the most important of these were, when the Corn Laws were under consideration on the 13th and 16th of May, and a motion which he himself made on the 28th of June, for the production of papers to show, how far ministers, in the late negotiations for peace, had exerted their influence to promote the abolition of the African slave-trade, on the part of France. As his speeches on these occasions are reported at some length, and as they do not refer merely to the time when they were delivered, but are on subjects of a more general interest, I have inserted them in the Appendix, as they are given in Hansard's Debates.

A bill had been introduced by Government on the 8th of July," to provide for the preserving and restoring of peace in such parts of Ireland as may, at any time, be disturbed by seditious persons, or by persons entering into any unlawful combinations or conspiracies;" and on the motion for the second reading of the bill, on the 13th of July, Mr. Horner opposed it.

"He arraigned it as an unconstitutional measure, and brought forward, towards the close of the session, when most of the members for Ireland were absent, without any statement that it was called for by any sudden emergency, or any new or extraordinary occurrence in Ireland. It was a measure which, as it stood, would go to deprive his Majesty's subjects in Ireland of the invaluable privilege of grand and petit juries, and transfer the office of these juries to county magistrates, who, with the aid of a serjeant or barrister-at-law, were to try and condemn to transportation, for an indefinite time, any persons whom they should deem guilty of offences, not defined by law, and, at most, merely constructive. He deprecated the habit of bringing bills into the House, of late, to pass new laws for Ireland, without laying any

foundation to satisfy the House of the necessity of such laws, and in the absence of the members for Ireland, who were most competent to judge of such necessity; and such was the bill introduced this night, for extending to Ireland the English law of extents, the policy of which was extremely questioned in this country by the ablest lawyers and statesmen, and must be therefore still more questioned in a country where it never was introduced before. As to the present bill, he was convinced it must tend rather to exasperate the people, and considerably exaggerate the mischief it proposed to remedy, than to produce any salutary consequences; and he never could consent, without grounds infinitely stronger than he had heard, to such a violation of the constitution of the country, as to abolish the trial by jury, or suspend the ordinary and constitutional operation of the laws, which must be fully adequate to all necessary purposes."

The following night Mr. Hiley Addington, Undersecretary of State for the Home Department, moved the second reading of a Bill for the repeal of the existing Alien Act, and to substitute another. "He described it as being nothing more than a renewal of the Act of 1802; that it did not give greater power to ministers than they were entrusted with by that Act: whether these powers were originally too great it was for the House to decide; for his own part, considering all circumstances, he had never been of opinion that that Act went too far." Mr. Horner on that occasion said,

"It was not enough to urge, in support of any measure, that it was a transcript of some former act of parliament. There had been many suspensions of the Habeas Corpus Act, each of which was the transcript of some other; but such a measure would at any time be very ill received, without some statement of the neces

sity of taking from his Majesty's subjects their constitutional protection. The Bill before the House was a measure analogous to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, for it took from the aliens, in amity with his Majesty, that protection which it was the boast of our constitution to afford them. The question then returned to the necessity of the case; and he should assume that none such existed, because it had even been alleged that the present state of things was not in any degree extraordinary. The policy of the first Act on this subject was, to prevent the influx of dangerous foreign political principles. In the feverish time which followed the last war, the same danger was apprehended to exist. Could it be said, that any trace of the circumstances of those times existed at present? Indeed, at present, there was a greater fear of an influx of those which were thought the dangerous principles of France in a former period of our constitution, the principles of arbitrary government. These principles, however, it was fortunate were not of a nature to inflame the people in their favour. As there had been stated no ground of necessity for the measure, it should have his decided opposition; and not the less for one of the reasons stated in support of it by the right honourable gentleman opposite to him, that a power, similar to that given to the Government by this Bill, was possessed by all the other governments of Europe. All these sovereigns possessed the same arbitrary power over their own subjects, yet it would not be contended that, in this respect, we should assimilate our institutions to theirs."

My dear Sir,

LETTER CCX. TO HIS FATHER.

Lincoln's Inn, 10th June, 1814.

I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from you the end of last week, which I would have answered sooner if I had not been very busy.

I have been doing more business this spring than ever before; chiefly in the House of Lords, upon Scotch appeals, though I have had a few glimpses of business opening to me in other channels. The circuit, which I must mainly look to, stands just as it has done for a year or two; when any material amendment takes place, I shall be sure to let you know. In the mean time, you will be glad to be assured that my business, such as it is at present altogether, makes me quite independent; and that I have no fear of its falling short of that.

Believe me, my dear Sir,

Most affectionately yours,

FRA. HORNER.

LETTER CCXI. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ.

My dear Murray,

London, 26th June, 1814.

I have had some talk with William* about our travelling plans, which it is time now to take seriously into our consideration. We shall finish the assizes at Wells on Wednesday, the 17th of August, and I mean to save myself the trouble of going to Bristol; so that we may be sure of setting sail, either from Dover or Brighton, on Saturday, the 20th.

sity of taking from his Majesty's subjects their constitutional protection. The Bill before the House was a measure analogous to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, for it took from the aliens, in amity with his Majesty, that protection which it was the boast of our constitution to afford them. The question then returned to the necessity of the case; and he should assume that none such existed, because it had even been alleged that the present state of things was not in any degree extraordinary. The policy of the first Act on this subject was, to prevent the influx of dangerous foreign political principles. In the feverish time which followed the last war, the same danger was apprehended to exist. Could it be said, that any trace of the circumstances of those times existed at present? Indeed, at present, there was a greater fear of an influx of those which were thought the dangerous principles of France in a former period of our constitution, the principles of arbitrary government. These principles, however, it was fortunate were not of a nature to inflame the people in their favour. As there had been stated no ground of necessity for the measure, it should have his decided opposition; and not the less for one of the reasons stated in support of it by the right honourable gentleman opposite to him, that a power, similar to that given to the Government by this Bill, was possessed by all the other governments of Europe. All these sovereigns possessed the same arbitrary power over their own subjects, yet it would not be contended that, in this respect, we should assimilate our institutions to theirs."