Star. — London, England, 1818-01-29 00:00:00

4 1 , 1 • . '. i, i i . ' f 1 1 1 , ) ._, , :i 1) ~ (.!.. . ; I' • 1 . ). • 1 . 4:1 'i 1 ' tt Ii ( r .. 4 4 1 k 1:v1 1 ' : I . I l ' i V , , \ I 4 :.• PARthliktP=EE . . . lIOURR OF 1.014D2, JANUARY 2s. • . The Duke of Nonni' .1.1111,11. LA D and the Bishop yf KLLotag, tooKibe oaths and their seats. AIL Davies, from the Rolls Chapel, presented the Inrollment or Letters Patent, granting the office of Clerk of the Parii.uuenta Obilitie Hamar Rose, IReq. in reversion.—Ordered to tie on alts Tables The Ran of LIVERPOOL laid on the table the Treaty with *gin, ogepeetkig the abolition of the Slave Trade. HABrAS CORPUS RESTORATION. I 4,,ped Viscount SIDMOUTH presented a Bill for repealing the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill, which WAS read a first time. His Lordship then moved to suspend the Standing' • Orders (forbidding the passing a Bill through more than one stage in the same day) with reference to this Bill.—Ordered. . The Noble Viscount moved the second reading of •the Bill. Lord HOLLAND wished to have the Preamble of the Bill read. The LORD CHANCELLOR read the Preamble, which, after reciting the titles of the two Acts, one auspendiug the Habeas Corpus till the Ist July last, andthe other continuing the suspension till the Ist March next, stated that the continuance of the powers thus granted was no longer necessary. Lord HOLLAND said, he could have wished a different expression to have been used, but he should not now move any amendment. He could not, how ever, he content to assent to the Bill upon the ground merely of its being no longer necessary. A great and serious evil had been inflicted upon the people - by the suspension of their right to the writ of Habeas ' Corpus, which was not only most injurious in its im mediate consequences, but which formed a precedent of the most pernicious nature. Let it not be forgot- tee, that the right of the subject to personal liberty was equal in every respect to the right of every Member of the Parliament to the privileges he en , roved—that it was equal to the right by which the King possessed his Throne. This right was recog nized in Magna Charm, and continued inherently in the people, until the period of the declaratory Act of Parliament in 1672, by which it was expressly ac knowledged and given effect to by precise enact ments. If the statement given upon this subject (though it was but a bad authority, that ofJamesll.) were correct, an ancestor of a Noble Lord then before him was the chief mearisef passing the Habeas Cor pus Act through Parliament ; and if so, it evinced a sagacity and a penetration which atoned for all the acts imputed to him by motley historians. But at what period was this Act originally passed? At a time when the country teemed with conspiracies in a greater deem than at any other period of our his tory ; conspiracies, which some historians said were fomented by the Mover of the Act himself, but which undoubtedly presented a most formidable aspect of . danger. Yet not only was the Act passed in the • midst of these conspiracies, but it was continued in full force during the counterplots some time after-' wards, connected, with the Rye-house Plot, and ao attempt was made to suspend the personal liberty of the subject. He did not mean to rate, that the power did not exist 'of' suspending the right of per sonal liberty, or of any other right, if necessity re quired it ; hut where, in the case Of the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus, the Act which they were now about to repeal, was the hecessiti I loved? Certainly not in any of the trials that had taken Vlilh‘r in therhetropelis, at Derby, or in Scotland. - In Scat land, they were told, on a former occasion, that a most tremendous oath had been made use of by the disaffected—aa oath so tremendous, that if was hor rible to think of ; and yet what was the - result ? The Law Officers of that part of the United Kingdom were at a loss how to indict this oath. They made two attempts, and failed ; and at length they made &third attempt, when, after some very curious facts had come oat in evidence, the whole ended in the acquittal of the parties charged. Was there any proof, in any of the cases that had occurred, of any insurrection; that did not appear to have been fo mented by the agents or the spies of Government ? It was true that Ministers had now come forward to repeal the Suspension Act a short time before its ex piration, and this was all the praise he could give them, for in no one instance had they proved the necessity of suspending this bulwark of the liberty of the subject. Every thing was mere