Affembly, on the fubject of the Family Compact." Your Committee having taken into their moft ferious confideration the requifition from the Court of Spain, demanding a categorical answer, touching our engagements, in confequence of the Family Compact, have the honour to fubmit to the wisdom of the National Affembly, whether a strict compliance with the faid requifition would not be rifking too much under the prefent circumstances of the kingdom, more efpecially the nature of the question being materially altered fince the preliminary declarations between England and Spain, fubfequent to the date of our deliberation ea this point, affording us the pleafing profpect of a fpeedy and amicable accommodation between the two Powers; nevertheless, fhould your beft endeavours, towards a happy termination fail, we hold ourfelves bound in honour to fupport our ancient ally, in every fuch right and clairn as you shall deem reafonable and juft."

The above resolution was carried by a majority of feven.

PARIS, Auguft 8.

This city is again in commotion: we do no: fpeak of actual tunult, but of the loud diffonance of political opinion.

The Lieutenant of the Chatelet had brought an accufation against two of the Members of the National Affembly. He prefented a fealed packet, containing their names, and the proofs against them. “Thefe (he faid) would bring to light a fcene of horrors; they would difclofe the wretches who would have flained the paface of the Sovereign with blood, and violated the laft afylum of Royalty."

The members of the Affembly heard this charge with, the moft awful emotions. For fome moments all was fufpicien and folicitude; for each man, the criminals themselves excepted, feared that he might addrefs himfelf to a criminal.

It was at firit propofed that the packet fhould be inftantly broke open, and the offenders taken into cuftody. This was oppofed by feveral members, and particularly by the elder (le Compte de Mi rabeau. The affair was finally referred to the Committee of Reports, who were to open the packet in the prefence of two of the Commiffioners of the Chatelet, and, if they found the proofs fufficient, to order the offenders into cuftody.

Yefterday the Committee made a report of their discoveries to the National

Affembly, laying before them all the dif ferent papers which contained the legit proofs against the perfons under accutation or fufpicion. Five of the criminals were rea lily named, viz. the person who actually cut off the head of the Gardes de Corps, Mad. Theroigne, and three others who took an active part in the maffacre. The lady above-mentioned has long been confpicuous among the patriotic party, was formerly kept by a min of fortune in France, and was well known in England as the friend and fellow traveller of Tenducci. The Magiflrates likewife accufed two leading members of the Affembly, which, in the Gazette of Paris, are faid to be the Dof O, and the elder Mirabeau. Befides the reafons above-mentioned, thirteen others are named in a paper delivered by the Magiftrates to the Prefident; but, from fome motives of prudence, it has as yet been thought proper to conceal them.

PARIS, Aug. 14.

The National Affembly feems to be thrown into a great embarraffinent, by the acetation made by the Judges against two of the members, whom they have named; and who, of course, are fuppofed to be perfons of fome diftinction.

To screen thefe from the law, to which every citizen is, or ought to be amenable, and at the fame time to do it with juftice, is a matter not very easy to fettle. Various artificers are employed to relieve our Senate from this difficulty; fome pretend, that the present existing Tribunal is not competent to the trial of the Members of the National Affembly, which is fuperior to all Courts. In anfwer to this, it is afked, Why thefe Judges, who had been eftablished for the trial of Leze Nation, in the inftances of Monf. Bezenval, Favras, de Bonne, Maillebois, and M. St Prieft, the Minifter, are not to be trusted with the trial of every ci'izen whatever? And again, they afk, Upon what principles of law or juftice a repreprefentative of the nation is privileg ed to be an accomplice to murder?

Another difficuity arifes, whether the accufation is to be made in the name of the King or the nation; and, of course, whether the Attorney-General, who is to be profecutor, fhall be named by the Monarch or the Affembly.

Another party, at least other members of the fame party, pretend that the affair in queftion is of no ancient date; that the seafon of plots is over; and these fup

poled

pofed crimes fhould be buried in oblivion, by a general act of amnefty on all fides. In fhort, every thing that a body of 400 lawyers can invent is propofed, in order to get honourably out of this extraordinary difficulty. The Committee of Report is to examine the charge made by the Magiftrates relative to the members of the nation; in the mean time, the profecution is to be continued against the other perfons accufed.

Funeral Honours paid to the memory of DI FRANKLIN.

On Wednesday the 21ft ult. the Common Council of Paris paid to the illuftrious Franklin a tribute of homage, extraordinary in its nature, but due from a free and enlightened city, to the memory of a man who completed the New World, and opened the way for the extenfion of that bleffing to the Old.

