The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-09 00:00:00

half of uninterrupted duration, and the full
taxes that became due and payable during that time.
and
he considered that this continuous residence of two sears
a half, and the full and indispensable payment
which the inhabitant was liable, would be found fully sexuale,
the qualification of a 101. householder.—( Cheers.) N°l:9
bow did they proceed in Scotland? In that country in bu.lgHa
where the population did not exceed 2,000, the municipal anin
the political franchise were made Hear.) paymen. tof alsl
otnwe,
Scotland there was no 51. franchise to be found. In Ireland"
the smaller towns, they proposed to establish a 5/. municipal
franchise. Now, he considered one of the great objecticns
the Si. franchise to be this, that if you once reduce the franchise
for municipal purposes it will create a demand for tbe reduct.
No vi to
tion of the political franchise to the same standards In Sc In
land the municipal and political franchises were identical.
i. 4.
tbe Bill before the House they proposed to reduce the elitt!!!'d
cation to one-half the amount of qualification that prevail?
in Scotland. After some further observations on this toles
and with reference to the offices of sheriff and civil magistrate,
the Right Hon. Baronet proceeded to contend that the° to this
ing of the qualification it, Ireland, as was provided by t
Bill, would make a most important change as regarded i
'''
persons liable to serve as jurors. Throughout that cou
this measure would effect a most important reduction in thef
qualifications of jurors. He considered that this lowering ?
the qualification of the jurors bore immediately and directlY)
upon the independent administration of justice.—( flcarjv
But he would not weary the House by going more minute a
into the details of this measure. But he certainly would fin
it difficult to be convinced that he was to legislate for Eng;
land and for Ireland on the same principles. He could 11°
fail to ask himself, when considering this subject, were theY
not, when legislating for Ireland, bound to recollect that theY
were legislating for a country whose condition was altogether
anomalous—(loud cheers)—that they had to deal with
,a
country where the possessors of the great mass of properitY.
were of one religion, and where the great mass of the popu a
tion belonged to another ?—(llear. ) On the one side the,'
had rank and property—hereditary wealth with its acconr
panying refinement and luxury long enjoyed, and until re;
Gently, but little interrupted in its enjoyment. On the othe
side they had an overwhelming mass of population rising, be
admitted, in intelligence and increasing in wealth, but the
lower ranks greatly oppressed by poverty and encompassed bY
ignorance, and naturally desirous for the attainment of I°,;
perty and wealth—desires that frequently existed with a strenqe
proportioned to the difficulty of satisfying them. On ones it
they had the Protestant religion and those who belonged to
(as we understood the Right Hon. Baronet) naturally anxioas
for their own security and protection, and for the maintenance
their own interests. On the side of the multitude they h2A
the Catholic religion, exercising its powerful and accustomed
influence over the hearts, feelings, and judgment of its
of votaries.--( Hear, hear.) This was a state of things .0
which there was no parallel to be found in the history of
other country in the world.—(Hear, hear,) It had been sa's
that the Municipal Reform Bill had worked Well ; and wui
should it not be applied to Ireland also, with a hope °f si;
miler results ? Why not grant to one country
yielded to the other ?—(Hear, hear.) It was the Parts:
prudent foresight, of quick perception, and of sound ial'ipc;
ment, to reflect before choosing ; and, when once the
was made, to adhere courageously to it.—(lronical cheer;
from the Ministerial benches.) Yes, he repeated it
it exhibited a magnanimity no less to depart from a de
sd..".
sion when found to be erroneous.--( Cheers from the Oprd,
tion.) These were the qualities which adorned and digewhe
the science of government. Few were prepared to denfft
advantages which accrued to England from the poor Pla.
what Of
Amendment Act ; but, though these advantages were te
mitted, he would ask the Right Hon. Gentleman opPesA-t";
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he was preParer bt
extend a similar measure to Ireland? Would not that
Hon. Gentleman answer that the circumstances were tots'
different? Would he not say that here we have all the 01,1
chinery at hand—the parochial authorities, and overseers, anii
other officers, accustomed to the duty—whilst in Ireland.%
these things were wanted? This surely was a case in P°1:0
and if the system now in England was improved—if it -for
rendered better—this surely was an additional reason he
extending it to Ireland. If it be good for one it must. '5,
good for another, was in politics as the doctrine of eroPirfio
of quacks, and impostors in medicine.—( Hear, hear.) 0
was emboldened to say this, because be did not intend
to characterise the councils of the Gentlemen opPes!te.
e.
On the contrary, they had adopted the opposite prop%
In the Irish Reform Bill they did not apply the sTa
principles as in the English one. For instance, they
clO
not introduce the system of annual registration, which iica
part of the English Bill. Neither did they adopt the pree-to
of taking the polls at various places, and limiting the tioa
two days ; and why? Because the circumstances of Ire of
forbade it. The law of Civil Bill process was another pro? by
the different circumstances of the country. It was state°
the Learned Sergeant the Member for Bandon as one of tht:
things which showed the anomalous condition of Ireland•
this process the Assistant Barristers could award the recco'fo'iln
of 501. against the tenant in Ireland without the interventibe
of a jury.—(Hear, hear.) In England this would not
be awarded against any man without his being tried by "'d
iis
goodpeers; afonrd
Irelandsifurely wtehree t
o principlebe appol
applied,
wd,htahteistrigaolo
byd jfoorrytgaslaantt;
tors involving 501. would be equally valuable to the one.
the other. Now it was true that trial by jay "9 in- tilles
abstract good, and was, in general, productive of the resin
described ; but the circumstances of Ireland were so far flisliTio
adapting that country to what was abstractedly
good, thatl t for
Member for Galway obtained leave to bring in a
enlargin
g the powers of the Revising Barristers' C
—( Hear, hear.) There was another point which shovel/land
different circumstances of the two countries. In Etc of
the magistrates preserved with great jealousy the rig
..jr.
