took a similar position, and while the enemy was advancing, the merchant-vessels made their way in haste to the shore. At length the squadron of Paul Jones, consisting of three large ships, a cutter, and a brig, reached the " Serapis " and the " Countess," and a terrible conflict took place between the former and the "Bon Homme Richard," a two-decker, carrying forty guns, and which was Paul Jones's own ship. The two ships were brought into such a situation that the muzzles of their guns came in contact, and in this manner the action continued with the greatest fury for two hours, during which time Jones, who had far more men than his opponent, vainly attempted to board, and the "Serapis" was set on fire ten or twelve times. The fire each time was extinguished, and Captain Pearson had the best of the battle; but, in the meantime the "Countess of Scarborough" had been disabled by the other ships of the enemy, and then one of the frigates came to the assistance of the "Bon Homme Richard." Almost every man on the quarter or main-decks of the "Serapis " was killed or wounded by the united fire of the enemy; and the calamity was increased by the accidental ignition of a cartridge of powder near one of the lower deck-ports, and the flames spreading from cartridge to cartridge all the way aft, blew up the whole of the officers and people that were quartered abaft the mainmast. In this state Captain Pearson was compelled to strike his colours, and Captain Piercy was under the necessity of following his example. The "Bon Homme Richard," however, was in a still more pitiful condition than the "Serapis." Her quarters and counter on the lower deck were driven in; all her guns on the deck were dismounted; her decks were strewed with killed and wounded; and she was on fire in two different places, and had seven feet of water in her hold. On the day after the battle Paul Jones was obliged to quit her, and she sank with a great number of her wounded on board. The prizes were carried by their captor into the Texel, and the French government gave Paul Jones thanks, in the name of Louis XVI., and conferred upon him the Order of Merit! Congress, also, at a later date, sent him a vote of thanks, and promoted him to the command of a new ship, called the "America!"

CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY.

During the recess, some partial changes occurred in the administration. Lord Stormont was made secretary of state, in the room of Lord Suffolk, deceased. Earl Bathurst was made lord president of the council, Earl Gower having resigned office in disgust; the Earl of Hillsborough succeeded the Earl of Weymouth as secretary of the southern department; and the Earl of Carlisle was nominated first lord of trade and plantations, which was an ancient office resuscitated. Mr. Thurlow had received the great seal, with a peerage, last session, and he was succeeded as attorney-general by Wedderburn, while Wallace took Wedderburn's place of solicitor-general.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament met on the 25th of November. In his speech the king called upon the two houses to exert their efforts along with him in defence of their country against the unprovoked attacks of their enemies; congratulated his hearers that the designs and attempts of France and Spain to invade this kingdom had been frustrated; exalted the exemplary conduct of the national militia; returned his cordial thanks to all loyal subjects who had stood forward in the present momentous trial; and recommended the state of Ireland to consideration. Nothing was said by his majesty concerning America or the Americans, but the commons were told that it was with extreme concern that his majesty saw the great and inevitable expenses which his naval and military forces would require. His majesty concluded by saying, that, trusting in Divine

Providence, and in the justice of his cause, he was firmly resolved to prosecute the war with vigour. The address was opposed in the house of lords by the Marquess of Rockingham, who moved an amendment, omitting every word which it contained except the title, and inserting a prayer instead, beseeching his majesty to reflect on the extent of territory, the power, the opulence, the reputation abroad, and the concord at home which distinguished the commencement of his reign; and now on the endangered, impoverished, enfeebled, distracted, and even dismembered state of his kingdom, after all the enormous grants of successive parliaments. The amendment concluded by requesting his majesty to resort to new counsels and new counsellors, without further loss of time, as the only remedy for the existing evils. In his speech, the Marquess of Rockingham censured the facility with which the two ambassadors, Lords Grantham and Stormont, had suffered themselves to be deceived by the craft of France and Spain; asserted that the clause in the speech which spoke of the blessings of living under his majesty's happy government, was insulting to the common sense of the house, as all those blessings were turned into curses; attacked the first lord of the admiralty on various points connected with his administration; attributed all the discontents in Ireland to the folly and bad faith of ministers, who had made promises which they had not performed; and, finally, denounced the war in America as bloody, malignant, and diabolical. In reply, Lord Stormont imputed a great part of the misfortunes which surrounded us to the incautious and violent language used in parliament. Lord Mansfield expressed his conviction that nothing but a comprehensive union of all parties could effect the salvation of the country. How far the temper of the nation and the state of parties might admit of such a coalition he could not decide; but the event, he said, was devoutly to be wished. The amendment was negatived by eighty-two against forty-one

