department of finance. Here they had indeed succeeded to a bed of roses, the thorny business of which had been performed by their predecessors. The supplies voted in the session, amounted to £48,653,170. The ways and means for answering this demand, were £3,000,000 upon malt and pensions, £3,000,000 and a half advanced by the bank, the unappropriated surplus of the consolidated fund, war taxes, the lottery, and £4,000,000 on exchequer bills.

Among the changes produced by the new ministry in the military arrangements, was the substitution of a local militia in aid of the volunteers. This local militia was to be balloted for in different counties: the ages of limitation were eighteen and thirty-one, and no exemptions were granted but on the payment of a heavy pecuniary fine. The period of service was to be twentyeight days annually, exclusive of the days for assembling, marching, &c. for which the officers and men were granted an allowance of pay. It was calculated by the minister, that the adoption of this measure would place at the command of government 400,000 men, in addition to the regular army of 200,000, which might, if necessary, be increased to 250,000. It was vehemently opposed by Mr. Windham, as founded on principles directly opposite to that of his own military bill, enacted in the preceding year; and, after a short reply from its projector, lord Castlereagh, it was censured by sir Francis Burdett in the most remarkable speech which he ever pronounced in parliament. Mr. Herbert of Kerry, who preceded him, had praised the plan as being worthy of the noble lord in whom it originated. Alluding to this, sir Francis began by saying, that the noble lord was indeed the fittest person to originate such a measure;-but was the honorable gentleman who complimented him for bringing it forward, aware of what that measure would render the people subject to? In times when the army was undisciplined, and the nation barbarous, when social order was trampled under foot, and liberty was but another name for licentiousness,-in such

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times it might have been right to enact and to enforce that military code, the penalties of which were now the exclusive disgrace of the British army and the British nation. But when so great an amelioration had taken place in the discipline and composition of our military force, it was no longer excusable to excusable to continue those penal enactments. To a conscription in the full force of the word, he should not object; it never could be considered a hardship for a inan to be called forth to defend his home and his country, or to qualify himself for that necessity. was not, therefore, on that account that he objected to the measure; but, before he could consent to subject the British people to any general summons of this nature, he would call for an amendment in the military code. He could not consent to commit the whole people of England to what was dishonorable, and pernicious to the army itself; he never could allow them to be subject to the lash. Then bursting into a strain of the bitterest personality, he could not, he said, describe the indignation which he felt at beholding the minister of the day dare to stigmatize the representatives of the people, by offering such a measure for their adoption. It required audacity to propose what only folly could imagine efficient, that the reluctant conscripts of our oppressed population should be marshalled under the scourge of tyranny, and presented to the nation as her defence. When you want men for your defence, offer them a post fit for men to accept; when you propose a military code, let it be fit for Englishmen and freemen. What! did the noble lord suppose that the people would endure and bend beneath the sanguinary, remorseless, and ferocious despotism, which even slaves would turn upon? Did he suppose that the lash of tyranny,-the insults, the contumely, and scorn of overweening power, the fadum signum servitutis, would be suffered by a free people with impunity?. It was, however, in this part of the measure that the fitness of the noble lord to be its proposer, was particularly shewn. The features of the offspring intuitively

bespoke the parent as with the appearance of the fasces, must be associated the idea of the lictor. Atrocious measures must be expected in age from him, whose youth had been familiarized in his native country to executions, and when the author of this bill had wrung the heart-strings of his own country, little delicacy could be expected from him, for the dignified feelings of another. Experience had shewn that he was the fittest man in the world to submit a whole people to the lash.

Another question of considerable importance, connected with our laws of war, was brought forward by sir Francis Burdett; but the attention of the house and of the people was diverted from the proposed investigation into the justice and policy of the droits of the admiralty, by certain unexpected disclosures in the course of the debate. Mr. Lushington said he would state one instance of the misapplication of these funds. Sir Home Popham had, in the year 1787, being at that time a lieutenant in the naval service, obtained leave of absence on half pay. He went to Ostend, and there procured a ship of 500 tons, bearing the imperial flag, in which he freighted a cargo for the East Indies. There he exchanged his vessel for an American ship called the President Washington, of 950 tons, which he immediately christened by the name of his old ship, the Etrusco, and, without scruple, transferred the papers of the smaller vessel to that which was nearly double its size. In this he conveyed a cargo to Canton, and, having taken in a fresh cargo at that place, sailed for Dungeness in Ireland, where he landed goods, "or, in plain English," said Mr. Lushington, “smuggled them." Lieutenant Bowen, of the Brilliant frigate, captain Robinson, seized the ship in Ostend roads, after a person had escaped on shore with part of the goods. The vessel was brought to judgment in the admiralty court. During the proceedings, sir Home claimed his share of the cargo and freight; but, when it became necessary to serve a process of the court upon him, he was not to be found. The ship was condemned; but for all the

trouble, inconvenience, and loss of time, in the prosecution of the business, captain Robinson did not receive one shilling. Yet afterwards, in consequence of a treasury warrant signed by the marquis of Blandford, Mr. Long, and the advocategeneral, £25,000, the amount of his claim, was restored to the honorable baronet. The truth of this statement was feebly contradicted by sir Home Popham in person; and, notwithstanding these circumstances related, attested as they were by the records of the admiralty, the bill itself, and the discoveries to which it gave rise, were dismissed from the consideration of the house by a majority of 82 to 57.

