The Express.
London, England, 1858-02-23 00:00:00

ALIENS.

Lied CAMPBELL, sitar apologising to his noble friend
for laving interposed between him and the house, proceeded
to soy that the statement of the law to which allusion had
bias made was as follows :—" The state of the English law
I believe to be this, that keeigners are able to do in this
country that which your own subjects are unable to do, and
that which would be a crime in natural-bora British subjects
is • matter of impunity in foreigners." Ile (Lord Campbell)
dedared that that was not the law of England, and it was of
the last importance that it should be known to the public
and to Europe that this was not the law. (hear.) For acts
committed in the realm of Ragland there was no Menace
and ao distinction between natural-born eubjeots end idiom
As long as aliens were in England they were within alle-
giance to the Queen ; they were the subjects of the Queen as
long as they remained in this country, and were liable and
subject to the same procedure as natural-born British sub-
jeMs. When a person was guilty of high treason, or tho
lowest offence known to the law, no difference existed whe-
ther he was an alien or a natural-born subject, and it would
bs meet disastrous if it was to be 'opposed to be the law of
England, that in the case of aliens, owing allegisnoe ea they
did to the Queen, there was no power to rusks
there subject to the law of England. While
Wises lived nader the protection of the law of
Engird they were bolted is obey, and were liable for any
infractions of, the laws of England, exactly in thesame manner
as every other person in the realm, and for any conspiracy
they were as liable as any other persons. It would therefore
be monstrous to have it proclaimed that persons who were
atioybg the benefits of an asylum In Rita country might
with impunity commit crimes for which English subjoins
would be liable to ptutiahment. If a foreigner came to this
country having committed a crime in his own country we
would not punish him by our law, as that would be • pro-
ceeding contrary to the law of nation, ; but for British sub-
jects we could legislate all over the world, and they could
be made amenable to our Owe for crimes committed any-
where, although a foreigner could not be made so amenable ;
bat for any crime committed within the realm of Eng-
land any ft,reigner was liable to oar law. He had
read with astentahment • statement that the offence
of 'aspiring to murder the Empress of the French, at the
tlme as was on the eve of giving birth to an heir to the
throne, would not come within the law of England. Any
me who casspired to effect • thing " malt= In m" was
Nato is be tried as • ooneptrator in this country, whether the
glistar was • foreigner or not. With regard to the stiv•-
iniga fat • foreign country, it should be recollected that Lord
Gawp Choke was tried for a hind on Marie Antoinette ; and
Vibe Whew of libel on the fair name of a foreign sovereign
nose paidieble by law in England, how could it be said that
ft wen 110 canoe to conspire to compass the death of the coa-
led ef • husks sovereign at the time that she was about to
give birth to an heir to the throne ? The bill which was now
pending relating to conepiracies to murder did not altar the
law or creates new offence, but was only an amendment of our
erhninal code. That bill should have his support; and he
would advise any government that was in power to go on
with that bill, which, if it came to that house, should have
his warmed support.
The LORD CHANCELLOR trusted that he might be
allowed to soy a few words in vindication of his hon. and
learned friend the AttonserOesseral, with whom, however,
he should say he had had no commanskation on this subject ;
bat In his name, end wiliest earshang him, he ventured to

say that if his ion. and lamed Mimi ww represented to
have said what tia woo Assad so have said, ho must Moe
hoes raiireprmented. It was hapossible that ha could have
sold It. He (the Lewd Chancellor) thought that to
could pwrasive bow the aribtake arose. Is the very W-
endt task of reportlog debates it might sadly happen
that a odetska sight wave; be aarioobtedly If a perms, a
Ilarstriwar, cossoltted a sirs abroad sad arm Is this
ocivatry he might do so with impunity, except that he might
be subject to extradition under a treaty. That wait have
been what was said by his hon. and loaned kind, sod per-

lap It was abed up ollit a quail= which had been mach
assild of Isis as to what was the eliimse of a British subject
maisellag a foreigner abroad. It happened that a lean
named Aaopardi was tried for that °Bence some twelve
yeses dace, and a majority of the Judges decided that if •
British subjoct murdered • foreigner abroad be way bible to
be tried for that offence in this country. Though he was
stated to be • party to that decision, and as he was reported
to have been so he had no doubt it was the case, yet, on con-
sideration, lie fah that there was great difficulty in holding
that an Englishman abroad, by murdering a foreigner,
violated the law of this land. This was not the proper time
or place to discuss that subject, mad he only alluded to it for
the purpose of stating that it might be on some question of
that kind that • misapprehessiou of his hon. and learned
friend had arisen. Hs did not regret what had now occurred,
fur it was of the last importance that it should not go forth
to Europe uncontradicted that according to our law aliens
could with impunity be guilty of crimes for which British
subjects were liable. He was glad to have had an oppor-
tunity of stating his ballet that tt was impossible that the
Attorney-General could have said so.

Lord LYNDHURST (who spoke sitting at the table with
his back to the gallery, and was heard very iadiatinctly) was
understood to my that with respect to the use to which his
bah and learned Mend had alluded, whether the law was
so or not, eight judges, of whom his noble and learned kind
on the wooloack was one, agreed in a decision that la was
anatabla sad the sentence was executed, and the man
ballet

Cord BROUGHAM agreed with hie noble and learned
friend. There could not be the least doubt whatever on the
subject—there was not the shadow of a doubt—nor did he
believe that there had been any doubt at any time in our
legal history—expressed on the point that an alien in this
country was as amenable to the municipal law of England as
a natural-born subject; and if he was tried, he was proceeded
against by the same course of procedure, and wee liable to
the same punishment and the same penal visitation, as •
natural-born subject. He was glad attention had been called
to this subject; but at the same time he mast my, that there
would be no end to debates in parliament if their lordship
were, on every paragraph in • newspaper and on every
report of what occurred elsewhere, to an them-
selves rashly and habitually to be drawn into dieoneekine
of this kind. Bat the present wagon was an exceptica,
amount of the predicament he which they stood with regard
to both countries—me country, he was grieved to say, in-
deemed by the multitude out of doors, and the other tads-
eared in an equal degree by the armed multitude out of
doors. Any misrepresentation of the law of England re-
quired instant explanation, and an immediate answer ought
to be given to anymis-statement on that subject. He agreed
in the opinion expressed by his noble and learned friends, and
he could not believe that anything like the doctrine attri-
buted to the Attorney-General had been ventilated by him.
Lord WENBLEYDALE, who was almost inaudible, was
' " . _ _

understood to concur entirely with his noble and learned
friends. It was impassible to deny that foreigners resident
fa this country ware subject to our laws in all re-
spects as British subjects were. Nevertheless, grave doubts
having arisen with regard to the etfe. t of certain of our laws
u they at prose stood, they ought to be set right. He did
not say that his noble and learned friend the Lard Chief
Justice was not right in laying that any persons in this
country conspiring to murder the Emperor of the French or
any foreign sovereign was guilty of conspiracy, but the
punishment was only tine and Blight imprisonment; and
many cues were not provided for.

Lied St. LHONAIWS expremed hia entire concurrence
In the opinions which had been stated by hie noble and
learned Mende. (Hear.)
The motion for the adjournment till Friday wee then
oltrowl to.

LADY HAVELOCK AND 81K H. H. HAVELOCK'S