§ MR. M'MAHON,pursuant to notice, moved for leave to bring a Bill to secure a right of Appeal in Criminal Cases. The measure he proposed to introduce was substantially the same as the one he propounded to the House last year.
SIR GEORGE LEWISsaid, there was no intention on the part of the Government to oppose the introduction of the Bill. The subject to which it related was not of a political character, and was one which, on account of some recent circumstances, had attracted a good deal of public attention. It was one which he thought properly deserved the attention of the House, and he hoped it would receive that attention from both sides, independently of all political considerations. It was obviously a subject in which no party interest was involved, and one in which the whole community had a common interest. He would not now, by going further into the matter, anticipate the discussion which must occur on the second reading of the Bill; but, in not opposing the introduction of the measure, he wished to be understood as not giving the smallest assent to the principle on which it was founded.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Bill to secure a right of Appeal in Criminal Cases, ordered to be brought in by MR. M'MAHON, MR. BUTT, and MR. HADFIELD.
§ Bill presented and read 1°.