cure places, that is to say, of places, the holders of which receive wages without performing any work for the same ; and that, in proof of their assertion, that vast sums of money are thus bestowed, selecting a few instances out of a great variety of the same nature, they beg leave to remind the House, that the right honourable George Rose holds the sinecure office of clerk of the parliament, with a salary of 3,278l. per annum; that the right hon. George lord Arden holds the sinecure offices of register of the high court of admiralty and of register of the high court of appeal for prizes, for which he receives, clear of deductions, 12,5541. per annum; and that the earl Camden, and the marquis of Buckingham, hold the sinecure offices of tellers of the exchequer, for which offices they receive, the latter 23,0931. the former 23,1171. per annum; and that the petitioners have, from time to time, been informed of large sums of money being paid out of the public purse to distressed foreigners, on which head, passing by the sums paid as subsidies to the Portuguese and Sicilian courts, to the duke and duchess of Brunswick, and divers other German refugees, they beg leave to call to the recollection of the House the sums paid to the exiled catholic clergy and laity of France, which amounted, in the year 1794, to 99,5481. 78. 6d.; 1795, to 135,890l.; 1796, to 199,8901.; 1,797, to 177,480l. 98. 7d.; 1798, to 161,3331. 7s.; 1799, to 187,8861. 10s. 11d.; 1800, to 195,7131. 5s. 1d.; 1801, to 180,772l.; and that, though the petitioners presume to be of opinion that, in the season of their distress, they have as strong a claim upon the public purse of the nation as any foreigners whatsoever; and though they are apprized that the precedent of the special distribution in the year 1801 of 24,2261. to the parishes where the weaving of silk is carried on in London, would justify them in applying to the House for direct pecuniary relief, they deem it more becoming them as Englishmen, to declare to the House, that they would far prefer, to the receipt of any extraordinary assistance, a dependence upon their own unimpeded industry; and that they therefore do respectfully, but earnestly, cail upon the members of the House well to consider the premises, and by the powers by the constitution vested in the House, to check and restrain the extravagant expenditure of the public money, which, by occasioning the imposition of enormous taxes, in

FRENCH SILKS, &c. IMPORTED FROM FRANCE.] Lord Cochrane gave notice of a motion for Monday, for an account of the quantity of French silks, laces, cambrics, &c. imported into this country under Licences, within the last two months, with the amounts of each to the latest period.

Mr. Rose said there could be no objection to the motion.

Lord Cochrane said, then, if agreeable to the House, he should make his motion now. It was a fact that French silks, shawls, laces, &c. were to be seen on sale in this country at the present moment, in quantities, to the great prejudice of our own manufactures. It had always been esteemed a wise policy in this country, to prevent the importation of French manufactured goods; and even to give to other foreign goods an advantage over them. He understood, however, that there were, at this moment, to the amount of several hundred thousand pounds of French manufactured goods in the river; and the only clause in the licences, under which those goods were suffered to be imported, which went to secure any reciprocity whatever to this country, was one requiring that sugars or coffee, to the value of 51. per ton burden, should be exported in lieu of those rich manufactured goods. If this was the policy of our ministers at the present period of unexampled distress to our manufacturing interests, his lordship was not surprised, that the manufacturers were in a state of great dissatisfaction. If such measures were resorted to, for the purpose of the better recruiting our armies in Portugal, he hoped they would fail in producing that effect. He concluded by reading his motion.

Mr. Rose said, that as the paper would be shortly before the House, the production of it would afford the best contradiction to the statement of the noble lord. There was one part, however, which he could not even

Mr. Rose asked, would the nobie lord take upon him to say, that he had seen French silks in the river within these two days?

Lord Cochrane said he had seen them for sale, and was informed they had been iately imported.

Mr. Rose said no Custom-house officer dared suffer any such article to be im ported.

Sir F. Burdett submitted, that with the information his noble friend had received, he had done nothing more than his duty in bringing the matter before the House; and he hoped the House would not be satisfied unless the word silks formed part of the motion. The return too, if it shewed that no silks had actually been imported, would most effectually calm any dissatisfaction or fermentation that might prevail. Mr. Rose thought it hardly worth while to oppose the motion as it stood, as the return would give the best answer to this charge.

Lord Cochrane did not pretend to say that the silks of which he spoke had been entered at the Custom-house; but he had been informed, that they had formed part of a cargo of the value of 9,000l. which had been imported into this country.

Sir J. Newport moved to add to the motion the words, "Whether for exportation or for home consumption," when

The motion so amended was agreed to. The House then resolved itself into a Committee on the Petitions against the Orders in Council.

