The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-12 00:00:00

ALIEN BILL.

On the question being put that the Speaker do leave
the Chair, for going into Committee on the Crown and
Government Bill,
Mr. OSBORNE rose and said—Sir, I believe I am
now in a position to put a question to the Right Hon.
Baronet, the Secretary of State for the home Depart-
ment. I wish to ask the Right Hon. Baronet
whether it was possible that there could be any truth in
the statement that Government were about to_bring in
an Alien Bill?

The SPEAKER ruled that the question could not be
put at this stage of the proceedings.
Mr. OSBORNE—Then I give notice, Sir, that to-
morrow, on reading the order of the day, I will put a
questicn to the Right Honourable Baronet on the
subject, and draw the attention of the House to it.
CROWN AND GOVERNMENT SECURITY BILL.
Mr. GEORGE THOMPSON then rose to resist the
motion fur again going into Committee on this Bill.
He said it would have better become the Right Hon.
Bart. who had charge of the Bill, to postpone it for a few
days, to give the people an opportunity of saying whether
they were prepared to give up their right of public
meeting and public speaking, particularly as the Bill
was not intelligible and full of bad grammar and bad
English .—(Hear.) True, the fire of revolution had broken
out in France, and its warmth bad spread throughout
the length and breadth of Europe, and no doubt the
Government had become alarmed for the safety of her
Majesty's throne. Those, however, who had advised
her Majesty to that effect were evil advisers, for her
Majesty was beloved amongst all classes of society.
But what ground was their for passing this Bill?
Were the people disloyal ?—(Hear.) No such thing,
and those who accused them of it were open to the charge
of vile calumniators.—(Hear, hear.) The Right Hon.
Baronet who introduced the Bill, read nothing from an
English newspaper to justify the provisions of the Bill,
but he crossed the Channel, and there he found some
violent writing, which certainly did show that
an alteration in the law was required.—(Hear,
hear.) Was that, however, a sufficient reason
why the whole of the United Kingdom should
be stigmatised with disloyalty? Look even at the
Chartists, who had been so unjustly and unconstitu
tionally treated by the Government while in the act of
demanding their just rights. Had they done anything
to justify the passing of this Bill? The Chartist body
was composed of the industrious labourers of the country,
and he regretted, the other night to hear the
Noble Lord at the head of the Government lauding the
middle classes at the expense of the poor hard working
men of the country. Let the Noble Lord beware how
ho set one class against another, or the day would come
when the Noble Lord would have cause deeply to regret
the course ho took on Monday to prevent the working
mfiv
vwne
ocaahridt
fy
eelings.—(gear,
e t
hf,hrte.
iLhysn from giving
ieuireneat trrh owsChartistshe utteranceeiaantrtihe:
l:iti
g,e:nvst. h y to g
ohoi
ds
God,views
whoan d
were
labouringesot
not
mt
menut
he he feared?Hwoh uoeh ao
had
the Government, then, imagine that they were not re-
spected and sympathised with by the middle classes.
The shopkeepers and manufacturers of the country knew
perfectly well that the Chartists were composed of ill..
telligent and industrious men, who well understood the
political history of the country, and the day was fast
approaching when the wealth of the country would
come to their aid. Go where you would there would
Chartists be found. They were in fact the bone and
muscle, as they were the glory of the country,
and go to the army or the navy, the work-
shop or the factory, there Chartists wouldooold
he found in thousands who were not represented in that
House, and whilst this state of things lasted, ho
never consent to the passing of such a Bill as this.—
(Hear, hear.) Pass this Bill, and the first step would
have been taken to alienate the affections of the
peopiu ;nib.' the Thrune cod he thietelet
called upon the House, if they valued their
own safety and the safety of_the Crown, they would not

