THE CONSPIRACY BILL: AN EVIL CONSEQUENCE OF POSTPONING LAW REFORM.
Belfast, 17th February 1858.
Six—It is impossible not to feel annoyance and indignation at the posi- tion in which the French Government has succeeded in placing our Legis- lature : at the same time, it is impossible for any one who regards the question dispassionately, and without reference to foreign politics, to object to a change in the law which will make it felony to conspire or to instigate to commit murder, whether in or out of the United Kingdom.
Our recent history contains an exact parallel to the Conspiracy Bill. In 1848, when a revolutionary movement in Ireland was seriously hoped and seriously dreaded, it was found that the law in Ireland was insufficient. The offence of instigating to rebellion, which was treason in England, was only a misde- meanour in Ireland. An act was passed making the crime felony in both coun- tries. Of course this was represented at the tune as an attack on the liberties of the Irish people : but now it is the law of the entire United Kingdom, and no one believes it to be oppressive. It is proposed to do the same now for the crime of conspiracy or instigation to murder that was then done for the crime of instigating to rebellion ; the names of England and Ireland only in the two cases being reversed.
The false position in which we are placed at present is the result of our long delay in consolidating our criminal law, and our habit of never rectify- ing an anomaly until it has become an evident evil. In the case which I have referred to as occurring in 1848, and again at this time, we see how a necessary law reform may be made under circumstances that give it another and much less respectable character. In 1848, Parliament was placed in the undignified position of making a law for the apparent purpose of trans- porting John Mitchel: at this time, Parliament is placed an the still worse position of making a law for the apparent purpose of pleasing Napoleon.
We ought, however, to do right, and not regard misrepresentations. If we pass the Conspiracy Bill, we shall be represented as having surrendered the right of asylum ; if we refuse to pass it, we shall be represented as the protectors of assassins. The change in our law is needed ; and it is better to be misrepresented for being in the right than for being in the wrong.
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