The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-06 00:00:00

the greater was the necessity for the Ballot, because if the
Suffrage was extended without the protection of the Ballot, it
might. be that the master manufacturer would have the power
to turn out all men in his employ if they did not vote according
to his wishes.—( Great cheering.) A great cotton Lord, if
they had not the Ballot but had Universal Suffrage, might
carry a whole battalion of his men, and make them vote
as he pleased.—( Great cheering.) As the Suffrage,
therefore, was . increased, the necessity of the Vote
by Ballot was increased also. To make the people free from
Lad passions, and tomake them honest the Ballot was absolutely
necessary. The obtaining of that great object was not to be
effected by violence and exaggeration—it was not to be effected
by torch-light meetings, by which honest men were prevented
from jsining together, and rendering themselves stronger than
the knaves of society.—(Great cheering.) That great
object was only to be accomplished by legal, peace-
able, but determined union.—(Continued cheering.)
He was also decidedly in favour of the shortening of the dura-
tion of Parliaments. The people required it. It was an old
proverb, that "short reckonings _made long friends."—( Great
cheering.) It was astonishing how quickly a servant went
upon any message when he knew that he should be turned
away the next day if he loitered on the road.—(Cheers.) So
with respect to Members of Parliament. When they knew that
at abort periods they would be compelled to give an account
of their proceedings to their constituents, they would
be much more likely to do their duty properly, for his own part
he preferred three years for the duration of Parliament, but if
he got the Vote by Ballot and an increase of the Suffrage, he
would willingly toss up whether it should be one, two, or three
vears.—( Great laughter.) He sincerely regretted that any
dissensions had sprung up among Reformers—(Cheers)—the
Tortes rejoiced in it, and small blame to them—( Great
laughter)—because they knew that in the weakness of the Re-
formers was their strength. —( Cheers. ) The Whigs rejoiceel at it
and small blame to them—(Continued laughter)—for they
wished to go BO further.—(Cries of You must push them.")
Lie (Mr. O'Connell) thought that the people would push
themselves.—(Cheers.) The common sense of the people
was increasing day by day. Where there wore fifty woo were
able to read years ago, there were hundreds now—the publica-
tions of the day, although he *as sorry to say there
were many of them bad enough, were read by almost
every individual.—( Hear, hear.) Knowledge was increasing,
although the Whigs were for remaining where they were,
and the people were fast bearing away to the port of intelli-
gence and national freedom. —( Cheers. ) The prospects of
England, however, were far superior to those of Ireland ; the
people of that unhappy country were their brothers .and their
friends, and they were desirous of participating in the privi-
leges which England already possessed.—( Great cheering.)
The stiffrage was bad enough in England, but it was ten thou-
sand times worse in Ireland.—(Cheers.) Would it be be-
lieved that in one of the smallest counties in England
there were actually more voters than there were in
the county of Maya, wjtich had ap) opulation of 366,000 per-
The Tories wou'el take
sons.—(Cries of " Shame, shah.. ' -eesseal, and the Whigs
away the little which Ireland already pee- -.,Healing to the
refuse to give them more. He had been es,. eof the
English people, and but fur the unfortunate circumstame.
course adopted by the Chartists, who talked of torches ant.
