The Alien Act is a disgra...
The Times, 1824-03-25T00:00:00

The Alien Act is a disgrace to the lavw of Eng]and,t is supported in the House of Commons by argumenta;s unwcrthiy of an enlightened assembly, as the measure itself is of a free people. lW'hat is the processed intention of Ministers, as dleclare(d by Mr. PEEL in his speech recom- mending this bill ? " To protect foreign Governrments from disturbance by their subjects, living under the laws " of England.- On this pretence, if a foreign Ambas- sador, indult;ing political or private vengeance against a fellow-subject of his own Sovereign, should call upon the Homne Secretary to banish hiim from England, the latter must comply with the tyrannical demand, and a British Minister be made the agent of a forcign despotism in the exercise of its edious persecutions ! But when is it thiat refugees fromu Continerntal tvranny are most numerous, and plots for its overthrow most likely to be undertaken ? Pre- cisely when the foreign Government is m-aost guilty of those barbarousacts which driveits subjects into exile, and which authorize-nay, enjoin as a sacred duty-their combined cndeavours to vindicate their wrongs. In this broad view of the question, therefore, the natural operation of the Alien Act is-to be more severe against the sufferer as his suffering becomes more intc:lse, and most useful to the tyrant when his oppression becomes most intolerable. What can such a system be called, but a shameful league between thc British Parliament and the Holy Alliance, for destroying by the hand of English law every scattered remnant of that resist- ance to oppression, which, in its more collected and formal state, the Continental menmbers of the same confederacy have broken by armed violence ! It is, we repeat, shameful that this country should be so debased ; for never before in English history had the slaves of foreign despots an ac- knoowledged right ef dictating to a British Sovereign how, and in what cases, he should enforce the Jlaw of England against individuals breathing British air, and reposing on British soil. " But," says Mr. PEEL, " the law has never " been put in action at the request of any foreign " Government: in ten years no application for the re- " moval of a foreigner from England has ever been offi- ciallv mate !" W'hat, then, becomes of the sole pretence on which the Alien Bill has been defended by Ministers ? A law for the protection of foreign States, and never once appealed to on their behalf since the hour when it was first enacted!! WIhiy, the effronteiy of such arguments, couple(d with such admissions, more befits a state paper of BUONA- PARtS, than the speech of an English gentleman. If the law be thtts useless to the end it professes, it casts an odium,. at oince gratuitous anli absurd, upon the Legislature which enacts it. On the other hand, we are told( that the de-- portations under this law, originating wvith the Minis- ters themselves, have been but few' in tiumber. WVe say more-that fewv as they were, the o!d law of England was fully sufficient to dleal with the parties, umassisted by such foreign inventions. Count BET- TERA, for instance, wvas sent off, and justly; but was the Alien Act niecessary to protect Prince EsTriRAnazv against a desperaElo of that character? He might have been im- prisoned, in default of bail, for his threats a&ainst the Prince's safety ; Ie might have been transported as afelon for his actual attempts to murder him. The Alien Act was, indeed, the power resorted to by Mr. PEEL; but it was em- pl)oved,v ithout necessitv, to supersede the law of Ergland-f not require(d to fill up its defects. In all cases, howevrr, it mnust be observed, that the discovery sf a machination against foreign persons or Governments constitutes the ground of complaint and banishment under this act: yet, the monment in wvhich the discovery is made, the danger of the conspiracy vanishes. It may be suggested to Mrr. PEEL, before the clauses of this act (if it should be persevered in) are completed, that some further amount of liberality might be shown to foreipn merchants, who have lived long in this country and married Englhshwomeni, by opening a door to their natu- ralization on easier tesms than formerly: an absence of twro iontihs should not be allowed to defeat the right of citizenship.