As the act of the preceding session, prohibiting the malt distillery, was to expire at Christmas, the commons thinking it necessary to consider of proper methods for laying the malt distillery under such regulations as might prevent, if possible, its being prejudicial to the health and morals of the people, began as early as the month of November to deliberate on this affair; which being under agitation, petitions were presented to the house by several of the principal inhabitants of Spital-fields; the mayor and commonalty of New Sarum; the gentlemen, clergy, merchants, manufacturers, tradesmen, and other inhabitants of Colchester; the mayor, aldermen, and common council of King’s Lynn in Norfolk; the mayor and bailiffs of Berwick-upon-Tweed; representing the advantages accruing from the prohibition of the malt distillery, and praying the continuance of the act by which it was prohibited. On the other hand, counter-petitions were offered by the mayor, magistrates, merchants, manufacturers, and other gentlemen of the city of Norwich; by the land-owners and holders of the south-west part of Essex; and by the freeholders of the shires of Ross and Cromartic, in North Britain; alleging, that the scarcity of corn, which had made it necessary to prohibit the malt distillery, had ceased; and that the continuing the prohibition beyond the necessity which had required it would be a great loss and discouragement to the landed interest: they therefore prayed that the said distillery might be again opened, under such regulations and restrictions as the house should think proper. These remonstrances being taken into consideration, and divers accounts perused, the house unanimously agreed that the prohibition should be continued for a limited time; and a bill being brought in, pursuant to this resolution, passed through both houses, and received the royal assent; by which means the prohibition of the malt distillery was continued till the twenty-fourth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, unless such continuation should be abridged by any other act to be passed in the present session.
The committee, having examined a great number of accounts and papers relating to spirituous liquors, agreed to four resolutions, importing, that the present high price of spirituous liquors is a principal cause of the diminution in the home consumption thereof, and hath greatly contributed to the health, sobriety, and industry of the common people: that, in order to continue for the future the present high price of all spirits used for home consumption, a large additional duty should be laid upon all spirituous liquors whatsoever, distilled within or imported into Great Britain: that there should be a drawback of the said additional duties upon all spirituous liquors distilled in Great Britain, which should be exported; and that an additional bounty should be granted under proper regulations, upon the exportation of all spirituous liquors drawn from corn in Great Britain. A great many accounts being perused, and witnesses examined, relating to the distillery, a bill was brought in to prevent the excessive use of spirituous liquors, by laying an additional duty thereupon; and to encourage the exportation of British-made spirits. Considerable opposition was made to the bill, on the opinion that the additional duty proposed was too small; and that, among the resolutions, there was not so much as one that looked like a provision or restriction for preventing the pernicious abuse of such liquors. Nay, many persons affirmed, that what was proposed looked more like a scheme for increasing the public revenues, than a salutary measure to prevent excess. The merchants and manufacturers of the town of Birmingham petitioned for such instructions. The lord-mayor, aldermen, and common-council of London presented a petition by the hands of the two sheriffs, setting forth, that the petitioners had, with great pleasure, observed the happy consequences produced upon the morals, behaviour, industry, and health of the lower class of people, since the prohibition of the malt distillery; that the petitioners, having observed a bill was brought in to allow the distilling of spirits from corn, were apprehensive that the encouragement given to the distillers thereof would prove detrimental to the commercial interests of the nation; and they conceived the advantages proposed to be allowed upon the exportation of such spirits, being so much above the value of their commodity, would lay such a temptation for smuggling and perjury as no law could prevent. They expressed their fears, that, should such a bill pass into a law, the excessive use of spirituous liquors would not only debilitate and enervate the labourers, manufacturers, sailors, soldiers, and all the lower class of people, and thereby extinguish industry, and that remarkable intrepidity which had lately so eminently appeared in the British nation, which must always depend on the vigour and industry of its people; but also its liberty and happiness, which cannot be supported without temperance and morality, would run the utmost risk of being destroyed. They declared themselves also apprehensive, that the extraordinary consumption of bread corn by the still would not only raise the price, so as to oppress the lower class of people, but would raise such a bar to the exportation thereof, as to deprive the nation of a great influx of money, at that time essential towards the maintaining of an expensive war, and therefore highly injure the landed and commercial interests: they therefore prayed that the present prohibition of distilling spirits from corn might be continued, or that the use of wheat might not be allowed in distillation. This remonstrance was corroborated by another to the same purpose, from several merchants, manufacturers, and traders, residing in and near the city of London; and seemed to have some weight with the commons, who