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Northern Star (1837-1852), 24th February 1849, Edition 1 of 3, Page unpag, Untitled Article

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    • TO THE CHARTISTS OF EXGLASD.
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      Untitled Article

      The following is the speech of the Honourable Member for Xottingham upon the third readin g of the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act—a speech which , we feel assured , will be read with deli ght b y the working classes , as it will convince them that the power of faction cannot scare the honourable gentleman from the performance of his duty ; and they will be the best judges as to whether or not the speech was irrelevant to the subject under discussion , discursive—and , as the Times says , difficult to anal yse . But we beg to assure the Press and its adherents , that , as the censure of slaves is adulation , their abuse of Mr . O'Cosnok but tends to rivet affection for that gentleman more strongly in the hearts of the millions .

      SPEECH OF Me . O'CONNOR UPON THE MINISTERIAL PROPOSITION TO DESTROY IRISH LIBEPvTY .

      Mr . Feargcs O'Connor said that whatever might be the sentiments or feelings of the hon . member for Limerick , he , as an Irishman , though an English member , would oppose this tyrannical bill at every stage of its progress . He remained unconvinced by all the arguments , varied as they were , of the hon . gentlemen who supported it ; the government who had introduced the measure affected to condemn yielding to pressure from without , and he would now , as the noble lord ( Lord John Russell ) appeared to shrink from his duty as leader , lay before the House the letter of Lord Clarendon , which must be considered as the indictment against the Irish people ; and quibble as they may , and juggle as they

      mayne would prove ms case upon the words of Lord Clarendon himself . When there was a debate coming on upon the Southampton Small Tenements Bill there was a very full house , but when that discussion was over , and the division taken on such a bill , the house was immediately thinned as if by magic . The noble lord had been emphatically addressed , and had received from the corporation of Dublin the most fervent congratulations upon the perfect restoration of tranquillity to that country . He was aware that the noble lord at the head of the government was anxious that the Jewish Disabilities Bill should be brought on that evening ( hear ); and he was aware that there were many members present who were prepared to resist that inroad upon

      the constitution , if such it was to be called ( hear ); and it was clear to him that there was more importance attached by the House to the Jewish question than there was to the consideration of the condition of Ireland . He recollected that the noble lord , in introducing the Jewish measure last year , had asked , why not admit to the house those who bore the burdens of the country ? why should not those who bore those burdens nave a portion of the honours ? Perhaps there was no parallel in Parliamentary history , or in constitutional usage , to the case submitted to Parliament—to ask acquiescence in the greatest violation of the British Constitution . The right hon . the Secretary of State ( Sir

      observed , opened the case of the Crown in a lame , a vague , and inconclusive speech ; and how had it been sustained by tkose hon . gentlemen , who , upon any pretext whatever , were prepared to coerce the Irish people ? First came the noble lord , the member for Bandon , and his reason was that he had been foreman of the grand jury of the county of Cork . ( A laugh . ) Ifext came the noble lord , the member for Tyrone , who indulged the House with a trite and well-directed fire against the Whig government , for their treacherous and truculent conduct , when their object was to oust the right hon . baronet , the member for Tamworth , and to return to office . Jfext came the hon . member for Montrose ( Mr . Hume ) , who , with his characteristic

      consistency , was plausible , feeling , Mid sympathetic for the Irish people . He said , '' I will g ive you this measure now , but it is the last , and you must propose remedial measures for Ireland . " But wnile we had coercion after coercion Bills , which were to be the means to the end , we had not as yet had the first of those remedial measures . JText came the right hon . member the Secretary for Ireland , who knowing the temper and the feeling of the GREAT GENTLEMEN OF ENGLAND , when Ireland was the question—threw out a feeler for confidence in the government , and assured the House that the letter of Lord Clarendon had no reference to the Repeal Agitation . And then an amictts curice flew to the rescue , and the hon . member for Tavistock—every

      other charge against Ireland having failed—based poverty , famine , misery , disloyalty , and insurrection upon the plea of procreation and nrogenitiveness . ( Laughter . ) And this worthy disciple of Malthus told us , that to the potato Ireland owed this national malady ; but he forgot that in the speech from the throne , the tranquillity of this country was ascribed to the intervention of Divine Providence ; and he forgot that it was a divine injunction to multiply and be fruitful . ( Laughter . ) There was an old proverb that " What was one man ' s meat , was another man's poison ; " and perhaps it would equally apply to tho fan * sex , and with the permission of the House , he would make a short digression to illustrate the fact . Once upon

      a tune there was a noble lady , childless , but who would have looked upon an heir as a blessing , driving through a wild part of the country in an open carriage ; she was overtaken by a thunder-storm , and was obliged to take shelter in one of those Irish breeding cages , where she saw a brood of younglings—" grawls , " as we call them in Ireland—coverin « j the floor . She would have looked upon them as a blesssing had they been her own ; the mother would not have considered them a curse if she had been able to support them . " My good woman , " said the lady , " how do you contrive to have so many cldldren ? " " Wisha , my lady , we have nothing to blame for it but the praties . " The shower cleared off ; and , before starting , the

      childless lady said to the peasant : " My good woman , could you let me have a few of your potatoes ?" "Ogh ! then , and welcome , my lady . " The potatoes were put in a bag , and the ba <» was put in the boot of the carriage , and the ady drove off ; but had not gone far when she heard the woman screaming after to stop . " Well , my good woman , " said the lady , " what ' s the matter ? " " Why , my lady , " she replied , out of breath , " I foller'd you , to tell you , that the devil of good in them praties , barring we send our Pat with them , for it's him that does all the mischief . " Laughter . ) Sow , then , if it is the potato that has been the real source of Irish grievances , and if Paddy will not breed upon turnip-tops , sea-weed ,

      and Indian corn , the same legal maxim that Blackstone applies to tho duration or cessation of the Habeas Corpus Act will equall y apply to the hon . member's charge of procreation . —Cessantc causa , cessat et effectus . ( Laughter . ) But , sir , if the effect should not vanish with the potato , and if this Irish propensity must be checked by some other means , you must have a new minister added to tho cabinet , and none better qualified than the hon . member for Tavistock . I cannot name the duties of his office , but I can describe its badge and symbol —he must wear a cow ' s horn slung round his neck , and blow it whenever he comes within sight of those Irish breeding cages . ( Laughter . ) Next , sir , we come to the reasons of the hon . member for

