The National Register.
London, England, 1816-05-13 00:00:00

!bt Oationat ti

No. 495.—V0L. IX.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

CONSIDERATIONi ON THE ALIEN BILL.

AN interesting subject has Litnly been started in Par-
liament, and has occasioned considerable discussion : it is
the .proposal of an Alien Bill in time of peace. This
measure, unknown for a long succession of ages in En-
gli;ll policy, has been censured and defended with equal
vehemence ; and has, already, been carried through some
of its stages, by majorities so triumphant, that little doubt
can be entertained of its ultimate adoption. It is, how-
ever, one which opens a wide field for controversy ; and
the effects of which may be too powerfully felt, not to re-
quire that it iho•ild not be passed without the deepest
cum:), ration.

Th- - . the peaee Alien Bill stand on strong
n:..: Tl,e. rual.l. these di. vs, when,
con. :ms of end seea4t..-, or too magnanimous
to fear, Er.2;;and threw open her shores to men of all na-
film, of all creeds, of all polit*.es ;and flourished in the
Midst of a fettered world,--the Eden of earthly freedom.
Then, let the slave .approneh, rr) hand was put forth to
repel him. He lighted on her strand, and he was free.
Here, the fugitive found an asylum, which neither the
wrath nor the might of f weign kings could violate. Let
revolutions rend the Continent; let the flame of religious
persecution blaze abroad, she was the universal refuge of
the persecnted. Like the good Samaritan, she but saw
the wounds of the wretched, and she healed them. She
did not inquire whether they had offended and opposed
such a monarch ; whether they regretted deposed gran-
deur, and prayed for its revival. She opened her arms,
and all that rushed into them were safe. Then was her

name blessed upon the earth. Then was her greatness
secure, though unarmed ; because it was fenced round
with the gratitude and the interests of men. For who
would have attempted to pull down the holy sanctuary,
opened to him at the hour of persecution and misfortune?
All wishes, all hopes, all benedictions, rose towards her.
She was the ideal land of promise to every man, when the
days of woe should come ; and, secure of being received
as children in her bosom, they felt for her the love and
veneration of sons.

This state of true and unparalleled grandeur, say the
opponents of the Bill, England now willingly abdicates.
By perpetuating a temporary measure, forced upon her
by the lash of terror and of necessity, she sinks back into
a common people. With ►acrilegious hand, she destroys
the sacredness of her own soil. She dissolves all those
spells which made her dear to the hearts of strangers, and
rendered her prosperity, and her power, objects of universal
interest and importance. She breaks down the ancient
palladium of her safety, to erect in its stead weak and
noxious defences. True, she is great among nations
True, her navy commands the seas, and her military arm
strikes her enemies to the earth. But these arc glories
which she shares in common with ancient and modern
States. The ocean has obeyed many lords ; and, even in
our days, victories have boon gained by other swords
than ours, that have decided the fate of Empires.
—But England, hitherto, claimed exclusive and higher.
honours than those of war and of conquest, more precious
even than those which the arts and literature confer—
England possessed a gem of inestimable value, which anti-
quity never knew, and which no other modern country
ever held. It blazed in her crown and enlightened the
world. It was the star of freedom. It marked her
abode and her refuge out, earth. For England was not
only the soil of constitutional liberty, but she extended
the protection or her constitution and the enjoyment of
her liberty to all.who sought her shores. This was a
pie-eminence, indeed, in which she had no rivals. It
made her an island in fame, as nature had male her an
island in position. This exclusive pre-eminence, say
the antagonists of the measure, is now abandoned; and
England resigns that glory which no other nation ever
possessed, without even the plea of necessity. •

Dui• tling, Cottatt

in /into %Mani.

MONDAY, MAY 13, 181 b.

