The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-11-06 00:00:00

MIL BRIGHT, 11. P., AT DUBLIN.

A banquet was given on Tuesday evening at the
Rotunda, to Mr. John Bright, M.P., on the mediae of
hit first public visit to Dublin. The n'Tionogitue pre-
sided. Among thaws present were Sir .1. Grey. d.P.,
Mr. Sides, d.P., Mr. Bagwell, g P., Captain White,
M.P., Mr. Lawson, S.?. (late Attorney-General for
Ireland), Mr. Sullit an. ii P (late Solicitor.Oenersl for
Ireland). Sir Colman O'Loghlen, M.P.. Ur. Blake, M.P.,
Sir P. O'Brien, dor. Serjeant Armstrong, N P., Mr.
Barry. M.P., Mr. T. Kennedy, d.P.. Dr. O'Brien (Dean
of Limerick), the Mayor of Cork, the Mayor
of Kilkenny, the Mayor of Limerick, An The
secretary read letters apologising for nonaattend.
ante, but expressing warm admiration for Mr. Height
and the service he had rendered to the country, from
Cardinal the Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishop
of Meath, the Bishop of Kerry, the Archbishop of
Tarim, and others. The usual loyal toasts having
bre° duly honoured; The Chairman proposed "The
health of Mr. Bright," highly eulogising the carriers
which that gentleman had rendered to the country,
and welcoming him to the shores of Ireland as • true
friend of the Irish nation, and as one who had done
much to overthrow c'em legislation, and to annihilate
oligarchical misrule. Mr. Bright, in responding, did
he had often asked himself the question why
Ireland constituted no strength nor support either
with the Queen, the Parliament, or the people of
Great Britain. He was inclined to believe that
this arose, not from the Irish people themselves
or from any defect in their natures, but from
their history and the condition under which they lived
—(loud ciders). He was told, and he was glad to find,
that there was • remarkable sheens@ ef dime in Ireland,
and that the people veto bad gone to the United Maim
had remitted £13,000,000 sterling to their friends and
relatives here. Theis facts showed that there were no
defects in the Irish character, Not thst the state of
Ireland was rather due to the aystem under which it
was governed. He had been told that the chief reason
of the state of Ireland was to be ascribed to political
agitators; but, to the priests of the popular church, to
Grattan and O'Connell, its two great popular leaders.
Ireland owed a great debt, and no class had a greater
interest in the tranquillity and prosperity of Ireland
that' the Roman Catholic clergy. Others said that
there oodld be no ground of complaint whilst the laws
of Ireland were in a manner the same as those of Eng-
land and Scotland. Take, however, the case of the
Established Church; they forgot that in England it
was not the church of a foreign race—the symbol of
runquest—absorbing the endowments of Ins whole
kingdom for the benefit of a email minority, and that
no attempt was ever diode to establish • Roman Church
in England or Scotland without arousing ten times the
violence and animosity that was exhibited in Ireland.
In England, it would not be difficult to show that the
landalads wed bad enough, sqd that if it had not been
for her manufactories England would have been worse
off than Ireland. The landlord was the preacher of
foreign (tongued, from whioh in England there sprung
• general system of lawn; but in Ireland the wound of
conquest had never been healed, and there had been •
constant and bitter warfare between the owners and the
occupiers of the soil. Besides this, Ireland had been a
land of religions dlseord—the lend of evictions, a term
aimed unknown in other countries—and it hart been
the land of dent societies, which, in the belief that
they were seeking justice, bad committed deeds spa-
ling in the eyes of the whole world. Even during our
own lien • famine of intense severity had prevailed,
from which an emigration greater than history had sett
recorded bad taken place in • land in which the great
asfeggard of Individual liberty was suspended. and In
which he thee spoke rather by the favour and leave of
the executive than by the right which ought to belong
to every citizen in the land, lie pointed out that in
Ireland the principles of the Tory tarty had been most
fully developed. The country gentlemen had had full
play, and the result had been an Established Church,
whoa% result was ruin to Ireland and weakness to the
whole empire. Whatever might he the Tingles and
piety of many of the Protestant clergy, and they were
great, they were all neutralised by the one fatal fact
that they belonged to an alien establishment, the
symbol of foreign congaed, and of generations of
oppression and misgovernment. Thelides With respect
to the land had, in the next place, been paned by a
clam on their own behalf, and not for the benefit of the
occupier', and this delusive one-sided policy had not
only produced bad feeling between the landowner and
the occupier, but totally prevented the good cultivation
of the land. He guoted.frour the tetter of an intelligent
°Wien of Dublin to show that the people of Ireland
ware looking rather to America than to England, and
believing that there was • real deal in that, he thoe4ht
the OM NU oat only serious but desperate. He be-
lieved there was a remedy for it in the people, if
Parliament would only applif it, and that would he
found in the removal of the state jury, and such just
and fair alterations as were needed in the law affecting
the tenure of hind and the right., of landlord and
tenant. At present the Irish people tOIN diepossemed
of the soil, but it ought to be restored to them. He
protested against the toleration of the law of prlmo-
genitdre, of entails and long settlements, and thought
something shogid be done to deal with the question of '
absenteeism. He advised the appointment of a Royal
Commlarion empowered to bay up the large odds in
Ireland belongins to the English nobility, foe the pur-
pose of selling them on proper tends to the occupiers of
the farms and the tenantry of Ireland. The present
system of government with regard to the church and
with rested to the land had failed disastrously in Ire- ,
land, sod as the disease was desperate the remedy must
be searching. He believed that if the one hundred and
five Ind members were agreed they ought to do
alum:lst anything they liked. In conclusion, be milled
upon the Irish people to Join heartily in the movement
for framing a true representation of the people. The
people did not sympathies with wrong, and, when fairly
represented in the Imperial Parliament, would speedily,
effectively., and finally deal with the grievances under'
which thq bad so long laboured. (The hon. gentleman
resumed his seat amidst loud cheers). . .

Mr. Bright was present on Fnday evening at • meet.
ing of the working men in Dublin. He was presented
with an address full of the warmest eulogy of his publis
weer. In his speech acknowledging the address he
pointed out how vastly important it WM for Ireland
that than, ehould be an extension of the franchise and•
reform of Parliament.