Mr. Dundasbrought up the following report from the Secret Committee relative to the detention of M. Colville in the House of Correction, Cold Bath Fields:
§ "The SECRET COMMITTEE, appointed to inquire into the circumstances connected 120 with the detention of—Colville, now a Prisoner in the House of Correction in Cold Bath Fields; and to report the matter, as it shall appear to them, to the House;
§ "Have proceeded in the investigation of the matter referred to them; and have inspected various documents, and examined several witnesses relative to the causes and circumstances of the detention of the said Colville, the mode of his confinement, and the nature of his treatment in prison.
§ "Your committee report, That there appears to have been sufficient cause for his seizure and detention; and they are decidedly of opinion, that on public grounds it is necessary that he should remain in confinement: it does not appear to your committee, that he has suffered any inconvenience which is not incident to the description of place in which he is detained; but they are of opinion, that the regulations of such a prison are inconsistent with the nature of the confinement to which he ought to be subjected, and with that security from communication with persons out of the prison, which is necessary for the object of his detention.
§ "Your committee, from obvious considerations of public expediency, have felt it their duty, in making their report to the House, to refrain from entering into the particular circumstances of the case."
Lord Folkestonesaid, he thought it his duty to declare, that the report was unanimously agreed to by the committee.
It was then ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed.