wished to observe, that a misconception had gone abroad, that the compensation Bill in favour of his father exempted him from payment of the Income Tax. He did not believe that any clause had that effect; but if it should be found that it was so, he pledged himself to bring in a Bill to alter any such enactment.

moved for leave to bring in a Bill enabling the Keeper of the King's Privy Purse, to dispose of and transfer all sums standing in the name of his Majesty at the Bank. The object of the Bill was to liquidate certain expences that had been incurred, and to make the Privy Purse, in as far as regarded such property, responsible to the commissioners who had the care of the King's private property.—Leave was granted.

said, he understood that an ex officio prosecution had been commenced against a Mr. Fitzgerald, a printer in Dublin, for the publication of a pamphlet containing a statement of the various acts which affect the Roman Catholics, accompanied with observations. He had read the pamphlet, and saw in it nothing libellous but the Acts themselves. The noble lord opposite had talked of employing the recess in conciliating the Catholics, but this was a singular step towards harmony and conciliation. What he wanted to know was, whether this prosecution originated here, or was merely the recommendation of some crown lawyer in Ireland. The body of the notice served on Fitzgerald was extremely curious. It was a notice given by a Mr. Kemmis, requiring him to shew cause before Mr. Saurin, the attorney general, at his house in Stephen's green, Dublin, why a criminal information should not be filed against him. He would submit that a proceeding of this nature was quite illegal, and should now move for the production of a copy of it.

declared, that it was the first time he had heard any thing on the subject; and hoped that the right hon. gentleman would not press his motion without a notice.

acceded to this wish, and fixed his notice for to-morrow.

moved the order of the day for the second reading of the Bill for the better preservation of the public peace throughout the kingdom.

said, that having now had an opportunity of reading this Bill, he had not altered his opinion with regard to it, but was more disposed to object to it than before. The preamble recited, that assemblies of men were in the habit of forcibly demanding, and taking arms; but he would deny that this recital was founded on any adequate authority. There was no evidence before the House of Commons to prove that allegation, and the only evidence before the committee was documentary, derived from certain magistrates, who had received anonymous information to that effect. Those very magistrates were in such a state of consternation, that their evidence could not be depended upon. From the whole of their conduct, there was no ground to suppose that the laws in force had been vigorously executed. He would repeat, that due exertions had not been made to preserve the peace of the disturbed districts under the existing laws. In some cases the magistrates had been supine, and in others, they had acted with violence, and from a perverted judgment. There was every appearance of the cessation of disorder. From the 23rd of June, when the Secret Committee was appointed, down to Friday last, there had been no evidence of any act of disturbance at all. The preamble besides asserted, what was not proved in the committee, that there were assemblages of men by night and by day, for the purpose of learning the use of arms. There was no one tittle of evidence to that effect. The noble lord had stated the other night, in respect to this part of the Bill, that 700 persons were as- sembled, he believed, near Ashton-under-Line. He (Mr. W.) had heard from another quarter, 300; but supposing the former number had assembled, that did not make out the allegation that they met by night and by day, for they assembled, according to the noble lord, at church time. The whole of the enactments were objectionable; and that in particular which gave authority to the magistrates to act out of their own precincts. As to the persons who had blackened their faces, and disfigured themselves for the purpose of concealment, and had attended the meeting on Deanmoor, near Manchester, it turned out that ten of them were spies sent out by the magistrates; and the only other man present, who was similarly disguised and with fire-arms, was one Hurst, who was now under sentence of transportation. These spies were the very ringleaders of the mischief, and incited the people to acts which they would not otherwise have thought of. Such a practice should not go on; and he would never consent to entrust new powers to magistrates who had thus grossly misconducted themselves. The hon. member for Yorkshire had ascribed the evil to certain inflammatory and seditious publications; but he, and other gentlemen who thought with him, had in the same breath, declared, that work, and a lower price of provisions, were likely to render the people tranquil. The hon. gentleman's mind seemed in a state of alarm and consternation; and, of course, his ideas were not likely to be clear.

He denied that the origin was any other than the Orders in Council: the cause of the evil was now removed by the revocation of those Orders—the men found employment, and were tranquil. It had been stated, too, that these outrages were directed by men of high condition, nay, he had the affidavit of a man tried at Lancaster, to shew that a person had come to him in the prison, with a view to extort from the criminal, a confession that he (Mr. Whitbread) was the very individual who instigated the riots? What was the fact? Why that some of the inhabitants of Bolton being unemployed, wrote to him, asking his advice, whether they should petition parliament; and, in answer, he wrote them word that he thought they had better state the cause of their grievances. This letter was made the ground of presumption, that he was at the head of the rioters! So besotted was the imagination of some of the alarmists, that an idle rumour for some time obtained credit, that the duke of York was about to advocate the cause of these deluded people. Would the House believe that so ridiculous a supposition could enter the heads of any respectable set of men? These ideas of plots were ridiculous in one point of view, but base in another; because there was too much reason to belive that the absurdities had been propagated by some of the magistrates: and this made him come to the conclusion not to grant the magistracy any of the powers provided in this Bill. A magistrate who had heard that a man of respectability in his county was named in the committee as one of the instigators of the riots, though not before suspected, took occasion to promulgate his name throughout the county—this person was a Presbyterian. He could not avoid entering his protest against the Bill, when he saw the operation of the rescinding of the Orders in Council—that the potteries were fully employed, that the men were returning to their work contented and happy, and that Nottingham and other places were also tranquil. He reprobated the introduction of the Bill at all; and though he anticipated little support, he should divide the House against it. He protested against the measure the more especially when he considered how similar powers had been exercised in Ireland; not merely in times of confusion, as the noble lord had stated, but in general orders, calmly issued by generals and magistrates, and which shewed that they acted under the consternation of fear, which was the cruelest as well as the blindest of passions. The abolition of the Orders in Council had done much to restore tranquillity, but the restoration of a general peace would do more, and he recommended to his Majesty's ministers to take this opportunity of ascertaining whether peace could not be made upon honourable terms. He thought this a most favourable opportunity. Sooner, however, than make peace on any other than honourable terms, he would risk the extermination of the British empire.—He knew that if the manufacturers were convinced that the delay in making peace was not the fault of government, but of the enemy, they would sit down contented under all their sufferings. The hon. gentleman smiled at what he said; he hoped it was not the smile of disbelief. He must repeat, that it was the bounden duty of ministers to make an attempt to procure a general peace for the world. He never knew a time more propitious than the present. He would not ask of the noble lord the nature of the communication made about three weeks since from France, but he had heard that the French government offered terms for peace. That shewed the disposition of the enemy, and the necessity of the repose of Europe justified the experiment. He trusted it would be tried.

