SPEECHES, &c. &c. LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND. JANUARY 25th, 1823. MR. HUME moved, "That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to appoint a Commission to inquire whether the Government of Ireland, under its present form, ought to be continued, or whether the Lord Lieutenant and other officers may not, with advantage, be dispensed with." MR. SECRETARY CANNING* said, that the opinion which he had formed upon this subject before the debate had commenced, was fortified beyond all measure by what he had since heard. Although the testimony was conflicting upon the subject, the conclusion from general principles was so obvious, that he thought it could not be mistaken. Let the House suppose that a few years had passed since this measure of removing the Government from Ireland had been adopted. The Secretary of State would, of necessity, be ignorant of all those local peculiarities which, under the present system, were so accurately detailed. He could not conceive any thing more extraordinary than that the House should consent to strike away all those advantages which were derived from the presence of Ministers who had served an apprenticeship to the Irish Government. But the motion before the House afforded in itself the best proof of the value of local information, for it was proposed to send a commission to Ireland to collect that local information before the House should decide. It was not ventured even to lay the foundation for that absent form of government which was to be recommended, until such information should be obtained. If this then were to go on, commissions must of necessity be appointed as often as it was necessary to procure information; and instead of collecting it without shock or confusion, the House must send commissions, each with power equal to that of a Lord Lieutenant, to collect and bring home particulars which they were certain must be procured during a perturbed state of the public mind. That information was best gathered and laid by for future use during the ordinary current of events, and not by fits and snatches, as often as separate events required separate inquiries. But the chief objection to the measure was, that its effect would inevitably be, that if the Executive Government were removed, the practical power would be thrown into the hands of parties. Two generations of English Ministries, however short, would not have passed, before the person holding the office of Secretary of State would find himself obliged to pin his faith upon some individual or some connection in Ireland; and all those evil consequences must ensue, to correct which the power of England had been exerted. The table of the House would be covered with petitions, complaining that, owing to the distance of the Executive Government, no Minister, however well intentioned, could possess sufficient information for the due administration of justice. He could not lay out of the question that, in the present temper and condition of Ireland, the loss of the sum of £100,000 a year, and all that grew out of the expenditure of the court, would be a considerable evil to the people of that country, whether the chasm which it would make in their commerce, or the effect it might have upon their feelings were regarded. He could not but think that this would be breaking the last link which bound the two countries together, and adding to sore feelings and distress, at a moment when those feelings were sufficiently irritated, and that distress sufficiently severe. On these grounds, he not only decided against any change in the Government of Ireland, but against any inquiry which should seem to imply that Parliament meditated such a change-a measure than which he thought nothing could be, in the present state of that country, more mischievous. The motion was negatived without a division. MR. SECRETARY CANNING appeared at the bar. Being called on by the Speaker, he said he held in his hand papers which he was commanded by His Majesty to present to the House. The said papers being accordingly brought up MR. SECRETARY CANNING* rose. He said, that in moving that their titles be read, he should, with the per mission of the House, take advantage of the opportunity afforded by that formal motion, to redeem the pledge which he had given some weeks ago, by stating succinctly the course of conduct which had been pursued by His Majesty's Government, and the principles by which that conduct had been guided, in the important and complicated transactions to which the documents referred. In doing so, he felt that he was discharging a duty as awfully important as could at any time devolve upon the servant of a great monarchy and the minister of a free people. He was to account to the representatives of that people for the manner in which the honour of the Crown had been upheld, and the interests of the country consulted, in a crisis of perhaps unexampled difficulty, and of which the consequences were yet unascertained. He mentioned this last consideration, because it was impossible not to be sensible how much it added to the arduous nature of the task imposed upon him. If, indeed, the complete issue of all that had been recently passing had been known, it would be necessary only to shape the explanation and defence to that issue so ascertained; but he felt that the present state of the affairs of the world was of such unexampled magnitude and difficulty, that what had been the course of conduct pursued by the British Government, would be judged not only in reference to any definite issue, but in reference to all imaginable possibilities, and to all anticipated dangers. In a case so complicated, and dealing with considerations so important, there could exist but one consciousness to sustain any man in the onerous situation in which he was placed -it was that of having pursued, throughout the whole series of transactions, one intelligible object-one invariable principle. The object which the King's Government had constantly in view, was the preservation of the peace of the world: the principle by which they had been |