Star.
London, England, 1817-06-28 00:00:00

PL'[UrV-.Ns.

,• ei-NNET e-...._n::.1 a Petieten from Tho-
. s.le in riedirenient Leder the II the:is
„ss Act. The petitioner Sc. ham
ani his son had ben arrentes! or. the 9.11 Llay
ee:y, and shttt tip it. a pi, n.. Sic ieti hin
e .1 • 7 Ls stenitiontel bef re ti:_ e'te:nrel,
T • !.: '.•:,! 1, it he kitiee
Lt l'r. it, t ,izeieer I td
• • e to that E., etz in he foi easlie
!•77 ro h.
~.. hat; see,: 0 to •
•e .e ot
11,7 .11u,:le r:;••
..•1 :or...Li:Jed a.; petitientr 0, the
-•.. .17-.1 eitiieeee. Itad al-pliee for alt audicece
t' Li Secretary of State, tor the purpose of re-
, , te be librrated on bait, that the w' r!•• of his
it ;glit not be fete, hut on :I.l[es-cit.:ate he hid
e.en remeved It) a condemned ce:l, kt,,tt seat inety
rifiser•ibly fernished, Horseetonger-lane gaol.
heir been stihjected to many ; lie 1
put in irons. 1:e cesnplainec: n! this ti
bet three :ilagistrate.: who visited :tint justilLsd
Lon this he had mate a reette.entaiion on the
• :7:sict to the S:a:tare of State ter the Home De-
eetroent. wit had ii. consequence ordered them to
tak. From t!..v lath of April he had been
to les apaitm.mt, cut off from the cheering
74%1 t,f t..e suit, and deprived of all opportunities of
:;;in air and Now, granting to the Go.
ennient that it was necessary to confine this mein,
• t.• eight the treatment he had received could not
rectified; he therefore trusted the Right Honour-
. G•ll;l,•rnan iirte.e.ite would it:quite into the cir-
- eistae,es of th.. ease. The pi Ayer of the petitioner
.1%. Peli for the Suspension of the Habeas
,iis Act might no: pass into a law, or that if it
-el the House %%maid graciously and mercifully make
eene exception in his favour, as from continued im-
Fisonment his life would bent dander.
YLr. FIIIsEV ADDING TON had never heard till
wee et the harsh treatment complaire.d of by this
pititioner, but in the instance et his having been pat
ei irons, which had been immediately ordered to be
!dela off. He could nut )et credit all the details of
e.is petition ; be cotill not believe that the petitioner
been treated with so much mole severity than
ti i,I been experienced by any other person confined
1,....1er the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act. In no
iitance had such rigour been sanctioned by the Sc.
ary nt Suite, in the cases of individuals confined
charges of high treason. lie could give the House
(..e proof of this, by stating to them, that Dr. %Vat-
:.,sn on the day atter his acquittal, had written to the
5: cretary ot State a very becoming letter. thanking
Lee fur die attention wh:ch had been p..id to all his
t..e',es 'tont the first day of his ci.afinLment down to
e•el);:rivti of his liberation. He would inquire into
r.o truth ee the ellegatinns contained in the petition,
h.+, he thought it almost impossible that they could
tura out to fa. co:leer. • •

Mr. W I f. 1.1 ik M S ITH believed such severities
had not been sanctioned by the Secretary of State,
but at the same time he was ul opinion they might
cccurred. While Loid Hardwicke was Lord
Lieutenact of Ireland many ci Mites had been prac-
tised in the sister kingdom, ,or which that Noble
Lord no more been a p irty to than he (Mr. W.
smith) had. In the same way the petitioner might
'nave been treated with undue rigour, though it was
not known or countenanced by the • Noble Lord at
the head of the Home thpartment.
Mr. BARHAM said, there were two answers
nsnally given in such cases. The one was, that the
Secretary of State was a very good sort of a man,
which he could not deny, and that theiefore the thing
c,uld not be ; the other answer was, that the Right
Honourable Gentleman knew nothing at all of the
matter ; and this, lie was sure, be was as little dis-
used to deny, as the assertion included in the former
answer. He wished to know if the man had been put
in irons. If this allegation in the petition could not
be refuted—ii such an abuse had occurred while that
Douse was sitting, he wanted nothing more to prove
what was the true character of that measure which
they were called upon to pass.
Mr. HILEY ADDINGTON begged to ask how
was to know what took place in the interior of a