daggers, he would have combined the feelings of England
with those of the people of Ireland. That would have been
a Ur.i3n, not of master and slave, but a Union of brother-
hood.—(Great cheering.) The people of Ireland would then
have stood on the same level as the people of England.—( Great
cheering.) That feeling would have been universal, if it had
not been checked and kept down by those miserable feuds that
had been raised by certain parties. He trusted they would par-
don him if he was bitter against the man who had produced such
lamentable effects—( Great cheering)—because he could not ob-
tain the whole that he wanted. Time was necessary to obtain
the great objects they had in view. The master oak, which
formed the great bulwarks of England, was not created in an
hour—it grew up, year after year, and century after century,
until at last it topped the forest, and became a shelter and a
shade to its inhabitants.—(Great cheering.) The ephemeral
bubbles that swelled up the waters evaporated—the develop-
ments of nature were gradual: so with respect to man—to be
useful he must be cautious, and think before he acted. He
would therefore say, take what they could get—but
still look on • for more—but look on quietly and at
last they would obtain all which they desired, without
intimidation or threatening.—(Cheers.) As the clock went
on from hour to hour, until the fixed time came, so would the
political machine, if it were only propelled by skilful hands and
honest hearts.—( Tremendous cheering.) Until the period of
the consummation of liberty arrived, he was there among them
speaking for the people, and one of the Precursors.—(Tre•
mendous cheering.) Precursor to what ? To a com-
bination with England—to a union with England upon
the basis of identification of rights and privileges.—( Great
cheering.) That was his present object—he had made
one effort during the present session, in making that effort he
had been met by the Whigs with a whining " No"—,
(Laughter)—and by the Tories with a ferocious refusal.—
( Great cheering.) They had put forth one of the rabid dogs
of Oraugeism, Serjeant Jackson—(Continued cheering)
so that between them both no hopes or expectations
had been held out to him, but it was his determination
to try them again.--( Great cheering.) He would give them
the benefit of Lent to see whether they would repent.--( Great
laughter.) They were mighty saints with respect to Lent—but
they were saints within the smallest circle—the circle of West-
minster.—(Laughter.) They were deuced saints these—( In-
creased laughter)—so much so that if any person went to a play
in Westminster he was called a black sheep---(Great laughter)
—but only let them step out of the magic circle of the city
of Westminster, and then any man might laugh at a
play as long as he pleased.—(Great laughter.) That was a
species of piety which he (Mr. O'C.) liked, because it was a
piety that respected parochial districts—according to that piety
a man on this side the line must spend his Wednesdays and Fri-
days in the dumps—( Great laughter)—while on the other side
of the line a man might take his wife and his daughters to laugh
at a play as long as he pleased. He (Mr. O'C.) could not but
admire such respect for Lent, and he should therefore wait
patiently until Low Sunday arrived; but the very next
day, both the Whigs and the Tories might depend upon it
that he should be at them again. He would tell them frankly
that he was determined. The people of Ireland had long con-
fided in him. He was a rare instance of a man whocor 35
years had preserved his popularity and who had increased instead
of diminished it.—( Cheers.) He had not preserved that popu-
larity by courting the opinions of the many, and yielding up his
own judgment to them. He believed that the opposition
he had given to sentiments when he thought they were
not right, had contributed more to his popularity than
giving his assent to propositions when he knew them to be
right. It was base to court popularity by adopting measures
that were against a man's co, n judgment.—(Che e•s. ) The
people of Ireland believed him to be honest—they knew that he
had been nseful.—( Great cheering.) What then was his
sacred :duty to that people? He found that they were basely
denied an equality in the rights which tae English people pos-
sessed—they felt that they were unjustly prevented from
having the same franchises which the English peo-
ple had. It was his greatest wish to improve the
condition of the people of England, but, he was also desirous
that Ireland should be placed on the same footing with them.
The Tories and the Whigs had refused him this—nay, some of
the Radicals even refused it. In the majority that refused the
claims of Ireland were some from whom a different course
might have been expected—he alluded to the son of the Duke
of Norfolk, and the grandson of that Noble Duke,
Mr. Philip Howard, the Member for Carlisle. Where,
he would ask, would they have beers but for the
people of Ireland ?—( Great cheering. ) He would not in their
absence make use of harsh terms—but he felt bound to say that
it was ingratitude unworthy of the house of Norfolk.—(Tre-
mendous cheering)—it was an ingratitude which the meanest
peasant of Ireland would have been ashamed of. One of
the Radicals who had joined in that vote was Mr. Parrot, the
Member for Devonshire.—(Cries of " Shame," and " Wakley
was one.") Ne Wakley would rather have died than
joined them.—( Hear, hear, and tremendous cheering.)
