The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-14 00:00:00

o' the Government, that gentleman had refused to
comply with them, and Government had refused to
release him, he would have suffered more than the
law imposed. How could the Government enjoin
him who asked for his freedom on account of his
health, to ask pardon or enter into recognizances
that he would not be guilty of a similar offence when
he might refuse to comply ? Such a proceeding
would have been derogatory to the authority of Go-
vernment. He was surprised that his Noble Friend,
: who had received a legal education, and who pos-
sessed great natural talents, should not see that by
such a step the Government would have exposed its
authority to derision by imposing conditions. Sup-
pose the gentleman had refused to make an apology,
or enter into recognizances, was he to die ?
(Hear, hear.)—To require him to enter into recog-
nizances would only have been a further derogation
of the authority of the Government. He considered
it as his duty to stand upon the usual principles'
acted on in that House, not to inquire into the exer-
cise of this branch of his Majesty's prerogative, and
he must call on their Lordships to decide against
•
granting the papers.
The Marquis of ANGLESEA said that the
Noble Duke had in what he had stated anticipated
a considerable part of what he meant to have .ad-
dressed to the House. He perfectly concurred in
the propriety of the determination on the part
of his Majesty's Government ; and upon an
application made to him by the Noble Lord,
while in the Government of Ireland, for a copy of
these papers he had acted on the same principle, and
refused to grant them. He should read the
letter of the Noble Lord, with his permis-
sion, and which would shew that he meant

to insinuate, as had been insinuated by various quar-
tets, that he (the Noble Marquis) had neglected to
support the Protestant interests and encouraged the
Catholic Association, to which he had, on many oc-
casions, given a flat denial. He hail throughout
acted impartially, and without the slightest influ-
ence of party or political feeling. lie would also
read his answer to that letter, as welris'a'-ropy-,.0f
the communications that passed between him and
his Majesty's Government in this country on the
subject of Mr. M`Donnell.
The Noble Marquis then read the following letter
from the Earl of Clancarty :
" My Loan,

" Garbally, Sept. 24.

" I had, this morning, the honour of receiving your
Lordship's letter of yesterday's date. It certainly did
appear to me somewhat extraordinary, as well for the
reason you mention of a near connexion of my own being
a candidate for the vacant representation in the Irish
Peerage as for other causes, that any application should
have been made to me by your Lordship, of however !Urinal
a nature, upon the occasion in question. It did appear to
me, that so recently after rather a strong measure of the
Irish Government, and in which my family were necessa-
rily so much interested, as the (apparently full, free, and
unqualified) extension of his Majesty's prerogative of mercy
to Mr. Eneas M'Donnell, justly and most leniently sen-
tenced for two very atrocious, malicious, and subsequently
aggravated libels; the one upOn my brother, the Arch-
deacon of Ardagh—the other upon an active and Worthy
Magistrate in this neighourhood ; both of whom are en-
deavouring, in conjunction with myself and others, to pre-
serve this part of the country at least in due allegiance to
his Majesty's Government—and permit me to observe,
in some instances, as on the present occasion, even (as it
should seem) under the heavy opposition of his Majesty's
servants in Ireland—it did, I say, appear to me extraor-
dinary, that without the urbanity of any notification
whatever, much less without any previous communication
of intention or consultation with us, or any of us—with-
out any exaction of apology to the parties aggrieved—or
any known demand of security for future good conduct
this person should have been freely set at large, to the un-
alloyed triumph of the disaffected ; and that so soon after-
wards I should have been the person selected to execute
forms (I will admit), but such as hitherto have been
usually perfected by those more in the habits of communi-
cation with Government. 1 can well assure your Lord-
ship, that the factions and rebellions in this neighbourhood
(for where are there not such in Ireland at this time ?) in
the plenitude of their rejoicing upon this free act of grace
accorded to Mr. M'Donnell, in his Majesty's name, and on
which some damage was riotously and violently done to
the houses in my neighbouring town—blood would like-
wise have been spilt had it not been for the promptitude
and alacrity with which Mr. M‘Donogh (one of the gen-
tlemen libelled) called out the military in support of the
civil power."
This letter showed that the mind of the Noble
Earl, at the time of writing the letter, was labour-