assertion, and nark the peecedent that was thus created. At any future period the Ministers few the time being might allege that there were dangerous conspiracies, might surprise a Committee into a Report to sanction the allegation, and might thus obtain the suspension of the habeas Corpus ; should the country continue in a.state of tranquil!ity, they might say, see the effect of the measure of the Suspension ; observe the good that has arisen from it. Should, however, the severity of the measure thus adopted goad the people to in surrectionary movements, then they might say, see the necessity of the measure which we have adopted. There were several individuals on the Committee in the last Session, for inquiring into the allegations of conspiracy, For whom he had a high respect, but he must say, that they were surprised into a Report fa vourable to the object of Ministers, by imperfect or erroneous information, and by garbled statements of information in the possession of Government, the Thole of which was not laid before them, and thus had those powers been given to Ministers, which, he most say, had been harshly, and in some instances, cruelly executed. As one of the reasons' for suspend ing the Habeas Corpus, they had been told of blas phemous publications, which tended to corrupt the morals of the people—and what had been the result, as exemplified in the prosecution of a booksellen Mr. Hone? One did not like to say •much upon such a subject in a public discussion, because one was liable to be set down a* an approver of parodies of this description, but he could not help saying that these prosecutions were founded entirely in hy pocrisy, religion being the pretext, and political rea sons the real object. Was there any man in the country so senseless or so stupid as to believe, that Kr. Hone would have been prosecuted for his paro dies, had they been directed against the Opposition or the Reformers? What became then of the pre text of religion? When the present Ministers suc ceeded some of his (Lord Holland's) friends in office, a pstody was published reflecting on the latter, which was infinitely more censurable than those for which Ho= was prosecuted, because it WAS 4 parody on the words of our SAviqui hitinsdf, yet no prose cution was imitituted _against the author of it, nor , Wes apt attempt made 4o discountenance it. He haa .6h respect for the Liturgy of the Church niiird, but he considered a parody upon that which wilinbe work of men, to be much less censu rable than h parody upon the Holy Scriptures. What then was he to conclude from this supineness in one instance, and the activity displayed in the prosecu tion of Hone ; but that whilst the ostensible object in the latter was the care of the interests of religion, the teal motive was altogether political. He dis liked parodies of this description, because he thought them inconsistent with good taste and right feeling, but he must express his disapprobation of instituting prosecations of such a description, where the motive was evidently political. These parodies, besides, had not acquired any simulation of consequence, until they had been circulated by means of the pro secutions which had - bten instituted by the Attorney General. To return to the question of the Suspen sion of ;he Habeas Corpus, it was an Act of the most pernicious tendency to suspend the personal liberty of the subject in a time of profound peace, and formed a precedent of the most lamentable ten dency ; such Acts left rents in the Constitution which could not afterwards be closed. He trusted, how ever, that a strict enquiry would be made, as to the manner in which this Act had been executed. He had heard that it was intended to appoint a Commit tee to investigate what had taken place since the last Session, and if that was the case be trusted it would not be a Committee to take upon trust the_ state ments of Ministers, garbled and imperfect, without exarnining.witnesses, but that, on the contr iry,,they , .would examine viva voce testimony, and not merely the agents of, or the witnesses sent by Government, but whatever witnesses they themselves should think proper to call. To enter into such an examination closely and attentively, and with a determination to get at the truth, was the only atonement they could now make for having suspended the liberty of the subject, and having placed powers in the hands of the Ministers upon the pretences that had been urged, that had been harshly and oppressively used. He had detained the House longer than he intended, but' he felt it his. ditty, upon this important question, to deliver his opinion in condemnation of the measures which