      Buckinghamshire , ( Mr . Disraeli ) for supporting this measure , and what are they ? lie says that the pressure from without has no right to use any influence upon this Assemblv , launched into a dissertation upon Free Trade , and told us that he would not only put down agitation for a Repeal of the Union , but that he would consent to put down all other agitation . But see what a different construction is put upon agitation when it is to serve party or individual purposes . Has the hon . gentleman read the speech of a noble lord ( Lord Brougham ) in another place , in which that noble lord , adverting to Free Trade agitation says , "I joined it , I tolerated it , and encouraged it to an extent that was unconstitutional and all but unlawful ? " ( Hear , hear . ) Xow , there's the authority of a Lord Chancellor of England , furnishing us with the most extreme licence for agitation , by a man who has been all things to all men-Whiff , Tory , Radical , and Republican . But would the hon . member for Buckinghamshire im

      resist an agitation that had for its oDject tne re--posing a dutv upon corn , if the effect was to place rim and his ' Mends upon those opposite benches . Next came the right hon . baronet ( Sir R . reel ; , while acting upon his old maxim of returning good for evil ; fie said vou opposed me when I proposed to shut the disorderly up by ni g ht , I will support you when you propose to shut tfiem up by day and by night . " His speech was a rejoinder upon the defence of the noble lord and his administration , with reference to the Appropriation Clause and the Anns Bill ; it was powerful , it was telling and convincing ; but although his ( Mr . O'Connor ) fomier speech was termed discursive , neither the noble lord , nor the hon . baronet touched the question at issue . It was a ministerial jostle , and the right hon . baronet concluded by reminding Irish members , that they had not proposed any remedial measures , But he

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      would remind the right hon . gentleman of an Irish saying , that " It was not fail * when you keep a dog to be asked to bark yourself ; " and he would ask if it was fair when the Irish people contributed their portion of the governmental expenses and the salaries of the ministers , to be asked to propound measures for Ireland ? Was it not the duty of the government to do so ? The noble lord stood to the English and Irish people in loco parentis , his administration had been described by the gallant member for Middlesex , as the " Happy Family , " and the noble lord was pater familias , but let the House observe with what rapidity and upon what poor and slender evidence coercive measures could be passed , while no administration could devise a single remedy for the numerous evils of the country . ( Hear , hear . ) But , as the right hon .

      baronet had partly based his support tinon this charge , he ( Mr . O'Connor ) would remind him that Jnl 833 when he found that the Repeal was a juggle , he ( Mr . O'Connor ) did propose a better system of Poor Laws , one based upon labour premiums , agricultural premiums , and tax upon absentees ; that he did propose leases in perpetuity at a corn rent , as the means of employing the industry of the country in productive and profitable labour ; that he did propose local registration courts to effect the cheap transfer of landed property ; that he did propose the establishment of cheap Courts of Equity , where the tenant and the poor man could receive cheap justice . Those were his suggestions ; but as an independent member of Parliament , unconnected with party , it would have been madness to press them , while ministers , had they adopted them , might have carried them . And now he would turn to the indictment

      upon which Ireland was to be convicted , and he would appeal to the Saxon blood of English gentlemen—gentlemen whose ancestors fought and bled for the English constitution , and whose boast it was that that constitution was based upon the blood of then ancostorg—he would appeal to them , whether they would base tbeir votes upon the quibbles of the legal official , ( the Attorney-General ) , who attempted , in a previous debate , to show them how this quirk and that quibble , and the other interpretation of the ordinary law , would protect the poor man ' s liberty , against any unconstitutional use which the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland might attempt to make of this unconstitutional measure . Will

      those gentlemen be slavishly led by that ministry which they complain has made such invasions upon their feudal rights ? There was a time when the Tory blood of this House would have resisted such a "Whig proposition . Oh for the days of Chatham , Fox , Burke , Sheridan , Canning , Burdett , Erskine , the Hobhouse of old , and a Romilly I but those days of English patriotism have fled ; the steam-engine is now the heart , machinery the brain , and the Stock Exchange the pulse of England . But let not those gentlemen suppose that the follies and prejudices imbibed at Eton , Harrow , Rugby , and Westminster , and confirmed at Oxford' and Cambridge , can much longer resist the active genius manifesting itself , not only in this but in alfother countries .

      That feudal system gave them an ascendancy which the flood of thought has broken down ; and if they hope to sustain their altered position by a violation o £ _ the constitution , and the resistance to opinion , they will find themselves lamentably mistaken . He would now proceed to the consideration of the indictment against Ireland—which was the letter of Lord Clarendon : and if that House constituted a fair jury he would entertain no doubt as to the ver diet . Lord Clarendon says , that the use made by him of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act , and the use of it made by him for the suppression of disturbances , gave UNIVERSAL SATISFACTION . Now he begged to ask tbc House , what construction they were to put \ ipon the term '' universal ? " But , in

      the same count of the indictment he proceeds to say , that the non-delivery of arms—while , in fact , they had no proof of their possession—leads him to the conclusion that the spirit of rebellion still lurks in the hearts of the people . What does this lurking spirit mean ? Is there any evidence beyond the mere fancy of the Lord-Lieutenant ? And how does it accord with that " universal satisfaction" that appears in the same count ? In another count the Lord-Lieutenant says , that his reasons for asking for those unconstitutional powers is , to suppress and put down that dangerous agitation which for thirty years has paralysed industry , and scared away capital . Now to what agitation can thi 3 sentence possibly have reference , except to the agitation for

      the Repeal of the Union ? although the right hon . the Secretary for Ireland has assured us that it has not reference to that agitation . But as the letter of Lord Clarendon is the indictment against Ireland , and as the repeal agitation has been the only agitation , he would remind the House tliat Lord Althorp , when ministerial leader , declared that if ever the day arrived when a majority of the Irish people demanded a Repeal of the Union , that then it would become the duty of the government to grant it ; but now who would dare to agitate for that measure ? who would dare to complain of an act of tyranny , or of a grievance , when the evidence of the perpetrator would be received as the conviction of the complainant . ( Hear . ) You ask for knowledge ,

