Proprietors, in any the Matters intrufted to the faid Di--rectors and Managers, we do not find any Provifion in the faid Act to rectify the fame, nor conceive how it can be done, unless by Application to, and by Confent of the faid Directors and Managers, who are the Directors of the South-Sea Company, and no other; which, we think, could never be the Meaning of the Act, but that the Intent thereof muft be, that the faid Trufts of Directors and Managers fhould have been executed by im-partial and indifferent Perfons. 4thly, We conceive, that the faid Act exprefsly requires the Commiffioners of the Treafury to appoint fit Perfons to be Directors and Managers for executing the Powers and Trufts above fpecified; and therefore, if the abovementioned Reafons did not fufficiently prove the Conflitution in the Question not to be agreeable to the faid Act, yet it feems very clear to us, that the Directors of the South-Sea Company were, of all others, the most unfit for fuch a Truft, and confequently not fuch Perfons as are exprefsly required by the faid Act. And we cannot agree, that the faid Conftitution is precedented. 1. Because the Precedents produced are all in Time before the paffing the Act of Parliament,, on which the prefent Question did arife; and therefore, in our Opinion, can be of no Weight in determining any Queftion that dependeth on the Contruction of the faid A, unlefs fuch Precedents had been founded on fome former A&t or Acts of Parliament, the fame in all material Points with the Act abovemention'd; which, it appears to us, neither the faid Charter, nor Commiffions or Ap pointments produced as Precedents were. 2. All the Cafes relied on, as Precedents (except the laft) are, as we conceive, widely differing from the Cafe in Queftion; that marked No. 1. is dated before the Erection of the South-Sea Company, and therefore did not, nor could confer any Powers on the Directors of the Company, which was not then in Being, but is di rected to the Members of other Corporations, divers great Officers, and very many other Ferfons, in Order to the erecting the South-Sea Company; the five for lowing, from No. 2 to No. 6, included, are indeed to › impower K5 impower the Directors of the South-Sea Company, but 'tis only to take Subfcriptions of Tallies, Orders, Debentures, and the like Government Securities, and to compute the Intereft due thereon, in order to the admitting the Proprietors into the Company, at the Rates flated in the Acts of Parliament, to which the Charter and Commiffions relate; but none of them impower the Directors of the South-Sea Company to enter, adjust, or certify, or to do any Matter relating to Contracts to be made, whereto the Company was to be made a Party, as in the prefent Cafe. 3. And as to the said laft Cafe, cited as a Precedent, marked No 7. which comes the nearest to the prefent, the Directors of the South-Sea Company being thereby appointed Directors and Managers (which they are not by any of the former) to execute all the Powers given to Directors and Managers by the Act of the fifth of his prefent Majefty, for redeeming the Fund appropriated for the Payment of the Lottery-Tickets, yet neither by that Appointment, or the A&t referr'd to, had the Directors of the South-Sea Company any Authority to do any thing in relation to Contracts or Bargains to be made, wherein the Company was to be made a Party; and therefore not to be compared to the prefent Cafe. 4. But if the faid laft and only Precedent, not before taken notice of, had been a Precedent in Point, yet it baring Date no longer ago than the 4th of May, 1719, and being figned by four of the five Commiffioners of the Treafury, who have fign'd the Appointment, which it is brought to juftify, and having paffed under filence, no Occafion having happen'd to draw the Validity thereof into Question, it could be, as we conceive, of no Authority to fupport the faid laft Appointment when it was drawn in Question, and ordered to be confidered by the Committee of the whole House appointed to enquire into the Causes of the late unhappy Turn of Affairs, which has fo much affected the Publick Credit at home. For the aforefaid Reasons, and left it might be deemed to be a prejudging of a Matter that may poffibly be brought judicially before us. Wharton, Die Mercurii 8° Martii, 1720. The Houfe (according to Order) refumed the adjourn ed Debate which arofe on Saturday laft, upon the Re port then made from the Committee of the whole House to whom the Bill entitled, An Act to preferve and encourage the Woollen and Silk Manufactures of this Kingdom, and for the more effectual employing the Poor by prabibiting the Ufe and Wear of all printed, painted, ftained or dyed Callicoes in Apparel, Houbold-ftuff, Furniture, or otherwife, after the 25th of December, 1722 (except as therein is excepted) was committed, That the Committee had gone through the faid Bill without any Amendment. And it being propofed in the 19th Line of the ift Prefs to leave out the Word [two] and infert the Word [one] in order to fhorten the Time of the Commencement of the faid Bill, Contents 71 Diffentient' After Debate, the Question was put, whether the Word [two] fall ftand as Part of the Bill? It was refolved in the Affirmative. ft, Becaufe is appears to us very extraordinary, and as we believe is unprecedented, that any Bill of this Nature should not take Effect till fo long after the palling thereof, and even almost a Year after the Parliament, in which it is paffed, muft legally determine. 