• pass into a law a measure that was opposed to the spirit
of the constitution, and opposed to the rights and privi-
leges of the people.—(Cheers.)
Mr. RALPH OSBORNE said he understood
that the Right Honourable Baronet had openly
accused, him of having ;prompted the Honourable
Member for Dublin not to withdraw his motion. Well,
he admitted it, and he would tell the House, that he
would do all in his power to oppose this unconstitutional
Bill.—(Hear.) It struck him very forcibly that the
policy of the day was the policy pursued by Mr. Pitt
in 1795, with this exception—that the descen-
dants of those who opposed Mr. Pitt in '95
were now the advocates of his policy.—(Rear, hear.)
He suspected that this measure was bromsht forward to
remove the alarm of a frightened aristocracy and panic-
stricken House of Conarnons.—(Cheers.) From what
he had soon of the temper of the House within
the last few years, he was satisfied that the House
was prepared to do anything that might be averse to
the feelings of the people. In 1795 Mr. Pitt dared not
pass such a Bill as this, and w as it to be said that in this
advanced period of enlightenment they ought to pass
a law which should make things in this
country worse than they were in Russia? In
Russia a man might say any thing provided
it did not offend the authorities, but if this Bill passed
such a privilege could not be exercised in the country.
—(Hear.) It was said this Bill was for the security of
the Crown. What security, in the lame of common
sense, did the Crown want? For his part ho felt that the
throne never rested firmer upon the affections
of the people, but if they shut up the safety valve of the
constitution, as it was called, they would peril the safety
of the Crown.—(Hear, hear.) In 1795, while speaking
of .a similar Bill to this, Mr. Fox said, if men
were not suffered to speak they would have
recourse to more dangerous expedients, and,
if the Bill passed, open resistance would be
a matter of prudence.—(Hear, hear.) Let then the
Government, who no doubt were members of the Fox
Club, pause before they passed a Bill like this. Already
a feeling had gone abroad that the present system of
forming administrations in this country was rotten at
the core, and unless the Government consented to throw
overboard " the old woman who appeared to prompt
the Cabinet, and brought in measures for improving the
condition of the working
classes of England and re-
moving some of the miseries of Ireland, there soon
would be a necessity for passing measures for the
security of the Crown and Government of the country.
—(Hear, hear.) Why, in another place he saw that
Government was about to introduce what was called an
Alien Bill.—(Cheers.) Hon. Members might cheer, but he
called upon the common sense of the House to the
perilous position in which it stood. At the present
moment they were reviving all the extinct Tory policy
of 1795—inde d, they, were going beyond that policy,
because they were introducing words into the Bill, which
Mr. Pitt never dared to carry.—(Hear, hear.) This
Tory policy was not confined to the Home Department.
It had already spread itself into the Foreign-office. He
remembered the manner in which the Noble Lord at the
head of that department last year interfered in the
affairs of Portugal, and if ho could get an opportunity
of meddling with the affairs of France he would not let
it escape. There was a certain influence at work which
would prevent his doing that.—(No, no.) Hon. Members
said no, no; but let them read the history of 1795, and
there see what influences were at work then.—(Hear,
hear.) As the Member of a large and important con-
stituency he felt it to be his duty to express his obi or-
recce of the policy which was about to be pur-
sued by Government, and he called upon the
Members of that House, who had been re,

