The Sun.
London, England, 1836-05-20 00:00:00

claim any wish fur an organic change in the House of
Lords, and he hoped and believed that when the Hon.
Member for Mayo should bring forward his motion upon
that subject, the Hon. Member would find himself docked
to a very short tail indeed.—(Laughter.) As to the pre-
sent Bill, he did not understand how it could be described
either as an injury or an insult to the people of Ireland.—
(Hear, hear.) . It destroyed the present exclusive system,
and it rendered justice equally to Catholic and Protestant.
This, however, was its mistake ; for it was one thing to do
away with exclusion as regarded the Protestants, and an-
other thing to do away with exclusion as regarded the
Catholics.—(Hear, hear.) In his opinion, a perfect equality
in all circumstances was quite impossible at the present
moment in Ireland. When the state of society in that
country was such as to admit of an equality of justice in
every respect with England ; when the police force, and
every other arrangement of a similar character in Ireland,
could be put on the same footing as in .England, he should
be most ready to acquiesce in entire equality. The Go-
vernment Constabulary Bill which passed but the last night,
by its peculiar nature, showed clearly that Government
itself was fully conscious that the state of society was dif-
ferent in Ireland from the state of society in England.
Mr. D. ROCHE said, the Right Hon. Gentleman might
accurately repeat the. sentiments of the Orangemen of Ire-
land, but these were not the opinions of the Irish nation.
The deMolition of the Irish Corporations would be any-
thing but a boon to Ireland ; and so far from being received
with gratitude by the people of that country, would but
create a new discontent.—(Hear, hear.) It was a mere
absurdity to say, that because the Catholics of Ireland
formed the large majority of the population, they should
therefore be refused the management of their own affairs.
The Right Hon. Gentleman appeared to look upon Ire-
land as a mere dependency of England ; but the people of
Ireland justly asserted their r ight to be considered as an
equal with England and with Scotland, and if this equality
were not conceded to them the repeal of the Union would
be the universal demand of Irishmen. He bad voted for
repeal once, and he would do so again if justice were de-
nied to his country. But of that justice he did not de-
spair, for he looked for it at the hands of the great majority
of that House, and to the nation, and not to the majority
in the House of Lords.

Mr. WYSE said this was not a measure of mere regu-
lation, but one founded upon a great and just principle, and
he therefore trusted the House would not for a moment en-
tertain the Bill as it was sent to them from the Lords. The
question of a repeal of the Union had not been got up by
the eloquence of the late Hon. and Learned Member for
Dublin, but was founded upon the refusal of England
hitherto to do justice to Ireland, and to acknowledge her
equal rights. The people of Ireland would no longer suffer
that there should be one law for England and Scotland, and
another for Ireland. Nothing would now satisfy her but
equality of rights and advantages, and if they were refused,
then it would be for her to consider how she might best
obtain these advantages by her own exertions.
Mr. S. CRAWFORD said the great body of the Pro-
testants of Ireland were quite ready to admit the Catholics
to a full participation of their political rights. In reference
to this Bill he trusted that no compromise would be made
upon it with the other House. 'Nothing but the Bill as it
originally stood would or ought to satisfy the people of Ire-
land.—( Hear, and cheers.) With respect to the letter of
a Learned Gentleman, not at the present moment a member
of the House, he felt called upon, in that Learned Gentle-
man's absence, to declare, that, although upon some points
he differed from that Learned Gentleman, in the sentiments
expressed in that letter he did most cordially concur, and
he considered it an expression of sentiment for which the
people of Ireland were deeply indebted to its talented
w rite r.—( Hear, hear.)
Dr. BO WRING felt some surprise that the declaration
of the Hon. Member for Mayo had been received with
such coldness and indifference by the House. That decla-
ration, be it recollected, was the latest testimony to the
state of the public mind in Ireland ; and that public mind
would soon find abundant echoes in this country, unless
Ireland were really and truly raised to the. equality she had
a right to occupy. When the question of the repeal of the
Union was last debated, none but Irish Members were will-
ing to advocate it ; but if the present system were per-
sisted in, if a perpetual injustice towards Ireland were per-
petrated, it would not be left alone to Irish representatives,
for many of the representatives of England and Scotland
would unite in demanding a repeal of the Union, unless
equal justice were obtained for Ireland. He did not un-
derstand what was meant by the word collision. He knew
the duty of an honest representative. It was to proceed
in a straightforward path—it was to remove abuses—it was
to redress wrongs—it was to obtain good and cheap govern-
ment for the people. If this were prevented by those
who were blind and deaf to the state and to the power of
public opinion, on them, and on them alone must the res-
ponsibility rest. Ana as the subject of organic changes
had been referred to, he wished the House to know that
the organic change which he and those who thought with
him insisted on—aye, and would obtain in spite of all resist-
ance—; as the organic change from bad to good government.

