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Legal aspects of the Irish secret service fund, 1793–1833

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

John F McEldowney
John F McEldowney*
Affiliation:
School of Law, University of Warwick
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Extract

Eunan O’Halpin’s short paper, ‘The secret service vote and Ireland, 1868- 1922’, raises important questions about accountability for the payment of money for secret service work, a term not defined in any statute in nineteenth-century Ireland. What did ‘secret service work’ include and to what extent was the money properly authorised?

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the legal implications of the use of secret service money Accounts for 1833 in the Hatherton papers show the amount of money paid, to whom and for what purposes. Edward John Littleton, first Baron Hatherton (1791 – 1863), was chief secretary for Ireland in 1833 and 1834 during the second lord lieutenancy of Marquis Wellesley This article is based largely on evidence drawn from the Hatherton papers and raises questions about the impartiality of justice in Ireland.

Type
Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 98 , November 1986 , pp. 129 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1986

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References

1 O’Halpin, Eunan, ‘The secret service vote and Ireland, 1868–1922’ in I.H.S., 23, no. 92 (Nov 1983), pp 348–53.Google Scholar

2 An historical account of the payment of secret service money under the Irish statute of 1793 (33 Geo. III, c.34) is given in Gilbert, John T (ed.),Documents relating to Ireland, 1795–1804 (Dublin, 1893), pp v–xxi.Google Scholar

3 Stafford County Record Office, Hatherton papers, D260/M/01/— These are the papers of Edward John Littleton, 1st Baron Hatherton (1792–1863), who was chief secretary for Ireland in 1833 and 1834 during the second lord lieutenancy of Marquis Wellesley See Hatherton’s, Lord Memoir and correspondence relating to political occurrences in June and July 1834, ed. Reeve, Henry (London, 1872).Google Scholar

4 ‘Provided always, that it shall and may be lawful for the said high-treasurer, vice-treasurer or vice-treasurers, or such person or persons as shall be authorized thereto, to pay any sum of money to the principal secretary of the lord lieutenant or other chief governor or governors of this kingdom.’ The italics are mine.

5 This view is expressed also in Lt Col. Sir William Gosset, under-secretary for Ireland, to E. J Littleton, 28 Mar. 1834 (Hatherton papers, D260/M/01/1093a).

6 McDowell, R.B., The Irish administration, 1801–1914 (London, 1964), pp 78–9.Google Scholar

7 O’Halpin, , ‘Secret service vote’, p. 348, n. 1.Google Scholar

8 The form of oath was: ‘I … do swear that the money paid to me for secret service, for the purposes of detecting, preventing or defeating treasonable or other dangerous conspiracies against the state has been bona fide applied to such purposes and no other, so help me God’

9 33 Geo. III, c.34. See memorandum in Hatherton papers, D260/M/10/1088.

10 Ibid.

11 45 Geo. III, c.76.

l2 Ibid.

13 Parker, C.S., Sir Robert Peel (3 vols, London, 1891–9), 1, 227 Google Scholar

14 No mention is made in any of the reports made to parliament that have been examined. See Fourteenth report on the treasury, 1813–14, p. 1, H.C. 1813–14 (94), vii, 1, Report from the select committee on miscellaneous expenditure, together with minutes of evidence and appendix, p. 1, H.C. 1847–8 (543), xviii, p. 1

15 O’Halpin, , ‘Secret service vote’, p. 349.Google Scholar It would appear that the sum quoted does not include all payments made out of the treason fund for secret service work.

16 8 Statutes at large 14; Halsbury, Laws.

17 Spicer, Robert, Conspiracy, law, class, land, society (London, 1981), pp 32–3.Google Scholar

18 Cave, J. in Burns (1886) 16 Cox CC 335 at 360 where the early cases are discussed.Google Scholar

19 36 Geo. III, c.7

20 11 & 12 Vict., C.12.

21 Spicer, , Conspiracy, p. 32.Google Scholar

22 Ibid., pp 31–49.

23 Hatherton papers, D260/M/01/1088.

24 Ibid., D260/M/01/1089. On Edward Trevor, see, e.g., Coughlan, R.J, Napper Tandy (Dublin, 1976), pp 137, 174–6.Google Scholar

25 Hatherton papers, D260/M/01/1089.

26 Ibid., D260/M/01/1090.

27 Ibid., D260/M/01/1091. See also, for a later period, E.G. Jenkinson to Lord Spencer, 15 Jan. 1884, marked ‘secret’, in Gordon, Peter (ed.), The Red Earl: the papers of the fifth Earl Spencer, 1835–1910, 1 (Northampton, 1981), p. 262, no. 339.Google Scholar

28 Hatherton papers, D260/M/01/1086.

29 Inglis, Brian, The freedom of the press in Ireland, 1784–1841 (London, 1954), p. 241.Google Scholar The Hibernian Telegraph was run by Corbet from 1795 to 1810. The paper was discontinued in 1810 to make way for the Patriot.

30 Hatherton papers, D260/M/01/1087

31 Ibid., D260/M/01/1084.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid.

34 Gosset to Littleton, 28 Mar. 1834 (ibid., D260/M/01/1093a).

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 Ibid. In fact the constabulary bill referred to in the letter later became law after much debate and a six-month delay in the house of lords (Hansard 3, xxx, 655–61, 1022–6, 18 Aug. 1835). See An act to consolidate the laws relating to the Constabulary Force in Ireland (1836; 6 & 7 Will. IV, c.13). Powers to give greater financial accountability of the constabulary were introduced; proper audits of accounts were required for money lodged in the Bank of Ireland (ibid., ss 6, 8, 28, 35).

39 Hatherton papers, D260/M/01/1093a.

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid. Thomas Taylor was Irish chief clerk at Dublin Castle.

42 Gordon, (ed.), The Red Earl, p. 92.Google Scholar

43 Ibid., p. 115.

44 Report from select committee on civil government charges, together with.. evidence, p. 8, H.C. 1831 (337), iv, 340.

45 McEldowney, J.F, ‘Crown prosecutions in 19th-century Ireland’ in Hay, Douglas and Snyder, Francis (eds), Crime, police and prosecution (Oxford, 1987), pp 262–96.Google Scholar

46 Iam grateful to Professor Paul O’Higgins for comments. Errors are my own responsibility I am also grateful to the Nuffield Foundation for financial support.