The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-06 00:00:00

had or had not been guilty of a capital felony, and that
evidence was incomplete, did any man say that the .Jury
would not at once acquit the whole six on the well-known
principle, that it was better that these guilty men should
escape, than that ono innocent man should suffer ? Was
it not better, then, that the whole 80,000 should be libe-
rated than that those among them who were free men,
and as much entitled to their liberty as any of their Lord-
ships, should be detained two ) ears in bondage?—( Cheers. )
My Lords, I will give notice, perhaps irregularly, that if
some satisfactory explanation is not given of this omission
in the Speech, in a few days, I shall urge upon the House
the necessity of adopting a wise and just policy towards
our West Indian colonies, not to say the Mauritius, in
order that justice may be done not merely to the slaves, but
the colonies, which have behaved so admirably. Now, my
Lords, to say one word on that, to which the Noble Duke
referred, and to which I have already incidentally ad-
verted, the meetings and the supposed illegal pruceedings; in
Lancashire, &c. My Lords, I believe that the speakers,
rather than the speech, or the address, have somewhat ex-
aggerated the amount of those disturbances; hut I am far
from saving that no ground exists for the observations made
upon them. That speeches criminal, nut to say insene,
have teen uttered by parties now in imprisonmeet or going
to be tried for misdemeanours, is undeniable; hut ley Lords,
it is equally Due that these are nut the only pal is of the
e npire in which illegal speeches have been mede--(Oppo-
sision cheers)—in which tan leas excitement has been
tried—( Renewed eheera)--on an exciteable race of
people—a people, many of whom we find are so igno-
rant that they do not form • their opinions for them-
selves, but suffer other men to think for them—( Con-
tinued cheers)—who act as though they were positively
—I can say no less—as if the motive which set their hands
in motion to commit crimes hateful in time tight of God and
man—nut by any motive residing in their own bosoms, but
by some base, or sordid, or fan:vice!, or rebellious-1 care
not what—but by some form of Hiegel and immoral interest
or wish, residing in the bosoms of other men, and com-
municated by those other men through their lips, and in-
stilled into the ears of their reckless mechanical puppets.__
( Loud cheers.) My Lords, it is a shocking thing, that in
the 19th century, and towards the middle of it—that in a
civilised country—a land that boasts of its police and its
Constitution—of its regular system of 'haws, and above chief
its admirable administration of justice—( lhar)—that in
a Chrietien country, under these circumstances, blessed
with such institutions, human life scents no more to he re-
garded than mere animals or chattels—( Hear)—and hu-
man blood seen's to be poured out as water upon the laud—
( Haar, hear)—where any set of men ma) have an interest,
or supposed interest, or d'si,c to make the sacrifice.—
( Hear.) My Lords, I well remember asking a high law
authority in that country, whether mortal men ever saw
such a state of things in any country milling i:self civilised,
as that of a country where any one who is rich enough to
give 201. to another may have his enemy's life taken away. ,
To which he added—" provided he be also riot only rich
enough, but extravagant enough, to give 201. for what
he could get done for 20s "—( Loud cries if " hear.")
My Lords, is it not moostreus—( Hear, hear)—and can it
be denied ? Have we not seen it proved on oeth, notwith-
standing all the impediments which beset witnesses, so
that we have not only to grant a sum of money, but an an-
euity, that he may expatriate himself to Constantinople, or
to Algiers, or to Ilerat—( A laugh)—or to some ether
land, where human life is more valued than in his own ?
( Loud cries of " Beer, hear.") Notwithstanding all the,,e
difficulties, we have had it proved within the last month,
that when it was resolved by persona minded to kill two
individuals, that one should kill the man, and the
other the tronian, an objection was mode, not to
the criminality—not to the foul and hideous crone of
murder, but that the person on whom the lot had fallen to
kill the woman happened to have seine conviction that it
was more convenient that he should kill the man ; so be
changed the parts, and both the men and the woman were
murdered.—( A simultaneous thrill of horror seemed to run
through the House.) And yet, my Lords, to my infinite
astonishment, I have heard the Crown lawyers who con-
ducted the prosecution, congratulate thernselves and the
country that the charges of conspiracy lied been dis-
proved—thet there existed no " extensive" conspiracy
in that part of the United Kingdom.-_( Hear, hear.)