had been resorted to without any adequate reason, and upon asserted information, which he was satisfied, could not stand the test of real enquiry. Lord Viscount SIDMOUTH observed, that the niggardly praise given by the Noble Lord to Minis ters, for bringing forward this Bill, and moving to suspend the standing orders to pass it, was the only part of his speech that in strictness applied to the Bill before the House. He was rea , !y to admit, however, that the presenting such a kill let in the discussion of the whole subject to which it related, and that he was ready to meet. The Noble Lord had said, that the Government had laid before the Committee appointed last Session, partial and garbled statements, and had not communicated to them the whole truth. He had too much t for that Noble Lord to suppose for a momen t he would state what be did not himself conscientiously believe to be true, but he must most positively affirm, that the information which had been cotnmunicated to the Noble Lord was false. T ., e whole of the statements in the possession of the Government, that related to the insurrectionary movements in the country, were communicated to that Committee, no part of the infor mation upon that subject which the Government had n_ceived naving been kept back. The Committee upon these statements, and that information, had come to a 1 1 determination which he could not but consider as most wise, and as fully justified by the facts disclosed.— As to the effect produced by the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, as it was called, he was fully satis fied, from the information of those most competent upon the subject, that it had been most beneficiaL In Leicestershire, for instance, where a great part of the population were in a state of disaffection, the passing of the Act had the happiest effect in produ cing quiet and subordination, without even the ne cessity of arresting a single individual. In other parts of the country also, where an insurrectionary spirit had been manifested, and where it had been found necessary to make some arrests, the best effect had been produced. When it was said that there was no evidence in the recent trials of acts which rendered such a measure necessary, it was only ne cessary for him to state, that against thirty-five indi viduals the Grand Jury at Derby had found true bills for high treason, diat four of them were convic ted, three of whom suffered death, that ten abscon ded, and had not since returned, and that twenty-one confessed themselves guilty of high treason, and threw themselves upon the clemency of the Crown. In all cases of the nature to which the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus referred, the question always must be, whether they were to check in the outset an insurrectionary spirit, or whether they were to allow it to gain head till an actual attempt should be made to overturn the Throne and subvert the Constitution? That such an attempt should be successful, was out of the question ; but it was surely the mildest and Most politic course to prevent such an extremity. That the improved state of the country had done away the danger, was to him a subject of heartfelt congratulation ; and certain he was, that whatever qualifications the Noble Lords on the other side might possess, they were not endowed with the gift of prophecy, fur very different, indeed, was the state of the country to what they had predicted it would be. It was this improvement in the state of the country that had taken away the materials from the hands of designing men; for it should not be forgotten, that , the leaders in these scenes were men of eminent ta lents, who had acquired a dominion and ascendancy over the minds of the lower classes, by working upon their minds when in a state of distress, and inducing them to look for relief to revolutionary measures. By the improvement in the condition of the lower classes, they were now taken out of the hands of these seditious demagogues, and the danger had ceased. The Noble Lord had alluded to the prose cutions of Mr. Hone. With regard to these, he re jected with indignation all imputation of base mo tives, for hypocrisy he considered to be a base motive, and placed the prosecutions upon the gener - al feeling against parodies of that description, which, both in and out of• Parliament, had urged the Government to prosecute them, multiplied as they were in diffe rent directions, and grounded as that feeling was upon the knowledge that in another country one great means of bringing about a revolution was by sapping all moral and religious feelings amongst the people, thOse who did so being await that