The Sun.
London, England, 1836-04-06 00:00:00

LONDON, -WEDNESDAY EITI4:4IiING, APRIL 6, 1836.

DINNER TO MR. O'CONNELL.

On Monday last the town Of Notlmgbam exhi ited a
scene of extraorditiat'y excitement and gaiety. For the
last five or six weeks it was understood Olt Mr. O'Con-
nell intended to accept an invitation to a pry is dinner from
the Liberals of that town. The conseque;i( ewas that ex-
pectation of a very extraordinary nature was created, and
that public feeling for the last few days had been kept in a
state of unremitted excitement. The panics calling them-
selves conservatives neglected none of their ordinary tricks
to prevent Mr. O'Connell's reception from being cordial at
Nottingham. But in vain—for to us,' an expression of his
own, " the numbers of the thousands that met him, their
looks, and other external significations, made him exclaim
that it appeared to him as if he had been entering into one
of the cities of his native country." _

The Hon. and Learned Gentleman was accompanied by
Mrs. O'Connell, who appeared to be highly gratified with

the reception her husband met with. Mr. O'Connell ar-
ed. in Nottingham shortly after one, and immediately
proceeded to the Exchange-room, from which he addressed
at least 15,000 persons assembled in the market-place.
On his reaching the balcony, the commencement of his
address was delayed for several seconds, which were occu-
pied with renewed shouts of applause.
When the cheering had subsided, the Hon. Gentleman
proceeded to address the assembled multitude as follows :
Instead of making a speech, I have a question to ask you.
I want to know if there is one Tory here ?—(" No, no,"
and laughter.) lam sorry there. is not, for I have an ac-
count to settle with the Tories. There was only one ca-
lumny ever uttered against me that I thought it worth my
while to deny. It is so base a calumny that I scarcely find
it possible to pronounce it _from..4o,y,.lihey dare- tv
assert —Mat I was deiraded enough to traduce the maids
and matrons of England. It is the only calumny I ever
deigned to answer ; and my answer to it is, that it is a lie.
—(Tremendous cheering.) It is the worst kind of lie, too,
because, it is a wonton assault upon character.—(Hear.)
I remember the time when knowledge was so little diffused,
and the reign of ignorance was so prevalent, that when a
Turk made his appearance in London he was baited by the
people, who called him all manner of nicknames, un-
til at length some one of them, who was exceed-
ingly spiteful, in order to amalgamate national preju-
dices, christened him a French Turk. I want to mark
this lie in somewhat of a similar way, and will, there-
fore designate it as a lie—the worst sort of lie a Tory
lie.—(Cheers.) And they know it to be such ; for when
upon a former occasion I addressed countless thousands in
Birmingham as here, I repudiated the same imputation in
precisely similar terms. The same thing was asserted in
the Tory newspapers, and I contradicted it ; but, like true
Tories, they still-continued to assert it. I therefore set all
the slanderous crew at defiance.—(Cheers.) Let any man
say when and where I ever said such a thing.—( Hear.)
But they are too cunning for that. The moment they at-
tempt to give a date, the falsehood of the imputation will
be made manifest. So I have done with my refutation of
this egregious calumny. Having thus settled my account
with the Tories, let me now ask you, are there any Radi-
cals amongst you ?—(Hear and laughter.) Enough of them,
I dare say. Then I proclaim to you, that I, too, am a Ra-
dical—a thorough Radical.—(Cheers.) That is to say, that
there is not a single abuse in Church or State that I would
not wish to see thoroughly reformed. I have come here,
not to gratify personal vanity—not to indulge myself by
partaking in all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of a pub-
lic procession—not even to cheer myself (though what could
be more cheering—what more delightful ?) with the shouts of
the generous English people. It was not for any of these objects
that I came amongst you. I came amongst you according
to my vocation ; for, permit me to say, I am labouring out
my salvation in endeavouring to do good to the land of my
birth, and to advance the liberties of England.—(Cheers.)
I beg to claim your attention to some few things I have to
say to you. My claim is not individual, for nothing that
can belong personally to so paltry an individual as myself
can merit your attention. But the claim which I prefer is
founded upon my public life and my public services. It is
this claim that induces me to appeal to so distinguished a
portion of this great nation, which of all the world is fore-
most in arts, in arms, in science, and in manufactures ; but
foremost, above all, in the glorious and ever-memorable
fact that, through the long dark night of despotism that op-
pressed other nations, the sacred flame of liberty was che-
rished by her with a lasting and imperishable fervour.—
(Cheers.) 1 come to ask a question-1 ask it with confi-
dence of you, who watch the acts=pf public men, and mark
their votes—have I ever given one vote. in Parliament to
increase the power oi your
number of your franchises ?—(LOW3erres Isr." Never.")