The

A similar amendment to that of the Marquess of Rockingham, was moved in the commons by Lord John Cavendish. In both houses, also, the arguments and invectives employed were allied in character. ministers were accused of ruining both army and navy by their compliances with court predilections; by their fear and jealousy of every officer of merit; by their criminal tardiness; and by their want of a consistent plan of military operations. Charles Fox went a step further than most of the speakers in opposition. He declared that treachery and not ignorance must have prevailed in the national councils, to reduce the nation to so miserable a condition; and he warned ministers that when the nation was reduced to such a state of wretchedness and distraction that the laws of the land could afford no relief, the law of nature would put arms into the hands of the people, and then they, who had caused the evil, would suffer for their mal-administration. In reply, Lord North indignantly denied that any treachery was resorted to by ministers, and called upon the opposition to stand forth like men, and make good such vague accusations. Laws, he said, existed for the protection of the innocent; and if his accusers adhered to the laws, he had nothing to fear. Lord North, also, defended with considerable ingenuity the management of the war; asserting that, from its extensive nature, it was impossible to keep a force superior to the enemy at every point; and affirming that the fleets of France and Spain, which had been raised to the ruin of their finances, had gained neither honour nor advantage, and were already falling into weakness and decrepitude. The amendment was negatived by two hundred and thirty-three against one hundred and thirty-four.

LORD SHELBURNE ATTACKS MINISTERS IN THE CASE OF IRELAND. Although Ireland had been misgoverned for centuries, yet opposition, in the course of these debates,

attributed every mischier in that country to the present ministers. In both houses assurances were given that satisfactory plans of relief were in contemplation, but even then opposition were not disarmed. Having procured a summons of the house, on the 1st of December the Earl of Shelburne moved a resolution, declaring ministers highly censurable for having neglected to take measures for the relief of Ireland, in conformity with the address of the lords to his majesty during the last session. In introducing this motion, the Earl of Shelburne declared that the government of Ireland had been abdicated, and that the people would be justified, by the principles of the constitution and the laws of self-preservation, in taking back its power into their own hands. In the course of his speech he read the address of both houses of the Irish parliament, which declared that nothing less than free trade would rescue that country from ruin; and he asserted that all classes of society concurred in this opinion. Ministers were defended by Lord Hillsborough, who maintained that no delay could be fairly imputed to them; that measures for the relief of Ireland must emanate from parliament, and were not to be entered upon without due information and consideration; and that ministers had been active in collecting such information and making arrangements, the result of which would shortly be laid before the house. The debate was chiefly rendered remarkable by some words uttered by Earl Gower, who had lately retired from the administration. After stating that he must, in fairness, oppose the motion, as ministers required a few days for their exculpation, he remarked:-"I have presided for some years at the council-table, but have seen such things pass of late that no man of honour or conscience could any longer sit there." The motion was rejected by eighty-two against thirty-seven.

LORD OSSORY'S ATTACK ON MINISTERS RESPECTING IRELAND.

On the same day that Shelburne made his motion, Lord North communicated some additional papers respecting Ireland, and gave notice, that he would, in about a week, move for a committee of the whole house to enter upon this subject. Opposition, however, seem to have considered Ireland a vulnerable point in the phalanx of the ministry; and before the time intimated by Lord North had expired, the Earl of Upper Ossory moved a vote of censure in the commons upon ministers for their neglect of the affairs of that country. This motion was seconded by Lord Middleton, and supported by Dunning, Burke, and Charles Fox, who, in general pursued the dangerous course of drawing parallels between the situation of Ireland and that of America. It was asserted, for instance, that ministers having failed in reducing the colonies by force, were ready to make large concessions to Ireland; but that the Irish people had suffered more from the loss of her share in the trade of America than from any other cause. It was also said, that if the thunders of the cabinet had not been hurled against Ireland; if Dublin had not been treated like Boston, and if Cork and Waterford had not been reduced to ashes like the towns of America, it was not through the enlightened policy of ministers, but from fear of the consequences of adopting stringent measures toward those refractory cities. These sentiments were exceedingly unwise, for at this very time armed associations and the non-importation agreements were in full force in Ireland, and a rebellious spirit displayed itself in the Irish parliament-house, and throughout the whole length and breadth of the kingdom. In order to compel the British government to concede a free trade the Irish parliament had, indeed, according to the instructions received from their constituents, voted a money-bill for six months only, instead of two years, as usual; and the charges which opposition brought against ministers were as fallacious as they were unwise and unjust. This was fully proved by

