Star. — London, England, 1801-04-15 00:00:00

ht-, 1% )1t . 1 7 :crr,. ;~~ ,~ 111 4 11;.% :11Z: • 51r FRARett BVRTIPTT raid, he now felt there Oiled no distinEtion between the principles and Obica of the late and prefcnt Adminifh-ations—the machinations of both equally tending to th•f anni hilation of welbregulated liberty ; as the meal - sire went to the liiliverfion of that resonant of the • old Engliflt Conflitution which was left. It was evident to any man who had not given up his reafon to the keeping of Milli:K:l3, that the plot which was the ground-work of this propofition was iialc, though the managers were new—there was no fort of evidence before the Houle to Phew the recelTitv rfthe Bill, and however flagitious the con do& of the late Minifters might have been, this was the gal inflance where a Vote of Credit was demanded on the blood and liberty of the people. plea of necellitv for acts of injuftice ought, kowevfm, never to he admitted ; it was the uni form excufe for that of atrocity ; it was equally • on by the tyrant and the flare—the mur derer and the robber—it was ari apology for the btieft calumnies, inch as had been promulgated by former Committees on a fimilar fubjeCt.--rA c r .(order! order!] He faid he alluded to the tonduCt of a former Parliament, and exhorted the Hcufe to examine the effeCts of the fvftern pur, fn:d by that Parliament, in order to al - certain its impoliey andinjuflice ; particularly fo far as that f v ,lon was aCted on in Iceland; where, at the dole cf the American war, above 60,000 volun teers, fell-clothed, felf-appointed, fell-paid, and felfdifdplined, flood forward to refill the threaten ed invaflou of rtance—while lately the Houle was told that that people fent Ambaftidors to France to folicit invalion. Could, he asked, fuch an ex. tram Binary change originate from any other caufe than the &milli& of the Irilh Government, lane tioned by the wicked fyftem purfoed by the Eng- Ib ? It ruight indeed be Paid, that it was produced by Jacobinifin ; that non-defcript which LI alarmed the timid, deluded the weak, and rotated the corrupt—what was Jacobinifm, was it to invade delencelefs unoffending countries ?—to trample upon thole that were weak, and to cringe to thos'e that were flrong—to perfeente the friends of liberty, and to drench the fcatFolds of Ireland svitli blood? for fuch were the practices of an Heaven-born Knitter, and his regular Govern ment ; or was it to affert the birth-right of Englifh men—to watch with jealoufy the conduEt of Mini fters who knew well there was no time between gayety for their country, and punifhment for them felves--and to reftrain within proper limits the power of the Crown ? He left it to the good fenfe of the Country to afcertain the definition of that bug-hear, trolling that no Minifter would have the halalibood, upon fuch a vague pretence, to at tempt a repetition of the fame recites in England which had defolated unfortunate Ireland. The brave foldiers of England would never, he was confident, confent to become the executioCfrs of their countrymen, and the people would not be the more reconciled to fuch ;lets, whether they ihould originate with the Government, or with that Hestia?, which they had a right to look to as , the peculiar guardians of their Conftitution. He begged to repeat an old affertion, which could not be contradicted, that perfecution could not con fute opinion, and that contentment was never the offspring of oppreflion. The Sostet TOR GIiKERAL Paid, he was not fur- Fad at the fentiments expreffed by the Honour able Baronet who had juft fat down, however he lamented the effects produced by fentiments of a fimilar nature. The Hon. Baronet did not con ceive that Government was entitled to any grati tude Aielt haerpreferved the Conflitution againft thole who had been ftruggling to fobvert it, but he thought the people of quite a different opinion en that of the Hon. Baronet. The meafure which Jacobirtifm had provoked Gentlemen to s refort to, had not attached to the Government that popular odium which the Hon. Baronet had deferibed : it was pointed at thole by whom Inch meafures were made neceffarv. It was the fafhion of modern patriotifm to rail againfl the Government on every octane's—whether attacked by foreign or domeftic enemies, it was the cuftom of the other fide of the Hoar to take a decided part againft the