Domestic Occurrences in Great Britain..... Trials of Dr. Hensey and Shebbeare..... Institution of the Magdalen Asylum..... Society for the encouragement of Arts..... Session opened..... New Treaty with the King of Prussia..... Supplies granted..... The King’s Message to the Commons..... Bill relating to ihe Distillery, and the Exportation of Corn..... Petition from the Justices of Norfolk—-Bill for the Importation of salted Beef from Treland continued..... Regulations with respect to Privateers..... New Militia Laws..... Act for the Relief of Debtors revived..... Bills for the Importation of Irish Beef and Tallow..... Act relative to Milford-Haven..... Bill relative to the Duty on Pensions..... Act relative to the Duty on Plate..... Cambric Act..... Unsuccessful Bills..... Case of the Insolvent Debtors..... Case of Cant. Walker..... Remarks on the Bankrupt Laws..... Inquiry into the State of the Poor..... Regulations of Weights and Measures..... Resolutions concerning the Foundling Hospital..... Messages from the King to the Parliament..... Session closed..... Preparations for War..... Death of the Princess of Orange and Princess Elizabeth Caroline..... Examples made of Pirates..... Accounts of some remarkable Murders..... Murder of Daniel Clarke..... Majority of the Prince of Wales..... Resolutions concerning a new Bridge at Blackfriars..... Pire in Cornhill..... Method contrived to find out the Longitude..... Installation at Oxford..... Deplorable Incident at Sea..... Captures made by separate Cruisers..... Captain Hood takes the Bellona..... and Captain Barrington the Count do St. Florentin..... Captain Falkner takes a French East Indiaman..... Prize taken in the West Indies..... Engagement between the Hercules and the Florissant..... Havre-de-Grace bombarded by Admiral Rodney..... Admiral Boscawen defeats M. de la Clue..... Preparations made by the French for invading England..... Account of Thurot..... French Fleet sails from Brest..... Admiral Hawke defeats M. de Conflans..... Proceedings of the Irish Parliament..... Loyalty of the Irish-Catholics..... Dangerous Insurrection in Dublin..... Alarm of a Descent in Scotland
While the operations of the war were prosecuted through the four quarters of the globe, the island of Great Britain, which may be termed the centre that gave motion to this vast machine, enjoyed all the tranquillity of the most profound peace, and saw nothing of war but the preparations and trophies, which served only to animate the nation to a desire of further conquest; for the dejection occasioned by the misfortune at St. Cas soon vanished before the prospect of victory and success. Considering the agitation naturally produced among the common people, by the practice of pressing men into the service of the navy, which, in the beginning of the year, had been carried on with unusual violence, the levy of so many new corps of soldiers, and the endeavours used in forming the national militia, very few disturbances happened to interrupt the internal repose of the nation. From private acts of malice, fraud, violence, and rapine, no community whatsoever is exempted. In the month of April, the temporary wooden bridge over the Thames, built for the conveniency of carriages and passengers, while the workmen should be employed in widening and repairing London bridge, was maliciously set on fire in the night, and continued burning till noon next day, when the ruins of it fell into the river. The destruction of this conveniency proved very detrimental to the commerce of the city, notwithstanding the vigilancy and discretion of the magistrates, in applying remedies for this misfortune. A promise of the king’s pardon was offered in a public advertisement, by the secretary of state, and a reward of two hundred pounds by the city of London, to any person who should discover the perpetrator of such wicked outrage; but nevertheless he escaped detection. No individual, nor any society of men, could have the least interest in the execution of such a scheme, except the body of London watermen; but as no discovery was made to the prejudice of any person belonging to that society, the deed was imputed to the malice of some secret enemy to the public. Even after a new temporary bridge was erected, another attempt was made (in all probability by the same incendiary) to reduce the whole to ashes, but happily miscarried, and a guard was appointed to prevent any such atrocious efforts in the sequel. Dangerous tumults were raised in and about Manchester, by a prodigious number of manufacturers who had left off working, and entered into a combination to raise, by force, the price of their labour. They had formed a regular plan, and collected large sums for the maintenance of the poorer sort, while they refused to work for their families. They insulted and abused all those who would not join in this defection, dispersed incendiary letters; and denounced terrible threats against all such as should presume to oppose their proceedings. But these menaces had no effect upon the magistrates and justices, who did their duty with such discretion and courage, that the ringleaders being singled out and punished by law, the rest were soon reduced to order.
