House Of Commons, Friday,...
The Times, 1824-04-03T00:00:00

jaoru 0 lA , r movec ttne thira rea=g ot tne --ancaster Judges' Lodgings' BilL" General GAMCOYNE moved as an amendment, that the bill be read a third time on Tuesday eext. After a short discussion on the subject, in which Lord STANLEY, General GASCOYNE, Air. BIRCH, AMr. JAXMEs, Ar. B. WXLBRAHAM1 MtrT Prt.LIPS, Air. GLADSTONE, lr. CURltTEI6, and lr. C. WIL'LIAMS, took a part, the house divided, when thereappeared- For the third readin, 41 lFor the amendment, 241 MIajority, 17 The bill was read a third time, and passed. ST. CATHEIEtNE't DOCK. Alderman IVOOD presented several petitions, some of them very numerously and respectably signed, by ownera, occupiers, and lessees of premises in the neighbourhoodof Sr. Catherine's, against the in- tended new docks in that place. The hon. member took that op. portunitr of contradicting a most erroneous paragraph contained in ene of the morning papers, which had represented him as the author of the bill. Mr. P. GRENFELL said, that there had also been petitions as numerously and as respectably signed, presented in favour ofthe bill, as against it. ALIEN BILL. The Sherifi~ of London appeared at the bar, with a petition from the Lord AIayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the city, prayiag that the alien bill might not pass into a law. Air. Alderman WOOD, in moving that the petition do lie on the table, expresed his entire concurrence in the sentiments it contain- ed. The petition had passed the Court of Common Council, with -very little opposition. Mr. Aldermen HEYCIATE was of opilion that the powersi which were vested in Goverment by the alien act had been used with great moderation. The most industrious class of aliens, the only class from whose residence the country derived the slightest ad. vantage, had never exoerienced the slightest inconvenience fromn the act. If it were not' for the alien act, this country would be the fOcuS of insurrection and danger to the whole of Europe. Alr. Alderman C. SMITH said that he could not supp6rt the prayer of the petition. the petitiort was then laid on the table. and ordered to be printed. The bheriffs of London presented a petition from the Lord.-Mayor and corporation, against the St. Catherine suspension bridge bill. Sir J. YORKE objected to a bridgebeing sudsended over several acresof waterlikeagreatumrbrella. Alah. THE ST. CATHERINE'S KOC BILL. Petitions againsttheabove bill were presented byAlr.LITTLETO2;, MIr. DEN50Ns , Mir. BIRCr, Mr. Alderman HEYGATE, and aMdr. HuxE, from various individuals, who alleged that their in. terests would be injured if it were to be passed. Mlr. GRENFtiELthenrose to move the second reading of the bill. If he hadmerely consulted his own inclination, he would haveabstain. ed from making any observations at the present stage of the biUl; be- cause it was only in a committee up stairs that a measure of this kind could be discussed with any chance of its being properlv understood. As, however he understood that the second reading ot the bill was to be opposed, he would trouble the house with a very few words on the present occasion. The object of the bil was to Provide the public with additional docks, which were rendered necessary by the increased, and he was happ to say, increasirg tfade and navigation of the country. It woul be impossible to find any where a more convincin evidence of our increasing trade than in a paper which he had moved for on a former night, and which was now lying printed on the table. It appeared from that paper, that the amount of our exports and imports in 1798, tbe period when the three existing dock companies were esta. blIshed, was 30,000,0001. They were now 56,000,0001. This increase, as great in amount, had been prorsive. rhe paper to which be had before alluded 61iowed that the value of exports and imports had increased in 1800; from 30,000,0001., which thev were in 1798, to 36,0001.; in 1819 the amount was 46,000 0001., and in 1823 it was 56,000,0001. This ineremse of trade calita for incresse of accommodation. The establishment of a new dock company would, by opening a system of competition, enable tke public to ob. tain accommodation at a cheaper rate than at present. The authors of the bill before the house demanded no exclusive privileges for themselves, and they disclaimed any interference with the exclu. sive privileges possessed by the existing dock companies. They only desired that they might be at liberty to afFord additional accommodation to the trade. It was very natural that those persons who had an interest in supporting the system of monopoly which existed for the last 25 years, should oppose the present measure; but the grounds of their opposition were the very grounds on vhich he confidently called upon the house to pass the bill. A.r. C. CALVERT opposed the bill, not because he was con. nected with sny of the existing dock companies, for he had not a farthing vested in any of them, but on the ground that there was at present more than sufficient accommodation for merchants, and par- ticularly in the parishes of St. John and St. Olave. He moved, as an amendment, that the biUl he read a second time this day six months. Sir J. YORKE, in rising to second the amendment, said, that he would fire off a squib at the little blue-eyed men of St. ('athe- rine's (a laugh), who had so much engaged the attention of 18 gen- tlemen and a half. (Laughter.) He said 18 gentlemen and a half, because he saw that 18 of the projectors of the new docks had sub- scribed 50,0001. each towards the undertaking,whilit another of them had subscribed only 30,000L Theground on which it was proposed to erect the new docks, had been sought by the London Dock Com. pany 24 years ago, and refused for very good reasons. If there were any grounds for showing greater favour to the new dock company than had formerly been shown to the London Dock Company. let the supporters of the bil state them. The only reason why, in'his opinion, the propesed new company Yentured us ask for the land in qucstion, was the death of her gracious Majesty Queen Charlotte, who haIl departed fr3mn this world to one infinitely ketter. Queen Charlotte had an interest in the land, and during her life there had always been an unwillingness to nseddle with iL If it had been proposed to lauild the docks in any other place, he would have had lessobjection to the measure; but as it was, he opposed it with all his heart. Dlr. J. SMITH opposed the bill, bscausehe thought that thc erec- ion of new docks was unilecessary. Mr. HUSNIE oppose&'the me-aure, op the grouiid that sutficient notic6of thseintention to introduce it had not been given to the par- ties uese interest8 were affected by It. Mr. MANNING said, that having presented a petition froma the LondonDock Company against tfiis ill, he felt itbis dutyto oppose the measure. So far fiom new iocka being required bv thetrade of London, he could stite that the London Dock Companiy had still i great quantL'i O? spare room, and hadextensiveunfinished buildings which coald be completed if their accommodation were required. Mr. T. WILSON approved of the new bill, because he thought the new system of trade, which was so extensively carried on under the bonding system, would require all the dock accommodation which could be afrorded. Mlr. BRIGHT contended that the standing orders ought to be en- forced. Here was a whole town thrown into confusion by a sudden project, of which the parties vwho were to be expelled from their homes had no notieeuntil the fith of March. If a new dock were required, why not give due notice ? WVhat necessity was there for pressizlg the bill until next year ? The fact was, that the parties would, bythe delay, be compelled to pay a larger price for the grdund than its prgsent vlue. They ought to uphold their standing orders, which enjoined due notice, or else abandon them altogether. MIr. Alderman HEYGATE said, that having presented two peti- tions against this nill, it should have his most determined opposition. He was surprised that his Majesty's linisters should have given the measure any countenance by suspending the standing orders, when they found that its execution wonld be an act of tyranny and cruelty towards a large body of individuals. It was a cruel attack upon individual rights without any paramount necessity. Let the supporters of the bill be called upon to show that the growing trade of the port of London indispensably required the new dock; but the factwas, they knew that to attempt such proof was impossible, when it was notorious, as had been said, that many of the exist- ing dock companies had plenty of room unoccupied. There were in London at present six dock companies: two of them paid no Interest; one paid 3.& per cent., the I,ondon Dock paid 4i per cent.; and two others paid more than 5 per cent., because one of them had enjoved a particulAr monopoly, which had just ceased, and the other bad a monopoly which would expire in two years. He had cert2inly little to do with the speculation in which any persons might wish to fool avray their monev y but when the Vrogress of their project went to depopulate a thickly inhabited district, and to disperse without notice 10,000 individuals, the case was tben different. (Hear.) Hecouldnottoostrongly impreasupon the house2thatbesidestheinjuryot this bill to the public, it went toconler upon individuals large power, privileges, and exemptions. He went the other day to the top of St. Catherine's Churcb, a venerable and royal foundation, which was to be razed in following up this new scheme, and overlooked the district whieb was to be swept awav for the work, and in it he saw two whole streets of long estabfishtd busi- ness which must be removed if the bill were carried. He should give bis strongest opposition to a measure so unnecessary, and so fraught with Inischief. Mtlr. HA LDIMAND objected to the principle of monepoly main- tained by the existing docks. Ilr. BUTTERWORT opposed the bill, on 2ccount of the se- rioas injury it would inflict upon a large body of the people. mr. LITTLETON was against the hill, as it was in violation of the standing orders, which were enacted to secure private property from invasion, except under certain crcumstances. Alr. NV. SMITH was against the bill, because it appeared that the existing docks were fully adequate to meet any increase of busi- ness. The London Dock was never full, except once, when there were great shipments of vine, under an apprehension of an invasion of Portugal. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that the sr- gument upon the standinF orders was inapplicable, for they hadbeen already suspended, or ceae the btil could not have reached its pre- sent stage. The parties in favour of the bill had certainly, early in the present year, consulted some members of his Majesty's Government upon the subject, and were inform- ed, that to the principle of their application there was no ob- jection. It was not ther stated that a large body of persons would be injuriously affected by the bill: had that been communicated, the question of the standing crders would have become material; for it would have been unfair to have forced individuals from their homes without allowing them proper notice: but it might So happen that many of these persons were only tenants at will. Hlowever, he thought that that part of the operation of the fnten2ed measure could be discussed in the committee where he admitted, that if such should appearto be fact, it v.oulA be entitled to considerable weght in the ultimate determination of the house; but upon princi- ple he would not object to the second reading of the bill. Mr. WALLACE entirely concurred in what had just faUen from his right honourable friend, but he thought that the real ground of the opposition was, andindeed it so appeared from papers which had been distributed among members, tromn the desire of the East and West Iadia,and London Dock Companies to maintain their mo- nopoly which was, he thought, injurious to the general trade of the port o? London. AMlr. (iRENFELL replied, and said that so far from 10,000 peo- ple being required to quit their dwellings, the whole amount would nut excel5,000; a snd out of 1,100 or 1,200 householders inthe pre- dnucts of St. Ca*.heri tbere sere 300 who had already given their signatures infaorfthbil he quesion being loudly caLed tor, the house divided, wvhen the numbers were- For the second reading, 741 Against it, 59 M Atajority, 1. On our re-admission, we tound the CHANWELLOP of the EXCHEQUER moving that the order of the day be read for the house resolving itself into a committee of supply. The order having been read, and the house having resolved itself into the said committee, Ml1r. HERRIES moved that there be granted to his Majesty a sum not exceeding 4,8311., for the purpose of defrusjing the civil es- tablishment of the islad of Newfoundland, from the 1st day of Ja- nuary to the M1st day of December, 1824. Mr. HUME said that he should not oppose this graut. He was,' however, of opinion that the islaad of Newfoundland was fully able to meet this expenditure, and he therfore trusted that the present would be the Last year in which the Psrliament of Great Britain would beeUntc uponto 10suply d,5, 5ThIt The grant was then agreed to. The next grant proposed to the committee was 17,000., for de- fraying the charge of erecting a new building at V11hitehall, fbr the Board of Trade. Mir. HUME wished to know whether this building was to be a separate building, or was to form part of the new range of buildings which he supposed were going to be erected in the immediate neigh- bourhood ot the Treasury. The CHANCEL1OAOR of the EXCHEQUER, in reply, stated, that if the hon. member had looked at the paper which had accom- panied the estimates, he would have seen a plan of the proposed buildinas. Mlr. IIUME.-I have not received any such paper. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, as that was the case, he would endeayour to give the hon. member the explana- tion he wanted. The right hon. gent. then entered into a statement of facts, which, as it wasaddressed to 31r. Hume in a couversational tone across the table, was not distinctly audible in the gallerv. We understood from it, that the building in wltich the Board of Trade had recently held their sittings was in such a tottering condition tbat it became absolutely necessary to rebuild it. At the same time it was found that the Privy CoRncil-office was not in any better con- dition. It was therefore determined to rebuild both in such a manner as would smake them real omaments to the metropolis. As the whole of Downing-street belonred to the Crown, and the leases of the houses in it were expire, it was determined to crect in that quarter of the town offices for the Board of Trade, the Privy Council, and various other public boards, which were now obliged to lhold their meetings in private houses. AMr. AGAIR ELLIS wished to know whether the buildings in Dowvning-street were to come down, from the public-house which stood at the corner ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was understood to reply in the affirmative. The grant was then agreed so. The next grant proposed to the committee was 60,0001. 