Govern ment —every projeCt and party that was holtile to Goverment might be Miura of their patronage. The Nobility, Gentry, and Yeomanry, were abufed as a faZtion leagued for bloodfhed—while their vir tue% their fortitude, and the high and loyal mo tives from which they aZted, and the dreadful pro vocations whi c h e xcited them, were kept out of view. If the queftion was, who fliould become ob noxious in confequence of thofe flrong meafures which Government had been compelled to employ for force tine back ? he could have no hefitation in laying, th e o di um , if any, belonged to thofe who Lad propagated mifchievous - doCtrines without doors, and perhaps even more to thofe who had adopted and defended thcfe datrines within that hassle. He, however, acquitted Gentlemen on the other fide altogether, of any intention to lane- Con the proceedings of the difalfeCted, or of any co incidence in their views ; but that their language in general had a firong tendency to flatter their E- per, he did maintain. It mull be recolleCted that when the rights of men were fo much the theme of ds:affeCtion within,' doors, they had their advocates • Parliament—when Reform alio was the pretext of 'f reafon, it was brought forward in that Houfe, aral lapported with .111 the eloquence of the Gen tiemen in the other tide. To flick Gentlemen, therefore the country should, and did anually look as the authors of filch meafures as that then - before the 1 - I,oufe—for had not the opinion% of the Jacobins been adopted and pleaded for by them, rile) might have fallen into contempt. He denied that the mars of the 'people of Enghind would be affe&ed by the 1.1 w• -there who were peaceable and loyal, were jolt as likely to feel offended hy it'as thofe who valued the fecitrity of their poffedionv fhould by a law againft houfehreakers. He Was confident_that all who were animated by lively fen liments of loyalty would be grateful to Parliament . for Adopting the meafure, and would conrcler it as a fr.end and benefaaor. With regard to the con- Sdehcswha ought to be placed in the Report of the Committee ut which be bad the honour to be, a Member, the queftion was, would the Route (411fick in that Committee which they bad them felves appnioted, and in which they had already confided, without demanding from them a difclo fare of names and circumftances which it would be highly impolitic and dangerous to publifh ? A ! Learned Gentlemar. had argued that the laws were already fufficient to meet the evil complained of, and called loudly for evidence to prove the nccef-1 fity for the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus All ; but he would a& him if he fhould be apprifed of a plan in contemplation to affaflinate him ? and put completely on his guard, would he intlit upon a knowledge of all the circumliances, if luch infor mation was likely to expofe his protedurs to 11111 greater dangers ? Perhaps the cafe was fimilar in the prefent milance. Under filch circumftances as thofe deferibed in the Report of the Secret Com mittee, he truiled the Houle would apply that re medy which had been already tried, and which had been exei died with temper, moderation, and jullice. Mr. M. A TArLOR explained. Mr. GREY role he fetid not lefs as a Member of Parliament to deliver his opinion on a very impor tant queflion, than to acquit himfelf of the imputa tion of having endeavoured at any time to abet or atrill difaffeCtion—a charge levelled indifcriminate ly at his fide of the Houle, by a Creech of bril liancy and invective, but very little argument, by the Learned Gentleman oppolite to him. He thanked Con he had never given his vote for any of thole ails of the late Minittcrs, which had led the country to its prefent unparalleled flute of ca lamity. He had refilled the war as unnecefrary, and condemned the incapacity with which it was I concluded. In this lie fliould ever feel a proud I recolledion, however he might be fubjed to cell- I fare from the Honourable Gentleman and his Friends. He propoled a Parliamentary Reform to that Houle, in order to reflore the Contlitution in the opinion of the people, and to contrail its excellence with the theories then afloat : the pi o pofal never originated in the abaraCt principle of the right, which he had always difclaimed, but on the grounds of policy and expediency. The fyil tern for fome time back aged on by Minillcrs was calculated to pluck up the Conflitution by the roots. He did not, however, mean to atfert, that in no cafe fhould the Executive Nlagifirate be invefled with extraordinary powers ; but a itrong proof of neceillty Ihould be made out to jellify the demand. 