The question eras then put that the amendments of the
Lords be printed, and it was ordered accordingly, and the
amendments were ordered to be taken into consideration on
Wednesday, June 1.

PO - --• ---77-ZI4,
TO THE PEOPLE OF E 4• -e=:PZ:.—
Cl. 40,1,\F.--• '
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LETTER No. I. - 54 ''.-i'•''-'IIQ--,f,.. 4'
London, M. , $ Atilti -.,..'". •
Let the situation of Ireland be understoo(:-- 'll.. i *' ..,. '
that there is an UNION between that country aInIINS ~..,.
deny it—l totally deny it. There is, to be sure, a le„a kir
A,..4„
1
UNION—a parchment UNlON—but. for any practical purpose
or for any purpose useful to either country, there is No
UNION at all.

" The Union," said the celebrated Cur.ran, " will be just
this, and, no more—a full participation of British burdens
and taxation, without any adequate share of British
franchises or advantages." His was a prophetic spirit ;
the fact is just as he stated it would be. We share your
battles and your burdens, but we are jealously, and, in-
deed, insultingly, excluded from your franchises and ad-
vantages.
I therefore repeat, there is NO UNION. That of parch-
ment is a cobweb, which we will break through the mo-
ment we are convinced that we cannot obtain justice
from you, if such a moment-shall, as now appears probable,
arrive.

Our cry is, A REAL UNION, or NO UNION-NO UNION,
or a REAL UNION.

I candidly and at once admit that my own opinion ig,
that the Union, in its most favourable shape, must
neces-
sarily be highly injurious to Ireland. Ido not think it is
of any real advantage to England ; but that it is detrimen-
tal to the Irish people I have not one shadow of doubt.
I am old enough to remember the cruelty, the tyranny,
and, above all, the overwhelming corruption and bribery,
by which that measure was brought about ; and it may be
prejudice, but I am at least candid in the confession that
my own conviction is, that, for the prosperity of Ireland, a
local legislature—whether dependent or independent, I stop
not now to canvass—is essentially and necessarily requisite.
Accordingly I have been the active and unequivocal ad-
vocate for a repeal of the existing Union. The people of
Ireland have already roused themselves, with an unanimity
unequalled, and with a determination never surpassed, to
demand that repeal.

Impressed with these convictions, and impelled faster
than my own judgment did warrant by the strong senti-
ment that pervaded. the Irish mind, I brought the subject
before Parliament.

Whigs, Tories, Reformers, and Radicals of Great Bri-
tain joined against me—l was defeated by assertion and by
numbers. There was a plentiful Mack of argument to
sustain these numbers, but prejudice supplied the place
of reasoning, and I was signally defeated by an enormous
majority.

The men vvho formed that majority felt that the truth
of the evils inflicted upon Ireland by the Unio❑ was all at
my side ; they could not vindicate the past, but, as is usual
in such cases, they were full of promise for the future.
Nay, these promises were not the mere assertions of
individuals of any rank or party, but were converted
into solemn pledges. The House of Commons unani-
mously—for we Repealers did not interrupt that una-
nimity—the House of Commons unanimously pledged
themselves to redress all the real and practical grievances.
of Ireland.

The House of Lords—mark this, Englishmen !—with
equal unanimity, made the same pledge. Ireland was to
be governed as if she were part and parcel of England ;
there was to be no difference between them—the identity
of the people of both islands was to be complete in fran-
chises, in rights, in liberty, in prosperity.
There was still more. Both Houses of Parliament con-
ferred. They, without a dissentient voice, concurred in:
an address to the Throne, embodying those sentiments;
proclaiming them to the King, and calling upon him Lo-
be the witness and the sanction of the solemn obligationi
thus incurred—TO DO JUSTICE TO IfIELAND.

Thus was a species of new charter tendered to the peo-
ple of-Ireland—King, Lords, and Commons concurring in
one solemn pledge. I stand upon this pledge. I demand,
in the name of the Irish people I insist, upon its fulfilment.
The Irish nation has a right to require and demand it ;
and in the name of that nation, or at least of more than
seven millions of that nation, I insist upon its fulfilment.
Upon the promulgation of that pledge we paused. We
have ceased to agitate the question of repeal—we have ac-
cepted the promise, and converted it, by our acceptance,
into a contract. We have sought redress for Ireland only
by and through Parliament—only by and through the peo-
ph?. of England. We are still satisfied to look for redress,
through these means alone ; but whilst we take this course;,
let us not be confounded with miserable mendicants, who,
having no resources within themselves, seek by supplication
and abject intreaty to obtain that from the bounty of others
which they are unable, in any case, to seize and to enjoy for
themselves.

