The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-02-22 00:00:00

EDE ILibtrpoot 'tanbarb. FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, 1833. THE proceedings in. the House ;of Lords on Tuesday night in Committee upon the Irish Disturbance Suppres sion Bill were not of much interest. In the course of a short discussion before the house vent into committee on the Bill, Lord Cloncurry made some observations on the MagiStrates of Ireland, and, among others, on those of Carlow; upon which the Earl of Limerick observed, " that the noble lord ought to be more cautious when he received evidence from the Priests of Carlow." When Lord.Cloncurry "denied that he had said he had any in formation from Priests." Whether his lordship said he had any information from Priests is a matter about which at this distance, can know nothing; and, by all the rules of courtesy, we are bound to believe he did not say so. Putting out of view for the moment, the. curious events connected with the earlier period of his lordship's life, We should wish, if we were near him, to ask the fol lowing questions _ _ . • Does v his lOrdship knew a residence in the County Carlow knOwn by the name of Braganza ? Has his lordship any intimate. acquaintance with a cer tain Right Rev. Priest who occupies that residence ? Has his lordship been in the habit, as well at Braganza as at his own mansion and elsewhere, of discussing with that Right Rev. Gentleman •the state affairs of Ireland, temporal and spiritual? • Dues his lordship remember a period in the summer of last year, when the distressed peasantry of : Kildare, Carlow,and• some other counties allowed the hay of certain Protestant landholders to rot on the ground, rather than accept high wages fur "saving" it Does his lordship remember that the practice, so ori ginating -against the Protestant landholders of his neighbourhood, shortly reached his own property; and, finding the shoe pinch where it was not intended, whe ther he felt it to be his interest, if not his duty, to Apply for measures of relief and protection to an illus trious person in Ireland? Will his lordship be pleased to. state how much of the relief which he obtained on that occasion was afforded by the high temporal authorities, and how much by the spiritual authorities ; and whether or not lie believes that, without the interference of the latter that of the former would have been unavailing ; and if he has said so, or to that effect ? If his lordship would deign to favour us with answers to the foregoing questions, we should be inclined to trou ble him with a few more, which might carry back his re collection to circumstances occurring somewhat nearer to Dublin Castle than the Counties of Kildare or Carlow. Whilst we are asking questions we should like to put two or three to His .Majesty's Ministers. Ii is a little singular that the same week which brings about a proposition for the destruction of the Protestant .Church of 'II eland, furnishes us with intelligence of an attack on the Hierarchy of France, precisely of the same character. What we should like to know on this subject Whether any, and which of the confidential agents of the British ministry or the Citizen King of France, was charged with the arrangement of these sudden and siniultanpous movements in the legislatures of both countries? Permission to bring in the Irish Church Spoliation Bill Wa S given on the 12th instant. That Bill is not yet introduced. The Irish Disturbance Suppression Bill.was first proposed, brought in, and read a. first timd on Fri day last—read a second time on Monday—passed through Committee on Tuesday—Report ordered to be brought up yesterday (Thursday)—and it will propably be read a third time and passed in the Lords; sept to the Corn m Ons and read a first time there, this evening. Next week this Bill is likely to be part of the Law. On this subject we s:iould be glad to be informed—Why so long, so unusual, a time is sabred to elapse bet Ween obtaining leave to bring in the Church Spoliation Bill, and its presenta- tion to the House ? Has the Disturbance Suppression Bill been first brought 'forward as a tub, to 'divert the attention of the Pro testants of Ireland and England from the consideration Of the Church Spoliation Bill ? Are the details of the latter so strong that the Ministers find it convenient to have the Disturbance Suppression Bill ready to prevent any meetings for petitioning against the Spoliation Bill, by the Protestants lin any part of Ireland ? In short--except for that purpose, and in cases of the greatest atrocity, is it intended to enforce the provi sions of the Disturbanea. Suppression Bill in Ireland ? We ask these questions for information—we may have occasion to return to the subject. • REPEAL OF THE UNION.—We have lately heard much about the Repeat of the Union with Ireland. Upon a calm and deliberate survey of the whole matter, the real question, in our judgment, seems to be—whether we are to have the Repeal of O'Connell or of the King's Minis ters...- We say the real question is this—Shall the Repeal take place on the violation of the third, or on that of the fourth and Nth articles of the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ira,aud ? • . In order to enable our readers to form their own judg ment,upon this most vital question, we will occupy rather more of our space than we can conveniently.spare .in :an abstract of the 40th GEO. 3rd, c. 67, com monly called the "ACT OF UNION." This Act consists of eight articies, with two Schedules of countervailing duties, and three supplementary articles. •What we shall give here is really nothing more than the heads of the different articles,: with the exception of the third and fifth, which are tiVen entire, and such por tion of the fourth as, applies to ,our subject, in the body of the act; with the first, and part of the second of the supplementary articles. AaTicLi FilCsT—Enacts the - Union of the two kingdoms from the Ist January, • Aa ricLE SECOND—Limits and s3ttles the succession to the Crown same a& for Great Britain. A tifICLE TI11111).