one of their officers, and two of their fellow militia-men, when once they began, were not to be kept within bounds. Think what a fhocking found! for near ten minutes, fellow fubjects firing one upon another! and what a horrible frene did I behold afterwards, fome carried by dead in carts, others on horfes; and many were fed along juft dying of their wounds, and covered with blood and to hear the dreadful fhrieks of the women, whofe hufbands or fons were among the rioters, was enough to pierce a heart of ftone. A poor widow, with eight children, and big with another, going into the market, to look after her fon, was fhot dead, and her fon was fhot through the thigh, and they fay cannot live. Another woman who was with child, was fhot 'through the belly, as fhe was ftanding at a window. Befides thete I have mentioned, there are feveral ill who came from Britley, Gungerton, Acton, Wall, and fome from the Shire. There are fixtcen alfo now lying dead in the church-yard to be owned, moft of whom are pitmen. Many have been found upon the road, who had been wounded, and were making their efcape. Among the militia there is only one grenadier killed, befides thofe I mentioned. They reckon in all above 100 killed and wounded, but I am afraid the number will be greater, for they are continually finding more and more, who had run away after being wounded, and had died by themfelves in the holes where they lived.

The first firing difperfed the mob, When hundreds ran into the river, being fo terrified they would not wait for the boat. But the misforture was, the militia kept a con

tinual fire, till I believe there was not a creature left in the marketplace."

By other letters dated the next day, there is an account that the rioters were quelled without doing any, more mifchief; but a letter of the 12th from Berwick fays, that after they difperfed, all the coalworkers gave over their labour, and it was fuppofed that a body of many thoufands were formed by that time: where it will end, God knows; fo variable is the multitude, that a meafure brought about a few years ago by their clamour, appears now to them the most oppreffive that ever a free nation was fubjected to! Forty-two perfons were killed on this occafion, and forty-eight wounded, feveral of them men of confiderable property.

The number of the rioters were between 6 and 7000, armed with clubs with fix or feven inches of pointed iron at the end of them, and the number of the militia only about two hundred.

Lord Ligonier has ordered fome light horfe to go immediately to Hexham, to prevent any further mifchief. And Sir Walter Blacket, Sir Bellingham Grayham, and feveral other gentlemen, immediately fet out for the fame place, to quiet the minds of the people, and to endeavour to bring the ringleaders to juftice; but there fuffered but one man on the occafion, who was executed at Newcastle the beginning of October.

17th.

St. James's. His majesty having this day thought fit to diffolve the privy council, and, at the fame time to appoint a new one, confifting of the fame members with the former council, together with Anthony earl of Shaftefbury, all the lords and others pre[G] 2

fent

fent were thereupon fworn of his majefty's most hon. privy-council, and took their places at the board accordingly.

Several shops were confumed by fire at Newcastle.

18th.

The house of commons unanimously refolved, "That the thanks of this houfe be given to Mr. Speaker, (who, on account of his age, has declined any further fervices in parliament) for his conftant and unwearied attendance in the chair, during the courfe of above thirty-three years, in five fucceffive parliaments; for the unfhaken integrity and steady impartiality of his conduct there; and for the indefatigable pains he had, with uncommon abilities, conftantly taken to promote the real intereft of his king and country, to maintain the honour and dignity of parliament, and to preferve inviolably the rights and privileges of the commons of Great Britain." Upon which Mr. Speaker faid,

"I was never under fo great a difficulty in my life to know what to fay in this place, as I am at prefent. Indeed it is almoft too much for me.I can ftand against misfortunes and diftreffes. I have ftood against misfortunes and diftreffes; and may do fo again; but I am not able to ftand this overflow of good-will and honour to me. It overpowers me; and had I all ftrength of language, I could never exprefs the full fentiments of my heart on this occafion, of thanks and gratitude. If I have been happy enough to perform any fervices here, that are acceptable to the houfe, I am fure I now receive the nobleft reward for them, the nobleft that any man can receive for. any merit; far fuperior in my eftimation to all the other emoluments of

this world. I owe every thing to this houfe; I not only owe to this houfe, that I am in this place, but that I have had their conftant fupport in it; and to their good-will and affiftance, their tenderness and indulgence towards me in my errors, it is that I have been able to perform my duty here to any degree of approbation: thanks therefore are not fo much due to me for these fervices, as to the house itself, who made them to be services to them.

