The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-15 00:00:00

one .of the most eminent of living authors—LordJeffrey.
He pointed out, in-the language of truth, the attempts
which had been made to dissolve the union, and, advert-
ing to the struggles between the two countries, said that
of course it would terminate in favour of the superior
power. But such a victory would be to England the source
of unspeakable calamity, and the signal of her weakness
and insecurity. Lord Jeffrey further said that the Govern-
ment was bound to make every possible sacrifice to
diminish the grievances which afflicted Ireland—to do
justice, and to show kindness to a people whom it was
their! interest as well as their duty to cherish and pro-
tect.,--(Hear, hear.) The union, his Lordship said, must
be made complete, or it would be broken in pieces and
thrown in their faces.—(Hear, hear.) He asked whether
m l make s
in
nep thein
that advance Englund had done all that it could do to avert the im-
pending calamity, and whether it would not be prudent
inin
be the
suggested,course
Lord o
it t‘notas conciliation, House toe r
e‘h.
andy measuresacquiesce a
motionof he Noble
shouldt
hut the House should show a sympathy with the Irish
people.—(Hear, hear.) That people wanted to see a
Goqrnment in which they could place confidence.—
(Ironical cheers from a Member on the Ministerial
benches.) The Hon. Gentleman cheered, but in order
to cement the union a-disposition should be evinced to
conciliate the feelings of the people.—(Hear, hear.)
What was the feeling in Ireland towards the present
dovernment ? Need he answer ? Measures good in
theniselves had been suggested, but the Irish people
viewed those measure.; with distrust—they viewed their
acts with reference to their past and present policy. What
was' the position they occupied with respect to Ireland ?
Their professions were smooth as oil, but their practice
• sharp as the sword.—(Cheers.) He could not forget
the language they used when sitting on the Opposition
benches. They now looked upon Ireland, and be-
held the fruits of Cieir past opposition.—(Hear, hear.)
They_ had chosen Ireland as the battle-field on which
they enlisted the feelings and prejudices of the English
people, with a view to overthrow the former Govern-
ment—(Hear, hear)—they remembered the conduct of
the Members of the present Administration on the appro •
portion clauses, and their refusal then as now
to ' depart from the existing ecclesiastical system.
They remembered their conduct with respect to the
Municipal Corporation Act, and their determined op-
position to the municipal franchise—an opposition
grounded on the belief that a large portion of the
Roinan Catholic population would be thereby endowed
with increased privileges.—(Laughter.) They remem-
bered, when that Bill had passed through that House,
the resistance which if met, through the agency
of those with whom- they were in daily communication,
and who sat in the: same Cabinet with them.—(Hear,

heir.) They remembered their conduct on the Regis-
tration Act. The Noble Lord (Lord Stanley) smiled ;
he' hoped he would never find it a subject for
Later regret and deep remorse.(Hear, hear.)
He now told them with all sincerity that, in order to
prove the reality of their repentance, they must retrace
with wider steps, and give more ample evidence than
those declarations in the appointment of a Landlord
and Tenant Commission and some improvements in the
educational system.—(Hear, hear.) Something else
was necessary to convince the Irish people, to enlist
their affections, and to win back their confidence—to
make the union a union of strength and of affection. The
present moment, when, in the language of the Right
Hon. Gentleman, the law had been triumphant, was not
the least favourable for an advance in measures of con-
ciliation.—(Hear, hear.) The Irish people would look
with a favourable eye on a disposition on the part of the
Imperial Parliament to enter into a consideration of their
wrongs. Such a step might be the means of uniting
them cordially with the people of England. At least
there were grounds for entertaining such an opinion, and•
no opportunity should be lost for attaining so desirable
a consummation.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) For these
reasons, and because be considered that the present crisis
imperatively demanded .the interposition of the House
of Commons for the amelioration of Irish grievances,
and the allaying of the excitement which at present
prevailed in that country, he would give his cordial
assent to the motion of the Noble Lord.—(Loud and
prolonged cheering.)
Lord ELIOT said; that his Right Hon. Friend, the
Secretary for the Home Department, had so ably vindi-
cated every act of the executive Government, that he might
well content himself with resting the vindication of the
Government upon his statements, but the situation which
he held would not allow him to remain silent on this
debate. The Right Hon. Gentleman who had just sat
down had commenced his speech by adverting to a
statement made by his Right Hon. Friend, regarding
the military occupation of Ireland. His Right Hon.
Friend had drawn a comparison between the years
1844 and 1834 ; and shown that there was smaller
military force at present in Ireland than before
the accession of the present Ministry to office. In Sep-
tember, 1841, to November, 1843, there was a diminu-
tion to the extent of four battalions of infantry, and one
regiment of cavalry; surely that showed no disposition
on the part of the present Government to take military
possession of Ireland. But this he would say, that what-
ever amount of military force was necessary for the se-
curity of life and property in Ireland, should be placed
in that country. The state of Ireland at this moment
was not worse, he was bound to suppose, than when the
Coercion Bill was brought forward by the Noble Lord, a
measure which the Right Hon. Gentleman said he would
not support if it were brought forward by the present
Government. What was really the motion of the Noble
Lord? Did he ask for a Committee to suggest measures
for the amelioration of the evils of which he com-
plained ? Was it not rather a motion, having for its
object, the taking the reins out of the hands of the pre-
sent Government and placing them in the hands of the
Government to which he belonged? The Right Hon.
Gentleman and the Hon. Member for Waterford spoke
in vague and general terms of the grievances of Ireland,
hut they did not propose a remedy. They talked of the
Church Establishment, and said it was not a question of
money ; but if it did not refer to the revenues of that
Church to what did the proposed change refer ? lie
now came to the question of the issuing of the proclama-
tion. The Noble Lord then read the conclusion of the
Solicitor-General's address to the jury on the State
trials, justifying the course pursued by the Government
on the ground that a meeting per se did not constitute
an offence, but that it was the frequency of those meet-
ings and their general tendency which called upon the
Government to interfere. The Noble Lord then referred
to the exclusion of Catholics from the jury, and read the
declaration of the Crown solicitor, which affirmed that i
one of the two Catholics rejected, although not
a member of the Repeal Association, had, in his
belief, signed the Carlow repeal requisition, and that
the other be believed to have been a Protestant.
Her Majesty's Government had been advised by the
Law Officers of the Crown that this was a dangerous
confederacy—dangerous to the peace of Ireland ; but
that it was their duty not to interfere till it bad deve-
loped itself. The Right Hon. Gentleman talked of the
peaceable state of Ireland. He had read to the House a
letter which he had received from a Magistrate, and
which described the alarm which was created in the
minds of the Protestants, and stated that the well-dis-
posed Catholics were reluctantly obliged to join the
ranks of the repealers.
An Hon. MEMBER—Who wrote the letter ?

