HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



47 



did not believe it. If lord ilard- 

 wickc had believed an insurrection 

 would have broke out on the 'i3d, 

 he would not have gone to his coun- 

 try seat, neither won id the lord- 

 mayor. It was clear that the go- 

 vernment gave no credit to the in- 

 formation they had received, and it 

 was equally clear that it was for 

 them who were entrusted with a 

 large secret service money, amount- 

 ing to 60,0001. a-year, and not to 

 general Fox, who was a stranger in 

 the country, to determine what sort 

 of information was deserving of cre- 

 dit. He thought there was sufficient 

 prima facie evidence of neglect in 

 the Irish government to justify par- 

 liament in instituting the enquiry. 



Mr. Dallas conceived it beneath 

 the dignity of parliament to institute 

 an enquiry on such insufficient 

 grounds. He saw no evidence of 

 culpable want of information. There 

 were no means of discovering a se- 

 cret that had been entrusted to so 

 few. The insurrection was cer- 

 tainly most contemptible in its 

 means, though not so in its object. 

 He thought that the Irish govern- 

 ment had gained every previous in- 

 formation that was possible from 

 their means, and that they had taken 

 every necessary precaution, and 

 were therefore in no degree blam- 

 able. 



Dr. Lawrence supported the en- 

 quiry, and complained of necessary 

 information being kept back from 

 the house. As to the darkness of 

 the night on which the insurrection 

 took place, he must observe, that 

 although the aight was stated to be 

 so dark, that it was hardly possible 

 to have seen one's hand, yet a man 

 had been hanged upon the sole evi- 

 dence of a peraon who swore to have 



distinctly seen him from a two pair 

 of stairs window ! 



The Attorney General did not 

 think bucli a prima facie case had 

 been made out as would justify an 

 enquiry. Although constant patroles 

 of loot and horse might possibly pre- 

 vent any insurrection breaking out 

 in the streets of Dublin, yet they 

 could not prevent rebellion fromi 

 lurking in the heart of the country. 

 He thought that, unless a grave and- 

 important case could be made out, 

 the house could not with consistency 

 or propriety agree to the motion. 



Lord De Blaquiere supported the 

 enquiry, but seemed to consider that 

 the blame should fall principally on 

 the English ministers, who refused to 

 give the lord lieutenant those powers 

 which were necessary, and for which 

 he applied. That system of not a- 

 larming the people, led to <loing 

 what was worse than wrong ; it led 

 to doing nothing at all ! It was a 

 system that would have brought this 

 country to ruin, if it had not been 

 awakened by a right honourable 

 gentleman fMr. Windham) to ,a 

 proper sense of its dangers. It was 

 the same system that crossed over to 

 Ireland, like a pestilential disease, 

 and brought it to the brink of ruin. 

 He thought the government of Ire- 

 land could not have acted the part 

 they did, unless under the immediate 

 control of the English cabinet. 



Mr. Windham took notice of the 

 great length of time that gentlemen 

 on the other side took to make up 

 their minds, upon the grounds to 

 fake in defending the Irish govern- 

 ment. They seemed at a loss to 

 know, whether it were better to be 

 negligent, or to be ignorant ; whe- 

 ther in that transaction they should 

 be bulk- or hears. Sometimes they 



wished 



