LIBERALITY OF THE COMMONS.
The parliament of Great Britain meeting according to their last prorogation on the twenty-first day of January, the king in his speech communicated the nature of the negotiation at the congress. Pie demanded such supplies as might enable him to act vigorously in concert with his allies, provided his endeavours to establish an advantageous peace should miscarry; and he hinted that the dilatory conduct of the courts of Vienna and Madrid proceeded in a great measure from the hopes that were given of creating discontents and divisions among the subjects of Great Britain. This suggestion was a ministerial artifice to inflame the zeal and resentment of the nation, and intimidate the members in the opposition. Accordingly the hint was pursued, and in the addresses from both houses, that could not fail of being agreeable, considering the manner in which they were dictated, particular notice was taken of this article; both peers and commons expressed their detestation and abhorrence of those, who, by such base and unnatural artifices, suggested the means of distressing their country, and clamoured at the inconveniencies which they themselves had occasioned. In these addresses, likewise, the parliament congratulated his majesty on the arrival of the prince of Wales in his British dominions; and the commons sent a particular compliment to his royal highness on that occasion, The estimates having been examined in the usual form, the house voted fifteen thousand seamen for the ensuing year; but the motion for continuing the same number of land-forces which had been allowed in the preceding year, was not carried without dispute. All the arguments against a standing army in time of peace, as inconsistent with the British constitution, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, were repeated with great vivacity by Mr. Shippen and Mr. W. Pulteney. These, however, were answered, and represented as absurd, by Mr. Horatio Walpole and Mr. D., two staunch adherents of the minister. The first had, in despite of nature, been employed in different negotiations; he was blunt, awkward, and slovenly, an orator without eloquence, an ambassador without dignity, and a plenipotentiary without address. The other had natural parts and acquired knowledge; spoke with confidence; and in dispute was vain, sarcastic, petulant, and verbose.
DEBATES ON THE SUBSIDIES OF HESSE-CASSEL AND WOLFENBUTTLE.
The subsidies to Sweden, Hesse-Cassel, and Wolfen-buttle were continued, notwithstanding the remonstrances of sir Joseph Jekyll, Mr. Lutwyche, and Mr. Pulteney; which last observed, that as the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and the duke of Brunswick-Wolfen-buttle, usually maintained a certain number of troops in their pay, it was but reasonable that Great Britain should defray no more than the expense of the additional forces which those powers had raised, in consequence of their conventions with the king of England. Sir Robert Walpole perceiving that this remark made an impression on the house, thought it necessary to vindicate his measure. He expatiated upon the wisdom of the late king, in concluding the Hanover alliance. He affirmed, that the convention with Hesse-Cassel had prevented a war in the empire, for which the court of Vienna had made great preparations; that the emperor had not only augmented his own forces by the help of Spanish subsidies, but also retained the troops of three electors; and if he had not been overawed by the Hessians, would certainly have rejected the preliminaries, and all other advances towards a pacification; that, therefore, they ought not to grudge an expense which had already proved so beneficial to the tranquillity of Europe. Sir Joseph Jekyll replied, that whatever gloss might be put upon such measures, they were repugnant to the maxims by which England in former times had steered and squared its conduct with relation to its interest abroad; that the navy was the natural strength of Great Britain—its best defence and security; but if, in order to avoid a war, they should be so free-hearted as to buy and maintain the forces of foreign princes, they were never like to see an end of such extravagant expenses. This gentleman, who exercised the office of master of the rolls, had approved himself a zealous defender of whig principles, was an able lawyer, a sensible speaker, and a conscientious patriot. The supplies were raised by a continuation of the land-tax, the duties upon malt, cyder, and perry, an additional imposition on unmalted corn used in distilling, and by sale of annuities to the bank not exceeding fifty thousand pounds per annum.
COMMITTEE FOR INSPECTING THE GAOLS.
Petitions were delivered to the house of commons from the merchants of London, Liverpool, and Bristol, complaining of the interruptions they had suffered in their trade for several years, by the depredations of the Spaniards in the West Indies. These being considered, the house ordered the lords of the admiralty to produce the other memorials of the same kind which they had received, that they might be laid before the congress at Soissons: then they addressed his majesty for copies of all the letters and instructions which had been sent to admiral Hosier, and those who succeeded him in the command of the West-India squadron. Mr. Oglethorpe, having been informed of shocking cruelties and oppressions exercised by gaolers upon their prisoners, moved for an examination into these practices, and was chosen chairman of a committee appointed to inquire into the state of the gaols in the kingdom. They began with the Fleet-prison, which they visited in a body; there they found sir William Rich, baronet, loaded with irons, by order of Bambridge the warden, to whom he had given some slight cause of offence. They made a discovery of many inhuman barbarities which had been committed by that ruffian, and detected the most iniquitous scenes of fraud, villany, and extortion. When the report was made by the committee, the house unanimously resolved, That Thomas Bambridge, acting warden of the Fleet, had wilfully permitted several debtors to escape; had been guilty of the most notorious breaches of trust, great extortions, and the highest crimes and misdemeanors in the execution of his office; that he had arbitrarily and unlawfully loaded with irons, put into dungeons, and destroyed prisoners for debt, under his charge, treating them in the most barbarous and cruel manner, in high violation and contempt of the laws of the kingdom. John Huggins, esquire, who had been warden of the Fleet-prison, was subjected to a resolution of the same nature. The house presented an address to the king, desiring he would direct his attorney-general forthwith to prosecute these persons and their accomplices, who were committed prisoners to Newgate. A bill was brought in, disabling Bambridge to execute the office of warden; another for the better regulating the prison of the Fleet, and for more effectually preventing and punishing arbitrary and illegal practices of the warden of the said prison.*
* It afterwards appeared that some of the members of this inquest were actuated by other motives than those they professed; and the committee was suffered to sink into oblivion.