GENERAL HISTORY. 



[3 



which has so long existed in the 

 number of places of public wor- 

 ship belonging to the established 

 church, when compared with the 

 increased and increasing popula- 

 tion of the country. 



" His Royal Highness most 

 earnestly recommends this import- 

 ant subject to your early consi- 

 deration, deeply impressed, as he 

 has no doubt you are, with a just 

 sense of the many blessings which 

 this country, by the favour of 

 divine Providence has enjoyed ; 

 and with the conviction, that the 

 religious and moral habits of the 

 people are the most sure and firm 

 foundation of national prospe- 

 rity." 



The House was then adjourned 

 till five o'clock. 



When the House of Lords was 

 resumed, the I^arl of Liverpool 

 presented a bill for the better re- 

 gulation of Select Vestries, and 

 moved, that it should be read a 

 first time. 



Lord Holland said, that he in- 

 tended to save the noble earl the 

 trouble of introducing this bill, 

 by himself presenting a bill of the 

 utmost importance, for the pur- 

 pose of restoring the liberties of 

 the people, which had been out- 

 raged by the passing of a bill for 

 the suspension of the Habeas 

 Corpus act. His lordship was 

 decidedly of opinion, that no time 

 ought to be lost in bringing for- 

 ward the act to which he had 

 alluded ; and he now wished to 

 ask whether it was the intention 

 of any lord on the opposite side 

 to bring in a bill for the repeal of 

 the Habeas Corpus Suspension 

 act ; and whether, in such a 

 case ,it was intended to move the 

 suspension of the standing orders, 



that such a bill might pass with 

 more rapidity than usual ? 



The Earl of Liverpool observed, 

 that if his lordship had waited till 

 the discussion of the Address was 

 over, he would have found that 

 a noble friend of his, to whose 

 department this business espe- 

 cially referred, would rise to pre- 

 sent a bill for the repeal of the 

 Habeas Corpus Suspension act, 

 and also to move to take the 

 standing orders into consideration 

 to-rnorrow, that the repeal bill 

 might pass without any delay. 



After the address had passed 

 the House of Lords without a 

 dissentient voice, lord Sidmouth 

 gave notice, that he meant, on the 

 follo^^^ng day, to move a bill for 

 the repeal of the Habeas Corpus 

 Suspension act, and also for the 

 suspension of the standing orders, 

 ■which required a certain interval 

 between the different stages of 

 bills. 



In the House of Commons, on 

 the same day, some other public 

 business having been first gone 

 through, an address in coiTespon- 

 dence to the speech of the Prince 

 Regent was moved by Mr. Wode- 

 house, seconded by Mr. Wynd- 

 ham Quin. It was first replied to 

 by lord Althorp, who particularly 

 took notice of the conduct of the 

 Attorney General in his prosecu- 

 tion of Hone for the crime of 

 libelling. The Attorney -general 

 made a reply in his own justifica- 

 tion, which called up Sir Samuel 

 Romilly. As this member occu- 

 pied the House for a considerable 

 time, we shall advert to his speech 

 somewhat at large. 



Sir Samuel Romilly, after a 



general introduction, began with 



considering the proceedings at 



[B 2] Manchester, 



