The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-09 00:00:00

i_

tant cause with the utterance of slander.--( Cheers.) I know'
that every latitude must be given to the fervour of excited elo-
quence, and therefore it is not to the speech of any noble or
reverend orator that I refer.—( Hear, hear.) Their speeches
might be misreported ; besides, no man would be compelled,
and few, perhaps, disposed, to read them.—(Laughter and
cheers.) But at the late meeting at the Mansion-house,
Dublin, I find there opinions set forth in all authentic, pre-
meditated, and deliberate form—in the form of a resolution
receiving the full sanction of the meeting :—" Resolved, that
the patronage of the Irish Government and its prerogative of
mercy have been abused to the furtherance of purposes inju-
rious to the peace of the country, the administration of its
laws, and the stability of British connection—that partisans
have been placed in office as assistant-barristers, 'es magis-
trates, as officers in the constabulary and police, whose re-
commendation in some instances Iws beets their unscrupulous
attachment to a faction ; and that appontinei:ts made in this
spirit have been subsidiary to the creation of fictitious voters,
and have greatly prejudiced in public opinion the odrninistra-
tion of justice," Now I should be unworthy of hold.'ng a si-
tuation under the present Government, and should be .unwor-
by of appearing in this House, or before any assembly t,f my
countrymen, if I hesitated to brand this resolution as a tiN'ae
of the most unfounded and most unbecoming imputations from