My Lords, I know not what that learned person meant by
" extensive" conspiracy, and I care not ; but this 1 do
know, that the awe of society in that part of Ireland—l
go no further—is such that murder is spoken of, tried,
ordered, discussed, agreed to be done, coop issed and per-
petrated in a way which I defy you to find a match for, I
had almost said in the centre of the African desert.—(Hear,
hear.) And, my Lords, while these examples of criminal
justice were actually being made, an amiable, a respected
Nobleman, an admirable member of Society, behoved by those
about him, endeared even to the hulk of his tenantry by his
conduct as a landlord—is murdered—is shot at, as a beast,
from behind a hedge, and no more idea seems to be enter.
tabled of discovering who did the deed, than if it were
physically impossible to trace the steps of the assassin.—
( Hear, hear.) My Lords, I cannot help asking whether
all can be well in the administration of the law and police
in a country where such shocking—such revolting scenes
take place—( Hear, hear)—and where the most impu-
dent audacity—the must enormous effrontery, coupled
with the blackest malignity, endeavours to turn sus-
picion fom the real assassin—(The loudest and meat en-
thusiastic outbreak of indignation which we have ever
heard within the walls of this House, here interrupted the
Noble and Learned Lerd)—and to fix it upon one in whom,
bad as the crime would be, in whoever did it—on one in
whom the deed would have been a crime of incalculably
blacker dye—( Renewed cheers)—and would almost curdle
one's blood in one's veins. This is time last effort of fac-
tious and desperate audacity—of profligate falsehood—of
an unprincipled and malignant nature. _( Cheers.) This last
crowns the whole ; and I devotedly hope that justice
be done, if not upon the murderer, at least upon those
who only yield in infamy to the assassin of the father—l
mean the assassin of the reputation of the son.—(Tremen-
dous cheering.) They little know what Englishmen are
made of—( Continued cheering)—they little know what
English blood boils in English veins who fancy that all
their influence with the Government—( Renewed cheering)
—can' protect them, if they show their faces in this country,
from universal execration and horror.—( Loud mind long
continued ceeeringe ) My Lords that there has been less
of political agitation than of what is called—by- a
convenient distribution of the subject—( A laugh)—
" Agrarian" outrages, I am ready to admit, but have we not
had political agitation ?—( Hear, hear)—and the Noble Vis-
count—with his usual good humour—with which he often
succeeds in involving serious end important subjects in a
momentary pleasantry—the Noble Viscount, adverting to
what the Noble Duke had referred to, as a person supposed
to be very high in the confidence of her Mejeety's Govern-
ment—the Noble Viscount said he did not know of it ;
that was a very ungrateful return.—( A laugh.) However,
if he did not know it, he soon discovered it, for he directly
said, perhaps the Noble Duke referred to the Member for
Dublin. I should not wonder if he did.—(The sarcastic
way in which tho Noble Lord uttered this excited great
laughter.) Oh, but says the Noble Viscount, he is not in
our confidence at all ; we are in his confidence--there's a
deal of love lost between us—( Laughter)—we don't like
him—we have a great contempt for him—we have no con-
fidence in him--we think him a man not to be trusted in
the slightest degree—of course we never offered to make
him a second Judge in Ireland—( A loud burst of laughter
and cheering)—but if we did, we had no confidence
in him—(Laughter)—though it is certainly considered a
great mark of confidence on this side of the water—( Renewed
laughter)—and my. Noble and Learned Friend opposite
. (Lord Lyndhurst) 'would have thought it very strange to
be told that the Government of which he was a Member
showed their distrust of him by making him Master of the
Rolls—(Laughter)—and possibly• Ministers wished to show
greater distrust of the individual I am alluding to by
making him Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench in Ireland,
for by the rule of three, if the Mastership of the Rolls shows
distrust, the Chief Justiceship of the Queen's Bench shows
more distrust.—(Loud laughter.) All this is very
pleasant, taking it upon the footing of drollery,
on which the Noble Viscount put it; but now just
see what's going to happen in consequence of all this—the
Rev. Mr. Stephens is going to be tried, and for that reason
I abstain from saying a word as to his offence—(Hear,
hear)—but I know how important it is—God forbid I
should say that any one should be convicted, but that the
law should have its course—that if he be guilty, he should
be found guilty—that if he be innocent, he be acquitted.