1" for de- frayingthe chargeof purchasing, together with the expenses inci- dental to the preservation and public exhibition of the co)lection of pictures which beonged to the late J. J. Angerstein, Esq." Mr. AGAR EL?1,IS could not refrain from expressinag thanks to his Majesty's Government for having purchased this valuable col- lection of pictures. HIe was sure that every person who was at all acquaintedb with the arts, wfould agree writh him in saying that no collection of pictures could be better suited to form the basis of a national gaUlery. All the pictures were of the very first excellence Indeed there was not one of'them which it would nor be almost a calum- ny to caU a moderate picture. He trusted that the present would form a new tera for-the ares in this country, and that the advantage which was now given toour own schoolof painting, in placing before it first- rate models, would tend to advance its character and renown. if there wvere any gentlemen in that house wlio disapproved of the ex- pense to which these pictures were putting the country, he would ask them whether they might not be productive of emolument to the nation, even in a pecuniary point of view ? WYhat was it that at- tracted so many travellers to Italy but the numerous works of genius which wvere contained in it? And if a similar collection were made -irs. -London,- wam it not likely that a similar cause would produce a similar resort of strangers to it? Hle hoped that Government would not stop short in the great work which it had undertaken, but would proceed steadily and progres- sively in it. He would not recommend it to purchase any more w-ole collections; for in aU probability they must contain moderate pictures, and moderate PiCtareS ought not to be found in national galleries; but he would reeommendit to parchase single pictures of acknowledged excellence, whenever any such pictures came into the mnarket. By such means they w ould obtain the best speciniens of the best masters, end woid so erect a gallery whicht would be no les&s beneficisl to the taste than itwvrould be conduelve to the glory of the country. Mr. BERNAL complained that 2001. a year was too small a re- muneration for the keeper of the gallery, especially as he was not only to attend to the preservation of the pictures, but also to be comn- petent to value and 2aegotiste the purchase of any pictures which might in future be added to the collection. Sir C. LONG spoke in terms of the strongest praise of the pic. tures which formed the late Mr. Angerstein's collection. They were selected by the judgmrcat of Sir T. Lawrence, and appeaired, on inspection, o exquisite to his Majesty,that he firstsuggested the pro- priety of purchasing them for the nation. Indeed they were gene- rally considered the finest models of art that could be submitted to the contemplation of the artist. He agreed with his hon. friend that the plan which the Government ought to pursue in forming this galery would not be to buy up whole collections, but to buy up single pictures of undisputed excellence, and that, too, at a liberal price. With regard to the remarks made by the hon. member for Rochester, on the smallness of the salary to be paid to the keeper of the gallery, he would merely observe that the person who was ap- pointed to superintend it was as well qualified for such an office as any man could be, and that he was pertectly satisfied with the salary annexed to it. As that was else case, why should they increase it? If at any future dine it was found insufficient, Government could ask the house to increase it. It onghe to be recollected, that this officer did not give up the wholebf hiis time to the gallery, but was only required to attend in it occasionally. There was another officer, whose duty it would be to give up his whole time to this collecton. After a few words from Colonel DAVIES, Mr. A. ELLIS wished to be intormed, who was to superintend the superintendent of the galery ? SireC. LONG supposed thae the control would for the present remain wvith the Lords ofthe Treasury, who, he did not conceive, would have much oeccasion to use violcucs in the exercise of it. Mr. IiUME said, as it was at last determined to make a national gallery, and by so doing to rescue the nation from a disghce which the want of such an establishment had long entailedi a.rpon it, he trusted that responsible individuaLs would be selected to take eare of the pictures which had already been purchased. Some regu- lation of that nature was rendered necessary, by the recollection of the injury which had been sustained in the British Museum by the want of it. Sir a. LONG truted that he had convinced the committee upon ,i former eveninx,tlaltlthere wS nto reason to Co0m-plain of thiet-ru-a tees obf the-Briti5h Mtuseuns. Indeed, he had reasontobleeht1 the bon. mnember for Shrewsbury, who ha bogto felierd the charge again-t them, was coDnvinc-ed thac it did not reAt u-o any -ccurate foundations. Air. A. ELLIS was so far from thinking that there was any ground of complaint againist the trustees of the Brit'ish Mluseuni. that he had been going to suggest that they should also be made trustees of this nationa[ gailerv.-The grant was then agreed to. On it being proposed, that lt4,4501. he granted to deftray the ex- penses of the various outfits and chaprges uincurred by senidin-g out consuls and -vice-consuls to Spaniislh America, Mlr. HlUME rose to ask a question. Was is to be understood that after this grant wvas made to thte consuls aind vice.consuls in SPanish A mnenica, the British trade in that quarterof the alobe was to be free from the imposiuion of any further toll to them ? He did not object to the amounL of the salaties which it was proposed to givethee gntleen or e thugh tht they would not get mien of espctailiy o fll hem ules thy wreproperly remnunerated. He ws, owevr, nxius tat ur dfreeneconsuls shouald be paid by te pbli, ad shuldbe ebaredfromn receiving any fees, save suchus wre mrelynomial uon te delivery of certificates re- quird i th corseof tade Whlstupo the subject, he would suggest a plan to his Mvajest's Mlinite, which several eminent merchantst had informred hmwas caluae to obviate many ot the vexatious difficulties whiich they some~timnes experienced in foreign countries, owing to thie uncertaini nature of oar consular fees. The plan was this-that the captain of any ship, on clearing out for a foreign port at the custom-house, should be entitled to ask anid re- ceie afritedcopy of thte consular chiarges at all the ports at which li askl to touch in the coutrse of his voyage. It might be said that such a plan could not bc put into execution without some expense. He allowed, that it would occasion some trifling expense ; but he thought that it ought not to he regarded, eapeciaijy wihen it was considered that it was incurred on belialf of the commerceof the country, and that that commerce was the chief source of its strength and revenue. H-e was certain that if our consuls were paid fixedsas-I laries, and were only allowed to receive certain sm-all stated fees, many of the difficul ties would be removedby whiich our commnerce was at present imipedled. Air. HUSKISSON wa-s, to a ceTtain degree, of the same opinion with the honourable member for Aberdeen, with regard to paying, our consuls onuof the public revenue. lie intended, withinuash,ort period, to bring in a bill to enab1e Government to pay them out of the public purse, and to establishi some uniformity in the systets. by whrch they wvere remunerated. At present, nothing coula be more vague, varying, and uncertain, than the manner in wvhich they ob- tained their emioluments. In' some places they hiad fees, in others theyhadnon; insom plces heyexatedhigh, and in others they exaced nlytrilin duies li wihedto reduce them all to onie uniormprctie ;an toeffcttha prpose, he would give them fixe salrie, an allw tem crtanmoderate fee ots the different etisrunsneswhic itwas hei dut tomakeoutin the ordi- nary course of trade. He would lopros to levy a smal tonage pon ll ips ouchng a theporrs, where we hd cnsul; ad h woud popos itforthe purpose of dfraing ertin ncidnta exense tht wre not paid eloed the mesurs wichhe ntededto ropse,but in so low a tone of voice as to be inauidible in theglr. MrT. flUME expressed himuself wl aite ivet the observa- tions which hiAd fallen from the right hionourable gentletnan, and said, that ifthtere wkere any point., on whlichl he differed fromi hurT), they mnight he discukssed whien the righit litonourable gentlemiatt brought his bill before the hiouse. He would take this opportunity of expressing his thanks to the righit honrmTable Secretary for Fe- reign Affairs for the attenitioni which lie had paid to a suibject, in which, thougbh he evasnot himiself personal ly concetned, the public werti largel interestcd--he allhided to our trade with the Brazils. He coul dnlot at present say what effect the reguilationis wvhichi tite right honourable Secretary had made might have produced abroad ; biut this he could say, that they lad given perfect satisfaction to ;it Persons at home engaged in that trade. Before he sat down, lie would suiggest to the right honourable President of the Board of Trade whethier it would not be advisable, in any future regulation, to prevent consuls deputing their duties at will to any persons they mizht choose to appoint as vice-consuls. The gratnt was then agreed to. On its bein~ proposed to grant 620,0001. to defray the arroiy ex- traordinarips ror the year 18,24, Colonel DAVIBS objected to the i[tem in this grant, clharging 2,3001. for pensions to the Knights or' Aalta. His. objection was founded on this grouind -that of' the parties who received these pensions, some were not Knighits of Malta, anti otkers were receivgin pensions from the island of Maltz itself. lie consideredl tIs item to be us -rosa a job aus ever was perpetrated by, any admiinistrationi. Last year~e did not see it in the es,timates ; and he had hoped it hail been withdtrawn for ever. Mr. Ni. HORTON observed, that the itenm in question was a payent made on ac-count of the Government oif the island of :ilala. A peial injutnction had been given to that Government to make inquiiry, whietlier the lsartie.s who received these pensions were enti- tled to be considered as k-nights of AMalta. That inquiry was niow in progress ; and it was thought righit not to withdraw the pensions until it vwas concludled. The pensions had been granited to the par- ties who now held them from mnotives of humanity, during the French revolution--an event which hadk reduced the greater paTt of them from comparative opulence to the most wretchied stare of want and destitution. Mir. HlUME wished to drawr the attention of the committee to the very great expensie to which this country was puit, on account of the islarnds of Guernsey and Jersey. They were, so far as this couintry was concerned, altogethier free from taxation-the revenue of the Crown was wasted, at least no part of it wvas appropriated to the ser- vice of the islands, and the public of England were constantly- c-alled on to meet every expense. He observed a charge of 4,4711. for extra- ordinary military expenses, on account of the staff. Now, he had formerly, moved for a corresponidence between his Majesty's Go. vernusent and the authorities in thte islands, fromn whichi it ap. pearpd that a part of this force was not wanted, and was really considereda: nuisance. He had received a cotumnunication frem a highly respectable individual, who stated that nothing could be more gateful to the inhabitants of these islands than the removal of the_ staff, for the support of which the people of England were oblige to pay. If those islands must have the prutection of the Britishi Government, ther certainly, oughit to defray, a portion of the expense. it would shortly be his duty to present a petition to the house on t'his subject. It was the work of a gentlednan wlso hiad gone throughi those islands ; he liad put his observations oni paper, anl lie stated, very distinctly, what, in his opinion, the islands ought to contributeetowards defraying the various expenses inciden- ta toIteir government. it was a very fit subject for the house to take iato its consideration. He was quite sure the estimate migh be educd oe haf,wihoutcripling the serv-ice its the small- est egre. H ha himelfdraw upan account of various items whic migt b gretly edued. f te ritght honourable gentleman oppoitewoud mae ue o anyhin itconitained, it was entirelyv at hisseric. I ws raly ft he outryshuld know what became of te rvenu ofthes isands Siuate usGreat Britain was, hier expeaiditure ought to be lessened in every- possible way but though these islands were capable of producing a certalit revenue, th-e peo- ple of England were obliged to pay for their civil and military esta- blishment. The batter was wholly unnecesaarvy; for theinihabitants of the islands would consider it a pride to clothie and arm the militia, buxt Government wouild not allowv it. Mlr. PEEL understood the honourable member to say, that he could throw out some suggestionis by which the expenses of Guernsey and jersey mi&h he lessened. liHe was sure, if the hion. member favoured hiim with those suiggestions, they should receive the fullest attention. It was his duty to listen to suelt commun-ica- tions, and if a curtailment of expense could be effected, that object certainly should not be neglected. WVhen the honourable gentle. mnan presented to -he house that ratheir extraordinary dtocumnent (for it was not a petition, but a two or three monthis' tour through Guern- sey) to %hich he had alluded, lie miight be assured that lie (Mlr. Peel) wol eaVtalo ith respect to the inilitary part ofte question, he mtight observe that the constitution of those islands was of a very ancient date, and no individuals were more jealous of their old customs than the inhabitants were. Accord- ing to their laws, every, male, from 16 tO 60, was bound to military service. But it was deemed better to have a few expert soldiers, than an undis-ciplined rabble, wvhichi wouldi probably he the case if they were left to clothe and arm themselves. Therefore it was ne- cessary that a staff -should be kept up. Mlr. HUMNE said, it wvas distinctly stated in the correspondence, that thlose people were jealous of the conduct of his Majesty's Go- vernment, in not allowing them to discip2ine their own militia, a-s they used to do, accor-inugto law. The honourable member then ob- served, that