The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-08 00:00:00

with inferiority to the Protestants ? How could the Hon. and
Learned Sergeant venture to abuse the loyal and patriotic As-
sociation which had been estabiis:)ed in- Ireland, to maintain
the cause of their country, and to oppose bigot:), and intole-
ranee ? It was trne that that Association advocated the claims
of the Catholics, for it advocated the welfare of Irelznd. , The
Hon. and Learned Sergeant did not say any.thing is hostility
to the Catholics ; but he was a political hypocrite ; he did that
which he abstained from saying. Let him speak up ; let hi,,,
at once declare that the Catholics were nut worthy of bein-r
placed on a footing with Protestants. Let hint say, " The
law has proaounced them equal to the Protestants, but I pro-
nounce thorn inferior ?" And why was it that the people
of Ireland were to be .considered inferior to the people of
England, or to the people of Scotland ? Was it possible
to imagine that if the Catholics of Ireland were to take one
step derogatory to the Protestants of that country, the Pro.
testant members who sat on his side of the House would ex-
hibit any indifference on the subject ? The Protestant mem-
bers who sat on his side of the House were as mach 'at-

tached to their faith, although they might not be so sanc-
timonious as those who censured the orniseinn of any allu-
sion to the Deity in the speech from the Throne. If the
Catholics of Ireland' were to persecute the Peotestailts of
Ireland, would not they have all the virtuous and good part
of the population of Ireland, and of England, and of Scotland
against them ? When he saw that the Catholic constituency
of Ireland rbturned a majority of Protestant Members to
that House, he laughed to scorn the paltry masoning which
went to show that the Catholics were disposed to persecute
the Protestants. But he would make no further answer to
the rigmarole speech of the Hon. and Learned Sergeant.
Ile called on the people of England—he called on the Mem-
bers of that or of the other House of Parliament—to do ono
of two things—either to repeal the Union, or to place the
Catholics on an equality with the Protestants. Was it riot
the principle of the Union that, in the language of Mr. Pitt,
"it would make Ireland a second Yorkshire?" He ( Mr.
O'Connell) loved Yorkshiremen.—( A laugh.) There were
among them some of the best men in the 'country. What
would have been said had Yorkshire been excluded from the
benefits of the reform which had been extended to the other
parts of the kingdom? And why were the inhabitants of Ire-
land to be subjected to exclusion from rights, any more than
the inhabitants of Yorkshire?
Mr. SH AW, in answer to the personal attack made by the Hon. and
L'arned Member for Kilkenny, on his Hon. and Learned F. lend, said,
all that his Hon. and Learned Friend stated was the fact that Mr.
P.gott, being a member of the National-Assoc'i'ation in Ireland, had
been appointed to an office most important with reference to the elm'.
nistration of justice in that country. Now there was not al Protestant
in Ireland who could repose confidence in the due adm.nistratioa of
justice, or feel that his own personal liberty and rights were secure,
when a member of that Association was placed in such an office. As
to the noble lady on whom the Hon. an.l Learned Member for
Kil-
kenny stated his Hon. and Learned Friend had cast imputations, no-
thing couldbe mare groundless than,the Hon. and Learned Gentleman's
statement. His lion. and Learned Friend had not said a ward- in the
slightest degree affecting the lady's respectability. But the Hon. and
Learned Member for Kilkenny said that his Hon. and Learned Friend
charged the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland wi.h being too merciful. His
Honourable and Learned Friend's charge was, that the Lori-Lieu-
tenant had indulged in acts of mercy waieli were inconsistent
with the preservation of the peace of Ireland. It was as im-
portant that no person who had lost his liberty by dee sen-
tence of law should be freed from the consequenses of that
sentence, as that no person should I.se his liberty without
due sentence of law.—(hear, hear.) The Honourable and Learned
friend's charge was that the prerogative of* mercy had not ber.n pro.
poly exercised by the Lord-Lieutenant. In the county of Carlow a
Mr. Hudson, who had been proved befOre a Committee of the House of
Commons to be a decided political partisan, was nevertheless made an.
assistant-barrister; and in that capacity registered voters who had been
struck off by the committee, and whose registration had been refused by
his two predecessors. All that had been contended for by him, and by
those with whom he (Mr. Shaw) acted, was, that they lirel no right to
call upon the ancient corporations of Ireland to give up all that power
which they e: joyrd, and all those privileges which bad been confirmed
to them, for the purpose of transferring them to an opposite party,
whatever might have been the faults of these ancient corporations
in certain instances.. The Noble Lord, indeed, had declared that
those who had opposed the former Bill for municipal ref :rm in
Ireland objected to any and everythieg in the shape of ameliora.
tion in Ireland.—(hear, hear.) But what was the fact ? It was
simply this; that they were quite willing and ready to do everything
that was necessary fur the reform of abuses in corporations in Ireland.
