elections of members to ferve in parliament, and for the preventing bribery and corruption in that borough; and at the fame time an addrefs was ordered, for the attorney-general to profecute the five members of the, Chriftian Club who compofed the committee which tranfacted the bargain as to the fale of the borough at the last elec tion.

The different tranfactions, however, confequent of this fubject, run through the whole feffion, and it was not till the last day of it, that the bill received the royal affent. The members of the club were heard by counsel against it. Many doubts arofe as to the mode of the punishment. It was propofed to disfranchise the borough; this, however, was thought too dangerous a precedent; others thought that the culprits fhould be left to the punishment of the law; but though there was a clear conviction of their guilt, it was a matter of fuch a nature, as made the eftablishment of legal evidence very difficult; and if they efcaped with out fome fignal mark of reprobation, it would be an encouragement to the moft barefaced corruption, when the whole kingdom faw that it could be done with impurity.

It will be fcarcely neceffary to remind our readers, that. the Nullum tempus bill, or the act for quieting the poffeffions of the fubject against all pretences of conceal ment whatsoever, which was first brought into the House in 1768, and paffed in the following year, owed its rife to a grant from the treasury to Sir James Lowther, of a confiderable eftate and very extenfive royalties, which had been

granted by king William to the Portland family, and had been in their poffeffion from that time. A claufe had been inferted in that act, by which the grantees or leffees of the crown were allowed a year from its taking place, for the profecution of their claims; and though that bill had been brought in and supported by the duke of Portland's friends, and his particular cafe had fhewn the peceffity and was the immediate origin of it, no oppofition was made to the clause in question. in queftion. The general opi nion indeed at that time feems to have been that the matter in conteft had been only thrown out to anfwer certain election purposes, which being now over, it would no more be thought of; efpecially as the principle, upon which fuch claims were founded, had been just condemned, in the moft publick mafiner, by an united act of the whole legislature.

However plaufible thefe opinions were, the confequence fhewed they were ill-founded. A moft expenfive fuit was not only commenced against the duke of Portland, but the whole county of Cumberland was thrown into a state of the greatest terror and confufion: 400 ejectments were ferved in one day; and though a great many of the caufes were afterwards for various reafons withdrawn, it was notwithftanding faid, fome fmall time before the matter was debated in the Houfe of Commons, that there were fifteen bills in equity, and 225 fuits at common law, then open. Nor were thefe mifchiefs confined to thofe whofe titles to their lands were immediately derived from the Portland family; for as the royalties were very ex

tenfive,

no

tenfive, and their ancient limits and jurifdiction undefined; length of prefcription could afford fecurity, nor goodness of title prevent the confequences of a ruinous law-fuit, and the neceffity of being obliged to expofe it to public difcuffion. In thefe circumftances, fingled out by that claufe from the reft of the nation, and expofed as victims to fatiate the laft rage of exploded prerogative, fupported befides by the formidable influence of power, and the prevailing weight of overgrown riches, the terror was great, and almoft univerfal, thro' all that part of the kingdom.

A motion was accordingly made, and a bill brought in, for the amendment of the Nullum tempus act, by leaving out the claufe in queftion. It was obferved, in fupport of the motion, that this claufe had produced a very different effect from what parliament intended it should have done; which had not meant, that new claims fhould have been fet up, and fome hundreds difturbed in their poffeffions, in confequence of a law which had been paffed for the general quiet of the fubject: that, if the law was a good one, it ought to extend to all his Majefty's fubjects; and, if a bad one, it ought to have extended

to none.

It was urged, in oppofition to the bill, that the claufe, which it was intended to repeal, had been inferted, in confequence of an agreement or compromife, which had been concluded between the miniftry and the oppofition at the time of paffing the Nullum tempus law, in order that the act might ftand entirely upon public ground, without any retrofpect to particular grants, and free from the imputa

tion of private intereft or partiality; and that if this agreement had not been entered into, that bill would have been thrown out; and that the prefent would therefore be a breach of that agreement.

