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astainst him ; that be could render Mtn the most s.i,:mati,-d and unhappy wretch; that he could or der the c:fic .rs of justice to take possession of the person of any sobjea, scrutinise the motives of that man's arAinary aFtions, attribute disaffation and dis loyalty to him ; and that, after being apprehended, be should not be set at liberty. Suppose it was in his power to say, that if the property of such a man was clumnitied, it was not only not to b.! restored, but I that care must be taken that he should receive no remuneration. He would allow for a moment these monstrous powers to exist 'in the Lord Advocate ; yet, after all, it would appear be had, in this instance, been guilty of an act of o i iression towards Mr. Morrison. Now, as the Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman was in his place, perhaps the House woalcfhave no objection to hear again the circumstannes on which 'the accu sari ni Against him was founded. Mr. W. then re latrd the transaction, which has been already de tailed to the public, namely, that of Mr. Morrison, a respectable fir:ner in Banfskire, having discharged servant, for having negletted his duty to attend a si,lonver :nspectian ; of the servant's applying to Vie Lord Advocate for his opinion, and of the latter Is tying im i nued disaffection and disloyalty to Mor rison, .tad declared no protection should be afforded to his property, if the enemy landed in the cour.try. When consulted by the servant, he said that. Morrison had done nothing that was contrary to law, The master, therefore, was not accused; lie was not brought before the Lord Advocate; Wys thought props to pass sentence, and inflia pu r.ishmenr, without allowing him to say a word in bis defenc.- or in explanation. If there was say one p in of his c‘induCt worse than another, it was that of he L Gentleman, after passing through' all the )11s of his profession, and arriving at the iligh oilice 1w held, having proceeded to pass sentence of grievous pains and penalties on a man who had n A heels uied; and who was acknow7 ledges to have dune nothing illegal. Ile would call upon the English and Scotch lawyers then in the House, to give their opinions on this subjed, and endeavour to sec that, in this country, Scot Lied should not he under the foul stignri of having a code of laws that santlioned ads of tyranny and oppression. He desired that if the ad is question should appear to have been oppressive they would declare it to be so. It was passible that the sen-dr.t, whose name was Garrow, might have grossly naii, behaved himself; and thou Morrison, his master, was AS well all'oded and loyal a subje.l as any in the land. Them was not, however, any roof of his being a dis iffetted man ; no such thing was stated in the Lord Advocate's letter. And some p:rsons, who were acquainted with Mr. Mor sooa, had, since the tioestioa was List agitated in the House, informed him (Mr. Whitbread) that his eliatosaer was very different from that of a disaffed. el man. Ile was a respectable farmer, and had dis tiog tii.hed himself some years ago for his loyalty to • hi. King and country. the servant had entered into a corps of ‘'olunteters, which was nine miles distant ft om hi. master's house. On the very day, when he went au ay, without leave, to the inspeCtion of this ' corps, his motes had employed him in thatching la barn : a work extremely necessary at that sea son of the yea-. The master toll him, if he left his work he would turn him off : he very properly I, did so; and he defied any man to say there was ; any proof of disaffeetion in that Al. Now he P v:ished the House to consider the effect which the 1condo& of the Lord Advocate would have on the 1 Volunteer System in general. Was the charadler of l Volunteers to he changed ? Were the people of the i country to be dragooned into Volunteers, by means Volunteer o serviceins andpen to a ohies? He alwayse of perfect understood the But now a rod of iron was to Lang over the heads of the people ; they were to be chastised ; and the Volunteer spirit of the country was to he destroyed. There was ar.other circumstance beloogiag to the transs(tion in question, which he would not mention if the Hoscumtle Gentleman was not then in his place. Morrison had applied to the Lord Advocate . with a view of removing the severity of his opinion, oti•gave several references as to his character. 