Colonel Perceval, in rising to bring forward the motion of which he had given notice, said, he had hoped that her Majesty's Ministers would have conceded to him the papers that he had asked the House to give him in the first notice that had been entered in his name. He was led to hope that the papers would have been granted to him; for, from the conversation he had had with the noble Lord, the Secretary at War, he considered the hole Lord to have on his part no objection to the production of the charge against, and the sentence upon, Lieutenant Blake, of the 55th regiment, at the period stated in the paper of the House of Commons. But then he was referred to the right hon. the Member for Kircudbright. It was on this account he put his motion on the paper, in the hope that from five to seven in the evening her Majesty's Ministers would be able to make up their minds upon this subject. In the papers that he sought for, the ground of dismissal was stated with respect to the stipendiary magistrate Blake—that very stipendiary magistrate being the same Mr. Blake who had been cashiered when an officer of the 56th regiment. But he found now, from the course pursued by her Majesty's Government, that it would be necessary for him to go more into detail. He asked the House to grant him those charges against Mr. Blake, and that sentence, the approbation of the Prince Regent thereon, with a view to show how he, an individual in the county which he had the honour to represent, and, what he felt still more, those whom he had the honour of representing, had been treated by her Majesty's Government in Ireland. He understood that it had been stated, that Mr. Blake had been appointed to the commission of the peace ten years ago. With that appointment he had nothing to do. In the month of May last, when a return was made of the stipendiary magistrates appointed under the existing Government, his attention was drawn to the appoint- 397 ment of Mr. Blake by a noble Lord, with a view of bringing the conduct of the Government before the House; but he felt a delicacy in drawing attention to by-gone events with a view of injuring any individual. It was not until subsequent events brought the same Mr. Blake into a prominent position before the public, that he felt himself compelled to recur to by-gone transactions. It was forced upon him now to do this in his own defence; he was obliged to do it in consequence of the imputations that had been cast upon him in another place by a high authority—by one whom, as he was the representative of their gracious Sovereign, he should not say one word that was disrespectful against, nor that could be calculated to hurt the feelings of that noble individual; for he respected her Majesty too much to say a word disrespectful of her representative. It had been stated by that high authority, that he (Col. Perceval) had preferred certain charges against Mr. Blake, and that the Irish Government most readily g anted the investigation that he had prayed for. He felt that the Irish Government had acted very differently towards him, when he prayed for an investigation, than they did to others, when the attack was made against that high-minded individual, Major Browne. The noble Lord he before alluded to had sent Major Browne and Mr. Crossley to aid Mr. Blake. Mr. Blake had accompanied, in the month of January last, the hon. and learned Member for Dublin from Castlebar to Sligo: he was present at the speeches made by that hon. Member—he had dined in company with that hon. Member in January last, when those spirits came from other places to infect the county of Sligo with agitating turbulence, which had hitherto been unknown to it, and by which those individuals had reduced that county to the degraded state in which it now was. On the 1st of February afterwards the same individual, Mr. Blake, was appointed to the ostensible and responsible situation of a Government magistrate. It appeared that the noble Lord who represented her Majesty was not responsible for this, but the individual, Mr. Blake, was sent down to aid in the distraction of Sligo; and he was sent down in a situation of trust, having previously in language expressed his political partisanship and his hostility to him. He challenged her Majesty's Government to disprove any statement 398 that he felt it to be his duty to make. It was stated in another place that he had refused to enter into an investigation after he had called for it. The noble Lord opposite would recollect that in the contest for Sligo the first day's poll was the 1st of August, and on the 19th of August he wrote to the Under Secretary, Mr. Drummond, stating his opinion of the conduct of Mr. Blake, and calling upon the Government to grant him an investigation into that conduct. He received an answer from Mr. Drummond, expressing the readiness of the Government to grant him an investigation, but calling upon him for details. By return of post he sent an answer to Mr. Drummond, in which he disclaimed any intention of taking upon himself the office of a public prosecutor. He stated certain facts, of the truth of which he had personal cognizance, and to which, perhaps, he should have to swear before long. He did state facts, which he felt it to be his duty to state, when called upon for charges; but it was far from his intention in doing so to exclude the charges that might have to be brought by his constituents. Sunday was the 15th of October, and on the day preceding, Colonel Shaw Kennedy sent to him to state, that Mr. Blake complained that the letter impeaching his conduct sent by him was withheld from Mr. Blake. He replied, that he had had no communication with Mr. Blake; that his only communication was with the Secretary's office, and if Mr. Blake had not a copy of the letter, it was not his fault; that he presumed it would be found in Colonel Shaw Kennedy's instruction. He added, too, that all his papers were in the hands of Mr. Tracey, and he desired that all should be shown to Colonel Shaw Kennedy. When he found that the investigation into Mr. Blake's conduct was to be solely confined to the charges stated in the letter he had written, he saw that the Government were about to throw their shield over Mr. Blake; that it was not to be that sort of liberal investigation which had been granted to the Radicals. He said it without meaning offence to any one; he meant it was not to be that sort of investigation which was granted into the conduct of that high-minded individual, Major Browne. How was the document impeaching Major Browne's conduct authenticated? He was present in the court; and the most responsible and the 399 most respectable of those who signed that document against Major Browne declared that he had never seen it, that he had never read it, and that he knew nothing of the charges it contained. He stated this fact upon his own responsibility, and if any thing he said could be disproved, then he was not worthy of attention in or out of that House. Now, he