The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 23, 1844.

is the effect of one of the resolutions I hold in my hand.

In the year 1641 a most frightful massacre of the Pro-
testants of Ireland is said to have taken p'ace, and those
gentleman in the Rotunda declared that the Protestants
of Ireland were then in as perilous a condition as at the
above period, and that the slaughter of their coun-
trymen was contemplated by the Roman Catholics
of Ireland.—(llear, hear.) But what does the Right
Hon. Gentleman say He referred me to a copy of his
speech, printed by Milliken. He did not tell us that that
copy was corrected by him, or by his authority. But I
have the speech of the Right Hon. Gentleman here.
Every one here knows that speech was made by the
Right Hon. Gentleman, and that everybody in Dublin
did not go to Milliken's for it. Then, what does he say?
" I am sorry that circumstances hate induced me to be-
lieve that Roman Catholics have very little regard for
the sanctity of an oath."---(Cries of " Hear, hear. )
Well now, that was open—that was manly. I prefer
it to insidious imputation—(Cheers)—to hints, conveyed
with an assumption of gentleness and a suavity of voice.
—(Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Gentleman (Sir J.
Graham) felt indignant at the proceedings adopted by
the Irish Roman Catholics. The feeling of indignation
entertained .by them was not confined to them. You
will admit, I believe, that the English Roman Catholics
are not Repealers—that the high Roman Catholic
aristocracy of England, men of exalt( d position
and ancient birth, and exceedingly moderate in politics
are 'not ales of, and co-partners with, Daniel O'Con-
nell, What effect did your proceedings produce upon
them ? The Earl of Shrewsbury, when the Right Hon.
Baronet the First Lord of the Treasury came into office,
wrote a letter to the Catholics of Ireland, in which he
recommended them to support the Administration of the
Right Honourable Baronet. What is the letter which
the Earl of -Shrewsbury, the premier Earl of Eng-
land, now writes ? The blood of the Talbots caught
fire at last, when insult was offered to his co-religionists
in Ireland? He says in his letter to Lord Camp, on
the occasion of the Catholic meeting in London, after
expressing his inability to attend, that he was anxious
for an opportunity of expressing his indignation at the
fresh insult that had been offered to the Catholic popu-
lation of the kingdom by the conduct of the law officers
of the Crown in the preliminary proceedings on the
interesting- and important trials pending in Dublin.
That comes from a man himself inclined ori-
ginally to give his support to the Administration
of the Right Hon. Gentleman, and who wrote a letter
in which he said that the Right Hon. Gentleman had
carried Catholic Emancipation, and that confidence
should be placed in him. These facts are startling—
(Hear, hear)—and there is no Roman Catholic with one
spark of spirit but must resent them. See what an
anomaly this is ! You repeal the Catholic Emancipa-
tion Act, practically, as far as the jury box is con-
cerned. We are admitted to the bench of justice ;
you have sent there the late Baron Wolfe, and Sir Michael
O'Loghlin ; we are admitted to the Imperial Parliament
which I, a Roman Catholic. have at present the honour
of addressing; we are admitted to the Board of Admiralty,
the Treasury, to the Board of Trade, and to the Privy.
Council. But admitted as we are to the bench of jus-
tice—admitted to .the Senate—admitted to the Admi-
ralty, the Treasury, and the Board of Trade—admit-
ted as we are to the Privy Council of our
Sovereign, we are excluded from the jury box.
We are excluded from the jury box, which has afforded
a refuge to Protestant ascendal!cy, and has thus become
invested with the most odious form of that detestable do-
mination—(Cheers)—and yet the Noble Lord the Se-
cretary for Ireland perseveres in his professions, and
tells us that he is exceedingly anxious for the adminis-

