The Sun. — London, England, 1844-03-12 00:00:00

Paoli will come forward, Mr. O'C onne ll it w ill ttli „ : , be aud ience. " Considerable interruption was t ert 7 by this ci rcumstance, which was at length th e ;Ted by Air. O'C onnell ' s leavinc, LI., position at p kt 'g e t of the Chair, and proceeding to a central the h o o t the b uilding amidst loud plaudits frorA tahi xe and the more di stant port i on o f t h e op 0 'age. The Honourable Gentleman standing 4 kh ne of the t a bl es, went on to say)—The task iip di I i'as en&avOuring to perf o rm was that of de o e4til l you to yourselves—(Laughter)— of en eji• to prove t o you that you were perfectly ky ow - ' i n the ardour of y our en th us i asm i n su pp or ti ng Th e ite 4 cause an d that of the Irish people.—(Cheers.) 11silt im which has been made against me, and modwhich I have been convicted, is of such an enor s 4 0 bl leti , 4 re, that it is interesing to every human being, 4 , 40 "er he b € , himself liable to a similar machination 4144611i:dit' te b r u ea tr . s_tan o d ie d a i r st , inctly its bearings, its form, hear.) It is not a crime S et , bY the law, or definite—it is not a crime po ttibi ll lg the evidence of which there is any of e esort to law books, or to the conjurations of kir reY trade.—(Great laughter.) It is called, to ktN T :i a conspiracy ; but there is nothing of private the re - !lit - --- there is nothing of arrangement (1 4 ,,,,5 3 nothing of plot or plan in it— ALtti•egter)---it is something that the judges imagine the 9 th e dream and make the public suffer when 4t44l,,itre awake.—(Roars of laughter.) One of our k ii i ti i lie esithors of celebrity, in the fulness of her isz agination, has depicted to the world an fe rn ,,. b eing, of extraordinary dimensions, and iOuS capacity, and has denominated that g b e : /‘ rankenstein." Thi s cons piracy, which t/lei mr. ll tried in I re l an d, i s th e F ran k ens t e i n o f s tlit o C(Great la ug ht er .) A s th e one i s uncou th s haped in form, undefined and indefinite o ther , havin g noth i ng of human i ty about it—so 1 14, has nothing of law but its monstrosity. the Zis i t endeavoured to be supported? By llot (1' 4)1 1 of ni ne mon th s . —(L aug ht er .) Wh a t ktf tt l i ci it discl ose ? Wh y a p l o t w hi c h was ppolk / co mmitted to those keepers of secrets, the ~toeeliewsPapers.—(lmmense laughter.) Not one 'kkli s t 7e B prod uce d to prove any f ac t excep t that tit t i le were th e proprietors of newspapers, an d e ileZ w ere members of the Association, and then „ 444 the ; Pa Pers were read in detail against us, Aulges determined that that was evidence 11 0 8 ,, Pire eY; and here I stand before you a " con "ty o c f -m is s P i rator."—(Cheers and laughter.) The his aspirator."—(Cheers months was given in this satisfactory / ;sre k ii ,The chronology and dates of newspapers Cle et , s 4 sat varied from one week to another.— t 4 ( 142 The history of only one great meeting ', 1 41 C h il e( l aS it had appeared in the public prints. h 'tre h lt " r eed that any one of them was illegal; that 1 of th ' °r ee, or violence, or turbulence, or tumult at N oh eln ? - -(Hear.) Not a particle of any such ns - m could be made.—(Cheers.) Was it al epotth magistracy of the country or the stt'-,„,,t.0f the country, or the idle or the timid, Is ttii o - ` 44 iclated or frightened at any one of these ill Res N ttati (Hear , hear.) There was not a single p l : ts ef the ' kind. —(Cries of "Hear, hear.") S' s ) , Ns were peaceable—they were legal— ..(111:Y them was admitted to be legal—(Hear, fort t, by the dexterity of legal magic, though ep t o one were perfectly legal, yet the whole, k ,. tt s I' ( " e i t her, formed a conspiracy.—(Laughter.) bags l y a mockery to say that forty-one legal e • haitinillegal ide one one.—(Laughter.) Forty *l,,.-ers would not make a sum, and yet the - 8 ° decid e d i n our case t h a t f or t y nothings to Le°4lething._(Loud laughter.) Was it 144 bl eked on w ith s co r n and indignation, and 4 4 1 , 1 , 4 th° se men who planned this conspiracy, with lot W orthy of Old Bailey practitioners, them .NlePirators, and ought they not to be branded hear, and cheers) What ::1411 t ettl i lillefadlalY aw ?— to ( - li da ear, might be forced into a prece- Kt e rrow and y if the question be allowed to Cbe - '" r e is not one of you whose case it might I:lkl:ll3;43rrow.—(Hear, hear.) I say not this to 'Re ` e You, or to warm you -in support of the i l l et Ireland, for I would be the most mistaken i k , (4 4 11 4 , 1 ' I ,_beings, if I was no t a l rea d y awa re that it r no other motive but your own generous that y ou sympathise with them. I arraigned "Ne • t (4 , Ution against me, and lam just in arraigning I N ei „„ h r , was nothin g o f l ega l f orm a b ou t it ; th ere 4 .11. 1 411 t gfixed or tangibl e w hi c h y ou m i g ht encoun atil w as 3 a monstrous shadow . , s . et up by 6 1 / 4 tu A L! e arit administrators of the lam but there dy legal Which could be met but by fair argument te lkigp m e gel discrimination.—(Hear, hear.) I next e t ,, tf„ the Conduct of the judge, and I have this that no human being justifies him. The -4i ee when a man is arraigned for his con -11404144, 41 . ttNrliament, for a Ministerial Member, if he be I Il tito, rlai man, or fora Member of the Opposition, if b ,g to that side of the House, is suddenly to get 4 1 „;`q e eover him to be a man endowed with 14, 11 stal ' and then they eulogise him. This was 4 0 co ur B e in Parliament, and I appeal to those tAt het kt olab t d at4i , o l iar with its proceedin . gs • but no person t ' I I rise up and praise Chief ' Justice Penne iiea.? It is admitted, since the days k / 4; 0 4 01 Jeffries, such a one-handed charge, . 'sanded charge was pronounced by a cons lak , • 14, to th ge a hps.—(Groans.) He has taken you that e o n e Worst .period of our law. Why, I saw . tool, he borrowed a part of the prosecutor • \ ( %;11 ,,,e 11 , 44(1 , 48 out of the fullness of the heart the k i i"to . :',. ‘ s ss, he talked of counsel on the other side. ofe - ' O 9 Let it be proclaimed from the extre tlt go threWall to the highest point of Scotland -00,13/1 the length and breadth of the land, 7,,L4t till„quet of th e Chi e f J us ti ce was n ot capable thi t tie e ra,) ez ended b y any Government or any party. 1+1,2 4 le You see how lam coaxing him .in to . rytktp t 'tot sentence upon me. , L 4 c, 4 „ My next ,:llt ettr „ie omission of the names in the jury 111 4 .‘:eic leat ne ar.) Out of 710 names, 63 slipped tb le %It • (Laughter.) We had a lot of them, pt •/ t t til e entire number of names, 63 were tliZt op t w as said t o be an accident—(Laughter) t of the 63 names that were omitted, 27 t tei l p 0141411 Catholics ; perhaps you do not know ,Itt4 e 4t f - ,: f t hat persuasion. Your esteemed and kt!te as '' L end the Chairman, has told you that the p;ci i p 4 - t r o _ e lies were indebted to me . for Catholic N ett eit sav u• He might have added with truth, and tit pride, that I sought it not by the 9191 a nY sectarian preference.—(Cheers.) ttt lo oitt et/ll e ri i dered that religion was a matter be 41s ,°',/tlst• said his Creator, and that there was no kk l l ligi, h l ee in excluding any man, on account of 'IR IP % civil rights ; and that every Ipt. 4 0 34 stified i n worshipping h i s G o d accord thadti'tates of his conscience. —(Cheers.) It it s ap d P ri neiple I soug ht an d o bt a i n ed eman ttip:: 4 a th a. would not have it on any other ground tip kt t 4 t Principle that we petitioned for the Pro ioa gland, and helped to obtain their eman , e lv ' 4 6, 11 P th el lr, hear.) Here is the hand that i c o .. l l: l4 Peti tion.—(Cheers.) It was signed by e sratti f , ell Catholics, and it prayed for the tli 4t 4l of the Protestant Dissenters in England. ip,7 1 1 44 Petition was presented, Lord John V t 4 h the e t e . d ed, and Peel was compelled to eman le, letenters.—(Hear, hear.) Pardon me l 'sit- le llli esBi3ll , but it is incumbent upon me that Ilenriderstand each other well.—(Hear, (15,' am Catholi cs were i n power three h eitr tll eY never p ersecu t e d a Protestant ' I , Oh, let u s con t en d w ith each other ti t i k lso erm .enaritable a n d b enevo l en t feelings, and t 'tt adv a „l t t° ourselves for any particular or sec kit(ll4seierila,!, but in the establishment of liberty kli rk _eop ie b uil a broad and secure basis.—(Cheers.) 4.7 out „aelt to the trial ; sixty-three names 1 4 10 °I the Panel•—(Hear, hear.) Mark me, 1 e Ot I 4 g°ln l4, for th ere is something technical in ' ` 4 lre - you, but I think you will 41 4 (:(I, on 't it. We challenge the array, as it of the sixty-three names—(A. lotikett;lttZzl:evei°llll,:lint ”)—certainly it was not acca ttittfritild:hter.) We alleged that those names I, l‘ asently taken from the list. We alleged Q"PI tie to the • .e detriment of the traversers. eo w - Put o n th tIlAt it to , o . e record ; the Attorney-General J issue on that allegation, and say V tri ed * not cryraud. That issue would have di Oral tr k ith, d eer duly sworn. The Attorney -0" th a t • - • of "Shame, „ l er issue.—(L;ries t 4 : 1 4 4 0 -td it Stan d , the allegation to stand uncantra % ttuss uncontradicted to this day. He e Y t o i d `uit he had judges who would tell. Lim, k ittl co lis ' t hat as we did not know rulufitted the fraud, we were THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH l2, 1844. without remedy.—(Laughter and loud cheers.) It is literally true. I am here talking to the common sense of Englishmen—their sense of honesty, and above all thingi, to that noble adhesion to fair play, which is the highest and most dignified trait in the English character.--(Loud cheers.) It is curious that in no other part of the world can two men fight without the people who come up taking part with one or with the other. But in England it is proverbial, that no people ever come up to see men so engaged, that they do not immediately insist on seeing fair play.—(Loud cheers.) I ap peal to that sense of fair play.