That the operation of the clause in queftion was to preferve the right of a legal determination of Sir James Lowther's claim; that it therefore became the faith of par. liament; in confequence of that faith given, he had profecuted his right; and that it would be an high breach of it, to have drawn him into a law-fuit, and now pafs an act which fhould at once determine his claim; that this bill would deftroy all faith in acts of parliament. That the law was the only title that every man had to his eftate; and the means of defending that title was, and ought to be, the moft facred object of parlia ment. That this bill would be an interference of the legislature in stopping and determining a lawfuit

That there was no inftance of parliament interfering to stop a law-fuit pendente lite; that fuch an interference, in fuits before the courts of law, would render all property infecure, totally overturn the jurifdiction of the courts, and end in the fubverfion of the conftitution.

It was faid, that the diftreffes of the county of Cumberland had been defcribed in the most moving colours, in order to excite pity and indignation in thofe who beheld the picture; that, without entering into the merits of the painting, it was fufficient to be informed, that thofe diftreffes, whatever they were, are now totally at an end, as Sir J. Lowther, from his own humanity, had ftopped all proceed.

ings, except thofe against the Duke of Portland, who, it was hoped would not be defcribed as an object of compafhon; fo that the caufe was now finally refted between the two principals, and between them only; and, if it was not fuffered to be brought to a legal determination, it must be confidered as the most outrageous act of violence, the most arbitrary and defpotic, that ever has been tranfacted in this country.

It was faid on the other fide, that no agreement or compromife, of the nature mentioned, had been entered into, and that accordingly the miniftry had done every thing to fruftrate or delay the Nullum tempus bill, till they found the concern was fo general and alarming, that all oppofition was fruitless; that indeed the Duke of Portland and his friends, left the introduction of private and party difputes fhould prevent the fuccefs of a bill fo neceffary and highly beneficial to the nation, did, for the prefent, moft nobly wave the quiet and fecurity he might have derived from it, to the higher confideration of the public good; upon which account no oppofition was made to the claufe in question, which was brought in by his adverfary's friends that many, who had confented to the bill upon its general ground, would have objected to that claufe, if it had been feparately debated; that fuppofing any converfation, or even declaration, upon the fubject, could convey an idea of fuch a compromife, it could neither mean nor be underftood for more than a neutrality with refpect to the bill then depending, and that the duke's intereft fhould lie dormant, and re

ceive no advantage from it; but it would be abfurd to fuppofe that he was to be precluded from all future remedy, and that he was not to feek redress by every method in which he could hope to obtain it. That this doctrine, however, contained a still greater abfurdity; which was, to fuppofe that any agreement of that nature could or ought to be in any degree binding upon Parliament.

The charge of a breach of parliamentary faith was faid to be equally futile; Parliament did not promise any thing, nor did it give any right; the matter of debate is only a faving clause, by which the powers of grantees are left open to future confideration; and it is a new idea of parliamentary faith, repugnant to every idea of legif. lation, to fuppofe that, when parliament does not pafs an act, it thereby pledges itself never to pafs it parliament had then an undoubted right to have taken away from the grantees those powers which they took from the crown; but that matter being left for future confideration, they have now precifely the fame right which they had then.

That the interpofition of parliament, pendente lile, by (what has been laid fo much stress upon) an ex post facto law, was as conftant and ufual, as it was beneficial to the fubject; that the precedents were numberlefs, and the ftatutebooks were full of them: and that the indemnity bill, which now lay before them, takes away the penalty from a common informer, which was vefted in him by law, and was to have been the reward of his vigilance in enforcing a compliance with an act of parlia

ment,

ment, under the exprefs fanction of that act. That when parliaments have interfered to protect the fubject against oppreffive grants, they have always done it, and ever muft do it, pendente lite till the grant is put in fuite, no grievance can be faid to exift; the profecutions under it are the very grievance which parliament interpofes to redrefs. That the ftatute of James I. is a precedent, that in principle, as well as fact, goes to every point of the prefent queftion; it not only gave future quiet to the fubject, but ftopt every law-fuit then depending. And that this bill is not, as it has been reprefented, to give directions to a court of law to determine a particular caufe; it is to prevent a legal title by fixty years poffeffion, from being canvaffed on any other ground than that of law.