God send him a just deliverance—( Hear, hear)—but it is
not always that men are tried upon the merits of their case.
An ingenious Counsel—and no Counsel could be found
more ingenious than the one selected by Mr. Stephens—
does not apply himself to the issue of guilty or not guilty
but to topics that will tell in the minds of the Jury—and
Juries lend their cars to such topics. And my Lords, Low
does it happen that the arm of time law—so omnipotent in
Lancashire as to arrest any man who makes a seditious
speech—drops paralized on the other side of the Channel?
—( Loud cheering.) And the Counsel for the defendant
would say, how is it that the man who talked nbcts
2,000,000 of petitioners approaching the Queen, all
loyal subjects, but ~ fighting men"—( Hear, hear)—and
such topics would influence the jury, and they have influ-
enced many who are not jurymen—( Hear, hear)—and I
think I may ask her Majesty's Ministers whether they have
any confidence in these individuals in Ireland or not? That
they will—l will not say use strange language, that would be
dangerous, that might risk seine votes—( Hear, hear)—but
use their influence—to humbly intreat these individuals
who have such confidence in them to abstain from a
course productive of such pernicious results.—( Hear.) My
Lords I have discharged my duty, and a painful duty it
was, atid the more so because I have long taken part with
these very individuals, and therefore I feel the more bound
when I see-them transgressing all law, and hoping to be
countenanced, and being countenanced by those who have
no confidence in them, though they do show them some
favour—to persuade them to desist from such proceedings,
and I have discharged my mind of that heavy load
which I have felt pressing uecn it ever since
I heard of the murder of Lord Norbury, and the horrors of
the Tipperary Special Commission.-_( Hear.) My Lords,
it cannot be said that Lord John Russell or the Govern-
, ment arc reluctant to put down turbulence and lawlessness;
for though the individual to whom I have referred has stig-
matised Lord Grey and Lord Brougham as the most un-
principled Ministers of the country, because they passed
the Coercion Bill, and lauding the Noble Viscount (Mel-
bourne) as having resisted that Bill, when, in fact, the Bill
was the Bill of the Noble Viscount who was at the head of
the Home Department; but then there is this difference—
and an important difference it is—that Lords Brougham
and Grey cannot make men Judges now—( Laughter)
and therefore we are the most unprincipled of politicians;
and therefore the Noble Viscount is most fit to be trusted.—
( Laughter.) And so much to be trusted that they lavish
their confidence on him who rejects it with a sneer, and
who says " You may confide in me as much as you please,
it is no matter,- you arc better known than trusted, I am
more trusted than known."—(Great laughter.) I have a
right to say that, because the party who trusts is in a state
of crass ignerance ; he says the Noble Viscount was no
friend of the Coercion Bill, although it was his own mea-
sure.—( Immense laughter.) Now, my Lords, the last,
and I am sure I am glad to be able to say the last, of these
matters which have been brought before us refers to
the subject of the Corn-laws ; and as I have a pe•
tition to present to your Lordships, of which I shall
give immediate notice of bringing it on, I purposely ab-
stain from any argument, on either side of the question.
I think this would bo the most unseasonable time, and the