"When I began my duty here, I fet out with a refolution and promife to the house, to be impartial in every thing, and to fhew respect to every body: the firft I know I have done, it is the only merit I can affume; if I have failed in the other, it was unwillingly, it was inadvertently; and I afk pardon moft fincerely to whomfoever it may have happened.I can truly fay the giving fatisfaction to all, has been my conftant aim, my study, and my pride.

"And now, Sirs, I am to take my laft leave of you. It is, I confefs, with regret, because the being within thefe walls has ever been the chief pleasure of my life; but my advanced age and infirmities, and fome other reafons, call for retirement and obfcurity. There I fhall fpend the remainder of my days; and fhall only have power to hope and to pray, and my hopes and prayers, my daily prayer will be for the continuance of the conftitution in general, and that the freedom, the dignity, and authority of this houfe may be perpetual."

It was immediately refolved, nem. con. "That the thanks of the houfe be given to the Speaker, for what he has now faid to the house; and that the fame be printed in the votes."

It was alfo refolved, nem. con. "That an humble addrefs be prefented to his majefty, humbly to befeech his majefty, that he will be gracioufly pleafed to confer fome fignal mark of his royal favour upon the right hon. Arthur Onflow, Efq. fpeaker of this houfe, for his great and eminent fervices, performed to his country, for the fpace of thirtythree years and upwards, during which he has with fuch diftinguish ed ability and integrity, prefided in the chair of this houfe; and to affure his majefty, that whatever expence his majefty fhall think proper to be incurred upon that account, this houfe will make good the fame to his majefty."

To this addrefs his majefty was pleafed to give the following moft gracious anfwer, viz.

"That he has the jufteft fenfe of the long fervices and great merit of Mr. Onflow, prefent speaker of the houfe of commons; and has already taken the fame into his confideration; and that he would do therein what should appear to be moft proper, agreeable to the defire of his faithful commons."

19th. His majefty went to the houfe of Peers, and gave the royal affent to the following bills.The bill for granting to his majefty one million for the ufes therein mentioned, and for exempting any annuity, or fums of money granted or to be granted to the royal family, from the payment of taxes.-The bill to enable his majefty to raise a certain fum of money towards difcharging the debt of the navy.The bill for the better prefervation of the game, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland.-The bill for the relief of infolvent debtors. The bill for enlarging the harbour of Whitehaven, in the county of

Cumberland.-The bill for granting to his majefty a certain fum out of the finking fund.-The bill to render more effectual an act for the limitation of the crown, and better fecuring the rights of the fubject relating to commiffions and falaries of judges, and for the payment of judges falaries out of all or any of the revenues which shall be applicable to the ufes of the civil government.-The bill for defraying the charge of pay of the militia of that part of Great Britain called England, when unembodied and for clothing of the militia now unembodied.-The bill for granting to his majefty the fum of fifteen thousand pounds per annum, for defraying the charges of his majesty's mints, and coinage of gold and filver monies, and the duties of ten fhillings per ton upon all wines, vinegar, cyder, and beer, imported into Great Britain.-And to feveral private bills. And then his majefty put an end to the feffion by a moft gracious fpeech, which the reader will find in our collection of State Papers..

As to the above infolvent act, no perfon can take the benefit of it, that was not actually in cuftody before the 25th of October laft, except thofe who were arrested before the faid 25th of October, and furrendered themfelves before the 28th of November. Likewife debtors who were beyond the feas on the fame 25th of October, furrendering themfeives, may have the fame benefitNo perfon difcharged by this act, are liable to be arrested for debts contracted before the 25th of October.Bankrupts not obtaining their certificates in due time, are excluded in this act.All attornies embezzling their clients mo ney, are alfo excluded.-The fu

[G] 3

ture

ture effects and eftates of prisoners difcharged, liable to their creditors.Debtors to the crown, and prifoners who owe above 10001. to one perfon, unless the creditors confent, are excluded in this act; and creditors oppofing the prifoner's difcharge, to allow him 3s. 6d. per week; on non-payment to be difcharged.All perfons entitled to the benefit of this act, are to obtain their difcharges before the 31ft of March, 1763.-Likewife by a claufe never inferted in any former act of infolvency, creditors may compel any prifoner, already or hereafter charged in exe'cution, to appear at the quarterfeffions, with the copy of his detainer, and deliver in a schedule of his eftate, and on his fubfcribing the fame, and making a difcovery of his eftate, he is to be difcharged; on refufing fo to do, or concealing to the amount of 201. fuffers as a fellon.-Prifoners upon procefs out of the courts of, confcience, are included in this act; and all who took the benefit of the act 28th George II. to be excluded.

