them an

of ways and means, Mr Pitt rofe to open the annual budget, and to lay before account of the finances of the country. He delivered the fhorteft fpeech that has been made upon this fubject for feveral years, and for the first time fince the war with America, brought forward a maiden budget, containing neither a propofal for a new tax, nor any modification of an old one. Before he entered into an enumeration of the particulars of the expenditure, and of the ways and means for the current year, he faid, he should, for the purpose of rendering them as clear as poffible, proceed to ftate them under their respective heads of expenditure and ways and means, feparating the 3,133,000l. of expenditure incurred by the armament of last summer from the ordinary expences of the year, that expenditure being already provided for by money voted from the confolidated fund, by a vote of exchequer bills, by the 500,000l. of unclaimed dividends, and by the levying of additional taxes: by this separation also he should now have to provide for 18,000 feamen only, the additional 6000 having been provided for under the head of the expences of the last ar

Making a total (with the odd hundreds omitted in the ge. neral statement) of fupply to be provided for, of

5,728,000

In ftating the miscellaneous articles of expences, of which the above fum of 690,000 1. is the total, he said, fome were permanent, others merely temporary, and the greater part that could never again occur. He enumerated, under this article of expenditure, the fums granted for making Scotch roads, for the buildings carrying on at Somerset Place, for the expence of African forts, of the Mint, of the colony at Botany Bay, of convicts, of provifion for American loyalifts, &c. &c. and of the increase he should propofe in a committee of fupply, on Friday next, to the civil lift, in compliance with his Majefty's gracious meffage to the Houfe. Having noticed this

article, he thought it necessary to state, that the civil lift was not equal to the increased and increafing expence of the younger branches of his Majefty's family, and for the other purpofes to which it was appropriated, of which he was confident the House would be perfectly satisfied when they should have laid before them the statements of the civil lift :the provision he should first propofe, would be to grant an addition of 12,000 1. annually for an annuity to that amount which his Majefty had granted to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence; and to clear other incumbrances, he should propose a further fum, 2mounting in the whole to 30,000 which he doubted not would be cheerfully granted. WAYS AND MEANS. To meet the expenditure he had stated, he fhonld take, as ufual, the Land and malt at

The furplus of the last quarter, ending the 5th of April, of the confolidated fund, at The lottery

And from the growing furplus of the confolidated fund, the produce of which fund, for the last three years, gave an average of 13,470,000l. of permanent taxes, exclufive of the land and malt, he should take

To which were to be added, for outstanding balances For probable increases, as fta

ted by the report of the revenue-committee, he fhould be intitled to take an additional 150,000l. arifing from 100,000l. probable increase on tobacco; 30,000 1. on land-tax arrears, and 10,000l. on the hemp-duties; he would, however, take only from those expected increases

£2,750,000

303,221 306,250

2,110,000

150,000 12

120,000

5,739,471

5,728,000

an excess will be left of fome thousands.

Having thus gone through the whole of his ftatement, and fhewn to the committee, that after providing for every charge on the revenue for unforeseen and unavoidable expences, and for the annual million, a furplus would remain, he would not detain them by entering into a general view of the flourishing ftate of our finances, as gentlemen had now an opportunity, by the report on the table from the revenue-committee, to examine into that fubject more fully than by a palling

debate;

debate; he was confident that no gentleman would read that report without infinite fatis faction; and from the moderate expectations held out by the average of the three last years on which it was founded, he had that day stated the finances, and not from the laft year, the furplus revenue of which had exceeded his calculation by more than 400,000l. He concluded by moving several resolutions, which were carried.

In the House of Lords, May 16. the order of the day being read for taking into confideration the report of the committee appointed to fearch for precedents relative to the trial of Warren Haftings, Efq; Lord Portchester rose for the purpose of making a motion which might bring the question fully and fairly be fore the Houfe, and would therefore with out further preface move," That a meffage be fent to the Commons to inform them that the Lords were ready to proceed in the trial of Warren Haftings, Efq;

Lord Hawkesbury, wifhing the bufinefs to be referred to a committee, moved the previous question.

