The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-03 00:00:00

read the history of his country and Ireland, and when he had
done so he blushed for England ; he had never seen more
atrocious acts committed by any civilised country to another
than those that had been committed towards Ireland.— `
(Hear.) How, he would ask, could he remain quiet, and see
session after session pass away in that House without
any attempt to redress the grievances of Ireland, and he con-
fessed that if he was an Irishman, he did not know how far his
feelings would carry h;m.—( A laugh. ) He had not met with
much favour in that House. He did not know why, because
ever since he had had a seat he had conducted himself with
courtesy to every Member.—( Hear, hear.) He did not pro-
fess to Le blessed with eloquence, but he had studied the ques-
tions brought before the House and endeavoured to understand
then.—( Hear, hear.) If, however, he was not to be allowed
to express his sentiments, the House should tell him so, in
order that his constituents might be enabled to send a better
Member.—( Hear, hear.) The lion. Member concluded by
stating that the amendment had his cordial support.
THE IRISH ATTORNEY -G ENER AL.

Mr. ROEBUCK said, that as allusion had been made to
the State trials in Ireland, he would take that opportunity of
putting a question to the Right Hon. Baronet at the head
of her Majesty's Government. He wished to know whether
the Government had had their attention directed to the con-
duct of the person who was the head law officer of the Go-
vernment in Ireland, and who was conducting the prosecu-
tions that were taking place there? He would not allude to
the probable result of those prosecutions, out of respect for
the course the House seemed to have laid down, although he
held it perfectly competent for him to do so. However he
might differ from the House on that point, yet feeling re-
spect for the due administration of justice, he was prevented
from being silent or deterred from putting the question he was
about to do.—( Hear, hear.) If there was any one thing that
more than another ought to distinenith State prosecutions
it was that they should be conducted with no vindictive-
ness—if anything mere
etldia:n.ceourlodaunsao,pthpaeenardl
coteounat,hhideteratotedbes--
htianygiuoiusrh.
—th(cHme,airt,
hweaasr.c)almli,
House-
-not to Ireland, but to_England—whether such calmness, de-
corum, or considerate behaviour, had been evinced by the At-
torney-General for Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) In the presence
of the assembled Judges of the law, the maintainers of the law,
and the maintainers of peace, there had been one of the most
gr iss breaches of the decencies of his situation committed by
the Attorney-General of Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) He was at
the present time prosecuting a man whom he called a great
criminal, for bringing in danger the peace of the country, and
the first tiling he did was to commit a gross breach of the law
himself, for which he ought to have been immediately
' committed by the Judges.—(Cries of " Hear, hear."
He was liable at the present moment to an indictment, and
he hoped he would be subjected to it.—( Hear, hear.) It was
his pride to speak these sentiments in the presence of the At-
torney-General for England, whose conduct, to his praise be it
spoken, was widely different to that of the Attorney-General for
Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) The Attorney-General for England
had done all he could to conciliate, while the Attorney •Gene-
ral for Ireland had attempted every means to light the torch
of discord.—( Hear, hear.) The Judges of Ireland had be-
haved exceedingly remiss, they were filled with consideration
fur the officer, but forgot the vindication of the law.—( Hear,
hear.) What should the Judges have done? They should
have instantly committed him.---( Hear. ) Nothing could
have been more unhappily conducted from beginning to end
than these State trials. What moral influence (said the Hon.
and Learned Gentleman) can these State trials have on the
social interests of Ireland?—( Hear, hear.) I ask my Right
Hon. Friend opposite, supposing that our positions were re-
versed—supposing that I was prosecuting for the Crown, and
that he was defending the prisoners, what, 1 say,
would he have thought of me if, because he
had made the best speech he could in defence
of his clients, I sent him a hostile message ? And yet the
Attorney-General for Ireland had acted so. Yes, thehead of
the bar.—( Hear, ' hear.) An effective, speech for a client is
Lure to siraw down his wrath. Why did he not carry out the
principle and challenge the jury.—( Laughter.) I don't know
• that even the Judges are safe.-::-(Litighter, and cries of
" Hear, hear.") Such things have happened in-Ireland. -It
was the wish of the Government to -preserve the union. In
order to do so they did not set an example of that moderation
.Which distinguished the tribunals
.of this country,.on the part
of those presidisegalierei where. there is amahsenee of all emoSjon
—where the Judges seem impassable to irritation or excitement—
( Hear, hear)—and their demeanours command the respect of
the criminal. I told the Government last year that the At-
torney-General for Ireland was unfit for his situation, and I now
emphatically demand the ignorninous dismissal of that most
unworthy official.—( Hear, hear,) I ask it in the name of
violated justice, decency, and honour—( Hear, hear)—and I
have no fear whatever of receiving from the Learned Gentle-
manthithing
a could'‘ a
possibly three-corneredadd di 3
gnroatcee.
