30] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



ing of the bill, Yeas 273, Noes 98 : 

 Majority 175. 



The order of the day for the 

 third lending of the bill took place 

 on the 2Stli of February. In the 

 speeciies on the occasion, Mr. 

 Lamb, as a member of the secret 

 committee, among other argu- 

 ments said, that the ordinary 

 course of the law might be suffi- 

 cient, if the law were suffered to 

 take its course ; bat he believed 

 it to be stopped and arrested by 

 the system of threats and menaces 

 which intimidated jurors and wit- 

 nesses. 



Sir Arthur Pigott expressed him- 

 self much surprised that the 

 hon. gentleman should defend the 

 suspension of the Habeas Corpus 

 on the ground that the coimtry 

 was at present in such a state that 

 the existing laws could not be 

 carried into execution. Were this 

 the real state of things, a point of 

 so much importance ought to be 

 established on evidence very dif- 

 ferent from that which was laid 

 before the committee of secrecy. 

 How had the hon. gentleman been 

 satisfied, that the situation of the 

 country was such as he had de- 

 scribed it to be ? Had it appeared 

 to the committee that such was 

 the fact, they would not have 

 closed their report without di- 

 rectly mentioning it. 



The whole of the question being 

 at length disposed of, the House 

 divided on the third reading, 

 wliich was carried by 26.5 to 103: 

 majority 162. 



.Sir Francis Burdett then pro- 

 posed a clause, that no peison 

 detained under this act shall be 

 shut up in a durgeon, or other 

 unwholesome place, or deprived 

 of air and exercise, or loaded with 



irons, &c. which was negatived 

 without a division. 



Mr. William Smith next moved 

 a clause, securing the right of 

 action against the persons who 

 should issue warrants of commit- 

 ment under the act, if the persons 

 committed should be dismissed 

 without trial, provided the action 

 were brought within a month 

 after the expiration of the act j 

 which was also negatived without a 

 division. 



Mr. Pomonby then proposed a 

 clause, fixing the 20th of May for 

 the expiration of the bill, ijistead 

 of the 1st of July, on which the 

 House divided : for the clause 97, 

 against it 239. 



Sir Sam. Romilly brought in an 

 amendment to the bill, the pur- 

 pose of which was to limit its 

 operation in Scotland, as well as 

 in England, to persons committed 

 to prison for treason, or suspicion 

 of treason, upon a warrant signed 

 by six privy counsellors, or one of 

 the principal secretaries of state ; 

 whereas, as the bill now stood, it 

 extended in Scotland to persons 

 committed by any subordinate 

 magistrate. 



The House of Lords was moved 

 by Lord Sidmoulh on March 3d, 

 to take into its consideration the 

 amendments which the House of 

 Commons had introduced into the 

 Habeas Corpus bill. The Earl of 

 Darnley, as a final effort for set- 

 ting tiie bill aside, made a motion 

 for referring it to that day three 

 months, which was negatived 

 without a division. Some further 

 discussion occurred respecting the 

 rapidity with which it had passed 

 the House of Lords, after which 

 the amendments in the Commons 

 were agreed to. 



On 



