The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-08 00:00:00

tils—that if you I olci out to the people of Ireland—Pro cstant I
and Catholic—that equal privileges are not honestly and per-
fecly to be communicated to both, you hold out a princii le on
wh:ch it is impossible the country can be governed."—( Chceri.
The Duke of CUMBERLAND—I don't deny that.
Lord PLUNK ET—Oh, then, I see the. Illustrious Duke
and I arc, after all, about to arrive at the same conclusion.—
( Hear.) The Illustrious Duke is about to give in his adhe-
sion to the principle which I have laid down, and depart from
the representation which I gave of his opinions (and which he
so heartily cheered) on the question of Catholic Emancipa-
tion.—( Loud cries of " Hear.") Now, does the Illustriou,
Duke admit that the principle on which the Government of
Ireland should be conducted, and the law applied, is the prin-
ciple of equal right to the whole of the people ?
The Duke of CUMBERLAND—I agree to that. Let

the Government do so.
Lord PLUNKET—WeII, then, as we are now at length
agreed as to what should be the object of the Government, we
have next to consider by what means it is to be obtained. At
all events, the Illustrious Duke admits, and after his announce-
ment of his concurrence in it, I am. inclined to think that no
one will now be found ready to dispute the guiding principle
on which the Irish Government should be conducted, namely,
that it should fairly carry the intentioos of the Legislature into
effect, and give, in fact and truth, equal laws and rights to all
the people of Ireland, without any religious ..
(Cheers.) That, my Lords,is a fair principle ; I clam; no
more—l desire no more. I believe that no respectable portion
of the Roman Catholics desire more.—( Hear.) But the Illus-
trious Duke says, " Let that be done." How ? By the only
means, in which it can be effected—by the arm of the law and
the authority of the Government of the country.—(Hear.)
Nothing can be dasier than to apply harsh epithets to a Go-
vernment—to say that it is unjust and partial—that it has
abandoned one interest, and that its favour runs exclusively in
a particular channel ; and when I had the honour of coming
lately from Ireland to attend my duties here, I found a storm
upon this topic rising in every direction : I heard of nothing
but the gross abuses of the Irish Government—of the various
acts which they had committed—the things which they had
done, and which they should have left undone, and the things
which they should have done, but which they had neglected to
do. One most serious charge, however, against them was,
that they had neglected the Protestant interest. But I have
not heard any distinct act of omission or commission on the
part of the Irish Government.—(Hear, hear.) The ludicrous
charges brought against the Government are really the greatest
triumph which it can have over its opponents, for after all the
anxiety to detect their errors and show that they have violated
every principle of the constitution, the only specific charge al-
leged against it, is Lord Mulgrave having invited Mr. O'Con-
nell to dinner.—( Hear, and laughter.) It is really a thing to
occupy a page in history, and after-ages are to read it with
astonishment, " that on such a day in January, 1836, Lord Mul-
grave sent his aide-de-camp to wait on Mr. O'Connell, to
ask him to dinner in Dublin Castle." I again repel the charge
made on the Irish Government. I give a direct and positive
denial to all charges which are general and vague. Mr.
O'Connell, Mr. O'Connell, Mr. O'Connell I No other
name is mentioned at present by those opposed to the Go.
vernment. Why, my Lords, Mr. O'Connell possesses more
influence than he himself has feelingly stated he ought to
possess, or than any man ought to enjoy. But how has he
become possessed of it ? Why, my Lords, every grievance
that you leave unredressed—every unjust attackon the privi-
leges of the people (no matter what maybe their religious
belief)--every declaration that you make that the same laws
shall not be administered in spirit and effect to all classes, is but
addifig strength to the influence of that individual.—( Cheers.)
I have never known Ireland in such a state of tranquillity as she
is at this moment.—(Cheers.) Would any Government, in
their senses, reject the support of such an influential. individual
when he offers them his services? Have former Govern-
ments acted on the principle which is now so dogmatically
laid down ? Has the Noble Duke, who was one time at the
head of the Government of this country, and who has since
been the leader of the association—has he refused to take the
assistance of individuals unless they exactly coincided with
him in political opinions ? Why had he taken the assistance
of the Noble Marquis (Londonderry, we believe) ? Why
bad he taken the assistance of persons friendly to a system of
reform, he himself being directly opposed to it ? But it is said
Mr. O'Connell has not expressed proper opinions of your
Lordships' House and of your Lordships as individuals. My
Lords, is it the duty of the Government to keep a kind of re-
gister of the expressions of all public men, with the view of
determining what exactly should be the temper displayed by
each individual, and the language in which his thoughts
should be clothed, so as to fix a standard according to which
the support of a public man might be received? It was my
fate to meet on many occasions at the tables of Lords Lieu-
tenant, Dr. Duigen ; and yet there was no language of vitupe •
ration and of abuse which he had not, at one time or other,
lavished sometimes on the Government, and at other times
on those opposed to it. I, however, never heard a formal
charge brought against any Lord Lieutenant of having asked
that individual to dine. Though he was sorry to introduce so
invidious a topic, he felt obliged to mention that the appoint-
ments of Protestants made br the Irish Government bore a
fair proportion to those of Roman Catholics. One judge had
been appointed, and he was a Protestant.—( Hear, hear.) A
number of assistant barristers have also been appointed. I can
repeat the names of three or four who are Protestants. There
arc, perhaps, an equal number of Roman Catholics. But Ido
not believe that any inquiry was ever made, or question asked,
as to whether these individuals were Protestant or Roman
Catholic. The Noble and Learned Lord concluded by ex-
pressing a hope that when the Noble Lord had time to reflect
between the present time, and the meeting of the Association
on the 11th of April, his speech would be more calculated
to produce the effect which he seemed desirous to attain,
than the greater portion of his address on the present oc-
casion.—( Cheers. )
Lord WINCH IL SE A maintained that the course adopted
on the present occasion was but a part of the system adOpted
by the Government for the destruction of Protestantism, and
the discouragement of loyal Protestants in Ireland.
Lord HAT H ERTON maintained that the address to the
Crown from the House of Commons on the subject of Orange
societies, in consequence of which they bad been abolished,
was not unconstitutional, being justified by precedent. He
referred to the proceedings, in 1807, upon the Reversion Bill,
which had been sent up to the House of Lords by the Com-
mons, but which the Lords refused to pass. The consequence
was, that the House of Commons i‘nmediately voted an address
to the Crown, praying that it would not give any places in re-
version for six weeks after the next meeting of Parliament.
Now this was a much stronger step than that taken on
the present occasion, being the usurpation of a sort of
temporary legislation, which, perhaps, might fiirly be con-
ceived contrary to the spirit of our Constitution. He was re-
joiced to find that the opinion of the House of Commons had
been acted upon on the present occasion. In order to show
to what an extent the spirit of party bad prevailed hitherto
in the disposition of Government patronage in Ireland, he
would merely trouble the House with a brief statement of a
few of the appointments as he found them distributed on going
over to Ireland in 1833. On the ordinary Commission of the
Peace there were 2 668 persons, of whom only 292 were Ro-
man Catholics ; police magistrates 25, of which 2 were Ro-
man Catholics ; sub-inspectors of police 216, of which 22 were
Roman Catholics ; town-councillors 34, of which 2 were Ro-
man Catholics; lieutenants of counties 32, of which 2 were
Roman Catholic; assistant-barristers 32, of which there were
3 Roman Catholics. Such was the state of the case in 1833,
when he went over to Ireland. If the Noble Lord, now
the Representative of his Majesty in that country, came into
office, finding a slight reduction of this glaring inequality
and favouritism, which he believed might have, been the
case, lie trusted that the Nt.ble Lord would be stimulated by
that circumstance to reduce still further all sautes of complaint
of that kind.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY briefly replied. He
could not sec that the statements just made by the Noble Lord
. opposite, in reference to the appointments of the two late Lord
Lieutenants, had anything to do with those of the present
Lord Lieutenant, and therefore was no answer to his (Lord
Londonderry's) charge and complaint—namely, that in the
present disposition of the patronage of the Irish Government,
the fact of being a staunch Protestant was held a sufficient
disqualification against any one, be he who he might. If the
Noble Lord opposite would consent to give him a return of the
number of appointments made by the present Irish Govern-
ment, stating by whom recommended, and also, as far as pos-
sible, whether the parties were Catholics or Protestants, he
believed he should be able to bear out, to the fullest extent, the
statements which he had made to the House upon the subject.
The motion was then agreed to, and their Lordships ad-
journed at half-past nine o'clock.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALL'S.