Their oQter arguments against a Bill which allows no
foreigner to land in Enghoid, even in time of peace,
without leave, and males him liable to be sent out of
the country without any trial, are of a less metaphysical
nature. They assert, that tha rights secured by Magna
Charta, even to strangers visiting this country, arc vio-
lated. They eat tend, that our laws extend the same
protection to aliens as to natural-born subjects ; that by
the present measure, foreign Governments will be en-
abled to exercise, even- within the sanctuary of our liber-
ties, the same tyranny and oppression over their fugitive
victims, as within the sphere of their own despotism.
Hence they augur the downfall of our national renown,
and the destruction of that mingled love and veneration
with which England and her liberal Constitution were
viewed by all nations. They next employ a still more point-
ed reason, the a riunavatum ud liominrm. They rouse the
fctrof retaliation. " Your peace Alien Bill ! they exclaim,
will be felt by your merchants and your travellers abroad.
—Hitherto the liberality of your laws towards foreigners
has occasioned you to be treated with greater favour in
countries where you are strangers. Hence your com-
merce has prospered, and extended itself to the ends of
the world. But now, measures of severity and oppression
will be adopted against you by Sovereigns abroad; and,
should you complain, your example will be their excuse.
Such are the chief arguments urged against this im-
portant measure. In our next, we shall examine those
of its supporters.

IMPERIAL PARLIA.3IENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, MONDAY, MAY 6.

The St. Pancras Church Bill W 43 read a second time; and
after some coils ersation between Earl Stanhope (who present.
cd a petition against the principle of the bill) and the Lord
Chancellor, it was committed for Weciesday.—Adjourned.

TUESDAY, MAY 7.
Lord LTV F:l2 POOL rose, is pursuance of notice, to move Ad-
dresses of nngratulation to his Royal Highness the Prince
Regent, her Majesty, the Princess Charlotte and the I'rinee
of Saxe Cobourir, upon the late marriage. After a tew obser-
vations from tlfe Noble Earl, in which he expressed his full
belief that the House hail a siucere and heartfelt wish that the
late happy marriage might produce peace, happiness, and
prosperity to the Royal Family, moved the several Addresses
olcongratulation to the illustrious perAnnays before mentioned,
which were put Will agreed to, neon. dis.—Adjourned.

THURADAY, MAY 9.
In a Committee of Privileges on the Borthwick Peerage,
es idenee was heard to prove the death of the late claimant,
and that the present claimant was his sun and heir.—The Bills
ccri the table were read in their respective stages, without re-
mark or opposition.—Adjourned:
FRIDAY, MAY 10.
The Eat' of MORTON, (the Queen's Chamberlain), reported
her Majt sty's gracious answer to the Address of that House,
congratulating her on the marriage of the Princess Charlotte
of Wales to the Prince of &Ise Cobourg.
Earl STANHOPE presented the Report of the Committee ap-
pointed to enquire into the best means of classifying under
proper and distinct heads the different statutes. The Report
contained only two Resolutions—that it was highly expedient
that statutes should be regularly classified; and that a person
learne4: in the law, with a set of clerks, not exceeding 20,
shonld be appointed to carry that object into effect.
On the motion of Earl STAN mom the House agreed with
the Committee in that Report ; and a communication was or-
dered to be :wile of the seine to the Commons, and to desire a
conference with them ou the subject on Tuesday next, in the
Painted Chamber. _ • .

..... ...... ..
The lkle:.tengera returned, and stated, that the Commons
would .cod au answer by .Nleabetigera of tlit ir or. n.—Adjout oed
till Monday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY, MAY 6.

LOT(' CASTLEREAGH TOMe to move en Address to the Priam,
Regent on the late amminions event, the Royal 'Marriage. He
telt convinced that the. House viewed the marriage with 51101
feeling, as to render it nauecessary for him to say any thing to
create an interest in their minds; by the Address to the Throne
—by the liberal allowances voted io contemplation of such a
union—they hail roily spoken their sentiments. His present
motions were in the spirit of those sentiments, and the congia-
titlatie.is which he propoee•d were the necessary result of their
former proceedings. lie colictuded with moving addresses—
first, to the Prince Regent, rongratMating his Royal Higinte.s
o❑ the happy nuptials of his demiliter, her Royal Highness the
Princess Charlotte Augusta. Secondly, congratulating
Majesty un these nuptial, ;- -and thirdly, toeongr,ttnlateline
Royal Highness Princess Chariot Wand George Leopold Priem:
of Si te -Cushottre, On this happy occasion.
These Addresses were severally agreed to. non. eon.
Air. llttotninvm gave notice, that on Tuesday, the 21st hut.
he sitnuld deem it hi, duty to myelin destructuots of all papers
rclatiout to the Income has ; far as regarded the Haw's
and r_xidences of ail persons who had been iLibtfiStil lot that
tax.