rify the people into weak compliances, that minifters might continue in power, a power which drew the conftitution into their own hands, and which he could not confider as fafely lodged while in their poffef fion. The remainder of the day was spent in the examination of witneffes, and in a conference with the house of commons. The earl of Mansfield, as chief manager for the lords, ftated the nature of the evidence they had received; and the two houfes foon afterwards clofed the fitting, by adjournment till the next day. On the 30th of October the minutes of the evidence of the witneffes examined in the houfe of lords was communicated to the houfe of commons. The reading of this evidence being clofed, the commons unanimoufly agreed to the addrefs, and a meflage was fent to acquaint the lords therewith. His majefty's answer to the addrefs was reported on the 2d of November. On the 4th of November, copies of the proclamation iffued by his majefty relative to the outrages committed against his perfon on the 29th of October, and of the proclamation afterwards publifhed relative to feditious meetings, were fubmitted to the houfe of peers by lord Mansfield, and were ordered to lie on the table. On the fame day lord Grenville gave notice, that upon the 6th he would bring forward a bill for better fecuring the fafety of his majesty's person and government, when the proclamation would come to be difcuffed, and moved that their lordships be fummoned to attend upon that day. Lord Grenville, on the 6th of November, in purfuance of his notice given on the 4th, moved the order of the day, which was, that his majefty's proclamations fhould be read. His lordfhip conceived thofe proclamations to be the ground-work of the bill which he propofed that day to fubmit to the confideration of the house. The late violent attack upon the perfon of his majefty demanded fome neceffary meafures for the prevention of fimilar abufes; and that attack he fufpected to have been made in confequence of the licentious affemblies and procecdings which had of late been fuffered without any notice or reftriction. The treafonable and feditious fpeeches and writings which had latterly been fo affiduoufly diffeminated at public meetings, together with the number of lib.ls otherwise circulated, were fo general and notorious, as moft particularly to cali for the interference of parliament. He, as a fervant of his majefty and a member of that houfe, looked upon it as his duty to remonstrate against them, and endeavour to check their flagitious tendency. He obferved, that, whatever variation there might be in the bill he had to propofe from the precedents of former times, he affured their lordfhips that they would be found only to vary fo far as the peculiar forms of exifting circumftances required. The precedents to which he referred were thofe in the reign of Elizabeth, and at the commencement of the reign of Charles the Second, acts paffed in approved times, and applied to circumftances by no means diffimilar to those of the prefent day. He doubted not but their lordships would agree with him in the neceffity there was of applying a fpeedy remedy to thefe dangerous practices, which had proceeded fo far as to endanger the monarchy, or even the life and falety fafety of our prefent fovereign. On thefe grounds he prefented a bill entitled, "An Act for the, Safety and Prefervation of his Majesty's Perfon and Government against Treafonable and Seditious Practices and Attempts;" which being read. a first time, he moved that it fhould be printed, and the lords be fummoned for the fecond reading on the Tuesday following. The earl of Lauderdale faid, that, when he faw the proclamation which had just been read, his mind was filled with an equal degree of furprize and anxiety, confidering it to be a most extraordinary and unaccountable measure; that he had returned home, after the debate of a preceding evening, perfectly fatisfied, from what had paffed there, that every idea of difquiet or alarm had been lulled by the declaration they had heard from the highest authority, and which tended to convince the nation, that one of the great objects of the war was completely fulfilled, and that the dread and alarm which had any where exifted was quieted by the falutary effects of the prociamation of 1792, and the fubfequent measures which minifters had adopted. But his aftonishment was greatly excited by the perufal of the proclamation of Wednesday laft, and his furprize was augmented at finding a bill introduced from the fame quarter, and grounded upon that proclamation. This meafure appeared to him to be a direct contradiction to the high authority he had just alluded to, and proved that now it would be abfurd to fuppofe government had fucceeded in obtaining one of the greatest objects of the war; for they now came forward with a meafure ten times ftronger and more dangerous to the liberties of the country, than they had hitherto dared to do, even at the moment of their greatest and moft avowed alarm. His lordship contended, that, by the bill then introduced, a variety of new crimes and new treasons would be added to the criminal code of this country; and it would effect a total alteration of the laws refpecting treafon, and a most dangerous innovation upon the conftitution. He thought it extraordinary, that fo ftrong a measure should be propofed before there was the leaft evidence to prove that there was the flighteft connexion between the meetings at Iflington, &c. and· the outrage on his