The National Register.
London, England, 1811-06-23 00:00:00

SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 811 .

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

No. 168.

MR. FINNERTY. FINNERTY.

A Petition was presented to the House of Com-
mons, on Friday night, by Mr. WHITBREAD, in
behalf of Mr. FINNERTY, by whom it was written.
It complained, not of the sentence under which he
is confined, but of the 44 great harshness and capri-
cious severity" with which, it stated, he had been
treated ; the particulars of which it minutely de-

scribed, and was attended with medical affidavits,
certifying that his health had been injured by the
mode of his confinement. If, among the privations
which 1w represents himself as having endured, Mr.
FissiTry has not experienced that of feeling; and
gratitude, it is impossible that he should contem-
plate Lord C.ASTLEREACHIPS conduct on the occa-
sion, without the most poignant regret at the viru-
lent attempts he lately made to blast that Noble-

man's character. At the hands of one, whom he
pursued with the most rancorous hatred ; whose
good fame he endeavoured to stab, even at the ex-
pence of his own liberty, he has found not only
mercy, but protection. No sooner did his Lordship
hear of the Petition, than, said Mr. RYDER, who-
agreed to present it to the PRINCE REGENT after he
should have ascertained the truth of its contents,
" he privately gave his strongest recommendation
that no severity might be used in the imprisonment."
- As the absence of the Sheriff, to whom Mr. RYDER
had applied for information, prevented his receiving
any answer until the night previous to the introduc-
tion of the business into the House of Commons,
the Patriots were alarmed and fancied the delay
in applying to the Prince proceeded from ill-will.
The subject was therefore hurried before Parlia-
ment, where a satisfactory explanation was given.
It appeared from the reply returned by the Sheriff
to Mr. RYDER, that Mr. FINNERTY had incurred
some of those privations of which he complained,
"in consequence of irregular and indecorous con.
duct on his part." Notwithstanding which, the
Hon. Secretary assured the House, that 41 he should
recommend that the Petitioner should be allowed
what air and exercise was necessary, under such re-
strictions as would prevent the
circumstances he alluded to."
I'ol. IV. CLXXXIL

Lord CASTLEREAGH, not sat'sfied with the private
recommendation which he had given in behalf of
the prisoner, took this opportunity, by the public
expression of his forgiving benevolence towards
him, to sanction the object of his Petition. He
declared, 44 that as soon as lie heard it stated that

undue severity had been used to the Petitioner,
he had interposed his best requests that the imprison-
ment should be marked with as much indulgence as
was possible. In the prosecution of the Petitioner,
he had discharged what he considered as a most
painful public duty. He believed the House knew
pretty well that he was not disposed to he very
querulous about animadversions cast upon the Go.
vernrnent of which he had formed a part ; but the
libel of which he 'had thought it his duty to com-
plain, was so gross an attack upon him in his public
station, that he would have conceived it a breach
of public duty to have passed it by. If he had not
considered it in this light, it would have been much
more agreeable to his private feelings to havepassed
it by; or not to have called for the judgment of the
Court. As to tvhat the Petitioner now solicited, he
considered that it was due to hi in as a matter of
right, and he hoped that it would be generally
granted. He conceived that he was strictly jus-
tifiable in appealing to that House, or to the PRINCE
REGENT ; and he hoped that this reasonable request
would be granted. In other respects, neither the
panegyric. which the Hon. Gentlemen (Mr. HUTCH-
INSON) had pronounced on the Petitioner, nor the
insinuations which he had thrown out against him-
self; should provoke him at the present time to go
into the policy of the former Government of Ire-
land. He should, however, say generally, that he
was ready and anxious to meet such a discussion.
If any Hon. Gentleman thought it for the public
good, to bring it on in a regular shape. He was
prepared to defend, not the acts of indivi 'uals,
many of which he knew were utterly indefensible,
but he should be at all times prepared to defend the
conduct of the Irish Government."
Supported by the authority of his prosecutor,
whom he wished to Tepresent as a monster of ini-
quity and as guilty of thy. grossest oppression to-
wards him, Mr. FINNERTY may now expect that his
request will be granted. This is the most magna-
as well-as the most convincing reply ‘which
•dshig could mak.e to the libellous charges


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