asked, when the charges against Mr. Blake's conduct were made known to him in May last—when he knew all about a gentleman who had been preferred for going with the hon. and learned Member for Dublin, from Castlebar to Sligo—when these things were so well known to him, and to so many others, he could not conjecture why they should be unknown to the Government. He recollected, when his noble Friend (Lord Stanley), the Member for North Lancashire, was Secretary for the Colonies, and that Lord Althorp recommended Mr. Blake as a stipendiary magistrate in Jamaica, he believed the noble Lord, though Mr. Blake was recommended by his Colleague, inquired into his character, and finding him wanting in that respect, if Mr. Blake were appointed, he struck him out, or if he were not, the noble Lord refused giving the appointment. This was another reason to show that her Majesty's Government in Ireland knew nothing of the parties they appointed. He should not say one word more on this part of the case, as it would be the ground of action elsewhere. Her Majesty's Government, however, restricted him to the case contained in his letter, when there were a volume of occurrences to be proved which would have disgraced the appointers and the appointee. Had not the Lord-Lieutenant sent down some one as a check upon Mr. Blake in the county, God knows what would have happened! Under the circumstances, however, he was advised, by counsel, not to enter into a partial case. He did not wish to sacrifice his constituents to his own feelings; and he stated at the time, that he should take the opportunity of bringing all those occurrences before the House of Commons, a course of proceeding which was now no longer necessary, as Mr. Blake had been dismissed. When, however, it was said, that the restricted case was to be entered upon, up jumped a Mr. Marcus Costello, who said, on behalf of his party, that they were ready to proceed with the extended case. He at once grappled with the offer, 400 and after a Queen s counsel had been consulted, and decided that the full case might be gone into, then Mr. Marcus Costello drew back, and said his party would not go into a full case. When he was told that the proceedings should be in the nature of a court-martial, he sent to Colonel Shaw Kennedy a copy of the court-martial upon Lieutenant Blake. Of the seven charges that had been preferred against Lieutenant Blake, he should only read the fourth: that charged Lieutenant Blake with most outrageous and dastardly conduct, on the 16th of August, 1813, towards Captain Cloome, in having waylaid and severely beaten him with a stick, and having knocked him down, repeated his blows several times, until Captain Cloome was enabled to draw his sword, when he (Lieutenant Blake) ran away, and a description of his person was circulated amongst the different troops in Ireland. The finding stated, that on the fourth charge the prisoner was guilty, and he was accordingly sentenced to be cashiered. Then followed the approval of the Prince Regent in the usual terms, and it was determined, that the sentence should be read at the head of every regiment. He had yet to learn, why the Government refused to lay the papers he required upon the table of the House. They were to be found upon the orderly-book of every regiment, and appeared to be known everywhere but in the castle of Dublin. Another occurrence had been imputed to him by papers in the support of the Government, that he, as an Orange magistrate, attended at the case of a man charged with murder. He did not attend it. There were seven magistrates attended, and of these five who had signed the committal, including the Government magistrate, agreed that Mr. Spelman should be bailed; and he had to add, that he believed not one of the magistrates was an Orangeman. He found it necessary to disprove the statement respecting Mr. Spelman, and should now conclude by moving for "a copy of the charges, finding, and sentence of a general court-martial, held at Harwich on the 9th of August, 1816, and continued by adjournment to the 26th of the same month, upon Lieutenant Richard Blake, of the 55th regiment, together with the approval of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and the orders of his Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief in reference thereto."
§ Colonel Conollyseconded the motion and said: In rising upon the present occasion, I am actuated by two considerations, of which the first is essentially connected with the subject of the motion which my hon. and gallant Friend has just made, and in the second of which I cannot attempt to conceal from the House that my own personal feelings are very much involved. I fully participate in the feeling of profound respect which has been expressed by my hon. and gallant Friend for the high and exalted office of the individual by whom my mortification has been occasioned; but I still must take the liberty of trespassing on the attention of the House, and claim their indulgence while I bring under their notice a case of a most extraordinary description concerning that noble individual and myself. In deference to the exalted station of that individual, in profound respect for his office, as the representative of the Sovereign in Ireland, upholding the dignity of the Crown in that country. I yield to no man; but in proportion to the exaltedness of his station, is the mortification which I feel at the tone and language which have been made use of by him. I will, however, in the first instance, address myself to the subject of the motion immediately before us. There have been statements made in another place, which go to discredit some statements of mine made in Ireland, which in fact impute to me the misstatement of certain events connected with this individual, Mr. Blake. This has evidently arisen from a great misapprehension on the part of the noble person in question, from whom that imputation has emanated. I have been charged with having made an erroneous statement with regard to the transactions connected with the murder of Mr. Allen, near Tuber-curry, in the county of Sligo, and the inattention of the Government as evinced in not offering any reward, with the view of ensuring the detection of the perpetrators. Now, the real fact is this, I related at Enniskillen an attempt to murder—a most brutal and ferocious attack made upon another person of the name of Allen, thirty-six miles distant, in another district, and I did then express my astonishment that no steps had been taken by the Government to detect the offenders in this case by the offer of a reward. That feeling pervaded the whole county of Donegal, and I think that it was justly matter 402 of astonishment, that although a large subscription, to the amount of 150l. had been entered into there, for aiding in bringing the criminals to justice, and although the subscription, as well as the facts of the brutal outrage had been published, and re-published in the provincial