a recommendation that additional churches should be
built, "to meet the increased population of the country, and to promote
the religious and moral habits of the people." In the lords the address
was voted _nem. con_.; in the commons it met with animadversion from
Lord Althorp and Sir Samuel Romilly, who deprecated the demoralizing
system of _espionnage_, as well as the arbitrary imprisonment and
tyrannical persecutions which had lately been carried on by government;
but the address passed without a division.

MOTION FOR SECRET COMMITTEES PREPARATORY TO A BILL OF INDEMNITY.

On the 4th of February Lord Castlereagh brought down a bag of papers
respecting the internal state of the country, for the examination of
which he proposed a secret committee. As this was understood to be a
preliminary step to a general bill of indemnity for all acts performed
under the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act, by which the persons
then imprisoned, and since liberated without trial, would be deprived of
all legal remedy for such imprisonment, the appointment of a committee
was strenuously resisted by opposition, who contended that a different
sort of inquiry was called for by the conduct of the administration. The
green bag and its contents formed the subject of much sarcasm; but the
appointment of a secret committee was agreed to, and a similar committee
was also appointed in the upper house. The report of the committee in
the house of lords was presented on the 23rd of February. It related
chiefly to recent disturbances in the counties of Nottingham, Derby,
and York; to the progress and the check which it had received by various
arrests and trials; and to the necessity which existed for continued
vigilance against a spirit of conspiracy still active, particularly
in the metropolis. The report stated that forty-four persons had been
arrested, and discharged without trial; but that such arrests were
justified by circumstances, and that no warrant of detention appeared
to have been issued, except in consequence of information on oath; the
persons detained and not prosecuted had been discharged at different
times; and the committee were of opinion that government had exercised
the powers vested in them with discretion and moderation. A bill
of indemnity, founded on this report, was brought in by the Duke
of Montrose on the 25th; and on its second reading the Marquess of
Lansdowne proposed, as an amendment, that it should be postpon