The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-01 00:00:00

put that principle in operation, encumbered it with so •
many novel and cumbersome provisions that he was
bound to oppose it passing into a law.—(Hear,
hoar.) The tenant right of Ulster was believed, and
he concurred in the belief, to be based
upon equity and justice, but those who enjoyed it were
apprehensive that if it was extended to certain parts of
Ireland that could not sympathise with it the system
would be eventually crippled, if not abolished.—(Hear.)
The fact was this right or custom could not be made
the subject of a law, and in attempting to legislate
upon it he was afraid, if they did not proceed with ex-
treme caution, they would render the existing state
in Ireland more disagreeably complicated than it had
ever been.—(Hear, hear.) For instance, this Bill at-
tempted to solve in a few words a problem that had oc-
cupied years in its discussion, and upon which volume
upon volume had been written, namely, it defined the
meaning ;of the term of " a fair rent." It must have
required some courage to induce the Hon. Proposer
of the Bill to venture upon that definition, and
although he admitted the ingenuity of the definition he
was bound to confess that it was so indefinite that it
would of itself render the Bill inoperative, supposing it
was carried.—(Hoar, hear.) It would, however, be
impossible to work such a Bill without some such
definition, and he confessed that he was not
prepared to propose a better than the one
contained in this Bill ; but still this defi-
nition was extremely uncertain, being liable to
various constructions, and again he repeated that as the
success of a Bill of this nature must depend upon the
simplicity of its provisions, it was useless to pass a Bill
the very mainspring of which must inevitably give rise
to endless discussions and disputes.—(Hear, hear.)
Looking, therefore, at these defects, he did not think
it would be prudent to pass the Bill, because
it would disturb the stability of landed property, if it
did not in fact altogether destroy its value; and if the
House wished to see the land maintain its position in the
estimation of investors, it would unhesitatingly with-
hold its sanction to this Bill.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble
Viscount the Member for the county of Down had
taunted the Government with a want of courage to meet
the question with a direct negative.
Viscount CASTLEREAGH did no such thing—
what ho said was this, that in the absence of the Go-
vernment Bill the House had a perfect right to adopt
its own.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir EMERSON TENNENT repeated that the Noble
Viscount threw out a taunt.
Viscount CASTLEREAGH rose to order. An Hon.
Member had no right to make an accusation against
him when he had disclaimed the imputation which it
conveyed.
Sir EMERSON TENNENT had put a natural con-
struction upon the language of the Noble Viscount, but
as the Noble Viscount disclaimed the meaning which
they conveyed, why, of course, there was an end of the
matter.—(Hear.) But he was authorised to state that
the Government measures were to be introduced with
as little delay as possible, and, in conclusion, he begged
leave to move that the Bill be read a second time this
day six months.—(Hear.)
Mr. IiEOGII said that had it not been for the speech
which they had just heard ho should not have felt it
necessary to address the House. He had heard with
great pleasure the conciliatory speech of the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Attorney-General for Ireland, but the
speech of the Honourable Gentlemen had been
marked with so ranch asperity that he could not
help throwing back the insinuation that on
that side of the House there was any desire
to treat the subject in any but a conciliatory tone. The
speech of the Eon. Gentleman had been directed en-
tirely against the details, and not, as it ought to have
been, egainat the principle, and he could not help sus-
pecting. that the speech was intended really for the mo-
tion of going into Committee. The laws of England
and Ireland were very different; in England landlords
were accustomed to let their farms just as they would
furnished houses, while in Ireland tenants were
thrown on a naked soil, and everything which they could
got out of the soil by their own industry was extracted
from them is the shape of rent, and no compensation
whatever provided. He appealed to this country whe-
ther in a time of expected invasion they would not put a
stop to a system which in a space of ten years had
diminished the population of a fertile island by more
than two millions.
Mr. H. GRATTAN was astonished at what had
taken place. He thought it was unknown in the pro-
ceedings of Parliaments that the principal
law :facer of Ireland should come forward
and approve of the principle, and another subordinate
member get up a short time after and find fault with
that principle. All that the Right Hon. Gentleman the
Attorney-General had said had been ruined by his
friends, and it was a great pity that there had not been
some one on the Treasury bench to keep down the Hon.
Member for Lisburn.
Mr. B. OSBORNE regretted that a debate which had
commenced so auspiciously should, in some way or
other, he knew not why, have turned all at once into a
spirit of bitterness. As a friend to Ireland and her in-
terests he should vote for the second reading of the Bill.
He was not, however, so steeped in party prejudice as to
resume his seat without expressing his admiration of the
wise and sincere statement of the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman the Attorney-General for Ireland, and if the
subject were taken up in the same spirit by the
other members of the Government, he did not
despair of seeing the question of tenant-right
effectually settled. If he could hear from that Right
Hon. Gentleman an assurance that a Government Bill
would be laid on the table of the House at as
early a period as possible he should then censider it
better not to press for a division cn the present occasion;
if not, however, he should certainly vote for the second
readine. of the Bill now before the H01:183.
Mr.'WEITESIDE said that, with all duo deference to
the Hon. Gentleman, he was called on now to give his
vote on the raerits of the Bill before the House. He
(Mr. Whiteside) quite agreed that some measure on the
subject was necessary, a measure which ought to be founded
upon a just appreciation of the rights of property. The
present Bill, however, had no such foundation, but was,
in fact, completely opposed in almost every one of its
clauses to the fixed principle of the rights of
property.—(Hear.) The ground of his objection
to the Bill was, not that he was unwilling to do
what was fair and equitable to Ireland, but
because it was an incomprehenrible and impracticable
measure, unjust to landlords and unjust to tenants. It
was the earnest object of the Government to introduce
not a flimsy Bill, but to pass as soon as possible a law
on the subject, ouch as would be beneficial to the country
and creditable to the House.