Lord Radnor moved, That the judges be fummoned to give their opinion upon the question of recognizances being in force.

Lord Mulgrave was for the continuance of the impeachment, as were Lords Grenville, Stormont, Loughborough, Guildford, and the Bishop of Salisbury.

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Kenyon, Marquis of Lansdowne, and Lord King, were for going into a committee; they contended that impeachments did abate by a dissolution. A very long and tedious debate was maintained by the above Noble Lords, until three o'clock in the morning, turning principally upon the report of precedents.-Lords Radnor and Hawkesbury's motions being negatived, Lord Portchester's was carried without a division.

On May 20. Mr Pitt moved feveral refolutions, the two principal of which were, first, to enable his Majefty to grant out of the confolidated fund an annuity to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, of 12,000l. and, fecondly, to grant the fum of 34,200 l. for fums already paid to his Highness. Bills were accordingly ordered.

Mr Fox role to make his promifed motion for the Houfe to refolve itself into a grand committee of courts of juftice. Every member of that House, he said, was fo well acquainted with the spirit of the constitution, and with his duty as a reprefentative of the people, to watch with care over every part of the executive government, that it would be unneceffary for him to advance any thing to prove that he proposed no innovation by calling the attention of the Houfe to that inportant part of the executive government, the execution of the laws in the courts of juf

tice, and the conduct of the courts on trials for libels. Whoever made an observation on the improvement of the world, and on the general spreading of science, must acknowledge that it was owing to the diffufion of the liberty of the prefs, for which he declared himself to be a warm advocate, though he was no defender of its licentiousness. He declared himself to be against all previous réftraints, and observed that in those times when men were found unwife enough to lay on fuch reftraints, they were found only to operate as a check on the real liberty of the press, but could never prevent its licentiousness.In these times, however, there was no danger to be expected of previous reftraints in this country; the only danger was in a feries of trials and judgements, on fair writings, which would ultimately tend to prevent all free difcuffion; that it was fo in fome degree he had not a doubt, for it was in his power to prove it. The Right Hon. Gentleman then entered particularly into the cafe of Mr Luxford, fentenced to a year's imprisonment, and the pillory, for a paragraph in the Herald, a fentence he declared to be inordinately fevere. Having gone through this cafe, arguing that the paragraph was not libellous in the manner ftated, he went into the confideration of who fhould be the judges of the innuendoes and inferences ftated to be contained in the libel, the judge or the jury? He contended that the jury ought to decide on both points; for, if a plain man on a jury was capable of diftinguishing the words of the innuendoes in a libel, he would certainly be capable of drawing every inference of fact from facts; for it would be ftrange indeed to tell him he was able to make out an innuendo, though from that innuendo he was to be told that he could draw no inference. He quoted a confiderable number of precedents to eftablish the doctrine of the right of a jury to decide on law and fact. He contended that a general iffue ought to be followed by a general verdict; and faid, that the judges having generally admitted the power in a jury to acquit or condemn, it was convincing to him that they had the right, by the conftitution, to exercife that power; for no power would have been lodged by the conftitution, where the right to exercise that power was not alfo lodged. After a great variety of other ftrong arguments in fupport of the rights of juries to decide on law and fact, he said he should think it beft, if the House agreed with him, to go into a committee, to propofe a declaratory act; he would not, however, object to the making of an enacting act, if the former fhould not meet the concurrence of the House. The next point he wished to fix the attention of gentlemen to, was the proceedings of the King's Bench on quo warranto proceedY y 2

ings,

Ings, which fome were of opinion the judges had a difcretionary power to iffue, upon the different applications. He concluded by moving for the grand committee of courts of juftice to fit on Tuesday, to confider of the doctrine of libels, and the proceedings in cafes of quo warranto.