—(Cheers.) There is no word to express it in any other language, and it deserves to have a word coined for itself. The fraud is undenird to the present moment ; and the only answer we got was, that as we did not know the name of the person who commititid the fraud, we had no remedy. I suppose that a person is not robbed if he does not know the name of the thief who robs him. (Loud laughter.) If you were to go before Sir Peter Laurie, or any other of your white witches, and bring a man before him, saying, "I caught this man stealing my property, and just escaping from my premises with the goods," everybody would laugh, more than they do at Sir Peter Laurie, if it were said " Oh, we can't listen to your complaint if you don't know the name of the man." (Laughter.) Yet upon this most ridiculous assertion, we were told that the fraud should go unpunished, and that we should be punished for alleging the fraud. There remains one impeachment more of these proceedings, and that is my impeachment of the jury sworn. In point of law, Catholics and Protestants had an equal right to be upon that jury. —(Loud cheers.) In point of justice, it ought to be so. In fair play it would be so. Chief Justice Fair-play will decide it for me at once. —(Loud laughter.) Yet what was the first step ? Ele ven Catholics, who were on the reduced list, were struck off by the Attorney-General.—(Cries of " Shame, shame.") They say that they were Re pealers. In the first place that was not true. That is one answer to it. In the next place, if it had been true, it is no reply—(Hear, hear)—because though to be a Repealer may be a great folly, it is not a crime. It is not a crime that makes a man an out law, and if they say that Repealers would have been favourable jurors to me, T ask whether the most vio lent Anti-Repealers—men who voted against me three or four times over—could form a fair and impartial jury against me ?—(Cheers.) I use their own argument, I convict them out of their own mouths.—(Cheers.) I appeal to the common sense of Englishmen to say if Repealers would have been favourable to me, would not anti- Re pealers be favourable to others ? But recol lect it was more important to have an impartial jury on • this trial, as the crime was not a definite one. Had it been murder, or robbery, or forgery, any human intellect could have judged of the nature of the crime, and would only have had to decide on the question of fact ; but here the crime was imaginary. One partaking more of identity than of reality. One which empha tically required a thoroughly impartial as well as intelligent jury. From that jury one Protestant was struck off— an intelligent individual one of a higher order of intellect than the others—that intelligent Protestant was sent to keep company with the eleven Catholics—(Cheers)—and they call that a fair trial. I call that a persecution rather than a prosecution. It was not a fair trial ; it was shifting, scheming management.—(Cheers ) I say I am not convicted by due course of law, and in prison I shall feel that I am a victim—(Loud cries of" Never, never!")—and in that prison I shall have the feeling at heart that will raise me superior to the punishment.—(Cheers.) Why, I have plenty here to open my prison doors—(Cheers)—but it would be very idle to suppose that I am not thoroughly prepared for an event of that kind. But whatever I may suffer for my country, I shall rejoice in my suffering.—(Cheers.) Whatever may be the inflictions which I may have to undergo, I shall bear them cheerfully, for the sake of my country.—(Loud cheers.) I denounce the whole of the proceedings against me, and my words will not be confined to these walls. Wherever the English language is spoken—and the sun never sets upon the countries in which that language is spoken—wherever the accents of the English tongue are heard, will these my words be borne upon the wings of the press—(Cheers)—and throughout America, France, India, throughout every country in the world, will this my protest go forth against that which I denounce as a dishonest persecution— (Loud cheers)—and my contemptuous defiance of those who have conducted it.—(Loud cheers.) But I shall be asked, no doubt, what was my object in holding those meetings. You will say it is true you ought not to have been convicted of conspiracy, but you have an account to render to us. Now, 1 have been accused of wishing to separate England and Ireland—l have been accused of unne cessarily Meddling with an agreement entered into forty-four years ago, of needlessly reviving old causes of complaint, and creating new grievances to add to them. Now I am quite ready to meet that charge, and I should be utterly unworthy if I were not ready here in the presence of you Englishmen, to justify everything that I have done, and to rebut every imputa tion which has been cast upon me—(Loud cheers) — and to state to you the reasons why I have held these meetings. They say there is a union between the two countries. I utterly deny it.—(Loud cheers.) There is a parchment compact—(Cheers) —a parchment enactment—(Cheers)—but there is no real union. —(Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) What is the meaning of a real union ? A perfect identification between the two countries—(Cheers) —that there should be no difference between Eng lishmen and Irishmen, except the accent.—(A. laugh.) that Englishmen and Irishmen should possess the same rights, the same privileges, and the same fran chises—(Cheers)—that there should be no difference in respect of rights and franchises between the men of Kent and the men of Cork—(Cheers) —between the men of Mayo and the men of Lancashire.—(Re newed cheers.) That England and Ireland should be one nation, possessed of precisely the same rights, the same franchises, and the same privileges.—(Cheers.) I appealed to the Parliament to make that parchment union a real one. The Tories, of course, refused, and the Whigs were equally complimentary.—(Cheers and laughter.) I do not wish to weary this assembly by entering into the dry details of statistics. I will, however, draw your attention to one or two statements. The county of Cork, which I have the honour to represent, has 713,000 inhabitants in its agricultural districts, and upwards of 200,000 inhabitants in its cities and towns, so that the total population of Cork is equal to 850,000 inhabitants. Now, the inhabitants of Wales are 800,000, being 50,000 less than the inha bitants of the county of Cork. The county of Cork, with its 850,000 inhabitants, returns just eight Mem bers to Parliament ; and how many Members do you think Wales returns with its 800,000 ? Why, just eight-and-twenty.—(Hear, hear.) Well, now, surely one Welshman is not able to beat five Irish men.—(Cheers and laughter.) They are a brave and perhaps a somewhat intemperate race are those Welshmen—(Cheers and laughter)—but at the same time, I respectfully submit that one Welshman is not worth five Irishmen. Man for man, I am willing to admit their worth, but I cannot admit that as com pared with my own countrymen they are worth five to one.—(Loud cheers and laughter.) I can not admit they are entitled to return twenty eight Members for the 800,000 inhabitants, while the county of Cork, with its 850,000 inhabitants is only to return eight Members to Par liament.—(Cheers.) Now ought that to last ? (Cries of " No! No! ") Is that a thing that ought to be changed ?—(Cries of " Yes, yes.") Then again let us look at the question in another point of view. The Parliamentary returns made seven years ago on the subject of the registration of voters, showed that there are 4,000 registered voters for the county of Cork, with a population of 710,000 inhabitants, while in Wales there are 36,000 registered voters. I was looking over the Parliamentary returns this morning, and I find the number of registered voters for Cori. is now I,soo—but 1,500 !—(Hear, hear.) Tin votes for the largest county in Ireland art nearly extinguished by the operation of the Reform Act, while in Wales the number of voters has ;increased by 2,000. There are 38,000 registered voters in Wales, and 1,800 for the county of cork. —(Hear, hear.) Now is that common sense ? (" No, no.") Is that justice?—(" No, no,") Is that fairness, or is it honesty. —(" No, no.") I have endeavoured to obtain redress for the afflictions of my country.—(Hear, hear.) I have felt how great is the delight of being borne along, as it were, on the breath of the people. —(Loud cheers.) Oh, if you had seen the stalwarth men leaving their work and flocking to the road-side to see me pass by; if you had seen their eyes beaming with affection as they looked on me, and their hands lifted up, which wanted but a word from me to strike the blow —(Hear, hear)—if you had seen the aged women with children in their arms greeting me as I passed by, and praying for my health and prosperity —(Loud cheers)—if you had seen the merry children, and heard the chirping cry as I went along—(Cheers) asking for blessings on the head of him whom they called the father of their country.—(Loud cheers.) Oh, if you had seen and felt as I have seen and felt, then your hearts would have expanded as mine did. lou would like me here vow never to relax in your exertions to obtain equal rights and privileges for the land of your birth. Those men have been taught the lesson of which I have declared myself the Apostle, that no political ad vantage can be of so much importance as to justify the shedding of one single drop of human blood.—(Cheers.) This is the lesson they have been taught.—(Cheers.) This is the lesson they practise—(Loud cheers) — and this is the lesson they will continue to practise until the triumphant success of the efforts shall imprint the maxim upon the minds and the hearts of the wise and good of all nations.— (Cheers.) The Irish nation is entitled to more than 160 Mem bers in your Parliament. It ought to have them: For the sake of peace we will take less than our right—we will be content with 160, but that will not give us one additional. Then with regard to the municipal franchise, Ire land is treated with the greatest injustice. In England whoever is rated to that poor-rate is a burgess, and is entitled to vote at municipal elections, but in Dublin, in order to be upon the Burgess Lists, it is necessary that a man should be rated at 101., that is, he should occupy a 201. house, and that he should have paid no less than nine dif ferent rates. The consequence is, that not above one-third of those who ought to be on the burgess lists in Dublin are upon it.