Mr. BUTLER moved the adjournment of the debate.
Mr. KEOGH hoped the Hon. Member would not per-
sist in his motion, but allow the House to go to a

The motion was then withdrawn.
Mr. CONOLLY (who was received with loud cries of
" Divide," which rendered him for some time
inaudible) was understood to say the question
was not whether a compensation should be
given to tenants for any improvements which
the tenant might Effect in the land, on which all were
agreed, but vs hether or not that compensation should
be fixed by one-sided arbitration. The Hon. Gentleman
was addressing the House when the hour of six o'clock
arrived, and the Speaker declared the House adjourned.

FRANCE.

THE FRENCH CHAMBERS.

The following is the opening speech de livered by
M. Billault :

" Messieurs and dear Colleagues,—Our presence in
this place marks a new era for us and for the country.
Saved from moat terrible eventualities by a hand whose
calm energy is slow in thought (mediter lentement) and
rapid in action, France looks upon her; chief with a con-
fidence which is unprecedented in history.
" By a vote whose astonishing (iclatant) numbers
stand unparalleled, she has asked at his hands strong and
protective institutions, which will restore her security
and her greatness.
" Placed under the invocation of the great principles
of 1789, fortified by that Governmental spirit which
marked the Consulate, these institutions have received
an evident consecration by the scrutin by which we are
elected—ours is the duty to infuse into them practical
life. That is the commencement of our mission; and
that mission, whatever may be said of it, is certainly
not altogether without grandeur and authority.
" We shall not, indeed, see the Legislature surrounded
by parties, which incessantly hold the Ministry in check,
compelling it to concentrate all its forces upon its own
preservation and defence, and by so doing not un-
frequently enervating the power of the State. When-
ever, as Ministers or Deputies, we may employ these
Parliamentary tactics, it is to business now that
we shall be obliged to consecrate them—serious and
practical business. This is our part in the Constitution.
It consists in voting the taxes, the discussion of the
budget and of the laws. It implies not merely the right
of deliberating freely and publicly, of adopting or re-
jecting, but also that of amendment, no longer, un-
doubtedly, with the same facility of improvisation
against whic prelvious Assemblies vainly endeavoured'
toprove fatal to utopian projects.
defend themse ves, but with a degree of maturity
~ In such functions
honfulynctions there is, believe me, a great and
fwe use it, as I am certain we shall, seri-
ously,sentiments which have sent us here. This
rweheliePh°wcaenr' I without reservation, with loyal fidelity to the
electoral
which are the most usefully tute in our new Government one
powero f those
st
i forces
effi-
cacious.coannetdhismpeattoriotthiee
path that the Chief - f Grant me, my dear col-
honour of presiding over You-
devotion, and,
leagues, as much good-will
as I offer you
" It is in order to proceed
of an assembly
give to the world no longer the spectacle
he State with
hasyo u
but of a veri-
of impassioned • ually agitated,
men, contin
d gravely as the
being all united in the holy love of our country, let us
table Assembly of Legislation, calmly an
decide whether the
Is”
are submitted to
law itself enacting statutes upon the great interests which
an-
nounced that there would be held a private sitting, to
At the conclusion. of the sitting the President
wear the uniform on the occasion of public sittings.
The following is the collective letter addressed by
" M. le President,
General eavaignae, I. Carno% and M. fienon, to the
President of the Legislative Corps Members should be required to
sought us in our retreat, or in our exile. We thank
them f,n. having thought that our names would serve as
e But we do not admit that they
a protest against the destruction of public liberties and
the rigours of despothro.
—The electors of Paris and Lyons
meant to send us to
sit in a legislative body whose powers do not extend
to the point of repairing the violation of rights' We
repudiate the immoral doctrine of silence, or of mental 1
reservation ; and we refuse to take the oath required
on admission to the Legislative Corps, We pray you, 1