The Sun.
London, England, 1829-03-19 00:00:00

to tell us that is not a question you have a right to put to ronet, no other purpose that I could perceive than to
those who do not till 1.• public station. That answer will extite an unfair prejudice against me, charged me with
not suffice for a Government; and when we docome down having dishonourably denied that I ever considered this a
with measures, compelled by the events of the times, it is purely religious question, and chose to make some severe
rather hard for us to be placed in this dilemma—" You comments, as they appeared to him, upon the agreement
are apostates if measures are to be proposed by you ; and between the Hon. Member for Winchelsea and his Ma-
yet if you ask us what measures we suggest, we reply we jesty's Secretary of State. Sir, Ido say still, that I agree
do not know." In the course we have pursued we most perfectly with the Hon. Member for Winchelsea, that
have acted on our own responsibility, and we have this is more a political than a religious question, in the sense
brought forward these Bills because we think them in which he used the words. The Hon. Baronet is too acute
necessary to maintain the tranquillity of the country.
It is rather hard, I repeat, for us to be charged
with being apostates because we bring in Bills,
and yet to have nothing offered in lieu of them. We
may argue this subject for ten successive nights, but still
the question must return, " What is to be done
with Ireland—not for the relief of the Roman Catholics
merely, but for the security of the Protestant interests, and
the Protestant establishment there?" In that country you
Lave a population of seven millions of persons—it is a part
of the United Empire, and it k sepal ated by a consider-
able interval of sea ; five millions out of seven are Roman
Catholics; they are increasing in numbers, and, as my
Noble Friend justly said, increasing in wealth and in-
fluence. Ido not envy the Hon. and Learned Gentleman
the splendid victory he achieved when he told me that in
which I entirely acquiesce, that my Noble Friend made an
infinitely better speech than I did. I heard my Noble
Friend with the utmost pleasure, and that pleasure was not
in the slightest degree abated by the disadvantageous con-
trast in which I was exhibited.--(Hear, hear.)—The
five millions of Catholics, increasing in numbers, wealth,
and influence, are pressing onward for one common object,
and that object is avowed to be the participation in the bene-
fits of the Constitution. How can you meet their demand?
The Protestant mind in Ireland is divided—but not equally
divided, for I do believe that the weight of property and in-
telligence preponderates in favour of concession. Consider,
then, what the feeling of the Protestant mind will be, if the
Attorney-General and his friends should succeed in defeat-
i ig these measuees upon manly grounds, and not upon sly
insinuations about Coronation Oaths—(Cheers)—who shall
undertake the office of Government. If these measures
are defeated, and a new Administration shall be formed
upon a different principle, let me tell the Attorney-General,
who, of course, will be at the head of it—(l.aughter)--that
be must not rely upon the support of Protestaot opinion in
Iceland for the maintenance of the Administration. Let
me tell hint that even those who were formerly opposed to
concession, and are now in favour of it, when they see the
prosaect of settlement so near, will be more disappointed
at the postponement than even the Roman Catholics them-
selves. We are to incur the consequences of failure after
this attempt at agitation and excitement; but we shall not
fall---(Long continued and vehement oneering from all
sides.)—We shall shall proceed calmly and steadily on our
way, undeterred by imputations, unmoved by sarcasms, and
regardless of future consequences to ourselves, intent only
upon our country's good, and opposed only by the enemies
of tranquillity.—(Hear, hear, hear.)--But I have been di-
verted from the brief outline I was sketching of the state of
Ireland, from the sight of wbieh it is in vain to shrink. I say
that five millions of people there arc pressing for an equal
part icipatioa of rights, and in the House of Commons majo-
rities in their favour have net been unfrequent. Whatever
I may think of the Revolution of 168 S, and of the provi-
visions then established, I cannot bend facts ; I cannot
overrule circumstances. and I find Chit the Protestant
mind in Ireland is divided, and that a majority of the House
of C0U11730113 is disposed to concede, -Honestly and conscien-
tiously I do not think that that state of things should con-
tinue. Is it because I disregard Protestant interests ?
