HC Deb 03 April 1821 vol 5 cc3-4
Mr. Ellis, of Dublin,

as soon as the Speaker had taken the chair, rose to correct a mis-statement which had appeared in some of the public papers, respecting what had fallen from him during the debate of last night. He was aware, that the error was quite unintentional, for he was satisfied with the general accuracy, impartiality and ability with which the reports of the proceedings of that House were sent forth to the world. "What he was represented to have said of a gentleman, who took an active part in Catholic proceedings in Ireland, was, that he (Mr. O'Connell) was a mushroom orator. Now, he had said no such thing. What he said was this—in allusion to the Catholic aristocracy of Ireland, that as to the antiquity of that gentleman's family pretensions, respectable as they were, when compared with that aristocracy, they were of the mushroom celebrity of a day. He made the allusion, not for the purpose of reflecting on that gentleman's family pretensions, which, he repeated, were respectable, but merely comparatively as to their relation to the aristocracy. He was the more anxious to have the mistake corrected, as nothing could be further from his intentions than to hurt the feelings of any man under the privileges of Parliament. The allusion, in the way in which it was published, was quite undeserved by the respectable gentleman in question, and as certainly unintended by him. He had no motion to make on the subject, being convinced that the mistake arose from inadvertency.