, the commons would overturn the liberty of the press. The printers had spirit and resisted. The irritated commons exalted their privilege above the laws of the land, and their servants acted illegally in the execution of their illegal orders. The magistrates of London undertook the cause of the printers, and the protection of the laws and of the city’s franchises. The commons still proceeded with the same outrageous violence;—they called upon the magistrates to justify their conduct, and would not suffer them to be heard by counsel. These men, who had allowed the prostituted electors of Shoreham counsel to defend a bargain to sell their borough by auction, would not grant the same indulgence to the lord mayor of London, pleading for the laws of England, and the conscientious discharge of his duty. Accordingly they committed him to the tower for not violating his oath. The most sacred obligation of morality and religion they voted criminal, when it happened to stand in competition with their assumed privileges. Their next step was the act of a mob, and not of a parliament; I mean the expunging of the recognisance entered at Guildhall. We have heard of such violence committed by the French King; and it seems much better calculated for the latitude of Paris than of London. The people of this kingdom will never submit to such barefaced tyranny. They must see that it is time to rouse, when their own creatures dare to assume a power of stopping prosecutions by their vote, and consequently of resolving the law of the land into their will and pleasure. The imprudence, and indeed the absolute madness of these measures, demonstrates not the result of that assembly’s calm, unbiassed deliberations, but the dictates of weak uninformed ministers, influenced by those who mislead their sovereign.” Chatham then told the ministers that it was through their misconduct that Wilkes had become a person of consequence in the state, and twitted them with acknowledging him to be their lord and master, since while they had punished the chief magistrate of the city, they were compelled to allow him to act with impunity. On all these grounds, he said, it was that he moved for an address to the throne for the dissolution of parliament; a step which he considered might have the effect of restoring good humour and tranquillity on the one hand, and good government on the other. At the same time he expressed his doubts whether this would prove any thing more than a temporary and partial remedy, as the influence of the crown had become so enormous, that some stronger bulwark ought to be erected for the defence of the constitution. He concluded by stating that the act for septennial parliaments must be repealed, and by proclaiming himself a convert to triennial parliaments. The motion was negatived by seventy-two against twenty-three. In the house of commons, Alderman Sawbridge made a direct motion for shortening the duration of parliaments; a motion which, in spite of the large majorities against him, he renewed every session till his death. Out or doors, at this time, the question was very popular; the Rev. John Home, and Junius advocating it as the surest road to political perfection, and as the only means of preserving the substantial freedom of the constitution. It is probable, however, that Chatham only advocated this measure for the purpose of alarming ministers and increasing his popularity, for his views of parliamentary reform were never definite: he never had a fixed and settled purpose in the matter.
THE SESSION CLOSED.
This session ended on the eighth of May. In his speech from the throne, the king congratulated the houses on those exertions which had averted a war, and which enabled him to hope for the blessings of peace. He alluded to disturbances and groundless suspicions at home, and exhorted the members of both houses to use their best endeavours to repress them. It is manifest that ministers had lost much reputation during the session, but it seems clear that they were never firmer in their seats than they were at its close. The defection of Mr. Grenville’s party added greatly to their strength, while it as greatly weakened the efforts of the opposition. In June the death of Lord Halifax made a vacancy in the cabinet, which was occupied by the Earl of Suffolk, while his place of lord privy seal was taken by the Duke of Grafton, whose restoration caused a great stir in the political world, and called forth the atrabilious rancour of Junius, who had prided himself on having driven the noble duke from office.