Mr Erskine feconded the motion on the following grounds, Ift, That the law of libels had been long exercised, contrary to the ancient practice, and the original law: 2dly, That it crippled the true liberty of the prefs, and promoted its licentioufnefs: 3dly, Because it brought the invaluable right of a jury in queftion; and fourthly, that the judges being in a great measure under the neceffity of treading in the steps of their predeceffors, there was no hope for a remedy, but by the interference of the Houfe. It was never, he faid, the intention of our ancestors to permit the judges to be the depofitories of law in criminal cafes; the two juries were a twofold barrier between the people and the monarchy, and the liberty of the country depended for its maintenance upon the prefervation of this palladium. We were, however, now deficient in the rights of our juries to the protection of another fource of our free. dom, the liberty of the prefs. He concluded by contending that the criminal juftice of the country ought to remain in the hands of the people.

The Attorney-General agreed that fome measure ought to be adopted; he could not, however, agree to the fitting of the grand committee, as that would induce the people to imagine, that the conduct of the judges was cenfurable. He entered into and juftified the proceedings against Mr Luxford.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer hoped there would be no difference of opinion on the general fubje&t before them, and that no difference might be fought in the mode for obtaining the object desirable to all. He declared, that as far as he had confidered the subject, he fully agreed with what had been fo ably stated by the Rt Hon. Gentleman (Mr Fox), and the learned Gentleman (Mr Erfkine), on the province and duty of a juryman; with them he alfo declared his opinion to have been in oppofition to the practice for a long time followed in the courts. He was against going into the committee, conceiving the queftion not to be what has been law, but what fhall in future be the law; and he had heard nothing to induce him to be of opinion, either in that Houfe, or out of the Houfe, that it was unfit to let libels go unfettered to the decifion of twelve unbiaffed and impartial men, as clearly as any other charge. Under these circumstances he thought the fhorteft and the fafeft way would be to go at once to an enacting law, which might be. done by a fimple and direct motion, or by

refolutions on which a motion for a bill could be founded. He hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman would not prefs his motion for the grand committee; and concluded by 2greeing moft fully with the obfervations made by the Rt Hon. Gentleman upon the gus warranto proceedings, and faid it was the province of Parliament to fix the time to which they fhould be iffued, and not leave it open to the difcretion of any court, which he confidered to be unconstitutional and unfafe. Mr Fox faid, after the fair and candid manner in which the Rt Hon. Gentleman had delivered his opinion, he would not he fitate a moment in withdrawing his motion, if any way could be stated, in which the cafe of Mr Lux ord might be brought forward. He agreed with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, upon the propriety of making an enacting law, and particularly approved of his observations on the quo warrasto proceedings.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid, the cafe of Luxford might be feparately brought i forward by a motion for the information and judgement. No application that he knew of th as hinted by the Rt Hon. Gentleman, had been made, to remit any part of the fentence; if fuch application fhould be made, it was moft likely that the pillory would be remitted, for that was a punishment he wished rarely to be inflicted, and had frequently given his advice, in many cases, to have it remitted.

Mr Fox declared himself fo completely fa tisfied that he would withdraw his motion, and move for diftin& bills. At the fame time, however, he gave notice, that in the courfe of the next week, if circumstances fhould render it neceffary, which he did not believe they would, he should make his mətion for the information and judgement.

The Attorney-General and Mr Fox again spoke, as did the Chancellor of the Exche quer.

Mr Fox withdrew his motion, and afterwards moved," for leave to bring in a bill to remove all doubts respecting the rights and functions of juries in criminal cafes."-And

"For leave to bring in a bill to explain and amend the quo warranto act.”

Leave was granted, and Mr Fox, Mr Erskine, and the Attorney and Solicitor Generals, were ordered to prepare and bring in the fame.-The bill was prefented and read a first time on May 25. and was ordered to be printed. It fets forth, that juries in cafes of libels fhould have a power of judging of the whole matter, and of finding a general verdict of guilty or not guilty. There were alfo clauses in the bill, providing that the jury might in the cafe of libels find a fpecial verdict, as in other cafes. On May 31. the bill went into a committee, when the Solicitor-General requested the House deliberately

to

to confider what they were about to do; for by this bill they were called upon to lay down one grand general principle of law with reference to the whole criminal code..

Mr Pitt replied, and feveral gentlemen de livered their opinions upon it. On the third reading, June 2. Mr Mitford objected to an entire claufe, which he conceived would be conftrued to give the jury a greater latitude than was intended by the Hon. Mover; and thought the bill of too great magnitude to pafs the Houfe this feflion.

