be given to Vice-Admiral Hotham, for his meritorious fervices in the command of his Majefty's fleet lately ftationed in the Mediterranean." His Lordship obferved, that if his motion fhould be carried, as he had no doubt it would, he should follow it up with other motions of thanks to Vice-Admiral Goodall, Sir Hyde Parker, and all the officers, together with acknowledgment and approbation of the fervices of the men on board the fleet, &c. The queftion of thanks to Admiral Hotham being put, The Earl of Lauderdale faid, the Noble Earl who had made this motion had conjectured rightly, when he expected that hefhould make fome obfervations on this fubject, although he fhould not oppofe the motion in particular. He objected, however, to the practice of voting thanks indifcriminately for all victories. Sure he was, the fervice was not much honoured by placing on the fame footing of merit, the victory of the first of June, and the taking of Baftia! He was of opinion, that a great difference ought to be made between a splendid victory and a trivial advantage; but minifters had of late confounded them, by coming forward to move thanks indifcriminately to Lord Hood and Lord Howe. This practice, however, had been confined a good deal to our naval operations; for, with the fingle exception of Sir Charles Grey, minifters had, by the wifdom of their plans, contrived to keep our military force clear from any chance of receiving the thanks of that House for the exertion of its commanders. With regard to any diffidence that might be felt on this occafion, he owned he had not any, as far as regarded Admiral Hotham; his diffidence arofe from the London Gazette, to which authority the Noble Ear! had been pleafed to refer him. He perceived in the account of this very victory, in actual engagement with Admiral Hotham, the very fhips (named the Cenfeur and Ca Ira) which were ftated by the fame authority, the London Gazette, to be deftroyed by Lord Hood at Toulon, and others had been. burnt down to the water's edge, and fo disabled as to be totally anfit for fervice. He wished to know with what propriety their Lordships could rely on the laft account of the victory of Admiral Hotham, when they found the account of the affair of Toulon fo fallacious. By this mode of proceeding their Lordships were to thank two Admirals for deftroying the fame force-that was a double vote of thanks for one and the fame act. And poffibly, hereafter, minifters would come forward to thank fome other English Admiral for destroying these very fhips a third time. Upon thefe confiderations he thought their Lordships fhould inftitute an inquiry, before they voted thanks in future. He admitted that the London Gazette had former ly, ly, indeed, been a vehicle of intelligence on which the Public might rely; but fince the commencement of the present war, experience had taught us to regard it in many inftances as a publication to deceive us. If the Noble Earl could have informed him of the destination of the French, when Admiral Hotham fell in with them, or what was more, where the Toulon fleet now was, it would at least have afforded him fome confolation, and he fhould the more readily have concurred in the motion of thanks; but while it remained a matter of doubt and uncertainty, whether what had happened was effective to any important purpofe, he felt little fatisfaction on the fubject. Earl Spencer faid, that the Noble Earl might, with the exertion of very little ingenuity, have difcovered, that the very fhips which bore the fame names as thofe difabled and partly deftroyed by Lord Hood at Toulon, might have been repaired or rebuilt; or other fhips, according to what was well known to be the French practice, might have been named after them. The Ville de Paris would foon be at fea, and fhould it be taken by the enemy, and afterwards a propofal be made in the National Convention to thank the Admiral for fuch an atchievement, any member of that Convention might start up with as much propriety as the Noble Earl now did, and fay that the fact could not be true, as it was notorious that the Ville de Paris had been funk many years ago. The Noble Earl might amufe himself and their Lordships as much as he thought fit; but the obfervations he had made, did not appear to him to be quite applicable to the subject. The Earl of Lauderdale faid, that with regard to ingenuity, he did not pretend to ufe any; he left the Noble Earl to draw as often as he pleafed upon his great ftock in trade of that arti cle, in which there was no fear of his ever feeling a deficiency. He had indeed given an inftance of it that day. With regard to the idea of his attempting to amufe himfelf, he could only fay, that in attending that Houfe, he had fomething in view more important than amufement. He attended his duty as a Peer of Parliament, to call minifters to their duty, and to do all he could to undeceive the Public. What the Noble Earl had just faid, was a proof of the neceflity of thefe obfervations. The information which he had given to the Houfe was ferious and alarming indeed; for he had told the Houfe that the hips which had been alluded to, might have been fince rebuilt. He was indeed alarmed, if large fhips of war could, in fo a fpace as the period of a few months, be built on the keels of thofe which had been burnt to the water's edge by Lord Hood at Toulon. What was this, but confefling the fuperiority of the enemy to us in the art of building fhips of short war? war? With regard to the Ville de Paris, every body knew that fhip had been loft fo long, that there had been ample time for her having been entirely rebuilt. What he had ftated with regard to the Gazette, he muft repeat; and he would add, that the accounts in it were ftudioufly fallacious. It was now a publication to deceive the Public, and on which the prefent Administration endeavoured to build their narrow fame. He was ftill further alarmed, on finding that the Noble Earl had not been able to inform their Lordships, whether he was aware of what was become of the Toulon fleet. Earl Spencer faid, he was under the neceffity of troubling their Lordships with a few more words in explanation. He had not meant to fay, that fuch of the French hips as had been burnt by Lord Hood down to the water's edge, were al ready rebuilt from the keels of thofe fhips fo deftroyed; but that other fhips not fo much damaged might have been repaired, and made fit for fea, in time to have been with the French fleet, met by Admiral Hotham lately in the Mediterranean. Another material question of the Noble Earl, he had accidentally omitted to take notice of, viz. that about the prefent fituation of the Toulon fleet. To give an anfwer to such a queftion, under the