posal was
rejected; and the exclusive privilege vested in the company was, by act
of parliament, protracted to the year one thousand seven hundred and
sixty-six, upon the following conditions: That they should pay into the
exchequer the sum of two hundred thousand pounds towards the supplies of
the year, without interest or addition to their capital stock: that the
annuity or yearly fund of one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, payable
to them from the public, should be reduced to one hundred and
twenty-eight thousand: that after the year one thousand seven hundred
and sixty-six, their right to the exclusive trade should be liable to be
taken away by parliament, on three years' notice, and repayment of their
capital.

{1730}

THE EMPEROR RESENTS THE TREATY OF SEVILLE.

On the fifteenth day of May, the king went to the house of peers
and closed the session. In his speech he expressed his joy, that,
notwithstanding all the clamours which were raised, the parliament had
approved of those matters which, he said, could not fail to inspire
all mankind with a just detestation of those incendiaries, who, by
scandalous libels, laboured to alienate the affections of his people;
to fill their minds with groundless jealousies and unjust complaints,
in dishonour of him and his government, and in defiance of the sense of
both houses of parliament.*

* In the course of the session the commons passed a bill for
making more effectual the laws in being, for disabling
persons from being chosen members of parliament who enjoyed
any pension during pleasure, or for any number of years, or
any offices holden in trust for them, by obliging all
persons hereafter to be chosen to serve the commons in
parliament to take the oath therein mentioned. In all
probability this bill would not have made its way through
the house of commons, had not the minister been well assured
it would stick with the upper house, where it was rejected
at the second reading, though not without violent
opposition.

The emperor was so much incensed at the insult offered him in the treaty
of Seville, with respect to the garrisons of Tuscany and Parma, that he
prohibited the subjects of Great Britain from trading in his dominions:
he began to make preparations for war, and actually detached bodies of
troops to Italy with such despatch as had been very seldom exerted by
the house of Austria. Yet the ar