he wished to have some explanation with mepect to an item of 3,6561., for the relief of thse slave poplulation in Antigua and Nevis. Mlr. W. HORTON said it was a sum voted for miere temporary assistance. Air. HUMIE said. he saw a charge of 1,OO0F. fo-r Colonel Wilks, the late Governor of St. fe'ena. H-e wished to know how Colonel WVilks stood with regard to the public, so as to deserve that grant. He believed he had half-pay from the East india Company, when he quitted the situation. Mtlr. LUSH INGTON said a few words, wvhich were almost inau- dible in the gallery. We understood h-im to defend the grant, on thie gound of Colonel lVilks's meritorious services. llfr. HUAfE saw an item of 4,8151., on account of debt due in 1796 to the Prince of Hiess Darmstadt, He wished toD know why this demand was not settled lonic ago ? Mlr. HERRIES said 2 the debt in question had been a subjerzt of discussion end negotiation for somne years, and hiad only, been re- cently adjusted. Mr. H UMlE wished to call the attention of thse committee to the charge for colonial agency. Those separate agencies for differ. eita islandIs were pr-oductive of very great inconvenience, exclusive of the expense ircurredbyhyersn. Letters and applications ought to bean- swered directly by the Colonial Secretary. The systemn of lhaving accountantsbhere, into whose hands wvas paidall money intended te defray expense incurred by, the Government here, was a bad one, in- asmuch as large balances were thus intrusted to thern. According to the act of Parliament, no balances of publiemaoney should be left in pivate hiands; they oughit to be placed in the Bank of England but this syvstem militated against the law. Mr. W. HOtTOiN -aid, those colonial azents were in constantt conumunication with individuals in the colonies, on matters of the greatest importance, both in a private and public point of view. They were of very great service to the colonies. They acted for the colonists as their constituents, and pressed forward all business at the Colonial Office in which they were interested. lir. BE RNA1 said, if thoseagents were necessary, the persons who benefitted by their skill and assiduity ought to remunerate them properly; but it certainiy was not fair that the house should be called upon to pay for their maintenance out of the consohdated fund. Mnr. HERRIES said, the sum now voted was merely to enable the igents to make certain advances. It was not given- nway altoge- ther, but wouild be paid back by the colonies, and accounted oor in these extraordinaries. Mr. HlUME said this looked very specious, but there was nothing solid sn it. Thus it was that the nublic were duped. The colonies were not able to stpport themselves-that house was ob iged to make up their delciencies-antl yet the right hon. gent. talked gravely of this mneny being paid back. ( Hear.) Writ1h respect to accountants, he objected toany individual llolding such a situation even to receive this money for the purpose of paying it over. If the colonists re- quired an ageinit, let himn he paid by them ias they would pay any other of6icer: but lie could nor consent that they should keep sep a separate accotaut ivith Governmenr th, ough that individual. The motion was then carried. The next vote was for 106,5071. to defray the charge of civil con- tingencies for the year 1824. Mlr. HUME directed the attexition of the committee to an item of 1,8101., being the nmount of a bi,l drawnm by Mr. James Walker,who was employed on-an experiment relative. to free labour amongst the negrees. A number of slaves had be.ta given up to Government for the purp ose of this expeniment, and t fi he said was, make use of thtiferla bour, teich thefn to spt s,iY 6eTofi- us to mnaintain them. WMr. W.% HORTON said, the experiYnent was ani irnortant an4 a usefgl one. The commissioners who :were now in.theWe8t Inaia. islandls had made a report on) the suibject, which would'be laid be- fore Parliament. it iwould then be for the house to decide whethe this establishment should or should not be kept up. Mlr. HUMlE had stated four or five years ago, that these slaves were all trdesmen:- they were perfectly competent to ppt themselves. In the -possession ef atn individual, they would be a property ; but in the hands of Government they becanto, an expense. fI they were set free to-morrow, they woula maintam. themoselves without assistance fromn this country. Such was tLe plain state of' thec case. Ile wante-d no report;fromn the commissioners to ernabIel,m to decide on asubjectof'whichhecoulcI judge aswellas themselves. He now begged leave to dmaw the attention of the holux to a char~t of 60L1 for conveving the insignia of the Most Noble Order of til, Garter to Jobhn VL, King of Porugal. This was an expense which h e did not think the public ought to hear at this time. If the couon. try were toi Pay for hononrs granted by the Crown, it ought to be shown that those horours were well and deservedly bestowed. jr this case, he. believed the public, lookzing to the conduct of the indi. vidual selected, coniulered the proceeding rather as a disgrace than ani honour. When the Portuguese Government had violated its pro. mnise, andl brok-e its contract with the people, wvas it, he asked, be. ~om,~igng in atn Englislh Parliament to vote a sum of money for de. raigthe expense of an honour conferred on the head of that Go. vernment? ?He hoped that somethiing, might be stated to show either that the timie formerly justified the granting of the hlonour, or thac siome v'e peuia orumstances called for it at prese44' MVr. AINNJN said, th-at as to thie time, this honour was not%f a recent qlate. It was conferred several years ago, when a sinuj'ar mark of respiect wvas bestowed on the King of Denmark, and various other Sovereigns. Circumstances howevler, intervened, which pre- vented its being then sent ou.Wt epc othe conduict im- puted to thte Kin& of Portugl hewudol a,thnt as the order was not bestowed on accuto n vn hc u curdi the interior of that country, niercudt,wen onc ofre,b wixhheld in consequence of an hn hthdsnce tknpa~tee Mlr. H UMEB wished to maeafy bevton ntecag e lative to foreign ambassadors. HeI had last yearThw ta h expense, on an average of the five prcdn er,was 300,0pJOL per ann. Tliis, exclusive of what as pado osl,Was a ver Faltar sunis, and every mtuns ought to betknt eueit-as much a' poisible. He was now going to touchi upon a Point conniected will this subject ; anti it would give him g,reat satistaction if he found that he was mistaken in whiat he wvas about to state-it was rela- tive to the expense of the embassy to Holland. It was said, thiat last year the Dutch Government intended toD reduce, in the dliplo- matic sicale, the rank of the individual who was to act as ambassador to England ; and that of couirse a gentleman of similar rank would be sent from this court to the H'ague. He understood the Dutchi Governmient came to a resolution of that nature ; hut that, so far from his MesysGovernment approving of ith e alteratiorn, and seizing the oppor tunity wvhich it afforded of re. during the expenise, they absolutely solicited the Dutchi Govermtent to keep up) the rank of' te ambassidor, in order that they might send one of equal grade to the Hague, anti ttius continue the usual rate of expenuse H e heard this with feelings of great regret ; because, ifthLfctwre so, is aflforded a strong proof that no disposition ex- isted to lessen the 'expense in this departmient. If the report were incorrect, he shiould be 'lad to hear it contrdicted. M1r. CANN ING said the hon. mnember was qutite mnisinformed, if hie supposed that such a req ues t as he had alluded to had beeni made by his Majesty's 6overnment. It did not fellow, as the honourable gentlemtan scenied to think, that a redu'&n of expense should naturally h'ollow a reducton in the rank OfiRam bassador sent to this Court frorm Hiollandl. He believed, tbl~t for dO years, it had been the constant policy of this country, to hare an am. bassador of the first class at the Hague, eveni though the Dutch am- bassador was not of equal rank. Mr. HUME said, if he were not maistaken, he recollected the righat htonourable gentleman to have stated, on a fosmer occaion, that the etiquette was, to send to a forcign court an ambassador of the sumne rank whiich that court sent to us. That f'act was then ad- vanced, to show how difficult it was to reduce tite diplomatic expense, by altering the -scale, on accounit of' the strict attention that was paid to "1 etiquette." He thought it was ratlter a violation of that rule, to scr,d out an ambassador of the first class, when it was understoed that the court to which he was going entertained the intenition of einplo~'ing an indi. vidual of an tnferior grade. No alteration had ta 'en Pplce with respetto the rank of the Dutch arrbassador : and this, he under- to, was done, in accordance with the wish of the British Go. vernment. Last year 11,0001'. had been saved in the diplonatiede- partmentL a nd here, be thought, an additional saving might hlave been made, consistently with a due Obsservance of etiquette. M%r. CANNING observed, that the honourable gentleman was perfectly right in the statement he had imiputed to him, li1e laid down an equality of rank as a generalrule; but there was an excep- tion in the case of Hi olland. The fact was, this country always sent an amibassador of the first class to the Hague, though t le amba-ssi. tfor from that court was sometimes of the same, and sometimes of an inferior grade. Mr. fII UME wishied to know, as thie public had paid for the Stuart papers (a nmost valuable historical eollection), whether they were to be gven up to them? MOr. CANN I NG, as we undlertood, answered thatthey were now in the proretss of arrangement. Mr. H UIIE, observing a charge for expensesineur-red by Sir W. Congreve, in prosecuting his inquiries as Inspector-General of Gas. ligh Copanis, ished to know by, what patent he held that office? If i wee a appintentunde th Ciwn, did it niot bring the hon. baront nudr thea~ ofQueenAnne?It c-ertainly, was a new, offce,forgaswasnotknon i tht Qeens reign ; and considering theappintentas ne on, sa.sitof such a nature as to vacate c~hon baone's eatin hathou E? He alto wished to know wvhat was the expense of thne s'ituation per annum ? IMr. PEEL said, the appointment took place in 18-21, under an act ofhelegislature. At that time more fear was entertained of the dange which maight be expected from the explosioni of gas than was appehede atprsent. In 1817 and 1818, two acts were passed. irhtch aveto he ecrtar ofStae te athority to appoint an. in- spetor Th apoinmen, tereorewasnot in the Crown, but in theSecetay o Sate uner he c,of Parliament. The hon. baroet hd povedhimslf o bea iost useful officer, and he recevedno mre ita a rmunraton for tite actual expense lite incurred. He had retortedl last year, that the sante degree of apprehension no longer e'xisted as was formerly entertaned, but still it was thought expedient that the Secretary of State should liave an opportunity of knowing how the gas-works were going on ; and he hoped. that next year, the satme skilful individual would give himi the benefit of his scientific knowledge. As th is was not a new appointment under the Crown, it did not come under the act of Queen Anne; and of course did not vacate the hon. batronet's seat. M1r. LAUBTON observed, that the hon. bart., in his reports, had furnished suggestions of considerable importance; some of wliicli had been acted on. Every, one who knew' the extreme danger that might be apprehended from thie e-,plosion of those gasometers, must be well pleased to see the attention of a genlemn o soutch ciece ndknowledge directed so the subjct.(Hea, har.)He hougt tat the right lion secretary, in ontnung heoffce di nthig ore than his duty. (Hear.) Thesalrypai toth lin, arnetwa, he thought, quite inade-, Mr. LIE dnie th aserton hatSir W1. Congreve had made valuable rptson which the gas compnieshad acted. He had, it wvas true,md reports, in whtich he stpoke a g-reat deal about the danger of our bein blown tip hi' thie explosion of gas-all of which w as afterwards ctradicted. TIhe hon. member (M1r. Lambton} bad spoken of the science and k-nowledge displayedl by Sir IV. Con. greve ; but it appeared to him that the honourable member knew notlhing about the business. If tke honoumable member had heard the evidence-(11lr. Lamubton, "1I did hlear it.") Thea the hon. mrember did not attend to it ; for it went to disprove many of the facts stated by Sir W1. Conigrev'e. The hon. baronet asserted in his repiorts, that if the gasometer were approached by, fire, it miust imimediately explodle: but Sir H. Davy, and other really scientific men, proved the contrary. He (Mr. Hume) had no inter. estc in this question, but the hon. member (Mr. Lambton) had; for hie supplied the material of [which gas was made. When the extra- Ordinary bill wasq brouight in on this subjc,h,tog o neet ed one way or other. found it necessary to have it 3ent to. a committee up stairs, where evidence 'could be examined. (lemtlemen talked of the danger of gasometers bting blown up h e repate, tat t ws hardly possible for a gasometer to be blown up. The as as ot nflmmale nti itwas ir combinationi wi th at- mosperi ai. i beameinfammblemixed with five parts to one of amosperi sir higly nflamabe at 10 pares to One ; and less infammbl whn he ortdnof tmsphri air was greater. The hon meberthe cmpline ofthereort before the house. The situation of gas-inspetor was uunecessary,; but if necessary, SirW. Congreve ought no to have been the person appointed to it; for no man could have anything of the science of chymistry in him who had made such areport as was now upon the table. Thebhon. mem- ber, after alluding to a M1r. Miiaigton (who had given evidence be- fore the committee above stairs,), as a person better skilled' in the anagemntof gas than Sir Virm. Congreve, sat down by submit- tin=tmaatteiestthe salaryofthegasinsipectorought to bea defniteone. Mar. LAmBTON said, that tke honourable member for Aber. dean treatedl him rather as, an interested party in the present dis- cussion, because he might be supposed in somie degree to supply the article from which the gas was manuefactuied. The honoarable member for Aberdeen, ho wever. if there were any force in his argu- ment, would stand, in his own person, exposed to the eff'ect Of it; for, if he did not absolutely supolr the gas companies with the n.a- terial from whicht their smnoke was'produced, they miight go to hiim, if they pleased, for the pipes w hich conveyed it. Mr. PE EL would onily detain the committee one moment upon the necessity of the appointmnent to whichi the hoinourable member opposite objected. Mr. Milliington, to whom- the honourable member had but inst now aolverted, said in his evidence, wvith re- spect tothe danger fromn explosion of gasometers, that the blowing up of that in Dorset-street woitld probably bring down all the adjacant houses in Fleet-street. WVhat chymical science there might be in any given man, he (M1r..4_'eel) would not presume to say ; bait Dr. Wviollaston distinct.