House Of Commons.

occasioned such a fall of price , that they lost from 60 to 70 percent . This he thought a fair exception to the principle , that traders were not to call upon the public to nialje good their losses , and he should therefore move , that a ' Committee be appointed to investigate tlie causes and amount of the losses sustained by"ibe merchants in importing corn into the country at a time of great public scarcity , and to consider of some mode of indemnifying them for those losses . ' This motion was carried , and after a few words from Mr . Sheridan , and a short explanation from Mr . ' .- 'ishingtbii , the enquiry was referred to a Committee , ail

members -. 'tending ' . 0 have votes . Mr . Adair moved for a Commit'ee of tbe whole House on tbe Quakers' Relief Bill . Sir W . Scott opposed the Speaker's leaving the chair . He was no enemy to the most good-natured toleration ; but when the private opinions of a set of men trenched upon the civil rights of others , the inconveniences resulting from those opinio-is ought to be borne by themselves . Tythes were not merely a claim ecclesiastic—one half nearly ivere lay impropriations , authorized by iaw , before the sect of Quakers was in existence . These , as well as the others , the Quakers

refused topa-, which was as reasonable as if a man , after purchasing nine-tenths of an estate , should refuse to pay rent for the remaining part . Sir . W . Scott then asserted , that the acts of William III . which these were said to be meant merely to extend , were , on the contrary , intended not for the relief of the Quakers , but ofpersons paying tythes . It was not at this moment , when such strange ideas were gone about , that property should be put at the mercy of religious fancies . It was a fact , . that pamphlets had been distributed at the door of that house , in which proprietors , of all descriptions , were pelted without mercy , as mc nopolizers of what was the common right of all . After several technicil

distmctions concerning theopemtionofthe Bill , he concluded by reminding the House , that ihe attack and consequent demolition of tythes in France , was followed by the destruction of property , and a ruinous interruption of the tranquillity of Europe . Mr . Serjeant Adair replied , and vjnclic . ited in strong terms tlie propriety of the Bill , ivhich , he contended , would be highly beneficial to the proprietors of tythes , as it gave them a speedy process , instead of a vexatious suit . It gave them the amount of the debt , instead of the body of tbe debtor . . As to levelling opinions , his sentiments were too well known to need explanation ; but be would say that

the best antidote for them was to render the property of the rich as little oppressive as possible to the poor . The Solicitor-General denied that the great body of Quakers desired the Bill , or professed the scruples in question . Some were even tythe-holders , and others tythe-gatherers . The Bill was only calculated to call forth scruples in people who paid as well as others . In the course of his practice , he had known suits instituted against Quakers , but they always objected to the quantum of payment , and not to the principle . A Bill like the present had been brought in sixteen years

ago ; but as they could not substantiate the oppression and injuries of which they complained , it was thrown out by the advice of Lords Talbot and Hardwicke . For his part , he believed that the present Bill would injureone part of the community without affording any relief to the other . Mr . Wigley and Mr . Wilberforce supported , and Messrs . Richards , Fvazer , and Burton , opposed the Bill . The House then divided , for committing the Bill 33—Against it 33 . The Speaker haying given the casting vote for the Bill , it was immediately referred to a Committee of the whole House .

Monday , 27 . A Member , whose name we could not learn , saw something very portentous in the way in which the enemy had landed 1400 men in Wales , and . expressed his fears that it was their intention to quarter their troops upon the country in this curious manner . With this view ot" the thing he couid not help sounding the alarm , and begged to know what motion it would be right for him to propose to the House , The Speaker suggesting the propriety of his making a specific motion , he moved , ' That an humble address be presented to his Majesty , begging to be informed in what manner the enemy had effected a landing in Wales , and what was proper to be done on the occasion . ' ( A loud laugh . )