felt that this subject was particularly interesting to him, connected as he was with that part of the country to which it related. He had expected that the Report would be accompanied with some evidence to enable the House to judge of the measure. From his own knowledge he could say, that with respect to the West Riding of Yorkshire, the cause of alarm was rather understated than overstated in the committee. The Report, with prudent reserve, did not speak of the causes of the mischief, but amongst the causes, he believed no one would deny that the distresses felt by the manufacturing classes were a principal one. He was glad that there appeared no satisfactory ground for the rumours, that persons of high rank were implicated in these insurrectionary combinations, and that large funds existed for their maintenance: at the same time it seemed evident that a powerful conspiracy did exist; obscure, indeed, but not the less dangerous for its obscurity. Men whose natural situations were at the very bottom of society, and who could only hope to ascend to the summit by commotion and rebellion, were to be considered most active in the continuation of the present unhappy disturbances. To such men a golden opportunity had been afforded. The Report abstained from giving any cause or remedy for the evil; it became, therefore, the more bounden duty of the House to consider these objects. The causes had been referred to the distresses of war, and to the operation of the Orders in Council; and it was true, that no outrage had been committed since the 23d of June. But one feature of the case would be omitted, unless it were allowed, that though the origin of the evil might have been commercial, yet it had assumed a political character, and was now armed to destroy all property and wealth. In one point, as well as in many others, he had the happiness to agree with his hon. Friend, the member for Yorkshire (Mr. Wilberforce.) That hon. gentleman conceived, that one cause which spirited up the people to discontent and commotion, and kept them turbulent when once excited, was the unfortunate circulation of erroneous and mischievous pamphlets, the unfounded statements and opinions of which infected the naturally peaceable minds of the people. The press had been honourably distinguished by the title of 'the charter of liberty,' he recognized that distinction himself, and would be most unwilling to make an infringement upon that charter. The liberty of the press was as necessary as the air we breathed; but if, instead of a breeze refreshing and grateful to the constitution of man, it attempted to blow his habitation about his ears, then it continued no longer his protector but his enemy. If it promoted a sanguinary instead of a salutary principle, then it became mischievous and was worthy to be guarded against. Though he augured well from the present measure, yet he was aware, that half its beneficial consequences would be lost, if not sustained and promoted vigorously by the government. The most effectual remedy for disturbance was the formation of a good and strong government, such a one as would resist unreasonable clamour by its firmness, and by its alertness in redressing real grievances; prevent all reasonable complaints from souring the minds of the people to discontents and murmurings. Under the existing circumstances of the country, some mild and active measure was really necessary, for it appeared, by representations from the magistracy of the West Riding of Yorkshire, that the common law armed them with no means adequate to suppress the attempts and repress the machinations of the disaffected. If the common law was found no more than vigorous enough to sustain the peace of the country in unalarming times, how much would it fall short to preserve it under calamities such as at present prevailed. In justification of the measures now proposed, he could state, that representations had been made to government for some months, on account of the disturbed state of those northern districts: nor was it right to reflect on the magistrates, if they had found the usual means inadequate to the preservation of the peace. He did not know that government had done all that could have been done. Had some of the money, voted for the secret service of the government, and had the stipendiary police been applied to strengthen the hands of the magistrate, by procuring him ready information of what was going forward, perhaps the existing law might have been found more effectual; but they were to look at the case, not as fancy might picture it, but as it really existed. There they would find the arm of the magistrate too weak, and too confined to maintain the peace of the land, and the country calling upon the parliament to interfere and assist them. He would vote in approbation of the Bill as a measure if not necessary for the salvation of the country, yet as a mild and moderate exertion of power which was highly needful to restore the confidence, and tranquillize the minds of the people during the parliamentary recess. Let the Bill, however, be continued in existence for the shortest possible period, and let no tittle of power be delegated to the hands of the magistracy but what the case required: the House always hearing in mind, that what was added to the authority of the magistracy, was deducted from the liberty of the subject. If one part of the community, however, were willing to surrender part of their liberty to preserve the remainder, he could see no reasonable objection that could be raised against such honourable compromise. He did not entirely approve of that part of the Bill which sanctioned two magistrates in collecting the arms which might be scattered in individual hands over the country. He would not altogether give his immediate and unqualified consent to bestow a discretional power upon magistrates, to seize arms wherever and in whatever hands they might be found. Parliament, he hoped, would ponder well the consequences before they invested the magistrates with such an extent of power. Demands, indeed, had been made upon the government, that they would claim the arms which certain people had in their houses, lest they should be compelled to deliver them to the dissatisfied; but was that feeling general throughout the counties? By depriving them of their arms, were they not laying the people more open to the nocturnal attack of their wily enemies, who might take advantage of their defenceless situation? If any proper explanation and assurances was made upon that point of the Bill, he would immediately submit his own judgment to the better experience of the House. Respecting the power to be given to the magis- trates to prevent the assembling of the people, he would always consent to a measure which went to apprehend men while they were committing a misdemeanour, in preference to one which would permit their actions to ripen into crime, and then punish them for felonious practices. Giving a concurrent power to the magistracy of the adjoining counties, seemed to him a measure absolutely necessary for furthering the main object of the Bill; and the expediency of it had evidently become generally apparent to the House. On the whole, although he had reasonable grounds for objection to one part, which he hoped would be amended in the committee, he approved of the principle of the Bill, and was resolved to support it.

observed, that those who gave credit to the testimony borne by the hon. gentleman who had just sat down, to the state of the country, and to the consternation excited by the late tumults, could not concur with the hon. gentleman who had preceded him, in the opinion that the preamble of the Bill was false, and that the measure itself was founded on the assumption of a necessity which did not really exist. The long, extraordinary, and he must be allowed to say, inconclusive speech, of the hon. member for Bedford, contained only two arguments against the Bill. One ground of that hon. gentleman's objection to giving an extended power to the magistracy in general, was the misconduct of individual magistrates. The hon. gentleman stated that a magistrate had entered the cell of a convicted person—(Mr. Whitbread, across the table, denied having said it was a magistrate who had done this)—If not a magistrate the argument of the hon. gent. was still more inconclusive than he imagined. What! because an ordinary individual had attempted to extort from a convicted person evidence against the hon. gentleman—an occurrence indeed of too despicable a nature to have even been mentioned in that House—was the hon. gent. justified in asserting that the power of the magistracy ought not to be extended? The hon. gentleman had also chosen to refer to the manner in which a power similar to that conferred by this Bill had been exercised in Ireland. But it would have been fair, had the hon. gentleman recollected the state of Ireland at that period. That acts of horror had been committed in that country, he (Mr. F.) would not deny. No one, not even the hon. gentleman, could suspect him of becoming the apologist of such acts. But the circumstances of the two countries were widely different. And with respect to the insurrection laws in Ireland, it was well known, that they expired in two years after the union, and that they had not been acted upon. But was the necessity for their existence less because they had not been enforced?—He would not follow the hon. gentleman through the extraneous parts of his speech. If the subject of peace had any connection with the question before the House, it was this only—that it was a subject which he should have thought on such an occasion every hon. member would wish to avoid. Conscious as every man in that House, except the hon. gentleman, must be, that peace on honourahle terms could not be obtained at the present moment, he was persuaded that no one but the hon. gentleman would have adverted to the topic; although he was glad to hear the hon. gentleman declare, that unless on proper and honourable terms, peace ought not to be concluded. Adverting to the observations made by the hon. gent. who spoke last, he observed, that the temporary nature of the Bill met the ideas of that hon. gentleman, and as to that hon. gentleman's objections to the provision by which the magistrates were empowered to search for arms, it ought to be recollected, that in times of danger, the convenience, and even the ordinary rights of individuals, must be made to bend to the public safety. He concurred in the opinion of the hon. member for Bedford, that his opposition to the Bill would not make much impression on the House or on the country, and he trusted that that hon. gentleman would concur with him in the hope that the Bill might be effectual in the attainment of the object for which it was introduced.

