28] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



tually preventing Seditious Meet- 

 ings and Assemblies." 



A considerable number of speak- 

 ers lose to give their opinions on 

 the subject ; but this being little 

 nioie than a prelude to a closer 

 engagement, we shall only men- 

 tion at present, that on a divi- 

 sion uf the House, the leave re- 

 c] nested was granted by 190 votes 

 against ]A. 



Lord Cdstlereagh then obtained 

 leave to bring in a bill to revive 

 and make perpetual an act for 

 the bettei prevention and punish- 

 ment of attempts to educe per- 

 sons serving in his Majesty's forces 

 by sea or land from their alleg - 

 ance ; and also a bill to make 

 pei'petual cei tain parts of an act 

 for the safety and preservation of 

 his Majesty's person and govern- 

 ment, including that of the Prince 

 Regent. The--e three bills were 

 then biought in and read a first 

 time. 



Petitions were in the meantime 

 prepaiiui!, in liie capital, and else- 

 where, against the suspension of 

 the Hal)e'b Corpus act. They 

 were presented to the House of 

 Commons on February '26th, the 

 (lay wlien Lord Castleieagh moved 

 the Older Tor the first reading of 

 the bill for suspending the Habeas 

 Corpus. 



Mr. Bennet said he would oppose 

 in every stage this arbitral y, im- 

 politic, and uncalled-for measure 

 After some severe remarks npim 

 the noble lord's public conduct, 

 he entered into a brief examina- 

 tion of some parts of the com» 

 mittee's report, and the alanu it 

 was calculated to spread. The 

 fi; St thing that he wovdd remark 

 upon was that part wldfh stated, 

 thai the most blasphen\ous ex- 



piessions and doctrines were 

 openly advanced in the denounced 

 meetings. Blasphe.iiv, he said, 

 was what he abhorred as much 

 as any man ; but he thought our 

 present laws \\ere sufficient for 

 the purpose of lestraining it. 

 The next thing to which he would 

 advert was that pai t of the report 

 which stated, that the disaffected 

 lookeii out for those people among 

 whom the greatest distress pre- 

 vailed, in order to excite discon- 

 tent. If they looked for distress, 

 he was sorry to say they might 

 too easily find it ; l)ut from what 

 himself had seen, and many hon. 

 members had described, there was 

 no other food for <liscontent ne- 

 cessary, nor any occasion for ha- 

 ranguingthe disaffected to heighten 

 complaints, or to point out the 

 means of relief. 



After various otlier obseiva- 

 tions, paitly serious and partly 

 ludicrous, the hon. member was 

 unwarily led to speak of ministers 

 who had " already embrued their 

 hands in the blood of tlieii' coun- 

 try, and who had been guilty of 

 the most criminal cruelties " 

 This charge called up Lord Ccistle- 

 reagli, who desired Mr. b. to state 

 which individual member of the 

 )iresent government he meant to 

 accuse. The result was, that 

 after an awkward apology, he <le- 

 claied thai he did not mean to 

 pursue the subject 



The Lord Advocate of Scotland 

 thought it his duty to communi 

 cate to the Hcmse a circumstance 

 whici) had Litely come within his 

 knowledge. A secret conspiracy 

 liad been organized in Glasgow, 

 which had comniunications with 

 SO' ieties in the country. The 

 conspiiacy was held together by 



means 