In the month of June, Florence Hensey, an obscure physician, and native of Ireland, who had been apprehended for treasonable practices, was tried in the court of king’s-bench, on an indictment for high treason. In the course of the trial it appeared that he had been employed as a spy for the French ministry; to which, in consideration of a paltry pension, he sent intelligence of every material occurrence in Great Britain. The correspondence was managed by his brother, a Jesuit, who acted as chaplain and secretary to the Spanish ambassador at the Hague. The British resident at that court having learned from the Spanish minister some secrets relating to England, even before they were communicated to him from the English ministry, was induced to set on foot an inquiry touching the source of this information, and soon received an assurance, that the secretary of the Spanish ambassador had a brother, a physician in London. The suspicion naturally arising from this circumstance being imparted to the ministry of England, Hensey was narrowly watched, and twenty-nine of his letters were intercepted. From the contents of these he was convicted of having given the French court the first notice of the expedition to North America, the capture of the two ships, the Alcide and Lys, the sailing and destination of every squadron and armament, and the difficulties that occurred in raising money for the service of the public. He had even informed them, that the secret expedition of the foregoing year was intended against Eochefort, and advised a descent upon Great Britain, at a certain time and place, as the most effectual method of distressing the government, and affecting the public credit. After a long trial he was found guilty of treason, and received the sentence of death usually pronounced on such occasions; but whether he earned forgiveness by some material discovery, or the minister found him so insensible and insignificant that he was ashamed to take his life, he escaped execution, and was pardoned, on condition of going into perpetual exile. The severity of the government was much about the same period exercised on Dr. Shebbeare, a public writer, who, in a series of printed letters to the people of England, had animadverted on the conduct of the ministry in the most acrimonious terms, stigmatized some great names with all the virulence of censure, and even assaulted the throne itself with oblique insinuation and ironical satire. The ministry, incensed at the boldness, and still more enraged at the success of this author, whose writings were bought with avidity by the public, determined to punish him severely for his arrogance and abuse, and he was apprehended by a warrant from the secretary’s office. His sixth letter to the people of England was pitched upon as the foundation of a prosecution. After a short trial in the court of king’s bench, he was found guilty of having written the sixth letter to the people of England, adjudged a libellous pamphlet, sentenced to stand in the pillory, to pay a small fine, to be imprisoned three years, and give security for his future good behaviour; so that, in effect, this good man suffered more for having given vent to the unguarded effusions of mistaken zeal, couched in the language of passion and scurrility, than was inflicted upon Hensey, a convicted traitor, who had acted as spy for France, and betrayed his own country for hire.
Amidst a variety of crimes and disorders, arising from impetuosity of temper, unreined passions, luxury, extravagance, and an almost total want of police and subordination, the virtues of benevolence are always springing up to an extraordinary growth in the British soil; and here charities are often established by the humanity of individuals, which in any other country would be honoured as national institutions: witness the great number of hospitals and infirmaries in London and Westminster, erected and maintained by voluntary contributions, or raised by the princely donations of private founders. In the course of this year the public began to enjoy the benefit of several admirable institutions. Mr. Henry Baine, a private gentleman of Middlesex, had, in his lifetime, built and endowed an hospital for the maintenance of forty poor maidens. By his will he bequeathed a certain sum of money to accumulate at interest, under the management of trustees, until the yearly produce should amount to two hundred and ten pounds, to be given in marriage portions to two of the maidens educated in his hospital, at the age of twenty-two, who should be the best recommended for piety and industry by the masters or mistresses whom they had served. In the month of March, the sum destined for this laudable purpose was completed: when the trustees, by public advertisement, summoned the maidens educated in the hospital to appear on a certain day, with proper certificates of their behaviour and circumstances, that six of the most deserving might be selected to draw lots for the prize of one hundred pounds, to be paid as her marriage portion, provided she married a man of an unblemished character, a member of the church of England, residing within certain specified parishes, and approved by the trustees. Accordingly, on the first of May the candidates appeared, and the prize being gained by one young woman, in presence of a numerous assembly of all ranks, attracted by curiosity, the other five maidens, with a sixth, added in lieu of her who had been successsful, were marked for a second chance on the same day of the following year, when a second prize of the same value would be presented: thus a new candidate will be added every year, that every maiden who has been educated in this hospital, and preserved her character without reproach, may have a chance for the noble donation, which is also accompanied with the sum of five pounds to defray the expense of the wedding entertainment. One scarce knows whether most to admire the plan, or commend the humanity of this excellent institution.—Of equal and perhaps superior merit was another charitable establishment, which also took effect about this period. A small number of humane individuals, chiefly citizens of London, deeply affected with the situation of common prostitutes, who are certainly the most forlorn of all human creatures, formed a generous resolution in their favour, such as even the best men of the kingdom had never before the courage to avow. They considered that many of these unhappy creatures, so wretched in themselves, and so productive of mischief to society, had been seduced to vice in their tender years by the perfidious artifice of the other sex, or the violence of unruly passion, before they had acquired experience to guard against the one, or foresight to perceive the fatal consequences of the other; that the jewel, reputation, being thus irretrievably lost, perhaps in one unguarded moment, they were covered with shame and disgrace, abandoned by their families, excluded from all pity, regard, and assistance; that, stung by self-conviction, insulted with reproach, denied the privilege of penitence and contrition, cut off from all hope, impelled by indigence, and maddened by despair, they had plunged into a life of infamy, in which they were exposed to deplorable vicissitudes of misery, and the most excruciating pangs of reflection that any human being could sustain; that whatever remorse they might feel, howsoever they might detest their own vice, or long for an opportunity of amendment, they were entirely destitute of all means of reformation. They were not only deprived of all possibility of profiting by those precious moments of repentance, and becoming again useful members of society; but, in order to earn a miserable subsistence, were obliged to persevere in the paths of prostitution, and act as the instruments of heaven’s vengeance in propagating distemper and profligacy, in ruining the bodies and debauching the minds of their fellow-creatures. Moved to sympathy and compassion by these considerations, this virtuous band of associates determined to provide a comfortable asylum for female penitents, to which they might fly for shelter from the receptacles of vice, the miseries of life, and the scorn of mankind; where they might indulge the salutary sentiments of remorse, make their peace with heaven, accustom themselves to industry and temperance, and be profitably reunited to society, from which they had been so unhappily dissevered. The plan of this excellent institution being formed, was put in execution by means of voluntary subscription, and the house opened in Goodman ‘s-fields, under the name of the Magdalen-hospital, in the month of August, when fifty petitions were presented by penitent prostitutes, soliciting admittance. Another asylum was also opened by the hand of private charity, on the Surrey-side of Westminster-bridge, for the reception and education of female orphans, and children abandoned by their parents.