—" Tina it be the third article of Union, that sue said United Kingdom be represented sst tine and the lame THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. Parliament, to be styled—The Parliament of the United King dom of Great Britain and Ireland." ARTICLE FOURTH.—" That it be the fourth article of Union, that four Lords Spiritual of Ireland by rotation of Sessions, and twenty-eight Lords Temporal of Ireland elected for life by the peers of Ireland, shall - be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parlia ment of the United Kingdom • and 100 Commoners, (two for each county of Ireland, two For the city of Dublin, two for the city of Cork, one for the University of Trinity College, and one for each of the 31 most considerable cities, towns, - and boroughs,) be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland, in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom : " That such act as shall be passed in the Parliament - of Ireland previous to the Union, to regulate the mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, to serve in the Par liament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament, shall be considered as forming part of the Treaty of Union and shall be incorporated in the Acts of the respective Parliaments by which the said Union shall be rutyied and established. "That all questions touching the rotation or election of Lords Spiritual and Temporal of Ireland to sit in the Parlia ment of the United Kingdom, shall be decided by the house of Lords thereof." - - - [Tile remainder of this article refers to the form of ballot in case of equality of votes in the election of tem poral peers—to the right of other' Irish peers of being elected to sit in the House of Commons—to creations and promotions in the peerage after the Union—to peerages extinct or in abeyance—to the elections of Mem bers to the Houie of Commons, and their qualiticationS . — to the holding of the first parliament—and to the rank and precedency of the Irish Lords spiritual and temporal.] ARTICLE FIFTH.—" That it be the. fifth article of Union, that 'the churches of England and Ireland, as now by-law esta blished, be united into one Protestant episcopal church, to be called The United Church of England and Ireland; and that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the said United Church shall be, and shall remain in fullforce for ever, as the same are now by law established for the Church of England; and that the continuance and preservation of the said United Church, as the established Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fiznda mental part If the Union; and that in like manner the doc trine, worship, discipline, and government of the Church of Scotland, shall remain and be preserved as the same are now established by law, and by the acts for the Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland." ARTICLE SlXTH—regulates the commercial intercourse between the two countries under countervailing duties, for limited pe riods, all which have long since elapsed. To this article are attached two Schedules of the Duties which were payable re spectively in Great Britain and Ireland. ARTICLE SEVENTH—regulates the interest and sinking fund of the public debt separately for each Kingdom—and the future expenditure of the United Kingdom. ARTICLE Eloirn—retains the Laws and Courts of justice in each Kingdom as before the Union. Then follow the three supplementary articles. FIRST ARTICLE.—" And whereas the said articles having, by address of the respective Houses of Parliament in Great BIT- . tain and Ireland, been huiriblY laid before Isis Majesty, his Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve the same; and to recommend it to his two Houses of Parliament in ' Great Britain and Ireland to consider of such measures as may be necessary for giving effect to the said articles : in order, therefore, to give full effect and validity to the same, be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and tempo ral, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the said foregoing recited articles, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM, according to the true import and tenor thereof; be ratified, confirmed, and approved, and be, and they are hereby declared to be, the Articles ql the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and he same shall be in force and have effect FOR EVER, from the first day of January which shall be in the year of our Lord ICjl, provided that before that period an act shall have been passed by the Par liament of Ireland, for carrying into effect, in the like man ner, the said foregoing recited articles." SECOND ARTlCLE.—[Reciting the required Act of the Itish Parliament.]—" And whereas an Act, intituled, An Act to regulate the mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Tempo ral, and the Commons, to serve in' the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned • and returned to the said Parliament, has been past by the Parliament of Ireland ; the tenor whereof is as follows : " The Lords . Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament. Whereas it is agreed by the -fourth article of the Union, that four Lords Spiritual of Ireland, by rotation of .Sessions, and twenty-eight Lords Temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the Peers of Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ; and one hundred Commoners (two for each county of Ireland, two for the city of Dublin,.two for. the City of Cork, .otie for the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, and one for each of the thirty one most considerable cities, towns, and boroughsl_be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ;_ be. it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, -That the -said four Lords Spiritual shall be taken from among the Lords Spiritual of Ireland in the manner following; •th'at is to say, That one of the four Archbishops of Ireland, and three of the eighteen Bishops of Ireland shall sit in the House of Lords of the United Parlia • meat in each Session thereof; the said right of sitting being regulated as between the said Archbishops respectively by a rotation among the archi-episcopal sees from session to session, and in like manner that of the Bishops by a like rotation among the episcopal sees.: That the primate of all Ireland for the. time being shall sit in the first Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Archbishop of Dublin for the time being in the second, the Archbishop of Cashel for the time being in the third, the Archbishop- of Tuam for the time being in the fourth, and so by rotation of Sessions for ever; such rotation to proceed regularly and without interruption from session to session, notwithstanding any dissolution or expiration of Parliament: that three suf fragan Bishops shall in like manner sit according to rotation of their sees from session to session in the following order;" [The act then, at some length gives the following as the arrangement for the eighteen Bishops:— • Bishops cfA K iea d t a h r , e • , ro sit in the ,• • First Session. and-Derry. ltaphoe, , ) . . Limerick, C Second SesSion. and Droinore.. ).. . • Eiphin, Down, Third Session. and Waterford. • Leighliui • • Cloyne, i Fourth Session. and Cork, ) • . . Kilmore, Fifth Session. and Ciogher, . . Ossoi y, • Killaia, Sixth Session. and Cionfert, The remainder of this act relates to the temporal peers . d . an other niattitrs immaterial to this question.] . . Be it enacted, that the said act" (the required act of the. Irish l'ariiament), "so herein recited, be taken as a part of this act," (the act of uulon,) "and to be deemed to all in tents alai purposes incorpOrated within the same." Tit Ili u A!..i . icta:—cinpowefs the King to continue the great seal and privy council of Ireland, if he shall think fit. Such is the Act of Union, which it is now sought by some parties to repeal. Now, if we understand the mat ter at issue between His Majesty's Government and the great "Agitator" it amounts to this. Mr. O'Connell says--1 want a repeal of the Union. Not that I have any desire to dissever the interests of the two countries, or to deprive the King of the allegiance of his Irish sub jects—all that I want is to turn the people of the Bank .of Ireland out of their quarters in College Green, and to apply the building to its original purpose of a 'Parlia ment House,' where I can be Viceroy over the King. But this I cannot do without a Repeal of the Union; be cause the third article declares that there shall only be one parliament and that must sit in London." To all which the King's Ministers say—" No—To this project of yours we will not consent. No act shall be done by which the Union may be violated—and "—(to use the words of the Right Honourable Secretary for Ireland,—) " such an attempt shall be resisted to the death." This was on Tuesday the sth day of the present month of February. On that very day week, Tuesday the 12th of February, the Chancellor of the Exchequer rises in his place and moves "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to alter and amend the Laws relating to the Tempo ralities of the Church in Ireland." We refer our readers back to the fourth and fifth articles, together with the two supplementary arti cles given above—and we then recommend them to turn to the plan of the noble lord, so far as it was developed in . the course of the debate upon his motion. Having directed their attention to these points, and reminding them that this plan has the full sanction of Mr. Stanley, we are free to confess—whatever may be their opinions —that our capacities are not equal t o the comprehension of the English language, and to the or dinary plain meaning of words and sentences, if Lord Althorp's proposition be not, in its nature, the most direct and flagrant violation of the Act of Union, which it is in the power of man to devise. That Mr. O'Connell and the abettors of revolution who act with him should have heard the communication with boundless and extravagant joy---4 joy that is well de scribed by one who was present on the occasion, as " ex pressed by sounds resembling much more the hideous cries of demons than the occasional exclamations of a body of human beings assembled for the discharge of solemn dnties "—that the announcement should have been so received by those persons is, we say, in no way surprising. Had that arch enemy of his country's peace, Mr. O'Connell been blessed with the gift of foresight, how effectually could he have relieved himself, his mis chievous coAdjutors, and the