Star.
London, England, 1824-05-12 00:00:00

CERTIFICATES.— JuNe 1.

W. Stewart, '..litre-court, Cheapside, merchant. G. N. Bru-
ton, Devizes, coach-maker. S. Carter, Stratford, cheesetnonger.
J. Pelham, blin. Chart, near Alaidstnne, seed-crusher.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE OF LORDS, MAY 11.

This morning Lord GIFFORD sat for the furtherance cf Appeals,
as Deputy Speaker, at ten o'cloec.
" Thomson v. Comb)." was brit mentioned, when the judgment
of the Court of Session, in Scotland, was alfirm€.l by their Lordships.
The Appeal of" Taylor v. long•' was also fully heard.
1. Taylor and others v. Keith and others" w.. 1 heard in part, and
ordered to be further heard tu•morrow.

Lord GIFFORD rose soon after four o'clock, and at five o'clock
precisely the Lonn CHANCELLOR took his seat.
Upon the motion of the Earl of DABNLEY, the Papers upon the
table of the House relating to Ireland were ordered to be printed.
Mr. BROODER, ?Jr. BLACKBURN', and others brought up the Trans-
fer of Stock Dividends Bill, the Glass Duties lhll, and the Black-
berite Church Pill, which were afterwards re.d a first time,
The Highland Roads and Bridges Bill, the Greenwich and Wool.
wick Road Bill, and some private Bills, were read a 0:lid time,
passed, and messaged to the other House.
The British Museum Bill went through a Committ•:e, and was
reported without any amendment.
The Earl of LIVERPOOL, in pursuance of the notice he gave
yesterday, moved the revival of the Appeal Committee of last &.-
shin, and that the Noble Lords then appointed should compose the
same. Ile also moved that the Report from the Scottish Law
Commission, now upon the table of the House, should be referred
to the said Committee.

The Earl of DARLINGTON presented a Petition front the
Artisans and Alechanics of the Town of Darlington, in the County
of York, against the Combination Laws.
Lord I lOLLA ND said that he held ill his hand a Pet:fion front
a numerous and respectable :Meeting of the Inhabitairs of Man-
chester, held in the Exchange Dining Room, against the provi.iuns
of a Nil lately brou,:lit up from the uthar ll,:use fur the real of In-
solvent Debtors. 'lice Petitioners, in adtlitiun, prayed to be heard
by their agents against the Bili.—The above Petition was then
read, and ordered to lie on the table.
_

he Marquis of LA NSDOWN presented a Petition front the
Town of aillaiogan, in Ireland, which was signed by all the inha-
bitants, who prayed their Lott:Alps net to consent to a reevetion
of the Bounties on Fisheries on the coast of IrelamL A. thi.: was
the very first Petition of the kind, he should now move that it be
read.—On proceeding to read tile Peti:ion, it was witlidiawis on
account of some informality.
The same Noble !ALirquis next precnted a Pethiun from 'ht
Linen Manufacturers of the City of Duhiin, against tne• nil
the Importation of Foreign 'Vara ; an:l al,o a P:tition Dram the
Parish of Castlelyon, near Cnrk, against the Tiine Ctaryoaition
Act. His Lor'lship, iu presentin:: the lat. Petition, said that in Lis
opinion the Bill was not to ti.: e ollectitnis which were first
started against it.

THE ALIEN BILL.
Lord HOLLAND said that he had to present to their Lord-
ships a Petition well worthy of their considetation, not only on ac-
count of the numbers and respectability of the signatures which
were attached to it, but also on account of the importance of the
subject it referred to, this being no other than the Hill har which
their Lordships had been surpinimed to attend the bu,iness of the
House. The Petition he 7..Lra h tilaand was from the Lorti Mayor,
Aldermen, and Common Cs;ttoi.4l;tof the City of London, in Com.
mon Cour.cil asserutled, staniC char objections to the pending