Has ever a measure been introduced into Parliament the
tendency of which was beneficial to Englaud, for which I
have not readily voted ? Has ever a measure been sub-
mitted to the notice of the Legislature, the object of which
was to increase the amount of English liberty, which I hay.
not strenuously exerted myself to further ? Never.
There never has been, and there never shall.—(Renewed
cheering.) My claim upon you is, that I sympathize with
you, and am anxious to see every industrious man enjoying.
the fruits of his own industry—to see every man in the
community enjoyir-, those rights and privileges which
ought to belong to all. lam anxious that every cast and
colour—no matter to what dye of slavery the sun may have
darkened the human skin—should enjoy political freedom.
I care not what may be the cast, the colour, or the creed
of any man—l assert his eternal, immutable right to li-
berty.—(Enthusiastic cheering.) But these are only ge_
neral terms, and now I come to particulars. First, I as-
sert that every man ought to enjoy the privilege of voting
for a Representative in Parliament.—(Hear.) I am a de-
cided advocate for universal suffrage.—(Cheers.) When I
see one man born naked, and another booted and spurred
—(Laughter)—l believe that this distinction has originated
in the fictitious orders of society, and exists, perhaps, with
a most beneficial effect ; but I never will consent to the cir-
cumstance of a mere difference of birth lopping off a right
or destroying a franchise.—( Hear, and cheers.) Every man
in England is taxed ; every man who is taxed and has not
a vote is, in my opinion, robbed.—(Cheers.) I am also an
advocate for vote by ballot, which will tend materially to
advance the interests of humanity, and the constitutional
purity of election. What is more easy than for a rich
robber of a Tory manufacturer to say, " I'll turn you away
if you do not vote as I please ?"—(Hear, hear.) What
can the honest Englishman do ? He must either smother the
cry of conscience, or proceed manfully to the hustings and
vote as conscience dictates—(Cheers)—and then he may
be compelled to turn out of his home with his starving,
family, to gratify the spleen of a paltry Aristocrat.—(Loud
applause.) When a man votes by the ballot he votes as
he pleases. No man can persecute him for exercising the
franchise as he pleases, for no one under that system knows
how he has voted.—( Hear.) Another great advantage of
the ballot is, that it does away almost with entirely with
bribery and corruption. Where is the use in bribing a
voter under the ballot system? Where is the security that
the voter will give value for the raoney he has received ?
( Hear, hear.) If he was rascal enough to take a bribe,
who knows but he will be scoundrel enough to promise one
way and vote another ?—(Cheers and laughter.) You might
as well buy a pig in a poke as a rascal's vote, if he voted by
ballot.—(Renewed laughter.) I am also an advocate for
short Parliaments. All over the world short accounts make
long friends.—( Applause.) Another and a most important
article in my political creed is the principle of religious
liberty. My whole life has been one continued effort to
make conscience free.—(Cheers.) I have always considered
religion as too awful an affair to be meddled with by the in-
terference of man in his state councils. It is a sacred obli-

gation existing between man and God—between the Creator
and the created being.—(Hear.) That Creator alone can
scrutinize the secrets of hearts—man can only listen to the
outward profession.—(Cheers.) The hypocrite can assume
the exterior of religion, and the sanctimonious tyrant can
use it as a plea for persecution.—(Renewed applause.) I
am, therefore, for leaving conscience free from the blasphe-
mous interference of human law. And I tell you more—l
am for letting every man pay his own parson. Even the
parson himself will be bettered by this arrangement, for
he will become more attentive to the duties of his station—
more solicitous to watch over the spiritual interests of those
who voluntarily pay him.—(Cheers and clapping.) If any
man came to one of us and said, " I am going to law, and
you must pay my lawyer," would we not enjoy a hearty
laugh at his expense ? If another were to, accost you
thus, „
" My son is sick, and you must pay for a doctor,"
would you not say that the son was sick, and the father
mad.—( Hear and laughter.) What care I for a spiri-
tual doctor more than for a temporal one? I will pay no doctor
but the one I want to prescribe for me.—(Cheers.) That is
common sense and common honesty, and these are qualities
which are now, thank God, becoming predominant—(Great
applause.) There is no country in the world where common
sense and honesty exercise so powerful a dominion as in Eng-
land. How is it that a small island has become mistress
of the world? How is it that for ages no nation has been
safteas England was her enemy ?—(Cheers.) Why,
bu in spite of many bad institutions, Englishmen
always kept the back-bone of common sense unbroken and
because,as long

untouched.---,(Cheers.) It is this common sense that has
been the perpetual antidote of Toryism in England, and it
is the ab§ente of that invaluable characteristic that kept
other nations subject. A Ftcnehman once endeavoured to
demonstrate to an Englishman what flid Englishman could
by no manner of means be persuaded to belicv—that"
France was superior to England. " Who was it?" said the
Frenchman, in the progress of the argument, with a look-
of triumph, " Who was it that invented frills and minas for
shirts ? Was it not a Frenchman ?" " Aye," rejoined
John Bull, with a knowing smile ; " but it was England
invented the shirts to add to the ._frills."—(Laughter.)

