Star.
London, England, 1815-11-02 00:00:00

CHAMBER OF PF,ERS, OCTOBER 2E.

The Peers met at t .vo o'clock. The Chancellor
took the Chair. The Proces verbal of the proceed.
ings oi yesterday was arranged and adopted.
The Marquis ce tiorstotv, one of the Peers nanled
by the King on the 17th of August last, took the
oaths and his seat.
Alter some further preliminary forms, the opinion
of the Chamber was taken, Whether the discussion
of the plan of law presented yesterday, and examined
in the Bureaux, should now be proceeded upon, or
the plan be ieterreci to a General Committee to re-
port thereon ?
The Chamber having decided to proceed to the
discussion, several Members spoke for and against
the nicasur.:, which was the plan of law for arresting
and detaining under arrest, without the necessity of
briogi-g them to trial, persons charged with certain
oQences Against the person and family of the King,
and other politic 4 -flew:es, specially described.
. the rtrrt of the discussion which we 61. d in the
.1116aiteur o the ah,. is, of course,• the one fuinished
by the CO:talk:. itself. The name's of the Speakers
are omitted : the only distinction made, is thaw of
first Sih.44r, second Speaker, &c.]
The first Spcakets without any prenoble, entered at

once into the consideration of the two main branches
into which the question divided itself—ls the pro-
posed law just?—ls it necessary?—With respect- to
the first point, Ovate interests should yield to the
general exigency; and eviledisposed men should be
deprived of the mean"; of carrying their plots into
effect. If, on discovering a on tire, and break-
ing open the dnots to rescue the inhabitants from the
dames, d complaint should bti made, that these inha-
bitants were disturbed in their rest, would net such
complait,t be deemed absurd and ungrateful?—On
I the point t•i necessity, he apreal,d to the experience
of our late disasters, in prow cif the in.ulliciency 01
the law as it !stood, when assailed by compirators and
factions. The Charter, agaiost which conspiracy
was directed, served as an zgis to the conspirators,
and betrayed the Governmeet it should -have pro-
tec•ei. reginten of health will not answer in
sicknecs, nod th,, man:igen:eat Of a ship in a storm
must be vcry.d•tErent frran it is in a calm.—
This Speaker voted for the simple adoption of the
law, as it stoo.i.
The Asserublyordered that his Siteech should be
!stinted.
The secen,l Spell:or disoutei the justice and the
necesiy of the me.!,iire. I; was not necessary, be-
cause the tesponsi ility of the Ministers existing as
yet but in principle, the Ni.iiister of General Police
could, in all cases, ut 11-!!) own act, make, with impu-
nity, ail such ariests aed iientions as he should
deem tvce.,saty to the safety of the King and the
estate. The measure was bec.tuse it converted
mere suspicions into groitn.:s of charge, and upon
these charges legalized arre' ts and imprisonments for
indefinite periods; unjust, because it deprived the
accused of the sacred 1-4;lit of bt-inir, tried—of being
tried by their natpral jud:.;es—by judges not remov-
able; it was unjust, in extenda..; over the whole
country provisions, which, if necessary any where,
could not be necess try every where, and yet would
be every where applicable, and would be dangerous
wherever they were not indispensable. dan-
gerous would be a law under w !licit any body might
be considered as suspected, and all who were sus-
pected liable to be so severely punished ? He did
not think that the suspension oh the Habeas Corpus in
England, or the Roman form of Caveant Comae:,
constituted precedents in point. Being determined
to vote against the measure, he wished the Chaniber,
if resolved to adopt it, at least to refer it to a Com-
mittee for modification. _

A third Speaker, conviced of the justice and ne-
cessity of the measure, wished on those vet y monads
to propose some anienJments. First, he wished the
warrants of arrest and detention to he issued by Cite
Ministers alone, and on their rripinsibility, by the Pie-
fects ; 2.1, that the Ministers slioulsl, days
after the opening of the lieu S.-Ltion, Ale,: to the
Chambers an account of du• acts done by them in
virtue at this law
; 3.1, the liberation of At persons
detaived w!;o shimid not have been btc,ut,ht to trial
by thx. those e..inlitious he was prepared
•to vote for 1 iv:. .11e r!looght.t nvtv %voiding re-
quisite to th- second clan which, ;is it stood, was
explained i t a dilfeieitt s.:nse by every dia.-lent Mem-
ber of both Oiarri!,,,:s.

Ttie Ll.Jc:a:d that this spTech sliGuld be

prita:d.
A fourth ;I:ielter approved el the law as a tent- •
porary ureasur.c. It was ir:ipo-ssiule to conceal irons
ouriclves the lILIVMUVICS, the hopes of a party, to
which we owed Our calanri!ies. If the Govern-
ment had posscs-, d, at • recvnt epoch, the powers
now propoted to be granted. con4l (Le triumph' of
crime that occurred have been ho easily effected
?--
Let us profit from experience ; and let the return of
similar prischict, be prevented by adopting this men-
sure, the loco:teenier:cies of which were not by any
means to be compared with its advantages.—This
speech was ordered to be printed.
A fifth Speaker, admitting the urgencies of the
times, and the neccs,,ity of confiding extraordinary
powers to the Government, pressed the propriety of
defining the AutirmiticAs to which .tite execution of
the law should be entrusted. If every local Magi-
strate was to act upon it at his discretion, it might
become vexatious in the extreme.