—(Hear, hear.) 1 now come to a subject which I have often alluded to elsewhere, and which, therefore, I will not shrink from mentioning even in this assembly—l mean, to the existence of the English Church in Irelan (Loud cheers, and cries of " Down with it.") Gentlemen, I appeal to you whether the Church in England, that has the state emoluments, is not the Church of the great majority of the people ?—(Cries of " No.") So much the worse. It ought to be. — (Cries of " No, it is not.") Well, that is a disputed question which I will not argue. The Church of Scot land—that is, the Church that has the emolaments— is the Church of the great majority ; but the Church of Ireland, which has no State emoluments, never has been the Church of the people.—(Hear, hear.) I do not want the emoluments of that Church for my Church—l would not accept them. There is not a priest who would not do anything sooner than accept them.—(Hear, hear.) There is no Bishop in the Irish Catholic Church who would be the vassal of the State. lam borne out in that by the course that has been pursued by the Catholic Bishops in Ireland; my opinion is, that it would be detri mental to the state of the Church. The Catholic prelates of Ireland have proclaimed, within the last six weeks, that they will not take a farthing of the money belonging to State endowments. I do not want to impute selfish motives to any parties, but can there be any doubt that the manner in which the Irish Church has been used is both selfish and unjust ? I do not think that there is a greater crime than that one man should pay for the religion of another, that religion being that which he did not believe. Upon that principle the great oppression of Ireland' Established Church was founded. Until this system is put an end to it will be in vain to expect tranquillity in Ireland. My Friends, I wish you had seen the Irish newspapers. A short time since a very respectable gentleman, named Archdeacon De Lacy died. He was the nephew of a Bishop, and, according to the advertisement with respect to the sale of his effects, he was such an ex cellent man—that he had eleven hunters—an excellent pack of hounds—and, as the advertisement stated, a splendid cellar of wine.— (Laughter.) But it may be said that these grievances of Ireland are rather speculative than otherwise. I don't think it will be said that the last is so.—(Laughter.) It is said that men might be just and rich without Corporate Reform. But is Ireland rich ? Let me state what the condition of the Irish people is. Forty years after the establishment of the union, the Commissioners on the Poor•law inquiry reported that they found two million three hundred and eighty-five thousand in a state of destitution upon a population of 8,000,000, namely, one fourth of the whole population ; and Captain Lar kom has reported that seventy per cent. of the rural population were living in huts in one room only—that thirty per cent. of the town popu lation families were living in one room, and in some instances several families were dwelling in one place. —(Hear, hear.) No sign shows greater misery than a decrease in the population. An increase in the population shows a favourable sign, but the retrogression of a population of 70,000 a year, is a most convincing proof of misery, dis tress, and wretchedness. Now, just to show you that what I am stating is correct, I will read you the description of Mr. Kohl, a German who has beon travelling all over Europe. He has lately published a book, in which is the following state ment : " I remember, when I saw the poor Lettes in Livonia, I used to pity them for having to live in huts built of the un hewn logs of trees, the crevices being stopped up with moss. I pitied them on account of their low doors, and diminutive windows, and gladly would I have arranged their chimneys for them in a more suitable manner. Well, heaven pardon my ignorance. I knew not that I should ever see a people on whom Almighty God had imposed yet heavier privations. Now that I have seen Ireland, it seems to me that the Lettes, the Esthonians, and the Findlanders, lead a life of comparative comfort, and poor Paddy would feel like a' king with their houses, their habiliments, and their daily fare. " A wooden house, with moss to stop up its crevices, would be a palace in the wild regions of Ireland. Paddy's cabin is built of earth, one shovelful over the other, with a few stones mingled here and there, till the wall is high enough. But perhaps you will say, the roof is thatched or covered with bark. Ay, indeed ! A few sods of grass cut from a neigh bouring bog are his only thatch. Well, but a window or two at least, if it be only a pane of glass fixed in the wall, or the bladder of somo animal, or a piece of talc, as may often be seen in a ;,Wallachian hut? What idle luxury were this! There are thousands of cabins in which not a trace of a window is to be seen ; nothing but a little square hole in front, which doubles the duty of door, window, and chimney ; light, smoke, pigs, and children, all must pass in and out of the same aperture " A French author, Beaumont, who had seen the Irish peasant in his cabin, and the North American Indian in his wigwam, has assured us that the savage is better provided for than the poor man in Ireland. Indeed, the question may be raised, whether in the whole world a nation is to be found that is subjected to such physical privations as the peasantry in some parts of Ireland. This fact cannot be placed in too strong a light; for if it can once be shown that the wretchedness of the Irish population is without a parallel example on the globe, surely every friend of humanity will feel himself called on to reflect whether means may not be found for remedying an evil of so astounding a magnitude !" And, in Ennis, the following statement was made at a meeting, at which Sir Lucius O'Brien presided : " At a meeting of the Guardians of the :Ennis Poor-law Union on 'Wednesday, Sir Lucius O'Brien in the Chair, Mr. Butler brought forward the resolutions of which he had given notice, relative to the exorbitant amount of Grand Jury Cess now leviable, and which he stated was entirely borne by the occupiers of land. His object in bringing forward the resolutions was, to call attention to the matter, in the hope that the grievance would be redressed by the introduction of a provision into the grand jury laws, which would render the landlords liable for a moiety of the tax in the same man ner in which they are subject to poor-rates. " The Chairman and Mr. Carrick supported the landlords, attributing all their misfortunes to bad seasons, failures in the crops, &c. ' • while Mr. James Mahon, B. Butler, Mr. Finucane, Mr. Knox, and nearly the entire Board, were of opinion, that the major part of the population were in a state f dreadful destitution—that pouperism was frightfully on the ,ncrease, and that nothing short of sound remedies should be considered." Why do I harrow you with these pictures ? Why, for.the purpose of calling upon you to exert your selves in the cause of my unhappy country, andto do all in your power to render her happy once again. Does this misery that 'I have pictured to you arise from the laziness of the people of Ireland ? No. Do they not travel far and near to obtain work ? Do they, not crowd your streets and your villages in hopes of obtaining work ?—(Loud cheers.) But then it may be said that Ireland i s unproductive. Oh, no, 'tis one of the greenest and the fairest isles of the glube.—(Loud cheers.) Its crops are abundant, and its produce magnificent. (Cheers.) It has the best hatbours and the finest estuaries in the world. It has ail those ad. vantages ; and, added to this, it has a cheer ful, lively, and affectionate people.—(Cheers.) Then why is it that this misery exists ? From bad government. It is impossible to give any other reason for it.—(Great cheering.) Since the union matters have become worse and worse in Ireland. Tbey have given us a poor-law, ar.d that poor-law, I will venture to say, will bring rebellion in Ireland if it exists for two years longer.— (I fear, hear.) The poor-law mould be the ruin of Ireland, and Minis ters were blind for not seeing it. They may send me to prison if they please, but they may depend upon it that the consequences of the poor-law will be awful.—(Hear, hear.) I have trespassed on you long, but how could I avoid expressing my gratitude and showing you that I desire at least your good attention, your kindness, and support.—(Cheers.) I have never shrunk from standing by you in any centest—l have al ways been at your side— (Cheers) —I have never given a vote that was calculated to increase the burdens of the English peo ple.—(Cheers.) But I have invariably supported every measure that was calculated to increase the extension of civil and religious liberty.—(Cheers.) I have ad vocated the cause of the slave in America, as well as the peasant in Ireland. I care not what their creed, or by what sun their face may have been burned. —I care not what is a man's caste or what his lan guage, if I can but provide for him liberty from all tyranny.—(Cheers.) I stood by you in 'the Reform Bill I formed one of your majority. It promised much. It was spoiled in its manage ment. Its nursing mother looked unkindly upon her future child. In another struggle for freedom I also joined you. I shall always be with you in giving the protection of the Vote by Ballot, and for the shortening cf the duration of Parliaments. recollecting that short accounts make long friends.