The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-07 00:00:00

allude to in order to show the fallacy of the doc-
trine that had of late sprung up. that the in-
surrectien was not an insurrection at all, and that there
was no necessity for taking the precautions that had
been taken. He would pass over the circumstances
that had taken place at several of the trials in Ireland;
but there was one document he must shortly allude to,
as it had been the subject of great discussion else-
where, he alluded to the letter of Mr. M'Gbee,
' who took such an active part in the transactions that had
taken place in Ireland. That letter appeared in the
New York Morning Herald. (The Right Honourable
Gentleman then read several parts of the letter.
of Mr. la,i'ahee, particularly those parts in which the
writer spoke of the revolution that had taken place
France, the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act
in July
last year, the harvest in Ireland, the Confederates, the
oganization of the 500 Club, and stated that their object
-and determination was to burn down the cities of Ire-
land, as the Athenians did Athens, intimidate
the troops, and render it impossible for them
to do their duty to their country or their Sovereign.)
Now, after such a letter as that, he must confess that he
was astonished that Hon. Gentlemen should get up
in that House or elsewhere to assert boldy that the
'insurrection was a mock insurrection.—(Hear.) He was
aware that the authenticity of the letter had been
denied; but he believed it had been clearly proved that
'such was not the case ; he believed that now the most
sceptical persons did not doubt its authenticity, indeed
Mr. M`Ghee himself had re-asserted the authorship
of it in his answer to a letter that had boon
written against the first letter that he wrote, and
that answer had been punished in the New
York paper of which Mr. M‘Ghee was the editor.
It was towards the close of last session that the Act
was passed, and its duration was fixed so as to enable
the Government to carry through the recess, and to say
when Parliament met again whether the powers it
granted should cease or be continued. During
the recess they had anxiously considered
the subject, and had arrived at the conclusion
which he had already stated to the House. The ques-
tion was, looking at recent occurrences and the spirit
and organization which still existed in Ireland, and was
ready to flame out again whenever an opportunity was
afforded, whether the House should adopt the same
means which were contemplated and sanctioned last
summer. He was not prepared to state that
conspiracy still existed, but he would pledge himself that
the most anxious devotion had been directed to the sub-
ject by the Lord-Lieutenant and her Majesty's Govern-
ment, who had collected information from every avail-
able source, and they had come to the irresistible con-
closion not to shrink from recommending the con-
tinuence of the Act. The Right Hon. Gentleman then
referred to a communication which had been received
from the Lord-Lieutenant, stating, that although the
f iilttre of past attempts had weakened the confidence of
the disaffected, there still remained a feeling of insubor-
dination among them which, unless timely measures
were taken by the Government, might again beccme ac-
tire. All the evidence which had been collected tended
to confirm that opinion. Within the last few days there
appeared in Dublin an advertisement in one of the pa-
pers, to the effect that an extraordinary publication
would appear on the Ist of March next (that date having
of course reference to the expiration of the Act; sus-
pending part of the constitutional liberties of Ire-
land)—a most extraordinary publication, containing the
most spirit-stiring effusions, to be dedicated to the
young men of Ireland. It was described to be a publi-
cation the richest and moat racy of its kind.—(Laughter.)
He (Sir George Grey) had said nothing to lead
the House to imagine that the Government en-
tertained the least apprehension of the success
of any movements of the kind referred to.
He hoped that the events of the last few months would
undeceive the most credulous, and shake the confidence
of those who, from vanity or other motives, took upon
themselves to lead the people. Many were impressed with
the great clemency which the Government had shown
in the administration of this law, at the same time that
they had vindicated the law, and maintained the peace and
tranquillity of the country; and he considered that the
Lord-Lieutenant was entitled to the confidence of all
loyally-disposed persons.—(Hear, hear.) He had now
stated the reasons why the Government were of opinion
the Constitution should for a further period be suspended.
The powers which the suspension of the Act had con-
ferred upon the Lord-Lieutenant had been exercised,
he was proud to say, in a conciliatory spirit, with the
earnest purpose of promoting the peace and happiness of the
country; and the law had been administered in such a way
as to prevont any complaint being made in a single in-
stance. No blood had been shed on the scaffold in
pursuance of the sentences that had been passed. The
only blood that had been shed was that of the deluded
victims, whom he would not say had been led,
but who had been driven to their fall, and
who had sacrificed their lives in a vain attempt to
achieve an impracticable purpose.—(hear, hear.) In
eliding to the temperate way in which the Lord-Lieu-
tenant had exercised the powers with which he
was vested, he felt that he should not ren-
der him all the justice that was due to him if he
did not read an address which had been presented to him
from the Corporation of Dublin, a body not very likely
to wish to take away unjustly any of the rights which
their fellow-subjects possessed. ( rho Right lion.