its beginning to its end, in every line and every letter.—
(Cheers.) Yes, said the Noble Lord, addressing himself
pointedly to the Opposition, it is easy for you to condemn
our exercise of patronage. We assert that your imputa-
tions are unfounded.—(Cheers, and counter cheers.) When-
ever you bring forward a name, I am ready to meet you,
___(Loud cheers.) With the assistant-barristers who have,
been appointed under the Government of the Earl of Mul-
grave, and who, in the resolutions of the Mansion-
house meeting are made subject to such dishonouring impu-
tations, I have the pleasure and the honour of a personal ac-
quaintance; and I take it upon myself to say that in probity
and honour they are equal to every one of those who attended.
that meeting,—( Cheers)—and judging of the character of the
members from the proceedings adopted at this meeting, in
sense, ability, discretion, and moderation, I will institute no
comparison between them at all.—(Continued cheering.) I
have many papers in my hand relative to the cases tried be-
fore those assistant-barristers. I will not go into them here ;
not only because I do not think this House the fit arena for a
discussion of the kind, but because a committee has been re-
cently appointed before which it might very properly be
brought, if to any Hon. Member there should appear to be a
necessity for further investigation. But three names—l omit
all the others—have been specially signalled out as subjects of
reproach and suspicion—the names of Messrs. Hudson, Gib-
son, and Fogerty. In the case of Mr. Hudson I beg to state .
these facts in reply to the insinuations that have been made
against him. In June last he rejected seventeen Liberal
claimants who were tenants to Mr. Vigors. and subsequently
nine others, all of whom were admitted to the franchise upon ap-
peal to Judge Johnson, at last summer assizes. Similer clai-
mants had been before admitted by Mr. Hulstonge Robinson,
the Conservative assistant-barrister, and also by Mr. Moody, but
Mr. Hudson rejected them. There has been only ono
appeal by the Conservatives from his decisions, upon the ques-
tion of value. Fully one-third of the Liberal claimants have
beer, rejected by him at the sessions. The average number of
notices served was four hundred at each sessions. With re-
ap et to Mr. Gibson I will only say, that in the Leinster Ex-
press, an Orange local journal, there is an article, published
in the beginning of last November, attacking the apathy of the
Conservatives in the county, in not coming forward and stating
that Gibson registered fairly and impartially, upon the prin-
ciple of the -beneficial value, and that the Conservatives had
thus an equal chance with the Liberals, if they would come
forward to the registry. I find, too, this practical result of
the registration in Leinster, for the years 1835 and 1836. AC
the Winter Assizes, of ten Conservative claimants nine were
admitted, whilst of 96 Reform claimants 27 only were ad-
mitted—( Hear, hear)—and again, in the Spring Assizes of
1816, out of eight Conservative claims seven were admitted,
whilst of 103 Reform claimants only four were admitted.
The Hon. and Learned Member for the city of Dublin,
who spoke last, alluded to the course pursued by the ma-
gistrates of King's county towards Mr. Gibson, the assistant-
barrister; but that circumstance hes already been fully
gone into by my Noble Friend who opened the debate, by
whom the reason of that proceeding was fully and amply
exposed. I will merely say, that at all events the magistrates
made a speedy atonement to the assistant-barrister; because,
after having removed him from the chair, they found them-
selves constrained to call upon him for his assistance in making
the charge to the Grand Jury. —(Loud laughter.) Another
part of the resolution which I have read embraces the officers
of the constabulary and police. With respect to those per-
soi►s who have been appointed officers in the constabulary and.
police, I of course have not had the same means of making a
personal acquaintance with any of them, as I have had the
pleasure of doing with the assistant-barristers. I can only
say, that they were recommended to us from quarters on which
we thought we could place the fullest reliance, and that the
qualifications of all of them were submitted to the personal
scrutiny of the distinguished officer at the head of the estab-
lishments. One qualification I admit they have not possess& ;
they have not been recommended by the Hon. Members op-
posite, nor by their friends and supporters.—( Cheers and
laughter.) We admit that they are in no hurry of attack. In
this we admit that they arc eminently defective. They arc emi-
nently defective also in persecuting Protestantism. Talking
of persecuting Protestantism, the Honourable and Gallant
Member for Donegal had attempted to be witty at the ex.
pense of my Noble Friend the Member for Leitrim (Lord
Clements), because he was not at that meeting ; but my
Noble Friend wanted one requisite qualification ; for, in
the first place, it was necessary that all must be Pro-
testants who were admitted, but, further than that, they
must all be aggrieved Protestants. Now, my Noble Friend
did not admit that he was aggrieved, although he was quite
ready to go to the meeting, and most worthily might he
have been admitted, for a more honourable, a more upright,
impartial man does not exist than my Noble Friend.—( Loud
cheers.) I think that the lion. and Gallant Officer will
feel that my Noble Friend has satisfactorily proved that he
was not entitled to be present or to be heard at that meet-
ing. Now, with respect to the exercise of patronage, what-
ever the requisite qualifications have been, and the selection
has been necessarily confined to a few persons—as, for in-
stance, to the superintendents of hospitals, or to the higher
and more responsible functionaries of education—l can ven-
ture to say no Government could have gone further than
what Earl Mulgrave's Government has done in making the
appointments exclusively in reference to the highest degree
of fitness of the person who was candidate for the office.
And if in doing this we have not always had the pleasure
of appointing- persons friendly to us, in the ordinary exer-
cise of patronage, we have followed that selection amply
enough ; where our path, too, was illuminated by the proceed-
ings of our predecessors.—(Laughter and cheers.) The head
and front of our offending is this, that we have preferred our
friends and supporters to our avowed adversaries, our open vi-
lifiers, and our insidious underminers.—( Immense cheering)
Such has been hitherto the policy of Earl Mulgrave ; and in
spite of all that shall be alleged or charged against us, such it
will continue.—( Renewed cheers.) Upon the general .prin-
ciples on which the Government of Ireland ought to be con-
ducted I feel that it is beyond my present :province, and per.
lisps out of my place, to enter. Albeit I am myself con-
nected with the local Government of Ireland, yet I will say,
as my Noble Friend has most correctly stated, that the head
of that Government has had the happiness of carrying it on
with perfect union and harmony of feeling, and that the House
will perceive that they have enjoyed the confidence of the
central Government at home. With respect to my own
individual share in the conduct of that Government, I have
reason to believe that my own constituency—certainly not
the least numerous, not the least industrious, not the least
religious, not the least Protestant in the empire—have not
withheld their confidence from me.—(Loud cheers.) The
impression upon me grows stronger day by day, that if they
do not carry on the Irish Government in any other system—in
a system of repression, in a system of alienation, in a system
of keeping back the people of Ireland, or in keeping back and
keeping down the Catholic laity of Ireland, or in keeping aloof
from the Catholic clergy of Ireland—l-do not mean aloof with
respect to the honours and profits of the State, but from all
confidence, assistance, co-operation and good will—a pretty
task our successors will have in putting down the National As-
sociation ; but not content with that, the Hon. and Learned
Sergeant has thrown in the putting down the Roman Catholic
Hierarchy.—( Immense cheering.) But to carry on that Go-
vernment in any other system than one of kindness, of conci-
liation, and of equal and impartial justice, is a plan which will
be attended with enormous risks in Ireland and in England.
Whatever partial difference may exist, whatever partial prepos-
sessions may exist, if you ever come to make the critical de-
mand, I doubt you will find very little alacrity on the part of -
the people in bestowing the necessary quantity of blood or
treasure to keep up or perpetuate such a system. I have
touched upon what relates to our own department, as a mem-
ber of the Irish Government. It is the department of Parlia-
ment, and of this House primarily, to determine whether the
policy of the executive shall be ratified, followed up, and ex-
tended by the proceedings of the legislative department--
whether what we can generally manifest but in spirit and in.
intention, you will convert into a living and lasting enact-
ment—( Cheers)—whether you will change the favour that now
may be bestowed upon them by any individual into a deep-
rooted, because well grounded, attachment to the laws that
arc equal, and the Constitution that is common.—(Cheers.)
And, with such views, and in such a course, you cannot take
a better or a more effectual step than by giving your votes to
the measure of my. Noble Friend this evening.—(The Noble
Lord sat down amid very loud and long-continued cheering.)
Mr. Sergeant JA CKSON begged in explanation distinctly
to state, that the letter to which the Noble Lord had referred,
as having been read by him (Mr. Sergeant Jackson) was a ge-
nuine letter, and was addressed, not to the Inspector, but to
the Governor of the gaol.--( Opposition cheers.)
Sir J. GRAH A M confessed he waited with some impa-
tience during that long and in some measure desultory discus-
sion to hear the defence of the Irish Government from a con-
fidential adviser of his Majesty. Hon. Members bad been
pleased to throw out taunts with regard to a supposed collision
on that (the Opposition) side of the House; and the Hon.
and Learned Member for Bath had indulged in sarcastic al-
lusions to his (Sir J. Graham's) consistency. But he had
done nothing secret, nothing covert. Everything he bad don°
was in the face of day. He had committed no act of which
he was ashamed, neither had he sacrificed opinions.--
(Cheers.) He rejoiced in the unanimity which prevailed
amongst those on the bench where he had the honour of sit-
ting. No effort had been wanting on his part to promote
that union, and none should be wanting to strengthen and
perpetuate it.—( Loud cheers.) That union had been ren-
dered necessary from the dangers which surrounded the cool-
try--dangers hieh had been produced by. the combination.
which bad taken place on the opposite benches.—(Hear,
hear.) He confessed he was astonished to find that when the
Irish Government had been attacked by the Learned Sir'