Major Scott obferved, that the moft ferious accufations had, indeed, been long threatened; he hoped the time was now come when thofe threatenings were to be brought forward.

Lord Mahon rofe to complain of the unfair treatment he had met with by the rejection in the other Houfe, of his bill for regulating county elections. It was, he faid, no very pleafing circumftance, when a gentleman, after much pains with a bill, and when he had thought his task over, and he had obtained the fuffrage of that Houfe, to find it rejected in another; himself abused, and his fer vices neglected. A re-hearing he thought would be his best vindication, and he would therefore move for leave to introduce his former bill for regulating county elections, preventing litigious delays, and other purposes therein mentioned. Leave was granted.

On the 15th, the House, after private bafinefs was over, proceeded to ballot for a committee to appoint commiffion ers, from different lifts delivered in at the table, for executing certain powers of the East-India judicature bill. A like committee had been chosen the fame day for the like purpose in the Houfe of Peers.

On Feb. 16. Mr Sheridan rose to exprefs his deteftation of the India bill in all its parts, and particularly his abhor rence of the partial conduct that had been manifeft, on the appointment, the day before, of the gentlemen who were to form the fupreme court of controul under the bill in queftion; a bill which affected to be a guard againft all undue influence; yet, in the very firft inftance, a manifeft influence was apparent; for out of 200 members, from among whom those who were to be the grand inquifitors were to be chofen, at least 140 of them had letters written by the clerks of the treasury, delivered into their hands by Pearfon, the door keeper, as they enter ed the House. Was not this like pack ing a jury? He did not, he faid, prefs forward this complaint as downright per fonal interierence; but the more diftant the danger feemed to be, the more bane ful it was likely to prove in its confequences. If the Rt Hon. Gentleman withed to ftand clear in the opinion of that Houfe, or the public, he could have no objection to a motion he was then about to make, which was, "That Jofeph

Pearfon, the door-keeper of this House, be called in, and examined thereto."

Mr Pitt faid, the motion was an infult to the House. He recapitulated the charge: ift, It was faid to be an influ ence by the delivery of papers. Admitting the lifts to be delivered to Pearfon by fome clerks of the treasury, where was the crime? 2d, It was faid to be packing a lift as packing a jury! Was ever any thing more ridiculous? If the Hon. Mover was really in earnest for the honour of the House, he would not have degraded its confequence by fo frivolous a motion. And if he was fo much affected with the grievances of his countrymen in India as he pretended, he would not with another Hon. Member have skulked * from his duty on the day of election, and came the next day to complain to the House of a breach of privilege.

Mr Sheridan, in reply, faid, he did not think it confiftent with his honour to stay and give his ballot, when he had from principle opposed the bill.

Mr Fox fupported the motion with fome heat. On a former occasion, when he had given into the House the names of fome of the most refpe&able men in the kingdom to be inferted in his India bill, it was then said that he dictated to parliament. But, had he sent a lift of names to Pearfon, what would that have been deemed? The Rt Hon. Gentleman asked where was the crime? Surely it is a matter of just cenfure. The powers of the fupreme controul, if conftituted in the most impartial manner, were bad enough, and needed no minifterial aid to make them worse. He fupported the motion. And the queftion being put for Pearson to be called in, the House divided, Ayes 38, Noes 138.

Mr Sheridan, previous to a motion he was about to make, observed, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when, by his Majesty's command, he laid the eftimate of the propofed new fortifications before the House, was expected to have explained the nature of the enquiry, the motives for inftituting a new board of general officers, the powers with which the board were entrusted, and the manner in which they had proceeded; and the rather, as in the course of a former

* This alludes to Mr Fox and Mr Sheri

dan haftily quitting the House just before the ballot began.

debate,

debate, it had been faid, there were points on which the enquiry turned, which were of a nature too delicate to be then fubmitted to public difcuffion; an affertion which had fince been contradict ed by an Hon. Member of that board, and a member of this Houfe,[Gen. Burgoyne]. He therefore pledged himself, that when ever it should be fairly made appear, by the report of the board of land and fea officers, that the fyftem of defence recommended to be adopted was abfolute ly neceffary, he for one would withdraw his oppofition to the estimates. To be affured of this neceflity, was a duty which the Houfe owed the public; for while the Hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer, on account of the state of the finances, hefitated to allow 20,000l. to render the militia an effective body of defence, furely it became Parliament to look with a jealous eye on a plan that was to absorb fo large a portion of the public revenue as 700,000l.*. He then entered into a full investigation of the queftion; and concluded with moving, That an humble addrefs be prefented to his Majefty, that he would be graciously pleased to order to be laid before this House the names and appointments of the board of land and fea officers, ftated in the copy of an estimate laid before this House, by his Majefty's command, to have been appointed under his Majefty's royal authority, to inveftigate and report to his Majesty, on the proper fyftem of defence, and on the expediency and efficacy of the propofed plans for the better fecuring his Majefty's dockyards at Portsmouth and Plymouth, and the direction given to them, with as much of the report of the faid board as may be confiftent with the public fafety."