press, no notice whatever had been taken by the Government of the matter, and that ferocious attempt to massacre—thank God it was but an attempt—had been left to pass wholly unheeded by them. The injuries which the unfortunate victim suffered were extremely serious; his head was cut in many places, and a considerable time elapsed before he was considered sufficiently out of danger to bear removal. And what was the crime of the man who experienced this brutal treatment? It was this—that his father had voted for Colonel Perceval at the Sligo election; for having so done, the son was pursued through two counties, and in the face of day, at the time of a public fair, thus barbarously assailed. What I wish particularly to point out to the House is this, that the party who in another place has charged me with a misstatement appears to have been himself in utter ignorance of the whole transactions respecting this intended murder—I say intended murder, because from the manner in which the man was treated, no doubt can be left on the mind of any rational individual as to what was the intent of those who assailed him. Whatever I have stated was derived from the depositions sworn to on the examinations before the magistrates; and I am perfectly ready to maintain that the indignation of the public was expressed in the strongest terms, at the insensibility of the Government to an outrage of such magnitude. I am willing to attribute it to the utter ignorance of his Excellency that he should have accused me of misrepresenting the facts of the case to which I have referred. I must do that exalted person the justice to say, that I believe him to have been entirely ignorant of the Facts, and that I believe that no report can have reached him of the extraordinary outrage in question. On that supposition alone is it possible for me to account for the inattention displayed by him in regard to it. The feeling of indignation which that inattention excited, has not even yet subsided. Since I have been in London, I have seen a letter in a provincial paper, dated the 18th November, 403 expressing still the greatest surprise that no interference on the part of the Government has taken place. The local magistracy, indeed, use their utmost exertions; but unless the Government came forward there could not be great chances of success in detecting the perpetrators of the brutal outrage in question. It is clear, that either the Government must have been informed of the circumstances of it, and have, nevertheless, taken no notice of them, or that they have been kept in utter ignorance of this atrocious attempt to massacre. And it is a melancholy proof of the strength of the combination which is so powerful there, and of the extreme intimidation which prevails, that the perpetrators of the horrible crime were not pursued till it was too late to overtake them. How it could possibly have happened, that with Mr. Blake, as a stipendiary magistrate over and above the others, the Government could have been left without the information, which in that capacity Mr. Blake ought to have afforded them; or how it could have happened that the Government have knowingly let the matter pass unnoticed, it is not for me to conjecture; but it is clear, that either the one thing or the other must have been the case. I have now to turn to a matter relating to myself personally, and to the extraordinary course which has been pursued towards me by the exalted individual to whom I have already referred, and for whose office and station I have already declared myself to entertain the profoundest deference and respect, although at the same time I cannot conceal that, in proportion as his station is exalted, must I feel mortified by any language which may fall from him hurtful to my feelings. That noble individual has chosen to style me—has chosen to style me—"an itinerant orator;" an expression more offensive or unwarranted never escaped the lips of man. I have dined at one public dinner in the year 1837, at the distance of eighteen miles from my own residence, at the public invitation of a body of persons, Members of this as well as of the other House of Parliament, holding the highest rank and enjoying the greatest consideration in the empire, and whose invitations I hope that I shall never be disposed or obliged to decline. On that single ground is this exalted person authorised to call me "an itinerant orator?" Is he justified in so doing? Is not expression to 404 be given to public opinion on occasions of such a kind? Does not every man, of whatever position in the state, commonly express his feelings in such a situation?—At all events, Sir, for my part, where-ever I may go, the honest expression of my feelings shall never be repressed by any authority. I shall continue at all times, and under all circumstances, to give utterance to my political sentiments, in the bold uncompromising spirit of independence becoming an honest man. I am satisfied, that the term which has been applied to me will be received with the indignation and contempt it deserves. It is unsuited to me—it is in nowise merited. As to the oratory of the case, that has been exercised on the part of the noble Lord in disclosing his ignorance, in confounding events, and creating, in fact, an insult, not in the least degree intended towards him as an individual, as well as in charging me with a misstatement, which I hope the Mouse will think me at all times incapable of, and the imputation of which, upon the present occasion, has but too clearly been occasioned by the utter ignorance, on the part of the noble Lord, of facts, with which his duty should have made him acquainted. At all events, I feel certain, that, in my own country, men will be satisfied that I certainly could not have made a misstatement such as that, which in his ignorance he has been pleased to attribute to me. I have thought it my duty to bring the matter under the notice of the House, and thus publicly to show, that the imputation which that noble Lord did cast upon me, was wholly unfounded; and in so doing, I repeat, that I yield to no man in respect and deference for the high station of that noble individual. But he did sorely mortify my feelings as a gentleman, and did convey a distinct insult to the constituency which I have the honour to represent. In duty to them, I felt that I was bound to free the Government from the ignorance in which they stood with regard to the transactions relating to Mr. Allen. At present, I am certainly inclined to believe that they have been left in absolute ignorance of them; but if not, then I shall join in the common expression of indignation contained in the provincial paper to which I have referred, at the insensibility of a Government which refuses to aid the course of justice, and to afford redress for an outrage so excessively grievous, in 405 not lending its efforts towards bringing to punishment the guilty perpetrators of such horrible and atrocious barbarity.