The Noble Lord had contended that the granting a Municipal Reform
Bill would of necessity tend to the preservation of peace in that coun-
try ; whil t a Learned Gentleman had declared that it would tend to
promote normal schools of agltation ; bet this latter reasoning had
certainly been objected to, because it formed practically a part of the
system now in operation; and all subsequent events had served to con.
firm that conviction. For his own part, he had stated that it was im-
possible to grant these popular assemblies without their becoming dart_
gel ous to the peace and good order of Ireland. The Noble Lord had
declared that the National Association was the spawn of their own '
doing, an assertion which would-lead to the inference that the Noble
Lord went the whole length of the proceedings of that institution,
Was it consistent with the dignify of the law that such meetings
should be allowed where large 831113 were raised for political purposes ?
Was it not rather contrary to law to allow a society of this nature.
an Association which, as originally formed, was avowed to have for its
object the obtaining Corporate Reform and the extinction of tithes.
These were the purposes for which the Association had been first
framed; yet at its first breath it sent out its emissaries, under the
name of " pacificators,l' for the purpose of procuring and getting
up petitions for corporate reform and the vote by ballot. Ile would
now refer to a leiter of the Honourable and Learned Member for Kil-
kenny, headed " Justice to Ireland," and dated Darrynane Abbey, the
27th of August, 1836, in which the Hon. and Learned Gentleman de-
clared, in speaking of the present Government, " No Ministry ever had
so glorious a career before them Ireland, after more than six centuries
of unmitigated oppression, is ready for conciliation—for union—for
identification with Britain. The first dawn of impartiality is the first
dawn of dutiful tranquillity. The great national question can. nay
muse be now decided. Are the Irish people to be fellow subjects, or are
they to be—l will write it—ENEMIES? Lord Melbourne may blot out
the enmity for ever; he may make the Irish willing and most useful
subjects.. . . . He must became the advocate of an increased and
extended franchise. He must c assent to shorten the duration of Par-
liament. He must not shrine from the Ballot. Above all, he must
prepare for the conflict with the Lords." Had nut the Noble Lord that
very night made a statement to show that two millions of our felow-
creatures were in a state of want- and abject destitution in Ireland ?
Upon the question of the Poor-laws he would not upon the present oc.
casioti touch ; but he should be happy to go into it when the proper
time should arrive, for he was confident that that was a question upon
which Members of all opinions would enter without party feeling.
But as to this alleged tranquillity of Ireland, in the first place he
denied the fact, seeing that five murders and a great many burglaries
ha.i lately been committed. —(Hear.) 'Was this a state of tran.
quillity ? Could there remain a doubt as to whether the country was
peaceable or not ? The Protestants of Ireland were willing to give
up all unfair ascendancy, but they were unwilling to surrender is ex-
clusively to the Roman Catholics. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman

here. adverted to the case of Mr. John O'Brien, and represented the oc-
casion of a dinner at which he presided, when over the principal table
were hunebanners bearing the inscriptions of " The Repeal of the
Union,"—" Abolition of Tithes" and " Vote by Ballot." And this.
Gentleman, in proposing the health of Old Ireland, after stating that
politics and redgion had been the cause of the disunion in the country.
(as we understood), proceeded to give as the next toast, " The Repeal
of the Union " and declared that that ought to become the
war-cry of the people of Ireland; and yet this was the man
who had superseded those who had been chosen for sheriff's.
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had followed up a tour which he had
made from one place to another, and let the House hear what he had
chosen to say in reference to a nobleman' of large property and un.
blemished character ; " I will tell him," said the Hon, and Learned
zu.mber for Kilkenny, "that he, (the Marquis of Abercnrn), as a man,
is contemptible—as a human being, he is ludicrous—and as a Peer, he
has arrived at his title by the foulest crimes that can disgrace human
nature." Now he (Mr. Shaw) would ask the Noble Lord whether he
did pot blush for the man who could Ore such a description of one
with whom he was connected ? The Hon. and Learned Gentlemanthen.
proceeded in the same course at Sligo, abusing every one, and concluded
his tour by a visit to Carlow, and " The Dublin Morning Register" ga-ee
an account of the dinner, at which it appeared the same approptiate
terms were applied as in other cases ; such as " Remember your seuls,"
" vote by ballot," &c. In alluding to this festival the Hon. and Learned
Member fur Kilkenny, in addressing the company there assembled,
said, "My friend, the Chairman, in alluding to the Conserva-
tive festival in this town on yesterday, talked of respectability.
