HL Deb 03 July 1835 vol 29 cc225-7
The Marquess of Londonderry

said, he rose in consequence of the notice he had given, to call their Lordships' attention to a circular which had been recently addressed to the Magistrates of the north of Ireland by the Lord-lieutenant. That circular appeared to him to have been unnecessary. It seemed to cast a degree of reproach on the Magistrates, who, he believed, were anxious to perform their duty impartially, and to the utmost of their power. The circular to which he alluded he should now read. The noble Marquess read the following circular:— Dublin Castle, June 19, 1835. Sir,—The Lord-lieutenant prefers to any public proclamation the present mode of calling your attention to the peculiar vigilance which occasions may shortly require, in the exercise of your Magisterial duties. His Excellency takes this course because he feels assured that your own inclination, as well as the interest you must naturally take in the peace and welfare of your neighbourhood, must induce you to discourage proceedings so destructive of both, whether they have reference to the celebration, by procession or other display, of the anniversary of an exclusive political event, or of an exclusive religious observance. Should you, therefore, have reason to believe that it is the intention of any party to make a display of the nature of that to which I have adverted, you will explain to them that such a proceeding has a direct tendency to provoke a breach of the peace, and is a violation of the law, which it is his Excellency's determination to support by every means in his power. I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, "WM. GOSSET. Now, instead of a letter of this kind, it would, he thought, have been much better, if any disturbance were expected, to issue a proclamation. But, instead of pursuing that plan and obvious course, the Lord-lieutenant had deemed it necessary to send round this circular, which, he repeated, did convey, if not directly, by implication, a reproach on the Magistrates which they did not deserve. He should, therefore, be glad to know why this unusual course was adopted? Since the passing of the Act prohibiting them (two or three years ago) he believed that no such processions had taken place as those that were alluded to in the circular. When he recollected the procession which accompanied the Lord-lieutenant into Dublin, to stop which no attempt had been made, it did appear to him that the conduct of the Irish Government was not distinguished by impartiality. He had been informed that an individual who had held a situation in Dublin Castle, under each succeeding Lord-lieutenant, for forty years, had been recently dismissed to make room for a relation of Lord Edward Fitzgerald— a name certainly ominous in Ireland. If that individual, Sir Stuart Bruce, had been dismissed, without consideration, after forty years' service, to make room for another, it was, he conceived, an act of great harshness.

Viscount Melbourne

said, that the document to which the noble Marquess had referred explained itself very intelligibly. The situation of parties in Ireland (and it should be recollected that the subject had been brought before their Lordships), and the statements made by noble Lords on the other side of the House, that, owing to circumstances to which they then adverted, some disturbance was likely to arise on the 12th of July, gave a complete answer to the Noble Marquess, as clearly pointing out the necessity that existed for sending forth that letter. The circular, therefore, was neither uncalled for nor extraordinary. It was very natural, that in his anxiety to preserve the peace, the noble Lord at the head of the Irish Government should have called the attention of the Magistrates to the law which existed on the subject of party processions. He had reason to believe, from the good sense which prevailed in Ireland, and from the exertions of those who had influence there (which influence they had used to prevent the manifestation of party feelings on the 12th of July) that, notwithstanding the anticipations of noble Lords in that House, no breach of the public peace was likely to take place. The noble Marquess had said, this mode of proceeding was extraordinary, and that it would have been better to have issued a Proclamation. But this course had been adopted in 1829, in 1832, and in 1833. On each of those occasions a circular had been sent forth. Here then were precedents that fully justified the proceeding. As to the general observations of the noble Marquess, he should only say, that the Government of Ireland was conducted on principles of the strictest impartiality. With respect to the case of the individual to which the noble Marquess had referred, it was the first time that he had heard of the arrangement. The Lord-lieutenant had, however, a right to make what arrangement he pleased in his household. These were points of which their Lordships certainly could not take cognizance.