Upon the otozion of the Earl •)f T.tvEr.ronc, the Order of the Dal
was re,,l :or tkir Lord-top• to puce: dto tile •a-e,,i.d re:.tlittg of rue
:Bien h. t!, for v-hick tie it Lord.bi• t hat: been ittenonnal.
Tile Eari ot IA V Ell POOL lose—He hen nut by ob-
serving that ti.e subject mater of the present Bill had
.oreaJy one:, so often ::;foie their Lord ,hio i that nothing
i,ew co: Id now he cooed ill arooment for the Bull, ex-
c:ri.t v oat mit;ht ne .ii-covered io C: door ne incei of
tee toio:s. But respecting the Petition just pie ented to
their landslops, nu was eel taioly •1i ite prepared to say,
LIIAZ. .0 far 1 roth ajoeeing in opinion a ith the Peti-
tioners that there a emaieed no reasons for continuing
the poe.:eot Act, he saw what apt-eared to be peculiar
reasons for O.t it. The cenomon law sight of the
Crown to send Mimic:ll aliens out of Il7e country could
net er be questiened at the present time ; Lut the difficulty
hay lucre—the tight could not in any case be attempted to
be executed su ma'am il) ,but it must of iginally beenforced
so circouous:y as to defeat the object held chiefly in view.
The measure (the cola inuation of trit:ch he considered
it his duty to recommend to their Lord4rips) was first
introd•iced io the )ear 1792, an era when the country
was not at war, hat at the sante time when Government
saw the Lecessity of gt eat pi ecaution, from the prera-
ieoce of the a evolutional y principle in other countries,
which it was endeavoured togoat J against by the in-
troduction of the Alien Act. The saint measure was
continued, when we were afterwards at war with
France, upon the pi hiciple of the right inherent in the
Crown to make poisoners of alien enemies to it. But
he wished no longer to bottom the measure on the pre-
cedent of 1792. its the question now to det rmine was,
whether it is ere proper in 1824.; and if the right to
continue it could not be satisfactorily made out now,
then lie would distinctly say their Lordships ought to
abandon the bill. And here he rou-t deny the sue-
tnise, so moomideolly given out, that the measure was
continued by I:is Majesty's Government in order to con-
ciliate the fAings of feeeign Poweis ; for no such sub-
servience could ever be iutemied. The continuance of
the mea Aire was for the conservat:oa cf '3litish subjects
and the promotion of British inteoots, and among the
principal was the preservation of peace ; and if he
failed to establi'h this assertion, then he - would again
say abandon the Bill. It should be remarked that we
lived in an age of political expetiments, quite unlike
some other times ; for the Noble Baron (Holland) who
most opposed the present Bill, admitted there existed
the oune contest now for political reform as prevailed
two centuries ago for religious teform ; and to this
spirit of contention the present Bill was opposed as an
antidote. It, after ail their Lordships had witnessed,
and after twenty.two years of so terrible a war as
had so lately beer, ended, the llonse hesitated to
guard against the recurrence of war, he could only say
that he was not ashamed of the opinion he now avowed
—that Noble Lords on ed it to the peace of their coun-
try, to the dearest peace of their own families, and to
the common peace of the human race generally, not to
refuse their assert to the peseta Bill. He might, in
support of this dectrine,• quote not only the opinions of
persons who were considered to be Ultras, but also of