made several amendments in the bill, which they now intituled, “A bill for preventing the excessive use of spirituous liquors, by laying additional duties thereon; for shortening the prohibition for making low wines and spirits from wheat; for encouraging the exportation of British-made spirits, and preventing the fraudulent relanding or importation thereof.” Thus altered and amended, it passed on a division; and, making its way through the house of lords, acquired the royal sanction. Whether the law be adequate to the purposes for which it was enacted, time will determine. The best way of preventing the excess of spirituous liquors would be to lower the excise on beer and ale, so as to enable the poorer class of labourers to refresh themselves with a comfortable liquor for nearly the same expense that will procure a quantity of Geneva sufficient for intoxication; for it cannot be supposed that a poor wretch will expend his last penny upon a draught of small beer, without strength or the least satisfactory operation, when for the half of that sum he can purchase a cordial, that will almost instantaneously allay the sense of hunger and cold, and regale his imagination with the most agreeable illusions. Malt was at this time sold cheaper than it was in the first year of king James I. when the parliament enacted, that no innkeeper, victualler, or alehouse-keeper, should sell less than a full quart of the best ale or beer, or two quarts of the small, for one penny, under the penalty of twenty shillings. It appears, then, that in the reign of king James the subject paid but fourpence for a gallon of strong beer, which now costs one shilling; and as the malt is not increased in value, the difference in the price must be entirely owing to the taxes on beer, malt, and hops, which are indeed very grievous, though perhaps necessary. The duty on small beer is certainly one of the heaviest taxes imposed upon any sort of consumption that cannot be considered as an article of luxury. Two bushels of malt, and two pounds of hops, are required to make a barrel of good small beer, which was formerly sold for six shillings; and the taxes payable on such a barrel amounted to three shillings and sixpence; so that the sum total of the imposition on this commodity was equal to a land-tax of eleven shillings and eightpence in the pound.
Immediately after the resolution relating to the prohibition of spirits from wheat, a motion was made and leave given to bring in a bill to continue, for a time limited, the act of the last session, permitting the importation of salted beef from Ireland. This permission was accordingly extended to the twenty-fourth day of December in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one. In all probability this short and temporary continuance was proposed by the favourers of the bill, in order to avoid the clamour and opposition of prejudice and ignorance, which would have been dangerously alarmed, had it been rendered perpetual. Yet as undoubted evidence had proved before the committee, while the bill was depending, that the importation had been of great service to England, particularly in reducing the price of salted beef for the use of the navy, perhaps no consideration ought to have prevented the legislature from perpetuating the law; a measure that would encourage the graziers of Ireland to breed and fatten horned cattle, and certainly put a stop to the practice of exporting salted beef from that kingdom to France, which undoubtedly furnishes the traders of that kingdom with opportunities of exporting wool to the same country.
As several lieutenants of counties had, for various reasons, suspended all proceedings in the execution of the laws relating to the militia for limited times, which suspensions were deemed inconsistent with the intent of the legislature, a bill was now brought in, to enable his majesty’s lieutenants of the several counties of England and Wales to proceed in the execution of the militia laws, notwithstanding any adjournments. It was enacted, that, as the speedy execution of the laws for regulating the militia was most essentially necessary at this juncture to the peace and security of the kingdom., every lieutenant of the place where such suspension had happened should, within one month after the passing of this act, proceed as if there had been no such suspension; and summon a meeting for the same purpose once in every succeeding month until a sufficient number of officers, qualified and willing to serve, should be found, or until the expiration of the act for the better ordering the militia forces. The establishment of a regular militia in South Britain could not fail to make an impression upon the patriots of Scotland. They were convinced, from reason and experience, that nothing could more tend to the peace and security of their country than such an establishment in North Britain, the inhabitants of which had been peculiarly exposed to insurrections, which a well-regulated militia might have prevented or stifled in the birth; and their coast had been lately alarmed by a threatened invasion, which nothing but the want of such an establishment had rendered formidable to the natives. They thought themselves entitled to the same security which the legislature had provided for their fellow-subjects in South Britain, and could not help being uneasy at the prospect of seeing themselves left unarmed, and exposed to injuries both foreign and domestic, while the sword was put in the hands of their southern neighbours. Some of the members who represented North Britain in parliament, moved by these considerations, as well as by the earnest injunctions of their constituents, resolved to make a vigorous effort, in order to obtain the establishment of a regular militia in Scotland. In the beginning of March it was moved, and resolved, that the house would, on the twelfth day of the month, resolve itself into a committee, to