Lord North in his reply, who showed that the grievances complained of originated ages anterior to the existence of his ministry, and that the restrictions upon the trade and industry of the Irish people arose from our general system of trade; which, though conceived in ignorance and founded on prejudice, was so confirmed by habit that it seemed to become part and parcel of our very constitution. Lord North referred to the hos tility which had been shown towards the attempts which had been made in the two preceding sessions to obtain a moderate relaxation of these restrictions, in proof of the truth of his assertions. Those who had undertaken the task, he observed, had been thwarted by their constituents, and by the people of England generally, as well as by the majority of the house. Something had been done, but more would have been done had it not been for the temper, prejudices, and habits of the people and the parliament. In conclusion, he contended that ministers had done more for Ireland than any other cabinet for the last century. They had enlarged the trade of that country; had given bounties to encourage the Irish Newfoundland fishery, and the growth of hemp and tobacco; had permitted the exportation of woollen cloth, &c.; and had conferred many other benefits on the people. The motion was negatived by one hundred and seventy-three against one hundred.

LORD NORTH'S PROPOSITION FOR THE
RELIEF OF IRELAND.

Lord North brought forward his promised scheme of relief for Ireland on the 13th of December. This scheme consisted of three propositions: to allow a free export of wool, woollens, and wool-flocks; to allow a free export of glass and all kinds of manufactured glass; and to allow a free trade with all the British plantations on certain conditions; the basis of which was an equality of taxes and customs. In supporting these propositions Lord North entered minutely into the natural and inherent rights of Ireland; combated many inveterate prejudices; declared that the benefits of the two countries must be reciprocal and their interests mutual; and in short collected into one point of view all the liberal notions of commerce and policy which Burke and others of his party had long laboured to impress upon parliament. If Lord North was actuated by fear in making these large concessions, so also were the majority of the members in the house, for the very men who had clamoured against commercial concessions to Ireland, and had frustrated all measures in favour of this line of policy by their votes, now consented to the three resolutions, without the least opposition. Bills founded on the two first propositions were brought in, and passed both houses, and received the royal assent before the Christmas recess. The third proposition was delayed till the sentiments of the Irish concerning it could be ascertained. These sentiments were found to be favourable, and it was therefore soon carried. A few other benefits were also conferred on the Irish; such as enabling them to become members of the Turkey Company, and to engage in the Levant trade. The whole appeared to give great satisfaction to the Irish nation. The acts were received as a boon, and great loyalty and affection were expressed. Unfortunately, however, ministers cut short their popularity by altering some bills, which gave great umbrage to the Irish people, and taught them even to desire independence. On this subject Dr. Miller writes:"The bills altered on this occasion were not, as in the former case, money-bills: that folly the ministers did not venture to repeat: but one of them was a bill involving the dearest interests of the people; and the alteration was such as gave to the public mind the only impulse which it then required for aspiring to constitutional independence. The Irish parliament, not choosing that its military establishment should be longer regulated by a British mutiny-law, transmitted

a bill of similar import. The minister, as if eager to indemnify himself for commercial concession by constitutional spoliation, introduced an alteration by which the law was to be rendered perpetual; and the Irish parliament, though it passed the bill thus altered, was taught to look to freedom of constitution as the necessary safeguard to freedom of trade; to assert its own independence, while it unfettered the commerce of the country. When the minister had first, by the altered money-bills, alarmed the constitutional jealousy of the guardians of the public purse, he then, by another alteration, rendering the mutiny-law perpetual, manifested a desire of securing to government the uncontrolled direction of the military power. Language could not more forcibly exhort the people to be satisfied with no concessions merely commercial; but to insist that their country should be acknowledged as an independent, though not a separate state."

