Struensee; and it is thought that a design was entertained against her life, but that apprehension of the resentment of the English court caused it to be abandoned. She was afterwards conveyed by an English squadron to Stade, and took up her residence at Zell, where she formed a small court.

The opposition to the arbitrary measures of the crown in France was nearly terminated in this year. The princes of the blood, unable to bear exclusion from the court, made overtures for accommodation, which were gladly accepted.

A hurricane of uncommon violence occurred in the beginning of September, in the West India Islands, by which those of St. Christopher, Antigua, St. Croix, and St. Eustatia, suffered very severely in their buildings and plantations.

A. D. 1773.

YEAR OF GEORGE III. 13 & 14.

PARLIAMENT 5 & 6.

Debate on the Caribbs, and Treaty with them.- Petition of Captains in the Navy. - Bill in Favour of Dissenting Ministers introduced and rejected. The same with respect to the Bill for Relief from Clerical Subscription. - Proceedings relative to the East India Company. - Bill passed for its Regulation. — Motion in the House of Commons against Lord Clive. - Hostilities renewed between the Turks and Russians. Defeat and Death of Ali Bey. - Marriage of Grand Duke of Russia. Cession of the divided Parts of Poland by the Diet. Sweden. - Commencements of the Emperor Joseph. Suppression of the order of Jesuits by the Pope. - Death of the King of Sardinia. Insurrection at Palermo.- Discontents in the

American Colonies. Riots.

Petition of Massachusets against

the Governor.- Measures against the Tea Tax.- Cargoes of Tea thrown into the Sea at Boston. Commercial Credit injured.

ONE of the first subjects brought under discussion in parliament after the recess was the expedition against the Caribbs of St. Vincent, and motions were made in the House of Commons, calling into question both its justice and policy, and requesting his Majesty to acquaint the House by whose advice it was undertaken. A long debate ensued, after which the motions were negatived by a great majority. In the meantime hostilities were terminated in the island by a treaty concluded on February 17th, between Major General Dalrymple and the Caribbs, by which the latter acknowledged the sovereignty of the King of Great Britain, and agreed to submit to the laws of the island as far as regarded their transactions with the white inhabitants, while they were to retain their own customs and usages with respect to their intercourse with each other. The Caribbs also

ceded a large tract of land to the crown, but were secured in the full possession of the part which they still retained.

A petition presented to the house by the captains of the navy for a small addition to their half-pay was opposed by the minister on the principle of economy, and the danger that the admission of this claim would open the way to many others of a similar kind. Such, however, was the sense of the House of the merits of the petitioners, and the reasonableness of their request, that upon a division the petition was received by a majority of 154 to 145, and a committee being appointed to examine into the allegations, an address was presented to the throne for an addition of two shillings a day to the captains' pay.

The partial success which had attended the bill for the relief of the dissenters in the last year, encouraged them to bring in one of the same tenor in March. The most remarkable circumstance attending it was, that petitions against the bill were presented from several congregations of protestant dissenters of the calvinistic class, who apparently could not endure that others should be relieved from shackles which were not felt by themselves. The fate of the bill was exactly the same with that of the preceding year: it passed in the House of Commons by a great majority, and was rejected in the House of Lords by one as great.

A farther attempt for relief with respect to the subscriptions enjoined by the established church, was made by a motion for a committee of the whole House of Commons to consider of the subscription to the 39 articles or any other tests required of persons in the universities. It produced a considerable debate, but was rejected by a majority of 159 to 64.

The principal business which occupied the attention of parliament in this session related to the East India Company. A petition was presented to the House of Commons from the Company in March, containing a request for a loan from the public of 1,500,000l. for four years at four per cent. interest, to be repaid by in

stalments of 300,000l. with a restriction of the Company's dividends to six per cent. until half the debt was discharged, after which they might be raised to eight per cent. Other proposals were annexed, one of which was that the Company might be freed from their annual payment of 400,000l. to the public for the remainder of the five years specified in the contract. After this petition had been read, Lord North, having first observed that granting relief to the Company was a matter of necessary policy, but by no means a claim of right or justice, moved two resolutions, which were, in substance, that the affairs of the East India Company are in a state to require parliamentary assistance; and that a loan of 1,400,000%. be granted to it, with the proviso of adopting such regulations as may prevent the recurrence of the like exigence: which were agreed to. In the same month the minister proposed two other resolutions, namely, That supposing the loan above-mentioned be granted to the Company, its dividends shall be restricted to six per cent., till the repayment of the whole sum; and that the Company shall not be permitted to divide more than seven per cent. till its bond debt be reduced to 1,500,000l. : and these also passed without a division. On April 5th, he moved the following resolutions: That it will be more beneficial to the public and the Company to let the territorial acquisitions remain in the Company's possession for a time not exceeding six years, (which was the term of its charter): That no participation of profits between the public and the Company shall take place till the repayment of the loan, and the reduction of the bond debt as above specified: and that after such period, three-fourths of the Company's net profit at home above eight per cent. on its capital stock shall be paid into the exchequer for the public use, and the remaining fourth be set apart, either for reducing the Company's bond debt, or for answering any other exigencies. In these resolutions, the right of the state to the territorial possessions was directly asserted, which was exclaimed against by the opposition, as an extraordinary assump

tion without any legal hearing or decision. They were however agreed to; and as a favour to the Company, it was allowed to export teas duty free. The resolutions being considered by the Company as highly unjust and injurious, a strong petition was presented to the House against them, in which the Company absolutely refused to acquiesce in the proposed allotment of the surplus profits.

On May 3d, the minister moved a string of resolutions as the foundation of a bill "for establishing certain regulations for the better management of the East India Company's affairs, as well in India, as in Europe." By these, the court of directors was to be elected for four "years; the stock for qualification of electors to be raised from 500l. to 1000l. and to have been possessed twelve months previous to election; the mayor's court of Calcutta to be confined to mercantile causes; a new court to be established consisting of a chief justice and three puisne judges, appointed by the crown; and a superiority to be given to the presidency of Bengal over the other presidencies. Every one of these clauses was a topic of warm debate; and the disfranchisement of the 500l. stockholders, above 1200 in number, was the subject of strong petitions from the stockholders themselves, the East India Company, and the City of London. The questions, however, were all carried by great majorities; and on June 10th, the bill framed upon the resolutions was passed through the House of Commons by a majority of more than six to one. It encountered no less opposition in the House of Lords, where a petition from the Company against it was delivered, and council was heard; but in fine, it passed that House by a large majority. From this æra the East India Company has been regarded as entirely in the hands of the ministry.

The close enquiries into East India transactions carried on by the select committee had laid open scenes of rapacity and treachery which deeply involved several of the principal civil and military officers of the Company in India, and were productive of a resolution of the committee, importing that great sums of money and