The Express.
London, England, 1848-02-24 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 24, 1848.

in alluding to them after the decision of the chair, lest m
might be sussed of not having the courage to say °peaty
that whisk he dared to insinuate. The decision of the chair
had left him mo choice: and he would, therefore, only men-
tion In general terms that, in the ease of Penis and Alfghan.
'sten, statements had been laid before parliament calculated
to mislead the nation end the crown as to the effect of the
numeares to be taken by the government ; that a collusion
h id u practised in
haler Majesty's case of18 Penis, from
1 Mn
834 till 1838, between h ear/ants and
the Cray of Hussite for the purpose of destroying
the provisions of the treaty of 1811, and that similar mem
accompanied by others of a more aggravated descripa
tion had been put in force in Affghanistan, with the view
of withdrawing the mind of the people of that country
from its attachment to English alliance. Without mention.
ing the name of any individual, he must say, in the form el
a charge that even forgeries had been committed, in order
to mislead perliament as to the wishes and iuteations of the
people et Affghanietan. Ile was in a position to prove that
words and parts of sentence. had been altered or suppreced
in the despatches of Sir Alexander Burnes, sou entirely to
alter the purport and value intended to be given by the
framer of them; and ho alleged that these falsifications
must have been made by or with the knowledge of
the then whist government, of which Lord elelbourr.e
was the head. The t.on. and learned gentleman having
illustrated hie meaning by referring to certain passages
in a despatch from Sir Alexander Burnes to EiirW. el`Naigh-
ten, proceeded to say that the stipulations of the treaty of
Teheran had been kept by Persia, hut had been shamefully
violated by the noble lord ; for the noble lord, by using his
influence to prevent Persia from exercising her right in the
ease of Poland, had given the first blow to England's as-
cendancy, and laid the ground for the aseesidancy of Russia
in Teheran. The hon. and learned gentleman's next charge
against the noble lord was that, instead of sincerely desiring
to put down the slave trade, ho hall indirectly aided in in
volving Mexico and Tease in a war with the United States,
for the purpose of adding one more date-holding st tee to the
Union, and the reby disputing the Union to co-operate in tae
attack meditated by sure of the northern states against
British North America. They had the nohle lord sub-
mittine in perfect complacency to the measures against
Mexico and Texas, thus promoting naivety in one
part of the globe, while he wee fruitlessly attempting
to put it down by bloodshed and wrong in another. lie
charged the noble lord, also, with reeking up a settlement
of the boundary question, by encouraging the violation, by
America, of existing treaties, until a convenient moment
arrived, which, owing to the apathy of England on one tide,
and the insolence of America on the other, enabled tee
noble lord to withdraw from the award of the King of Hol-
land, and concur with America in thinking it was of uo
effect. There were other important charges which he was
prepared to bring forward and neetantiate, but which,
after the opinion expressed by the chair, he felt bound to
suppress. However, although he suppressed, he did not
abandon them, but would en.learour to shape his course
respecting them in accordance with the suggettion of the
Speaker, He now deliberately ass, rted hie readiness and
his capability to prove them, or submit to the heavy chits-
tisoment of the house, who, he h .ped, would forget
the insignificance of the intlividuul, and consider
only the grave lettere of the charges themselves.
The hon. and learned 'itemiser concluded a speech which occu-
pied fuer hours and a enli in the delivery, by moving for
papers relative to the foreign policy of Lurd Palmerston, tram
the year Me up to the present period, with the exception
of such documents included ice the motion as have already
been laid on tee table of the house.
The motion having been accolades' by Mr. UROCILAIIT,
anti put from the chair.
Mr. SHEIL said—Dungarvan is so near Youghai, tint I
avail myself of our parliamentary vicinage, of that sort of
geographical effinity w hich exists between me end tho hon.
and learned gentleman who has just addreind the home, to
express my surprise teat he, who at the lest election at
the hustings of Youghal wee more utterly Irish
than the moat utterly Irish of us all bliOUid so
soon dismiss the country of his adoption from tie
solicitude, and not oily have given a notice in which all tee
four quarters of the globe aro blended together, but have
banded over the great question of the restoration of an Irish
parliament to the hon. gentleman the mermen. for Stalliate
by whom, on the 23rd of November last, a very remarkable
notice was given upon that subject. I find the names of thee
two gentlemen-1 CHUM nothing offensive whea I say. of this
brace of earliamentary ,Ircados —(laughter)—in singular
tete:position upon the motion paper of that day : No. 10,
r. Urquhart; No. 11, Mr. Austey (laughter); Mr. le,
quhart's notice being for an aldress, praying her Majesty to
exercise her undoubted prerogative of suunnoaing within
her realm of Ireland the peers spiritual and temporal of that
realm, and the knight., citizens, and burgesses thereof, in
order that her Majesty may t eke counsel 'Annie same is regard
to the greet and unedited derangements and sufferings of teat
kingdom. When I perused that notice I could not bell, tl-
- how eau it come to mess that this swim has been made
between the universe mid College-green ? (Laughter.) How
happens it that the hon. member tar Youghal has launched
in his little skiff from the harbour where he was safely
moored, to tempt the shorelese ocean of foreign politic.?