DEBATES ON ECONOMICAL REFORM. While Lord North was endeavouring to allay the bad passions of the Irish people, a spirit of disaffection arose in England. The cause of this was the expenses of government: expenses which were for the most part unavoidable, but which in some cases may have arisen from lavish expenditure. But whatever was the cause, there was a long, loud, and universal cry in the country for economical reform, and it soon became the subject of debate in both houses of parliament. On the 7th of December the Duke of Richmond moved in the lords for an address to beseech his majesty to reflect on the manifold distresses and difficulties of the country; to represent that the waste of the public treasure required instant remedy, and that it was necessary to adopt that economy, which, by reforming all useless expenses, creates confidence in government, gives energy to its exertions, and provides the means for their continuance; to submit to his majesty that a reduction in the civil list would be an example worthy of his paternal affection for his people and his own dignity, and calculated to diffuse its influence through every department of the state; and to assure his majesty that the lords would readily concur in promoting so desirable a purpose, and that every one of its members would cheerfully submit to such reductions of emoluments as he might think proper to make. In support of this motion, the Duke of Richmond entered into a detailed statement of the existing vast military establishment; showed by a number of calculations the great increase of the national debt since the commencement of the American war; and urged the necessity of economical reform, suggesting that the king himself should set the example, that all classes of society might follow it. In the course of his speech, his grace contrasted the state of this country with the wise system of economy adopted by France under Neckar; asserting that our formidable neighbour was rising to wealth as fast as we were sinking in poverty. Yet with all his zeal for reform, the Duke of Richmond advocated the continuation of the pensions bestowed on the Pelhams, Walpoles, and Pitts, families of his own party, as being too sacred for the sacrilegious hand of parliament to touch. In reply, the lords in administration confessed that the expenditure was enormous, and that there had even been some want of economy; but while they made this confession, they opposed the motion, chiefly on the ground that it could not be of any great service, or at all adequate to the object proposed. It was insisted by them that the civil list could not bear any diminution; that it would be degrading to parliament, after having voted an augmentation, now to declare their inability to pay it; that the complaint of the waste of the public money was not substantiated by any kinds of proof; and that the nation was not so poor or reduced as the noble duke had represented. The motion was rejected by seventy-seven against thirty-six

The subject of economical reform was introduced into the lower house by Mr. Burke on the 15th of December. Burke gave notice of his intention to propose some very important regulations after the Christmas recess, and in doing so, he also took occasion to extol the financial system of Neckar, to which he attributed the re-production of the French marine out of the wrecks and fragments of the last war. He anticipated, he said, a cool reception of the propositions he should make, since they would have a tendency to weaken court influence. He could only, however, make an offer, and if it was rejected the people must effect their own salvation. All the grievances of the nation, he observed, arose from the overgrown influence of the crown, and this influence was the creature of the prodigality of the commons. The operation of this influence, he said, was not confined to the superior orders of the state; it had insinuated itself into every section of the community. Scarcely a family in all England was so hidden or lost in the obscure recesses of society, which did not feel that it had something to hope or to fear from the favour or displeasure of the crown. Government, he argued, should have force adequate to its functions, but no more; for if it had enough to support itself in abusing or neglecting them, they must ever be abused or neglected. Men would rely on power for a justification of their want of order, vigilance, foresight, and every other virtue or qualification of statesmen. The minister then might exist, he said, but the government was gone. He continued :-" It is thus that you see the same men, in the same power, sitting undisturbed before you, although thirteen colonies are lost-thus the marine of France and Spain has grown and prospered under their eye, and been fostered by their neglect—thus all hope of alliance in Europe is abandoned-thus three of our West India islands have been torn from us in one summer, while Jamaica, the mosi important of all, has been neglected, and every inquiry into that neglect stifled-thus Ireland has been brought into a state of distraction which no one dares to discuss." The disease of government, Burke remarked, was a repletion; the over-feeding of the stomach had destroyed the vigour of the limbs. He continued, that he had long ascertained the nature of the disorder, and its proper remedy; but as he was not naturally an economist, and was averse to experiment, he had not made hitherto any attempt to apply that remedy. Now, however, he was assisted by the temper of the times, and though he would not at that time disclose all the particulars of his plan, he would, nevertheless, state its end, objects, and limits. He proposed a regula tion which would give £200,000 per annum to the public service, and annihilate a portion of influence equal to the places of fifty members of parliament, which would effectually remove the sources of corrup tion. This was the end and objects of his resolution. As regarded its limits, nothing, he said, which was held by any individual under a legal tenure would be invaded. Equity and mercy would be remembered in those cases where innocent persons had been decoyed into particular situations through the prodigality of parliament: the alterations would chiefly affect those who held offices from which they might be removed by ministerial arrangements. No employment really useful to the public would either be abolished or abridged of its emoluments, A fund, also, fully adequate to the reward of merit, would be left, and an ample provision would be secured to the crown for personal satisfaction, and for as much magnificence as was compatible with the distressed state of the nation. These propositions, Burke added in conclus,on, were made with humility and integrity: he hoped that they would give confidence to the people, and strength to the government; that they would render the war vigorous, and peace refreshing. Burke's plan received high commendation from several members on his own side of the house, and especially by his friend and disciple, Charles Fox: