126] ANx\UAL REGISTER, 1818. 



the British constitution, and with 

 British liberty, that our police 

 regulations should be thus made 

 to depend upon the suggestions 

 of foreign ministers ? yet this was 

 the evident conclusion to be 

 drawn from the measure. The 

 ministers must intend to take the 

 opinion of the French minister on 

 the character of any individual 

 before they put the law in force 

 against him ; and what was this 

 but rendering the laws of this 

 country subservient to the go- 

 vernment of France ? 



The noble lord then proceeded 

 to consider the state of the Ne- 

 therlands, and the means by 

 which they had at length been 

 induced to admit of an alien act. 

 He finally ended his speech by 

 moving an address to the Prince 

 Regent, similar to that moved in 

 the Commons by Mr. Lambton. 



The Earl of Liverpool found it 

 necessary for him to oppose the 

 motion as being wholly unneces- 

 sary in any view of the subject to 

 which the Alien bill related. 

 Whenever that measure should 

 come before the House, he should 

 be ready to show the expediency 

 of it ; but this was not the time 

 for so doing. Tlie noble earl 

 then touched upon the concerns 

 of the French government, which, 

 he contended, in the case of the 

 three persons sent away by the 

 last alien bill, had not the least 

 relation to their aft'airs. He then 

 paid some attention to the union 

 of Holland with the Netherlands ; 

 and in conclusion said, that he 

 thought the noble lord had made 

 out no case to Justify the address 

 proposed, and he must therefore 

 refuse his concurrence. 



Lord Holland made a brief 



reply, in which he avowed that 

 the intention of his motion was 

 merely to show the object of the 

 alien bill, and had no reference to 

 the number of persons who were 

 sent out of the country. 



The motion was then put and 

 negatived. 



On the first of June Lord Sid- 

 montli moved that the Alien bill 

 in the House of Lords be com- 

 mitted. In his argument in fa- 

 vour of the bill it appeai-ed ex- 

 tremely clear that he looked 

 chiefly to the effects it might have 

 with respect to France. He said, 

 " It was with the view of coun- 

 teracting the effects which this 

 revolutionary spirit might have 

 in this country that the first alien 

 law had been enacted; and for 

 the same object it was now pro- 

 posed to continue it for two years 

 longer. It was necessary to keep 

 out, as well as to send out. of this 

 country those persons wh'> should 

 avail themselves of the vicinity 

 of France to foster a spirit me- 

 nacing to the security of this and 

 the other governments of Eu- 

 rope." As nothing new can be 

 expected after the discussions 

 which this bill has undergone in 

 the House of Commons, we shall 

 go direct!)' to the division of this 

 House, which gave — Contents, 

 34 ; Not Contents, 15 : Majority, 

 19. 



A clause limiting the duration 

 of the bill to one year was re- 

 jected ; as was likewise a clause 

 excluding from its operation 

 aliens being husbands, or wives, 

 or parents of British subjects, or 

 having been domiciled here five 

 years before the last peace. 



An act of the Scotch parlia- 

 ment passed in 1685 for the esta- 



blishraeat 



