House Of Commons.

which our ancestors would have shuddered . If in addition to this , the Minister were empowered to dispose of the public money without the consent of Parliament , where was the smallest safeguard for the constitution ? M * Fox theii handed to the chair a motion , conceived in the following words : ' That his Majesty ' s Ministers having authorised and directed , at different times , without the consent , and during the sitting of parliament , the issue of various sumsof money for the service of his Imperial Majesty , and also for the service of the army under the Prince of Contle , have acted contrary to their duty , and to the trust reposed

in them , and have thereby violated the constitutional privilege of this House . ' It was seconded by Mr . Alderman Combe . , Mr . Pitt then rose , and justified the measure in question , by the advantages that had accrued from it ; gave it as his opinion , that the Vote of Credit covered every expenditure for every assignable purpose , even to persons not previously named ; admitted the responsibility of" Ministers ; and acknowledged their culpability irk case of their concealing a foreseen emergency from Parliament when it could be divulged with safety ; but in the . present instance he contended , that publicity ,

-would have had a pernicious effect upon public credit . Such was the opinion of leading men in the city , and of the Directors of the Bank . Besides , he justified his conduct by various precedents . Mr . Bragge opposed the motion , and moved the following amendment : ' That the measure : of advancing the several sums of money , which appear from the accounts presented to the House in this Session of Parliament , to have beeii issued for the service of the Emperor , though not to be drawn into precedent , but upon occasions of special necessity , was , under the peculiar circumstances of the case , a . justifiable and proper exercise of the discretion vested in his Majesty ' s Ministers

. by the Vote of Credit , and calculated to produce consequences , which have proved highly advantageous to the common cause , and to the general interests of Europe . ' Mr . Sheridan adverted to the praise bestowed by the Minister en the last Parliament , and said it would have seemed more sincere if he had not sent so many of its Members to the Upper House , there to hide their heads in cm - nxsls . He expressed his surprise at hearing precedents taken for rules , which , if true , could at best only be exceptions . To prove that they were not true , Mr . Sheridan showed that those of 1706 , 1742 , and 1787 , would not bear any application to the casein

question , If the principle upon which the present measure was justified , were admitted , the Minister would become a judge of the extent , as well as of the mode of the public expenditure . Thisnew Dictator , by what he called ' a delicate process , ' would have it in his power to pay hordes of foreigners to extinguish every spark of British freedom . Under his administration Juries had already been reviled ; Courts of justice declared schools for treason by the first Pensioner of the Crown ; the military separated from their fellow subjects ; the mouths of the people stopped ; and the guardianship of the public purse taken from the House of

Commons . If the House did not check thi : --. reer , he . hould consider them hot only as accomplices in the crime , but as it - -..-takers in the effect of" it . Sir Wm . Pulteney said , that he belie ed : he Minister was n't aware , the other night , of the precedents he now quoted in his defence , which turned out to be nothing at all ; Not one of them could give away the controul of Parliament . The money bills and mutiny bill , the power of ihe parse and the sword , were the two pillars of the constitution ; and the way in which the Minister had weakened one of them called for . the disapprobation of the House . , The House tlien divided on the amendment . For it 2 S 7 . —Against it S 3 . Majority 204 . Adjourned at Half past three .

Thursday , 15 . Dates of the Declaration of War were presented , and ordered to lie on the table . Henrick ' s Naturalization Bill was read a third time , and several other Bills were read a second time . Adjourned . Friday , \ 6 . A committee was chosen to try the merits of Mr . Tierney's petition ' against the second election of Mr . Thellusbn for Smith ' wark . General Fitirpatrick , alter reminding the House thatthree years ago he had implored its clemency for M . de la Fayette and the companions of his flight , proceeded

to state the circumstances of their confinement , am ! the increasing severity with VOL . Vin , ' it