The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-29 00:00:00

occasion, to demand increased votes of the public motley?
—(Hear, hear.) As regarded reform, also, were they
not every day bringing. forward propositions for new
changes and alterations in the Constitution of the coun-
try? Had they not embarrassed and interfered with the
trade and commerce 'of the country, by bringing for-
ward measures calculated to unsettle them, but which
they could not hope to carry into effect? Why had not
the Government imitated the manly and independent
policy of Lord Grey, who, when he found a small
majority against him, had by next day resigned
office.—(Hear, hear.) He need not remind the
House of the policy which the present Government had
pursued with regard to Ireland. Had they not seen the
laws set at defiance in that country, and trial by jury
rendered a complete mockery.—(Hear, hear.) He should
like to know what the present Government meant to do
when they were defeated, as they most assuredly would
be, on the question of the Corn-laws ? Would they re-
sign office, or would they continue to struggle on, con-
tent to wield the patronage, without the powers of office?
—(Hear, hear.) It appeared to him that the present
Government had completely lost the confidence of that
House and the country,—that they had violated their
pledges and their professions ; and on these grounds he
should vote for the resolution of his Right Hon. Friend
Mr. H. GRATTAN complained of the silence of the
Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth on the
subject of Ireland and the distresses of the people.
These were the points on which he felt the greatest deli-
cacy in touching, because they were those on which he
was most vulnerable. He had heard a great deal of " a
weak Government" and " a contemptible Government,"
but he could assure them that they were terms which
the people of England would bear in mind.—(Hear,
hear.) What was the cause of the difficulties in which
the country was at present placed ? Why, that other
countries had heads and hands as well as themselves—
that they were able to compete with them in manufac-
tures, and that they would not take the commodities of
England unless the people of England would take their
produce in return. To secure that most essential point,
the Government had brought forward its present propo-
sitions, and he had no doubt, whatever might be their
fate in the present House of Commons, they would re-
ceive the sanction and approval of the country generally.
He would now allude to his own country. The Right
Hon. Baronet had said Ministers had not the support of
the people, but when he said so the Right Hon. Baronet
did not take into consideration the eight millions of the
Irish people who supported the Government. The
Right Hon. Baronet in his speech used these words—
, " I propose nothing. I reserve my opinion."
Sir ROBERT PEEL said that he used those words
with respect to matters of finance.
Mr. GRATTAN went on to say that the Right Hon.
Baronet had not taken into account, when talking of the
people of this empire, the population of Ireland, by
whose means he was turned out of office when his foot

was at the threshold of the bed-chamber.

He (3!_r,

Grattan) thought that Right Hon. Gentlemen totally
and absolutely unfit to direct the affairs of this
great empire. He (Sir Robert Peal) was not
present*Vhen the Hon. Member for Pontefract (Mr.
Milnes) -said that'if the Right Hon. Baronet got into
power, they would have a strong Government, a phrase
which fell upon his (Mr. Grattan's) ear with peculiar
horror. They had stroll.. Ministries before in Ireland,
but those strong Ministries cost them an insurrection in
that country, and a union ; when, then, they spoke of a
strong Ministry, it created horror in the minds of Irish-
men, because they dreaded as well as detested it. The
Right Hon. Baronet and his adherents provided nothing
for the comfort or benefit of the poor manufacturer or
consumer, who could neither breakfast, dine, nor sup.

