this bill should be rejected, the good
sense and spirit of the people would persevere session after session,
till the judgment of parliament should be revoked. The bill was
rejected, and thirty-eight peers signed a protest.

When this bill was lost, the Earl of Chatham demanded that the house
should be summoned on the 4th, as he had a motion to make of great
importance relative to the king. On the day appointed, his lordship
moved, "That the advice inducing his majesty to give the answer to the
late address, remonstrance, and petition of the lord mayor, aldermen,
and livery of London, was of a most dangerous tendency, inasmuch as
thereby the exercise of the rights of the subject to petition the king
for redress of grievances, to complain of violations of the freedom
of election, to pray dissolution of parliament, and to point out
malpractices in administration, to urge the removal of evil ministers,
etc., had been indiscriminately checked with reprimand; and the
afflicted citizens of London had heard from the throne itself, that the
contents of their humble addresses could not but be considered by his
majesty as disrespectful, injurious, etc." The noble lord said that an
answer so harsh as this exceeded all precedent in the history of this
country; that the very essence of the constitution not only permitted,
but required petitioning; and that the Stuarts themselves never dared to
prevent the practice. He then eulogized the lord mayor and the liverymen
of London, and in conclusion, pronounced Colonel Luttrell as a mere
nominee thrust in by the enemies of the law and constitution. The motion
was negatived by a large majority.

{GEORGE II. 1769-1771}

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

On the 1st of May, the opposition in the house of commons called for
the correspondence of the American colonies, and subsequently Mr. Burke
moved eight resolutions relating to the troubles in those colonies, and
censuring the plan ministers were pursuing. The previous question was
carried against the first of these resolutions, the second, third, and
fourth were negatived, and the previous question was carried against the
remainder. Similar resolutions were moved in the house of lords by the
Duke of Richmond; but they were all negatived by a large majority. On
the 14th, however, nothing daunted, the Earl of Chatham coupled the
discontents of America with those in England and Ireland, and founded
a motion on them for an address to dissolve the p