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IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 26. Causes cf the late Change in Administration. Lord llowfck addressed the Speaker nearly in the following terms: Sir, as a motion has been made by an hon. gentleman I'orthc adjournment ofthe house during that period, which, at this season ol the year, is usually al lowed as a relief from the fatigues of business, I trust it will not be consid ered improper or irrelevant in me, to take the opportunity of giving the house that explanation which last night I intimated, that it was my intention to communicate. It is of the utmost importance to myself and my col leagues, that the circumstances which led to the recent change in his majes ty’s councils, should be fully and fair ly explained. It is undoubtedly of considerable importance to the house and to the public, to receive that ex planation, that they may be enabled to form a proper estimate of the character and disposition of those persons to whom the administration of the coun try has been lately entrusted; of the transactions which led to the dismis sal of those persons, and of the proba ble result of the change. These con siderations render important also the decision ol’the present question, as to the propriety of a longer or shorter ad journment of the House, from the ne cessity that may occur of bringing for ward some measure which the late ex traordinary .events may shew to be expedient. For myself, sir, every feel in:;-, every motive by which man can be actuated, makes it of the highest importance to me, that as soon as pos sible 1 may have the opportunity ol convincing the house, that my belia vionr in this affair has not been as to induce them to repent the kind ness which l have ever had the good fortune to receive at their hands. Eve ry moment’s delay, while, during that moment, a doubt may be entertained by the house ol'the conduct of mysell and my colleagues, who have hereto fore enjoyed so many instances of their (listingui died confidence and support, is indeed to me most painful. But anxious, sir, as I naturally am, to clear myself and those with whom I have had the honor to act, from the imputa tions that have been cast upon us, 1 tael in common with the hon., gentle man who so expressed himself yester day evening (Air. Sturges Bourne) great regret at the necessity which i a.n under of doing so in the absence oi taosc who, as some seem to think, ought to be present, to watch my state ments, and. detect my inaccuracies. In r aying this, I am far from imputing to tint hon. gentleman the intention ol tin ■ wing out any unfair insinuations. I know well the natural partiality every o ie entertains for himself, and I know that partiality may bias a man, and in duce him to take a view, perhaps not sti iat '.y correct, of a subject in which he. is personally interested ; l am, therefore, as anxious as the hon. gen t mui can be, tint those persons sh m.d be present at the investigation tu the tran actions l have alluded to ; and 1 earnestly hope that this matter may yet be discussed on some future ti e , wnen those honorable gentlemen m.iv assist the house in examining and sitting the details of it in every part, from the commencement to the con clusion. Sir, it is neither in my na ilin', nor in my habits, to shrink from the examination of mv life ; but l am reduced to this alternative, either to submit to have the public mind preju diced by reports and misrepresenta tions, supported by partial extracts from confidential papers, or, in the ab sence ol’ those, who cannot now be present, to do that which justice to myself, and to my colleagues, impe riously calls upon me to do, by a fair, open, and manly exposition of every part of the late transactions, to afford the only antidote against the mischiev ous effects of those garbled statements and wilful misrepresentations. Under &uch circumstances, sir, it is impossi ble, In the fulfilment of my duty to my self, to my- colleagues, to the house, and to niv country, to suffer such a pe riod to elapse before I make this ex planation, as must necessarily inter vene, ere the persons to whom I have alluded can resume their scats in par liament. Their absence, however, will have this effect; it will induce me to coniine myself as closely as possible to a dry statement of facts. I shall carefully avoid e very thing that may lead to a discussion, and dwell on those points alone which are necessary for t!e vindication of myself and my b iends. I shall cautiously’ abstain from entering into any argument founded on the facts which I shall relate, leav ing, until after the holidays, wnen-those gentlemen will take their places on the opposite benches, the further investi gation c f this business. Having promised this much, sir, I shail proceed, with as much clearness as I can, to make the statement that I have promised. It is well known, sir, that when the late administration was formed, it contained in it, many mem bers whose opinions and principles, on v iiat is termed, the Catholic Question, had been recently manifested by their speeches and voleo in parliament. They came into administration, therefore, with a general knowledge of those principles and opinions ; for certainly no expectation could have been enter tained that those persons whose char acters were sufficiently known, would be willing, for the sake of any consid erations of emolument, to abandon principles which they h and