We are more than seven millions ; and seven millions;
never yet knew and asserted their rights without success.
The House of Commons has, slowly and cautiously, ar.r2-
menced the effort to redeem its pledge, and perform. its
contract with the Irish people. We do not complain of
that caution, nor do we quarrel much with that slowness.
We make ample allowance for the situation in which the:
Ministry are placed, and the difficulties by which they are,
surrounded. We are not unreasonable, neither are we dis-
contented with the conduct of the Ministry, or of the House
of Commons.
But what shall I say of the House of Lords ?
.I will speak my mind feeely. The Lords have scanda-
lously, insultingly—l will add, because it is true, basely
violated their pledge, and broken their contract.
People of
.England, we appeal to you—ls the Union to
be real ?Isitto he the union of a brotherhood—of free-
dom and prosperity—or is it to be, as the Lords declare,.
a vile bond between master and slave ?
People of England, we appeal to you ; and I, on the
part of the Irish nation, lay before you as short a sketch
as I can of the case of Ireland.

After thirty-five years of the parchment Union, the state
of Ireland is this :—Upon a population of eight millions
there are existing more than two millions three hundred
thousand actual beggars, living on alms, supported by
charity, Yes ; after thirty-five years of that union,
whose promoters declared, and proclaimed, and swore, in
the face of Heaven, that it would be a source of
perennial prosperity to Ireland—after thirty-five years
of that union, there are, upon a population of eight
millions, no less than two millions three hundred thou-
sand beggars ; more, much more, than one-fourth of the
entire people, beggars. Yes ; after thirty-five years union
with the richest country in the world, more than one-
fourth of the population of Ireland are actual beggars
I know that I shall be met with the taunt that there are
no poor-laws in Ireland, and that I have, until now, opposed
poor-laws. Whv so I have, because it has not been
shown to me, and cannot be shown to me, that poor-laws
can increase the property, the capital, or the fund for the
payment of wages of any country. And now I adopt the
poor-laws, not as an actual benefit, for they will be none,
but as a mitigation of the horrible evils of the Union in its
present form. Six years ago I published to the landed
proprietors.of Ireland, that they must abdicate the rights of
property to give a temporary relief, in the shape of
poor-laws, to the people of Ireland, or repeal the
Union, and permit a domestic Legislature, freely and fairly
chosen, to abolish the causes which have produced the
hideous anomaly of a country the most fertile and pro-
ductive of all the necessaries of life, with the most wretched
and poorest population in the world.
But that which poor-laws cannot effect, JUSTICE may
easily attain. We have been promised justice—we are en-
titled to justice ; justice is the only experiment that has
not hitherto been tried towards Ireland. We are enti-
tled to have this experiment made, and we insist upon its
being made.

Ifaving placed the first fact before you, namely, that
more than one-fourth of the people of Ireland are in a state
of destitution and beggary, I come to the next. It is
the ingratitude which has been hitherto exhibited towards
the Reformers of Ireland.

We joined you in your battle for Reform. Our num-
bers not only swelled, but actually constituted, the majori-
ties in your favour. England obtained a considerable in-
stalment of reform. Her franchises were augmented, and
the number of her voters considerably increased. Scot-
land obtained a still larger portion of reform, and from a
mere nominal and paper franchise, she obtained a sounea, a
valuable, and a numer•jus constituency.
Ireland—lreland alone—was defrauded and cheatc-d and
insulted by the .deform Bill which Stanley flung to tie,
rather than conceded. That " calamity" of his p Arty and
country, that " curse" of Ireland, defeated all my efforts to
procuro at that time justice for Ireland, and gave us, in-
stoad of a just and generous reform, a jejune, restricted,
confined, and ineffectual Reform Bill. .

Of this I never will cease to complain until it be reme-
died. The Ministry, in the last and in the present seF.-
sions, have endeavoured to mitigate some of the defects of
Irish Reform ; but the House of Lords last year, w ith
brutal scoffing, defeated the attempt, and here they are,
ready in the present year, under the ignoble leadersY,p of
Lord Lyndhurst, to inflict the same injury a secor.d. time
upon Ireland.
It is quite true that these are calamities and. crimes of
which 1 have already complained, and which do not con-
stitute the leading object of my present adiiress ; but I
could not avoid once again placing before the att ration of
the British public the miseries of Ireland, and tb.e iniquity
practised against her even in the name of Reform.
I now come to the principal object of thi., address. It
is to rouse British attention to the state of cipal Cor-
porations in Ireland, and to the base outrage offered to that
country by a majority of the House of I o
quiet and
awnladetllTi
triltohuei Britishreno s peopletra nee stpoor;ssuibbiner:twi.ind
therefore despotic, authority of thaot asseinldy ; or will they
now join with me to make the Union re,(l, by insisting, in a
voice too distinct to be misunderstood - 11 too loud t.D be
neglected, upon an organic change in tisaatiaL;sembly, styli as
tarethreciidrlie, s. 1 wish. t(,