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without any mischief . It is only for parliament to pass ^ n act , that tfie day now fixed on shall be ihe legal Bastei ^ day : end' perhaps it would be wise to give up the use of the tables , and to fix the future Easter-days on the second Sunday following- the 21 st of March ; but if the ? 1 st is a Sunday , then on the Sunday following .
As to the ecclesiastical question , that nrary be suffered to sleep . A very great majority of the kingdom is not at all coacernjed in it ; and , as to the sect established hy law ;> few of them know on what grounds the keeping of Easter * day depends on the moon ; and if the new moon should be on that day , it would make no difference in their devotions .
A subject of . greater importance has fixed the attention of the legislature , and the eyes of all England have been turned to its deliberations . The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act was sensibly felt . Eran they who were friendly to it , could
not but have some doufrts on the subject ; end the burst of loyalty that manifested itself , from one end of the kingdom to the "Other , on the death of the eveF ~ to-be-lameated Princess and her child , was a sufficient answer to the wanton and
unfounded surmises of the disposition of the people with respect to the reigning family and the constitution of the country . That discontent had appeared in some counties was true but the trials that took place manifested that it was confined in very inconsiderable districts . It is not
surp rising , therefore , that the feelings of Englishmen were acute , when they found « fliat for so trifling a cause their dearest rights were suspended . Tlie administration seems to have been sensible of the unpopularity of its unnecessary measure , and therefore on the commencement of the session the Habeas
Corpus Act was restored with as much dispatch as the forms of the Houses admitted . But this could not supersede all thoughts on the nature and propriety of the measure it had adopted . Many persons Bad been seized , forced violently from
their homes , and secluded from society for many months . On their liberation they appealed strongly to the feelings of their country men and their cries were not heard in vain . A liberal subscription was raised to assist them in their necessities . Some
had been liberated on their own recognizances , others refused with disdain the proffered boon . All called aloud for justice , and the tables of the House were filled with petitions , complaining of the treatment to which the prisouera had been subjected ; and of the unwarrantable manner in which they bad beea deprived of their liberty . Some of the case * appeared to be very bard , and at any rate to be
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deserving- of inquiry . Their petitions were ordered to lie on the table of the Bouse , but to whtft purpose it is left to time to discover . The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act has been of late years followed by an act of Indemnity . This was of course
looked forward to , but as . a preparatory ^ stfcp decency required that some exam in ati&n i > f the conduct of the urmisters during the suspension should take ^ tl&ee . Preparatory to this , a gtteen - bagy sealed up , made its app « araace in both Houses , in each & £ which a coti > mifctee was appointed to exainice its contents . The committee
was formed by ballot , i . e . by hsts put into a glass > each member being supposed to write down the sanies of those persons whom he deemed best calculated to form aa impartial judgment of Ifae question
before him * , The taniformity m the lists , of which between ninety and a hundred presented Hie same names in the sstfifoe order and ia the same writing , abundantly testified in what manner the lists had been
composed . But this did not excite surprise . It was generally allowed , to be the list of the minister , and it called forth sotne reprehension on the part of the opposition , thai they whose conduct was arraigned , should form part of the committee to > decide on their own merit or blsine .
The report of tlie Committee of the House of Lords has made its appearance , bat it contains nothing * with which ttue public bad not been previously acquainted . It is laboured to prove that time was sufficient cause for the suspension of the
Habeas Carpus Act , from the disturbed state , of the middling- counties ^ and the outrages that had taken place in De * by *» shire , which had been < jxpifcted hy the lives of the culprits , sentenced to death for acts of a treasonable nature . The con *
duct of the spies employed by government seems to have occopied very little attention ; and whatever impvession the report may make upon the House , it is evident that it will be viewed in a different light by the country at large , hord Sidmouth is to briny i n a bill founded on this report * which will of course tranquillize his mind ,
as to any proceedings which were meditated by those whom he had taken up and imprisoned . A similar report will ptd * bably , before this reaches the public efe 9 be presented to the Hmt&e of Comtfion ^ which will therefore be prepared for tha bill that conoe £ to them from the Lord * . And thus will end the history of this Suspension , of which futurity will jttdg ^ in * very different m&ntit ? from tlid tegfisIdU
ture . But though the legislature can itit&Gttt trify the principal fttitortf in thi # tmgj ~ comedy , it seems , thrtt on # of tfc * mfftt-
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150 State ofPubUc Affairs
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1818, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2473/page/70/
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