ing under an impression which induced me to reject
his application—that I was not supporting the Pro-
testant interest, and was giving a superiority to the
Catholic Association, to which he (the Marquis of
Anglesea) had given a direct denial. To that ac-
cusation he pleaded not guilty. He was obliged by
the communication, as it shewed him on what flimsy
grounds such an accusation had been made. He
had not been disposed to favour any body of men
—he never had done so—he went to Ireland,
resolved to act with ant any reference to parties or
to political favour. The whole time be was in Ire-
land he acted with the strictest impartiality,—
(hear)—having taken for It's model his illustrious
predecessor, all of whose acts showed that he %ITS
consummate Statesman, and who has left behin':t iii
Ireland many proofs of his great talents and know-
ledge of that country. The answer that he had
caused the Chief Secretary to write to the Noble
Earl was as follows :

that
" I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your
Lordship's letter of the 24th. As the observations cop._
na ntshould Government,
them
consequence,aaLikieneisetuyttfleseliherty of addressing this letter to yoiet•
tained in that letter chiefly turned upon a recent Ir-emu,
on my own
.aCeDunt--having previously to the
by directic,h of his Excellency.
Lordship
ihiaedih.tdLi
isstlohAr
ii dtlps
receipt of your Lordship's letter apologised for having in-
advertently addressed an official letter to your Lordship, I
should have deemed it unnecessary and obtrusive to trouble
your Lordship further. I am directed by the Lord Lieu-
tenant to acquaint your Lordship, that it is impossible for
him, on the subject of a measure strictly of a public nature,
such as the recent liberation of Mr. Eneas Macdonnell,
to enter into previous consultation or subsequent explana-
tion with any irresponsible person. Under this con-
viction of the duties of his situation, his Excellency cannot
authorise me to attempt by any further observation to re-
move the misconception under which it appears to his E7i-
cellency that your Lordship labours on the subject of the.
measure alluded to,"

Though it was perfectly right in the Noble Duke
to refuse to lay those papers before their Lordships,
it was perhaps not wrong in him to give these e-x-
-planations. It was hardly necessary for him to %tate
that Mr. E. Macdonnell was the emissary of the
Catholic Associat4Nu to the Catholics of this coun-
try. The Noble Earl had stated the
proceedings
for whia Mr. Macdonnell was tried ; Irut it was ne-
cessary that he should state that the trial took place
before he went to Ireland, and that, the conviction was
hod wader the administration of his predecessor.—
With the whole of that ho had nothing whatever
to do. He arrived in ikekand on March Ist, 1828,
and early in April he had received the first petition
relative to hit, Macdonnell. That petition was
signed by many persons of the highest rank and of
groat respectability. He looked at the petition
only in reference to its contents, without regard to
any religious or political party; and he informed
the persons who presented the petition that he et?vit'd
not entertain 4'4 prayer, In June, Mr. Me,v,tonnell
felt that on account of the severity of his sentence,
hia health was impaired. He then did as he bad
done in all similar circumstanees—he referred
the petition to the Judge who had tried the
ease, whose report was unfavourable. He caused
that to be made known to the party, when
Mr, Mactiounell applied to have a copy of the
,I edge's report, which was refused. Several peti-
tions followed, the prayer of all of which was re-
fused; at length a petition arrived, bringing the
state of his health, and accompanied by a certificate
from Doctor Roney and Doctor O'Beirne, stating
that the prisoner's health was in such a state that
longer confinement would endanger his life. In
ordinary cases he would have been justified in im-
mediately ordering the release of the prisoner, and
he had released many under such circumstances.
Mr. Macdonnell's case was marked by such peculiar
circumstances, that he did not think he should be
justified in releasing him, and he adopted the un.