as the places in parliament are all purchased, some of them at a very high rate, and the possession of them is entirely at the will of the court. To supply the place of these distinguished magistrates, a temporary tribunal was erected at which the king's council were obliged to act; but this measure was so unpopular, that it was necessary to place a guard of soldiers for their protection. On February 22d, the King held a bed of justice, at which an edict was passed declaring, that as the jurisdiction of the parliament was too extensive, it was thought proper to divide it into six parts, under the denomination of superior courts, each of which was to possess a similar jurisdiction; and a number of regulations were specified, plainly implying that this arrangement was intended to be permanent. Against this abolition of the most illustrious judicial court in France, protests and remonstrances were made by other parliaments, and by many of the peers and princes of the blood, which were very ill received by the king. The Chancellor Maupeau had in the mean time framed a new code of laws which was approved at court, and measures were taken for carrying it into execution; and for the purpose of establishing this code and the new tribunals, another bed of justice was held on April 15th. The princes of the blood testified their dissatisfaction at the system adopted, by refusing their attendance, which was so much resented by the king, that letters were sent to them forbidding them to appear in his presence. The parliament of Rouen, acting with the intrepidity which had always distinguished it, issued an arret by which the members of the new parliament were declared intruders and usurpers, and the acknowledgment of their decrees was strictly forbidden. This bold proceeding highly irritated the court, and violent measures were said to have been designed, but that the Duke of Harcourt refused to take the command of the troops in Normandy for carrying them into execution. In other parts of France the arbitrary plans of the court were fully brought to effect, and during this year the parliaments of Besançon, Bourdeaux, Aix, Toulouse, and Britany, were totally suppressed, most of their members sent into banishment, and new courts erected in their room. So little did the court fear the consequences of these acts of violence, that a considerable reduction was made of the French forces, both infantry and cavalry. Corsica was still in a state of resistance to its new yoke, and the mountaineers waged a war with the French troops, attended with every circumstance of cruelty on each side. Count de Marbœuf having marched up the country at the head of several battalions was attacked with so much fury in the passes of the mountains, that he incurred a very serious loss; and a large detachment under the command of a colonel was attacked near Bastia, and almost totally destroyed. The French could not stir out of their garrisons without danger of massacre, and found it necessary to discontinue the works they were carrying on in different parts of the island. In the month of November the incessant rains occasioned unusual floods in various parts of England, especially in the northern counties, where great damages were sustained. One of the most remarkable occurrences was the bursting of Solway Moss in Cumberland on the border of Scotland, the contents of which rushed like a torrent over the adjacent low tracts, sweeping away houses and trees, and converting many acres of arable land into a black bog. A. D. 1772. YEAR OF GEORGE III. 12 & 13. PARLIAMENT 4 & 5. King's Speech. Motion for augmenting the Navy. - Clerical Petition against Subscription to the Articles.- Motion for Bill against dormant Claims of the Church.- Royal Marriage Bill.- Motion for Bill for the Relief of Dissenting Ministers. Thirtieth of January Sermon. Select Committee appointed for East India Affairs. Death of the Princess Dowager of Wales. - Changes in the Ministry. Secret Committee on East India Affairs appointed. - War with the Caribbs in St. Vincent's. Insurrections of Slaves in Surinam and Brazil.— Turks and Russians. The Porte recovers Egypt. ReCommencement of the Partition of Poland. volution in Sweden. - Political Revolution in Denmark. Termination of Contests in France. · Hurricane in the West Indies. - THE session of parliament opened on January 21st, with a speech from the throne, in which satisfaction was expressed that the state of affairs, foreign and domestic, was such as had not called for an earlier attendance of that assembly; and the performance of the King of Spain's engagement relative to Falkland's Island was considered as promising the continuance of peace. An intimation was however given of the expediency of maintaining a respectable naval establishment; and hints were thrown out of a necessity for the interference of the legislature for remedying abuses or defects in the administration of remote possessions, which were understood to point at the East Indies. The first public business in parliament was a motion from the ministry in the House of Commons for voting 25,000 seamen for the service of the current year. It was advanced as a reason for this augmentation, that the French having sent a considerable fleet to the East Indies, it was necessary to increase our naval force in ANNALS OF GEORGE III. 115 that quarter in order to preserve a superiority; that on account of the late differences with Spain a larger squadron than usual was employed for the protection of the West India Islands; and that the war between the Turks and Russians had caused a greater number of ships to be occupied in protecting our trade in the Mediterranean than had been customary in time of peace. A farther argument was derived from the improved state in which the establishment of guardships had been placed, which was now such that twenty of the best ships in the navy were kept in complete condition, aud so nearly manned, that a slight press would at any time enable them to put to sea in a few days. The motion was opposed, but it was carried without a division. very A petition was brought to be presented to the House of Commons on February 6th, involving a topic which, more than any other, has been found fertile of debate, and liable to agitate men's minds. In the progress of free discussion relative to religious opinion, it was not surprising that systems established at the early periods of the reformation, should appear to many later enquirers tinctured with error and inconsistency; and the fundamental principle of protestantism being the right of private judgment, and a reference to the authority of scripture exclusively, the members of established churches would naturally in time feel a desire to be liberated from declarations of belief respecting points which the controversies of learned men had rendered dubious. In no protestant church had such controversies been carried on with more freedom and intelligence than in that of England, hence it had long been manifest that among its clergy differences of opinion subsisted on important articles. A number of clergymen, and some members of the professions of law and physic, who found themselves compelled to dissent from many of the doctrines of the thirty-nine articles, which every clerical person, and every graduate of the English universities, is obliged to subscribe, had held frequent meetings at the Feathers tavern in I 2 London, for the purpose of obtaining a relaxation in the matter of subscription; and at length about 250 of them signed the petition to parliament, which was now offered. In the statement of their arguments, it has been remarked, that they weakened their cause by directing them more against establishments in general, and the requisition of declarations of faith, than against the particular points to which they objected; so that they met with opponents in some who, though perfectly tolerant of diversities in religious opinion, thought it essential to an established church to have some criterion by which the profession of a common faith among its clergy might be secured. They who adhered more rigorously to the peculiar doctrines of the thirty-nine articles were of course decidedly adverse to any alteration in the terms of subscription, which, they contended, would endanger the existence of Christianity itself, and would be an infringement of the king's oath at his coronation. After an animated debate, the motion for receiving the petition was rejected by the great majority of 217 against 71. Another debate, in which the church was concerned, though in a very different way, occurred on a motion made February 17th, for leave to bring in a bill for quieting the possessions of the subject against dormant claims of the church. It was argued, that as the Nullum Tempus of the crown had been given up in favour of the people, there was no reason why some limitation should not be made to the claims of the church, the revival of which had in several instances proved a heavy grievance. The arguments on the other side went to shew that the power of revival was absolutely necessary to protect the church from those encroachments which the laity have always been ready to practise upon her. The ministers exerted all their influence to defeat the motion, which was rejected by a majority of 141 to 117. On February 20th a message from the king was brought to both houses of parliament, stating, that his Majesty being desirous that the right of approving all 6 |