      —and you lack knowledge upon Irish afiairs—while you stop the only channel through which you could receive that information . The gricvanocs of Ireland are communicated by oral tradition ; they must be discussed by those who endure them before they can be laid in a tangible shape before this House ; and by this prohibition of discussion and complaint you preserve that stolid ignorance which for year * you have manifested as to Irish affairs . When agitation was necessary to secure Whig power tlirough patronage , then you tolerated agitation of the most dangerous character . When the Whigs sat in opposition Repeal was then the test of Irish loyalty ; but when the Whigs were in office undefined justice to Ireland , and whoever divides the liberal party is an enemy to his country , was the maxim ,

      and because we couid not be juggled we were called Tory Chartists . ( Hear . ) Where was the man in that House or in the country who endured so much the slander , the insolence , and the vituperation of that party , as he ( Mi * . O ' Connor ) had done , and merely because he could not be made a party to that dangerous and truckling policy which debased the Irish mind for the mere purpose of securing Whig patronage ? ( Hear , hear . ) Such , then had been tne training of the Irish mind when the Whigs required subservient Ivish support . "Were they not for years forewarned of what must be the inevitable result of such a policy ? Have they forgotten the words of the late Mr . Charles Buller , a gentleman who charmed that House with his eloquence , and enlivened it with his wit ? He told them that Ireland would remain in a state of incipient revolution during the life of Mr . O'Connell , and that at his death it would burst into open revolution and

      rebellion . Well , then , did they expectfthat while the Irish people wore of the same l'eligion as republican France , that while the Irish Catholic people , oppressed at home and driven from the land of their birth , were obliged to take refuge in Americadid they imagine that the seeds of Irish discontent would not be sown in that land of liberty , or did they hope to check the spirit of insubordination by the pitiful dole of £ 60 , 000 ? No ; the disease was too deep rooted . Ireland had been called your Poland , but it is worse than Poland ; it is your Siberia . ( "Xo , no . " ) Who says "Xo 1 " "When did you ever hoar of a million Poles dying of starvation in a single year ? When did you hear of the gaol , the transport , or the bastile , being the only refuge for the destitute in Poland ? Ireland is a seabound dungeon , where naught is heart but weeping and wailing , and gnashing of teeth . You tell them that their country is over-populated , and in order to ensure emigration , or rather transportation—you level their hovels to the ground , ana

      "The blackness of ashes , now marks where they stood , While the wild mother screams o ' er her famishing brood . " ( Hear , hear . ) But if I required a stronger proof of the tranquillity of Ireland than that contained in the letter of Lord Clarendon , I find it in the declaration of the noble lord ( Lord J , Russell ) made many months since ; that noble lord pompously turned round to his backers , and in laudation of the use made by Lord Clarendon of those unconstitutional powers , he said : " The treason accounts from Ireland are positively vapid ; they are flat stale and UNPROFITABLE ; " Whig-like , establishing the fact that Irish treason constituted Whig profit . While

      from the hour that that declaration was made to the present moment , there has not been a single attempt at insurrection or a renewal of agitation of anv kind . And yet , the noble lord would now entrench himself in the fastness of futurity , and substitute vice-regal perception—nay , divination—for the English constitution . But let him rest assured , that ifhe continues to persecute opinion , it will establish its foundation upon a rock , which all the blasts of the universe cannot shake . It was so with the Christian religion , it will be so with every sentiment Even , if doubtful or wrong , it will become stron <* ' if persecuted ; could he give a stronger instance than the fate of the ancestor of the noble lord who expiated what was termed his crime upon the scaffold , while his death implanted , strengthened and cherished those principles , for which bad he not

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      suffered , ho would not be able to inculcate with so much success . ( Hear , hear . ) But why make such a violation of the English constitution , just at the tune wheir . all other nations were extending their constitutions , and making them more in harmony With existing opinion ? Or , why ask for these enarged powers when your legal officials in Ireland have found the ordinary law sufficiently powerful to eftoct your object ? Does not the case of Mr . Dufty , on which the Irish officials have been tinkermg , puzzlmg , and complicating for more than six months , afford you ample means of detention , av , of persecution ? ( He . ii-, hear . ) In tlio case of XlV OConnell , Lord Denman called the law " a mockery , a delusion , anJ a snare , " but you would now make the constitution " a puzzle * a labyrinth , and a maze . " How different was

      the policy of Lord Nonnanby , when administering the executive power under a Wldg administration Then , when the Whigs required Irish support , the representative of her Majesty flew like Don Quixote , through the country , accompanied , not by an aidedc-eamp . lmtbyhig staff , proclaiming an amnesty , and delivering the gaols of thieves and pickpockets to constitute the Whig auxiliary corps , ( Hear , bear . ) Well , but , sir , if agitation is bad , and should be put down , let us sec if we cannot furnish its justification from the highest authority in the House—the Prime Minister of England . When that noble lord visited Bristol upon a tour of agitation ^ he presented his countrymen with tne last £ sKcwt jfrom , ; tJie ; Bedford stock . Ho held ms babe up to' tne admiring multitude ,

      and said : " Behold the guarantee of my loyalty , the pledge of my patriotism , and devotion to my country , I am opposed to the ballot , ( said the noble lord , ) because it would deprive the uon-electors of that popular vigilant control which they have an undoubted right to exercise over the trustees of their liberty . Now how would that square with the principle of the hon . member for Buckinghamshire , who would assign all power to the centralised opinion in that House . Was not this a confession of the right to agitate , and is not the noble lord now pro . paved to extend the franchise in Ireland as a tub to " the whale , while , in reality , it is to substitute living for dead voters ? When Lord Stanley came to the Heuso to ask for a Coercion Bill for Ireland , he made out the semblance of a case ; he had one , two ,

      or thr . ee red boxes filled with information which no one could contradict . It all came from stipendiary magistrates , yeomanry captains , police constables , . and country gentlemen of the highest character , whose loyalty none could dispute , and whose assertions none coul'l refute . He gave us the shadow of a case , and although the measure he asked for was not so gross a violation of the constitution , it met with determined and resolute opposition ; while again , I say , the right hon . Secretary for the Home Department has not made even the shadow of a case beyond the apprehensions of the Lord Lieutenant , and reliance upon the subserviency of all parties in the House . True , the right hon . gentleman ,

      when questioned as to the case of the State prisoners still in custody , was obliged to make some admissions of rigorous treatment , but , however , as the Lord Lieutenant had expressed his approval of the rigour , the right honourable gentleman presumed it was justifiable . Arc not the words of Blackstone , with reference to the application of this law , strictly true when applied to the case of those gentlemen . Now what was their case : —they were arrested and sent to Newgate , and placed in cells with criminals ; from Newgate they were sent to Belfast , where they were confined for two months without being permitted to bo in the open air for a single minute ; from Belfast they were sent to the debtors' side of Kilmainham . On the 9 th of

