274 ANNUAL 



REGISTER, 1794. 



riotliing was more certain than its 

 very speedy diVsoIutioii, if ministers 

 were permitted to carry every 

 measure tliey proposed for tlie cur- 

 tailment of the long established 

 franchises of the people. As '.he 

 thirst of power was iiever s-aliatcd, 

 so those who possessed it would, 

 if unobstructed, proceed, step after 

 step, to surround themselves with 

 all the terrors of parliamentary de- 

 crees in favour of the executive 

 authority delegated to them, until 

 that authority become finally para- 

 mount to all resistance. But why, 

 said Mr. Fox, should the manifest 

 danger of so fatal an it-sue be incur- 

 red ? Was it to punish the discon- 

 tented, and root out all discon- 

 tents ? But if the suspension was to 

 continue till this were effected, 

 then it must never hive an end : a 

 supposition which would not suffer 

 a moment's countenance. 



The necessity of suspending the 

 Habeas Corpus net, was arj^ued ro 

 Tess strenuously by Mr. Pitt. Tlie 

 question, he said, was, whether the 

 dangers threatened to the state 

 were greater than ai>y that could 

 arise from the suspension prcpo?ed, 

 which would terminate in six 

 months, ai.d conld not in the mean 

 time anywise affect the lights ot 

 the people, or the privileges of any 

 rank of society ? Were the power 

 thus conferred to be :;bused, the 

 law would stili lie open against the 

 guilty, and prove rrore iiieX<.>rable 

 than in any other instances of mis- 

 conduct, from the vtry nature of 

 the ofrence ; wliicli would be a 

 breach of public trust in the most 

 criminal degree. It was unjust, he 

 said, to compare the conduct of go- 

 vernment in this country to that 

 which was now fxerclsed over the 

 French. The truth v.-ss, that we 



were necessitated to resist French 

 crimes by opposing to them French 

 principles. Whatever might be al- 

 ledged against severer measures, if , 

 those already employed to obviate 

 the apprehended evils were ineffi- ., 

 cacious. m.ore efi'ectual must be 

 used. Was lenity to be admitted 

 where the constitution was at stake ? 

 Were a convention upon Jacobin 

 piinciples once established, who 

 could foresee how it would end ? 

 No indulgence, no concession ought 

 to be shewn to those societies. — 

 How could they expect or deserve 

 any from a government and con- 

 stitution they indubitably proposed 

 to subvut? Not to stop the pre- ' 

 gress of their opinions, were no 

 better than granting a toleration to 

 sedition and anarchy. As to the 

 extent ofthe rigourintended against 

 them, that must depend wholly on 

 the audacity of their attempts. No 

 undue severities however, said Mr. 

 Pitt, would be resorted to : and thf 

 degree of punii-hm.ent would net 

 exceed that of criminality. It were 

 nugatory to deny the existence of 

 designs against tiie government and 

 constitution ; and he doubted not 

 that the measure taken to obviate 

 'Jtese would appear exceedingly 

 proper, .IS it did not oppose the 

 right of tlie people to meet toge- 

 ther for lawful purposes, or to pe- 

 tition for a reform, or a redreis of 

 abuses. But the convention pro- 

 posed bv the societies, went tar 

 beyond all those bounds, as fully 

 appeared from their papers. No- 

 thing would hnve satisfied it less 

 than a controul over parliament 

 itself. 



Lord Grenville, on the l/th of 

 M-^y, , brought into the House of 

 T.ords a message from the King^ 

 similar to that which had been de- 

 livered 



