election for any other place than Weftminster, he had been robbed of the glory of fuffering in fuch company. He faw plainly, he said, that it was a pecuniary conteft, and that his friends were to be tired out by the expence of the conteft. The fcrutiny on both fides could not coft lefs than 30,000l. a year. This was enough to thake the beft fortunes. His own laft fhilling might be easily got at, as he was poor; but ftill, little as he had, he would fpend to t e laft fhilling. If, in the end, he should lofe, his election, it would not be, he well knew, for want of a legal majority, but for want of money! and thus would he, perhaps, be deprived of his right, and the electors of Weftminfter of the man of their choice, because he was not able to carry on a pecuniary conteft with the treasury. In answer to these arguments, it was contended, that the ftatutes adduced did not directly apply to the cafe, which they would doubtless have done, if it had been within the intention of the legislature, fince the circumftances were fuch as might eafily have been foreleen ; that there is nothing fo urgent and pofitive in what is called the exigence of the writ, as to take from the returning officer his difcretion; but that, on the contrary, he is obliged by his oath to fatisfy his confcience before he proceeds to make a return. The journals of parliament, other wife than by indirect and far-fetched analogies, were alfo totally filent upon the subject; and, in oppofition to the cafes adduced, that of Sir Rowland Wynne and others, who had petitioned againft falfe returns on the very ground of a fcrutiny be ing denied, was ftrongly infifted on. With refpect to writs in the courts below, it was maintained, that the analogy was equally in favour of the proceeding then adopted; it being well known, that upon reafonable grounds being affigned, time was frequently allowed to the theriff beyond the period fpecified in the writ. With respect to the argument drawn from the dangerous purposes to which the power granted to re turning officers might be abused, this was the cafe with every difcre tionary power; and fimilar mischiefs. might on the other hand be appre hended, if the power of refufing a fcrutiny was lodged in them. On the ground of expediency it was remarked, that no arguments drawn from that fource, however plaufible, could be admitted against the pofitive law of the land. The committee appointed by Mr. Gren. ville's act was a tribunal to try an election, not to make one, and the election was certainly not com. pleted till the return was made.And what return could the high bailiff make in the present state of the bufinefs? it must be a double return; in which cafe the city would remain unreprefented, probably, for as long a period as by the present mode of proceeding; nay, perhaps for a much longer, as no one could pretend to fay that their enquiries would be finished within one feffion; and if that fhould happen, the whole business must be taken up de novo in the next. In reply to the addrefs of Mr. Fox to the house, Mr. Pitt remark. ed, that he wondered not at that gentleman's zeal and eagerness to hold himself out to the world as the object of minifterial perfecution; it was well worth his while to endea vour to appear in that light; nay, he had no dobut but he would fuf fer fer martyrdom itself, if he imagined it would reftore him to that rank in the efteem of the public, which he had forfeited by his deteftable conduct in politics, and thereby loft every portion of popular confidence. He acknowledged that it would have been more for the ease and convenience of administration, to have let Mr. Fox take his feat quietly for Weftminster; and that meafure they thould certainly have adopted, had they been more inclined to confult their own accommodation than the juft rights of the electors, and the true purposes of fubftantial justice. " " An amendment was moved by Lord Mulgrave, to leave out of the original motion, all the words but that, and to infert the words following, "the fpeaker do acquaint the bigh bailiff-firft, that he is not precluded by the refolution of "this houfe, communicated to him on the eighth of June laft, from making a return whenever he "thall be fatisfied in his own judgment that he can to do; and fecondly, that this houfe is not fa"tisfied that the scrutiny has been "proceeded in as expeditiously as "it might have been;-that it is "his duty to adopt and enforce "fuch juft and reasonable regula"tions as fhall appear to him moft "likely to prevent unneceffary de"lay in future; that he is not pre"cluded from fo doing by want of "confent in either party; and that " he may be affured of the support "of this house in the discharge of "his duty." On the divifion there appeared, for the amendment 174; against it 135; and accordingly the high bailiff was called to the bar, and informed by the speaker of the foregoing refolution. It appeared from this laft di vifion, that the profecution of the fcrutiny was not defended by any thing like fo numerous a majority as during the preceding feffion.The novelty of the cafe, the fear of its being drawn into a prece dent, the difficulties and delays attending it, and the appearance, whether well or ill founded, that it exhibited of a perfonal perfecution, began to have their effect in the houfe. It was not therefore to be expected, that a conteft, which was commenced by the oppofition