§ Viscount Morpethwas sure it would be most agreeable to the House that he should confine himself principally to the subject before them; but he felt bound, in the first instance, to refer to the digression into which the House had been led by the hon. and gallant Member for Donegal. He had only to observe that with regard to the offering of rewards for the detection of offences, Government almost invariably was guided by the report of the proper officers. The Government thought, and with justice, that the parties, from their intimate knowledge of the transactions, were best qualified to offer suggestions on the subject, and to tell whether the offer of a reward would conduce to the detection of the offence. The hon. and gallant Member for Donegal had alluded, not with strict regularity, to some comments made elsewhere. Now, he thought that the hon. and gallant Member viewed these charges in rather a graver light than they were intended to be viewed in. He admitted that his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, in the speech which he had made elsewhere, had been so far misled, inasmuch as he had thought that the gallant Colonel had alluded to one transaction when, in fact, he alluded to another transaction. At the same time it should not be forgotten that the allusion had been most derogatory to the character of the Government, which had attributed to them an insensibility to the protection of the lives of her Majesty's subjects. With reference to the expression "itinerant orator," he thought that the honourable and gallant Member had invested it with a more offensive appearance than it was warranted to bear. The great extent of the property of the hon. and gallant Member in various parts of Ireland led rather to a multiplication of his appearance on the political stage, and the hon. and gallant Member should remember that he delivered his own sentiments rather too warmly to entitle him to any special forbearance on the part of others. He presumed that the word "orator" was not the part for which he had to offer an apology. With reference to the motion immediately before the House, he was not aware of any technical objection on the part of the War-office or the military department to the 406 production of the papers moved for. But he would proceed to state briefly why he thought this motion should not be made, and if made at all, why it should not be made by the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo. He did hope that sufficient publicity had been already given to this transaction to dispense with the necessity of further proceedings. He would briefly recapitulate the circumstances of the case. Shortly after the arrival of the present Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland the name of Mr. Blake had been submitted as a proper and eligible person to be appointed a stipendiary magistrate. A recommendation, stating his qualifications in warm terms, had been presented to the Lord-Lieutenant, signed by the Vice-Lieutenant of the county, Lord Oranmore, by Lord Dillon, and a long string of other names of the highest respectability. That recommendation had been supported by the hon. Member for the county, and he had been informed on all sides that the appointment of Mr. Blake was a proper and eligible appointment. When they had duly considered these recommendations, they determined that on a vacancy Mr. Blake should be appointed. This decision had been formed long before they knew any thing of Mr. Blake being in a carriage or dining at the same table with the hon. and learned Member for Dublin. He did not for a moment pretend that this would have formed any disqualification. He had sat himself at the same table with the hon. and learned Member for Dublin; and he, at least, should not propose to exclude from offices those who adopted a similar course. However, as it happened, Mr. Blake's accompanying the hon. and learned Member for Dublin to Sligo had nothing to do with his appointment; indeed, from the dates which the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo had himself stated, it appeared that Mr. Blake went to Sligo on the 25th of January, and his appointment was gazetted on the 1st of February, proving that at the time the Government did not probably know anything of Mr. Blake accompanying the hon. and learned Member for Dublin. Mr. Blake was accordingly appointed stipendiary magistrate, and in addition to the recommendation which Government had received from those best qualified to give accurate and satisfactory information, they found that this gentleman had acted for eleven years as a resident magistrate of the county of 407 Mayo, having been appointed by Lord Chancellor Manners. During these eleven years there had been no rumour of misconduct; no complaint against Mr. Blake had reached the ears of Government. He would now come to the period of the late elections. The hon. and gallant Member for Sligo complained that Mr. Blake had identified himself with a political party previously to his attendance at the election. If the hon. and gallant Member derived any benefit from the admission, he was not unwilling to confess that he did not think this the most eligible appointment, and for that reason. The appointment was necessarily made while the Lord-Lieutenant and himself were in this country attending to their duties, at the accession of her Majesty, and from the numerous applications for assistants to attend the elections, the appointments were made with some little degree of hurry. The hon. and gallant Member for Sligo himself admitted that there were two other gentlemen to whose qualifications for the discharge of his duty he made no objection, but, on the contrary, to which he bore high testimony, and who had been sent to assist Mr. Blake in preserving the peace during the election. It was true, that after the termination of the election, the hon. and gallant Member addressed to the Under Secretary for Ireland (Mr. Drummond) a letter containing sundry complaints against the conduct of Mr. Blake during the election. The hon. and gallant Member had been informed, and as he thought most properly, that before the Government could direct a specific inquiry into the allegations, a specific and not a general charge must be made. The result was, a letter of some length from the hon. and gallant Member, in which he set forth three distinct specific heads of accusation. The letter contained three specific charges, and accordingly Government directed an inquiry to be instituted into these three specific heads of accusation. The inquiry was fixed for a certain day, Monday he believed, there being another inquiry at the same time instituted at the request of the other—what was called the popular—party in Sligo, against Major Browne. Both inquiries were to take place continuously, and, in fact, there was almost the same array of witnesses on each side, and the same person was directing it, namely, Colonel Shaw Kennedy, under the orders of the Government. Three or 408 four days after the day fixed for the inquiry into the conduct of these parties, there came a subsequent letter from the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo, inclosing a memorial, containing several other distinct and specific charges against