The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-02-16 00:00:00

. .
Mr. CHARLES.WYNIsIE spoke atssome tengtf.
in favour of the Amendment. He referred to dif-
ferent periods of English history, and particularly
the rebellinn which broke out in Scotland in the year
1745, to ihew that the danger was imminent; and
though it was a matter of notoriety that tl:e rebels
were in arms, and tizhting against the King's troops,
yet the Habeas Corms at seas Got saspemdtd with-
out a previ.nis parliamentary enquiry. When the
act was before suspended in the reign of Queen
Anne, a paniamentary enquiry • al,o preceded it ;
and even at the period of the first rebellion, and
when there was a foreign enemy fighting in that
country, the !tabus Corpus act was not suspended
till alter a long, and mature enquity before Com-
mittees both of the English and Irish Parliaments.
As to the rebellion, or insurrection, or riot, or what-

ever it may he called, on the 23d July, 1802, :t was
produced by the enthusiastic conduct of an unthink-
ing and fanatical young man, the and conse-
quences of which must have been buried long before
this time. . The Legislature ought to pause before
it established so ba4 a precedent, which, whatever
might be its consequences now, may have a very
bad effect upon posterity. To exemplify the abuse
which had in &rater times taken place in the exer-
cise of this power, he instanced the case of a person
who had been confined twenty years in the Tower,
before he was brought to trial.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
wished to set the Hon. Gentleman right in the case
be last mentioned. The person be alluded to was
not confined so long in consequence of the suspen-
sion of the Habeas Corpus, but in consequence of
repeated aas of parliament passed fcr that purpose.
• Mr. WINDHAM conceived the Amendment of
the Noble Lord rot to have been clearly understood,
as the oblation he made was not perhaps at all,
but certainly not so much to tie measure itself, as
to its being adopted without a previous parliament-
ary enquiry. The Rt Hon. Gentleman (4r Pitt)
did him the honour to state his conduct nq a former
occasion, when he certainly adopted the measure
upon public notoriety, because the danger was pre-
sent, and staring them in the face ; but the Right
Hon. Gentleman must recalled, that even then he
expressed his opinion that an enquiry should first he
instituted, but that he was overruled by that Right
Hon. Gentleman himself, and others, on the ground

that the danger was both pressing and notorious
But on no occasion did he say that this suspension
should continue always, foil when he supported it
on the spur of the moment, his support was founded
both upon necessity and notoriety. He had now no
ground or information before him, to shew that this
measure was bottOmed either in one or the other.
lie now wanted the notoriety, and had reason to
think and believe, that since the passing of :he att
now in force, a great change had taken place in the
minds and dispositions of the people of Ireland.
Here there was no information brought forward,
no danger was made apparent, no necessity o:ewn,
no notoriety established, and yet the I louse was
called upon to pass this a& of suspension of the li-
berties of the people of Ire! old. as it were by accla-
mation, and will no moo: than twenty-four hours
notice. The Suspension WI in the former was pass-
ed under a mistake; for the insurreetion which oc-
casiossed it turned nut since to have been not ge-
neral,but ahsalutely local, and merely, as he under-
stood, accidental. He admitted, as was done by
the Noble Lord who moved the Amendment, that
the measure *ay be necessary, but there was no
proof of it. There was some reason for it in the
former instance; he thought there was reason for
it ; but the Ministers did not think proper to give
them any now. - If it should be admitted that the
enemy having Irish Officers, and Irish Generals,
and Officers and regiments, should be a justifica-
tion of suspending the liberties of the people of Ire-
land, there never was, nor ever would be, a time
of war when the same argument would not equally
prevail. Ile defied any one to mention the time of
war in which all these circumstances did not uni-
formly happen. Considering the temper of the
people of Ireland, he thought that even decorum
towards them required that an investigation should
take place into the necessity of the measure. If
this precipitation should be understood by them, as
proceeding from inattention and indifference, it
might he produffive of the most fatal effnts. For
all these and other reasons, with which he should
not detain the House at present, he should vote for
the Amendment proposed by the Noble Lord, and
it would, in every view, be pettedly sal-, and tend
to render the measure at th's time much less odious
than it was likely to be if the original motion should
be hastily adopted.
Mr. MARTIN (of. Galway) was also in favour
of the Amendment. Tie spoke from a thorough
local and personal knowledge of the people of Ire-
land in general, and more particularly of those in
the province of Connaught, where he was convinced
they were so loyal, well-disposed, and tranquil, that
such a Bill as the present was far from being ne-.
eessary. The House was called mann to pass this,
iafringing on the birth-rights of the people, in
the same manner as it passed votes of credi: de-
pending on the responsibility of the Moister for the
mode of its application. Supposing even the no-
toriety which they spoke of to exist, surely notoriety
could be made a ground of Parliamentary proceed- i
ing, unless upon such a pressure as would afford
no room for enquiry; but the amendment of the
Noble Lord would obviate all difficulties, and 'it
would keep the suspension in force during the
time that the enquiry was prosecuting. He
-could
never withhold his opposition to a till which dealt
out to Ireland a measure different from what was
adopted in the case of any (oher part of the United
Kingdom. Why not give them the setidaftion of
instituting the enquiry ? No person ever detilated
the solvency of the Bank of England. Thar was a
matter of public notoriety, and yet, when it was
thought necessary to suspend its payment in specie,
the House was not called Upon to do so, without a
previous enqiury into that solvency. which no one
had a doubt of. Why should the people of Ire-
land be trusted with less ceremony As to the
clta-
raQer of the Lord Lieutenant and his Secretary, it
made no legislative ground for So severe a measure
as the present. He never knew a Lord Lieutenant
in that cocoory who was not represented as a very
. amiable man. He never heard of a eleereury who
was not said to be possessed of the highestatalents,
and overffuwing with humanity and -benevolence.
But these accounts, corning from a certain descrip-
tion of persons, were not always to be depended