Meeting of Parliament..... Motion for Secret Committees preparatory to a Bill of Indemnity..... Extension of the Bank Restriction..... Treaty with Spain..... Royal Marriages..... The Supplies..... The Alien Act, &c...... Prorogation of Parliament..... State of the Manufacturers of Lancashire, &c..... Death of Queen Charlotte..... Meeting of Parliament..... Duke of. York appointed Guardian to His Majesty..... Committee on the Criminal Code..... Measures for Resumption of Cash-Payments..... Financial Statement..... Catholic Claims..... Foreign Enlistment Act..... Slave-Trade, &c...... Prorogation of Parliament..... Seditious Assemblages..... Meeting of Parliament..... Motion for Inquiry into the State of tha Nation..... Parliamentary Reform..... Cession of Parga to the Turks..... Death of George III.
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
A.D. 1818
Parliament was opened on the 27th of January by commission. The principal topics of the speech were the continued indisposition of his majesty; the death of the Princess Charlotte; an assurance of the continued friendly disposition of foreign powers; the improved state of industry and public credit; the restored tranquillity of the country; the treaties with Spain and Portugal on the abolition of the slave-trade; and a recommendation that additional churches should be built, “to meet the increased population of the country, and to promote the religious and moral habits of the people.” In the lords the address was voted nem. con.; in the commons it met with animadversion from Lord Althorp and Sir Samuel Romilly, who deprecated the demoralizing system of espionnage, as well as the arbitrary imprisonment and tyrannical persecutions which had lately been carried on by government; but the address passed without a division.
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.