the detail of the preparations made for the several expeditions, and the mole of execution; and after distributing his praise among the persons principally concerned, he moved, "That the thanks of this house be given to the right hon. Gilbert Lord Minto, for the wisdom and ability with which the military resources of the British empire in India have been applied in the reduction of the power of the enemy in the eastern seas, by the conquest of the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, and by the recent successful operations, in the island of Java; and that this house doth attribute the brilliant and important successes which have crowned our arms in that quarter of the globe, to the vigorous system of well-concerted measures so wisely adopted and steadily pursued by Gilbert Lord Minto."

Mr. Sheridan then rose, and said, that though he could not he sitate a moment respecting the propriety of thanks as a reward for the discipline and gallantry displayed by the British army; yet he was not prepared to acknowledge the same claim on behalf of Lord Minto. In the first place, he thought an absolute necessity ought to be made out for the governor-general to forsake his station at Bengal, and enter upon a voyage for six weeks or two months to be present at the conquest of Batavia. He then observed, that much merit had been attributed to Lord Minto for having had every thing in readiness for the expeditions against the Mauritius at the time he received the dispatches, authorising him to undertake it; and yet upon the first check that occurred, the whole object of the armament must have been disap

pointed, had it not been for the admirable conduct of Captain Row ley. The next merit attributed to him was, that the time of the year tendering the success of the expedition against Batavia extremely doubtful, and Admiral Drury having despaired of it on account of the lateness of the season, the governor-general had made himself at Bengal so much more master of the subject than that experienced naval officer, that it was determined to proceed; his praise, therefore, on this occasion, would be so much detracted from the merits of Admiral Drury, He said, that he could not concur in the opinion delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the importance of the acquisition was not to be contemplated in a ques tion of this nature; and he thought that when a vote of thanks was required from the house to the planner of the expedition, there could not be a fitter time to in quire whether the acquisition was worth the lives it had cost; whether we can quit it without leaving the natives to certain destruction; or whether certain destruction will not attend our troops if they remain? Adverting again to Lord Minto's accompanying the armament, he said, he had a rooted dislike to any civil controul being exercised over the army or navy: it savoured too much of the French revolution, where a deputy from the convention always accompa nied the troops, not to share the danger, but to participate in the glory.

Mr. Yorke defended the claim of Lord Minto to the thanks of the house. With respect to the imputation on him for leaving his goverament, he asked, what was to prevent him? Were there any commotions,

licy pursued by ministers in their connection with the Regent, occurred on the motion for a supply to bis Majesty, made in the House of Commons on January 9 Mr. Creevey rose, and after observing that it was the duty of that house to examine several subjects connected with the revenue before they entered into the consideration of the supply, adverted to an office lately bestowed on the Regent's confidential servant, Colonel M Mahon. Twenty-nine years ago it had been stated, in the 10th report of the commissioners for public accounts, that the office of paymaster of widows' pensions was a perfect sinecure, and ought to be abolished; and in one of the reports of the commissioners of military inquiry presented to the house, four years ago, the same opinion had been confirmed, and it was added, that on the decease of the present patentee, General Fox, they presumed that the office would be suppressed: yet in the face of these two reports, the ministers of the crown had advised his Royal Highness the Regent to confer the office on Colonel M'Mahon. He concluded with moving an amendment, that the house would to-morrow se'nnight resolve itself into a committee of supply, in order to give an opportunity in the interim for the consideration he had suggested.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer began a reply with some observations on the prefatory matter in Mr. Creevey's speech, in which he had alluded to the conferring of some other places on members of parliament on account of their political conduct; and after defending the ministers in that re

spect, he came to the case of Colonel M'Mahon. He corrected the honourable gentleman's supposition, that the place in question was held by patent for life; and asserted, that it had been distinctly communicated to the colonel, by his Royal Highness's command, that considering the circumstances under which the office stood, he was to hold it as subject to any view that the parliament might take of it.

Mr. Brougham considered the appointment as an insult to parliament, and said, that the communication to the colonel, mentioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, only proved that the ministers were conscious that they were flying in the teeth of those principles which had been recognized by the house and its commissioners. This observation was argued against by Mr. Croker, who defended ministers in respect of that and other appointments which had been objected to,

Mr. Whitbread thought that the last honourable gentleman had failed to remove the objectionable qualities of the case, in question. The principle feature of blame in the transaction was, in his opinion, that of appointing the colonel during the recess of parliament, to a situation which every one must know to be a sinecure, and therefore an incumbrance on the public purse, and fit only to be abolished. After some other speakers had given their remarks on the subject, the house divided, for Mr. Creevey's amendment 11; against it 54. It should be observed, that the honourable character and me. rits of Colonel M'Mahon were allowed on both sides. It may also

be

be added, that the general senti, ment out of doors on this appoint ment by no means concided with that which seemed to be adopted by the majority in the house.

