of advocates, though no offence of any magnitude was proved
against him at his trial, was condemned to fourteen years'
transportation. Three others received like sentences, and a dissenting
preacher named Palmer was transported for five years. Adam, an eminent
Scottish lawyer, contended in parliament that the sentences on Muir and
Palmer were illegal. His opinion was traversed by Dundas and Pitt, and
his motion on their behalf was negatived by 171 to 32.

It must be remembered that the proceedings of the corresponding and
constitutional societies were such as no settled government could leave
unpunished. Some few arms and a mass of compromising documents were
seized in Edinburgh, and twelve of the leading members of these
societies were arrested in May, 1794. A secret committee of the commons
presented reports on seditious practices, which show that some persons
had conspired to raise an armed insurrection, and that a so-called
national convention at Edinburgh was concerned in treasonable
conspiracy. Later in the year one Watt was hanged for engaging in a wild
plot to seize Edinburgh castle and commit other acts of treason. On the
presentation of the first report of the committee the government brought
in a bill to suspend the _habeas corpus_ act. Pitt declared the matter
urgent, and the bill, which was introduced in the commons on Friday the
16th, was passed in a special sitting the next day, though not without a
struggle, Fox accusing the ministers of a design to terrorise the people
in order to shield themselves from the condemnation which they deserved
for wickedly involving the country in a disastrous war. The opposition
in the commons did not rise in any division above 39, and the lords
passed the bill by 92 to 7. The ordinary law had hitherto proved
sufficient for the occasion, and a review of the evidence before
parliament does not appear to show adequate cause for arming the
executive with an authority so dangerous to liberty. Parliament was
alarmed, and the government shared its alarm and yielded to its desires.
A revulsion of feeling ensued. When the prisoners arrested in May were
tried for treason, the evidence was found to be weak. The first, Hardy,
a shoemaker, was brilliantly defended by Erskine, and was acquitted.
Horne Tooke, the only one of the lot in a superior social position,
jeered at the court, and called Pitt, the Duke of Richmond, and other
great persons to give evidence as to their former connex