The National Register.
London, England, 1816-05-19 00:00:00

No. 4,561—V0i.. IX.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ALIEN RILL

AFTER describing. in our last, the nature of the ar-
guments urged agaiust the peace Alien Bill, we shall
now consider the othe- side of the question. The sup-
porters of that measure stand on very diKrent 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 arc unnecessary.
The revolutionary madness is quelled and abated, but not
extinguished; aud it is not the mere signature of a treaty
afpeace 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 are not
justifiel in adopting measures of precaution at home,
when it is found necessary to keep an army of 1.10,000
in France? Without a peace Alien Bill, the country
would be deluged with the most dangerous character:: ;
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, which, according to its advocates, call
liar the enactment of this measure. But many auxiliary
argmnents are brought into its support. It is described
as not liable to the charge of novelty. It was timed ex-
pedient in 1803 and 1814; why, therefore, should it lie
deemed impolitic and unjust in 181(1? The number of
aliens in this country is greater at this time than at any
ether period. It amounts to 23,000, and over such a
population it is necessary to kctain some dtselettonety
power. The present Bill also differs widely in its pro-
visions from the for4.er. This is all mildness, and the
other was all severity. As long as it continued in foree,
•o 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 permixsion, he became subject to transp orta-
tim for life. From the Bill now proposed, all those
severities were expunged. Once in possession of the
certiikate which allowed him to enter the land, an alien
would now hens tree and unshackled as a natural-bornsub-
jeet ;knight main through tie three kingdoms, and even
lifive them at any port, withoutsny permission, on showing
his certificate. 11... would still be liable, it was true, to
be sent out of tbeeountry ; but he would have at right

of appeal to tte Oivy Council, which would 1:e a edge]
On the exercise of that prerogative. An effectual bar
would thus be opposed to the undue interference of
foreign ministers, which it was most clearly declared had
never been exerted. Indeed, the pnveedims of Govern-
ment had been so lenient, even while they were armed
with the bill in its most terrible shape, that since Islt.t
only 21 aliens had been sent out of the country; and of
those sir. were individuals Who had returned without
sa cave, and exposed themselves to the penalty of transpor-
tation tier life. Of the latter, since the very birth of the
Act, not a single instance had OCCUrra Could it there-
fore be expected, when all the obnoxious provisions of this
measure were excluded, and mildness had become its dm-
rauteristic•tieature, that it would be productive of greater
cruelty or injustice? The lower of removing Aliens front
the country was not a novelty in the constitution. it existed
is the crown, and might be exercised by proclamation. If
those pnatamations 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 Charts violated. The
clause in that charter wax (=lined in its operation to
merchant strangers ; and was intended to protect
them 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. An Alien had nu