The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-04-27 00:00:00

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the speech he had just made, he set out with declaring his ignorance,
and in every subsequent part of his observations showed a most
perfect and thourigh acquaintance with the subject, bringing ever
thing to bear on it which could assist its adversaries and embarrassy its friends. In the course of his assault, he accused the profession,
the Parliament, and the Members of that House in particular,
of committing Perjury ; but what had that to do with the sub-
ject ? Is the prevalence of perjury elsewhere to be a reason why
no attempt should be made to diminish the frequency of that crime
amongst the forty-shilling freeholders ? This, indeed, is arriving
lat a conclusion, as he litineelf would say, "by a jump." The
I whole effect and tendency of what had been delivered by him was
to mislead the House, by the use of popular topic; of declamation.
From commencement to conclusion he went upon the assumption
of what he was bound to prove. What right had he to call it a
measure of disfranchisement ? Here it is admitted on all hands
that the measure of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill will do unques-
tionable good—it will reconcile the minds of all accompanied only
by the present measure, doing immediate benefit, and producing
only remote and contingent disadvantage. It was on the
other aide said, that this Bill would excite a ferment in the'.
public mind; that its evil effects will be immediate, and its benefits
distant and uncertain. Nothing could be further from the just and
sound view of the subject. It does not disfranchise one man now
in possession of a vote. It takes from no man the benefit of what
he already possesses. It gives the full benefit of all existin laws.
His Hon. and Learned Friend, misled in the zeal of arggument,
hurried off in the heat of debate, contends that so delicate are the
constitutional sentiments of the Roman Catholic freeholders, that
rather than have the right of suffrage narrowed, they would forego
the direct, palpable, and immediate advantages which would low
from the Relief Bill, so long the object of their ardent desires. No ;
so sensitive are they on the subject of coostitutional rights, so
acutely do they argue this abstract question, that they become per.
feetly indifferent to the general good of a general measure. They
feel not for themselves, it is only on account of pusterity that
they are anxious, for it is only posterity that can be affected
by the Freeholders' Bill, and they freely give the Bench, the Par.
'lament, and the high offices of State, and the means of tran-
quillizing the country, for the sake of the forty shilling freeholders
of the next generation. His Hon. and Learned Friend had de.
dared that he knew not whether the measure was good or bad,
but he did not intend to oppose it. If he intended favour, it was
gi ugly a looking support as ever he had witnessed ; it had as
e;;;Ie of friendliness in it as any assistance he had ever seen.
On tits general question he seemed to demand something like
unanimity. This was quite the knight-errantry of logic--this
romance, this delicacy, was altogether without a parallel. If, in
addition to his other multifarious occupations, he should ever take
up the employoent of writing novels, his feelings on this occa-
sion would present A very " delicate embarrassment." (Laughter.)
' He would now freely and frankly state his feelings on the Bill
' then before them ; and in doing so, he was not afraid that any
thing he might say wotarl have the effect of lessening him
' in the good opinion either of :hat Reuse or the conntry at large.
The measure. he thought, was in iteelf :An absolute good, for, sup-
posing it to be injurious, even faulty to a certain degree, yet as it
remedies a much higher degree of evil, he would accept it as it was,
with all its supposed disadvantages. The House would now judge
between him and his Hon. and Learned Friend. He had stated
to them his creed, and let them form their opinion thereon. Ile
would now go one step further. Here they were by the Relief Bill
i going to let n the Roman Catholies--giving them seats in Par-
liamcnt.,tand opening to them the high offices ofthe State; and were
they, with the mob at their heels, to be so admitted without some
counteracting restraint—without, in fact, taking away that franchise
which formed the source of their Jaunts ? The only safety is to
take away this franchise. But thinking as he did, he c cold never
agree to the present Bill, unless taken in connection with the gene-
ra measure of concession to the Roman Catholics. To pass the
present without reference to the Relief Bill, would be leveling
a direct blow against the Roman Catholics, for they have
no other more powerful instrument with which to carry the
Catholic Question than the use which they are enabled to make
of the forty-shilling freeholders. His Hon. and Learned Friend
was very amusing in the complaints he made of the cruel situation
in which he supposed himself to be placed. Cruel as that situation
was, he never appeared so hsppy—so completely in the enjoyment
of his self.possession--in the full play of fancy—the complete ex-
ercise of eloquence—of imagination and of reason. Pasung from
his Honourable and Learned Friend opposite, to his Right Hoe.
Friend near him (Mr. Secretary Peel) he felt bound to say, not in
the ordinary language of ceremony used in that House—not in the
discourteous species of courtesy sometimes practised—he felt bound
in candour to say that he believed no one more incapable of giving
any Bill his support which hail reference to another measure, on its
own naked merits, and without giving at the same time his cordial
and hearty approbation to whatever Bill its supporters might con-
template as necessarily going in connexion with it. The Act of
1793, so truly described as preposterous and impolitic, let in the
rabble to privileges they were not entitled to, and excluded the
upper ranks from their just and natural station in society; and what
effect had it with the proprietors of land ? It made them look to
the creation of freeholders as their great object, and he was happy
in being able to say that in 817, his Right Honourable
Friend (Mr. Secretary Peel) had likewise seen the subject
in the same point of view. The objet or the --Aretbdity
was much more to zeal themselves of the instrumentality of the
freeholder, than so enjoy the legitimate advantages of the freehold.