Nor was encouragement refused to those who distinguished themselves by extraordinary talents in any branch of the liberal and useful arts and sciences, though no Maecenas appeared among the ministers, and not the least ray of patronage glimmered from the throne. The protection, countenance, and gratification secured in other countries by the institution of academies, and the liberalities of princes, the ingenious in England derived from the generosity of a public, endued with taste and sensibility, eager for improvement, and proud of patronising extraordinary merit. Several years had already elapsed since a society of private persons was instituted at London, for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce. It consisted of a president, vice-president, secretary, register, collector, and other officers, elected from a very considerable number of members, who pay a certain yearly contribution for the purposes of the institution. In the course of every year they held eight general meetings in a large assembly-room, built and furnished at the common expense; besides the ordinary meetings of the society, held every week, from the second Wednesday in November to the last Wednesday in May; and in the intermediate time, on the first and third Wednesday of every month. At these ordinary meetings, provided the number then present exceeded ten, the members had a right to proceed on business, and power to appoint such committees as they should think necessary. The money contributed by this association, after the necessary expense of the society had been deducted, was expended in premiums for planting and husbandry; for discoveries and improvements in chemistry, dying, and mineralogy; for promoting the ingenious arts of drawing, engraving, casting, painting, statuary, and sculpture; for the improvement of manufactures and machines, in the various articles of hats, crapes, druggets, mills, marbled-paper, ship-blocks, spinning-wheels, toys, yarn, knitting, and weaving. They likewise allotted sums for the advantage of the British colonies in America, and bestowed premiums on those settlers who should excel in curing cochineal, planting logwood-trees, cultivating olive-trees, producing myrtle-wax, making potash, preserving raisins, curing saffiour, making silk and wines, importing sturgeon, preparing isinglass, planting hemp and cinnamon, extracting opium and the gum of the persimon-tree, collecting stones of the mango, which should be found to vegetate in the West Indies; raising silk-grass, and laying out provincial gardens. They moreover allowed a gold medal in honour of him who should compose the best treatise on the arts of peace, containing an historical account of the progressive improvements of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce in the kingdom of England, with the effects of those improvements on the morals and manners of the people, and pointing out the most proper means for their future advancement. In a word, the society is so numerous, the contributions so considerable, the plan so judiciously laid, and executed with such discretion and spirit, as to promise much more effectual and extensive advantage to the public than ever accrued from all the boasted academies of Christendom. The artists of London had long maintained a private academy for improvement in the art of drawing from living figures; but in order to extend this advantage, which was not attained without difficulty and expense, the duke of Richmond, a young nobleman of the most amiable character, provided a large apartment at Whitehall, for the use of those who studied the arts of painting, sculpture, and engraving; and furnished it with a collection of original plaster casts from the best antique statues and busts at Rome and Florence. Here any learner had liberty to draw, or make models, under the eye and instructions of two eminent artists and twice a year the munificent founder bestowed premiums of silver medals on the four pupils who excelled the rest in drawing from a certain figure, and making the best model of it in basso-relievo.479[See note 3 R, at the end of this Vol.]
On the twenty-third day of November both houses of parliament met at Westminster, when his majesty being indisposed, the session was opened by commission, and the lord-keeper harangued them to this effect. He told them, his majesty had directed the lords of the commission to assure his parliament that he always received the highest satisfaction in being able to lay before them any event that might promote the honour and interests of his kingdoms; that in consequence of their advice, and enabled by the assistance which they unanimously gave, his majesty had exerted his endeavours to carry on the war in the most vigorous manner, in order to attain that desirable end, always to be wished, a safe and honourable peace:* that it had pleased the Divine Providence to bless his measures and arms with success in several parts, and to make the enemies of the nation feel, that the strength of Great Britain is not to be provoked with impunity: that the conquest of the strong fortress of Louisbourg, with the islands of Cape-Breton and St. John; the demolition of Frontenac, of the highest importance to his operations in America, and the reduction of Senegal, could not fail to bring great distress on the French commerce and colonies, and, in proportion, to procure great advantages to those of Great Britain.
