age from his majesty informed the house of
commons that a body of Hessians was placed in temporary winter-quarters
at Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, with a view to co-operate with the
royalists in Brittany and the neighbouring districts. As similar cases
had occurred at different periods, and as the cause and necessity of
such a measure were obvious, it was concluded by government that the
usual communication of the fact to parliament would be satisfactory;
but opposition contended that Pitt ought to have moved for a bill of
indemnity; and he was charged with having violated the Bill of Rights
and the Act of Settlement. Mr. Grey moved, as a resolution of the house,
that to employ foreigners in any situation of military trust, or to
bring foreign troops into the kingdom, without the consent of parliament
first had and obtained, is contrary to law. This motion, however, was
negatived; and propositions made in both houses, at a subsequent
date, for a bill of indemnity, met with no better success, ministers
contending that it would be absurd to indemnify measures which were in
themselves both justifiable and constitutional.

THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

In the course of this session, a bill, brought forward by Wilberforce
and supported by Pitt, for the abolition of that branch of the
slave-trade by which we had supplied the islands, was passed by the
commons, despite the strenuous opposition of the West Indian interest.
It was, however, thrown out in the house of lords, and a motion for
referring to a committee the further hearing of evidence concerning the
slave-trade was likewise negatived.

MOTION ON BEHALF OF LA FAYETTE.

On the 17th of March General Fitzpatrick moved for an addresss to his
majesty, beseeching him to intercede with the King of Prussia for the
release of La Fayette, who was confined in one of his prisons. The
situation of La Fayette and his companions excited the sympathy of many
persons; but there were others who had no fellow-feeling for them. Burke
said, that La Fayette, instead of being termed an "illustrious exile,"
was then, and ought always to be, an outcast of the world; who, having
no talents to guide or influence the storm which he had laboured to
raise, fled like a coward from the bloodshed and massacre in which he
had involved so many thousands of unoffending persons and families. Pitt
denied that La Fayette's conduct had ever been friendly to the genuine
cause of liberty; an