'Such he did not by any ineaus conceive the Re port on the table to contain. It referred entirely to former reports and conlpiracies, although fince the year 1797 not more that twenty or thirty per lons had been arrelled—only two of whom were of any rank, wealth, or co:mations, to render them formidable. It followed, therefore, that the confpiracy was not of fufficient confcquence to jul tify the furrcndcr of the great main-flay of Britilli liberty • particularly at a period when the people had exhibited ' fuch unexampled proofs of patience, fubordination, loyalty, and firmnefs, under die moft trying circumftances. It was not a proper return for their conduel to expofe them to the ope rations of perfonal refentment. He meant not to impute any fuch motives to the prefent •Admini-, Oration, but it ought ever to be guarded against, as he believed no maxim was ever more true, than that in all rebellions and popular difaireftions, the original fault was in the Government. He re ferred to the late Affixes, and Dated, that the chief of the convilions were for the alts of men drivel) to de(peration by poverty. He law no de triment that could *rife from allowing fome time to examine the queftion fully, and to cone& evi dence. Such a mode of proceeding would be more decorous, and much more fatisfaCtory to the couutry, which the Report of the Committee could not be, as it was very well known how that Committee was appointed—how lifts were di(tri buted, and what means were employed to render men amicable. He called on the Right Hon. Gentleman over against him, (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) to anfwer, had the lifts which were diltributed been in any one inflance altered, or' could the exertion of islf senor be denied t If that Committee had ben otherwife conftituted, per haps the public would be difpofed to attach fome what more creditto the report. He deprecated fuels precipitancy on important queftions, a praftice which had never prevailed previous to thc Admi niftration of the Right Honourable Gentleman's predecetror. Mr. MARTIN (of Galway) fpoke in fupport of the Bill. He confidered the report of the lrilh Parliament as Cadent evidence of the exiflenee of a confpiracy in England, and quoted an extra& from that Report in illuttration, to thew the con neetion between the difaffeded in both countries. The prefent Minifters, in (offering the Bill for the Surpenfion of the Habeas Corpus An to expire, had made an experiment which did much honour to the liberality of their difpotitions, hut that ex periment only ferved to (hew the incorrigible nb flinacy of the difaffefted. It was true that their numbers were sun confidcrable in England, but they were yet to be dreaded, from the unending aftivity of their exertions. At different periods the Habeas Corpus Aft had been iltipended not lcfs than fourteen times fince tl:c Revolution, and at no time called for by a neceflity fo imperious as that which exilled at prefent. It the neceftity was even apprehended, as fume Gentlemen admitted, the more promptly the remedy was adminiftered the more likely to be effeltive. When delay was recommended, he recolielted a Dory told of a cul prit fenti.nced to death in ancient Greece, who, after fentence was pronounced, fupplicated the Judge to defer the execution for three years, on the ground that he had it in his power to render cfrential fervice to fcicnce—by teaching a dog to (peal Greek ; and that it would require that time to complete this Wu: nahirg (a load lark). The Judge granted his requeft, and on his return to prifoin he exulted in the fuccels of his application. His friends, ailing him how he could rejoice, as he was certainly to die, he anfwered, " Perhaps within three years the Prince may die—lonic change may take place in his Councils—or the' dog may die, and I than be allowed a longer pc rood to complete my experiment nn another—or I mar die myklf. however, the effeet of my peti tion is, quarrorque r;a, that I (hall live three years." Mr. Smains* laid, the Hon. Gentleman who I Ind jail fat dewis bad Irgun by laying, that hc felt it impoirible