SINECURE OFFICES BILL.] On the order of the day for taking into consideration the Report of the Sinecure Offices Bill,

Mr. W. Dundas argued against the principle of the Bill. His chief ground of objection was, however, that it violated the articles of Union with Scotland. The

Bill pretended only to regulate Sinecure Offices, but he contended, that as far as Scotland was concerned, it went altogether to abolition. In a question of this kind, it ought, in his opinion, never be forgotten that the rights of two countries were to be considered; and though the making of distinction might be invidious, yet he never could suffer the rights of his country to be violated without opposition; he never could suffer the rights of the Scottish people, the remnants of their ancient monarchy, the memorial of their pride as an in. dependent nation, to be done away, without making all those efforts which his private duty as well as his love of country dictated. The people of Scotland had stipulated at the Union, that their chief offices of state should be preserved. This was to them a sort of remuneration, and not merely an act of grace or favour; and he should like to know on what ground it was, that the very first offices in Scotland were, in defiance of solemn treaty and plighted national faith, to be now abolished? Was this preserving that honourable feeling in the contemplation of which the Union with Scotland was formed; or was it not rather, for a paltry consideration, a dereliction of that honourable feeling? When Mr. Burke made his attempt at the reformation of offices, did such a departure from good faith ever enter into his head? Did he not in fact know human nature too well ever to have ventured on a breach of faith with a people who were too much alive to feelings of that description to have suffered such an insult and such an injury with tame insensibility? The right hon. gentleman then protested, that he had no quarrel with the mover or supporters of. this Bill; that he opposed it totally on high national ground. That he respected the rights of England, but that he never would desert the rights of Scotland; and that if this Bill were to pass, he should feel it his duty to say that it was an unnecessary infringement on the character, faith, and honour of a nation.

The Lord Advocate of Scotland followed on the same side. He was quite aware that gentlemen by no means conceived to what evil results this Bill might lead. At the time of the Union with Scotland it was stipulated, that the municipal law and its regulations should be preserved entire. This was done as much for the sake of supporting private right as for any public consideration; it was done, in fact, for the safety of the landed proprietors. Scot

seal, but in matters of private right it was reserved that Scotland should have a keeper of the great seal. This office was therefore a memorial of the ancient Scottish monarchy, it was a lasting symbol of that independent kingdom: and, he conceived, that, without the greatest outrage to the feelings of a great portion of the British empire, it could not be destroyed. In this instance he stood up for his country, not as asking a favour from England, but as demanding the preservation of a right. In fact, Scotland was asking nothing from England but the mere keeping of a covenant; and he was confident that the House would never consent to depart from stipulations which were solemn in their origin and rendered sacred by time. The hon. and learned gentleman then argued on the enactments of the Bill, which entrusted to deputies what it took from the principals. The offices were destroyed or sunk into inferior situations, which no persons but those of inferior rank would ever think of filling. All responsibility was therefore at an end, because it could not be expected that deputies calculated for situations of a few hundredsa year could be sufficiently responsible to the land proprietors of Scotland. Were the landed rights of Scotland to be thus trifled away? In fact, when deputies would be converted into principals as holders of the offices of Scotland, he wished to know what, except the honesty of the deputies, could the landed proprietors Scotland depend upon? And as to their honesty, he was afraid that it would require all the pure virtue and all the immaculate character of the chairman of the committee of finance, to withstand the temptations which they would continually meet.-He then went into the details of the Bill. It abolished, in the first place, the office of the keeper of the great seal of Scotland. (No, from Mr. Bankes.) The hon. gentleman said no, but he said yes. He should not mind the interruptions of the hon. gentleman, but he would look to the Bill itself. The Bill abolished the emolument of this great office. (Hear, hear, from Mr. Bankes and the opposition.) Well! what remained of the office after the emolument? The emolument was what induced responsible persons to take it; and it was the want of responsibility which he attributed to the enactments of the present Bill. The Bill, to be sure, only said that it regulated this office, but

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place of high trust and public care to obscure and inferior individuals, who should act as deputies; and by it, therefore, the property of Scotland was put into unsafe hands. He then contended, that as far as the Bill regarded Scotland it enacted contradictions. It commanded one to be doing particular acts in distinct places at the same time; and even on this ground the absurdity of the Bill was too evident to be borne with. In fine, the Bill, if it should pass into a law, would, in his opinion, cause the greatest confusion in Scotland: it would strike the whole people with immeasurable astonishment. The House had lately heard of Ireland coming in person to their bar-of Ireland appearing there with her imperial crown, demanding the concession of what were called rights, but what he might conceive as privileges, which, if granted, would endanger the safety of the state. The House had lately been threatened with this pompous appearance; but he did not appear in his place as the advocates for Ireland did. He asked no privileges, he prayed for no favour; but he demanded the fulfilment of a contract, the preservation of rights which were never considered injurious to any mortal, which were the legacy given to her children by an ancient kingdom, and which were now sanctioned by an Union of one hundred years.

Mr. Lyttelion observed, that notwithstanding the high authorities of Junius and Wilkes, he had always thought the assertion a calumny, that the Scottish nation was attached with peculiar fervour to any thing in the shape of pecuniary emolument; the speech just delivered had induced him to waver in his opinion, and perhaps his countrymen might thank the right hon. and learned gentleman for a confirmation of the truth of the statement. He (Mr. L.) could not give the Scotch credit for that zealous attachment to monarchy which had been so much boasted; nor would he dwell upon the subject, lest the headless ghosts of a Charles and a Montrose should be conjured up in the imaginations of the members for North Britain. He had passed a considerable portion of his life in Scotland, and he would not, as their countryman to-night had done, be so unjust as to assert, that he had noticed any peculiar affection for the majesty of inefficiency, or the dignity of idleness. With regard to the immediate question, he was fully convinced that the