Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

his politics; but he desired that the Board of Control might be limited to the powers of control, and not invested with the powers of appropriation. Power was a dangerous engine in whatever hands it was placed. The noble marquis declared it was a pleas ing reflection to him, that at the conclusion of the late peace, he and his colleagues in office had laid down their plan for the conduct of India affairs. It was, to suffer the patronage to remain in the hands of the Company, but to control them so far as to divert their attention from the idle schemes of power and extension of territory, to the more solid and beneficial views of trade, from which he was convinced that every permanent degree of strength and power must ultimately be derived to a commercial country. He was convinced that the Company, under proper regulations, might extend the trade to a very great degree indeed. It would not be too bold, perhaps, to assert, that in a few years it might be increased ten-fold. He then pointed out the different parts of that quarter of the globe where fresh sources of trade might be discovered, and applied to the infinite benefit of the kingdom. He appealed to the House upon the dangerous tendency of the Bill; but added, let the fate of the question be what it may perhaps it was already determined--he must rest satisfied in having done his duty to his country and posterity, in having given his determined opposition to the Bill.

The House divided on the question, That the Bill do pass: Contents, 71; Notcontents, 28.

[blocks in formation]

"Because we object altogether to the very style and form of the present Bill, inasmuch as it purports to be a Declaratory Bill of a kind as dangerous in its application as it is certainly unusual, if not new in its principle. If the Act of the 24th of his Majesty be clearly expressed, any declaration of its sense is evidently unnecessary; if it be worded, whether from accident or design, in dark equivocal terms, we conceive that, in order to do away every ambiguity, the mode most open and candid in itself, as well as most regular and conformable to the usage of parliament, would have been by a bill to explain and amend, and not to declare. And we can

not but behold this extraordinary Bill with yet greater alarm, when it has been avowed that it is intended to operate as an act of indemnity for past measures not explicitly stated. Surely it is a proposition absurd and monstrous on the very face of it, to call upon this House to declare what was and is law, subject to provisions which, shall be. A declaration so qualified is a new species of bill of indemnity, which unlike all others, does content itself with holding forth terms of protection against the penal consequences of an illegal act committed, but retrospectively alters and reverses the nature and essence of the action itself from its very origin, if certain prospective conditions be subsequently observed.

"2dly. Because the preamble of the present Bill, which must be presumed to set forth the legal grounds of the proposed declaration, does not appear to us in reality to contain any such grounds. It offers nothing more than partial and pieced extracts from various sections of the 24th of his present Majesty, two of which evidently convey only general powers to be exercised "in such manner as in the said Act is directed," that is, subject to limitations and modifications not recited in the preamble; and the third of these extracts, which is taken from the conclusion of the 11th section of the Act above mentioned, is in truth part of the clause imperative on the Directors, not enabling to the Commissioners; binding the former to obey the orders of the latter (that is all such orders as they may lawfully issue under other parts of the Act), but not conferring on the latter any portion of distinct power. Their powers, whatever they may be, must be sought in the enabling clauses of the Act, by which alone this imperative clause can be construed, but of which not a trace is to be discovered in the preamble.

"3dly. Because the limitations and restraints on the power of the Commissioners, which are now imposed for the first time in this Bill, carry with them an imitation highly derogatory to the honour and wisdom of this House, inasmuch as they imply, that in the very moment when this House felt the most tender apprehensions for the safety of chartered rights, and when they were most anxiously alarmed for the consequences of transferring the power and patronage of the Company even for a time, they consciously and deliberately passed an act, by which those rights were to be superseded, and that

"4thly. Because, if any such limitations and restraints be indeed necessary, the provisions of this Bill, we are persuaded, must prove nugatory and inefficient.

power and patronage in effect vested in | at least, invade, perhaps in a great measure the Board of Control for ever, without finally baffle, all political responsibility; sufficient checks and guards to protect for they have a power of administering to the one, or to prevent the corrupt use of their clerks and other officers an oath of the other. The authors of these limiting secrecy framed for the occasion by them. and restraining clauses have left to the selves; and they possess in the India majority of this House no other refuge House the suspicious instrument of a Se. from the imputation of this inconsistency, cret Committee, consisting only of the but in an ignorance of that meaning, which chairman, the deputy chairman, and one we are now called upon to declare. other director, all bound to them by an oath. Through these they have sent an arrangement for paying the debts of the Nabob of Arcot, beneficial to individuals, injurious to the Company, and fundament ally contradicting the plain principle of an express clause in that very Act by which their own Board was instituted; and through these they have concurred to transmit a dispatch, altered too by themselves, on a subject of mere trade, ever which they profess to disclaim all right of management. After such examples we must confess, that our imaginations cannot figure to us any description of business, which may not be sheltered behind the thick veil of the Secret Committee; and from our past experience, relative to the first of these transactions, we are so justly sensible of the great advantages with which the servants of the crown must argue on such topics before an assembly constitu tionally disposed to a general confidence in them, that we should be sanguine indeed, did we but expect any considerable check to be given to the possible misconduct of the Board of Control, by the fears of a parliamentary inquiry.