And how is it that the hon. memhe r for Stafford should have
abandoned whoa may be culled the circumnavigation of the
world and steered into the narrow and dangerous Irish
Channel in It 3 gallant a ship ? At first I was unable to solve
this mystery ; bat afterwards, when I found that the notice
respecting the Irish parliament had been dropped, and
that respecting the maiverse preserved—(laugeter)-1
same to the eionclusiou that the honourable gentle-
man had entered inn an arrangement by which the
honourable member for Ti ughal should draw out my noble
friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and teem
when all opportunity of reply was taken away, the hon.
member fur Stafford, citing from his ambush, should with
courageous impunity precipitate himselt upon my noble
friend. That is a contrivance we can hardly prevent in the
House of Commons but which is incompatible with the
spirit of fair play-2(hear, hear) ; and as it is obvious tbat
the motion orieinated with the hon. member for Stafford,
to whom the hon. member for Youghal is largely indebted
for his knowledge of the history of nations, as the hon.
member for Se:fiord liar made himself conspicuous by con-
theuoue denunciations for many years of my noble
friend, and has traversed the country and emp)oisil
lecturers to hold up my noble friend to the scorn
and indignation of England; and as it is upon the evidence
of the hon. member fur Stafford that the hon. and learned
member for Youghal chiefly relies, I think it is only just
that the hon. member for Stafford should begin and give my
noble friend an opportunity of meeting the allegations which
he may bring forward against him. The right hon. gentle-
man proceeded to observe that he had come down to the
house with the intention of referring to the many great
transactions in is hich his noble friend at the head of foreign
affairs butt performed a conspicuous part, and to which history
would allot a large spice in her annals. Ile had come down
intending to prove that his noble friend had ever acted the
part which it became a British minister of the crown to per-
firm, and for which his great knowledge of the interests of
the country, his conspicuous talents, and his direct, Weight-
forward and high. minded character so eminently befitted
(Hear, hear.) Ile (Mr. Sheil) had come prepared to chow
that the honour of England had never been sullied in the
bands of his mode friend; that he was the champion of
humanity, the promoter of civilisation, and the abettor of
weihordsreel freedom in every portion of the universe.
(Cheers.) But lie desired to avoid all personal panegyric,
than which nothing could be more odious, except that spe-
cies of rabid vituperation, the indulgence in which, while it
exeileted foulness of tongue, denoted a disturbance of the
understanditig. f ltv ar, hear.) After hearing the speech
of the honourable and learned gentleman, ea which he
had discharged invectives against his noble friend,
accusing hen of falsehood again and again, until the right
hon. gentleman in the chair had been obliged to interfere,
not to preserve the noble lord who was attacked, but to
maintain the character and dignity of the house—a speech
in which the hon. and learned gentleman had said that Lord
l'almerson had suborned the late Mr. Deckhouse to write
down a lie—yes,that word had been pronounced—(Cheers)—
he (Mr. Sheil) had abandoned the intention and purpose he
had originally eiitertained, and had arrived at the conclu-
sion that such imputations would be listened to by his noble
friend at the head of the foreign department with apathy,
in which some feeling of commiseration for his assailants
would be blended. (Loud cheers.) He (Mr. Shell) had
now spoken five minutes—the hon. and learned gentleman
had spoken for four hours and a half, and but little time
remained for the present sitting. The house were impatient
to hear the only bring witness to whom the hon. and learned
gentleman bad ref reed. Mr. Backhouse, Lord Holland,
and King William IV., all of' whom had been named by the
hon. and learned gentleman, were dead ; but the honourable
member for Stafford (Mr. Urquhart) still remained. The
house had heard the speech of the advocate, and let it now
listen to that of the client and the 'Fitness. (Loud cheers.) Let
them both bring specific charges, in ouch a form as to be in-
telligible, and to enable his noble friend to meet them is the
fiercest conflict, but not deal in sly generalities, framed so as
to enable them to escape from the grasp of his noble friend.
Let them do this, and then the house would come to a con-
clusion very different from that from which the hon. and
learned member for Youghal (Mr. Ansley) would derive
I satisfaction. (Hear, hear.)
After a few words in explanation from Mr. AxerEr and
Mr. SHEIL,
Mr. URQUHART said he should not follow the right
hon. gentleman (Mr. Sheil) through his general observa-
tions with reference to Ireland, to the hon. and learned mem-
ber for Toughs), or to hirnself,for those observations had lithe
or nothing to do with the question before the house. He
(Mr. Urquhart) did not intend to do more at this moment
than to make a few observations, because, until some reply
or answer was given to the elaborate and extraordinary
statement which bad been made by the hon. and learned
'umber for Youehal (Ironical cheers) he did not conceive
that the debate had arrived at the point when it wu neces-
sary to furnish fresh evidence ; but he wished to state some
facts regarding himself in reference to this matter. The
long-continued efforts which he had made to bring under
the attention of the country the conclusions to which he had
come against the noble lord opposite discharged him from at
present resorting to the necessity of reverting to the proofs
on which his conclusions and suspicions rested. If he and
the hon. and learned member for Tot:ghat were tight in
I their assertions events would occur that would open the ease
and soften the hearts of the government and the legislature.
If they were wrong, then to make the assertions they did
they must be madmen. (Hear, hear.) lie took his
stand against the house upon the results, which would
show whether he or the nation were labouring under a de-
lusion. Reverting to what was personal to himself, he de-
dared his solemn belief in the allegations which had been
made to-day; and in consequence of that belief he had
for twelve yearn laboured night and day to prove
his convictions, which might be despised, as being
untrue, but which he trusted would not render him con-
temptible. It was not to-day that his convictions had been
formed, or for the first time expressed. They had been first
coneoyed to his sovereign ; but afterwards he (Mr. Urqn-
hut) had filled an office in the public service. When ex-