periority over the Sovereigns of Europe. He faid the hcnourable and learned gentleman had admitted the right of the House to advise the Crown to remove Minifters on a charge of misconduct; but would any man fay, that he could not fuppofe it poffible, that the Crown might trust the great offices of the State to hands fo perfectly unequal to the management of the public bufinefs, that it might be proper for the House of Commons to meet the mischief before it had run its full career, and to advise their Sovereign to remove fuch incapable Minifters, before any grofs act of mifconduct had been committed? The honourable gentleman had called for a precedent of such interference; he was not prepared to produce fuch a precedent — he would mention, however, an inftance, where much mifchief had followed from Parliament's not having interfered to advise his Majesty to remove an incapable Minister. The inftance he alluded to was the appointment of the Earl of Bute in place of that vigorous Minifter whom his Majefty found in office at his acceflion-In private virtues and pri vate character, the Earl of Bute was not inferior to the prefent Chancellor of the Exchequer; yet, who is there that will not admit, that it would have been a bleffing to this country, if the Houfe of Commons of that day had addreffed his Majesty to remove the noble Earl from his Administration before any misconduct could have been proved, It had been faid the prefent motion was calculated not only to procure the removal of one Administration, but the ap pointment of another. Unquestionably it was. Who is there who does not wifh for the moft fpeedy appointment of a strong, vigorous Adminiftration? The refolutions already paffed, declare the want of confidence of the House in the prefent Minifters. If those resolutions are not refcinded, the proposed resolution follows as a confequence. Is there any pretence for refcinding those refolutions? Upon what ground ought the House to have confidence in the prefent Minifters? Was it because they had procured the removal of Minifters in whom the House had confidence? Was it because in the prefent critical fituation of public affairs they had created a total ftagnation of public bufinefs, for the fake of gaining their employments? He thought the prefent Ministers, deftitute as they were of the confidence of the House of Commons, incapable of conducting the public bufinefs; the fooner they were removed the the fooner would the country be relieved from its present dangerous fituation. Mr. Fox took occafion, in reply to Mr. Macdonald, to Mr. Fox. declare, that he was ready to accommodated in every thing but principles; that he would fuffer his India bill to be new modelled entirely, referving only, that it was made a permanent fyftem, and that the feat of government was established at home, not in India. Governor Governor Johnfione defired him to abandon the principle Johnstone. of the bill, and they would fuffer him to model all the accommodatory matters as he pleased. This Mr. Fox would by no means confent to. Mr. Sheridan very ably fupported the motion, and re- MrSheridan minded Mr. Powys of his having used this quotation from Shakespeare the day or two before Lord North retired two years ago; -the times have been That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end; Mr. Sheridan faid, the fouls of the prefent Ministry were departed, but their bodies, like empty forms, ftill-kept their places; to them he might fay, the times have been That, when the brains were out, the man would die, With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools; threatening the Houfe with fifty deaths or diffolutions. Mr. Arden spoke againft the motion. Mr. Burke spoke in fupport of the motion. Mr. T. Onflow made a handfome eulogy on the Prince of Wales. Lord Fielding oppofed the motion ftrenuously. General Murray declared he thought it fair to difcufs Gen. Murthe Eaft-India bill before the fate of the Ministry was de- ray. cided. The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid, he could not fuffer The Chane the debate to clofe without faying a few words; but as he cellor of the faw the impatience of the House to separate, an impatience Exchequer. which he could not wonder at when he confidered the very late hour of the night, he would affure them that he would detain them only for a few moments. Let the fate 4 H 2 of of the motion be decided either one way or the other, he faid he could not but feel the utmost comfort and fatisfaction at the full, fair and impartial difcuffion the question had undergone, and more particularly in having been witnefs to a debate, in which, although from the perfonal nature of it, he was debarred from taking any part himself, fo many worthy and truly refpectable gentlemen had rifen to defend his character and refcue it from the odium which the violence of faction and the malice of party would have wifhed to have loaded it with. In the courfe of the difcuffion a great variety of topics had been handled in a way that did honour to the ability of those who had spoken, and proved incontestably, that the art and ingenuity of that fet of men whose chief aim it had been to miflead and confound, had not been fuccessful to the degree that they might poffibly have hoped; but that there were others, and thofe of acknowledged eftimation and importance in the country, who were not more accurate in their judgments than zealous in their determination to tear the mask from the face of faction and fhew it in its native colours. This neceffarily afforded him all the gratification that his moft fanguine hopes could have afpired to. With regard to the question, the Committee would difpofe of that as they thought proper. it was a question from its perfonal tendency certainly of fome importance to him, but of infinitely