The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-12 00:00:00

HOUSE OF LORDS, MA r 11.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack
at Five o'Clock.
Mr. ANGERSTEIN, and other Members of the House of
Commons, brought up the Greenwich Pier Bill.
Lord REDESDALE presented petitions from places in
Gloucestershire against the abolition of Church-rates.
The Earl of BRADFORD presented similar petitions
from places in Oxfordshire.
Viscount MELBOURNE presented several petitions in
favour of the Ministerial plan for the abolition of Church-
rates, the Irish Municipal Reform Bill, and the Irish Tithe
Bill.
LAND IMPROVEMENT (IRELAND) BILL.
The House then resolved itself into Committee on the
Land Improvement (Ireland) Bill.
In reply to a question from the Duke of WEL-
LINGTON,
Viscount MELBOURNE did not see any reason why,
although the Bill before the House had been introduced
by a private Member, the Government should not adopt
it. As one of many other measures, and in conjunction
with them, ho considered it calculated to benefit Ireland.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said that such a Bill,
containing as it did a provision for creating and paying
Commissioners, should be taken by the Government on
their own responsibility, and not left to any individual
Member of Parliament. The Noble Duke was under-
stood to express a doubt whether the Bill could be origi-
nated in that House at all, as it contained clauses for the
disposal of money.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE said that the Bill
contained no provision for raising money. In introducing
the Bill, he considered he had only done his duty.
The Earl of WILTON thought that a Bill conferring
such great powers on the Irish Government, should cer-
tainly have originated with his Majesty Ministers ; and the
more especially so, in his opinion, as it was so much at va-
riance with the principles of the Poor-law Bill for Ireland
then in the other House of Parliament. The Noble Earl
then called the attention of the House to the great number
of oaths in the Bill, with the view of having the amend-
ment of the Noble Duke (Richmond), relative to the sub-
stitution of declarations in their place, and also to the 9th
clause, which he considered objectionable.
After a few words from the Earl of Malmesbury, Lord
Hatherton, Lord Wynford, and the Marquis of Westmeath,
Lord FITZGERALD and VESEY suggested that the
Noble Marquis should refer the measure to a Committee
above stairs.
The Marquis of .LANSDOW NE thought the sugges-
gestion a valuable one.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE agreed to it, and
then moved that the House resume the former order.
Lord HATHERTON wished to know, before the Bill
was disposed of, why the word " road" had been omitted?
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE replied that it was
because the making of roads was provided for in a Bill be-
fore the other House of Parliament,
The Archbishop of DUBLIN said that, in lookinc, at
measures for the amelioration of the condition of Ireland,
the precedence should be accorded to those which were the
most safe. lie did not think the one before the House
was of that character ; on the contrary, he thought it a
most perilous experiment.
The House then resumed.
Viscount DUNCAN NON laid on the table of the
cnHooLuslssmitlen
(Ireland) ;
Third Report of the Ecclesiastical Revenue
t appointediiioenn osfa said
dh toteh at the office of stipendiary magistrates and chief
tconstables of police in that country. The Noble Lord
had
Gloucester meantimorehd h
Noblehe
p shoulduk Duke (Richmond)
not be a able
respectingt o ans we r t thei recentques-
o
executions at Gloucester until after the holidays, as the
High Sheriff would not until then be able to make out a
full report of the transaction. Under these circumstances
he hoped there would be no. obiFetion to
EXECUTION AT GLOUCEtSheT
of the Penitentiary or lb
ank) thirdEß. reading
theLoHrdiaShEsGhßerAiffVol
to cast no- reflection on
than the Noble
tllhautkeg,einntliettliewhhoadwsatsatited
highly-respectableaaa.Tiaatel'i,eronfrtoirnie
subject, and he did not mean to chargell'
m of what had occurred at the execution Bartlett. The
blamee
conduct of the executioner was most disgusting el', that oc-
casion. The Adjutant of his (L9rd Sefrave's) own Militia

Regiment stated to him that the executioner teas drunk at
the time.

The Duke of RICHMOND had imputed no blame to
the High Sheriff of Gloucester in the matter.

The Bill was then read a third time.
CHIEF BARON JOY.