without having before him the proofs of the indifference
or the contempt for his wants which that party entertained.
They called the Irish people an ignorant rabble,
emancipated cowards—such were the terms they applied
to a people towards w'hom they now observed a most
ominous silence—a silence which was the more unbecoming
the Right Hon. Baronet, as he was looked upon by that
people with peculiar suspicion. A clause had been in-
troduced into a particular Bill for the purpose
of excluding the Right Hon. Member for the Tower
Hamlets (Dr. Lushington) from that House, and in another
Bill a clause was inserted for the sole purpose of en-
abling the Hon. Gentleman the Recorder of Dublin to
have a seat in this House • and yet both Hon. Gentlemen
were subject to the same Objection, that of filling a judi-
cial office. How different a course was pursued to conci-
liate the affections of the people of Ireland by the Mem-
bers of the present Government? The Marquis or Nor-
manby acted in a manner which not only secured the
good will of the Irish people but produced the greatest
content throughout the country. If the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet got into power what would he do with the Hon.
and Gallant Member for Sligo (Col. Perceval) ? what would
he do with the sly and insidious Member for the University
of Dublin (Mr. Shaw)? what would he do with the active
and energetic Member for Bandon (Mr. Sergeant Jack-
son) ? or with the ferocious phraseologist the Hon. Mem-
ber for Coleraine (Mr. Litton) ? The Right Hon. Ba-
ronet was so checkmated by • these Honourable and
Learned Gentlemen that he really knew not what
to do.—(Hear.) As an honest man he (Mr. Grattan)
could but lift up his voice against the shameful practices
which took place at the late elections for Ludlow, and
Cambridge, and Sandwich, where 5/. was commonly
given for a vote, or at Nottingham, where 151. was given
for votes, and where if, any individual had come forward,
and given more than 15/. for a vote, he would have ob-
tained the assistance of the Chartists, and would have
been elected, instead of the present Hon. Member. In
Liverpool they built up a wall with a hole in it, into
which the five fingers yiere thrust, when it was meant
to give five • guineas for a vote, and the ten fingers,
when ten guineas were meant. He wished to ask the
Noble Lord opposite (Lord Sandon) if he was not aware
of such being the fact ?
Lord SANDON—No, no.
Mr. GRATTAN—Did the Noble Lord mean to say the
fact was not so, or that he was not aware of its existence?
In Ireland, the land they so stigmatized, he (Mr. Grattan)
never in the course of his experience knew of bribery
having occurred ; but the Hon. Baronet obtained his
majorities in that House ;by such elections in England
as he (\lr. Grattan) just alluded to. The correspon-
dence, too, which had lately been published relative to
the Ipswich election, where Sir J. Cochrane, on refusing
to give as much as was necessary to keep a Whig or
Radical out of the field-2,0001. was the sum named—was
given to understand that he could not receive the sup-
port of the Conservatives ; that correspondence showed
how the majorities on the other side were obtained.
When Hon. Gentlemen opposite held the reins of office,
they were defeated on all diplomatic occasions. They
beat France in the field, but France beat them in the
Cabinet. It was reserved to the Noble Lord (Lord Pal-
merston) only to defeat them in the Cabinet.—(Cheers.)
They should rise and do homage to the superior genius
of the Noble Lord. They were fond of talking of a
strong Government for Ireland, but, from the bottom of
his heart, he warned them to avoid what they called a
strong Government. He would not take the character
of the Government from those on the opposite benches ;
he would appeal for it to his countrymen. They
(the Opposition) were silent as to their future policy to-
wards his country. They said indeed they should be
mad to repeal the Emancipation Act, but a Noble Lord
once said he should be mad to become a Minister, and
yet became a Minister. The people of England were
crying for cheap bread and cheap sugar, but the people
of Ireland asked for what was dearer to them than
cheap bread and cheap sugar—the liberties and rights
which it was 'threatened to take from them. He said
the people of Ireland would not trust to them, and in
proof of it he would read their address to the Queen.—
t (The Hon. Gentleman read the address.) Were those
statements true or were they not ? Let Ministers put
themselves on God and their country, and see whether the
issue would not decide in favour of those in whom the people
had found the best security for the throne and their own
liberties.—(Cheers.) The domination of a tyrant, whether
on these benches or those, might be more dangerous
than that of a tyrant who sat upon a throne only to dis-
grace it. He repeated, he would not take the character
of the Government from Hon. Gentlemen opposite. He
would appeal to France for it. What did M. Berryer say
of the Noble Lord (Palmerston) ? That he had
not been a friend to France, but that he had extended the
renown of Engle d from east to west, and from north to
south, and had i; e her name respected throughout all
the countries of the world ? There they sat, they had
done honour to their country and to their Queen, and
they had secured the liberties of the people ; they
wanted to increase their comforts also, and he said when-
ever they fell they would fall like honest men.
Lord TEIGNMOUTH could not consider the tone of
the speeches of the Hon. Gentlemen as actuated by any
thing but that party spirit which they generally as-
sumed in their addresses to that House. It showed
that they felt that they had a sinking cause, which was
not to be supported by argument. The Noble Lord op-
posite (Lord John Russell), was deserving of immortal
honour for certain measures which lie had adopted in
sohufapdpothretmoafdpetooheria.lEastr
Sessionias Church in the alteration
inforth Othenoblperins.talegenda hoof
that House, but this did not indicate that he enjoyed
the confidence of the House; it in licated nothing more
than that he was not met by a factious opposition.'The
Right Hon. Gentlemen had said they were not states-
men, but could anything be more nnstatesmanlike than not
to judge of the conduct of the Government by their par-
ticular measures? But had the measures of the Noble
Lord been met by the confidence of the House ? Had
they forgotten the appropriation clause ? The merit of
the Government in Ireland was to be attributed to the
opposition in that House. Then on the late debate, how
had the House exhibited its confidence ? The effect of
the Noble Lord's speech on that occasion was to prevent
all fair consideration of the question. The Noble Lord
was then brought to this question, and then he intended
to bring forward the question of the Corn-laws. Suppose
he did and it succeeded, he asked if that would meet the
deficiencies of the country? The only other points he
would advert to were two questions affecting the prero-
gative of the Crown, first, that of the annuity of Prince
Albert, and the other the recent motion for the
discharge of political offenders, and on both those ques-
tions how had the House manifested its confidence ?
The Ministry could not properly be said to have the con-
fidence of the House, even though the division in the
present
instance were not unfavourable to them ; for
their majority was formed
points of Members
of policy..emberswh T
who differed
was
dfrom
them on many important a
critical moment for England ; one pfor the maintenance and the other ofh)
was
arfty iti
thetohle,erlttruoswe
of the Constitution. But he (Lord Teignmout
to the ultimate
ded that there could be no doubt a.s
persuaded was
h ea
sc oounnet roy
would take up the question f
o the g
triumph of sound and constitutional tioni3alutaed
th
tletes.,noTt
Ministers. He
confidence which` which could be reposed in
ite the Member
corn, timber, or sugar, but as a question involving e
lieved that the lion. Gentleman oppos ,
for Finsbury (Mr. Wakley),
classes,
He had himself
who took so great an interest
in all matters which related to the industrious
often mistook their wishes and interests. e.
that they
hers of that deputation had all told .him
lately received a deputation of Chartists, and the mem-
Mferred 4 Tory to a Whig Administration, inasmuch