The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-19 00:00:00

SIR R. PEEL IN BELFAST.

In reply to the address of the Mayor and Cor-
poration, the right hon. baronet spoke as follows :
" Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,—l thank you very
heartily for the address which we have now listened
to, and I bog leave to tender to you all—those who
are present and those who are absent—the expres-
sion of my warmest acknowledgments for the

gratifying distinction with which you have hon-
oured me. I do not, however, gentlemen, for one
moment suppose that lam in any way worthy of
the gratifying encomiums which have been passed
upon me. I accept them in part as the son of that

statesman to whom allusion has been made in this

address which has now been read—(applause)—and
I rejoice to find that the expectations which he had
formed on one notable occasion of a memorable ad-
dress in the House of Commons have been, both in

this country and in England, realised by the grate-
ful recollections with which his memory is cherished
by all classes of the community—(applause)--but
most particularly by those—to use his most eloquent
words—by those of whom there are many thousands
in your town of Belfast, by those whose lot it is to
labour and to earn their daily bread by the sweat
of their brow—the sweeter because it is no longer
leavened with a sense of injustice. (Applause.) I

accept, also, gentlemen, the compliment you have
paid me in part as the political agent of a Govern-
ment presided over by a distinguished and truly
popular statesman, who during the late troublesome
times has guided the vessel of the State with
consummate tact, and by his public acts and by his
truly national policy has secured to us the inestim-
able blessings of peace, and to himself the gratitude
and affection of his countrymen. (Cheers.) Now,
gentlemen, when I came to this country I was
led to suppose that her Majesty's Government,
however popular in England and in the House of

Commons, was unpopular with a section in this
country, because it refused to involve the people of

this country in a European war, in defence, or
rather by the advocacy, of that subjugation under
which Italians have groaned during many years.
Well, I am happy to find, gentlemen, that men of
independent character, of all classes and creeds in
this country, unite in affirming and approving the
policy of her Majesty's Government; and I must
say that I am glad to find that this is the case, be-
cause, depend upon it, no Government in the United
Kingdom could hope to remain four-and-twenty
hours in power if it ventured to have followed any
other policy; and no coquetting with the Ultra-
montane section would be able—(applause)--no
coquetting, I say, with the Ultramontane section
would be able to ward off the indignation and the
censure of Parliament. (Cheers.) Now, as regards
myself, from the experience I have had, if any-
thing were wanting to induce me to sympathise
with Italy—if anything were wanting to caure me
to applaud the policy of the Government in this
respect, it is the very melancholy and unhappy
practice which I have seen ever existing in this
country, of mixing up purely secular subjects with
ecclesiastical censure. (Hear, hear.) Now, this
mixing up of purely secular subjects with ecclesias-
tical censure is very objectionable, and I must say,
for my part, that I highly disapprove the principle
of fulminating ecclesiastical denunciations against
the political acts of public men who may chance to
differ from the authors of denunciations on the
grounds of religious observance. (Cheers.) Now,
gentlemen, just figure to yourselves his Grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury exhuming from the se-
pulcre of our Parliamentary debates extracts from
Hansard, and incorporating them in:a circular to
the clergy of his province, denouncing, with the
most severe ecclesiastical censure, political views
upon the extension of the franchise, or upon
Irish tramways. Or go further, suppose
the Archbishop of Canterbury, holding up
to popular indignation a Roman Catholic who goes
for purposes of charity into the outlying districts of
Stepney and Spitalfields for the purpose of doing
good. Why, such conduct as that would only raise
a smile of pity in England, and would tend, un-
questionably, to lower the character of that sacred
office which he so worthily fills. But lam sorry to
say that it is precisely that I complain of in this
country. I know, fortunately, that it only exists
on one or two occasions, and I know this, that it
meets with the condemnation of every man, no mat-

ter what his creed or class—that it meets with
general condemnation. (Cheers.) Why, his Grace
the Archbishop Legate of this country, not follow-
ing the example which was set by his honoured