denied that the speech of the hon. gentleman, who had just spoken, had at all shaken the arguments of the hon. gentleman near him (Mr. Whitbread). He concurred with that hon. gentleman in thinking, that there was nothing in the evidence before the House which warranted the recital in the preamble, or which justified the necessity of the Bill itself. He was no friend to extreme measures; it was common for bad governments to push matters to extremities, and then to make those very extremities a ground for extraordinary measures. He did not mean to impute such conduct to the present administration; but such was the method of proceeding, which a bad government could always adopt if it pleased. As to the present Bill, he disliked it altogether. Even the title of the Bill was defective. Instead of calling it "a Bill to preserve the peace," it ought to be termed "a Bill to disturb the peace, by giving undue power to the magistracy." He was jealous of increasing the power of those authorities, as he thought it had been already abused; he thought the magistrates had already, in many cases, exhibited great violence and intemperance, and he particularly reprobated the system of employing spies to stir up and entrap and bring to punishment the unhappy people. This was a system worthy of the devil alone. It was whimsical to hear the hon. gentleman below him (Mr. Smith) talk of the necessity of a stronger government. What government could be stronger than one which carried all before it, and against whose will the laws of the realm, and the rights and privileges of the subjects were unable to stand? Indeed, the members of the government actually took credit to themselves for having, in the present Bill, produced only a slight infringement of the constitution, when they would have been fully supported if they had proposed much greater violations of the accustomed law. He saw no necessity for the present measure. There was no reason to suppose that the existing power of the magistrates was insufficient to suppress riots and disturbances which it was confessed were themselves on the decline, and he therefore viewed with great jealousy, and great apprehension of abuse, the increase of authority proposed to be given. Even the magistrate's present power was too frequently abused. It was lately stated in the papers, that two young men, who had been working at a house in the country, and who had thereby become acquainted with the servants, were, some time afterwards, as they were walking in the neighbourhood, invited into the house by the servants. They were there found by the master, who was very angry on the occasion, but who, not contenting himself with a reprimand, took them before a magistrate in the neighbourhood. This magistrate, who was a clergyman, (and he must observe, that clerical magistrates seemed particularly fond of exercising their power), commit- ted these poor honest labouring men to gaol on a charge of burglary! This happened in the month of August, just after the assizes. The men remained ironed in stone cells until one of them died; and when a bill was presented to the grand jury against the other, the next spring, the grand jury immediately threw it out. This was not a solitary instance—another case had occurred, in which an individual had been treated in a similar manner, and in which the result had been precisely the same. In his opinion, therefore, it would better tend to preserve the peace, were the power of the magistrates curtailed and regulated, rather than extended. It was curious to remark the different modes of thinking at different times on the same subject in this country. By the old acts of parliament, it appeared that when disturbances took place, a course was pursued the reverse of that now proposed. In old times it was the practice to arm all the inhabitants; to put them under the direction of some constituted authority, and to make the sheriff of every county responsible, and every district in a county responsible for the mischiefs that might occur. In proof of this, he referred to the statute of the 13th of Edward 1; a statute to which he had vainly hoped the House would have looked as a guide in their late proceedings for regulating the watch and ward. Our ancestors, on such occasions, bid not depart from the constitution, but armed nod organised all the inhabitants of the disturbed districts, and punished those who would not so arm to repress the disturbers of the public peace. Now, however, parliament sat about disarming the people. He could not conceive any thing more humiliating. He could not conceive any thing to be a more complete badge of slavery. For himself he would rather die on his threshold, than give up his arms. He was convinced, that if the powers to be given by the Bill were not exercised with discretion, it was calculated to put the whole country in a flame. With respect to the strange supposition, that the hon. gentleman (Mr. Whitbread) was one of the instigators of these disturbances, it appeared extremely ridiculous to the House, but it was not so in the country. The ignorance and blindness of people in the country were astonishing. Even in that House imputations of a similar nature were sometimes heard. In the last debate upon the Bill, the late Secretary of State for the Home Depart- ment threw out an intimation that he (sir F. Burdett) had some systematic design in opposing the Bill. It was plain enough, though it was certainly false enough, that the systematic design imputed to him, was one hostile to the constitution. He had but one design—to keep together the throne and the people, and to get rid of a system in that House inimical to both. Such had ever been, and such ever would be the systematic design of his political life. With respect to what had been said of the liberty of the press, he maintained, that if any man had a right to say, "thus far shall it go, and no farther;" the liberty of the press was at an end. For different men would of course view in different lights the proper line of boundary. In his opinion, it was only by a free and unlimited discussion of public subjects through the medium of the press, that truth could be elicited, Even the very calumnies of the press contributed to that great object, for they proved that the press was unshackled. He admitted that an injury done to an individual by the press, should be as severely punished as an injury sustained by an individual in any other method; but he contended that, by trying to put down the press, as it respected public affairs, government were defeating their own object, and by exhibiting a narrow and mistaken system of policy, conferring credit on their calumniators. Upon the whole, reprobating the manner in which the secret committee had been formed, perceiving that their Report afforded no reason for departing from the established law, convinced that it would be much more safe and efficacious to adhere to that law, observeing that by that law, a great number of the recent offenders had actually been punished: and being informed that the disturbances themselves, if they had not completely subsided, were very much moderated, he should feel it his duty to vote against the second reading of the Bill.