On the subject of the catholic question, to which the attention of the commons was now directed, Mr. Grattan opened the debate in a speech replete with eloquence, moderation, and good sense. He was opposed chiefly on the ground of inexpediency, and of regard to the feelings and opinions of the sovereign. There have been few debates in which all parties were placed in so humiliating a situation; for on the one part, the ministry insulted their opponents for having waived this question, when they themselves were in power, and the opposition in return, accused them of a breach of promise made at the union, a sacrifice of individual opinion to the desire of place, and a mean regard to personal and temporary interest. Fortunately for the reputation of Mr. Perceval, the lateness of his accession to power, secured him from the charge of political inconsistency, as no former opportunity had oc curred of delivering, ex cathedra,his opinions on the subject.

The affairs of India, and the conduct of the marquis of Wellesley, were, as usual, the tliemes of endless and fruitless debate. The bill to prevent the granting of offices in reversion, after long and vehement discussions, was past by a small majority, and a variety of suberdinate questions warmly contested, but terminating in no beneficial or satisfactory result, exhausted the patience of the members at large, and wearied the attention of the public.

The aspect of foreign affairs, and the

record of our naval exploits compensated in some degree to the busy, the patriotic, and the inquisitive, for the paucity of domestic events, and the unmeaning levity of parliamentary debate.

The destruction of the Dutch naval force in the East Indies, was completed by sir Edward Pellew.On the 20th of November, 1807, he sailed from Malacca with a squadron of two seventy-fours, two frigates and four smaller vessels, and, on the 5th of the following month, arrived off Point Panke, at the eastern extremity of Java, where the Dutch ships were lying in a dismantled state at Grissee. The line of battle ships could not proceed beyond Sedaye, which is about ten miles up the straits of Madura, without being lightened they anchored there and a commission under a flag of truce, consisting of captain Fleetwood Pellew of the navy, captain sir Charles Burdett of the 30th, and Mr. Locker, the commander-inchief's secretary, were sent to treat with the commandant of the Dutch naval force, for the surrender of his squadron. The summons which they bore was suitable to the power and moderation of the British government. It stated that the English were the natural friends of the Dutch, but that it was become their duty to prevent Dutch ships of war from acting under the control of France against the British. If the commander would deliver up the Dutch ships and vessels of war, and all others under French colors which might then be lying there, they would forbear from any measures of violence against the settlements and their inhabitants, and peaceably retire, after having obtained the necessary provisions. The Dutch commandant at Grissee, . M. Cowell, contrary to the law of nations arrested the commissioners, and sent back answer, that his duty as an officer in the service of the king of Holland, prevented him from suffering either the boat or people to return; and that whatever injury the chance of war might expose him and his Countrymen to, would be miserably obviated by attending to the proposals which the English commander had thought proper to

make.

Upon this sir Edward Pellew ordered VOL. I.

the line of battle ships to be lightened, and then proceeded with his whole squadron. A battery consisting of 12 nine and eighteenpounders, at Sambelargan, on the island of Madura, hulled several of the ships with red-hot shot, but no injury was done and it was soon silenced. The battery of Grissee was silenced also, after a few ineffectual discharges. M. Cowell, as soon as he perceived the English approaching, scuttled his Dutch ships and sent his prisoners to Sourabaya, a town about 15 miles higher up the straits, to which Grissee is subject. This is a beautiful place, situated about a mile and a half from the sea, upon a river navigable for vessels of 100 tons, having a tracking path on the bank. The Chinese carry on a considerable trade here, and have a town on the opposite side of the river. The resi dent at Sourabaya has the rank of senior merchant, and the title of commander of the eastern district. When the English commissioners arrived here they complained to the commander of their unwarrantable detention, they were in consequence released, accompanied by a deputation of three members of the council, to disclaim all concurrence on the part of government with such a measure and to express their

concern.

Sir Edward Pellew and colonel Lockhart now proposed the following terms to the government and council, stating, first, that M. Cowell by his violation of the flag of truce was excluded from all farther communication with the British.-The ships, they said, at Grissee were already in their hands, and must be destroyed, but the private property, provisions, and other stores should remain secure; the British force was not directed against individuals; and if the governor and council. would declare, that there was no ship of war at Sourabaya, their word would be received a security for that settlement. They pledged their word, and accordingly the place was untouched. The battery of Sambelargan it was said, must be destroyed, but, to prevent the necessity of employing force, it was proposed that the governor and council should issue their orders. 5 G