— (Cheers.) I owe this statement to you; and now I solemnly assure you, that if I was not thoroughly con vinced that the establishment of a domestic legisla ture was essential to the comfort of Ireland, and that it was necessary to keep up the connection between this country and Ireland, I would advocate it no longer. I never wish to see Ireland separated from this country ;—(Cheers)—but to accomplish so excellent a measure, it is necessary that something should be done to give to Ireland what England had—a local Legislature. He wanted for Ireland that the laws passed there should I be passed upon the same principle as in Eng- I land. (Cheers.) Such was the opinion of the j wise and good, and such he hoped it ever would be. Let them do justice to Ireland.—(Cheers.) But do they show any disposition to do so ? They came down with the insulting denomination of convicted conspirators.—(Cheers) The renegades !—(Cheers.) There is Peel, who has sacrificed every principle. —the renegade Stanley, who was the principal con triver for destroying the Reform Bill—(Groans)-- the reluctant Sir J. Graham—(Groans)—who sat first on one side of the House and then on the other. — (Cheers.) I call them conspirators for they have conspired against the public.—(Cheers.) But let those who have desired to adhere to the law, who desire to have it cheap and intelligible—let those do all in their power to do justice to Ireland.—(Cheers.) By adopting that course a union would be rendered valuable by a domestic Legislature, and by a com plete combination of a firm and a loyal people. The Honourable Member sat down amidst applause, which lasted for several minutes. The following glee and chorus was then sung in excellent style : Tho' dark are our sorrows, to-day we'll forget them, And smile thro' our tears like a sunbeam in show'rs, There never were hearts, if our rulers would let them, More formed to be tranquil and blessed than ours! But just when the chain Has ceas'd to pain, And hope has enwreatled it round with flow'rs, There comes a new link, Our spirits to sink ! Oh! the joy of such hearts, like the light of the poles, Is a flash amid darkness too brilliant to stay : But though 'twere the last little spark in our souls, We must light it up now for O'Connell to..day. Contempt on the minions who call him disloyal! Though tierce to his foe, to his friends he is true; And the tribute most high to a head that is Royal, Is love from a heart that loves liberty too. While cowards who blight Their Sovereign's right, Would shrink from the blaze of the battle array; The standard of green, In front would be seen— Oh ! my life op his faith ! were he summon'd this minute, He'd cast ev'ry bitter remembrance away, And show what the arm of old Erin has in it, When rous'd to defend her Sovereign's sway. She loves the green Isle, and her love is recorded In hearts which have suffer'd too much to forget, And hope shall be crown'd, and attachment rewarded, Aud Erin's gay Jubilee shine out yet ! The gem may be broke By many a stroke, But nothing can cloud its native ray ; Each fragment will cast A light to the last ! And then Erin, his country ! though broken thou art, There's a lustre within thee, that ne'er will decay : A spirit thIV; beams through each suffering part, And now smiles through its pain on this happy day. The Earl of SUREWSBURYWas then announced by the Chairman to propose the next toast, and was re ceived with loud cheers. II is Lordship said he could not tell them how extremely he felt the disadvantage he laboured under, in having so immediately to follow after the eloquent and instructive speech which had been delivered to them by their illustrious guest, but on this, as on other grounds, he felt he should re ceive what he so much needed, their kindest conside ration.—(Hear, hear.) The toast which had been assigned to him to propose w as that of the people, and in proposing it he was sure that the first idea which presented itself to their minds was the cause of the people of Ireland. That was a great and generous cause, for it was the cause of humanity—(Cheers)—the cause of right as opposed to that of wrong.—(Cheers.) They had arrived at a new era in the history of that cause, for they had at length embodied in it the sympaties and the feelings of the people of England.— (Hear, hear.) The time was when the people of Eng land were foolish enough to imagine that their political rights and their commercial prosperity were distinct from those of Ireland. This delusion had been done away with, and they were now beginning to see that the way to make her own empire secure was to make Ireland her happy, her trusted, and therefore her prosperous ally.—(Hear, hear.) They now were beginning to find out that the prosperity of England would never be stable and deep-seated— that there never would be security for herself—unless she shared all her privileges and franchises fairly and equally with Ireland. Ireland was now universally ac knowledged to be one of the finest countries in the world, but she had been governed by persons blinded by prejudice, and thus her great natural advan tages had never been fairly developed.—(Cheers.) Lord Camoys and the Hon. Charles Langdale then addressed the meeting, whose speeches, at the con clusion of the meeting we shall give in a FIFTH EDITION. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. (THIS EVENING.); ORDS. HOUSE OF L (Continued from our Third Edition.) MAYNOOTH COLLEGE. f iklaYn arlu t s h io ' n to a Stat. and in doing Lord MONTEAGLE ros e to put a q ues ti on to t h e Noble so,Lord b e opposite,did not m respectingean to make t provision for the Roman Catholic clergy. During the ex i s t ence of the penal laws, Catholic clergymen were compell e d t o see k in foreign countries for their education , and it was n o t un til subsequent to 1795 that any grant was made to the C a th o li c College. He knew 'hat many of the men who we re e d uca t e d College slightest o as Catholic clergymen abroad before the French Revolution, were men of very highly educated and enlightened minds, but at the same time ho thought, as a. matter of policy, it would be better if the Irish Roman Catholic clergy were not compelled to receive a foreign education. He now came to the condition in which the College of May nooth was at present placed. It was asked why should this college not be enlarged, and why should it be kept exclusively for Catholic ecclesiastics ? Why, at the time of the endowment of this college a petition was presented to the Irish House of Commons, praying that Protestant students might be admitted to the College. This prayer was not granted. On the contrary, a provision was introduced into the Bill which endowed the college, by w hich no person professing the Protestant religion could be admitted into th e college. It was therefore unfair to complain of this prohibition, considering that that prohibition had been created by our own laws. In the year IWOB an application was made to Parliament for an increased grant to the College of M aynooth. In answer to that application the Noble Duke opposite ( Wellington), then Sir Arthur Wellesley, wrote to the authorities of the college to state what ground they had for making their application. Upon the answers which were then furnished to the Noble Duke, he (Lord Monteagle) , had founded the motion with which he intended to conclude. Although he knew there was no intention on the part of those in autho rity to withdraw it, yet he feared that from ignorance of the facts many persons in this country were averse to the only available means by which it could be made useful, namely, by increasing the grant. There were aio students altogether, 250 of whom were supported out of the funds of the college, yet the amount of the grant was only 9,0001. ; and the cost for each of these persons was only 231. a head. He thought this very wrong in the case of men who were to exercise a vast influence in the country in after life. The labour they were ready to un dergo, and the virtue which they displayed in all cases, was moot adtairible. M in instance, In mid Attu owl scow. ding to the Government returns, in one week no less than ten Catholic clergymen were carried off by typhus fever in the county of Kerry, and he could name many other cases in other counties. At present. the College of Maynooth was in a state of great dila;Aida!ion front the want of proper funds to repair it. Surely that was not a fit. state of things for such an establishment.—( Hear, hear.) lie believed that the Government, by taking an enlarged and liberal view of this matter, would be doing far more for the benefit and tran quilisation of Ireland than by any other measure. The more sensible people of Ireland vi ere in favour of their clergy receiv ing that liberal education which would place them upon a level with the Protestant clergyman and the country gentleman. By doing so the Government would also.show to the people of that country that they were anxious to promote their temporal welfare and spiritual happiness. How could Noble Lords ex pect that children who were reared in happy and comfortable homes would join such an establishment ? There were no fel lowships or scholarships attached at present to this college ; but still he thought that there ought to be some small endowments for the benefit of the more deserving stu dents. The Government, e ven if t h ey did not take the general support of the establishment upon themselves, yet ought to place the building itself under the superintendence of the Board of Works, and guarantee that it should be kept in proper repair. As a matter of policy they • ought to get the hearts and feelings of the Roman Catholic clergy with them, and they would be their best coadjutors in maintaining peace and good order. It was a mistake to apply the term, "agitating priests" to the Catholic clergy of Ireland, because the greater Lumber of these priests were against all system of political agitation. The Noble Lord concluded by moving for certain returns with respect to the Roman Catholic College of Mattiowh. The Duke of WELLINGTON said he would have no ob jection to lay before the House the returns moved for by the Noble Lord. He was glad that the Noble Lord had brought the matter before the House. At the present moment, he, (the Duke of Wellington), was not prepars d to state that there would be any alteration in the present grant fo the College of Maynooth ; but if there were any intention of that kind, a declaration to that effect ss ould be made in the other House, from whence the grant emanated. Ile should afford the Noble Lord all the information of which her Majesty's Government were in possession. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE thought it essential that the Catholic clergy should be men of high education, in order that they might properly discharge their religious fu nc ti ons; but how, he would ask, could this be done, when the grant was so paltry ? One of the great benefits which was attributed to the system of the English Universities was that it brought the clergy and upper classes of the laity into more intimate intercourse, and he thought it most desirable that the same should be the case with respect to the Catholic clergy and the upper classes of the Roman Catholic laity in Ireland. The fullest information was already before the House with re spect to this subject, and he called upon her Majesty's Govern ment to act upon it, for upon them lay the whole responsibility of this truly important matter. After a few words from Lord MONTEAGLE in reply, the returns were ordered to be laid on the table. Their Lordships then adjourned at Half-past SeYen. HOUSE OF COMMONS. DUTIES ON IMPORTS. Mr. COBDEN (in continuation from our Third Edition) said—As r, garde cheese, I am likewise prepared to prove that more than one-half of that which goes to market, goes to the landlord in the shape of rent. For every sd. paid for cheese, 2.1 d. goes to the landlord ; and in the same way in the grazing districts, such as those of Northampton for every sd. worth of beef that is sold, lid. goes to the landlord. This is a point the public need not be concerned about for the farmer. I do not put it forward on that ground. I never told you that you raised the rent of your land by the corn-laws. 1 never believed it. Bet if you come to this House and enact apparently for the benefit of the farmer, and say that free trade ruins the agriculturist, then I must put forward the real state of the case. I shall now touch upon another and more important branch of this question, I mean the interests of the farm labourer. We are told that he is be nefited by a system of restriction which makes the first ele ment of existence scarce. Do you think posterity will believe it? They will look back upon this doctrine, in less than twenty years, with as much amazement as we do now upon the conduct of our forefathers when they burnt old women for witchcraft. Yet in the face of the plainest evidence you go on maintaining a law which makes food scarce, in order to benefit the agriculturist. We have had a volume presented to us on the condition of the agricultural population, which ought to be before the House long before this time. A Commission was appointed last year to inquire into the em ployment of women and children in husbandry, and I wish to state the manner in which that Commission had been appointed. I was a party to having that Commission named; as a motion was made by an Honourable Friend near Me for tie purpose of having a Committee then sitting on the employment of women and children in manufactures extended to the agricultural labourers. The Committee had been sitting for two years in a particular form, and was afterwards engaged, I believe, for four years in inquiring into the condition of labourers in other trades and manufactures. What my Hon. Friend and myself wished was, that a similar inquiry to that then carried on before that Committee should be instituted into the condition of the agricultural poor. —( Hear, hear.) An application was made for the purpose to a member of the Cabinet, but he refused to consent to the ap pointment of a Committee, and would only agree to allow a Commissioner under the poor-law to take evidence on the sub ject. He also refused to allow the Commissioner more than thirty days to carry on the inquiry, notwithstanding the length of time that the Committee to which I have alluded had taken for a similar inquiry.--( Hear, hear.) Having under the law only thirty days to complete the inquiry, Mr. Austen set forward on his task, and lost two days in his journey. He had thus only twenty-eight days to inquire into the condition of the agricultural labourers in four counties in the south of Eng land. —( Hear.) We have, however, some facts elicited on that inquiry, which ought to have drawn forward remarks from Honourable Gentlemen opposite as to the wretched condition of their own constituents,—( Hear.) Before I allude to the condition of the agricultural labourers, I wish to state that whatever may have been the animus which influenced others in invading the manufacturing districts, I have no hostile feel ing whatever towards the agriculturists ; for, bear in mind, that my conduct has been throughout marked by consistency towards them.—( Hear.) I brought forward the case of the manufacturers, and I have throughout maintained their interests. We first knocked at the door of this House in 1839. We have since then continued to do so, without intermission. We have knocked at the doors of Ministers and Prime Ministers, until they complained of intrusiveness on our part. We stated the entire of the distress to which the manufacturers were exposed. We did more. We prescribed a remedy for that distress.— ( Ilear, hear.) And here I may state my solemn belief that one of the principal reasons why the last four years of such fearful suffering and destitution among the manufac turers of Lancashire, and Yorkshire, and a part of Scotland, has passed over w ithout any consider able destruction of property,' or the loss of a single life, was because they knew that a great body was actively and incessantly at work to make known their suffer ings, and to find a remedy for their distress.—( Hear, hear.) I also state as the result of my conviction, that the labouring poor would not have taken the diabolical and insane course of burning property in order to make knomi their sufferings, if any party devoted to their interest had come forward in this Hous e an d i n t h e country to ma k e suggest i ons f or their relief.--( Hear.) If it were known that the sympathies of the country were aroused in their behalf, the fact would have produced such a humanisin effect upon them, that they would never have had th e blindness to destroy the very property that ought to give them employment and support. ( Hear, hear.) I have looked through this volume, which is the result of Mr. Austin's twenty-eight days' travels through the agricultural districts, and 1 find that during that period he visited Somersetshire, Devonshire, Wiltshire, and Dorset shire. He has given the testimony of various re spectable gentlemen in these several localities, as to the ecndition of the agricultural labourers. Some of these ac counts are highly important. The first that I shall refer to is the evidence of the Rev. J. Guthrie, who states that he could never make out how the poor labourers lived and supported their families on the wages which they received. The next is the evidence of Dr. Greenock. (The Honourable Gentleman then read extracts from the evidence alluded to, in which the witness stated that in the union to which he be longed the support of each pauper cost, an ass average, is. 6d. for food alone, though the guardians, by purchas ing provisions wholesale, were able to procure.them 10 per cent. cheaper than the public generally ; and that he could not con ceive how an agricultural labourer, earning 6s. a week, could possibly support his wife and four or five children, and at ttie same time pay rent and procure clothing. A no th er w it ne ss, a medical gentleman in the same district, stated that the women and boys who la boured in the fields suffered materially in their health, not from the extent of work which they performed, but from the want of a sufficient supply of food. He also read a passage from the evidence of Robert Boland, a farmer, stating that in the great majority of cases, a family, consisting of a man and his wife, with four or five children, were obliged to subsist on eight shillings or nine shillings a week, and passages from the evidence of the wives of two agricultural labourers, describing the inferior uature of the food which they made use of, andstating that their children were always anxious to get more food when they rose from their'meals.) The Hon. Gentleman then continued. That is a just speciinen collected in the south of England, in the purely agricultural districts, by Mr. Austin. I have my self had the opportunity of making considerable observations in the agricultural districts, and I have come to this result, that the further you travel from that much maligned region of tall chimneys and smoke, the less you find the wages of labourers to be ; the more I leave behind me Lancashire and the northern parts of England, the worse is the condition of the labourers, and the less is the quantity of food they have. Does not this, I will ask, answer the argu ment that the agricultural labourer derives any protection?— (Hear, hear.) Now what I wish to bring out before the Corn mittee is this—that even during your casual high prices, caused by scarcity, the agricultural labourers always suffer.—( Hear. ) Pauperism increases as the price of food rises—( Hear)—and in short,' the price of the loaf is in a direct ratio proof of the increase of pauperism.—(Cries of " No, no.") An Honourable Gentleman says, " No, no." I hope I shall have him on the Committee, and if he will only hear me out, I am sure I shall persuade him to vote for the Com mittee. With regard to the condition of the agricultu ral labourer, 1 have taken some pains to ascertain what has been the progress of wages in agricultural districts. I know that it is a very sore point indeed for Hon. Members opposite, but I must tell them that in those very districts of Wilts and Dorset the wages of labour now are about on a par with wages 60 years ago, while the rent on land has increased from two-and-a-half to threefold.