Though the lords, in general, concurred in the expediency of the repeal, it was opposed by some few, as too great a sacrifice to the idle and unfounded clamours of the multitude; and upon this side of the debate a great power of elocution was displayed by earl Temple, who had lately succeeded to this title on the death of his mother, a nobleman of distinguished abilities, and the most amiable disposition, frank, liberal, humane, and zealously attached to the interest and honour of his country. In the lower house, the members of both parties seemed to vie with each other in demonstrations of aversion to this unpopular act. On the very first day of the session, immediately after the motion for an address to his majesty, sir James Dash-wood, an eminent leader in the opposition, gave the commons to understand, that he had a motion of very great importance to make, which would require the attention of every member, as soon as the motion for the address should be discussed; he therefore desired they would not quit the house, until he should have an opportunity to explain his proposal. Accordingly, they had no sooner agreed to the motion for an address of thanks to his majesty, than he stood up again, and having expatiated upon the just and general indignation which the act of the preceding session, in favour of the Jews, had raised among the people, he moved to order that the house should be called over on Tuesday the fourth day of December, for taking that act into consideration; but being given to understand, that it was not usual to appoint a call of the house for any particular purpose, he agreed that the motion should be general. It was seconded by lord Parker, his opposite in political interests; the house agreed to it without opposition, and the call was ordered accordingly. They were anticipated, however’, by the lords, who framed and transmitted to them a bill on the same subject, to the purport of which the commons made an objection; for every member, having the fear of the general election before his eyes, carefully avoided every expression which could give umbrage to his constituents; but violent opposition was made to the preamble, which ran in the following strain:—“Whereas an act of parliament was made and passed in the twenty-fifth year of his majesty’s reign, intituled, An act to permit persons professing the Jewish religion, to be naturalized by parliament, and for other purposes therein mentioned; and whereas occasion has been taken, from the said act, to raise discontents and disquiets in the minds of his majesty’s subjects, be it enacted, &c.” This introduction was considered as an unjust reflection upon the body of the people in general, and in particular upon those who had opposed the bill in the course of the preceding session. Sir Roger Newdigate therefore moved, that the expression should be varied to this effect: “Whereas great discontents and disquietudes had from the said act arisen.” The consequence of this motion was an obstinate debate, in which it was supported by the earl of Egmont, and divers other able orators; but Mr. Pel ham and Mr. Pitt were numbered among its opponents. The question being put for the proposed alteration, it was of course carried in the negative; the bill, after the third reading, passed nemine contradicente, and in due time obtained the royal assent.
MOTION FOE REPEALING A FORMER ACT FAVOURABLE TO THE JEWS.
Even this concession of the ministry did not allay the resentment of the people, and their apprehension of encroachment from the Jews. Another act still subsisted, by virtue of which any person professing the Jewish religion might become a free denizen of Great Britain, after having resided seven years in any of his majesty’s colonies in America; and this was now considered as a law, having the same dangerous tendency, of which the other was now in a fair way of being convicted. It was moved, therefore, in the lower house, that a part of this former act might be read; then the same member made a motion for an address to his majesty, desiring that the house might have the perusal of the lists transmitted from the American colonies to the commissioners for trade and plantations, containing the names of all such persons professing the Jewish religion, as had entitled themselves to the benefit of the said act, since the year one thousand seven hundred and forty. These lists were accordingly presented, and left upon the table for the perusal of the members; but as this act contained no limitation of time within which the benefit of it should be claimed, and as this claim was attended with a good deal of trouble and some expense, very few persons had availed themselves of it in that period. Nevertheless, as a great number of Jews were already entitled to claim this indulgence, and as it remained an open channel through which Great Britain might be deluged with those people, all of whom the law would hold as natural-born subjects, and their progeny as freed from all tha restriction contained in the act with respect to naturalized foreigners, lord Harley moved for leave to bring in a bill to repeal so much of the said act as related to persons professing the Jewish religion, who should come to settle in any British colony after a certain time. The motion was seconded by sir James Dashwood, and supported by the earl of Egmont; but being found unequal to the interest and elocution of Mr. Pelham and Mr. Pitt, was rejected by the majority.
1754
EAST-INDIA MUTINY BILL.
The next object that claimed the attention of the commons, was a bill for improving the regulations already made to prevent the spreading of a contagious distemper, which raged among the horned cattle in different parts of the kingdom. The last bill of this session that had the good fortune to succeed, was brought in for punishing mutiny and desertion of officers and soldiers in the service of the East India company, and for the punishment of offences committed in the East Indies and the island of St. Helena. This being a measure of a very extraordinary nature, all the members were ordered to attend the house on the day fixed for the second reading; at the same time all charters, commissions, and authorities, by which any power relative to a military jurisdiction, or the exercise of martial law, had been granted or derived from the crown to the said company, were submitted to the perusal of the members. The bill was by many considered as a dangerous extension of military power, to the prejudice of the civil rights enjoyed by British subjects, and as such violently contested by the earl of Egmont, lord Strange, and Mr. Alderman Beckford. Their objections were answered by the solicitor-general and Mr. Yorke. The bill, after some warm debates, being espoused by the ministry, was enacted into a law, and despatched to the East Indies by the first opportunity.
Some other motions were made, and petitions presented on different subjects, which, as they miscarried, it will be unnecessary to particularize. It may not be amiss, however, to record an exemplary act of justice done by the commons on a person belonging to a public office, whom they detected in the practice of fraud and imposition. Notwithstanding the particular care taken in the last session, to prevent the monopolizing of tickets in the state lottery, all those precautions had been eluded in a scandalous manner by certain individuals, intrusted with the charge of delivering the tickets to the contributors, according to the intent of the act, which expressly declared that not more than twenty should be sold to any one person. Instead of conforming to these directions of the legislature, they and their friends engrossed great numbers, sheltering themselves under a false list of feigned names for the purpose; by which means they not only defeated the equitable intention of the commons, but in some measure injured the public credit; inasmuch as their avarice had prompted them to subscribe for a greater number than they had cash to purchase, so that there was a deficiency in the first payment, which might have had a bad effect on the public affairs. These practices were so flagrant and notorious as to attract the notice of the lower house, where an inquiry was begun, and prosecuted with a spirit of real patriotism, in opposition to a scandalous cabal, who endeavoured with equal eagerness and perseverance to screen the delinquents. All their efforts however proved abortive; and a committee, appointed to examine particulars, agreed to several severe resolutions against one Le ——, who had amassed a large fortune by this and other kinds of peculation. They voted him guilty of a breach of trust, and a direct violation of the lottery act; and an address was presented to his majesty, desiring he might be prosecuted by the attorney-general for these offences. He was accordingly sued in the court of king’s bench, and paid a fine of one thousand pounds, for having committed frauds by which he had gained forty times that sum; but he was treated with such gentleness as remarkably denoted the clemency of that tribunal.