mstances to which
it becomes necessary to advert, those circumstances being calculated by
their moral and political effects on the composition of government, and
on the relations of parties, to exercise a great influence on the spirit
of all subsequent measures.

RENEWAL OF THE IRISH COERCION BILL.

{WILLIAM IV. 1834}

In the preceding session it had been found necessary to pass what
was termed the coercion bill--a bill intended to put down that
insurrectionary violence and combination which filled Ireland with crime
and confusion. This act was to expire in August; and ministers, acting
upon information received from various parts of Ireland, had determined
to propose its renewal, omitting those parts that related to the trial
of offenders, in certain cases, by courts-martial. There were, however,
other provisions in the bill which the agitators of Ireland viewed with
still greater dislike, they interfering with their own influence, by
preventing those meetings which enabled them to work on the ignorance
and passions of the misguided multitude. To escape from these
restrictions was to Mr. O'Connell and his followers an object of greater
importance than that the multitude whom they misled should be tried only
by the regular tribunals of the country--that the peasant should have
the benefit of the jury, or of an investigation by the civil magistrate.
The lord-lieutenant of Ireland had recommended that the whole act should
be renewed, with the exception of the clause relative to courts-martial;
but on the 23rd of June, Earl Grey received a communication from
him, stating that the provision against public meetings might also
be omitted. What influence had been used with the Marquis Wellesley
subsequently became the subject of much discussion. It appeared that
certain members of the cabinet had been corresponding with him without
the knowledge of Earl Grey, and that the object of their correspondence
had been, not to insure more tranquillity in Ireland, but to smooth the
way of ministers by making concessions to O'Connell and his adherents.
On discovering this, Earl Grey, who dissented from such views,
immediately wrote to the lord-lieutenant to reconsider the subject,
taking nothing into account but what was fitting for Ireland. Lord
Wellesley, however, still adhered to his recommendation, more especially
if, by means of such omission, an extension of the term for the act
could be obtained. The subject was now brou