the act of the 18th of his present majesty, intituled, "An act for relieving his majesty's subjects professing the popish religion, from certain penalties and disabilities imposed on them by an act made in the 11th and 12th of the reign of William the Third, intituled, An act for the further preventing the growth of popery." In order to quiet the minds, and to remove the apprehensions, of such well-meaning but ill-informed persons, as might be among the petitioners, the following resolutions were moved by Lord Beauchamp: 1. "That it is the opinion of this committee, that the effect and operation of the act passed in the 18th year of the reign of his present majesty, intituled “An act for relieving his majesty's subjects professing the popish religion, from certain penalties and disabilities, imposed on them by an act made in the 11th and 12th years of the Reign of King William the Third, intituled, An act for the further preventing the growth of popery," had been misrepresented and misunderstood. 2. That the said act. passed in the 18th year of the reign of his present majesty, does not repeal or alter, or in any manner invalidate or render ineffectual, the several statutes made to prohibit the exercise of the popish religion, previous to the statute of the 11th and 12th years of King William the Third. 3. That no ecclesiastical or spiritual jurisdiction or authority is given, by the said act of the 18th year of the reign of his present majesty, to the Pope or the See of Rome. 4. That this House does, and ever will, watch over the interests of the Protestant religion with the most unremitted attention; and that all attempts to seduce the youth of this kingdom from the established church to popery, are highly criminal according to the laws in force, and are a proper subject of further regulation. 5. That all endeavours to disquiet the minds of the people, by misrepresenting the said act of the 18th year of the reign of his present majesty, as inconsistent with the safety, or irreconcileable to the principles of the Protestant religion, have a manifest tendency to disturb the public peace, to break the union necessary at this time, to bring dish onour on the national character, to discredit the Protestant religion in the eyes of other nations, and to furnish occasion for the renewal of the persecution of our Protestant brethren in other countries." There was rather much discourse than debate upon the subject, very little having been said on the part of the. petitions. The question was, however, solemnly, and very

largely spoken to, and with the greatest eloquence. The chief speakers were Lord North, Lord Beauchamp, Sir George Savile, Mr. Wilkes, Mr. Burke, and Mr. Fox. These two latter spoke for nearly three hours each. For the first time they all spoke on the same side; and supported the doctrine of toleration, on grounds much larger than those on which the bill complained of stood. The petitions from the different Protestant associations were supported with much vehemence by Mr. Alderman Bull.

Mr. BURKE reprobated the alderman's doctrine, and reflected upon him for his ignorance and want of erudition. He said, that the ablest arguments that ever were used, had that day fallen from the ablest men, and that they had been opposed by ignorance, falsehood, and fanaticism. He was called to order by Sir James Lowther, who said he had reflected in an unbecoming manner on the worthy alderman, and was deviating in an improper manner from the question. After some time Mr. Burke proceeded, and said, that the petitions had arisen from bigotry and fanaticism; that the church of England was struck at, and the crown itself, and he would defend both from the attempts and malevolence of such men. He went into a full account of the late riots; expatiated on the inhumanity of the mob; said that Mr. Langdale, with twelve children, had suffered to the amount of 50,000l.he had laid in a great stock against the commencement of new duties-he had since been advised to go to Bath to relieve his mind-at his first arrival there, he was treated with the sight of the chapel at that place in flames—he was obliged to return to the Devizes. The inhumanity of fanatics, he said, was such, that after the destruction of the school near the city, a petition had been presented, desiring that the poor man, who owned it, might not have a lease of the land again to build another. He attacked the petitioners, and he read the names of several taken from thence with a mark-he threw others into ridicule, and he quoted, in a facetious manner, the names of several women-not being able to read and write themselves, these monsters were

