The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-29 00:00:00

greatest alarm from the apprehension of plots end
c msniracies. Afterwards, when the whole court-
tA was thrown into consternation by rite Popish
plots vt".lftlier true or fake, he did not at
present pretend to determine —no idea was
started of repealing the Habeas Corpus Act. 'Nei-
the+. the Rye-house plot, nor any other plot, had
been thought sufficient, eveu in those convulsed
times, to warrant the Legislature in depriving the
subject of personal liberty, Returning to the
Act of last Session, he most again assert, that no
ground for it had been laid at the time it was,
passed, and nothing hid since occurred to stew
that there was any thing in the state of the coun-
try which called for it. ‘Vbere was any disturbs.
arce or-conspiracy to be found that could justify
such a measure It was not to be found in any
or the leg-al proceedings which had taken place in
this metiopolis, or even at Derby. Did it appear
in any of the proceedings which had taken. place
in Scotland A dreadful oath, an oath which
was not fit to be publicly stated, it was said, had
been taken in that country. •Ministers,lt was as-
serted, had tlie rullest evidence of a most exten-
sive-conspiracy, but which evidence they did not
choose to disclose.. Well, t heir Law Officers pro-
ceeded to try these conspirators and oath-takers in
Scotland. At first, their indietMent was wrong;
a new indictment was preferred ; but after all
they tailed in proving that any illegal oath had been
taken. None of these proceedings afforded any
appearance of a necessity for the aneasore which
Ministers bad recommended and which Parlia-
ment had been induced to adopt. But the Noble
Lad (Liverpool) had declared that he was ready
•to prove, not Only that the measure was justified
by the state of the country at the time, but that
it had been productive of the greatest advantages.
That the country was in better circumstances now
than last year be was happy to believe;. but what-
ever improvement had takto place certainly Was
not owing to the suspension of the Habeas Cor-
pus Act. Were the truth of this assertion of Mi-
nisters to be admitted by their Lordships, there
would be no longer any security for personal
liberty. On any ftrure occasion, when desirous
of obtaining an undue increase of power, if they
could persuade Parliament to suspend the Habeas
Corpus Act on ex parte evidence, they would
have nothing more to do, supposing the state of
the country to have, from other causes, improv-
ed, than to come forward next year and say, you
see what advantages have beets derived from fol-
lowing our recommendatirm. 'On the contrary,
it it should happen to be followed by discontent
and distress, Ministers would thereby acquire an
argument for prolonging their undue authority.—
They would say, you see now the measure we
called for was necessary, and that'the suspension
of the law must be .continued. Nothing, how-.
even , could excuse such a measure, but an evi-
dent proof of its necessity, founded on a full
and impartial investigation. Last Session their
Lordships had heard mock of blasphemous pro-
ductions, but. had these productionk been put
down by t he suspensiou of the Habeas Corpus Act
It was not said they were now in circulation.—
Was it the threefold prosectoinO which Minis-
ters had tried against them, which had produced
this effect -? This was certain—that with respect
t these publications, things remained in the same
state as last -year ; and if they were no longer a
subject of complaint, it could not he owing to
any of the measures of the Noble Lord. With
regard to that prosecution, it was not his wish to
sayanoch, lest any thing which might fall front him
on that subject should,be taken as a 'vindication -of
the species of publication against which the pro-
secotion was instituted. So far from wishing to
'vindicate that sort of writing, lie rather thought it.
()ugh!, in point of good taste as well as of decency,
to he discouraged. At the same time he could not
help saying, that these prosecutions bore such
marks of hypocrisy as he had never before wit-
nessed. Was there any man in the country so
weak as to believe, that the writer of the paro-
dies agaittst which Ministers had manifested so
notch indignation, would have been questioned
had he ridiculed persons in opposition to.the Go-
al:fment ? His friends had ()ten been made the
subject of such satire, and yet, on th ise occasions,
the Government never thought religion so en-
dangered by such publications as to render it tie-
re !he Attoniey-General to proseentetheni.
Ile r•-collected a parody published by those eon-
uret ed with the Noble Lord's Administration,
against persons in opposition, of which the words
of oar Saviour himself were the subject. Now,
wishing to speak with all respect of the Liturgy of
the Cloy ch of &gland, he should only say, that
he thought it most extraordinary that prosecu-
tions sheold he instituted for parodies on it, while
parodies on the words of the Scriptures themselves
were allotved to pass unnoticed He recollected a
parody, which had been published in all- the Mi.
'listens, Newspapers of the time, against the late
Mr. Paul. It was of the most disgusting nature,
and yet no notice had been taken of it.—When it
was so evident to all the world, that the prosecu-
tions brought against Mr. Hone bad been institut-
ed for political reasons only, it was impossible for
the country not to despise the hypocritical pre-
tences under which they were brought forward.-
This was an unavoidable consequence which Mi-
nisters must endure; for, in order that motives
should he respected, it was necessary that they
should he truly respectable. It dick :tot become
any Adinitlistration to inflict severe punishments
on (me set of men who might he hostile to them,
for the same kind of acts which they viewed with
indulgence when commi.ted by others in their fa-
voer. He should say nothing more on this sub-
ject but to express his bore that their Lordships
would agree to the inquiry he had suggested. If
a Commilee should be instituted, it must not be
formed as that•of last year had been. The in-
spiry, to give satisfaction, must be minute and
complete. If a Committee should be agreed to,
jr ought to be an open one, to which all their
Lordships would have access ; and then he might
hope that no evidence would be permitted to be
gqrbled or withheld, as, he was 'assured, could be
proved to have been done by 'Ministers with re-
spert to the Committee of last year. Infot mat on
had been received by Ministers which would have
tended to counteract tine impression of other evi-
- dense befors the CoMmittee, but which had never
come to their hands. This was a subject which
called for a strict investigation.

Lord Stpstotrrn.did not expect that the Noble
Lord would have thought it proper, on the pre-
sent occasion, to address to their Lordships-
servations of the patine of those they' had just
heard, though he was aware that the circumstance
of such a Bill being on the table, left.the Noble
Lord at perfect. liberty to adopt the course he had
taken. The Noble Lord had stated,- that
.there
was no necessity for the Act of last Session. Or
this assertion, he should only say, that the report
made by the Committee appointed by their Lord-
ships, and on the authority of which the Act was
passed, afforded its complete refutation. The
Noble Lord has also asserted, that the evidence
produced by 'i\linisters was garbled, and that in-
formation which ought to have been communicated
to the Comthittee was withheld. He well knew
that the Noble Liird was incapable of statin., any
thing which he did not-in his conscience believe
to be true, but he could assure their Lordships
that every kind of information which could with
propriety be laid before the Committee had been
produced to them, and that nothing had been
withheld which was necessary to enable them to
arrive at a fair and proper. conclusion on the
qes;stion submitted- to their consideration. The
Noble Lord also denies that the Act of last Session.
has beep of any advantage to the country. In
the Prince Regent's Speech, it was true, only the
other causes which had contributed to the return-
ing prosperity of the country were mentioned,
hot it did not follow that great benefit had not
been derived from the Suspension of the Habeas.
Corpus Act. There never was a greater contrast
exhibited bythe country than that which the com-
parison of its present state With that of last year
affordrd ; and he would now maintain, and if the
occasion should arrive would prove, that the act
of last Session had mainly contributed to this re-
sult. The effects it had had in many parts of the
country did not rest on assertion; they were al-
ready proved. The Magistrates and persons best
informed.rn the county of Leicester stated, on their
own knowledge-, that the passing of the suspen-
sion act had produced tranquillity in manufactur-
ing districts where the greatest alarm for the peace
of the country had previously existed, In another
place, where there had been a more formidable
manifestation of treason, the good effects of the
measure had been still more apparent—he meant
that insurrection in consequence of which a Lill
of indictment bad been found against the offenders
who were tried at Derby. On that occasion, ten
of the persons accused fled ; four were sentenced
to suffer death ; and in all, 31 confessed themselves
guilty of Treason, some of whom were transported,
and the remainder pardoned. These men, besides
making a confession of their guilt, gave certain
information, that an insurrection of a much more
formidable nature than that in which they bad
been engaged was in contemplation, and would
infallibly have taken place had not the Habeas
Corpus Act been suspended. It was that measure
alone which bad deterred them. Thus it was
proved by incontrovertible evidence, that the mea-
sure for which the Noble Lord contended there
was no necessity, had preserved the peace and
tranquillity of the country. Much stress had
been laid on the destitute condition and
humble circumstances of those who bad last
year- disturbed the public peace : it was true that
