that House to take every measure that could keep us on our guard, and to relax in any of our efforts to counteract and baffle the wicked designs and machinations of fuch enemies: We should not, as has been well faid, hefitate to facrifice a part of that, the whole of which we may fecure and hereaf ter enjoy by means of that seasonable facrifice. The hon. Gentleman was also pleased to speak much of his own and of his (Mr. Wilberforce's) humanity, for his part, he might fairly say, that he never came forward in fupport of any measure, with nothing but the word humanity in his mouth, -nor did he endeavour to gain his point upon falfe grounds: he, on the contrary, brought forward strong facts, to which he added the plea of humanity. The perfons whose cause is now fo pathetically pleaded might heretofore have been objects of humane compaflion. But where was the hon. Gentleman's humanity and friendship for them before they were accufed of High Treafon? where was the hon. Gentleman's curious anxiety to vifit the prifons and pry into their regulations before the State Prifoners were confined in them? Has he examined into the treatment of vagrants with equal folicitude? He did not, however, urge these observations with a view to blame the hon. Gentleman's humanity and fympathies; he merely urged them to fhew that his humanity and fympathy on the prefent occafion fhould not have hurried him to bring grave accufations against refpectable characters without having examined into the grounds upon which they flood, and without any other apparent proof than the influence of ftrong prejudice.

Mr. Jefferys, of Coventry, faid, when the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus was moved last year he had given it his fupport, with many Gentlemen on the fame fide of the house, from an impreffion on their minds of the danger threatening the country from treafon, an apprehenfion ftrongly enforced by the affurances of Minifters that fuch danger exifted. Many Gentlemen who then fupported the meafure now opposed its continuation by faying the fame inducement no longer exifted. Mr. Jefferys agreed with them that the fame induccment no longer did exift-the inducement last year was an apprehenfion of treafon, the inducement now was the experience of the existence of treafon, fupported by strong facts at Maidstone and elsewhere. Mr. Jefferys faid, he reprefented a very populous manufacturing city, and he believed he was fpeaking the fenntiments of ninety-nine out of a hundred, of a very large body of people.

With

With refpect to the prifon alluded to, Mr. Jefferys said, not having feen it, he could give no opinion, but he thought it his duty to ftate that, during the recefs, in an extensive journey, he had, from general motives of information, vifited the prifons of many large towns through which he passed, and was aftonished at the accommodation, tenderness, and humanity with which the prifoners were treated; one in particular he begged leave to mention to the honour of the county, the prifon at Lancaster castle, where the prisoners were maintained with an attention to humanity and tendernefs in a degree more resembling the fituation of perfons rewarded for good deeds than fuffering punishment for crimes.

Sir Francis Burdett contended that every affertion he had made was grounded upon facts-nor could he fee much delicacy in the manner of an hon. Gentleman (Mr. Wilberforce), who thought proper to throw out infinuations refpecting the motives which guided his conduct, and that of his hon. Friend. He would now proceed as he had proceeded before, and adduce new facts in proof of his former affertions; in order to do fo however, he must beg the indulgence of the Houfe would permit him to read feveral papers which had lately been addreffed to him. The hon. Baronet then read feveral papers (we believe fent him by the prisoners from Manchester), the general purport of which was to defcribe the hardships which they have fuffered in the prifon at ColdBath-Fields; among which they enumerated their being confined in folitary cells, measuring only eight feet by fix, where they could not obtain any thing like a bed without paying a Thilling for it; where they were left without fire or candle, expofed to cold weather, in a narrow space where the wet continued to flow down the walls, a fituation in which they were compelled to linger for seven months; that far differen treatment had been promifed them by the Privy Council t and though they had repeatedly written to Mr. Floud, the magiftrate, entreating him to fee that promife realised, they could obtain no other redress than that Mr. Floud would fee them if they wished to speak with him on public affairs, but that as to their private fituation, it was not in his power to make any alteration in it. The hon. Baronet could not fee that the charge of any particular fpecies of guilt could afford any juftification for fuch harsh and cruel treatment. As to the letter read by an hon. Gentleman on a former night, refpecting the regulations of the prifons, and the comforts en

U u 2

joyed

joyed by the prifoners, to his mind it appeared exceedingly exaggerated; that letter represented the table of the prifoners to be as fumptuous as that of the gentleman who wrote it, and as he was a churchman, it might be well fuppofed, as the hon. Gentleman had before obferved, that the table of the clergy is generally well provided. The letter, in fhort, reprefented these places of confinement rather as wearing the appearance of an hofpital than of a prifon; but was not this, if true, a luxury that ill-fuited a place of correction, where legal chastisement fhould be inflicted, not where luxuries fhould be enjoyed? But much he wished that none but legal correction had been reforted to. If after a due inveftigation of the matter, he fhould find that the arguments he had advanced on the fubject of the ill-treatment of the prisoners were not grounded on fact, he not only would be ready, as an hon. Gentleman had advifed him, to make an amende honorable to the Houfe for the uncalled for trouble he had given them, but he should also enjoy the happiness of having his feelings relieved from the idea that fuch foul atrocities had been practiced in a country he was taught to look upon as free and humane, in England, in the country that gave him birth; if that inveftigation was not refifted by the Houfe, it was his wifh that proper evidence thould be called to the bar, in order to have the whole matter cleared up to the general fatisfaction of the country, and as fuch was his with, he would not now detain the Houfe by any further observa rions.