act,ugh (Laughter.) And
tAhnedraa
if
manner
yr
in which it was done.—(Hear, hear.) The Attorney-
General having forgotten his position, and having been called
upon to explain what he meant, turned round upon his oppo-
';-; the( La
tent, who acted like a gentleman, and in the language of a
lawyer, called upon him to make an affidavit.—( Hear, hear,
hear.) That was mixing the court of honour with the court of
justice with a vengeance. I find the mode in which the pre-
sent trials have been conducted will be fraught with, mischief.
But let us forget the ludicrous part of the affair. Have the
first principles of justice, honour, decency, and everything dear
to this country, been respected in attempting to vindicate the
laws ?--(Cheers.)
Sir ROBERT PEEL deeply regretted that the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman had felt himself called upon by a sense of
public duty to make the observations which he had made upon
the conduct of the Attorney-General for Ireland.--(Hear,
hear, from the Ministerial benches. )—He was resolved to ad-
here to the rule which he had laid down last night, not to
offer any observations or comments upon the matter now
pending in Ireland, lest such observations might lead
to further discussion. He was resolved to adhere implicity to
the sentiment expressed in the speech from the throne, not
even to introduce collateral topics. He must say that he con-
sidered the comments of the Hon. and Learned Gentleman
upon the conduct of the Attorney-General for Ireland much
more severe and censorious than that conduct merited.—
(Cries of " Oh, oh," from the Opposition.) It was impossible
altogether to vindicate the Attorney-General's conduct.—
(Hear, hear.) In the principles laid down by the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman as to the manner in which this prosecu-
floe had been c: nducted, he entirely concurred, that there
should be an absence of all irritation and excitement, and that
decency and order should be rigidly preserved. But a very
few hours before the scene to which allusion had been made
bad taken place, the Attorney-General, in a letter to the Home
Secretary, expressed his full concurrence in those principles,
and upon the propriety of conducting the trials with as mush
coolness and temper as possible. It was a momentary occur-
route. That there had been much irritation displayed, and im-
properly displayed, could nut be denied. He repeated, that it
was impossible for him entirely to vindicate the conduct
of the Attorney-General ; but let some allowance be made for
his position—let them remember the infirmities of their own
nature, and let them not pronounce judgment on his conduct
upon mere reports of isolated circumstances.—(Ministerial
cheers.) This was not a deliberate thing —it was
not a meditated challenge. The conduct of the Attorney-Ge.
neral had been noticed by the Chief Justice in terms which
must have been exceedingly painful to him.. The highest au-
thority in the Court had, in the presence of the whole Court,
expressed dissatisfaction at his conduct. At the same time the
Lord Chief Justice expressed a hope that the proceeding would
be buried in oblivion. This, too, should be remembered—the
Attorney-General had asked permission to withdraw the letter.
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had inquired whether the
Government had dismissed the Attorney-General? His (Sir
It. Peel's) answer was, that they had not dismissed the At-
torney-General, nor did they mean to dismiss him.—(`° Hear,
hear," from the Ministerial benches.)