He felt proud of the multitudinous assemblage that he saw
now around him—he had come there for the purpose of
making his public confession, and he saw near him hie Father
Confessor.—(Laughter.) But one essential ingredient without
confession was wanting, and that was repentance, for he could not
repent of the exertions he had made for, the good of the
7,000,000 of the Irish people.—(Great cheering.) The Irish
people would not submit to the injustice under which they
had laboured; and this he would venture to say, that if
the grievances of the Irish people were not redressed,
they would redress them themselves—( Great cheering)—and
every honest man in England would help them in obtaining
that redress. He had made every effort in his power to
obtain redress through and by England, and he would
resort to the restoration of the Irish Parliament by
a Repeal of the Union only becalse he could not s ccecd with-
out it.—( Tremendous cheering.) There were many that
supposed he could not obtain the Repeal. To such he would
whisper what had been done in 1825 when he came to
this country as a delegate, and when he was told by
Lord Liverpool that emancipation was impossible.—(Cheers.)
Why, barely four years had elapsed before Sir Robert
Peel and the Duke of Wellington became submissive
to the Irish people, and granted them emancipation,
because they found they could not continue to resist it.—
(Cheers.) Since the last Parliamentary campaign he had tra-
velled upwards of 1,500 miles in differentparts of Ireland, and
everywhere he was met by the eternal cry of " Why
don't you give up everything else, and think of
a repeal of the Union ?"—( Great cheering.) From this moment
he thought of repeal—(increased cheering)—and he found that
if the British Parliament would not do justice to Ireland,
Ireland would do justice to herself by demanding a
repeal of the Union.—( Most tremendous cheering.)
Within the present week a measure had been brougl.t forward
by the Government for the purpose of making railways in Ire-
land; the expenses of those undertakings were too great for
the people of that country, they had only one Railway
in Ireland of the enormous length of about six and a half miles.
It was said that that was finished by private speculations.
Such was not the case, because the Government had lent up-
wards of 80,0001. for its completion. That was the only railway
in Ireland, and he would appeal to every man of common
sense whether Ireland, with its great resources, ought not to
have an extended species of communication? That communica-
tion could not be adopted without Government taking up
the matter—all that was asked was that a public „el ant
should be made for the extension of railways in Ireland,
but that was objected to. His (Mr. O'Connell's) opinion
was that Government ought to be the projectors of all rail-
ways, because in the hands of private individuals they were mo-
nopolies.—(Cheers.) They went when they pleased—they
stopped when they pleased, and they chaeged what they pleased.
—(Cheers.) But it was said, why did they want money from
England? He would tell them—it was because the Legisla-
ture of this country had destroyed the credit of Leland,
by mixing up her national debt with its own.—(Cheers. )
Should such a state of things continue ? Was Ireland to be
denied the rights to which she was justly entitled. No, and if
injustice was extended to her much longer lie would raise his
voice, and that in no measured terms, for the repeal of the
Union.—(Great cheering.) He was glad of the present
opportunity of stating what his opinions were on these
subjects, and he was glad that the usual sources of in-
formation were present, in order that ,his sentiments might
be known on these subjectst. Ireland must and should enjoy
the same privileges as England, and he thought to effect that
object he was entitled to the support both of the English and
the Scotch. It was through Ireland that England and Scot-
land had obtained Parliamentary Reform. It was through the
people of Ireland that they had obtained Corporate Reform.
The Irish Members had never been found to shrink from
supporting any measure which they thought would
effect good to the people of England.—( Cheers. ) He
thought that • he was, therefore, entitled to the support of
cevery honest-minded Englishman and Scotchman.—( Loud
heering.) He had beseeched humbly for his country, but
he had been treated with scorn, and if he was subjected
to such treatment much longer, he was determined that
Ireland should right herself.—(Tremendous cheering.)
What injury, he would ask, would it do to England if Ireland
had a Parliament of her own? bone whatever.
Ireland would then be more prosperous, and the people of
that country would be better customers to England.
When the Irish Parliament declared its independence
what was the state of things? Why the Dutch and
French vessels sent down the channel with a broom at their
masts, sweeping all before them, and such was the state of the
British Navy at that time, that it did not dare to interfere to
prevent them. What was the first act of the Irish Parliament
after it had declared its
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