Mr. Blake. He referred this letter to the right hon. the Attorney-General, in order to consult him and have his advice, as to the course of proceeding which he thought would be lair towards an individual in an ordinary case at law or equity? He had been distinctly told by his right hon. Friend, that his opinion was, that having received a series of specific charges against Mr. Blake, and having directed an inquiry into these charges, and having named the day on which the inquiry was to be appointed, the Government could neither justly or fairly graft upon the charges already made, any new separate and distinct charge. They did not wish to prevent an inquiry being held on these charges on a subsequent occasion; but they refused to go into these new charges until after the termination of the inquiry already directed. The hon. and gallant Member for Sligo had been pleased to say that Government had dealt out a different measure of justice to the other party. In the course of the same proceeding, and when the inquiry was proceeding against Major Browne, on distinct charges, an application was made to extend the inquiry into the conduct of the troops. The Government, however, determined to allow no new charge to be introduced in the course of the proceedings, and they directed that the inquiry should be made solely with reference to the grounds of accusation already before them. The hon. and gallant Member for Sligo had moved for the production of the charges, finding, and sentence of the general court-martial on Mr. Blake. That hon. and gallant Member had expressed his surprise that Government was not acquainted with the existence of this court-martial. The hon. and gallant Member did not seem disposed to give them much credit,—but he could solemnly assure him that till September last no knowledge of any such court-martial had ever reached them. He could only say, that if they had heard of it their conduct would have been the same as at the actual instant, for, as soon as the charge and the finding of the court martial had been submitted to them, they had never wavered in the course which 409 they thought right to pursue. The existence of the court-martial was intimated to Government after the inquiry had been directed into the conduct of Mr. Blake. He could not understand whether the hon. and gallant Member founded any charge upon the fact, but Government considered that the finding of the court-martial formed a distinct subject from the conduct of Mr. Blake at the election, and the inquiry was therefore allowed to proceed. Immediately they heard of the court-martial, Government thought it their duty to request from the Commander-in-chief a copy of the sentence, and the report of the Court. It reached Government about the same time that the inquiry upon the matters connected with the election came to a termination, and directly that they had acquired a full knowledge of the sentence of the court-martial, Government thought it their duty to intimate to Mr. Blake that they could no longer continue to accept his services as a stipendiary magistrate. He confessed that he did not come to this resolution without much pain. The proceedings had taken place twenty-three years ago. Mr. Blake was then a very young man. The hon. and gallant Member for Sligo had read one of the charges against Mr. Blake on the court-martial. He did not remember, he was not. quite sure, that the hon. and gallant Member had read another part of the sentence, namely, that the court at the conclusion of the trial recommended Mr. Blake to the merciful consideration of the Crown. The recommendation of the court was, however, not acceded to, and the sentence was carried into effect. But all this took place twenty-three years ago. Mr. Blake was, as he said before., a young man; he had since, for eleven years, con-tinned to fulfil the duties of a resident magistrate. At the time he was recommended for appointment as a magistrate he had been informed that the circumstances of the court martial had been brought under the notice of Lord Chancellor Mariners; that noble Lord inquired into them, and after doing so he still persevered in the appointment of Mr. Blake. Having been thus appointed, he, for eleven years, fulfilled the duties of the office, and the step which they had thought it their duty, however painful, to take, besides inflicting a large actual loss on this gentleman, was also calculated to throw a slur and cloud on his future peace and prospects. 410 But, nevertheless, after the finding of the court-martial, they felt that they had no other course open to them but a dismissal, summary, instantaneous, and complete. He had hoped, that this would have been sufficient to slake the hostile feelings even of the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo. It seemed that he was mistaken, both from the motion which had been made, and from the extract which the hon. and gallant Member had thought it his duty to read to the House. But he did hope, that that House would consider that a sufficient penalty had been inflicted, that sufficient publicity had been insured, and that they would not give further notoriety to these old charges by assenting to the motion. Having thus given his reasons for refusing his assent to the motion, he had only to state the reasons why he thought the hon. and gallant Member should not be the person to make it. This he would do, by simply stating what had occurred within the last fortnight. In the Court of Queen's Bench in Dublin, he found by the record, that before the rising of the court Mr. O'Dowd moved, on behalf of Mr. Blake, for liberty to file a criminal information against the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo. The affidavits in support of the motion stated, that on the 15th of August last, at the election for the county of Sligo, whilst he (Mr. Blake) was acting in the discharge of his duty and preserving the peace, having railed off a particular space within which he intended that neither of the parties should enter, some of Colonel Perceval's friends pressed and entered into this particular space, and Colonel Perceval, who was present, called him a scoundrel, a rascal, and a coward.
§ Viscount Morpethwas reading the account of what took place. The affidavit went on to say, that the only reply of Mr. Blake was, "I thank you;" that the witness believed that the offensive language used towards him was intended to induce him to commit a breach of the peace. The result was, that the court granted a conditional rule. Of course, he (Lord Morpeth) could not venture to decide upon the justice of the allegations or upon the merits of the case, but he did submit to the House, that the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo would do well to be 411 content to abide the issue of the evidence, without moving one of the parties into a court where it was impossible for them to meet on equal terms. He had stated his reasons why he humbly ventured to think that this motion ought not to have been made, and why he thought the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo ought not to have made it; and for these reasons, if the motion were pressed to a division, he would meet it with as flat a negative as his voice or his vote could give it.