Nea--it is because Ives Roman Catholic power increased by
the compactness and discipline of its own phalanx, and
hence my opinion that some change of system is absolutely
necessary. What has occurred of fate? It has been an-
swered " nothingnew." What! is the pregnant history of
site election for the county of Clare nothing new ? Have
those who maintain that nothing new has occurred wit-
nessed dire power the Catholics than displayed, noxious to
themselves but not the less injurious is Its? A power
I know not how to estimate or describe, hpt which
they are willing to relinquish for the smaller and
safer power they will gain by admission to the bles-
sings of the Constitution. The gentleman who pre-
sided over the police of the county of Clare came over
for the express purpose of conferring with soy Noble Friend
and myself, and he stated that the whole country had
been, organised for the purpose of carrying that election ;
that thousands and tens of thousands evinced a calm, sober,
taut ateeperate enthusiasm, nut to be contemplated without
owe; .3U enthusiasm which broke out into no acts of vio-
lence, whiels paid the public a marked and peculiar respect
and forbore fry indulgence in any excess, and from the
innocent gratification of appetite. Thus even the virtues
of temperance and abetioesine become formidable indications
of the prevailing spirit. These AV circumstances which
no prudent Statesman should disregard. It may be said—
" I would put down this spirit by the sword-,--I would
bring an overwheirging three to bear upon it;" but jon
will not have the choice Qf the period—they will not afford
you the opportunity—they wig not fight you with the force
of arms, but combat you by the enereise of the very privi-
lege you have granted them. What, then, will you do
with those privileges ? This is a question I have again and
again naked : in the present state of the franchise, what
measure .could be proposed to lessen the dangerous power of
the Roman Catholics? Can you leave the franchise as it
ia? I say that you =isnot leave it as it is without endan-
gering Proteatant interests in Ireland, and severing every
bond of connection between the Protestant proprietor and
Ibis teanntry. Some remedy Must he found ; and it is
vain for the Flom and Learned Gerideman to tell us that
he would adhere to the letter of the goostitution,
anal do nothing in the present state of Ireland. Ile will
not even take into consideration the condition of that
country; but I implore the House to interpose and prevent
the consequences that met inevitably follow. I cannot,
in thus viewing the subject, separate myself from the
Mo. and Learned Gentleman with a pang more severe
&neatly that I have endured during tbe whole of my pc.
but I declare, upon my honour, that if we go
on eontestang this subject Session after Session with ma-
jorities of four or six in favour of concession, I believe the
smolt will be the nrigimate and complete ascendancy of the
Roman Catholics, =1 the destruction of the Protestan ts.
lisdd in my hand the speessh of an unsuspected party—
that of a Protestant Clergyman, delivered at a Protestant
meeting; and let any man read it, cn4 say whether be
(floes not agree with inc. He had otficiatui ip different
parishes, not ba the last year only, not in one county of
insland, and he tells us—" I had charge of a parish in
Wexfoi, from the immediate neighbourhood of which
about twen:7 __Protestant fasinibes emigrated to America,
because they c0u.14 not get a footing in their own country,
and yet they ask whe,', are the Protentanta to be found ?
I had another parish in the eounty of Wicklow, from
svhich about fifteen families ems rated, and yet they were
ready to ask, where are the Protestants to be 10174 ?" I
tun acquainted with 36 Protestant families, wldeb being
taken upon the computation of five and a half person; to a
family, would just yield two hundred persons who emigrates'
from that single parish. These were the examples of the
effects resulting from the state of society in Ireland.
These are facts which have come under my own exited-
ence--queeque ipso miserrinta vidi. But let me come
nearer home. Have I not seen large numbers of Protee-
;tants leave their homes in the county of Slgo during the
last tshree months; and do I not know that upwards of
25,000 P:otestants have emigrated from Ireland in conse-
quence of the t.Zdlision into which they were brought with
their Catholic fellow-subjects? Why, I say, is it to pre-
serve a state of things such as this, that Hon. Gentlemen
are desirous to preserve Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland? I
—(Hear.)--The Protestant population are hemmed in by
a population of Catholics labouring under a strong state of
excitement, by a Catholic Laity, and a Catholic Clergy,
and a Catholic Aristocracy, banded together by the
strongest ties, and who have, through the iatio.eure of that
onion, proved infinitely too powerful for the isoiated fa-
min's-3 of Protestants ; and the consequence is, that tinny ,
pre r migration to America rather than continue to live
in a state sf hostility with those who are thus combined in
opposition to them. I know, Sir, it said that these matters
might be reverses, but that is a contingency which I con-
tend we have not the ;Weans of effecting. The Catholics ore
combined together, and t;sey are inaccessible to the Man-
ence of the Crown, because- tLe Crown has no means left
by which it can operate on them, and they are supported
by many of their Protestant brethren i7ithout, while they
command a majority of Protestants witisin the walls of
this House. Although, therefore, he Agreed with
the Attorney-General, that the character of tineahstitu-
tion of 168 S was exclusively Protestant, yet he fiZred
with him upon the nature of that exclusion, wkich
its
conceived to have been not given to the Constitution at
that time so much as maintained in it, and, upon the
whole, he thought that there was much less danger in ad,
mitting the Catholics into a participation in the rights of
that Constitution, and in defiance of the principle of ex-
elusion, than to persist in withholding demands from a
power which had become almost too formidable to cope
with.—(Hear, hear.)—The Hon. Baronet (Sir Edward
Knatchbull), who spoke early in the debate last night,
seemed to direct his observations almost exclusively to that
nonduct which I had thought proper to pursue upon this
question. I had hoped that this course of observation
would be abandoned, and that I should no longer be com-
pelled to enter into any explanations of what I said in
026, or of what I did in 1827. What the lion. 134-

himself, not to be aware that in supporting the course I
recommended, I could not have been wanting in a regard
for the religious establishments of the Protestants, or in a
preference to their institutions over those of the Catholics ;
but in declaring that I did not think it a religious ques-
tion, I meant that I did not think it a question of consci-
ence, and that there was no precept of the Protestant re-
ligion which forbad our considering the claims of the Ca-
tholics to a participation in political rights. I said this
the more, because we had been charged with forming an
alliance with idolatry. I find .it even stated by a clever
writer to whom the Hon. Member for Inverness referred
(Mr. Faber we believe), that in pursuing the course we did
with regard to those who believe in Transubstantiation,
we had entered into a formal union with idolatry. It was
with a view of denying the truth of that assertion, and
with a view to claim for those interested in the preserva-
tion of the State and of the Church—the power of con-
sidering what might appear to them most advantageous to
their interests—that I said this was not a religious ques•
tion.—The Hon. Baronet went on to say, however, that
Catholics were excluded on account of their religion. Sir,
I deny that fact. Not even by the penal laws, were they ex-
' eluded on account of religion. They were excluded because
they were deficient in civil worth ; because they were bad
and dangerous members of the state, but never on account of
religion ; and the test of religion was applied to them—not
because they were religionists—but because it was intended
by that means to discover whether they did not belong to
an intriguing and factious body, whose proceedings were
considered dangerous to the State; and, therefore, when I
said I was content to part with Transubstantiation, I did
so because I felt that it was the instrument used to secure
an exclusion which I could no longer consider necessary to
be secured.—(Hear,.hear,)—But, Sir, all this was nothing
to what followed. After a whole week of concocted sar-
casms levelled almost exclusively against me, what was
nay surprise to hear the Hon. Baronet declare, that he was
willing to go further even than I was, whom he had so
freely charged with inconsistency and apestacy : and that
he was willing to give the Catholics every thing except
seats in Parliament.

Sir EDWARD KNATCHBULL here observed, that
he added, the Catholics were not to be Members of the
Privy Council. _ _

of much less importance, would be made subject to
the same objections—questions, too, occurring con-
tinually with much less notice than the people have
received on this? Would it not be said, dissolve the Par-
liament—you are incapable to decide this question—there is
the precedent—you yourselves have given it to us, and
you cannot deny its authority ?—(Hear, hear.)—No, Sir,
to use an expression which we have heard frequently in the
course of this debate, we cannot so far stultify ourselves as
to admit that we are-not as competent and as supreme in
our power to discuss this question as any Parliament which
ever assembled. But when we hear it said that we are
offending against religion, by attempting to discuss this
question, and when we are told, by those who come to fhis
conclusion, that we ought to dissolve the Parliament, is
there any man who could tike upon himself the responsi-
bility of bringing-the people of England and Ireland into
collision, as they must be brought by the arguments which,
in such case, would be advanced by those who favoured
and opposed concession ? I say that we would, by that
means, perhaps, altogether obstruct the settlement, and
obstruct it at the expence of the reverence and sanctity of
religion. If it is to be settled at all, let it be settled by the
now Parliament assembled—a Parliament as competent as
any other for that purpose, and called upon to consider it
at a time the most favourable to our purpose. To defeat
by any action of ours the measure we have now in pro-
gress, would delay it beyond all that we may conceive.—
There is now more of calm, and of the absence of all angry
feeling i❑ Ireland, than I have ever known, and at a time
when, in justice to the Catholic, I must say, he shows
no symptoms of a vulgar triumph ; and when, in equal
justice to the Protestant, I must also say, he bears
his disappointment with a most patient submission. To
lose, I say, an opportunity so pregnant with advantage,
would produce consequences most fatal to the ultimate
prosperity of Ireland.—(ltlear, hear.)—l wish, before I
conclude, to say one parting word to the Hon. Member
for Donegal (Lord Mountcharles), and other Hon. Mens-
hers who have awarded sne credit with respct to this ques-
tion whirls I (I) not deserve. Sir, the credit of accotn-
plishing this object is due to Mr. Fox, to Mr. Grattan, to
Mr. Plunkett, and to the Hon. Gentlemen opposite; and
still snore to my Right Hon. Friend, now no more (Mt.