(');1

The SPEAKER stated the course which the Ho-
enable Member was pursuing to be out of order.
Mr. PETER MOORE. said, every day proved
the Secretary of State had been imposed upon
.cut misled by those acting under him. In Ireland,
,Techie!, had been committed without the, knowledge
Lid I lardwicke, but during his administration,'
ta.der a person if the name of Trevor, who, from
evi.fence afterwards given before a Committee,
~!fglit to have been hanged—aye, hanged a hundred
tine's over—instead of being placed, as he now was,
the Pension List. Similar abuses were likely to
c4ne tinder the Habeas Curi-.os Suspension Act.
Mr. MACDONALD remarked, that the Right
Ifonourable Gentleman had asked him how he could
f. exie,cted to know what pasted in a prison ? It he
(.soli not Len what passed there, who could ? Now
ci,P, contrary to law, as he must contend. the Ma-
':isir..tes were excluded from visiting those in confine-
it seemed that, deprived of their protection,
I were nut to succeed to that of the Secretary of
such as it was.
Mr. GURNEY inquired how it had happened,
''qat the petitioner lied not been allowed, like other
;It.rsons in confinement, t leave his apartment for the
mkt of fresh air ?
Mr. I ILLY ADDINGTON knew of no reason.
'lleaici why he should Out be allowed the same in•
li'q.%•:!ce-s as ~;hers.
11r. PENNETT remarl:ed, this man was in a jail,
t is it.;ulations of which differed front those of the
Pieolis to which other persons taken up under the
64:,e Act had bean committed. He was sure great
advantages would result hum bringing this business
under the eye of the Secretary of State.
Lord FOLKSTONE wished to know, who was
rrspon..,ible for the treatment experienced by persons
t!.'ls confined? They had been told on a former'
I.y ht that persons charged with High Treason were
41.3:. to tolitary confinement, and were not to be
eca!L with in tic same way as persons accused of
"LI crimes. This, however, he contended, from
tine reseatclies he had made, did not appear to be the

law of the land. The Secretary of State, in the in-
structions which he had sent to the KI-eper of Read-
ing Gaol, had directed all persons to he excluded
awn the priw, ers, who we.e not aut iotv,ed by him
to s e lie had also directed not to put
ihern in iions, unless this should be necessary, and
had dm: assumed ttit, power of pliant ; them in irons

Mr. Lti.ITHURST thought it was too much to
exiiett when Petition like th it now before
them teas presented for the tint time, that those con-
:IL ct..d v.-it!' the department to whiei the case be.
i. snotan be able at once to speak in all the alle-
-I,4ti-ns it contained. These con!.l not be held
to he proved to be true, till some Intl try had taken
<utether subject.
Lord COCHRANE thought the subject called for
inga:ry. The parties t..ktni up had not been confinel
it the sttoni; gai•l nt Newgate, merely because, it
phtced there, the City Magistrates could have access
to them. 11, I:use:o)rd die conduct of Ministers to.
be most despotic. What did it aignity Wiethet t!it
people were under one tyrant, or (lder the (hi-
ninion Ff the Drys on the opposite skit. of
House ? They had no right to plead ign,rance of
the situation of those they confined. This WV.. no ex-
cuse tot them; and, tar such conduct. they ought to
be impe..ched at the Bar of that House.

Th, Petition Oleo read, and ordcrea to 1k on
the table.

BA RHAII/41 gave notice, that, unless a satis-
factory explaihaina should be previously given, he
would, on Tuesday, move that the Petition sh-tild be
referred to a Committee.

Mr. BROUGHAM said, one of the allegations of
the Petition set forth, that a Petition to that Hoiise
had been detained at the Office of the Secretary of
State. If this cliaige were not onfound.d, a great
bleach of the privileges of the House had been com-
mitted. It wouid be reniemb.atd the House had so
determined the withholding of a Petition which
had been intended to be presented early in the present
Session, and ler hoped it would not be s.reil that they
seese strong to maintain their privileges against the
public, but not to delend them against a Secretary
of State.

Mr. PONSONBY coincided in all that had fallen
from his Honourable and Lcarned Friend. • In the
first instance it was proper that they should wait for
an explanation fr:im the Office of the Secretary of.
State, and it this should not be perfectly satislactorY.
the subject ought to be inquired into by a Cornkttee,
Lord CASTLEREAGH said it was' clear' there
was ne indisposition on the part of . the S:.cretary el,
State, to redress any grievance of which the indivi-'
dual mrght justly complain. This his conduct
wards the Petitioner had already proved. Ile 'wished
the first application for relief to be made to the,Exe-
cutlet Government by the prisoners themsely.es, and
not by Gentlemen who acted- by inspiration. This
was reversing the course that hachlways been adopted.
Lord FOLKSTONE did not know how his Ho.
nourable Friend had received the Petrtion but he
knew that the prisoners it; Reading were not allo*ed
to receive or to send ani loiter bur through the Se-
cretary of State.. How then came this' Petition to
pass through his hand, without his pairing apention
to its nature

Mr. HURST was glad to understand. from what
had been said this• evening. that no order had been
made to prevent Magistrates from visiting the
prisoners. •

- Sir S. RQMILLY contended, that the Suspension.
Bill did not give any discretionary power respecting
the manner in which prisoners were to be treated. .
After a few words from Sir WILL/Ahl Bynum:Gus
and the Arrontsze.GENEßAL, the Petition was or-
deredto be printed.
Lord OSSULSTON presented a Petition from the
Mayor, Corporation, and Burgesses, of the B )rough
of Berwick-upon Tweed, against the Suspension of
the Habeas Corpus Act.—Read, laid on the table,
and ordered to be printed.
Sir FRANCIS BURDETT presented a Petition
Irons the inhabitants of the town 'of Godalming, in
the county of Surrey, against the Suspension of the
Habeas Corpus.—Read, laid on the table, and or-
dered to be printed.