Baronet then read an address, which compli-
mented the Lord-Lieutenant upon the temperate
spirit with which he had acted in an unpre-
cedented crisis.) There was one point, however,
which he should not omit to mention in stating
the gr )unds on which he was asking the House
to continue the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act—
namely, that at former periods on which Parliaments
had agreed to the, suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act
for.a given period, severe measures were either in ex-
ieteece or were at the same time put in force. Forinstance,
in 1803, e. 11,.)n the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act was
renewed, a Bill empowering the proclamation of martial
law in Ireland was passed at the same tires.; and again,
in 1817, the Insurrectionary Act was passed simultanc-
oucly with the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in
order that partit s having arms in their possession might
be compedcd to give them up without del ty. Such an
Act was not now, however, in force; and, therefore, if
the suiperodon of the lisb.,as Corpus Act were not
tb' Government would not be in pea-
s .s,ion of the requisite powers to• rely upon
for the preservation of the peace. The Honourable
Member for Limerick alluded last night, with consider-
able displeasure, to the passage in the letter of the Lord..
Lieutenant which dealt with the evils of political agita-
tion. Ha had had, of course, no communication
with the Lord-Lieutenant since the speech of the
sic pourable Member, but he might obs2rve that
he was necessarily in constant communication with that
Noble Lord, and that the House would agree with him
when he stated that he did not object to political discus-
sion, but to that unt.ir discussion for impracticable
objects, which was the bane of Ireland—the
bfr,:c of her indus.ry, of her agriculture, and
commerce, and of every other improvement, and to which
he thought, a cheek ou4ht to be given, because ho
thought Ireland should now enjoy repose from exciting
agitation, and that the minds of the people should be
direet..;cl to tt/e pursuance, instead, of m )re permanent
objects on v; hi- her future welfare depended. He was
anxious to read the reply of tha Lord-Lientenant to the
addresses of the Corporation of Dublin. (The
Rielit Hon. Bert. then read the address, which stated, in
effect, that there existed on the part of the
gle 311'3 Government, and on his own, a sincere
desire to investigate the causes of the &cc ustent
of Ireland, and to remedy the evils of which
slip complained, to the best of their ability.)
Flush were the sentiments of the Lord-Lieutenant,
and t'aey are 'sentiments in which he cordially
coucurrerl. It was on these grounds that the
Government
considered that the limited powers
for which they asked should be entrusted to the hands of
the Lord- Lieutenant, w ith a view to the preservation of the
peace and welfare of Inland. There could only be
one
opinion as to the spirit the advice Of*.
the Lord-Lieutenant ; not to look to agitation
to t care the evils of that unhappy country, but that
they, would come to the
dcolisideration of those
evils. with an toi promote the
development of her resouerscirces,scaindusftry, and,
in brief, raising her in tho nations,
which no ono would bo more scale
hted to
sin. than himself; to achieve which her Majesty's
mutat would render all the asista„e • Govern'
in their
pow'er. Instead of casting blame upon the Govern-
ment, and blaming them for not introducing measures of'
those who really entertained sincere feelings
towards Ireland ought to stimulate each other to,pro-
Mete that end. For these reasons he asked thel
the
to give, for a limited period, the powers which
Government believed necessary, for the due and
t&fal administration of which by the Execu-
tive they bad the guarantee that the same
care would be shown in their exercise for the future
as during the past.—(Hear.) Thera could be no
doubt that the powers now sought would be ex-
ercised in a temperate spirit, for the Lord-Lieute-
u,iuit had acted in au enlightened manner
atd, „with an earnest desire to promote and con-
"rl43 the best interests of the country.—(Hear.)
When last year the Government had asked for the con-
tineance of the Act for seven months, they had done so
in order to ealow a certain time, with a margin
for the meeting
of Parliament, in order that the Legis-
lature .might judge whether the Act should expire.
The time which they now asked for the continuance
of the Act was six months, with a view to enable Parlia-
ment to judge before it again separated whether the Act
shoed still be continued, whether this Act should expire
or whether any other Act should be passed to increase
or modify, or alter the powers of this Act. He should
therefore now only move that the Act for the
continuance of the suppression of the Habeas Corpus
Act should remain in force for a limited period.
Mr. Js O'CONNELL rose to move the amendment of
which he had given notice.—(Hear.) He trusted that
when the House was about to pass a Bill for the continu-
ance of an Act by,which all the powers of the Commons
House of Parliament were to be passed into the hands
of. the Executive, that they would at least con-
sider -what they were about to do, and what
objects they were about to serve, and whether indeed
those objects would tend to any practicable purpose.
The only point which he had observed in the speech of
f
the Bight lion. Gentleman war, that if any Member of
that 'House' should presume to say that he would do
this,that, or the other, that they should not do it, simp • l y
because he thought it was wrong. If the British
House of Commons were prepared to assent to
any such principle, they would be assenting to one
of the most tyrennans proceedings that could possibly be
adopted. The only effect indeed of such an Act
was to.. deprive the people of all political
rights: A Gentleman in that House had told
him only yesterday that the people were altogether pre-
vented-from the right of petitioning-, for a meeting had
within the last few days been hold, the object of which
was to petition the Crown respecting a matter which
had nothing whatever to do with politics ; but such
vim On effect this that 119 woofing of