Mr Fox acknowledged that it was a fubjea of great magnitude, but the principle was plain, the provifions rofe out of that princi ple, and the only difficulty was, that they fhould precifely bear upon it: he had endeavoured to render them as fimple as poffible; in looking over the bill he had obferved the word meaning, and thought it would be better to put in the word fenfe.

Mr Jekyll faid, the bill was brought into the House with the unanimous confent of both fides; the mere object of it was to reftore to the jury a right which had been u furped by the judges. He did not mean by that to reflect on the prefent judges, who were obliged to follow precedent, but he was forry to obferve a difpofition in that profeffion to which he had the honour to belong, to do it away by a fide wind.

The Attorney-General denied the charge. The queftion was then put, That the claufe which Mr Mitford objected to should stand part of the hill, which was carried in the affirmative without a divifion. The word sense was then substituted for meaning. After which the bill was read a third time, and carried to the Lords by Mr Fox.

The Mafter of the Rolls moved the recommitment of the quo warranto bill; which was agreed to, and after fome debate the bill was reported.

In the House of Lords, June 8. the Lord Chancellor oppofed the third reading of the above bill for removing doubts refpe&ting ju ries in criminal cafes, not because there was any thing exceptionable in the principle of the bill, but as it was a bill of fo much importance, he thought a proper time ought to be given to confider it maturely. His Lordship moved, "That the bill fhould be read a third time that day month."

Lord Stanhope oppofed the motion, as perfectly unneceflary and improper.

Lord Camden declared himtelf decidedly in favour of the bill; the principle which it profeffed entirely coincided with his fentiments upon the subject. He had always been of opinion, that the jury bad a right to take all the circumftances into their confideration, and to give a general verdict; a right which, his Lordfhip faid, the conftitution had vefted in juries, and which right,

though they had fometimes been deprived of it, ftill exifted in them. His Lordship, how ever, agreed in the propriety of putting off the bill, as did Lords Loughborough and Grenville, who likewife expreffed their entire approbation of the principle of the bill.

The Marquis of Lansdowne in a long fpeech oppofed the motion, but which was carried without a divifion. Protefts were entered, figned Stanhope, Radnor, Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Lauderdale, Portchefter, Portland, and Hay Earl of Kinnoul.

On May 24. the Commons having gone into a committee on the finances of India, Mr Dundas rofe, he said, with great fatisfaction, at being able to lay before the committee a more regular and fatisfactory account of the finances of India than he had ever been before enabled to do, fince he had prefided o ver India affairs. This arofe, he said, from the regular manner in which accounts were tranfmitted from India, &c. He then entered into a very minute and regular detail of the revenues and expenditures of the fettlements of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, with the remaining fettlements. He likewife ftated the bond and other debts in India and Great Britain, their effects and stock. Having dwelt on these articles even to a degree of minutenefs, he recapitulated the whole, and having ftruck a balance betwixt the receipts and disbursements, he said that a furplus would appear on this budget in favour of the Company, to the amount of 1,500,000l. and upwards; he then stated the appropriation of the surplus of last year's budget, and named the items down to 10,000l. It was impoffible to state with any degree of certainty, how far this furplus would be permanent under the circumftances of a war, of the fuccefs of which he did not hold out any fanguine hopes; nor yet would he join with thofe who would hold out a gloomy picture. The expences of that war were already stated at three millions, by fome four millions, fix millions, and twelve millions by others. Thofe very wild calculations pointed out, that the perfons who made them had no data to proceed on; the only document on which the Houfe could go in that respect, was the paper which was laid on the table, and which contained that estimate, which he had stated at about fix lacks of pagodas per month. He defended the conduct of Lord Cornwallis: and concluded with faying, that the day very probably was not far diftant, when the finances of India would be a support to the finan ces of this country. He then moved several refolutions, which after a fhort debate between Mr Fox, Mr Pitt, and Col. Maitland, were carried without a divifion; Mr Fox obferving, that he should be extremely glad if the flattering picture of India finance could be verified: but it had been ftated to him by

perfons

perfons well converfant with the subject, that the actual debt of that country amounted to fixteen millions; if, however, it was in fo flourishing a ftate as the Hon. Gentleman had stated it to be, he would recommend to the Hon. Gentleman (Mr Pitt), and he would most willingly concur with him, that a bargain might be immediately ftruck, if it could poffibly be guaranteed, that England fhould not demand any fupport from India, or, on the contrary, India any fupport from England.

