The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-23 00:00:00

IRELAND.

_
Dublin, Nov. 21.
NATIONAL TRADES POLITICAL UNION.--Yesterday, at
an extraordinary general meeting of this body, resolutions
deprecatory of the Septennial Act, in favour of an exten-
sion of the elective franchise to all males, or, at least, to
rent-payers, Vote by Ballot, and Reform of the House of
Lords, were severally proposed, seconded, and unanimously
passed.

Mr. O'CONNELL then rose, and in an address, the report
of which fills three closely printed columns of the Free.
man's Journal, spoke to the following effect :—With regard
to the Poor Laws, what do we require ? Why, wages for
industry, not alms for beggars.—(Cheers.) Some of the
London prints differ with me upon the subject of Poor
Laws. It is said that it is ridiculous to talk of absenteeism
as being an evil. I would be glad to see the man who
did not consider it as such.—(Hear.) Upon a small scale
absenteeism is not an evil, but it is grossly injurious when
fourteen out of twenty of the entire rental of the nation is
taken out of it year after year. For example (I speak upon
this topic with the greatest respect to the distinguished in-
dividual to whom I am about to allude) there is Lord
Fitzwilliam—he takes 50,0001. a year out of the county
Wicklow alone, and 1,000,0001. in twenty years. If a
reasonable portion of this money were but spent in Wick-
low, how much would its condition be improved ? lam
at the side of that class which I admit to be selfish, and
against those whom I also admit to be influenced by
humanity. I am, therefore, placed in a situation of great
responsibility.—(Cheers.) My poor law is—justice to Ire-
land.—(Cheers.) I have another topic upon which to ad-
dress you. Those of you who read it must have seen the
abortion the Conservative meeting was the other day—I
may call it Randal Plunkett's club. He has done me the
honour to become my rival. He heard I rented this
house, that it might always be ready for proper purposes
of agitation, and he has accordingly taken a house in
Dawson-street.—(Hear, and laughter.) He had an abor-
tive meeting though, notwithstanding all his money and
exertions. But what were the leading features of his
speech ? He spoke of ribbon societies—of secret affi-
liations amongst Roman Catholics, and, from a full
knowledge of the resolutions, he referred to the re-
ligious pledge which they give each other, not only in
point of devotion to their society, but even the fre-
quentation of the most cheering and holy of all sacra-
ments. I have them in my hands, and I find he was per-
fectly correct. They were drawn up in Manchester, and
the principal at the head of those societies is a Protestant,
who in this country was an Orangeman. I Now, I am
next bound to tell you, there is not a single man amongst
them who is not liable to transportation. Not one—not
one.—(Hear.) The society is called the " Labourers' and
Burial Society." You may depend upon it that there are
persons in communication with Randal Plunkett, ready to
come forward, and when the societies are ripe, to denounce
them as consisting of Catholics combining against Protes-
tants.--(Hear.) Every man who connects himself with
these societies is liable to be transported. I rejoice at the
series of resolutions which you have agreed to with respect
to the shortening the duration of Pariaments. In public
as in private affairs, short accounts make long friends. Mr.
O'Connell then referred to the ballot, which he considered
was necessary for the freedom of voting.—(Hear.) The
ballot would make men honest ; a man, when going in to
vote, might cry, hurry for West and Hamilton ; and, by the
bye, Hamilton is one of the very best men of that party.
I trust I shall yet see that young gentleman what he ought
to be, the friend of liberty and liberal institutions, and
not the partisan of a miserable and bigoted faction. But, to
return to the vote by ballot—l was saying that a fellow who
went in shouting for West and Hamilton might give his
vote to Daniel O'Connell, for no man would be the wiser.
See what we had at the last election—bribery the most
barefaced that ever was known in any part of the world.
The price of the freemen was three guineas a-head ; and
what did the Chairman of the Committee who turned me
out do, do you think ? He ruled that I was not at liberty to
go into a case of bribery against West and Hamilton, and
then he got a Committee to vote that there was nothing to
bring the bribery home to them. There is another subject
upon which I shall speak—l mean the Reform of the
House of Lords. I am of opinion, that in a free state
we ought not to have any irresponsible tribunal. The
King was for a long time irresponsible, but now he is
responsible through his Ministers, because he can do no-
thing but through them. The King is responsible, the
House of Commons is responsible, and why should one
branch of the Constitution remain irresponsible ? I will
briefly state to you the remedy that I would apply to
the House of Lords. I would have the King as he
he is—(Hear, hear)--and let him create 200 Peers
more—this would give a majority that would carry all the
measures of' reform that are necessary.—(Hear, hear.) The
number of Pess:s would then amount to nearly eight hun-
dred. Let England, Ireland, and Scotland be divided into
one hundred and fifty districts. Let there be a peer ap-
pointed for every district, and be elected for seven years.
Let the head of every family have a vote ; those first
elected to go out at the end of seven years, and have a new
election. While ever the Government was Tory when an
election of a peer took place, a Tory was returned, and
when the Government was Liberal, it was the same ease.
Lord Trimleston, a Catholic Peer, voted the other day for
a Tory. He is not an Irishman, and lam glad of it, for
1 would be ashamed to be his countryman. Ho is a worthy
sample of the House of Peers. If anything could make
me ashamed of the religion I profess, it is that Lord
Trimleston professes the same. I will ask you, did you
ever hear anything so disgraceful ? (Cries of " No,
never !") No, nor never will, I hope ; but you see there
are Tory Catholics—men who would continue injustice to
Ireland ; and there arc unjust men, Catholics as well as
Protestants, and if I wanted to prove it, I would produce
Lord Trimleston as my witness. Let him go hack from
whence he came ; the sooner he crosses the seas the better.
I come again to the point from which I started. lam Ra-
dical in the fullest sense of the word.—( Hear.) lam for
abolishing the property qualification ; I am for a Reform of
the House of Lords—for an extension of the suffrage—for
short Parliaments, and for Vote by Ballot.—(Cheers.)
Avoid secret societies.—(Great cheering, and cries of;
"We will.") Avoid the miscreants who would endeavour
to entrap you into any secret combination ; catch him and
bring him to me, and I promise you that he shall be pu-
nished. If you take this advice, and stand by the Govern-
ment of Lord Mulgravc, you will live to see Ireland what
she ought to be— _

Great, glorious, and free,
First flower of the earth and first gem of the sea.
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman sat down amidst loud
and long-continued cheering.
Mr. &LEVIN was then called to the chair ; and thanks
having been voted to Mr. Brennan, the meeting separated.

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOV_PAIBER 23, 1830.