—( Hear, hear.) Now, I consider that to be a very sufficient answer to the statements that have been made of the increase of wages. When you have a law that produces scarcity, while it increases rents, you must not be surprised if you are called upon to look at how the system works upon those you profess to say it was made to improve the condition of.—(Hear.) Now, the following is, I believe, a correct statement of the price of wages. In Devon they are from 6s. to - 7s. 6d. a week. In Wiltshire from Cs. to 7s. In Somersetshire from 7s. to 9s. In Dorset from 6s. to 75., wheat being at the time ss. a bushell, and in Gloucesteashire from Cs. to 75., while the rents have in creased three-fold. Now, you have chosen to take this course in an illegitimate way.—( Hear, hear.) You cannot theiefore wonder when I call upon this House to consider how these laws have acted upon you, and upon those whom you profess to serve. I was down in Gloucester a little while ago, and had a good deal of conversation with a Mr. Hand ford, an experienced land agent, who stated that he had lately sold properly which had belonged to his great grandfather, and which brought him ten times the price his ancestor had given fur it. I have lately been reading a work published by Judge Hale, somewhere about the time I am referring to—somewhere about I663—and th it he states that the thin wages of the labourers averaged 10s. per week ; and he remarks, unless a fa ther, mother, and four children, have this amount per week, how are they to get on but by stealing. Now, in the present day, wheat is forty per cent. higher, and wages have dropped pretty generally to only seven shillings per week. It is an actual fact that I found, on the journey that I am referring to, that the labouring poor out of doors are actually compelled to live on less than what is allowed in the workhouse. ( Hear, hear. ) A gentleman of the name of BUnt, a guardian of the poor in that district, told me, that on consult ing with the medical officer as to the diet, he found it on 6 liC46 Mich biBher than these who were working hard out of doors were enabled to get.—(Hear, hear.) Now Ihave spoken of the food of these people, and when I do that I imply also lodging, clothing, morality. education—aye, and religion also.—( Cheers. ) There is a point in the volume of evidence which I have already referred to, who:- more especially calls for the attention of this House. 1 mean the subject of lodgings for the agricultural poor.— ( Hear, hear.) In this question, more almost than in any other, is the character of the landlords concerned. Mr. Austin shies an instance of a fa- ' mily at Stourbridge of eleven persons in one room sand three beds. In the first bed was the father and mother, a little boy, and a little girl; in the second bed were three daughters, two of them twins, twenty years old ; and in the third tour sons, 'fifteen years old, seventeen years old, and the like.—( Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") There were no cur tains to the beds, nor anything else to assist in observing the decencies of life.—( Hear, hear.) Mr. Phelps, agent for the Mar q uis of Lansdowne, has given an instance which occurred at Studeley, where twenty-nine persons were living under one roof—the married people and the young persons being all huddled together in one small tenement.—( Hear, bear. ) Mr. Austin further says, th a t a marr i e d woman to ld hi m the room in which she was being confined was shared with thirteen other persons, in three beds; anti that it was neces sary to lay her on the middle of the floor, in order that proper attention should he given to her, and she declared this to be the roost painful part of her illness.—( Hear, hear. ) Another clergyman of Dorsetshire stated that he resided in the neighbourhood of a Noble Duke—whose name he (Mr. Cobden) would not mention, although the Noble Duke was n o t him se lf very f ast idi ous as to the terms in which he spoke of the members of the League—the labourers were as badly off as they could he. Nothing could exceed their immorality, even between brother and sister.— ( Great sensation.) In some cases, in order to prevent this, the males of two families were taken to sleep in the one house, and the females in the other.—(Cries of " Hear, Lear.") Mr. Austin declare s th a t h e cou ld see no regard to chast i ty in the females, and no respect to that sex in the men.—( Hear.) Sir, I should not do justice to my feelings if I did not express my indignation at the conduct of the owners of land, howev er th e y maybe described.—(" Hear," from Lord Ashley.) I am glad to hear that cheer from the Noble Lord. However you may remark upon the owners) of mills and factories, and upon the evils of town populations, I think you must acknowledge that these cannot come under the cog nisance of particular individuals, and certainly not of any particular proprietor ; but if you go into the villages under the control of the landlord, you will find them living in a state worse than in the wigwams of the Indians. It was well said by the late lamented Mr. Drummond, that " property had its duties as well as its rights," and I say that the landlords neglect their duty when they allow their tenants to live in pig sties, and worse than pigsties. I never saw the Rev. Adol phus Osborne; I think if we met, we should differ upon many points ; but I cannot but admire the moral courage with which he exposed the state of the population in Dorsetshire.— ( Cheers.) He says that "in the neighbourhood of Bradford, from one year's end to the other, the people live in the greatest destitution. They had nothing but bread and pota toes, with sometimes a little bacon of an inferior kind, and, from what:he knew of the quality of the bread, he was not sur prised at the diseases with which the children are afflicted." Another clergyman gave evidence to the same effect, from which I shall trouble the House with an extract. (The Honourable Gentlemar. then read a passage from Mr. Austin's Report, in which the witness alluded to states that he had on one occasion four blankets given to him for the most destitute persons of his parish. Endeavouring to discover the fittest objects of the bounty, he found that amongst eighty-four individuals there were but thirty-five blankets—of these ten were tolerably good, as they had been in use only four years, but twenty-five were completely worn out.) Thus you see that this is not a sudden case of distress, but the constant and permanent condition of the agricultural labourer. ( Hear, hear.) The periods of manufacturing distress are, after al!, remote—certainly not permanent—and we charge them upon your bad legislation.—(Hear, hear ) (The Hon. Gen tleman then read further extracts to show the crowded state of the cabins in Dorsetshire, and the frightful immorality of their inmates.) You talk of the immorality of our 'nano- facturing towns—what can you show us to equal this ? Your villages are normal schools for vice and prostrution.—( Hear. ) You cannot blame us for the vices of our towns, if you rear the people thus and send them into our towns.—(Hear, hear.) I say emphatically 1 do not attack individuals, but a system. Although I hold the proprietor to be resposible for the state of 'lodging on his own land, I do not hold him responsible for the price of wages. I never held the farmers responsible for the price of wages, although it has been foolishly said of me that I did so. I challenge the Argus-eyed opponent I have to deal with, to show that I have ever done so.—( Great cheering.) What does Mr. Austin say of clothing —you have heard what he said of food and lodging? He says, that to have a change of clothing was all nonsense. If a woman came home with wet clothes from her work, she must put them on in the morning as wet as when she came home.—( Hear.) And yet you tell us that these are our great home customers. —( Cheers and laughter. ) Lincolnshire is an exception.—(Hear, hear, from Col. Sib thorp. ) It is an exception both with regard to the condition of the farmer and the labourer.—( The Hon. Gentleman then adverted to the wretched condition of the farmers and farm labourers in Scotland and Wales, and quoted the description of the state of the population of the latter country given by the reporter of the Times.) I need hardly refer to the condition of the population of the sister country across the Channel. It " i s acknow ledged that there, are 2,500,000 destitute persons in that country. They are frequently on the point of famine ; and yet, at this moment there is a duty of 18s. 3d. a quar ter on the corn imported into that ceuntry.—(Hear, hear.) (The Hon. Gentleman then quoted from the Report of Dr. Southwood Smith, respecting the state of the fever hospitals, in which there were 1,462 patients, being 418 more than in preceding years, and consisting chiefly of persons coming from the agricultural districts seeking for labour.—Hear, hear. ) I have now given a description of the state of the agricultural population ; and I ask of the Members of Counties, whether they are not put out of court;?:There is no class of the country benefited by these laws, and all I ask is, that we should have a Select Committee to inquire into the facts.