boys; for it is a notorious fact, that thefe pfeudo-petitions were introduced into many academies, and the fignatures of children not eleven years of age folicited, and in fome inftances compelled. The utmoft exertions of minifters could, however, only procure 64 petitions (including thofe from military bodies), which, with the utmoft latitude of conftruction, could be interpreted into an approbation of their bills; while the petitions decidedly in oppofition to them amounted to the number of NINETY-FOUR: the number of fignatures to the latter were alfo 131,284, while thofe affixed to the former, including foldiers, excifemen, and fchool-boys, did not exceed 29,922. The minifter was, however, not checked in his headlong career by the voice of the people: ant a confiding majority in both holes of parliament went cheerfully through their labour of apidating that fabric cemented by the blood of their ancestors. A meffage from the lords informed the houfe of. commons on the 16th of November, that their lordfhips had paffed an act for the fafety and prefervation of his majesty from treafonable acts, and defired the concurrence of the commons in the fame. The chancellor of the exchequer, after other bufinefs, moved, that "this act be read a first time." This motion was carried by 170 against 26. Upon the motion for a fecond reading of the bill, the house again divided. Ayes 151, Noes 25. Lord Eardley remarked, upon this occafion, on the impropriety of a public meeting having been held by fome of the oppofition on Sunday, on the fubject of the bills then pending in parliament, and obferved, that, in this as well as in other refpects, he was forry to fee too great a refemblance to French principles. Mr. Sheridan obferved that he was by no means a perfon who was apt to fail in refpect for the faith or profeffion of his country. The cafe was urgent; the object of the meeting was to prepare a hand-bill in order to difcourage riot. Mr. Grey, Mr. Fox, Mr. Lamb. ton, and Mr. Sheridan, oppofed the bill, on the ground of withing to bring on firft the motion for a committee to inquire into the circumftances of the late attack on his majesty. Several ministerial members urged the indecency of oppofing in the firft ftage a bill for the further fecurity of his majesty's perfon, whofe life had been lately fo much in danger,-a bill, which was alfo recommended to them by the houfe of lords. In reply to thefe obfervations, Mr. Sheridan remarked, that, if fuch a neceffity did exift as juftified the bill in question, then proof of that neceffity was attainable, and ought to be given; for his part, he had heard of no fatisfactory proof for recurring to fo violent a measure. Proofs were abfolutely neceffary; and minifters were bound to furnish them, as the onus probandi clearly lay with them. Before the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus act, minifters had condefcended to act with fome little decency-with fome deliberation-and had accordingly moved for the appointment of a committee of inquiry, upon the report of which committee they afterwards proceeded. If the report were neceffary then, it was more indifpenfable at prefent: for upon what poffible principle, faid Mr. Sheridan, could minifters call upon that houfe, to affent to the strong meafures which were then offered for con preached, profecutions must have been commenced, or elfe there must have been great neglect in the magiftrates and the executive government, and confequently we are au thorifed to difbelieve it." He then took notice of the immense meeting which had taken place a few days before in the city of Westminster, for the purpose of petitioning against the two bills then before parliament; if this meeting, he obferved, had been held before the meeting of parliament, he fhould not have been furprifed if it had been used as an argument for the neceffity of this bill. He concluded by moving, "That a committee be appointto inquire into the exittence and extent of the danger of feditious meetings, as referred to in his majefty's proclamation, and laid before the house by his majesty's minifter, on the fourth of November." confideration, unless they established an abfolute neceffity for fuch measures, and confirmed it by evidence? He would not ftoop to the proclamation as a proof, for he confidered that proclamation as the declaration of the minifter. There was then no authority for confenting to this bill. He was inclined to think, that the prefent alarm had been created folely by minifters, for the accomplishment of their corrupt purpofes of libelling the country, as they had formerly done. He remembered, in the late trials for treason, that he had the most clear and diftinct proof, that the whole of the atrocious acts laid to the charge of the prifoners, originated with the informers, reporters, and fpies, employed ed on that occafion. Having had fome doubts as to the existence of the pretended confpiracies, he was refolved to fee fair play; and he only difcharged his duty as a member of parliament, and one of the guardians of the public welfare, in attending fome of thofe trials. About the fame time, intelligence was received of a third plot, whimfically denominated the pop-gun plot, which had been inveftigated by government, and in fome degree confirmed by their proceedings. This plot was published with every dreadful particular, and with exaggerated comments, in all the minifterial papers. At length, this plot turned