exifting circumstances, he conceived to be highly improper on his part. It was enough for him to be able to affert, that whatever had been the object of the French, when that fleet had been fitted out, over which Admiral Ho tham had obtained a victory-that object had been entirely defeated, and put an end to for the prefent. He would only add, that the question before their Lordships was, whether the victory obtained over the enemy by Admiral Hotham, was fuch as merited the thanks of that Houfe. The queftion was then put, and carried. As were alfo the thanks to Vice Admiral Goodall, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, officers and men, &c. Their Lord hips then received feveral Bills from the Commons. After fome private bufinefs was over, the Houfe adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Mr. Thomas Grenville faid, that if the fubject to which he rofe to call the attention of the Houfe was as new as it was important, he fhould certainly feel confiderable apprehenfion in bringing it forward. It was not, however, his intention to propofe any new principles with refpect to the mode of deciding in queftions of controverted elections, but only to fuggeft fome regulations in order to follow up more strictly, accurately, and usefully, the provisions of the Act already fub Lifting fifting for that purpofe. The principle of that Act was acknowledged to be good; it had for a feries of years refcued the House from that melancholy and difgraceful state with refpect to difputed elections, in which it had before been placed, and it only remained to remedy one or two inconveniences of a practical nature. The principal inconvenience which had been felt, had arisen from the want of attendance of Members on the days appointed to ballot for Committees. Many modes had been fuggefted to obviate this evil, It had occurred to feveral perfons, as well as to himfelf, whether it might not be proper to fet afide five or fix weeks at the beginning of the feffion, in order to try queftions of controverted elections. It was certainly a moft important duty to afcertain, in the first inftance, thofe who had really a right to fit in Parliament, and to have the reprefentation of the people, with as little delay as poffible, as full and complete as the conftitution of that Houfe would permit. The objection to the mode he had mentioned was, that there might occur duties of a nature paramount to that of deciding with refpect to controverted election, and that the appropriation of five or fix weeks for the purpofe, might, in fome inftances, interfere too effentially with the difpatch of public bufinefs of the moft urgent and preffing defcription. He was at the fame time defirous, if poffible, to avoid bringing forward any new mode of procuring, by compulfion, a fufficient attendance of Members. Many inftances of neglect latterly were exhibited by the Members, and no attention whatever paid to fuch days.-The Journals of the House furnished inftances of fines for non-attendance in fuch cafes; fo that the Houfe had already ample powers for that object; and it was only his wifh, by the Bill which he fhould bring forward, to reftore to the Houfe the full exercife of thofe functions, and that the authority which had been fufpended in the 10th of the reign of his prefent Majefty, fhould again be revived. But while he fecured the advantage of that authority, it was alfo his wifh to afford fome relief to the Members, by the mode which he fhould adopt in forming the Election Committees. In diminishing the numbers, however, he would by no means have it understood that he intended to relax the duty. The diminution of numbers which he would fuggeft was, that inftead of a hundred Members being required to attend, fixty might be fufficient; that inftead of forty-nine, only twenty-feven might be drawn; and inftead of fifteen, only eleven appointed as a Committee, including the nominees. This calculation would be found to be very nearly in the proportion of the former numbers. There were fome other regulations which he fhould propofe, namely, where out of fixty Members Members they fhould not be able to make a Committee, that, thofe who had been excufed in confequence of age or fervice, fhould be obliged to take their turn in the order in which they had been drawn in the ballot; and that a peremptory excufe fhould not be admitted, except, as in the care of a Jury at the Old Bailey, the Member had attained the age of 70. There were fome other regulations with refpect to the time allowed for the renewal of petitions, and the taking of affidavits, &c. which would more properly come to be difcuffed in the Committee. He had mentioned only a few of the outlines of his intended Bill; and if leave fhould be given to bring it in, he fhould move that it might be read a first time to-day, in order that it might be printed, and a fubfequent day appointed for its confideration. Mr. Baker objected to any diminution of the Members by the Bill propofed to be brought in; he should rather with that a claufe might be introduced requiring them to be increased. He fuggefted, that on every day appointed to ballot for an Election Committee, there ought to take place a call of the House. Mr. Fox was alfo of opinion that the numbers ought not to be diminished. He fuggefted that on the days appointed to ballot for an Election Committee, there might be a standing order to call over the Houfe that day; and when an attendance of three or four hundred was fecured, they might proceed to appoint more Committees than one on the fame day. Thus the Houfe would be faved from the awkward and indecent predicament of being obliged, as in the prefent Parliament, to appoint Committees at the end of the third feffion, in order to try the right of Gentlemen to fit there as Members. On days appointed for tranfacting public bufinefs, they might choofe at least one Committee; and on ordinary days they might proceed without delay or interruption to what certainly ought to be confidered their first duty, viz. adopting the most effectual mode of correctly afcertaining thofe who were qualified to fit in the Houfe. Mr. Ryder objected to ftrong measures being adopted, fuch as frequent Calls of the Houfe, in order to compel the attendance of Members, as it might prevent Gentlemen who were in particular fituations, fuch as lawyers, merchants, and perfons in office, from taking feats in the Houfe. Mr. M. A. Taylor faid, that if Gentlemen thought proper to accept of feats in the Houfe, they ought to be prepared to difcharge their duties, let their profeflions out of Parliament be what they might; every man was equally bound, and there ought to be no diftinction. The plan propofed by his Right Hon. |