* In the month of August, the king, in quality of elector of Hanover, having occasion for two hundred thousand pounds, a loan by subscription for that sum was opened at the bank, and filled immediately by seven or eight money-dealers of London.
He observed, that France had also been made sensible, that whilst her forces are sent forth to invade and ravage the dominions of her neighbours, her own coasts are not inaccessible to his majesty’s fleets and armies—a truth which she had experienced in the demolition of the works at Cherbourg, erected at a great expense, with a particular view to annoy England, as well as in the loss of a great number of ships and vessels; but no treatment, however injurious to his majesty, could tempt him to make retaliation on the innocent subjects of that crown. He told them, that in Germany his majesty’s good brother the king of Prussia, and prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, had found full employment for the enemies of France and her confederates, from which the English operations, both by sea and in America, had derived the most evident advantage: their successes owing, under God, to their able conduct, and the bravery of his majesty’s troops, and those of his allies, having been signal and glorious. The king, moreover, commanded them to declare, that the common cause of liberty and independency was still making noble and glorious efforts against the unnatural union formed to oppress it: that the commerce of his subjects, the source of national riches, had, by the vigilant protection received from his majesty’s fleet, flourished in a manner not to be paralleled during such troubles. In this state of things, he said, the king in his wisdom thought it unnecessary to use many words to persuade them to bear up against all difficulties, effectually to stand by and defend his majesty, vigorously to support the king of Prussia and the rest of his majesty’s allies, and to exert themselves to reduce their enemies to equitable terms of accommodation. He observed to the house of commons, that the uncommon extent of this war, in different parts, occasioned it to be uncommonly expensive: that the king had ordered them to declare to the commons, that he sincerely lamented, and deeply felt, for the burdens of his people: that the several estimates were ordered to be laid before them: and that he desired only such supplies as should be requisite to push the war with advantage, and be adequate to the necessary services. In the last place, he assured them the king took so much satisfaction in that good harmony which subsisted among his faithful subjects, that it was more proper for him now to thank them for it, than to repeat his exhortation to it: that this union, necessary at all times, was more especially so in such critical conjunctures; and his majesty doubted not but the good effects the nation had found from it would be the strongest motives to them to pursue it.—The reader will, no doubt, be surprised to find this harangue abound with harshness of period and inelegancy of expression; he will wonder that, in particularizing the successes of the year in America, no mention is made of the reduction of fort Du Quesne on the river Ohio; a place of great importance, both from its strength and situation, the erection of which had been one great motive to the war between the two nations; but he will be still more surprised to hear it declared from the throne, that the operations, both by sea and in America, had derived the most evident advantage from the war in Germany. An assertion the more extraordinary, as the British ministry, in their answer to the Parallel, which we have already mentioned, had expressly affirmed, that “none but such as are unacquainted with the maritime force of England can believe, that without a diversion on the continent, to employ part of the enemy’s force, she is not in a condition to hope for success and maintain her superiority at sea. That they must be very ignorant indeed, who imagine that the forces of England are not able to resist those of France unless the latter be hindered from turning all her efforts to the sea.” It is very remarkable that the British ministry should declare that the war in Germany was favourable to the English operations by sea and in America, and almost in the same breath accuse the French king of having fomented that war. Let us suppose that France had no war to maintain in Europe; and ask in what manner she, in that case, would have opposed the progress of the British arms by sea and in America? Her navy was reduced to such a condition that it durst not quit her harbours; her merchant ships were all taken, her mariners confined in England, and the sea was covered with British cruisers: in these circumstances, what expedients could she have contrived for sending supplies and reinforcements to America, or for opposing the naval armaments of Great Britain in any other part of the world?—None. Without ships and mariners, her troops, ammunition, and stores were, in this respect, as useless as money to a man shipwrecked on a desolate island. But granting that the war in Germany had, in some measure, diverted the attention of the French ministry from the prosecution of their operations in America, (and this is granting more than ought to be allowed,) the question is not, Whether the hostilities upon the continent of Europe prevented France from sending a greater number of troops to Canada; but whether the war in Germany was either necessary or expedient for distressing the French more effectually in other parts of the world? Surely every intelligent man of candour must answer in the negative. The expense incurred by England for subsidies and armies in the empire exceeded three millions sterling annually; and this enormous expense, without being able to protect Hanover, only served to keep the war alive in different parts of Germany. Had one half of this sum been employed in augmenting and extending the naval armaments of Great Britain, and in reinforcing her troops in America and the West Indies, France would have been, at this day, deprived of all her sugar colonies, as well as of her settlements on the continent of America; and being absolutely cut off from these sources of wealth, would have found it impracticable either to gratify her subsidiaries, or to maintain such formidable armies to annoy her neighbours. These are truths, which will appear to the conviction of the public, when the illusive spells of unsubstantial victory are dissolved, and time shall have dispersed the thick mists of prejudice which now seem to darken and perplex the understanding of the people.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
The conduct of the administration was so agreeable to both houses of parliament, that in their address to the throne they expressed their unshaken zeal and loyalty to his majesty’s person, congratulated him on the success of his arms, and promised to support his measures and allies with steadiness and alacrity. *
* That the charge of disaffection to the king’s person, which was so loudly trumpeted by former ministers and their adherents against those who had honesty and courage to oppose the measures of a weak and corrupt administration, was entirely false and without foundation, appeared at this juncture, when in the midst of a cruel, oppressive, and continental war, maintained by the blood and treasure of Great Britain, all opposition ceased in both houses of parliament. The addresses of thanks to his majesty, which are always dictated by the immediate servants of the crown, were unanimously adopted in both houses, and not only couched in terms of applause, but even inflated with expressions of rapture and admiration. They declared themselves sensible, that the operations of Great Britain, both by sea and in America, had received the most evident and important advantages from the maintenance of the war in Germany, and seemed eager to espouse any measure that might gratify the inclination of the sovereign.