out to be fomething about a contrivance to affaffinate the king at one of the theatres, with a frange inftrument which was never found, and by men who were afterwards releafed, Mr. Sheridan next alluded to an affertion made fome days before by Mr. Canning, that the doctrine of king-killing had been preached at Copenhagenhoufe. "Now," faid Mr. Sheri-, dan, "if fuch doctrines had been Mr. Powys contended, that the houfe had no need of specific evidence of the treasonable designs of the meetings; the notoriety alone was enough to justify the legislature of the country in reforting to strong and decided regulations, to prevent the dangerous confequences of fuch inflammatory aflemblies as thofe of the Correfponding Society ufually were. He alluded to a publication which had been handed about at one of the late meetings held in the fields near London, to which the name of Citizen Lee was annexed ás printer, and urged this circumftance as a proof of the connexion between the doctrines preached at them, and the outrage committed upon the perfon of his majesty on the firft day of the feffion. faid, there was nothing brought to difprove the defigns of the focieties; the cafe was this; their guilt C 3 He was was of fuch a defcription, that it did not go fo far as to fubject the offenders to capital punishment, as in cafes of treafon. Since, then, -there was no exifting law to punih their feditious practices, it became neceffary to the prefervation of the country, and the fafety of the government, that a new law fhould be made to stop them. He contended, that the leaders of those meetings aimed at more than a parliamentary reform; they wifhed to overturn the government of the Country: as a fign of this, they held out the French fyftem as a model of imitation to England. Their proceedings in Scotland, and their debates at Chalk Farm, fufficiently juftified this charge. Mr. Jekyl, on the contrary, urged the cafe of the notorious Titus Oates, when the minifters of Charles the fecond, for their own purposes, had encouraged, or had framed, fimilar machinations to thofe of the prefent adminiftration. That the fuppofed plots were really the production of minifters themselves, was confirmed by the fupineness of the attorneygeneral, by whom no profecution was inftituted, nor feemed to be defigned. Such were the pretences on which the houfe were required to pass the two bills, one of which affaffinated the best privileges of the conftitution; the other "gagged the mouths of British fubjects." He concluded with urging the neceffity of profecuting an inquiry into the extent of the danger of feditious meetings. Mr. Curwen, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Sheridan, urged atfo the neceffity of going into an enquiry, and contended that the laws of this country were amply fufficient for the purpofe of fuppreffing criminal attempts on the conftitution; and if they were, not properly executed, it arofe from the fecret views of minifters themselves. The country was then worn down by calamity and diftrefs, and experienced the bitter fruits of that, confidence which had been fo liberally and fo unwifely repofed in the chancellor of the exchequer. They infifted upon having evidence before them on the prefent occafion; they would not trust the minister's reprefentations: his conduct difplayed a uniform fyftem of delufion and impofture. They obferved, that, at the opening of the feffion, minifters extolled the peaceable and loyal temper of the people, the overthrow of French principles, which the war had effected, and afterwards came to propofe laws for the fuppreffion of turbulence and fedition, the neceflity of which laws they defended upon events which happened prior to that period. Mr. Fox obferved, that, at the beginning of the feffion, he had congratulated himself, when he heard his majefty talk of the spirit of order and fubmiffion to the laws, which, with a very few exceptions, had difcovered itfelf among his faithful fubjects. Coupling this declaration with the conduct of minifters, in allowing the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus to drop, he had flattered himfelf that minifters had renounced the opinion, that the evil to be dreaded from certain principles would be diminished by vigorous judicial proceedings, and the profecution of the war with France. He did not, for his own part, think that the evil was in any degree diminished. Mr. Fox then made fome obfervations upon the different defcriptions of fpies employed by the minifter: firft, there were perfons who might by chance be privy to fome intelligence, which they might deem it effential for the interes or fafety of of the ftate to communicate; and these he denominated ufeful or meritorious fpies. But there were others who went certain lengths in order to acquire information, and made certain facrifices, in order more completely to get into the fecrets of others: thefe he reckoned at least doubtful. But there were a third fort, who, in order to ferve their own vile purposes, infinuated themselves into the confidence of thofe whom they wifhed to betray, not only affected a fimilarity of fentiment, but even fpurred and goaded them on-prompted them to adopt more violent language, and more reprehenfible propofitions, than they would otherwife have employed. Of fuch characters, there were no words in the English language which could fufficiently mark his deteftation. Severai fpies of this defcription had