religion formed the restraint upon the bad and malignant passions of man, and that it was only by getting n 4 of religious impressions those passions could be rendered avail able for the purposes of revolution. Recurring to the subject of the Habeas Corpus, he was unconscious of any harsh or cruel exercise of the powers entrusted to Ministers. The responsibility of the execution of the Act, of course, chiefly rested with himself ; and he could only say, that he had anxiously endeavoured to do his duty—that he had acted, to the best of his judgment, leniently, but firmly, rue timere nec tinside, that he had only in view to prevent the threatened danger, and had not been the means of depriving in dividuals of liberty, arty further than as the necessity of the case required. He allowed that the suspen sion of the Habeas Corpus could only be justified by necessity; and although there was no precedent upon the Records of Parliament for repealing an Act of that description, all of them having been suffered to expire, yet he was of opinion that, the necessity hav ing ceased, the Act ought not to be allowed to con tinue any longer ; and therefore, although the pe riod till its expiration was very short, he had deter mined to move its repeal. There were still persons at work in this metropolis and elsewhere, endeavour ing to excite disaffection • but there was nothing in their attempts that coul d be Ant down by the vi gour of the law, the vigilance of the Government, and the loyalty and activity of the Magistracy and in saying this, he felt it incumbent upon him to state that our best security was to be found in the loyalty, the zeal, and the intelligence of an enlightened Ma gistracy throughout the country. With respect to what had passed since last Session, he had the com mands of the Prince Regent to lay before the House a statement upon the subject. As to any proposition for a Committee, he had not heard of it. When the statement was before the House, it would be compe tent for any Noble Lord to make such motion re specting it as he thought proper. The Bill was then read a second time, the com mitment negatived, and the Bill ordered to be en grossed. The engrossed Bill was brought into the House almost immediately; it was then read a third tune and passed, and ordered to be sent to the Com mons.:—Adjourned till to-morrow (this day). HOUSE OF COMMON& STATE TRIALS IN SCOTLAND. The LORD ADVOCATE of SCOTLAND rose. Having learned that a Noble Lord.(Lord A.'Hamil ton) had yesterday fixed his motion on the subject of the late State Prosecutions in Scotland for that day fortnight; but expressed, at the same time, a wish to consult, as much as possible, his (the Lord Advo cate's) personal convenience, by naming aay other day that might be found more suitable to him, he now informed that Noble Lord, that as far as his personal convenience was concerned, he would not call on him to alter his notice; but the. Noble Lord must be aware, that the absence of an individual in the situation which he filled, for any length of time, must be attended with great inconvenience to others, as well as to himself. The Courts in Scotland were all sitting at this time, and in the Court of Eacht quer, the presence of the King's Advocate was more particularly .secessary. He was quite anxious and ready to go immediately into the question, and that, at the very fi rst hour at which it could e brought on. If the Noble Lord could bring it on in the be ginning of next week he should be ready—or indeed any day during the week ; but if the Noble Lord could not bring his motion on next week, he hoped it would be postponed till after the rising of the Scotch Courts. Lord A. HAMILTON said, the Learned Lord had placed him in rather an awkward predicament. It must be manifest to the House, that this was not `a question personal to hills and the Learned Lord. He was willing to postpone the question to any day,' not exceeding a month or five weeks from the pre sent time. But the Learned Lord asked a delay of a much longer period. The Court of Session would not rise till the 12th of March, and from the time, when the Learned Lord could reach London, to the Easter holidays, there would only be one single day for his motion, namely, Tuesday, the 17th of Barth. Now he would ask, if it was a fair thing tc request' of him to consent to such a delay ? With respect tol the other request of the Learned Lord, he, for his own part, could have no objection to accede to it, if he were the only person interested in the question, but if the subject were brought on so soon, it would prevent some Members from taking a part in the discussion, who had been informed that the motion would not come on before a certain day, and who could not have an opportunity of being informed of his change of intention. He was quite willing, however, to put off his motion for three, four, or even five weeks. The SPEAKER observed, that it was extremely unusual to accelerate a motion of which notice had been given, by fixing afterwards an earlier day.