the most liberal asserters of the real rights of mankind.
lie still oemembered one flight !lon. Gentleman, for
whose sentiments he believed the Noble Baron (Holland)
felt great iespect, who had asserted in the other House
of Parliament, not once, but twice or thrice, not accider-
tally, but intentionally, that under such circumstances
he should always hold "Inioissimam pacem jiatissirno
hello preefero." Ile, however, WAS not prepared to
go quite so far, tor if, as ext,erietice had taught
mankind, most revolutions wet e prodoctive of evils,
bad Coecraments might be even worse. And here again
he must distinctly say that he conderneed all interference
on the i au t of for sign Po yens in .he internal affairs of
it-oh:ix:Went States ; for if their Lordships once con-
sented to lay: down the principle of propagandism,
it would turn upon theiroelves in either way. But the
defence of the present Bill stood upon a special case or
it did not ; and he would contend that its justification
Went upon a pi iociple their Lord-hips could not failly
doubt, that we lived in times v.heir large experiments were
making for revolutions it: vat loos countries, wheresome
might happen to be right, aid ou,ers as unquestionably
wrong. Amidst such changing scenes, our first duty
was certainly to look to our own tranquillity as con-
nected with foreign Powers, and to take such precau-
tions as anea:ed best calculated to preserve it. Now
it was remarkable that there was not an instance to be
lbutoi, ever since the period of 1792, where those who
succuml:ed to revolntionary power had not endeavoured
to reform those errens and evils in government which
were complained of. With legard to the noble rights
of hospitality, no man held tl em in higher estimation,
and upon that footing they were restored in the year
1802. He therefore thought that no frit eigners who re-
paired to this country as an asylum, in the true spirit of
friendship, .should be refused full protection; but on the
other trrid, no foreigner should be suffeted to make the
country in which he so domiciled a Ilace for plotting
against his own Government ; and upon this principle,
it upon no other, he was prepared to support the Bill.
When it was considered too what controul the men
force of opinion had upon the measures ol Governmei
to say nothing of the active continui of Parliament,
was not likely that his Majesty's Miaistets could for
abuse the power that was proposed to be continued Its
I their hands for another two years. if, therefore, it was
Attempted to enable lot eigners to m:tke this country the
hot-bed of coni-piracy against foreign Powers, his Ma-
jesty's Government ought certainly to have the power
of removing them. Tit proceeding was indeed due to
such peaceable foreigners as resorted to our shores under
no neutral frauds, but wished to eni!o ace us altogether
like &lends ; and therefore the true question for their
Lordships to decide was, %Ale:l:er the &Jo:es of the pre-
sent Bill %vete likely to be greater than the advantages
to be delived from it? He must routes, that he was not
sufficiently a disciple of the new sclicad to conclude
' that, durinl
international questions, whole this country
kept.up the attitude of neutrality as it regarded other
States, it was juoifiable in our own countrymen to take
an active part against such Governments or such Autho•
cities with which this country was in friendship. Never

