The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-27 00:00:00

aim before the House.—( Hear. hear.) In course of the
discussion upon the Bill of the Noble Lord, harsh and in-
jurious expressions had certainly b applied. But he
assured the Noble Lord that he (rd Morpeth) could
not have intended to apply those expressions to the Noble
Lord himself, or to his motives.--( Hear, hear.) Cer-
tiinly no such expressions could have been applied by him
to the clause now under consideration-4 Hear)—because,
as the Noble Lord had reminded him, the Bills introduced
by ,the Government previous to the present year con-
tained clauses for altering the registration from quarterly
to annual.--(Tory cheers.) Now, upon a fair and mature
consideration of the whole subject of the registration in
Ireland, it bad seemed to the Government that whilst
every case of fraud ought to be guarded against, the re-
gistration ought, in the case of every bona fide claim,
to be made as easy as possible.—( Hear, hear.) Ever
since the establishment of a formal 'registration of
votes in Ireland—that is, for upwards of a cen-
tury—the modo if quarterly registration had been
adopted ; and when, in passing the Irish Reform Act,
Lord Althorp was urged to apply the principles of a :nual
registration which had been adapted in England, he re-
plied, that it was better not to disturb the mode which had

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been practised in Ireland so long, until it was seen how
the English mode worked.—(Hear, hear.) But were
Gentlemen so enamoured with the 'working of the annual
revision in England, that they would have it introdtee I in its
present state into Ireland ?—(Cheers.) The objection of
the Noble Lord to the mixing up of the business of regis-
tration with the civil and criminal business of the Quarter
Sessions, would apply with still more force to mixing it
up 'with the business of the Assises.—( Hear, hear.) His
Hon. Friend the Member for Bridport complained of
the too frequent registration in England, and the Noble
Lord opposite caught up the remark. But he (Lord M.)
greatly misunderstood the opinions of his Hon. Friend. if
his objection'was not rather to the too frequent revision,
than to the frequency of the registration.—(Hear, hear.)
He contended, that in common fairness to the Irish voter,
they ought nt. t to withdraw from him those facilities he
bad of registering four times a year. Then the Com-
mittee would remember that the Irish farmer and rural
occupier, and persons generally claiming the franchise.
were in the constant habit of having resort to the Quarter
Sessions. In fact, it was the Court of the farmer,
yeomanry, peasantry, and poor landlord. But the Bill of
the Noble Lord would expose the claimant to great ex-
pense, great inconvenience, and great annoyance. It
had been said the system of quarterly registration pro.
.tuced greater excitement in the country. He very much
doubted that. If the registration was only once a year, there
would be a greater concourse of persons assembled
greater efforts would be made by the opposit., parties,
greater attention would be cre dcd to this subject, and cora
respondine excitement would be produced --( Hear, Lae)
Tne Noble Lord had stated that his Bill would give the
voter time to repose. He thought it would have car, ctly
the contrary effect, and that it was the Bill of his lion.
an] Learned Friend that solght to establish the repose of
those who bad already had their claims and their rights to
vote solemnly investigated.--( Hear, hear.) Ti e repose
of the claimant was consulted more by telling him that he
might go up at any period of the year that was convenient
to htm, instead of pinning him to a particular period.
Ile ( Lord Murpeth) obj,eted to the clause, even with the
amendments which the Noble Lord had introduced, and
he hoped the Committee would consent to preserve that
system which the voter now enjoyed, and would not sanc-
tion the series of innovations proposed by the Noble Lord
Strangerswere titer ordered to withdraw, and the 11Juae
divided, when the numbers were—

For the clause.
Fur the amendment
Majority 4
On the rnwlon that the clause, as amended, stand part of
the MI,

275
271

Mr. O'CONNELL said he should again divide the
House.

Strangers were ordercd to withdraw, but no division
took place. On our return,

Mi. O'CONNELL moved that the Chairman report
progress, and ask leava to sit again.
Lord. S.TANLEY rose amid loud cor fusion, and cricF
of " Chair. ckait," mid said he hoped the House would
allow Idol to propose an amendment to the next clause,
similar to the last.