—( Hear, hear.) Yon don't want an Act of Parliament to protect the farmer ; you want a fresh bargain with him. You want leases upon fresh terms. The men. I should bring to be examined before the Committee would tell you how they could employ more labourers. They would tell you that they could do so by breaking up some of that old land which is lying not under grass, but under moss, and has been lying in that way for, perhaps, a hundred years, in order to please some landlord who prefers teeing in that state to seeing corn growing there or the plough passing over it. All such coxcombry as that would disappear before such a practical farmer as my Lord Ducie, who would be ready to come and tell you what to do. You would derive immense advantage from the examination that would be gone into in such a Committee as that which I propose. Men would be examined who look upon land as we look on our raw material in our manufactures, as that which is to give employment to the people. We have now advantages presented to us for holding this Com mittee that we have never had before. Recollect that hitherto you have not heard two sides of the question be fore your Agricultural Committees. Now I wish to impress this upon the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (Sir, R. peel) —1 strongly appeal to him to allow me to have this Committee. There have never yet been two aides of the question stated in Committees of this House. The witnesses that have been examined were all in favour of protection. You have never had any enlightened agriculturist brought forward to state both sides of the question. In the evidence taken in 1836, great doubt was expressed as to the value of an intervention by Act of Parliament. No direct evidence, however, was brought forward as to whether it would not be better to get rid of the old system altogether, and adopt a system of perfect free trade. Now it is on that ground that 1 especially appeal to Hon. Gentlemen opposite. Ido not want men examined who are farmers only. Let them be landowners if you choose. I would respectfully ask Lord Ducie and Earl Spencer first. 1 presume that the Duke of Buckingham and the Duke of Richmond would be chosen by gentlemen opposite.—(Laughter.) There is nothing that I should more wish to see than four noblemen brought before the Committee, and subjected to a cross-examination. We would take your Noblemen and you should take ours.—(Laughter. ) This is what I should wish to see. But, however, you have Hon. Gentlemen on your own side of the House who make out my case altogether. There is the Hon. Member for Berk shire who well knows what the land is capable of, who knows what is wanting, and who knows that those districts where there is the most pauperism and distress are the very places in which farming is most neglected. He says, I wish to see more drains cut, and more lime used, and more manure procured ; and I should like to see their cattle fat tened up, which have hitherto been starved." Hera is testi mony, you see, from your own side, that nothing is right. Now suppose you could read a book upon manufactures, in which you could show that every thing was wrong that we manufac turers were doing. Suppose a theorist could come to me in my business, which is the manufacture of garments—things almost as necessary in a civilised land anti cold climate as corn—(Laughter) —now, suppose this theorist were to come to me in my manufactory and say, " You must bring your indigo from India, your madder from France, your gum from Africa, your cotton from Ame rica, and compound all these together, and you can then make a peasant's gown for two shillings." Why this is all done. They are doing this daily in my manufactory. It does not require a theorist to tell us to do it. If we did not do it we coulii not carry on our competit ion with each other and with other countries. This, however, can be said to you. "You have materials moul dering at your own door. You have only to get over a hedge —to dig under the surface—to improve the condition of your people." We should make great advances in agriculture if this Committee were to be appointed. I know that you would have a majority of protectionists on that Committee. I am perfectly willing that you should have it. I know that—l understand at least that there is a sort of ettiquette in tl.is House by which the mover of a Committee is appointed Chairman of that Committee. Now I waive all pretension to that office. I will sit as a humble individual in the minority ; all I ask is to be there. What possible objection can you raise to it? I cannot understand what objection there can be. Are you afraid that it will increase the agitation? I ask tke Hon. .Ba ronet, the Member for Essex, whether he thinks the agitation is going down in his part of the country ? I understand they have lately raised a large sum of money in Essex. Now do you think that the appointment of a dozen gentlemen , to act in a room for the purpose of taking evidence, would add anything to the excitement out of doors on this subject ? hy, by the ap pointment of this Committee you would draw (Laughter.) me away. I tell you what will cause excitement. Excite ment will be caused if you refuse this Committee, and allow me to go down to the counties with your votes in my h an d , and sa y, I only asked for inquiry. .1 offered th em a ma j or i ty of their own party , and offered to go into the Committee merely as a member of the Committee, and not as the Chairman. I offered them every possible advantage in the Committee, and they . would not, , or they dare not, grant me that Committee of Inquiry." Now, I desire to have no advantage of that sort. If you let us have the Committee, let us set to work with a desire, if poss ibl e , to e li c i t a fund of information which shall be beneficial to the country. (Hoar, hear.) I f ee l t h at muc h good would b e done b y t hi s ommittee. Ido believe that the system at present pursued, instead of being a protection to agriculture is the destruc tion of agriculture. Let us see if our Committee cannot counteract some of the effects of the foolishness—l will not use a harder name— w hi c h, un d er t h e pretence:of protecting native industry, has been allowed to go forth„by which she farmers have been induced to depend upon an Act of Parliament for prosperity, rather than upon their own energies. Let us conduct the Committee as though we wished to elicit facts —as though we wished to counteract the mischiefs o f that system, than which I cannot imagine any thing more demoralising—for such a system deserves no better title than a system of demoralisation. What is it that you tell the farmers? You get them to feel that they cannot compete with other men. .You bring lon g li s t s o f fi g ures and delusive accounts, showing that the culti vation of an acre must cost 61. or S/., and then you tell them to . compare that with th e cost i n R uss i a. You put every impediment in the way of their doing that which they ought to do. Do you thi n k t h at i s the way to ma:e nice succeed in anything ? How should we do ? We who are ma nufacturers. If we get a pattern of some rival manufacture abroad, should we call our men together, and say, " It quite clear we cannot compete with the foreigner. It is quite useless to compete with Germany or America." We don't do that, but what do wo du? Why, we call our men together, and we say such and such a thing is being done else where, now we are Englishmen, and whether these things are clone by tiuniaua or Germans, we will do it."..(Cliottri.) r believe that the present system is demoralizing the people. The Noble Lord, the Member for North Lancashire, Lad no right to go down to the agricultural meeting at Liverpool and tate Lam er that they ought net to do as th e i r grandtathers s bad ilof,e before them, merely content themselves by putting ore food before the other. He had no light to talk to them in that way. What is it makes them do so? Why, every man who comes here or who goes to Lancashire and talks about our " invasion of corn" from a place in Russia which shall be nameless.---( Cheers and laughter.) The men who I come here and tell us to look to protection instead of looking to our own energie;—these are the . men who Paused the farmers to put their hands behind their back, and it is that which prevents them faom being equal, if not supyrior, farmers to .. any on the f ace 'of the earth. * I, be lieve that much good will result from such a Com mittee as that which I proposed, because I beliefs that the present system is as injurious to agriculture as it is to manufactures. It is becaese I believe that it robs the earth of its fertility—robs the labourer of his hire—cheats the people of their subsistence, and robs the farmer of his independence. It is because I believe all this that I hope you will accede to the motion which I now make—" That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the effects of protective duties on imports upon the in terests of the tenant-farmers and farm-labourers of this country."—( Loud cheers.) Mr. GLADSTONE rose, and was (LEFT SPEAKING.) ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.. • NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—Durham, March 7. (Before Mr. Baron Roia and a Special Jury.) TOPHAM AND WIFE V. M`GREGOR AND wa - r.. • • This was an issue out of Chancery, to try the validity of i win, executed in favour of Mrs. Topham by her fornier.hus , band, Mr. Wrightson. The peculiar nature of the case, and the large amount of property depending on its dOsion, havi excited very great interest in this county. The Court was crowded at an early hour. Mr. Knowles, Mr. Wortley, and Mr. Addison, appeared for the plaintiff's ; Mr. Fitzroy Kelly (who had been brought down specially in this case), Mr. Martin, and Mr. Crompton conducted the case for the defendant. Mr. liseowLEs stated the case for the plaintiffs. They were, he said, called upon to vindicate their claim to certain property, to which Mrs. Topham had become entitled under the will of her former husband, a Mr. Wrightson. The case was a very important one, not only on account of the amount of the property, though that was considerable, but on account of other considerations, and other and still higher interests involved in its issue. The cause must necessarily be a long , one; but it would not, he was assured, be to the jury a tedi ous one, as every point would receive at their hands a full and patient consideration. The testator, Mr.Wrightson, was the son of an attorney, but he himself, for some time, at all events, before his death, was of no particular profession, though in his earlier years he had held a commission in the North York Militia. lie resided at Ilaughton, in the neighbour hood of Darlington. He had no children, and his mode of life, from his limited means and ot,her circumstances, wag necessarily quiet and retired. While there he became ac quainted with Mr. Mewburn, a solicitor at Darlington. Mr. Wrightson's sister, now Mrs. M'Gregor, and one of the de fendants in this cause, had been acquainted with Mr. Mew burn lon g before, and it w as th roug h h er that the