to give a filent vote on this octa -1 Pion, therefore he amufed the Houfe with a /afro traltme—Ca laughl—he had told a Rory very mi nutely with all the circumftances, but forgot one material point, which was, the application of it to the queftion before the Houfe- - -[a !ant:]—A, had ' Dated that the Grecian culprit had obtained a re fpite of three years—that he might die within the time—yet he concluded with laying, that the Grecian would quarangur via live for three years [ a I.laugh]. He profelfed the utmoft relpea for the natives of that country he fhould he ever proud to call his own ; but wilted when they had any chi potition to entertain the Houti: with their mirth, they would Peek to introduce it in props leafon. The queftiou before the Houfe was limply whe ther there did exilt any necelity to jullify the act before the Houfe, and if in the prefent circthtt lances there did, he would ark in wllkia putlible Date of the Empire would Englifhmen be filffered to enjoy their Conlitution ? It was nut foie to attribute prejudice to his tide of the Hot& ; for 1 they had a much better right to call that prejudice which dictated their exclution from die Committee. ' The Right Honourable Gentleman (the Chancel lor of the Exchequer) had let forward in his ca reer by afking for unanimity from the Houle, to ha Ade all party prejudices, yet what does he do to deferve it ? Does not he follow the footfteps of his prcdeceffors, whofe every aft he approves ? Does not he tell the Houle that to the vigour of • Mr. Pitt we owe the prefervatiun of the Coutlitu tioa, yet when that Right 1-TUll,rue:dile Gentleman was turned out of the fituation he held in his Ma jetty's Councils, his lofs was nut deplored by the Country ; no petitions, 110 remonitrances were heard againft the shirttail of the Right Honour able Gentleman. The Right Honourable Gentle man, (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) has avow ed a hit of the Secret Commitaze in evious to it: being chokn, and yet he jollities the meafure. He, raid he recolleaed having once in that Houk read over before the Glaffes were opened, a lilt of one and twenty Members who Were to be choler' to la m a • Committee, and as he read them to they came vet. Would the Right Honourable Gentleman fay, he did not know on the morning of the day on ' which the Committee was chofen every Member who was to compote it ? He ives Gentlemen at this tide of the Houle credit for their attachment to the Contlitution, yet, by his own confeflion, he excludes them from that Committee which WAS • to examine into plots tending to overturn it. I le was fore- the country would tart be difpkaital at having the teltinrony of Gentlemen who a 'led in conjunction with him, of the cxiftence tit plots, which made it necelllrry to deprive the people of the very Conflitution itfelf—fur fuch he confider ed the Sufpenlion of the Habeas Corpus Aft. When the Right Honourable Gentleman's prede cettors were hard preffeel, they hatched plots, and found their heft Ally in a plot-bag. It was a Ilrengthening-plafter to a weak-backed Admini- Dration. When three-fourths (tithe induftry of the country fithfilled upon charity, it was natural to fuppofe difcontent mull follow the grinding op pretlion they laboured under ; yet their manner of bearing their famine and mitery did not &terve the meafure before the Houle—their conduft un der the prefent eircumflances was exemplary. He ailed if the poor hungry populace had (truck a blow—what outrage had they committed to war rant the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus Aft ? It was the conduit of his Majefly's difmiffed Mi• Milers that brought the country to ruin—and now they aid towards his Majetty's prefent Minitters nn the principle of reciprocity " Claw me and I'll clad- you." They had been warned by the Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Pitt) not to follow tile conflict of Oppofition, though not follow ing their advice had ruined the country. The prupofcd Billgave his Majcfty'sMinifters a power to look round Great Britain, anti lodge any man they thought proper in Cold-bath-Fields Prifon. He heard very lately from the other tide of the Houfe, great vauntings and congratulations on the contempt of the people againtt Jaco,binitin, and yet the Houfe is now called upon to fupprefs what fo lately it was told did not exift in the coun