The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-08 00:00:00

brine a volume from the wards! of England, from C'ornw,l:
.awl Yorkshire, which could rival teat psecious code, awl then
ha (Mr. D'lsraeli) would admit that the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman was justified in charging the Clergy of the Church
of England with conduct similar to that which was the sole
cause and sole origin of this subscription.—( Hear.) If this
were, in the odious sense of the expression, a Protestant cause
against the Papists or Roman Catholics--he must say that Imo
facts had been brought out in the course of this debate which
could possibly show it. Every Member could siith perfect
justice use the epithet employed in the original manifesto of
Mr. Spottiswoode --(Oh, oh, and laughter.) 1 shall not
(said the Hon. Gentleman) trouble the House at any length
—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) Ido not affect to be insen-
sible to the difficulty of my position.—( Renewed laughter. )
I am sure I shall receive the indulgeece of Honourable
thtlemen—(Continued laughter, and cries of " Question,
qu :stior.")—but I can assure them that if they do net
wish to hear me, I, without a murmur, will sit down.—
( Cheers and laughter.) I must confess I wish to bring the
side, et of debate back to the proper point.—( Renewed
laug' ter.) I cannot comprehend why a considerable body of
her Majest)'s suleects—respectable cot only from their num-
ber, but front their intelligence, their station, and their integ.
r:ty—ehy they should be held up to the scorn and odium of
this House by the Hon. and Learned Gentleman for pursuing
conduct the leg dity of which he has not presumed to ques-
ti, n—the propriety of which I humbly apprehend that they
are as competent to judge of as the Hon. and Learned Gen-
tleman himself, and the expedirsev of e 'rich I think the Hon.
and Learned Gentleman, after what he has confessed, is the
last Jerson who should impugn.—( Hear, hear.) ! have ex-
amined this list ; I have some personal interest in the question,
so far as I am the representative of a town that has contributed
the largest sum to that fund ; and I do not find that the
subscribers are among the aristocratic class—with a very
few exceptions I find they are among the middle classes,
men of moderate opinions and temperate tone of mind--.
(Loud laughter)—men in fact who seldom step out of the
sphere of their private duties—( Renewed laughter)--men at
least who have seldom mixed in the practices, and have rarely
been inflamed by the passions, of the political world. I have
but one more observation to make. I am, I confess, anxious
to make that observation, for it is the first thine that I have been
able to make one in vindidation *of her Majesty's Government.
—( Hear, hear, and much confusion.) I wish I' really could
induce -the House to give m five minutes more.--(Roars of
laughter.) I stand here to-night, S 4—( Here the noise in the
House became so general, that the lion. Gentleman could not
proceed fer some time ; when the confusion had somewhat
subsided, he said)—l stand here to-night, Sir, not formally,
but io some degree virtually, the representative of a consider-
able number of Members of Parliament.—( Bursts of laughter.)
Now, why smile ?—(Continued laughter.) Why envy me ?
( Here the laughter became long and general.) Why should not
I have a tale to unfold to-night ?—( Roars of laughter.) Do you
forget that band of 153 Memaers—those ingenuous and inexpe-
ribaced youths, to whose unsophisticated minds the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, in those tones of winning pathos—( Excessive
laughter, and loud cries of " Question.") Now, a consi-
derable misconception exists in the minds of many Members
fak.tiliS side of the House as to the conduct of her Majesty's
Government with respect to these elections, and I wish to
remove it. I oil' not twit the Noble Lord opposite with opi-
nions which are not ascribable to him, or to his more immediate
supporters, but which were expre.sed by the more popular
section of his party some few months back.—( Question,
question.) About that time, Sir, ashen the bell of our
cathedral announced the death of the Monarch—(oh, oh, and
much laughter)—we all read then, Sir—(Groans, and cries of
" Oh") —we all then read--( Laughter, and great interruption)
—I know nothing which to me is more delightful than to show
courtesy to a new Member, particularly if he happens to ap-
peal to me from the party opposed to myself; at that time
we read that it was the death-knell of Toryism, that the
doom of the party was sealed, that their funeral Obsequies
were about to be consummated. —( Laughter.) We were told
that, with the dissolution of that much-vilified Parliament
which the Right Hon. Baronet had called together, the hopes
and prospects of the Tories would be thrown for ever to the
winds, and thst affairs Were again brought exactly to what
they were at the period when the hurried Mr. Hudson' rushed
into the chambers of the Vatican:—( Laughter.) Ido not im-
pute these sanguine views to the Noble Lord himself, particu-
larly because I remember that, shortly afterwards, the Noble
Lord, as if to check the new and sanguine expectations of
his followers, came forward with a manifesto informing them
that the Tories could not expire in a moment, but the Mi-
nistry in a Reform Parliament might depend upon having
a working majority•of 100, which was to be extended upon
great occasions to 125 and 130. Now, Sir--(" Question,
question 1") This is the question, and I am going, to ask the
Noble Lord, for our instruction—(" Oh, oh !" and great inter-
: uption)—we only wish to know this simple fact, whether
the great occasion on which the working majority was
to increase from 100 to 125 or 130, is upon the question
of an Election Ballot?—(Cheers and groans)--and whether
the Grenville Act has not been held up to the odium of the
country, and whether it has not been given forth to the
people that it is impossible that an impartial tribunal can
be obtained in this House?—(" Oh, oh 1" " Question, ques-
tion !") If Hon. Members think it is fair thus to interrupt me,
I will suhmit —( Great laughter.) I would not act so towards
any o.le, that is all I can say.—(Laughter, and cries of " Go
on.") But I beg simply to ask—(" Ohl" and loud laughter)
Nothing is so easy as to laugh. —( Roars of laughter. ) I
really wish to place, before the House what is our position.