Canning.)—No credit is due to me for advancing this
Question, but that which may be awarded me for aban-
doning a fruitless opposition. To that Right Hon. Gen-
tlewau, who supported it through the whole of his poli-
tical life with ardour and with constaney, the merit is
especially due ; and I may say of him, as he said of Mr.
Perceval on a former occasion, " I wish to God he was
here to enjoy the fruits of his victory." Sir, the credit
of success is due to others. If it fails, the responsibility is
mine. Those consequences I have considered ; those
matters I have taken into account along with the aban-
donment of personal friends and the rupture of many of
the tenderest ties. All those things I had foreseen—all
those things I had calculated upon ; but it is my consola-
tion and my support that a time may come—that a time
must tome, when those friends will be satisfied I had no
alternative left me, and when they will confess that the
course I have taken, to whatever evils it may have ex-
posed me, is a course necessary to the destruction of an
undue, dangerous, and illegitimate Catholic power, and
equally necessary to promote the security and the prospe-
rity of Protestant interests.—(Loud cheers.)
The ATTORNEY. GENERAL rose amidst great confu-
sion, and denied that he had disclosed any confidential
communications. He said before that he heard nothing of
the intentions of Government till seven days before the
meeting of Parliament ; but he did not admit that he dis-
closed that communication ; the Right Hon. Gentleman's
charge was therefore not proved.
Mr. PEEL observed briefly that every one must admit
the inconvenience of having a communication of that kind
made public at the precise moment it was known.—(Great
noise, and cries of " Withdraw !")
Strangers were then ordered to withdraw in order that
a division might take place. While the gallery was cleared,
the Ayes and Noes were distinctly heard in the lobby on
the question being put formally previous to the division.
The numbers were—

Mr. PEEL—I did not hear the Hon. Baronet mention
the Privy Council last night, but I would now take leave to
ask him when has his conversion taken place?—(Cheers
and laughter. )—What are the grounds which have induced
him to change his opinions, fur I recollect the Hon. Ba-
ronet was is the habit of resisting with me not a partial
concession, but any consideration of the question at
all ?—(Cheers and laughter.)—How happens it that
he who charges me with a breach of confidence and
declares that no public men are to be trusted—how is it
that he has so completely changed his opinions? He would
no longer oppose concession, and he would even give every
thing except some forty offices in the three kingdoms;
for, just to that number does the number of the Privy
Council extend ; that is to say, he would give all the
executive offices in Ireland, except three, and among
them the highest judicial offices in the kingdom. What
then becomes of the Hon. Baronet's inviolable question
of religion ? What becomes of his memorable and high.
wrought quotation :
" Nusquam tuta fides ?"
—(Cheers and laughter.)—Why, if the Hon. Baronet is
prepared to change his course, and to give up to the Ca-
tholics all the judicial offices, and the office of Attorney-
General—(cheers and laughter)--for the Attorney-Gene-
ral is not necessarily a Privy Councillor, and it is not the
fashion that the Solicitor-General should be so—when the
Hon. Bart. comes to defend his distinctions, I should like
to know by what line of argument he will be prepared to
contend that a Catholic should be admitted as Solicitor-
General, and exeluded from the office of Attorney-General.