consider the laws in being which relate to the militia in that part of Great Britain, called Scotland. The result of that inquiry was, that these laws were ineffectual. Then a motion was made for leave to bring-in a bill for the better ordering of the militia forces in North Britain, and, though it met with great opposition, was carried by a large majority. The principal Scottish members of the house were appointed, in conjunction with others, to prepare the bill, which was soon printed, and reinforced by petitions presented by the gentlemen, justices of the peace, and commissioners of the supply for the shire of Ayr; and by the freeholders of the shires of Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, and Forfar. They expressed their approbation of the established militia in England, and their ardent wish to see the benefit of that wise and salutary measure extended to North Britain. This was an indulgence they had the greater reason to hope for, as by the articles of the union they were undoubtedly entitled to be on the same footing with their brethren of England; and as the legislature must now be convinced of the necessity of some such measures, by the consternation lately produced in their defenceless country, from the threatened invasion of a handful of French freebooters. These remonstrances had no weight with the majority in the house of commons, who, either unable or unwilling to make proper distinctions between the ill and well affected subjects of North Britain, rejected the bill, as a very dangerous experiment in favour of a people among whom so many rebellions had been generated and produced. When the motion was made for the bill’s being committed, a warm debate ensued, in the course of which many Scottish members spoke in behalf of their country with great force of argument, and a very laudable spirit of freedom. Mr. Elliot, in particular, one of the commissioners of the board of admiralty, distinguished himself by a noble flow of eloquence, adorned with all the graces of oratory, and warmed with the true spirit of patriotism. Mr. Oswald, of the treasury, acquitted himself with great honour on the occasion; ever nervous, steady, and sagacious, independent though in office, and invariable in pursuing the interest of his country. It must be owned, for the honour of North Britain, that all her representatives, except two, warmly contended for this national measure, which was carried in the negative by a majority of one hundred and six, though the bill was exactly modelled by the late act of parliament for the establishment of the militia in England.
Even this institution, though certainly laudable and necessary, was attended with so many unforeseen difficulties, that every session of parliament since it was first established has produced new acts for its better regulation. In April, leave was given to prepare a bill for limiting, confining, and better regulating the payment of the weekly allowances made by act of parliament, for the maintenance of families unable to support themselves during the absence of militia-men embodied, and ordered out into actual service; as well as for amending and improving the establishment of the militia, and lessening the number of officers entitled to pay within that part of Great Britain, called England. While this bill was under consideration, the house received a petition from the mayor, aldermen, town-clerk, sheriffs, gentlemen, merchants, clergy, tradesmen, and others, inhabitants of the ancient city of Lincoln, representing, That by an act passed relating to the militia it was provided, that when any militia-men should be ordered out into actual service, leaving families unable to support themselves during their absence, the overseers of the parish where such families reside, should allow them such weekly support as should be prescribed by any one justice of the peace, which allowance should be reimbursed out of the county stock. They alleged, that a considerable number of men, inhabitants of the said city, had entered themselves to serve in the militia of the county of Lincoln, as volunteers, for several parishes and persons; yet their families were, nevertheless, supported by the county stock of the city and county of the city of Lincoln. They took notice of the bill under deliberation, and prayed that if it should pass into a law, they might have such relief in the premises, as to the house should seem meet. Regard was had to this petition in the amendments to the bill, 535 [See note 4 G, at the end of this Vol.] which passed through both houses, and received the royal assent by commission. During the dependence of this bill another was brought in, to explain so much of the militia act passed in the thirty-first year of his majesty’s reign, as related to the money to be given to private militia-men, upon their being ordered out into actual service. By this law it was enacted, that the guinea, which by the former act was due to every private man of every regiment or company of militia, when ordered out into actual service, should be paid to every man that shall afterwards be enrolled into such regiment or company whilst in actual service; that no man should be entitled to his clothes for his own use, until he should have served three years, if unembodied, or one year, if embodied, after the delivery of the clothes; and that the full pay of the militia should commence from the date of his majesty’s warrant for drawing them out. The difficulties which these successive regulations were made to obviate, will be amply recompenced by the good effects of a national militia, provided it be employed in a national way, and for national purposes: but if the militia are embodied, and the different regiments that compose it are marched from the respective counties to which they belong; if the men are detained for any length of time in actual service, at a distance from their families, when they might be