§ Mr. Sergeant Jacksonsaid, he had risen because it appeared to him that great injustice had been done to his hon. and gallant Friend (Colonel Perceval) by the course taken by the noble Lord (Morpeth). He should like to know what paper the noble Lord had referred to respecting the motion for a criminal information, because he had seen the documents on which that motion had been made, and he could state that the affidavits did not venture to attribute one syllable of that which the noble Lord had thought proper to read to the House as having been attributed to his hon. and gallant Friend. It seemed to him that what the noble Lord had read was an extract from a newspaper. He would only add, that the county of Sligo had been peaceable and orderly until it suited the purposes of certain parties to agitate it, and until the appointment of stipendiary magistrates, in the absence of the Lord-Lieutenant and the noble Lord opposite, had devolved upon persons who did not know those whom they sent to execute the laws of the country.
§ Mr. Sergeant Woulfesaid, that the hon. and learned Gentleman might have well spared his eloquent indignation for a more worthy occasion. His noble Friend had merely stated that he thought, under the circumstances of the case, that the charges against Mr. Blake might have come with more delicacy from any other quarter than the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo, and for this reason, that there was pending between Mr. Blake and the hon. and gallant Member a litigation of a serious nature in the Court of Queen's Bench in Dublin. That court had already granted a conditional rule for a criminal information for gross misconduct. He did not care whether this was done in the words read by his noble Friend, or in words akin to them; whether his noble Friend had read the actual record or a newspaper report of what took place, the fact was 412 substantially the same; the Court of Queen's Bench, on looking at the documents, and taking into consideration the hon. and gallant Member's conduct, had, without hesitation, granted a conditional rule. With this conditional rule hanging over his head, the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo rushed into that House, where Mr. Blake had not the power of following him, and where the hon. and gallant Member might say what he liked with perfect impunity, and not only without the danger of punishment, but without the possibility of reply; the hon. and gallant Member rushed into that court, and attacked a man not only unarmed, but without the possibility of defence. He must say this much with regard to Mr. Blake, that the proceedings for which he was now punished took place many years ago. The Lord-Lieutenant, with great pain, had come to the proper conclusion. He had never seen Mr. Blake; he had never spoken to him; he was not on terms of intimacy with any one who, he believed, had any knowledge of him; but he felt called upon in common justice to say, that the conduct of Mr. Blake as a magistrate had repeatedly come before him unconnected with party measures, and a more useful stipendiary magistrate he had never known. He never heard any complaint; he had repeatedly had opportunities of witnessing his conduct in matters unconnected with politics, and he had always found him a remarkably active, useful, and diligent public officer. He might refer particularly to a transaction of great moment, and which had excited much notice in the north of Ireland: he meant the affair of the Ballyshannon fishery. In that affair, when the lessee and lessor combined against a gentleman of the name of Hector, and when a most atrocious attack was made on the property of Mr. Hector, Mr. Blake had proved himself an eminently useful officer. The first letter written by the gallant Colonel, containing charges against Mr. Blake, was couched in very general terms, imputing partiality in his official capacity, and calling for an inquiry into his conduct. He rather believed that at the time this letter was written, his Excellency, the Lord-Lieutenant, and also the noble Secretary for Ireland, were not in that country; a letter, however, was written, acknowledging the receipt of the gallant Colonel's letter, and stating that it con- 413 tained charges of a very grave character which demanded mature investigation, but that it would be impossible to put the party on his trial unless the charges upon which he was to be tried were in a more specific form. The gallant Colonel then wrote another letter, in which he did bring three specific charges against Mr. Blake, which he numbered one, two, and three, declining, however, at the same time, to become the public prosecutor of that gentleman. Mr. Blake having been furnished with a copy of the gallant Colonel's letter was called upon for an explanation of his conduct. Mr. Blake, in compliance with this invitation, did give such an explanation as he thought the circumstances required, and this explanation was forwarded to the gallant Colonel. The gallant Colonel, upon receipt of this, was not satisfied, and demanded an inquiry, which was accordingly directed to take place. And to whom was this delicate investigation intrusted. To a partisan—to a violent politician—to a man who would have an interest or find a pleasure in screening the guilty or of wrongfully convicting the innocent man?—No: the investigation was committed to the hands of Colonel Shaw Kennedy, an officer of whom it was known that there was no man who, in his official duties, manifested more thorough impartiality and good feeling; and he was accompanied by a Queen's counsel, a gentleman of the name of Brooke, a gentleman who was only known to be respected, who had quietly pursued his professional career apart from anything in the shape of politics, and who had never taken a part in anything which might be even termed culpable agitation. When these gentlemen made their appearance, for the purpose of conducting the inquiry, the commission being already opened, and Mr. Blake being prepared with his witnesses for his defence, the gallant Colonel wrote a letter, saying that he could not untertake to maintain the specific charges he had brought forward; but stating that there were other charges which he could prefer, and which he should be better able to substantiate To this the Commissioners replied, that the charges which the gallant Colonel offered to bring forward were matters with which they had nothing to do, and which, therefore, they could not to into. The gallant Colonel then wrote to the Government, demanding that Mr. Blake should be put upon his trial upon 414 the latter charges; but being consulted by the noble Lord the Secretary for Ireland upon the propriety of acceding to this proposition, he at once saw the injustice of admitting such a course of proceeding, and advised the Government accordingly. Could any thing be more unjust than that a man should be put upon his trial without knowing what he was to be tried for—without any specific charges which he might prepare himself to answer and to acquit himself of? If a man were indicted for stealing a horse, could any court, with any show of justice, convict him upon that indictment of stealing a cow? No, The Lord-Lieutenant, acting in accordance with the advice he (Mr. Woulfe) gave, replied that he was open to entertain any charge which might be preferred in a regular manner against Mr. Blake, but that, before he could do so, the charges should be put in a specific form. One word more. It had been alleged that Major Browne had been put upon his trial upon receipt of the first letter of accusation against him. But why was this? Because this letter contained specific charges against that individual, which the first letter of the gallant Colonel did not. The charge against Major Browne was specifically, that he had wantonly ordered a charge of dragoons when none need be made, to the great injury of the persons against whom it was directed.