under the moft difcouraging circumstances, fhould be abandoned at the moment when it began to take a turn in their favour. Accordingly another petition, on the 18th of February, was presented by Colonel Fitzpatrick from the elec tors, praying to be heard by counfel at the bar, in defence of their just rights and privileges, and to ftate new facts, which they were not apprized of at the time of prefenting their former petition. The new facts, mentioned in the peti tion, related to an offer which was made by Mr. Fox's counfel, whilft in the parifh of St. Anne, to go next into the parishes of Saint Margaret and Saint John (wherein. Mr. Fox was ftated to be most vulnerable) but this propofition was refused by the counfel for Sir Cecil Wray. On the motion made by Colonel Fitzpatrick for calling in the counfel to be heard, an amendment was moved by lord Frederick Campbell, "that the counfel be reftrained from going into any other matter than fuch as may prove the evidence offered at this bar on Wednefday, the 9th of February, défective and incomplete; or into fuch other matters as may have [M] 2 arifen arifen fubfequent to the order of the houfe on the faid day.” This amendment his lordship propofed, he faid, to check the counfel from arguing against the legality of the fcrutiny, which ought not now to be impeached, as the house had already given judg ment on that head. The amendment, after much debate, was carried by a majority of 51-the numbers being, for the amendment, 203-against it, 145. The counsel refufing to plead under the reftrictions impofed on them by the refolution, the high bailiff was called to the bar, and examined as to the offer made by Mr. Fox's counsel, to go immediately into the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John. The high bailiff gave in evidence, that fuch an offer was made, and not accepted by the other party; and after being examined to fome other points, he was taken very ill, and obliged to withdraw. Col. Fitzpatrick then moved, "That it appearing to this houfe that Thomas Corbett, Efquire, high bailiff, having received a precept from the theriff of Middlesex, for electing two citizens to serve in parliament for the city of Westminster, and having taken and finally clofed the poll on the 17th of May laft, being the day next before the day of return of the faid writ, he be now directed forthwith to make a return of his precept of members chofen in purfuance thereof." This motion was rejected by a majority of nine only, the numbers for it being 136, against it 145. The fame motion was again brought forward on the 3d of March, by Alderman Sawbridge, and the question of adjournment was moved on it by the chancellor of the exchequer, which paffed in the negative, the numbers being, for the adjournment 124, against it 162. The main queftion was then put, and carried without a divifion. Thus, after a ftruggle in parliament for two feffions, terminated the Westminster fcrutiny, and the high bailiff the day following made a return of Lord Hood and Mr. Fox. Feb. 18th. We have already mentioned the refo1785. lution moved by Mr. Dundas, relative to the debts of the nabob of Arcot, in the month of April 1782, together with the fufpicious nature of those debts, and their mifchievous influence upon the government of the Carnatic. In the India bill, brought in by Mr. Fox, the new commiffioners were directed, without delay, to examine into the origin and justice of these claims; and a cautionary claufe I was inferted, to forbid in future any of the company's fervants to acquire mortgages, or have any pe cuniary tranfactions with the native princes of India. In the regulating bill of the laft feffions, the cautionary claufe was omitted by Mr. Pitt, but the examination into the nature and circumftances of the debt is referred to the court of directors, as far as the materials they are in poffeffion of shall enable them to do;" and it is enacted, that they shall give fuch orders to their prefidencies and fervants abroad, for compleating the invefligation thereof, as the nature of the cafe shall require, and for establishing, in concert with the faid nabob, fuch funds for the difcharge of thaje debts which shall appear to be justly due, according to their respective rights of priority, priority, as shall be confiftent with the rights of the faid united company, the fecurity of the creditors, and the honour and dignity of the faid nabob." The court of directors, in execution of the truft repofed in them, prepared orders to be fent to their council at Madras, in which, after ftating the fufpicious circumftances under which many of the debts appeared to them to have been contracted, they direct them, in obedience to the pofitive injunctions of the act, to proceed to a more compleat investigation of the nature and origin thereof. These orders being communicated to the board of controul, were rejected by them, and a new letter drawn up, in which the claims of the creditors were all, with fome little limitation, established, and a fund for their difcharge affigned out of the revenues of the Carnatic, and the priority of payment fettled amongst the feveral claffes of creditors. At a meeting of fuch of the nabob's creditors as were in England, thefe orders were publicly read; and, on the ground of this proceeding, a motion was made in the houfe of lords, by the earl of Carlisle, on the 18th of February, "That