employed at home in works of industry, for the support of their natural dependents; the militia becomes no other than an addition to, or augmentation of, a standing army, enlisted for the term of three years; the labour of the men is lost to the community; they contract the idle habits and dissolute manner of the other troops; their families are left as incumbrances on the community; and the charge of their subsistence is, at least, as heavy as that of maintaining an equal number of regular forces. It would not, we apprehend, be very easy to account for the government’s ordering the regiments of militia to march from their respective counties, and to do duty for a considerable length of time at a great distance from their own homes, unless we suppose this measure was taken to create in the people a disgust to the institution of the militia, which was an establishment extorted from the secretary by the voice of the nation. We may add, that some of the inconveniencies attending a militia will never be totally removed, while the persons drawn by lot for that service are at liberty to hire substitutes; for it cannot be supposed that men of substance will incur the danger, fatigue, and damage of service in person, while they can hire among the lowest class of people mercenaries of desperate fortune and abandoned morals, who will greedily seize the opportunity of being paid for renouncing that labour by which they were before obliged to maintain themselves and their family connexion: it would, therefore, deserve the consideration of the legislature, whether the privilege of hiring substitutes should not be limited to certain classes of men, who are either raised by their rank in life above the necessity of serving in person, or engaged in such occupations as cannot be intermitted without prejudice to the commonwealth. It must be allowed, that the regulation in this new act, by which the families of substitutes are deprived of any relief from the parish, will not only diminish the burden of the poor’s rates; but also, by raising the price of mercenaries, oblige a greater number of the better sort to serve in person. Without all doubt, the fewer substitutes that are employed, the more dependence may be placed upon the militia in the preservation of our rights and privileges, and the more will the number of the disciplined men be increased; because at the expiration of every three years the lot-men must be changed, and new militia-men chosen; but the substitutes will, in all probability, continue for life in the service, provided they can find lot-men to hire them at every rotation. The reader will forgive our being so circumstantial upon the regulations of an institution, which we cannot help regarding with a kind of enthusiastic affection.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
In the latter end of November, the house of commons received a petition from several noblemen, gentlemen, and others, inhabitants of East Greenwich, and places adjacent, in Kent, representing, that in the said parish, within a quarter of a mile of the town distinguished by a royal palace, and royal hospital for seamen, there was a magazine, containing great quantities of gunpowder, frequently to the amount of six thousand barrels: that besides the great danger which must attend all places of that kind, the said magazine stood in an open field uninclosed by any fortification or defence whatsoever, consequently exposed to treachery and every other accident. They alleged, that if through treachery, lightning, or any other accident, this magazine should take fire, not only their lives and properties, but the palace and hospital, the king’s yards and stores at Deptford and Woolwich, the banks and navigation of the Thames, with the ships sailing and at anchor in that river, would be inevitably destroyed, and inconceivable damage would accrue to the cities of London and Westminster. They, moreover, observed, that the magazine was then in a dangerous condition, supported on all sides by props that were decayed at the foundation; that in case it should fall, the powder would, in all probability, take fire, and produce the dreadful calamities above recited: they therefore prayed that the magazine might be removed to some more convenient place, where any accident would not be attended with such dismal consequences. The subject of this remonstrance was so pressing and important, that a committee was immediately appointed to take the affair into consideration, and procure an estimate for purchasing lands, and erecting a powder magazine at Purfleet, in Essex, near the banks of the river, together with a guard-house, barracks, and all other necessary conveniences. While the report of the committee lay upon the table for the perusal of the members, Mr. chancellor of the exchequer, by his majesty’s command, acquainted the house, that the king, having been informed of the subject matter of the petition, recommended it to the consideration of the commons. Leave was immediately given to prepare a bill, founded on the resolutions of the committee; which having been duly considered, altered, and amended, passed through both houses to the foot of the throne, where it obtained the royal sanction. The magazine was accordingly removed to Purfleet, an inconsiderable and solitary village, where there will be little danger of accident, and where no great damage would attend an explosion; but in order to render this possible explosion still less dangerous, it would be necessary to form the magazine of small distinct apartments, totally independent of each other, that in case one should be accidentally blown up, the rest might stand unaffected. The same plan ought to be adopted in the construction of all combustible stores subject to conflagration. The marine bill and mutiny bill, as annual regulations, were prepared in the usual form, passed both houses without opposition, and received the royal assent.
