The Sun.
London, England, 1834-02-14 00:00:00

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did any thing but rejoice in their diminution. Again
this Judge said " Why was there such satisfaction
at the wane of Protestant seminaries, and why were
such proceedings instituted against Protestant bodies, and
everything done which could depress the Protestant
Church and elevate the Roman Catholic hierarchy ?"
Now did it become a Judge to turn politician, and
make his Court the arena for rivivin,g, dissension and
hatred ?—(Hear.) Having the wealthy class among
the Protestant, and the power among the Catholic com-
munity, was it befitting in a Judge to endeavour to reani-
mate religious prejudice and fury? Was it right in him
to be calumniating the Catholic clergy and people who were
not before him, and taunting the Protestants with language
calculated to irritate them Protestants ! the Roman
Catholics are triumphing over you ; they exult in the wane
of your establishments." He was a gentleman, it was true,
a scholar, and an able man, and a man, therefore, capable
of reviving the dying embers—if, indeed, there were dying
embers of religious animo.ity. He put it to the nousef
if any judge in England had done this, what would
have been the consequence?—(Hear.) If a judge bad
n,glected his duty by day here, and tried prisoners in the
darkness of night, and sounded the political tocsin from
the Bench, was there a man in that House who would
attempt to screen him, or prevent inquiry into his conduct?
—(Hear.) Should he then be told that it U'ett3 only in
Ireland this had taken place ; that there Was nothing in
jeopardy but the lives and property of Irisri people, aild
therefore inquiry was unnecessary? All he demanded
was inquiry, and he pledged himself to prove a stronger
case than he had mentioned, if called upon to do so. :did
doubt he should receive an answer proper in its tone and'
temper. But what signified tone and temper ? What could
take away the conviction from the minds of the people
of Ireland that here was a man who ought to be the pro-
tector, pronouncing from the bench a philippic ihvoiting
the peace and security of the country ? Should he bb
refused inquiry, it might be said, as a ground for
refusing, that a gentleman at his (Baron Smith's)
time of life, certainly ought to be excused on
account of the infirmities of age. Excused indeed ! was
it not proved that be was too active whatever his age
might be, and that it would have been better if he
had had legs 'bf such activity about hitn
He knew of no chastity that ought to be more pate Iliad
the ermine. What would become of all the institutions of
the country if the people were to see such sights as that
then seen? The Judges ought to he free from all the pol-
lution of politics—they ought to be like a stream of pure
water running through the land, but if such conduct
as was then imputed to Mr. Baron Smith were
to be allowed by that House with impunity, then it
would be like a foul stream which produced nothing but
noxious vapours, and all who breathed of it would, if not

. -
killed outright, carry away a taint with them. It
would make men think there was no protection for life