That is the kind of common sense which prevails in Eng::

land ; and I come forward here as one of the apostles of
common sense, of truth, of justice, and of freedom.—(Ap-
plause.) lam of opinion that every great and organic
change in the constitution of a country can be brought about
by the perfectly legal combination of the moral forces of
men convinced of what is right, and despising what is wrong.
The Tories are rich in England, and yet see what little
power they now possess in Parliament. A large majority in
a House of Commons of the Tories' own choice, has been de-
monstratively proved to be composed of staunch Reformers.
My object is to cell on Reformers of every class to rally de-
terminedly, conjointly, quietly, but perseveringly, to obtain
the further amelioration, wherever required, of all our in-
stitusions,—(Cheers.) For that purpose we must all com-
bine. A battle was formerly fought between the Whigs
and Reformers. No one took a stronger part in that
bates dun I did. I fought the Whigs while they were
attassdif Ireland. Can I forget that in that struggle
one afssilr most powerful petitions against the Coercion
t.i. came from Nottingham?—(Hear.) Men of Not-
' bins:LA-. fAhank you.—(Loud and continued cheering.)
-Thfrittilissn was admirahlr-serittesss--,lts---posissts—wase-
powerfully argued. It was full of English truth, and re-
plete with English generosity. Men of Nottingham, from
my heart I thank you.—(Renewed applause.) But the
times have changed. The Whigs of that day were mis-
taken in their views ; and, God bless them for it ! they
are the best friends to Ireland now. To be sure, they
are not going as far as you or I might wish ; for, I avow
it openly, I am a Radical ; but I want to rally the Ra-
dicals round the standard of the Whigs ; for we are noS
to lose sight of the fact, that the present Ministry are
going a good way in the paths of Reform. They are
proceeding steadily and securely. Toryism, by the gradual
nature of the amelioration which his Majesty's present
Ministers are introducing, is deprived of its strongest argu-
ment. Hitherto, the Tories were constantly exclaiming
that our projects of reform were leading fast to revolution.
The rich Tories—many of them are rich—(A voice from
the crowd, " The Duke of Newcastle")—their exor-
bitant wealth slakes them afraid of revolution. But who
is now so silly as to entertain such fears, when the Whigs
are seen removing so gradually and so peacefully the
abuses of cenairies ? They have become a kind of
drag-chain on the wheel of reform, making it arrive
safely on the gsneral level of security. I have made a
profession of political faith to you, in order to show how I,
a thorough RaCical, can be deeply impressed with the de-
termination to slake friends for the present Government.
That is my mail), my greatest object.—(Hear, and cheers.)
It is often said that mine is an irregular ambition, but I can
resign every del4htful creation of my fancy when 1 see the
Whigs conductisg the business of the country with straight-
forward resolution, refined by that singular good temper
which dignifies every effort, and renders more delightful
each effort to cure to the people a further accession of
freedom.—(Loud cheering.) Let us then rally round the
Whigs.—(Renewed cheering.) I implore of you, who se
nobly petitioned against the Coercion Bill, to assist Ireland
once more by strenuously supporting his Majesty's Mi•
nisters in theii endeavour to introduce a number of
measures which are intimately identified with that coun-
try's welfare.—(Hear, hear.) For six hundred Years
Ireland has known nothing of the connection with this
country but through a series of afflictions and injury.—
(Cries of " Herr, hear.") We have fought your battles—we
have bled profusely in supporting the integrity of the empire.
The British decks were seldom, if ever, untrodden by Irish-
men in the moment of victory. The British grenadiers were
never led on to triumph by the gallant Ferguson without
Irishmen joining heroically in the melee, which glorified
England by its victorious result,—(Loud and enthusiastic
cheering.) We have fought your battles—we have shared
your burdens. Then why should we not also participate in
your advantages ?—(Cheers, and cries of " You should,
you should.") Six hundred years is, God knows, long
enough to torture any people for the sake of experiment.