The next affair that engrossed the deliberation of the commons, was a measure relating to the internal economy of the metropolis. The sheriffs of London delivered a petition from the lord mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled, representing that several streets, lanes, and passages within the city of London, and liberties thereof, were too narrow and incommodious for the passing and repassing as well of foot passengers as of coaches, carts, and other carriages, to the prejudice and inconvenience of the owners and inhabitants of houses, and to the great hinderance of business, trade, and commerce. They alleged that these defects might be remedied, and several new streets opened within the said city and liberties, to the great ease, safety, and convenience of passengers, as well as to the advantage of the public in general, if they, the petitioners, were enabled to widen and enlarge the narrow streets, lanes, and passages, to open and lay out such new streets and ways, and to purchase the several houses, buildings, and grounds which might be necessary for these purposes. They took notice that there were several houses within the city and liberties, partly erected over the ground of other proprietors; and others, of which the several floors or apartments belonged to different persons, so that difficulties and disputes frequently arose amongst the said several owners and proprietors, about pulling down or rebuilding the party walls and premises; that such rebuilding was often prevented or delayed, to the great injury and inconvenience of those owners who were desirous to rebuild; that it would therefore be of public benefit, and frequently prevent the spreading of the fatal effects of fire, if some provision were made by law, as well for determining such disputes in a summary way, as for explaining and amending the laws then in being relating to the building of party-walls. They therefore prayed that leave might be given to bring in a bill for enabling the petitioners to widen and enlarge the several streets, lanes, and passages, and to open new streets and ways to be therein limited and prescribed, as well as for determining, in a summary way, all disputes arising about the rebuilding of houses or tenements within the said city and liberties, wherein several persons have an intermixed property; and for explaining and amending the laws in being, relating to these particulars. A committee being appointed to examine the matter of this petition, agreed to a report, upon which leave was given to prepare a bill, and this was brought in accordingly. Next day a great number of citizens represented, in another petition, that the pavement of the city and liberties was often damaged, by being broken up for the purposes of amending or new-laying water-pipes belonging to the proprietors of water-works, and praying that provision might be made in the bill then depending, to compel those proprietors to make good any damage that should be done to the pavement by the leaking or bursting of the water-pipes, or opening the pavement for alterations. In consequence of this representation, some amendments were made in the bill, which passed through both houses, and was enacted into a law, under the title of “An act for widening certain streets, lanes, and passages, within the city of London and liberties thereof, and for opening certain new streets and ways within the same, and for other purposes therein mentioned.” 536 [See note 4 H, at the end of this Vol.]
The inhabitants of Westminster had long laboured under the want of a fish-market, and complained that the price of this species of provision was kept up at an exorbitant rate by the fraudulent combination of a few dealers, who engrossed the whole market at Billingsgate, and destroyed great quantities of fish, in order to enhance the value of those that remained. An act of parliament had passed, in the twenty-second year of his present majesty’s reign, for establishing a free market for the sale of fish in Westminster; and, seven years after that period, it was found necessary to procure a second, for explaining and amending the first. but neither effectually answered the purposes of the legislature. In the month of January, of the present session, the house took into consideration a petition of the several fishermen trading to Billingsgate market, representing the hardships to which they were exposed by the said acts; particularly forfeitures of vessels and cargoes, incurred by the negligence of servants who had omitted to make the particular entries which the two acts prescribed. This petition being examined by a committee, and the report being made, leave was given to bring in a new bill, which should contain effectual provision for the better supplying the cities of London and Westminster with fish, and for preventing the abuses of the fishmongers. It was intituled, “A bill to repeal so much of an act passed in the twenty-ninth of George II. concerning a free market for fish at Westminster, as requires fishermen to enter their fishing vessels at the office of the searcher of the customs at Gravesend, and to regulate the sale of fish at the first hand in the fish-markets of London and Westminster; and to prevent salesmen of fish buying fish to sell again on their own account; and to allow bret and turbot, brill and pearl, although under the respective dimensions mentioned in a former act, to be imported and sold; and to punish persons who shall take or sell any spawn, brood, or fry of fish, unsizeable fish, or fish out of season, or smelts under the size of five inches, and for other purposes.” Though this, and the former bill relating to the streets and houses of London, are instances that evince the care and attention of the legislature, even to minute particulars of the internal economy of the kingdom, we can hardly consider them as objects of such dignity and importance as to demand the deliberations of the parliament, but think they naturally fall within the cognizance of the municipal magistracy. After all, perhaps, the most effectual method for supplying Westminster with plenty of fish at reasonable rates, would be to execute with rigour the laws already enacted against forestalling and regrating, an expedient that would soon dissolve all monopolies and combinations among the traders; to increase the number of markets in London and Westminster, and to establish two general markets at the Nore, one on each side of the river, where the fishing vessels might unload their cargoes, and return to sea without delay. A number of light boats might be employed to convey fresh fish from these marts to London and Westminster, where all the different fish-markets might be plentifully supplied at a reasonable expense; for it cannot be supposed that, while the fresh fish are brought up the river in the fishing smacks themselves, which can hardly save the tides, to Billingsgate, they will ever dream of carrying their cargoes above bridge, or that the price of fish can be considerably lowered, while the fishing vessels lose so much time in running up to Gravesend or Billingsgate.