      December Mr . Meany writes a most respectful letter to Mr . Redington , complaining of the treatment they received ; Tie receives no answer , and on the 2 oth of January he publishes a most temperate , and moderate , and not at all an exciting letter , complaining ¦ of the abridgement of several of the privileges of himself and his brother prisoners . Upon the same day that this letter appeared in the Freeman ' s Journal , Mr . Shaw , the High Sheriff of Dublin , visited the prison , summoned tho delinquent to his presence , and told him that if he

      repeated the offence of publishing his grievances , he should be deprived of tho few privileges he enjoyed . He said , he had a right to publish them , and would publish them , and , without any repetition of the offence beyond this mere manly declaration , tho High Sheriff ordered in six sturdy policemen , who , aided by a posse of turnkeys , the governor , and under-governor , took , not only the offender , but his five brother prisoners , who had committed no offence by force through various passages , and up several staircases , to the criminal side of the prison ; and p . vimp . in Trftland—! is is usual under Whiff

      rulebeing so prevalent , tne criminal side was inconveniently full , but five criminals were removed from the criminal side to the debtor side , to make room for the State prisoners . All correspondence was stopped ; their friends insulted by the officials when they called upon them ; obliged to perform the most menial offices ; and were not the words of Blackstone true , when he says , " That men , confined under the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act , are SILENT , FORGOTTEN , DEAD ? " Tho Lord-Lieutenant , in his indictment , say « , " That no man was committed under these powers except upon sworn and positive informations . " And would the House believe , that notwithstanding these legal grounds for apprehension , with this presumptive charge of treason against them , that there had been

      five sessions of Oycr and Termmev since tlieh- apprehension—and , notwithstanding the sworn and positive informations , the facility of procuring witnesses , and a certainty of securing juries , no single charge has yet been preferred against one of those gentlemen ? And now the House of Commons is asked to continue those powers where they have been so abused . But , of course , if Lord Clarendon assents , the Constitution sanctions , and they have no cause of complaint . But , sir , let me illustrate the truth of Blackstone's assertion , that the man imprisoned under the suspension of this act , or , indeed , under any act during a Whig administration , is SILENT , FORGOTTEN , DEAD . When I was in York Castle , tbe noble lord ( Lord J . Russell ) made some assertions in this House , which bad not a

      shadow of truth in them , but which the noble lord guaranteed upon the evidence of a most trustworthy witness . I wrote to tho noble lord , showing the utter fallacy of the assertion , but I had neither answer nor retraction , because I was silent , forgotten , dead . Well , sir , when I was at large , the noble lord used insulting expressions against me in this House . I wrote to him for an explanation , and his answer was that , as a Minister of tne Crown , he was not called upon to give any explanation of words used in Parliament . That did not satisfy me , sir . I wrote another letter , and sent it by a friend , and , as I was neither silent , forgotten , nor dead , the noble lord retracted his words—thus showing you the different manner in which a , man in custody and a man at large is treated . But does

      the noble lord for a moment imagine that this is going to be a mere Irish question ? Did he not hear the petition that was presented from the men of St . Pancras by the hon . and gallant member for Middlesex to-night , denouncing the proposed measure , and praying for a Repeal of the Union ? And , although a deadly feud Aad been created between Colt and Saxon , for the base purpose of securing patronage and creating a division between the people of the two countries ; yet those feelings of animosity had now ceased , and the Saxon would make common cause with the Celt to redeem his country from provincial degradation , and establish her national independence . ( Hear , hear . ) Why did not the noble lord come down to the House upon the 10 th of April , when the dread of a Chartist outbreak

      compelled the enlistment of 200 , 000 specials , tbe calling out of the military and pensioners , and placing them under the command of the great Duke ? Why did not he come down t / icn and ask fov a suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in this country ? Simply because he knew that the great gentlemen of England would have resisted such an assault upon then- constitution to the death . And did the noble lord hope to bait his Irish trap by bribing the Irish , priesthood ? Did he rely upon the presumed tranquillity produced by this measure to carry the endowment of the Catholic Church ? If so , he would find himself mistaken , as the Irish , people would rebel to a man against such an attempt to prostitute their priesthood to ministerial caprice . ( Hear , hear . ) Whv this was the very principle suggested

      by Robespierre , when he proposed to insure tho loyalty of the priesthood by precisely the same means ; but when that question came to be discussed , then the gentlemen sitting upon those benches behind him would muster in full force '; but now that Ireland was to be coerced , the majority of that House would not condescend to hear the arguments fov ov against , but would be rallied by the lash of the whi pper-in to vote for the destruction of their constitution . Upon the passing of the Reform Bill the Whi g government experimentalised upon Ireland ; and he now told the landlords of England that this was another experiment , merely to test the principle of free trade m that country . He ( Mr . O'Connor ) had made many prophecies with respect to the effect of that measure , and one and all had

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      been realised . Ireland , as yet , had suffered most j but England , hereafter , would suffer her share . And why had the result been so calamitous ? Was it because the principle itself was bad ? 5 Jo , —but because they preferred the adjustment of the noble lord ( Lord John Russell ) to that of tke right hon . " baronet ( Sir R . Peel ) . Protection was the keystone of the arch ; upon it stood your social fabric ; upon it every social engagement was based . The right lion , baronet was the architect of a new social fabric ; but you allowed the noble lord to strike the centre , and knock the key-stone from the arch before the work was completed . A portion of his adherents wore deluded by his Edinburgh missive ; while some from spleen , —some from jealousy , — some from ambition , deserted tho right hon .