At at events it is now no novelty. • It wassiant, however. a
.Hier - amusement---it was a series a pe,st,- ..,,t,iss 5.5..: 1..1:.,...--
d
dtheery;
mightand three
hT
yo
er iue si
nof r
return.—an unrgnl.a_n 1
Hr oebabr
.e)d usrr
h i ne
re lreland
never that
Ireland, t o Englishe n d
liberty.ane q ueanl e
laws,
sy, tosA, l
lelreland
rei
fgnhlyti oes,usse•i ascisue
aqnotluadlaul
justicets
ioe sa .n e
Infvee
forrmye
perform the
duties. Shan't we get equal laws?—(Cries of " Yes, you
shall.") Shan't we get equal rights ?—(Cries of " Yes ;
surely."\ I tell you we never will be content with less.—
(Cheers.) The countless thousands over whom lam scat-
tering- my voice in the accents of Erin's mountains must
attest that what I ask is only just and reasonable, and that
the refusal to grant it would be a crime towards Ireland.
—(Hear, and cheers.) The prospects of Ireland are,
thank God, brightening. As far the imperfections of the
law can be remedied by good government, that remedy
is being applied.—(Cheers.) Lord Mulgrave is filling
the office of the hind's representative in a manner in
which an Irish Chief Governor never filled it before.
--(Hear, hear.) His Lordship is controlled by no pre-
judices. He has no partialities—no preferences, grounded
upon distinctions of creed or party. His countenance
shines only on those who are actuated by the same sense of
justice and impartiality which is so predominant in his Ex-
cellency's own mind.—(Cheers.) The Government sus-
tains him in his efforts ; for they see that Ireland ought to
be treated as an integral portion of the British dominions,
and should constitute a portion of the strength instead of
the weakness of England. Why should not the eight mil-
lions of Irishmen be combined with the sixteen or eighteen
millions of British subjects? What nation on the face of
stroErse.
franchise
ntgiusclustlacerl
the earth would be so strong or so powerful as England,
Scotland, and Ireland, thus combined and amalgamated in
the brotherhood of a strict community of rights and privi-
leges. When I went first to Parliament, I found that very
little attention was paid to Irish affairs. I recollect repeat-
edlyhearing such conversation as this between English Mem-
bers :—" What business is this?" " Oh, this is an Irish
row ;" or, " Oh, then, let us be off ; we shan't trouble our-
selves with such a shocking bore." Hardly forty Members
could then be got to stop in the House, which number was
indispensable, when any subject connected with Ireland was
about to be introduced. I have the pleasure of informing
you that Irish affairs are now treated in the House of Com-
mons with proper respect and attention.—(Hear, hear.)
Though we are cursed by a virulent opposition of a bi-
goted party, the great majority of the representatives
of the people support the Ministry in their endeavours
to do justice to Ireland. There are six measures now
before
ts
toPsfaerlfsl,iblarimcehleaninstd,
t. allo i
T 1
aovi
if
have
whichfitirls the police
is h
thea v eref
constablese Constabularyr cn c e to a
ptillpi
Bill,
li,snitttieladel
from the honest portion of the people ; not, as at present,
iseedlegcetse.d_in( many instances from the dregs of the Orange
BofeeLauorscelsa.
Hear.) That is a very just measure. Is it not ?
—(Cries of " Yes, yes.") Do you know what became of
that measure last year ? Why, it was kicked out of the
(
personi ea r,
of htehaer . )
name Do e
fyou
Daniel know the
O'Connellrea-
supported the Bill.—(Cheers and laughter.) There was
logic for you. There was a taste of the truth of Toryism ;
politically
a sample of Tory honesty. Another measure has been in-
niaesddtei
oaf:olnordoatcshveeveoori
tytnitsrnreeid
reasonable
ssgoleornetoal fbaallt
Ireland.
ieet.
extent,
Reform
youil.3%,,ceil
glb,aoyi
tiv
ifla'aacrcrelielltai
ehtsafai
otntirg,nmgoßtl
whenelililerl
infinitely short of it. Why ? Because Lord Stanley chose
it. Lord (then Mr.) Stanley, chose to exhibit his impla-
cable hostility to Ireland, and this most essentially, nay,
speaking, vital measure, was accordingly barked.
--(Hear, hear, hear.) His vote outweighed the press-
ing necessities of Ireland, and the liberties of a powerful
country
were forced to kick the beam at the beck of one
man.---(Cheers.,
) In the present Parliament, though it
was summoned under the auspices of Peel and Welling-
ton, and though hundreds of thousands of pounds
were lavishly expended for the purpose of packing it with
Tories----even in this Parliament a majority of sixty-seven
declared
in favour of Ireland ; a majority sufficient to
overcome all opposition. A 841 in which Ireland is deeply
interested, "
'llnd is • bas just now passed the House of Commons,
going up to the Lords. Its fate will be determined
then ; and here I am as counsel for Ireland, pleading the
cause of
the green land of my birth.--(Enthusiastic cheers.)
