sented themselves than at any former time. Ministers had, however, strictly enjoined them to file informations in all cases where a conviction was possible, trusting with confidence to the loyalty and integrity of a British jury. Many prosecutions were now actually pending; the law officers, of whose ability and interest his lordship was fully assured, not being of opinion that any proceeding of the kind could be earlier instituted; the delay had originated in the most conscientious motives. These seditions had been spread overthe country with a profusion scarcely credible, and with an industry with out example; in the manufacturing districts they had been circulated by every possible contrivance; every town was overflowed by them; in every vil lage they were almost innumerable, and scarcely a cottage had escaped the perseverance of the agents of mischief; hawkers of all kinds had been employ. ed, and the public mind had in a manner been saturated with the odious poison. Clubs had also been established in every quarter, under the ostensible object of parliamentary reform. His lordship would not assert, that some of them had not really this object in view; but he should belie his deliberate conviction, if he did not also assert, that a very large proportion of them indeed had parliamentary reform in their mouths, but rebellion and revolution in their hearts. Lord Sidmouth then adverted to the disturbances of the 2d December, which had risen to such a height, that military force was requisite to quell them; but it was not till three weeks after, that government learned the full atrocity of the designs which were there agitated. His Lordship conceived that additional measures were necessary for the security of the person of the Prince Regent, for punishing attempts to seduce the military from their allegiance, and for putting

The

down certain corresponding clubs and seditious meetings. Yet, in the present exigence of public affairs, something farther still was necessary. Noble lords had much reprobated the communication of extraordinary powers to the servants of the Crown; but it was one extraordinary quality of the British constitution, that the powers of the executive government could be enlarged, if by such means that constitu tion could be better secured. true question was, which was the most dangerous, to give additional strength to the hands of ministers for general protection, or to refuse it, and thereby to hazard every right that was dear and sacred? He required the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in pity to the peaceable and loyal inhabitants of the country; he required it for the protection of the two Houses of Parliament, for the maintainance of our liberties, and for the security of the blessings of the constitution.

The Marquis Wellesley began by observing, that this was a crisis which at once called for all the fortitude of the people, and all the energy of the government. He was ready to allow, that the state of the popular mind was exactly such as had been described by one of the greatest statesmen of any age or country-he meant that general distress had produced general discontent. If the disturbance was proved to be so great as to produce a real necessity for the proposed measures, there was no man who would not prefer the lesser evil to the greater. But although that principle was true, it was not on every allegation of public disturbance, it was not on every ebullition, even of a treasonable tendency, even though the branches of that treason spread far and deep, that the parliament should be called upon to alter the existing laws of the land, or suspend for a moment the great bulwarks

of the constitution. There should be before them a plain distinct case, founded on powerful and irresistible evidence, in order that parliament should be justified in doing that, which, in ordinary circumstances, would be a di rect infringement of the public freedom. In comparing the present period to that of 1795, he observed, that the danger then arose mainly from the French Revolution, and the machinations of its agents. What he would ask, then, were the grand principles of our modern policy, when our army in Spain was engaged in its succession of triumphs; when the nations of the continent, in imitation of our example, were resolved to make a determined struggle for their independence? It was thus that we had actually extinguished the spirit of Jacobinism; that whatever original differences might have existed, as to the justice of the war, the universal feeling of England and of Europe was, that the war in its progress had assumed a new complexion, that the aggressions of the military government of France had made it a war for liberty, for justice, for the rights of nations. That the experience the people of Europe had felt of the tendency and result of the principles of the Revolution,-of the sanguinary excesses in which they terminated, and the tremendous despotism by which they were succeeded, had at length recalled the people of the continent to sounder views, and made them feel, that they, the people, had also, with their sovereigns, whom they had before deserted, a common right to legitimate government, and public order. In one word, that our successes had completely extinguished jacobinism. But then came the peace that settlement of Europe, as it was called a peace never equalled in the production of most cruel wrongs; a settlement that has directly, and with utter disregard of justice, laid prostrate every principle

VOL. X. PART. I.

