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.' Al'
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—he repeated that
assertion—the privilege, of whatever nature it might be,
was vested in the Government. lie would not fix upon
the Home Secretary of State the whole odium of this
proceeding ; the Government must equally share the
blame and the responsibility—(Hear, hear, from • Sir
Peel and Lord" Stanley)—he repeated what he had
already stated—he would not retract a single charge he
had made. He fearlessly asserted, that for the last tee
years, a most unscrupulous use was made of the power
which the Act of Parliament wasasaid 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,
and he believed that if inquiry were instituted, so far
from its appearing that the Right Hon. Gentleman op'
posite had done what every Secretary of State
had done since the time of Queen Anne, it
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, contrary
to law. In the first place, he wished to inquire into that
office in the General Post-office commonly known to
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 understood,
whole bags of letters were taken down to this office.
The messenger from the Home-office came in just ashen
the mail arrived, and called for the bag from Cork, or the
bag from Dublin. The letters were selected, and gives
to this individual, and having been examined, they were
distributed, re-sealed to the sorters ; those men, of
course, did not know what had taken place in the secret
letter office, nor how many letters had been detained:
Sometimes the letters were delayed an hour, and some'
times an hour and a half. He had not of course ole
tained a copy of the warrant, but he understood that et
this moment the letters of Foreign Ministers wer°
opened and there examined and read. He believed that
the letters to foreign Ministers were at this moment
read and opened by the Right Hon. Baronet. IVer°
foreign Ministers themselves aware of this ? He (Mr'
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
free air of Britain. The Hon. Member then read ea
extract from Galignani's Messenger, in which his Words
were quoted, also the words of Monsieur Guizot is the
French Chambers, in which that distinguished statesman
expressly denied that the secrecy of the Post-office had
been violated in France. He (Mr. Duncombe) therefore°
in an ample manner begged to apologise to the French
people for the insult he had so unknowingly, but yet 5,°01
grievously, cast upon them.—(Hear, hear.) It would
' appear that this was a peculiarly English practice ; for
in foreign countries, such as Austria or Italy, where they
opened a letter, they always re-sealed it with the Go'
vernment stamp, and there was no attempt whatever 11t
concealment ; it was reserved for an-English Post-ogle'
to combine the baseness and meanness of treachery wit'S,le
the meanness of violation of secrecy. This mod
was peculiarly English, however un English it might
seem in principle. The Honourable Member thet
read the extracts from foreign newspapers, showing that
when the Austrian Government 'had opened letters they
had boldly avowed it by affixing on them the seal 0
" the double-headed eagle," and the words " opened 1)Y
authority" on them. The Right lion. Baronet had 1W
admitted that he had directed Mazzini's letters to b „ ),,
opened. He admitted that he had issued the warrant f°'
one of the three mentioned, but, with scrupulous catalog,
refused to declare; which. However, the Right Bole
Baronet had said so much that he must needs say InOrei
The public would not be satisfied with his mere evewa
of responsibility. .(The Hon. Gentleman then read ee
extract from a letter of a correspondent of the Morntl
Chronicle, and which appeared in this morning's ilnPres
sion of that paper, stating, ie.
that although the Dulte a
Wellington had declared that the letters of Mazzini had
not been opened at the instance of the Sardinian Govern;
ment, he would bring forward proofs to show tll5
letters had been detained, opened, and copied, and give,o
to the Sardinian embassy, at the request of persons 00°
nected with the Sardinian Government; and the sans,
,
correspondent asked if the British Government did ;a
for one Government why not do so for another,
what signified whether it was one letter or one hundre'if
He added that he had several letters opened, and thatia
he had anything important to communicate ho w 01.1,11
transmit his letters through other channels than three it
the spy office. lie (Mr. Duncombe) had stated, anciloit
had been admitted, that one letter had been opened,
_eo
he could prove that fifty or sixty letters had be
.o
opened, and that this system had been going on for a
years in the most unscrupulous manner. He understei,
that during the disturbance in the manufactining de
tricts in 7842, scouts had been dispatched from t't,
General Post-office by the Home Secretary to the 10,
offices throughout those districts, who opened all s
petted letters, and transmitted their conterts to
.tlie-
Right Hon. Baronet.—(Hear, hear.) . It was impose' b
that they could have a warrant for each opening—tl)
must have had a general order.—(Hear, 110 re
He believed there was a wholesale opening eo
letters on that occasion, and he would furnish er°;ll
of it. He stated this broadly in his place ",
Parliament. He had been further informed that sotn°
times the messengers from the Post-office demanded ti
,!:r
letters of a particular street, or place—the Albany, ia
instance; where the Right Hon. Gentleman the genii; r
for Edinburgh and the Noble Lord the Member 1.,
Newark resided.—(Laughter.), He had found great cifor l
ticulty in obtaining any information on this subject,
it appeared that since lie had last addressed the lite
the messengers and officials about the Post-office "0
been warned at their peril to keep their lips setitediv
that they would not utter a word with reference to it.
other charge was—that the letters of the foreign Ain.`4l
ters had been opened—that the letters of foreigners
been opened at the instance of foreign Government ha
letters of Austrians, Poles, and Italians. He wanted to
know what was the reason of this? What had ore
do with the unfortunate misunderstandings in Italy
the present moment? How little was it known
foreign countries that such treachery had been resort
to in England ? Mr. Mazzini had received a letter
en
that day from one of his expatriated countreht
the son of Admiral Bandieri. He supposed the Big )
Hon. Baronet had seen and read this letter.—(Laughter...