      baronet , and left the ship amongst the breakers without pilot or rudder . And another prophecy that he would make was , that they would ere long invite that right hon . gentleman to take the command of their scattered forces , and save their shattered fortunes from Whi g imbecility and recklossness and he told the noble lord that the people of this country and of Ireland , looked to the right hon . baronet , and not to the noble lord , to save them from that ruin which Whig misrule is sure to accomplish . ( Hear , hear . V The noble lord and his adherents , and indeed the great majority of that House , professed to be staunch supporters of tbe English Constitution—a Constitution which was said mainly to depend upon those several powers so wisely distributed between the three estates of the realm—tho

      lung , Lords , and Commons ; but notwithstanding that the professed object of the Reform Bill was to popularise the House of Commons , the power of the three several estates still remaining the same , and each being a material part of that machinery which was to work the Constitution , and see to the just and equitable adminstvation of the laws , let him now call tho attention of tho House to the manner in which tho House of Lords , said , to hold the balance of power between the Crown and the Commons , had been swamped by the Whigs ; and that , lie trusted , would be an answer to the assertion ofthe hon . member for Buckinghamshire , who denied the right to exercise popular control over the House of Commons . From 1688 to 1788 , a whole century , commencing with that period when the ancestors of those gentlemen established

      thatglonous revolution , based upon their own blood , a period during which we had sixty years of unbroken domestic conflicts , waged between Pretenders , and Usurpers , continental wars , and the American war ; during that period there was a creation of eighty-six peers . From 1788 to 1818 , a period of thirty years , and during which you had two French revolutions , an Irish rebellion , the union with Ireland , and fifteen years of universal war , all circumstances likely to confer distinction and titles , and during those thirty years there was a creation of only 106 peers . While from 1830 to 1839 , during which period the Whigs , with but slight intervals held office—nine years of uninterrupted peace , seven years of Reform times ; and yet will tho House believe , that during that short period the

      Whigs m power , for the purpose of swamping the lords , had created no fewer than eighty-two peers . ( Hear , hear . ) Sir George CrREi . —Time . I beg to remind the hon . gentleman he has exceeded his hour . Mr . O'Connor . —Sir , I am not astonished at the impatience of the ri g ht hon gentleman . He has his ventilator full of Jewesses—his galleries full of Jews—and his whippers-in ready to whip up tho House for a discussion upon the admission of the colleague of the noble lord , ( Lord John Russell ) in the hope of putting another crutch under the City of London . But he ( Mr . O'Connor ) did not think the House appeared wearied—he had given them a blood run , it did not appear more than twenty minutes ; and if any one was chargeable with a waste of time ,

      it was the right hon . baronet himself—who failing to state the case ofthe ministers to tho House , bad imposed a more laborious duty upon those who were obliged to grapple with vice-regal conundrums and ministerial predictions . But although Ins speech would be designated by the press as discursive , and although all other members who had taken part in tbc debate , had launched into extraneous matter , embracing Free Trade , employment , foreign policy , poor laws , mo » oy grants , political economy , and Irish progenitiveness , yet he ( Mr . O'Connor ) contended that ho had not used a single sentence which did not critically bear upon tho subject . His conduct might be called factious ; but he believed that no amount of opposition could be * properly termed factious in a case of such a

      liberty-destroying measure as this . It was his pride and Ins glory to say , that he had fought the battle of Irish liberty often single-handed and alone , not only in the House , but upon the public stage ; it was his priilc to be able to say in presence oi those Irish members who livedupon Whig patronage , that he had conducted professionally more contested elections than any man m that House ; and although by tho Irish Reform Act he was entitled to large fees , he had never accepted a farthing for his services , or travelled a mile , or eaten a meal at the expense of tho candidate lie supported . Talk not to him about loyalty ; there was often loyalty upon the lip while there was treachery , deception , and treason lurking in the heart ; and there was less danger to be apprehended from the open foe than from the candid friend .

      ( Hear , hear . ) He was not afraid or ashamed openly to avow his standard of loyalty ; it was this , that if ever the day should arrive when the struggle for liberty should be fought between the oppressed Celt and bis Saxon oppressor , be would rather be found amongst the ranks of the slain , who fought and fell tor their country ' s freedom , than in the ranks of the invading oppressor though title and honour was to be his reward . ( Shouts of "Oh , oh . " ) They may shout "Oh , oh , " but during his life he had struggled for the liberty of his country , and he would continue during life to do so . He did not mean liberty in that sense in which it suited the sycophant to construe it ; he meant liberty tempered with reason and discretion , and not that liberty which would be likely to

      degenerate into licentiousness . And to establish that blessing , your laws must be yielding to mercy and stern against oppression , with an executive exacting an implicit obedience to their mild authority , instead of a juggler moulding them to party convenience . Then the people will be loyal when the altar is the footstool of God , instead of tho couch of Mammon ; when the throne is based upon the affections of the people , instead of upon the caprice of a faction : and . when the cottage is the castle of the freeman , instead of the dea of the slave . He would now proceed to show the difference between Lord John Russell in office and Lord John Russell in bis stxidy

      ( out of office ) , writing upon the English Constitution : and although Russell in office may not refute or contradict Russell in his study or in his writings , he would show how the writings of the noble lord were a direct answer to the indictment of Lord Clarendon , and again he would remind him of the fate of his ancestor , and the hopelessness to prevent by tyranny now what tyranny of old accomplished . His ancestor died upon the scaffold , but his martyrdom riveted those principles for which he suffered in the mind of future generations . How true were the words of the great English poet , when he said : —

