72] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



themselves entitled to in the 

 theory of the constitutioa. They 

 might, said his lordsliip, be mis- 

 taken in this reasoning, but it was 

 unjust to brand it as hostile to 

 the government, when it had been 

 over and over again maintained in 

 parliament by the most illustrious 

 statesmen, that a reform in the 

 representation was the only possi- 

 ble security for our invaluaijle 

 constitution. This alone bad been 

 the object of every one of the nu- 

 merous meetings which had so 

 much alarmed his majesty's mi- 

 nisters, and which tliey had taken 

 such violent and dangerous mea- 

 sures to suppress. 



Speaking of the suspension of 

 the Habeas Corpus, his lordship 

 said, the House might depend 

 upon it, and he spoke from an ex- 

 perience which scarcely ever be- 

 longed to any other man, that the 

 administration of justice, instead 

 of being strengthened by it, was 

 sure to suffer in the extreme from 

 the odium attaching even upon 

 just prosecutions J and govern- 

 ment might lay its account with 

 being completely foiled in every 

 attempt to produce order and obe- 

 dience by judicial trials, as long as 

 the Habeas Corpus Act remained 

 suspended, and other measures of 

 distrust and coercion were in 

 force against the whole mass of 

 the people. 



Lord Rcdesdale, in his speech in 

 favour of ministers, observed that 

 a great deal had been said about 

 spies and informers, and the in- 

 famy of employing such charac- 

 ters. But he would ask, whether 

 in the history of the whole world 

 an instance of the detection of a 

 conspiracy of this kind could be 

 found but by such means. It Wfis 



really ridiculous to decry the em- 

 ployment of such instruments un- 

 der such ciicumstances. That prac- 

 tice was even more necessary now 

 than on any former occasion, es- 

 pecially in 1793, for the secrecy 

 and caution of the conspiiators 

 were so much greater. 



Earl Grey, touching upon the 

 argument in his speech on the op- 

 j)osite side of the (piestion, said that 

 lie liad thought that this practice 

 had been condemned by orators 

 and statesmen, and by great men 

 of every age and nation ; that it 

 was a practice sanctioned only by 

 the most despotic governments ; 

 that it poisoned the souices of 

 confidence between man and man ; 

 and was destructive of domestic 

 happiness and individual security. 

 He regarded the employment of 

 such engines as the great distinc- 

 tion between a free and a des])otic 

 government ; but if these men, 

 sent to penetrate into the designs 

 of others were to impel them to 

 the commission of crimes, what 

 must be the state of society to 

 sanction sucli a proceeding ? He 

 was himself persuaded that these 

 disturbances might have been put 

 down w ithout the use of any such 

 means ; and he lamente<l to see 

 in that House, as well as in the 

 other, and in the whole commu- 

 nity, a sort of apathy and disre- 

 gard of tlie conduct of ministers, 

 and a disposition to fly to force <is 

 a cure for those evils for which 

 the law h<id appropriated milder 

 and more eflicacious remedies. 



The Earl of Liverpool said, that 

 the real question was, whether 

 there did not exist, in the judg- 

 ment of that House, an organized 

 conspiracy for overturning the 

 government. In fact, it was not 



confined 