"5thly. Because coupling the Act of the 24th of his Majesty with all its accumulated explanations and amendments, and understanding the powers there conferred on the Commissioners to the extent implied in the preamble and limiting clauses of the present Bill, the system established by that Act, in truth realises all the dangers which were ever attributed to another measure then recently rejected by this House, and is certainly fruitful of formidable mischiefs proper to itself, friendly to corrupt intrigue and cabal, hostile to all good government, and especially abhorrent from the principles of our popular constitution.

"The patronage of the Company (and this seems to be the most serious terror to the people of England) the Commissioners enjoy in the worst mode, without that responsibility which is the natural security against malversation and abuse. They cannot immediately appoint, but they have that weight of recommendation and influence which must ever inseparably attend on substantial power, and which in the present case has not any where been attempted to be denied.

"Should this fail them in the first instance, they can intimidate and encourage: they can suppress the approbation and censure of the Directors on their own servants; they can substitute blame for praise, and praise for blame, or they may instantly recall whomsoever the Directors may appoint against their will: and this they may repeat, till they ultimately com pel the Directors harassed and over-awed, to nominate the man whom the Commissioners may wish to favour. Nor is this disposal of patronage without responsibility, the only evil that characterizes the system; all the high powers and prerogatives with which the Commissioners are vested, they may exercise invisibly, and thus for a period

"6thly. Because the operation of this Bill, and of the Act, the meaning of which it is to declare, ought to have been limited to the duration of the existing charter. Whatever may be the right of the legisla ture to subject the trade and the general revenues of the Company to the inspection and control of the Board of Commis sioners, nominated by the Crown, so long as the Company continue in the enjoyment of an exclusive trade, and in the management of great territorial revenues, we must, however, maintain, that to perpetuate such inspection, and to render the signatures of that Board necessary to all the Company's dispatches of every kind, when they may carry on their trade merely as a commercial corporation, without any monopoly, and when they may remain in the management only of their own proper estates, is a measure of injustice wholly unprecedented, and an example liable to much reasonable jealousy in a commercial country like Great Britain.

"On all these grounds of objection; to the style and form of the Bill, as a declaratory bill; to the incongruities, absurdities, and deficiencies of the Bill itself; to much of the principle, and to all the distinguishing characters of the system which it is meant to declare, as well as to the perpetual operation which it gives to that system, we think it incumbent upon us, here solemnly on the Journal of Parliament, to record our hearty dissent for the satisfaction of our consciences, and for our justification to our fellow citizens, and to posterity.(Signed) Portland, Carlisle, Devonshire, Porchester, Derby, Sandwich, Cholmondley, Powis, Cardiff, Craven, Bedford, Loughborough, Fitzwilliam, Scarborough, Buckinghamshire."

"Dissentient, for the first reason only, Hay.”

Proceedings upon the Impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey.] April 16. The House having resolved itself into a Committee to consider further of the Articles against sir Elijah Impey, sir Gilbert Elliot put a question to Mr. Francis, to know whether he chose to be examined?

Mr. Francis answered, that still, as upon a former occasion, he was prepared and willing to lay before the Committee, in writing, the substance of his defence, in answer to the accusation which sir Elijah Impey, in his statement at the bar of the House, as explanatory and exculpatory of his arraigned conduct relative to the trial and execution of Nundcomar, had thought proper to advance against him. He observed, that he was thoroughly aware of the disadvantage of giving in a written defence in answer to an oral accusation, and added, that by such an act he knew he was bound down to what he had committed to writing as an answer to a fugitive accusation, and one, therefore, for which the party was not capable of being made responsible. He had lately heard, in another place, a very high and noble person call Mr. Hastings a weak man, because, previous to the precise moment when it was absolutely necessary, he had delivered in his defence in writing at the bar of the House of Commons; and the same noble person had, at the same time, pronounced sir Elijah Impey a wise man, for having avoided a similar error, and only delivered his defence orally. He could not presume to question the soundness of this distinction, laid down by such

high authority, but he must nevertheless venture, on the present occasion, to prefer the conduct of the weak, to the conduct of the wise man, and to give Mr. Hastings credit for having chosen to deliver in his defence on the first moment of the accusation, and before it became absolutely necessary for him to make any. There was a gallantry, a spirit, a manliness, and an obvious consciousness of innocence in appearing eager to repel accusation, which he could not but admire ; and it must be admitted that Mr. Hastings had something manly in his character, he so far declared himself willing to applaud it, and to copy the example, notwithstanding it might be weak in him to do so, and that he might prove himself wiser if he acted with more apparent prudence.