predecessor, Dr. Murray, has thought proper to col-
late extracts from Hansard upon various subjects
—Spain—(cheers)—ltaly, and I know not what—
and, with Jesuitical ingenuity, to endeavour to con-
strue them into an accusation against myself, as a
charge against the Irish people. (Cheers.) Gentle-
men, I am not sure that the Archbishop is quite
right in the course which he is now following in
placarding me in a pastoral of most unjust insinua-
tions, to whom do you think ? The clergy of the
diocese of Dublin. Well, now, Ido pity the man
—I may say that my heart bleeds for the man, who
would lay any weight on such insinuations as these.
(Hear.) For myself, thank God, I am made of
sterner stuff—(great applause)—than to suppose
that my countrymen for one moment would be-
lieve or place faith in acts or language which
savour rather of monkish superstitious of the Middle
Ages than the bold features of religious tolera-
tion. (Tremendous applause.) I know not; gentle-
men, bow far the ecclesiastical discipline and
doctrine of the Church of Rome may approve

such conduct, but this I do know, and I echo the
sentiments of every man in the room—this
I do know, that such blasphemous denun-
ciations of public men at the sacred altar of
the Most High, the ultimate Judge of all men,
is incompatible with the sacred precepts of the Gos-
pel, and receives, as it deserves, the universal con-
demnation of every man of a liberal and enlightened
mind. For my part, I forgive from the bottom of
my heart the course of the Legate, and I accept by
anticipation the apology which his calmer moments
must suggest for the uncivil and unjust denuncia- •
tions with which he has thought proper to visit me,
(Applause.) But why has he thought proper to
denounce me ? I will tell you the reason—it is
what was mentioned in this address. It is because
I have expressed myself on more than one occasion
in favour of the intellectual and educational deve-
lopment of this country. (Cheers.) I took occasion
in St. Patrick's-hall to proclaim, to declare that my
idea of the progress of this country was wrapped
1113 in the development of that educational progress
"(cheers)—and I told the audience there that the
best way to foster and improve it was, not by look-
ing to Government for support, but by your own
unaided exertions—unaided, that is, by Govern-
ment,—and by public • •
,spirit to endow those great
institutions, the Queens
and fellowships, coleie.h s Colleges, with scholarships,
in different parts of Tent with similar institutions
e what has been the resultet'tt
of whatutrT. (Cheers.) And
am happy to say that the noblest 1 said there ? I
in this land—aye,
more than that, that the merchant
princes of this
country—one of them, at all events,—the most emi-
nent publisher of Dublin, and one of the
most
emi-
nent merchants of Dublin, have spontaneousl
writ-
ten to me, approving that address—.(hear) ,_and (he y
and at
this moment the subscription list for that founda-
tion,
without any appeal to the public, amounts
to the very large sum of nearly £2,900. (Rear,
and cheers.) As the address was passing through
the press that eminent publisher, Mr. Aleaand©r
letter, and he said '1 so warmly
Thom, wrote to me a
have done that I beg to en-
approve what you
close you a memorandum.' For what do you sug-
pose ?-4,600. (Applause.) That eminent mer-
to me, saying,
chant of Dublin, Mr. Guinness, wrote
I so warmly approve what you have done that I
'
beg to enclose you a check for 1200.' (Applause.)
And that noble merchant—aye, one of nature's
nobleman himself—Mr. Malcomson wrote to me
and said, ' I so warmly approve what you have done
—I wish so thoroughly to participate in the object
which you have in view, I beg to send you an
amount equivalent to £600.' (Loud applause.)
'Well, I say, these are noble instances of the public
'Pith of this
country, and I hope I shall also be
enabled amongthis enlightened and intelligent
community to find the
ro are men, who will co-
operate with us in
(ma
a work. eavonting to promote so ex-
cellentVia)luse.) Permit me, hoiveVer, r