Star.
London, England, 1818-02-24 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE OF LORDS, FEBRUARY 23.

Coastal were heard in part relativ.: to the Scots cause, Far-
quhar •. the Earl of Aboyne.—To proceed again onWednesday.
The Royal Anent was declared by Commission to the Thirty
Millions exchequer Bills, and the Malt and Pension Duties Balls.
The bards Cominissioners were di Loan Casiiiiiicha, the
Marquis of Wmcitasxxx, and the Earl of SHATTZSBUILV.
Mrc Sweismaira presented the Annual Accounts from the
Corcustigniunstre of Westminster Bridge, which were laid upon
the table.
Lord 'HOLLAND presented a Petition from the Lord
Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of Loudon,
in Common Council assembled, the purport of which wee, pray-
ing for a strict ;slid impartial inquiry into various circumstances
alleged to have taken place during the Suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act, and against the passing of any Bill of Indemnity to
screen or shelter Ministers or their agents from the consequences
of conduct during that intervaL
The Petition to the above general effect being read, it was,
on his Lordship's motor, laid upon the table.
RLPORT OF THE SWART COMMITTLE.

The Duke of MONTROSE presented the Report
of their Lordship? Secret Committee, to whom was
referred the various sealed up Papers and Documents
communicated to the House by command of his
Royal Highness the Prince Regent, which, on his
Grace's motion being read by the Clerk, appeared to
the following purport and effect :
The Lords' Committees hiving duly proceeded to
examine and consider of the vvrus Papers and Do-
cuments which were communWeed sealed up to the
House, by command of the Prince Regent, and sub-
sequently referred to them for consideration, and
being ordered to Report upon the same, do Report,
That their Lordships first proceeded to examine and
consider those Papers which contained official infor-
mation relative to the actual state of such parts of
England as had been the object of consideration of
the former Committees, particularly that instituted
on the 12th day of• June ; and they find, on examin-
ing the same, that it appears to have been fixed that,
a general rising should take place on as early a day
as may be practicable, after the expected rejection
of the Petitions presented to Parliament ; that the
town or neighbourhood of Nottingham appears to
have been the first place where directions were given
for such rising to take place, and where it was ex-
pected that numbers would have joined such assem-
blage, and particularly from' London. This general
rising was first fixed for such early day, but the mea-
sure was subsequently postponed until the 10th of
June. This afforded additional time for the frustra-
tion of such design, by the measures adopted for the
purpose—by the zeal and activity of the Magistrates
—by the judicious arrangement of the force that was
collected—and (in consequence of the information
received) by the various arrests of active and promi-
nent leaders that were made. It appears also, that
a rising was intended about the same time in Derby-
shins, which movement was to be headed by a person
called " The Nottingham Captain." That this in-
tended junction was not formidable from the number
of persons engaged in it ; but such persons in their
progress to the place of meeting. armed themselves
with pitch-forks, pikes, and by forcible seizures of
guns and other fire-arms, of which and other articles
they plundered several houses, and in the course of
which proceedings a cruel and deliberate murder
was committed. That it was proposed a rising should
take place at Nottingham in the morning of the 10th
of June, where the supposed numbers would have
been assembled to unite with them ; but from the
resistance which was opposed to many of the insur-
gents, and the further arrests that were made, they
did not arrive at the appointed place until a late
hour in the morning, and a military force was duly
a,scrnbled to oppose them. In consequence of these
precautions, it appeared that. the leaders were induc
ed to break up the meeting, as they appeared to have
enusrtained no hopes of success at the time. That. in
the course of their march to these intended places of
tendetvous, it appeared that not only a cruel and
deliberate murder had been committed, but they
evinced a strong disposition to the commission of
other crimes and offences, in order to force many
quiet and peaceable persons to join and unite with
them ;'and notwithstanding their being held in check
by the military force their leaders more than once
attempted to rally their deluded followers and adhe-.
rents. • That it appeared from the papers; this insur-
rection, though of small importance singly in itself,
yet as a 'part of an extensive system, and a determin-
ed general rising, it necessarily assumed a more ieri,
ous character, as well stated, and in a great measure
-established in the last Report of their Lordships' Se-
-cret Committees. That at the following Assizes at
Derby, forty-six persons were indicted, and of whom
several were afterwards arraigned on their indict
ments before a Special Commission. Of these four
of them were tried, and capitally convicted-of the
crimes charged ; three were executed, and the rest
of those convicted were transported. That of those,
nineteen had withdrawn their pleas of Not Guilty, in
the hope of avoiding capital punishments, and the
sentences of Death upon them were remitted.—
Several who had been guilty of flagrant crimes fled
frorn justice, and were not apprehended. That the
cases of those: persons had been deliberately investi-
gated by a respectable Grand Jury of the county aE
Derby,_ whose opinions were confirmed by the ver-
dicts of the Several Juries by whom, they were tried,
and'further proved by the acknowledgments of those
who' finally pleaclgcl Guilty to *the charges against
them. that stith:recotctecL facts proved, beyond the
possibility of :amp, the' existence and the reality of
the traitotous conspintylit which these persons had
embarked. That the adtiial:ininnection in Derby-
shire was not the onh, One to which grounds were
laid for directing the attention of he Lords' Commit •
teesr—the general intended rising, of which Nouing-
haniwas to be the head-quartervalso occupied a .due
portion. 11 their attention. It appeared also that
early in:the night, when a. rising was expected to
take plate in the neighbourhood, the town of Not-
tit.glikm was considerably .agitated—that during the
loa*.h of the insurgents to that quarter, they sent
forward some 9f their number to gain intelligence as
to the'actual state of the town ; in consequence of
whitteabout one hundred persons shewed themselves
on th'q'skirts of Nottingham Forest where they ex-
pectm't,o be joinea by a considerable number. About
twelve 'o'clock that night, the party so assembled
made a hostile display, and drew up in lines, two
deep, armed with different weapons of offence, until
about two o'clock in the morning, when they though,v
it expedient to disperse. Some appearances in the