SESSION OPENED.

On the first day of December, the king of Great Britain opened the session of parliament with a speech from the throne, which seemed calculated to prepare the nation for the expense of maintaining a new war on the continent of Europe. His majesty graciously declared that it would have given him a most sensible pleasure to acquaint them, at the opening of the session, that his success in carrying on the war had been equal to the justice of his cause, and the extent and vigour of the measures formed for that purpose. He expressed the firmest confidence, that the spirit and bravery of the nation, so renowned in all times, which had formerly surmounted so many difficulties, were not to be abated by a few disappointments, which, he trusted, might be retrieved by the blessing of God, and the zeal and ardour of his parliament for his majesty’s honour and the advantage of their country. He said it was his determined resolution to apply his utmost efforts for the security of his kingdoms, and for the recovery and protection of the possessions and rights of his crown and subjects in America and elsewhere, as well by the strongest exertion of his naval force, as by all other methods. He signified, that another great object which he had at heart, was the preservation of the protestant religion and the liberties of Europe; and, in that case, to encourage and adhere to his allies. For this cause, he assured them, he would decline no inconveniencies, and in this cause he earnestly solicited their hearty concurrence and vigorous assistance. He observed, that the late signal success in Germany had given a happy turn to affairs, which it was incumbent on them to improve; and that, in such a critical conjuncture, the eyes of all Europe were upon them. He particularly recommended to them, that his good brother and ally the king of Prussia might be supported in such a manner as his magnanimity and active zeal for the common cause appeared to deserve. To the commons he expressed his concern that the large supplies they had already granted did not produce all the good fruits they had reason to expect; but he had so great a reliance on their wisdom, as not to doubt of their perseverance. He only desired suck supplies as should be necessary for the public service, and told them they might depend upon it, that the best and most faithful economy should be used. He took notice of that spirit of disorder which had shown itself among the common people in some parts of the kingdom; he laid injunctions upon them to use their endeavours for discouraging and suppressing such abuses, and for maintaining the laws and lawful authority. He concluded with observing, that nothing would so effectually conduce to the defence of all that was clear to the nation, as well as to the reducing their enemies to reason, as union and harmony among themselves. The time was, when every paragraph of this harangue, which the reader will perceive is not remarkable for its elegance and propriety, would have been canvassed and impugned by the country party in the house of commons. They would have imputed the bad success of the war to the indiscretion of the ministry, in taking preposterous measures, and appointing commanders unequal to the service. They would have inquired in what manner the protestant religion was endangered; and, if it was, how it could be preserved or promoted by adhering to allies, who, without provocation, had well nigh ruined the first and principal protestant country of the empire. They would have started doubts with respect to the late signal success in Germany, and hinted, that it would only serve to protract the burden of a continental war. They would have owned that the eyes of all Europe were upon them, and drawn this consequence, that it therefore behoved them to act with the more delicacy and caution in discharge of the sacred trust reposed in them by their constituents: a trust which their consciences would not allow to be faithfully discharged, should they rush precipitately into the destructive measures of a rash and prodigal ministry; squander away the wealth of the nation, and add to the grievous incumbrances under which it groaned, in support of connexions and alliances that were equally foreign to her consideration, and pernicious to her interest. They would have investigated that cause which was so warmly recommended for support, and pretended to discover that it was a cause in which Great Britain ought to have had no concern, because it produced a certainty of loss without the least prospect of advantage. They would have varied essentially in their opinions of the necessary supplies, from the sentiments of those who prepared the estimates, and even declared some doubts about the economy to be used in managing the national expense: finally, they would have represented the impossibility of union between the two parties, one of which seemed bent upon reducing the other to beggary and contempt. Such was the strain that used to flow from an opposition, said to consist of disloyalty and disappointed ambition. But that malignant spirit was now happily extinguished. The voice of the sovereign was adored as the oracle of a divinity, and those happy days were now approaching that saw the commons of England pour their treasures, in support of a German prince, with such a generous hand, that posterity will be amazed at their liberality.

