"I believe nothing short of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and Martial Law will effect the third proposition. This would effect it during their operation, and perhaps for a short time after they had ceased, and then every evil would return with accumulated weight.
"But no House of Commons would consent to these measures until there is open rebellion, and therefore until that occurs it is useless to think of them. The second mode of proceeding is then, I conceive, the only practicable one, but the present is not a propitious time to effect even this.
"I abhor the idea of truckling to the overbearing Catholic demagogues. To make any movement towards conciliation under the present excitement and system of terror would revolt me; but I do most conscientiously, and after the most earnest consideration of the subject, give it as my conviction that the first moment of composure and tranquillity should be seized to signify the intention of adjusting the question, lest another period of calm should not present itself."
[IRISH UNREST (1828).]
Source.—Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel, by Stanhope and Cardwell. London, 1856. Pt. I. p. 35.
Irish Police Reports, January and February, 1828.
Sligo.—Generally quiet; 1 murder; 7 outrages.
Mayo.—Perfectly quiet; 1 murder; 1 outrage.