2dly, We think the Delay in this Cafe the more unreafonable, the Miferies of the People propofed to be remedied by this Bill requiring a fpeedy Redress; and after the Lofs of the like Bill the lait Seffions, deferring the Relief for near two Years longer may, we fear, reduce the poor Manufacturers to fuch Want as may endanger the Publick Peace, or make as many as cin turn themselves to other Bufinefs, to the Ruin of the Woollen Manufactures of this Kingdom, ・3dly 3dly, We conceive, that till the Bill fhall take Place, it will rather encourage than hinder the buying of printed Callicoes, which is at present obftructed, by the Apprehenfion of a much nearer and stricter Prohibition; but when it fhall be known not to extend to any Callicoes which shall be made in Furniture before he 25th of December, 1722, and that the fame may be continued in Ufe till worn out, it cannot but be a great Inducement to the People to furnish themselves therewith. 4thly, We do not think it improbable, confidering the mighty Influence the great Companies may have on publick Affairs, but that Attempts may be made, even be; fore the Provifions of the Act take Place, to repeal it; and we cannot take upon us to determine what the Senfe of a new Parliament may be on this Subject. 5thly, And we apprehend the deferring the Remedy of the Mischiefs, fet forth in the Preamble of the Bill, for fo long a Time, may disappoint, in a great measu e, the Hopes which the People of this Kingdom have fo jufly entertained of having an End put to the Difficulties the Woollen Manufactures lie under in this Seffion of Parlia Die Luna 13o Novembris, 1721.. The Houfe (according to Order) proceeded to take into Confideration his Majefty's moft Gracious Speech from the Throne. And the fame being read, A Motion was made that this Houfe do, on Friday next, take into Confideration the Caufes of contracting fo large a Navy-Debt, and the best Methods of preven ting the contracting, the like Debt for the future. And a Question being ftated thereupon, It was propofed to leave out the Words following, viz. [and the beft Methods of preventing the contracting the like, Debt for the future.] Con After Debate, the Queftion was put whether thefe Words [and the best Methods of preventing the contracting the like Debt for the future] fhall ftand Part of the Queftion?: It was refolved in the Negative. Diffentient 7 ft, Because the principal End of all Parliamentary Inquiries into Mif-managements being to prevent the like for the future, we thought it more agreeable to the Candour and Honour of the Houfe to exprefs it plainly in the Question itself, than leave it to be implied only; and the rather, because it seemed to us, the Words left out clearly imported that nothing perfonal was in View, but the Publick-Good only, which, we thought, would rather have given Satisfaction to the Minds of every noble Lord, than the Contrary. 2dly, When the Words now ordered to be left out were, for the Reafon given, fo properly and naturally, as we conceive, made a Part of the Queftion, we could not but apprehend that the laying them afide on Debate might create a Sufpicion, tho' unjust, that this Houfe did not intend to prevent, if poffible, the contracting a large and inconvenient Navy-Debt for the future. it 3dly, His Majefty having, in his Speech from the Throne, obferved the ill Confequences that arife from fuch a large Debt remaining unprovided for, we thought very proper, if not neceffary, in the Refolution taken, to enter into the Confideration of that Debt, to exprefs a Defire of preventing the like inconvenient Debt being contracted for the future; and that the doing fo did not at all prejudge the Caufes of contracting the prefent. great Navy-Debt; for however neceffarily or jullifiably an inconvenient Thing might have once happen'd, yet we think it ought, if it can, to be prevented from hafpening fo again. 4thly, His Majesty having likewife obferved in his Speech from the Throne, that this Part of the NationalDebt is, of all others, the moft heavy and burthenfome ;; and having fet forth the Mischiefs arifing from the high Discount on the Navy and Victualling Bills, we thought ourfelves fufficiently warranted to express a Defire to confider |