The National Register.
London, England, 1816-05-20 00:00:00

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ALIEN BILL.

AFTER describing, in our last, the nature of the 5r.5.1...14 ftreual ;not ars pews u A Rai, we shall
now consider the other side of the question. The sup-
porters of that measure stand on very different grounds.
All with them is policy and fear. Because peace is re-
stored, they tell the country, you are not to suppose that
mischievous intentions are eradicated from the minds of
Aliens, and that precautionary measures are unnecessary.
The revolutionary madness is quelled and abated, but not
extinguished; and it is not the mere signature of a treaty
of peace that can secure the country against their machi-
nations. Can it be recommended to throw open our
shores, and to give an unlimited and unqualified protec-
tion to all the agents and spirits of Buonaparte, or to all
French subjects? Can any doubt arise, that we arc not
justified in adopting measures of precaution at home,
when it is found necessary to keep an army of 150,000
in France? Without a peace Alien Bill, the country
would be deluged with the most dangerous characters;
and, to regret the measure, would be to show a total in-
sensibility to the real state of Europe.—Such are the
grounds of policy, vibich, according to its advocates, call
for the enactment of this measure. But many auxiliary
arguments are brought into its support. It is described
as rot liable to the charge of novelty. It was found ex-
pedient in 1803 and 1814; why, therefore, should it be
deemed impolitic and unjust in 1816 ? The number of
aliens in this country is greater at this time than at any
other pereel. 1 t amounts to 23,000, and over such a
population it is necessary to retain sonic discretionary
power. The present Bill also differs widely in its pro-
visions from the former. This is all mildness, and the
other was all severity. As long as it continued in force,
no alien, even after having once obtained leave to land in
England, could stir a step without a passport, or live
any where without a licence. He might be sent out of
the country without any right of appeal; and if he return-
ed without permission, he became subject to transporta-
tion for life. From the Bill now proposed, all those
severities were expunged. Once in possession of the
certificate which allowed him to enter the land, an alien
would now be as free and unshackled as a natural-born sub-
ject ;Itemight roam through the three kingdoms, and even
leave them at any port, withoutany permission, on showing
his certificate. He would still be liable, it was true, to
be sent out of the country ; but he would have a right
of appeal to the l'rivy Council, which would be a check
on time exercise of that prerogative. An effectual bar
would thus he opposed to the undue interference of
foreign ministers, which it -was most clearly declared had
never been exerted. Indeed, the proceedings of Govern-
ment had been so lenient, even while they were armed
with the bill in its most terrible shape, that since 181'2
only 9.1 aliens had been sent out of the country ; and of
those six were individuals who had returned without
leave, and exposed themselves to the penalty of transpor-
tation for life. Of the latter, since the very birth of the
Act, not a single instance had occurred. Could it there-
fore be expected, when all the obnoxious provisions of the
measure were excluded, and mildness had become its cha-
racteristic feature, that it would be productive of greater
cruelty or injustice? The power of removing Aliens from
the country was not a novelty in the constitution. It existed
in the crown, and might be exercised by proclamation. If
those proclamations were disregarded, their object might
then be pursued, and attained by indictment. The present
Bill only opened a new way for the exercise of that power,
and simplified the means by which it was to be exerted.
Neither was any article of Magna Charta violated. The
clause in that charter was confined in its operation to
merchant strangers ; and was intended to protect
theta against the exactions of the subjects who did
every thing in their power to exclude them, but not
to disarm the King of his prerogative. Au Alien had no