The annual committee being appointed to inquire what laws were expired or near expiring, agreed to certain resolutions; upon which a bill was prepared, and obtained the royal assent, importing a continuation of several laws, namely, the several clauses mentioned of the acts in the fifth and eighth of George I. against the clandestine running of uncustomed goods, except the clauses relating to quarantine; the act passed in the third of George II. relating to the carrying rice from Carolina; the act of the seventh of the same reign, re-fating to cochineal and indigo; and that of the twelfth of George II. so far as it related to the importation of printed books. There was also a law enacted, to continue to the twenty-ninth day of September in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, an act passed in the twelfth year of queen Anne, for encouraging the making of sail-cloth, by a duty of one penny per ell laid upon all foreign-made sails and sail-cloth imported; and a bounty in the same proportion granted upon all home-made sail-cloth and canvass fit for or made into sails, and exported; another act was passed, for continuing certain laws relating to the additional number of one hundred hackney coaches and chairs, which law was rendered perpetual. The next law we shall mention was intended to be one of the most important that ever fell under the cognizance of the legislature: it was a law that affected the freedom, dignity, and independency of parliaments. By an act, passed in the ninth year of the reign of queen Anne, it was provided that no person should be chosen a member of parliament who did not possess in England or Wales an estate, freehold or copyhold, for life, according to the following qualifications: for every knight of a shire six hundred pounds per annum, over and above what will satisfy all incumbrances; and three hundred pounds per annum, for every citizen, burgess, and baron of the cinque ports. It was also decreed, that the return of any person not thus qualified should be void; and that every candidate should, at the reasonable request of any other candidate at the time of election, or of two or more persons who had a right to vote, take an oath prescribed to establish his qualifications. This restraint was by no means effectual. So many oaths of different kinds had been prescribed since the revolution, that they began to lose the effect they were intended to have on the minds of men; and, in particular, political perjury grew so common, that it was no longer considered as a crime. Subterfuges were discovered, by means of which this law relating to the qualification of candidates was effectually eluded. Those who were not actually possessed of such estates, procured temporary conveyances from their friends and patrons, on condition of their being restored and cancelled after the election. By this scandalous fraud the intention of the legislature was frustrated, the dignity of parliament prostituted, the example of perjury and corruption extended, and the vengeance of heaven set at defiance. Through this infamous channel the ministry had it in their power to thrust into parliament a set of venal beggars, who, as they depended upon their bounty, would always be obsequious to their will, and vote according to direction, without the least regard to the dictates of conscience, or to the advantage of their country. The mischiefs attending such a vile collusion, and in particular the undue influence which the crown must have acquired from the practice, were either felt or apprehended by some honest patriots, who after divers unsuccessful efforts, at length presented to the house a bill, importing that every person who shall be elected a member of the house of commons, should, before he presumed to take his seat, deliver to the clerk of the house, at the table, while the commons were sitting, and the speaker in the chair, a paper, or schedule, signed by himself, containing a rental or particular of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, whereby he makes out his qualification, specifying the nature of his estate, whether messuage, land, rent, tithe, or what else; and if such estate consists of messuages, lands, or tithes, then specifying in whose occupation they are; and if in rent, then specifying the names of the owners or possessors of the lands and tenements out of which such rent is issuing, and also specifying the parish, township, or precinct and county, in which the said estate lies, and the value thereof; and every such person shall, at the same time, also take and subscribe the following oath, to be fairly written at the bottom of the paper or schedule: “I, A. B. do swear that the above is a true rental; and that I truly, and bona fide, have such an estate in law or equity, to and for my own use and benefit, of and in the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, above described, over and above what will satisfy and clear all incumbrances that may affect the same; and that such estate hath not been granted or made over to me fraudulently, on purpose to qualify me to be a member of this house. So help me God!” It was provided that the said paper or schedule, with the oath aforesaid, should be carefully kept by the clerk, to be inspected by the members of the house of commons, without fee or reward: that if any person elected to serve in any future parliament, should presume to sit or vote as a member of the house of commons before he had delivered in such a paper or schedule, and taken the oath aforesaid, or should not be qualified according to the true intent or meaning of this act, his election should be void; and every person so sitting and voting should forfeit a certain sum to be recovered, by such persons as should sue for the same by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, whereon no essoign, privilege, protection, or wager of law should be allowed, and only one imparlance: that if any person should have delivered in, and sworn to his qualification as aforesaid, and taken his seat in the house of commons, yet at any time after should, during the continuance of such parliament, sell, dispose