tration of justice.—(Cheers.) At the last London
election some person in the crowd asked Mr. Baring
if he was for free trade. Oh, yes, said Mr. Baring,
" I am for free trade in the abstract."—(A laugh.)
" Will you vote for a repeal of the corn-laws?" asked
the man. " Oh," replied Mr. Baring, " that is quite
another thing."—(Cheers and laughter.) So the Noble
Lord is for an impartial administration of justice in the
abstract, but when he is asked will he admit Catholics
into the jury box, he replies, " Oh, that is quite another
thing."—(Loud cheering.) But it may be possibly from
infirmity of purpose that the Noble Lord takes that
course. Not so with Lord De Grey—(Loud cheers)
against whom I have a most serious charge to make con-
nected with this trial; and I hbld in my hand the means
of substantiating that charge. —(Hear, hear.) The
House has-doubtless heard of the existence of an Asso-
ciation in Dublin, called the Protestant Operative Asso-
ciation. I allude to this Association—first, as illus-
trating the results of the policy of the present Govern-
ment ; and secondly, as illustrating the consequences of
your sacerdotal institutions.—(Loud cheers.) I hold in
my hand extracts from the debates of that society, some
of which I will read to the House. Popery is denomi-
nated a God-destroying, Christ-blaspheming, Bible-
denying superstition.—(Cheers and laughter.) Now,
this is from an address to the people of England. They
denominate Popery gross idolatry, the monstrous pro-
geny of Satan, and the whole concludes with a panegyric
upon the Hon. Member for Knaresborough—(Loud
laughter)—whose arrival in Dublin, which was then
expected, is stated as an event which every Irish Pro
testant must contemplate with sentiments of gratitude.
—(Cheers and laughter.) That Hon. Gentleman the
other night read a speech which he attributed to me.
He made a mistake ; that speech was not made
by me, but by a cousin of mine residing in
Cork, and it was made against me, for he
said that if he did so and so he should be as bad as
silk-gown Sheil.—(Cheers and laughter.) I asked him
where he found the speech ; the Hon. Member showed
it me in the " Annual Register." It was a mistake to
attribute to me ; the Hon. Gentleman made the mistake,
but I certainly acquit him of any intention to misrepre-
sent me.—(Cheers.) This Dublin Protestant Operative
Association presented an address to Lord De Grey im-
mediately after the proclamation was issued. On the
13th October, the Dublin Operative Protestant Associa-
tion presented an address to Lord De Grey, in which,
after speaking of the dispersion of the Clontarf meeting,
they spoke of the sacrifice of the mass as a blasphemous
fable—(Hear, hear)--dangerous to and destructive of
Christianity—that the people of England had insisted
upon the abolition of idolatry in India, and that it was
necessary for the good of Ireland that a law should be
made for the total abolition of Popery.—(Hear, hear.)
Now that was an address presented to Lord De Grey at
a great public crisis—at a time when the public mind
was agitated to its profoundest depths. Now what was
Lord De Grey's answer ?—(Hear, hear.) Did he
denounce the insult thus offered to his fellow-country-
men, and, through them, to himself ? (Lond cheers.)
When he came to Ireland, he said his Sovereign, when
she had sent him there, had charged him to be careful of
the interests of Ireland, for she was peculiarly solicitous
for the welfare -of her Irish people.—(Loud cheers.)
Now what was the answer which he, who had received
so solemn a charge, and from whom the benevolent in-
tentions of his Sovereign should have been reflected—
(Loud cheers)—what was the answer which he had re-
turned to that address ? I will read it :—"I have in
command from his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant to
acknowledge the receipt of the address of the Dublin
Operative Protestant Association, and his Excellency
desires me to make known to those members of the As-
sociation who have signed it his warmest acknowledge-
ments—(lmmense cheering)—for their expression of
their feelings of kindness and confidence."--(Cheers and
counter cheers.) Now will the first Lord of the Trea-
sury justify the answer?—(lmmense cheering.) I need
not repeat the question. I know that he will not.—
(Loud cheers.) The Secretary of State for the Home
Department will say that it was injudicious ; and as for
Right which
atheleeeNpo_bl(elmterndseopehpeoesirtieng(LaonrddleSutganhlteeyr); who is fast
Lord Stanley roused himself and theboweddttioring
lion. Gentleman)—l beg to hand him the documents to
furnish materials fur his next "No Popery" speech.—
(Immense cheering.) Now I have not said one word
about the trials, and I shall say but little about them.
I shall say but little of the charge of the Chief Justice,
because I was the counsel " on the other side."—(Cheers.)
One observation, however, I must make. The Noble
Lord opposite remonstrated with us the other_ night on
our want of decency—our want of respect to t_h B necshe
in venturing to attack the charge of a judge. Now those
who heard the speech the other day aresi enreo ,
ipesro-
haps, aware that the Noble Lord who considered tt.
us ice,
indecent in us to cast reflections on the Chief
seeh, e
earns
.d)
voted himselfrd denounced u
inquiryn ced Bianrtoen
his Smith
For inquiry into a charge of Baron Smith's.—(Re-
newed cheering.)
Lord STANLEY—Not for an inquiry info a chirge.
Mr. SHEIL—You voted for a Committee to inquire
in
into a speech made from the Bench.
con d t (h isLo uodu
Lord STANLEY—No.
Mr. SHEIL—A motion was made in this House for a
Committee to inquire into a charge delivered by Baron
Smith from the bench to a valid jury of the county of
Dublin.—(Cheers.) The Secretary of State for the
Home Department will perhaps be able to tell him, for
he voted against the Noble Lord.—(Cheers.) He was
shocked at the Noble Lord's conduct.(Cheers and
laughter.) On that occasion the Noble Lord and the
Secretary for the Home Department were divided.—
(Cheers and laughter.) Only one star appeared on that
occasion in the hemisphere.—(Cheers and laughter.)
But let us pass from that to consider the
moral effect of the verdict.—(Hear, hear, and
cheers.) Do you expect any beneficial effects
from that verdict?—(Loud cheers.) Why, the Home
Secretary was, the other night, compelled to admit that
there were circumstances connected with those trials
that he considered matter of regret.—(Cheers.) Now,
if there were circumstances which he regretted, he
Grahamhe is down.—(Loudsaid cheers,
might, I think, have spared the phrase " convicted con-
spirators."—(Loud cheers.) But even if the verdict
would be untainted—he is an Englishman, and ought
not
during which to
strike a
Sir man
James when
something across
the table which we could not catch.) Well ! well ! per-
haps I ought not to have said so. At all events,
say that the phrase " convicted conspirators " is an
infelicitous expression, and that, in his cooler moments,
the Right lion. Gentleman would wish he had not used it.
Is the moral effect of the verdict likely to be increased
by the speech of the Noble Lord, the Secretary for
the Colonies.—(Cheers.) It was made some days ago,
but it is worth rereembering.—(Cheers and counter
cheers.) It will be remembered in Ireland—(Cheers,
and counter cheers)—and it may be remembered in
Canada.—(Opposition cheers,) NOW my
Friend, Mr.
Fonblanque, has very justly remarked, that every speech
of the Noble Lord reminded oue of a buister made of
very shining flies (Cheers.) And if the Right
Honourable Baronet at the head of the Govern-
ment could only leave acted with his usual
prudence, if he had told the. Noble Lord that Ire-
land did not now belong to his department, and that
he would be acting more discreetly if he avoided
touching on the subject he remembered the state of
Canada, and how the feelingi ef the people of that
province might be aroused by such topics—hot the Noble
Lord could not deny himself the opportunity of giving
us a somewhat pharasaical homily upon the Catholic oath,
He read that as if he was reading from italics.'--(A
laugh.) Such was his enhabia.
e road it with the