The writer, in it, had congratulated his fellow country,
men on his residence in Great Britain, and added ,
unlike his own country, he might now rely on the 1,0
11,1
tegrity of the British post.—(Laughter.) Poor delude
man.—(Renewed laughter.) Mr. Mazzini had been c°.e,,
gratulated on his arrival in British soil by the
dividual who had assisted his escape, and theril.
that individual might entertain no hostile lejj'is
ings towards the Austrian Government,
letters having been copied and transmitted by the A7st
trian Ambassador to the Austrian Government, be °lto,
be now thrown into a prison. lie .(Mr. Duncornbe). if
lieved that, at that moment, there were fifty or sic'.
individuals immured in the Austrian prisons in ce°%-a
quence of the information communicated to the Atlethrie-,0
Ambassador by the British Government. The baud
corpets, it was known, did not eeist in Austria, eje
hence those unfortunate creatures must remain e,
confinement, or, perhaps, be subjected to the tortursi,
in order to extract a confession from them. The 11°0-
tion in which the question now stood was neither ea,,
,
factory to the public, creditable to the House, nor 0,
nourable to the Government.—(Hear, hear.) The Uo,
vernment, when they went so far as to say that a Woe
rant had been issued, ought to have told the trutlieo
whole truth, and nothing but the truth e and the 13.11 av
Honourable Gentleman should not have epee t
'toured to mystify the subject by saying "s
he had issued a warrant, but not stairtlV,
against whose letters the warrant had been issued.
warrant, it appeared, no longer existed ; but with
gard to Mazzini, there appeared to be just as retif"er
reason now for opening Mazzini's letters, as there Qiiri
had been. He did not believe that the letters of MO's('
to these individuals had been opened, but he heliet'o
that there could be no doubt that the letters ofthese threcji
persons to Mazzini, whose petitions he held, bad bee
eo
opened. The letters of Lovett to Mazzini had b'
opened. He could prove that Mr. Lovett's letterota
Mazzini had been opened just as certainly as that 4,,)
Right Hon. Gentleman had his hat on.—(A
One of these letters contained a paragraph stating ttie
the Emperor Nicholas was expected to arrive in, I,,et
country in a few days, and that the writer did
ay
think that the reception of this distinguished
,st
dividual could be very flattering. The very tt'lji
morning there appeared in the two Governet,
prints a denial that the Emperor was e°"-te
ing here ; yet in five days after the announceln,eaj
to the surprise of every one, the Emperor arrived.
•L‘f-„e
he did not say that this was a conclusive eir°°;es
(Laughter from the Opposition)—but yet it was en
traordinary coincidence. He knew the Right Hon•
ronet opened and read this letter, and although he ee,'" ,
not prove it in a court 'of law he would establiseo,
moral conviction on this point. The Right Hon- °cola
tleman could no longer shroud himself unier As
mere delaration of responsibility.—(flear, hear.) tee
the Minister of the Crown, as ' the paid servant of
public, as responsible to that House and to the contri.!
he was bound to give further explanation. The lu;e,
office enjoyed a monopoly in the transmission of letteer
in fact, parties were punishable for transmitting tbroir
letters through any other channel ; and it was onlY
„.00
that the power
,which it was said the law conferred I.l„ree
the Secretary of State to violate secrecy should n°'
further acted upon, unless it was absolutely neet,-"st
sary. If they intended to open letters, they 11!nd
ri proclaim their intention to the public, but he could
b,
no part of the Act of Parliament which justified re
fraud that had been committed by h
re-scaling the letted
with a counterfeit seal. The Right Hon. Baronet ha
attempted to shield himself behind the statute-book!, his
he (Mr. D.) would that night hear from the Plli4
eitor-General a full statement what the law on
matter really was—what was the nature of these Iry
rants—to what extent the system could be earect.'„ear)
what was lawful, and what was unlawful.—(l1—
He maintained that this was a question that coulelilla
rest where it was.—(Hear, hear.) He hoped he oa
made out a good prima facie case for inquiry. D w°,l-Or
not do to entrench themselves behind official silence,
red
would it do to be supported by a majority that alVeilleieli
ready to carry them through an act of this kind, W
was most odious to the peoplLoud cheers.) Leo
Mr. ROEBUCK rose to second the motion, but gaga
way to Sir James Graham, who roso also.
The question was then put, when ngeti.
Sir JAMES GRAHAAI rose, and said he felt 01"ipf;
to the Hon. and Learned Member for Bath for grass
way way on this occasion; and he felt confident the 1-"irige
would feel that he was, -in justice, entitled to a he°