rine law, he, as a naval officer, must object to it. The proceeding established by this clause would, in all cases, give the air of an unanimous sentence to every sentence; would have an untrue aspect; would be, in some cases, injurious to the members of the court-martial, and unjust and cruel to the unfortunate persons tried; in both cases, whether condemned or acquitted: he wished, therefore, that the inserting this clause might be at least suspended for the present, and that, the noble lord would withdraw it. Mr. Cornwall spoke to the same effect, enlarging upon the argument by more particular exemplifications of the effect of such proceeding. Lord Barrington said, that the clause in question had been proposed to him by the Judge Advocate, a good man, and learned in the law: that it was thought by those acquainted with the course of proceeding at courts-martial, that it might have a useful effect, but that he did not patronize it; and, if there were any serious objections to it, or even any doubt about its tendency, he was ready to with draw it. The clause proposed by Mr. Pownall was read, directing, "That whenever the civil magistrate called for the officers or soldiers of the army 'to aid him, he should make his requisition in writing, and give the reason of it, and sign his name; or, if he was so circumstanced that he could not do so, then the officer called upon should take down the message in writing before witnesses." An amendment was proposed by Mr. Fuller, that after the words civil magistrate,' might be added, or officer: this was accepted. One puzzle arose as to the manner of making this alteration, occasioned by lord Clare's starting a curious doubt, and insisting upon it, as to the difficulties that must occur, if the civil magistrate or officer could not write. He was answered, that the military officer must take down in writing such parole message as came to him. 6 Mr. Alderman Trecothick said he should always have a doubt of making any regulations for a practice which he thought absolutely unnecessary and improper; and, whilst he was an acting magistrate in the city, he had determined never to call for, or employ, or suffer to be employed, when he could help it, this military force. Sir W. Meredith said, that the House were much obliged to the gentleman who had brought forward a subject that so well deserved consideration; and that it must not rest upon the doubts on which it now existed. Sir G. Savile expressed his satisfaction in hoping, that the discussion of this very important subject might come forward at some future time, when gentlemen, from what had been already said upon it, might take occasion more fully to consider it. That it was a subject of infinite importance; had never yet been adverted to; required a great deal of consideration; that gentlemen who had not particularly, as the gentleman who moved it had done, turned their thoughts to it, could not be prepared to discuss, much less to decide upon it, and therefore begged the gentleman would, for the present, withdraw it. Mr. Fuller was apprehensive it might weaken the hands of government. Mr. Dowdeswell said he had seen the motion, and had much approved of it. He saw that, in every view, good might arise from it; both as it gave a check to the magistrate's lightly and wantonly, at his discretion, using a very dangerous power, and that the regulation proposed put him under a proper degree of responsibility; at the same time that it put the service of the officers of the army, while they were in the act of obedience to the civil magistrate, under a proper regulation, by marking that they were under those orders. He said, in the second place, that he did not, in any light, see how it could do harm; and answered the objections that had been made. Mr. Sheriff Baker suggested a doubt, Mr. Burke went largely into the obwhether if any notice was taken by parlia- jections about the danger of recognizing ment of this usage, of calling for the aid the existence of our annual army, and the of the military force, it might not be con- use made of it too frequently, in a wanton, strued into a recognition by parliament of dangerous, mischievous manner: both the practice; and whether any regulations those facts, whether as facts in history, or made, or check given in part to this prac- facts in law, did stand full in the broad eye tice, might not give a sanction to the of day. He did not like the temper of existence of this force, and the use made winking them out of sight, lest the law of it? should acknowledge it. There they were, and were most dangerous. The proposing, therefore, a check and remedy to the evil was the most manly way. He was glad to find this matter brought forward. If gentlemen were not at present prepared to consider it, he dared to say the hon. gentleman who moved it would withdraw it for the present; but hoped that, on some future occasion, it might come forward into full and ample discussion, and receive some decision. liamentary manœuvre, but a serious wish of gentlemen, that he should withdraw his clause for the present, he begged to assure them, he did it cheerfully, and even wished to do it; he was fully satisfied, as it stood on the votes-that the House had unanimously thought an instruction to some such purpose was proper; and he would certainly, at a future day, bring the matter forward again. 