, jun. (in a maiden speech) declared, that in voting for the measure before the House he should not deem himself guilty of any innovation on the constitution. He supported the Bill, not because he thought that the exigency of the occasion required any departure from the principles of the constitution, but because he thought that it required the exercise of those powers which, though dormant, were inherent in the constitution, because he thought that it required the assumption of those energies which belonged to the constitution, and were as essential to it, as the minor and ordinary qualities of every day's practice. On the necessity which called for the exercise of these powers, and the assumption of these energies, every one must be allowed to form his own opinion. But he confessed, he heard with surprise the declaration from the hon. gent. and the hon. baronet opposite, that they could perceive nothing in recent events which manifested that necessity. In his humble opinion, there were on the face of the Report of the Secret Committee proofs of the existence of a regular and organized system of insurrection; proofs of a league entered into by a number of men, whose conduct was marked by an alarming degree of prudence and foresight; proofs of societies assembled for the most mischievous purposes, and bound together by oaths of the most solemn and serious description; proofs of the lamentable effects of such a system, operating in a way the most fatal, and the most deeply to be lamented. The system was at that very moment raging in the heart of the country! The actors were still at work! The conspiracy was still alive! And were parliament, under such circumstances, to be told that no legislative interference was necessary? Of what import in the consideration of this Bill was the origin of the evil? If it had originated in the distresses of the districts in which it had prevailed, yet in its progress its aspect had been materially changed. He could easily conceive, that the desperation which hunger and the want of employment must occasion, might, in the first instance, have urged the exasperated and unfortunate, though mistaken, individuals, to the destruction of that machinery from which alone they could derive their future support; but when he heard of a regular and extensive combination occupied in the seizure of arms, in the acquirement of military discipline, in the administration of oaths of mutual adherence, be could not but believe that the character of the proceeding had changed, that other modes of thinking had been introduced, that other passions had been inflamed, and that the whole had assumed a deeper and a more dangerous malignancy. When, therefore, it appeared that the spirit of mere riot and misrule which prevailed in the first instance, had so changed in itself, or had been so converted by the craft of designing individuals, as to wear an aspect of a very different nature, it became the House, in their deliberations on the subject, to regard rather the existing circumstances, than their origin. But even were the present state of things attributable solely to the discontent in which it originated, were no other consideration mingled with it, still the House would be unjustified, when the disturbances had arrived to such a height, in concluding the present session, and separating for the summer, without providing the means by which those disturbances might (as he trusted) be effectually repressed. It had been said that the revocation of the Orders in Council, and the consequent demand for our manufactures, would gradually diminish the discontent, and restore tranquillity. But he entreated the House to recollect, that effects always survived their cause; he entreated the House to recollect, that after the moving influence had ceased, the machine still for a time went on; he entreated them to consider how far the mere subsiding of the agitation, the mere rocking of the waves into a calm, might vet affect the public peace and welfare. This would be a subject for grave deliberation, even by those who thought that the recent events were to be ascribed to one simple cause. Such was not his opinion. He was persuaded that other motives had been added to the original and inspiring one. He appealed to the House whether these confederacies, these nocturnal assemblies (so strange to Englishmen) were circumstances under which the country could be left with safety? But they had been told that the existing laws were adequate to the occasion. How were they so? Did they authorise the magistrates immediately to disperse unlawful and tumultuary assemblies? Did they authorize the magistrates, in the first instance, and without any deposition, to seize arms, when it was suspected they were about to be used for mischievous purposes? By no means. The very individuals upon whose conduct it was asserted that the existing laws might be made sufficiently to operate, laughed at them; and under the protection of their inefficiency, pursued their destructive designs. It was under the shelter of the laws that they planned the overthrow of all law. It was under the very wing of the constitution that they hatched their plots to subvert the constitution. All that was requested was to give to the magis- tracy the means of meeting the occasion as it stood. He repeated that it was not proposed to introduce any thing new, any thing unknown to the constitution; but solely to call into exercise those powers belonging to the constitution, the exercise of which necessity demanded. It was the constitution which he invoked. He invoked it in behalf of themselves, he invoked it in behalf of the men whose lives were in jeopardy; those deluded people, who under the treacherous guidance of designing and desperate individuals, were in danger of being hurried into excesses of the most criminal nature; to assume the energies which belonged to the occasion; to overtake the rapid march of crimes, to whose speed the slow pace of ordinary justice was equal; and to arrest in its progress the career of sedition and anarchy. These were principles not now for the first time broached. They were principles which had always been recognised by our ancestors. They were principles as old as our liberties. They were principles constitutional, social, and universal. They were principles which had built up our freedom, and which bound it together. They were principles which operated in all places and on all societies, whether of individuals or of whole nations.

would trouble the House but for a very short period, lest he should weaken the effect of the admirable address which they had just heard. His vote would be founded on the Report of the committee. Objections had been made to the mode in which that committee was constituted. It was nevertheless conformable to all precedent. Objections had been made to the character of the report. On what ground? Had they stated occurrences which had not happened? Had they inferred motives which did not exist? Having no superior information, he considered the Report as authority, and was persuaded if the House did not act on that Report, they would betray their country. On the principle of the Bill, he doubted whether, strictly speaking, they were not unanimous; on many of its provisions differences of opinion might exist: he himself might not approve of some of the provisions; but this would be a subject of consideration for the committee on the Bill. He confessed that he had entertained serious hopes that the ferment would ere this have subsided. It was his opinion, that from time to time, a moral, like a physical epidemic, passed across the world, and that from causes as invisible in the one as in the other, some obstruction in the circulation, or some inflammation, produced an irritation, which often worked its own cure without the assistance of violent remedies. It might appear a ridiculous illustration, but it was a just one. All writers on political experience concurred in asserting the existence of these occasional diseases. When they occurred in any country, they were watched by every foreign enemy who, observing probably from a want of prudence an increase in the disorder, availed himself of external applications still further to exacerbate it. Such had been the diseased state of the country. If there were predisposing causes it was not to be supposed that the disorder was to be cured in a day. To chronic diseases a course of alterative medicine must be applied; and we must be content to wait with some little patience for the cure. In extraordinary cases, it must be allowed that extraordinary powers were necessary, not for the sake of increasing the sum of human suffering, but for the sake of humanity to diminish it. But in the midst of all the evil, the noble and affecting picture which the conduct of our manufacturers exhibited in continuing to employ their men to the useless accumulation of stock until their last shilling was expended, made him proud of being a member of such a community. Reverting to his former image, he observed that this was not an ordinary state of the body politic, and therefore that ordinary diet, and ordinary treatment would not agree with it. The ordinary law in such an extreme case was insufficient. It was inhuman, for it would not prevent crimes of deep dye. The power delegated in times of public danger to the dictators, was the salvation of the liberties of the commonwealth of Rome. Foreign war was an evil comparatively insignificant. Civil discord, by removing all restraints, shewed how miserable human nature could be, when to the horrors of unrestrained animal passions were added those of depraved reason. This fever or madness of discontent had seized on part of this country. An alterative must be adopted to remove it. It was a political axiom, that in all countries some persons would be found conceiving that they did not possess sufficient power or influence, or other goods of fortune. Let changes be made as frequently as they might, disaffection and discontent must somewhere exist. It was the duty of the legislature, when that discontent burst into action, to use severity for its suppression. By a due performance of that duty it might make itself feared, but would not make itself hated. It would prove itself the physician of the state. Far was he from thinking of the situation of the unfortunate people whose conduct thus loudly called for legislative interference, without pity; and to shew that he really entertained the greatest commiseration for them, he suggested that it might be advisable, on the passing of the present Bill, to issue a royal pardon to all those who, up to that period, had offended against the laws already in existence. This union of retrospective lenity and of prospective severity, might be productive of the happiest effects. He should certainly vote for the second reading of the Bill.

