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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 495: BILL FOR THE SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT (CONTINUED.)
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

BILL FOR THE SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT (CONTINUED.)

On the 5th of January, Sheridan rose to move for leave to bring in a bill for the repeal of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act. This motion was unsuccessful; and on the 15th the attorney-general moved for, and obtained leave to bring in a bill for continuing the suspension for a limited time. The second reading of this bill was carried on the 23rd, after a long debate, by a majority of two hundred and thirty-nine against fifty-three, when it was transmitted to the lords. It passed the house of peers without a division; but the Dukes of Norfolk and Bedford, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and the Earls of Lauderdale and Guildford entered a spirited protest against the measure. It was argued by the opposition that the preamble of the suspension act, which stated that a dangerous conspiracy existed in the country, was not true; that a verdict in court—on the trial of Walker, Hardy, Home Tooke, and others—had shown this conspiracy to be a fabrication; and that, as no treason had been brought to light, and the alleged ground of the suspension act did not exist, if was unnecessary. On the other hand it was argued, that the determination of the jury was no proof of the existence of a conspiracy; that the guilty were often acquitted in courts of justice, not because they were innocent, or considered innocent, but merely because there was no strictly legal evidence to confirm the truth; and that, therefore, a verdict in their favour could not operate as a motive for repealing the act, even if it were admitted that their indictment for high treason had not been supported by legal proof.