Part 35 (2/2)
_July 14, 1843._
_a.s.sistance of Foreigners to the Repeal Agitation.--Their Anti-English Motives._
My lords, I do not dispute the extent of the conspiracy--I do not dispute the dangers resulting from organization in Ireland--I have stated it publicly on more than one occasion--I do not deny it--it is notorious, it is avowed, it is published in every paper all over the world. I do not deny the a.s.sistance received from foreigners, not from foreign governments,--I have no right to say so,--but from foreigners of nearly all nations; for there are disturbed and disturbing spirits everywhere, who are anxious to have an opportunity of injuring and deteriorating the great prosperity of this country.
_August 8, 1843._
_The Military in readiness to preserve the Peace in Ireland._
I, whose duty it is to superintend one of those offices on which the execution of the measures of the government depends, feel confident that everything that can be done has been done, in order to enable the government to preserve the peace of the country, and to meet all misfortunes and consequences which may result from the violence of the pa.s.sions of those men who unfortunately guide the mult.i.tude in Ireland.
_August 8, 1843._
_Mr. O'Connell's Proceedings._
To plunder the public in Ireland of money for the purpose of O'Connell rent, or repeal contribution, or the lord lieutenant would not have done their duty if they had not removed those persons from her majesty's service.
_July 14, 1845._
_The ”Monster” Meetings in Ireland._
The n.o.ble lord (the Marquis of Clanricarde) has stated that these meetings were not illegal. I certainly do not consider myself competent to decide whether they were or were not illegal. This I know, that they consist of very large numbers--whether of 10,000 or 100,000 I am sure I cannot tell, and I do not believe any man can tell to a certainty. They are a.s.sembled in very large numbers, regularly organised, marching under the lead of persons on horseback, with bands and banners, in regular military array. After having attended these meetings, those present are dispersed by word of command, without trouble, violence, or breach of the peace, and march back, perhaps twenty or thirty miles. * * * My lords, I have had some experience, in the course of a long life, which I have pa.s.sed in the service of the sovereigns of this country, of revolutions. A distinguished author has written of the French revolution. ”_On ne conspire pas sur la place_.” There is no secret in these transactions, and the reason why there is no secret is this, that the great means of operation are deception of their followers, and terror in respect of their adversaries. Accordingly, we hear a learned gentleman exclaiming to his audience, ”Napoleon had not in Russia such an army as this is; the Duke of Wellington had not such a one repeal of those laws upon which the reformation in this country has been founded.
My lords, I have already taken opportunities of warning your lords.h.i.+ps against the a.s.sertion of such doctrines in this house, and I must again express a hope that you will observe and beware how they are introduced into it, because you may rely upon it, that there is not an individual in this country, be his religious opinions what they may, be his position what it may, who is not interested in the maintenance of the reformation. Not only our whole system of religion, but our whole system of religious toleration, in which so many people in this country are interested, depends upon the laws upon which the reformation was founded; and I therefore entreat your lords.h.i.+ps to give no encouragement to doctrines that might induce a belief that there exists in this house any indifference upon the subject of those laws.
_March 18, 1844._
_The Compact entered into for the Maintenance of the Protestant Church in Ireland should be held sacred._
The Protestant church in Ireland has existed in that country for a period of nearly three hundred years, and was maintained in that country during a century of contests, rebellions, and ma.s.sacres; and during a contest for the possession of the crown, the Protestants of that country encountered that contest, and kept possession of their church; and during another century it was maintained through much opposition, and under difficulties of all descriptions. At the period of the union, the parliament--who had the power to consent to the union, or to refuse their consent--stipulated that the Protestant church in Ireland should be maintained, and maintained on the same footing as the Protestant church of England in this country. The parliament had, under the auspices of the king of this country, the power of either making or not making that compact. Your lords.h.i.+ps entered into that compact with the parliament of Ireland, and I entreat you never to lose sight of the fact. I entreat you not to suffer yourselves to be prevailed upon to make any alteration in, or to depart in the slightest degree from, the terms of that compact, so long as you intend to maintain the union between this country and Ireland. It is the foundation upon which the union rests,--it is a compact which you have entered into with the parliament of Ireland, and from which you cannot depart without being guilty of a breach of faith, worse than those which have been referred to in other countries,--worse than those pecuniary breaches of faith which have been alluded to in the course of the discussion which took place in your lords.h.i.+ps' house this evening upon another subject. I entreat you to listen to none of those pet.i.tions or speeches which tend to the injury or the destruction of the church in Ireland. Do what may be necessary,--do what it may be proper to do, in order to render that church more beneficial to the people of that country; but I entreat you to adhere strictly, in spirit and according to the letter, to the compact you have made, and not permit it to be supposed in any quarter whatever that you entertain the most distant intention of departing, in the slightest degree, from that arrangement.
_March 18, 1844._
_The recall of the Governor-General of India, by the Court of Directors, an act of gross indiscretion._
My lords, I conceive that this right (of recalling the governor-general of India) is one which the court of directors are bound to exercise with due discretion; as all bodies and all individuals ought to do, when they possess extraordinary powers under the provisions of the law. In such cases, my lords, they are hound to exercise that power with the utmost discretion. Now, my lords, I will venture to submit to your lords.h.i.+ps, as the opinion of an individual who has had some experience in these matters, that the exercise of the power belonging to the court of directors is not, in this instance, to say the least of it, a discreet exercise of that power. My lords, the court of directors has this power.
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