began by saying, that he hardly knew how to characterize what had fallen from his hon. friend who spoke last. If he were merely to call it a speech, it would appear like not treating with sufficient respect the medical science it contained; and he thought it was much too long to be called a prescription. He was afraid that his education in that science had been too defective to enable him to follow his hon. friend through the whole of his materia medica. He was, however, perfectly convinced in his own mind that the remedy which ministers proposed was a great deal worse than the disease. If the country did not absolutely die of the doctor, he was convinced it would suffer much by his prescription. He felt the full force of the speech of his hon. friend (Mr. Grant) which had been so much admired by the House; although, having had many other opportunities of witnessing the display of those talents, he did not participate in the general surprize on the occasion. He must, however differ very materially from his two hon. friends. The first of them had gone so much into general grounds, and the other so much into the details of another science, that they both appeared to lose sight of the question under discussion this night; which was, whether the Report of the committee was of such importance, as to authorize or justify the House in adopting the measures which were proposed; and which were in fact a suspension of the constitution. In the Report of the committee he could see nothing but vague generalities; and his hon. friends, so far from correcting that error in their speeches had not adduced a single fact to assist the House in coming to a decision upon its merits. He would allow that effects were apt for some time to survive the causes which produced them; and it was on that very account that he, attributing the disturbances merely to distress, thought that they should wait some weeks, he might say some days longer, to see whether those disturbances would not subside of themselves, without the necessity of any new measures. It was very natural that he, and his hon. friend the member for Bedford, should contend that parliament had already provided a sufficient remedy for the disorders, in repealing the Orders in Council. It did not follow, indeed, that the effect was to be absolutely instantaneous, but he believed that the remedy had acted as rapidly as could be expected, and that of itself it would be found quite sufficient. An hon. and learned friend of his (Mr. Stephen) had just entered the House, and after rather a long absence, now gratified their longing eyes. He understood that his hon. and learned friend meant to contend, that those disturbances were not at all connected with commercial difficulties, or the Orders in Council, and were not at all affected by their repeal. He should, however, beg leave to state a few facts which would shew the contrary. He should first appeal to the information which he had received upon that subject, in the correspondence of a charitable association, to which he had the honour of belonging, as well as his hon. and learned friend. In mentioning a charitable association, he could not avoid saying, that in those institutions, England was most admirable, and far excelled any other nation upon earth. Here, in times of the greatest pressure and difficulty, there never were wanting munificent subscriptions in aid of any thing which came recommended in the form of charity, and more particularly for the relief of the distresses of our own manufacturers. In the association to which he alluded, his royal highness the Duke of York was the president, and many, not only of those who supported, but even of those who most constantly opposed administration, were members. The accounts which were therefore transmitted to that association, and entered in the records of its correspondence, must be considered as quite above any suspicion of partiality or faction. In examining those records, he found it completely confirmed, that the distress which prevailed was great, general, and unexampled. He had looked over all the correspondence for twenty-two districts, and found that the disturbances were so much connected with the distress, that they might be directly traced to it; and whenever a district was found in which the distress was great, in that district also would be observed a proportionate disturbance. In all the correspondence, from no less than 22 counties, the distress was stated as proceeding from "want of work in consequence of the present state of the manufactures;" and many letters referred it directly to the Orders in Council, and expressed the strongest pleasure at their repeal, and the greatest hope that that repeal would prove an effectual remedy. He should now state a few strong instances of the truth of what he had advanced. In Bolton-in-the-Moors, in Lancashire, a place which contained a population of about seventeen thousand souls, there were about three thousand persons exposed to the most severe pressure of distress; and in the vicinage of that place, the practice of twisting-in, according to the cant phrase by which the unlawful swearing was designated, was very common. It was by some of the initiated of this district that the assembly on Dean Moor, of which the House had heard, was composed—that meeting at which spies, paid for their services, had attended—spies, who were the only persons there who appeared in disguise—spies who could not screw their courage up to a pitch such as would enable them to assert that the meeting was composed of more than forty persons, of which number they themselves composed a part, in the ratio of twenty-five per cent. It was worthy of remark that in this place no steps had been taken to diminish, by charitable donations, the sufferings of the poor. This seat of distress, then, became the focus of disturbances in Lancashire. If he could have come before the committee as a witness (but being a member of a committee so chosen and so packed by ministers, there was little chance of that) he could have laid before them many facts much more important than those upon which they had reported. At Huddersfield, in Yorkshire, the distress was still greater than at Bolton; it was stated in the correspondence, "that the distress here was great, unexampled, and wholly beyond the power of removal; that applications were con- stantly made for assistance, and that not even the most feeble attempts were made to give relief." The town of Huddersfield, so circumstanced, became in Yorkshire what Bolton was in Lancashire,—the principal seat of disturbance in the county. In another place, in Lancashire, the town of Walton, which, like the other places he had mentioned, was populous in poor, and poor whose habits were pretty much the same, and where there was a population of five thousand souls, there were thirteen hundred persons in distress, but these were all relieved; whereas, out of the three thousand in Bolton, only three hundred had obtained any assistance. There were a number of persons in the neighbourhood of Walton in easy circumstances, and who had not sustained the losses which had been felt by persons in the same rank of life in Huddersfield and Bolton, and these persons had, by soup tickets and other supplies of food, come in aid of the parish contributions, to diminish the distress of their poor, and the consequence of this was, that every thing had remained perfectly quiet at Walton, and not the slightest symptom of disaffection had manifested itself. There were other places where much distress had prevailed, and the inhabitants of which, having been relieved, had preserved the King's peace. These were the reasons which had induced, in his mind, the opinion that the discontents which unhappily were to be found in the country, were the result of distress, and of that alone; and perhaps he should not have detailed them so minutely, if it had not been for the cheer of his hon. friend. With respect to the reasoning to be found in the ingenious allegory of another hon. friend, he had to observe, that however just it might be in the abstract, he could not go the length of agreeing with him, that because there appeared, either in the body politic or natural body, a want of some remedy, that therefore the first that offered itself should be gulped down. He thought that if it appeared that the disorder was decreased, common sense would require us to exert a reasonable degree of patience. From this correspondence it evidently appeared, that the medicine which had been administered in the rescinding the Orders in Council, was producing the most tranquillizing effects. In a letter, dated the 8th of July, from Huddersfield, acknowledging the receipt of 150l. sent from the association in London, the secretary, after suitable acknowledgments of the gift, dwelt on the pleasure felt at the removal of the Orders in Council, and mentioned that "the yet meagre countenances of the inhabitants were beaming with joy, and that work was now found for numbers of them." It was evident that those meagre faces which began to beam with joy, and those hands now employed in work, could not be supposed busy in contemplating or perpetrating acts of murder. He must say, that he had another and a very strong objection to granting these extraordinary powers to the magistrates; and that was, that he suspected some of the magistrates as men not fit to be entrusted with such powers, and likely to abuse them. In this he alluded merely to Lancashire, not to Yorkshire, and principally to that one magistrate, a clergyman, whose representations appeared to have had so much influence on the Report of the committee. His correspondence was so inflated with fear and fancy, and evinced so much precipitation and bigotry, that he could not conceive him a man of sound judgment; and in a court of justice, he would doubt any fact stated by such a visionary. In one of his letters he talked of the restoration of peace "when the present generation of disturbers should be swept into oblivion." Although, from his expression he should consider him a man of unsound judgment, he considered his acts as of mucb more consequence. He had absolutely charged with a capital felony a most respectable dissenting clergyman, whom he asserted to have been present, aiding and abetting at the destruction of some mills; and when afterwards he was called upon for his authority for so saying, his answer was, that he had the story from a dying man. He must take the liberty to doubt that the dying man ever