The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-03 00:00:00

any. alteration in the law by which the secret opening,
detaining, and delaying 'of letters is conducted." .M
though the motion was of a general nature, he was pre-
pared to substantiate it, and to make out the most com-
plete case for inquiry. He stated before that an infrac-
tion of the law had been committed—lie repeated that
assertion—the privilege. of nhatever nature it might be,
was vested in the Government. Ile would not Ex upoa
the Home Secretary of State the whole odium of this
proceeding • the Government must equally share . the
blame and the responsibility—(Bear, hear, from Sif
Peel and Lord Stanley)—he repeated what he bad
already stated—he would not retract a single charge be
had made. He fearlessly asserted, that for the last two
years, a most unscrupulous use was made of the power
which the Act of Parliament was said to vest in the Go-
vernment by opening the letters of different parties.
He would state that it was done to a very great extent,
aust he believed that if inquiry were instituted, so fill
from its appearing that the Right Hon. Gentleman op'
polite had done what every Secretary of Stet,e,,
had done since the time of Queen Anne, 0
would be proved to the satisfaction of every one
that more letters had been opened in this manner during
the last two years than during the ten or twenty years
preceding, and that they had been opened, too, contrail'
to law. In the first place, he wished to inquire into that
office in the General Post-office commonly known t°
the subordinates of the establishment, as well as by the
superiors of the establishment, as the secret or inner
office. In this office those deeds of darkness took place'
—(Laughter.) Here was the Post-office inquisition
held.—(A laugh.) Sometimes the letters of individuals
were carried there, and from there sent to the Home'
office, where copies were taken of these letters accord,'
ing to their contents. Sometimes, as he understooef
whole bags of letters were taken down to this office'
The messenger from the Home-office came in just when
the mail arrived, and called for the bag from Cork, or the
bag from Dublin. The letters were selected, and give°
to this individual, and having been examined, they Were
' distributed, re-sealed to the sorters • those men, °,
course, did not know what had taken place in the secret
letter office, nor how many letters had been detaineo•
Sometimes the letters were delayed an hour, and some'
times an hour and a -half. He had not of course ob'
tained a copy of the warrant, but he understood that at
this moment the letters of Foreign Ministers were
opened and there examined and read. He believed that
;
the letters to foreign Ministers were at this memo"
read and opened by the Right Hon. Baronet. Were
foreign Ministers themselves aware of this ? He (1"
Duncombe) must apologise for having spoken in the pre'
vious discussion on this subject disrespectfully of France'
He had said that this inquisitorial system might suit the
air of France or Austria, but it did not agree with the
li
free air of Britain. The Hon. Member then read e,
extract from Galignani's Messenger, in which his word'
were quoted, also the words of Monsieur Guizot in t"'
French Chambers, in which that distinguished statesrl
expressly denied that the secrecy of the Post-office to_
been violated in France. He (Mr. Duncombe) therefo7
in an ample manner begged to apologise to the Frenef,
people for the insult he had so unknowingly, but yet rg
grievously, cast upon them.—(Hear, hear.) It weal
appear that this was a peculiarly English practice ; for
in foreign countries, such as Austria or Italy, where tlo!,
1
opened a letter, they always re-sealed it with the 6ei
vernment stamp, and there was no attempt whatever
concealment ; it was reserved for an-English Post-O‘ti
to combine the baseness and meanness of treachery
the meanness of violation of secrecy. This int
was peculiarly English, however un English it
seem in principle. The Honourable Member Tot
read the extracts from foreign newspapers, showing t
when the Austrian Government had opened letters theji
had boldly avowed it by affixing on them the sea! bat
authority" the double-headed eagle," and the words °' opened A
authority" on them. 'The Right Hon. Baronet had
admitted that he had directed Mazzini's letters to
,'t
opened. He admitted that he had issued the warrant
one of the three mentioned, but, with scrupulous calit!'„
refused to declare: which. However, the Right 110:e:
Baronet had said so much that he must needs say 111°'.,1
The public would not be satisfied with his mere sr: fop
of responsibility. (The Hon. Gentleman then reau4
extract from a letter of a correspondent of the Mote
Chronicle, and which appeared in this morning's irnrof
sion of that paper, stating, that although the Dill%,d
Wellington had declared that the letters of Mazzini Po,
not been opened at the instance of the Sardinian Gover
o
ment, he would bring forward proofs to show t:',ll
letters bad been detained, opened, and copied, and g'oo.