—(Hear.)—The Hon. Member for Newark (Mr. Sadler)
refuse to give any thing or to go into any discussion, and
declarel that this is the unfittest of all times for it upon
the most extraordinary of all reasons—namely, that it is
the late st. I hope the Hon. Member will long continue
to be able to give this discussion that appellation, and re-
main in possession of that reason—(a laugh)—for if he do
not now come to a settlement, time Hon. Member will every
year go on obtaining an accumulation to the principle of
his present objection. Now, if the Hon. Baronet is at
liberty to say that he had changed his opinions, he would
ask upon what principle I may not go still further, if I
consider it necessary and expedient? When I used the
phrase of breaking in upon the Constitution, which has
been objected to, I meant that we were breaking in upon
the system Gf exclusion, and I would ask whether this is
the first time that we have done so? Did we not break in
upon the system of exclusion when we admitted Catholics
into the army? Did we not still further br. ak in upon it
when, under the Chancellorship of Lord Eldon we per-
mitted Catholics to become Officers of the Revenue, for by
the terms of the Bill of Rights every man who received
the King's wages was required to take the oaths agaiust
Transuatantiaeon.—(Hear. )—I, for one, Sir, object
to the proposal of the lion. Bart. If he considers any al-
teration necessary, I maintain that no alteration can take
place but that of adjustment, and that there is no use in
giving fresh power unless we can give final content.—
(Clicers.)—lf we give less, we give a power which must
be rendered available solely to strengthen them in their de-
mands for time remainder. The principle I contend for is
that there can be no security for the integrity of the Pro-
testant establishment, but with an equality of civil rights,
and that if we break into the exclusive system of 1793 The Duke and Duchess of Clarence arrived
at all, we can only do so by giving that equality. The At. at their temporafrroymrestihdeeinrcesina St. James's-place, yester-
torney- General says he would be dispo.ed to treat the Ca- day morning,
Highnessesn: Bushy-park.
visitedShprbtly
tholics with every kindness, but that he is unwilling to after their arrival their Royal.
give them any further political power. I say, Sir, howessof
Gloucester.avere
Iny
the Princess Augusta and the Duchess
ever, they will take it; and that if he enters into the con- the evening the Duchess honoured the. Earl
tahteldirCoontess
test with them, they will beat him through the means of of Darnley with her company to dinner at
the Elective Franchise. That power they are willing now in Berkeley-square, and afterwar:',:fs accompanied Ancient Music residence
the
t Earlthe
to abandon, if they receive instead of it that which we pro- and Countess to the Concert
pose ; but if we withhold it, they will employ their power Hanover-square Rooms. The Royal Duke presided at the
as electors to the utmost extent. One sentence may dinner given by the Corporation of the Scottish Hospital.
be said to form the key to the whole of the Learned
Gentleman's speech, and that is, that lie is unwilling The Duke of Cumberland and a select party
to allege any expediency in morals. If, however, the dined with the Princess Augusta yesterday.
Honourable Learned Gentleman means to ex- Prince Esterhazy, the Austrian Ambassador,
elude all expediency from public affairs, and to guide
transacted business at the Foreign-office yesterday.
them by the strict rule of his morality, all I can say
is that I most earnestly hope neither he, nor any of his We have no room for the Meeting which took
party, may ever have any int:ILL-rice in their 'direction.— place at the Bank. The discussion was on the usual
(Hear, hear, and a laugh.)—l feel, Sir, that lam weary- topics.
ing the flame upon subjects which have been already ex- NEWSPAPER CURIOSITY.—The Atlas of
haustec) ; hilt I should wish to say one word before I sit
down, upon the charge brought against his Majesty's Mi- next Sunday, is to he published, without any additional
nisters of having takers the country by surprise upon this charge, in a sheet double its ordinary sire. Its ordinary
question. How, he would ask, could a Government which size is nearly double the size of the Times ; its double
felt itself orced on by a species of moral necessity to the sheet, will, therefore, be four times the size of any. Other
consideration of a question, the Government being formed Journal. By the aid of machinery on a gigantic vale,
this triumph of the art of printing will be accomplished.
upon .t,h,e principle that such a question was an open one—..
