Star.
London, England, 1817-02-22 00:00:00

Paisley, signed by seVeral thnntaiid inhAitants, Ina
-praying Mr Annual Parliaments and'Universdl Suf-
'tinge. Lord Holland declared his unqualified dis.
approbaticn of Universal Suffrage, hitt stated, in lof-
tier to the Petitioners, that the langbage was respect-
ful to the House, the Petition very numerously sign-
ed, and the quarter of the Empire from which it
came, precisely that which had most reason, bath in
theory and practice, to lament the inequality of
Representation.

SUSPENSION°, THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT.

On nut readmission below the Bit (from which
we were ex:luded for a considerable time, in conse-
quence of the more than usual ceremony ckserved in
permitting the entrance of strangers) we found
Viscount SIDMOUTH on his legs. His LordsLir
said, he was prepared to state at length to the House
the reasons which induced his Majesty's Minister; to
sanction the Bill, which he then field in his hAnd ;
but, understanding that it was the general wish of
their Lordships, that the debate taiw place on
the second reading of the Bill, on Monday nor, he
should abstain from making any observations on the
present occasion, and should merely read the title
of the Bill. It was a A Bdi to enable his Al.j•-ste; 12
"SECURE and DgTAIN in CL:97ODY, tr,cl4 Item/tsar hi;
Itfq-
jett tiould tatitect of hartouriv intention; again.t hie
Majesty': Perron and Government." It woulJ be pro-
per also for him to state, that it it thaul4 be the pl..a-
sure of the House, he intended, on Monday, to press
the Bill through several stages. His Lordship then
moved, "That the 13i11 be now read a first time."

Lord HOLLAND said, that in expressing his
approbation of the candid manner in which the N, ble
Secretary had communicated his intended course of
proceeding, he wished not to be considered as con-
veying in the slightest degree any approbation of the
Bill which he had proposed for the approval of that
House. He trusted that on the discussion the Noble
Secretary will redeem his pledge, and will not only
state the grounds and reasons for the proposition it-
self, but the grour.Js and reasons also for the recom-
mendation of having such a measure, of the first im-
portance, hurried through the Legislature. —(llear,
Isear.)-h would, after the statement of the Noble
Secretary, be uncAndid on his (Lord Holland's) part
not to ask of him, whether, at the proper time of the
discussion, lie will have any objeciirm to state, net
only the dates when these various proceedings, as
communicated in the Report, took place, but also
the dates of the periods at which the intelligence
reached his M ijesty's Government ? He could not
but expect, that the House would feel this informa-
tion most material when it was called upon to sos-
pend the exercise of that Law, so long and s justly
considered the brightest ornament of the British Con-
', stitntion—that Law which a high political Autisority
had defined as the peculiar, if not the only distinction
between our Free Government, and the Arbitrary
States of the Continent. Indeed, he must b-licve,
that when Ministers felt themselves bound to reccm-
mend the suspension of that best guarantee of the
Nation's freedom, they must be at the same time
prepared to prove, that after their knowledge of the
proceedings on which they found its necessity, they
have lost no time its bringing it before Parliament.
The Bill was then read a first time, and second
reading fixed for Monday.—Adjourned.