MOTION FOR SECRET COMMITTEES PREPARATORY TO A BILL OF INDEMNITY.
On the 4th of February Lord Castlereagh brought down a bag of papers respecting the internal state of the country, for the examination of which he proposed a secret committee. As this was understood to be a preliminary step to a general bill of indemnity for all acts performed under the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, by which the persons then imprisoned, and since liberated without trial, would be deprived of all legal remedy for such imprisonment, the appointment of a committee was strenuously resisted by opposition, who contended that a different sort of inquiry was called for by the conduct of the administration. The green bag and its contents formed the subject of much sarcasm; but the appointment of a secret committee was agreed to, and a similar committee was also appointed in the upper house. The report of the committee in the house of lords was presented on the 23rd of February. It related chiefly to recent disturbances in the counties of Nottingham, Derby, and York; to the progress and the check which it had received by various arrests and trials; and to the necessity which existed for continued vigilance against a spirit of conspiracy still active, particularly in the metropolis. The report stated that forty-four persons had been arrested, and discharged without trial; but that such arrests were justified by circumstances, and that no warrant of detention appeared to have been issued, except in consequence of information on oath; the persons detained and not prosecuted had been discharged at different times; and the committee were of opinion that government had exercised the powers vested in them with discretion and moderation. A bill of indemnity, founded on this report, was brought in by the Duke of Montrose on the 25th; and on its second reading the Marquess of Lansdowne proposed, as an amendment, that it should be postponed for a fortnight, to give time for all the petitions recently received from persons who had been imprisoned to be brought up. This amendment, however, was negatived, as was another on the third reading of the bill, the object of which was to do away with it altogether. When introduced in the commons on the 10th of March, it was strongly opposed by Sir Samuel Romilly, who contended that it was improperly called a bill of indemnity. The object of indemnity, he said, was only to protect individuals against public prosecution, without interfering with the rights of private men; but the object of the bill was to annihilate all such rights, to take away all legal remedies from those who had suffered an illegal and arbitrary exercise of authority, and to punish those who presumed to have recourse to such remedies by subjecting them to the payment of double costs. Mr. Lambton moved an amendment that it be read again that day six months, but this was lost by one hundred and ninety to sixty-four. The bill was read a second time on the next day, but the chief discussion took place on the order for committing it, when several petitions, complaining of grievous oppression, were presented to the house: the bill, however, passed on the 13th, and four days after received the royal assent.