§ Lord clive reported from the Select Committee appointed to try the merits of the Portsmouth Election,—"That the committee had determined, that it appeared to the said committee, that the merits of the petition did in part depend upon the right of election; and therefore the committee required the counsel on both sides to deliver to the clerk of the committee statements in writing of the right of election, for which they respectively contended: That, in consequence thereof, the counsel for the petitioner delivered in a statement as follows; That the right of voting in the borough of Portsmouth, as contended for by the petitioner, is in the mayor, "aldermen, and burgesses of the said be' rough only, such mayor, aldermen, and burgesses being resident within the said borough, and the limits and liberties thereof:' That the counsel for the sitting member delivered in a statement, as follows: "That the right of election of 'burgesses to serve in parliament for the borough of Portsmouth is in the mayor, 863 'aldermen, and burgesses of the said bo-`rough only:' That upon the statement delivered in by the counsel for the petitioner, the said committee have determined, that the right of election, as set forth in the said statement, is not the right of election for the borough of Portsmouth, in the county of Southampton: That upon the statement delivered in by the counsel for the sitting member, the said committee have determined, That the right of election, as set forth in the said statement, is the right of election for the said borough of Portsmouth: That the said committee have determined, That admiral John Markham is duly elected a burgess to serve in this present parliament for the said borough; that the said committee have also determined, that the petition of the said sir George Cockburn did not appear to the committee to be frivolous or vexatious."