— Such a mode of proceeding was not consistent with the practice of the House, and would be attended with great inconvenience. After a few words from Lord A. HAMILTON, the subject was dropped, without any alteration of the day for which the motion was fixed having been agreed to. TREATY WITH SPAIN. Lord CASTLEREAGH laid before the House the Treaty between his Britannic Majesty and his Most Catholic Majesty for preventing their subjects from engaging in the traffic in Slaves, with several accompanying Papers, and moved that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House ou Monday se'nnight, for the purpose of taking the said Treaty in to consideration.--Agreed to. NORTHERN COUNTIES. Mr. M. A. TAYLOR gave notice that it was his intr t n, at a very early day, to submit a Motion to the House oetiOthe propriety of holding Assizes twice a-year in the Northern Coun ties. In order that the House might be informed of the grounds of the motion, he should, on Thursday sennight, move for a return of the dates of the commitments and delivery of the per sons tried at the different assizes of the Northern Counties. POOR LAWS. Mr. CURWEN was astonished that the subject of the Poor Laws was not noticed in the Speech from the Throne. That the Poor Laws required amendment was the conviction of all who had ever thought on the subject; but however much such amendment was called for, he should despair of the success of any measure not brought forward under the auspices of the Government. Lord CASTLEREAGH was persuaded the House felt that this was a question which ought to be taken up by them as its own merits, and that it ought not to be taken up as a Govern ment question. But at the same time the Members of his AV - jesty's Government were desirous of giving their utmost eier (iota, and to aid in every wk./ phasibk the investigation oi thi► Important subject. ft was is tEr ear teropt.m on a a I ligiourable Friend of his to propose the re-api Committee, and hr lisped the Committee ve,u:t: t; . t p, the subject till they bad something in the shop: I „ remedy to propose to the House. PXTONTS , IN AID. Mr. WILIA.IM SMITH moved for an Aero•ttm ci Extent. in Aid issued from the King'. Fiemembr.c,ct in the Court of Eicloquer, from the ist of Jut). ir,t t , sent date, specifike the dztes When tamed * tug th. on which they were granted MR. HONE.' Mr. WILLIAM SMITH gave ootice, that should move for as account of the authority or %li« was demanded from Mr. float for copies of the l ei against him--of the sums paid by him for such cuphs— sorts to whom they were pall-sod the purpuess to ur acy were applied. CLIMBING BOY& Mr. BENNET we notice of a motion for kave te &11 to prevent the employment of Clashing Boys in ;y e ins of Chimneys. STANDING ORDERS.—PRIMATE BILLS. Lori CASTLE REAGH moved the you/ iitandil l lii Petitions for Private Mils to be recciv..ti after the ►ruary next; no Private Bah to be read a lag tin t 16th of March next ; and no Report on such Prioatc received after the 10th of April next. LIMERICK ELECTION. The SPEAKER stated, that he had receWed a Ima Thomas Rambler, Esq. Deputy (Jerk of the Crow!. incioqing a Petition front Juhn Tuthill, Esq. undue Election of a Member for the City of Li ir ,, r i ck. , Petition was read, and ordered to be taken into luLai4rarm the 3d day of Starch next. POOR LAWS. Mr. STURGF.S BOURNE moved for a Beton ) d o leasnents for the Relief of the Poor for the Yeara ;•rr i • and a 7 50. ADDRESS. Mr. WODEHOUSE brought up the Rep o f Committee appointed to prepare an Address tc, Prince Regent--it was afterwards read. Het moved that the Address be agreed to by the Hw Lord MILTON said, there was one pirt Speech from the Throne, which he bad L.,:d • the most unfeigned satisfaction ; he alluded : commendation to erect a greater number (.f of Public Worship. No person could reside short a time in the metropolis, with.ut stir the lamentable deficiency of Churches. Beiv plying to the public purse for the sum ree...:t the erection of additional Churches, it might ' per to inquire into the state of the prcperc Church, to see whether means might not be for making some part of it available for sucl pose. He did not mean to say, however, tl should be found, on enquiry, there was no property that could be made so applicable, ht not