MEETING OF THE PARLIAMENT.

The history of England at this period cannot be very interesting, as it chiefly consists in an annual revolution of debates in parliament,—debates, in which the same arguments perpetually recur on the same subjects. When the session was opened on the sixteenth day of January, the king declared that the situation of affairs, both at home and abroad, rendered it unnecessary for him to lay before the two houses any other reasons for calling them together, but the ordinary dispatch of the public business, and his desire of receiving their advice in such affairs as should require the care and consideration of parliament. The motion made in the house of commons for an address of thanks, implied, that they should express their satisfaction at the present situation of affairs both at home and abroad. The motion was carried, notwithstanding the opposition of those who observed, that the nation had very little reason to be pleased with the present posture of affairs; that the French were employed in fortifying and restoring the harbour of Dunkirk, contrary to the faith of the most solemn treaties; that the British merchants had received no redress for the depredations committed by the Spaniards; that the commerce of England daily decreased; that no sort of trade throve but the traffic of Change-alley, where the most abominable frauds were practised; and that every session of parliament opened a new scene of villany and imposition.