so lately end so warmly espoused. No such requi sition, sir, was in fact made to them; in support of their honor, and I am sure that they would have felt it strong ly to be their duty then, as now, to de cline office. While I assert, that the sentiments of the greater part of the members of the late administration on this subject, were well known on their coming into power, 1 do not pretend to deny that the difficulties which ex isted in tire way of any further conces sion to-the Catholics of England and Ireland were also well known. But as tin y came into office unfettered, and free to offer their advice on this impor tant question, so also, I will answer for evuy individual of them, they came into office with*a sincere desire, while they adhered to their principles, to a void every subject that might prove repugnant to those feelings, which they were bound, by evi ry motive of duty, of affection, and of attachment, to res pect. (Hear! hear! hear!) —This, sir, was the state ol'the case; their o pinionsoathe Catholic question were Will known; but they hoped, by a con ciliatory mode of government, to keep that question at rest. For a long tune no difficulty occurred; at length, to wards the end of last year, some cir cumstances took place in the west oi Ireland'—the most valuable, and 1 very much fear that 1 must add, the most vulnerable part of the empire—which called upon his majesty’s ministers for attention, and which strongly excited the anxiety that such circumstances must naturally excite. Unwilling to use that force, which, but two days after the meeting of this parliament, was strongly recommended by a person in this house, who was too impatient to wait for the operation of more leni ent measures, his majesty’s ministers hoped, and that hope was gratified, to reduce the spirit of disturbance, that had been manifested by a vigorous exertion of the power of the laws alone, without resorting to any intemperate proceedings. This occurrence, how ever, naturally led to the consideration of some measure, which might at once give satisfaction to the people of Ire land, and strengthen the means and policy ol'the empire. Various were the propositions that were agitated in the cabinet, but the one which was deemed to be the most obviously ad vantageous, was that, sir, which 1 had the honor to recommend to tiie adop tion of this house. It appeared to us calculated to be highly beneficial to the empire at large, by affording the means of recruiting, to the greatest possible extent, the army and navy, from which so many persons are now excluded by what we conceive to be a weak and ill understood policy. It appeared to us calculated to be highly beneficial to Ireland, for the reasons which I have before stated in this house, as tending to tranquilizc that country, by holding out to the gentry, the prospect of rising in the military and naval services, and thus attaching them to this country, and also by affording a vent to the per haps superabundant population of Ire land, and thus drawing from the very sources of discontent, the means of strength and union. These, sir, were the motives by which we were ‘actuated. It is surely not necessary to repeat, and yet the base arts which are prac tised with so much industry, may make it useful to repeat, that in this measure our object was not to invade, but to secure the establishments'of the empire. If Ireland were rendered in secure, the establishments of England would be exposed to greater danger than any which could possibly result from such a boon to the Catholics. If, under such circumstances, a success ful invasion of Ireland by the enemy were to take place, I call upon those who accuse, us of endangering tire es tablishments of this country, in God’s name, to consider to what hazard those establishments would then be subject. : Sir, while this measure was under the ; consideration of his majesty’s minis ters, letters were received from the ! lord lieutenant of Ireland, in which his ! grace stated, that a disposition had a risen among the Catholics, to prose cu'e the claims that they had so imsuc | cessfully urged in the imperial parlia j nient. Sir, I was the known suopor | ter of those claims, but I could nota void considering the prosecution of them at that moment as most impolitic. As far as my private opinion went, I did strongly recommend the discon tmirance of any such attempt. The par tial measure then under contemplation appeared admirably suited to induce that discontinuance, and that discon tinuance was effected. Such, sir, were our inducements; the general inducements of policy and principle. But wc had also another inducement; we did hope that this limited measure would not encounter the opposition to which we well knew the general question was exposed. In reverting to the act of the Irish Parlia ment of 1793, we found that a pledge had been given by the highest servants of the crown, that a similar measure should be brought forward in this country. Tins pledge was recorded in the Secretary of State’s Office, by a dispatch from lord Hobart, in which lie distinctly stated the fact. Thus, becoming a question not of policy a loue, but also of good faith, we did hope that tiie limited measure might receive that assent and approbation, of which, on the more general question, we therefore sedulously avoided. On these grounds, the measure that I had the honor of introducing into the house, was submitted to his majesty. A detailed dispatch, which