      " They never fail who die In a great cause . The block may soak their gore , Their heads may sodden in . the sun : their limbs Be strung to city g _ ates and castle walls , But still their spirit walks abroad . Though years Elapse , and others share as dark a doom , It but augments the deep and sweeping thought Which overpowers all others and conducts The world at last to freedom . " He would now proceed to read a few extracts from the greatest writers on the English Constitution . { " No , no . " ) An hon . member cries " No , no . " Is he so anxious to admit the Jews within the pale of the Constitution , and to drive the Irish out of it without the shadow of a case being made out against them ? If the hon . gentleman is tired of hearing my voice they shall be read by the clerk , or he shall vead them himself . They are written in a bold , legible hand , and he will have no difficulty in readme ? thorn . ( Lauditer . ) Mr . O'Connor then

      proceeded to read the several extracts from Blackstone , Hallam , Boswell's " Life of Johnson , ' Lord John Russell ' s "Essay upon the English Constitution , " and Lord Bolingbroke ; and when he had concluded the reading of the extracts , he said— " Now , sir , on which horn of the dilemma will the noble lord hang , for I take cite of the assertions of Lord Clarendon—that in which he admits that there is UNIVERSAL satisfaction and tranquillity , or that in which he says there is still a lurking sedition , which , of course , he has discovered with a stetascope or a brain-guage . The noble lord has admitted that the Suspension ofthe Habeas Corpus Act is the most dangerous experiment that can be tried . He says , that it is only when treason works in the mind of ft few leaders , that it should be enforced against them , to prevent its spread—but be says , when it is the adopted principle of a large and numerous class , that then it is useless to put it into operation . To use his own words" Uno avulso , non deficit alter . " Well , then , how does this agree with the assurance

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      of Lord Clarendon , that the fooling still lurks to the minds of all ? Will the noble lord join issue with Lord Clarendon , and say it only lurks in the ^ mmds of the few ? If sjo , the indictment of Lord . Clarendon goes for nothintr . Sir , no man in this IIOUSO OP in the world lias better right to speak upon this subject than I have . In more troublesome ; unes , and when Ireland had passed through a bloody revolution , with tho feelins of vengeance still ' lurking in the Irish heart , and " during the government of Lord Canulen in Iyclsviul , my father and my uncle suffered a long imprisonment under this Act , but with more forbearance and clemency than has been exhibited by Lord Clarendon . They wrote and

      published more bold and daring letters to tho Lord . Lieutenant than thatfor which Mr . Mc . iny . iuu hisaal Kociates were deprived of the paltry privileges the y enjoyed ; and Lord Camden issued a proclamatio n admitting the leaders to bail on their own recog . nisance . Sir , would to God that every Irish mem ber had my feslings toward < hie country , and * thon , instead of seeing the right non . gent Ionian , the Master of the Mint ( Mr . Shcil ) , sitting in company , and ready toco-operate with the destroyers of . liis country ' s liberty , he would be coining a speech , stamped with sterling value , to aid in the annihilation of those enemies . Sir , I have contended for Irish liberty since I entered public life , and I will only abandon that contest when I lose that . life . We may he checked , worsted , and defeated for a time , but still wo will struggle in the cause , BECAUSE

      IT IS THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE , A 5 D TUB CAUSE OV JUSTICE IS THE CAUSE OF GOP . Tho following are the extracts read by the Hon . Member : — Blackstcne's Commentaries—Vol . iv ., p . ¦ OS . " Tlillt gveat bulwark of our constitution , the Habeas Corpus Act—these two statutes ( Habeas Corpus Act , and Act for abolishing Military Tenures ) with regard to our property and persons form a second Ihigmi Charta , as beneficial and effectual as tluit of Kunnymede . il « i ; na Charta only in general terms declared , that im man shall beimprisoued contrary to law ; the Habeas Corpus Act points him out effectual remedies as well , to release himself , though even committed l > y the King in Council , as to punish all those who shall thus unconstitutionally misuse him . " Suspension ' . —BladfrstoHC—Vol . Ill , p . 137 . " It frequently happens in foreign countries , and has happened in England during temporary $ iupensions of the Statute , that persons apprehended upon suspicion have sun ' eroil a long imprisonment , merely because they were forgotten . " BUKkttone , —Book I . Chap . I .

      . "To bereave a man of life , or by violence to confiscate his estate , without accusation or trial , would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism , as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout Hie whole kingdom ; hut confiiiemcut of the person by secretly liurryinglihn togaol , where liis sufferings are unknown , or ' ftrgotten , is a less public , a less striking and , therefore , ; i more dangerous engine of arbitrary government . And jet sometimes when the State is in real danger , even this may he a necessary measure ; but the happiness of our Constitution is , that it is not left to the Executive to determine when the danger of the State is so great as to render tliis measure expedient ; for the l ' nrliainent only , or legislative power , can authorise the Crown by suspending the Habeas Corpus Act , for ; i short and limited period , to imprison suspected persons without giving any reason for so doing . " Again , in Introduction on Nature of Laws . —Sec . 2 .

      '' The most universal and effectual way of discovering the true meaning of a law is by considering the spirit of it , and the cause which moved the Legislature to enact it , for when ( lie reason ceases the law itself oxtght Wccviise to cease with it . Ihttam ' a Consfifutumal Uislori /—Vol . III . It is a very common mistake—and that not only among foreigners , but many from whom some knowledge of our constitutional laws might be expected—to suppose that this statute of Charles II ., enlarged , in agrc . it degree , our liberties , and forms a sort of epoch in their history ; but , though a very beneficial enactment , and eminently remedial m many cases of illegal imprisonment , it introduced no new principle , nor conferred any right upon the subject . From the earliest records of the English law , no freeman could be detained in prison except upon a criminal

      charge or conviction , or for a civil debt . In the former ease it was always in his power to demand of the Court of King ' s Bench a wnt of habeas corpus ad subjieiciidum , directed to the person detaining him in custody , by which he was enjoined to bring up the body of the prisoner , with the wamut of commitment , that the court might judge of its sufficiency , and remand the party , admit him to bail , or discharge him , according to the nature of the charge . This writ issued of right , and could not be refused V > y the court . It was not to bestow an immunity from arli ' itrary imprisonment , which is abundantly provided in Magna Charta ( if , indeed , it were not much more ancient ) that , the statute of Charles II . was enacted , but to cut off the abuses by which the government ' s lust of power , and the servile subtlety of Grown lawyers , had impaired so fundamental a privilege . "

      Lord John Russell ' s Essay on the English Governmentpp . 104 and M . " The reign of Charles II ., as has been observed , was an era of bad government , but of good laws . The Act of Habeas Corpus was the greatest of these laws . It is the best security for liberty ever devised , but it must not bo supposed that it was invented during this reign . " " Thus the House of Commons more than once has met perfectly disposed to bear its part in passing any measures of severe coercion which the ministers of the day thought fit to propose . It was thus , that in 17 !> 5 ami i" 90 , laws ¦ were passed to pvohMt jfMic meetings without a sufficient authority , and to prevent printing , unless under certain .

