§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster), in moving that the House do now adjourn, said, I would like to 431 take this opportunity of reading the following letter, which I have received from Mr. John Morley:—
§ "Dear Mr. Smith,—
§ Perhaps you will like to read the enclosed to the House.
§ I should have done so myself, but I see no probable opportunity. I only received the authorization at 1 o'clock to day.
§ Yours truly,
§ JOHN MORLEY."
§ The letter enclosed is from General Sir Edward Bulwer, and is addressed to Mr. J. Morley, and it is dated the 3rd of August. It runs as follows:—
§ "My dear Morley,—
§ As I was appointed to the Belfast Commission through you, I am induced to send through you these few lines with reference to the recent debate on Mr. Justice Day's appointment.
§ As regards politics, I am under the impression that the Judge had no politics—that is to say, that he belonged to no Party. I was constantly alone with him, and, as far as I remember, politics did not appear to interest him. He was a man of such strong intellect and varied information that he was full of interests apart from politics.
§ As a public man he appeared to me to be an ardent Catholic, and to have great respect for authority, the tendency of his opinions on that subject being, I should have said, that law and order must be maintained under any circumstances and at any risk; but beyond this I cannot recall any special allusions to the general Irish question. At the same time, I have a distinct recollection of his frequently expressing his partiality for the Irish character and people. His personal feelings, however, would never interfere with what he considered the course of justice. I am aware that these are only impressions, but as I always found the Judge a generous, kind-hearted man, both in public and private, I think it due to him to send them on as the impressions of another Commissioner who served with him. Trusting that you will make use of this letter as you think right,
§ I remain, &c.,
§ E. BULWER.
§ P.S.—I was prevented sending this before, as I was on the river."
§ The letter, which is dated August 3, reached the right hon. Gentleman early in the week, but, as he writes, he has had no opportunity of reading it to the House.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."—(Mr. W. H. Smith.)
§ THE LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN (Mr. SEXTON) (Belfast, W.)said, he hoped the House would bear in mind 432 that there were two statements made concerning Judge Day. The first was that he had used words on the Bench reflecting on Irishmen generally, the occasion being the trial of some men said to have been from Ireland for some offence in Liverpool. Mr. Justice Day said the crime was too foul to be committed by Englishmen. The words of the Judge made a charge which was a most offensive and wanton one on the character of the Irish people at large. That point was not touched on in the letter. All that Sir E. Bulwer said in his letter was that Mr. Justice Day did not make any reference to the general Irish question. Now, what Mr. Adams said was that Judge Day had repeatedly denounced the Leader and the Members of the Irish Party. That declaration, in the opinion of the Irish Members, rendered Judge Day unfit to try any case in which the Irish question was involved. Though he did not like to say anything disrespectful to Mr. Justice Day, still, from his personal knowledge of Mr. Adams, he thought it was his duty not to allow the reading of the letter to pass without a word of comment.
§ MR. DIXON-HARTLAND (Middlesex, Uxbridge)said, that the word "Irishman" was not used by Mr. Justice Day at Liverpool. He simply said the crime was too violent to have been committed by Englishmen.
§ MR. SEXTONreplied that the statement of the learned Judge was that criminals were imported into England from Ireland.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ House adjourned at half after Five o'clock till Monday next.