The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-12 00:00:00

stance connected with the subject. Dumfries possessed
perhaps the finest asylum in the kingdom, and therefore
he hoped that an exemption might be made for this place,
which could include as a district the counties of Pum-

fries, Kirkcudbright, and Wigton.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL of SCOTLAND ex-
plained, that the Bill in such a case would not occasion
an unnecessary expenditure.
Sir G. GRE Y supported the Bill, and approved of the
Lord Advocate's plan of referring it to a Select Com-

mittee up stairs. -
Mr. S. WORTLEY supported the Bill, and said that
his experience in the county of Bute fully bore out the
correctness of the principle upon which it proceeded.
Sir D. DUNDAS also supported the measure, which,
be said, was really an act of charity towards the un-
fortunate persons who would be the objects of it in

Scotland.
The LORD ADVOCATE having explained,
The Bill was then read a second time, and ordered to
be referred to a Select Committee.
REMOVAL OF ALIENS BILL.
On the order of the day being moved to read this
Bill a third time,
The Earl of ARUNDEL and SURREY read an ex-
tract from a letter of Montalembert, in which he dis-
claimed having ever excited any hostility to England,
but hoped at the same time that she would do justice to
Ireland.
Mr. MOWATT moved that the Bill be read a
third time that day six months. He thought the
Bill was a gross outrage on public opinion,
and that the Government ought by this time to
have stated some case upon which he might ask them
to pass the Bill. If the country were in that state
of peril which the Noble Lord at the head of the Go-
srnment would have them infer, it would be the more
easy for them to state that case, and their negligence in
that respect was, therefore, the more culpable. He
thought that the right feeling of the people of this coun-
try would at all times, if there were necessity, be suffi-
cient to counteract any designs of foreigners against the
peace and security of this country. It would, were
there any attempt on the part of foreigners to disturb
the quiet of the country, be as easy to track them as it
would a wild beast. They had had nothing of late but
a series of harsh and illiberal measures at the hands of a
Government calling itself not only liberal, but the
light and spirit of the age in this country.—(Hear,
hear.) First, they had in this session, the Irish co-
ercion Bill ; then they had " the*Ga,gging Bill;" and
now they were about to be afflicted with the proposed
Alien Bill. He considered it a most silly, childish,
uncalled-for, and, he must say, tyrannical Bill—a Bill
which was an outrage on the common sense of the day.
He had had much intercourse with the people of the
continent, and in particular with the French, and all the
foreigners with whom he had communicated agreed in
strongly condemning the Bill, which they pronounced as
a Bill calculated to exasperate the violent party in Re.
publican France against this country. It was true that
they had had a revolution recently in France; and he
must say that it was absolutely called for, and that, he
was not sorry for it. This Bill was intended to stop the
progress and influence of " propagandism" in this
country; but it would be utterly inoperative for that
purpose, for every well-educated man was now a propa-
gandist of liberal opinions.—(Hear.) The Hon. Mem-
ber concluded by proposing that the Bill be read a third
time that day six months.
Mr. HUME seconded the motion. He deeply la-
mented that such a Bill had been brought forward by the
present Government—a Government from whose cha-
racter the country and the world had a right to expect
better things; and he regretted it the more, as it was a
Bill calculated to injure the character and interests of
this country. It was a measure to be deprecated in the
strongest manner, and for those reasons, and the reasons
he had already expressed on the subject, he should
second the motion that the Bill be read a third time this
day six months.
Lord DUDLEY STUART could not allow the Bill to
go to a third reading without again recording his
opinion against it. He did not see any necessity for
such a Bill at the present time. He was not aware of
any circumstances that could at all justify it; and he
considered it a Bill calculated to injure the cha-
racter of this country. It would affect the liberty
or interest of many thousands of foreigners located
in this country, and was in that respect a power
that ought not lightly to be vested in the bands
of any one man. He would refer the House to the
speech of a late noble and excellent Lord, Lord Holland,
against a former Bill of the kind now before the House.
That Noble Lord, from whose speeches he was fond of
quoting, in speaking of the Alien Bill, used these words
—" You contract the spirit of our law, you shake the
very foundations of British justice, when you entrust
such a power over the lives, liberty, and property of any
set of men on the principle that the power will not be
abused." He had given notice of two clauses, which he
proposed to add to the Bill.
Mr. MUNTZ had very great pleasure in supporting
the amendment, and he only wished that it was in his
power to throw out the Bill wholly. He had mixed
much with foreigners, and he thought the alarms of the
Government were only worthy of an old woman.
Mr. EW ART could not allow the Bill to pass the
third reading without expressing his entire disapproba-
tion of its whole principle. Such a Bill showed a want
of confidence in the constitution of this country ; but if
the constitution was good for anything, it would, with-
out the aid of this Bill, resist and correct any attempts
which might be made by persons coming from other
countries to disturb the institutions of this.
Mr. FORSTER thought it unnecessary for him to
say one word in explanation of the votes he had already