of, alien, or any otherwise incumber the estate, or any part thereof comprised in the schedule, so as to lessen or reduce the same under the value of the qualification by law directed, every such person, under a certain penalty, must deliver in a new or further qualification, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, and swear to the same, in manner before directed, before he shall again presume to sit or vote as a member of the house of commons; that in case any action, suit, or information should be brought, in pursuance of this act, against any member of the house of commons, the clerk of the house, shall, upon demand, forthwith deliver a true and attested copy of the paper or schedule so delivered in to him as aforesaid by such member to the plaintiff or prosecutor, or his attorney or agent, on paying a certain sum for the same; which, being proved a true copy, shall be admitted to be given in evidence upon the trial of any issue in any such action. Provided always, that nothing contained in this act shall extend to the eldest son or heir apparent of any peer or lord of parliament, or of any person qualified to serve as knight of the shire, or to the members for either of the universities in that part of Great Britain called England, or to the members of that part of Great Britain called Scotland. Such was the substance of the bill, as originally presented to the house of commons; but it was altered in such a manner as we are afraid will fail in answering the salutary purposes for which it was intended by those who brought it into the house. Notwithstanding the provisions made in the act as it now stands, any minister or patron may still introduce his pensioners, clerks, and creatures into the house, by means of the old method of temporary conveyance, though the farce must now be kept up till the member shall have delivered in his schedule, taken his oath, and his seat in parliament; then he may deliver up the conveyance, or execute a re-conveyance, without running any risk of losing his seat, or of being punished for his fraud and perjury. The extensive influence of the crown, the general corruptibility of individuals, and the obstacles so industriously thrown in the way of every scheme contrived to vindicate the independency of parliaments, must have produced very mortifying reflections in the breast of every Briton warmed with the genuine love of his country. He must have perceived that all the bulwarks of the constitution were little better than buttresses of ice, which would infallibly thaw before the heat of ministerial influence, when artfully concentrated; that either a minister’s professions of patriotism were insincere; or his credit insufficient to effect any essential alteration in the unpopular measures of government; and that, after all, the liberties of the nation could never be so firmly established, as by the power, generosity, and virtue of a patriot king. This inference could not fail to awake the remembrance of that amiable prince, whom fate untimely snatched from the eager hopes and warm affection of a whole nation, before, he had it in his power to manifest and establish his favourite maxim, “That a monarch’s glory was inseparably connected with the happiness of his people.” 538 [See note 4 I, at the end of this Vol.]
1760
On the first day of February, a motion was made, and leave given, to bring in a bill for enabling his majesty to make leases and copies of offices, lands, and hereditaments, parcel of his duchy of Cornwall, or annexed to the same; accordingly it passed through both houses without opposition; and enacted that all leases and grants made, or to be made, by his majesty, within seven years next ensuing, in or annexed to the said duchy, under the limitations therein mentioned, should be good and effectual in law against his majesty, his heirs, and successors, and against all other persons that should hereafter inherit the said duchy, either by an act of parliament, or any limitation whatsoever. This act appears the more extraordinary as the prince of Wales, who has a sort of right by prescription to the duchy of Cornwall, was then of age, and might have been put in possession of it by the passing of a patent. The house having perused an account of the produce of the fund established for paying annuities granted in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, with the charge on that fund on the fifth day of January in the succeeding year, it appeared that there had been a considerable deficiency in the said fund on the fifth day of July preceding, and this had been made good out of the sinking fund, by a resolution of the seventh of February, already particularized. They therefore instructed the committee of ways and means to consider so much of the annuity and lottery act passed in the preceding session as related to the three per centum annuities, amounting to the sum of seven millions five hundred and ninety thousand pounds, granted in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine; and also to consider so much of the said act as related to the subsidy of poundage upon certain goods and merchandise to be imported into this kingdom, and the additional inland duty on coffee and chocolate. The committee having taken these points into deliberation, agreed to the two resolutions we have already mentioned with respect to the consolidation; and a bill was brought in for adding those annuities granted in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, to the joint stock of throe per centum annuities consolidated by the acts of the twenty-fifth, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirty-second years of his majesty’s reign, and for several duties therein mentioned, to the sinking fund. The committee was afterwards empowered to receive a clause for cancelling such lottery tickets as were made forth in pursuance of an act passed in the thirtieth year of his majesty’s reign, and were not then disposed of: a clause for this purpose was accordingly added to the bill, which passed through both houses without opposition, and received the royal assent at the end of the session.