When we remember all this—when we remember that in spite
of the support of the Honourable and Learned Gentleman the
Member for Dublin, and his well-disciplined phalanx of pa-
triots, and in spite of all this, we remember the amatory echo-
gu • (roars of laughter)—.the old and the new loves that took
place between the Noble Lord the Tityrus of the Treasury
bench and the Learned Daphne Of Liskeard—(loud laughter,
and cries of Question,")—which appeared as a fresh instance
of the anzoris redintegratio—(excessive laughter)—when we
remember, at the same time, that with emancipated Ireland
and enslaved England, on the one hand a triumphant cation,
on the other .a groaning people, end notwithstanding the
Noble Lo-d, secure on the pedestal of power, may weild in
one hand the keys of Saint Peter, and—( Here the Honour..
able Member was interrupted pith such loud and incessant
bursts of laughter, that it was impossible to know whether
he really el-sed the sentence or not.) The Honourable
Member concluded in these words :—" Now, Mr. Speaker,
we see the philosophical, prejudices of man.—( Laugh-
ter, and cheers.) I respect cheers, even when they
come from the lips of political opponents.-e-( Renewed laughter. )
I think, Sir,—( Hear, hear 1 and repeated cries of " Questioe,
question")—l am not at all surprised, Sir, at the reception
which I havezeceived.—( Continued laughter.) I have begun
several times many things,—( Renewed laughter,)—and I have
often succeeded at last.—(Fresh cries of Question.a) Ay,
Sr, and though I sit down now, the_ time will come when you
will hear me." [The Hon. Member: d.livered the last sen_
term. in a very loud tone, and resumed his seat amidst cheers
from the Opposition, and much laughter from the Ministerial
benches.]
Mr. D. W. HARVEY and Lord STANLEY rose together, and
there were lul cries for each. Ultimately Mr. Ha. vey gave
way, and .
Lord STANLEY proceeded to say that he was extremely
s,rry to interpose between the House and the Hon. Member.
Before, however, he entered more precisely upon the ques—
tion, he trusted that the House would allow him to ob-
serve that he had had no communication, either direct
or indirect, with the persons who formed this Association,
except that he had received a copy of the prospectus,
nor was he personally acquainted with any subscriber ex-
cept the Honourable Baronet the Member for North
Wiltshire. With this exception, he knew not the name of any
individual subscriber ; he need scarcely add that he was not a
subscriber himself. He had watched, however, with great re-
gret the growing disposition of the country—arising naturally
from the great strife existing between the different political
p sties, sad from the excitement which always occurred when
parties were equally balanced--of carrying on everything iti
election matters, from the registration to the day of election, by
means of associations.—( Hear.) Both sides of that House
had promoted such association, but still be considered, their
incr ase an evil which ought to be guarded against.—( Hear.)
He Lad no partiality to these associations, and he was deliver-
ing his conscientious opinion upon them, and when he objected
to their formation, he dist so upon principle, feeling at the
same time that they had become an inevitable evil. —( Hear.)
His lion. and Learned Friend the Attorney-General agreed
with him that it was improper to appoint a Committee upon
the present subject, and the reasons which he had given for his
opinion were 'no doubt conclusive upon this point ; but he had
stated, in the course of his address, what appeared to be a still
stronger reason, for be had given his legal opinion, founded on
his intimate knowledge of the law.
'1 he ATT 0 RNE Y-G ENE RAL--I quoted the judgment
of Lord Rosslyn.
Lord ST ANLEY— Undoulkedly the Honourable and
Learned Gentleman had quoted the judgment of Lord Lough-
borough, but it was upon the general bearings of the law
alone, as it might be gleaned from decided cases, that time.
Honourable and Learned Gentleman had rested, when he
laid down his doctrine—(Hear, hear)—in the presence of the
people of England, that the gpottiewoode Society was an il-
legal Association—(Cheers)—that it was open to prosecution
—( Hear, hear) that the circumstances connected with it
were of a highly-aggravated character—the facts were plain
and palpable, and the Hon. and Learned Gentleman would
not do his duty if he did not commence immediate legal pro-
ceedings, —(Cheers. ) What I should the Queen's Attorney-
General, knowing that an Association existed of a mischief-
ous character, that the facts were undisputed, and that its ille-
gality was certain—( Hear)—allow such an Association, un-
molested, to infringe the constitutional rights of the Queen's
subjects ? Should he be bearded by as Member of that House
rising in his place and avowing birefelf a Member of the
Association, and offering himself for prosecution 7—( Hear.)
With all his knowledge of the law, and of the illegality anti
mischievous tendency of these associations, would the Queen's
Attorney-Ciene, al leave the offence entirely unpresecuted ?
(Cheers.) He (Lord Stanley), however, thought that the
Hon. and Learned Gentleman had a lurking suspicion that
the judgment in the case of the Duke of Portland did not
strictly apply, and that in the courts of law that judgment was
of tnireh that i
fghiestb6poisisaid eeiiumersced a nroie-
ble authority—that he
lurking uponing as
suspicion
cution he would not have obtained a verdict ; and he had,
nhoadt
therefore, exercised great prudence in abstaining from a pro-
sccution. But he had raked up the doctrine of maintenance,
which he (Lord Stanley) believed was a doctrine of a very
old date, and eirpoee ollselete ip prectice.—(No, no, from the
Ministerial benches.) Then Id: the Iloa. dud earhe.4 -
He-man try the case—(Cheers)—let him see whether be could
obtain a verdict.—( Renewed cheers.) Although he (Lor I
Stanley) was no party to the prescht subscription, yet,
cothmon with other alembere of filet Roust, massy of
whom he then saw oppoaite—(Cheers)—he 'nest plead
guilty to the charge of having on more than one occasion