HC Deb 25 February 1846 vol 84 c104
SIR J. GRAHAM

was anxious to take the earliest opportunity of explaining the answer given by him to the hon. and learned Member for Cork on Monday last. The House would remember that the hon. and learned Member, on Thursday, gave notice of two questions which he intended to ask him (Sir. J. Graham). He did not happen to see the precise terms of those questions, and had no opportunity of writing to the Lord Lieutenant till Friday evening; and, therefore, answered the questions on Monday before he had received the Lord Lieutenant's answer. The first question related to a deputation which was said to have waited on the Lord Lieutenant respecting the case of Bryan Seery. The hon. and learned Gentleman asked him whether it was true that a deputation had waited on the Lord Lieutenant on this subject, and had prayed that the sentence of death passed on that individual should be carried into effect. He had answered the hon. and learned Member's question on the best information which he could obtain before receiving the answer of the Lord Lieutenant; and had stated that a deputation from the county of Westmeath had made such a representation, and that he deeply deplored it, as being, in his opinion, harsh and unusual. He held in his hand the answer of the Lord Lieutenant, received on Monday morning. It was as follows:— Dublin Castle, Feb. 22, 1846. My dear Sir James—You may very safely affirm that the language of the deputation that waited upon me had not the slightest influence on my mind, nor swayed my judgment in the least in deciding upon the case of Seery; nor did I give the least encouragement or countenance to such interference. But, in point of fact, the principal object of the deputation was to represent to me the lawless state of the county of Roscommon, and the neces-sitp of more stringent measures for its pacification; and it was only incidentally stated that any lenity shown to Seery would be considered as a proof of the weakness of the Government, and tend to encourage the perpetration of such atrocities, and to keep alive that sanguinary spirit so fatal to the peace of the country. The only inaccuracy in the statement which he (Sir J. Graham) had made, consisted in saying, that the deputation came from Westmeath instead of Roscommon.