On the twenty-ninth day of April, lord North presented to the house a bill for encouraging the exportation of rum and spirits of the growth, produce, and manufacture of the British sugar-plantations, from Great Britain, and of British spirits made from molasses; a bill which in a little time acquired the sanction of the royal assent. Towards the end of April, admiral Town-shend presented a bill for the more effectual securing the payment of such prize and bounty-monies as were appropriated to the use of Greenwich hospital, by an act passed in the twenty-ninth year of his majesty’s reign. As by that law no time was limited, or particular method prescribed, for giving notifications of the day appointed for the payment of the shares of the prizes and bounty-money; and many agents had neglected to specify, in the notification given in the London Gazette for payment of shares of prizes condemned in the courts of admiralty in Groat Britain, the particular day or time when such payments were to commence, whereby it was rendered difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the time when the hospital at Greenwich became entitled to the unclaimed shares, of consequence could not enjoy the full benefit of the act; the bill now prepared imported, that, from and after the first day of September in the present year, all notifications of the payment of the shares of prizes taken by any of his majesty’s ships of war, and condemned in Great Britain, and from and after the first day of February, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one, all notifications of the payment of the shares and prizes taken and condemned in any other of his majesty’s dominions in Europe, or in any of the British plantations in America; and from and after the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one, all notifications of the payment of the shares of prizes taken and condemned in any other of his majesty’s dominions, shall be respectively given and published in the following manner:—If the prize be condemned in any court of admiralty in Great Britain, such notification, under the agent’s hand, shall be published in the London Gazette; and if condemned in any court of admiralty in any other of his majesty’s dominions, such notification shall be published in like manner in the Gazette, or other newspaper of public authority, of the island or place where the prize is condemned; and if there shall be no Gazette, or such newspaper, published there, then in some or one of the public newspapers of the place; and such agents shall deliver to the collector, customer, or searcher, or his lawful deputy; and if there shall be no such officer, then to the principal officer or officers of the place where the prize is condemned, or to the lawful deputy of such principal officers, two of the Gazettes or other newspapers in which such notifications are inserted; and if there shall not be any public newspapers in any such island or place, the agent shall give two such notifications in writing, under his hand; and every such collector, or other officer as aforesaid, shall subscribe his name on both the said Gazettes, newspapers, or written notifications; and, by the first ship which shall sail from thence to any port of Great Britain, shall transmit to the treasurer or deputy-treasurers of the said royal hospital one of the said notifications, with his name so subscribed, to be there registered; and shall faithfully preserve and keep the other, with his name thereon subscribed, in his own custody; and in every notification as aforesaid the agent shall specify his place of abode, and the precise day of the month and year appointed for the payment of the respective shares to the captors; and all notifications with respect to prizes condemned in Great Britain, shall be published in the London Gazette three days at least before any share of such prize shall be paid; and with respect to prizes condemned in any other part of his majesty’s dominions, such notifications shall be delivered to the said collector, or other officers as aforesaid, three days at least before any share of such prizes shall be paid. It was likewise enacted, that the agents for the distribution of bounty-bills should insert, and publish under their hands, in the London Gazette, three days at least before payment, public notifications of the day and year appointed for such payment, and also insert therein their respective places of abode. The bill, even as it now stands, is liable to several objections. It may be dangerous to leave the money of the unclaimed shares so long as three years in the hands of the agent, who, together with his securities, may prove insolvent before the expiration of that term: then the time prescribed to the sailors, within which their claim is limited, appears to be too short, when we consider that they may be so circumstanced, turned over to another ship, and conveyed to a distant part of the globe, that they shall have no opportunity to claim payment; and should three years elapse before they could make application to the agent, they would find their bounty or prize money appropriated to the use of Greenwich hospital; nay, should they die in the course of the voyage, it would be lost to their heirs and executors, who, being ignorant of their title, could not possibly claim within the time limited.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760