he king expressed great satisfaction at meeting the house at
this time, after having recurred, in so important a moment, to the sense
of his people; and recommended to their most serious consideration
the framing of suitable provisions for the good government of our
possessions in the East Indies. The addresses in both houses contained
strong expressions of gratitude to the king for having dissolved the
late parliament; and amendments to omit these expressions, on the ground
of unanimity, were negatived by large majorities. The attention of
the house was first directed to the conduct of the high-bailiff of
Westminister, in refusing to make the return in favour of Fox; and he
was directed to attend at the bar of the house to defend his conduct. In
his defence, he said, that having ground to suspect the validity of
many votes, taken in the course of a poll of six weeks' duration, he
had granted a scrutiny, and that he could not make the return till this
scrutiny terminated. Counsel was heard on both sides as to the legality
of his conduct; and after long pleadings, it was moved and carried,
that "the high-bailiff do proceed in the scrutiny with all possible
dispatch," thereby justifying the unwarrantable step he had taken. The
principle of party spirit prevailed over a sense of justice, for the
scrutiny of an election is nothing more than a revision of the poll
itself, and if such revision cannot be completed before the period at
which the writ is returnable, he is bound by his office and oath to make
the return agreeably to the poll as actually taken. So the counsel on
the side of Fox argued; but the justice of the house was set aside by
the spirit of party, if not revenge.

ACTS TO PREVENT SMUGGLING, ETC.

At this time there was a deficiency of three millions a year in the
revenue of the country. This was principally owing to a failure in the
estimated produce of taxes imposed by Lord North during the war with
America. There were, however, other causes at work to produce this
deficiency, and not the least among them was the universal practice of
smuggling. This practice was, indeed, at the close of the American war,
carried on to an almost incredible extent; government being too much
employed to keep a strict watch over the trade of the country. It is
calculated that forty thousand persons were thus engaged; and Pitt
deemed it expedient to bring in a bill for the prevention of smuggling
in general, and then to pr