The same subject was afterwards taken up by Mr. Bankes, in a deBate on the army estimates, and a motion being made, the house divided upon it, when the ministers were supported by a majority of 54 to 38. Mr. Bankes, however, renewed the attack in a different motion on another day, and in a fuller house, when the arguments against the appointment, with its extreme unpopularity in the nation, outweighed the efforts of govern ment, and a resolution passed for the, abolition of Colonel M Mahon's sinecure by 115 votes against

112.

On January 14, the house having resolved itself into a committee to take into consideration the acts relating to the distilleries, the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed a string of resolutions, recommending the prohibition of all distillation from grain in Great Britain for a time to be limited. The comparative failure of the crops for the last year had rendered this expedient necessary; but in order that the revenue might not suffer materially from the expiration of the duties arising from spirits distilled from grain, it had been thought advisable that they should be transferred to spirits distilled from sugar. The resolutions moved for were, in substance, that after the 1st of February, 1912, until the 31st of December, 1812, no worts or wash for distillation shall be made in any part of Great Britain from any kind of grainthat it shall be lawful for his Ma

jesty by proclamation, at any time after October 1, 1812, either to terminate such prohibition from a time not less than 30 days from the date of the said proclamation, or to continue it from December 31 until 30 days after the next meet ing of parliament-that, during the period of this prohibition, the duties on worts or wash made in Great Britain for extracting spirits, and the duties on spirits made in Great Britain, and on spirits made in Ireland and imported into Great Britain, and the duties on stills in Scotland, and on spirits made in England and imported into Scotland, and vice vers, and the drawbacks one xportation, shall be suspended--that during such suspension there shall be charged duties on wort or wash, and on spirits, the particulars of which are the subject of several following resolutions; and that during such sus-! pension there shall be charged upon all spirits imported into Great Bri-: tain (except rum the produce of the British plantations) an additional duty of 12 per cent. upon the former duties.

Mr. Ponsonby then rose, not to object to the resolutions, but to complain of the change that had been wrought in the constitution, by silently accustoming the people to look for relief from their grieves ances in matters of interest not to parliament, but to the executive government. After a word of reply from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the resolutions were agreed to.

The report of a bill formed upon these resolutions was brought up on January 22, when, on the ques tion that it be agreed to, Sir John Newport rose, and entreated the

house

house to weigh well the nature of a measure which went to prohibit the intercourse between the two islands forming the united kingdom; and be referred to the 6th article of the union, by which it was declared that no bounty or prohibition should exist between the two kingdoms. He lamented that the general interests of IreJand were so neglected in that house; and observed, that at the time of the union it was alleged that the benefits resulting to Ireland from an exportation of the products of i's distilleries to Great Britain would be one of the chief advantages resulting from that measure, but, after various suspensions, it was now proposed to prohibit such exportations, so long as the prohibition of distillation from grain was continued here.

Mr. Sinclair then submitted to the house some observations on the subject, so far as the measure affected Scotland, and contended that the prohibition of distilling from grain would be very injurious to the agriculture and landed interest of that country.

Sir Geo. Clerke proposed to introduce a clause into the bill for preventing the English distillers from defrauding the revenue, on the ground that they drew more spirits from a quantity of sugar wash than the calculation by which they were charged. .

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that the matter alluded to by the honourable baronet had been a subject of long and deliberate reflexion, and he thought it unwise to embarrass a temporary system without full consideration. He assured Mr. Sinclair, that he had received more applications from

Scotland for the adoption of the prohibitory measure, than from any other part of the united kingdom. He replied to Sir J. Newport, by observing that the sus pension bill had been enacted for the purpose of relieving Ireland'; and that while the English market was restrained from the supply of spirits distilled at home from grain, it would not be right to suffer it to be affected by an importation of such spirits from a country where the prohibition was not in force.

Mr. Hutchinson spoke with warmth on the injustice done to Ireland by the various attempts to deprive her of the advantages expected from the union..

The amendments made in the committee were then agreed to, and the clause proposed by Sir G. Clerke was negatived.

On the motion for the third reading of the bill, Mr. Hutchinson rose to enter his solemn protest against that clause which had for its object the suspension of the intercourse between England and Ireland, which he charged with being in direct violation of the solema compact entered into between the two countries, and he called upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer to assign his reasons for venturing upon such a breach. He was replied to by Mr. W. Fitzgeraid, who affirmed that those interested in the manufactures, agriculture, and revenues of Ireland considered this bill as a most im portant benefit; and he asked if the honourable gentleman would wish that the provisions of the whole bill should be extended to Ireland ?

Lord Folkestone affirmed that the last speaker had advanced no