to the Sardinian embassy, at the request of persons en,i
netted with the Sardinian Government; and the sr
t,'
correspondent asked if the British Government (1104
for one Government why not do so for another,!g
what signified whether it was one letter or one 111111dt-7i(
He added that he had several letters opened, and thstio
he had anything important to communicate he °ll,ll
transmit his letters through other channels than throdso
the spy office. He (Mr. Duncombe) had stated, Obis
had been admitted, that one letter bad been openeekpeo
he could prove that fifty or sixty letters had l'oe
opened, and that this system had been going on for kood
years in the most unscrupulous manner. He undertudis
that during the disturbance in the manufacturing ty
tricts in 1842, scouts had been dispatched from
General Post-office by the Home Secretary to the 1:5,
offices throughout those districts, who opened ail
petted letters, and transmitted their contents 10
sibs
Right Hon. Baronet.---(Hear, hear.) It was inilOstiel
that they could have a warrant for each opening
‘10)
must have had a general order.—(Hear, of
Ho believed there was a wholesale opening Oft
letters on that occasion, and he would furnish Pr is
of it - He stated this broadly in his plee°,oe
Parliament. He had been further informed that soi),
times the messengers from the Post-office demanded `for
letters of a particular street, or place—the AlbanY,Der
instance; where the Right Hon. Gentleman the Mernfot
for Edinburgh and the Noble Lord the Mensberdif•
Newark resided.—(Laughter.) He had found great 0
ficulty in obtaining any information on this sub)eerit'oos
it appeared that since lie had last addressed the 11 Dsi
the messengers and officials about the Post-office to
been warned at their peril to keep their lips sealeyoe
that they would not utter a word with reference to it. iy
other charge was—that the letters of the foreign 11°d
ters had been opened—that the letters of foreigners
,/
been opened at the instance of foreign Governnietud to
letters of Austrians, Poles, and Italians. He want°, 10
know what was the reason of this? What had iw
at
do with the unfortunate misunderstandings in ItsAni io
the present moment? How little was it known led
foreign countries that such treachery had been res° tiet
to in England ? Mr. Mazzini had received ale n,er
that day from one of his expatriated countqie
the son of Admiral Bandieri. He supposed the P,t,,p)
Hon. Baronet had seen and read this letter.—(Laugu try,
The writer, in it, had congratulated his fellow eetllo
men on his residence in Great Britain, and added o‘
unlike his own country, he might now rely on tad
tegrity of the British post.—(Laughter.) Poor de
cols
man.—(Renewed laughter.) Mr. Mazzini had been is
gratulated on his arrival in British soil by o'd
dividual who had assisted his escape, and ale:el'
that individual might entertain no hostile jr
ings towards the Austrian Government, pi'
letters having been copied and transmitted by the SO/
trian Ambassador to the Austrian Government, be be'
be now thrown into a prison. He (Mr. DuncombeV
lieved that, at that moment, there were fifty or Plos
individuals immured in the Austrian prisons in CO)
quence of the information communicated to the Ails be.)
Ambassador by the British Government. The be aOd
corps's, it was known, did not exist in Austria,
it
hence those unfortunate creatures must rerealeure
confinement, or, perhaps, be subjected to the torto,i,
in order to extract a confession from them. The
tion in which the question now stood was neither t'
factory to the public, creditable to the House, nor otr
nourable to the Government.—(Hear, hear.) The,
vernment, when they went so far as to say that tY
rant had been issued, ought to have told the trut!';giii
whole truth, and nothing but the truth ; and the do'
Honourable Gentleman should not have e°oo
voured to mystify the subject by saying tied
he had issued a warrant, but not s'%lo
against whose letters the warrant had been issued:, re'
warrant, it appeared, no longer existed ; but ww,,,st
gard to Mazzini, there appeared to be just as P-eve
reason now for opening Mazzini's letters, as there 40;
had been. lie did not believe that the letters of Did
to these individuals had been opened, but he beiDei
that there could be no doubt that the letters ofthese tbd
persons to Mazzini, whose petitions he held, bad, bed
opened. The letters of Lovett to Mazzini had rto
opened. He could prove that Mr. Lovett's leltetthß
Maseini had been opened just as certainly as tu, °,,sls
'ye;
Right Hon. Gentleman had his hat on.—(A
One of these letters contained a paragraph stating flit
the Emperor Nicholas was expected to arrive i!-id poi
country in a few days, and that the writer di
think that the reception of this distinguished
,le!
dividual could be very flattering. The very ept
morning there appeared in the two GovereV
prints a denial that the Emperor was nicest'
mg here ; yet in five days after the announeesol(
to the surprise of every one, the Emperor arrived• miv
he did not say that this was a conclusive Pr" es'
(Laughter from the Opposition)—but yet it was e'j
traordinary coincidence. He knew the Right goo. op
ronet opened and read this letter, and although he,;,:°sll'
not prove it in a court of law he would estau'bee'
moral conviction on this point. The Right Hon the
-
tleman could no longer shroud himself urnie,r ft"
mere delaration of responsibility.--(Hear, hear./ I.the
the Minister of the Crown, as the paid servant °f try''
public, as responsible to that House and to the cool,'"
he was bound to give further explanation. The t
office enjoyed a monopoly in the transmission of letteeit
in fact, parties were punishable for transmitting tb
ost.
letters through any other channel ; and it was ony„oo
that the power which it was said the law conferred
the Secretary of State to violate secrecy should n°os'
further acted upon, unless it was absolutely 13,001
sary. If they intended to open letters, they 10d 60'
proclaim their intention to the public, but he coil the
no part of the Act of Parliament which justifierttell
fraud that had been committed by re-sealing the Jr
with a counterfeit seal. The Right Hon. Baronet se' I
attempted to shield iiimself behind the statute-boe'''ssli'
he (Mr. D.) would that night hear from the "01'
citor-General a full statement what the law o° for
matter really was—what was the nature of these
rants—to what extent the system could be eartrile
what was lawful, and what was unlawful.---Vd pot
He maintained that this was a question that e°ll,", 10"
rest where it was.—(Hear hear.) He hoped ou,
made out a good prima facie case for inquiry. It e°l"
rwneooatuddl3d,otoitoto
cdeaoirirttoryebnthechesmutphtephomrrosteuegldvieibs behind official silene°',K,
aynaaractajoofritthyisthkiatnadnt Peoic;
was most odious to the people.—(Loud cheers.) bse
Mr. ROEBUCK rose to second the motion, hut
way to Sir James Graham, who rose also.
The question was then put, when tsigeti
Sir JAMES GRAHAM rose, and said he felt eu:,,a4
to the Hon. and Learned Member for Bath for Wee':
way on this occasion; and he felt confident the OP
would feel that he was, in justice, entitled to ib°