Oh, I dearly love that land. She is superabundant in her
produce. No burning sun ever scorches her into sterility.
No • t
in er' s snow ever chills her fecundity. Ever green,
ever lovely, her mountains rise to the heavens, and her
vv
streams roll down those mountains' sides with a voice of
music that speaks as from eternity, proclaiming the salu-
brity of the stream, the greenness of the valley, the ma-

PRICE 7D.

jestic sweep of the mountain's brow, and the fertility of the
plains beneath.—(Loud and continued cheers.) Pardon
me for thus suffering myself to be carried away by the
force of my feelings. The Hon. Gentleman then pro-
ceeded to state that the third measure was one for the ap-
propriation of the surplus church revenues to the education
of the people and other uscfel public purposes, and
-having refuted the Tory objections to this measure, he
proceeded to observe that the House of Commons
had determined that Ireland should have Corporation
Reform. A Bill for that purpose, which had passed the
Commons, was going up to the Lords. a conjunction
of wisdom it would meet there—to what t: galaxy of
statesmen it was about to be submitted. The LynJhursts
and the Winchilseas, and the Rodens and NewcastLes,
and Lord Wynford, the worst of all—he would not call
them out of their names, he would say—the rest of the
Lords. A reform of the Lords was a topic very much
agitated during the course of the past year. He did not
ask for that now. Those measures which he had parti-
cilarised were going before them. Their Lordships would
either receive or reject them. If they should receive them
the question of reforming the Upper House would be
postponed until they saw whether they were determined
to do ,more mischief. If they rejected them, let them take
the consequence.—( Hear, hear.) He warned their Lord-
ships from that spot that they were on their trial, and the
further tenure of their political existence depended upon
their own prudence and discretion ; for they should not
reckon too much on the generosity of the people of Eng-
land.—(Cheers.) He therefore would place their mea-
sures in the holy keeping of the good people of England,
who, he was convinced, would not suffer the triumph of
justice to be thwarted. His was the hand which had drawn up
the_petiti, u._which_a,ooo Irish Roman Catholics had signed
for the relief of .the Dissenters of England ; and would this
multitude of honest-Dissenters whom he then addressed be
deficient in gratitude to the people of Ireland, whose exer-
tions were so mainly instrumental in securing to them a full
measure of civil and religious liberty ?—(Cheers.) Six
weeks after the presentation of that petition, Peel was found
to yield, and the concession of the Dissenters' claims imme-
diately followed. That was true Christian charity on the
part of the Irish Catholics. Ireland called to them for
justice—would they suffer that voice to be stifled by the
Lords ?—(Loud cheers, and cries of " No, no.") The
Hon. Gentleman then announced his determination to give
up the repeal—everything, if justice were done to Ireland.
He complimented the people of Nottingham on having sent
such excellent representatives to Parliament, one of whom
(General Ferguson) stood beside him; and concluded by
drawing a strong picture of the slaughters of Rathcormac
and Inniscarra, and by appealing to the sympathies of the
assembled thousands to avert the recurrence of such shock-
ing scenes, by joining him in his cry of " Justice to Ireland."
At the conclusion of the address there were several dis-
tinct rounds of applause.
THE DINNER.
The large room at the Exchange, capable of holding at
least 400 persons, was completely thronged, and, from the
best information, it may be stated that if the room was tre-
ble as large, and the dinner tickets three times as dear,
there would not have been a single vacant seat. The room
was decorated with very much taste, and the flags and mot-
tos that were suspended from the walls testified that the
people of Nottingham felt a strong sympathy in the grie-
vances of which their Irish fellow-subjects complain.
THOMAS WAKEFIELD, Esq., the Mayor of Nottingham,
took the Chair. Among the company present, besides
Mr. O'Connell, were Lord Rancliffe, Sir R. Ferguson,
Colonel P. Thompson, Colonel Wildman, Mr. Boothby,
and several other of the most distinguished liberals of Not-
tingham.
• The cloth having been removed,
The CHAIRMAN, after some appropriate remarks, said
he was sure that there was no person whom he was ad-
dressing that would not drink with three times three " The
King." The toast was drunk with the usual honours.
The CHAIRMAN then said that the next toast was one
which he always gave with pleasure, and which he knew
they would drink with very great satisfaction ; that toast
was, " The people, the only source of legitimate power."
He had been formerly charged with drinking in that room
the health of the people before that of the King, and very
likely the Tories would now accuse him of inconsistency in
drinking the King before he called upon them to pledge the
people. For his own part he wished to be able at all times
to put both toasts together, as he wished for nothing more
than to see united that which contributed to the happiness
ofthe greatest number. The toast was drunk with loud
cheers.

gave " The health of the Queen,"
which was drunk with general cheering.