Mr Pitt clofed with the Hon. Gentleman, as the doubts which he previously entertained were done away; and be could now pledge himself, that the extracts, which fhould be fubmitted, would irrefragably demonftrate the abfolute neceffity of the measure for the fafety of the marine, on which our very existence, as a maritime nation, depended. He then adverted to the manner in which the board of enquiry was conftituted, which was by a letter from Lord Sydney,

Though no more than 250,000 l. was demanded for the prefent year, yet it ap peared by the estimates, that 700,000 1. and more would be wanted.

by his Majefty's command, to the Duke of Richmond, dated April 8. 1781; and a fubfequent circular letter from Lord Sydney to the other land and fea officers, who conftituted the board, dated April 13. 1785. Such part of the inftructions as were fit to be made public, he said, he should lay on the table; and when the opinions of thefe experienced officers were fubmitted to the House, he bad not the leaft doubt but that the Hon. Member would feel full conviction of the propriety of the measure; and of this he had fo fully made up his mind, that he had prepared a motion that differed fo very little in fubftance from that moved by the Hon. Gentleman, that it was very immaterial to him which was adopted, He then read his motion, "That an humble addrefs be prefented to his Majefty, that he would be graciously pleafed to give directions, that there be laid before this Houfe a copy of a letter from Lord Sydney, dated April 13. 1785, with fuch extracts from the inftructions and report of the board of general officers as fhall be confiftent with the public fafety."

Gen. Burgoyne faid, fuch documents were certainly neceffary to be laid before Parliament as would warrant the reprefentatives of the people to borrow fo large a fum of money as was now demanded. It had been afferted, that the board had been unanimous in the report of the estimates; but it was on certain poftulata that their unanimity depended. The Noble Duke who prefided over the board, in the military art and in fcience was fuperior to most men of his profeffion. He was completely ingenious in forming a principle, from which might be deduced a series of confequences to a very great extent; and these flowed so naturally from the first principle, that, if that was once admitted, all the reft muft of courfe be given alfo; whilft, at the fame time, the mind refused its affent, and reafon revolted at it. Thus, for inftance, if fome violent fhock of nature should tear up the rocks from the foundation, and make chasms in the earth; or if, by chance, a concuffion of nature should block up the ftreights between Dover and Calais; would it not be natural to propofe, if it were poffible, to erect a fortification between the two continents, as a protection against the encroachments of an enemy? To this the reply must be fimple in the affirmative, though the

mind held that in the light of an improbability, which it could barely fuppofe might poffibly happen. This mode of defence is novel, and the novelty of our fituation is an apology for arguing upon it. That mode upon which our ancestors relied, and which nature points out to all infular fituations for protection, their navy, muft, for the first time, be disturbed, and a measure substituted, which is pregnant with danger to the conftitution, policy, and finance of this countrydangerous to the constitution, which has always beheld an internal armed force within itself with an eye of jealoufy, and justly with diftruft. With this fpecies of conviction has the unanimity of the board been obtained, whose report is offered to the Houfe as a ground of expending an enormous fum of money.

Mr Pitt wondered at the conduct of the Hon. General, who had subscribed a report of the first confequence, and, at the fame time, kept in reserve objections which he only started now in oppofition to his former attefted opinion. Why did he not diffent when those refined logical deductions he alludes to were in agita tion? He could not imagine that fo many eminent characters as acted with the Noble Prefident [D. of Richmond], whofe military talents he fo highly efteemed, would have passed over such management, without doing that duty to their country, and juftice to their own understandings, which muft arife out of the nature of what occurred to them. As to the Noble Duke's conduct who pre fided, he trufted, it would prove itself worthy to be held in a more serious light when beheld in a nearer view.

Mr Fox did not wonder at the perfuafive reasoning of the Noble Duke, who was able often to convey conviction without the leaft argument. And as to the logical deductions which the Rt Hon. Gentleman oppofite to him (Mr Pitt) could not fubfcribe to, he fhould recollect, that he was bred to a profeffion, which, by establishing a number of hypothefes that had no exiftence in truth, but from a feeming probability in their connection, concluded in establishing a fact by their evidence to which the judge

ment refused its affent.

Capt. Bower faid, that a number of circumftances occurred to him that he thought by no means proper to divulge to an enemy; nor should they ever learn

Capt. M'Bride obferved, that none fuch came within his department; nor did it matter if all Europe were acquainted with the fortifications in question, fo long as our fleets were kept upon a refpectable footing.

