Star.
London, England, 1824-04-03 00:00:00

and be cautious, adding, that we should let his Govern-
ment know. of the discovery of the plot, but conceal the
nair.es of the partie,;—(llenr,ltenr). In my c, thcietice, I
believe thet we thus prevented the completion of the
scheme; and, I ask, whether this was an instance of
abuse of the powers of the Alien Bill ? (,Heer, hear).
The case to which I te;er, happened within the l.t t fon.'
night, and while my Right lion. Friend and I (I give
him the priority because he is entitled to it) were hesita-
ting about this measure, this incident occurred, and corns
pletely satisfied us beth that we should not do our duty
if we did not propose it to Parliament--(Hear, hear).—
Nuw, then, the House has the liktory.of The origin of
this Bill, and it knows Our intentions in endeavouring
to make it an enactment. 1 ask, then, Honourable
Gentlemen on the other side, whether in the enactment,
or in the mode in which it has been applied, they see
anything that rouses their Constitutional jealousy ? But
I mistake when I talk of their Constitutional jealousy-
-1 ought rather to say their Continental jealousy—•
(Bear and laughter). When this instance was men-
tioned by my Right Honourable Friend on a former
night, a Noble Lord (who does not often deliver his
opinions upon lot eign pot cy, but when he does, what he
says always bears the starli) of good sense) suggested
that all the advantage to be derived from a. temperate
use of the powers of the Alien Bill might be attained
by an Act of Parliament brought in for each specific case.
The Noble Lord has had some experience in Acts of
Parliament : he has one now befote the House for cor-
recting the practice of certain small Courts, and when
he get.. rid of that, I would really beg of Min to try his
hand a little further at legislation ; let him bring in is
Bill to arraign a foreigner in this country of treason to. ,
wards his own Sovereign—(hear, hear). At least, he'
• will have to encounter the difficulty of being without a
precedent in the history of any State, ancient or modern.
I omit here eieitely the consideration that the Noble
Lord's prolusition, or that the law shall be applied to
the particular case, so as to render it a sort or privile-
gium. I only reque-t the Noble Lord, when he goes
home to night, to try his hand at framing such a Bill,
and depend upon it, even the mighty undertaking of
regulating the County Courts will sink into insignifi-
cance.—(Ulcers and laughter). Ile must not only try a
new mode of legislation, but he must erect new Courts
for his purpose, such as hitherto the imagination of man
has never conceived. In the meantime I assert that this
Never has been misapplied in the instance I have de-
tailed ; I do not say it is the only one, but the particu-
lars of diat are clear and fresh in my recollection. The
object is not to let the crime ripen into punishment, but
to. stop its progress before the commencement of execu-
tion. I admit the soundness of that maxim of our law
which presumes every man innocent until he is proved
guilty ; but we al e talking now of the practical safety of
tie! world, and of the preservation of the peace of this
country ; and I say, that if the peace of other countries
isendengered by plots, hatched under our protection,
do not let us be accused of not having done our best to
prevent the evil. It would be but a poor answer to any
foreign Poser that complained, were we to tell it that
. ae had thought well of the party accused, but that he
shall take his trial befoie a jury composed of half fo-
reigners.• Our object, I repeat, is to check and anticipate
danger, and to prase. ve Great Britain from the guilt of
having even improvidently contributed to the peril of
other States. The Bill upon the table seems to me
peculi it ly adapted to the purpose; nor is there any thing
in it which goes beyond the fair execution of that purpose.
I admit most readily that you must subject to its opera-
tion rainy who do not entertain the remstest notion of
evil designs; but that is unavoidable: it arises from
the infirmity of human nature, and the imperfection of
human institutions. The guilty must be reached among
the number of the innocent; you must spread your net
wide enough to cover more than the mere prey you in-
tend to include. I must observe, however, that on this
part of the subject there has been a vast deal of exag-
geration. We are told that all the foreigners that seek
shelter bete are models of their kind ; more angels than
men, though somewhat fallen, and with at least
The excess of glory obscued:"
heroes of the noblest older, and patriots of the purest
water ; forgetting the uuth of the lines:
" Loudon! the needy villain's general home;
The common sewer of Paris and of Rome!"
I do not say that the Alien Bill has completely effected
a beneficial change ; but it is not to be taken for granted
that because a foteigner comes here he is persecuted and
driven away from home. Besides these illustrious he-
roes —these immot tel patriots—these champions of free-
dom, and martyrs of virtue, we have also that quack
doctors, and some others—Augur, schcenobales, medi-
cur, magus, and id genus came of needy persons, de-
sirous of fattening upon British hospitality. IT Honour-
able Gentlemen wha oppose this Bill contend that none
but heroes and patriots arrive here, I have at least as
good a right to assume that persons of a very contrary
descririon also find their way to our shores. All I con-
tend for is, that there is a necessity for some such super-
vision—that the Alien Bill is addressed to the specific
danger of the times, and that it has hitherto been found
effectual in suppressing, or rather in preventing it.—
I have not heard even all ito,hatation of an abte.e of its
powers, and so long ac the danger continues, I will con-
clude as I began, with expressing my hope that the
measure may not outlive the term for which its renewal
is now proposed. Whenever the danger is at an end,
1 will return with all my heart to a more mitigated and
moderate legislation, but for some legislation upon this
subject, I shall still be an advocate: wit:.out it Parliament
would leave &fenceless both the Crown and Country.
['l'he Right I lonountble Secretary sat down amidst loud cheers,
which continued foe some time after he had resumed his seat.]
Mr. TIERNEY replied tu slur flight honourable Gentleman in
a speech, through which we lament that our limits will not enable
us to follow him. }le said, if ever there was a speech which looked
one way while it rowed another, it was that of the Right Honoura-
ble Gentleman. The Right I lonourable Gentleman's text was the
safety, the peace of England—so much was the same text his own,
that if any man could convince him thzt the Bill was necessary to the
peace or the safety of the country, be would heartily vote for the
measure. But he was perfectly convinced that -the interests of
Great Britain did not call for the Bell, anti the Right I lonourable
Secretary had admitted that lie himself had doubts of the necessity
for it even within the last fortnight. The Right lion. Secretary had
wasted a great deal of classical research in ascertaining at what pe-
riod a nation was in a fit state fur rape—( Laughter). But from the
Revolution down to a late date, a period dating which the country
Lad existed in great prosperity, up such law as that now before the
1 I.use had been deemed necessary—a measure which went only to
any poor devil of a foreigner who
.—These men sought an
reable Government to worry
should come into the country--(.A laugh)
asylum here on account of political differences between them-
selves and their rulers; one party styled the other tyrants,
th, tse called these rebels. The Right Honourable Gentleman
bad referred co..' plot. lie waS convinced that. the knowledge of
It-had not been otstained by any
system of espionage established
by his Majesty's Government—(Hear, hear, hear)—tor he could
rut suspect them of such unworthy conduct;
.hat but still the plot
%vas comntunicated. to Alinisters—ian they done?
They told the indisidual w. Lonint 117
of it.
IsNetsre. them, that
V it Ist tossary
they would inform Ins
have am Alien Act to enable them to make
that they should