Page Feb. 13. PETITION from Joseph Mitchell, complaining of the Opera- tion of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act....... from Thomas Evans on the same Subject from William Ogden on the same Subject from John Stewart on the same Subject.... from William Benbow on the same Subject, ... 414 from John Bagguley, complaining of the Operation of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act from James Leach on the same Subject - from Benjamin Scholes on the same Subject .. - from the Corporation of London, for an Inquiry into the Conduct of Ministers with regard to the Exe- cution of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act ...... 578 - from George Bradbury, complaining of the Opera- tion of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act from Richard Lee on the same Subject - from Samuel Bamford on the same Subject............ 674 - from Elijah Dixon on the same Subject - from Robert Pilkington on the same Subject......... 677 - from Jonathan Buckley Mellor, complaining of Im- Feb. 5. LIST of the Minority in the House of Commons, on the Motion for a Secret Committee on the State of the Country..... 191 of the Minority in the House of Commons, on lord Archi- bald Hamilton's Motion respecting Prosecutions insti- tuted against State Prisoners in Scotland.................... - - - of the Minority in the House of Commons, on Mr. Faza- --- of the Minority in the House of Commons, on lord Folke- stone's Motion for a Committee to examine into the Truth of the Allegations contained in the several Peti- tions complaining of the Operation of the Habeas Cor- pus Suspension Act.... .............................................. 395 of the Minority in the House of Commons, on sir W. Bur- of the Minority in the House of Commons, on Mr. Philips's of the Minority in the House of Commons, on lord_Al- 16. - - - of the Minority in the House of Commons on sir M. W. PARLIAMENTARY THE Parliamentary Debates During the Sixth Session of the Fifth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, appointed to meet at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh Day of January 1818, in the Fifty-eighth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King GEORGE the Third. HOUSE OF LORDS. Tuesday, January 27, 1818. THE PRINCE REGENT'S SPEECH ON OPENING THE SESSION.] This day at three o'clock, the session was opened by commission. The commissioners were, the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the earl of Harrowby, the earl of Westmorland, and the duke of Montrose. The Speaker, accompanied by a great number of members of the House of Commons, being come to the bar, the Prince Regent's Speech was read by the Lord Chancellor as follows: "My Lords and Gentlemen; "We are commanded by his royal highness the Prince Regent to inform you, that it is with great concern that he is obliged to announce to you the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition. "The Prince Regent is persuaded that you will deeply participate in the affliction with which his Royal Highness has been visited, by the calamitous and untimely death of his beloved and only child the Princess Charlotte. "Under this awful dispensation of Providence, it has been a soothing consolation to the Prince Regent's heart, to receive from all descriptions of his majesty's subjects the most cordial assurances both of their just sense of the loss which they have sustained, and of their sympathy with his parental sorrow: and, (VOL. XXXVII.) [Sess. 1818. "We are commanded to acquaint you, that the Prince Regent continues to receive from foreign powers the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition towards this country, and of their desire to maintain the general tranquillity. "His Royal Highness has the satisfaction of being able to assure you, that the confidence which he has invariably felt in the stability of the great sources of our national prosperity has not been disappointed. "The improvement which has taken place in the course of the last year, in almost every branch of our domestic industry, and the present state of public credit, afford abundant proof that the difficulties under which the country was labouring were chiefly to be ascribed to temporary causes. "So important a change could not fail to withdraw from the disaffected the prin cipal means of which they had availed themselves for the purpose of fomenting a spirit of discontent, which unhappily led to acts of insurrection and treason; and his Royal Highness entertains the most confident expectation, that the state of peace and tranquillity to which the coun(B) try is now restored, will be maintained against all attempts to disturb it, by the persevering vigilance of magistracy, and by the loyalty and good sense of the people. "Gentlemen of the House of Commons; "The Prince Regent has directed the estimates for the current year to be laid before you. "His Royal Highness recommends to your continued attention the state of the public income and expenditure; and he is most happy in being able to acquaint you, that since you were last assembled in parliament, the revenue has been in a state of progressive improvement in its most important branches. My Lords, and Gentlemen ; "We are commanded by the Prince Regent to inform you, that he has concluded treaties with the courts of Spain and Portugal, on the important subject of the abolition of the slave trade. "His Royal Highness has directed that a copy of the former treaty should be immediately laid before you; and he will order a similar communication to be made of the latter treaty, as soon as the ratification of it shall have been exchanged. "In these negotiations it has been his Royal Highness's endeavour, as far as circumstances would permit, to give effect to the recommendations contained in the joint addresses of the two Houses of Parliament: and his Royal Highness has a full reliance on your readiness to adopt such measures as may be necessary for fulfilling the engagements into which he has entered for that purpose. "The Prince Regent has commanded us to direct your particular attention to the deficiency which has so long existed in the number of places of public worship belonging to the established church, when compared with the increased and increasing population of the country. "His Royal Highness most earnestly recommends this important subject to your early consideration, deeply impressed, as he has no doubt you are, with a just sense of the many blessings which this country by the favour of divine Providence has enjoyed; and with the conviction, that the religious and moral habits of the people are the most sure and firm foundation of national prosperity." The House was then adjourned till five o'clock. REPEAL OF THE HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION ACT.] The House being resumed, the earl of Liverpool, according to usage, presented a Bill for the better regulation of Select Vestries, which he moved should be read a first time. Lord Holland said, he did not rise to he approved, but to state that he had inobject to the Bill, of which on the contrary, tended to save the noble earl the trouble of introducing this bill according to usage, by himself presenting a bill of restoring the liberties of the people, the utmost importance, for the purpose of which had been outraged by the passing of a bill for the suspension of that great bulwark of the constitution, the Habeas Corpus. Satisfied that not a moment ought to be lost in restoring those invaluable privileges to Englishmen, of which they had thus been deprived, he had prepared a bill, which he then held in his hand, for the repeal of the act for suspending the benefits of the Habeas Corpus. He had, however, been induced, for two reasons, to refrain from presenting the bill that ministers themselves might be inducon this day; the first was, the possibility ed to repair the wrong they had done, and thus to bring forward a bill for repealing the act to which he had alluded, and which they could not now pretend was any longer necessary; the second reason had so unhappily occurred, and respectarose out of the melancholy event that ing which he was satisfied there was but one opinion amongst all men, either in that House or in the country; he did not it became their distressing duty to offer wish to interrupt that condolence which therefore he was induced to postpone his upon so calamitous an occasion; and intention. He, however, was decidedly of opinion, that no time ought to be lost in bringing forward the bill to which he for suspending the Habeas Corpus, the had alluded; and as, in passing the act ordinary forms of the House were dispensed with, so ought they to be with regard to a bill for the repeal of that act. He now wished to ask, whether it was the intention of any noble lord on the other side to bring forward a bill for the repeal of the Habeas Corpus Suspension act, and whether, in such case, it was intended to move to suspend the standing orders, to allow of such a bill passing with more rapidity than usual, as had been done in the case of the act sought to be repealed? If no such intention was intimated, some noble lord near him, or if not, he himself would, without delay, introduce a bill for the repeal of the act alluded to. this happy change to the wise measures of parliament, which had counteracted the schemes of the disaffected. In reviewing our relations with foreign powers, there were no circumstances of greater interest than the treaties concluded with Spain and Portugal, for the final abolition of the slave trade. The exertions of this country with respect to that point had been most exemplary; but the interests of humanity required their completion, an object which the present treaties were likely to effect. The only topic which remained for him to notice was, the lamentable deficiency of places of worship throughout the country, as compared with the increased po The Earl of Liverpool said, that if the noble lord had waited till the discussion on the Address was over, instead of making what he could not but consider an irregular speech, he would have heard a no-pulation. To this subject it became the ble friend of his, to whose department this business especially referred, give notice of his intention to present a bill for the repeal of the act commonly called the Habeas Corpus Suspension act, and also to move to take the standing orders into consideration to-morrow, with the view of suspending them, in order to pass the Repeal Bill without any delay, as in the case of the original act. House to lend their attention. In former reigns money had been voted by parliament for the erection of churches; and when the importance of the subject was considered, he felt confident that they would not, in the present day, be found less willing to contribute to such a work than on any former occasion. The noble lord concluded by moving an Address to the throne, which was, as usual, an echo of the Speech. ADDRESS ON THE PRINCE REGENT'S Lord Selsey, in rising to second the SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE SES- Address, said, that he should occupy the SION.] The Prince Regent's Speech hav-attention of the House but for a short peing been read by the lord chancellor and also by the reading clerk at the table, riod; feeling that, after the able speech they had just heard, he should have the The Earl of Aylesford rose to move an less occasion for dwelling on the topics Address of Thanks. There could, he before the House. Upon the melancholy said, be but one opinion upon the melan- loss which the country had recently suscholy events with which the Speech had tained, there could be no difference of commenced. Who was there that did not opinion-an event so deplorable demanded sympathize in the sufferings of our vene- all their warmest sympathies. Only a few rable king; or who that did not mourn weeks had rolled away since all classes of over the untimely loss of the Princess society had looked forward with hope and Charlotte, whose amiable life, whose ex-joy to the birth of a prince, who would alted virtues, whose sweetness of disposi-perpetuate the line of the illustrious family tion, and whose excellent understanding, had endeared her to the nation in general. On her decease, addresses of condolence had poured into the throne from every part of the country, thereby evincing the deep sympathy of the people; and their lordships could now, by their expression of sorrow, complete the picture of national grief. But amidst the gloom with which they had been overwhelmed, the state of the country afforded topics of proud congratulation, and particularly as compared with its former condition. The revenue had been constantly improving, commerce had revived, and the tone of public feeling had proportionably ameliorated. It was but fair to attribute some part of which now swayed the destinies of the empire. This hope and this joy had suddenly given way to the deepest affliction; and who that considered the merits, the eminent virtues of that amiable princess, did not feel that as long as virtue continued to hold a place in the estimation of mankind, the loss of the princess Charlotte would be deeply, warmly, and sincerely lamented; and he felt a sad and solemn satisfaction in thus publicly offering up his humble tribute of sorrow at the melancholy event that had blighted the fair rose of the state, and had untimely snatched away the best hopes of the country. Turning from this distressing subject, the country presented abundant t |