'fo he persons o Ittihad applied to him for this purpose, he Lori A tvocate observed, that Morrison was a feolf.t to have b-fore that tine acceded to his opi pion If such tt: answer had been given, it cooli h a y- lolly been el:Rated by a most es. toowdinart assumption of power in himself; and r So o. that he had an unlimited right to punish. 1 : . - . :eoroseotatit n was true, it was on aggrava ) tau ..I she case; and proved, that the Right Hon. Gentleman was unfit for the situation which he held. In reasonirg no this subjeca hitherto, he went on the supposition. that the condo& in question was legal; sad conteaded, that whether loyal or not, it seas sppressive. Bet he would now maintain there was sot a shadow of foundation in law for this conduit. I 4 it was possible to suppose the Right Hon. Gen. lemon had attest from ignorance, then he was milt for his situation. Rut the knowledge, and the • treat legal talents he was well known to pos e ess, left hint without any defence on that ground. -le mug know that what he had done was In de eance of all law He did no: pretend to on ferstond the laws of Oootland, nor would he enter nto a his-oty of them. But he would refer the inn. Gentleman to ea AR of Wis. M. passed few lie purpose of Guarding the Liberty of the Subjeti A Scotland i by this it was dechued that no man humid he imprisoned, unless the ground of such mprisorimeat was stated to him. Now, if the or cr given by the Lord Advocate for imprisoning 4otrison had been carried into effect, it would have teen illegal ; because no ground was stated; and it Sight prove fatal to the officers sent to execute it; 4 hr if any or all of them were slain in doing so, o verditt for murder could be entered against .sore who killed them. The Law of Scotland • Iso .said. that when a man was imprisoned, a mw mutt he fixed, within sixty days. for his ial ; and that, for certain offences, bail mug be teepted. But the Lord Advocate would order man to be kept in co. ntinernent, until he should •ink proper to order his IRseratioo. In case to i .rasion, or imminent danger thereof, it might f; said it was necessary to Crillrilit stopetted -noes to risco]. But in this C;ist. no such de em could be made, there was Do in ' asion, nor attempt at = r ion ; and, from every rcumstance, it was evident the Ri b -ht Hon. Gee. ..I 1•111 had acted illegally, oppressively, and con. .01 to It's duty. Ai the Lord Advocate, be had MIN no right to interfere in the manner be had done ; an i if there was any reason to suppose that Morrison was disaffeited, another course alienist have been pursued to punish him. The Lord Advocate in Scotland had the power to institute a prosecution, or abstain front it, if he chose. Those great pewees which in England were exercised chiefly by grand juries, ought to be united in a discreet person, swayed by fur party, and against whom no im putation whatsoever could lie. In the present in stance, the Lord Advocate teak not that course which his official duty pointed out to him. He travelled out of the hue of his ditty, and it was for that he deserved to he blamed. I le should be very happy if the giglit Honourable Gentle:nan would make this case so clear as to shew that all the charges against him were void of foundation. But if it nets attempted to rest the defence on law, he hoped such an extra vagant dolrine would be overturned; and if it should be said, that the detention of a person was necessary towards the preservation of the country, that defence must fall to the ground; there vets no occasion fur the exercise of such a power, because the French had not attempted to invade the country. But if the Lord Advise to thought it necessary, at his own risk, to have Morrison apprehended, what occasion was there for ordering that to be done until the invasion was attempted ? Why did he not state his reasons for the act of rigour, in order that it might not be drawn into a precedent ? If he took such things upon himself on his responsi bility, let hint afterwards call on Parliament for an act of indemnity. He did not mean to impute any bad or malicious motives to the Lord Advocate of Scotland; his motives might he pule, he might be led away by an indiscreet zeal for the bened t of his country. And if he did so iu his official situatioa, the House ought to pass its sentence upon hint. If the pre sent motion he was about to make should be agreed to, he meant to follow it up with another, which would be an, Address to His Majesty to remove the Hight Hon. Gentleman from a situation for which be was wholly unfit. Mr. W. then con cluded by saying he would trouble the House no longer, and was about to put his motion; when The