implying that the liberty granted by an act passed in | the twenty-third year of his majesty's reign, of importing bar-iron from the British colonies in America into the port of London, should be extended to all the other ports of Great Britain; and that so much of that act as related to this clause should be repealed. The house having agreed to these resolutions, and the bill being brought in accordingly, another petition was presented by several noblemen, gentlemen, freeholders, and other proprietors, owners, and possessors of coppices and woodlands, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, alleging, that a permission to import American bar-iron, duty-free, would be attended with numberless ill consequences both of a public and private nature; specifying certain hardships to which they in particular would be exposed; and praying, that, if the bill should pass, they might be relieved from the pressure of an act passed in the reign of Henry VIII. obliging the owners of coppice woods to preserve them, under severe penalties; and be permitted to fell and grub up their coppice woods, in order to a more proper cultivation of the soil, without being restrained by the fear of malicious and interested prosecutions. In consequence of this remonstrance, a clause was added to the bill, repealing so much of the act of Henry VIII. as prohibited the conversion of coppice or under-woods into pasture or tillage; then it passed through both houses, and received the royal sanction. As there was not time, after this affair came upon the carpet, to obtain any new accounts from America, and as it was thought necessary to know the quantities of iron made in that country, the house presented an address to his majesty, desiring he would be pleased to give directions that there should be laid before them, in the next session of parliament, an account of the quantity of iron made in the American colonies, from Christmas, in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, to the fifth day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, each year being distinguished.

raw silks, representing the evil consequences that would probably attend the passing of such a bill, the parlia ment agreed to this temporary deviation from the famous act of navigation, for a present supply to the poor manufacturers.

The next civil regulation established in this session of parliament was in itself judicious, and, had it been more earnestly suggested, might have been more bene ficial to the public. In order to discourage the practice of smuggling, and prevent the desperadoes concerned therein from enlisting in the service of the enemy, a law was passed, enacting, that every person who had been, before the first of May in the present year, guilty of illegally running, concealing, receiving, or carrying any wool, or prohibited goods, or any foreign commodities liable to duties, the same not having been paid or secured; or of aiding therein, or had been found with fire-arms or weapons, in order to be aiding to such offenders; or had been guilty of receiving such goods after seizure; or of any act whatsoever, whereby persons might be deemed runners of foreign goods; or of hindering, wounding, or beating any officer in the exccution of his duty, or assisting therein, should be indemnified from all such offences, concerning which no suit should then have been commenced, or composition made, on condition that he should, before being apprehended or prosecuted, and before the first day of December, enter himself with some commissioned officer of his majesty's fleet, to serve as a common sailor; and should, for three years from such entry, unless sooner duly discharged, actually serve and do duty in that station, and register his name, &c., with the clerk of the peace of the county where he resided, as the act prescribes. An attempt was made in favour of the seamen employed in the navy, who had been very irregularly paid, and subject to grievous hardships in consequence of this irregularity. Mr. Grenville, brother to earl Temple, moved for leave to bring in a bill for the encouragement of seamen employed in his majesty's navy, and for establishing a regular method for the punctual,

REGULATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE IM- speedy, and certain payment of their wages, as well as

PORTATION OF SILK.

for rescuing them from the arts and frauds of imposition. The proposal was corroborated by divers petitions: the bill was prepared, read, printed, and, after it had undergone some amendment, passed into the house of lords, where it was encountered with several objections, and dropped for this session of parliament.

INQUIRY INTO THE SCARCITY OF CORN.

