8] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



his own part, that the repoit 

 made by the committee appointed 

 by their lordships, and on the au- 

 thority of which the act was 

 passea, afforded its complete re- 

 futation. He further said, that 

 the noble lord had also asserted, 

 that the evidence produced by 

 ministers was garbled, and that 

 information which ought to have 

 been communicated to the com- 

 mittee was withheld. He could, 

 on the contrary, assure their lord- 

 ships, that every kind of informa- 

 tion which could with propriety 

 be laid before the committee, had 

 been produced to them, and that 

 nothing had been withheld which 

 was necessary to enable them to 

 arrive at a feir and proper con- 

 clusion on the question. In the 

 Prince Regent's speech, only the 

 other causes which had contri- 

 buted to the returning prosperity 

 of the country were mentioned ; 

 but it did not follow that great 

 benefit had not been derived from 

 the suspension of the Habeas 

 Corpus act. 



His lordship then alluded to 

 the effects of the same measure 

 with respect to the trials at 

 Derby ; in which case, he said, 

 that these men, besides making a 

 confession of their guilt, gave 

 certain information that an insur- 

 rection of a much more formida- 

 ble nature than that in which 

 they had been engaged, was in 

 contemplation, and would infal- 

 libly have taken place had not 

 the Habeas Corpus bill been sus- 

 pended. Thus It was proved by 

 iwiontrovertible evidence, that the 

 mea^yre for which the noble lord 

 had G<jfi(tended th it there was no 

 necessity, hadireserved the peace 

 and tranqmlli^ %( the country. 



After variorus other conside- 



rations upon different subjects, 

 his lordship recurred to his own 

 responsibility for the due execu- 

 tion of that act which of course 

 rested chiefly with himself. He 

 had only in view, he said, to 

 prevent the threatening danger, 

 and had not been the means of 

 depriving individuals of their li- 

 berty any farther than the neces- 

 sity of the case required. The 

 act at present under considera- 

 tion did not expire till the first of 

 March ; and there M-as no record 

 on the Journals of the House that 

 an act of that description had 

 ever been repealed, or not suffer- 

 ed to run out to its utmost limit. 

 But his majesty's ministers ad- 

 mitted that nothing could justify 

 the continuance of such an act 

 but the necessity which originated 

 it ; and when that necessity 

 ceased, it was due to the legisla- 

 ture and to the people of the 

 country to repeal it forthwith. 



He should not detain their 

 lordships any longer. It was tlie 

 intention of the Prince Regent to 

 lay before their lordships papers 

 touching the internal state of the 

 country. It would be for their 

 lordships to decide how they 

 should be disposed of. Many 

 opportunities would arise in the 

 course of the session of discus- 

 sing the measures lately resorted 

 to by the government, and on 

 the propriety of those measures 

 he waa ready to state his un- 

 shaken conviction. 



The bill was then read a se- 

 cond time, the commitment ne- 

 gatived, and the bill ordered to 

 be engrossed. The engrossed 

 bill was brought into the House 

 almost immediately. It was then 

 read a third time, passed, and or- 

 dered to be sent to the Commons. 

 CHAPTER 