try. He could but confider the meafure as a pretext to make the fufpenfion permanent, be cattle nothing in thefe times demanded it. Let his Majelty's 41inillers fpcak out—let the At he ftruck at once from the Statute Book. When tneafures which went to deprive the people of Eng land of their Conftitution were &tired by his Majeltv's late Miniiters, th:y had only to hatch up a pint and fend it to that Houfe ready cut and dried in thegreen bag, and the lame fyltem appears to he followed by their foci:ears. In the State I Trials, nut one perfon was brought forward as a witnels but the !pies of Minifters ; and what proof had the Houle that the fpeeches of thole fpies did not carafe the inflammatory Ipeeches with which the perfons to be tried were charged ? He willed to know at once the extent of the powers willed for by his Majelly's Ministers. He law no mercy in throwing a man into a (tone dungeon without a pretext of guilt even futEcient to put him on his trial. 'I he privileges of Englitb , men were gone, if unfortunate men toll releafed Ifrom Stone cells were to he again tallely accufed and implifoned. Notwithflanding the rigour Lord Cloncurry and Mr. Bonham experienced in the Tower, where they were not permitted to fee any perfim but in the pretence of their guards, left any plot might be hatching, nor to walk out of their rooms without being attended by a soldier with a loaded motket, and after all this parade and pre caution, enough could not be found again( them to bring them to trial. Was this, he ailed, mercy-? How merciful it was in his Majefly's Minifters not to confine tour or five hundred instead of only 20 or 3o! He then adverted to the conduit of Go vernment in keeping Governor Ark in office after the Report of the Committee of that Houle had bore teilimony of his condua, which, he laid, was feandaloto, No man took the part of the enemies of his country. I lis Hon. Friend (Mr. ( :fey) had been accuted by an Hon. and Learned Gentleman of being an enemy to his country, becaufe he eon. fidered Parliamentary Reform as nerefrary, and as the moil likely means of bringing the Houle to its former Rue of iudepcnderao And pro...ming the Conaitution in its purity—fur his part he con fidered his Majefty's late Ministers to be the greaten enemies of the country 1 and this too af ter thofe amongft them had abandoned the prin. ciples with which they had . commenced their pu litieal career. After they had abandoned what they affertcd in the face of the country " that 11,, freurits for Parliament, or tCcurity againn Mini- Iters could be had without a Parliamentary Re form." He considered the Committee as having gone farther than empowered by the Houle in re commending tin: prefent mcafure—it was fur the Committee to tei,ore to the Heide, and leave the Houle to fix upon the molt proper mealbres to be puilued. The Chancellor in the Exchequer had told the Hoot: the meafurc was for the purpnie of taking the poor of England under the pi otec 7 tion of his Maje:ly's bilinizters. This he cenfider ed a libel—a mockery. Tice people were allowed to be loyal to the Crown and the Thrum:. if the law; ale not equal to the prefet vation of peace, under loch a dilpolition on the part of the people, without the prefent meathre, they were not worth preferving. He then adverted to the üblervation of an Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Martin) that the Ha beas Corpus An had been futpended fourteen or fifteen times, aferving that the Hon. Gentleman knew more of the Grecian I linory and the .Gre cian Lap-Dog, than of the Hiftury of England, or ht would not have made loch an afilirtion.— . Previous to his Aslitjelty's late Minifiers coming into office, it had not been ftifpended more than five or fix times. He mild mention the of:cations by recurring to memory, but he would not then take up the time of the Houle ; this much he would fay, that it never took place but in talcs of the utmod necetlity, to which the prefent times bore no analogy, never but ill cake's of anual rebel lion, or a"tual invalitm. lle laid he would oppole the Bill in every nage. The ATTOKNEti GINT.RAL laid, h.! role to ac cept the challenge which had been thrown uut by the Hon. Gentleman who Ipokc lilt, and to de clare fulenaily, that th e a':w.ifitution of the country would nut be tail if the Bill which was now moved for was fait pair:J. He felt