It was probably in consequence of this assurance that a new treaty between Great Britain and Prussia was concluded at London on the seventh day of December, importing, That as the burdensome war in which the king of Prussia is engaged, lays him under the necessity of making fresh efforts to defend himself against the multitude of enemies who attack his dominions, he is obliged to take new measures with the king of England, for their reciprocal defence and safety; and his Britannic majesty hath at the same time signified his earnest desire to strengthen the friendship subsisting between the two courts; and, in consequence thereof, to conclude a formal convention, for granting to his Prussian majesty speedy and powerful assistance, their majesties have nominated and authorized their ministers to concert and settle the following articles:—All formal treaties between the two crowns, particularly that signed at Westminster on the sixteenth day of January in the year 1756, and the convention of the eleventh of April in the year 1758, are confirmed by the present convention of the eleventh of April in the year 1758, in their whole tenor, as if they were herein inserted word for word. The king of Great Britain shall cause to be paid at London, to such person or persons as shall be authorized by the king of Prussia for that end, the sum of four millions of rix-dollars, making six hundred and seventy thousand pounds sterling, at one payment, immediately on the exchange of the ratification, if the king of Prussia should so require. His Prussian majesty shall employ the said sum in supporting and augmenting his forces, which shall act in such manner as shall be of the greatest service to the common cause, and contribute most to the mutual defence and safety of their said majesties. The king of Great Britain, both as king and elector, and the king of Prussia, reciprocally bind themselves not to conclude with the powers that have taken part in the present war, any treaty of peace, truce, or other such like convention, but by common advice and consent, each expressly including therein the other. The ratification of the present convention shall be exchanged within six weeks, or sooner, if possible. In effect, this treaty was no other than a renewal of the subsidy from year to year, because it was not thought proper to stipulate in the first subsidiary convention an annual supply of such importance until the war should be terminated, lest the people of England should be alarmed at the prospect of such successive burdens, and the complaisance of the commons be in some future session exhausted. On the whole, this was perhaps the most extraordinary treaty that ever was concluded; for it contains no specification of articles, except the payment of the subsidy; every other article was left to the interpretation of his Prussian majesty.
1759
The parliament, having performed the ceremony of addresses to the throne, immediately proceeded to the great work of the supply. The two committees in the house of commons were immediately established, and continued by adjournments to the month of May, by the twenty-third day of which all their resolutions were taken. They voted sixty thousand men, including fourteen thousand eight hundred and forty-five marines, for the service of the ensuing year; and for the operations by land, a body of troops amounting to fifty-two thousand five hundred and fifty-three effective men, besides the auxiliaries of Hanover, Hesse, Brunswick, Saxe-Gotha, and Buckebourg, to the number of fifty thousand, and five battalions on the Irish establishment in actual service in America and Africa. For the maintenance of the sixty thousand men employed in the sea-service, they granted three millions one hundred and twenty thousand pounds; for the land-forces, one million two hundred and fifty-six thousand one hundred and thirty pounds, fifteen shillings and two-pence; for the charge of the additional five battalions, forty thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine pounds, thirteen shillings and nine-pence; for the pay of the general and staff-officers, and hospitals of the land-forces, fifty-two thousand four hundred and eighty-four pounds one shilling and eight-pence; for maintaining the garrisons in the Plantations, Gibraltar, Nova-Scotia, Newfoundland, Providence, Cape-Breton, and Senegal, the sum of seven hundred and forty-two thousand five hundred and thirty-one pounds, five shillings and seven-pence; for the charge of ordnance for land-service, two hundred and twenty thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine pounds, eleven shillings and nine-pence; for extraordinary service performed by the same office, and not provided for by parliament in the course of the preceding year, three hundred and twenty-three thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven pounds, thirteen shillings and three-ponce; for the ordinary of the navy, including half-pay to sea-officers, two hundred and thirty-eight thousand four hundred and ninety-one pounds, nine shillings and eight-pence; towards the support of Greenwich-hospital, and for the out-pensioners of Chelsea-college, the sum of thirty-six thousand pounds. They allotted for one year’s expense, incurred by the foreign troops in the pay of Great Britain, one million two hundred thirty-eight