From this important object, the parliament converted its attention to a regulation of a much more private nature. In consequence of a petition by the lord-mayor, aldermen, and commons of the city of London, a bill was brought in, and passed into a law without opposition, for the more effectual preservation and improvement of the fry and spawn of fish in the river Thames, and waters of Medway, and for the better regulating the The house of commons being desirous of preventing, fishery in those rivers. The two next measures taken for the future, such distresses as the poor had lately for the benefit of the public were, first, a bill to render undergone, appointed a committee to consider of proper more effectual the several laws then in being, for the provisions to restrain the price of corn and bread within amendment and preservation of the highways and turn- due bounds for the future. For this purpose they were pike-roads of the kingdom; the other for the more empowered to send for persons, papers, and records; and effectually preventing the spreading of the contagious it was resolved, that all who attended the committee distemper which, at that time, raged among the horned should have voices. Having inquired into the causes cattle. A third arose from the distress of poor silk of the late scarcity, they agreed to several resolutions, manufacturers, who were destitute of employment, and and a bill was brought in to explain and amend the deprived of all means of subsisting, through the inter- laws against regraters, forestallers, and engrossers of ruption of the Levant trade; occasioned by the war, corn. The committee also received instructions to inand the delay of the merchant ships from Italy. In quire into the abuses of millers, mealmen, and bakers, order to remedy this inconvenience, a bill was prepared, with regard to bread, and to consider of proper methods enacting, that any person might import from any place, to prevent them in the sequel; but no further progress in any ship or vessel whatsoever, till the first day of was made in this important affair, which was the more December, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, interesting, as the lives of individuals, in a great meaorganzine thrown silk of the growth or production of sure, depended upon a speedy reformation; for the milItaly, to be brought to the custom-house of London, lers and bakers were said to have adulterated their wheresoever landed; but that no Italian thrown silk, flour with common whiting, lime, bone ashes, alum, coarser than Bologna, nor any tram of the growth of and other ingredients pernicious to the human constiItaly, nor any other thrown silk of the growth or pro-tution; a consummation of villany for which no adeduction of Turkey, Persia, East Indies, or China, should be imported by this act, under the penalty of the forfeiture thereof. Notwithstanding several petitions, presented by the merchants, owners, and commanders of ships, and others trading to Leghorn, and other ports of Italy, as well as by the importers and manufacturers of

quate punishment could be inflicted. Among the measures proposed in parliament which did not succeed, one of the most remarkable was a bill prepared by Mr. Rose Fuller, Mr. Charles Townshend, and Mr. Banks, to explain, amend, and render more effectual a law, passed in the reign of king William the Third, intituled,

INVESTIGATION OF THE LOSS OF MINORCA.

"An act to punish governors of plantations, in this | sations of the people. A select committee would have kingdom, for crimes committed by them in the planta- | probably examined some of the clerks of the respective tion." This bill was proposed in consequence of some offices, that they might certainly know whether any complaints, specifying acts of cruelty, folly, and oppres- letters or papers had been suppressed, whether the exsion, by which some British governors had been lately tracts had been faithfully made, and whether there might distinguished; but, before the bill could be brought in, not be papers of intelligence, which, though proper to the parliament was prorogued. be submitted to a select and secret committee, could not, consistently with the honour of the nation, be communicated to a committee of the whole house. Indeed, it does not appear that the ministers had any foreign intelligence or correspondence that could be much depended upon in any matter of national importance, and no evidence was examined on the occasion; a circumstance the less to be regretted, as, in times past, evil ministers have generally found means to render such inquiries ineffectual; and the same arts would, at any rate, have operated with the same efficacy, had a secret committee been employed at this juncture. Be that as it may, several resolutions were reported from the committee, though some of them were not carried by the majority without violent dispute and severe altercation. The first and last of their resolutions require particular notice. By the former, it appeared to the committee, that his majesty, from the twenty-seventh day of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five, to the twentieth day of April in the succeeding year, received such repeated and concurrent intelligence, as gave just reason to believe that the French king intended to invade his dominions of Great Britain or Ireland. In the latter they declared their opinion, that no greater number of ships of war could be sent into the Mediterranean, than were actually sent thither under the command of admiral Byng; nor any greater reinforcement than the regiment which was sent, and the detachment, equal to a battalion, which was ordered to the relief of fort St. Philip, consistently with the state of the navy, and the various services essential to the safety of his majesty's dominions, and the interest of his subjects. It must have been something more powerful than ordinary conviction that suggested these opinions. Whatever reports might have been circulated by the French ministry, in order to amuse, intimidate, and detach the attention of the English government from America and the Mediterranean, where they really intended to exert themselves, yet, the circumstances of the two nations being considered, one would think there could have been no just grounds to fear an invasion of Great Britain or Ireland, especially when other intelligence seemed to point out much more probable scenes of action. But the last resolution is still more incomprehensible to those who know not exactly the basis on which it was raised. The number of ships of war in actual commission amounted to two hundred and fifty, having on board fifty thousand seamen and marines. Intelligence and repeated information of the French design upon Minorca had been conveyed to the ministry of England, about six months before it was put in execution. Is it credible, that in all this time the nation could not equip or spare above eleven ships of the line and six frigates, to save the important island of Minorca? Is it easy to conceive, that from a standing army of fifty thousand men, one regiment of troops could not have been detached to reinforce a garrison, well known to be insufficient for the works it was des tined to defend? To persons of common intellects it appeared, that intelligence of the armament at Toulon was conveyed to the admiralty as early as the month of September, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five, with express notice that it would consist of twelve ships of the line: that the design against Minorca was communicated as early as the twenty-seventh day of August, by consul Banks, of Carthagena; confirmed by letters from consul Bertes, at Genoa, dated on the seventeenth and twenty-sixth of January, and received by Mr. Fox, secretary of state, on the fourth and eleventh of February, as well as by many subsequent intimations; that, notwithstanding these repeated advices, even after hostilities had commenced in Europe, when