majefty, or that the treafon and fedition complained of did actually exift. Thus a bill was to be brought in without the leaft foundation, which, if pat ed into a law, would annihilate every liberty and privilege which Englishmen then enjoyed. public meeting, for any public purpofe, could be held, however legal fuch meeting might be, under fuch a law. The old conftitution of France had nothing more defpotic or more inconfiftent with the liberties of the people, than this bill went to create. The fact appeared to him to be, that, minifters having involved the country in a ruinous and deftructive war, they had then recourfe to extraordinary and unheard of measures, as the only means to carry on their mad and dangerous fyftem; a war entered into against the fenfe of the people, and carried on at an expence fo enormous, that it was with much difficulty the poor could bear the *Alluding to the debate on the addrefs to his majefty on the 30th of October; for which, fee the following chapter. preffure preffure of thofe grievances which it had already occafioned. The bill, he contended, was not brought in to check a specific or immediate danger, but as a permanent alteration of the criminal law of this country; for it was to continue during the life of the king, and even afterwards. What rendered the bill ftill more objectionabie was, that the minifters who were to be entrusted with this extraordinary acquifition of executive power, were the very men who had in the moft glaring manner ftrained the application of the penal laws to an unprecedented height. He pointed out feveral cafes wherein perfons had been treated with extreme tyranny under profecutions for fuppofed fedition and treafon; and concluded a very able and animated fpeech, by pronouncing the bill then before their lordships to be "one of the feverest, and most dangerous to the rights and liberties of the people, that had ever been introduced.' Lord Grenville, in contradiction to the earl of Lauderdale, obferved that ministers had not faid that all difcontent and defign against the government of this country was done away; that all feditious practices were at an end. This was not the fpirit or the meaning of his noble friend on the woolfack. The fpirit of what he had faid was this, that by the firmnefs of parliament in oppofing principles which had been fupported by the arms of France, and which had been induftriously propagated in this country, their lordships were yet able to debate in that houfe, and still poffeffed of the power of arguing on the advantages of the British conftitution; neither was it true that minifters had at any time affert ed that there was a general fpirit of difloyalty or difaffection in this country; fo far from this, he had the glory of faying, there was almoft an univerfal fpirit of loyalty in the nation. He denied the noble earl's affertion, that minifters had brought on this war. The votes of their lordships had already declared, that minifters had not involved the country in this war. With refpect to the provifions of the bill, when they came to be argued, he should prove his affertions on the neceffity of the measure. He fhould prove to the fatisfaction of their lordihips, that it did not, in the smallest degree, interfere with the right of the people to meet in legal and peaceable affemblies. None could be made to fuffer by it, except those who knew their conduct and intentions were wicked. The duke of Bedford faid that he would embrace a future opportunity to exprefs the fentiments of difapprobation which he entertained against the bill. He was convinced, that, while it was in their power to affemble, the people of this country would meet, and difplay their fenfe of this injurious attack aimed at their dearest rights and liberties, in a manner fo marked and decifive, as would induce their lordships to abandon the defign of carrying forward the bill. The earl of Radnor obferved that he might poffibly be thought an odd man: but fo far from being afraid to conftitute new treasons, he rather wished to do fo than not. If it were thought that certain offences, not in the purview of the act 25 Edward the Third, ought to be confidered and punifhed as high treafon, why not make them high treafon at once, and enact that they were fo? By fo doing, men would be taught to take warning, to un derftand derstand what crimes they were committing, and what punishment they were incurring, and to feel the neceflity of conducting themfelves accordingly. The queftion was at length put and carried, that the bill be printed, &c. The duke of Portland, on the 10th of November, prefented a petition to the houfe from the city of Bath, figned by a great number of perfons of that city, ftating their abhorrence of the outrages and infults committed against his majesty's perfon and the dignity of parliament, upon the first day of the feflion, and praying that their lordships would take fuch fteps as might bring the offenders to fpeedy punishment, and prevent the commiffion of fimilar crimes in future; which was real at the table. Lord Grenville then moved the order of the day, the fecond reading of the bill to protect his majefty's perfon and the conftitution of the country from fimilar attacks to thofe which had been fo recently made upon both. He had already ftated the grounds upon which this bill was brought in; the fact fet forth in the preamble was undeniable; a body of proof upon that head was already before their lordfhips; in addition to that evidence, they had his majefty's