The CHAIRMAN said that the next toast he had to offer
to their notice would be one that was dear to them not only
on account of the principles of loyalty which it embraced,
but from the strong expectations of good government which
they all experienced from the hope that the Princess Vic-
toria would one day occupy the throne of this country.
Their hope was founded on the way the illustrious Princess
was educated, which gave them every reason to believe that
her attachment to the people of this country was such, that
her reign (provided she lived) would be a blessing to the
nation at large. The toast he would propose was, " The
Princess Victoria, and may every machination against her
meet the fate of the Orange conspiracy." The toast was
drunk with loud cheers.
The next toast proposed was " The Duke of Sussex, as
illustrious in character as he was in station." This toast
was drunk with loud cheers.
The CHAIRMAN then said that the next toast he had to
offer to their notice, was one which he was confident they
would receive with the same pleasure which he felt in pro-
posing it ; he proposed the health of " Lord Melbourne
and his Majesty's Ministers, and may they maintain an on-
ward progress in the path of reform." Drunk with very
great cheering.
The CHAIRMAN again rose and said, he requested all the
gentlemen present to fill their glasses to the brim, for the
time had arrived when he should have the pleasure to pro-
pose to them a toast which was more particularly and im-
mediately the object for which they had assembled. It was
highly gratifying to him to propose such a toast, for the fact
of leis being enabled to do so proved the rapid advance that
liberal ideas had made, and showed with what great speed
religious prejudices were wearing away. It proved that the
English people were now prepared to give their approbation
to one whom they believed sincere in his intentions and in
his objects, though that individual might entertain, on some
matters, different opinions from themselves, and be of quite
an opposite creed.—(Hear.)s They had been told that Mr.
O'Connell had been asking for too much ; he denied any
such assertion. That Hon. and Learned Member could
never ask for too much, as long as Ireland had a grievance
to redress, and as long as she did not enjoy the same rights
with England. So long as such should be the state of that
country, what the Hon. and Learned Gentleman now asked
would be little, and he ought never to rest satisfied. Mr.
O'Connell asked for nothing more than justice ; and he be-
lieved they would not refuse that. He would not detain
them any longer from the pleasure of hearing a gentleman
whose health he would propose—that of " Daniel O'Con-
nell, Esq., the heroic asserter of a nation's rights."
The toast was pledged with loud cheers, which lasted for
at least ten minutes.
Mr. O'CONNELL instantly got upon the table, and when
the applause had partially subsided, he spoke in substance
to the following effect :—lt is impossible that I should
be insensible to this marked compliment. It is impossible
that I should not be overpowered with this more than kind
reception. But you know little of me if you imagine that
any feeling personal to myself, or any gratification of my
own could give that delight which my soul experiences at
at the pledge and presage of your support which I receive
from that cheer. Your Chairman said well that you would
not come here if I asked for anything but justice to my
country. I know you would not come here if I asked for
less than justice.—(Great applause.) If I asked for more,
you would properly resent it. If I asked for less, you
would still more properly despise me. I seek no more—l
will not take less.—(Great cheering.) I have not come
here for the purpose of gratifying any idle vanity, or for
the display of any paltry pride. I come here as a kind of
" fact in history." I come here to form the humble but
permanent link which is to bind three great nations toge-
ther—nations which have, alas ! been hitherto separated from
the basest of motives, and with the worst of consequences.
._(Hear.) I acknowledge my object is two-fold. I wish to
see in England and Scotland a hearty bond of union between
Reformers of every grade and of every class. I wish to see
the distinctions which have hitherto existed between Whigs,
Reformers, andßadicals buried for ever in oblivion—(Hear,
hear)—and it is my fervent desire to see the name of
" Reform" emblazoned on the standard under which we will
all march to victory.--(Applause.) It is not a mere tran-
sient opinion, fleeting through my mind, it is the result of
the most perfect conviction. I am thoroughly convinced
that a sot of men does not exist more thoroughly deteri
mined to work out quietly, but peacefully, the principle
reform in ,lvery department of the State than his Maitcost Ybe
present Micistry.--(Hear, it
(Hear, hear.) I believe
wise—l knny, them to be good ; and I am quteli ce d
onvince

404/646"*""4-1-24.2
at nin the slowness of their movements there is seed-
ity to the cause of reform, and certainly of progressive
im-
provement. Every measure which they have adopted has
been carefully digested, and tarried maturely into effect.—
(Hear, hear.) They are the sincere friends of reform.