himfelf founded in making tins :dilation, in confequence of the ma terials and evidence which had been laid before the Committee ; and the impreGion it Made upon him in common with every other Member of the Com mittee was, that if chi Bill did not pats, that every thing valualil: it: the Laws and Conftitution .of the country, weinld be liable to be overfet and eon v oiled by th_ machinations of wicked mertavailing thertoidves cf an untOrtutiate fcarcity, to fern:nit hi:mount and to forther their ("wit purpofes. In ilfpluating a Ball for the fitfpenflon of the Habeas Corpus An, he sets ready to admit that it Wa• meaftire of great vigour, and one to which he gave his affent with great relunance, becaufe there was no man in the }loon:, or the Country, more fen. lible than lie was of the great value and import ance of that An , an Aa mere important, per haps, than any other on our Statute Book. In the prefent Rate of affairs, however, his Majefty's Minillers would, in his opinion, have been guilty of a grufs dcrelition of their duty, if, knowing the peril of the count y at this moment, they had not reforted to this meafure. The Committee w hich had been appointed by the Houle to invelligate this bo nnets, were men of high honour and charaner, and they had with one voice agreed upon the fie cedity of the adoption ofthis meafure. Gentlemen had affened to treat this fubje.l ludicrouily, when it was reprefinited as a meafure of lenity, hut he would maintain that it was a moll lenient meal - arcs and particularly to thofe perfons againft whom it was fuppoled to be intended. He wished to ark, if it was not lenity to them to prevent treaffin, which was intended, from being carried into effen, and that undoubtedly was the object of the Bill. But there appeared to be a confiderable degree of ineon littency in the manner in which Gentle Euti:il . the Bill—fur at one moment it a meafure of extraordinary feverity, and the neat is was find that it was ufelefs, for that Minifiers had hardly taken up any perfons in confequence of the power which was vetted in their hands.— One ground of argument upun which Gentlemen had relied was, that many pet-runs had been taken up, but had not been brought to trial ; upon this point he wished to one, whetherit was not import ant to conceit' from the public view thefe commu nications which were made to Government, and which enabled it toprovidc for the fafetyofthe State? Every Gentleman muff feel how efrential it mutt be that the channels through which Government received its intelligence, fhould nut be publicly known. If the perfiln who made the communi cations was once produced as a witncfs, it was ob vious he could not again be ufeftd in that way.— la therefore became a quefkion of political COITTLI tation, whether it was better to pond]: one man, or to keep entire their means of communication ? It had been raid, that there were no witneffes ex amined againd the perfons accufed of High TlCA iim, but the Spies of Government ; but in return he %edited thcHon.Gentleman would point out any initancc in Which the teltimony of theft: Witnetrcs had been Linseed. In point of (alit, however, the alreition was not corren, fur there were Witnefr3 of another defeription examined, and one in parti cular occurred to his recollenion, viz. a Gentle man of high rank and charaner in the prof - anon of the Law. But there witnedes had not only nut been euntradined, bin their evidence had been moll nia• teriallyconfirmedbyfilbfequent events. He bei , ged leave to rimind the Houle, that if it had notteen for fubfequent events, the fainted O'Connor, who had been praifed till he was lick of hearing it, would have gone to his grave ( whenever he went there) loaded with all the praife which his Co:ill:lag:cot • htd bellowed foli:setally upon hint. lie thought it unneceffary to occupy more of the time of the Houle at prefent; he had rifer merely fur the pair pole of contending, that this was a meafure cat he. nits, and oi hating the reasons why the perfiens taken up had not been :nought to ti :Al. As to the que:tiutt tslaeh the lion. Gentleman who (puke tail bad put to him, cciltecliiig the conartalain of the A's, lie collet only lay. that the Hon. Gentleman had tit; na...ms of obtaining fuels excellent infurrna , :Lai Irani a J .:11Mt'd Qinetlenian luting near him. cleat r. :vas ...:4-..-tsll.u) iv; lens to eve auy