The Earl of RODEN, in presenting a petition, the pur-
port of which we could not hear, sail he did not know
whether it would be regular for him to refer to words used
in a former debate, but he trusted that the importance of
the subject would be a sufficient justification in this re-
spect. The words to which he referred were those used by
the Noble Viscount at the head of his Majesty's Government
with respect to the appointment of Sheriffs in Ireland by the
going Judge of Assize, that the Lord Chief Baron Joy had
been pleased to send in a list of names which the Govern-
ment thought very deficient. He had made inquiry, and
he had no doubt that the Noble Viscount was totally mis-
informed with respect to the statement he made. The
Lord Chief Baron Joy did not deaKt from the course pur-
sued by the judges, neither did hend in a list which the
Government found to be deficient. The Lord Chief Baron
returned the names of three most unexceptionable gentle-
men ; one of them was unwilling to serve ; the other (Sir
A. Bellingham) had already served twice, and the other
was so young that it was impossible he could be entrusted
with so important an office. • This latter gentleman was
26 years old, and he the (Earl of Roden) knew that he was
20 stone in weight.—(Laughter.) Now, one or the other
of these gentlemen ought to have been made to serve, be-
' fore the Government thought proper to go out of the re-
gular course, and choose an individual not rucommended
by the Judge. He knew that this matter had created a
great sensation in Ireland, and, that it had wounded the
feelings of a most valuable individual.
Viscount MELBOURN E said that upon the occasion
of the former debate he was in possession of all the circum-
stances relaling to the appointment of the Sheriffs, and if
he had known that the Noble Lord intended to bring the
matter forward on the present occasion, be certainly would
have come down prepared with full information on the sub-
ject, for it was impossible to carry in the mind all the cir-
cumstances relating to it, but at the same time he should
not have any difficulty whatever in answering the statement
of the Noble Earl. He (Viscount Melbourne) had never
had the least wish to wound the feelings of the Lord Chief
Baron Joy, or of doing anything in the slightest degree inju-
rious to his reputation. What he stated was, that the Lord
Chief Baron had not applied to the Sheriff to make a re-
turn of the candidates to the shrievalty of Louth. All he
should say was, that the Learned Lord Chief Baron
had not done that. He did not say that the Govern-
ment had superseded those three gentlemen because the
Learned Lord Chief Baron had named them, but because
there was some sufficient reason for not appointing them.
He had never charged the Lord Chief Baron Joy with
being influenced by party or political views ; but all he
had said was, that that Learned personage had departed
from the course usually pursued by the presiding Judge of
Assize.

After a few words from the Earl of WICKLOW and Lord
FITZGERALD, the matter dropped.

DR. MULUOLLAND.

The Marquis of WESTNIE ATH had to present a pe-
tition from a member of the Roman Catholic Church, who
was desirous of approaching their Lordships with a state-
ment of the very grievous oppression to which he had been
subjected. The petitioner, Dr. Eugene Mulholland, was
a native of Ireland, who, having been brought up to the
Roman Catholic Church, in 1815 was appointed to a
curacy. In 1818 he went to Rome, to prosecute his stu-
dies in that Church, and subsequently received the degree
of Doctor in Divinity. In 1826 be returned to Ireland,
and was appointed to a parish in the county of Louth.
In 1833 a confederacy was formed in that county, and a
Roman Catholic Clergyman thought proper to charge this
Rev. Gentleman with being connected with those insurrec-
tionary persons. Dr. Mulholland at first brought the matter
before the dignitaries of his own Church, who decided that he
was perfectly innoe:nt of the charge. He subsequently
brought an action against the Clergyman whom he considered
had slandered him, but pending that suit he was dismissed by
the dignitaries of his own Church from his curacy, thereby
depriving him of the means of livelihood. Under these cir-
cumstances, Dr. Mulholland felt it necessary, for his own
existence, to appeal to that House. A document, called
a rescript, was sent from Rome, calling upon the Roman
Catholic Primate of Ireland, Dr. Crotty, to restore him to
the benefice which he had enjoyed. From time to time,
however, this measure was delayed and postponed. Under
these circumstances Dr. Mulholland came over to Eng-
land, and received a license from the Apostolic Vicar of
the London district, but when that license expired it had
not been renewed, and he had, therefore, been ever since
left in It state of the utmost destitution. One Roman
Catholic Prelate had characterised the conduct of this
gentleman "as a most disgraceful exhibition." Dr. Mul-
holland then appealed to a:gentleman, a great champion of
liberty, Mr. O'Connell. That gentleman, in his answer,
recommended a becoming submiSsion, accompanied by an
expression of regret, and expressed his surprise that he should
have entrusted the advocacy of his cause before the Legisla-
ture to men most hostile to Catholicity. The lion. and
Learned Gentleman further stated that any matter relating
to the discipline of the Roman Catholic Church was not
cognizable by the Legislature ; but that it might come under
the cognizance of the criminal law of the land. This doc-
trine he (the Marquis of Westmeath) thought it very im-
portant to consider, when it was recollected that the Col-
lege of Maynooth was endowed by the Legislature. There
were two further specimens of Roman Catholic priests of
the second order, educated at Maynooth, to which he would
call the attention of the House. One, in a speech at a late
election at Clonmel, recommended to the notice of the elec-
tors the candidate who was " for exterminating, root and
branch, that abominable nuisance the Church." The other
priest, in a sermon preached in a chapel, asked, " Who can
be saved ? Those who possess the franchise, and who will
use it for the public good—who will vote for the liberal
candidate at the expected election—and who will consider
the public good, and not their private interest." Now,
with these faets, could it he said that some inquiry into the
College of Mayuooth ought not to be made ? It was not
his intention to make any motion on the present occasion ;
because he thought that it would be better that that course
should he adopted in the other House of Parliament. If,
however, he found that no inquiry was likely to take place
in the other House he would not bind himself not to bring
forward any motion in the course of the present session ;
and he most certainly would in the next. The prayer of
the petition was for the inquiry, not merely into the parti-
cular case of Dr. Mulholland, but generally into the actual
condition of the second order of the Clergy of Ireland ; and
the petitioner, am ,ngst other things, stated, that if any in-
quiryeou wered
gfrUarn it)eetal eiet or would.tran qbuei try° endt 11
tattle' rseel enonntid never
order
of the Clergy was established by canons. The Noble Lord
then read an extract from O'Driscoll's history of Ireland,
in which the character of the Roman Catholic Clergy before
the institution of the College of Maynooth was extolled.
The petition was then ordered to lie on the table.
Their Lordships then adjourned.