Star.
London, England, 1817-02-27 00:00:00

enmmericid. who could ,iv where k woald end
He deeply regretted the great misfortune that such a
measure should he necessary ; but he was persuaded
thet the very safety and existence of the Constiteties.
_was concerned, and that the Constitption could net
be preserved unless on this occasion one of its l) t
and strongest bulwarks was sespended.—(Cties rt
Hear front the Ministers, veitemetely reeseboed front
the Oeposition.)
1... rd MIL I'ON still retained his Opinion as to the
Deliriousness of c rutin :les;taiinte persoos in the c.
try, nor did lie want the asstetion of the Leatned
Lord to erniviece him of the dangerous nature of the
proceedings of the disaffected—([tear.) He was in-
deed considerably surprised at the course taken by
th it Learned lewd, for if he recollected deli% the
Mem'uers ref the Cemmittee of Secrecy had, at the
express request of that .Iseareed Person, agreed to
eepunee trom theireepost the oath which he had now
clivelged—teis was rairaordinery, arc! required or.
plereition--.( /leer, Isar.) A111101)81) he had no &min
of the resiettoes (rejects of many designing men
throughout the ebutitsy, he denied that tee intentions
of such persons, Lowever u;cleed, were a suf cient.
ground for removiier the great bulwark of our liber-
ties. It was not sualcient to say, that bad men bed,
in their vain imaeinatiens, contemplated the over-
throw of the Government. It ought to be made ,car,
that the danger likely to accrue to the Constitution was
such as could not be resintd by any other means
than by the suspension of that very Constitutive.—
,This Suspension Act was now, for the first time, will
one single exception, attempted to be passed in a time
of protuuud peace: and the exception was itself a
precedent that coke strongly against the present
measure; for it WAS occasiensd by bishop Atteibury's
plot—a plot id which a great pet of the leading gen-
try and many of the nobility esere in c!;,arent degrees
involved—(Heine, leer, from smith No'A Lord under
the Gallery, whom we could not see.) The Noble
Lord under the Gallery did nut seem to relish the
subject; but it was neverteeless quite eietain that the
nobility and gentry of that day were to a greet exteet
averse to the reigning family. And as to the qua-
lity of the plot it.elt, he would read a passage from
the speech of George I. on opening the Session of
1722, which would show at least on what ground the
Ministers of that day asked for the suspension of the
great characteristic of the Constitution. The speech
says, that e the cuseptettors have made the strongast
instances for assistitace from foreign Powers, and have
tesolved to attempt the subversion otehe Government.
To this end they have provided considerable sums of
money, engaged greet numbers of officers Hem
:Owed, secured large quantities of arms and emmu-
anion, and thougheehemselves in such readiness, that
had not the conspiracy been timely discovere,!, we
should. without. doubt, before now have seen the
whole nation, and particularly the City of London,
involved in blood and confusion."—(Crier of Ilear.)
How different was the state of things from the pre-
sent, when we were all so alarmed at the miseraele
plots of these wretched Spencsaes. Could any rues
doubt that the Ministers of those days would not heel
acted like the ahniaters of the present time ?
time of real and imminent danger, they were so it
from shriving an eagerness so suspend the Heleeis
Corpus Ace and so little did they distrust the loyalty
of the majority of the people, that they del not COM.,
to Perliearentenr any extraordinary powers till s, • ,se
six .months after the discovery of the conspiracy--
(Haar, hear.) Ceu!ii any mall he blind to the iffi.-
diderence between the iaspintanse of that eon-
;piracy znd the designs of the present pletrers again:
cite Sette ? At that time the Duke Qt Norfolk, the Earl
of Orrery and I :nuts North and Grey, were among the
conspirators, and the well-known Oiske of Ormend
was to have heeded an ertnyof foreign invaders?(Hear.)
Such was the motive. and 'no less a motive was sut-
)icient to induce Sir Robert Walpole to suspend the
Constitution. • In the year 1744, there •was. another
Suspensiun of the Habeas Corpus Act ; on which
occasion, Lord Chatham and Lord Lyttelton (then
Mr. Pitt and Mrs Lyttelton), and another person
whose name it was nut necessary -for him to retention,
bad strenuously opposed it. Yet the suspension was
then only for two months; and, indeed,. so great
had the jealousy always been of presedring this great
prop of our-liberties. that even in that dangerous year,
after the Revolution, Pediment would net-suffer it
to be suspended for more than three months, and that
by successive renewals of a month each. time. All
these circumstances made a strong impression on his
mind, that oar ancestors set a.greater value on this
shield of the Constitution than their careless and for-
gettul descendants—(Hear, /ear).—He said forget-
ful, because they appeared tromehent. indifference
to have forgot bow, and at what, cost, that cone
citutisinel bulwark had been obtained—Wear).—
He would ask Whether any train in,his senses.eould
think of comparing the present state q(. England with
its state in 1;93 ? At that time thert was an active
correspondence with Clubs in this cowry, and direct
incitements were held out from foreigners-. that re.
course should be had to physical force. Oaths were
trained, and passed current, quite as terrible as that
quoted by the fanned Lerd, and depoteof . arms
were proved to exist-in different places. Under such
circumstances it was thought proper to suspend the
Heeees.Corpus Act, and yet that shspension was
suffered to expire; nor was it renewed even on the
occasion of the dangerous mutiny in 173 C. The
Noble Lord concluded by saying, that he should give
his vote against the Bill; far, to da oteerwise, would,
he theught, be %tieing ageing his colittry. " I :eel,'
said the Noble Lewd, is great pain in giving this. ve-e,
though I cannot express the eauseof it. 1-.( /leer,
hear.)—The Noble hoed sat down apparently much
affected. lie was stesposeJ in the last sentence to
allude to a difference of opinion between himself and
his father ,Lord Fitswillsanse
The LORD ADVOCATE' of •SCOT.I.AV3
said it was only that morning his Isfaieste 's Goveree
insnt had thought it adtrisable to path the oath
which he had read to thellerse.
Mr. WYNN thought the real tenntion was, n'ett
degree of danger to which we were exposed. Was
the danger sufficient to justify the Measure ? In his
opinion it was; and as long as danger existed, the
neture of it, whether external or inrernal, was of no
consequence. It appeared from undoobtect-evidence
that the most treasonable correspondence -had been
carried on by.means of Clubs aced Delegetert and a
conenxion was thus kept Uptetweets diem as the deli-
. retires and the people at large as the executitre body.
Surely this was Wothi.i.::4:t to the House to aru