-Mariners, and thofe who have been in the fea or land fervice, are upon their difcharge, if under fifty years of age, and approved of, to ferve during the prefent war; and if they defert, may be arrested and imprifoned at the fuit of their creditors.

It is computed that there will not be less than 600 perfons cleared by the above infolvent act, from the prifons in and near this metropolis, who have been in the land and fea fervice, and who by this act will be obliged to go again.

The compulfive claufe in this infolvent act, may be taken advantage of, and as prifoner difcharg

ed, in virtue of it, without any debt at all being fubfifting, or any oath or proof made of one, as thus: The prifoner may confefs a judgment to his, friend for a fham debt, execution may be taken out thereon, and the prifoner charged therewith. In this cafe, the prifoner will ftand charged in execution, juft in the fame manner as if it were a real debt; and upon notice in the Gazette, from the fham creditor, (and in other refpects alfo purfuing the act) the prifoner muft be difcharged; and, as no oath of a debt previous to the confefling fuch judgment is neceffary; fo neither have the juftices any the leaft authority to enquire into the reality of it, nor to call the creditor before them to make proof of it. The remedy (if it is thought to want one) must be left to thofe only, who have the power to apply it.

The city of Chefter hath a peculiar court, called a court of Exchequer, (the only one of the kind in England) out of which all or moft of the writs in that county are iffued; and when any perfon is arrefted by a writ out of that court; he is kept confined (unless he can and bail) till the next day of appearance, and then brought to the bar, where it is demanded of him, to pay down the fum due to his creditor, with cofts, or give immediate fecurity to the court for it; neither of which demands it is in the power of the unhappy debtor to comply with, or he certainly would not have been brought before that court, nor fuffered the difcredit of an arrelt. Upon his involuntary refufal, he is committed to jail, not as a debtor, but for difobeying an order which is impoffible for him to obey.

By

By this means no perfon arrefted by a Chefter Exchequer writ can reap any benefit from this act, though every way a proper object of it.

A caution to charitable perfons. I had, for feveral years, the care of a large parish in the fuburbs of London, in which was a prifon for debt. Somewhat more than twenty years ago, I received a letter from one Dr. Burnett, who lived fomewhere near Bristol, defiring me to fend him an account of the number and circumstances of the prifoners in our jail. I accordingly made the ftrictest enquiry in my power, and wrote back word, that at one of my vifits, I found the number of perfons confined to be eleven, and at another, thirteen; that they were in for very trifling fums, and that, if he pleafed to authorise me, I was confident, I could difcharge them all for a very little money. To make my story short, feveral letters paffed between us, when at last he wrote me word, that his fellow truftee, a lady of rank, did not chufe any one fhould do the bufinefs but himself; and that he would call upon me in a little time to thank me in perfon, for the trouble he had given me in this affair. In a few days afterwards he did call upon me, and informed me, he had been down at the prifon, and releafed five and thirty of the moft miferable objects that could be conceived.

Being greatly aftonifhed at fo great and fo fudden an increafe of prifoners, it not being two months fince I took an account of them, I immediately went to work, with all my might, in order to fatisfy myfelf about it. And in this I met with no trouble at all, it being well known in the neighbourhood, that

as the jailor had always notice of the doctor's coming, in order to get the difcharges ready, fo in the morning before he came, he (the jailor) got between twenty and thirty poor neighbours to be fhut up in the prifon, for which trouble they ufually had a crown a piece, and who were discharged three or four hours afterwards in great form.

I was moreover informed, that the jailor's mother was always one of thefe fictitious prifoners, and that the had been difcharged by Dr. Burnett a great many times.

Thus the best things are fometimes abused; and to what fad purposes one of the nobleft legacies was perverted, in the inftance bebefore us. R. F.

A proclamation was iffued 21ft. for diffolving the prefent parliament, and declaring the calling of another, the writs to bear tefte this day, and to be returnable May 19th; and two others, one for the election of the fixteen peers for Scotland, on May 5th, and another for continuing all officers, not already removed or discharged, for the fpace of four months, &c. His majefty alfo ordered writs to be iffued for the election of the members for the convocation of the clergy.

His majefty was pleafed to declare the right hon. the earl of Hallifax, lieut. gen. and general governor of his majesty's kingdom of Ireland.

To appoint the duke of Newcastle, Wm. vife. Barrington, [in the room of Mr. Lerge] lord North, James Ofwald, Efq; and Gilbert Elliot, Efq; [in the room of [G] 4

James