thousand one hundred and seventy-seven pounds, nineteen shillings and ten-pence, over and above sixty thousand pounds for enabling his majesty to fulfil his engagements with the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, pursuant to the separate article of a new treaty concluded between them in the month of January of this current year, stipulating, that this sum should be paid to his serene highness in order to facilitate the means by which he might again fix his residence in his own dominions, and by his presence give fresh courage to his faithful subjects. Eighty thousand pounds were granted for enabling his majesty to discharge the like sum raised in pursuance of an act passed in the preceding session, and charged upon the first aids or supplies to be granted in this session of parliament. The sum of two hundred thousand pounds was voted towards the building and repairing ships of war for the ensuing year. Fifteen thousand pounds were allowed for improving London bridge; and forty thousand on account, for the Foundling-hospital. For the charge of transports to be employed in the course of the year they assigned six hundred sixty seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-one pounds nineteen shillings and seven-pence: for maintaining the colonies of Nova-Scotia and Georgia they bestowed twenty-five thousand two hundred and thirty-eight pounds thirteen shillings and five-pence. To replace sums taken from the sinking fund, thirty-three thousand two hundred and fifty-two pounds eighteen shillings and ten-pence halfpenny; for maintaining the British forts and settlements en the coast of Africa, ten thousand pounds, and for paying off the mortgage on an estate devised for the endowment of a professorship in the university of Cambridge, the sum of twelve hundred and eighty pounds. For the expence of the militia they voted ninety thousand pounds: for extraordinary expenses relating to the land-forces, incurred in the course of last year, and unprovided for by parliament, the sum of four hundred fifty-six thousand seven hundred and eighty-five pounds ten shillings and five-pence three farthings. For the purchase of certain lands and hereditaments, in order to secure the king’s docks at Portsmouth, Chatham, and Plymouth, they granted thirty-six thousand nine hundred and sixty-six pounds two shillings and ten-pence. They voted two hundred thousand pounds for enabling his majesty to give proper compensation to the respective provinces in North-America, for the expenses that had been incurred in levying and maintaining troops for the service of the public. They granted twenty thousand pounds to the East-India company, towards enabling them to defray the expense of a military force in their settlements: and the same sum was granted for carrying on the fortification to secure the harbour of Milford. To make good several sums issued by his majesty, for indemnifying the inn-holders and victuallers of Hampshire for the expenses they had incurred in quartering the Hessian auxiliaries in England; for an addition to the salaries of judges, and other less considerable purposes, they allowed the sum of twenty-six thousand one hundred and seventy-eight pounds sixteen shillings and six-pence. Finally, they voted one million, upon account, for enabling the king to defray any extraordinary expense of the war, incurred, or to be incurred, for the service of the current year; and to take all such measures as might be necessary to disappoint or defeat any enterprises or designs of his enemies, as the exigency of affairs should require. The sum of all the grants voted by the committee of supply, amounted to twelve millions seven hundred sixty-one thousand three hundred and ten pounds nineteen shillings and five-pence.
The commons were still employed in deliberations on ways and means on the twenty-second day of May, when Mr. secretary Pitt communicated to them a message from the king, couched in these terms: “His majesty, relying on the experienced zeal and affection of his faithful commons, and considering that, in this critical conjuncture, emergencies may arise, which may be of the utmost importance, and be attended with the most pernicious consequences, if proper means should not immediately be applied to prevent or defeat them, is desirous that this house will enable him to defray any extraordinary expenses of the war, incurred, or to be incurred, for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, and to take all such measures as may be necessary to disappoint or defeat any enterprises or designs of his enemies, and as the exigencies of affairs may require.” This message being read, a motion was made, and agreed tonem. con.that it should be referred to the committee, who forthwith formed upon it the resolution, whereby one million was granted, to be raised by loans or exchequer bills, chargeable on the first aids that should be given in the next session. This produced a bill enabling his majesty to raise the sum of one million, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned, comprehending a clause, allowing the Bank of England to advance on the credit of the loan therein mentioned any sum not exceeding a million, notwithstanding the act of the fifth and sixth year in the reign of William and Mary, by which the bank was established.