that heretofore characterised the law of nations; that transferred nations without regard to sympathy or interest; that tied people together, not even connected by the most remote affection; that outraged all those principles and declarations on which the powers of Europe professed to act. When these things happened, then it was, that the subdued spirit, that had so long desolated the earth, again arose; then it was that jacobinism spoke again, and had something to speak at ; and, hydra-headed, resumed its pristine strength. The public discontent had also been justly excited by the want of all stipulations in favour of British commerce. There might be other sources of the present disaffection, not imputable to ministers; but he saw no excuse for them, knowing the extent of it as they did, for not having sooner called together the great council of the nation. Not only so, but after all that had transpired at Spafields, they, on the 25th of the previous month, actually prorogued it. He condemned the correspondence which Lord Sidmouth had held with the principal agitator at that meeting. He ridiculed the credit which the noble Lord had taken for dispersing a mob headed by a drunken surgeon and a shoemaker. He had no objections to any measure for the protection of the person of the Prince Regent, provided the present law for securing the King's person did not extend to him, which he rather thought it did; if not, ministers were much to blame for not having sooner prepared such a measure. Neither would he object to a bill for regulating public meetings, which, he believed, had been greatly abused. But the specific proposition now before the House would meet his decided opposition.

In former times, when such a violent measure was resorted to, the country was in a state either of actual war, of actual rebellion, or of both. In

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1795, we were not only in actual war, but the state of Ireland was dreadful to contemplate. In 1798, and in 1801, the Habeas Corpus Act was again suspended, and at both these periods we were at war with France, and rebellion prevailed in Ireland. He did not know whether their Lordships would concur in his opinion, but he considered the circumstances of a war with France, and a rebellion in Ireland, as greatly aggravating ourdanger at these periods. Would the noble Lords say that their "glorious" peace had now reduced England to a condition of equal peril and alarm? The noble Viscount had said, that Ireland was now perfectly quiet. It might be so, but he remembered the answer which a facetious friend always gave upon his arrival in London, when asked respecting the tranquillity of Ire land, "Oh! yes," said he, "they are as quiet as gunpowder there." (4 (A laugh.) In England, however, he saw no symptoms of such violent perturbation. After the most deliberate consideration that he could give to the whole subject, he must conscientiously declare, that up to the moment he was then speaking, he had not seen such evidence as convinced him the danger was so alarming as had been represented. Great discontent undoubtedly existed; seditious practices evidently prevailed; yet he was not satisfied that they existed in that shape, form, and character, which justified the suspension of the Habeas Corpus; and being unconvinced, (although ready to concur in all the other measures proposed, and perhaps when those bills were introduced, he should suggest extending their operation,) he was not prepared to go so far as to place the personal liberties of the subject at the discretion of ministers, under the pretext of maintaining public security. He trusted, that while some measures were taken to restrain seditious practices, the matter of sedition would be repressed by

diminishing as much as possible the public burdens.

Lord Liverpool would not follow the noble marquis through all the topics upon which he had enlarged, many of which might have been introduced as well on any other occasion. He would confine himself to those which bore immediately on the matter under discussion. As to not calling parliament sooner, it was only a very short time before its meeting, that ministers had obtained distinct proofs of a conspiracy. Besides, after Christmas was generally considered the most convenient time for the members, and it was conceived that the presence of many of them in the country, especially at a period when they rendered themselves popular by the hospitalities of the season, was of more consequence than their presence in parliament could be. Repeated instances had occurred in our history of this measure becoming necessary; and domestic treason might easily assume a character as desperate as foreign treason. On the present occasion, they had the fullest proof (if they believed the report) of a treasonable conspiracy in the metropolis, to overturn, by a general insurrection, the laws, the government, and the constitution of the kingdom. It was also a matter of perfect notoriety, that the same system was spread over a great part of the country. There was a double engine at work; the operation of the one was evidently aiming at what every person must agree would overthrow the constitution; the operation of the other (he alluded to the Spenceans) was calculated to produce a complete convulsion in the elements which composed the system of social life. Was it too much then to contend, under such circumstances, that it was fitting and expedient to resort to that course, which our ancestors had pursued when alarming dangers menaced the state? Let any person read the publications

which had been put forth, during some time, of the most seditious, the most licentious, and the most blasphemous nature, and let them say, whether, in the most dangerous periods that had been alluded to, any thing equal to them was ever issued? In 1794, the danger of the country was great; but the danger of the present moment exhibited features of a more desperate and malignant character. Never was there a more determined and avowed design to sap all the foundations of morals and religion, and more assiduity in the prosecution of that design. The conspirators of the present day had learned a lesson from the conspirators of the former, and they proceeded with more caution and management in their nefarious schemes. He would go farther and state, from information which he knew to be authentic, that in some parts of the country, the caution and secrecy of the conspirators were so great, that even though it was known conspiracies did exist, yet the nature of the evidence that could be procured was such as would not be sufficient to send them into a court of justice; with so much circumspection and cunning did they conduct their plans. He felt all the importance of the measure that was now proposed; but he would not allow any imputations that might be insinuated to preclude him from discharging what he conscientiously believed to be his duty. His only object was to support the throne, to support the constitution, and to protect the peace, the happiness, and the confidence of every private man in the kingdom; his only view was to preserve our morals, our religion, our establishments, and to secure to every man the tranquil enjoyment of his fireside. He asked of parliament to intrust the Prince Regent's ministers with that power for a short time-a most odious one, he agreed-and one which ought not to be confided to any man, or to any set

of men, except in cases of the last necessity, except in such cases as he apprehended now justified him in calling for it.