I wish it was in my power to lay on the table, was written to the lord lieutenant of Ireland, stating explicitly the motives for tlus measure, and this detailed dis patch was sent to his majesty, accom panied by a cabinet minister. From that first proposition, his majesty cer tainly expressed a strong dissent: on that dissent being made known to them, the cabinet deliberated, and the result was a respectful representation to his majesty of the grounds on which they thought the measure expedient. To those representations were return ed an answer, in which his majesty, with considerable reluctance unques tionably, signified his assent—certain ly with reluctance, but a positive as sent. Under the sanction of this as sent, the dispatch was sent to the lord lieutenant. At a meeting of the Ca tholics in Ireland, Mr. Elliot, the se cretary of state, informed them of the t separate measure which it was inten ded to propose. Some discussions en sued; and to a question from Mr. O’Connor, whether every ran ft in the army was to be opened to the Catho lics, or whether they were still to be precluded from the staff’, Mr. Llliot'S answer was, that as the words of the dispatch implied that the Catholics would be allowed to hold any commis sion in the army, cn taking an oatfr of allegiance, he conceived that the stars was included. A dispatch, containing an account of this conference, was sent to his majesty’s government at home; and saon alter a second dispatch,, in which it was stated, that the subject had been conferred to tlx consideration of a general meeting of Catholics, by whom, notwithstanding the doubts that had been incidentally thrown cut, it was understood that every military situation was to be rendered accessible :o them. These dispatch.es, sir, c4>n aining these explicit statements, were lent to his majesty at Windsor, and received his most gracious perusal, but no objection whatever was them made by his majesty to the measure which they related. However, subse quently to this period, there certainly did arise a doubt, whether the mea sure was distinctly understood in its fullest extent. It is only fair to say, tiuit this doubt originated wit 1C some members of the cabinet. On its be ing started, I, and others of those with wlicm I had the honor to act, were most anxious that it should be com pletely removed, before the introduc tion of the measure into parliament. • (To be continued.) TIIE ARTS. The printing bufinefsin the United States labor* under no difficulty or ohflrudion so great as that which arises from the scarcity of rags; of course the scarcity and high price of paper, w hich has not only retarded, but prevented many ufefu! publications— Au- K.ORA. ft is very certain that as many ran* are now wafted in the United States, through the indifference and inat. tention of house keepers, as would supply many hun dred thousand reams of paper...why do not heads of families, if they do not set any value on the price of rags, at least set fome value on the advantages which the country would derive front so laudable a spirit af economy?...if they think nothing of the proceed) oft wa er three or a dozen pounds of rags, there are ttfefdl public inllittttions which will not rejeifl them as dona tions.—ibid. The number of carding machines, erected in fhi* (late within two years, is really surprising; and the quantity of wool carded, spun, dyed, and woven into coatings, exceeds every calculation that has been made for years part.—ibid. Machinery for carding and spinning cotton is row eftabldhed in Kentucky, on a very liberal feale. Ar rangements ara making to introduce cotton fpinn-ng machinery in Tennefiee.—ibid. Domestic MANorscrusrs—The manufacture of Tortoiseshell and Horn Combs, in Philadelphia, has arrived at a stage of utility, elegance and qua ity, which may be jullly said to be eftabifhed. The prices are so moderate, as to destroy the danger of injury from importation—-ibid. Alexandria, May 11. Shearing of Jour Lambs of the Arlington Tm . proved, or American Long IVoolled breed of Sheep. Agreeably to our promise to our readers, we have obtained an accurate account of the (hearing according to the w eight of carcase ; from which may be foimed a comparative view of the value of the fleece. Mr. Vint and Mr. Young, from the city, both of whom were in a habit of breeding sheep in England, and from long experience best calculated to judge in the present instance, attended on Saturday at Arling ton, and Iheared the four lambs above mentioned-, whole fleece and weight were as follow : 1. A ewe of one year old, carcase eflrmated at ftven pounds per quarter. Fleece seven pounds. Length of woof, nine inches. 2. A lam lamb of one year old ; C3rcafe ten pounds per quarter. Fluece, seven and a half pounds. Length, nine inches. 3. A ram lamb of one year old ; carcase, eleven pounds per quarter. Fleece, seven pounds and a quar ter. Length, nine inches. 4. A ewe lamb of one year old ; carcase, tight pounds per quarter. Fleece, five pounds and three quarters Length, eight inches. The lambs were all bred from Bakeweil, the prise ram of 1306, and eroded upon the lad improvements Addison says, that a dog has been the companion of man for 6000 years, and has learned of hi ui only one of his vices...that is, to worry his fpeties when he finds them in diflrefs. Tie a sauce-pan to a dog's tail and another will fail on him...put a man in prilon for debt, and another will lodge a attainder ag unil him.