-' Pile. dlared, that his opinion as to the properties of gas had been dW~ea by that very report of Sir W'. Congreve's to whicli the lion, member for Aberdeen objected. Tfhe most-respectable ehsymical authorities- Sir Htrmphrey Davy among the rest-spoke in strong terms of tre, danger likeli to arise fom the explosion of gas; and the house would say, under such circumstances, whether it was not fit that the Secretary of State sbould have tie metans of knowing the state of the gas institutions-their extent, and the precautions vwhich they used, from year to vear. The very report (from the gas comr.ittee) of the hon. member for Aberdeen' himself, stated, in terms, the ne- cessity for the Secretary of State to be watchful on the subject; and so long as Sir William Congreve ivould consent to hold the office of inspector, lie (Mr. Peel) kner of no person more fit to be intrusted with it. Upon the claims of that gentleman, generally, to the gratitude and attentiOn of the country, he should not say a word, because he wvas sure they were already sufficiently appreciated. MIr. LESJIE; FOEtSTER said, that the explosion of gusometers was suffidentlv proved by the fact thit onte asometer had exploded and done considerable mischief. Hle cersaiily approved of the al-p pointment of an insuetor. Alr. DAAWSON tehhnded the appointment of S-r Wm. Congr6ve. Sir WAl. CONGREVE would only say-, that he had accepted the situation in question under a conscientious belief that the duties of it were most necessary to be discharged. As far as his exberience had gone, he thought that insuection would from time to time be very necessary. In one instance he had found a gasometerfloating in coal tar instead of water-coal tar being an aridle of the most cdmbus- tibie description. In other cases, large fires had been kept, in the neighbourhood of the gasometers, which he considered unsate. Hle balso remmeneded, as a general principle, the use of smaller Epsometers; and he had understood that, in some quarters, is suggestions-if he might say so-had been approved Mir. HlUME id a few words in explanation. Mr. Alderman WOOD wished, that as the gas-inspector would not have a very great deal to do, he tuight be allowed to talke cogni. 2,cof gasometet in the M.,ansion.bouge, oVer which he( (Mr. Al. derinan W"ood had slept-..it seemed, in great peril-for two years. <Laughter.) Th,rnatter, to him ;erasinally, was not likely to beof' anY further conlsequencL but he-spoke for thie benefit of future Lord Mayors. There was another gasometer, too, at the Bank, which perhaps wouild not be the wors'e for an occasional call.' The vote was then agreed to. 194 497' vwas proposed flor the expense of the disemblodied militia. Colonel DAVIES obj ected to the amount of -he grant;, which, fi'tre some discussion, was postponed. The houise then resumed, the chariran reported progress, and obta-ined leave to sit again on AMonday.t ALIEN BILL. Th'e order of the day for the second reading of the alien bill being mo'ved by Mr. peel, Mrl. H'UME rose and expressed hils intentioni to oppose the mea- sure irievery stage. He objeeted totsheonder of the day being readl. until the right lion, SecretaTy for Foreign Afflairs shiould haive stated hsis reasons for introducing the bill ; and a great number of persns on the aftoe side the house withbimself wouild have resisted tEII step ,which had already been taken t6wards passing it, buit for the assur- anice giveni by that right hon. gent, that hre shiould express-his seniti- uetntsuPon the presentevening.IFor thepower whichiministers claimed by the alien bill. henecould find nothing like ajustifiation in the spirit of the British constitution. The precedent which Was claitmed fo)ritbv ohemrembar of the Cabiniet (Mr. Pleel) had bieen denied by another mneniber of' the Cabinet (Mr. 1W. Wynn) ; and, for himnself, he (Mr. Homure) coald notiunderstanid why mi~nisters pressed for such a power, uliless they wvere privately, undler a compact with the Holy AshLance to obtain rihe imeans of senlding, righit or wrong, in a aiim- mnar manr, out of England,any inaividlual whose political opinior.s redre im obnoxiouis to that botdy, or to any memiber of it. The tI'lsariable Principle upon. whichi our- forefathers hati acted was, if a fo,reigner landed upon ouir shores, to receive him without impedi- nient. There were disabilities to whichi lie was, liable: he could not sit, for instance, in the House of Commoins ; but so long as he conducted itiniself peaceably. heha sec,irity, alid the full benefit of the English lawvs. 'He couhllddnot but look at the circumr,tances, andI wornder under which this bill was now brouaght forward. He wouild not admit any neces-sity for it in 1793, because, int periods of greater danlger, the enuntry had donie very weil withiout it. In the years 1715 ~nd 1745. whien .Englandl hadl been disturb,ed by Pretenders to the vrery thirone-wheni she had hiad to contendl with rebellions in the northi, and rebellions in the iv:iurh-under those Mircmstances, t1he country, had done withiout an alien bill, andi yet (iovernmeae as,ked For tl.at po-a'ernotiw. The principle-thermotive- which led to thle introdluction ot' the mieasure was 'e wrong one. England ought to have beet, remonstrating against the Measures Of thoe Holy Allistnce, instead of tiow cooling forward to uphold theni. L"t the house look to Spain-let the house look to Switzerland! And minmsterswere askingfor a vower vlhich was to aidtshepresent continen- tal system. It was the dutyit was the policy ofElngland at this moment to detach hierself entirely from theyviews -and feelings5 of the Holy Al- liance, and to place herself at tie head of the conistitutionially repre- s'enftaive governments of tiue weorld. By, repealing the foreign en- I'StItent till ; by refusinztso continse the alien act ; and bv getting rid of those~ arbitrary powers. cont~ained in what were called the Six Acts ; by doing this,, thy house would be pirSLilng a course conso- pan,t to the genius and spirit of thieEnglish na,tion. By' granting the Power now demanded. they would be fiving ia tlie fac ol1everv free und politic principle; his`(litr. Humsn's) opinion on the tsubject was mOost decidedly- mache tip, and he called tipon the house to support hiim i,n resisting even the ordter of tile day for thte readinig of the bill. The hon. gent. then. -at down by moving the followingresolution : - ~'ha it ppeas t thehous, frmlte Revolution in 1688 ug thie ~ a peiod dring wich te traquillityv of the country was Ct'.~ged nd istrbe bya petederto thle crown, it hail not beenconideed ecesaryby arlamet to iiivest ministers with SIt aritrry owr wichthealin Illconfers. That thiis hiouse feel tht i wold b inxpeien tocontinue the existence of p wers so unconstitutional, whichel, even if they werre not so, could not be exercised twitout cruelty ; and that the priniciples of this bill are contrar to the liberal s~irit of thie British constitution, and 1-t~ile to the best interests of the civilized world, and in accord-. ance only wvith the unprincipled declarations and tyrannical acts of the cons jitutioeal despots." Mr. N. CAL VERT Was OneC of those wvho niever wouldl join in any laniguage of abuse appliedl to thie sovereigns of foreign states. For One reason, he !could not stoop to do ally tiiing s0 unfair as to attack those wvho were from distance disabled fromi dlefendinig them-selves. (Uhcers.t lie thioughit the practice, to say the least of it, mighit lead to great niational mnischief. ( Hear, liear.) He coultd not Support the arnendutient, though he objected toi ite hill. TIhe SPEAKER hiaving again readt the aiinetidment, loutt laug4ter followedl, on account of thte eor~d " conistituitional" which watsthen fiotind init 5Mr. HUME111 was abouit to explain), after a second rending of tile passaze, followed by a seeoild pecal of laughbter. (Cries of " Spoke.") He had no wxish ta explain ; all hesiranteil to say was, that there- was nto such word as " constitutinlintepprthwoisee cn tinental despots." inl nteppr h od eecn The SPEAKER orderedl tile paper to hie hianded to the ntover. Mr. H1 USlE presented another copy, itt which ithe words stood as he Proposed. Sihe amenidment was put, an,I negativedl without a division. U3pon tile motion titat the bill be now read a seconid time, the SPEA'tKER hleclared the Ayes to have it. A 1S1EMflEi On thie olipositioit bendlies said,that the Noes hiad it. The house divitied uloan the second reatling- A yes., I20 1 Noea, 67 1 Ma~ority, 53. On returning to the gallery,Sir R1.WILb,zON wvas in the act of ad- dIressing the ho;use-~.(tfie rushing of strangers preventedt hiint from being dlearly, heardl.) He was understood .to def'endI the right of the mecmbers to express thiemselves freely upon the condeLict Of foreigit potentates, and to repel the contrary principle impliedI in the obser. vations of hiis hon. friend(SIr N. Calvert.) They were bound to call things by 1~1 thir rights names. If' those sovereigns were tyrants, no gentleman could be wrong in de- sigitatingz them accordingly. tE wvas not simnply their right to dto so ; it was their duty to use that language towards them which would beat express tise opinion the Parliament of England enter- tained of their conduct, and so admonish ithe people of Englanld ot' the steps which hiad been taken to give due expressiox to that opi- nion. Whet1 his hoit. friend talk'tl of those sovereignts having no rmeans to dlefenzl thenmselves irn this house, he seented to forget that thfey were defendecl by titeir ruards antd arrides--that irritated ty- rants 'had long, armns and could strike those whloni they never had seen. Toe hoHse hadl no other means of exercising its Poweer but those strong expressiorts of the public feeling thirough its agency, which freqstentl v hail the effect of' rescuing the victim's 0o' extreime anti abused authiority. He hop.d that his honi. friendl wvould ioto as- temiptto deter the house fromnthiis iniporsant exercisecof its duty. Is wvas not using the languNage of abuisetothose princes, bittthe langruag,e 'of' solemon declaratioti in favour of liberty, and to prove to them incon- troveTtibly the general dtlrtatation in w hich they hield the crimes of tYranny. Up;n the progress of the bill he tvooild make on)ly these O~bservations. It had undergore Very ample discutrsion-.muchi mote discus,sion than he had hopal for-'and he shoutld have conclude-d that it was not likely that anv thing more lIfweighs could be added to it, buat for that liromise which fell from. the right honourtible Secretary for Foreign Alitirs Ithe otlher day. Hie hoped that if the !;ill didi pass, it woutld be presented to the public tinder more fa- -vourable circumstances of justification than those in which it stood at present. The argument was now considerably simplifiedl; tite bill was no longer telei'nded noon the ground of posZ'er inherent in the Prerog-atiVe. Whbile on the' other hand he was equally ready to admit, that although the rights of'foreigners to land on these snores. -ind been always allowed, thie rigzht of revulatng that reception, and the residence o'f those who were received, mu~st remnain with the ParhasmentL The right of pas%sing a law to regulate the reception and residence of aliens, could niot be Aeriouslsv questioned;, the~ only question was, as to the policy of passing sudsl a law under the! present circumnstances of the H'nr.le concludezi that no gen- tleman in the house wouild deny Parliament that po-wer. Every acountry otust have a right to Pass bills Of exception and exclusion, andore especially as they went to control the righits of foreiQMers to land and reside, seeing that that power was to be considered almost in the lgtoanErPean law but the subject for their consideration ws themplc fhteasure at the present time. Their anccstorswell nwhthhd the right, but they seldom used it; thinking,as is wooil! appear,that thle d salvantages greatly outweighed any benefits to be attained by thesuse of it, because of the faci~ities whiceh it viotthd have afForded to an oppressive Governmeltisto cover its rigours under the pretence of watching strictly oVer foreigners. Every one who hadt travelled in foreign countries knew, that with re-' apctt nations, character is power. and that England was particu- larly s"trong in that kin:! of power. This bill hail receivet1 mo.ifica-. tions, it was said, for which he was not at all thankf'ul-ite thouigiti they werer against the general principle for wvhich he wool I contend. It was saidl that,i it's,present formi, no less than 9,0100 foreignlers ha~d been wit`hira_wn fromn its operation : he dis'ike' t i so much tite more. If those 9,'~0O were ricdl foreigpers, they wouild tend greatly -to lessen the opposition to the bill. He would s .lther that l sihould be included in it. With a bill so Obnoxious initprnpe tite w der the extent of overation the better; because h eea sense of indignation and in~u!snice to wvhich it would giveiswol he so muci more powerful in its ntanifestatiop. As to st ttmn which had been hazarded,that this power had never been alsused, he could niot allow the assertion to pass uncontradlicted. lie had sup- ported the case of Genieral Gourg-aud, who after so mnany years- of faithfml service to his unfortunate master, had been cruvelly treatetd. Be thought that the conduct of Governiment in refusing him permis- sioti to land, was nothfng les,s than illibera: and ungentlemanly; he would not attribute it, however, exactly to the Go- vernment, becaiuse they, were nlot apprised at tite moment ofw wa-t the r agents were doin&, although they afterwards justified it. There was anottiter case in which' lie couldi not but thtink ttitat tite power had been still ninre abused-he alluded so that of B3aron Ellen, who had been banishied by the King of Portugal after 16 or 17 Yeats of zealous and faithf'ul service ; and yet Gov'ernlment, though they could not chiarge him wuith any crime, would not permnit him to Land, because he was said to have been opposed to t'ile kingly goveruntent in Portugal. These twvo cases showed that sthe povwers giv'en were liable to abuse, and that they had been abused. As to Mladame I)lontholon atndlothers, excludted on tite general principle of nlot ad-. ,a,.itsing any of the partisans of Buonaparte, it was clearly most on- "ieuerous treatment for a free governnment. The house should seize this oplpottuinity ot provitlg to tile HolY Alliance and to the people of EHurope,that all those bonds wvhich hiad unha ply uniited therafor asinie -wvere now d'ssolvcd..