did say such a thing; and even if he did, the assertions of men at the gallows were known to be very bad evidence indeed. He could give other statements illustrative of his preceding positions; nay, in giving them he could go to greater length than the hon. member had done in the speech which he had just delivered. The next case to which he would allude was that of a Methodist preacher. From his statement, it appeared, that while preaching in the centre of his flock, one Saturday evening, light was observed in his dwelling by one of these useful gentlemen, the spies, who happened to be travelling that way. This individual instantly gave no- tice of a nightly meeting, and but a very little time had elapsed before the poor parson was surrounded by eight of the Scotch Greys, who led him off in a most indecorous and insulting manner. Now what was the consequence of such a proceeding? Why, that by this unnecessary interference, the minds of this clergyman's flock became irritated; they now were enemies who before dwelt in peace. But the motive of this proceeding doubtless was an antipathy to the sect, or the expectation that it would not be unacceptable to higher persons. The sect, however, had proved themselves lovers of peace. The charitable association before alluded to, had offered its assistance to a particular place in one of those disturbed districts. The answer was, that the distress was so extensive that the whole fund of the association could not give the required relief; that it resulted from the total want of work; that no disorders whatever had taken place, notwithstanding all this distress; but this latter circumstance, they said, was to be attributed to the happy prevalence of the principles of Methodistm.—Yet the men professing these principles of peace were to be insulted and disturbed; and those who so insulted and disturbed them were to have more extensive powers! A man of the name of Haynes, who unfortunately lived in one of those disturbed neighbourhoods, was actually compelled to join one of the unlawful meetings, and to take the oath. This man was impeached by the spies who attended the meeting. He was not rich enough to employ a counsel; and, if he had, such counsel could not have addressed the jury on his behalf. The jury, however, on his own plain, unvarnished, simple statement of his case, and from the activity and bustle which they saw among those spies, in the court and about the jury-box, acquitted the man; and saved him from the machinations of these attendants on the magistrates. There was another mischief, also, to which the unhappy people in these disturbed districts were liable, and which the House should be careful how it enlarged the means of increasing. This was the danger of insulting a spy. These gentry had of late been raised to such extraordinary consequence, that to insult one of them was scarcely one degree removed from the crime of insulting a magistrate. A poor schoolmaster had been taken up and punished "for insulting one of his Majesty's spies." A wo- man of the lower order was met in a public street by one of those spies, who taunted her with her husband's conduct; and on her expressing her resentment of his unmanly behaviour in rather warm terms, she was seized, taken before a magistrate, and punished, for insulting this spy. But why was all this done; why did such cases occur? They resulted from the active zeal of pettifogging magistrates, in the hope of recommending themselves to the attention of government. A late right hon. friend of his, whose loss the House, as well as he himself, would long deplore (Mr. Windham) had never mentioned this race (for he talked of them as if they were vermin) without expressing sentiments of disgust, contempt, and mistrust. He meant the meddling, the over-busy magistrates, by this description. To these men, however, the House were called upon to give new powers. As to the spies, they were busy because they thought they ought to do something for money; for certainly no one would suppose, that they took up this calling from mere love for it. No one would believe that they were amateurs, especially when it was considered, that they were paid a very great price for their services, some of them 30 s. others 40 s. and some two guineas and an half a week, besides all their expences. It was not to be wondered at that the magistrates were their strenuous supporters. If the member for the university of Cambridge wished to know what became of the secret service money, he might now guess how hundreds went; for how great a snits must go to pay this immense troop of spies! And when waggons were travelling about the northern counties loaded with money to pay this host, was it nothing to have the disposal of it,—was it to be supposed that all this money passed through certain hands without some of it sticking to their fingers? The House should also consider the vast source of patronage it created, and how that patronage might be made particularly available almost on the eve of a general election. These spies had endeavoured, on various occasions, to induce unhappy men who had been arrested, to make allegations against the highest and best of characters. He instanced the name of the member for Bedford, and himself, in comparison, he would allow, a very humble character. They, however, from their station in life, might smile at the malice and baseness of these miscreants; but persons who were not so happily situated, and who lived unfortunately in disturbed neighbourhoods, were liable to be exposed to the most dreadful injustice, and frequently to ruin. A manufacturer was constantly exposed to the hardship of having his privacy broken in upon, and his grounds and premises ridden over and taken possession of by parties of Scotch Greys, if any one chose to go to a magistrate and say, that in the manufactory there were suspicious persons. These spies were the active agents of the magistrates, and the House should be cautious how they enlarged powers which might be used to such mischievous and oppressive purposes. In one instance a poor fellow had been arrested as a rioter, who was in the employment of a manufacturer of very good character and large property, who had been to him a most generous and kind master. As soon as possible after he was in their power, the spies applied to him with an assurance of "drawing him through," if he would inform them of any thing his master had ever said against government. He answered them, that he had never heard any thing of the kind. "What," said they, "did you never hear him say any thing against the King?"—No. "Nor against any of the royal family?"—"No." At length, after assailing him in various ways, they offered to "draw him through," if he would say that his master told him, if he (the man) would take against the King, he (the master) would back him. The poor fellow burst into tears at being supposed capable of so base a return to the kindness of so good a master, and resolutely refused all their offers. But this shewed what base arts and means had been resorted to; and it was, in his opinion, too great a trust to enlarge powers, and trust them in the hands of a set of men who had already shewn themselves too busy in invading the rights and privileges of Englishmen, their fellow subjects. The Bill was objectionable in every point of view. It would give power to break into any house at any hour of the night, if an individual chose to say that it contained arms; nay, it would do much more, it would revive the power of gagging; of dispersing any thirty persons that might be collected together. At one of the meetings of magistrates, it was loudly trumpetted, that a number of disaffected persons had been seized with all their books and papers, at a nightly assembly, from which seizure wonderful discoveries of treason and dis- affection was expected to be made. This terrible assembly, however, turned out to be so far a nightly meeting indeed as having been held after the men left their work; and their desperate books and papers were a copy of a Petition against the Orders in Council, and a list of names which had been written down, of those who signed the Petition; which Petition, with the real names, he had presented to the House; and if the powers had been then granted to the magistracy which were now asked for, the House, would never have seen that Petition, and he should have been deprived of all the benefit he and the country had derived from its authority both in argument, and in the number of signatures attached to it. Had it been known that persons had assembled to vote for it and sign it, without doubt the magistrates would have broken in upon their deliberation on the pretext that they were doing something against the government. There was also another circumstance still more alarming, which was, that these magistrates, now, before they were armed with those extraordinary powers to be given by the present Bill, did not content themselves with searching for warlike instruments, such as pikes and others made of iron, but were also keen in their researches after more precious metals, such as gold and silver; they accused particular men of the crime of "hoarding," and thereby shewing themselves inimical to the government. Some of them had repaired to a house in search of deserters; after ransacking the yard, and all the out-houses, without finding any thing in the shape of a soldier, they went into a room behind the tradesman's shop, and desired a certain drawer might be opened. The man drily observed, "they could hardly expect to find a deserter soldier in that drawer." Opened however it must be, and there appeared about ten pounds in silver, which this tradesman had collected for the convenience of change in his business. They seized the money, however, as a hoarding against the government: and when after a hearing before the magistrates it was found to be no crime of which they could legally take notice, they returned this tradesman 10l in Bank notes instead of the silver he had been so long collecting, or as they termed it "hoarding." (A very loud and general cry of question, question, from the ministerial side of the House.) He knew from what cause that cry proceeded. He perceived the anxious calls of his Majesty's Attorney-General; doubtless those truths were unpleasant to the right hon. and learned gentleman. But he was glad to think that notwithstanding the indecorum of some members, he had not stated one word less on this most important subject than he originally meant to do.