SPEAKER suggested, that the regular mode .of proceeding in a caw like this was, to let the Hon. Member. against whom an accusation was made, be heard in his defence; and be should then withdraw from die House; after which the motion should be made and discussed. The LORD ADVOCATE of Scotland then rose and addressed the I roust. He was ready to admit that the Hon. Gentleman who brought forward this charge had endeavoured to make it as palatable as he could consistently with his duty ; hut, notwiti . - standing the candour and politeness of the Hon. Gentlemen, he could not help feeling the nukwsrd predicament in which he himself was placed. Little Jid he expea that the first time he bad the honour of addressing that House, be should stand in the si tuation of a person Accused of a crime; and still less did be expect that the crime imputed to him should be the crime of oppressim. went charges h e was not often accustomed to meet ; and sure be was, that irjastice and oppression were offences which had never bean coupled with his name. It was not. however, surpeisieg that this I should be imputed to him by an H one -Gentleman who knew him not. By him they'might he credited, and they might obtain a partial belief in that House. But if such a cry as this had been raised at ainst him in the city where be heed, an hundred thousand tongues, and not a few a: ms, would have risen in his defence. if it was true that lie had been guilty of this aa of oppression, he had one con solation, which was, that the person against whom it was committed, had had his revenge, and a grievous retaliation. During the two months that he had been attenilieg his duty in that House, since this act was done. no complaint had been made. And now, at the end of six months, it was brought ferward, and made a subjea of dis cussion. is was a proceeding which he felt to be so severe and uneandid, that be really believed the Honourable Ger.:le:min, who was now his accuser, to have been wheily uncoucerned in it.— Ha believed the Honourable Gentleman had not received his information until the time nli.r. he brought the subiect before the /louse. Be. same kind friend did him this p*.ece of cervic : some of his own coal:semen s s cnnttiv. that, at the moment when he returner to the ;e -osin of his family, and wes deeply eigaged in bus:- nets. he was forced to leave his ho ne e eat sattszel in that House again. in tinier to meet a charge of so K ILOS and w.igh:y a nature as was just made ages-et him. If he had not tufisal all the terrors of im prisonment, he suffered its another respect; he rif feted by way of fine. He had heard that it was attiC,l;r. that House, in his absence. that it was uo wonder Jsl are iron should have beea slow in making his complaint, born- do en as he was by the weight of superior power. Nferrisoa,liewever, knew how to complain in 3 weeks after the trensaftion in question. He had employed a w:iter in Eiliebteeth to speak to him (the Lord A deocatej. He said that Nio&son was hint by the lettcr written to the Sheriff. and that he was a loyal and re:piaable man. His answer to the attorney was shun ; it was, that if Morrison felt himself oppressed, hat hint cern • to the Lord /idea. sate end sly so, and be should have a satisfaelary answer. riace that time he had not heerituny thing more et Morrison, who Studs no explanation of his emsdea. In trees that the Han:e might be able to judge of the !reeves by which lie had ailed, and the nature of the acts he had don.', it would be ne cessary for him to Rive some accc the state of Scotland a: the time, .inti of hO own imetien. He wished it to be cloak :• ulderstood that the measures of defence at that time in Scs:Lizi were wholly istadequew :or te.at country. He del ern, by this statement. mean to impute any Wen:: to the late Mininert, roe to the illitsteions Corn mender in Chief. S: eland did feel considerable alarm on the occesien. . Sue, far his own past, he bad theeeht it was be ter to celled the gr: at body of the force rear the capital, i i order to keep it secure, even tl.esugli reSeute petts of the country might be endangered. In faZt, abolish Scetlend contributes great members innards recrnithig the army, it so happened etre only is v eel hat. tallow there at !!