The bills relating solely to the supply being discussed and expedited, the house proceeded, as usual, to an act other laws for the advantage of the community. Petitions having been presented by the cities of Bristol and New-Sarum, alleging, that since the laws prohibiting the making of low wines and spirits from grain, meal, and flour, had been in force, the commonalty appeared more sober, healthy, and industrious: representing the ill consequences which they apprehended would attend the repeal of these laws, and therefore praying their continuance. A committee of the whole house resolved that the prohibition to export corn should be continued to the twenty-fourth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty nine; subject nevertheless to such provisions for shortening the said term of its continuance as should therefore be made by an act of that session, or by his majesty with the advice of his privy-council during the recess of parliament; that the act for discontinuing the duties upon corn and flour imported, or brought in as prize, was not proper to be further continued; and that the prohibition to make low wines or spirits from any sort of grain, meal, or flour, should be continued to the twenty-fourth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine. Before the bill was formed on these resolutions, petitions arrived from Liverpool and Bath, to the same purport as those of Bristol and Sarum: while on the other hand, a remonstrance was presented by a great number of the malt-distillers of the city and suburbs of London, alleging, that it having been deemed expedient to prohibit the distilling of spirits from any sort of grain, to the twenty-fourth day of December then instant, some of the petitioners had entirely ceased to carry on the business of distilling, while others, merely with a view to preserve their customers, the compound distillers, and employ some of their servants, horses, and utensils, had submitted to carry on the distillation of spirits from molasses and sugars under great disadvantages, in full hope that the restraint would cease at the expiration of the limited time, or at least when the necessity which occasioned that restraint should be removed; that it was with great concern they observed a bill would be brought in for protracting the said prohibition, at a time when the price of all manner of grain, and particularly of wheat and barley, was considerably reduced, and, as they humbly conceived, at a reasonable medium. They expatiated on the great loss they, as well as many traders and artificers dependent upon them, must sustain in case the said bill should be passed into a law. They prayed the house to take these circumstances into consideration, and either permit them to carry on the distillation from wheat, malt, and other grain, under such restrictions as should be judged necessary; or to grant them such other relief, in respect of their several losses and incumbrances, as to the house shall seem reasonable and expedient. This petition, though strenuously urged by a powerful and clamorous body without doors, did not meet great encouragement within. It was ordered to lie upon the table, and an instruction was given to the committee, empowering them to receive a clause or clauses to allow the transportation of certain quantities of meal, flour, bread, and biscuit, to the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, for the sole use of the inhabitants; and another to prohibit the making of low wines and spirits from bran. Much more attention was paid to a petition of several farmers in the county of Norfolk, representing, that their farms consisted chiefly of arable land, which produced much greater quantities of corn than could be consumed within that county; that in the last harvest there was a great and plentiful crop of all sorts of grain, the greatest part of which had by unfavourable weather been rendered unfit for sale at London, or other markets for home consumption; that large quantities of malt were then lying at London, arising chiefly from the crops of barley growing in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, the sale of which was stagnated; that the petitioners being informed the house had ordered in a bill to continue the prohibition of corn exported, they begged leave to observe, that, should it pass into a law, it would be extremely prejudicial to all, and ruin many farmers of that county, as they had offered their corn for sale at divers ports and markets of the said county: but the merchants refused to buy it at any price, alleging, its being unfit for the London market, the great quantity of corn with which that market was already overstocked, and their not being allowed either to export it or make it into malt for exportation. They therefore prayed this prohibition might be removed, or they the petitioners indulged with some other kind of relief. Although this remonstrance was duly considered, the bill passed with the amendments because of the proviso, by which his majesty in council was empowered to shorten the date of the prohibition with respect to the exportation of corn during the recess of parliament; but the temporary restraint laid upon distillation was made absolute, without any such condition, to the no small disappointment and mortification of the distillers, who had spared no pains and expense by private solicitation, and strenuous dispute in the public papers, to recommend their cause to the favour of the community. They urged that malt-spirits, when used in moderation, far from being prejudicial to the health of individuals, were in many damp and marshy parts of the kingdom absolutely necessary for preserving the field labourers from agues and other distempers produced by the cold and moisture of the climate; that if they were debarred the use of malt-spirits, they would have recourse to French brandy, with which, as they generally reside near the sea-coast, the smugglers would provide them almost as cheap as the malt-spirits could be afforded: thus the increased consumption of French spirit would drain the nation of ready money to a considerable amount, and prejudice the king’s revenue in the same proportion. They observed, that many distillers had already quitted that branch of trade and disposed of their materials; that all of them would probably take the same resolutions should the bill pass into a law, as no man could foresee when the prohibition would cease, should it be continued at a time when all sorts of grain abounded in such plenty, that the very waste of materials by disuse, over and above the lying out of the money, would be of great prejudice to the proprietor: thus the business of distilling, by which so many families were supported, would be banished from the kingdom entirely; especially, as the expense of establishing a large distillery was so great, that no man would choose to employ his money for this purpose, judging from experience that some future accidental scarcity of corn might induce the legislature to interpose a ruinous delay in this branch of business. They affirmed, that from the excessive use of malt-spirits no good argument could be drawn against this branch of traffic, no more than against any other conveniency of life; that the excessive use of common beer and ale was prejudicial to the health and morals of the people, yet no person ever thought of putting an end to the practice of brewing, in order to prevent the abuse of brewed liquors. They urged that in all parts of Great Britain there are some parcels of land that produce nothing to advantage but