desirous of preventing others from receiving education. He had been educated, he said, as a Protestant of the church of England by a dissenter; he read the Bible there morning, noon, and night, and was the happier and better man for such reading: he had afterwards turned his attention to the reading of all the theological publications, on all sides, that were written with such wonderful ability in the last and present century; at last he thought such studies tended to confound and bewilder, and he dropped them, embracing and holding fast the church of England. He went into a large field of reasoning on toleration; vindicated the Papists from the charges brought against them; and decried the baseness of Payne the constable, who, he said, had gone about, trying to find out matter to incarcerate for life, men against whom no complaint was made for any offence, other than saying their prayers in a language which he did not understand, but they did, He had imprisoned Mr. Malony, an honest and inoffensive man, but the humanity of the crown had released him: he had attempted to imprison Mr. Talbot, brother to the Earl of Shrewsbury, but had failed, very happily, in his proof. Mr. Burke stated, in a very long speech, the means taken to bring about all the mischief; he said it had happened by the zeal of wicked and abandoned men, who had gone about industriously misleading poor, ignorant, and deluded people: and concluded, by moving as a preface to the first motion, "That much industry had been used to misrepresent the intentions of parliament, &c."

The resolutions were agreed to, and Mr. Ellis moved the House, "That leave be given to bring in a bill to secure the Protestant religion in Great Britain from any encroachments of popery, by more effectually restraining Papists, or persons professing the popish religion, from teaching or taking upon themselves the education or government of the children of Protestants;" which motion was agreed to.

RUPTURE WITH HOLLAND.

January 25. 1781.

THIS day Lord North presented the following Message from

his majesty:

"George R.

"His majesty has judged it proper to acquaint the House of Commons, that during the recess of parliament, he has been indispensably obliged to direct letters of marque and general reprisals to be issued against the States General of the United Provinces, and their subjects.

"The causes and motives of his majesty's conduct on this occasion, are set forth in his public declaration, which he has ordered to be laid before the House.

"His majesty has, with the utmost reluctance, been induced to take an hostile measure against a state, whose alliance with his kingdoms stood not only on the faith of ancient treaties, but on the soundest principles of good policy. His majesty has used every endeavour to prevail on the States General to return to a line of conduct, conformable to those principles, to the tenor of their engagements, and to the common and natural interest of both kingdoms, and has left nothing untried to prevent, if possible, the present rupture.

"His majesty is fully persuaded that the justice and necessity of the measures he has taken, will be acknowledged by all the world. Relying, therefore, on the protection of Divine Providence, and the zealous and affectionate support of his people, his majesty has the firmest confidence, that by a vigorous exertion of the spirit and resources of the nation, he shall be able to maintain the honour of his crown, and the rights and interests of his people, against all his enemies, and to bring them to listen to equitable terms of peace."

Lord North also presented, at the same time, the papers relative to the rupture with Holland. The titles of the papers being read by the clerk,

Mr. BURKE observed, that however light a war with the States of Holland might be in the opinion of some men, he was one of those old fools, who had not forgot the old fashioned idea, that going to war was, at all events, a very serious matter, a matter which nothing but great necessity could justify. He did not intend to trouble the House with his opinion on the war with Holland, because he was not yet sufficiently informed upon the subject; nor did he conceive from the heads of the papers just read, that he was likely to get the information necessary for him, and for the House, before they came to any decisive judg ment upon what the king's ministers had done. He did not, if his ear had not been deceived, hear the clerk read the title of a Memorial which had been delivered by Sir Joseph Yorke in the year 1777, a memorial which he could not but consider as highly necessary to be laid before the House with the others. Though, for want of the proper information, the justice of the war, perhaps, could not be entered upon, yet there were other considerations well worth the attention of the House: the question struck him as a prudential question, for circumstanced as we were, the prudence and the policy of the war were not less important points to be examined than its justice. He hoped, therefore, since ministers had reduced parliament to the alternative either of supporting the war, or of becoming liable to the charge of abandoning the cause of their country, that they had ample proof to lay before the House, that the war was prudent, and that it was unavoidably necessary. The manifesto stated, that a treaty was entered into between the city of Amsterdam and America; this was a fact which lay with ministers to make out. The treaty, the title of which the clerk had just read, as the title of one of the papers, was, in the express terms of it, the plan of a treaty, or the rough draft of a compact hereafter to be entered into between the intended contracting parties. He wished to know, whether the king's servants had, either among Mr. Laurens's papers, or by any other means, obtained a copy of any treaty actually