The News and Literature of the week, and the Parlia-
bow could it hope to reap any advantage by coming to the
mentary will be gi a, in a more
Representatives of the people, and saying, " We think of
elaborate fortnDebates, than the compass ofven all others usual
Journal could
setting the Catholic :Question ?" Every thing, in such
matters, depended upon the terms of the settlement. In
embrace.
this it depended, as we all know, upon what was to be RECORDER'S REPORT.—Yesterday the Re-
done with the Association arid the Elective Franchise ; and corder tnatle his report to his Majesty, at Windsor, of the
if we had months before made a declaration of our deter- following prisoners in Newgate, capitally convicted at the
mint...6,w to settle the question, and, as we must have done, the last Old Bailey Session, viz. Bridget Sheridan, 35, and
explained jow, I say we would have done that which must Charles Goodlad, 22, stealing in a dwelling-house;
have gone far to preset settlement. Men, under the provo- Richard Kenny, 26, Thomas Birmingham, 21, Joseph
cation of the moment, wotild have been provoked into de- Redgard, 23, and Wm. Kelly, 21, highway robbery- ;
clarations from which they weld PP; afterwards retreat.— Wilhl n Richie, alias John Smith, 25, returning from
(Hear,)—and we would have altogether defeated tba oh- transportation ; and David Daniel, 16, burglary all of
ject we had in view. If, indeed, we had proposed to othoin his Majesty was graciously pleased to respite due-
take course which would defeat our avowed per- lug his Royal pleasure, except Charles Goodlad, Thomas
pose, then, indeed, we might have made it public; Birmingham, Joseph Redgeed, and Wm. Kelly, who are
but with rile mention to carry it into execution, left for execution on Tuesday next.
I contend we adopted a prudent course in remaining
silent and abstaining from giving any provocation to dis- ECARTE, OR THE SALONS OF PARIS.—
,e,ussion.—(Hear.)—lt has been aiau oltseryed, that this "If the critics," says the Weekly Review, " have hod
ParLiarnent is not competent to settle the question. enough of ' fashionable novels, the public. have not : and
Two arguments had been made use of in support of that it ie with the latter alone that Authors and Publishers
position. Wekasee been told that we are not competent to have chierty t:? do. We have before us the unpublished
make any alteration io ;the Oaths of Supremacy and Tran- sheets of a novel, the vhjef scenes of which are different
substantiation ; but, Si', Vsk, if the Parliament is not from any that are to be found in its fashionable predeces-
competent to settle it, what Vatiluwe,ut ever can be ren- sors. The public Hells' of Paris are pretty well known
dered competent to make such an alteration ? How hap- to most of the male portion of English visitors to that
pens it that at the time of the Union with ScotlV,nel asol at pleasant' but wrong ' capital ; much better indeed than
the it...lose of the Union with Ireland, a party wished to de- the London ones ;--but the private Salons, which have.
feat those sayeasures proposed that there should be power to long been sstabliehed there under high auspices, for the
alter them; and leow does it happen that if we refer to avowed purpose of easing their visitors of superfluous
the Acts of Union wi.th. both countries, we find that, re- i ennui, and money at the same time, have been as yet pe-
farrlog to the Oaths of Suprer,;;cy and Transubstantiation, netrated by but few, and those chiefly among the upper
they dcclgra thoseoaths shall contituse to be taken until the classes of our idlers abroad. The public in general will
Parliament shall otherwise provide ; those very words be- therefore be not a little amused, and perchance, benefitted,
hag inserted in contemplation of a case like the PreaW?--- by the singular expose that is here made of those enticing
(flea come nGw to the argument attempted to places—where beauty and ecarte vie with each other in
be urged, th4,:-, we ought to dissolve the present Parliament. drawing mn young gentlemen of all natioos,o(uanedseoape old ones
Now, Sir, I do ask whether it would be wise in us to set too), to their willing fate, and where, if y
such a specimen of legislation to future tipaes as to declare one, it is but to yield before the ether. We are given a.-
that we consider ourselves incompetent to the discussion pressly to understand in these pages, that the details, both
of this question, and that we must Sitst make an appeal as to characters and incidents, are founded on fact, and we
W the people? WV, ater this, how gaany quebuone , see Tao RASP to doubt this statement.

For the second reading
Against it
Majority -180.
The Bill was the❑ read a second time, and ordered to
be committed on Monday next.
The House adjourned at a Quarter-past Three o'clock
this morning.