      regulations . In 1817 , these measures were renewed , and in 181 !) their severity has been much iucrcased . The measures resorted to on ttiose occasions may ha classed under two heads , both of them sanctioning methods , in my mind injudicious and one extremely dangerous . The tirst ' isthe Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act , Now , this is a very proper precaution , when a conspiracy is carried on by a few principal leaders whose imprisonment puts an end to the plot . But it is no remedy at all , when the evil consists in the discontent of some thousands of unemployed manufacturers . Unoamilso non deficit alter ; tho subalterns in conducting these popular humours are fully as able and audacious as the chiefs ,

      Johnson ' s Life by BosweU . —Xol . III ., p . 73 , ( Edition , 18351 . "The Habeas Corpus is the single advantage irliieh our government has ' over that of other countries . " Solvigbroke ( Lord . ) Dissertation upon parties . —Page 105 . " The slavish principles of passive obedience and nonresistance which had skulked , perhaps , in some old homily before King James I ., but were talked , written , and practised into vogue in that inglorious reign , and in those of his three successors , were renounced at the revolution by the last ofthe several parties who declared for them . " " England would never be ruined except liylicr Parliament . " "It is as much the duty of a people to rebel against a corrupt House of Commons as against ; a tvraimical Prince . "

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      Mr . O ' Connor ' s hour ' s speech from the Times : — Mr . O'CoXMpii said , that in that case , whatever the hon . member fov Limerick ( Mr . J . O'Connell ) might do , he , foi one , would not consent to allow the bill to be read a third time without opposition . The hon . member then proceeded to say , that when any remedial measure was proposed for Ireland , the government always found numerous difficulties in the way of its passing ; but , when any coercive measure was required to sustain them in office , all difficulties seemed to vanish . He maintjiined that every single count in the indictment of Ireland contained in Lord Cla * rendon ' s letter , upon which the present bill professed to bo founded , answered itself , and afforded no ground , therefore , for asking the House to pass the bill . He regretted that the riglitlion . gentleman themeinber for Tamwortli ( Sii II . Peel ) bad given bis support to this measure , for undoubtedly he was the minister to whom thepeople of England and Ireland looked to relieve them of the mal-administration of the present government , who had failed to carry

      out any one oi the remedial measures they advocated when out of office . He implored the Irish members to stand up in their places and boldly resist the bill to the utmost of their power , and not allow tbe constitution to be made a puzzle , a labyrinth , and a snare . The way in which tho law had hitherto been executed was far from being unexceptionable . He had received the most positive assurances with respect to the harsh manner in which the prisoners in Kilnuimham were treated on account of Mr . Meaney having written a letter to the newspapers . Since then their letters had been opened , they had been removed to the criminal side of the prison , and their friends were not allowed to see them . He would proceed to read a few extracts from Lord John Russell ' s admirable " Essay on the British Constitution , " and from the pages of Ilallam , Uoliugbroke , and Blackstone , with respect to the value of the Habeas Corpus Act . (" Oh ! oh ! " ) If hon . gentlemen were impatient they might have them read by the clerk at the table .

      Sir Of . Gbef . —The hon . member has already spoken for an hour . Sir George GnEr's two minutes' speech from the Times : — Sir G . Gbet observed , that lie had perhaps been guilty of an impropriety of having reminded tho hon . gentleman , some considerable time before he concluded his speech , that he had then spoken an hour—( hear)—but he could not help remarking that the lion , member had exceeded the period to which he seemed desirous of restricting speeches in that House ; for , on looking to the lists of the imuorlty who recommended that speeches should be limited to an hour , he found there the name of Feavgus O'Connor . ( Hear , hear , ) [ Mr . O'Connor . — " But you voted against it , and I was anxious to take your example . " ] But , if anything could convince him ( Sir G . Grey ) of the expediency of such a bill as that to limit the speeches of hon . members to that space , it would be listening to the speech which the

      hon , member for Nottingham , had just delivered to the House—( a , laugh ) — and he was sure tho House would agree with him in thinking that if sill extraneous matter had been rejected from it the lion , member would not have spoken for an hour , and would have made a much better speech . ( "Hear , " and a laugh . ) With respect to the question before the House , he had understood that those hon . gentlenien who were opposed to it were prepared to take the third reading without further opposition , and to reserve themselves for the motion to follow it . There would be an opportunity on the motion of the noble lord the member for Aylesbury ( Lord Nugent ) for the government to state the grounds on which they intended to oppose the motion . The lion , member mi g ht have spared all his reading with , re&pect to the constitutional value of tbe Habeas Corpus Act , for , although thero were fow who would agree in the assertion of Dr . Johnson , that it was the only benefit we had derived from the revolution , no one doubted its immense value and utility . But the hon , member could not hare read history or the Parliamentary dcbcitcs , without knowing that occasions had arisen andmight again

      arise in which it was necessary to suspend the habeas corpus in order to preserve the constitution . ( Hear , hear . ) The hon . member had quoted an extract from a work of the nohlo lord near him ( Sir G . Grey ) , in which he said that the suspension of tbe act should be directed not against the disaffected many , but against the leaders of insurrection , who were plotting against the state . It was precisely for this object the suspension of the act was now proposed—( hoar , hear )—and the noble lord ' s words were as applicable now as then . The powers given by the suspension of the act had not been enforced against the hundreds aud thousands of persons who might be disaffected , but against the leaders of insurrection and the instigators of rebellion , and that with signal success . ( Hear , hear . ) The hon . member might think the reasons fov proposing the measure inconclusive , but the House had confirmed , by its resolution , the proposition that it was not expedient to allow the act of last year to expire . He believed the speech of the hon . member would not induce them to think otherwise , and that they would consent to the third reading of the bill , ( Haar , hear . )

      To The Chartists Of Exglasd.

      TO THE CHARTISTS OF EXGLASD .

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      Ml FBIESDS , It is now fifteenyears since Mr . O'Cojjneli pre sent ed me , as a gift to the English people ; a . g ift -which they freely accepted , and which , I l ) elieve , they have not regretted . During that period , my continuous endeavour has been to emancipate the Irish mind from those horrible and dangerous netions , Anth which it had heen for many years poisoned against the Saxon people .

