The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-01 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

1833 the number was 24,000 ; in 1834, 23,000 ; in 1835, I
19,000; in 1336, 17,000; in 1837, 18,000; in 1838, 1
17,000; in 1839, 16,000; and in 1840, 14,000.—( Loud 1
cheers.) Of the troops withdrawn from Ireland since last I
March there were of the Ist Dragoon Guards 290 men,
and of other regiments, of cavalry and infantry, draughts
amounting in the whole to 3 494 men.—(Hear, hear.)
In the course of the debate, the Noble Lord the Member
for Tyrone bas spoken with that spirit of great good hu-
mour which never deserts him, but without that Orange
spirit which lam glad to see he has left off. That Noble
Lord has stated that the reduction in the amount of troops
in Ireland has been made up for by additions to the con-
stabulary force. New, the constabulary force had not at-
tained any thing like i:s present state of organization until
oh oat rh" year 1829, 3t which time the number of the
f ,ace : • unted to 5,084. In the year 1831 the amount
of t,„.- ~c was 3,264 ;in 1833, 6,867 ;in 1834, 7,110 ;
in 1835, it amounted to 7,046 ; in 1836, to 7,200 ; in
1837, to 7,944 ; in 1836, to 8,044: and 1839, to 8,370 ;
so that during the period the present Government had
been in office the army in Ireland has been reduced from
19,000—if I were to take the amount from the year before
the Government took office, I should say from 21,000—t0
14 000. that is to say, the army has been reduced by 3,000
'lieu, while the increase to the constabulary force during
the same period amounts only to 1,200 men—( Cheers)—
and I will put it to the sense of the House whether
if an increased force is considered necessary, it is not
much more desirable that such increase should t_ke place
in a force like the constabularly force, rather than in the
regular army 1 He would further take upon himself, on
behalf of the Irish Government, to say, that if any neces-
sity bad arisen in England for an increase in the amount
of the military force, the Lord Lieutenant would have felt
himself fully warranted under the circumstances, had such
emergency arisen, in sparing, in addition to those already
sent over, at least one-half of the reduced force now re-.
eestning in Ireland.—(lmmense cheering from the Miniss"
terial side of the House.) lam not contending that Ire-
land could permanently spare from her reduced force such
an amount as that which I have just mentioned. That
mast be a matter to be decided by future experience;
-we have not yet seen sufficient to come to a decision nn
the !subject. We are not sufficiently acquainted with what
will be the permanent effects produced in Ireland, whether
a body of police will be sufficient to preserve the tranquillity
of that country ; and until tat happens I should be the last
to advise stripping ourrselhves of the means of defence
—of the means of prevention and cure, without
being in a condition to have them speedily re-
called, if necessary. I am only conveying the im-
, prearioa which may be drawn from the present state
of things. We have during the past year spared a large
i amount of the usual military force from Ireland, and we
should have been prepared, if the occasion had arisen, to
spare more.—(Cheers.) During the past year very few
and slight occasions have arisen for the military being
called out in Ireland; indeed, I think their main occupa-
tion has been to keep order, and secure iugress and egress
for the crowds who flock to give the pledge of unqualified
temperance.—(Loud cheers and laughter.) And, let me
observe in passing. let not the House think lightly of this
subject—this is no trivial, no unimportant feature in the
present moral aspect of Ireland.—( Hear, and cheers.)
I am not saying of this, any more than the reduction of
the military force, that we can calculate on it for more,
or for longer, than it has already gone.—( Hear, hear.)
But I boldly say, that so far as it has gone, it is an im-
mense good.—(Cheers)—and gives prospects of more
good—leaves room for good habits to grow and become
permanent—affords opportunity for happy results to mani-
fest and develope themselves.—( Cheers.) Aral as I have
touched upon this subject, which, though rather beside the
present debate, yet has a close connection with the pre-
"ant condition of Ireland, I must permit myself to observe
that I think what has occurred may be taken is a reason-
able rebuke to those who, for so long a period, and cape..
pecially during the late recess, have been heaping the
most unmitigated and wholesale, and I must say uncha-
ritable stigmas and revilings on the whole body of the
Roman Catholic priesthood, I th nk it may be taken
as a rebuke to all such indiscriminate censures upon
that body that the greatest movement towards the re-
formation of Ireland, the greatest earnest of its na-
tional improvement has been effected, though I rejoice '
to think at the same time tha many Protestants have hailed
thialuosement, and cordially co-operated in it ; yet still
this great movement was originated mainly—almost singly
—by the unprompted—the gratuitous efforts of a humble
and exemplary Roman Catholic priest.—(Cheers.) And
I must say, that during the recess there has been a sort of
Helotism on the part of the press connected with Gentle-
men opposite en everything bearing upon the Roman
Catholic priesthood, which supplies a lesson—to use the
east offensive term—most instructive. —( Cheers.) It is
v, ell to s'ay we do not object to the appointments as Catho-
lics, but this is not the language of the recess.—(Cheers.)
This is not the language of the party out of doors, lashed
into excitement, by which it seemed to be hoped you would
be floated into place.—(Cheering.) I do not wish to
cult anything from the leading articles of newspapers,
or from excited speeches on the public platform,
but what do I find in a formal manner in regular resolu-
tions adopted with the full concurrence of crowded meet-
ings? What says the petition of the inhabitants of Brighton ?
