HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



35 



■was their particular interest to 

 hare, it tends to establish a dan- . 

 gerous precedent, that would af- 

 ford too much opportunity lor the 

 operation of private pique against 

 the public interest. I, for one, 

 therefore, refused to connect my- 

 self with any one argument tiiat 

 should sanction that principle, 

 and, in my ojjinion, every man 

 who accepteil any ofiice under 

 that administration, is, according 

 to the letter and spirit of the con- 

 stitution, responsible for its cha- 

 racter and construction, and the 

 principle upon which it is found- 

 ed." 



Lord Melcille said, that this bill 

 having been founded on the same 

 principle as that of the army of re- 

 serve, which produced such excellent 

 effects, he could not consent to give it 

 up, without a fair trial, merely for 

 the sake of hazarding some other 

 experiment. It was not correct to 

 state, that it had eight months trial 

 here ; in Ireland and Scotland it had 

 not above three months operation. 

 It should be recollected, that it had 

 many obstructions to contend with, 

 and men's opinions, passions, and 

 prejudices, had a great effect in 

 thwarting the object of the bill : in 

 many places, where it had been at- 

 tempted, it had been carried into exe- 

 cution. His lordship said, it was 

 j)ainful for him to have observed so 

 much of party introduced into the 

 debate. It was certainly possible 

 for men to diller, and argue with 

 much heat and vehemence against 

 each others, for years, and yet at lait 

 find a principle on which they could 

 cordially unite. He liked heat in 

 argument, but rancorous or acrimo- 

 nious language should be avoided, 

 in the parliamentary theatre, where 

 the public were the audience, and 



might be disposed to call in ques- 

 tion the sincerity of noble lords, 

 who could treat each other wjt^ 

 rancour at one time, and yet unite 

 and mutually support each otlier af- 

 terwards. He had himself much 

 experience in that way, being an 

 older man than most of those he 

 wa> addressing, and though every 

 man had a right to maintain his 

 opinion with energy and warmth, 

 yet their lordships would do well 

 always to treat each other as gen- 

 tlemen. T 

 Lord Hawkesbnry thought the 

 effects of the measure to have been 

 much impaired by the expectations 

 held out, tliat the bill would be re- 

 pealed, and the penalties not en- 

 forced. It was of importance not 

 to encourage such an expectation : 

 under all its disadvantages it had 

 already done much, without, in the 

 slightest degree, intcifering with the 

 ordinary mode of recruiting. After 

 a few observations from the earl 

 of Buckinghamshire, and the lord 

 chancellor, in favour of the bill, and 

 a short reply from lord Dai nley, 

 the motion for the repeal was nega- 

 tived, by a majority of 68, the num- 

 bers being for it 45, and against 

 it 113. 



On the same day, the house of 

 commons having resolved itself into 

 a committee, on the Irish habeas 

 corpus suspension bill, sir Evan 

 Nepean moved, that the blank 

 left for ascertaining the duration of 

 the bill, should be filled up with the 

 words, " six weeks after the com- 

 " mencement of the next session of 

 " parliament," to which lord II. 

 Petty moved an amendment, sub- 

 stituting the words, " the first day of 

 " May." This gave rise to a long 

 conversation, in which the clmn- 

 cellor of the exchequer, ftlr. R. 

 D 2 Ward, 



