GENERAL HISTORY. 



[125 



opportunity of offering any expla- 

 nation that might induce the at- 

 torney-general to forbear further 

 proceedings. The right honoura- 

 ble gentltraan then digressed to the 

 libel itself, and the justice of pro- 

 secuting it, and said, he could not 

 possibly agree to the paper being 

 laid on the table, as trials were now 

 pending on the question. 



The speakers who followed de- 

 viated still further from the pro- 

 per subject of the motion, to which 

 Mr. Sheridan, in his reply, recall- 

 ed the attention of the house, shew- 

 ing that the character of the pub- 

 lication presented had nothing to 

 do with his motion, which was only 

 to inquire into the legality of the 

 summons issued from the attorney- 

 general for attendance at his own 

 house. This, indeed, the ministers 

 were aware did not admit of an easy 

 defence ; as Lord EUenborough, in 

 the debate on Lord Holland's mo- 

 tion, had declared that he should 

 not have acted as the attorney-ge- 

 neral of Ireland had done. The 

 motion, however, was negatived on 

 a division by 67 against 23. 



The atrocious character of the 

 war between England and France, 

 in which so many years had passed 

 without a cartel for the exchange 

 of prisoners, appears to have in- 

 duced, among the captives of the 

 latter nation, a state of despair, 

 which subverted all the customary 

 rules of honour, and rendered the 

 parole given for the purpose of ob- 

 taining the indulgence of a lax de- 

 tention, of no avail for restrain- 

 ing individuals from attempts to 

 escape. The frequency of such 

 attempts, 'and the ready aid af- 

 forded in consequence of bribery, 

 at length excited the attention of 

 government, and the measure was 



adopted of augmenting the pu- 

 nishment of those who should be 

 convicted of assisting in such 

 escapes. 



On July 14, Lord Castlereagh 

 rose in the House of Commons to 

 move a repeal of the existing laws 

 relating to the aid given in effect- 

 ing the escape of prisoners of war, 

 and substituting a bill by which 

 the crime, instead of a misde- 

 meanor, should be made a felony, 

 punishable by transportation, ei- 

 ther for life, fourteen years, or se- 

 ven years, as might be agreed on. 

 He said, that when it was known 

 that prisoners of the highest rank 

 in the enemy's army had effected 

 their escape by means of an or- 

 ganized system for conveying them 

 out of the countrjs by a succession 

 of persons so as to elude pursuit, 

 the house would perceive the ne- 

 cessity of providing against the 

 danger. He then made a motion 

 accordingly. 



After Mr. Whitbread had ex- 

 pressed his hope that some mea- 

 sure would be adopted for an ex- 

 change of prisoners, and Lord Cas- 

 tlereagh had assured him that the 

 fault did not rest with this govern- 

 ment, leave was given to bring in 

 the bill. No opposition appears 

 to have been made to its provi- 

 sions, and the second reading of it 

 in the House of Lords was moved 

 by Lord Sidmouth on July 23. 



His lordship, in introducing his 

 motion, remarked, that from a list 

 laid upon the table it appeared that 

 within the last three years 464 of- 

 ficers on parole in this country had 

 made their escape; whilst — a 

 splendid contrast — there was not a 

 single instance of an officer in our 

 service having broken his parole. 

 He dwelt upon the seriousness of 



the 