Method of making Bread from the Potatoe.

[From Lord Dundonald's Letters.] THE procefs of making flour, or fa. rina, from potatoes, is fimilar to what has long been practifed in the Weft Indies, by the negroes in the preparation of the Caffado-flour; viz. by grating down the root, and by fubfequent and repeated washings, with water, to free it from the juice, which is a strong poifon. It is likewife nearly the fame as has been practifed by families in making ftarch from potatoes; for the meal or flour got from potatoes is a ftarch-pow.

der.

It has for fome years been known, that grain, particularly wheat, confifts of two distinct, and, in fome circum. ftances, oppofite substances: viz. a pow. der infoluble in cold water, called ftarch; and another fubftance, which may be rendered foluble in cold water, refembling completely in its analyûs to animal matter, hence called by the French chymifts, vegeto-animal.

Potatoes contain likewife those different fubftances, with the addition of cer tain falts, not contained in grain, at least in that abundance.-Potatoes contain a large proportion of liquid, which grain does not.-It is from this liquid that the vegeto-animal matter, as well as the fa line matter, are to be got.The proportion of the vegeto-animal matter in the potatoes, to the ftarch-powder, is much less that in grain: and, from the quantity of liquid contained in potatoes, in which the vegeto-animal is foluble, the two fubftances do not join together, and form a folid fubftance, as is the cafe in grain.

The powdery part of the potatoe is found in the state of a powder extreme. ly fine, and of a fibrous part, which connects the particles of the powder: which fibrous part is capable, likewife, of being reduced to a powder by drying and grinding. This laft bears a proportion to

the former, (according to the average of the trials made) of about one to two.

The very fine and white powder got from potatoes, and which is ftated to be in the proportion to the fibrous part as two to one, precipitates in cold water like fand. The particles have no union The reafon is: it contains no vegeto-a. the one with the other, as in wheat flour. nimal matter. It is a pure ftarch, free from the acidulous fmell of ftarch separated from wheat by maceration in water.

when dried, and ground, has a greater The fibrous matter of the potatoe, degree of tendency, than the fine white powder, to form a paste with water; but not fufficient to allow it, by itself, to make a proper paste or dough for ba king: Although it thickens little inferior to wheat flour, when made with milk and eggs into a dumpling, or boiled pud. ding.

From what has been stated, it is ob vious, that the farina, or rather powder, got from potatoes, does not contain that fubftance, which is the caufe of wheatflour forming a paste with water: and that the defideratum, is to add to potatoe-powder something which should give it that quality.

Nothing appears more fimply, and more likely to answer the purpose, than the mixing it with different proportions of the flour of different forts of grain, according to the kind of bread to be made of it, whether leavened or unleavened.

Two parts of wheat-flour to one of po tatoe-powder, make a leavened bread, in no wife to be diftinguished from wheatbread alone.

Equal quantities of wheat-flour, and potatoe-powder, make a bread which leavens and rifes exceedingly well: but which has a tafte, although very pleafant, a little different from wheat-bread.

Equal quantities of wheat-flour and potatoe-powder make a fea-biscuit, which cannot, by the nicest taste, be diftin. guished from bifcuit baked wholly of wheat-flour.

Equal quantities of oat-meal and po. tatoe powder unleavened, or with a small proportion of yeft, make a cake, or flat bread more pleasant to the taste, than when made only of oat-meal.

With peafe and barley meal the potatoe-powder has not yet been tried: Bat it is more than probable that equal quantities of peafe-meal, and potatoe-powder will make a good wholesome bread, fimilar to a mixture of barley and pease meal.

There