Earl Grey said, that at an earlier hour he might have been tempted to enter into all the circumstances of this most important question; but now it was utterly out of his power to acquit himself satisfactorily, even according to his humble abilities, in defending the cause of the people of England against the most unnecessary and uncalled-for attack upon their liberties, which any minister of the crown, in any period of our history, had ever attempted. He entirely concurred with Marquis Wellesley as to the character of the late peace. Where were they to seek for that liberty and that independence of which the noble earl boasted? Was it to Genoa they were to look for the due regard that had been paid to the rights of an independent state? Was it in Lombardy they would find that happiness and comfort which the peace was asserted to have produced? Was it in Venice, now blotted out of the map of independent nations, and consigned to a power which he would not describe? Was it in Saxony, whose troops, deserting their sovereign, placed themselves in the ranks of our own armies, to fight for the common cause, whose whole population united to assert the rights we asserted-was it to that devoted country we must look for the verification of the noble earl's assertion? He considered the complaint equally just as to the want of all provision for our mercantile interests, in consequence of which, restrictions had been imposed in a spirit scarcely less vindictive, than that which had dictated the Berlin and Milan decrees. He could see no reason to justify the not calling parliament sooner together, not merely for the purpose of imposing restrictions, but of endeavouring to conciliate the people, by listen

ing to their grievances, and concerting measures of economy and retrenchment. He could see no danger so great or urgent as to justify the suspension of the invaluable privilege in question. In almost every former instance, there was either foreign war or domestic rebellion. No conspiracy, like the present, accompanied with an utter improbability of success, could be a sufficient ground for it. What was the nature and character of this conspiracy? They knew the chief actors in it; for the report distinctly stated, that they were the persons who attempted to excite an insurrection on the 2d December. Who were they? Persons of great consequence and connections in the country, whose co-operation gave a formidable character to the attempt? No. They were miserable wretches, reduced to the lowest poverty and distress, who would probably have been driven to seek relief upon the highway, if there had not been a prospect that the discontents of the country were such as might prompt many to follow their wild schemes. The mob assembled at Spa-fields; they were addressed in inflammatory language; to be sure they were provided with ammunition, having about twenty or thirty balls, and a pound of gunpowder concealed in an old stocking. They were not followed by more than two or three hundred persons, who plundered a few gunsmiths shops, and a gentleman received a wound, from which he sincerely hoped he would recover. Such excesses ought undoubtedly to be repressed and punished, but in order to do so, was it necessary to suspend the Habeas Corpus? Those formidable rioters fled even at the very mention of a dragoon; they did not wait to see their horses heads at the top of a street, so admirable were the military arrangements of that able commander, General Lord Viscount Sidmouth (a laugh.) With regard to illegal societies, and seditious

or blasphemous publications, the laws now in existence appeared to him amply sufficient to repress and punish these. He might have agreed to a moderate limitation upon meetings held in the open air, and to a bill for the protection of the person of the Prince Regent. By confining their propositions within these limits, ministers would have secured the unanimity of parliament, and prevented any farther irritation in the country.

The Duke of Sussex did justice to the motives of the noble lords opposite; but could see no proof that such a conspiracy existed, as they had attempted to persuade the house of. He had been present at the examination at the Mansion-house, where he found that the whole subscription amounted to ten pounds sterling; that the waggon had cost L.3, 10s. of which 10s. was yet unpaid; that the ammunition consisted of fifty balls in an old stocking, with a pound weight of powder in a canister. When these were all the proofs of the conspiracy, was there any call for such a measure as that proposed? Attached to the venerable, the sacred fabric of the British constitution, no man would ever feel more anxious than himself to take every precaution to prevent that fabric from being dilapidated, but never could he consent to the adoption of measures for abridging the liberty of Englishmen, for depriving them of their legitimate rights, when there was no case made out to justify such measures being adopted. Glorying in the name of Briton, because that name was connected with every thing dear to the human heart, he could only say, that while he lived, he should ever consider it his highest honour to maintain, unimpaired, the sacred right of Britons.

Lord Grenville considered the question now before the house as one of the most important which could occupy the attention of their lordships. No