And what 'aye the Brighton Gazette ?—" We had much
sparring last night on the sentiments of a single clergyman
of Brighton," of the highest character, the most exemplary
morals, as well as of distinguished talents, I admit the
Hon. Member for Droitwich most distinctly laid it down,
and challenged us to contradict him, that no objection had
proceeded from any part of the country to fife appointment
of the Secretary to the Admiralty, but what is said in the
petition of the inhabitants of Brighton? It was with great
ooncetn they " had heard that her Majesty's Ministers had
selected to 11l important offices at the Admiralty, the
1 Treaaury, and the Board of Trade, three gentlemen"—not
whose political conduct was objectionable, but " who were
' members of the Church of Rome."—( Cheers.) And
that one of those persons had been admitted to the rank and
privilege of her Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council, and
that it was " with great alarm they saw a disposition
Of the part of her Majesty's advisers to abuse the power
reposed fp them, for the injury of the Protestant religion."
(Hear, boar.) I will not detain the House long. What
was the language of those called by the high-sounding
designation of the Protestant Association ?—" We have
observed with deep concern that your Majesty has been
advised to depart so far from Protestant principles, as by
law established as the condition of the succession to the
Throne, as to confer"—on whom? on Ultra-Reformers or
Repealer'? No, but "on Members of the Church
of Rome—(Loud cheers)—high and responsible situa-
tions in several departments of state," for example—
for fear we should not know whom they meant—
"in the Admiralty, the Treasury, and the Board of
• Trade ; and this concern is further increased by the fact
' that one of those individuals has been admitted to the rank
and privileges of one of your Majesty's Most Hon.
Privy Council, the first instance that has been of
1 such a departuros"—.so much for their acquaintance
with matters of fact--( Cheers)—"from the principles of the
constitution, since the deliverance of the country from
Papal tyranny." Again, a petition was presented, the
day before yesterday, from the clergy, merchants, bankers,
and inhabitants of Bristol, and I wish to call attention to
what ground they wished the House to withdraw its con-
fidence from her Majesty's Government, and repose it in
gentlemen of the Opposition. They say—" The first and
highest interests of a great nation are based in Protest-
antism, and ought not to repose in an Administration
which made the great interests of national faith subservient
to party purposes." This is fair ; this is an opinion.
Now for the illustration—" The admission of Roman Ca-
tholics to office excites our moat serious alarm for the ex-
istence of our Protestant institutions." I must say, that
if anytiiieg seem preposterous beyond all comprehension,
it is the use and adoption of such language as this.
I think soar ebody called my Hon. Friend the Member for
Waterford a Repealer. Why, he lost his seat in conse-
quence of his opposition to the Repeal of the Union !
Sir J. GRAHAM—He did not lose it.—( Several
Members of the Opposition benches—" Yes, he did.")
Lord MORPETH—My impression is that he did—
' ( Hear, hear)—but I have quite enough without referring
I to that.—( Cheers.) However, I will tell you what they
I say of him—they say he is put into the present office for
the purpose of administering the funds and conducting th e
education of the peeple, of this country. Last year, when
I we purposed to .transfer it to the Lords of the Treasury,
' what an outcry was raised ! and now we have transferred
. it, the cry is against the Lords of the Treasury having
the control and management of the fund.—( Hear, hear.)
Because my lion. Friend, who has on many occasions
shown a cultivated and accomplished mind, and my
Hon. Friend the Secretary for the Admiralty, who,
if he has put himself forward less prominently than
others, possesses as sterling qualities bath of the head and
theart as any r uson with whom it has been my good for-
: tune to come across—because those three Members have
beau, appointed to the three offices of Vice-President of
1 the Beard of Trade, Secretary of the Admiralty, and Lord
of the Treasury—l say this without considering who have
filled those offices before, whether under Tory or Whig
• Administrations—because this is the case, ought we to say,
in the words of one of the petitioners, that those appoint-
: •n
meats are ominous and fraught with danger to the Church,'t-
the Country, and the Throne ?—( Hear, hear.) I must
say, if the accusation had come from the other side—if
that had been alleged as a matter of complaint, that after
the passing of the Catholic Relief Bill, ten years after it
had been declared that every appointment in the State
t a should be open to. every Catholic as well as every Pro-
ustant, with, I think, two defined and stated ex-
captions in each country—that with a Roman
1 • Catholic population in this kingdom amounting
at least to eight millions, it was alleged that not
i one Catholic had found his way into the Cabinet,
that only two Roman Catholics had found their way into
the Privy Council, consisting of three hundred persons—
that in Ireland, with such a preponderance of Roman
Catholics, only eight Roman Catholics had been admitted
into a Privy Council of eighty-two—if that had been
alleged, I might have dared to account for it by the short-
ness of the period during which they had been eligible—l
I might have congratulated myself on being a member of
1 that Government, which, I trust, is the harbinger of a
Ibetter and more equal state of things ; but I ownl should
have thought the prima facie difficulty of the argument
lay on the opposite side of the question from that on
; which it has been brought forward ; and so far am I from
' agreeing in the proposition, that the appointment of a
Roman Catholic to be a member of the Privy
Council, or the appointment of three Roman Ca-
tholics to three subordinate offices, is contrary
i either to the letter or the spirit of the Constitution,
! that if eny Roman Catholic, Peer, or Commoner, bad
• shown himself to be qua'ified by his post, 1,3 his position,
or his abilities, or his actions, I, for one, should look upon
it as a virtual breach of the spirit of the Consteitution, as
an infraction of its recorded enactment, if Ledateinoine,dthtoe
such a person, on the score of his religious
past of Prime Minister to this country itself.e
was the view taken by the Right Hon. Baron Why, this
( 5;,.. R. Priel,) and 1 have no doubt he will conefitror itostite
night, and it is good for the illumination of his party outo
of doors, that he should so confirm it. This was the view
taken by' toe Right Hon. Baronet, the Member for Tam.
worth, long before he acceded to the propriety of conceding .
ti.. • ,Z4at'olit•l•lairne. The Right Hon. Baronet said in a
1, 1,1: -,n the Ath March, 1837, " I would here suggest a