Respectability S What does my valued friend mean • by respect-
ability Y . They may have the respectability of the hog-
get or the ox, that fatten on the land they are as stupid
as t.ey are maligeant, and as ugly as they are contemptible. Are
they respectable for their virtues or acquirements ? Are they respec-
table for those qualities which make men truly respecti.ble—patriots
ism arid humanity, or,- in a word, lave of country and of their fellow-
men? Na ; they are cruel, unrelenting, perfidious tyrants; their corns
solation is the widow's tear, shed amidst the ruin of desolate I villages,
and aisle music is the scream of the orphan and the gromis of the ~.ms
piling victim, who dies beneath the withering blase.cf that oppression
which forced him from his humble home—from Use greets Seeds ishese
Isis fathers dwelt, and suffers him to perish by ttse way side, ihcitseless
and heart-broken wanderer. Like the ghouls', of the eastern tale, they
live and delight upon susking out the warm heart's blood wnile life is
still in v.gour, and reducing their.victinet o the grave before the chill of
years or the comee of natural events carry them away. They love the
wail of famishing children., said the , agony of ruined and agonised pa-
rents. Oil, Sr, let us not clung() the English language, or, at least,
let us not apply the "term iespectable to such men.--(Some one crud
cut " Savages In Yes, an appropriate term, although it is somewhat
too mild, for savages have more of the natural instincts and sympathies
01 nature, and know nothing of the refined cruelties of such blood-
thirsty blnckbeads." The (lon. and Learned Member was proceeding,
when ke was interrupted by
Mr. P.OEBUCK, who rose to order.
Sir. GEORGE CLERK rose to speak to order.
The SPEAKER said, the only question, speaking strictly, shoulel
limited to the motion before it, which was that of the Noble. Lord's. for
leave to bring in a L'ill respecting Municipal Corporations in Ireland.
Yet the subject had been opened and debated in connection witls the
whole state of Ireland. With regard to the observations of the Hon.
Member for Bath, who had rose to order:, be was not prepared to say that
the Hon; and Learned Member foe Dublin, University was out of
order.—(hear.)
Mr. SHAW proceeded to teed the foßowisig further extracts from
the same speech :—" Well, yin have all tins upon one side; these are
the respectable uteri who ate opposed to liberty and justice, _You have
the teis.pound 'voters on the other side. Bless those honest men who
W car the fri-se coats, they are the truly respectable and good. Give me-
th:sees hottest men, the rues like Prunty, who remembered their souls
and liberty ; those are the men who are truly resPe"etable in the literal
meaning .Of the word." Ay, the mouth might 'Ater the word liberty,
but the true spirit of liberty could not animate, the mind of those who
uttered it. so much, then, for the abuse oi: the living ; hut the licit.
and Learned Genileinan was not satstied,with this, but he must revile
the deal Yes, on the day that the ()club of - 'lir. Kavanagh was an.

nounced---
Mr. O'CONNELL—It, was the day after.
Mr. SHAW—WeII, then, on the day after, the Hon. and Learned Gentleman, addre9.sing the same auditory, said, " Alas ! poor Kava-
nagh I"—(rma .exciamatioli was received with laughter)—" if he had
not -made the fatal alliances be did, one would be glad that he would
woulu 57:1., into his grace in that peaceful obscurity in which, for
his own sejce, he ought to have remained, and not have had the dead.
cats and, COg3 thrown into his grave with him" (as we understood.
the 114 lit Hon, Geotleman.) Yet Mr. Kavanagh was g,nerous to the!
poor and a kind landlord to his tenantry, born on the soil too, no sas—
s,-,n.ucti, no stranger (he thought that might have toutbed the II m. ai3it:
14eamed Gentleman's heart) ; but he of whom this language was I Aid.
was a descendant oi' Irish Kings, and on his death-bed, in the nridst
of his family. And because an English nobleman declares that thr,ser
who tatter sentiments such as these are aliens in language, religion, Bud
blood, we are to have the standard of rebellion unfurled, an ,t the
tielt:s of Ireland drenched with blood. The speech ended with. - hopes
4.
that thu electors of Carkw would soca be delivered frail # .1,,e uore
.•
1 Ipting tyranny of their cruel and paificlious landlord; Iv ~ renie a
,