The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-06 00:00:00

valated not to create, but to put down predial agitati
Whenever the one has been at its highest, the other has
been most d;minisbed. It was so in 1822. The Citho-
lic Association was not formed till 1624. The address 1
wrote, and of which 36,000 copies were circulated by Sir
John Lambert, was not published till December, 1824.
Now, we will see how the agitation stood at the time. 111
the year 1823, the committals for treason were 106 ; .
1824, one ; in 1825, one ; in 1826, one ; in 1827, none;
in 1828, none ; in 1829, none ; and that is the last year
of political agitation. In 1822, the number accused of
seditious practices was 492 ; in 1823, it was 424 ; in
11424, it was 121 ; in 1825, it was 17 ; and in 1826, it
bad fallen to 4.—(Hear, hear.) In 1822, the number
charged with robberies of arms was 64; in 1823, it was
31 ; and it diminished down to 7in 1828. In 1822, the
number charged with unlawfully appearing armed was
122, and they diminished in the course of the same period
to 9. The six years, therefore, that were the most free
from predial agitation, were the most excited with
regard to political agitation. What, then, do I demand ?
That you will not direct this measure against us, for we
are not murderers—we do not delude you—we do not act
by night—we appear before you by day. What is the
reason-you have, that you should wish to deprive us of
the freedom of English discussion ? You may insinuate
that we create the disturbances—you may allege that while
peace is recommended disturbance is suggested. That is
a case provided for by law. Ask your legal advisers whe-
ther it is not. The man who so conducts himself is liable
to indictment and punishment. You can get juries to
convict. We complain that you pack juries. You packed
a jury against me. You put off that jury Mr. Alderman
MiKenna, whom you afterwards made a Baronet—you
put off that jury the Chairman of the Bank of Ireland—
you did this because they were liberal men, and you put
'upon it men who were known to be violently opposed to
me. You are able to pack a jury again. You have un-
limited power to set aside the whole of the pannel if it
displeases you, and to enlarge it so it to add men who
are favourable to your wishes. You can have no diffi-
culties. These reasons are abundantly sufficient to show
that you want no such measure as this. You have never
tried your present means; you should try them before
you ask for others. The comparison which the Right
Eon. Baronet drew the other evening between the united
Xrishman of former days, who was found with a paper in
his pocket containing exhortation to peace, and the agita-
tor of the present day was an unfair one. The peace sug-
gested in the paper belonging to the united Irishman
Was the peace of military discipline; it was the peace of
the camp—it was the peace essential to the good order of
an army—it was the peace absolutely necessary for mili-
tary organization. In faet) what commander of a regi-
ment is not constantly ordering his men to be quiet, to be
orderly, to shun public•hou-es, to avoid broils and quar-
rels? But what is the object which our suggestions to the
people of Ireland to be peaceable have had in view ? To
tsecure) if possible) the redress of our grievances. And
what are those grievances? That the people of a country
which ought to be one of the richest in the world are
in a state of miserable poverty—that the people of a
comstry which ought to be one of the freest in the world,are
aleves—that the Corporations throughout Ireland are nar-
row, bigoted, and exclusive—that everything is done in
Ireland against the people, and nothing for them—that the
people are all subjected to landlord's law—that five suc•
ressive Acts were passed, all giving the landlords addi-
tional advantage in their contracts with their tenants.
That whereas formerly it cost a landlord thirteen or four-
teen pounds to ruin a tenant, he could now, with the as-
sistance of those Acts, ruin his tenants at an expense of
not more than about 7s. 6d, a family. Such was the
state of Ireland—such I have described it to the people of
that country; and I now defy any Hon. Gentleman who
hears me to say that I ever spoke to the people of Ire-
'and of any pievance which did not actually exist, or that
I cm' exaggerated any grievance of which I spoke.
Ifittierefore, I did neither of these things, what becomes of
the charge which has been preferred against me ? And now
for the crimes which are imput,d to the Irish people.
The Noble Lord went through a calculation of a twelve-
ntonth, and spoke of thirteen or fourteen murders. By
rt strange difference of calculation, the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman, in passing through the same period, increased the
number to one hundred and sixteen.

lklr. STANLEY—Sixty actually committed, and a
hundred and sixteen attempted.
Mr. O'CONNELL—But what I complain of is, that
we are to come by a hop, step, and jump, to this conclu-
sion. Where are the cases on which the Right Hon.
Gentleman founds his calculations? Ought we not to have
something tangible before us ?—(Hear, hear.) You are
going to take away the Constitution, and you do not even
ask for any proofs of the necessity of such a proceeding.