A tenement is given to those creatures not worth forty pence—they,
by their labour, are enabled to pay the rent of it, and they are then
called upon by their landlord to swear that it is of the value of 425.,
though, in point of fact, if they have an income to that amount, it
proceeds from their own exertions, and not the land in which their
freehold is supposed by law to exist. The Irish landlords actually
compel their tenantry to do this—they dare not do otherwise—they
are turned adrift, perhaps to starve. it they presume to disobey the
mandate of the superior, by hesitating to swear themselves possessed
of a freehold to the value of 40s. annually. A knowing landlord will
not keep omen his estate any lubberly knave who has scruples about
swearing. This might be good reason for amusement for his Hon. and
Learned Friend, but was it a reason for a man to oppose himself to
this measure? His Honourable and Learned Friend had ex-
hausted all his tact in his opposition to this Bill ; he had displayed
his accustomed eloquence, which appeared in every discussion that
he took a part in ; but he would ask, if on this occasion he had not
evinced the alacrity of an advocate, catching at points fora quibble,
rather than being desirous of opposing him fairly to the question ?
The next point to which he would advert was, that the landlord
insists upon the tenant voting for him or his friend at an election.
He never solicits the tenants, but sends his agent to bring the 300
or 500 to vote as he chooses. The greatest evil that arose out of
this system was, in case of a religious dispute amongst the Catholic
voters, then the priests were brought in, and the landlord and the
priest dispute, not for the benefit of the tenant, but in furtherance
of their own particular objects. The tenant, as a matter of course.
followed the dictates of kis conscience, and what next happened ?
Why, the cattle of the tenant was seized by the landlord, and an
election contest between these parties ensued, which necessarily
I caused—what of all things was most to be dreaded and deprecated
in Ireland—insubordination. His Honourable and Learned Friend
said, that the evidence was all on one side; when it was "'hewing
perjury and violence, he should be glad to know what the other
I side was ? For himself he would say, that he had seldom known a
case brought before Parliament with more distinct anti decided ar-
I guments to its favour. It was nut interfering with the purity of
election, but, on the contrary, it was securing it. The House would
be surprised at the number of 40• freeholders, compared with those
of 50/. and 201. in the twenty-seven counties of Ireland, in which
the calculation heti been made. They were as 18 to I, and before
a general election 3,1100 or 4,000 of them would be made. But the
Honourable Member for Corfe Castle was so fired with constitu-
tional feelings, that he would rather expire on the floor, and lose his
estate, than support this measure. (Laughter.) His Runnymede
feelings would not suffer him to sanction any Bill that did not eon.
cur with his constitutional feelings. (Burst of laughter.) His
heart beat in unison with those of the ancient Barons ; but when
be (Mr. Plunkett) stated that the measure in question accorded
with the system pursued in England, it might, he hoped, some-
what appease the jealousy of the Honourable Member. By the
time these leases died away someting like a respectable yeomanry
might be admitted to the elective franchise; and when the fulness
of time should come, the same privileges might attach to Ireland
that were now enjoyed by England. His Honourable and Learned
Friend had alluded to the evidence of Mr. O'Connell, and had
maintained from that that the measure before the House was objec.
tionable, and that that gentleman had not advised the Committee
to take it up. lie certainly understood Mr. O'Connell very differ-
ently. He believed that slr. O'Connell's evidence went to this_
I that it would be unjust to separate this measure from the great
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since he gave that evidence, but he firmly believed that to be his
meaning ; and of Mr. O'Connell he would say, that no man pos.
seated a larger share of the confidence of the people of Ireland than
he did, and no man deserved it more, or was leas inclined to abuse
it. He could not give his Honourable and Learned Friend credit
for the candour of his opposition ; he could not give him credit for
throwing so great an obstacle in the way of the great question, as
he had done by his speech that night; but if hie opposition be sin-
cere, he did rive him credit for the most perfect ignorance upon the
subject. I,et the Honourable and Learned Gentleman consult the
Members for Ireland who surrounded him. Let him consult his
own excellent judgment, and lay aside his rhetoric, and then pro-
bably he would come to a different conclusion. Another point of
view in which this measure might be considered was, not with re.
ferenceto the Catholics, but as it affected the Protestants of Ire.
land; and he could assure the House that they anxiously looked
forward to it. He thought that nothing had occurred to the great
question, of which the present measure formed a prominent part, so
important as the course pursued by the Honourable Member for
Armagh. If it could be permitted for any one to envy the feel.
ings of another, it would be excusable in wishing to have had the
opportunity of enjoying the satisfaction the conduct of the Hon.
Member must have afforded him. It was an act that it was worth
beinglin error all the former part of a man's life to have the courage
to perform, in the way the honourable Member had done at this
precise period. He thought the present measure, and the one to
be discussed on Friday, relative to the Catholic Clergy, would be
of incalculable advantage to Ireland. lie was always anxious that
this measure should be carried, and he was now more anxious than
ever. Never was there a period in which the hopes of the friends
of the Catholics were so near being realised; but never was there
a time when there was so great a chance of their being dashed to
the ground. No friend of the Catholic cause could forget the pre-
eminent services of his Honourable and Leaned Friend to that
cause. No one was more ready than he (Mr. Plunkett) was to
offer the fullest tribute of gratitude to his Honourable Friend, for
the splendid efforts that he made in that cause ; and on that ac-
count it was that he so much lamented his opposition to the mea-