§ Mr. D. Brownesaid, that allusion having been made to him by the noble Lord the Secretary for Ireland, he begged to offer a very few remarks. He acknowledged that he was the person who recommended Mr. Blake as a stipendiary magistrate. He presented a memorial signed by Lord Oranmore and Lord Dillon, in which it was stated that Mr. Blake had been intrusted with the commission of the peace for the county of Mayo, in which he had conducted himself with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the county. Mr. Blake had also acted as justice of the peace for the county of Galway, and had even been appointed, under a Tory Government, he believed that of the Duke of Northumberland, to a lieutenancy in the yeomanry corps. Under these circumstances he thought he was perfectly justified in recommending Mr. Blake as a stipendiary magistrate. He could only say, further, that at the time he was not aware of the court mar- 415 tial on Mr. Blake, which took place only two years after he was born, and could not, therefore, be said to have have occurred within his remembrance. There were many accusations made, and he would make one. At the Sligo election he saw an individual of high character in the neighbourhood strike an unoffending person, and that individual was the gallant Colonel opposite. He solemnly affirmed in the face of the House and of the country, that what he said was the case. [Colonel Perceval said he never struck a man in his life.] The gallant gentleman was within two hundred feet of me when I saw him, I repeat, strike, and that with not very slight exertion, an inoffensive peasant, who did not appear to be doing any further harm than that of running away from the political vengeance of the gallant Colonel. The gallant Colonel also had complained that Mr. Blake had accompanied the hon. Member for Dublin from Castlebar to Dublin. He would grant he had clone so—he would grant, even, that Mr. Blake might have spoken disrespectfully of the hon. and gallant Colonel; but if he did so, he did not think that that was any reason why Mr. Blake should be excluded from an official situation; there were many of the gallant Colonel's associates of whom it would be difficult to speak in any other terms. He (Mr. D. Browne) did not wish to screen any part of the official conduct of the Government from inquiry, but at the same time he did not wish to see the time of the House occupied by idle and useless motions like the present. The motion had evidently two distinct objects—the first to bring her Majesty's Government into disrepute, by throwing blame upon Mr. Blake; and the second to drag before this House the private motives and character of individuals. He thought that sufficient had already been done to satisfy the anger of the gallant Colonel, and that Mr. Blake had suffered enough as the victim of political malignity, being deprived of his situation and separated from those gentlemen with whom he used to be associated. He trusted that the Government would resist this motion, which was only made to satisfy the cravings of an expiring faction.
§ Mr. E. Shawsaid, that the hon. Member who had just sat down had made one statement of fact, in which, upon consideration, he was sure he would admit 416 himself to be mistaken, namely, that of his hon. and gallant Friend having struck a person at Sligo. His hon. and gallant Fiend averred that no such occurrence had taken place, and the hon. gentleman, who was distant 200 yards.—[Mr. D. Browne: 200 feet.] He had certainly understood the hon. Member to say 200 yards; and surely at such a distance, particularly after the assertion of the hon. and gallant Colonel to the contrary, the hon. Member could have no difficulty in admitting himself to have been mistaken. He had now one remark to make upon what had fallen, he was sure quite inadvertently, from the right hon. and learned Gentleman opposite charging his hon. and gallant Friend with wishing to put Mr. Blake on his trial under unfair circumstances. As he (Mr. Shaw) recollected the case it was this—that his gallant Friend wrote to the Government complaining of the conduct of Mr. Blake, but declining at the same time to become his accuser, the grounds of complaint being circumstances of which various of his constituents had been witnesses, together with one or two of which he had been personally cognisant. When the inquiry was about to be instituted, and Colonel Shaw Kennedy arrived, his gallant Friend was informed that the inquiry could not be a general one, but must be confined to the circumstances of which his gallant Friend had personally to complain. His gallant Friend, upon this intimation, at once declined to stand forward as Mr. Blake's accuser, in such comparatively trifling circumstances as he was aware of, as the case would be very incomplete if confined to these. As soon as it was resolved that no inquiry was to take place, his gallant Friend assured his constituents that he would take the earliest opportunity of bringing the subject under the notice of the House of Commons, and that pledge he had this evening fulfilled. With respect to the fact that a conditional order had been granted in the Court of Queen's Bench against his gallant Friend, the learned Attorney-General had really as it appeared to him, laid more stress upon that circumstance than it was entitled to, for the learned Gentleman must surely be aware that it required no very serious charge to obtain such an order in the first instance. He would end by saying that he was very sure that there was no Gentleman in or out of the House who 417 was not perfectly satisfied that his gallant Friend was incapable of any conduct incompatible with the feelings, character, or honour, of a Gentleman.