The betting on the Portland Handicap was spirited and import-
ant, the north country favourite having given place to Birdlime,
who was backed freely. The odds were also taken about Dacre,
Revenge, Hornsey, and Brother to Hope, but Mundig's friends
were shy. The Derby prices underwent some changes ; Brother
to Nell Gwynne declined to 12 to 1, and Muezzin to 22 to 1, and
several parties appeared anxious to bet against the Brother to Maria
and Riddlesworth. The business, however, was not by any means
brisk on this race. Nothing done on the Oaks. Closing prices :

THE PORTI.I:I7D HANDICAP, P. P.
4to 1 agst Mr. Mostyn's Birdlime-9 to 2 taken freely
4 to 1 agst Mr. Bowes's Mundig—offered
7 to 1 agst Mr. Greville's Daere--taken
7 to 1 agst M r. Etwall's Revenge—offered
8 to 1 agst Mr. Sowerby's Rioter—taken
8 to 1 agst Mr. Cooke's Brother to Hope—taken
8 to 1 agst Lord Chesterfield's Hornsea—taken
THE DERBY.

10 to 1 apt Mr. E. Peel's The Mummy—offered
12 to 1 agst I.d Jersey's Bro. to Nell Gwynnetaken
15 to 1 agst Mr. Bowes' ---
s Brother to Maria—offered
16 to 1 agst Lord Jersey's Brother to Riddleswerth—offered
22 to 1 agst Lord Exeter's Muezzin, Bro. to Beiram—taken
25 to I agst Mr. W. Scott's Gladiator—taken
-25 to 1 apt Mr. I. Day's two
30 to 1 agst Mr. Skipsey's The Bard—taken
50 to 1 agst Lord Egremont's Emmeline colt—taken
_ 50 to 1 agst Colonel Peel's Mr. Wags—taken
1,000 to 45 agst Lord Chesterfield's Weighton—taken
13 to 1 agst Gladiator and Babel—taken

PIGEON SHOOTING.
Yesterday was the second and last day's shooting for the two
crack cup matches at Chalk Farm. We have already, in our ac-
count of the first day's shooting, described the terms of the match,
and the beauty of the sport. That of yesterday was in no way in-
ferior, but the sporting interest was considerabl hiker. On the
first day they shot at half their birds (six each . The yesterday
/,
completed their dozen, before a very large con se of sportsmen.
The first Cup being a tie, the two gentlemen, Mi. Bloodsworth and
Mr. Gingle agreed to shoot it off—to fire at a bird each until one
missed, and that one to be the loser. Mr. Bloodsworth killed his
firstbird, Mr. Gingle missed his. The first Cup, weighing about
sixty ounces, was presented to Mr. Bloodsworth; the second to
Mr. Ryan.