1771. Translation of the DECLARATION signed and delivered by Prince de Maserano, Ambassador Extraordinary from his Catholic Majesty, dated the 22d of February, 1771. His Britannic majesty having complained of the violence which was committed on the 10th of June 1770, at the island commonly called the Great Malouine, and by the English, Falkland's island, in obliging, by force, the commander and subjects of his Britannic majesty to evacuate the port, by them called Egmont; a step offensive to the honour of his crown;-the prince de Maserano, ambassador extraordinary of his Catholic majesty, has received orders to declare, and declares, that his Catholic majesty, considering the desire with which he is animated with peace, and for the maintenance of good harmony with his Britannic majesty, and reflecting that this event might interrupt it; has seen with displeasure Mr. Pownall said, that he had not the Debate in the Lords on the Papers reitch of prating; was not given to speech-lating to Falkland's Island.] January 25, making; and, therefore, as he had under- 1771.* The Earl of Rochford, by his Mastood that no opposition would be made to jesty's command, laid before the House this motion, he had not, when he pro- the following Papers: posed it, gone further in speaking to it, than by giving a general explanation of the purport of it. He begged, however, the indulgence of the House, to point out the motives which induced him to go into this matter, and to mark the grounds he took. He had not brought this forward precipitately; it was now two years since he first determined upon it. The objections which had been now suggested, had weighed strongly with him, and if, upon a thorough and mature consideration, he had not been fully satisfied, he should not have brought it now forward. He then went into a particular explanation of the grounds he took; distinguished authority from force; shewed how governments are always prone to use force as they lose their authority; and, like schoolmasters, have a predilection for force, as the more summary and decisive way; spoke fully on the nature of constitutional force, as the force of the community, directed by the will of the community; then enlarged on the danger of a military force, as something taken out of the community; shewed it to be a dangerous weapon in the hands of the magistrate, if he might draw it at his discretion; enlarged fully on this point as the ground of his motion; and then explained, very minutely, the dangers and snares to which, in many cases that had happened, and in others that might happen, the soldiery was exposed. He finally said, that as he had taken so long time to consider of this point, and had himself given so much way to the very objections now made, he could not be so unreasonable as to expect gentlemen, upon a few hours conversation in this kind of interlocutory debate, to subscribe to his opinion; that therefore, as he saw it was no par During the Christmas recess several changes took place, by which the ministry acquired additional strength. Lord Weymouth resigned the seals, which were given to lord place of first lord of the admiralty, was sucRochford. Sir Edward Hawke quitting his ceded by the earl of Sandwich; the earl of Halifax, taking the office of secretary of state for the northern department, which became vacant by this removal, resigned his place of lord privy-seal to the earl of Suffolk. Mr. Bathurst was created baron Apsley, and appointed lord-chancellor; sir William de Grey Mr. Thurlow attorney-general, and Mr. Wedwas made chief justice of the common pleas; derburne solicitor-general and cofferer to the queen. Several members of both Houses, who were personally attached to the late Mr. Grenville, and had been violent in opposition, now also joined the ministerial standard. this expedition tending to disturb it; and in the persuasion in which he is, of the reciprocality of sentiments of his Britannic majesty, and of its being far from his intention to authorise any thing that might disturb the good understanding between the two courts, his Catholic majesty does disavow the said violent enterprise; and, in consequence, the prince de Maserano declares, that his Catholic majesty engages to give immediate orders that things shall be restored in the Great Malouine, at the port called Egmont, precisely to the state in which they were before the 10th of June 1770; for which purpose his Catholic majesty will give orders to one of his officers to deliver up to the officer, authorised by his Britannic majesty, the port and fort called Egmont, with all the artillery, stores, and effects of his Britannic majesty, and his subjects, which were at that place the day above-named, agreeably to the inventory which has been made of them. The prince de Maserano declares at the same time, in the name of the king, his master, that the engagement of his said Catholic majesty, to restore to his Britannic majesty the possession of the fort and port called Egmont, cannot, nor ought any wise to affect the question of the prior right of sovereignty of the Malouine islands, otherwise called Falkland's islands. In witness whereof, I, the underwritten ambassador extraordinary, have signed the present Declaration with my usual signature, and caused it to be sealed with our arms. London, the 22d day of January, 1771. LE PRINCE DE MASERANO. Translation of the Earl of Rochford's ACCEPTANCE, in his Majesty's name, the 22d of January 1771, of the Spanish Ambassador's Declaration of the same date. His Catholic majesty having authorised the prince of Maserano, his ambassador extraordinary, to offer, in his majesty's name, to the King of Great Britain, a satisfaction for the injury done to his Britannic majesty, by dispossessing him of the port and fort of Port Egmont; and the said ambassador having this day signed a Declaration, which he has just delivered to me, expressing therein, that his Catholic majesty being desirous to restore the good harmony and friendship which before