Lord Sidmouthsaid, that he was prepared, on coming down to the House that day, to have gone fully into the subject itself, and to have communicated the grounds on which his majesty's government felt it imperative to recommend the measure now about to be submitted to the consideration of their lordships. From the wish expressed by a number of the members of that House, he was willing to defer the discussion on the bill he then held in his hand until the second reading, which he 492 should fix for Monday, at the same time communicating his intention of forwarding it through its various stages on that night. He then moved, that a bill intituled "An act to empower his majesty to secure and detain such persons as his majesty shall suspect are conspiring against his person and government," be now read a first time.
Lord Hollanddid not rise to offer any objection to the mode of proceeding proposed by the noble lord, whose conduct in the explanations he had given had appeared to him perfectly fair and candid; but he should be sorry, if his agreeing to the arrangement which had been suggested should lead any one to suppose, that he approved of the measures his majesty's ministers had in view. He, therefore, begged it might be clearly understood, that his consent to the present proposition by no means precluded him from opposing the bill. He hoped that the noble lord would, when he moved the second reading, enter fully into the grounds on which he proposed so extraordinary and important a measure. If it should still be determined not to lay the evidence on which the committee had founded their report before the House, it might at least be expected that ministers would consent to lay before their lordships the dates of the transactions referred to in the report, and also the dates of the information relating thereto, which had at different times been received by his majesty's government. He again said, he trusted that the ministers of the Crown would be able to come down to the House on Monday to show sufficient grounds for the measures they proposed. He trusted that, to induce parliament to adopt them at once, and in one day, the dates, circumstances, and extent of the practices that called for them, would be particularly pointed out, and satisfactorily supported.
§ The bill was then read a first time.