Lord ELIOT said he had no-objection to name the
gentleman who wrote it. It was written by Mr.
Saunderson a Magistrate of the county of Cavan, who
had been formerly a Member of that House.—(Hear.)
The Noble Lord then read the letter, which stated that
there were no soldiers in Cavan ; that the Protestants
were preparing their arms in expectation of an outbreak;
that if a simultaneous movement took place they would
not be prepared to make any resistance, except a few
Protestants, who were preparing for a conflict.
An Rom. MEMBElt—'What is the date of that letter ?

Lord ELIOT—It is dated the sth of June, 1843.
(Opposition. cheers.) But military forces were being
then introduced into the country. He would take that
opportunity of saying that the Protestants of the north
of Ireland were entitled to the thanks of the Government
for their conduct. They heard the Roman Catholic
peasantry using expressions which were calculated to
arouse the most serious apprehensions. They believed
that an insurrection was preparing, but not to create
jealousy. Among those from whom they apprehended
danger they maintained a perfectly passive attitude,
which did them the greatest honour. They were accus-
tomed to assemble on certain days, lout they at once
yielded obedience to the law when the law forbade those
meetings ; and they could not see the difference between
their meeting with Orange flags and the repealers meet-
ing with green flags. He now returned to the
Clontarf meeting. There were circumstances attomd-
ing that meeting which tended to give it an illegal
character. The Lord Lieutenant had been absent in
England for the benefit of his health, and the Lord Chan-
cellor was exhausted from the continual attendance in his
Court,'to which no person who ever satin it brought higher
ornaments. He also was absent. The placard which
had been read last night by his Right Hon. Friend, was
issued, and such were the circumstances attending the
meeting, that he was prepared to venture to prohibit it
on his own responsibility. He stated 'his views on the
subject, and his Right Hon. Friend near him had con-
curred with him in the views he took of the subject.

He believed it was then agreed that the proclamition
should be issued. It arrived on the 4th day of October,
the day on which his Noble Friend left London.' He
left on Thursday, with the Chancellor, and arrived in
Dublin on Friday. The Right Hon. Gentleman ac-
cused them of having a proclamation ready cut and
dry. It was left to the discretion of the Irish Govern-
ment to act as circumstances might point out, avid when
the Lord-Lieutenant arrived they all agreed that
the meeting should be prevented. (Hear, hear)
It had been said that Chief Baron Brady and Mr.
Blake, two gentlemen he was proud to call friends, were
not summoned, and that this was an insult to the Ro-
man Catholics of Ireland. That observation had been
made by Mr. Shell in his speech in Court, but he (Lord
Eliot) believed that the fact was, that Chief Baron
Brady was a Protestant, and he (Lord Eliot) took upon
himself the blame of not summoning those individuals.
He considered that it was an act of the Executive Go-
vernment, for which they were responsible, and he did
not think that it would be delicate to ask the political
opponents of the Government to be present at the coun-
cil, where they would be in a small minority. Even if
they dissented from the views of the Government, which
he was not sure they would do, their dissent would not
be recorded, and it could only be known that they did
so through paragraphs in the newspapers. But it was
from a feeling of delicacy that they were not summoned.
—(Cheers.) The Right Hon. Gentleman had alluded to
the risk which was incurred in not giving more time for
the sutpression of the Clontarf meeting. Now be
(Lord Eliot) believed that the people did not assemble at
the place of meeting until after mass, and from an early
hour the whole of the ground was occupied by an over-
whelming military force, and no mass of unarmed in-
dividuals would have ventured to encounter such a force.
Information had been sent of the proclamation to all the
police-stations, and he believed Oat few persons Were
present 14 the meeting before the day on which it
Was to take place, except, perhaps, au inconsiderable