This is my thorough conviction ; and though they do not
proceed as far as many Radicals would vvi3h, it cannot be
dispute l by any reasonable man that they go an honest and
a fair lengih.—(Loud cheers.) If they do' not go the
length which we may reasonably desire, the ree will be the
more easily obtained. lam proud of the compliment paid
me by your talented chairman. For the first tioe in my
hie I have been asked to a dinner at which the mayor of a
corporation presided.—(Great applause.) How oddly
it will sound in Ireland, when they hear it, in a day or two.
The notion of my dining in company-with the mayor, by
that very personage's invitation, will come upon them with
the effect of enchantment. They will think that this ma "or
must be some wild animal or another—some beast of prey
—.like that which the caricature shows ready to devour ,
poor little Red Riding Hood.—(Cheers and laughter.)
Their delight will be augmented by the hope it will give
them of soon participating in the amended English system.
Such mayors as he who has presided with so much talent
and dignity this day, they cannot, I admit, expect to find.
Never have I seen the talent displayed by that gentleman
exceeded—hardly ever equalled.—(Long continued cheer-
ing.) They will, however, possibly be enabled to elect
mayors from amongst themselves equally embued with the
true popular spirit, and the liberality of principle of the
regyors will compensate for any deficiency of talent which
they nzay possibly exhibit. You all know that Ireland has
been misgoverned for six centuries. I defy any man to dis-
prove that fad, I defy any man to deny that abuse has
thriven in Ireland until at length the sacred name of reli-
gion has been enlisted in the cause of tyranny, and oppres-
sion was rendered dreadfully complete, when the name of
the great God was blasphemed in order to grind down his
creatures to the dust. This, Sir, is, alas ! the epitome of
Ireland's history. Will any man deny this ?—though I
know your Tories have miraculous powers of face—
( Laughter)—and they are matchless in falsification, which
when translated into Irish, signifies falsehood. I defy the-
most hard-featured Tory that ever made his appearance in
the market-place of Nottingham to deny that Ireland has
been misgoverned, so that it is absolutely shocking to con-
template its nature and amount. When I first felt the in-
spiration of love of countrylindling in my mind and warm-
ing my bosom,, I found my kindred borne down by the
weight of a penal code which, while it affected to give su-
periority to one faith, gave a pernicious ascendancy to the
worst violators of the laws alike of God and man. I could'
not exist in such a state of society. I resisted it constitu-
tionally, but successfully resisted it. The chain that bound
us is broken, and here I stand disenthralled before you. It
was then said we bad pledged ourselves to look for nothing
beyond Catholic Emancipation. Never was there a' greater
falsehood uttered. Catholic Emancipation asserted a
principle, which was alike valuable to the Catholic in
Ireland, the Dissenter in England, the Protestant in
France, and the Christian in Constantinople.—(Loud
cheers.) But its principle benefit in Ireland was, that
it afforded the means of achieving great good for the
country. So far was the statement from being true, that
our enemies called us and me in particular, " an agitator with
ulterior views." I avowed it, and told them that until I
saw the prosperity of Ireland placed on an equal footing
with that of England, I would still continue in "agitation
with ulterior views."—(Hear.) The first experiment I
made for the purpose of calling attention to the affairs of
Ireland in a united Parliament was unsuccessful. Finding
myself thtis foiled, I called for a repeal Of " the Union. I
said that the Union had not worked fairly. I pointed to
England and Scotland prosperous, and to Ireland weak and
impoverished.—(Hear, hear.) I demonstrated that the
advantage was all upon one side, and the oppression on the
other ; and I here declare the fact that I am now making
an experiment on the generosity and the justice of Eng-
land—(Great applaus4—that I have postponed now, and
that the people of Ireland are ready to abandon for ever,
the cry of " Repeal," upon one condition, which is, the at-
tainment of equal justice.—(Applause.) But the op-
pression of the people of Ireland is on the point of
ceasing. The regeneration of my native land is no
longer a dream or a subject of prophecy. A chief go-
vernor has been sent over to that country, whose every act
is one of perfect wisdom, and emanates from the pure una-
dulterated kindness of his heart.—(Cheers.) As far as
the administration of public affairs can be rendered by the
Executive conformable to the ends of justice, Ireland is
now dealt fairly by—(Hear, bear, hear)—and the benefits
of the union are now beginning to be realized and thoroughly
felt. But it is not to be expected that the liberties of,
great people are to be placed dependent on the breath of
any human being, and the possibility must be contemplated
of such men as Haddington, Peel, and Hardinge, again
--crushing the short-lived hopes which have arisen in the
hearts of my fellow-countrymen. We cannot suffer our
liberties to be placed in dependence on the mere casualty
which may cease to exist to-morrow. Would you ?