there be laid before the house, copies or extracts of all letters or orders iffued by the court of directors, in pursuance of the injunctions contained in the 37th and 38th claufes of the regulating act of the laft feffion." In fupport of the motion, the dangerous confequences of fuffering the board of controul to fuperfede the authority of a pofitive act of parliament, and the fufpicious circumftance of its clandeftinely interfering in an enormous money tranfaction, the management of which had been exprefsly delegated to other perfons by an act of the legislature, were ftrongly infifted on by the noble earl who made the motion, and by lord viscount Stormont. Lord Loughborough, in a long and eloquent fpeech, entered largely into the fraudulent and illegal nature of the nabob's debts, and into the ftate of the revenues, in order to prove, that, even allowing the board of controul not to have been guilty of an arbitrary affumption of power, directly contrary to the provifions of the ftatute, yet, that their orders tended to authorize and give effect to transactions of the moft corrupt and atrocious nature, highly injurious to the interefts of the company, and ruinous in their confequences to the whole country of the Carnatic. On the other fide, Lord Sydney declared he faw no reason why he should confent to the production of the papers called for. The noble earl had not thought proper to inform the houfe for what purpose he moved for them. Parliament had, for several feffions, been employed in debating upon the affairs of India, and it had not appeared that their affairs were the more profperous on that account. A new plan had just been adopted for their better management; and would the house be fo uncandid as again to interfere, and not to give credit to the perfons entrusted with fo important a charge for the rectitude even of their first measures? Lord Walfingham declared that he believed the facts, upon which the motion was grounded, to be falfe. Lord Rawdon was apprehenfive, left the papers called for, might convey dangerous information to our enemies. The lord chancellor took [M] 3 the the fame ground, and also argued on the indecency, as well as the mifchief, of disturbing the operations of government upon mere fuggeftions and furmises. But the motion, he faid, was neither becoming their wisdom nor their convenience to adopt, fince no length of feffion would be capable of comprehending the whole of their business, if their time was to be taken up in debating on motions for papers, not founded upon any plea of neceffity, and fupported only by allufions to rumours from places which it was even below their dignity to hear named. These arguments prevailed with the majority, and the motion was rejected without a divifion. Feb. 28th. On the 28th, a motion to the fame effect was made by Mr. Fox in the house of commons. On this occafion, Mr. Dundas himself undertook the defence of the board of controul. In the first place he maintained, that the conduct of the board had been within the ftri&t letter of the ftatute, infomuch as they are enabled, by a claufe in the act, to originate orders in cafes of urgent neceflity, and to direct their being tranfmitted to India; nor had thefe orders been given till after a careful and fufficient examination into the subject. He contended, that the papers in the company's records at the India house contained as full information on every transaction relative to the debts as the court of directors could ever expect to receive. They had been examined and ftated by the court; they had been laid before the board of controul, and the arrangement directed by them had been fuch as appeared the moft fair and juft to all the parties concerned, He next entered into a juftification of the debts themselves. The debt of 1767, he faid, was incurred by the nabob, for the purpofe of paying off a fum he owed the company, which was at that time in the utmost distress, and was borrowed at the rate of from 30 to 36 per cent. It was afterwards recognized by the court of directors, and the intereft reduced to 10 per cent. though the creditors had themselves borrowed the money at a higher rate. The cavalry debt was not lefs juft. It had been our policy to keep the troops of the nabob inferior to thofe of the company; and an intimation had been given to the nabob, that a part of his cavalry might be fpared. To the reduction propofed, the nabob made no other objection than the want of money to pay the arrears, for which his men were in a state of mutiny. This the company was as little able to advance as the nabob, and the old method of borrowing was had recourfe to; the company engaging its credit for the loan, and being therefore as much concerned for the payment of it, as if they had borrowed the money themfelves. With respect to the confolidated debt of 1777, he declared, that the board of controul had only fo far authorized thofe claims, as to leave them still subject, first to the objections of the nabob, next to thofe of the company; and laftly, to thofe of all the other creditors. This, he conceived, would be the most likely means to bring about the detection of the fraudulent claims, fince it would make it the intereft of the honeft creditors to bring to light thofe debts which will not bear an enquiry *. He concluded, In the official letter directed by the board, other reafons are affigned; firft, the |