subsisted between the two crowns, does disavow the expedition against Port Egmont, in which force has been used against his Britannic majesty's possessions, commander, and subjects; and does also engage, that all things shall be immediately restored to the precise situation in which they stood before the 10th of June 1770. And that his Catholic majesty shall give orders, in consequence, to one of his officers, to deliver up to the officer, authorised by his Britannic majesty, the port and fort of Port Egmont, as also all his Britannic majesty's artillery, stores and effects, as well as those of his sub. jects, according to the inventory which has been made of them. And the said ambassador having moreover engaged, in his Catholic majesty's name, that what is contained in the said Declaration shall be carried into effect by his said Catholic majesty; and that duplicates of his Catholic majesty's orders to his officers shall be delivered into the hands of one of his Britannic majesty's principal secretaries of state, within six weeks: his said Britannic majesty, in order to shew the same friendly dispositions on his part, has authorised me to declare, that he will look upon the said Declaration of prince de Maserano, together with the full performance of the said engagement, on the part of his Catholic majesty, as a satisfaction for the injury done to the crown of Great Britain. In witness whereof, I underwritten, one of his Britannic majesty's principal secretaries of state, have signed these presents with my usual signature, and caused them to be sealed with our arms. London, the 22d of January 1771. ROCHFORD, After his lordship had laid them upon the table, there was a profound silence for some time.* The Duke of Manchester at length stood up, and observed, that such silence was extraordinary: that though upon the face of the Declaration it appeared very inadequate and insufficient, yet he would form no final judgment without further information, and therefore made a motion similar to that which was this day made in the House of Commons, in substance being, that all the information which had been received by administration, of the designs of Spain upon Falkland's Ísland, and the papers that passed in the subsequent negociation for the reparation of that injury, should be laid before the House. The Earl of Rochford said, he wished every information relative to this matter *From the London Museum. to be laid before the House, and should not therefore oppose the motion; but would add a few words to it, to restrain it to the business of Falkland's Island, which he thought was not sufficiently guarded in the words of the motion. Lord Sandwich was not satisfied with this, and so altered the amendment as to make it rather unintelligible, in order to furnish pretences upon which papers of consequence might be suppressed. The Duke of Richmond observed, that lord Sandwich's words were moved evidently on the ground of some rescrvation; that the motion confined the enquiry to the business of Falkland's Island, which ought to be the only restriction, and therefore the amendment was unnecessary, or meant something that it should not. Lord Radnor said, that as the duke of Richmond had first moved the amendment, there was no harm in it, though it was unnecessary; but he suspected something, since lord Sandwich had altered it. Lord Sandwich said, his amendment, instead of narrowing, enlarged the ques tion. The Earl of Chatham remarked, that this generosity, in giving more than was asked, was very suspicious; that if administration had no objection to what was asked, why not give it without making any alteration in the motion? People would suspect that something was meant to be kept back. He said he would not go into the matter of the Declaration; but upon the face of it, it appeared to be an ignominious compromise. It was no satisfaction; no reparation. The right was not secured, and even the restitution was incomplete; that Port Egmont alone is restored, not Falkland's Island. Lord Lyttelton earnestly advised the administration, for their own sakes, not to create suspicions; they ought to begin to inspire the people with some confidence, the want of which was the great defect of the present age. Lord Camden said, the defence of the amendment proved there was something meant by it. Lord Rochford then finding that his plain meaning lost all credibility and effect, withdrew his amendment, and the original motion was agreed to without alteration. The Duke of Richmond then said, he had another motion to make. That which had been agreed to would bring out all the negociations with Spain; but as the world had strange suspicions that France had too much to do in this transaction, it was neCessary to clear this matter, and therefore he would move, “That there be laid before this House, copies or extracts of all me morials and other papers which have passed between any of his Majesty's ministers, and the ministers of the French king, relating to the seizing by force his Majesty's island called Falkland's Island, by the Spaniards, and relating to the negociations had thereupon with the court of Spain, if any such negociation with the court of France had been had." Lord Rochford said, he had agreed to giving the other papers, because they existed; but must object to these, because no such were in being. The Duke of Richmond said, that though he would not dispute the credibility of lord Rochford, the nation ought not to take the word of any minister. Let the motion the King would say so, and then the King's go: if no such papers existed, word, which every body must believe, would be pledged; but if any negociation with France had been