-that the interests of tli~tisrcountry were ilne interwoven witl h thir ytm %0 ilO vourable for that purpose than the pro,ress of the bill now in dis- cUssion. An opinion prevailed abroad, that this bill was passed at the instigation Of' Itfe Holy Allia'ec, ant that it could not be repealed without their coisent iltrectly expressedl. He hoped that the hdtse twouad prove niost f'ui. and sartisfActorilythat the opinion was ground. less; and to give titem ani opportunity for so doing, he would now thove, that the bill be read a secoitd time this day six months. ofr. CALVERT explained. He hail not wished to dictate ny rule toguid'e the cotiruct of the house lieonly prescribed arule for his own beniaviour with respect to foreign Goveisments, anad tiel Princes at the heakd of theio. Sergeant .e NSLOs%W justified the conduct of Government in tie treatment of' General Gourgaud, and the othtr members of the suite ot Buonaparte; aoad argued far te inherent right wlieh existed in the prerogative to exercise the power asked by ministers in all titties ofouor historv. hnr. Cto sNING rose, rather for the fulfilment of apledge into tsbich he liad been seduced a few nights ago by th softpersuasioti of the hon. member fGT Aberteen (lasuieter),than from any admission titat he could ntake of the quiestion requinng mnore ample argu!4ient; and still Iless did lie feel it necesascry to rise fhr the purposeot making any acknowledgment that in thie expressioit wh icit he litad given on any former occasion of discussing the principles of this bill, htis own sentments requiredi ant even the slightest qualifictition. The hion. gentleiman, in astyle nLIfevoniplimentary to hint, and half composed ofseriouscensure on the measu~rc its'eltf, hail (lone hiim tuie honor t oposetthe principle of the bill to that which he deeme(i coke he geeral haracer .o eius of lizi (Mlr.Canning's) policy. The hon gen. might t'nerf.re'?se subjected to some surprisei. i wee t ne todclar b isntcimets upon thie bill. It;, however, -thsehon. gent. should find any thing contrasebctory, to the opinions whicli he 01r. lumne) h1Ar formedl of him (Mr. Canning) in the at- guments he was flow about to use in suipport of the maeasure-if be should find aniy thiing whilch lhe might conceive to be opposed to the opinions which he (Mr. Canning) had Ihimself professed, he would enable the hon. genit, to thiread those contradictions-to reconcile those seeming contrarieties in his (Mr. Canning's) expressions, by producing, in one word, the clue of the labvrinth-the shiboleth of his(MIdr. Canning'!s)POljtics and viewsupon this and every otherpublie estirion and that word was "England." (Cheers.) His wish was only lhat of beinig found( siding on all divisionsotfopinions with theinterests; of his country.(Cheeis.) He was desir'ous of disclaiming thie consitlera- tion of all questions affecting other states-whiether they regarded the material interests of othier states, the wishes of other governmients, or the feelings of other people, except as far as those wishes, those Feelings, and those interests concurred and consented to the safety and the interests of England. (Loud clieer.) Perhaps of all ques- tions ever agitated by discussion within those walls, thlis w-as the one which was miost subject to suffer from the reigning vice of all dis. cusstion at this day-the vigour of exaggeratio'n. If it were to be stat- ed a priori without raference to timies and circumstances, it would bc thouight so monstrous and abstird as to be suifficicnt to excite the whiole communits' to arms. To hear the question disputed, that the staLte had the power of regulating the reception of foreigners upon our shiores, andI their abode after landing, was that which couild not be received seriously by anv whio should hiear it aruedl ais a eeral proposition ; and yet 'all the inflam- ination of the de'batea ghad been raisedi by coupling this assump- tion with some propositions, as to thie conduct of the sovereigns of' Eutrope. li e fearedI that lie had to forfeit some of the good opinion, and miuchl of tire comPlimentary expression, ot the hon. gent' when he adnmitted, that of the two classes of argumient wvhich haa been chiefly in uise in thie course of the discussion-the one devoted to as, certain thie principle ot' the mneasure-the othier more conversanit in the details--he was inclined to give moat consideration to those w1hich confimed the principle; and the principle once established, thouigh it might after be shiown that there were errors which accomn- paniedl the exercise of it on particuilar occasiong, it was still goodl lbor all timies and circumnstances, that being aprincipleofthiat forceand generality it could not be tdoneawa, and that the dletails must conse- quentilYform but asecondary censideratin. e said that the righit must have existed, andI must continue to exist, at all timies andt under all circumstances, lie did not thierefore stay-, that all at rimes and under all circumstances the power was equally applicable. Butt he would say, nout mneaninig to take the power of th'e Crown apart fromi the authority of Parliament, that if it wece found that nlo such power as that of 'constraininig aliens mnore than natural-horn subjects existedl, and upon any new and unexpected emergency the wanit of that power shouldI be felt, that wouild be such a state of things as ought not to he allowed to exist, eve-n if' this temporary bill should expire; andI he trusted that expire it wotild, withiout another re- newval. (Loud cheers.) He repeatedI his earnest hiope and expec- tation, that it would exptire without another renewal. (Chieers.) But even in that case, withi respect to the principle of powver, Government, of whomsoever composel at the time, would not dto its duty if it suffered the p-riniciple to lapse into ainniiliation, or if by neglect they should afteiwardsallow the power itself altogether to escape from thEir hands. (Cheers.) He hopEd after this that he Should not be tauinted hr the hon. gentleman 'with tdie accusation of throwing ant' tihing outas a luire for popularity, whien he thus can- didljy avowed that his only consideration was hlow to preserve the prinlciple of the measure; and( titat being once effected, that hie was little anxious atbotlit the dletails, and was inot St all disposedt to under. take to s.rwhow, liwby whoin, andl on whiat particular Occasions, that pow;er slhouldt he now exereisedAilrhen he said "now" he wished not to btt misunderstood. Much argiunent had been wasted on thie ques- tiOin of situation:. honourable gentlemen had gone hac'k to former timies to shlow that the powver was or wag not ini the Crowit, without thec Parliamei,t; and in his opnon the precedents produced were equallyvstrong in proof f'or eliter ~side of that argo- iinent. Th'le power hraA undoutitedlv been- exercisedt by the Crown- sometimes wcith, sonietimes without, the cotisent of Parliamnent: but it was absurd to he drawing comparisons btetween the exercises of power, withi regard to the different parts of the constitution now, alnd in formner tnimes. Suzppo)se a precedent wvere shiown of Henry VIII. htaving exercised this power with the consent of Parliament, would that imnply, the least resenmblance between the constituitional fuinctions of Parliament then and at the present? Wihat l wottld they call th:rt a constiEutiottal exercise ot' power, in the received sense o'f that expression, as applied to Parliament at this day-that Parlia- ment whichi vote(i the IKing's proclamations law ? Could titat be deenietd i consitinitionaldmedi,ion according to the meaniinLg of the tenai as it stood now? The Parliamenit then was without aniy control what. ever: it wvas onily in the nature ofa larger council,with no mere pmower of restraint than existed in thie Privy Couincil. But lie himiself did not want the argument, idle as, it was to talk of the constitutional restraints of the P'arliaments of those timies. I-e did nor wish to prove that the power was originally with the Ciown, that it was in- Iseretit in the prerogative, and that it did not inure to the Parliamenit. It was miatter, of perfect indiffe~rence to Iimr, whethier it in- liereel in the Crown to be exercised by, the Crown, or in the Crown to be exercised with the consent of the Parliamrent : or if' it, were lodlged first with the Parliamient to he shaped by the Par- liament itn its exercise, withi ihe aLssent of the Crown as a branch of the Parlianeiti : thiere miutst beaa tpuwer lodged somewvhere in the cons;titution to dleal wvithi aliens, if it should be found necessary, more sugi,marill' titan withi their own subjects. (fHear.l 'The q'uearon had been aigued as if this bill scouldi for-ni an exteption to the prac- rice of all other countries. It was repeatedly urgedI how, odious ii wouldt be in them to retain a power which for its objectionable nature weas int claimed by the Goverumieit of other states. Tuie argument was quiite the otlher way. Enigland( was the exception. T'Ibis counl- trv alonie stoedi withacut the conritiintal existence and frequient exercise od that powrer. (Hear, hear.) fie defiedI those meho objected, to pro. diuce facts. Shtow hiim any state in Europe, ffrom the most arbitrary to tosesuppsedto be the tnosr free-frorn the highest degree of dsoimtirough all the range of politicaLl inventiops by which states were govermedl, down to the mnost widely spread democracy- whether in ancient or in mnoderni history, wlichl hail ever consented to he withiout the power o1' controlling ttire abode of aliens more ri.. gidly than tiative sujcs hy, then, was this couintry to -be de- priv'edof adeferce which no ohie'r state of any kind, orat any pe- riod,w,ou ld be without? Wiry was this country to dIivest itself of a power essential to its riswn security, andI which- occa- sions mnighit arise of bringing necessarily into action? Ano- ther argunhent used by liotrutirable gentlemen opimosed. to this, mea-sure was, thiat the acquiisition of power over afliens result. ing fromi it would be inconsistent vrith fteedons. Why, the ex- perienice of all hiistory- went the other wav. lie had be'fore said that all governmnents had lirad this power, bu't more p~avrticularly wvas it exercisedI by those governments whiichl were cons'Idered the b,e.,t of ancient times. Look at the ancient reputblics of Greece andI Rome. IVeore gentlemen altogethier to forcet thieir classics on this occasioni, attd overlook the instances wvhichi they afforded bearing on thec case ? Let them look at Sparta, where the condition of the stranger was little better than that of the unfortunate HeJot Look at the polis'..ed rival Of Sparta-Athens ; anid what vwas the condlition of the alietn who wvent to residle there for a time? Ile was, intt Ie hirst place, to put himself, diriing his stay, unider the protecion of some patron ; or, in default thereof. was subject to every kind of' inconvenience. But even unider tIre patror, he was liable to have his goods sold, and liis person sent to prison, for non-payment o1' the alien tax. L-ook at Rome-at ancieitr Rome, in the days of hier greatest freedom. WVas the aldien the object of any' peculiar care ? On the conmirarsv, he was rather the object of peculiar jealoutsy. It, was necessary that there, too, he should place himself 'tinderI thle protectioti of some patrorn; bitt that (lid not exenspt hin front the liability to be! sent from the city weitliout notice. Aliens were sometimes sent out, not 5by one osr two at a time, but frequentlyi- in whole droves together. Wiry did he mention these facts? N6t' f'or the purpose of urging as reasons why wee should now act in a simi- lar mannler, but to show that at all times such a power was exercised by those stares most jealous of' their freedom, atnd that the power was never held to be at all inconsiste-nt with that freedom. Look at' the practice of this country in ancient times, lt was true that aliens were invited, and peculiar protectioni givea to alien merchants. Whty WeN1hy becatise tite only men who) travelled in tho'se days wrere merchants. Did it fo?llow, that becatise encouragemnent was given then, the saime should behbeld our at .tie p resent day? This, broughnt him. to notice what wvas the radical error of the ar- fomnents of gentlemen on this question-that they mnade no distinction between Cthe policy of ani ancient state and that Of$ a modern. He meant betweeit the policy of a nevw state andl that of an old. Arthtat period of the Roman state, when tefIght between the florafii anid Cut latut was tu decide whether Alba was to be Reme, or Rome Alba~-at that timne the! adscription of a set of aliens anrong the numbersof Roman citizetis mnight be a matter of deep expedicecy, which could not af'terwards exist. The .iealousy of such an adscripit'tn in a future period of the Roman his- tory was no0t inconsiStent with the formner m-easure. In rithe one ease a new State approm-ed of what wras then expedient ; in the otliter, an old wvas jealous~ ofivwhat it 1Isoked upon as encroachment. (Hear.)t WVhy tirie rape of tlie Sabine wotner. was conasidered a measure of cx- p-diency to Supply the w-ants of the young stte, but no man would go so fa;r as to assert, that because such a measure had once been expedient, it wouldl be equally expedient that it Should be resortedI to attrite end of every lustroum2. (Hear, anti laughter.) Yet it was by confounding two v-ery di "imilar epochs in the histotry of states, and. arguing thie necessi'ty or policy, of certaan mneasures sn one oecauSe they had been found to exist in the other, that gentlemen whio opposed this bill had so egregriou'sly deceived themselves. Without going back to examples of ancient states, we had before uis a striking instairce in modern. Let the house look at the two British states which had once beei tUse samne people-which lienI after- wards Separated, and now, by their amity, attracted the attention of the w6rld as th-- two greatet und inus't free states: and here let hiim observe, that when he spoke of, and atninitted, the freedom of America, ite muitst adld, that we in this contry enjoyed as much free- clin as was enjoyed thecre or any other partof the muorld, and thatour f'reedo)mwas wattcede over and protected by amninarchyv,which,so far from isein,a check,wvas in reaity itsbes,t and safestguard'ian. But look at the policy ofthe tw.ogov,errmeii~~ thewhole objectof'.Amreicrawas- facility of adImiss-on;1 the 'whole object wkh us was jealousy of' ad- onission. TIhey wished to increase their lieges-wve wishedi to secure those wve alreaclyv possested-to prevenit thiem from going off, and to prevent others from camitig to us. The differenc of this policy was not the dlifference between despotism anti freedom-no : one was tite the policy of a new, thec other that of an old stare. (er ier)lew,f,rm. -s, 50 what - part o Eurpecoud'eng la. I-le woUUIU ask, D vwhat part _of _u_ro0pe_co,u,ld, Enr lishmen travel with such complete freedom as foreigners could in this ? On the contilient, a isman could riot move beyond a certain limit w-ithout hiis