Such were a few of the arguments that were made ufe of in the courfe of the long debates that attended the different readings of this bill. Upon the first reading, it was carried through by a confiderable majority, the numbers being, 152 to 123; upon the fecond reading, the numbers were, 155 for, Feb. 27th. to 140 against it; but upon the third reading it was rejected by nine voices, the numbers being 164, to 155 who fupported the bill. It was much complained of upon this occafion, that, in a matter of difpute about private property, the whole weight and influence of Government was, efpecially upon the laft reading, thrown into one of the fcales; that a number of letters, which are well understood to amount to little lefs than commands, were wrote upon the occafion by the noble lord,

whofe high office conftitutes what is confidered as the minifter in this country and it was farther faid, that, effectual as this method of proceeding might appear, it was not entirely depended upon, and that other means, not lefs liable to exception, were also made use of to infure fuccefs in this favourite point.

Though this feffion had already been uncommonly fruitful, either in the production of events, or the furnishing fubjects for difcuffion of the most interesting nature; it had however ftill in reserve a matter which excited the public attention, and was attended with more extraordinary circumftances than any other which had taken place for fome years. This was the affair of the printers; which, though a matter in its firft outfet that carried nothing new or extraordinary in its appearance, was capable in its confequences of calling the privileges of the Houfe of Commons into question, and of committing the legal right, upon which those pri vileges were founded, to a public difcuffion; which has not yet been fatisfactorily decided; whilst it also was productive of the new and extraordinary spectacle, of the lordmayor of the city of London, and another of its principal magiftrates being committed prifoners to the Tower.

We have before had occafion to obferve, that a licentioufnefs, hitherto unknown, had for fome time prevailed in many of the periodical publications. This was carried to fuch a pitch, particularly by the political effayifts, as well by those in favour of administration as by thofe against it, that no rank, no rectitude of public conduct, nor

excellency of private character, were prefervatives against the most grofs, the moft thameful, and the moft fcandalous abuse. Nor was this done with the ufual cautions, of drawing characters, and leaving it to the fagacity of the reader to trace out the resemblance; or of inferting blanks, or initial letters only, for names. The ill-judged violence, and confequent fruitlessnefs, of fome late profecutions, had emboldened the printers to the highest degree; for they faw that juries feemed fo much alarmed at what they thought abuses of power, and the appearances of chicane and cunning, which were reprefented to them, as intended either to force or trepan them out of their ancient and legal rights and authority, that they now fufpected fome circumvention, fubtilty, or danger. ous defign, to lie hid in every profecution of this nature; and feemed therefore determined, if they erred, to do it upon what they confidered as the right fide, that which was in favour of their own rights and the liberty of the fubject.

Every fact, every charge, how. ever falfe or groundless, and every name, however refpectable, were accordingly written and printed at full length. Distinction of character feemed at an end; and that powerful incentive to all public and private virtue of establishing a fair fame, and of gaining popular applaufe, which to noble minds is the highest of all rewards, feemed now to be totally cut off, and no longer to be hoped for. Both parties were fenfibly galled, and felt the reproach and cenfure to the quick; and each charged the other with encouraging it.

While an evil, so destructive to all virtue, was thus either overlooked or encouraged, a matter of much lefs importance, and of a very doubtful nature as to the good or ill of its confequences, was eagerly and violently entered into, for the fupport and exertion of an authority, which, however neceffary in particular cafes, it might perhaps be equally the intereft of the reprefentative and reprefented to continue in its prefent undefined ftate; without expofing it wantonly, either to a ftrict inquiry into its foundation, or a clofe difcuffion of its utility.

In the latitude now taken, the publishers of news-papers had for fome time inferted certain performances, as fpeeches of the members of parliament, which in the Houfe had been denied, fome of them in the whole, all of them in many effential parts, to be genuine; but if they had been the trueft reprefentation of the fentiments and expreffions of the fpeakers, fuch publication was yet contrary to a ftanding order of the House of Commons. A complaint on these grounds was laid against two of them by one of the members, and a motion carried upon a divifion for proceeding against them. The printers were accordingly ordered to attend, which they did not comply with; other notices were ferv. ed, and different questions arose upon the mode of ferying them; the meffenger had not feen the printers, and left the order for their attendance with their fervants: at length a final order was iffued, and the leaving it at their houfes was to be deemed a fufficient notice.

The whole of this meafure had been