The king of Great Britain returned from Hanover to England in the month of November; and on the fifteenth day of January opened the session of parliament. On this occasion he congratulated them on the near prospect of a general peace in Europe in consequence of the preliminary articles which the emperor and the king of France had agreed; and of which he had expressed his approbation, as they did not differ in any essential point from the plan of pacification which he and the states-general had offered to the belligerent powers. He told them that he had already ordered a considerable reduction to be made in his forces both by sea and land; but at the same time observed it would be necessary to continue some extraordinary expense, until a more perfect reconciliation should be established among the several powers of Europe. An address of thanks was unanimously voted, presented, and graciously received. After the house had received several petitions from different counties and gentlemen, complaining of undue influence in elections for members of parliament, it proceeded to consider of the supply, and sir Charles Wager moving that fifteen thousand seaman should be employed for the service of the ensuing year, the proposal was approved without opposition. But this was not the case with a motion made by Mr. Pulteney, “That the ordinary estimates of the navy should be referred to a select committee.” The ministry discouraged all such prying measures: a debate was produced, the house divided, and the motion was rejected. Such was the fate of a motion for raising the supplies within the year, made by Mr. Sandys, and supported by sir John Barnard, Mr. Willimot, and other patriots, who demonstrated that this was a speedy and practicable expedient for discharging the national debt, lowering the interest of money, reducing the price of labour, and encouraging a spirit of commerce.
BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF QUAKERS IN THE ARTICLE OF TITHES.
The bill for limiting the number of officers in the house of commons was again revived. The king was empowered to borrow six hundred thousand pounds, chargeable on the sinking fund, for the service of the ensuing year, though this power was not easily granted; and the house resolved to lay a duty of twenty shillings per gallon on all spirituous liquors, after it had appeared to the committee appointed for that purpose, that those spirits were pernicious to the health and morals of the people. To this resolution was added another, which amounted to a total prohibition, namely, that fifty pounds should be yearly paid to his majesty for a license to be annually taken out by every person who should vend, barter, or utter any such spirituous liquors. Mr. Walter Plummer, in a well concerted speech, moved for the repeal of some clauses in the Test act: these he represented as a species of persecution, in which protestant dissenters were confounded with the Roman catholics and enemies to the establishment. He was sustained by lord Polworth and Mr. Heathcote; but sir Robert Walpole was joined by Mr. Shippen against the motion, as dangerous to the established church; and the question being put, it was carried in the negative.
1736
When sir Joseph Jekyll presented to the house, according to order, a bill founded on the resolutions they had taken against spirituous liquors, sir Robert Walpole acquainted them, by his majesty’s command, that as the alterations proposed to be made by that bill in the duties charged upon all spirituous liquors might, in a great degree, affect some part of the civil list revenues, his majesty, for the sake of remedying so great an evil as was intended by that bill to be prevented, did consent to accept any other revenue of equal value, to be settled and appropriated in lieu of his interest in the said duties. The bill was read a second time, and consigned to a committee of the whole house; but that for limiting the number of officers in the house of commons was thrown out at the second reading. Petitions against the bill touching the retail of spirituous liquors, were presented by the traders to the British sugar colonies, by the merchants of Bristol and Liverpool, representing the hardships to which they would be exposed by a law which amounted to a prohibition of rum and spirits distilled from molasses. In consequence of these remonstrances, a mitigating clause was inserted, in favour of the composition known by the name of punch, and distillers were permitted to exercise any other employment. The sum of seventy thousand pounds was voted for making good the deficiencies that might happen in the civil list by this bill, which at length passed through the house, though not without reiterated disputes and warm altercation. Violent opposition was likewise made to a bill for the relief the people called quakers, who offered a petition, representing, that though from motives of conscience they refused the payment of tithes, church-rates, oblations, and ecclesiastical dues, they were exposed to grievous sufferings by prosecution in the exchequer, ecclesiastical, and other courts, to the imprisonment of their persons, and the ruin of them and their families. A bill being prepared for their relief, was read and printed; then petitions were preferred against it by the clergy of Middlesex, and of many other parts of the kingdom. Counsel was heard in behalf of those petitioners, and several alterations proposed in the bill, which after long and repeated debates surmounted all opposition, and was sent up to the lords.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
MORTMAIN ACT.
In the month of February the king had sent two members of the privy-council to the prince of Wales, with a message, proposing a marriage between his royal highness and the princess of Saxe-gotha. The proposal being agreeable to the prince, the marriage was celebrated on the twenty-seventh day of April. Upon this occasion Mr. Pulteney moved for an address of congratulation to his majesty, and was supported by Mr. George Lyttleton and Mr. William Pitt, who seized this opportunity of pronouncing elegant panegyrics on the prince of Wales and’ his amiable consort. These two young members soon distinguished themselves in the house by their eloquence and superior talents. The attention of the house was afterwards converted to a bill for the preventing of smuggling; and another for explaining the act for the more effectual preventing bribery and corruption in the election of members to serve in parliament. Both made their way through the lower house, and were sent up to the lords for their concurrence. The number of land forces voted for the service of the current year was reduced to seventeen thousand seven hundred and four effective men. The supplies were raised by the malt-tax and land-tax at two shillings in the pound, additional duties on mum, cider, and perry, stamped vellum, parchment, and paper; and by an act empowering his majesty to borrow six hundred thousand pounds of the sinking fund. In this session the parliament repealed the old statutes of England and Scotland against conjuration, witchcraft, and dealing with evil spirit’s. The commons likewise prepared a bill to restrain the disposition of lands in mortmain, whereby they became unalienable. Against this measure petitions were presented by the two universities, the colleges of Eton, Winchester, and Westminster, and divers hospitals that subsisted by charitable donations. In favour of the universities and colleges a particular exempting clause was inserted. Several other amendments were made in the bill, which passed through both houses, and obtained the royal assent. Among the acts passed in this session, was one for naturalizing her royal highness the princess of Wales; and another for building a bridge across the Thames from New Palace-yard, in the city of Westminster, to the opposite shore in the county of Surrey. The points chiefly debated in the house of lords were the address of thanks for his majesty’s speech, the mortmain bill, the Quakers’ bill, which was thrown out, and that for the prevention of smuggling, which did not pass without division and protest. On the twentieth day of May the king closed the session with a speech, in which he told both houses that a farther convention, touching the execution of the preliminaries, had been made and communicated to him by the emperor and most christian king, and that negotiations were carrying on by the several powers engaged in the late war, in order to settle a general pacification. He expressed great concern at seeing such seeds of dissatisfaction sown among his people; he protested it was his desire, and should be his care, to preserve the present constitution in church and state, as by law established; he recommended harmony and mutual affection among all protestants of the nation, as the great security of that happy establishment; and signified his intention to visit his German dominions. Accordingly, the parliament was no sooner prorogued than he set out for Hanover, after having appointed the queen regent in his absence.