passport, as hiad been truly observed by the hon. anti learned gentleman (Mfr. Sergeant Onsiow); beyond that limit he felt the chain round his leg, which he possessed no means of lengthening. Hle did not say that we should adopt that policy, but that there ended the comparison of this country with other states with respect to the treatment of' aliens. But, were the restrictions hespoke of confined to one spot of the continent? Vere they peculiar to Turkey o' Russia, or Austria or France, or places sait, to be still morefavourable tofreedoii than any of the;e? WVhy, ayoungEnglisi- imna was kept in custoty some time back for a wholenight, forgallop- ping at night over the bridge of Geneva. What consolation would it be to this young Englishtnan, wlio rode over the bridge of Geneva, and alniost shook the little republic to its foundation (a laugh), whe- titer his imprisontnent was caused by the hon. and learned gentle. man's (Sir.1. MNacintosh's) friend Sismondi, or by his (Mr. Can- ning's) arithmetical friend Sir lrrancis-(we were unable to catcl the surname of the gentleman whom Alr. Canning thus mentioned.) Yet, after experiencing-all the inconvenience of travelling in foreign countnes, some young Englisl travellers returned, and declared that an alien bill here r.ould be a disgrace to the country. He had said thus muc:i of the measure as a general principle recognized by the st tEes most attached to frecdomn. He had looked upon a certain po sver over .aliens, as that wyhich ought to be possessed permanently. ric wouldl not go into the details of the present bill, or the altera- Lions whvic it iiighlt or might not be necessary to make, if it were to remain permanently on ottr statute-book. He would not say wehether the mneasure v.which niglt be even tuallv decided upon tosup- ply the place of the bill should be a registry; but without entering into any details of that kind, he would repeat, that when this bilt expired,r woold be neeessary to introduce some measure with re- specttothte power w hich the E.xecutiye ought to possess over foreign- ers inl this sountry. ie wvas afraid, then, that he should not satiisfy the hor. inember oopposite (Wr. Hfume) when.lie'not only declared I himself in favourof 'the meascure beforethe house, but of thei general priniciple out of wbich it arose Butto coine,to thebull),iiself, as a mo. lification of thepeneral principle,lhe would contendthatit'wasrezndered necessary by the circumstances in which thei country was just now placed. Hii di'lnot mean to say that tehere was any internal danger could arise to thiis coui3try from any tlhing wbich foreigners ocould do in it, as against itself : he beieved thert was inherent in the English consitiution-he ineant the constitution of every English mnind- that which was admnirably calculated to shake- oflf foreign treason, and net suffer its.elf to beinoculated with that poison from the conta- miination of wbich the country could have any reason to fear : but there wa-s, nevertheless, present danger. Ths danger was, that there was a violent stnixggle going oni between principles, and this country was the long established, secure, nd certain asylumn (land long might it continue-so) for thiebeaten. (Hear, hear.) He would not saty as the motto which he had nmet in Dante-."1 Here lhope mnay be laid down;" but he wouldl say, that here both parties laid down, or at least should cease from hosftlity; that this couintry, whilst it afforded a shelter atnd protection to both, should not be the arena for the renewal of their hostilities-should not be the forge in which each might again arm himself for the contest. He was anxious for this, not merely for the sake of the peace of other countries, thoagh, the peace anid union of nations in amitv with us shoultd be by no means a matter of indifference to us at an~ tim but he was anxious that this neutrality should be prsre,for the interest, for the safety oDf England herself. (Hear.) Buit hon. genitlemen opposite were of opinion that in this struggle England should take the side of 'liberty, unfutrl her banner in lTh cause of freedom, andI take under her protection all those who were favourable to that principle, even though opposed to their own Go- vernments. To be sure there weresomeshadtesofdifTerencebetween soe hon.gen~tlemen oppositeandlothers, oi this point. Some there wvere, who would ?0 as far as he had mentioned,xsad others who werenot ready to go quite so far, but thus mnuch they seemed to concur in-that, whereas ageneral orinciple of neutrality had been promulgated by the Sovereign of England, sunDported by Parlia- ment, and echoed by thet general voice of the peo~ie in every part, it, was now proper that neiutrality should be violated-that the wish of the Soverei6i should be couut'eactedl, the voice of Parliament, and the sanaction of the public opinion, set at nought. There were some half dozen whio were of this opinion, anid oiut of de- ference to these the voice of the Sovereign, the Par- liament, andI the people, shiould be set at nought, and to gratify them Government should give up that steady course which it hal hitherto puirsued. But before theose hon. gentlemen asked that such concessions should be made to them, they should have first tried Parliament, not to enideavour to pacify the contend- ing. parties, but to resolve that Eng land should place itself at the he;kd of all the exiles of Europe, and declare itself the advocate of' their principles, and the zealous supporter of their quaarrel. If Par-I liament badt consented so this, thien, of course, not only would thle present bill be unnecessarv, but also that other ineasure, the effect of our former neutrality-the foreign .enlitinent hill--which an ho- nourable member, wise in his generation (Mr. flume), (a laugh,) had declared to be fraught withi so mDuch mischief to the country.. Buit if Parliamient could have come to such a determination,in com- pliance with the wishes of the honourablegentlemen opposite,he had little dioubt hut that in a short time they (the opponents of the bill) would themselves be obliged to apply to the legislature for some such measure ; for if what they, now sought so eagerly were to he accom- plishied according to their desire, we should in a short time see no- thili~ in this counitry buit armaments fitting out against the despots of Europe ; for, hoivever much it might be regretted after the trial of strengtlh which hiad been mnade between lie contending parties, the power still lay with themi (the despots) Let him now put a case to hiis honourabile and learned friend (Sir J. Alacintosh). lie(Sir J. Mllacintosh) hiad puxt off' his meotion respecting the recog- nition of the Souith American states, on the ground that this country would consideruany armamnent- Sir J. MACINTOSH (across the table)-" Any considerable armiament, while the Frenchi army occupied Spain." MVr. CANNING.-His hon. anid leamned friend had made the case still stroniger in the way in wvhich he had nowv put it-that lie would consider any COn]Sider'able armament fitted out in Spain a gainst the South Amierican states, whilst the French troops remained in thie occupation of the former, niot as a Spanisb, but a French armament. Now, he would ask himn, would it not he quite an reasonable to con- sider any armamlent fitted out in an English port to assist any of the contendinig parties, w; an English armament, as it would be to sup- pose one fitted out in Spain,wiiile it was occupied only by French troops, solely a French force ? And what elsebhe wouldI askl,cauld be expected io be seen in our ports, but such annaments, if the foreign enlistment bill were to be done away ? Theveould not be pre. vented. No phvsical means in their power couldl prevenit squadrons from beinig c6nstansl?r fitted out here in aid of the South Amierican States. 11 'by, thien, we shosild go to war; but it was because he did not wish to see this country, fooled, bullied, chieatedI into a war so tiouchi against her interests, in conseqtuence of an abandonmient of that neutrality which she bad so iE:udl- [proc-laimed, that he would not give up that power by, whicK it might be prevented he wouild not part with that power, whichi, ifgve p would makeaEngland thestarting place of the hostilities, o urp.(Cheers.) If we gavemu this power, we ran the chance eithe~r ofexposing our-.elves tothiseridclancotmtfEupe or to the suispicion that we dlid so for the puirpose of takinig advartage, in a commercial point of view, of those speculations to whiichi the wvant of such a measure wouldI give rise. It was now well known, thtat the funids of the contending parties were re- cruited from- our Exchange, writhiout reference to any other consi- deration than the security whiceh the borrower had to offer. In. the best days of our constitution, it wvas known thjat hoseile armies were led by English captains ; but hiere were the captains of English captains, whose resources were the a rings ont which the power of' eachi sidec restedl. The money-leader Tenrt to each, and would lend wherever he got a security. He should therefore he sorry to trust the neutrality of the coLuntry to the rniorality of inn- ney.leniders ; for, get rid of that bill (the foreign enlistmnent), and let Ferdinand once show a little strength, and we sliould coon see him, aided by capitalists of this country, an&an expdito sentfronsourporLs, mak,ing anotherefl'ortto crush ihe,risin libertie of South America. (Chieern.) It was to prevent suchi a resutth th would be unwilling to part With the power whiclFtWe-~fnape sent possessed by thieacts now in force. He did not wistoeeEg land placing herself at the head of the freemen of EuroeWhne said this, he cnisted he need not again by expIlanation guard himself against being supposed so entertain a contrary, wish. He k-new it was insisuated and asserted that she present bill originated, not withi thie English Governmient, but with the jealousies of sanie of the con- tinetal governmnen ts.Agairist'such an assertion, to which not ashaudow lif poaility had been attemjpted to be given, he begged he mnight bi allow,ed to place his solemn denial. (Hear.) He rejected the insinuation as uunthended and altogether false, (he useel the term in no personally offensive mianner.) He now declared, in the pre- sence uf the house, and he was glad that chlat was also in the pre, -enc-e of the country, that highly as he valued the connexions of England with our foreign allies, there was nio connexion with thiem, however valuable, which he would not most willingly sacrifice ra- ther than originate any one measure in chat house at the suggestion of any of those allies. (Clieers.) The osily part of the question to widths he had now to look wast, whether the pr~visions of the acet be- fore the house were too large for its objeer He cook that object so be-what ? The putnishment of the alien The imprisonment of fC hiis personi or the confiscation of his property ? No; but the en- abling~ the Governinentof this country to remove fromits shoressuch aliens, whoseprevious coDnduce, or conduct in this country, might have given ris%e so a just suspicion that he would abuse the liberty he ea- joyedI here. But even aginst this removal, the alien had his appeal to thie PriTv Council. _e did not say that such an a ppeal to thie Council w6uld p rove in itself an effectual barrier to hi-s removal; but itgave the afiir puhiicity; andin thisfree country, wherethey en- suredi publicity, they did that which in almost every case,and psri-iu- lart of resoilsible miinisters, was a guarantee for acting honestly. htceti they- do more, admitting onc-e that somesuchmeasure'as the present was necessary? He would statesa fact of recent occur- rence (withiin the last fortnight), which would showr at once the ne- cessity of this measure, ana the mnanner in which it was exercised. It was his good fortunie, a short time since, to have discovered that a plotwas srring n b som alens n tis country, like-ly in its na- tur soproe vry njrios t thir wn.Iswas a plat formidable in ts nd an bynomeas cntmptbleinthe means by, which it was o beaccoplised. e imediaelyinformed his righits hon. frind i~l. Pel f te fct,andhetraee4 the matter so careull asto rriv attheanne iformation, through his own means, as h (Mr. Caning) had previously given himn What was their conducto thi occasion ? Did they send the principal par- ties back to their own country to be there exposed to the irritation of those against whiom they had conspired ? (lie had not, and would not state, whether the conspirators were for a republic or a despo- tismi.) Nlo; but thiey sent for the principal prson engaged in the affair told him that they were awareof what?he,was doing, ard gave hlimctbe naniesofhis accomplices. The partyadmitted thiefact withboult hesitation. They then told him to be mnore careful of his conduct in futsure-tshiat they would transmit an account of the circcumstance to hiis Government, but would conceal the nanie-, of the parties. Did thley egn this occasien resort to the means which the act! authorized them to use ? No; on the coiitrary, they acted towards- the parties with a lenitv which they could not expect to have found in anY other c-ountry in Europe. The fact le had thus stated was one which oc- curred niot mnore that a fortnight ago, anid that, too, at a time when he and his right hon. friend (Mlr. Peel) were still in doubt whether they should continue the present bill or niot. That occurrence con vinced them that they wrould not have performned their duty to the country had they not recommended a continuation of the act in iss present state, Ibir a timne at least. Were they, then, lie asked, to sacrifice a power, so used (fhr there had not been even the slighitest itisinuation of its abuse),-were they, he would Tepeat, to sac.rifice such a power to the constitutional-o:r, to fall into the mis- take of an hon. member-the continental jealousies of some hon. gent. on the opposite side? A noble lord (Althorp),who seldom madie any suggestion which was not well founed, ha suggested that a bill mighit be brought in (in lieu of the present'alien bill), by which aliens mighit in this country be punished for any at- temipts a-ainst their own. The no6le lord had some experience in hils, s e hd a peseit otone(te county courts' bill) on Isi hads,andhe niat e aareof hemany unexpected difficulties whic sprng p inframng meaureso as to meet all obl'ections. He wuldjus advse im o tr hihanat a bill,which wouild stubject a freinerto ril i ths cunry orreaonagainst his own. The thin woud b newand nprcedetedat les. Oasittinaztheobiec.. ions, as to publishingtheeie crime, the narneof the accus- d -and-all the circumstances connected with it, he would still advise the noble lord just to try his hand at that, to-night after he went home, and he would afterwards discover that his county courts bill was a mea- sure light and trivial in its nature compared