But no step taken by the house of commons, in the course of this session, was more interesting to the body of the people than the inquiry into the loss of Minorca, which had excited such loud and universal clamour. By addresses to the king, unanimously voted, the commons requested that his majesty would give directions for laying before them copies of all the letters and papers containing any intelligence received by the secretaries of state, the commissioners of the admiralty, or any others of his majesty's ministers, in relation to the equipment of the French fleet at Toulon, or the designs of the French on Minorca, or any other of his majesty's possessions in Europe, since the first day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five, to the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six. They likewise desired to peruse a list of the ships of war that were equipped and made ready for sea, from the first of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five, to the tairtieth day of April in the following year; with the copies of all sailing orders sent to the commanders during that period; as also the state and condition of his majesty's ships in the several ports of Great Britain at the time of admiral Byng's departure, with the squadron under his command, for the relief of fort St. Philip, during the period of time above-mentioned, according to the monthly returns made by the admiralty, with the number of seamen mustered and borne aboard the respective ships. They demanded copies of all orders and instructions given to that admiral, and of letters written to and received from him, during his continuance in that command, either by the secretaries of state, or lords of the admiralty, relating to the condition of his squadron, and to the execution of his orders. In a word, they required the inspection of all papers which could, in any manner, tend to explain the loss of Minorca, and the miscar riage of Mr. Byng's squadron. His majesty complied with every article of their request: the papers were presented to the house, ordered to lie upon the table for the perusal of the members, and finally referred to the consideration of a committee of the whole house. In the course of their deliberations they addressed his majesty for more information, till at length the truth seemed to be smothered under such an enormous burden of papers, as the efforts of a whole session could not have properly removed. Indeed, many discerning persons without doors began to despair of seeing the mystery unfolded, as soon as the inquiry was undertaken by a committee of the whole house. They observed, that an affair of such a dark, intricate, and suspicious nature, ought to have been referred to a select and secret committee, chosen by ballot, empowered to send for persons, papers, and records, and to examine witnesses in the most solemn and deliberate manner; that the names of the committee ought to have been published for the satisfaction of the people, who could have judged, with some certainty, whether the inquiry would be carried on with such impartiality as the national misfortune required. They suspected that this reference to a committee of the whole house was a malcontrivance, to prevent a regular and minute investigation, to introduce confusion and contest, to puzzle, perplex, and obumbrate; to teaze, fatigue, and disgust the inquirers, that the examination might be hurried over in a superficial and perfunctory manner; and the ministry, from this anarchy and confusion of materials, half explored and undigested, derive a general parliamentary approbation, to which they might appeal from the accu

INQUIRY INTO THE CONDUCT OF ADMIRAL
KNOWLES, &c.