The Rotunda in the New Market was

chofen for the ceremony. It was hung in black, and illuminated with a row of lamps round the cornice, and with chandeliers fufpended at the pillars. A pulpit was erected with fuitable ornaments; and in full view rofe a Sarcophagus in antique form, with the following infcrip.

tion:

Eripuit calo fulmen, fceptrumque tyrannis. The bolt of heaven he grafps with ftrong command,

And wrefts the fceptre from the tyrant's hand.

On the Sarcophagus was placed the but of the immortal patriot, with cy-, preffes carelessly fcattered round it.

The Abbe Faucet, an orator equally eminent for his talents and public fpirit, pronounced a panegyric on this great man. The exordium promifed much, and to the fpeaker's Lonour we must add, that the expectations of his auditory were not difappointed. The fentiments were animated and fublime; and the language was diftinguished by the energy and fire which the enthufiaflic love and admiration of liberty fuperadd to the boldest exertions of genius. Some impertect idea may be formed of the Abbe's eloquence from the following extracts:

Thou bright luminary of freedom," faid he, "why should I call thee great? Grandeur is too often but the fcourge of human kind, hofe felicity thy goodness was ever exerted to promote. Enjoy the happiness prepared for thee by thy virtues. It must be pure; it must be height

ened by the most pleasing reflections Before the flambeau with which thou didft enlighten the world was extinguished, a thoufand others hai ftolen fome fparles by thy flame, and are now ipreading the facred fire of liberty over the entire furface of the globe.

"How fmall, how feeming inconfiderable, is the original caufe of great revo lu in! A cup of tea lerved up at thy break at, an afterwards made the object of an oppreffive tax, fubverted the old conftitution of America. Thy penetrating genius, to ufe the words of the poet, with comprehenfive view,

The paft, the prefent, and the future knew." Thou behelde afar off the chains that were forging for thy country. Thy wif dom and spirit prompted thee to rend them afunder before they could be laid on and rivetted. By fetting the glorious example, thou haft prompted all nations to refolve on the downfall of arbitrary power.

"The French, generous and proud, even when they groaned under the yoke and their arms. In fighting for Ameriof defpotifm, aided thee with their valour can freedom, they learned to refpect the freedom of mankind; they themselves became enamoured of liberty. In every part of France temples are now erected in honour of that goddefs. Moft of the priefis that officia e at the altars have been trained up in thy fchool. Behold among them the rival of Washington, de la Fayette, whofe talents, whofe virtues, whole candour and liberal policy, thew that he has profited moft by thy inftructions. Venerable fhade of the great Franklin, thou mayeft now view with benignant fmile the pup of thy own tra ning; thou may ft now bleis the champion of humanity, the brave afferter of the freedom of both hemispheres.

"Thou hast been the benefactor of the univerfe! Be thy name ever revered! May it be the confort of the wretched, and the joy of all freemen! Who is better entitled to our gratitude, I had almost faid, to our adoration? It was not enough to have given laws to the lightening, and to have averted the fury of the growling tempeft. Thou renderedft to mankind a fill greater fervice; thou didst extinguish the thunder in the hands of eartnly def pots, which they were ready to hurl on their trembling fubjects.

"What a pleasure it must have been to thee, while on earth, to fee the French profiting by thy precepts and example; pulling

pulling down the hateful fabric of tyranny, and erecting on its ruins the glorious edifice of civil liberty. With what greater rapture must thou now contemplate the diffufion of that light which firft dawned and fhone forth in thee! It will foon illumine the world; and man, feeling his own dignity, will raife his eye and foul to Heaven; and will fubmit to no empire, to no laws, but thofe of virtue and right reafon.

"I have but one wifh to utter.It is a with that was always dear to thyfelf; that was always cherished in thy virtuous and benevolent bofom. Surely it will de

(Here the Chancellor read the following advertisement from a newspaper :)

« Dublin, July 19, 1790.

"At a meeting of the Whig Club, held this day, (nis Grace the Duke of

Leinster in the chair,

"The following refolution was propofed by the Right Hon. the Earl of Charlemont, and feconded by the Right Hon. the Earl of Moira, viz:—

have witneffed what has lately paffed ref"That the Whig Club cannot poffibly pecting the election of a Lord Mayor, without expreffing the deepeft concern, and declaring that they will, both indi

their fellow eitizens in every legal and conftitutional measure, which may tend to vindicate the laws, and to support the rights of this Metropolis.”—

"Which refolution being put, the fame

LIGENCE.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

July 24.

Earl of Maffareen, introduced by the Ear's of Charlemont and Westmeath, took the ufual oaths and his feat.

