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

clett.—(Renewed cheering.) Such was the statement mode
by Sir Francis . Burdett Jones, with r, spect to the conduct of
the thee existing administration towards Ireland. But he did
elr,mething of that kind more than once. In the same year,
speaking again of the conduct of the administration in the go-
vernment of
.Ireland, he said, " Recourse, therefore, was had
to the disunion of the rects." He (Mr. O'Connell) im-
plored some of the Hon. Baronet's very loud cheerers on the
other side of the House just to attend to this former opinion of
his respecting the origin of their favourite institution: " fie.
course, therefore, was had to the disunion of the s..cts, and
the papering and racking system was adopted, which expelled
from their habitations thousands of faMilies by a process the
most atrocious. A paper was posted against the doors of
the Catholics, commanding the inhabitants to quit in five
or ten days, and to proceed to the province of Con-
naught, or they should be sent to hell; and this was the
revival, after a century, of that faction known under the
name of Orangemen. These mandates not being at first
complied with, the fanatics who had issued them re-
paired to the houses of tie unfortunate Ca holies, ousted
the whole family, and racks d and set fire to the miserabla
hovel and its contents. Such transaction could not fail to
attract notice. Many of the authors of them were committed
to prison ; and his Majesty's Attorney-General was sent to
the theatre where these tragedies had been acted to prosecute
the offenders, who were all acquitted, except one, and he was
pardoned." And then a little further on in the same speech
the Hors. Boronet said, " When I reflect upon the enormities
which have been committed in that country, I really feel.
ashamed of my species, ashamed of being a man" (he bad no
occasion to be longer ashamed ef that)—(Great laughter and
cheering) ;—" but when I consider (he continued) that they
have been supported by English power I feel ashamed of my
country—When I recollect that a British Minister in a British
House of Commons has dared to vindicate the use of the tor-
t ire which even the Inquisition has at length through shame
abandoned, the last of infamies seems to be an Englishman "
( Cheers.) For e ? For the conduct of England to-
wards Ireland ?—( Cheers.) How did the Hon. Baronet
seek to amend that conduct now? Who were now his cheerers
and applauders. The members of that very faction who com-
mitted all these enormities—all these cruebies upon Ireland.
Great cheering from the Ministerial benches, and cries of
" Oh" from the Opposition.) Were they not the same
party ? Did they nut still hold their exclusive meetings ?—.
(Cheers.) Did they not still assemble at their dinners2a—( Re-
newed cheering.) If the re were any difference it was only
this, that the party now went even beyond what it did for-
merly. Yes, the party which the Honourable Baronet now
takes up is that very party which some years ago he reviled as
the pet petrators of so many enormities in Ireland.—( Cheers.)
The man who now came forward to traduce Ireland, and
to join in a conspiracy against the Irish Members, ass
that very man who, in 1802, made the famous speech
from which he (Mr. O'Connell) had quoted.—(Cheers.)
After some further observations, which were not distinely
audible, the Honourable and Learned Gentleman continued :
Was it not as evident as the sun at noon-d-ty that no
man expected a fair decision from the Committees of that
House ?—(Cries of " oh 1" from the Opposition.) Ask him
for his opinion, and he woad ,give it. Wait till the first
Committee were struelee and if -they did not hear the coun-
sel on both sides, and 'every Member of the Committee tell
them beforehand what the decision Would be, he (Mr.
O'Connell) would never Again venture in the field of pro-
phecy. He had heard it Stated that Members on both sides
of the House perjured themselves in Committee. The Hon.
Member for Ripon'had said that that was a libel; but he did
not say that it was untrue. If there were not some strong
motive, why did Members throng the House when Commit-
tees upon election petitions were to be balloted ? Why did
they come there but to watch each other, and to see that they
did not place themselves .in the scandalous position of being
ready to sell their consciences? In aid of this came this sub-
scription, aimed exclusively at the representatives of the people
of Ireland—aimed exclusively against the Catholic party, in
order to bring them before a partial tribunal. The people of
Ireland understand it. You have been attempting for there
three hundred years to Protestantize Ireland ; what progress
have you made ? You say that the Protestant religion is the
best. If it be, and has most argument in its favour; what
prevents you from propagating your system? What has this,
your Protestantism, done for the people of Ireland ? Why,
it gives a sanction to every injustice towards the people.
We must not have the political franchise—we must not
have political rights—we must not have municipal in-
stitutions—and why? Because these things may shake
your Protestantism to its foundation 1 Oh, shame treon
such Protestantism I—a Protestantism whose efficacy is
placed upon Mayors and Corporations.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
And more shame upon the present system of the Commit-
tees of this House, in which men, under the sanction of
their oaths, are able to abet the efforts of a faction against
the representatives o: the people, aided by the Spottiswoode
conspiracy—without whose aid it is possible they might have
escaped from the infliction of a party Committee—which is
yeur only chance of succeeding. It is thus you wish to give
encouragement to Protestantism. If you will take the trouble
to read the report of the Committee on the petition from the
City of Dublin, which Committee lasted eighty-six days—
and I have no reason to applaud that Committee, but I won't
censure them here—you will see that they refused to open the
registry, and the present petition attempts to open the regis-
try. Why, it will require the entire amount of the subscrip-
tion to maintain the case against the City of Dublin alone.