the garrison of Minorca amounted to no more than four | be fraudulent and unconscionable. This suspicion arose incomplete regiments, and one company of artillery, from an ambiguous expression, on which the contractor forty-two officers being absent, and the place otherwise being interrogated by the committee appointed to exaunprovided for a siege, when the Mediterranean squa-mine the particulars, he prudently interpreted it in such dron, commanded by Mr. Edgecumbe, consisted of two a manner, as to screen himself from the resentment of ships of the line, and five frigates; neither stores, am- the legislature. The house, therefore, resolved that munition, or provisions, the absent officers belonging to the contract entered into on the twenty-sixth day of the garrison, recruits for the regiments, though ready March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and raised, miners, nor any additional troops, were sent to fifty-six, by the commissioners of the treasury, with the island, nor the squadron augmented, till admiral William Baker, Christopher Kilby, and Richard Baker, Byng sailed from Spithead on the sixth day of April, of London, merchants, for furnishing provisions to the with no more ships of the line than, by the most early forces under the command of the earl of Loudon, was and authentic intelligence, the government were in- prudent and necessary, and properly adapted to the formed would sail from Toulon, even when Mr. Byng securing a constant and effectual supply for those forces should have been joined by commodore Edgecumbe; a in America. junction upon which no dependence ought to have been laid; that this squadron contained no troops but such as belonged to the four regiments in garrison, except one battalion to serve in the fleet as marines, unless we include the order for another to be embarked at Gibral- The preceding session an address had been presented tar; which order was neither obeyed nor understood: to the king by the house of commons, desiring his mathat, considering the danger to which Minorca was ex-jesty would give orders for laying before them several posed, and the forwardness of the enemy's preparations papers relating to disputes which had lately happened at Toulon, admiral Osborne, with thirteen ships of the between his excellency Charles Knowles, esq., and some line and one frigate, who returned on the sixteenth of of the principal inhabitants of the island of Jamaica. February, after having convoyed a fleet of merchant This governor was accused of many illegal, cruel, and ships, might have been detached to Minorca, without arbitrary acts, during the course of his administration; hazarding the coast of Great Britain; for at that time, but these imputations he incurred by an exertion of exclusive of this squadron, there were eight ships of the power, which was in itself laudable, and well intended line and thirty-two frigates ready manned, and thirty- for the commercial interest of the island. This was his two ships of the line and five frigates almost equipped; changing the seat of government, and procuring an act that admiral Hawke was sent with fourteen ships of the of assembly for removing the several laws, records, line and one frigate to cruise in the bay of Biscay, after books, papers, and writings belonging to several offices repeated intelligence had been received that the French in that island, from Spanish Town to Kingston; and fleet had sailed for the West Indies, and the eleven for obliging the several officers to keep their offices, ships remaining at Brest and Rochefort were in want and hold a supreme court of judicature, at this last of hands and cannon, so that they could never serve to place, to which he had moved the seat of government. caror any embarkation or descent, consequently Mr. Spanish Town, otherwise called St. Jago de la Vega, Hawke's squadron might have been spared for the re- the old capital, was an inconsiderable inland place, of lief of Minorca; that, instead of attending to this im- no security, trade, or importance; whereas Kingston portant object, the admiralty, on the eighth day of was the centre of commerce, situated on the side of a March, sent two ships of the line and three frigates to fine harbour filled with ships, well secured from the inintercept a coasting convoy off Cape Barfleur: on the sults of an enemy, large, wealthy, and flourishing. eleventh of the same month they detached two ships of Here the merchants dwell, and ship the greatest part the line to the West Indies, and on the nineteenth two of the sugars that grow upon the island. They found more to North America, where they could be of little it extremely inconvenient and expensive to take out immediate service; on the twenty-third, two of the line their clearances at Spanish Town, which stands at a and three frigates a convoy-hunting off Cherbourg; and considerable distance; and the same inconvenience and on the first of April five ships of the line, including expense being felt by the rest of the inhabitants, who three returned from this last service, to reinforce sir had occasion to prosecute suits at law, or attend the Edward Hawke, already too strong for the French fleet assembly of the island, they joined in representations bound to Canada; that all these ships might have been to the governor, requesting, that, in consideration of added to Mr. Byng's squadron, without exposing Great these inconveniences, added to that of the weakness of Britain or Ireland to any hazard of invasion: that at Spanish Town and the importance of Kingston, the seat length Mr. Byng was detached with ten great ships of government might be removed. He complied with only, and even denied a frigate to repeat signals, for their request, and in so doing entailed upon himself the which he petitioned; although at that very time there hatred and resentment of certain powerful planters, who were in port, exclusive of his squadron, seventeen ships possessed estates in and about the old town of St. Jago of the line and thirteen frigates ready for sea, besides de la Vega, thus deserted. This seems to have been eleven of the line and nineteen frigates almost equip- the real source of the animosity and clamour incurred ped. From these and other circumstances, particular- by Mr. Knowles, against whom a petition, signed by ized and urged with great vivacity, many individuals nineteen members of the assembly, had been sent to inferred, that a greater number of ships might have England, and presented to his majesty. In the two been detached to the Mediterranean than were actu- sessions preceding this year, the affair had been brought ally sent with admiral Byng; that the not sending into the house of commons, where this governor's charan earlier and stronger force was one great cause of acter was painted in frightful colours, and divers papers Minorca's being lost, and co-operated with the delay relating to the dispute were examined. Mr. Knowles of the ministry in sending thither reinforcements of having by this time returned to England, the subject troops, their neglect in suffering the officers of the gar- of his administration was revived, and referred to a rison to continue absent from their duty, and their committee of the whole house. In the meantime, petiomitting to give orders for raising miners to serve in tions were presented by several merchants of London the fortress of Mahion. and Liverpool, concerned in the trade to Jamaica, alleging, that the removal of the public courts, offices, and records of the island of Jamaica to Kingston, and fixing the seat of government there, had been productive of many important advantages, by rendering the strength of the island more formidable, the property of the traders and inhabitants more secure, and the prosecution of the