a coarse kind of barley called big, which, though neither fit for brewing nor for baking, may nevertheless be used in the distillery, and is accordingly purchased by those concerned in this branch at such an encouraging price, as enables many farmers to pay a higher rent to their landlords than they could otherwise afford; that there are every year some parcels of all sorts of grain so damaged by unseasonable weather, or other accidents, as to be rendered altogether unfit for bread or brewery, and would prove a very great misfortune to the farmer, if there was no distillery, for the use of which he could sell his damaged commodity. They asserted, that malt-spirits were absolutely necessary for prosecuting some branches of foreign commerce, particularly the trade to the coast of Africa, for which traffic no assortment could be made up without a large quantity of geneva, of which the natives are so fond, that they will not traffic with any merchant who has not a considerable quantity, not only for sale, but also for presents to their chiefs and rulers; that the merchants of Great Britain must either have this commodity of their own produce, or import it at a great national expense from Holland; that the charge of this importation, together with the duties payable upon it, some part of which is not to be drawn back on exportation, will render it impossible for the traders to sell it so cheap on the coast of Africa as it might be sold by the Dutch, who are the great rivals of Great Britain in this branch of commerce. To these arguments, all of which were plausible, and some of them unanswerable, it was replied, that malt-spirits might be considered as a fatal and bewitching poison which had actually debauched the minds, and enervated the bodies, of the common people to a very deplorable degree; that, without entering further into a comparison between the use and abuse of the two liquors, beer and geneva, it would be sufficient to observe, that the use of beer and ale had produced none of those dreadful effects which were the consequences of drinking geneva; and since the prohibition of the distilling of malt-spirits had taken place, the common people were become apparently more sober, decent, healthy, and industrious: a circumstance sufficient to induce the legislature not only to intermit, but even totally to abolish the practice of distillation, which has ever been productive of such intoxication, riot, disorder, and distemper, among the lower class of the people, as might be deemed the greatest evils incident to a well-regulated commonwealth. Their assertion with respect to the coarse kind of barley, called big, was contradicted as a deviation from truth, inasmuch as it was used in making malt, as well as in making bread: and with respect to damaged corn, those who understood the nature of grain affirmed, that it was spoiled to such a degree as to be altogether unfit for either of these purposes, the distillers would not purchase it at such a price as would indemnify the farmer for the charge of threshing and carriage; for the distillers are very sensible, that their great profit is derived from their distilling the malt made from the best barley, so that the increase of the produce far exceeded in proportion the advance of the price. It was not, however, an easy matter to prove that the distillation of malt-spirits was not necessary to an advantageous prosecution of the commerce on the coast of Guinea, as well as among the Indians in some parts of North America. Certain it is, that, in these branches of traffic, the want of geneva may be supplied by spirits distilled from sugars and molasses. After all, it must be owned, that the good and salutary effects of the prohibition were visible in every part of the kingdom, and no evil consequence ensued, except a diminution of the revenue in this article: a consideration which, at all times, ought to be sacrificed to the health and morals of the people: nor will this consideration be found of any great weight, when we reflect that the less the malt-spirit is drunk, the greater quantity of beer and ale will be consumed, and the produce of the duties and excise upon the brewery be augmented accordingly.
In the meantime, all sorts of grain continuing to fall in price, and great plenty appearing in every part of the kingdom, the justices of the peace, and of the grand juries, assembled at the general quarter sessions of the peace held for the county of Norfolk, composed and presented to the house of commons, in the beginning of February, a petition, representing, that the weather proving unfavourable in the harvest, great part of the barley raised in that county was much damaged, and rendered unfit for any other use than that of being made into malt for exportation; that unless it should be speedily manufactured for that purpose, it would be entirely spoiled, and perish in the hands of the growers; a loss that must be very sensibly felt by the land owners: they, therefore, entreated that leave might be given for the exportation of malt; and that they might be favoured with such further relief, as to the house should seem just and reasonable. In consequence of this petition, the house resolved itself into a committee to deliberate upon the subject; and as it appeared, upon examination, that the price of grain was reduced very low, and great abundance diffused through the kingdom, they resolved, that the continuance of that part of the act, prohibiting the exportation of grain, ought to be abridged and shortened, and the exportation of these commodities allowed under proper regulations, with respect to the time of such exportation and the allowance of bounties thereupon. A bill being founded on these resolutions, was discussed, and underwent several amendments: at length it was sent with a new title to the lords, who passed it without further alteration, and then it obtained the royal sanction. While this affair was under the deliberation of the committee, the commons unanimously issued an order for leave to bring in a bill to continue, for a limited time, the act of last session, permitting the importation of salted beef from Ireland into Great Britain, with an instruction to receive a clause extending this permission to all sorts of salted pork, or hog-meat, as the officers of the customhouse had refused to admit hams from Ireland to an entry. The bill likewise received another considerable alteration, importing, That, instead of the duty of ona shilling and three-pence, charged by the former act on every hundred weight of salted beef or pork imported from Ireland, which was found not adequate to the duty payable for such a quantity of salt as is requisite to be used in curing and salting thereof; and to prevent as well the expense to the revenue, as the detriment and loss which would accrue to the owner and importer from opening the casks in which the provision is generally deposited, with the pickle or brine proper for preserving the same, in order to ascertain the net weight of the provision liable to the said duties: for these reasons it was enacted, That from and after the twenty-fourth day of last December, and during the continuance of this act, a duty of three shillings and four-pence should be paid upon importation for every barrel or cask of salted beef or pork containing thirty-two gallons; and one shilling and three-pence for every hundred weight of salted beef called dried beef, dried neats-tongues, or dried hog-meat, and so in proportion for any greater or lesser quantity.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760