No doubt there will be another call made, and no doubt the
Honourable Baronet will give a second subscription. When
we recollect the object for which that subscription is intended,
and when you refuse a Committee to give us the opportunity of
knowing how many among yourselves have contributed, is it pos-
sible that an impartial tribunal can be obtained? I have looked
over the list of subscriptions, and found at least ninety or one
hundred anonymous subscribers. Now, I should be glad to find
who they are, and yet you refuse a Committee to inquire into
this.—( Hear.) How can I hope for a-Committee when it is
declared that the Government will not support me? What
will you do if you insist upon a division ? Will you insist upon
a division? Give me a Committees and let me get out the
facts of the cost of ti.e Dublin Election Committee and of the
present subscription. What did Mr: West and Mr. Hamilton
pay towards the expense of the last Election Commit e ? Mr.
Hamilton told me that he did not pay anything, and M e West
said that he paid but little. The funds came from elsewhere.
(Hear, hear.) lam exceedingly glad the Hon. Baronet has
taken his seat where he now is.—( Hear, bear.) He was long
enough on the side of the people without belonging to them,
or sympathising with them. He talked a good deal about
bringing home justice to me, by visbieg me with the criminal
law ; but the criminal law has never applied to me, a though
the Honourable Baronet has himself had the advantage of
suffering under it.—( Hear, hear, hear, and laughter.) He
has talked about the warmth and indiscretion of his youth,
but I believe he was older than I am at present when he
pretended to be the advocate of the people. His repent-
ance has been exceedingly late—( Cheers.) Now, I call upon
the House to look at the subscription as it really is. Is it
not, in fact, constituting those who are to be the judges of the
question to he also the prosecutors? I care not what the e-
cnniary interest is ; but can anything be more improper thin
that the party prosecuting the petition should be the judge
to decide upon it? Sir, the people of Ireland understand
the whole question. They know that these petitions are
against their representatives—they know that it is an aVi-
tional insult offered them, that it is an additional insult in-
tended to them—they know.that the object of this conspiracy
is to afford the means of obtaining, through the instrumen-
tality of the oaths of Members of this House, a decision
which is to make the Tory party triumphant, and to make
the people of Ireland their vretitns.—( Loud chests )
Mr. D'IS RA ELI then addressed the House. The Hon.
and Learned Member fir Dublin had taunted the Hun. Baro-
net the Member for North Wiltshire with haying made along,
rambling, feeble, wandering, jumbling speech.—( Laughter.)
He could assure that Hon. and Learned Gentleman that he
(Mr. D'lsraeli) bad paid the utmost attention to the remarks
which had fallen from him, and he must say, without intend-
isg to make any reflection upon the Honourable ll:ronet by
any invidious comparison, it seemed that the Honourable and
Learned Member had taken a hint of the snyic and manner
from the Hon. Baronet in the oration which ho had just ad-
dressed to the Houso ; for it appeared to him that there was
scarcely a subject connected with Ireland that could possi-
bly engage the attention of Parliament that he had not
introduced into his oratorical rhetoric.—(Laughter.) He
had also taunted the Honourable and Learned Member
for Exeter, because he had travelled out of the record of the
case; but where had the Honourable Member himself tra-
velled ? He had travelled back seven hundred yrars—(oh,
oe)—when they were met to debate upon transactions
which had taken place within the last few months. They
had been favoured with ars allusion to the poor-law.—(64 Not
a word was said about the poor-law" by Mr. Hume.) Well,
they had at all events been treated with a dissertation on
the Irish Corporation Bill.—( Hear, hear.) He did not pre-
tend that he could accurately remember every topic which
the Honourable and Learned Member touched upon.—
(Cneers and laughter.) If he did not speak of a poor-law
for Ireland, he at least did of the Irish Ccrporation Bill.
(Loud laughter.) He appealed to the House whether
—the Honourable and Learned Gentleman had not given
alight dissertation upon Irish Municipal re-
hear.) What were there in that relevant to
tflicre,mn
?__ a
('leer,
n.O would
dn o
t Learnedallude,
' for he wished to spare
thelleHwo
Hon. the present question?--t(hielfeele feel' rihesaory
Gentleman in that respect—(Loud laughter and
the Hon. and
would not allude to the subscription w
nd cheers)—he
little for the b
Leareod Gentleman had now told the mwas not
itotstuecrcneessss with
which It might account a th
which he viewed the more successful efforts of the much-vilified
Mr. Spottiswoode.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) He indeed
every Liberal Member was to
would ask the Hon. Member for Lincoln whether he attended
that meeting where it was said
subscribe 50/. ? That Hen. Member might give the House
h
souse if e curious information upon the subject. .Evene bad
not subscribed from his own purse, the result, instead of being
3.0001., would have been at least 2,9501.—(Laughter.) But
now it appeared that there was nothing in the Exchequer, and
this project of maenanirrous mendicancy had vanished.—
(Loud laughter.) The Hon, and Learned Gentleman had
announced that the Spottiswoode subscription, a; it was now
universally styled, was a Protestant subscription. It might be
a Protestant fund, but it was essentially a defensive one. The
Hon. and Leerned Member had told them that 150 clergy-
men of the Church of England had subscribed, and he
had contrasted the conduct of these clergy meg with the con-
duct of the priests of his own church. Now he would defy
the Honourable and Learned Gentleman to produce an in-
stance of, the odious and tyrannical interference on the
part of the clergy of the Church of England similar or
dangerous to those which were imputed to the clergy of
his own church.—( Hear, hear.) If the Honounble and.
Learned Member doubted what he was saying, he would ask
the Hon. and Learned Member to produce a volume like the
volume laid before the Intimidation Committee, Let him