numerous miserable victims of his accursed ambition from the stigma which attaches —justly so, % e admit—to him and to them; and from the punishme t which now overhangs them, in common with the enti e population of that ill-fated country, in the coercive measures directed against it by the Minis ters of the Crowii. Had the learned gentleman conceived it possible that any set of men, acting as the Ministers of a British King, could have advanced doctrines and proposed legislative acts such as he heard on that occasion, we strongly sus pect—however little prepared for discretion in his acts —that the odium which is now equally divided between. him and them, might, with his consent, have been exclu sively borne by the Ministers. We can hardly suppose it to be the direct intention of the Ministry to play O'Connell's game; but, in any case, they are doing so, much more effectually than he could ever have contemplated as the result of his own acts in the wildest moment of his life, however supported by his myriads of slavish followers. The difference between them is this. He acts either in direct violation, or by, subtle evasion of the law—they propose to screen them selves under its enactments; he openly (if not honestly) avows his object—they, too cowardly to avow, or too blind to discover the consequences of their proceedings, avail themselves of the opportunity of one of the popu lar, or mouvement cries of the day to give a vital stab to the religion which they are sworn to protect; he, for aught we know to the contrary, may have already passed the Rubicon—they, in one more step, will have done so too. Before that step be taken, let , them seriously re flect on the force and trnth of that well-known expression of Virgil, Facilis descensus Averui ; Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, Mc labor, hoc opus est. It is needless for us to give the oaths taken by the Ministers of the Crown, either as members of the senate or in the character of Privy Councillors. They are well known to the world. There is another oath, however, which, although perhaps as well known as theirs, will here bear repetition ; we mean the solemn oath of their Royal Master administered at his coronation. " Archbishop. Will you, to the utmpst of your power , maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion established by - law? And will you preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them, or any of them'?" " King. All this I promise to do. After this the King, laying his hand upon the holy gospels, shall say, The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep: So help me God.' And then shall kiss the book." • Whether the Ministers of the Crown are or are not prepared to violate their own oaths, the future alone can tell us; we Sincerely hope for the negative of this posi tion. But we would intreat them, by all that is due to their fellow-subjects and to the Crown, to pause before they incur tilt awful responsibility of placing their Sovereign in a situation with the sole alternative before him of violating his oath—that solemn compact between his God, himself, and his people—or of being again sub jected to the revolutionary assaults of "Political Union" rabbles: MINISTERIAL TACTlCS.—Pettifogging, we fear, is still the order of the day. In watching the operations of the Government, it is impossible not to be struck with the different aspect which it assumes on different occasions. Never was an administration bolder, or more dignified, to all appearance, than that of Lord Grey, when it as sailed O'Connell two years agO. But ' never was one more base or degraded than that same Cabinet when it fomented the ire and nursed the strength of the English Political Unions. It has been a consequence of this imbecile and dis honourable vaf_illation, that we have now reached a point at which it has been found necessary to resortto measures far more severe than any which the Tories ever felt themselves called upon td'. propose. We do not blame the Government for this severity : we hold it, at the time, wholesome and just : but we blame them for the antecedent weakness' arid dishonesty of conduct which has, at length, made thi§ severity indispensable. At the same time, however, with their measures of coercion, and by way, we suppose, of rendering them more palatable, they have introduced the Irish Reform Bill :—and against their conduct in this lar, we have one capital charge to make. I t ' they have opened the question, but they do no t to] contemplate its settlement and close. The! nay, they boast, that the applicability of Char perty to secular uses is to be left an open c l ued they congratulate and pride themselve s upon , that their bill does not either affirm or deny i t ' I ought to blush for it. Times when extensive I are proposed, are times when fundamental' ought to be fully and clearly established. We know, not only how much we retain or remove' what ground and by what right we retain or r° And when we call upon the Church to make s ue sacrifices, surely, in equity, she has a right to de l , i us some guarantees as to her future inviolab l peace. Observe again.—ln the House of Peers, the I tatives of the Church have seats. Here, then, 0' Reform Bill ought to have been shaped and But no : it would be more acceptable in the Commons, and so it is to be introduced there. other hand, the law of coercion upoit the peel' have been introduced where the representatiO people sit ; but no : it would be more acceptab l House of Peers, and consequently it is first b 1 light there ! Thus is propriety sacrificed to coni' PORTUGAL.