consent to any additional burdens. There point;which ought to be particularly attended • erection of Churches. The greatest attentic to be paid to the accommodation of the lower There was hardly a Parisit Church in the ki in which great encroachments had not been persons of trealth on that part of the Churc was the property of the population of the They ought to guard as much as possible ag recurrence of what he considered a very grea the inclosure of pews from the body of the lie had thrown out these few hints, being impressed with the importance of the subject Mr. CURWEN said, however painful it hits to express any difference of opinion on ion like the present, he felt that, without di he should not be discharging his duty as a tative of the people. It was stated in the frpm the Throne, that our manufactures wen most flourishing condition. He would ask, not notorious that this was not a true state An application had lately been made to Goys by some of the most considerable Manufactt the County of Lancaster ; though carrying trade of printing cottons, they stated they we so at the hazard of their own fortunes, wit' smallest prospect of advantage, and that w repeal of certain taxes, the foreign trade in thi would be at an end. Many thousands of ind were employed twelve hours every day for in the week at so low wages as lOs. a wei would only ask them if they thought suti would either be offered or accepted it the tra in a flourishing state ? Men were willing to hours a day for the sake of an additional 2s. With respect to agriculture, it was indeed ti the agriculturalists were now better off than t been for some time—but how? By the alone. But he would ask if the people f. thing like general employment ? On the c , thousands and thousands were without empli and deriving their subsistence from the poor Should they then give their sanction to such ment of the amelioration of the condition country ? It was said our finances were iml but he would venture to say, that, notwith the inquisitorial system which had been foil addition would be gained to the revenue. penditure exceeded the revenue by no less th millions ; and if Ireland and the Sinking F tered into the account, the whole deficient; be found to exceed twenty-seven millions. did not despair of the country, but then th system of adding every year to the public di be put a stop to. Nothing would save the from irretrievable ruin, bat going into' the the country, and probing the wound to the be The Address was then agreed to MESSAGES or CONDOLENCE. Lord CASTLEREAGH rose, Pursuant to the r tice that he had given, to move that 3lcssAges Condolence should be sent from that House to t Queen and to Prince Leopold, on the lamented deA of the Princess Charlotte. On referring to the cords of the House, he had not found that it b) been usual to carry their condolence further than t:•• • Throne; but in a case of peculiar, of aggravated.;i unprecedented distress, like that now nutter consii• ration, the House would not, perhaps, hesitate u make a precedent. N‘len he stated the occ.ision be without a precedent, he stated that which ss strictly true; he might say, not only in this coLnul , but in any other in modern times. The traJ t .lcsi event was of rare,nccurrence which the nation 11 4 had to deplore. It was seldom that the de.,:h ti both mother and child took place under such cirtJ stances; and if such a calamity would be deei , :y Srk in any private family, hew severe was the how deep the sorrow which this mournful eve l : must of necessity cause in that great fanly r:h o had been doomed to mourn so awful a vi,itatws On the occasion of the marriage, the House l - % 1 1 been pleased not merely to carry their congr:!II.: . tions to the foot of the Throne; but to plc; a cf a . Lot WR • At • ty at ranter. ast to, U„, dr. A , to.trigen, divt, • t to ki tt . I In :It LLS. :t4 tins a;•, t . 'oily a bu n kL 1 4, • Lir& rick.-.` uto r_f i7ft e P 57 t of tress II; lit the lic•-. pirt ea : Y_ tr sic!i: ere &fizz • igl:t : be det such a r, that no 0.4. le, he sgr There :. t ded tstr.6 .ntior. .ower to kin • !en rn.:±e., lurch he ag:ir great eei! the C' } ' t; reing dec. ; tject. ii it was f on an °co ut doing a represe. the S.• Were 1: 15k, if it TX ateriert ? :rorernmet. factures• ying were d:I tt a n this ard' • ' indiviLds for sit din wet:. He such wags trade wet to work q s . td true. tau lan they Ili h'h pries Ie c•mtrazi, mplolmec poor's rates uch a •tre ition tt imprtyri:4, rithstandilg Followed, it e. The et• s than Fund r. t ency ns. He di the fres.nt C debt rr.l the cr.u::r the st.::e I be bott.z. rat to the v.. Nlcasages rouse to tented dew= to the it: it Li)