, 1870-06-11
THE FENIAN RAID.
Debate in the House OF Lords,

THE FENIAN RAD.
Debate in the House of Lnfds.
In the House Of Lords. on the eveninS oi
the eth ultimo, the Earl Of Carnarvon ssid :
hope the noble Earl and Secretary for the
Colonies nM allow me to put question to
rived from Canada Judging from tho tAle-
grams which have been received, the circun-
stances are most grave. I trust the noble
Earl will not think it ungcnerous if venture
to remind him that when. two months ago,
b1pught before yonr Lord,hips tho 4uostiou of
' Eari '1 Grsn1tse Fft' shall De grau Il, ...s,-s-
any question OF facts, bnt the noble Earl has
not given any notice, and think, therefore,
he is rather cut Of o<t1er in making speech.
{Hea1, hear
Tho Earl Of Caernarvon. I have not the
slightest inclination to make : speech, bat the
practice Of the House, that noble Lords
| should be permitted to make whstever obser-
| plAin their questions. Hear, hear. was
reminding the noble Earl Of the remarks
| made some time ago a5 to the possibility OF 8
Fepian outrage, and my words hare been only
too we'll Justified, for The crisis has come, and
3 Feuian outrage has occurred. Az Tar ~ car
| successful in repulsing conaidefable body o1
Fenians whioh hxa crossed the frontier. Wh2t
I wish ask il whether, in tbs face Of the pres
ent etate OF affairs, the noble Earl il prepared
to carry out the orders which be an
nounced had been given for the recall
of tho regimants remaining II Canada.
Ihose regiments are very few. indeed. I be
leye there are not more than three regiments
stationed in Canada, hardly amounting to
4.0G0 men. An lnsur1ecton, moreover, in the
Red River colony has involved the sending Of
military expedition, an expedition very diff
T. -: T. ~
whole regiment Of some 400 or 500 men
Then, again, while on tho Canadian side there
nre great difficulties. owing to the exposure Of
long line Of frontier and the comparative
abaence Of railroads, on tho United States
side there are mahy rni11pads, enabling the
strength and to throw it on almost any point
Of sAs Canadian territory In the face OF
gefous as it waB originally. still more haz4rd-
GUS and dangerous to recall the troops. I may
express what believe is ths feeling Of every
uost sympathy with the Canadians, md Of
admiration OF their gallantry and courage in
defending themselves. Cheers.1 This quar-
rel, If ever there was one, is quarrel imperial
in lis nature. It ia not 4 colonial quarrel, for
it is the connection With England which has
fore, at this moment the niserab1y scanty
force which remains in Canada il to be fur
thcr cnrtailed or Withdrawn, ne shall place
ourselves in position which should be- sorry
for THIS country to occupy. a great RESPONSE
biity rests on the noble Earl ..
Lord Iyveden rose to order. The noble Earl
was not simply asking question Of urgency,
but was entering On question Of policy, OF
which notice ought to hare been given.
ECheers-] It Was wasting time to enter upon
matter which could not, under the c,rcum-
stances, be properly entertained. [Cheers.
i 7
wasting your Lordships' time. The matter il
one OF urgency, and am simply following The
practice which has been observed by almost
every noble Lord on the Treasury bench over
and over again in my recollection T. 10,
no. and "Yee, yes."I have now said ali
desire to cay, and an, therefore. quite con-
tent to put my question, Whether the noble
Earl il prepared to suspend, 1t al esents for
the present, tho recall Of the troops which still
remain IN Canada
against the statement of the n2bla E4rl that it
Ii the constant practice Of noble Lords on this
side Of the House go totally to disregard the
Recommendations OF the Select Committee "a,
evening. lHeas, hear:l Your Kordship win
remember that the noble Duke opposite (Rich-
mond), the leader Of the Opposition, inter-
rupted me the other evening when was abso-
lutely confning myself to simple statement
Of facts, IN consequence. Of news having
put . mo By ny noble friend behind
me Q.ord Lyveden). The noble Earl
began by referring to prophecy which I
will not now 60 into, but which I utterly deny
has been verified. He then went of to other
topics, and warned me- Of the great respousi.
believe it would have been eimply in accord-
ance with the wish Of your Lordships, that hc
would aek mo what news had arrived from
Canada, and would also put tbs simple ques-
ton whether there was any intention Of mak-
e sa nf tse se pa5e pas'
Awate Of the general nature Of the
facts Thete seems no doubt that the
attack from St. Adams has siguAlly failed,
but whether it is the principal sttack or not
i is impossible to say, Although. the Ride
Brigade, Of which member Of the roEal family
is an officer, we're moved up in that direction,
the repulsa was effected BY the Canadian mill
tia in the most admirable and gallant manner
Lives of Fenians have been lost, I own, and
hope il is not unchristian to say 80, that I
those miserable dupea Who hare been lad into
the most wanton, seaseless. aud indefensible
Outrage which il is possible to imagine.
[Chsers. With regard to the attack on HINT
ingdon, the accounts up to this date are rather
contradictory. t is difficult to imagine
what object there could be in making
that attack. Tho only object which these
bngands could have in view would be
some plCndering Of fa1n1-houses and the pos
eihle destruction Of govetnment property
With regard to the reported movement Of
another portion Of the FeniLns from Buffalo,
no news has reached ns, and it is almost i'm
possible that Sit John Young should not have
been informed Of it II any movement had
been made. trust, therefore, that the report
will turn out to be unfoundcd. am happy to
say the American Government have not only
l.sued l proclamation, but have also ad7anced
troops towards tho frontier, and havn put in
prison, on charge of violating the neutrality
lswe, the eo-called General 0'Ncill. think
it probable that there will ba an utter col
lapse Of this unfortunate movement an
bound to remark on the admirable way
in which the Canadians havo Immediately
rushed to the Scene Of action-{ cheers =
which ia the more remarkable considering the
false alarms which haso lsteIy been circulated.
Only three weeks ago there WAS fslsa a1arm,
which involved 4 great expense IN bringing
out a very large number Of militia. With re-
gard to the disposal Of troope; there Ia no
change whatever in the policy Of Her Maiea-
tys goyernment; but yestellay morning re-
quested tPe War Office and the Admiralty to
issue orders suHpending any directions for the
recall Of troops during the contnuance Of this
Fenian raid tCheera.