observed, that the last speaker wanting arguments to oppose to the Bill before the House, had tried to excite a feeling of disgust against a body of men whom that House always had treated, and always ought to treat with the greatest respect. The hon. and learned gentleman had said, he was afraid of trusting the magistrates with further powers, who had abused what they at present possessed. This censure was not deserved by the magistrates. If the hon. and learned gentleman could make it plain, that the law, as it at present stood, was competent to remedy the existing evil, he (Mr. Bankes) would vote with him; but as that did not appear, the Bill would have his support. He contended that it was necessary and right to search for arms, when it was known that arms had been illegally seized. Tumultuary meetings could not be effectually put down, so as to prevent evil-disposed persons training themselves to the use of arms, unless the power proposed in the Bill was given to magistrates. The hon. and learned gentleman had traced the origin of the present disturbances, and found it in the distresses of the manufacturing classes, but did he think that nothing was engrafted on that which had originated in those distresses? Was it not probable that those distresses had been taken advantage of by designing persons, for purposes hostile to the peace of the country? Adverting to the course of proceedings resorted to on the present occasion, he rebutted the insinuation that had been thrown out, that the Secret Committee lately ballotted for had been a packed committee. The names that had appeared on it seemed to him to be fair and unexceptionable; and if he had himself made out the list, he did nut know that he could have formed one, in his own opinion, more competent and proper than that which the ballot produced. To prove that the committee were not all of one way of one thinking, he would state the fact, that on one division a particular motion had been carried by a majority of one only. With respect to the actual state of the country, he would ask, did the hon. and learned gentleman believe in the existence of the unlawful oath? If he did, could he think that, many persons having taken that oath, the districts in which it was taken could be safe? If he were to blame ministers on this occasion, it would be, first, because they had not taken up this subject early enough; and secondly, because he was afraid the present measure would not prove sufficiently strong. He was sorry it had not been more particularly attended to before, and thought the disturbances ought now to be effectually put down, or they would extend to the other counties. With this feeling it was his opinion, that it might have been wiser to-adopt stronger measures. He was happy to find the Bill in no way trenched upon the liberty of the press. To curtail that liberty, he hoped, would never be necessary, but at the same time he felt that it might become necessary, under certain circumstances, to guard against that which was one of the greatest blessings the country could boast in the hands of the good, becoming a most pernicious instrument in the hands of the bad; the more especially as the productions of the press were more eagerly sought after of late years, by the lower classes of the people. He was apprehensive that the present measure would not be found to go far enough; he should, however, give it his vote, in the hope that his fears would prove vain.

