The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-23 00:00:00

second it.—( Hear.) I stood against him last season because
I thought it impracticable and mischievous; but after the re-
solution to which the Association has come, I cannot restrain
from expressing my determination to pursue a different course.
If we do not get 150, what chance have we ? Every Tory is
opposed to us—the majority of the Whigs are opposed to us—
an overwhelming majority of the House of Commons is against
us. Ido not think we can muster 50, Radicals and all—cer-
tainly not 70. We will have 99 out of the 100 opposed to us
in the Lords.--(Hear, bear.) Is it to be said that we arc not
to take off 30 or 40 per cent. because we cannot get the en-
tire off? Have any of you failed to read the speech of Sir
Robert Peel at Glasgow a He insists upon not giving a par-
ticle of the instalMent. Do you rely upon the English Radi-
cals? D. W. Harvey says he will not consent to the aboli-
tion of tithes. He declined to vote for the appropriation
clause with the Hon. Member for Dundalk. The Hon. Mem-
ber refused to vote at the third reading for the measure, be-
cause it did not take away all the tithe. Mr. Harvey would
not vote for it, because it took away sonic, and he would vote
for none. The Radicals are decidedly opposed to take away
anything. We introduced into the resolutions the determi-
nation of the people of Ireland never to be contented till
we have all the tithes abolished.—( Hear.) What differ-
' ence exists between us ? Nothing more than the mode of
abolition. We will take, in accordance with our principle, a
portion, and leave to future events the fitting time and oppor-
tunity of calling for the remainder. The existence of the
present Government depends upon the support that the appro-
priation clause gets in the House of Commons, and therefore
lam anxious to have the question set at rest. It was upon
this clause that we turned out the Peel Administration. He
who endangers the Administration by anything except by
something. which involved the violation of his oath is an enemy
to his country. There is no mincing the matter. I have
often considered that a repeal of the Union was necessary, and
one thing convinces me more than another that a repeal of the
Union is necessary. Fathers of Ireland, tell it to your chil-
dren—mothers of Ireland, tell your sons as they lisp into rea-
son, and you are able to understand their words, that there is
a brand of degradation upon them so long as Ireland is a piti-
able paltry province.—(Loud cheers.) Young blood'of Ire-
land, here in this room—hero, even I help you to strike the
fetter off your souls, and bid ye stand forth disenthralled and
emancipated. I struggled through many a debate, with many
amen coming across my path, attacking my motives, libelling
me in the newspapers, and mis-stating and misconceiving my
sentiments.—( Hear, hear.) lam here, I admit, the advo-
cate of the Government, the unsolicited one of course—per-
haps they may treat my advocacy with contempt. That
advocacy may do them injury in other quarters, but my
thorough conviction is, that the present Administration is
essential to the prosperity of the country.—( Cheers.) Does
any man suppose I mean to impute the slightest improper mo-
tives to the Hon. Member for Dundalk ?—(" No.") Have I
said one word which had the tendency of even raising the sus-
picion that I impeached his honour or political integrity ?..
(" No.") I did not, for it is my positive conviction that he
would not do wrong intentionally. While be could not avoid
deprecating the error of judgment which that Hon. Gentleman
had committed, he was bound to say that he had the most per-
fect conviction of the purity and integrity of his motives.--
(Hear.) If he had said anything in his absence which could be
construed into, and thing like an offence, he had:ouly to say that
he did not intend to offer it, and to apologise to him for it. The
interests of the country had often been sacrificed to good in-
tentions; and if, through the error of Mr. Crawford, the Tories
were to come into office to-morrow, although the shield of his
high character might protect him, what was to protect the
people from the consequences ? He implored of the meeting,
therefore, in the name of the country for which he had so
long struggled, and for the sake of the people, who were be-
ginning to understand that moral and peaceable combination
was superior to secret and violent associations, and was the
only sure means of attaining constitutional freedom—in the
name of that long-suffering and oppressed, but now politically
educated people, he implored and intreated of them to put ari
end to their feuds.by adopting the resolutions he had prepared.
Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD then addressed the meeting. Ile
said—Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Association,—l
stand before you under peculiar circumstances. I acknowa
ledge, Sir, that I came here under very deeply wounded feel.
ings ; but the Hon. and Learned Member for Kilkenny has,
upon the present occasion, stated that be did not intend to im-
pute anything dishonourable to me, and I am not at all dis-
posed to doubt or impugn the sincerity of his statement. But
certainly the report of his speech, as published in the papers, did
convey that feeling to my mind, and did also convey it to the
mind of all those with whom I had the opportunity of speaking.
When I read the report of the speech, I determined upon
adopting the course of defending myself upon the same ground
where I considered the attack had been made upon me. My
friends said to me that I should not go, as there would be a
packed meeting to oppose me.—( Confusion, and cries of" No,
no.") To some of my friends it appeared as if the Hon.
Member by his conduct wished to excite the public feeling
against me before the meeting..—(No, and hear.) I have
put under different heads the crimes which I considered were
imputed to me by the speech of Mr. O'Connell. I am charged
with indifference to the Government, with an implicit hostility
to Earl Mulgrave, and with a violation of the principles of the
resolutions which I seconded. lam also charged with the
breach of an implied contract, and with indifference to the
peace of Ireland. With respect to the charge of, my giving
opposition to his Majesty's Government—when fcould not
support the Ministry I abstained from voting, and the moment
I could conscientiously support them I returned to Parliament.