electing their own chairman. In Ireland such were the ‘..e,
cumstances of the country that a sharp and objurgatorg,s
monstrance had been made by the magistrates of the :teat
County in consequence of the interference of Governr
with regard to the chairmanship of the quarter sessi°,ll,ad
( Hear, hear.) The government of the police in Ireland the
been somewhat similar to that in England ; but such was t
difference of circumstances between the two countries theae
Bill had been introduced in the present Parliament to tosis
away from the local magistracy the superintendence of ere
force.—( Cheers.) There was another circumstance still Ttion
strongly illustrative. He meant the dispute on the que:tion
of introducing the Coercion Bill in 1834. The Administr-dial
of that period dwelt in strong terms on what it called Pred on
agitation in Ireland ; also, on the resistance to tithes, saeters
the discussion of the question of Repeal. How were 11121' has
now ? Why, there was a mere change of name, and
ring
was then called predial agitation was now denominated agr-o of
outrage.—(" Hear," and a laugh.) What was the stao?
Ireland at the time of this dispute on the Coercion Bill 'tad
The following was the description in a letter from the rss
Lieutenant of Ireland, which was read in the House of 1-4°„ia
on the debate on that Bill, July 4, 1834. No words or
be more emphatic, more just, or more applicable to prell tee
agrarian disturbances, or the agitation of the repeal ssg
Union, whether suspended or in action. The passage via es-
follows :—" These disturbances were, in every instance's of
cited and inflamed by agitation for the combined projeion.
obtaining the abolition of tithes and the repeal of the VI: so-
I cannot employ words of sufficient strength to express In'tee-
licitude that the Government will bestow their deepest et
cms
tion upon the intimate connection which, in the strongest
ratters, is marked between agitation and combination f°lloe.
•purposes of leading to outrage and violence. They are;,
bich
parable, in cause and effect, and in the dreadful scenes -.11
came under my view I am unable to separate the chain of
their indissoluble connection." This was the descrintfibat
the state of Ireland given by the Lord Lieutenant °'f the
country at the time that Lord Grey was at the heed °NOW
Government—not when he (Sir J. Graham) and his (ant,
Friend (Lord Stanley) were connected with the Govern- its
but when it had been purged of its dross, and freed fre,113.,"t0
impurities.—( Hear, and laughter.) Earl Grey, in
this letter, asked whether it would be the part of a '65 059
gislator to proceed against the victims of delusion, and rriool‘
over those by whom they had been led astray—to eve is.)
the cause, and to legislate against the effect ?—( Loud en 7„0,10
By the remarkable speech on the 9th of the same month, with
by Lord Althorp, in the House of Commons, the secrets TV
respect to the division in the Cabinet were laid open' break'
Noble Lord stated that the question which created th anuses.
ing up of the Ministry arose out of the anti-meeting news
His Lordship stated that he at first concurred in the rei-uses'
of the Act with the exception of the Court-martial citd ins
Nothing but his strong convictiou of its necessity.el ace
duce him to consent to such a violation of Constitution% bin
vernment. Letters of a private and confidential naturicieriv
Lordship said, again brought the matter under the eensenica'
allusine,
tion of Government. From the nature of these coremef the
tions he was led to believe that the three first clauses oligbl
Act, namely, those which referred to public meetings'biectt.,
be dispensed with. Under these circumstances he
to the renewal of these clauses. In this view his 'berg If;
stated that he wawassupported by the lion. Yfern
Inverness, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and CoventrY• oh be
Noble Lord, notwithstanding t'hese opinions, and th°4'istri,'
was in a minority, did not think fit to break up the I‘.'
It was, however, broken up by other circumstanee9'o,
tbd
which the House was sufficiently acquainted. What/I-el°
application of this ? It tended to show the state 01 tsoso
at that period—to show that it was incumbent 00.4 as to
Hon. Gentlemen who then agreed with the Noble Leh'
the passing of the Coercion Bill with the clause Pr° toria"
public meetings, that the state of the country was les thee
was ,
It
different now from what it was then. If the country e? ?
in a state of confusion, was it now in a state of Peaeowers.
not, why propose to invest the people with those now
It might be said, that on the retirement of Lord Gre.r.
tithe meetings ceased, and the country became tranquithe Sta
this could not be argued, or why should there exist in issed
tute Book a Bill parsed by the present MinistrY----.l'; esse.„'
Lord Melbourne and his present colleagues—hors'n„oeient
tial restrictions on the Constitutional rights of a Tree, ;`,oten!
(Hear, hear)—a Bill which granted to the Lord J/orbiddf:re
the power of proclaiming any district in Ireland, ebe
ri
any man in that country from being out of his
sunrise or after sunset, subjecting the houses to
se Aerie;
visits, and subjecting any one found absent during tnlth the‘9oj,
to a penalty of a misdemeanor. This law passed y' belie
clamation of the whole House, with not even, n publiniso
the exception of the Hon. and L6.rned Member forreoise
.o,
(Cheers.) Was a country so circumstanced fit to,,:w ag
ies
Institutions adapted for this ?—( Hear, bear.) 171 oPiinli
garded the question of tithes, there was on record
_t
Terolesrd nu
ite ul ash
consider
on this great question in a Speech from theoppgoswere
eqtbot
h the
showedeireoin s
ttahnaet e
st oosfo
the
eentwtleo
speech there occurred the following paragraPniond °nos
or adapted for the reception of similarmelcennesteittruitei?ne__. Institution!,,
further reforms that may be necessary, you taw Vete(
although the Established Church of Ireland is by of tit
nently united with that of England, the peculiarge'