18 5. Other Acts of the Sese gion. 44th of Geo, III. under which judge Johnson was so severely treated. cavil the special and And as if to prove beyond exclusive purpose, for which that act of the 44th of Geo, III. had been contrived, the same legislators had the tardy grace to preserve others from the toils, into which they had driven the only object of their pursuit. They accordingly closed this act of ostensible reparation, with an exception, that gave full effect to the whole of their original design. They declared, that it should not in any manner affect any prosecution depending before the passing of the act cf amendment, or touch the construction of the 44th of Geo. III. should any question arise or have arisen thereon. It was notorious, that no other case, than that of judge Johnson was then pending; and tolerably evident, that none other was ever intended to be raised upon that statute. Early in the session had the legislature continued the suspension of the habeas corpus act till six weeks after the commencement of the next session of Parliament. An act also was passed to authorize the Lords of the Treasury to pay money to the Under-Secretaries in the absence of the Chief Secretary as secret service money, for the purpose of detecting, preventing, or defeating treasonable or other dangerous conspiracies against the state the due application of which was required to be sworn to by the party receiving. The new Dublin paving bill appointed new commissioners to examine into the irregularities and abuses of the paving board, provided for the suspension of the powers and authorities of the old corporation, and for vesting them in new commissioners during the suspension, and for the better conducting and managing the business of the said corporation. Several acts of regulation were passed, touching the distilleries and for remedying abuses in the collection and management of the excise duties and customs: and also for imposing and levying the several inland duties of excise and taxes lately granted to his Majesty. 1805. Lord Sidmouth, who had since the month of Lord -SidJanuary, been elevated to the dignity of peerage, grees with mouth disa and had come in as Lord President of the Council, Mr. Pitt. in lieu of the Duke of Portland, and had brought in with him his friend Lord Bukinghamshire, as Chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, assumed all the consequence and airs of the head of a political party. He availed himself of the declining symptoms of Mr. Pitt's health, to build a consequence upon his exertions to accelerate the fall of his benefactor, whom he now affected to treat as a rival, Hé privately instructed his whole corps to vote against Lord Melville. Mr. Pitt never forgave that treachery and ingratitude. He had, notwithstanding, the assurance to urge Mr. Pitt to appoint the Earl of Buckinghamshire to fill the situation of Lord Melville, from which, in the hard run race in the * They were numerically few, politically insignificant. Mr. Bragge Bathurst, his brother-in-law, Mr. Hiley Addington, his brother, and some few, whom he had favoured whilst minister, of no connections, little note, and less talent, made his small detachment. up 1805 Commons, he actually claimed from the opposition the immediate merit of having expelled him. Mr. Pitt found a ready refusal in the incompetency of Lord Buckinghamshire to fill that important. station, which he had reserved for Lord Barham, Lord Sidmouth, in dudgeon, sent in his own and his disappointed friend's resignation. Mr. Pitt, well knowing the imbecility and vacillation of the resigners, and taught at length the practical value even of a single vote, declined forwarding their resignation, and recommended reflection upon their hasty resolution. They repented; and for some weeks held on their situations. Fresh diffe rences broke out; they relapsed; and on the 10th of July once more tendered their resignations; which Mr. Pitt then thought proper to accept, and Lords Camden and Harrowby were appointed their successors, Case of Mr. In the first week of the late session, Mr. Fox had pointed the attention of the House to the case of Mr. Todd Jones, who was one of the many suffering victims to the suspicion and hatred of government. On the 28th of June, he presented a petition from Mr. Jones, which was ordered to lie on the table. Mr. Fox declined going into the case at large he had not received striet evidence of the allegations of the petition, though he had made many enquiries, the answers to which induced him to believe them true. He could not for bear remarking one strong feature of the petitioner's innocence, which, he presumed, would not be attempted to be questioned; he meant the offer to the petitioner to be allowed to live at large in England. That unquestionably proved, that nothing very material against him could ever come to trial. As, however, in that advanced stage of the session, it would be hopeless to institute any enquiry, he recommended it to ministers, to take his case into their serious consideration. In this Mr. Sheridan joined him; earnestly entreating ministers to enquire into the facts; for confident he was, that they would be found truly stated, and would entitle the petitioner to instant redress. Mr. Vansittart said some words to lay in his claim. to the utmost liberality of conduct towards the petitioner. On the 8th of July Mr. Wickham drew the attention of the house to the petition of Mr. T. Jones. He was then in too infirm a state of health to stand up in his place, and he spoke sitting. He deeply regretted, that no communication had been made to him to know, whether the petition ought te be brought forward or not.* He * A copy of the petition is given, to shew how flippantly official men deal in contradictions. The time, manner and duration of his confinement, the unwholesome state of the goal; the exclusion of his friends and relatives: the tender of libera tion his declining it and courting trial: and the loss of his health and fortune, are the facts alleged in the petition and which, if true, as they all notoriously were, it could neither be honourably nor honestly stated, that the case stated in the petition was not true. But Mr. Todd Jones had long been a warm and powerful advocate for Catholic emancipation and parliamentary. reform. It became, therefore, systematically meritorious to misrepresent, traduce and oppress him. The petitioner's assertion of his own innocence is not the statement of a fact, but issue taken upon the truth of the allegations. Against all which 1805. 1805 scrupled not roundly to assert, that the case set forth upon the petition was not true, though he nei is set up the asserted ground of suspicion, by the absent minister of a surprized government (Mr. Wickham was not then in Ireland,) resting it's defence and justification upon the effete mummery of concealing the sources of information, when no information had ever, in fact, been given. "To the Hon. the Commons in Parliament assembled, "The humble petition of William Todd Jones. SHEWETH, 1 That your Petitioner was arrested in the county of Cork, in his bed, early in the morning of the 29th of July, 1803, by the Rev. William Steward, Lieut. Douglass, and a numerous body of soldiery, upon a warrant, as alleged, of Gen. W. Myers, but which warrant petitioner never saw. That he was detained one night in the military guard-house of Bandon, and next day, under a strong escort, was lodged in the South Jail of the city of Cork, upon the warrant of the Mayor of Cork, which warrant your petitioner saw: that after a detainer there of four days, he was conveyed to the Prevost prison of the same city, and lodged in the close custody of the Prevost Marshal. That petitioner was utterly denied the opportunity of seeing his friends, and that such as sought to see him were repelled with insult and ill treatment. That his sister made repeated applications in vain for admission to the prison: and a Mr. Goold, a gentleman of respectable character, property and unimpeached loyalty, on hear ing that petitioner was severely indisposed, called to visit him, and was, in consequence of his visit arrested and detained in custody during the period of sixteen days. That some time after the committal of petitioner, he received from the Right Hon. William Wickham, then Principal Secretary to his ExcelJency the Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a tender of liberation, provided he would go to England, and remain there at large. That your petitioner, conscious of the most perfect innocence, and considering, that acquiescence in such a proposal would imply guilt, respectfully declined it at the same time rendering to Mr. Wickham the most ample satisfac |