Sir Richard Sutton objected to receiving the written paper which the hon. gentleman had declared himself willing to deliver. That House had nothing to do. with what the hon. gentleman called his defence, nor could they recognize what he had termed his accusation. The hon. gentleman had it in his option either to consent to be examined or not. If he did consent, the hon. gentleman must be examined viva voce as other witnesses were. The House had last session had an instance of the imprudence of departing from their usual forms. Late at night, and in a remarkably thin House, the Committee upon the charges against Mr. Hastings had been prevailed on to admit a paper, by way of saving time, instead of staying to pursue a viva voce examination. What had been the consequence? The paper afterwards turned out to be a scurrilous libel on Mr. Hastings. Whereas there was this benefit attending a vivá voce examination; if an improper question was offered to be put to a witness, or an impertinent and scurrilous answer was attempted to be given, every member had a right to rise, and prevent either the one or the other being taken down as matter of evidence. He was far from meaning to apply the terms scurrilous and impertinent to the hon. member, but he must object to his proposition of delivering in the written matter, not only because the Committee had nothing to do with the hon. gentleman's defence, but for the sake of the precedent, and in order to guard against the introduction of a new and disadvantageous mode of receiving evidence.

Mr. Burke said, that the hon. baronet's

argument would have been just, if his hon. | their number. The Bill would reduce the friend had meant, by delivering in his magistrates in being throughout England written paper, to have precluded the Com- to an insignificant and unworthy situation, mittee from the opportunity of entering by creating a board of commissioners into a viva voce examination; but so far paramount in power, and granting them, was this from being the case, that the ad- as it were, a dedimus potestatem; the conmission of the paper would furnish the sequence of which would be, that they Committee with a better ground for cross- would have a right to commit and to examination upon its contents than they punish, and the respectable country macould otherwise have enjoyed. And gistrates would experience a disability surely it was natural to imagine that gen- to interfere with the management of tlemen would have caught at his proposal, the poor of their own neighbourhood, and as considering it to furnish them with an remain only possessed of powers, which advantage, by enabling them to hold him would render them contemptible. Mr. fast to what he had advanced as a member Young mentioned the large expense to in his place. Having failed in his first which the Bill would put the several object, he wished to secure his secondary counties, by obliging them to build three object, and to have it recognised that he large additional poor houses; the number had offered to deliver in his defence in of new officers that must necessarily be writing. appointed in consequence; and the difficulty of conducting a system so extensive, complicated and perplexed. He paid Mr. Gilbert many compliments for the good intention of his endeavours, and observed that, had not the Bill come from so respectable a quarter, he should have commented upon it more harshly; but, as his wish was to treat every measure proceeding from so worthy a member with all possible degrees of tenderness and respect, instead of moving the rejection of the Bill, he would merely move, "That it be read a second time that day three months."

Mr. Francis denied his being in any sense a voluntary witness, and declared, that so far from it, he had on a former occasion professed his fixed purpose not to interfere at all in the prosecution, but that he had been forced to rise and defend himself.

Sir Gilbert Elliot framed a question and answer, to show that Mr. Francis had offered to deliver in a written copy of his defence against the accusation made at the bar by sir Elijah Impey, and that the Committee had refused to receive it. Mr. Francis immediately declared his willingness to be farther examined, and sir Gilbert proceeded to question him as to his opinion of the truth or falsehood of the petition sent by Nundcomar. After the close of Mr. Francis's examination, Mr. Cadell was called in and examined, in order to prove the authenticity of the printed account of the trial of Nund

[merged small][ocr errors]

Debate in the Commons on the Poor Bill] April 17. Mr. Gilbert moved the Order of the Day for the second reading of his Bill for the better relief and employment of the Poor.