—The battle for a crown, which tinues in Portugal, but which is obviously dray its termination, presents one 9f the most singl tacles ever witnessed. It is not here our busin' quire which of the two combatants has in laic claim. When men draw their swords, the lay;' Habeas Corpus act in Ireland, is suspended. we disposed to inquire which brother is the bette, or the more honourable and estimable man. be a " tedious difficulty," as lago says, to disc( thing either reputable or commendable in Pedt guel, and, if we could, we are quite satisfied that be of no value to us or our readers. All that we know of the . matter is, that Dom 31 1 the king de facto of Portugal, and that Domredr° be the same, by cutting the throat of his brother:' could. The former happens to have on his side ", bility, hidalgos, priests, monks, and nine-tent lls i whole population of the kingdom, while the latter,' aided and abetted by some six or seven thousa l ' oi lings of all grades, who call themselves soldiers triots, among whom are a few Brazilians, a COl brave Belgians, a score or two of Swiss, an hull roes from Paris, a regiment of Englishmen who' d way, are chiefly Irishmen, and who are styled Giles's Fencibles, in honour of the place where the recruited—besides which there are Germans, chi and perhaps about a thousand refugees who c 3 , i , selves natives of the country, which it is probe, are, although by no means a very flattering the vilest people on the face of the earth. This is a true story, and a faithful picture of batants on both sides. Dom Pedro has obtaine d ' sion of Oporto, where he has remained for, months, without advancing a single step, eating sions which are not his own, and drinking wille d he plunders. He has not the slightest chance enabled to march upon the capital. Were he heroes to move a single league from Oporto lie afl would, to a moral certainty, be cut to pieces• j therefore, waging a hopeless and useless war.. , inflicted the most direful and irremediable ii 1.11", the citizens of Oporto, by destroying their u l hausting their resources, and exposing their littl public buildings to the shot and shells of the roY 6 All this may be sport to the adventurers and tile, men from St. Giles's, but it is ruin and death to v., chants, the wine growers, and the industrious P° of the place. The losses they have already 5 , will not be redeemed by the labour and piollt g : ' next three years. Now, if the people of Oporto were alone inte this family quarrel, or if they preferred pauperiol battering of their houses to peace and prospet ll i ~ would be a matter of taste, which they would nav e . to indulge, without any interference by neutral But it happens, unfortunately for this view of the ' tion, that the. people of England have a deep i11 t ,, , , 1 the trade and prosperity of Oporto. That 01 '1 much an English warehouse as any of the docl l y, verpool. Nl , e, therefore, have a large stake in, . 1 flict between the two princes of the House of P a " Port wine is as indispensable a beverage in 1i1°,,, , ' i f the bitter decoction which Mr. FoW.II Bus.to") ,:; under the name of porter, and vulgarly called 610 are, for these reasons, in a very different positi gards Portugal from that of our loving allies the ') They have an interest in protracting toe strug<ut would rather rejoice if Lite WilUie CUliatrypd L bottom of the Atlantic. if its wine trad cje of 0 ~ stroyed, so much the better for the wine tir- - ~ t o Portugal is our principal vineyard, and, b es " 1 c The French have, consequently, many political 3tl ` b 1 1 1:, reasons for keeping the present game arive, e a r dr ing the English merchants, stopping our trade , c itlii our wine-cellars, and - CUrOpetling us to reSOr t, N• e lk superfluous and fructifying gold, to, the hones t dealers of Bourdeaux. If the philosophers who are at present his I ‘ l .o ministers were not the greatest bunglers in the Ni- had any regard for the trad e or ° th e i n terests of they would instantly put a stop to this hopeless in Portugal. The Duke of Wellington told the n that they had only to issue a proclamation recalli._ fencibles, to whom we have already alluded, ar i struggle would be at an end in a week. Th e 1 demonstration, on the part of the British admiral, force such a measure, would compel Dom Pedro to. a retreat. tits ex-imperial Majesty is unqu estl° sick of the adventure. lie only wants a decent for running away, and this, we think, even on t he of charity, should be afforded him by Lord areY o colleagues. Every hour that now passes is un e if gering and painful embarrassment. The frien ds li 0 can be Catlett friends, who surround lion, hav e ti ipt an interest in advising him to p ers evere; for %,` - ,,,e . rations last the courage will rema in ; and as td - ,, cannot, under any circumstances, be ina Ill Ore , . _ e .. ' able or respectable condition, it is but natural ill' should stick to the plunder to the last extremity . is for their advantage is certainly not for tne 191 the rest of mankind, on which ground alone , if ri„ could be offered, the British Government are bn . : o l interpose and restore peace to a people who sl i .l solved, at all hazards, to adhere to the King u choice. • ' - ___..S. • V , L ivaueooL; —Printed on Tuesdays and Fridays, in Union John Street, and Published at No. 7, high-street,F's'brtiro4l SAMUEL FRANCEYE, Stationer, of No. 7, Anson-street. 14$ Advertisements ate also reeeived in London itv WO"' Or .; & Co., Warwiek•square, Nevizate.sae.A; =and )2r. 1 3 •'. • , Fleet-street.