or property. And yet was an inquiry into such grave
charges to he refused ? Then let them come forward and
say at Once, that because he was a partisan they would
protect him. It would be detestable if, on such a ground,
an inquiry was to he stifled. What remedy would the
people have? Were they to go before this judge who, in his
place from the Bench, hallooed on the Protestants against
the Catholics? It might be said that faction raged in
Ireland—that agitation also prevailed. He acknowledged
that it did ; but for that reason, if no other, the Judges
ought to be free from it—there ought to he one green spot
kept sacred from the all-devouring flame. It should Bei
the conduct of the Judge to sooth the feelings of agita-
tion that prevailed, and in place or setting one party
of religionists against another, to smooth down the e.g.' y
feelings of both. Instead of that, what did they new
see ? Why, the Judge, in all the majesty of the law,
throwing off his robes, and putting on the ribands of the
partisan. Having shown his partisanship, incapacity, and
nen-attendance to his duties, he called upon the Hoarse not
to stand between a man of such a character and d fulli
ftir, and impartial inquiry. The Government could not
afford to do so—they were not strong enough. There
never was an Administration that had character enough to
spare to enable them to act in such a manner.—(Hear,
hear.) It might be said that the reports were not
authenticated—that they were mere rumours from
newspapers, but all he asked for was inquiry, in order that
it might not be said the Judge was the first criminal—that
the prisoner in the dock should not point to him and
say, " It was you who first brought me to this,—it was
by your advice I took that course which placed me here."
The Hon. Gentleman then moved for a Committee of
inquiry on the conduct of Baron Smith with respeet
to the neglect of his duties as a Judge, and the intro-
duction of political topics into his charge to Grand Juries.
The motion was seconded by Mr. O'DWYER.
The question having been put from the Chair,
Mr. LITTLETON rose and said, that during the time
that he had had the honour of a seat in that House, he had
not been called upon frequently to address them, but he had
never approached the consideration of any question with
so much pain as that which had just been propounded
to the House. The Hon. Gentleman, the Member fur
Dublin, when be give notice of this motion, had es-
pressed it in terms which, if he had continued to use,
he (Mr. Littleton) shou'd have felt it to be his duty to
oppose it, as the Hon. Member for Dublin stated that his
object in instituting an investigation into the conduct of
Baron Smith, before a Committee, was to remove him front /
the Bench. if the Hon. Mernkr had persisted in this
motion, he (Mr. Littleton) would have felt it his duty to
resist it, but be felt that the present motion was sup-
parted by such statements, and what was much more
important, by such evidence, that be owed it to the
people of Ireland, to his own character, to the character
of this country, and the House, to accede to the motion.
—(Loud cries of " Hear.") He did this with the niora
pain, because his Hon. Friend, if be would permit tem
so to call him, the Recorder of Dublin, animated by feel-
ings of kindness towards Mr. Baron Smith, and convinced
that these proceedings were unnecessary, had inquired
if it was his (Mr. Littleton's) intention to oppose the
motion, and he (Mr. Littleton) had informed him, the
terms of the motion being then different, and such
full evidence respecting the late sittings of the
Learned Baron not having been adduced,
that though he felt it his duty to ani-
madvert upon some parts of the conduct of the Learned
Baron ; yet it was not his intention to accede to the
motion. The late sittings of the Learned Baron had
been made last year the subject of a motion by
the Honourable and Learned Member for Mona-
ghan, but it was not till this morning that he (Mr.
Littleton) bad seen the returns. He found that there
was much in these returns to prove the extreme irregu-
larity of Baron Smith with regard to the sittings.-
-(Hear, hear, bear.) It was highly expedient
to the due administration of justice, that the sittings
should be at an early hour in the morning, and should
cease at an early hour in the evening. With respect to
the politics introduced into the Learned Baron's charges,
he could subscribe to a great part of what bad been
stated by the Hon. Member for Dublin.—(Hear, hear.)
He would not, as the Honourable and Learned Mew-
her had already gone through the speech, do that
which he was prepared to do, call the attention of •
the House to the character of it, but he must say,
that notwithstanding its great length there was not one
statement in it that had any reference to the case
that was to come before the Grand Jury.—
(Hear, hear.) It was well known to all that the state
of crime in Ireland, was such as often to render it im-
peratively necessary for the Judge to make obser-
vations of a political character to the Grand Jury,
but that was not the case in the instance
alluded to, there being no prisoner for trial charged with
offences of a political character, such as tithe centre.-
versies, party processions, or Wbiteboyism.—(Hear,
hear.) The Hon. and Learned Gentleman, in the course
of his observations on the speech of Mr. Baron Smith, had
not adverted to one particular passage which bad struck
him (Mr. Littleton) with astonishtnent., At the time he
heard it in Dublin, it filled him with no small
regret. In that part the Learned Baron had made obser-
divaaut tei i7tonn
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tahtofhtpouill
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from the service of the country. He was sure that any
petit juror, plaintiff, or defendant, after hearing such a
statement, would go away perfectly satisfied that a
Judge who would snake a statement of such a kind,
could not act justly between them. It was his intention
. when he entered the House to oppose the motion,
on the ground of its being essentially necessary at
times to mix up politics with judges' chatges to
grand juries, but in the present instance that ground
aas completely cut from under him. Under these cir-
cumstances, and in the amended form in which it had
been put, he had no objection to accede to the motion of
the Han. and Learned Member for Dublin.

Mr. SHAW felt great difficulty in rising to defend the
Learned Baron, both against the Hon. and Learned Wern-
her for Dublin, on the one bide, and against the represen-
tative of the Government of Ireland on the other si«?e.—
(Hear, hear.) He found by the return made on the mo •
t,on of the Hon. Member for Monaghan, that on an ave-
r,:ge the Courts generally sat at eleven or half-past eleven
.'clock in the evening. There was one case—that at
Armagh—in which ti,e Learned Judge did think i, ne-
..:,-bsary to sit during the greater part of the night. The
r•rsuns who were called on to wake returns as to the
tittle when the Judges were in the habit of sitting, said