1758

To the speech of his majesty the house of lords returned an address, in such terms of complacency as had long distinguished that illustrious assembly. The commons expressed their approbation and confidence with equal ardour, and not one objection was made to the form or the nature of the address, though one gentleman, equally independent in his mind and fortune, took exceptions to some of the measures which had been lately pursued. Their complaisance was more substantially specified in the resolutions of the house, as soon as the two great committees of supply were appointed They granted for the sea-service of the ensuing year sixty thousand men, including fourteen thousand eight hundred and forty-five marines; and the standing army, comprehending four thousand invalids, was fixed at fifty-three thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven effective men, commission and non-commission officers included. For the maintenance of these forces, by sea and land, the charge of guards and garrisons at home and abroad, the expense of the ordnance, and in order to make good the sum which had been issued by his majesty’s orders, in pursuance of the address from the commons, they now allotted four millions twenty-two thousand eight hundred and seven pounds, seven shillings and three-pence. They unanimously granted, as a present supply in the then critical exigency, towards enabling his majesty to maintain and keep together the army formed last year in his electoral dominions, and then again put in motion, and actually employed against the common enemy, in concert with the king of Prussia, the sum of one hundred thousand pounds; for the ordinary of the navy, including half pay to the sea-officers, they allowed two hundred and twenty-four thousand four hundred and twenty-one pounds, five shillings and eight-pence; towards the building and support of the three hospitals for seamen at Gosport, Plymouth, and Greenwich, thirty thousand pounds; for the reduced officers of the land-forces and marines, pensions to the widows of officers, and other such military contingencies, forty thousand nine hundred and twenty-six pounds, seventeen shillings and eleven-pence; towards building, rebuilding, and repairs of his majesty’s ships for the ensuing year, the sum of two hundred thousand pounds; for defraying the charge of two thousand nine hundred and twenty horse, and nine thousand nine hundred infantry, together with the general and staff-officers, the officers of the hospital and the train of artillery, being the troops of the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel in the pay of Great Britain, for sixty days, together with the subsidy for the said time, pursuant to treaty, they assigned thirty-eight thousand three hundred and sixty pounds, nineteen shillings and ten-pence three farthings. To the Foundling hospital they gave forty thousand pounds, for the maintenance and education of deserted young children, as well as for the reception of all such as should be presented under a certain age, to be limited by the governors and guardians of that charity. Three hundred thousand pounds were given towards discharging the debt of the navy, and two hundred and eighty-four thousand eight hundred and two pounds for making up the deficiency of the grants for the service of the preceding year. The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel was, moreover, gratified with the further sum of two hundred and three thousand five hundred and thirty-six pounds, four shillings and nine-pence farthing, for the maintenance of his forces, and the remainder of his subsidy. They granted six hundred and seventy thousand pounds for enabling his majesty to make good his engagements with the king of Prussia, pursuant to a convention lately concluded with that potentate. For defraying the charge of thirty-eight thousand men of the troops of Hanover, Wolfenbuttel, Saxe-Gotha, and the count of Buckebourg, together with that of general and staff-officers actually employed against the common enemy, in concert with the king of Prussia, from the twenty-eighth day of November in the last, to the twenty-fourth of December in the present year, inclusive, to be issued in advance every two months, they allotted the sum of four hundred and sixty-three thousand and eighty-four pounds, six shillings and ten-pence; and furthermore, they granted three hundred and eighty-six thousand nine hundred and fifteen pounds, thirteen shillings and two-pence, to defray the charges of forage, bread-waggons, train of artillery, provisions, wood, straw, and all other extraordinary expenses, contingencies, and losses whatsoever, incurred, or to be incurred, on account of his majesty’s army, consisting of thirty-eight thousand men, actually employed against the common enemy, in concert with the king of Prussia, from November last to next December inclusive. For the extraordinary expenses of the land-forces, and other services, incurred in the course of the last year, and not provided for by parliament, they allowed one hundred and forty-five thousand four hundred and fifty-four pounds, fifteen shillings and one farthing. They provided eight hundred thousand pounds to enable his majesty to defray the like sum raised in pursuance of an act made in the last session of parliament, and charged upon the first aids and supplies to be granted in the current session. Twenty-six thousand pounds were bestowed on the out-pensioners of Chelsea hospital; above twenty thousand for the expense of maintaining the colonies of Nova-Scotia and Georgia; for reimbursing to the province of Massachusett’s-bay, and the colony of Connecticut, their expense in furnishing provisions and stores to the troops raised by them for his majesty’s service, in the campaign of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, the sum of forty-one thousand one hundred and seventeen pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence halfpenny; to be applied towards the rebuilding of London bridge, carrying on the works for fortifying and securing the harbour of Milford, and repairing the parish church of St. Margaret, in Westminster, they allotted twenty-nine thousand pounds. The East India company were indulged with twenty thousand pounds on account, towards enabling them to defray the expense of a military force in their settlements, to be maintained by them in lieu of the battalion of his majesty’s forces withdrawn from those settlements; the sum of ten thousand pounds was given, as usual, for maintaining and supporting the British forts and settlements on the coast of Africa; and eleven thousand four hundred and fifty pounds were granted as an augmentation to the salaries of the judges in the superior courts