The National Register.
London, England, 1818-02-02 00:00:00

CORPUS.

Lord RtnesouTit presented a Hill for repealing the Act
passed its the last session of Parliament, to empower bia Ma-
;icons, to acme and detain persons suspected of ronopiring
against his Majesty's person and government.—The Bill was
then read a first time.
After which, on Lord Sidrootith's motion, the standing
order, No. 36, relative to the.prugress of public Lilts was read
and suspected.
His Lordship next moved the second reading of the Bill
he had introduced for repealing the Habeas Corpus Sitspeu-
sion Aet.
Lord Hot:Leen, though lie certainly did not rise to oppose
the motion, could not avoid sayiug a few words on the Air-
,stentatances which had led to.it. Believing, as be elid,.that
list whole of their Lordships' proceedings iu.pasiting the Act
for sospendiug the Malmo' Corpus had iteetedspon garbled
and unfair (madame, be must state-that/he cooldalot be-tatis-
led with the inereiepeel of.that Act, and that he taught an
iimqairy into the .grounds onwhiohlibbad been passed ought
to he. nstituted. The right which bail been *expended, he
wished to remind them, was not one which had been granted
by any Act of .Parliament whatever. The personal liherty
of the.people was 'to concession. It was a right antecedent
to any statute, and eqnal to the right of their Lordships to
vote in that Mouse, or to the right of the King to tit on the
throne. He did not mean to say that there was any ahsolute
limitation to the power of Parliament on this subject, when
circumstances rendered such a stretcher power lodispensible.;
bat he did say, that to suspend this eight of the people was an
act of as great violence as to suspend the perogatives of the
Crown, and coaldsely be justified by the clearest evidence
of the moat overwhelming necessity. Where was any dis-
turbance or conspiracy to be found that could justify such a
immure? It was not to be found in any of the legal proceed-
iags which had taken place in this metropolis or even at
Derby. Did it appear is any of the proceedings which bad
taken place in Scotland? A dreadful oath,au oath which was
not it to be publicly stated, it was said, had beets taken in
la that country. Ministers, it was aserted, bad the fullest
evidence of a most extensive.compiraey, bet whietsevidenee
they did not choose to disclose. Well, their Law Officers
proceeded to try these conspiratory and atb-takers is lftcor
land. At first, their indictment .was wrong.; a new iadiet-
wont was preferred; but, after all, they failed in proviwthat
any illegal oath had been taken. Nome of these proceedings
Worded any appearance of a necessity for the nitaaarewhich
Ministers had ieconimended and which Parlianienbbad been
' induced to adopt. But the Noble Earl (Liverpool)bed dc..
dared that he• was ready to prove, not only that the measure
was justified by theduate of the country at the time, but that
it had been productive of the greatest advantages. ''list the
country was in bettercireunistauces now than last year be
was happy to believe ; hot whatever insprosement .1141444.e.a
place, certainly was not owing to the suspenion of the Habeas
Corpus Act. 'lf a Committee should be institaited, it-must
not be formed as that of last year had been. The isiqoiry, to
gire•satistaetion, 11141,1 be minote awl. complete. If a Com-
mittee • should te agreed to, it outtht to be an open one, to
which their Lordsh ps would shave access; and then lie
might hope, that no evideuvo ,fßallid he, permitted to he
garbledser *ULM Id, as, he was. assured, could be proved to
have been done by Miuisters in the Committee of Mast
year. Liformation hat'. been.receised by Ministers which
woatlil have tended to comiteraet the impression of other evi-•
ilwee before the Committee, but which had amber come to
their hands. TAis was a subject .which canted. f0r.41 .4160
Inv e-ti
Loud SisteAtOUTn did net expert, that the tiebleiLorclwonid
have 010ut.j,,, it pi up,r, sot (Ite pie cation, to address to
Own. Lordstrip...43•Kri vations ut the 'mute of those they had
post laded. The Noble Lord bad mated, that! there ,was. no
io cariosity for the Ai., ui ta:t see niu. .of.the: assertion, he
tweak! wily aity) the slot tee•wtiluwak .44y1iso,„;trunalittee ap-
pointed by their srs lilt. isuthoi of which the.
Act was owed, attUtilett its complete setutaiinu. The Noble
Lord had also asserted, that the us idence prudticcd, by :11.it,

TER. I.

ter. was garbled, and that information which ought to have
been communicated to the Committee was withheld. He well
knew that the Noble Lord: was incapable of stating any thing
which he did not in conscience believe to be true, but he
could assure their Lordships that every kind of information
which could with propriety he laid before the Committee had
been produced to- theta, and that nothing had been with-
held which was necessary to enable them to. arrive at a fair
and proper cenclusion on the question submitted to their con•
sideration. The Noble Lord also denies that the Act of last
session has been of any advantage to the country. In Cie
Prince Regent's Speech, it was true, only the other causes
%thief' had contributed to the returning prosperity of the
country were mentioned, bat it did not follow that great benefit
hail not hoen derived from the suspension of the Habeas Cor-
pus Act. There never was a greater contrast exhibited by
the country than that which the comparison of its present
state with that of last year afforded ; and he would now main_
lain, and if the occasion should arrive, world prove, that the
act of last session had mainly eontri lusted to this result. The
effects it had bad in many parts of the country did not rest
in assertion; they were already proved. The magistrates
and persona best informed in the comity of Leicester stated,
on their knowledge, that the passing of the suspension Act
had produced tnangitility in nsaitufacturing districts where
the greatest alarm for the peace of the country had previously
existed. In another place, where there had been a more
formidable manifestation of treason, the good effects of the
measnre had been still more apparent—he meant that insur-
rection lit coesequence of which a bill of indictment had been
found agaiast the offenders who were tried at Derby. On
that occasion, ten of the persons accused fled ; four were
sentenced to suffer death ; and in all, thirty one confessed
themselves guilty of high treason, some of whom were trans-
ported, and tho remainder pardoned. These men, besides
making a confession of their guilt, gave certain information
that an insurrection of a touch more formidable nature
than that in which they had been engaged was in contema-
tion, and would infailattl, have taken place had not the Ha-
beas Corpus Act been suspended. It was that measere alone
which had deterred them. Thus it was proved be ineontro-
vertiblc evidence, that the measure for which the Noble Lord
contended there was 110 necessity, had preserved the peace
and tranquility of the country. As to the petiegyric that the
Noble Lord hail passed on the privilege of Englishmen to he
called to trisl,and publicly charged with the offences of which
they were suspected, his Majesty's Ministers had shown their
respect for these glorious and exalted rights in the proceed.
ings of that day. The act then under their consideration did
not expire until the Ist of March, and that there was no record
on the journals of the house, that an act of that description
had ever been repealed or not suffered to run out to its ut-
most limit, Bnt his Majesty's Ministers admitted that nothing
could justify the continuance of such an act but the necessity
which originated it, and when that necessity ceased, it was
due to the legislature and to the people of this country to re.
peal it lot tliwith. The Hill was then read a secodd and this d
time, ordered to be engrossed, and sent to the Commons.—
Adjourned.