LORD ORANMORE AND BROWNErose to call the attention of the House to the banquet given by the Lord Mayor of Dublin on Thursday, 5th of August, at which the Lord Mayor gave the health of the Pope before the health of the Queen; and to ask the Lord President, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government by intimating to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland their wish that he shall not attend any entertainment to which he may be invited at the Mansion House during such time as the present Lord Mayor remains in office, or otherwise to signify their condemnation of the disrespect shown by him to Her Majesty? The noble Lord said, that the chief magistrate of Dublin had chosen the most public occasion that had occurred for many years premeditatedly to offer a mark of disrespect to Her Majesty by proposing the health of the Pope before that of the Queen. That was evidently done in compliance with the wishes of the Roman Catholic clergy, for the purpose of asserting the supremacy of the Pope above that of the Queen; and so much was this disapproved of that the educated laity—both Roman Catholic and Protestant—had expressed their disapproval by absenting themselves from the Lord Mayor's banquets. If such a course were pursued by the Lord Mayor of London, he had not the least doubt that no Minister would advise Her Majesty to honour any entertainment he gave by her presence through her representatives. Englishmen, he hoped, were entirely loyal; but he was afraid that that was not the case with all Irishmen; and therefore, if he was right in assuming that the course he had suggested would be adopted in the case of the Lord Mayor of London, the same course ought to be adopted of advising Her Majesty's Representative in 871 Ireland to show his displeasure by not honouring any entertainments given by the Lord Mayor of Dublin; and his Question, therefore, would be whether the Government would put some official stigma on this flagrant act of disrespect and disloyalty to Her Majesty?
THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, in the absence of my noble Friend the Lord President, it devolves upon me to answer the Question of the noble Lord. The noble Lord asks me—
Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government by intimating to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland their wish that he shall not attend any entertainment to which he may he invited at the Mansion House during such time as the present Lord Mayor remains in office, or otherwise to signify their condemnation of the disrespect shown by him to Her Majesty?I think, my Lords, that it is only necessary for me simply to answer that Question by saying that Her Majesty's Government do not propose to intimate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland any opinion as to the entertainments which he ought or ought not to attend.