-:e car riether with one regiment of dragoons; the only force that could be spa red for Ire`and out of the gene ral neck. defence of Scodeed had been left chi,. fly to the and Slat we; hotly as in !d and elude-id. On the East coast of Sec:lend the-re was only one weak regiment of militia to defend it. The sefety therefore of Scotland, and of the Worth ern parts of the country in particular, depended on the Volunteers. The Commander-in-Chief con centrated the principal part of this- force near the capital, in order to edhrd k the greatest protection. When he saw how necessary it Was to promote volunteering by every possible means, he would leave it to the House, whether he should have measured his offecial duty by the c o ld and rigid forms of law ? That force was the only means by Which a great pert of Scotland could be defended. It was of more ;nips:in:lnce that Edinburgh should be defended, than any other Fart of the rountey. • At this very time, infor mation was given to die lords Lieutenami, that as invasion on the part of the enemy might be expelled every moir.eat : and on the 21st of Decembete Earl Moira waited on him, and held a conference with hint on the subje); and it was agreed, that every possible precaution should be taken : and rigidly did that Noble and distin guished officer adhere to this determination, that he would not sleep out of gdinburgh-ehe would not stop even one night at Dalkeith house, which was only six miles from Edinburgh, lest there should be any defy in marching the troops, should the ene my appear off the neighbouring coast. It was with this idea of approaching danger on his mind that he wrote this letter in question to the Sheriff, upon hearing of Morrison's conduel ; and he solemnly declared he thought the enemy would be in Scotland before the letter could have arrived. Having mentioned these feels as to the state of the cossatrr, he would say a word or two upon the na ture of his own office. If any gentlemen thought it was of the dry and formal nature of that of the Attorney General in England, they lahourel under a great mistake (if laugh). The office of Lord Advocate of Scotland had no limits to it. The Hon. Gent. could assign no duties to him, which would nut be ease and idleness compared to what he really had to attend to. Befnre the union, the Government of Seotiand was cenduiled by a Coua cil, composed of the Lord Chancellor of that coun try, and other great officers of state, mast of which situations were abolished at the Union, and the whole powers of that Couacil, with all their duties, responsibility, &c. devolved on the Lord Advocate% and wore ever since vested in him. All the departments of government there looked to him, not only in civil but in military matters. Even the Commander in Chief always had recourse to him for advice. But he was happy to find, that lately he Was relieved from a great part of his duties ; for the distinguished Nobleman who now commanded the forces there (Earl Moira) was as great in civil as in military affairs. He was a man in whom unbctind ed confidence raght be placed. He had changed the dread felt at invasion, into an ardent zeal to beat the enemy. By the blood of Seotchmen, he would, when ever occasion required, illustrate his great name in arms. The mention of this illustrious stranger, now so dear to the people among whom he re sided, was not foreign from the subjeet under consideration. Were he a man of that harsh, oppressive, and unfeeling character he was repte genteel to be, it was not very likely he would have been consulted by a man whose dispo sition was opposite from this. He would not have been honoured by his confidence, and his private friendship. To that Nobleman he might now ap peal, and ask, whether the people lived under his Government in that degraded state it was sup posed they did ? The - House ought to consider that Scotland was a separate kiagdoea, with se parate laws and institution': WAS reoloved the distance of ileht miles from the seat of G :vernmcnt, and had not toe ordinary public funetionei des we had here, where every man knew the part he is as to Aa. But in Seotesad, he had, on his own shoulders, Almost ail the tunetioas of Government. Since tri;kg the lever in question. he had to write ab.we See mote to the m igiorates of dieerent parts of Scotland, as to the mode in which they were to aet ihr the defrost of the coantry. His p:esfeeissors, AS weir as hims,lf, had often exercised cemidereele tv Sr 7S • u their own reseonstbilir• even against law. A Le.: Advocote d iriag tile American war (the pre .t Laud Melenh) had laid an emeargo on and . •ee e el several vessels t at were g ling to America • . ee emigrants; ter which en i e was t3ankc.l by !Arid Chanrellnr from the Wools. c*. His pre , . .sor in off e, by a similar exorziie bat he es de, authority, did, in the year 17e4, seize a treasonable letter, which he was informed had been put into the office at Perth ; and that very letter led to the convietion of the traitor Watt at Edinburgh. • He .himself letely stopped vessel.. going to America %sea emigrants, beeause the previsions they were allow-d on board were bad and pernicious.