He  mtertained  a  very  high  respect  for  the  usage  of  parliament ;
but  he  thought  that  a  custom,  which  was  not  justified  by  any
solid  arguments,  ought  to  be  renounced.  As  the  printing  of  the
tax  bills  would  be  attended  with  the  happiest  effects,  he  hoped
no  gentleman  would  oppose  a  measure  of  such  general  utility  to
the  country.  He  should  always  be  an  advocate  for  a  rigid  ad-
herence to  the  customs  of  parliament ;  but  any  usf^^  or  regula-
tions founded  on  absurdity,  he  would  never  countenance.  He
applauded  the  parliamentary  maxim  of  not  admitting  petitions
against  a  tax  bill,  during  the  same  session  in  which  the  law  was
passed.  If  such  a  law  were  not  enforced,  there  would  otherwise
arise  very  unnecessary  delays.  The  motion  which  he  now  meant
to  submit  to  the  house  had  no  tendency  of  the  kind ;  and  what
it  was  designed  to  remedy,  was  not  justified  by  any  order  of  the
bouse,  but  only  by  practice.  As  taxation  had  now  increased  to
a  vCTy  great  degree,  it  was  found  expedient  to  invest  justices
of  the  peace  with  more  extensive  powers  than  they  had  hitherto
possessed.  The  blunders  and  confusion  which  had  ensued  from
the  multiplication  of  the  laws  within  these  two  yearst  had  been
attended  with  much  injury  to  the  revenue,  and  with  much  in-
convenience and  molestation  to  the  subjects.  It  was,  therefore,
by  no  means  strange,  if  those  wise-heads,  often  called  justices  of
the  peace,  were  puzzled  in  endeavouring  to  expound  the  nature
of  the  new  regulations.  Parliament  should,  in  consequence  of
these  defects,  adopt  some  mode  of  affording  gentlemen  an  oppor-
tunity to  consider  the  minutite  of  the  new  acts.  He  was  asto-
niabed  bow  the  clerks  could  form  an  index  from  such  imperfect
materials.  As  the  journals  had  undergtme  such  various  and
complicated  alterations  he  imagined  that  a  discovery  of  a  real
reference  in  the  index  might  be  ranked  among  the  marvellous.
