SESSION OPENED.

In the month of November his majesty opened the session of parliament with a speech, acquainting them, that the definitive treaty of peace was at length signed by all the parties concerned; that he had made the most effectual provision for securing the rights and interests of his own subjects; and procured for his allies the best conditions, which, in the present situation of affairs, could be obtained. He said, he had found a general good disposition in all parties to bring the negotiation to a happy conclusion; and observed, that we might promise ourselves a long enjoyment of the blessings of peace. Finally, after having remarked that times of tranquillity were the proper seasons for lessening the national debt, and strengthening the kingdom against future events, he recommended to the commons the improvement of the public revenue, the maintenance of a considerable naval force, the advancement of commerce, and the cultivation of the arts of peace. This speech, as usual, was echoed back by an address to the throne from both houses, containing general expressions of the warmest loyalty and gratitude to his majesty, and implying the most perfect satisfaction and acquiescence in the articles of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

The members in the opposition, according to custom, cavilled at the nature of this address. They observed, that the late pacification was the worst and most inglorious of all the bad treaties to which the English nation had ever subscribed; that it was equally disgraceful, indefinite, and absurd; they said, the British navy had gained such an ascendancy over the French at sea, that the sources of their wealth were already choked up; that the siege of Maestricht would have employed then-arms in the Low Countries till the arrival of the Russians; and that the accession of these auxiliaries would have thrown the superiority into the scale of the allies. They did not fail to take notice that the most important and original object of the war was left wholly undecided; and demonstrated the absurdity of their promising in the address to make good such engagements as his majesty had entered into with his allies, before they knew what those engagements were. In answer to these objections, the ministers replied, that the peace was in itself rather better than could be expected; and that the smallest delay might have proved fatal to the liberties of Europe. They affirmed, that the Dutch were upon the point of concluding a neutrality, in consequence of which their troops would have been withdrawn from the allied army; and, in that case, even the addition of the Russian auxiliaries would not have rendered it a match for the enemy. They asserted, that if the Avar had been prolonged another year, the national credit of Great Britain must have been entirely ruined, many of the public funds having sunk below par in the preceding season, so that the ministry had begun to despair of seeing the money paid in on the new subscription. With respect to the restoration of Cape Breton, the limits of Nova Scotia, and the right of navigating without search in the American seas, which right had been left unestablished in the treaty, they declared, that the first was an unnecessary expense, of no consequence to Great Britain; and that the other two were points in despute, to be amicably settled in private conferences by commissaries duly authorized; but by no means articles to be established by a general treaty.

What the opposition wanted in strength, it endeavoured to make up with spirit and perseverance. Every ministerial motion and measure was canvassed, sifted, and decried with uncommon art and vivacity; but all this little availed against the single article of superior numbers; and accordingly this was the source of certain triumph in all debates in which the servants of the crown were united. The nation had reason to expect an immediate mitigation in the article of annual expense, considering the number of troops and ships of war which had been reduced at the ratification of the treaty: but they were disagreeably undeceived in finding themselves again loaded with very extraordinary impositions, for the payment of a vast debt which government had contracted in the course of the war, notwithstanding the incredible aids granted by parliament. The committee of supply established four points of consideration, in their deliberations concerning the sums necessary to be raised; namely, for fulfilling the engagements which the parliament had entered into with his majesty, and the services undertaken for the success of the war; for discharging debts contracted by government; for making good deficiencies; and for defraying the current expense of the year. It appeared, that the nation owed four-and-forty thousand pounds to the elector of Bavaria; above thirty thousand to the duke of Brunswick; the like sum to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; and near nine thousand pounds to the elector of Mentz. The queen of Hungary claimed an arrear of one hundred thousand pounds. The city of Glasgow, in North Britain, presented a petition, praying to be reimbursed the sum of ten thousand pounds, extorted from that corporation by the son of the pretender during the rebellion. One hundred and twelve thousand pounds were owing to the forces in North America and the East Indies; besides near half a million due on extraordinary expense incurred by the land-forces in America, Flanders, and North Britain, by the office of ordnance, and other services of the last year, to which the parliamentary provision did not extend. The remaining debt of the ordnance amounted to above two hundred and thirty thousand pounds; but the navy-bills could not be discharged for less than four millions. An addition of two millions three hundred and seventy-four thousand three hundred and thirty-three pounds, fifteen shillings and two-pence, was also required for the current service of the year. In a word, the whole annual supply exceeded eight millions sterling-a sum at which the whole nation expressed equal astonishment and disgust. It was charged upon the duties on malt, mum, cyder, and perry, the land-tax at four shillings in the pound, annuities on the sinking-fund, an application of one million from that deposit, and the loan of the like sum to be charged on the first aids of next session. The number of seamen was reduced to seventeen thousand, and that of the land-forces to eighteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, including guards and garrisons.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760