A sixth Speaker thought the safety of the State de
pcnded on the adoption of the law. He therefore
wished serious attention to the wording of the clause,
respecting those who should have the authority of
executing. it. He thought this authority shluld test
with the Ministers, subject to an account tol'Jury of,
both Chambers. He condemned the use of the King's
name in any measure of justice, other, than the exer-
cise of clemency. He recommended deliberation :
there was see need of haste, as the police WAS on the
watch while the Chambers deliberated.—This speech
is to be printed.
A Member thought the discussion had pile to a
sufficient length,. and that the Committee of Special
Examination ought to be named. Other Members
being of a different opinion, the discussion proceeded.
A seventh Speaker thought this law coincided with
the expression tir the Adams to the King, recom-
mending to his Majesty the right: ofjuseice. The De-
puties of the departments, whose local knowledge
rendered then) bast qualified to judge, had adopted
the measure purely and simply. He wished the Peers
to imitate their example.
[The report extends in this way in speeches of name.
less orators, productive of little novelty or interest.]
A Pier observed, that the indecision of the As-
sembly seemed chiefly inntle,:ced by the idea, that
the formidable power of satin ing attests would be
delegated to an infinity of subaltern officers ;'
in his opinion, this power was ;imaged to those func-
tionaries alone who enjoys it in virtue of anterior laws,
and that the officers of whom he spoke, had merely
the right, like all other citizens, of arresting, an hue
I and cry, an individual taken in the fact, or of issu-
ing, in cases specified to each of them, summons of
appeurance or doe/. He begged the Minister oh
General Po:ice, who was present, to give some in-
formation on this subject.
The Mrstieree, after confirming the ex;-I,,nation of
the previous Speaker, added, :fit the law conte.ined
no innovation in this respect. The power of ordering
arrests would continue in the li olds which r:iready ex-
ercised it. The number of Magistrates who should be
armed with it, was not restrained; loit it would not be,.
mended. To limit the power to Ministers alone, and;
area special delegates, would be to mistake the object cf
the law: Tjte crimes which it was proooseLl to reach,'
were not concocted in the centre of the kingdom alone.
A spark destined to produce a mill %ration, might

proceed from one of its extremities. and if orders
,from a Minister were necessary to quench it, before
they arrived the fire might have burst forth. It was
necessary to distinguish the different kinds of warrants
Those of arrest would be issued by judges of crirni- '
nal process al,me, irremoveable magistrates. War-
rants of summons and of depot would be issued by
other functionaries to whom the right belonged. W..s
this what could be called an arbitrary regime, a law
of Jurihae.i? He might be 'allowed to say, that the
Government would not go back to times of crimes
and calamities, fur examples applicable to present
c•rcumstanccs, and employ, in support of legitimate
authority, the nicapu which strengthened usurped

power.
The close of the discussion was again called for,
but being opposed by a number of Members was
again continued.
A new Speaker observed, that the measure was
called by its Loesni,s a law of terror. But was it nut
rather destined to terrify crime ? Could the days in
which we live be compared to revolutionary tine',
or the reign of the best of kings to the clomirtat:tfn o;
the vilest of tyrants ?
Another Peer, with a view to obviate the dangers
which nti .ht attend the execution of the law in its
present loyl, propoted„ toot the pnwir of itsuiii,;
warrants slr.ald be confined to the Minister of l'ilic,,
and under his or.!et s to the Prefects and Atomics
General. 111 quoted the ex.imple of Eogiaihi.
where, d'iri't the suspension .Jf the Hibeas Corp'.'
Act, the ten of.: potver thence resultity, could only
he exercised by authorities of the first rank, on their
own respiehility.
A Speaker in reily to this alln.ion, nitrated to the
sevoities ex rcised in England in 1713 and 1745,
when the Mira: Corpus act WAS suspended. On ad-
verting to titese pe; .ds, it would he seen with wlt.:l
severities a sedition was pot dowa—t:ve hundred in.
divijuals pnoished with death, a thousand others
transported, four Peers sent to the scaffold ; and yet
this law is charged with rigour, which, by the side
of measures indispensable to the safety of the state,
places all the ptecautio.is calculated to tranquillize
the citizens. The necessity of the law had been called
in question. If facts did not speak loudfy enough, he
would invoke in their SIIVIUnt the universal Wiltlincut,
which,from one end cf France to the othzr, cait:d
for a law of repression. 1-..!e examined, for a rnuatent,
what that ni in wool.! have (low in circunistane t
much less weir!fity, who lately sat on the throat• t,l
our Klngs. l'he secrets of correpoli,!ei;ce violated.
the interior of houses, of tamili,s, violated—sue
would have been among the mil,:est ine.:ns employed j
to cairn his inviettisfe ; and :tow, w..ea the questi r •
was about the mildest of linigs, when the Wag:
would justify the severest meastite, -c uld we reject
a rrcpositron As wise a. moderate ? lVe, the 1 els of
France, and the hereditary suppaiters of the ant-
naic.iy ! .
After several other speeches, the das', was closed
by the vote. It was then pi-iris:Al, that the final de-
hoc:.3tioit should take place, without the interveneon
at a Central Committee, the clauses having been read,
it was conceived already sufficiently discussed.
This proposition was finally adopted, notwith
warding some opposition.—ln consequence cf tb
lateness of the hour, the final deliberation was de-
ferred till next day, the 27th.
On that day the law was adopted.