Mr. WYSE said he could not blame the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet for entering somewhat into detail. He was willing to
make a good deal of allowance for the Attorney-General. In
the course of the trials he had on one occasion, to his own
knowledge, acted with forbearance. Many severe and unjusti-
fiable attacks had been made upon him—newspapers of all
parties had censured him—Mr. Fitzgibbon had made a very
severe attack upon him ; but, making allowance ior all these
things, he 'would ask the House was the conduct of the
Attorney-General likely to impress the conviction on the
minds of the people of Ireland that the law had been fairly
administered ? The Attorney-General had two other courses
open to him. He might have called upon Mr. Fitzgibbon to
disavow the offensive expressions, or he might have placed
himself in the hands of the Court. Neither of these things
had he done, but he had recourse to the ultima ratio of arms,
and acted mast indiscreetly. For the reasons already stated
he would not enter into the consideration whether or not the
agitation for the repeal of the union was legitimate, but he
would allude to a clause in the address. It was very well
knoWn that he (Mr. Wyse) had been solicited to become a
member of the Loyal National Repeal Association ; that many
of his constituents wished him to become a repealer, but these
solicitations he declined, believing that the Imperial Parliament
would do justice to Ireland. As long as he had that hope he
would not wish to agitate for repeal. It would depend en-
tirely' on this country whether such hopes were
realised. He was only one of a large class who
held back from the repeal ranks because he be-
lieved that a British Parliament would do them justice.
But if these hopes were frustrated the cause of repeal would
every day have new partisans. He hoped the clause in the
address was not coefined to one or two beneficial measures
for Ireland, but that it signified that an extensive system of
policy would be pursued for the improvement of the social and
political condition of that country. If he did not think that
was the meaning of the clause, he would not support the
address.
I.ord ELIOT said, that from his official position regarding
Ireland, it could not be expected he would remain silent during
the attack on the Attorney-General. He had been associated
with that Hon. and Learned Gentleman for mere than a year,
and he must say, that a more kind-hearted man he had seldom
known. When he (the Attorney-General) came into office,
his first act was to receive apologies from several editors of
newspapers against which prosecutions for libels were aleaut to
be instituted. After the testimony which had been borne to
his forbearance by the Hon. Alember for Waterford, he
believed the Attorney-General had on many trying occasions
during the course of these trials shown great discretion,
and except upon that one occasion had not given way to any
improper excitement.
Air. ROEBUCK—Oh, several.
Lord ELIOT—Had not heard but of that one instance.—
( Cries of " Oh, oh.") He believed that on every other occa-
sion the Attorney-General had demeaned himself as became
his station. He did not mean to vindicate the indiscretion,
hut he felt sure that in the cooler moments of reflection he
would not have acted so. Base personal and selfish motives
had been attributed to the Attorney-General, and he had be-
trayid this infirmity of temper.
Mr. WYSE explained. The Noble Lord was quite mis-
taken in supposing that he meant to say that the Attorney-
General had on every occasion during the trials comported
himself with forbearance. He did not say so, nor did he mean
so, nor did he think see; but what he said was, that upon one
occasion on which he (Mr. Wyse) was present, the Attorney-
General had conducted himself with great calmness,when it might
have been expected that his temper would have been broken.
Lord ELLIOT replied.
Captain BERNAL said the Right Hon. Baronet had at-
tempted to throw his cloak over what he must term the fall
and fame of the Irish Attorney-General. He (Captain Bernal)
denied that at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of
these trials had that officer conducted himself in a proper
manner, arid he had reason to know that there was only one
opinion among the Irish bar as to the manner in which the
Attorney-General had conducted himself throughout there
trials, and that was that he had behaved with great impropriety.
He adopted, in the fullest sense, the language of the Hon. j
and Learned Member for Bath (Mr. Roebuck). If that Hon.
and Learned Gentleman felt it necessary to caution the Go-
vernment
regarding the appointment of the Attorney. General,
how much more was that caution necessary when the language
which had been used by him in 1827 was recollected ?-1-le de- •
clued in that year his belief that Irish Roman Catholics had
no reverence for the sanctity of an oath. Ihe manner
in which the Government now treated the Attorney..
General resembled that in which a schoolmaster would treat his
young pupil, "Be a good boy, be sorry for what tou have done,
and 1 will forgive you." If an example of decorum were not
to be found in the Court of Queen's Bench, what vanity it was
to come down to that House, and, in the Queen's speech, ex-
press a hope that the social coalition of Ireland would be im-
proved. He called on the House to support the Hon. Member
for Bath, and he called upon them at once to urge on the Go-
vernment the propriety of dismissing the Attorney. General for
Ireland.
Lord STANLEY rose, and said the Hon. Gentlemanwhohas
just sat down complained of my Right Hon. Friend having

Y.;, Y"C