EXAMINATION OF THE AMERICAN CONTRACT.

The next inquiry in which the house of commons engaged, related to the contracts for victualling the forces in America, which were supposed by some patriots to

immediate directions for erecting batteries, with proper cover, on the sides of the said harbour, in the most convenient places for guarding the entrance called Hubber stone-road, and also such other fortifications as night be necessary to secure the interior parts of the harbour, and that, until such batteries and fortifications could be completed, some temporary defence might be provided for the immediate protection of the ships and vessels lying in the said harbour; finally, they assured him the house would make good to his majesty all such expenses as should be incurred for these purposes. The address met with a gracious reception, and a promise that such directions should be given. The harbour was actually surveyed, the places were pitched upon for batteries, and the estimates prepared, but no further progress hath since been made.

commercial business more expeditious and less expen- | the answering those important purposes; they, theresive than formerly; therefore, praying that the purposes | fore, humbly besought his majesty, that he would give of the act passed in Jamaica for that end might be carried into effectual execution, in such manner as the house should think proper. The committee, having examined a great number of papers, agreed to some resolutions, importing, that a certain resolution of the assembly of Jamaica, dated on the twenty-ninth day of October, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three, implying a claim of right in that assembly to raise and apply public money without the consent of the governor and council, was illegal, repugnant to the terms of his majesty's commission to his governor of the said island, and derogatory of the rights of the crown and people of Great Britain; that the six last resolutions taken in the assembly of Jamaica, on the twenty-ninth day of October, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three, proceeded on a manifest misapprehension of the king's instruction to his governor, requiring him not to give his assent to any bill of an unusual or extraordinary nature and importance, wherein his majesty's prerogative, or the property of his subjects, might be prejudiced, or the trade or shipping of the kingdom any-ways affected, unless there should be a clause inserted, suspending the execution of such bill until his majesty's pleasure should be known; that such instruction was just and necessary, and no alteration of the constitution of the island, nor any way derogatory to the rights of the subjects in Jamaica. From these resolutions the reader may perceive the nature of the dispute which had arisen between the people of Jamaica and their governor, vice-admiral Knowles, whose conduct on this occasion seems to have been justified by the legislature. The parliament, however, forebore to determine the question, whether the removal of the, courts of judicature from Spanish Town to Kingston was a measure calculated for the interest of the island in general.