more importance to themfelves. The character of the House, the confidence of the people in their reprefentatives, depended in a great measure on the fate of the motion: before they decided a point of fuch magnitude, he defired to throw himself on the candour, the juftice and the honour of the Houfe. He had produced a bill for the better regulation of the Eaft-India Company's affairs, a bill which he had given to the Houfe as a pledge of his merits as a Minister; a pledge by which he had confented to abide, and to rest all his prenfions to the confidence of the House on a fair comparison of that bill and the bill of the right honourable gentleman that had been brought in before the holidays. His bill was already before them, and it refted with them to name the day for its difcuffion. If they came to a decifion upon the motion that night, and a majority agreed to it, the Houfe would have condemned him unheard, and before any opportunity had been afforded for them to have grounds to form an opinion upon, whether he deserved to be condemned or not. It had been agreed on all hands, that that a fyftem of regulation, with regard to the future government of India, was indifpenfably neceffary; one bill upon that fubject had been agitated already, and had passed that Houfe, but had been loft in the Lords. The opinions of the public at large, he would venture to affert, were decidedly against that bill. Would the House then, while they had a bill upon the fame fubject, but of a very different nature, in their poffeffion, and which yet remained to be examined and difcuffed, proceed the length of the motion then under confideration? He flattered himself that they would not prejudge him, that they would not condemn him unheard, but that they would wait at least till that comparison and difcuffion that he moft anxiously challenged had been gone through, and that the House in this material inftance would act confiftently, with that candour, honour and dignity, which fo highly became them, and which he hoped ever would diftinguifh all their proceedings. As foon as Mr. Pitt fat down, the Chairman put the question, and the Committee divided; Ayes (for the refolution) 205; Noes, 184. Majority, 21. The Chairman was then directed to leave the chair, report the refolution to the Houfe, and afk leave to fit again. The Houfe being refumed, the refolution was reported, read a first and fecond time and agreed to; after which the Committee on the ftate of the nation was adjourned to Tuesday next. January 20. Mr. Rolle obferved, that from a declaration which he made a few days ago, that he would on this day move for certain papers relative to two perfons, late clerks in the Pay Office, they might naturally expect that he would proceed to make his motion now; however, he had refolved to decline it for the prefent, for two reafons; one was, that he did not like to introduce any question that might interfere with or impede the important business that was expected to be brought on this day in the Committee on the state of the nation. The other reason was, that a rumour was then afloat, that a negociation was on foot, by which, it was to be hoped, an end would be put to the fpecies of confufion which had of late distracted the government of this country. Soon Mr. Rolle. 1 Mr. Fox. Soon after Mr. Rolle had fat down, Mr. Fox entered the houfe, and a cry of " the order of the day" was immediately fet up: the order was for going into a Committee on the ftate of the nation. Upon this, Mr. Fox rofe; he faid that fince he came into the house he had been informed, that an honourable member had given for his reafon for not moving for certain papers, that a rumour had been spread abroad of a negociation having been fet on foot for the purpofe of effecting an union between both fides of the Houfe. The reafon, in his opinion, was a very indecent one; and the more fo, as there was no ground for any fuch rumour; at least he could fay with certainty that no fuch negociation had reached his knowledge. His motive for rifing on the prefent occafion was, to tell the House, that he intended to move for the difcharge of the order of the day, and that another order be made for going into a Committee on the ftate of the nation. He obferved, that after the refolution which the Houfe had agreed to on Saturday morning laft, it was certainly to him a matter of aftonishment, that the prefent men fhould ftill be found in their offices, though that refolution declared in the most unequivocal terms, that they poffeffed not the confidence of that Houfe. The nation had now to fee what had not been feen fince the Revolution, an Administration holding their places in defiance of the House of Commons, and renewing as much as in them Jay thofe diftracted times before the Revolution, when, to the misfortune of the nation, the Houfes of Commons were almost always at variance with the executive power; obliged to maintain their rights against the prerogative of the Crown, which aimed at their annihilation. He wished the fea, which furrounded the island, could prevent the fhame of this country from reaching the nations on the continent; he wished that the deftruction of this government could be kept from the knowledge of the dependencies of this country, or rather he wished that the Conftitution were secured, and that every thing were restored to peace and quiet at home, when there was fo much occation for vigorous measures in the cabinet. It might be for the Committee to enquire into the caufe, why an Administration was found to ftand in this country, in open defiance of the fenfe of the reprefentatives of the people of England: however, he was willing to give his Majefty's Minifters time to reflect and coolly to confider the fituation in which. they flood they might reflect, that remaining in office under |