(Shouts of " No.") That is a No" which is written in
the blood of one of your Kings, and in the abdication of
another.—(Applause.) I cannot refrain from congratulat-
ing the men of Nottingham upon the fact that one of their
Mmbers is a Cabinet Minister. See how that Ministry
have prograseed in their efforts to do justice to every per-
ti;.‘n of the enwire. During the present Session they have
brought in different mersures, all of which are likely to be
of incalculable benefit to the Irish i,eople.—( Hear.) The
Hon. Gentleman then enumerated the Bills as he had done
during his speech in the morning. With reference to the
first of those measures, the Constabulary Bill, Sir Robert
Peel was lavish of his pron:ises. The Hon. Baronet's con-
duct upon that occasion reminds one of the distich—
" Of promise prodigal when power you want,
Great speeching skill, and aelf-approving cant."
We should have been better pleased had he kept the cant
to himself, and given us the Bill,—(Laughter.) Why
should not Irishmen have the same Jteform extended to
them which you enjoy ? Our tenures ace the same, and
why not our franchise ? Alas! there was an individual who
put his veto upon the measure. Lord Stanley (then Mr.
Stanley) turned it over, and mutilated, and cut it up, and
almost spat upon it.—(Applause.) We shall have another
turn or two before we rest contented without that full mea-
sure of Reform. We will have it ; for it surely will not
diminish your liberties to increase ours. The Hon. Gen-
tleman then alluded to the provisions of the Bill for the
appropriation of the su.rplus revenues of the Irish Church,
and in allusion to the objections of the opponents of that
measure, which he described as the allocation of the mere
surplus revenues to the education of Protestants, Catholics,
and Dissenters, he proceeded as follows :—You may laugh
the bigots, then, in the face. All that is asked is, that when
a clearly proved surplus exists, it should be devoted to the
great national work of educating the people—a purpose
which Tories alone would attempt to thwart.—(Cheers.)
The last measure to which I will allude is the Bill for Mu-
nicipal Reform in Ireland. So avowedly corrupt are those
Corporations, that not one man was found in the House of
Commons hardy enough to stand up in their defence. The
Irish Corporation pare admitted to be to the very last de-
gree virulent and exclusive. Their breasts are fi!ied with
every bad feeling which sacriligious impiety in the name of
the God of religion can inspire into the breasts of demons in
the human shape. As long as Corporate Sheriffs are per-
mitted to exv.eise the powers of that important office in
Ireland, I have not the least hesitation in asserting that
not one out of ten thousand men opposed to them in poli-
tical opinions would, when eha,-ged with an offence of at all
a political character, succeed in obtaining a verdict in his
favour from a jury of those sheriffs' packing. Is this a state
of things which should be suffered to exist ?—(Hear, hear.)
Englishmen ! will you submit to this prostitution of the.sa-
cred ends of justice to the factious purp,eses of party ?—(No,
no!) If you did, your ancestors would start forth from their
graves, and the walking ghosts and disinOrred fragments of
st you to teach
the bones of your fathers would come amoLV
you to be honest.—(Loud cheers.) lask you whether
Ireland has not sufficient grounds for incessak At. complaint?
Six millions five hundred thousand of the rish people
are Catholics. Seven hundred thousand of the II is!' people
arc Protestants and Protestant Dissenters. A measure
of the most salutary description was introduced into Par-
liament for the appropriation of the enormous s,irplus
revenues of the Established Church in Ireland, dilme-
trically opposed as it is to the religious persuasion of the
present bulk of the people, to useful public purposes.
The Lords, however, clipped the wings of that measure ;
but the English people will give it the power of flying
again.—(Cheers.) The spirit of political trot:: and ju.s-
tice is progressing with a railway velocity, and those situ-
tary measures which cannot be denied to England and
o
rtth
Scotland, cannot be withheld from Ireland.
Ne H
refe-
rence to the Irish Corporation Reform Bill, the on.
Gentleman said that even Peel, with all his powers of
face, was unable to say one word in favour of corporate
institutions as they existed in the sister country_; and
that in the same predicament were included Sir H. Hard'
dinge, as great a soldier and as bad a Statesman as ever
"
lived • Sir James Graham, the Pietist of the North ;"
and the Recorder of Dublin, who looked upon that occa-
sion very like an undertaker at a rich man's funeral—
proud to carry out so fine a corpse—(Great laughter.)
Stanley was for issuing a commission of lunacy against
the whole country. After some further observations, the
Hon. Gentleman said that the cry of " Justice to Ire-
land" would resound from the market-place of Notting-
ham until it would reach St. Stephen's, and penetrate the
recesses of St. James's ; and it would then be seen who•
ther the Lords would place themselves in direct opposi-
tion to the wishes of the people of England, emphatically
pronounced in the very centre of that powe ful country.
If the Lords be mad enough to crush the measures he
had been describing, the Union would at once become a
cobweb. But he did not despair of his country.—(Hear,