Before his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant came to the Houfe, the Lord Chancellor faid,

"My Lords, I think it neceflary to take notice of a moft extraordinary and violent clamour which has been raised on account of the decifion of the Lord Lieu tenant and Privy Council, in the cafe of Alderman James; and for no other rea fon whatever, but that his Excellency and the Council have difcharged their duty, by putting the queftion in a state of being tried by due course of law. This clamour, I understand, my Lords, has been induftrioufly fpread through the kingdom, by reflefs and difcontented men; nay, the contagion has even invaded thefe walls. While it was confined to the cabals and debates of thofe porter-houfe clubs which labour nightly for the good of this country, I confidered it as perfectly inoffenfive, and unworthy of notice; but when I fee the names of two noble Lords giving fanction to it, it demands my regard.

"What I allude to, my Lord's, is a publication containing the names of two noble perfons, juftiv eflimable for their high characters, and which I fhall now take the liberty of reading to your LordChips.

be entered on their books, and published. "Signed, HENRY GRATTAN, "Pro Secretary."

"Now, my Lords, if this refolution had appeared only under the authority of the Whig Club, figned by their Secreta ry or Pro Secretary, I would have treated it as I would any other refolution of any other eating or drinking club; but when a charge is made, or ftrongly infi nuated, when this charge is, that in an act to which my name is figned, an attack has been made upon the rights of this metropolis, and an invafion of the law of the land-when it appears, authen ticated by the names of two of the Hreditary Counfellors of the Crown, two of the Herediary Judges of the land, it becomes neceflary to know, whether they have really fubmitted to have their names placed to it? And if fo, they are called upon to do away theambiguity and marked caution of the terms in which the publication is conceived; to declare that there is an invafion of right, and to fhew where that invafion is, to the end that if it arife from any act to which I have put my hand, I may retra& it.

"I do therefore now call upon those noble Lords, whom I fee in their places, to know whether they will avow that their names were inferted in this publication with their knowledge and conient, or whether the whole 's not a vile for

gery, and without their concurrence?-If they avow it, I am now ready to d.lcvi

the

the question face to face with the noble Lords, in this Houfe, and where I may do it without difgrace: Otherwife it is not for me to take notice of the refolutions of drinking clubs: But the names of two noble Lords having appeared in a publication, containing broad infinuations against the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, and against an act to which I have put my hand, it therefore becomes me to call upon them to disavow the publication, or the noble Lords to rife in their places, and maintain the charge: If they can fupport it by argument, and by law, 1 fhall be the first man to retract an erroneous opinion; if they cannot, they fhould not by broad infinuations calumniate those who revere the laws.

But, my Lords, I truft it will be found an attrocious libel upon the noble perfonages, and that it was inferted in the News-papers without their know-, ledge."

Lord Moira" My Lords, I have heard the publication just read, and I do avow that I did confent to have my name put to it.

Lord Charlemont concurred by a fimilar affertion.

Lord Chancellor "The publication is now avowed, my Lords; and though it would be difgraceful to make any reply to the refolutions of the Commons of the Common Council, the Whig Club, or the Aggregate body, with which the columns of our News-papers are filled, it becomes me to fhew that the act of the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council approving of Alderman James, to which I have fet my hand, is a strictly legal act; and that if the refolution is levelled against that act, it is a libellous mifreprefentation of a receffary act of public duty, and the only apology that can be offered for it is a complete and radical ignorance of the Law and the Conflitution, in those who made it; this, truft, I fhall now prove to the plainest and most unl ttered underfland

ang.

For the prefent, I pass by that new system of jurifprudence which has lately been held out by two of his Majefty's hereditary Counsellors, two of the heredi tary Judges of this land, which is, that they may in the first inflance pronounce judy ment, and promulcate their decrees in the columns of a News-paper, in a cafe which may come to be decided by them in the dernier refort; 'tis for them to defend this new fyftem of jurifprudence; to fhew the rectitude of becoming parties, where they may be called upon to

decide as judges; but when they attack the Lord Lieutenant and Council for an act to which I have fet my hand, it is my duty to fhew what the law is, and that the act is Aricly confonant to law.

"I muft for this purpose trefpafs upon your Lordships, in order to flate briefly the hiflory of the Constitution of this metropolis. The Corporation of Dublin confiits of a Lord Mayor and 24 Aldermen, Sheriffs, and Commons of the Common Council, which represent the whole commonalty thereof. From the time of Richard III. under various bye-laws, the Lord Mayor was annually chofen by the Board of Aldermen alone, without the interference or approbation of any other body.