turned by liberal constituences, not to be carried
away by a temporary panic. He called upon the shop-
keepers of London, not because a few windows had
been broken, to sacrifice the essential rights of the Con-
stitution, but to rally round those honourable men who
were prepared to fling from power those liberal Minis-
ters who had so disgracefully deserted their principles.
Mr. AGLIONBY said he was prepared to go into
Committee, but he should certainly resist to the last the
gagging clause.
Mr. FEARGUS O'CONNOR said he could not use
language sufficiently strong, not to reprobate, but to
regret that the Hon. Member for Dublin had given way
to enable Government to proceed with an unconstitutional
Bill. He insisted that the law as it at present stood
was sufficient to protect the Crown. if the Government
had rested the passing of this Bill upon what occurred
on Monday last, they ought now to withdraw it, for the
proceedings of Monday fully showed that the people
were faithful to the Crown and the Constitution. For-
merly it was the boast of the Whigs that their measures
were opposed by the Tories, but now they gloried in
having their Bills backed and guaranteed by the
Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Yarmouth. This
system, however, could not last, and he; prayed the
Government to pause before they perilled the
loyalty of the people by passing this Bill.—(Hear,
hear.) If the Government passed this Bill, their tenure
of office would not bo worth two months' purchase.
The present Bill was treason against the Crown,
and the Ministry were the moat unpopular that
ever had the government of this country. He
implored the Government to reconsider this sub-
ject ; and, so far as his strength would allow
him, he would oppose the further progress of this Bill.
He told the Government that if this Bill passed the
House this day, there would be by this day week 100
secret clubs established throughout the country, and he
would do all in his power to organize those clubs.
Mr. P. HOWARD thought the Hon. Member for
Nottingham had taken a somewhat unfair advantage of
the lion. Member for Dublin in withdrawing his mo-
tion. lie should not have risen had it not have been
for something which had fallen from the Hon. Member
for Middlesex, which might tend to produce bad feeling
in another nation. England was, and he believed al-
ways would be, the home of distress and the refuge
of all foreigners who claimed its protection, but while
they thus afforded that protection, he maintained that
it was the duty of the Government not to allow any
persons so receiving protection to enter into any illegal
political combinations. The measure introduced by the
Government was not the Alien Bill of Mr. Pitt, but
simply a Bill providing
.for the registration of all fo-
reigners, without any allusion to the people of any par-
ticular country. With respect to the present Bill before
the House he Should certainly give it his most cordial
support.
Mr. REYNOLDS said that he believed he had acted
perfectly right in
Post p onin g his motion for the
second reading of his Bill. The Hon' Members for
-
the Tower Hamlets and Oldham, both of whom were so
determined in their opposition to the Bill, seemed to
think that the Bill was admirably adapted to the people
of Dublin, but not to the
people of this country.—
(Hear.) Withoat imputing
anything like selfishness
thought that it would have
been much better if they had opposed the Bill upon the
broader grounds of its unconstitutional nature. He be-
lieved that if this Bill were carried the'Government
would not be able to obtain any jury in Ireland to pro-
nounce a verdict of guilty upon any person who might
bring himself within the provisions- of the Act. He
believed that the opponents to this measure would
be found to be the representatives of by far the largest
constituencies of the country. He bad not the least
objection that the man who
wrote treason should be
transported, but he did not think that any Go-
vernment ought to be invested with the power
of depriving
any British subject of his right
of speaking fully and o enl his opinion upon
all subjects. The sixth clause of this Bill also
made a person liable to a punishment of two years' im-
prisonment for attendingany meeting where such
speeches were made.
Sir G. GREY thought that it would be much better if
the house whether
the discussion upon the words objected to were to take
place in Committee, instead of at the present time.
Mr. HUME said that he thought the Noble Lord
and his colleagues ought to inform
they were determined henceforth to throw behind
them all the principles contended for by the late
Mr. Fox. The Noble Lord had frequently made
it his boast that ho was a disciple of that great man,
and expressed a hope that he would ever continue to be
so. The lion. Member then proceeded to refer at some
length to the case of the prosecution of Mr. Muir and
others, and contended that similar results would follow
from the passing of this Bill. Most sincerely, there-
fore, did he advise the Government not to hurry the
Bill through its stages so rapidly, and to allow the
people of the country an opportunity of expressing
their opinion upon the subject. At all events he trusted
and said, I should that the Government would allow the Bill to stand over
till Monday next.
Lord J. RUSSELL then rose,
been content to go into Com-
mittee_ Government in cer-
tainlysup-
port have been better satisfied if the Hon. Member
who has just sat down, and the Hotne. Member who had
reasons which
se
spoken
foron the
tb 0 subject,
purpose
of
hearing
they have so loudly
port of the clause syn
Member for Montrose
condemned. The Hon, asked me
we proposed to act. I say now, and
might be urged by her Majesty, j
upon what principle
shall ever say, that with respect to general principles of
great mass of
politics, with respect to the
tion, I believe Mr. Fox. tohave laid down the true
subject —(Hear, hear.) But, Sir,
doctrines upon that
we are now living under . extraordinary circum-
stances—(Hear,—in a time, Sir, when
hear) .. persons
think it their duty to call together councils and confe-
derations, in which they. declare that war ought to be
made against the Sovereign—(Cheers)—that the forces
ed d
of the Sovereign should e s uce or bribed, and, if
seduction or bribery did not succeed, that they should
be opposed by force of arms—(Cheers
)—a )—a time, Sir,
to arm
when persons are advised themselves, and told
those arms they will gain.
that if they procure .
victory, and that the soldiers. and the police will
not
be able to withstand them—a time when. persons think it
advisable, even in this House, to show in what manner
they mean to proceed, and how they shall advise their
countrymen to devise the
Lou measures,er necessary for the
success of rebellion.--() I believe that,
according to the spirit of this constitution, a great lati-
tude of discussion should be allowed--(Hear, hear)—
and that inflammatory language should be per-
mitted—that language which may excite indignation
against our monarchical institutions should be permitted
to proceed to a great length, because I know that with-
out allowances of this kind the liberty of discussion
cannot be maintained ; but, Sir, instead of being re-
proached with having interfered intemperately and
nastily, I believe that the general opinion of this country '
is rather that we have waited too long.—(Cheers.) But,
Sir, having come to the opinion that it is necessary to
take measures of precaution—that these measures of pre-
caution may defeat the designs of traitors—(Cheers)—
that these measures of precaution may prevent a part of
the United Kingdom from being deluged with blued by
those who have advised the commission of acts the most
atrocious—(Loud cheers)—and who have sat down
actually in their closets to show how, by
various
incernel erg;nos, by pouring cold vitriol, boilin
oil, and other means, they may procure the
deaths of their fellow subjects--I say that under