with it. The attempt would make him acquainted with several courts with whicli he was not acquainted before. That some measure should be devised by which a. cerhein power over aliens should be granted to the Crown at the expiration of the present law, he would repeat; but in the mean time, the present would act upon the princi- ple that prevention was bet thathan cure and he thought it better to ict in that way which would secure cte interests of this coantry without inculpating individuals. He would repeat, then, that in the present state of the world such a mesure as that before the house w.as; necessary. WVhat satisfactioia would it be to any foreign power against ifhichsecret combinations wereplotting,and by whom wemight be called to account; ot (for that was too humiliating a phrase) by whom we might be accused of suWering such practices to be carried on-what satisfaction, he would ask, would it be to say that we had caught the party, and were about to try him by a law made for the purpose ? Such a proceeding would not beso much our proper policy as to t,tie means by whicel the practice might be prevented altogether. He admitted that, according to the present law, the in- nocent was often subject to inconvenience as well as the guilty. That must be the effect of all general laws: by the very nature of them, the innocent must be subjected to inconvenience. To detect the guilty it would- be necessary to cast the net very wide. He must, before he sat down, protest agninst another species of exaggeration which he fountd to exist orn this question. He meant that disposition to take it for granted, that aU foreigners who fled from their own country to seek an asylum in this, must be he- roes or patriots of the first water. Didgentlemenzremimberlthean. cient leaousy which existedri with~ respect to the coming of -foreigners into tbi countriy? Dia they, rimembier_- "Lndon the needy villain's common home, "The finkr and sewer of Paris and of IRome ?" Amongst sovie of these gentry, forwhom isuch tender sympathies were nowe.,tpres-sed,there were to befound pimps and quackdoctors, `-ctid genus Omne," a strikingilustratipn of which vas tohe seenv in are. cent case at Ma-nchester. Ife by ino means intended to convey an impesson hatallalinswer ofth decritin ; hut he thoughbt that hen entlmen n th othr aie asumedthat all aliens cor;n- jogher wee hroe ad ptrits,he adas good a right to assume thatthe wee o stie adiferet dscritio. le wuldthen state in cnclsio, u'~lr sl th cicumtanes hatneta little was or coul heinsnuaed i th wa ofabus oftir poer.and that it was neesr t should he contin 'ed in itspr nsaefra time longer; hu-'.tat th!e end of that timue we shol rtntosome more mild system of legislation on the subjcct,altvays reserving to the exe- ecuitive a certain power over aliens:- for the house wouild ill perform thzeir duties to the public, if they left the Government without the means of protecting the country from the dangers to which he had adverted. (Loud cheers.) MVr. TIERNEY next addressed the house, hut for some momnents he spoke in a tone quite too low to he audible in the gallery. We un- dlerstooa, him to observe, that he lhed felt it necesssary to offer a fewv remarks to the house after the extraordinary speech of the righit hon. gent.,in which he (Mr.Canning) had throughoutdlefended the biIl,and yet expressed his readineiss to abandon itforamoremlldmeasure. If ever he had heard a speech of an hiour and a half long in thiat house,in which the speaker mom decidedlv looked one way and rowed arie- ther, it was that which the right hon. gentleman had juist delivered (hear, and a laxugh); and if he (M1r. Tierney) were one of the right hion. gentleman's followvers in that house, he shouald think that"on the present occsion he might vote against bis patron without mjuch risk of giving offence. (A laughi.) The ~1gbt hon. gentlemian had chargedgentlemn at tat (the oppositionr) side with the figuire of speech-exaggeration; as if he himself had not condescenaded to borrow a little from fancy in the course of his addres. Wrhy the right lionourable gentleman's speech was full of fanciful imagcs-.-of aliens coming over in thousands and thousands, fittinig out armnaments, and thien taking (as the sailors say) a fresh departure, to conquer their own country. (Hear, bear.) The housie had heard these fanciful statements, and they hiad also heard the right hon. gentleman chiarge others with making too free a use of the fgigre---exaggeration ; hut the right lion gentleman stated that his objr~ct in suipporting this bill was to support the interests of Englanid. The house had the aidvantage of hearing this at sccond- hand-the right hon. gentleman having already announcedl it at one of those travelling parties which he had got round him in hiis late tour. It was stated in the hearing of the niayor, aldernmen, anld .burgesses of l'ymouthi, and no doubt they must have been, astounded at the declaration then, as the house were now. But: he (M3r Tierney) would fake the right hionourable gentleman's own text, and stay that he would also support the bill for the interests of England, provided it could be shown thlat it really tended to improve such interests;, and if any mem-ber should he able to prove this to big satisfaction, he should have his vote : but no man should have his vote in support of the rntasure until that tendency of the hill was clearly demonstratedl. (lHear, hiear.) Looking at the right hon. gentiemran's observations, it strucki him (M r. Tiemney) as if he was not hialf so friendly to the measure as lie had pretended (hear) ; for, having raked all foreign and an- cient history on the sub ject-aftcr having ransacked the annals of the ancient republics-(tfhe Home Sccretary having already, gone thrug te whole History of England on thle question)--fter all thistoulgllbtle, it turned out, that it wvas only within the last fortnighit that the right hionourable gentlemnan hiad made up his miind to bring it forward at all ; and then even that was owing to one of the luckiest accidents in tie world. (Hear, and laughter.) tHe (Mr. Tiernev) wrould not follow the right honoursble gentle- inan into his disquisition of ancient history he would come to that period of English historv_(whiich' was, after all, the only one thatt had any thing to do withi the matter)-he worsld come to that part of it which hie looked upon as itsa best-he meant the period since the Revolution.. Since then, whiat had be- comne of the principle for which the right honourable member had contended ? Had tire ri-lht hon. gentlenan lived in those timecs, lie would have been quite in a fever : he wouldI bave thought thazt every foreigner he met was some neiney in disguiise comie to destroy the couintry. Really, from the manner in wichiel this measure was introduced to this hiouse, arid af'terwards supported, it would ap. n)ear that there' had been some comiposition en the subject. Some of the old ministers, attached to oldI opiniions-though the oldest of those opinions might he traced to the last 25 Years-..were alarmed at the alteration which seemed likely to be made in their policy. "1 What," saidI they to their new colleagues, " are we to be entirely abandoned?P Here you are comec amongst uis wvith your new fangled notions, your liberal f'eelings, and your inquiry inito Chaii- cerycours (oud augter) we h~al becomrpletely thrown out. Won' yo giv ussomehin to resrveus from a1 total loss of pubic pinoni"'" Wll" sid hecolleague, "what will you have " " h! gve usthe lienbill." "Well, take it for copleof ear orso;butat the en(l of that time it mut bemodiied. "An the hav gotit (continued 31r. Tierney),"1 and I do not see that it isley to "do any injury to the coun try-for they are not likely to abus i;nor do I think it of any, advantage to them, excep.t to show tathy renot entirely beaen,andto ivether.an ppotunty f wrryngsomue poor devi ofan lie, ifthe ahult fee soincine." Hear, hiear, and augter. Th riht hnouabl genlemn ten proceeded to cnten tha th bil wasnotcalld fu byany existing necssty.'I foeiner feckd ithr n thousands, then'the power migh heconideed nr ureaonale;but when thiey, came in in dribes oe nowv and one then, thy couldI not possibly call for theeecs of the poWer whic wa nose demanider!. 'Foreigners mus coehere cither as emissaries for foreign purposes or as fomenters of dis~consents liere. Any dlanger, as likely to arise from the latter, had been fully disclaimed in the King's spieech, and in that of the ri.ght lion, gent. ; and any object which thiey might hiope to gain in thie former character would be defeatedl by the foreign en- listment bill, to whichi, by- the way, the right hon. gentleman had adverted as fully as if it were ameasure then before thle house. Mlr. CANNING (across the table,)-It was alluded to in the debate. Mfr. Tf ERNEY.-It might have been, but it was niot mnade the subject of anyv motion. MrCAN~IN G-It was imentionedl by the hon. ;emnber for Aberdeen (Mr Homet). Mr. TIRZN-EY~.-" Oh ! I did not miind hiis saying it." (Laugh- ter. Mfr. Tieniey continued.-Biut to retuirn to thei subject to which he hadverted, namely, thiepossbibility of foreigners fitting-ourtaniia. inents from this country against their own ioehe ts.I the first place,howweretheyto getinen? He shioul like to know towhattle- scription of persons these foreigners could go who wvould not give them this answer :-"1 This is a bad time for you so apply to us for such ailpurpose; we have got plenty of work, andt we sthan't get hialt' as _anch b going with you in wve shall by staving at home.", (Hlear, hear). TVhey mighit, too, add-" This is a had time for applying to us sO serve any, party purposes ; party in this country is'nearly extinct, adid matny p5ersons think that the opposition are plajying booDty, because they do not make a greater stir." (Hear, and( a la )Tedne which the right bonourable gentleman ap. pre ndedwasmerely imaginary. The foreig-ners who cam e to this country arrived here as fugitives, and 'it was a newland painful thing for himn to he-ar. it stated, as a g-roundI for watching ths pros with jealousy, that thecy were likely to enter into6 mahntosagainst the govemnments which had oppressed themi. But it was said, that such machinations would he dangerous, inas.much as they would involve this G-overnment in difficulties and disputes with foreign, Fower.s, whilst it was professing to observe the strictest neutrality. ~Now lie wished the Britis~h Government to act impartiall on'the principles whichi it professed. Ile thought that the HoplyAlliance, and all the pro- ceedings of the differeflt congresses which had been held, were mTachinations against the liberties of the people of Europe. (Hear, hear.) Thle crowned heads who composed those congresses had evidently hound themselves together to crusli liberty whier- ever it mnichlt arise on. the contintint. (H4ear, hear.) Hlad the British Go'vernment remonistrated with foreign ministers againtst the machiinations of their mastera ? Hlad it said that their proceedings were likely to endanger the peace of Enrope ? Not at all. (Hear.) The machinations which Government was willing to pitt down were those of the oppressedI against the oppressors, not t,hose of the oppressors against the oppressed. (Cheers.) He really should like to know what the right hon. gent. thouight any number of foreigners who sought refuge in this country could by any possibility achieve. 'rhe right hon. gent. had said, that loans were easily obtained. To be sure they were, whien good security, could be given. (Lr.ughter.) But the experiment bad been tried, not whether the poor foreigners who hadl recently arrived in this country could get loans, but whether they could procure a snsall pittance from she generosity of indivduals to supply their pressing necessities ; and lie was sorryf to say, that the result of the experiment had not been very flattering. (Rear.) On the other hiand, it was notorioustatan for the assistance of crowned heads could be procured very easily in this country. Was it posible to apprebeind any danger from theI circumstance of four or five unfortunate foreigners meeting in theirI garet o tlk verthemisrie whchthey had endured from ther opresor? Ws te HuseofCommons to be calledl uponto assa la lie tat popoed,in order to prevent four* or fve uch nhapy ersos a hehad? deicribed from dis- cussng heter hey igh nu bysome romantic atteimpt resue hei wies irdfamlie wom they had left behind them from the evils which they were enduring ? (Hear, hear.) It was most repuignanit to English feelings to pass the bill upon such grounds. Ho (Mr. Canning) had, however, spo'ken with great grav-ity of a discovery whiceh had been maade within the last fortnight of a plot whicih had beer. formied by certain toreigniers against somne fo- reign power. fie would do the right hon. genit. aiid the righit bon. Se&retary for the Hlom2eDepar!mentthisjustice,that he believed them tuba utterly incapable of degrading their country so far as to establish in it asystem of espionnage against poor foreigners hiere. (Hear.) The information, then, whicLI had led to the discovery of the plot must have come from some foreign minister. He was sure of this, be- cause he was convinced that the righit hon. gentlemnan would be above adopting the miserable course of tracking the footsteps of individuals, of whose names he kept a register. But what had happenedi with respect to the plot in question? The righit hon. gentleman said, that he acted a kind, part with respect to shie con- sRirator~ who had. been brouglit before him. He remonstrated witli him; told hit he knew his accomplices, and gave hirm warning that, if he did not abandon thecourseintwhich hehad embarked, he would be sent out of the country. Why could not all this have been done without the alien bill P (Hear, hear.) If ,the plot had been discovered when no alien bill was in existence, the right hon. gentleman might have informed the Government against which the conspiracy was directed of the circumstance, aen that was all that had been done in the present instanmc. On this oc- caisiot, therefore the alien act had beenof no efficacy. The principle on wvhich the bill was foanded was, that machinations carried on in this country by foreigners against their own governments wrere dangerous is the eye of the B3ritish law, and by passing the bill Governrnent took upon itself the task of watching the acts of fo- reigners, not because they were injurious to our society, but because thev were hostile to those who had oppressed them. (Hear.) He had before observed, thot foreigners in this country were riot very likely to be able to effect inuch against their governments by means of mnoney or arms; but they were able to injure those governments a great deal in one way-he meant by publications. (Hear, hear.) AMost of the continental governments swere of that description, that the greatest injury which could be done to them was to tell the truth of them. (Cheers.) 