Mr Pitt's motion, on Mr Sheridan's being withdrawn, was agreed to; and

Mr Courtenay immediately moved, That an humble addrefs be prefented to his Majefty, that there be laid before the Houfe an estimate of the expences of the engineers, &c. in pursuance of thofe or. ders and reports, &c. The fame was re folved in the affirmative.

Feb. 17. in a committee of supply, the malt-tax and land-tax bills were read.

The new bill for preventing the exportation of hay, for a limited time, [a year], was read a third time.

Lord Surrey wished to know the caufes that rendered the bill expedient.

Sir R. Smyth answered, that the price of hay in moft parts of the kingdom was 41. 158. and 51. the ton, and in Devonthire 71.; yet, as it was fo high as 91. in France, a renewal of the bill was abfolutely neceffary; and there could be no danger, under the circumstances of the largest crop, of extending the bill to a year, as a difpenfing power was lodged in the Crown, which would remedy any inconvenience that might arise,

The papers on the subject of fortifica. tion being brought up, and read,

Mr Pitt moved, That they may be printed, with an exclufion of certain eftimates, the publication of which, as they contained the precife dimenfions of the new intended erections, may be attended with fome injurious confequences.

Mr Courtenay, who moved for those eftimates, having agreed, it was ordered.

[In the Magazine for Jan. 1785, P. 52. Our readers will fee an account of the confecration of Dr Samuel Seabury, of Connecticut in America, at Aberdeen, by the Bishops of the Fpifcopal Church of Scotland.This event gave rife to a correfpondence in the Gentleman's Magazine, from which, as the fubject may be faid to be new, we felect four of the Letters, containing the principal part of the argument.]

L. L. to the Editor of the Gentleman's Magazine.

SIR,

coafts, if any fuch existed.

VOL. XLVIII.

Magazine for February, is pleased to L Speak

fpeak of the appointment (as he calls it) of the Rev. Dr Samuel Seabury to the Bishoprick of Connecticut in America, as a great event. That they who have no thing to give should bestow mitres, or even empires, is by no means fufficient to excite the wonder of any man, who obferves but a small part of the tranfactions daily carried on in a world which is many ftages fhort of perfection. When the Tempter made an offer of " the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them," he had no title even to a fingle acre; and in the walks of common life none are fo liberal, and even profufe in their entertainments, as the man, who finding himself on the verge of breaking for a large fum, expends not his own money, but regales his guests with that of his creditors. How came the anonymous Scots Bishop, who publishes the confecration fermon, by his own title? Or if he had one, how could he confer it on another, without the authority of his Sovereignt? You or I might with just as much propriety go cap in hand to your neighbour the landlord of the Devil Tavern, requeft him to confer on us the honour of knighthood, and, in order to fatisfy his confcience, quote the example of Don Quixote, as this fage prelate does that of the apoftles.

The laws of Scotland have excluded all Epifcopacy; but, it feems, the race of thofe Non-Jurors, whose principles have ever been inimical to the prefent illuftrious family on the British throne, have maintained an ideal fucceffion of ecclefiaftical dignities on the north of the Tweed. Dr Samuel Seabury may, for aught I know, poffefs, in as eminent a degree as any of those prelates he now confiders himself on an equal footing with, the moral virtues of the apoftles; they confift not in numerous retinue of fervants, or in coaches decorated with mitres, but may as probably be found in an itinerant diocefan as in him who oc cupies the moft fplendid palace. But furely it required only a small portion of the ferpent's wifdom, (one fpecies of which, though perhaps not that recommended in Scripture, moft modern bifhops poffefs in an eminent degree) to

• Anf. By the confecration of other Bishops. + Bishops (as fuch) may confecrate bishops, and convey spiritual jurisdiction, though they can give no temporal powers, or exempt from temporal penalues.

have fuggested to him, that the colonies, who lately shook off the dominion of their mother-country, will not be difpofed to yield much reverence to the suffragan of thofe mighty prelates‡, whom a law, enacted in 1748, prohibited from ordaining even a fingle deacon.

In fome future Magazine, I hope you will be able to favour the public with a hiftory of Bishop Seabury's adventures after croffing the Atlantic; you will by that time be able to determine, whether they are better calculated for furnishing an additional chapter to the Legenda Sanctorum, or a third act to the farce of Sancho's government in the island of Barataria.