      I have endeavoured to prove to ycra , that the interests of the two people are identical an inseparable , and , as I have frequently foretold , the effect of this disunion and discord has been to make the people of both conntries an easy prey to their rulers ; whereas , had they been united , both would long since have achieved that justice and liberty for prhich we have so long struggled . - My ftiends , the most holy maxim is—to return go od for evil ; to forget all past differences and let bygones be bygones ; and rely upon it , that the moment the people of both countries are united , the rulers of both countries will say , » WHAT DO YOU WA 3 * T ?»

      Unless backed by your powerful co-operation and support , I am a complete nonentity in the House of Commons . M y opinions and principles are not congenial to hon . members , and therefore , unless hacked by you , I am utterly powerless , but if assisted by you , I shall then become powerful . I have often told you that men as a body , will be guilty of acts which the basest amongst them would blush to acknowledge as an

      individual ; and I do say , that there is sufficient individual intelligence , integrity , and love of justice in that House to be moulded to public requirement and national necessity . But then it must be operated upon from without , because the justification of individual apathy is basedand justly based—upon popular disregard ; consequently , all the catastrophes arising from this apathy , are consequent upon your own neglect of duty .

      A member who enunciates principles in that House , which are novel not only to a majority — but nearly to all—is looked upon as a mere speculatingtheorist ; but when those principles become the adopted of millions , then he is looked upon as the propounder of a theory which may be carried into practice . My friends , you may rely upon it that the effect of centralised power in the hands of the few , will be the aggregation of property in the hands of thosefew also , and the total subjugation ofthe employed to the will and dominion of the employer . '

      When there is a gleam of commercial sunshine , the working classes measure their condit ion by the comparative , instead of the positive , scale . The man long out of employment is but too happy to be set to work at reduced wages , and mocks his fellow-man , who , for want of employment , is obliged to take shelter in the Poor Law Bastile . Xow , as I do not live upon you—but , upon the contrary , you have impoverished me—I can speak intellig ibl y to you j and therefore I tell you that your acquiescence in this comparative scale of existence , and not the cupidity of your masters , or the tyranny ofthe Government , is the cause of your every suffering . It is to be attributed , not to the union of the privileged few , but to the disunion ofthe outlawed

      many . Ireland has been again made the "WTiig battle-field , and again I ask you , in the words of Mr . Caxsixg , to make England the free stage for the discussion of Irish as well as English grievances . You may rely upon it , that I do not aspire to Irish leadership , while the dislocated and disjointed condition of Irish Members in the House of Commons is lamentable , -woful , disgusting . Ifow , let me give you an instance as to the extent to which rivalry is carried with that party .

      Mr . Jonx O'Coxnell was going to allow the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act to be read a third time without opposition , and told the House that he would reserve his opposition till Lord Xugext proposed his amendment , to limit the existence of the law to three instead of six months . I could not accept this invitation , and I opposed the Bill upon tlie third reading , and now mark the sequel . When Lord Ntjgesx proposed his amendment , the fitting stage upon which Mr ; O'Coxntell said the discussion shonld be taken , the Honourable Member and his colleagues fly from the House , and refuse to rote upon the amendment , which was to constitute the material grounds for discussion .

      . Xow , I ask yon , if yon ever heard of such policy ? However , as I am satisfied that the past should be forgotten , I now invite you , once more , to revive rational constitutional Chartist agitation , and to make the Irish question part and parcel of that agitation . I continue to receive letters from all parts of the Kingdom asking me when I shall be prepared to bring forward the motion for the PEOPLE'S CHARTER . Some propose to hold the Xational Convention early in March , but that would be nonsense ; and I believe the Executive have prudently decided that it shall be held in the middle of May ; and , as very few Honourable Members understand the rules of the House of Commons , I cannot be surprised at your want of knowledge .

      Of course time must be allowed for getting up petit ions , to be forwarded to the several members who represent the districts from which those petitions come ; and you must understand that fifteen days only , including the day of giving notice and bringing forward the motion , is allowed—that is , I may give notice upon Thursday , the 1 st of March , that I irill bring forward a motion on Thursday , the 15 th of March , but the rules ofthe House would not allow me to give notice that I would bring it on on the 16 th of March , or any later dav .

      Xow , as I wish io write intelligibly to yon , I hope you will understand the reason why I could not now give notice of a motion for the PEOPLE'S CHARTER . I ^ wishthe country to have time to get up petitions , so that I shall not go to the House unarmed , and afford all parties—friend andfce—an opportunity of saying " There are no petitions ; the people are satisfied with things as they are , and , therefore , let well enough alone . " There is not a man in England , nor yet in the world , more anxious for a discussion npon , and the success of , the PEOPLE'S CHARTER than I am ; as , to tell you the candid truth , your apathy , indifference , and servility have tired me of public life , and I wish , most devoutly , to return to my plough , or rather to my spade .

      I wish the Convention to be sitting for a week before the petitions are presented and the question is discussed . I wish arrangements to be made for raising the small sum of £ 100 , to which I will add £ 50 , to be distributed as prizes for the best essays upon the Labour Question , and ¦ whenever you are prepared to take a moderate share of labour I shall always be prepared to take the lion ' s share . Again , I say , remember the maxim of Mr .

      Harkokt"THOSE WHO MUST TAKE CARE " OF THEMSELVES HAVE XO TIME "TO TAKE CARE OF YOU ;" and if you are not prepared to take care of yourselves it is impossible that either I or any other person can take care of you . I have never asked a favour of or accepted a favour from you . The continuous and perseverin g advocacy of your cause has subjected | ne to odium , persecution , andloss of property ; " ut as it is my cause , and not adopted to ^ "re popularity or gratify mean ambition , ^ adhere to it if all desert it ^ faithful Friend and Representative , Feaegvs O'Coxxor . i

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      AND NATIONAL TRADES' JOURNAL

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      TOL . XD . P . 591 . LONDON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 24 1849 * m * -wrmam * - ' HVlWVHj DaiUMfl ! , IJjmWiUU fl ? AQfg . ^ Fiv

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Feb. 24, 1849, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1511/page/1/