carried on, it was fit the public should see it, and punish those concerned; for it would be giving efficacy to the family compact. As to the Declaration, he said, he could not leave the House without making one observation upon it, which was distinct from all information that the papers might produce; and it was, that he wondered any minister should dare to accept, in the King's name, a Declaration in which the right of sovereignty of the island was brought into dispute; that in the time he was in administration, the Spanish ambassador had attempted to make it a matter of discussion; but that he, and he believed all other ministers up to this day, had never suffered it to be se much as made a matter of doubt. Lord Chatham strongly supported the duke of Richmond's motion. He said, that House should never take the word of a shewed that some transaction with France minister; that the refusing this motion had passed, perhaps not papers or memorials. As lord Rochford said none had passed, he believed him; but that France had interfered, he said, he knew to be a fact that could not be denied. 1 Lord Rochford rose again, but made no answer to this part of lord Chatham's charge of verbal communication- and negociation with France. He said, he would answer all other charges when the day of examination should come. Lord Suffolk, lately appointed lord privy seal, then got up, and said, he had the utmost confidence in the ministry; that as they said no negociation with France had passed, he thought that assurance fully sa tisfactory. The Duke of Richmond repeated, that the nation had a right to more; that the King's word alone would satisfy them; that he would have the ministers shew the whole of their conduct to the public; if right, they would receive their thanks; but, for his part, while they pursued their present system of oppression at home, and meanness to foreign powers, he o uld never alter his opposition to them. The motion was then negatived. Debate in the Commons on the Papers relating to Falkland's Island.*] Jan. 25. Lord North presented to the House the Papers relating to Falkland's Island, which will be found at p. 1336. After the Clerk had read the papers, Lord North said he should not say much, as he meant to reserve himself for the day on which this business should become the object of the consideration of the House. That he was sure it would then appear, that the agreement was equal to what the King or the ministry had promised to obtain, or that the King or the subject had a right to expect. He was ready to avow the part he had in it: he freely put himself, for his life and his honour, upon the House, for whose judgment he ever had implicit deference, and whose opinion was his only guide in all his actions. Mr. Dowdeswell in this early stage of the business was free to declare, that he thought the convention not only inadequate, but highly unsafe and disgraceful. That it had neither provided reparation for former hostilities, nor security against future. That it was equally dishonourable to the crown itself, which the ministry considered as the only object of reparation. He said, the king of Sardinia was indeed a respectable monarch; but in *From the London Museum. He comparison of the power of France, he was a little prince. Yet, when the territorial rights of that prince had been infringed, only in the pursuit of a dangerous and notorious Mandrin, a smuggler and a murderer, yet the king of France sent an lemn and public manner, and made an ambassador extraordinary, in the most soapology for it. The king of Portugal was respectable too, but inferior certainly to the crown of Great Britain; yet, when our fleet under Mr. Boscawen, in pursuit of their enemies, destroyed some French ships on the coast of Portugal, we sent an ambassador extraordinary to the court of Lisbon, to make reparation in honour; for if, said he, the rank of the power injured, the nature of the offence, the delay, the expence, and the unwilling, poor, and forced apology, were compared with those made by France to Sardinia, and by Great Britain to Portugal, it would easily appear how far the ministry had provided for the honour and dignity of the crown. concluded with moving, "That there be laid before this House copies of all claims and propositions of the court of Spain relative to Falkland island, since the first settlement of it by his Majesty's orders, together with such answers as have been received by the King's ministers to such claims and propositions: and also copies or extracts of letters, and other papers, containing any such intelligence received by any of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, or by the commissioners for exeGreat Britain, or by any other of his Macuting the office of lord high admiral of jesty's ministers, since the 1st of June 1770, touching any hostilities actually commenced by, or any warning, or other of the crown of Spain, or any of its ofmeasures, indicating any hostile intention ficers against his Majesty's island, called Falkland's island, and all accounts of the reduction and capitulation of the same; and also copies of all requisitions and demands made thereupon to the king of Spain, or any of his ministers, and for such reparation and satisfaction as his Majesty had a right to expect, for the injury he had received by the insults upon the honour of the crown, in the seizure by force of the said island, and for obtaining security for the rights of the people, which were deeply affected by the said injury; with all answers to the said requisitions and demands; and also, copies or extracts of all letters or instructions sent thereupon to his Majesty's ministers at Madrid, and |