introduc tion took place. The acquaintance, however, between Mr. Mewburn and the testator never became intimate. It con tinued, indeed, strictly of a profeSsional character—that merely of solicitor and client. In the summer of 1829 Mr. Wrightson removed to the town of Darlington itself, and towards the end of that year a circumstance took place which made a very great difference in his circumstances and pros pects. There died in that year a lady of the name of Garth, who resided .at Cockerton, near Darlington, and by her will she bequeathed to Mr. Wrightson a very considerable pro perty. This was the Ist of December, 1829, and immediately after her death, indeed that very day, Mr.Wrightson'removed to Cockerton, and he resided there until the following year, when he died. Mrs. Garth at her death had in the house every large sum, amounting to about 4,000/. in notes and gold, and the immediate removal of Mr. Wrightson to Cockerton was thought necessary for the purpose of protecting the property. At Cockerton, Mr. Wrightson found two persons who had for a great many years been in thesservice of Mrs. Garth— George Ilind, who acted as bailiff, and Jane Fenny, who had been a servant. These persons had been left each a consider able legacy in Mrs. Garth's will, and they continued to dis charge the same duties as before in the household of Mr. Wrightson. As a necessary consequence of so large an ac • cession of property, Mr. Wrightson had occasion more fre quently to consult his attorney. There was the probate of Mrs. Garth's will to take out, certain rents of which Mrs. Garth was only tenant for life to be apportioned, and various other business to transact. Among other matters were two estates, one the Newhall and Fowlaw . fann, which' on Mrs. Garth's death came to Mr. Wilkinson, the pleader, of the Temple ; and another, Buttsfield, the reversion of which was in a Mr. Greslille. Application was made to Mr.'Mew burn by Mr. Wilkinson for his deeds, and after some corre spondence (which the Learned Counsel read in detail), it was arranged that Mr. Mewburn should at an early day go over to Cockerton, and examine and arrange all the Seeds belongine. to Mrs. Garth's estate. On the 26th of December Mr. Mesiburn wrote to Mr. Wrightson, saying, that if he had no engagement Mr. Mewburn would have the pleasure of coming over on the Tuesday following, spending the day, and going through the deeds. Mr. Wrightson, at a former in terview, had requested he would, when he came otit, dine with him, and take a long day at this business. To this letter Mr. Mewburn received a reply, stating that Mr. and Mrs. Wrightson would have great pleasure in seeing Mr. Mewburn, as they had no engagement. On the 29th Mr. Mewburn went over to Cockerton. He was engaged the whole day in the examination of the deeds. He stayed din:- ner and tea, and in the afterpart of the evening some conver sation, the subject being introduced by Mr. Wrightson, took place about his making a will. It was by no means an im probable occasion for such an idea to occur to him. The late death of Mrs. Garth, and the occupation in which they had just been engaged naturally suggested it to him. It was natural, too, that in making such an arrangement, his wife ' should be the principal object of his bounty. Except his sister, Mrs. M'Gregor, he had no immediate relation. She wan married, she had no children, she resided at a distance, and there had not been between her and her brother any great cor diality. When the subject of the will was first mentioned, Mr. Mewburn thought it would of course be one of considerable length, from the limitations usually introduced in such cases where property to so considerable an amount was to be disposed of. Mr. Wrightson, however said it would be very short, as he intended to leave all to his wife. The Learned Counsel then went on •to state the mode in which the will was executed, as subsequently detailed by Mr. Mewburn. It was attested by Mr. Mewburn, and the two servants, George Ilind and Jane Fenney. Mr. Wrightson died in December, 1830, and Mrs. Wrightson entered into possession. In 1831 she became the wife of Mr. Topham and the two persons. Fenney and Hind, continued in her service fur a considerable time. Year after year passed away, and it never occurred to any one to throw any doubt on time validity of Mr. Wright son's disposition of his property until so late as the year 1842, when a bill was filed by the present defendants. Mrs. M'Gregor, formerly Cordelia Wrightson, was married to Mi. M'Gregor a year or two before the making of the will, and had for many years resided in Edinburgh. When a party tiles a bill of this sort in the Conrt of Chancery, he is, as a matter of course, entitled to an issue, and the validity of the will is left to be decided by a jury. There would be two main points in this case ; one was the will signed by the testator in the presence of three witnesses. On this point they would have the evidence of Mr. Mewburn, the first attesting witness. if the other witnesses to the will were called to give other testimony, he would again have to address them, and to comment upon that evidence. The second point would be, was the testator capable of making a will ? Ile hardly thought his Learned Friend Mr. Kelly, after the evidence that would be laid before them, would deny his capability, though it might perhaps be sought to show that some considerable time after the rule was made, and in the latter part of the year 1830, he • had in some degree fallen into habits of intoxication. In the meantime he would leave the case in their hands, and for the present detain them no longer, especially as, in all probability before the case closed, he would be under the necessity of again addressing them. Evidence to the effect stated by the Learned Counsel was then given, and the Court adjourned. March 8. The case was resumed this morning, the interest continn. ing unabated. The case for the plaintiffs closed with the examination of a few more witnesses. Mr. KELLY then addressed the jury for the defendants, impeaching the validity of the will, on the ground that 'it was signed by the attesting witnesses, while it was a blank merely ; and secondly, that the testator signed it while in a state of unsound mind from continual intoxication ; and that, in short, the making of the will was the result of a conspi racy between Mr. Topham and his wife, and Mr. Mewburn, their law agent. Evidence at great length was given in support of the state ment of the Learned Counsel, and the Court again adjourned. March 9. This morning the further evidence in the cue for the de fendants was resumed. Sarah Pattenson was called, who deposed that Mr.Wright son was almost always drunk, and that on the day the mil was said to have been made she drove him out in a pony gig. and that he said to her that he wished to get away from the quill-driver (Mr. Mewburn) and Mrs. Wrightson, who were always teasing him to make a will, but that he would not sign his death-warrant. Other witnesses were called, for the purpose of showing, by inference, that the signature to the will was a fabrication, and that the person who had written the testator's name had done it hesitatingly, and with a slowness implying imitation. It was shown on the other hand, that the real signature of the deceased (attached to some notices to quit) partook of .the same chUracter. _ _ At the close of the defendant's case, Mr. IC.NowLEs replied in an able . speech. He admitted that lie felt anxiety, but it was lest the jury should permit prejudice to influence their minds to give a verdict which would affect the honour of Mr. Mewburn, who had made the will now disputed, for a man of fairer fame or higher prin ciple did not exist. if they should decide that his will we., invalid, it would be the first instance within his knowledge, or, he believed within the knowledge of any one who heard him, in which a will had been set aside on the testimony of the witnesses attesting it. If it were believed thatjuries could be persuaded to do so, how dangerous would be the conse quences. Unprincipled witnesses to a will might wait until the witness of truth was dead, the . witness who would, if living, maintain as honest the honest act which he had done, and the property which a testator had left to those he most loved in life, and which had for years been enjoyed by them as his gift and the testimony of his affection, might be wrested from them on the testimony of those who came to invalidate their own act, and to ask for credit from a jury while they declared themselves parties to a fraud. His LORDSHIP having summed up With great minuteness, occupying nearly three hours, • The jury; after retiring for a short time, returned a verdict for the plaintiffs. This verdict affirms the validity of the will. A BLANK DAY WITH SIR JOHN COPE'S FOXIIOUNDO. —The meet on Saturday last was at Temple House, Birham, near Great Marlow, the residence of T. P. Williams, Esq., M.P. for that borough, where a splendid luncheon had 'been prepared for Sir John Cope and his friends. After drawing the several great covers at Mr. Clayton's, around Clay Ha,l4 near Hurley, blank, the pack was then taken towards Twy ford, then to Mr. Bulkeley's, at Hare Hatch, and nearly 'to Wargrave, and thence all around to Lawrence Waltham, gad although between 40 and 50 covers were drawn, extending over a large portion of the county of Berks, not so much ao the ghost of a fox was found during the whole of the day tip to four o'clock in the afternoon, when the pack returned to kennel. In a provincial town in Hampshire, not a dozen miles from Southampton, a member of the musical profession announced his intention of forming a singing class on the plan adopted by Hullah. He commenced by giving an in• troductory lecture, in which he descanted much on good singing, and moralised on the relative merits of nature and art, observing that the former could materially assist the latter, but that art could not improve nature, when he was interrupted by a voice from among his auditors, with " How would you look without your wig ?"—Dramatic and dipsical Review. h 9 ~~ ~~.