appeared at the Old Bailey. Thefe fpies had been found the most furious in their fentiments, and the most intemperate in their language. They had often been the exaggerated and falfifying reporters of those proceedings of which they themselves had been the prime movers and contrivers. He then alluded to the trial of Mr. Walker of Manchester, the proceedings at which were of fuch a nature, that they made his blood run cold whenever he read or thought of them. Mr. Walker indeed, was not put in peril of his life; for it required the oaths of two witneffes to bring him to condign punishment; and, fortunately for human nature, a fecond Dunn was not to be found. Yet, on the oath of this very man, a gentleman of the name of Paul had for fome time been kept in prifon. Though Mr. Walker was liberated upon the conviction of the perjury of his ac cufer, yet he received no reparation from minifters, for having been put in hazard of his character, his li berty, and his fortune. It was furely the duty of government to make amends to the innocent individual, fubjected to the difgrace and hardships of confinement, from the negligence of minifters, or the depravity of their agents. Mr. Fox faid, he meant no perfonal reflection, but he had no hesitation in faying, that, fince the commencement of the reign of his present majefty, the freedom of the fubject had been confiderably diminished. He then proceeded to refute the pretext for not going into an inquiry, from the fuppofed urgency of danger. He concluded with alluding to a fpeech he had that day made to a meeting of the inhabitants of Westminster, confifting of thirty thoufand people, where he had been heard with unanimity and approbation; fo great was the change that had taken place in their fentiments fince the commencement of the war. The attorney general and the chancellor of the exchequer urged, that the motion made then for an inquiry was totally unneceffary, and calculated to create delay. The former was perfuaded that the very existence of the country was at ftake, and depended upon the adoption of the meafures then before parliament. He then went into a vindication of himself in the profecution of Hardy and others for high treafon - particularly for not indicting them for misdemeanors and feditious practices--and declared it as his firm opinion, that he could bring no other charge against the perfons accufed than he had brought!!! more efpecially as parliament had stated its proceedings, and had declared that a confpiracy C 4 had had actually exifted. He vindicated both the houfe of commons, the jury, and himself, with refpect to the acquittal of the prifoners. It was admitted by the grand jury, that there was ground for an accufation for the crime of high treafon; it was therefore his duty to follow up the indictment, and fubmit the whole of the matter to the jury for their decifion. He next proceeded to the bill then before the house for preventing feditious affemblies. He faid, the question was, whether the fituation of this country was fuch, that a lefler evil thould be adopted to prevent a greater. He allowed the bill would extend the power of magiftrates; but argued, that the feditious meetings lately held, and the inflammatory fpeeches made at them, called aloud for the meatures about to be adopted to prevent them in future. He had feen two handbills, one entitled, "The Rights of Kings," and the other, "Summary of the Duties of Citizenfhip," both written for the use of the members of the Correfponding Society. The attorney general then gave it as his opinion, that it was impoffible for the laws of the country, as they then flood, effectually to reftrain the publication of fuch, libels, and prevent fuch feditious meetings. He agreed that the propofed laws would in fome degree refrain other bodies of men, but, contended that faius populi fuprema Lex eft. Sir Francis Baffet fpoke in favour of the bill, and pointed out the neceffity of paffing it into a law., The houfe at length divided.,. For, the motion, 22; against it, 167. It is difficult, extremely difficult, to affign one tolerable reafon for the minifter's conduct in refifting this motion for inquiry. The atThe attack on his majefty had been made under circumstances which in fome perfons had excited fufpicion. An immenfe reward offered for the difgovery of the offender, had proved ineffectual; and the minifter, in the courfe of the debate, had been publicly compared with the miniifters of Charles II. who were known and acknowledged to have fabri cated plots and confpiracies to promote their own finifter defigns. A man of fpirit, in fuch circumftances, would have called for inquiry inftead of refifting it, as if he was afraid of truth, as if he fhrunk from inveftigation. On the other hand, by having the facts in evidence before the house, the arguments of oppofition must have been confined within much more limited boundaries. They muft have acknowledged the evil; and they could only have deliberated on the fimple queftion, whether the propofed remedy was fuch as ought to be adopted confiftently with the principles of the conftitution. How mortifying muft it have been to a minifter to hear his character impeached by the blackeft infinuations, which, in the records of parliament, muft defcend to pofterity, while a little investigation would, we doubt not, have placed it in a fair point of view, and might eventually even have led to the detection of the atrocious offender? " |