From what I have said, all will not have imputed to me that I
wished the present Government to be displaced from power.
I attended the House to the latest hour, ready to give my sup-
port to all measures which I considered it practicable for me
to vote for without any breach of principle.—(Hear.) Me.
Crawford then passed a high compliment upon the Earl of
Mulgrave, and said he always desired to give his support to
that Government of which he was a member. In supporting
the Ministry, there were two systems by which it might be
proposed that they should be supported—one by a slavish sub.
mission to whatever Government dictated, and by the repress-
ment of public minds and of public feeling. I say, however,
that they should base their popularity upon the approval of the
people. By the one mode they would raise a building upon
the sand, which would be blown away by the tempest, but by
the other they would build upon a rock whcih could ne,
be destroyed ; and if the tempest should come strip
-
off the roof, it would be replaced mom I:`ecurely.
It
was said in Mr. O'Connell's speech, tl' it was probable
the Judges might resign, and be rereitaced by'. others, if the
present Government was to be d],splaced ; but in my mind that
consideration ought nod
.te be regarded for an instant when
contrasted with titO demands of the people. lam of opinion
that wo need not fear the Judges, or be apprehensive of what
they clan do, when we have a House of Commons the repre-
sentatives of the people, and a Government acting with im-
partiality. What would be more frightful to me than
having the Judges alluded to by Mr. O'Connell on the bench
would be to have the people slaves, and the Ministry not re-
stored with honour to themselves.—( Hear.) I now come to
the charge against me, of a breach of the resolutions which I
seconded. It is an important point as respects my honour.
I referred to the letter in the ^Freeman's Jour-
nal, in which paper, after quoting the fifth reso-
lution of the Association on the subject of the tithe
question, it stated, " the adopting such prudent and wise
course as shall enable them to realize for the Irish nation
the greatest posssble quantity of good." The Freeman's
Journal did not say that we were to be pledged to take
an instalment, but that we were to be bound to take the Go-
vernment reinsure of church reform. I say that there was ne
such thing in the resolution, either expressed or implied.
Show me if there is any thing in the resolution conveying
such a pledge. Mr. O'Connell is represented to state that the
Freeman's Journal was right in its construction, and he says
we ought to take an instalment. But even if we concede that
we are bound to take an instalment, we are not sbliged to ac-
cept the Government Bill. Mr. Crawford referred to a senti-
ment expressed by the- Hon. Member for Kilkenny upon the
subject, and continued by saying, that the resolution in guess
tion did not contemplate any pledge with respect to the Go.
vernment Tithe Bill. I will come to another point. It seems
to be alleged that I committed a •breach of private contract,
and lam referred to what passed in committee. It was said
that the resolutions were proposed without any objection ; but
I ask Mr. O'Connell to recollect, if upon the first day of meet-
ing he did not propose to reject the whole of the first resolu-
tion, pro tempore. I agreed that it should be rejected, and
it was accordingly so.--(Cries of " Hear, hear.") Circum-
stances occurred which prevented the Hon. Member for Kil-
kenny from attending the next day, or for two or three
days subsequently, but I had a private interview with him,
in which I pressed that the latter part of the resolution ought
to be asserted. The Hon. Member the next day proposed the
resolutions as they now stand, and the additional ones. I
agreed to them. because they contained no pledge that I consi-
dered was adverse to the great object of the resolutions, which
was to convey an expression of kind feeling to the. Adminis-
tration. I did not wish to enter into any hr.:stile opposition.
The way I construed the resolution "Stliuded to was, that it
neither declared for nor against instalments, leaving it to the
discretion of the representatives, either to accept or to refuse
an instalment. If I found an instalment would be the only
means of getting something without preventing me from get-
ting much more, I would take it, but I complain that the au-
thor of the Government Bill wished to impede, and not to pro-
mote the object we have in view.--( Hear.) The lion. Mem-
ber writes a letter which should of itself immortalize his
name. It inculcates the principle of total extinction of
tithes. I joined with him heart and hand for this great ob-
ject. We attack the enemy—we storm the entrenchment—
and when we are on the point of capturing the citadel it-
self, is the Honourable Member to come to me and say that we
must not fight any more? The Learned Gentleman is reported
to have said that he would make the Tories a present of
Sharman Crawford. Correcting that expression, he said of
his vote he. meant. I do not think any man has a right to
make a present either of me or my vote. Ido not hold it at
the will of any individual. I hold my seat in Parliament inde-
pendent of any one. I hold it by the influence of no one, save
the good-will of my own constituents. Ido the Hon. Member
justice to say, that he never interfered with my vote. If he
had, I well know how to answer such an attempt. I reserve
to myself the right of forming my own opinion, and the
right of exercising my vote on the opinion conscientiously
formed.—( Heal, hear.) The last charge against me was hos-
tility to Ireland. I trust it is unnecessary for me to say more
on that subject, and whether I support this Administration
or that Administration, hostility to Ireland will never be
urged against me as as a ground for it,s.,(Hear, hear.)
My country will not attribute wrong to me for honestly
acting according- to tely ounielence, and openly avowing my
condnes..-s—(Hear, hear.) There is no recreant lilocict in my
veins: Sir, I cannot bring myself to agree with the rosolu-
slims, lam sorry that my clergy get eel much connected wida
the State already, and I will not consent to their having a
regium V004,1g0 111'1 tmul ytal fare i4ctocd, to servo

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