RESOLUTIONS CONCERNING MILFORD-HAVEN.

The last object which we shall mention, as having fallen under the cognizance of the commons during this session of parliament, was the state of Milford-haven on the coast of Wales, one of the most capacious, safe, and commodious harbours in Great Britain. Here the country affords many conveniences for building ships of war, and erecting forts, docks, quays, and magazines. It might be fortified at a very small expense, so as to be quite secure from any attempts of the enemy, and rendered by far the most useful harbour in the kingdom for fleets, cruisers, trading ships, and packet boats, bound to and from the westward; for from hence they may put sea almost with any wind, and even at low water; they may weather Scilly and Cape Clear when no vessel can stir from the British channel, or out of the French ports of Brest and Rochefort, and as a post can travel from hence in three days to London, it might become the centre of very useful sca intelligence. A petition from several merchants in London was presented, and recommended to the house in a message from the king, specifying the advantages of this harbour, and the small expense at which it might be fortified, and praying that the house would take this important subject into consideration. Accordingly, a committee was appointed for this purpose, with power to send for persons, papers, and records, and every circumstance relating to it was examined with accuracy and deliberation. At length the report being made to the house by Mr. Charles Townshend, they unanimously agreed to an address, representing to his majesty, that many great losses had been sustained by the trade of the kingdom, in time of war, from the want of a safe harbour on the western coast of the island, for the reception and protection of merchants' ships, and sending out cruisers; that the harbour of Milford-haven, in the county of Pembroke, is most advantageously situated, and if properly defended and secured, in every respect adapted to

SESSION CLOSED.

We have now finished the detail of all the material transactions of this session, except what relates to the fate of admiral Byng, which now claims our attention. In the meantime, we may observe, that on the fourth day of July the session was closed with his majesty's harangue, the most remarkable and pleasing paragraph of which turned upon his royal assurance, that the suc cour and preservation of his dominions in America had been his constant care, and, next to the security of his kingdoms, should continue to be his great and principal object. He told them he had taken such measures as, he trusted, by the blessing of God, might effectually disappoint the designs of the enemy in those parts; that he had no further view but to vindicate the just rights of his crown and subjects from the most injurious encroachments; to preserve tranquillity, as far as the cir cumstances of things might admit; to prevent the true friends of Britain, and the liberties of Europe, from being oppressed and endangered by any unprovoked and unnatural conjunction.

TRIAL OF ADMIRAL BYNG.

Of all the transactions that distinguished this year, the most extraordinary was the sentence executed on admiral Byng, the son of that great officer who had acquired such honour by his naval exploits in the preceding reign, and was ennobled for his services by the title of lord viscount Torrington. His second son, John Byng, had from his earliest youth been trained to his father's profession; and was generally esteemed one of the best officers in the navy, when he embarked in that expedition to Minorca, which covered his character with disgrace, and even exposed him to all the horrors of an ignominious death. On the twenty-eighth day of December his trial began before a court-martial, held on board the ship St. George, in the harbour of Portsmouth, to which place Mr. Byng had been conveyed from Greenwich by a party of horse-guards, and insulted by the populace in every town and village through which he passed. The court having proceeded to examine the evidences for the crown and the prisoner, from day to day, in the course of a long sitting, agreed unanimously to thirty-seven resolutions, implying their opinion, that admiral Byng, during the engagement between the British and French fleets, on the twentieth day of May last, did not do his utmost endeavour to take, seize, and destroy the ships of the French king, which it was his duty to have engaged, and to assist such of his majesty's ships as were engaged, which it was his duty to have assisted; and that he did not exert his utmost power for the relief of St. Philip's castle. They, there fore, unanimously agreed that he fell under part twelfth article of an act of parliament passed in the twenty-second year of the present reign, for amending, explaining, and reducing into one act of parliament, the laws relating to the government of his majesty's ships,

the