The Sun.
London, England, 1812-05-06 00:00:00

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with death,aiiy traitois tb this edirti,abf, and fo put-
- 6ue theM for. that.. purpote, alts ongli they Should
fiY to the -verge of the _nation." Bench was the arltli
tiltech had'be'en taken to great extent in parts of
Yorkshire, Lancashire,' and Chcahire. It was with,
regret, •that he felt •hiarselt compelled to state,. that
atnce the practice of administering those oaths, at-
tempts at murder • had - been made in these dis-
tricts, to which they hail) until that per-loci], been
strangers. If, at the time when the act- which
Ile wished to attend was passed, the Legislature
4ad contemplated the possible existence of such
horrid oaths as that .which he had just read, he was
persuaded that they would have interfered 'to:pre-
Vent their operation, by penalties still more severe,.
khan those Which had been enacted. The object
'?f the Bill which he proposed was, that the admi-
. rlistration Or taking of. oaths, which bound the par-'
dies who took thcm to the -commission ,orencotk,
agenient of aCtS,, which were already capltal fe-
lonies by law, should itself be a capital felony. He
intended also to. introduce ;a pro Vision, giving to:
itjeh parties, who. had taken the oath in question,
lf they made a confess;on df thin fact before a Md-
Vstrate, -and afterwards took the oath of allegiance,
zentption ,from the penalties of the Bill. He
trusted there. would be rto -objection to: his motion ;
if th:re wete, he should have an opportunity of
replying to it. The Right Hon. Gentleman con-
eluded by moving for leave to'bring in a Bid; &e.
Aar.'e. WYNNE did. not rise to oppose the trio-.
1,19 n, but to observe that the •pooposittoo of the
'Right Hon. Gentleinan, contained a 'new
61 legislature, which the House ought to- consider
►the
before they adopted it. Hitherto' it: had - been
"e practice in the English pt:nal law always to dis-
titlgui,h tite intention to commit an act from the.
of. the ace itself. • It appeared to him
the- inciters, of the existiog disturbances,
• grounding themselves,upn the proposed Bill, would
• .1:_a1 to those whom they influenced, as soon as they
bad taken the Oath, " You may as we'll go on, for
they can hang you for what you have done already."
(' never bad thought political oaths witrth,attetid-
-nglu, and he quoted the opinion of Sir R. Walpole
With tewect to their impOtence and inefficacy.

•
Mr. HORSiEIt _condemned this attempt to legis-
late for a parikular distria, and on a particular oc-
casion. No one felt more strongly than he did, the
danger attendant upon, the late insurredion. How
'at those alarrning.eircumstancesprOceeded from the
tondua of the Government, was not the question
bow to agitation'before the House. , Certainly, a
teat part of the distresses by which, the disturbances
ad been occasioned, no Government, could have
rented, but there was also a great part which might
're been prevented by a wiser course, with respect
;O both both our foreien-and'dorriestic concerns. He ob-
lic'eed to the Bil 7, first, on the ground stated by his'
6.°nograble Frien,t, that it went to coati a new,
pital punishmei.t, contrary to the - principle
of English jurisdiction, which distinguished between
the
Contemplation of offence, - and the actual act„;
po—en,hdly, on the givuud of the !utility of capital
thnishments, in puttieg down offences at all ; ' and
In the
because the proposition made no distinction
the degrees of offence, the necessary consegyel)ee
of
14 which would he, that t ;lose iodiveluals, who hay-
tog taken the oath `shad rendered themiteves htabk
b„.'he penal operation of the Bill, would be induceJ,
tio the consideration' that thereby they would incur
additional punishin, to proceed to the co n-
prtssion of: new crimes. Such an expedient as toe
tic,esent,' though dountlessly with the best inten-
1-uss had frequently been the resource of unwise
Zi,s.i,'lcus. Instead of availing there elves et• the
to—"z laws, they endeavoured to make new trees
ikrtll,,• tet thepartieular case. -Why would not Go-
C, "lent try the etie3 of-the Act of 1797, hich
oa°tnihited the administering and aking-of unlaw
abi,4„! under the penalty of transportation Let a
lical commission
,go to the disturbed c unties.
is
the was unquestionably the best mode of treating
evil, became it would be attended, t.iy prompt
it,ot
11-11Ple, and all those ctrevaistaittes or Itlal so-
ity whicn might be expected to have a met-
effect. Let ibis Special Commission then
tit 13P".tbe law, as it already Stood. ' It the expe-
vauient ,hoeld prove unsuccessful, that would be the
subjeelcZaPPly Parliament for a- new Bill on the

-t,sl:.,beCrtAN•oil.Loa. of,the Eg.CHEStUiIt was happy
.t" "ad that heit:.. was one O. roCeetiio& of his Maies-
e.3,,:s 00-ertimept *which was likely to-ineet the con-
' irrerlee of the Hn. anti Learned gentleman, for
sn vi.cas'interqled to lose no time' in dispatching a
ecial commission Crt the purpose ‘tt trying and
tuatshing the Offences witsicti. 044 been committed.
ut notwillisianding all that the Hon. and Learned
entlenaan had urged in the other parts of hi speech,
tie was still of onittion that Government woul.l. not
° their duty, if they did not lake every meansl°
I:4:ilea the property a..d lite of the subject. What !
'able amoment as the,present, was the Honour-
e and Learned Gentleman for making " an
1
"Peritnent," and waiting in the mean vybile for;
I.s"'eks and mouth; to s-e 'how" many would
assas,inated under- it ? He • would_ by no
all charge the Hon. and. Learned Gentleman
t_
indifference to the lives of the people, for he
Reg Persuaded, that if that Hon. and Learned Gen-
tman received the information which every post
ortleuZht to Government, he would be little disposed
of try
an experiment" at the expence of the lives
strbjects,who for no other crime than stand-
111P in defence of the laws, were shot ,at'. in, the
tr!'" toads; and suffered death in other-ways, by the
inclachinations and combinations of those misguided
hi, ivpidklals".whose bond of union the Bill proposed by
"igltt Hon. Friend was calculated to dissolve.— '
IL 41, said the Hon. and Learned Gent. " try
via of the laws you have already in force."—
d
c the Huh.. and Learned Gentleman consider the
fi„
which would be requisite' to do this ? the
ciasit Place, the time for the appointment of a. spe-
-1.,,b cc}aicnission—then the time occupied by their
cerafurs__,and• subseciitently the time necessary to as-
-1-1
the effea-4 the existing punishment of trans-
Ptat
l°a• If, after all, this punishment were found
-no stronger one could be resorted to,
Ine next- Session of Parliament. Was this
ilchstate in which things ought to be left ? It the
the , "Itlemen opposite, filled in the vicinity of
ov,,lttsting disturbances, and had to defend their,
was and their neighbours' lives and property, he
s ri"re that they would think not. /It had ,been
bY the two Honourable and. Learned .Gen-
Qs oPposite, that the proposed %vent-