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could it be allowed, in practical policy, that the subjects
of die C:own of Great Britoin were at liberty to digest
co-Tiracies against the peace we had contracted with
foreign Power,, and that good faith so vital to peace;
and be would therefoie say, that this country would no
longer be able to maintain peace and good faith with
other countries if Government were not entrusted with
tl'e power to eject Flom its bosom the enemies of both,
and put them entirely down. He knew perfectly well
that the measure was calculated to involve the Execu-
tive in some difficulties; and, certainly, had Ministers
now consulted their personal ease, thfy would be better
without the Bill, which, in his opinion, was of the
highest importance to the country. But in the present
Bill a provision was made to avoid the chief objection
to the existing Act, as it was provided that foreigners
who had resided for seven years in this country, and
e,tablished themselves here, should hereafter be consi-
dered not as foreigners but as subjects. With these ex-
planations, he had only to move that the Bill should be
read a second time.

The Earl GROSVENOR, on the question being
put, re,isted the Bill upon the grounds of its being got
up upon an understanding with foreign Powers, and the
latitude it afforded for abuse on the part of Government.
The Earl of DARNLEY wished to know whether
his Majesty's Ministers, if the Bill passed, had it in
contemplation to suffer it to expire in two years? A
new light had certainly broken in upon Ministers with
respect to this Bill, inasmuch as there was one clause
in it which had never appeared in any former Bill; but
notwithstanding that clause, he should still feel it his
duty to vote against the Bill. The Noble Lord had said
that this Bill was necessary to prevent the danger which
might arise to this Government from conspiracies
formed by foreigners against their own country, and
which conspiracies might be ultimately the cause of
war with this country. He was certainly ready to ad-
mit, that in that iespect the passing of this Bill was ma-
terial. lie was one of those who would not wish to
see the tranquillity of this country disturbed by those
men who had come from a country where lately the
spirit of rising liberty had been merely stifled, but not
destroyed; but when he said this, he must at the same
time say, that he did not think those persons able, even
if they were willing, to form such a conspiracy against
the Continental despots as was likely to produce a war
against this country. But even supposing such a con-
spiracy to be formed, could not Nlinisters, without the
assistance of an Alien Act, take upon themselves the
responsibility of devising some means to check ti?
Lord CALTHORPE never felt any apprehension
that bis Majesty's Ministers would abuse, for vexatious
purposes, any powers which might be granted to them,
but he did think, that until lately theme was a misun-
derstanding on the part of foreign Powers respecting
the length to which his Majesty's Government was in-
clined to go in support of Continental principles: but
after the manly and candid explanation of the Right
Hou. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, that it was
the determination of the British Government to pursue
British interests independently, and without any regard
to the wishes of foreign States, no Continental Power
could expect the removal of any individual from this
country, upon their representation that his residence in
this country was obnoxious to them. Considering the
violated pledges of the Continental Sovereigns, and the
numerous foreigners whom the conduct of their Sove-
reigns drove to seek an asylum in this country, he should
be very unwilling to support a measure of this kind ;
but being quite satisfied, from the alteration which had
taken place in our forein policy, he should support the
measure. Ile thought it would be productive of good
to foreigners; because this country being in a state of
amity. with foreign Powers, might not by haughty dic-
tation, but by friendly remonstrance, prevail upon fo-
reign Powers to redeem those pledges which they had
so solemnly made to their subjects.
The Earl of CARNARVON was anxious to know
upon what grounds the Noble Earl had brought in this
Bill, because he understood that in consequence of a
change in the policy of the Cabinet, this Bill was to be
discontinued in a short time ; and indeei he believed
such language had been held in another place. He
therefene expected that the Noble Earl would, in pro-
posing the second reading of this Bill, have stated that
the causes which bad originally induced Ministers to
call for it had diminished ; but what must have been
his surprise when he heard the Noble Earl say, that the
causes for passing this Bill were now as strong as ever?
The Noble Lord who had spoken last had as a reason
for supporting this measure, that Isis Majesty's Ministers
had disclaimed all connection with foreign Powers, or
that they introduced this measure at the instance or re-
quest of those Powers. But he would ask the Noble
Lard, did he at any time bear Ministers use different
language? The Noble Lord (Calthorpe)gave as another
reason for his support of the measure, that it might in-
dtwe the Sovereigns of Europe to adopt a liberal po-
licy, atO to redeem the pledges which they had given
to their subjects. If he (Earl Carnarvon) thought the
passing of this Bill would produce such a result, he not
would give it his support, but support several Bills
o the same description, and as opposed to his political
()pitons , but he was satisfied that it was chimerical to
evect such a result, and he should therefore oppose a
twasure which vests so repugnant to the principles of
the British Constitution. It was idle to have any ap-
prehension from the infection of revolutionary principles
preached in broken English by foreigners—by men, to
whom the people of England were not much inclined
to listen upon ('cnstitntional liberty. It was remark.
able with what candour the Noble Eirl who proposed
the second reading of this Bill had abstained front en-
tering into the reasons which produced the new clause
in the Bill ; but he understood, (and he wished to know
from the Noble Eat I if his information was correct) that
the Bill was brought in by comptomise, and this clause
was introduced, in order that there might be something
like a Bill which would satisfy one side and give a salve
to the other. He considered the Bill in its present shape
inoperative as to that clause, and as opposed as any
Alien Bill ever passed to the principles of Constitu-
tionalliberty; and he should therefore vote against it.
The Earl of WESTMORLAND would vote for this
Bill on British grounds solely, for the preservation of.
our own tranquillity and the peace of Europe, which
the Noble Lords opposite were formerly.so anxious to
pi mote. Ile could nut conceive that. A country could
be at peace and war at the same time. Governments
could not be at peace with other States while their. sub.
jects were at war with them. He could not concetve.how
the Lord Mayor of London. could be at peace with the
.Grand Seignior, and his Government at war with him.
It was fit that Government should have this power, to
preyent machinations against foreign States, both on the
part of its own subjects, and those of other countries.
This Bill would enable this country to be an asylum for