given on this Bill. If he thought the Bill necessary for
the preservation of the peace of this country, he should
feel it his duty to support the measure ; but he consi-
dered it wholly unnecessary. He objected to it on the
ground that foreigners would be driven by it to think
most unkindly of us ; and he could not but believe, with
respect to the circumstances said to call for it, that the
,Government must have been deceived.
Sir H. VERNEY would ask Hon. Gentlemen if they
were prepared to allow foreigners to come into this
country, and interfere in designing and fomenting plots
to disturb the peace of the people? Hon. Gentlemen
had ridiculed the Government, as being influenced by
timidity and panic ; but he could assure those Hon.
Gentlemen that he knew of a country that had been lost
by panic. His opinion was, that it was the wisest and
justest course that the Government could have pursued,
and he should, under all the circumstances, support the
Bill.
Mr. G. DUNCAN had voted on twelve different divi-
sions out of seventeen in favour of this Bill, and he
was quite prepared at present to support the measure,
as her Majesty's Government said they required it.
Sir GEORGE GREY admitted that nothing could
be more fair than the manner in which Honourable
Members opposed this Bill. Honourable Members had
expressed themselves at a loss to know the grounds
on which her Majesty's Government could justify their
introduction of this Bill. Me did not wish to intro-
duce any names into the discussions on the Bill ; but
the circumstances that bad come to his own knowledge
with reference to foreigners—not such foreigners as the
Hon. Member (Mr. Muntz) had spoken of his acquaint-
ance with, but foreigners who were here for the purpose
of interfering with and disturbing the institutions of this
country. He did not mean to say that this Bill was
brought forward in a dastardly spirit to protect the
people of this country, who were impressed with
the most loyal attachment to the constitution
of the country, and prepared to put any disturb-
ance down that might be attempted. But looking at
what was taking place in other countries and in Ireland,
he thought the Government were entitled to some credit
for the steps they bad taken to secure the peace. The
Government thought that under the circumstances
of the present time, and looking at the pro-
pagandism, not, he would say, on the part of
foreigners in this country, but in other quarters,
that they were bound to look to the security of the Crown
and Government; and they now asked only for a Bill of
this kind, having for its exclusive object the preservation
of the peace and tranquillity of the country. He thought
that the objections to this Bill would be best answered
by its being known that the Government possessed the
power given by the Bill in its own hands. With respect
to the hospitality of this country, it was well known to
be at all times proverbial; but should any occasion arise,
then it was well that the Government should possess
the power of dealing with it—a power which it would
exercise, and which he should not shrink from exer-
cising. The Hon. Member for Birmingham (Mr.
Muntz) had spoken of foreigners; but he was quite sure
that it was not from such foreigners as he was in the habit
of associating with that the danger was to be appre-
hended; and it was against that class only from whom
danger was to be apprehended that the powers of this
Bill were intended to be exercised.
Mr. MILNER GIBSON said that those who believed
that the laws of the land were not sufficient to prevent
aliens from interfering with the constitution, had an ample
justification for supporting this Bill. For himself, he
thought that a foreigner should stand precisely upon the
same ground that an Englishman did. Had a foreigner
less need of the safeguard of our laws than an English-
man? He thought that, if 'anything, he should be treated
with greater consideration, but at least he should not be
placed in a worse condition.—(Bear.)
Mr. BROTIIERTON said he was bound to give his
confidence to a Government who had hitherto voted for
every liberal measure. If they asked for this Bill, if
they said it was necessary, he would give his vote of con-
fidence to the Government, who were looking to the
peace and welfare of the country.—(Hear.)
Mr. COBDEN said the speech of his lion. Friend the
Member for Salford was not a speech in favour of the
Alien Bill, but of the Ministry. His Hon. Friend had
given his reasons for the vote which he was about to
give, and had deprecated any misinterpretation of the
motives by which he was actuated ; but he was sure that
there was no Member of that House who had less reason
to be anxious on that score.—(Loud cheers.) The
speech of his Hon. Friend had, however, confirmed hint
in an opinion which he had long entertained—that they
were prone to pass bad laws, not because they approved
of them, but because the peculiar state of parties induced
a large number on that side of the House to support the
measures of the Government, whether good or bad, be-
cause for fifteen years they had been in the habit of
voting with them.—(Hear, hear.) On the other side of
the House, olso, a large portion voted for the Govern-
ment, because they themselves were not prepared to
take the government on themselves—(Hear, hear)—
while another section on the same side supported the
Government, because they wished to prevent the latter
from coming into power.—(Hear.) This was a very un-
fortunate state of things, because it removed all the old
responsibility of public men, and induced them, instead
of voting with reference to the measures proposed, to
satisfy their consciences by pleading old friendships and
old hostilities. He had, for some time past, made up
his mind to give his vote:quite independently of ay
parties; and he believed the country would never suc-
ceed in getting good or escaping bad measures until her
Members resolved to disregard old distinctions of party,