Mr. Young said, that, although he entertained a most unfeigned respect for the hon. gentleman who had moved the second reading of his poor Bill, he could not shrink from his duty, painful as it was, to rise in that early stage of it, and endeavour to prevent its proceeding any farther. The Bill was unfit to be adopted; and, instead of remedying the evils attending the present management and maintenance of the Poor, it would increase

Mr. Gilbert observed, that the present subject had engrossed much of his investigation for upwards of twenty years past, as he thought the poor were greatly distressed, and that the immense sums of money raised for their support had been grossly misapplied; that he had used many endeavours, and brought in several bills, to redress those grievances, but hitherto without success; that the Bill now under consideration was formed upon a plan which he considered, as adequate to the purpose; that he was conscious there were imperfections in it, but none which he thought might not be easily corrected and amended in the Committee; and, he hoped, when the distresses of the poor, and the grievous taxes laid upon those who maintain them, were duly considered, the House would permit the Bill to go into a Committee; that it was not new in principle, nor difficult in practice; that the foundation of it was to incorporate a number of parishes, for the better government, relief, and employment of the poor, upon a plan similar to that which had

He

been adopted with success in the counties | desire was to have it made as perfect as it of Norfolk, Suffolk, and other places; could be in the Committee, then reported, that he had collected from several of those reprinted, and sent into the country for houses of industry the state of their pro- farther consideration, before it came to its ceedings, which he desired leave to repre- last stage in the House. sent to the House. He said, that the hundreds of Clavering and Loddon, in Norfolk, consisting of forty-one parishes were incorporated 4 Geo. 1, that their poor-rates in 1776, amounted to 2,358. But, in 1785, were reduced to 2,2571., after paying the interest and principal of 7,000l. borrowed for the buildings; that the poor-rates in fourteen adjoining parishes, which were not incorporated, during the same period had increased 349/. per annum; that in the hundreds of East and West Flegg, consisting of twenty parishes, which were incorporated 15 Geo. 3, the poor rates had decreased 781. per annum during the same period, and in seven adjacent parishes not incorporated, the poor-rates had increased 2541. per annum, during the same period; that in -the hundreds of Long Ditch and Mitford, consisting of fifty parishes, incorporated the 15 Geo. 3, the poor-rates were decreased during the same period 908/. per annum, and in twenty adjoining parishes, not incorporated, they were, in the same time, increased, 2514. per annum; that in the hundred of Blything in Suffolk, thirtyeight parishes had been incorporated in 1764, and after paying the interest of the money borrowed, and defraying all other expenses, the poor rates were reduced 1291. per annum; and that the poor rates in twenty-three adjacent parishes, not incorporated, were, during the same period, increased 8591. per annum; that in the town of Shrewsbury, where six parishes were incorporated, in 1784, the poor-rates amounted to 4,6051. per annum, and, at the end of three years afterwards, were reduced to 2.992., after paying the interest of 6,000l. borrowed for the build ings, 750/. in part of the principal, and also the expenses of furniture, stores, &c. Mr. Gilbert farther said, that the utility of these incorporated districts was so evident from the instances he had stated, where the decrease of the rates appeared as rapid as the increase of them had been before, that he thought the House, whose duty it was to hear and redress grievances, could not refuse the second reading of this Bill, as the only means by which it could go into a Committee, where it might be fully considered and amended, where necessary. That his

Mr. Drake said, that to the unremitting assiduity, the unceasing labours, and the indefatigable industry of the hon. gentleman in preparing his Bill, he was ready to give the most cordial approbation; but he could not sacrifice a public trust, or consent to the speculations of any individual, however well intentioned, unless his mind fully approved of them. The Bill went to create a Board of Commissioners to be invested with inordinate and most abusable powers. That several parishes had been allowed to incorporate with respect to their poor, and that they had reaped the benefit of incorporation, he verily believed; but the present Bill proposed an extensive system of incorporation liable to consequences that unavoidably created general alarm and apprehension. wondered not at the partiality of the hon. gentleman to his Bill. Natural affection would necessarily bias the mind, and no parent was willing to confess the ugliness of his own child; natural affection, which was a comprehensive, expression for the description of an all-powerful and irresistible prejudice, blinded him to his child's defects and deformities. If the hon. gentleman conceived the sense of the country was with him in his project, he was egregiously mistaken. He had not met with a single magistrate who did not reprobate the system, as leading to great confusion and enormous expense. It was highly necessary that the House should come to some decisive measure respecting the Bill; the public saw several different projects relative to the future management and provision for the maintenance of the poor afloat, and they were puzzled how to act upon the subject, before the Legislature had determined which to choose, and which to reject. Gentlemen who were willing to take a part in parochial concerns, and to assist in forming plans for the provision of their parish poor, were reduced to the necessity of standing still, lest the mode they might adopt should suddenly be put a stop to by the decision of Parliament. It was incumbent, therefore, upon that House to act effectually respecting the Bill, and although no man would be more ready than he to let the hon. gentleman, the author of the Bill, down as gently as possible, he should have

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »