The Sun.
London, England, 1818-06-02 00:00:00

iervefl, that by an old Scottish Act of Parliament,
any person placing a small sum in the Bank of
Scotland became a naturalized subject. The
Union naturalized all subjects of Scotland, there-
f4.)re, as the law now stood, to evade the Alien
Act, it was only necessary for a foreigner to place
a smill sum in the Batik of Scotland. He should
therefore, in the course of the progress of the
Bill, propose a clause to provide against that Act
The Earl Fri Z WILLIAM shortly expressed his
disapprobation of the measure. Now there was
a general peace, his anxious wish was that the
coontty should return to the enjoyment of its
ancient customs, usages, and laws.
The Duke of Sossax observed, that in a fall
conscientious discharge of his public duty, he
could not concur in the proposed measure. Ile
especially•disapproved of it on the ground of the
great liability of the pOwer being abused. This
was particularly instanced in a case said to he in
sante measure connected. with the humble indivi-
dual who now addressed their Lordships ; but it
was an insinuation which he must pointedly re-
pel. A certain Officer once of some rank in the
British service, was charged with and tried for a
conspiracy in I'ortugual, and of whiCh, according
to trials and convictions in that country, he was
convicted, and in,consequence struck off from our
Army List. That person afterwards landed in a
British purt, hut be was sent away under the
Alien Act. With that person he was said to have
been connected, but so far from it, he had even
no knowledge whatever of the transaction.
.A
few years since, when in the service of a great
person in this. country, he was acquainted with
the Officer to whom he alluded ; but he could
declare upon his
honour, that for the last nix or
seven years :bad no acquaintance or inter-
course with him whatever. 'The powers proposed
to be vested in the Executive by the Bill should,
he thought, be regarded with much constitutional
jealousy ; and on that great principle, joined to
its great liability to abuse, he felt it his duty to
oppose the Bill.

.tord tioLLAND declared himself decidedly
hostile to this Measure, and the arguments of
the Noble Viscount had not at all tended to sub-
due his hostility. The Noble Viscount had asked,
Was it not proper that at a time when every power
on the Continent possessed the prerogative of
sending the seditious, the turbulent,..iend the un-
•
worthy out of their States, that this Government
should ba-ve ',the power of preventing their com-
ing here ?• If the G'overnmtnt bad not this power,
this country might be made the asylum of all
the factious and disaffected ; but did not the
Noble Lord also recollect that this measure, if
adopted, would subject to its operation the un-
fortunate, who were the victims of injustice
and tyranny on the part of their own Govern-
, ment ; and that lie would by
.this measure close
the door of hospitality against the stranger auil
the destitute ? The Noble Lord contended, that
the unavoidable result of this measure would be
abuse ; and he alluded to former cases of persons
sett out of the kingdom, under the Alien Act.
The case of Las Cases was one strong in point.
M. Las Casas was sent from St. Helena, and
the very day alter his. arrival in this catio-
n), was sent out, under the Alien Bill, and
his papers seized and detained, a proceed-
lug which, he contended, even the Alien Bill did
not authorize. Government had perhaps seen their
. .

mistake, and had, he understood, restored that
fc. Stetlltil pi: I 3011 ors papers, but
ry
they had -detained them long enough to hay,
proved the rtrio of any individual. The Noble
Viscount contended, that the Crown had already
the prerogative and power given to it in the Bill.
He (Lord H.) doubted much this fact, but even
• if it was so, the Government had always formerly
been most reluctant to enforce that prerogative.
It :tad, on the contrary, always been the policy
• of this country to encourage the resort of foreign-
ers to our shores, and such ought always to -be
our policy. The Noble Viscount had said, the
• measure was necessary to secure the tranquillity
of the Continent. He denied any soch necessity
• 'and the Noble -Lords opposite, in advancing this
argument, had reduced themselves to the neces-
sity of acknowledging, that after all our extraor-
dinary exertions, and expenditure of blood and
treasure, and after the glorious peace, of which
they had boasted so much, that they had still left
the Continent in a worse state than they found it
a state which rendered necessary a measure
never before called for in a time of peace. The
Noble Lord contended, that in a constitutional
point of view the measure was highly objection-
able, and pregnant with danger to the freedom.
and privileges of the people of this country.—
The Noble Lord then alluded to the case of
Don Diego Gomez, the person alluded to by
the Duke of Sussex. Don Diegoi was accused
of having, when in Spain, written against the
English interests there. This was the crime
imputed to hint, and for which, he had been
made subject to the operation of the Alien
Act, and under which lie was brought from Por-
tor.sai to this country, and from hence to Spain,
where lie was made subject to the Spanish Laws.
It had always been the policy of this country,
in all her contests, to contend against universal
monaechy. Now universal monarchy was not a
mere name without an evil; it was a• system of
evil arising out of Europe being subject to one
will; now this might be effected, though there
were five or six Sovereigns, if there was one sys-
tem and one will amongst them. If Russia was
to permit one indivi(fal, Prussia another, France
another, England another, and each Power was
to consider itself bound to give the proscribed
person up, where was individual liberty gone to,
and- where could the oppressed find refuge ? No
where;, Jan! such would be the effect of the propos-
ed measure, if adopted. The Alien in this country,
it he observed the laws whilst here, ought to he
protected; the adoption of this measure would be
an invasion of those laws on which our great-
ness were founded, and one which endangered
the liberty of our own subjects, and therefore the
Bill should have his strongest opposition.
Lord WESTMORELAND considered the Bill as
necessary on three grounds ; Ist, to preserve the
tranyrillity of this country ; 2d, to preserve our
amity with foreign Powers ; and 3d, to preserve
the peace and tranquillity of the Continent.—
With Teepeet to the arguments advanced against
the measure, on the ground that it was unconsti-