The king thanked them for their zeal, professed a warm regard for their constitution, and assured them he would look upon all parties as enemies who should endeavour to lessen the confidence subsisting between the sovereign and the people.

The members in the opposition were not at all satisfied with this general reply.

A day being appointed to take it into consideration, a warm debate was maintained with equal eloquence and acrimony.

At length the question being put that an address should be made for a more explicit answer, it passed in the negative by a great majority.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
The city of London petitioned that a parliamentary provision should be made for the orphans, whose fortunes they had scandalously squandered away.

Such an application had been made in the preceding session, and rejected with disdain, as an imposition on the public; but now those scruples were removed, and the house passed a bill for this purpose, consisting of many clauses, extending to different charges on the city lands, aqueducts, and personal estates; imposing duties on binding apprentices, constituting freemen, as also upon wines and coals imported into London.