12 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



charge against the Irish government, 

 and not on the ground of removing 

 an aspersion which was never in- 

 tended. 



The bill was, after a few obser- 

 vations from Mr. Windham, order- 

 ed to be read a third time, and both 

 bills were subsequently passed with- 

 out further opposition in the com- 

 mons. In the lords, the only de- 

 bate which they produced, was on 

 the 12th of December, when lord 

 Hawkesbury introduced the subje(^t, 

 by saying, he thought ministers were 

 entitled to claim credit, as not in 

 general wishing that extraordinary 

 powers should be placed in their 

 bands, except in cases where imp(>- 

 rious ni?ccssity required it. The 

 measures that were now proposed, 

 were what, upon nearly similar oc- 

 casions, had secured the salvation of 

 Ireland. In Great-Britain, when a 

 ■wicked and diabolical coiis])iracy 

 ■was detected against the life of the 

 sovereign, the offenders were hand- 

 ed over to the ordinary tribunals, 

 and suffered the punishment due to 

 their crimes. There was then no 

 occasion for any extraordinary mea- 

 sures, because ministers were satis- 

 fied that the great majority of the 

 population of Great-Britain was 

 loyal. The case was very different 

 in Ireland, where it was well known 

 that a considerable portion of dis- 

 aft'edion still existed. It could not 

 be supposed, that the spirit of all of 

 those Avho had embarked in the ex- 

 tensive rebellion of 1798, could 

 have been since completely chang- 

 ed. A disposition to revenge yet 

 remained ; for it could not be de- 

 nied, but that, during the rebellion, 

 there were savage and atrocious acSts 

 committed both on the part of tho 

 rebels, and of the friends of go- 

 Tcrnment. Those a6ts, however, 



were not occasioned by martial law; 

 but, on the contrary, the martial 

 law armed government with such a 

 power, as prevented individuals; 

 from giving way to their private re- 

 sentments. Since the time this 

 power was renewed, in consequence 

 of the insurrection of the 23d of 

 Julj', there was only one instance 

 of a person being tried by martial 

 law ; and, perhaps, that instance 

 was solitary, because it was known 

 to be in force. On these grounds, 

 he moved, that the first of these 

 bills, the Irish habeas corpus sus- 

 pension bill, should be read a se- 

 cond time. 



The earl of Suffolk rose, not to 

 oppose the bills, which he really 

 believed to be necessary, but to en- 

 deavour to obtain from ministers 

 some information on tiie state of Ire- 

 land. He thought, when an insur- 

 rection was put down, it was the 

 proper time for government to en- 

 quire what were the grievances in 

 which it had original cd. He consider- 

 ed the advice that one of the great- 

 est men who ever lived, (lord Ba- 

 con) gave to queen Elizabeth, was 

 applicable to the present state of 

 Irchmd, as well as to the times in 

 which that advice was gwen. That 

 great man advised her majesty io 

 appoint a commission to enquire 

 into the existing grievances of that 

 country, and to consider of the 

 most effertual means of redressing 

 them. His lordship thought, that 

 such a commission ought now to be 

 appointed. Force might put down 

 rebellion in the field, but lenity and 

 justice alone could recover the 

 alienated affections of a people. 



Lord King complained, that the 

 ho'use were called upon by ministers 

 to pass such bills asthese,withoutany 

 evidence either of their cxpediencjr 



or 