Unconnected with fects or parties, I muft, in the mean time, beg leave to make a few short remarks on the different conduct of the Prefbyterians on the fouth, and the Epifcopalians on the north of the Tweed; both equally Diffenters, both equally indebted for many privileges and comforts to the tolerating fpirit of the age and country in which they live: the former ftrive not to dif tinguish themselves by any claims to superior rank **, but reft content with the modern appellation of Diffenting Clergymen; while the latter, grafping as it were at the united privileges both of the crown and crozier, not only affect to poffefs, but even to confer, the highest ecclefiaftical jurifdiction; the former aspire to no authority beyond the guidance of a flock which voluntarily elects them for its paftors++; the latter not only trace an ideal pedigree from the apostles, but af fume to themfelves names the most often. tatious, treating the establishment of that country in which they are tolerated with the moft fovereign contempt. The former officiate at their meeting-houses, without ever dreaming of such audacioufnefs as the taking up any abolished and difallowed title ‡‡; among the latter,

the Superior whom they have recommended The Epifcopalians doubtless will revere and chofen.

This will not be allowed by the latter, who are now fubjected to more fevere pains and penalties than the Papifts.

How can they, as Prefbyterians? tt The Scotch bishops are also elected by their refpective flocks. And fo was Bishop Seabury by 30,000 Epifcopalians in Connecticut.

No furely. They cannot, nor wish to be more than Prefbyters.

it feems, there are still to be found Archbishops of St Andrews*, though the fabric of its cathedral was not more effectually demolished by John Knox, that great deliverer of his country from religious thraldom t, who left behind him a name fuperior to all titles; than the very exiftence of its pretended metropolitan has fince been annihilated by the act of Union, whereby the prefent refpectable and falutary eftablishment of religion in Scotland was planted on a bafis too firm to be fhaken by the unfated rapacioufnefs of any prelate. The former gave unequivocal proofs of their loyalty in fupporting the Houfe of Brunswick, amidst two foul and unnatural rebellions; as to the latter, having heard nothing of their conduct during those periods, candour obliges me to infer that they observed a frict neutrality.

In the courfe of my life, I have read many vehement declamations againft Puritans; I have also heard much, as well as feen, fomewhat of the cant and fanaticism of fectaries in our fouthern part of the island; cant and fanaticism I by no means wish to vindicate, for where-ever they are found in any confpicuous degree, they have certainly a tendency to make individuals, and fometimes whole bodies of men, ridiculous, if not, through their fides, to wound even religion itself; but after all that has been urged by Bifhop Stilling fleet, in his Treatife on Sepa ration, which is evidently levelled at the Prefbyterians who will not conform to the worship of the Church of England, I am ftill firmly of opinion, that there is no fpecies of feparation from establishments fo dangerous, or which fo evidently requires a jealous attention from the rulers of a Proteftant community to restrain within fome proper limits, as that which, by affuming to itself not only undue titles, but claims of divine right, exhibits fo ftriking a resemblance to the Church of Rome, that spiritual Babylon in the Apocalypfe .

Your conftant reader,

L. L.

Not fo. The Scotch Epifcopalians have no Archbishop. The See of St Andrew is now fubordinate to that of Edinburgh.

†This ftrikes at all Epifcopacy, in Eng land as well as Scotland. Ex pede, &c.

The above being fhewn to a friend in MS. he defired to add the notes. [Edit. of Gent. Mag.]

Anfwer, by" An Epifcopal Clergyman of the Scotch Church."

SIR,

IN

this land of liberty, the spirit of toleration is now fo univerfally diffufed among all denominations of Christians, that I was never more furprised than by the angry reflections of a late correspondent of yours, [L. L.], on the confecration of Dr Seabury. Had that gentleman been fent across the Atlantic, for no o ther purpose than to propagate in the new world vice and infidelity, his miffion could not have excited in the breaft of a good man greater indignation, than his advancement to the Episcopal dignity by the Scotch prelates seems to have raised in the intolerant breast of your correfpondent.

That the Established church of Scotland has, both before and fince the revolt of the colonies, fent miffionaries into America, is a fact well known; that the English Diffenters have done the fame, I have been credibly informed, and have not a doubt; that either the one fociety, or the other, acted by the authority of their sovereign, I never heard supposed; and yet, fo far as I know, neither of them has been accused of acting crimi nally.

While the colonies continued fubject to the mother-country, the Scotch bishops did not interfere, in any manner, either with their civil or their ecclefiaftical affairs for such interference, they were fenfible, there was no occafion. The Epifcopalians of British America were fupplied with clergymen by the bishops of that church which has hitherto been, and which, in fpite of the revilings of anonymous fcribblers, it is hoped will continue to be, "the glory of the Reformation." Even after the colonies were declared independent, and were as alien from Great Britain as Japan and China, the prelates in Scotland, whom your correfpondent would fain reprefent as the mot afpiring of men, did not volunteer in the cause of Epifcopacy; they did not fend into any of the United States one of their own body to take upon himself the ecclefiaftical government of that state; they well knew that they were looked upon with a jealous eye; and therefore they cautioufly avoided a measure which might have awakened the dormant rage of their numerous enemies. But when a clergyman from Connecticut, warmly recommended by his brethren in that pro