— Atter the insurrection in Dublin last July, he again exercised his authority, by stopping all persons who had net passports. What was the House to think of him. if he did not in cases of emergency act at the risk of his responsVoility ? When he expeeled the enemy to land in Scotland last Oitober, he, the then Secretary at War. declared he would ael on his own respon ihility, in proclaiming Martial Law there, if necewary ; and afterwards he would rely on the caedour of the House for a bill of eidemiiiiy. 11 the Hense, however, ser tell kern these thiiies must not ha don:, he w el: fee: happy in haring a berthen rem iveJ from oT leis shoulders. In cube of da- - ,g.r cf invasion, it was his intention to ap eerehend every saspeeted person. With respell to the case of Morrison and his servant, it tr,IS erecisely this :—Ta the application of the ser vant Gerrard, he reerely gave his opiaioa as to how far he might recover his wages. But the stet he tock agaicit the master was in consequence or some cernmenicatiee made to him by the she tqr. But he would not shelter himself by saving be had received any . secret informetion which it would he unsafe and improper in him to disclose. He though: it no more than justice due to h!oreson to sae. that AU the infirneitien received concerning him r:Lsted solely to the trays. ion with the servame Under the circumstances he bed dearibed, in wee: light was he to c-assider condor of elorri,on ? As guardian of the puhhc force, he must entertain a jealousy of it. He could not dive into his motives ; but. he could not hesitate to say, if l'ithrisor. Lad been in the pay of France, he could not have more effectually serve) her interests. Suppose him to be the agent of the First Consul, and t 3 ask, What MPS: I do ? the First e oesill would answer. you cannot send ;maw I. eta Are not In a site atiee to gee-. it, or send it to me; but discourage the Vaunters. there you can most essentially serve me.• He wet d rate a fait, to shew the propriety of this reesonieg. He had learned, from the firmer Lord Advocate, that information had been given, by persons initiated into the secret, theta most detestable society existed at Pnrtsoy, early in the French Revolution, who corresponded with the French Convention, and sid ed in co-operation with the Jacobins, for t.): purp e ., e of producing a Revolution in tgis gauntry. This society was held within a mile or two of Morri son's habitation ; and was compo s e I of prison s AMOT4 whom he must necess ally possess a great infihence. The Sheriff dispersed this soci:ty. But they continued to meet in small societies, and were vigilant in the means of attaining their obile. Their policy was to prevent the forming of V.Au.i. teers. The masters harrassed their servants when they entered into a Volunteer Corps. Ihe servmes and mechanics encouraged each other not to ent. e . So that, though the number of Volunteers to nea t up the quota of the place was sm el, it was wish extreme ditlitulty they were completed. We a r, then, b,d he a right to fear from the eendua of Morrisorr to yards his se emit for attending an la. speditan 1 Or rather, wh it ought his cooclude° be, in guarding against pre& ces. denounced by te Sheriffs and ether magistrates, in their con.mmuca tions with hims and in the die:barge ut tf air duty ? He must say, Morrison hardly could have .t al as he did upon common motives. At lean he viewel it so. It might be the weakness of his :rimier, hut he could' not view it otherwise. timely OA was natural enetieh,.and his condue' was not to be at tributed to mot:ves of oppreseon. But why was Mr. Morrison to engross all compassion ? Na one would deny that the case of his man was peculiarly hard. Yet we hear of no compassion lon the man. The Honourable Gentleman passes all that by. He did not ascribe any but honourable mo tives to that Member. He knew the winced error. It was partial information; and he hoped the Honourable Geatlemen would he named by this, not to proceed on such partial evider.ce-e -tie would now trouble the House • with some ee minks on his letter to the ifeetitl depute. The e were three clauses, that w.ra chiefly noticed-- One thing in it • had not been noticed at all; and that was, his returning the feel I lien-e was