HC Deb 19 April 1848 vol 98 c508

MR. EWART, in reference to the Alien Bill, asked if the noble Lord could possibly state any particular circumstance which called for so extraordinary a measure?

LORD J. RUSSELL: My answer to the question is, that our bringing forward the Alien Bill is the result of information which we have received from various quarters. I think it is an Act opposed to the general policy of the country, and that no such Bill ought to exist in ordinary times; but there are certainly circumstances (which I do not know that I could state to the House) which lead the Cabinet to the conviction that they ought to introduce such a Bill at the present time. It is a temporary Bill.

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