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 beg 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 I am 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-
puler° 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 I am 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
meetts 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, I do 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 superstitions of the Middle
Ages than the bold features of religious tolera-
tion. (Tremendous applause.) I know not, gentle-
men, how 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
up 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 QueenesColleges, with scholarships,
and fellowships, consistent with similar institutions
in different parts of the country. (Cheers.) And
what has been the result of what I. said there ? I
am happy to say that the noblest 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 spontaneously writ-
ten to me, approving that address—(hear) —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. Alexander
Thom, wrote to me a letter, and he said '1 so warmly
approve what you have done that I beg to en-
close you a memorandum.' For what do you sug-
pose ?-1:600. (Applause.) That eminent mer-
chant of Dublin, Mr. Guinness, wrote to me, saying,
' I so warmly approve what you have done that I
beg to enclose you a check for £250.' (Applause.)
And that noble merchant—aye, one of nature's
noblemen 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.)
•Vislu say; these are noble instances of the public •,
!Tide of, this country, and I hope I shall also be
enabled
-n
tis. enlightened and intelligent
community to ,
are men, who will co-
operate with ne , there
„de
(Apv_
erouring tospromote so ex-
cellent a work.
I se.) Permit me, however, t

to take this opportunity of saying that it has been
most unjust against me to suppose that, in the
course which I have taken on this subject, I have
endeavoured in any way to throw a s!ur upon
Trinity College, Dublin. Such an idea never en-
tered into my mind. (Applause.) I have too much
respect for the antiquity and veneration for the ser-
vices which that college has rendered to this coun-
try—(hear, hear)—to allow any word of mine to
pass that could be employed as conveying an insult
against such a venerable and such a magnificent
endowment. All that I wished was, all that Ido
wish is, and all that I intend to see accomplished is,
that these Queen's Colleges, by the sums of money
given by the public—not by the Government—
should be enabled to establish scholarships and
bursaries for the intelligent youth of Ireland. And
I must take this opportunity of saying that I
visited yesterday the Queen's College in this town,
and I was highly pleased with wiat I saw—excel-
lent lecturers—remarkable men,—l should rather
say with well attended class-rooms; and I must
also take this opportunity of tendering to the youth
and students of that college my acknowledgments
for the kind and flattering manner in which they
received me on the occasion of my visit. (Loud
applause.) Well, now, gentlemen, if lam not de-
taining you too long—(No, no)—permit me to turn
to another subject. It is difficult to convey in ade-
quate language the satisfaction which a public man
in a position such as I hold derives from the oppor-
tunity of witnessing the energy and enterprise of
his countrymen in the various parts of this king-
dom. Such, however, has been my advantage, in
company with one of the most distinguished of her
Majesty's servants in Ireland—in company with one
who, by his activity and vigilance in the supervision
of the department under his control, has rendered
most important service to the State in the peace and
security of this country. In his company I have
travelled through a large extent of district, and re-
collect that in a fortnight I have been enabled to
derive from personal observation more information
than could be collected from whole files of different
reports. (Loud applause.) I can confidently assert
that the reports and rumours which have been cir-
culated about a famine in this country have been
greatly exaggerated. I speak on the authority of per-
sonal observation. I leave those who can write in the
secluded districts of Connaught the task of refuting,
if they can, what I know to be true. In Sligo, in
Donegal, I hear very different accounts from those
which I had been led to believe, and from personal
observation in Mayo and Galway and from letters I
have received I am assured that nothing of the kind
that was alleged exists. Of course, lam ready to ad-
mit, with every gentleman in this room, that there
has been a comparative failure of the potato crop, and
that food will be dear, but a scarcity of food is not
necessarily a famine, and it is very easy to under-
stand the interested motives of some who are anxious
to gain public applause by a feigned zeal for the
public in spreading about these exaggerated rumours.
(Applause.) Now, I must say, as far as I myself am
concerned,l do not find that these apprehensions are
in any way likely to be realised. I hava travelled over
a very large extent of country—from Galway to
Belfast—l have seen a vast range of country, not
like a trunk, not in a railway, but with my own
eyes (applause), and from the best of ability which
personal observation and personal inquiry can
enable me to obtain. Now, I admit I have been
rather disappointed with Galway. I had only a
limited opportunity of judging of it, but it bore a
very hungry appo.arance. I speak honestly in say-
ing that it did not convey to my mind the impres-
sion of a town that quite came up to the expecta-
tions that I had formed from its ambition to become
the great centre of oceanic communication between
America and this country. At all events, what I
saw ill contrasted with the stirring community of
Sligo, or with the extraordinary mercantile de-
velopment which I witnessed in the distinguished
city of Derry; and here, again, in Belfast, one of
the noblest cities of the empire (applause), I have
learnt to admire the prodigious energy and com-
mercial prosperity which are the results of your own
unaided exertions. (Cheers.) No Government
grant. (Cheers.) If you had Government grants,
depend upon it you would not be what you are.
But I see this town contributing to the dignity and
character of this empire ; and I must say that I
admire the man who, from his connexion with this
town, is in a position to represent the town of Bel-
fast in the Commons House of Parliament. Gen-
tleman, I should be very sorry longer to delay you
with observations upon a subject which I could
dilate upon at considerable length. This I may say,
that in coming to Ireland I represent England's
love for the sister isle. (Cheers.) I bring with me
England's love, which elicited Ireland's gratitude
in her season of famine and distress (renewed
cheering) ; that same love which is still felt
with undiminished ardour in her happier days
of progress and social improvement. I come
here to carry out the instructions of Her Majes-
ty's Government towards all classes and towards
all creeds, without respect of persons, impartially
and without prejudice—(cheers)—and so far as is
consistent, or, rather, so far as depends upon the
political action of Government and of Parliament,
to assist in promoting works of public utility and
national advantage. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) And
if, gentlemen, by acquiring a knowledge of the
wants and resources of this country, I can in any
way, so far as depends upon my humble power, aid,
or sustain, or strengthen the pedestal upon which
it is based—the development of Ireland's commer-
cial prosperity and social wellbeing—it will be to
me a source of such gratification that I should be
unable to convey it in adequate terms. (Cheers.)
And, gentlemen, if that be so, if it is permitted to
me to do anything good in this country, I shall
have the satisfaction of feeling, not only that I have
done my duty, but that I have been able to show
that I am not unmindful of my father's example—
(cheers)—that I am not altogether unworthy to reap
those fruits which I here gather at your generous
hands of his conspicuous fame." (Loud cheers.)