of judicature. They likewise provided one hundred thousand pounds for defraying the charge of pay and clothing to the militia, and advanced eight hundred thousand pounds to enable his majesty to defray any extraordinary expenses of the war, incurred, or to be incurred, for the service of the current year; and to take all such measures as might be necessary to disappoint or defeat any enterprise or designs of his enemies, as the exigency of his affairs might require. The whole supplies of thig session amounted to the enormous sum of ten millions four hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred and fifty-seven pounds, and one penny. Nothing could so plainly demonstrate the implicit confidence which the parliament, at this juncture, reposed in the sovereign and the ministry, as their conduct in granting such liberal supplies, great part of which were bestowed in favour of our German allies, whom the British nation thus generously paid for fighting their own battles. Besides the sum of one million eight hundred and sixty-one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven pounds, four shillings and eight-pence, expressly assigned for the support of these continental connexions, a sum considerably exceeding the whole of the revenue raised in the reign of Charles the Second, and what part of the sum granted to the king for extraordinary expenses might be applied to the same use, the article might not improperly be swelled with the vast expense incurred by expeditions to the coast of France; the chief, if not sole, design of which seemed to be a diversion in favour of the nation’s allies in Germany, by preventing France from sending such numerous armies into that country as it could have spared, had not its sea-coasts required a considerable body of forces for its defence against the attempts of the English. Indeed, the partisans of the ministry were at great pains to suggest and inculcate a belief, that the war in Germany was chiefly supported as a necessary diversion in favour of Great Britain and her plantations, which would have been exposed to insult and invasion had not the enemy’s forces been otherwise employed. But the absurdity of this notion will at once appear to those who consider, that by this time Great Britain was sole mistress of the sea; that the navy of France was almost ruined, and her commerce on the ocean quite extinguished; that she could not, with the least prospect of success, hazard any expedition of consequence against Great Britain, or any part of her dominions, while the ocean was covered with such powerful navies belonging to that nation; and that if one-third part of the money, annually engulphed in the German vortex, had been employed in augmenting the naval forces of England, and those forces properly exerted, not a single cruiser would have been able to stir from the harbours of France; all her colonies in the West Indies would have fallen an easy prey to the arms of Great Britain; and, thus cut off from the resources of commerce, she must have been content to embrace such terms of peace as the victor should have thought proper to prescribe.

The funds established by the committee of ways and means, in order to realize those articles of supply, consisted of the malt-tax, the land-tax at four shillings in the pound, sums remaining in the exchequer produced from the sinking fund, four millions five hundred thousand pounds to be raised by annuities at three pounds ten shillings per cent, per annum, and five hundred thousand pounds by a lottery, attended with annuities redeemable by parliament, after the rate of three pounds per cent, per annum; these several annuities to be transferable at the bank of England, and charged upon a fund to be established in this session of parliament for payment thereof, and for which the sinking fund should be a collateral security—438 [See note 3 M, at the end of this Vol.]—one million six hundred and six thousand and seventy-six pounds, five shillings and one penny farthing, issued and applied out of such monies as should or might arise from the surpluses, excesses, and other revenues composing the sinking fund—a tax of one shilling in the pound to be annually paid from all salaries, fees, and perquisites of offices and employments in Great Britain, and from all pensions and other gratuities payable out of any revenues belonging to his majesty in Great Britain, exceeding the yearly value of one hundred pounds—an imposition of one shilling annually upon every dwelling-house inhabited within the kingdom of Great Britain, over and above all other duties already chargeable upon them, to commence from the fifth day of April—an additional tax of sixpence yearly for every window or light in every dwelling-house inhabited in Britain which shall contain fifteen windows or upwards; a continuation of certain acts near expiring, with respect to the duties payable on foreign sailcloth imported into Great Britain, the exportation of British gunpowder, the securing and encouraging the trade of his majesty’s sugar colonies in America, and the empowering the importers and proprietors of spirits from the British sugar plantations, to land them before payment of the duties of excise, and to lodge them in warehouses at their own expense—an annual tax of forty shillings for a license to be taken out by every person trading in, selling, or vending gold or silver plate, in lieu of the duty of sixpence per ounce on all silver plate, made or wrought, or which ought to be touched, assayed, or marked in this kingdom, which duty now ceased and determined—a cessation of all drawbacks payable on the exportation of silver plate—a law prohibiting all persons from selling, by retail, any sweet or made wine, without having first procured a license for that purpose—and a loan, by exchequer bills, for eight hundred thousand pounds, to be charged on the first aids to be granted in the next session of parliament. These provisions amounted to the sum of eleven millions and seventy-nine thousand seven hundred and twenty-two pounds, six shillings and ten-pence, exceeding the grants in the sum of five hundred and ninety-three thousand two hundred and sixty-five pounds, six shillings and nine-pence, so that the nation had reason to hope that this surplus of above half a million would prevent any demand for deficiencies in the next session. By these copious grants of a house of commons, whose complaisance knew no bounds, the national debt was, at this juncture, swelled to the astonishing sum of eighty-seven millions three hundred and sixty-seven thousand two hundred and ten pounds, nineteen shillings and ten-pence farthing; a load that would have crushed the national credit of any other state in Christendom.

