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

beg and entreat his Majesty's Ministers, if they were sincere in the I
many declarations they had made concerning the good government of
Ireland, and concerning the good government of England, not in any
way to abate one jot or one iota of the Bill now brought in. Enlarge it if
you will, and make it what it ought to be; send it through this House ;
send it up to the other ; and then, if the Noble Lord will say that his
Ministry is dependent upon the fate of that Bill, I (said the Hon.
Member) am not fearful of the result.—(Loud and long-continuzd
cheering.) He for one would be a sanguine combatant in favour of
that great principle. He was willing to tight the opponents of it foot
to foot before the unshrinking strength of the prudent, honest, gene-
rous people of England.—(hear, hear.) To the people of England he
would trust the issue of this grand and high debate—(cheers) ; to
them he would leave its ultimate determination, and certain he was that
the victory would be with the right—with those who were fighting
in that House for the real, right, clear, and definite rule, that the
people of Great Britain and Ireland were worthy to be their own
governors.—(Loud cheers.) Let no man say that that was not the
fair course of debate ; it might be covered over for the mo-
ment by the astute and learned ingenuity of others—it might be carped
z nd cavilled at, but that was the real principle before them—the real
principle which the representatives of the people must decide.
Colonel CONOLLY complained of the manner in which the Noble
Lord (John Russell) had referred to the resolutions and proceedings of
the great Protestant meeting in Ireland, quoting only such passages as
suited his own private arid particular views, and inducing the House
to put a construction upon them, as they would be found wholly inca-
pable of bearing, if, as in common justice and fairness they ought to
Nave been, they had been quoted at length.--(A laugh, and " Hear,
hear.) The Noble Lord had called it a packed meeting. That was ,
not the fact. It was a meeting open to all, and limited in nnmbers
only by the limited space of the building in which it was held. People
of various persuasions were present, and every decent person who pre.
vented himself at the door was admitted- The meeting was called
constitutionally, correctly, and, as he thought, judiciously; and he felt
satisfied that the resolutions adopted at it would command the respect of
the great mass of the people in the United Kingdom, in spite of the mu.
tilations of the Noble Lord (John Russell) and of the ill-timed and igno-
rant protest that had been made against it.
The O'CONNOR DON believed that no person was allowed to have
access to the Protestant Meeting, unless he previously signed a certifi-
cate declaring that he assented generally to the views of the Noble
Lords by whom it was convened. With respect to the National Asso-
ciation, to which so much allusion had been made in the course of that
evening, he fairly admitted that he regretted its existence.—(Hear.)
It was to be regretted that the people of Ireland, whenever they sought
a redress of grievances, were compelled to address themselves, not to a
sense of right, but to some apprehension of danger,—(Hear.)
On the motion of Mr. BROTHERTON, the debate was adjourned.
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of, and the House
adjourned at a quarter past twelve,