What excess of crime is there in Ireland over England,
to warrant a measure towards one country, which is not
warrantable towards the other ?—(The Hon. and Learned
Gentleman was proceeding to make a comparison between
the number of crimes committed in England, and the
number described by the Right Hon. Gentleman' as hav-
ing been committed in Ireland ; but Mr. Stanley observed,
that it was to Leinster his calculation had been confined.)
This is the way—the loose way, in which we are called
Upon to legislate. How do I know the validity of the
Right Hon. Gentleman's sta,ement ? How do I know
how many repetitions there may be in that state-
ment of the same offence ? How do I know who the
accusers may have been ? Take the rest of the offences
in Ireland. Take the very worst of the rest, and they
are not worse than the counties of England and Wales.
In the county of Kerry there are only eleven prisoners.
In the West riding of the county of Cork there are only
ten prisoner.. Is a country to be outlawed on such state-
ments ? On the faith of such miserable and unfounded
calumnies as those which have been uttered with reference
to Ireland, are you about to trample down every right pos-
sessed by the Irish people—even the right to complain?—
(Hear.) But the House has been told that agitation still
exists in Ireland in full force; and the course pursued by
Mr. Steele has been alluded to. It is very possib'e that
there tray have been in that speech a good deal of ribaldry,
and something at which his Majesty's Government may
conceive they have a right to take exception. Mr. Steele
must abide his trial. If the jury believe that he used
language derogatory. to his allegiance, they 'still convict
him ; if, on the contrary, the jury believe that the language
which he used was for the purpose of obtaining the confi-
dence of the people, and securing the public peace, they
will acquit him. That is his only defence.—(A laugh.)
I can assure Hon. Members ti-at they are mistaken, if they
think Mr. Steele a common man. He is a true enthu•iast ;
and, notwithstanding the ribaldrous passage in his speech to
which I have alluded, he is a man of extensive information,
and a good classical scholar. By great exertions he saved
many of his countrymen, some time ago, from embarking in
a ruinous speculation. He expended a portion of his for-
tune, and fearlessly exposed his person, in chivalrous efforts
in favour of the lihet ties of Spain. There is no man living
of greater kindness and humanity, mixed with a strain of
occasional wildness.—(A laugh.) Hon. Gentlemen may
laugh; they would not laugh if they were acquainted with
him in private life; for while they would be sorry for the
fault, they would highly esteem the manliness of his mind
and the excellence of his character.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
I know him well ; and if they knew him as well, they
would esteem him as warmly. But what has Mr. Steele
done ? I will tell the House what Mr. Steele did. In a
midnight affray one of the Whitefeet was shot, and died
of his wounds. Mr. Steele attended the inquest ; and in
the presence of the man's relations, made a speech over the
body where it lay, showing the folly of his conduct, and
the misery which it was calculated to inflict. The place
was a mountain pass. Mr. Steele stopped the weeping
and wailing of these who surrounded the body, then
harangued the people; and while he expressed his abhor-
rence of the political system under which they were suf-
fering, bestowed the highest praise upon the temperate
conduct of Major Brown, and on the efforts made by that
gentleman to maintain the peace of the neighbouring
country. Yet it was by Major Brown's hand that the
man before him had fallen ; or at least Major Brown coin.
mended the party by whom he had been shot. Such was
the conduct of Mr. Steele. There lay the dead body—
there stood the afflicted wife and child ; and the man by
whom the husband and the father fell was praised by this
calumniated agitator. I now come (and I rejoice to find
myself approaching a close) to the Right Hon. Gentle-
man's more direct attack on me. The Right Hon. Gen-
tleman read to the House a letter of mine which ap-
peared in the newspapers. It is Err/ habit never to pub-
lish anything in the newspapers without my name :
and to that letter, as well as to all my other communica-
tions of a similar nature, my name was affixed. But what
was the passage in the letter which the Right Hon, Gen-
tleman read, and on which he commented with so much
severity ? Merely that I stated that the Member for
.Athlone had voted against Ireland, and that the
Members for Limerick had voted against Ireland, and
that I appealed to the people of Ireland for their opinion
on such public conduct. Sir, I maintain that I had a
perfect and constitutional right to do what I did ; and
that the Right Hon. Gentleman is quite wrong in charging
it upon me as an offence. I have an undoubted right to
appeal to the public against the vote of any man in this
House. That I maintain to be a sound constitutional
principle. I have no right to impute motives to any man
for his vote ; and no motives were imputed in the case in
question. I have no right to charge any Member with
being influenced by dishonourable motives. But I assert
.—and in a Reformed Parliament especially, I apprehend