their means were very inadequate to the objects
they had in view ; but even had they never expected
fully to effect their` purposes, was there no me-
dium between the holding of their seditious meet-
lugs, and a state of things in which the Throne
itself was exposed. to tumultuous attacks ? The
truth, however, was, that many of the movers in
those lamentable disturWices were far from be-
ing men of mean or contemptible talents ; and
they possessed powers of writing and expression
by which they exercised a very considerable de-
gree of influence over the lower classes. It was
entirely attributable to the withdrawing the in-
fluence of these men by the operation of the Sus-
pension Act, that no convulsions bad since
taken place in that part of , the Kingdom
to which he had alluded, and which had before
been disturbed by the events that led to the
Trials at Derby. The Noble Lord had adverted to
the Trial of Mr. Hone, and it was necessary that he
(Lord S41111°110) should make some reply to what
h,d fallen from him. He hail, indeed, little ex-
pected that any complaints would be made in that
House on the subject of this • pro,ecution. Great
complaints had been made both iu 'Parliainent ann
out Of it, that Ministers had.delayed to prosecute
a number *of offence; of this description ; they
were loudly called on to do so, and they yielded
at length to the call, not from hypocritical motives,
not from a pretended regard to t eligion, but be-
cause they saw in the progress of diSaffection that
the same means were pursued to alienate the of-..
fections of the people from their Government,.l
as had been resorted to with such- fatal success in
a neighbouring country—he meant a continued
attempt to sap the religion and morals of the com-
munity,. and to render contemptible, in the eyes
of the people, every thing that was sacred and
established. He -was willing to admit that Go-.
vcrnment never showed its wisdom More than
when it knew what offences to overlook, as well
as what to prosecute ; but he thought the prose-
cution in question peculiarly called for by the cir-
cumstances of the times, and the insidious attempts
• of the disaffected. As to the panegyric that the
Noble Lord had passed on the privilege of Eng-
lishmen to be called to trial, and publicly charged
with the offences of which they were suspected,
his Majesty's Ministers htul shown their respect (or
these glorious and exalted rights in the proceed-
ings of that day. The act then under their con-
sideration did not expire until the Ist of March,
and there was record on the Journals of the
House, that an Act of that description had ever
been repealed, or not suffered to run out to its
utmost limit. But his Majesty's Ministers ad-
mitted that nothing could justify the continuance
of such an Act but the necessity which originated
it, and when that necessity ceased it was due
to the Legislature and to the people of this coun-
try to repeal it forthwith. But in recommend-
ing this repeal, it was not that his Majesty's Mi-
nisters considered there was an assence of all dis-
position to disturb the public peace : that was
tar from being the case ; there was a sufficient
number of daring and , unprincipled individuals,
both in and out of the metropolis, who were ready
to seize every opportunity of exciting and coati-

nning disaffection and tumult. But the mere
existence of bad men ready to excite and promote
confusion was not of itself a sufficient reason for
suspending one of the great bulwarks of our Con-
•stitution, unless those_ men had also the power of
carrying their designs into execution : that they
possessed that power last year was admitted by
the vote of their Lordships, and the bill they had,
passed ; but the means of evil iii the hands of
these men were 3o abated, that the means of re-
ducing them ought also to be left to the power of
the law and the magistracy of the country. He
should now detain their Lordships no longer.—
The Prince Regent would lay papers before their
Lordships touching the internal stale of the
country. Those papers would be laid on the table,
and it would he for their Lordsllips to decide how
they should be disposed of. Many opportunities
would arise, in the course of the Session, of dis-
cussing the measures lately resorted to by the G.,-
vernment, and on the propriety of those measures
he was ready to state his unshaken conviction ;
but with respect to the manner in which they had
been carried into execution it did riot become him
to speak, because the responsibility incurred by
that execution fell almost exclusively on himself.
lie could safely. say that be had endeavoured to
discharge a most painful and difficult duty tempe-
rately and firmly ; that he had always weighed
well whatever came before him, and had tried to
act up to the necessity of the case, and not to go
beyond it.
The bill was then read a second and third time,
ordered to be engrossed, and sent to the Com-
mons'.—Adiourned.

[For the Proceedings in the House of commons, see
the Fourth Page.]