§ Mr. Dennis O'Conorsaid, that allusion having been made in the course of the present debate to Lord Oranmore, he had been requested by that nobleman in case such allusion were made, to state in his name, that some years ago he had been applied to to recommend Mr. Blake to the commission of the peace, but that Mr. Blake having been tried and convicted by a court-martial, he had declined doing so. Subsequently, however, Lord Bingham did recommend Mr. Blake, and he was appointed, not only to the county of Mayo, but to the county of Galway, and after that also was made a lieutenant in the yeomanry corps of Mayo; in all which capacities he believed that Mr. Blake had conducted himself in a most unimpeachable manner. The gallant Colonel had this evening read those parts of the proceedings of the courtmartial which bore most heavily on Mr. Blake, but he (The O'Conor Don) thought the gallant Colonel should in fairness have read those passages also which tended to the justification of that Gentleman. It was true that this court-martial had found Mr. Blake guilty, but it was also true that it had recommended him to mercy, because the officer whom he struck was the cause of all his misfortune, and because his previous conduct had been unimpeachable. He really thought it was too hard, now that Mr. Blake was verging into years, to bring up a hasty action committed in his youth to his prejudice, and that merely because that gentleman happened to be a political opponent of the gallant Colonel. He really hoped that the gallant Colonel would withdraw this motion, and not press it to a division.
§ Mr. Somerswas very sorry that the gallant Colonel had not had the good taste to leave his case to the tribunal which would shortly have to decide[...]n the matter in dispute between himself and Mr. Blake. The gallant Colonel had entered into many particulars, but there were some which he had not stated, and which were wanted to complete the picture. The gallant Colonel had not stated, that there was a gentleman of great influence and standing in Sligo, who had distributed a large quantity of daggers amongst the peasantry each of which had his name upon it, and that individual was no less a person than 418 the hon. and gallant Colonel himself. Was that the man who wanted explanation? Did the hon. and gallant Colonel forget the case of Simpson? He appealed to the gallant Colonel whether he did not take the hand of that man, in Orange union who was under a charge of malicious cutting and maiming? Did not the querulous Member for Sligo hand pistols from the bench to Simpson desiring him to use them? He could corroborate the statement of the hon. Member for Mayo with respect to the gallant Colonel's having struck an inoffensive person. The gallant Colonel did strike a man with an umbrella. And much to the credit of Mr. Blake be it added, that this was the only breach of the peace which was committed at this election. He would ask the gallant Member whether or not he had shaken hands with Simpson in public court?
§ Mr. Briscoesaid, he never had heard a charge brought forward against any Government which had been so feebly supported and so triumphantly answered as the present. He did not rise to speak generally to the subject in debate, but to express his opinion on the case of the very hard-used individual whose conduct had been thus unsuccessfully impugned. He would refer to the recommendation of the court-martial which had tried Mr. Blake, and would ask whether the Government, after twenty-three years of unexampled good conduct on the part of Mr. Blake, would not be fully justified in tempering justice with mercy; and though they would not, perhaps, be acting wisely in reinstating him in the same office, yet he hoped that, in consideration of his valuable public services and strict impartiality of conduct, some other situation would be found for him. As an English Member, and therefore the less open to a charge of partisanship, he had stood forward to express his feelings on the case of Mr. Blake, which he was glad to see were participated in by a large number of those who heard him.
Mr. S. O'Brienthought, that Mr. Blake, and not the gallant Member for Sligo, was the aggrieved party. Mr. Blake, he thought, had been extremely hardly treated, and he hoped that an early opportunity would be taken, consistently with the dignity of the Government, of making him some return for the bad treatment he had experienced.
Colonel Percevalsaid, he felt like a person put upon his trial, and he would commence his defence by answering one question in the affirmative. He certainly did shake hands with James Simpson, and he hoped he should have frequent opportunities of shaking hands with him again. Mr. Somers: In the dock?] It might nave been in the dock; for, in the Court of Registry, several gentlemen were stationed in the dock, as the place was extremely crowded. It was true, that he gave Mr. Simpson a brace of pistols, in order to protect himself; he was a valuator, and his life had been threatened, and on the occasion it was also deemed advisable to place him tinder the protection of the assistant-barrister, until he reached his lodgings. With respect to the daggers, he distinctly denied ever having given one away; and he did not believe, that on earth could be found one dagger marked with the name of Alexander Perceval. An hon. Member had charged him with having struck a man during the borough or county election. He declared, on the honour of a gentleman, he had never done so; he merely raised his umbrella to save his own head. A man was certainly struck, but not by him. He tried, on the contrary, to protect that individual by every means in his power, and he would take that opportunity of declaring, that, during life, he had never struck any man. The noble Lord had charged him with having applied the terms liar and scoundrel to Mr. Blake. He had never used such language. With regard to the want of feeling attributed to him in bringing forward this motion, he would merely say, that at the close of the investigation, Mr. Blake and his counsel offered to go into the case, and he, by the advice of his counsel, assented; but Mr. Blake afterwards backed out. He then said, that he would bring the subject under the notice of Parliament; and although a conditional rule had been granted against him, he did not think it necessary to forego that pledge. He had answered all questions candidly, and, if necessary, he could adduce the testimony of Captain Tracy to prove his innocence of the charge of having struck a man during the election contest. The blow was given by a man in the poorer classes of society. The hon. Member concluded by stating he had no objection to withdraw his motion, if doing so would accord with the feelings of the House.
§ Sir R. Peelthought, the course most satisfactory to Mr. Blake, would be the withdrawal of the motion, when he considered the lapse of time since the court-martial; the declaration also of the noble Lord, that the appointment was unfortunate; and as Mr. Blake's conduct being yet under investigation, he thought the House would not object to the motion being withdrawn.
§ Motion withdrawn.