The liberality of the parliament was like the rock in the wilderness, which flowed with the welcome stream when touched by the rod of Moses. The present supply which the commons granted for the subsistence of the Hanoverian army, was, in pursuance of a message from his majesty, communicated to the house by Mr. Secretary Pitt, signifying, that the king had ordered his electoral army to be put again in motion, that it might act with vigour against the common enemy, in concert with his good brother and ally the king of Prussia; that the exhausted and ruined state of the electorate having rendered it incapable of maintaining that army, until the further necessary charge thereof, as well as the more particular measures then concerting for the effectual support of his Prussian majesty, could be laid before the house; the king, relying on the constant zeal of his faithful commons for the support of the protestant religion and of the liberties of Europe, against the dangerous designs of France and her confederates, found himself, in the meantime, under the absolute necessity of recommending to the house the speedy consideration of such a present supply as might enable his majesty, in this critical conjuncture, to subsist and keep together the said army. This address was no sooner recited by the speaker, than it was unanimously referred to the committee of supply, who gratified his majesty’s wish with an immediate resolution; and, considering their generous disposition, doubtless the same compliance would have appeared, even though no mention had been made of the protestant religion, which, to men of ordinary penetration, appeared to have no natural concern in the present dispute between the belligerent powers, although former ministers had often violently introduced it into messages and speeches from the throne, in order to dazzle the eyes of the populace, even while they insulted the understanding of those who were capable of exercising their own reason. This pretext was worn so threadbare, that, among the sensible part of mankind, it could no longer be used without incurring contempt and ridicule. In order to persuade mankind that the protestant religion was in danger, it would have been necessary to specify the designs that were formed against it, as well as the nature of the conspiracy, and to descend to particulars properly authenticated. In that case, great part of Europe would have been justly alarmed. The states-general of the United Provinces, who have made such glorious and indefatigable efforts in support of the protestant religion, would surely have lent a helping hand towards its preservation. The Danes would not have stood, tamely neutral, and seen the religion they profess exposed to the rage of such a powerful confederacy. It is not to be imagined that the Swedes, who have so zealously maintained the purity of the protestant faith, would now join an association whose aim was the ruin of that religion. It is not credible that even the Hungarians, who profess the same faith, and other protestant states of the empire, would enter so heartily into the interests of those who were bent upon its destruction; or that the Russians would contribute to the aggrandizement of the catholic faith and discipline, so opposite to that of the Greek church, which they espouse. As, therefore, no particular of such a design was explained, no act of oppression towards any protestant state or society pointed out, except those that were exercised by the protestants themselves; and as the court of Vienna repeatedly disavowed any such design, in the most solemn manner, the unprejudiced part of mankind will be ‘apt to conclude that the cry of religion was used, as in former times, to arouse, alarm, and inflame; nor did the artifice prove altogether unsuccessful. Notwithstanding the general lukewarmth of the age in matters of religion, it produced considerable effect among the fanatic sectaries that swarm through the kingdom of England. The leaders of those blind enthusiasts, either actuated by the spirit of delusion, or desirous of recommending themselves to the protection of the higher powers, immediately seized the hint, expatiating vehemently on the danger that impended over God’s people; and exerting all their faculties to impress the belief of a religious war, which never fails to exasperate and impel the minds of men to such deeds of cruelty and revenge as must discredit all religion, and even disgrace humanity. The signal trust and confidence which the parliament of England reposed in the king, at this juncture, was in nothing more conspicuous than in leaving to the crown the unlimited application of the sum granted for augmenting the salaries of the judges. In the reign of king William, when the act of settlement was passed, the parliament, jealous of the influence which the crown might acquire over the judges, provided, by an express clause of that act, that the commissions of the judges should subsist quamdiu se bene gesserint, and that their salaries should be established; but now we find a sum of money granted for the augmentation of their salaries, and the crown vested with a discretionary power to proportion and apply this augmentation; a stretch of complaisance, which, how safe soever it may appear during the reign of a prince famed for integrity and moderation, will perhaps one day be considered as a very dangerous accession to the prerogative.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760