§ Colonel Sibthorpbegged to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he were aware of the proceedings that were going on connected with the importation of an individual into this country under the name of Father Mathew. It appeared to him singular, when there was so great a cry made against Orange processions in Ireland, that this individual should be allowed, in a Protestant country, to carry on his plans through the instrumentality of Popish priests. He therefore asked the right hon. Gentleman whether he was aware of what was going on in this respect, and hoped he would prevent the individual in question from being the precursor of any future steps on the part of those who were disturbing the peace of Ireland.
§ Sir J. Grahamsaid, he certainly was aware that Father Mathew had visited this part of the United Kingdom, and that in several large cities the pledge of temperance had been taken by large numbers of the working classes. This did not in the slightest degree excite his jealousy, as he felt the greatest desire for the observance of such a pledge by every class of society, and nothing had particularly excited his attention except a report of the interchange of a salute in public between Father Mathew and Lord Stanhope.