The Marquess of Westmeathwished to call the attention of the noble Marquess opposite to the fact, that on the last occasion on which he drew the attention of the House to Irish affairs, he stated that the noble Marquess had liberated a criminal from the gaol of Westmeath without requiring bail from him, and that the noble Marquess had on that occasion roundly contradicted him. He had since written to Ireland under an impression, that his original information was true, requesting to be furnished with the best information on the subject, and he now had received confirmatory evidence, namely, a copy of the letter of Mr. Drummond, secretary to the noble Marquess, dated Dublin Castle, December 11, 1837, in which he communicated his Excellency's commands to the gaoler, that Thomas Cook, confined in the gaol of Mullingar, should be discharged from custody; and he was discharged without bail. He could not now help expressing his astonishment at the noble Marquess's contradiction, and at the same time of stating, that in his opinion such a course of proceeding was not calculated to facilitate public business.
The Marquess of Normanbysaid, he did not see anything so extraordinary in the step he had been taking. On the occasion to which the noble Marquess referred, he spoke from a minute in his own handwriting, which he then held in his 790 hand, expressive both of his intention and of what he did, which was, that if the man should behave himself well for two months, he should then he discharged on giving security. He did behave well, and in a petition presented to him at the expiration of that period, he stated that he was prepared to give security, himself in 20l. and two others in 10l. each. He had made a minute from which he spoke, in his own handwriting, that the man should be discharged on giving security. Whether any inadvertence had subsequently taken place in making the ultimate order, he could not say, but he had never known an instance in which such an order to take security had not been attended to, although, as the noble Marquess seemed so certain, that there had been an omission here, he could not take upon himself to say there really had not been. He had however, given orders, that his sureties should be taken, and his opinion was, that his order had been complied with.