THE FENIAN PRISONERS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 234, 26 October 1877, Page 15

THE FENIAN PRISONERS.

On Friday, July 20, Mr. O'Connor Power rose to move, " That in the opinion of this House the time has come when her Majesty's gracious pardon may be advantageously extended to the prisoners, whether convicted before the civil tribunals or by courts martial, who are and have been for many years undergoing punishment for offences arising out of insurrectionary movements connected with Ireland " He considered the continued incarceration of these prisoners not only a source of grave dissatisfaction, but of grave disaffection in Ireland and also m the minds of many persons in this country, who could not see any ground of sound policy in their detention. There were at the present time six prisoners under detention. Three of these were convicted of certain breaches of the articles of war, and two of participating ln the attack on the prison van at Manchester. His motion involved nothing more than the liberation of six individuals. Three ot them had been suffering penal servitude for eleven years. He submitted that they were political offenders. Compared with the conduct ot other nations, he submitted that the conduct of her Maiestv's Government was without a parallel. At this moment the favourite in Dublin was, " The Felons of our Land," and its chorus was ■A fetons ° a P " the Proudest crown an Irish head can wear!" Cheers and laughter.) He once more appealed to the Government to do something to stir the heart of Irish gratitude by announcing the uneondrfional relief of these prisoners. (Loud cheers.)— Mai or O.Gorman seconded the motion. All the great political men of this great country for centuries back had been the most violent of political offenders. If they looked back to English history they would find that vulgar murder— very vulgar, indeed— had been very common amongst political aspirants, from the days of Richard 11. downwards to the time of Cromwell, who was in fact far more violent than the poor men whose cause he now pleaded, and who had been kept in prison n T JZ °\ ™ VG years> He x would P ass Btill frrther down. (Laughter.) There was a name which belonged to a gentleman who was in. his time rather a violent politician, and yet he slept in an honoured grave. He referred to George Washington. The hon member for Brighton (General Shute) had spoken of whipping such rebels as the Fenians at the cart tail. Well, when Washington eot the Marquis of Cornwallis into his hands, did he whip him 1 No -he treated him as an honourable enemy who had been conquered Yet this George Washington, who was now worshipped, was the greatest rebel of modern times. What about Count Andrassy ? Thousands of pounds were at one time offered for his capture, dead or alive, by the present Emperor of Austria, and where was he now ? (Laughter ) He was Prime Minister of Hungary and Austria. These Fenian prisoners were worthy of pity. They were men, Christians, and, he hoped, good fellows. (Laughter.) He would, however, rely upon the kindliness and good heart of her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria.— The Speaker ; I must remind the hoii, gentleman that it is

out of order to mention her Majesty's jfaame in connection with debates in this House. (Hear, hear.)— Major O'Gorman, in his further remarks, said if the Ministers would suspend their advice to the Queen for an hour, he had no doubt of the success of this motion. (Hear, hear.) — Mr. Hardy said the executive of any country had cast upon it a most solemn responsibility in dealing with men who hare been guilty of crimes such as those committed by the men whose conduct they were discussing. These cases had been, and were under the consideration of the executive from time to time, and they had to weigh circumstances wholly unknown to that House. Perhaps when the secret history of these times came to be written, hon. members would know what crimes were meditated and what were in process of being perpetrated but for the watchfulness of the executive. (Hear, hear.) In the case of the men tried at Manchester, they were sentenced to death, and so were the men who were tried by courtmartial, although it was afterwards commuted to penal servitude for life. The offence committed by them was of the gravest military character, that of not disclosing the knowledge of a contemplated mutin y, and by men who were placed in a position of extreme responsibility from their being non-commissioned officers. If these enmes had been committed in any other country, the hon. member would never have had to ask for the pardon of the offenders, because they would have been shot in the first instance. The country had a right to demand the utmost punishment which the law allowed (cheers) ; much more when men, who had assumed the character of defenders of tlie country violated the oaths which they had taken, and conspired to destroy the country. Until the executive, looking at all the circumstances of the case, saw that the time had arrived when these men might be released without injury to the country and the people at large, there ought to be no interference between the Government and the prerogative of the Crown. (Cheers.)— Mr. Butt repudiated the notion that it was unconstitutional for that House to express an opinion on any motion affecting the peace of the country and the dignity of the Crown. The murder committed at Manchester was a technical murder ; it was a constructive murder. The men did not commit murder in the sense of deliberate assassination ; and if the affair had occurred in the rescue of a poacher, the men would have been out of prison by this time, If there were things going on which justified the detention of these prisoners the country had a right to know it ; and an appeal to something which was locked up in the heart of the minister ought not to be regarded by the House of Commons. The detention of these men in prison was doing more mischief in maintaining the spirit of disaffection in Ireland than any other cause. — The AttorneyGeneral protested against those who were found guilty of the slaughter of Serjeant Brett being considered only guilty of technical murder. — Mr Gladstone, who was received with cheers from the Irish members, said the murder of Sorjeant Brett was a most gross outrage against the law, and an act most dangerous to the peaca of society. But was it not going a little beyond accuracy to say that that homicide was a deliberate and atrocious murder. A sounder discretion would have been exercised if, instead of moving a resolution, the Irish members had moved an address to the Crown, to be exercised according to the advice given by the ministers of the Crown. Undoubtedly the offences of the principal part of these prisoners did not fall properly within the categoiy of political offences. The man who intended to shoot Sir Robert Peel did not become a political offender merely because he had a political motive. By a political offence he understood an offence committed under circumstances approaching the character of civil war. What took place in Manchester was of a different character, and must be looked at in the character of an ordinary crime. The main question they had to ask was— Had enough been done to satisfy the ends of public justice in deterring others from the commission of crime ? With all due deference to the executive, he could not help expressing a hope that either the time might now have arrived, or that it would speedily come, when the cases of these men would be examined with a view to the prerogative of mercy. (Cheers.)— Mr Cross said this was a question affecting the prerogative of the Crown on which her Majesty's responsible advisers must be the judge, This was a questhat must be left to the discretion of the Crown. (Cheers.)— The Marquis of Hartington had not been able to arrive at a similar conviction as his right hon. friend (Mr Gladstone). (Loud Ministerial cheers.) He could not see there was any occasion for the House to interfere at all.— Mr O'Connor Power was willing to adopt the suggestion of the right hon. member for Greenwich, and to alter his amendment accordingly, if the House permitted. The House divided. The numbers were— for Mr O'Connor Power's motion, 77 ; against it. 235 : majority, 158.