Mr. Wilberforce explained the nature of the letters which he had read, the contents of which he believed to be true, because he knew the gentleman who wrote them to be a man of ftrict veracity.

Mr. Furdon faid, that when he had spoken before upon the queftion now before the Houfe, his obfervations were fummary, and his ftatements rather fhort; but these statements were not merely the offspring of a fickly brain: he had taken the trouble fully to inveftigate the truth of them, and from what he had to fay, the Houfe would fee whether the treatinent experienced by the prifoners in queflion deserved the very strong denomination of atrocities, which the hon. Baronet has thought proper to give it. He had feen the letter from Mrs. Defpard, which appeared in one of the newfpapers, and as foon as he faw it, he felt it his duty to enquire ininutely into the causes of her complaint. With that view

he

he went and had a long converfation with Colonel Despard,, the refult of which he trufled would fave the hon. Baronet the trouble of looking for that information which he seemed fo anxious to obtain. In the interview which he had with Colonel Defpard, in the prefence of the Governor of the prifon, the Colonel informed him that he was as well in every circumftance as the nature of a prifon would admit, Indeed he was determined to make no complaint, as he enjoyed all the comforts which were recommended by the Se cretary of State, and he did not expect more. It was true, that in the month of September he had a chilblain in his heel, but fo little did he think of it that he would not employ the furgeon of the prifon to relieve it. He was, he said, an old foldier, and placed little confidence in the profeffors of medicine; he would therefore doctor his heel himfelf. As foon as his complaints were known, he was immediately removed to a room where he had fire, candles, &c. and every accommodation he could fairly expect. He had frequent interviews with his wife, with whom he was permitted to con verfe for almost any length of time. He had not any knowledge of the letter written by her complaining of his ill treatment, or if he had, he would have difapproved of it. Now as to the dampnefs of the cells, he (Mr. Burdon) could fafely aver that it was a moft unfounded affertion. He had examined them himfelf; they were raised confiderably above the ground, and not expofed to wet of any kind. The walls were moreover thick, and well white-wafhed. The beds were also faid to be but two feet wide, and to be exposed to the damp walls. This affeṛtion was as groundless as the former; they neither touched the walls, nor were they expofed to any inclemency of the weather. What then could be the effect of agitating a queftion like the prefent, but to traduce the fair character of refpectable men, and particularly of the magiftrates whofe conduct thould not be lightly arraigned, but, on the contrary, fhould meet with our countenance and fupport? Did it not go to injure the credit and character of that eminently humane man who laboured fo long and fo ftrenuously in meliorating the state of prisons throughout the .country? If thefe charges could be liftened to, would they not tarnish the well earnt glory of that celebrated man? As to the propriety of continuing the fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus, he was fure there could reft no doubt in any candid and unbiaffed mind. The ground of that propriety might

indeed be changed, but the change only tended to render it [COMMONS more obvious. It should therefore now, as it had before, have his warmest support.

Mr. Canning had but little to fay, as what was already obferved by his hon. Friends abundantly refuted every femblance of argument that had been urged on the other fide. He therefore only rofe to afk, where was the ground for the enquiry which the hon. Baronet was fo anxious fhould be inftituted? The House was not in the habit of granting enquiries without fome adequate motive to justify them. It fhould fairly appear that all was not right before any enquiry fhould be acceded to. But here every statement that was brought forward has been contradicted, nor has any new evidence been adduced, to confirm the affertions: not the leaft acceffion of argument or proof has this night been advanced in fupport of statements that have already been fhewn to be groundlefs. The Houfe therefore fhould inftitute no new enquiry on the fubject, but leave the fcouted and shamed task to the Gentlemen who ftirred the queftion, and the country will fee what they can do with it. The hon. Baronet had Taid, that whatever is brought forward by the ministerial fide of the Houfe never fails to make an impreffion, because it has the countenance of minifters, while whatever he on the oppofite fide attempts to enforce makes no impreffion at all. But upon whom does the hon. Baronet expect to make an impreffion, with all the confidence he may repofe in his talents? Surely not upon the Houfe; no, not even upon the mind of the greatest idiot. In the Houfe, according to the hon. Baronet, nothing is carried by the good fenfe of its members, but merely by the fway of the minifter, without any attempt to justify the propofed measure. From this obfervation, this fpecimen of impartiality, the House what it might expect, fhould the tide of popular favour bemay learn gin to run another way, and not in the conftitutional channel in which it has long, and in which he trufted it would long continue to flow. After what had been obferved by an hon, Member (Mr. Burdon) on the cafe of Colonel Defpard, it were idle to offer a word more on the subject, but had it been permitted to pass by uncontradicted, the Gentlemen who started it could return to their affertion, as flufhed with victory at its having been paffed by unnoticed. But what now is the cafe? An illiterate woman, who cannot even spell, writes a letter, an able letter let it be fuppofed, pathetically

defcribing