Lord Kingsaid he should have to call their ldps'. attention to a point of considerable importance: it would refer principally to the exercise of the discretionary powers vested in the crown, by the suspension of 470 the habeas corpus bill in Ireland. In that view he moved an address to his majesty, praying that there may be laid before the house;—1st, an account of the number, names, &c. of persons confined under the act for suspending the habeas corpus in Ireland;—2dly, an account, &c. of the persons from time to time discharged from such confinement;—and 3dly, an account of the conditions upon which such persons were discharged.
Lord Hakesburyobserved, that, with respect to the first and second heads under which the noble lord's motion was classed, he had no objection to producing the statements required; but, with regard to the last head, he thought the case was very different, and that a sense of duty impelled him to object to it. The act in question vested a discretionary power to apprehend and detain, without bringing to trial, persons, who, there was reason to suspect, were guilty of traitorous practices; and a disclosure of the conditions upon which any of those persons might be discharged, under the circumstances of the time, was so obviously objectionable, upon considerations of prudence and policy, that he deemed it unnecessary to take up the time of their ldps. in demonstrating it. At the same time, he was not prepared to say, nor did he mean to state, whether or not there were any persons in the predicament assumed by that part of the noble lord's motion; but, to contend, that, if there were, it would be impolitic and imprudent in the extreme, to agree to that part of the motion, which, if pressed, he felt his duty to resist.
Lord Kingreplied, that, in consequence of what had just fallen from the noble sec. of state, he should, for the present, wave that part of the motion. However, he begged the noble lord to consider farther of the point, between that, and some future day, whether it was right to persist in refusing to lay such information before parliament? In his own mind, it was highly proper; and it was his intention, therefore, to bring forward a motion to the like effect on u, future opportunity.—The question was put on the first and second motions, and they were ordered accordingly.—Adjourned.