proclamation, grounded upon inquiry and examination. That fuch a meeting had been held in the fields but three days before the meeting of parliament, no man could hetitate to believe; no man likewife could doubt for a single moment, that the daring outrage committed on the perfon of the fovereign, and in it a most unprecedented infult on the dignity and freedom of parliament, followed from the feditious fpeeches, and libellous and treasonable papers circulated at that meeting. The bill, he faid, might be divided into two parts; the firft for the fafety and protection of his majefty's perfon, the other for the punifhment of treasonable crimes against the ftate. On the first, he prefumed, there would be no difference of opinion; and on the fecond, he afferted that there were no puniments created for crimes that were not already acknowledged to be fo by the exifting laws, excepting that it was intended, by the prefent bill, to include treafonable publications and difcourfes as equally criminal and dangerous with the acts frated to be treafon by the laws then in force. To devife or compafs the king's death, was already treafon; and the whole of that part of the bill was grounded upon the folemn opinions of the beft lawyers in this country. There could not be a doubt but fuch compaffing or confpiring against the king's perfon and government, as was specified in the bill, amounted to that degree of guilt which called for the most fevere punithment: whether it amounted to levying civil war against the king, or encouraging foreign enemies, or by writing, publifhing, or even speaking, the effect of the crime was the fame, and the punifhment ought to be fo likewife. The provifions of the bill had been made upon the fame principles as the acts of queen Elizabeth and Charles the Second, and were in fact as fimilar as the circumftances of the prefent times would admit; and it having been found that difficulties fometimes arofe in the conftruction of the acts now in force, it was intended, by the variations from them in this bill, to afcertain precifely the meaning which was to be given to the whole of the treafon laws. When the bill came into the committee, he meant to move the omitting of the words malicious and advised speaking; and that being done, there would remain nothing in the bill which was not already acknowledged by the exifting laws to be treafon. With regard to the claufe refpecting fedition, it did not, he faid, interfere with the prefent laws, nor prohibit any acts or meetings which were then legal, but in fome cafes provided a more adequate punishment for the degree of crime, than the exifting laws admitted of; it having in many inftances been found, that though the crime was fufficiently proved, the law did not point out any adequate punishment. Having taken this general view of the bill, he moved the fecond reading of it. The duke of Bedford stated, that, as far as the bill related to the glaring and flagitious outrage committed against the fovereign, every man in and out of the house muft reprobate fuch crimes, and earnestly with to fee them punished in an adequate and exemplary manner; at the fame time he must add, that he faw nothing in the bill that tended in the leaft to fecure or protect his majesty's person in a better or more effectual manner than it was now protected by the exifting laws. The fecond part of the bill was founded upon the proclamation against the meetings which had been lately held. He appealed to their lordships, whether it would not be inconfiftent with their dignity to proceed to fo folemn an act as the introduction of this extraordinary and dangerous bill, without having before them any proof of any fort, that the proceedings of thofe meetings had rendered fo ftrong a meafure indifpenfable. When the fame 15. miniftry propofed the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus Act, a felect committee was appointed, who reported to the houfe a mass of evidence which gave to their proceedings at leaft the appearance of deliberation; whereas, in the prefent cafe, they feemed to difregard all idea of deliberation, inquiry, or evidence. It was not enough that lord Grenville fhould declare, that he was fatisfied on this point; parliament ought to know the neceflity of the measure before they adopted it. He wifhed the noble fecretary of state would explain how the law, as far as it regarded the king's life, was in any refpect defective, or wherein this bill was likely to amend it. His grace then made fome pointed obfervations upon the good times from which lord Grenville had taken his precedents in fupport of the bill. He never thought that the noble lord had fo far forgotten what he and the nation owed to those who brought about the revolution, as to fpeak of the reigns of Elizabeth and Charles the Second as models for example, or furnishing precedents for government to act upon in the prefent day. The noble lord ought to reflect on the events which followed thofe precedents; and they would furely furnifh him with nothing that he could wish to anticipate from this measure. In queen Elizabeth's time thofe laws were chiefly directed against bulls iffued by the pope, and when the country from foreign and domeftic foes; was in a very diftracted ftate, both and in Charles the Second's reign, thefe measures were adopted when he was juft reftored after a twenty years' abfence, and were deemed abfolutely neceffary for his protection. The earl of Lauderdale rofe, and said that he did not believe the af fertion |