but one part of the House whose anger he would endeavour to avert by any perticel tr as.; dress. He would assure the Learned Gentlemen in that House, that he had not intended to make any precedent of returning fees. it was nut toe preixice of Scotch hissyers ; eii I he ;eyed to he pardoned this one insreece of the kind. Tne firs: clause cornpleined of in Id . leiter was th u, win. h spoke of the atrocity of Morrisan's c sn hid, rard vised that kind of animadversion of it among his neighbours, as he theught it merited. He had, in this, only sreted his opinioe of Morrison; he hid not cringed his opinion since. But, he would ask, whet i jury this could be, ii not enforced by the opinion of his neighbours? What that was, might be-col lected from this circumstance. lie had preveil.ei upon one Gentleman to take the matter up at rhe Quarter Sessions, but it was kicked over the table. He maintained. that the 0p . ..1i0n of a public officer, respeaing a private individual, is not matter for the cognisance of Parliament. The second clause was, that which direted that Mor. rison should he appiebenied on the landing of the French. The Honourable Gentleman said, if this WAS attempted wirhout a warrant, and Morrison re sisted, and killed any per•oe making the attempt, it would not be murder. He had not ordered the Sheriff to apprehend him without a warrant. The eheriff would issue his warrant, for which the order he had given would be his authority : he would be responsible. and must come to Parliament for insiam nity, if' he could shew just ground. But the Sheriff's warrant would be legai, and ought nut to be resist ed. But then the lien. Gentleman says what is stat worse, Morrison is ordered to be detained ; Low. he would say, that bail is no security against a traitor when the enemy is in the count! The security is, to keep him confined. The Hen. Gentleman had mentioned the AR of 1 701 ; ho would recommend to the lion. Gentleman and others, to read that Mt, that they may form some notion of the law of Scotland. That Aa provides for the liberty of the subjea in Scotland, as com pletely as the Habeas Corpus, or any other aft, here. Bet that law expressly excepts the case of inv.:sien ; in which case, a suspeaea pecan May be appre hended by order of five members of the Privy Cour.- cil. But the Privy Council ate no longer in exist ence. None of them are left, bin the Lord Advo cate. He, therefore, willinglrtook the responsibi lity upon himself of ordering the apprehension cf a. suspected perste:, incase of invasion. If censure is to be passed on hen far that, he must be content, No censure indeed, and (he would say, with all defe ence to the House) no censure passed, if on that ground, would cut very deep with him; and he must obi: :Ye, that he did not anshmise the letter being male pu'elic and known. it was to be com municated to Mr. Morrison ; but he did not exied it to be ma 'e matter of record in a court. If the enemy had Larded, and he had committed anf person; on suspici-m, could he afterwards comae zo Parliement for in iemnity, mid he state akg.! . No! that is net the stihiten of Ilea . He would seize, what he lied been ue. to do contrary t. 3 ;he Stria letter a the I.e. and ask, if he had ma.:e out a at case for inJer.- nil 1 I'he third c:.:ase was that, in which r-2 said, he would do all he could to prawn cor.• pensatioa for the drstr..Ction of blorrtson's c r•'. Ste. And this he m..intained to be perfealy •••: If blorrison's earns burnt by the (army, a• - d Cie same time his servant's cottagr, in using b s sl• - cret on. he would say the Volunteer (the servant) is entitled to the whole value of his loss. But the master.whom I cannot but sttspt-ft, shall not be rem:- netated At all, since he had so little regard to it .t 4 to refuse one Jay to his servant, at a quarter's,. •...• speaion. He maintained, that discrctioa govt.:tn.:l L:ie timpensation. and that no wrong was done ut wi hh •11'ng it from . disaffeaed persca. He bv),g pardon of the fur irtrutrrig so long ' tirr.e. He isesA uyitt thern,in j•ldgmg, to plac. • selves ht his S . :::IAZi , n. Ile threw mself on their dour. He w s re.•i,uadcd the Gentlema tended nothin. ; ; bat justice. He should hear ;:.; praises of that Gentlernin that be should not accede ; he should hear no censure that shculd ready to level. He would leave the Honour'`':' Gel to r X will of Ad W Lca no in fle! 1!.,i .ecc St it 4ie ./ 11 1 I on, I le a To 1 ) 'mot icor is -writ tiun coy f!ne G. it. tire. Aherif t Sh iMer t Is b et . 'Peed! .4.gLJ, if .171. ~~z: 4.:.•, I Y I