opposed the Bill. The original cause of the disturbances being done away, by the revocation of the Orders in Council, he thought such a measure as the present unnecessary; but at the same time he wished it to be understood, that he did not oppose it from any apprehension that the magistrates would abuse the power that might be entrusted to them. However inconvenient it might be to individuals, he would prefer keeping the parliament together, to the adoption of any thing which would interfere with the principles of the constitution.

thought there was nothing to warrant the strong language made use of by the hon. and learned gentleman against the magistracy. Those "vermin," as they had been called, were entitled to the protection of the House. It should be recollected that this was entirely a gratuitous office; and gentlemen from the southern counties could have little idea of the exertions which were necessary in large manufacturing towns like Manchester. He supported the Bill.

observed, it had been said by his hon. and learned friend, when he (Mr. S.) entered the House, that the present disturbances had originated in the distresses caused by the Orders in Council. This had surprised him, as he had often heard the hon. and learned gentleman say, in the course of a long enquiry, which he had prosecuted with him, that the distresses produced by the Orders in Council and the riots had no connection. The hon. and learned gentleman had indeed regularly put the question to his witnesses, and the answers uniformly given had been "No, the poor manufacturers, though suffering much distress, are peaceable and orderly." He (Mr. S.) had had it in contemplation to appeal to his hon. and learned friend for the truth of this fact, in order to meet what had been said by others on this subject. But if the Orders in Council were the cause of all these evils, and the manufacturers were still peaceable, quiet, and orderly, he should be glad to know how his hon. and learned friend maintained his present argument? He had no doubt his hon. and learned friend possessed the information he had stated to the House, but he must say, he had also been most grossly misinformed, and the facts had been most grossly exaggerated. If, however, the peace and tranquillity and the safety of the country was at stake, some remedy must be applied, and without it, there was no reason to doubt but that these disturbances must increase, and the case must ultimately come to this; if the powers of the magistracy are insufficient to the purpose, they must enlarge their powers. They had a body of magistrates deserving of every praise, serving their country at the expence of all their domestic comforts, and yet from the peculiar malignity of the English nation or from some subversion of human nature, they were to be branded and stigmatised as a race of vermin. With respect to the cha ritable institution for the manufacturing poor, he had withdrawn himself from that institution on account of its being said, that the charity was intended not so much to relieve sufferers, as to find means of protecting the Orders in Council. Adverting to what had been said by his hon. and learned friend respecting the Methodists, he readily admitted the justice of the eulogium bestowed on a set of men than whom there were none more loyal or better affected to the Church as established,—none more distinguished for phi- lanthropy and benevolence. But no one could deny the existence of a great evil; and he confessed that he should be glad to hear what remedy his hon. and learned friend, with all that impartiality for which he was so eminent, would propose to meet this evil, for as yet he had not pointed out any remedy. He had found nothing in his statement of this kind, and much less in his argument. He could not deny that a system of terror existed in the country; he could not deny that this system of terror prevented parties from giving the necessary information which would enable the government to come at the root of the evil; he could not deny that there was a strong degree of terror impressed upon the minds of the people, which it was the object of this Bill to mitigate. It was a measure which could not possibly be abused or applied to any oppressive purposes. With the last speaker, he was inclined to fear, that it was not sufficiently strong; but upon the whole, to him it appeared, that it was as constitutionally mild, and as well calculated to meet the existing evil, as any measure human wisdom could devise. He was surprised at the opposition made to this Bill by his hon. and learned friend. He expected to find in him its staunchest advocate; as he laboured to exonerate those who suffered through the Orders in Council from any participation in the late outrages. The measure was in his opinion perfectly constitutional, but fearing, as he did, that it would not go far enough, he should have felt it his duty to propose some provisions of a stronger nature, but for the pledge given that parliament would again be assembled if such should appear to be necessary.

wished the Bill were divided into two parts. If it were so divided, he should vote in favour of the provision for putting down tumultuous meetings, &c. but he should oppose that authorising searching for arms. His objection to this was so strong, that, approving as he did of some of the provisions of the Bill, if it were still kept in, he, for one, should oppose the measure altogether. He was surprized the hon. and learned gentleman who had just sat down should pronounce the measure to be constitutional; it was a temporary suspension of the Bill of Rights, and however such a proceeding might be justified by circumstances, at least it was fitting that they should call things by their proper name.

, would not have risen, but for some observations which fell from his hon. friend (Mr. Whitbread) in the early part of the evening. His hon. friend had stated, that the only remedy for securing the tranquillity of the country was peace; and he had further said, that those very disturbers of the public peace, the objects of the present Bill, would cheerfully bear any burdens, provided they were satisfied that means had been taken by government to bring the war to a conclusion. At that assertion he had smiled, and his hon. friend expressed his surprise. The smile was excited because he recollected past times, when his hon. friend, expressing the same sentiments in opposing the measures of every administration, and in recommending to them to make overtures for peace, had, when those overtures failed, always said that the offer of our government had not been a fair one. The smile was naturally called up, because the declaration of his hon. friend was a perfectly safe one to make. With respect to the disturbers of the public peace, he hoped and trusted that when they were awakened from their delusion, and came to a proper sense of the valuable blessings which they enjoyed, they would return to their duty like true Englishmen. There was one other topic upon which he would say a few words, and that was the calumny which had been heaped upon the magistrates. When he recollected that so much was due to the magistracy, that the happiness of the country so much depended upon them, he could not avoid expressing his regret, that the hon. and learned gentleman should declare; that the legal profession had an unfavourable opinion of their conduct, generally speaking. He believed that very few of the legal profession would agree in the opinion of the hon. and learned gent. To be sure that opinion applied principally to the magistrates of Lancashire, for his hon. and learned friend had not uttered a word against those of Yorkshire. In what situation were the magistracy placed by the opinions of his hon. friend and the hon. and learned gentleman? At one moment his hon. friend reproached them for being too supine, and the next moment for being too active in the discharge, the gratuitous discharge, be it recollected, of their duty. When it was known that these magistrates were threatened with assassination for discharging their duty, and then were to experience such treatment from the House, was it likely they would act with vigour? The clause in the Bill empowering the magistrates to search for arms, he was afraid, would be ineffectual. Persons who dare not keep, and use their arms, would certainly, after the passing of the Bill, make that a sort of pretence for getting rid of them: but the delinquents could conceal their arms.

observed, that the censure of the hon. and learned gentleman could not apply to the whole of the magistracy, for only two were named as blamable. He however condemned the conduct of the hon. and learned gentleman, in affixing so foul a name as vermin upon them.

The House then divided—

The Bill was then read a second time, and committed for to-morrow.

rose for the purpose of moving a repeal of the laws relating to the aid given in effecting the escape of French prisoners of war. As the law now stood, which the noble lord observed called loudly for the interference of parliament, the crime was only made a misdemeanour: the object which he had in view in the Bill he should move for leave to bring in, would be to constitute the crime a felony, punishable as hereafter might be agreed upon; with transportation either for life, fourteen, or seven years. When it was known that prisoners of the highest rank in the army of the enemy had effected their escape by means of an organized system for conveying them out of the country, by a succession of persons so as to elude pursuit, the House would feel the necessity of providing against the danger. He therefore moved for "Leave to bring in a Bill for the more effectual punishment of persons aiding or assisting French prisoners of war to escape out of the country."

hoped that some measure would be adopted for an exchange of prisoners. He regretted that the opportunity afforded some time since had been suffered to pass over. Independent of the feelings of those persons nearest allied to our friends detained in France, the exchange, in a national point of view, was highly desirable.

coincided in opinion with the hon. gentleman, and assured him that his Majesty's government, as had been proved from the papers on the table, had not lost sight of any opportunity to bring about an exchange. The fault that no exchange had taken place did not rest with them. The earliest opportunity should be taken for a renewal of the negotiation with the French government, consistent with the honour and dignity of the country. Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.