Page images
PDF
EPUB

We took his guage, as did the common fool:
By Report's shallow valuing appraised,
When from the Irish Secretary's tool

To the great Indian throne we saw him raised.
That throne, from whose height One had then stepped down,
Whom all revered, as Soldier, Statesman, Sage:
A stern, plain King of Men, within whose frown
No lie could live, who knew all work's due wage.
"Can dwarf," we asked, "in giant's armour fight ?"
Painted his sovereignty as an eclipse
Enshrouding India in a sudden night;

And most men's scorn, like ours, was on their lips. How should the slight man fill the strong man's place? Rise from his small routine of petty toil, A vast and various Empire's needs to face,

And move, unhampered by the mighty coil!
They gauged him better, those who knew him best;
They read, beneath that bright and blithesome cheer,
The Statesman's wide and watchful eye, the breast
Unwarped by favor, and unwrung by fear:

The wit to choose, the will to do the right;
All the more potent for the cheerful mood
That made the irksome yoke of duty light,"

Helping to smooth the rough, refine the rude :
Bidding the dusty paths of daily toil

With flowers of gladness and good-feeling glow; On rusty wards of office pouring oil,

Making work's hinges with strange smoothness go.
Nor for this cheeriness less strenuous shown,

All ear, all eye, he swayed his mighty realm;
Till through its length and breadh a presence known,
Felt as a living hand upon the helm.

All men spoke well of him, as most men thought,
Here as in India and his friends were proud:

It seemed as if no enmity he wrought,

But moved, love-girt, at home or in the crowd. What, then, our woe and wonderment to hear

Death had found way to this well-guarded life! Love, Honor, State were there, but Hate, hid near, Struck through their triple shield with felon knife. If true regret and true respect have balm

For hearts that more than public loss must mourn, They join to crown this forehead, cold and calm, With laurel, well-won as was ever worn,

Only the greener that 'twas late to grow,

And that by the sudden blight its leaves are shed: Then, with thy honored freight, sail, sad and slow,

O ship, that bears him to his kindred dead !-Punch.

(2)

APPENDIX.

[ocr errors]

...

Earl Mayo at Aden-Address of welcome of the Aden Com-
munity, with Lord Mayo's reply
Lord Mayo and the Deputation from the Bombay Chamber of
Commerce, the Chamber's Address of welcome, with Lord

Mayo's reply ...

Arrival of Earl Mayo at Madras viâ Beypore

...

Address of the Madras Chamber of Commerce, with Lord
Mayo's reply
Address of the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce with Lord

Mayo's reply

[ocr errors]

...

[ocr errors]

Address of the Landholders Association with Lord Mayo's reply

[ocr errors]

...

i

vi

XV

xvii

xxi

xxxii

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Address of the Trades Association with Lord Mayo's reply ← Address of the British Indian Association with Lord Mayo's

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

reply Lord Mayo's reply to the address of the Khamgaon Munici pality Address of the Ajmere Municipality with Lord Mayo's reply Address of the St. Xavier's College with Lord Mayo's reply Address of the Mahomedan Literary Society with Lord Mayo's reply Address of the Rangoon Community with Lord Mayo's reply...

[blocks in formation]

Lord Mayo's Speech at the Rangoon Durbar
Lord Mayo's Speech on the Brahmo Marriage Bill

...

XL

XLi

XLii

XLVii

L

LV

...

LV

SPEECHES

OF HIS EXCELLENCY

The Rt. Hon. EARL MAYO.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, 6TH FEBRUARY 1849. SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS ACT.

(IRELAND.)

[On the 6th February 1849, Sir Geo. Grey, the Home Secretary proposed to extend temporarily the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland which had been originally necessitated by the turbulent spirit of disaffection, disloyalty, and rebellion which the Irish people manifested, after the terrible famine which devastated their country. A lengthy debate ensued in which Mr. T. C. Anstey, well known on this side of India for his late incomparably able defence of the Wahabee prisoners, then member for Youghall, took a part. Earl Mayo then plain Mr. R. S. Bourke, member for Kildare, delivered the following maiden Speech in Parliament, in support of the Government Motion. In conclusion the House divided. Ayes 221; Noes 18; majority 203. Main Question put and agreed to; Bill ordered to be brought in. ]

MR.

R. BOURKE regretted that, on rising to address the House for the first time, he should feel himself compelled to speak on a subject that must be equally painful to the feelings of all true Irishmen. But representing, as he did, a county, that was little, if at all, implicated in the melancholy circumstances of the last summer, he felt it to be his duty, on the part of his constituents, as well as on his own, to ex

press his painful conviction that there did exist a necessity for the continue suspension of this Act. From the statement he had heard that night from the Right Hon. Gentlemah, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (Sir George Grey) as also from his own knowledge of the feelings of parties and men in Ireland, he felt convinced that the Government were justified in the course they had taken. If this were a measure that was calculated to excite feelings of alarm in the minds of men— if it were a measure that would impress on the minds of men the conviction that a blow was still intended by the rebellious section in Ireland against the Government-if it were a measure that was calculated to cramp the transactions of commerce, or retard the operations of agriculture—if he thought there was an intention on the part of the Government to make this measure in any degree permanent, he should, though deeply impressed with its necessity, feel himself bound to oppose it. He felt, however, that the contrary was the case, and that the powers sought by this Bill were necessary in order to prevent the recurrence of those events which had been so detrimental to the interests of Ireland during the last year. Seeing, then, that there was no intention on the part of Her Majesty's Government to render this a permanent measure, and seeing also that it was not likely to produce any of those effects which had been anticipated, he thought that all who were desirous of seeing peace and order established in the country should give their support to the proposal for a limited extension of the measure. He (Mr. Bourke), as an Irishman, would most gladly give his support to any measure which would insure, even for

« PreviousContinue »