'eas it not very probable that forein powers would make an application to prevent such publications fromissuing from the press by sending those who were inclined to compose them oat of the country. The right hon. gentleman shook his head; but such applications might beomade, and he had rio doubt that they woulA be made. And then w ould arise die danger of war, vhich the right honourable gentleman was so anxious to avoid, if those applications were not attended to. No persons could differ More than the right hon. gentleman and those with whom he came in contact on the other side of the water. The righthon. gent. said, that it w as the policy of this country to acknowledge the South Ame- rican states whva they should become clearly independent of the motber country : but the French ministems-sid;, that to act inl that manner would be to sanction the principle of'-ievolution. He gave the right hion. gent. credit for'bhaving treaied`'suc~ apn argument with the cont6mpt which it merited, aind-inatet 4 ofeohdescdnding2'fo. discuss the point,passed,as it were,to the ordeir of thie day. (Laughtet.,) The difference of opinion to which he had just aiduded was, very strkinly xemlifedon the suibject ofthlteatc pnpa. He beevedhat heriht hn. gzent. was icrintedspobto which in the warmh ohiheart he had las aeso xrse gainst the inivasion of Spain. But bow was thainsonrare by the French go-eernment? Irhad recentlybeenpolie t hwrdinthe speech of the King of France, with a dreofelntr,nd Ilie would add of implety (hear, hear) nevrbfewtnsd,ha Pro- videncebhadbeen pleased to bless his endeavoursin the "miost gene_ rous as well as themostijust of all enterprises"--meauing the invas~ion of Spain. (Cheers.) -Suppose oxm of the Spanish emigrants in this cnuntry were tobe inciteil to write a pamphlet on the subject of the King 6f France's speech. andl to show what was the real natuire of the Spanish war, and 'to express himself with regard to his Mlost Christiani Majesty not in such decorous terms as he (Mli. Tierney) was inclinea to observe towards him in that place. If the King of France were to complain to this Government on the subject, and there were no alien bill in force., ministers might say, "1If voui ire aggrieved, you mu-it seek 'your remedy by English llaw, the executive power can do nothing for you." Buit ministers could not give that answer whijlst the sliest act was in existence, because the French Goverinment would imme.. dliately, say, "You are bound to cwmply with our wishes, because you have ' stablished the principle that you are to interfere to put down all machinations tagainst our overnment." He did notknow whetherlhelhad ma,de himself understo;d upon this point. (Cheers.) It. struckbhimas beinga question of deep importance, and be im- plored the house to act as the suipporters of Ministers, and not to pass a bill, the effect of which would be to render them liable to the very danger from which they (ministers) thought it was calculatea to parotect them,-namelv, the danger of be- inr embroiled with foreign Powers on the subject of aliens residing in this country. (Hear, hear.) He had really beeni surprisedI to hear the right bonourable gentleman talk of the proba. bility of great captains and heroes c-oming over to this country, and fitting out mi,ghtyarmamentsagarnst foreign governmnents, ifthere was one honourable gentleman in thiat house who could believe that, he would do very righit in voting for the bill. CertainlI nothing could be mrore iniconvenient than to flild all or aS.ud- den a vast fleet assembled at Plymouth, bavinp, come Godl knew whenice, and going God knew wvhither. (Laughter.) But he had no doubt that some individual who knew the manner it? whfic'h a fleet was got-together-whio was, aware thnt in order to eff'ect. that, objiect it was necessary to publish advertisements inviting. contract* for provisions, stores, &c.,-would comfort the right hen.gent., and tell hiim thiat he needed not to ha undAer any apprehension on that scoe. Hea, ad alauh.)Therigt honourable gentleman had cerainv erfnnel is artmot alyforlhis colleagues. (A laugh.) He hd gventhema seec wit whch,under all circums8tauces he houht ha thy ogh tobe erywel peasd.(Laughter. But hroghot tewble f hs spechtherigt hn. ient had greatly approved. He treate it as a du hc a poured down his throat, and honed that theds ol o be repeated two Years hence. He contended against the principle of erm- ing GDovernment with powers to meet a case that mnight possibly arise. He thought it the wiser course for Government to wrait till a. case should arise which mnight require extraordinarypowers and then to aprmlv to ParliaLment for assistance. He hoped Zht the right bon, gentlemian would inform the house what powers the aliens inz this country would possess of disturbing the peace of Europe if tihe alien act wvere' allowed to expire. If that right ho.. nourable gentleman, madTe out a case or real danger, he (Mtr.. Tierney) wouldi give him his hearty vote in favour of Go- vernmenLt. I-Ic was, bowever, ,tatisfied that there was no dan- ger to be apprehended, andl that the alien bill had its origin in the restless ambition, to use the niildest phirase, of the sovereigns of the co-ntinient. The right honouTable Secretary fJor Foreign Affairs h-ad disclaimed thfr. Hie baA said that hie would submit to no dic. tation from orig Powers. He believed the ri~ght hon. gent. when he said so. Buteth-tTe -ight honourable gent. had Diot originated the ailien act: lie hadi found it existing when, he came into Office, (bear, hiear), and how it had beeni introduiced as a part of the policy of G*vernment, he, of course, could not know. IJe-(Ar. Tierney) believed, that at what was called the settlement of Europe, after the fall of Napoileon, the great Euiropean powers bad entered into anL agreement-he dlid niot, of course, mean an agreemnent on a stamnp-- that liberty should be crushed everywhere thiat :it was possible to crsh it.(ear.) For this it was, that this country had spent hundreds of millions (cheers; fo this it was, that they had re- stored the Bourbon They, (thez Bourbons) found they could not maintain tbeir.newly acquired power unfless t-hey were assisted by extraortdinary means. They, thierefore, addressed thle British Go- vernmnent in these terms:-"1 We have pisand Ilarge armies to serve ouir purp oses, and if an individual =enea himself obnoxieus, we can take him up, clap himn in a fortress, and lhe will Pever more be hecard of;- but in Your free (clovernmernt, what can you do F" This being the case, it was determnined that no persns whio wercobnoxiOu% to the continental governments should be allowed to find A re- fugelrinEngland. He was as satisfied that that was theorigin ofthe ali.en act- as thathbewasgat thatmoment speaking. (Cheers.) It wag extra-ordinury that at thepresnt moment, when this country was -at peace with all the world.-when oulr situation was proswrous-oheru every mian was conitengted-when all domesti6differences had subilded, and when there wvere no Igrounds for alarm, Parliasnmt should be called upon to pass a bill which had Po other object thafto- prevent England from being the asylum oftdie oppressed. He was aniious that the character whichi England had acqluiredI of being an asylumlior the oppresed of all1 nations should be maintained. It would, he admitted, be a breachi of' neutrality, if the British Government in- vited persons whio were plotting agalinst their own Governments to. come to this country, and sent shiips to convey them hithier. But unider present circumstances, only, a limited number of aliens fouind their way here to enjoy that fre'edom whiich they could not obtain in their own countries ; and God forbid that in his life-time the case. shotld ever be otherwise. (Hear.)I The mioment an alien set his, foot upon the shores of England, his chains fell frorm him, and he, be- camne as free as Englishmen. ani- entitled - to all -the prlVilegca whichl they enjloyed, except with regard to certain distributions of property, which they were aware before they came here, that they would not be allowedato possess-The right hon. Secretarv for theHome Department,-however, wvould not allow foreigners to enjoy those blessings, He set about watchinig them, in order to discover whe- the.r they were engaged in any, machinations against their respective Governments. He wouldI advise that righit lion. gentlemim, wbo must hiave work enouigh of his own on his hands, not to undertake to be police-agent for other States. (Hfear.) He did not use the teem in an offnsive sense; but it really appeared to him thft the imfoen,a- tion resApecting the Plot to which, the riglit hon. Secretary for Foreign Affairs hadl alluded must have been furnished by some foreign power. Hle implored the house, at the presnit moment, when this country' was trifumphant prosperous, happy, and oDntented, and all Europe wcas moved by riscontent_-provoked by the treachery of their Go.. verntments, by broken promiises, and by assurances of the bestowing of contrirutio~ns never performed,--to preserye not a nominal but a real neutrality, and to deal as fairly by the sufferers as- by the oppressors. This was the only, course wvhich England could steer with honouir and advantage. He thought, with maLny other persons, that if England bad taken a more de~ided part a sh- time since, much of whfit bad happened might have been prevrented. ilut hie wouild not dwell upon thlat topic: it was wiser to consider the pre- sent than to regret the past. Neutrality was the policy which Eng- land must adhere to, and be opposed the alien bill on the groundc that it tended to provoke a breach of that neutrality. For the same reasons on which the right bon, gentleman had rested his defence of thze measure, he (Mr. Tierney) opposed it~-niatnely, for the interests of England. (Cheers) Mir. CANNING 3aad that he felt it necessary, in consequence of what bad fallen from the right hon. gentleman, to declare that Glo- vemment had not received their information en the subject of the p-lot of which lie had spoken from an.y foreign Powver. (1-iear.) MAr. TIERNEY begged to ask, whethierthne informatLion had pro. ceeded fromn any persons who hadl been employed by Government to look after aliens ? Mlr. CANNING.-" No." (Cheers.) Alr. PEEL said he would not have risen at all that evening, hadi it not been for the very pointed manner in which he hadl been allurled to by, the righit hon. gentleman opPosite (Mr7. Tiermey). It was not a little grantifyng to him to find, that after all the blame which had beent cast upon Governmient, n fe the miany p-roposiitions which had been made for altering'the constitution of that Asotse, the righit bonouruble gentleman himself was candlid enough to acknow- ledge-, that not o-nly -gsa ithe country triumphant in war, but with respect to her internal affairs she was contented, haVpy, and prosperous. (U-ear, hear.) The right hon. gentleman s argu- mients against the act were founded noon two assumpt .ons--wifil re- spect to tl4e motives of its- first introdfuction, and to rile object.* to whbich it was to be applied. now that it bad been introduced. Ile right hionourable gentleman lied said, that the alien act was first pro- posed, in consequence of an understanding amongst the soyercdgns of thie continent that liberty wasm everywhere to be put down. He must slay that he had never heaird of any such understanding, -and that For luis part no consderation on earth could ever have tempted him as an Englishman, and a Minister of England, to propose a mea- sure professedly for the internal security of .this cutry which bead been either dictated or proposed by it foreign power. tHear, hear.) TIhe object, of the bill, according to the intrrtto fteright ho.gnlman, was to prevent the diqtesdfomfnigan:ay luni hsCountry. He could only meethaaseio,ysain the well-known fact, that in no instance bdta slmbe e iiied. The righit hoa, secretary then observd thto oocon had any foreign government made an applcto ohv nalien sent out of tihis country, on aicc-ount of anpulctosi whichi he might have been concerned, If any suhapiainshould be at any titne madle, it would meet wihafatrfsl He hail been cautioned nor to allow hiimself to become hie p0 lice-agent of foreign powers. Hle trusted that lie knewl his duty as an English minister too well to degrade himself by undertaking such an, emnploymient. (Hear, hear.) Since he had beea in office, he had never bad aniy communication) what.. everon he sbjet o shealin . If.is views-upon the subject migh bemisake hu hethoghtthe alien art necessary to tir saet ofEnlan, ad n tatgrondalone he proposed to cntiue t. he onorabe mmbe fo Sothwark lhad sutatd a mst xtrordnay ojecionto hepresent bill-namnely, that it lessened the powers of the executive bv exceptingtrom the operastipa of *he measure all foreigners who lisa resided in -England for seven years. The gallant member said that those aliens werejust as likely to plot against foreign governments as say other. Did net that very circumstance prove that the bill was not proposed with the -view of pleasing foreign Powers ? (Hear.) The measuTe proceeacdiNhc- rher right or wrong, on ly on a reference to English intersts. - He wished that Englar d should afford an ausyluml fur the unfortunate, but he also desired that those wYho availed themselves of that asy- lum should not desecrate it. After some farther observatione, whicl the lateness of the hour and our abridged space prevent us from inserting, he right bon. gentleman concluded by etirreating the house to pass the bil, not fot the purpose of putting power into his hands, but in order to protect the interests of the country. Lord ALTHOORP bad great satisfaction in hearing the right -hon. Secretary for Foreign Afaits intimate that this was the last time lie intended applying to Parliament for such a biU as this. (Hear.) l}e protested against the principle of this bill, and would rather pre- fer to conter upon ministers a positive power to makle cerlain acts of Toreigners comnmitted in this courtry penal, than consign thetc, as this bill did, to the operation of arbitrary power to prevent danger to the state. Why not adopt, in preference, some law which wouldallow the alien an opportanity of knowinghis accuser and making his de- fience, instead of being, as lie was ftow2 txpose, possibly, to malig. nant insinuations behind his back, without any adequate means of explaining his conduct, or asserting his innocene Thc question being loudly calUed for, the galery was cleared for a division, when the numbers were- - For.the second reading, 172 j For the amendment, 92 1 Majority, 80 The bill was then read a seconid time. The other orders of the day were then read, aud tbke house ad. journed Pt a qUA1RTER PAST 02fP O'CLOCX UUtntil AIondxy ncxt, HOUSE OF COMAIONS, FRIDAY, APRIL 2.