"It was not till the reign of Charles II. that any authority was given to Government by ftatute to interfere with the election of the Chief Magiftrate. In that reign the Corporation Act was passed in England, and the act of the eighteenth of Charles, under which the new rules were formed in Ireland: The principle and end of both which acts was to prevent perions diffaffected to Church or State from holding offices of high truft or authority in corporations. To ac complish this object in Ireland, the approbation of the Chief Governor for the time being, and Privy Council, is made neceffary to every election of a Chief Magiftrate in the Corporation subject to the act, which approbation is understood as an acknowledgment on the part of the Privy Council, that the man fo elected is well affected to the Church and State, and has, therefore, no perfonal difability to prevent him from ferving the office. It was reserved for the peculiar fagacity of Irish Whigs to transform this right of approbation into a judicial power, which, indeed, is fuch a perverton of fenfe and meaning, as could only arife from the greatest confusion of ideas that ever diftracted the brain of mən, for what elfe could fuggeft an opinion that the council had any judicial power whatfoever. The Gingle object of enquiry which comes before the Council is, whether the perfon returned them, is or is not a man well affected to Church and State, whether he labours under any perfonal inability. When double returns have been made, it has always been confidered as álmoft matter of courle to approve of one of the parties returned, and by this means the queition is put into a fituation of being tried at law. The Privy Council have no authority to judge

of the legality of an election; they ap prove the man who appears prima facie to have the best title, provided he is well affected to Church and State; this is their peculiar confideration; but the queftion of right and merit of the election must be decided firft in the King's Bench, and ultimately before your Lordfhips. Now, it fingularly happens from the framing of the law, that in cafe, of double returns, the queftion of right never can come before the King's Bench, or before your Lordships, and never can be put in courfe of trial at all, till the Lord Lieutenant and Council approve of one of the perfons returned; and therefore it is that it has always been confidered as matter of courfe for the Lord Lieutenant and Council to approve of one of the parties: This was the cafe again and again with respect to Clonmel; the Council have always been flow to interfere in the difputes of corporations, their object has been to refer them to the proper judicature for trial; nor did it ever enter into any man's head, that they poffeffed or affumed a judicial power in election until the 19th day of July 1790, on which day the judicial manifefto of the Whig Club bears date.

"I have already faid, that from the reign of Richard III. to that of Charles II. the election of Lord Mayor was folely and exclusively in the Board of Aldermen; that it was not till the 18th of Charles II. that any authority was given to Government to interfere at all in this election; and that under the 18th of Charles, the new rules were formed, and by them the right of electing a Lord Mayor was confirmed to the Board of Aldermen only, and continued to them for ever.

"In 1759, an act was paffed, materially altering the conftitution of the city in other refpects, but retaining to the Board of Aldermen the election of the Lord Mayor, and giving to the Commons a power of approbation.

"From 1759, to this day, though fome difputes have arifen between the Board of Aldermen and the Commons, yet they have been all fettled, and the parties have mutually agreed, except in the cafe of Alderman James'; in that cafe they both declare their determination of fupporting their feveral pretenfions.

There have been in this business three double returns made to the Lord Lieutenant and Council, and the parties have been heard with patient attention, taking ̧ VOL. XII. No. 68.

it altogether for eighteen or nineteen hours. The first election of Alderman James was disapproved by the Commons; the Board fent down fucceffively feven other Aldermen, who were likewife difapproved by the Commons. The Affembly was diffolved; and as the aft preferibes, the Board met the following day, elected Alderman James, and returned him to the Privy Council. The Commons likewife met, elected Alderman Howifon, and returned him. Upon hearing Council on the cafe, each party charged the other with a default, and the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, unwilling to interfere, and hoping the parties would fettle the bufinefs among themselves, fent them to a new election: No reconciliation, however, took place, the fame returns were again made; they were heard a fecond time, and a fecond time fent to a new election.

"A third time the fame double return was made, and the parties did then by their Council declare their refolution not to agree, and prayed the Lord Lieutenant and Council to approve of one, that the queftion might go to a Court of law. Should the Lord Lieutenant and Council have refufed to fuffer the matter to be put into a due courfe of trial, there would then have been fome caufe for difcontent; but they acted according to their duty, knowing they had no judicial power themselves, they approved. one of the perfons returned, as matter of courfe and allowed the question to go to the proper judicature for trial.

"My Lords, I have confidered this queftion over and over again, with as much attention and with as much zeal to difcover the truth, as ever I bestowed on any subject. I fhould be guilty of great impropriety, were I to declare a judicial and final opinion until the mat ter comes judicially before the House. But I do not hesitate to say, after the best confideration that I have been able to give the fubject, after confulting every book from which I could hope to receive any hint or any information, that it did appear to me, that Allerman James had the better colour of election. In this, however, I would not be underflood to fay, that I have made any ultimate or final decifion-for the queflion has never come judicially before me, and is ftill open to argument; but from what I have hitherto heard, Alderman James has the bet ter claim.

"I have spent the greatest part of my

life