The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-05 00:00:00

CORPUS ACT.

The Ho.r. MEMBER then Proceeded to complain of
what he believed the House would agree with him, was a
breach of the privileges of the House. The document
which he held in bis hand had been left at his residence
that morning; and the statements in it were such that
he hoped its publication would be deemed a violation of
the privileges to which he had referred. It
was stated to have been " Presented to both
Houses of Parliament by command of her
Majesty," and purported to be a letter from the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland to the Secretary of State for the
Home Department. Believing it to be a breach of the
privileges of the House, he should not unlikely feel it
his duty to move that " William Clowes, the printer of
the docnment, be called to the bar of the House, to
answer for himself or for his instigators." It would
then be for the House to determine what should be done.
The SPEAKER said he was not aware of the nature
of the paper of which the Hon. Gentleman complained.
He, however, understood him to say that the piper had
been presented by command of her Majesty. The
publication of such a paper could not be a breach of the
privilege of the House.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL—I beg to say that that document
is an authentic one, and that it has been presented to
the House by command of her Majesty.—(Hear bear.)
Mr. J. O'CONNELL—WeII, then, I beg to move that
the House do now adjourn.—(Laughter.) I believe I am
in order. The representations in that document to which
he had referred could not be passed over lightly or in
silence. At the risk of his unpopularity he had no
hesitation in saying that the document was unconstitu-
tional, yet they were assured by the First Minister of
the Crown that it was authentic.
Mr. DRUMMOND rose to order. He wished to
know from the Hon. Gentlemani in the chair if the ob-
servations of the Hon. Gentleman had anything to du
with the question of adjournment?
The SPEAKER said the observations he had heard
did not relate to the question of adjournment.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL said he should proceed to state
his reasons for submitting that motion. The questions
dealt with in that document were of so grave and im-
portant a nature, that ho believed the dignity of
the House would be best supported, and the
liberty of the subject in Ireland respected, by the
adjournment of the House, in order to afford time for
the consideration of the representations in that docu-
ment, and as to the motion for the continuance of the
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, which would be
brought forward by the Noble Lord to-morrow. Indeed,
by adopting such a course, they would but follow in the
footsteps of their predecessors, who were as equally
jealous of the liberty of the subject and the main
tenance of the integrity of the constitution as
they were. Nay, he would go further, and say, that
it might not unlikely become the duty of the House
to consider whether the document in question did not
form sufficient grounds for the impeachment of the
Noble Lord at the head of the Government, and of the
Lord-Lieutenant, who had appended his name to it.—
(Hear, hear, and laughter.) He assured the House
that the matter was by no means a light one, nor did
the matter on which he was seeking the opinion of
the House, partake of a trivial character. He
was not going into any discussion of the personal
merits or the personal capacity of the Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland. These were undoubted ; but what
did the document to which he had referred
contain? Here they had the head of the Executive of
Ireland taking on himself to declare that a constitutional
object Iwas unattainable, and therefore the subjects of
her Majesty in Ireland should be prevented from seek-
ing that constitutional object. In the sixth paragraph
the mask was thrown off, and it was, that he would
recommend the destruction of the constitu-
tion of Ireland. Be recommended the doing
away with the high privilege of personal security,
and be recommended it in order to put an end
to political movements of all kinds. He used
the words "political excitement." Who had authorized
the Lord-Lieutenant to tell the subjects of Ireland that
a perfectly legal object was not to be attain-
able ? Was it not monstrous that any member
of the Executive should propose to Parliament an inter-
ference with the Constitution, with a view to prevent
the people seeking for the attainment of a con-
stitutional object ? Would the House do what
that nobleman called upon them to do, to say that
the people should not agitate for the repeal of an Act of
Parliament? Would the British House of Commons. jealous
of the liberties of the subject, the guardians of the Bri-
tish Constitution, asserting themselves to be the legislators
not only for England, but also for Scotland and Ireland,
on the mere personal recornmendadon of that nobleman,
consent to trample upon that constitution, and to make a
distinction between Englishmen and Irishmen ? The
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was seeking to put down an
agitation which was already out of itself—which was ut-
terly extinct. Not a spark of the ancient fire was yet
to be seen; the agitation as yet had no vitality in it; and
the Lord-Lieutenant called upon the House to inflict
that gross outrage on the whole of the Irish inhabit-
ants, without even a pretence that the agitation existed
at that moment. He (Mr. J. O'Connell) asked for the
adjournment of the House, in order that Members might
have time to consider the document in question. It
Members thought that this matter did not come
home to them at this moment, it would ere long
if this precedent were established. They them-
selves thought that there could not have been a
worse indication exhibited of the regard of England for
Ireland, or of the Constitution which should hereafter be
concocted for England. He had but one consideration to
press upon the Legislature, and he asked them whether
they had yet taken into consideration - that Eng-
land and Ireland were bound together with indisseluble
ties? He asked them whether they had not some claim
to resist this most iniquitous this most tyrannous
measure?—(Hear, hear.) That document told of
disaffection ; and he trusted that he might
be permitted to tell them that no paper could
possibly have issued from any quarter that would be
more likely to be productive of so mischievous a result
as disaffection. He did think that they might
take it into consideration that there were
means of even legally raising disaffection. Ho would
not threaten them, but he warned them of the conse-
quences that might arise from the adoption of the prin-
ciples of that now acknowledgedly authentic, but
most tyranneous document—(Hear, bear)—a document
which was alike a disgrace to the Crown and to the
ccuntry—a document which was calculated to disse-
minate deceit and engender mischief. The hour
of Ireland had come, and she was under their feet, but
the day might shortly arrive when the hour of England
might also come. He did believe that the destiny of this
country had arrived, that its hour had now come, and
that if this iniquitous measure were persevered in, that
it would end in the destruction of the welfare of those by
whom it had been so unfortunately and so shamefully
promulgated.
Mr. GRATTAN rose to say a few words, but was
met on all sides of' the House with cries of " Seconder,
seconder." After several, attempts to speak, the Hon.
Gentleman concluded by saying, " I second the motion."
The SPEAKER.—There is no motion before the
House.—(Laughter).
The matter then dropped ; and
The SPEAKER readl the names of those Members
who had refused to serve on Committees.
thenSESSIONAL
ORDER.RUSSELL
rose to move the
sessional orders, as there was some alteration pro-
posed in them, especially by the Committee that
sat last year, he would make a few observa-
tions upon them. The first resolution he had to
propose was one that had been universally
adopted, the 2d and 3d were adopted at the suggestion
of the Hon. Member for Montrose, and he saw no ob-
jection to their continuance. The 4th, sth, 6th, 7th, and
Bth resolutions were likewise the same as last year. The
9th was a resolution which was agreed to by the Com-
mittee of last Sear, as to the manner of conducting the
1,,,Fie,,, et. 11.,• .:Ti purpose of
N ble L. (' at. a alluding to the leth,
it. i no t• A
and 12th Orders said that the 13th respected the privi-
leges of the House and thet subject had been carefully .
considered by that Committee in the resolution, glad he