The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-27 00:00:00

EVENING F.IDITIFON.

I rent and charges to which the person who laid shim
to vote was liable, should be sufficient to qualify
him to enjoy the franchise. He thought the •
Honourable Gentl men on that side of the
house ought to agree to this proposal.
The words of the clause, which was introduce] left
year into the 811 by the Ris slit Hon. and Least
Gentleman the Attorney-Goner d for Ireland, were—
" That the beneficial incrust should be define I the
profit or advantage derived or derivable by such
chimant from such premises, after deducting the
tithes-rent charge, and their expenses, if any, of
cultivating the same." The Right Honour- '
able and Isoarned Gentleman admitted that 101.
profit beyond all these charges ()sight to constitute the
right to vote. In the recent debete, when he (Lord
Howick) contended that the occupant's own labour was
not to be deducted in calculating tilt' beneficial interest,
the Hon. and Learned Gentlemen, the Member for Dub-
lin, himself corrected him ( Lord llesvicks), and said that
it was never contended that any such construction
should be put on the law—that a fair deduction was
to be suede for the v slue of the occupant's own
labour. If; then, those deductions were to he
mule, he (Lord Howick) could not clearly
understand what line of distinction could be drawn by
lion. Gentlemen bet seen the cistern proposed and that
course sugg,sted on the opposite side. Ile was really
at a loss to discover, speahieg only technically and
legelly, what could he t diffsreace between the con-
struction of the beneficial interest contended for oy the
Ilon. and Lsarned Member for 'Dublin, and thet by
the gentlemen on the otl:er aide of the near.)
interest than 101., would not be very unfairly re ore-
stam! by 5/. excess of value beyond the rent, a. 4 in
the manner he ( Lord H.) professed. If the Hoe. aed
Learned Gentleman's construction of the existing law
was to he taken, his (Lord H.'s) proposition might 114
considered a fair substitute and equivalent for the ex-
isting law. 'lf that sere granted that Si, excesses olf
value beyond the amount of rent payable was the bene—
ficial interest, as contemplated by Parliament when the
existing law was passed-1 such would he the effect
of the clause, he could see no good reason for rejecting
the amendment he propo.c t. Taking the admission
of the lion. Gentlemen on the other side of the House •
during the recent debate, that it was necessary to form
some easily ascettaieed tea', he thought they could
hardly consistently reject his proposal. Neither, s,„
lie thought, could lion. Gentlemen on that side reject ,jI
The effect of adopting the amendment he proposed!
would be to continue a class of voters to whom be wast,,sik'
sore no plausible objection could be made. All tboses
voters who claimed a right to vote in respect of a free-'
hold in fee, not for a mere technical freehold but.
ono consisting of a freehold for lives, ell these voters
would receive gre it advantage from adopting the
amendment lie (Lord Howick) proposed, and in the
same manner it was perfectly obvious that all persons
who paid a low rent for their property according to the. •
clause as proposed by the Noble Lord (Lord Morpeth)
could not claim a right of voting unless their property
was actually rated at 8/. Perhaps now a person .
voted for property that was not worth more
than 5/.—why was such a man to be disfran-
chised ? In the acme manner persons who paid
11. rent for land, and had greatly improved it,
having perhaps reclaimed it from some bog or mountain
land, might have made it worth something less than 81-
These persons would have a right to vote under his (Lord
Hossick's) clause; but would! be excluded from that right
by the clause of his Noble Friend, Surely he (Lord
Howick) was not called upon to argue that it was desirable
these men should not have votes. He found in a Reports •
on the table of the House that electors who were rated at
small sums, so far as they were ascertained, paid an ex-
ceedingly low rent. In the Bandon Union there were
two of these persons, one of them had fifteen acres, being
subject to no rent, and was rated at 71. 10s., and the
other had tea acres, and was rated at 4L These persons ‘,
would vote under his clause, but would be excluded 11
that of his Noble Friend. This clause as it stood would
exclude some of the best and most intelligent persons
who enjoyed the right of voting under the existing law-
He was aware that be should be told that the amendment
he was about to propose would admit some voters on the
franchise who would be excluded by the clause of his
Hon. Friend, and on the other hand it might be said that
leaving the law as it stood would have the effect of greatlf
restricting the constituency of Ireland. any and
support might be inclined to resist his amendment ana
support the clause of his Noble Friend, because they
thought it absolutely necessary to supply the deficiency in
the constituent body in Ireland. He agreed with thrill
in that necessity, and he certainly did not propose that
that should be the only change adopted: On the con-
trary, it appeared to him that it was necessary that some
further measures should be adopted, in order to prevent
the franchise from Icing confined to very much fewer
hands than was desirable. But the question was how Oa;
was to be accomplished ? His Noble Friend propose;
that it should be done by giving the right of voting W all
persons rated so low as 81. who bad a lease for not 105s
‘
than fourteen years. The proposition which he would •
submit was (and he thought it right to explain his two
propmit'ons at the same time, although there was no ne-
cosset), connection between them) aid it would be for the
House to adopt or reject it as they thought pro.
per. The difference between his Noble Friend
and himself was this—that his Noble Friend proposed to
have a very low amount of ratirg as conferring thefran-
chise, but that such persons should have a lease for not
less than fourteen years. Ile (Lord Howick) wished to
propose to the House that a very considerably higher.
amount of rating should be insisted upon as the qualifies..
tion, but that no lease should be insisted on—that the'
yearly tenant should be admitted to the franchise in con,' .
mon with the tenant for fourteen years. One of the
motives which induced him to propose those changes wag
that, in his opinion, supposing some additional franchise to
be requisite in Ireland, it was of the utmost importaaee
that it should be so formed as not to give rise to further
demands of the same kind in future. He strongly held
the opinion so frequently and so ably insisted on by his
Noble Friend the Secretary of State for the Coloaiess
that the recurrence of political changes was in itself an
evil of the greatest magnitude.—(Hear, bear.) 11°
wished to avoid as far as was practicable any attempt to dis-
turb the distribution of power established by the Reform
Act; but lie could not help thinking that the clause,
as proposed, would be very objectionable on that
head. (Hear.) He thought it would be so;
both inasmuch as it would produce a totally new class of
voters, a class of voters unlike any other which at this mo-
ment was to be found, he believed, in any other part of the
kingdom ; and also a class holding a lower position ire JO; •
ciety than any class of voters to whom the Reform Act OP
extended the franchise. On the contrary the proposition'
which he wished to submit to the House was founded
strictly on the analogy of the Reform Act. He found that
in England a 50/. tenant without a lease was entitled tothe
franchise ; and it would be but a natural proceeding.
grant a similar right to the people of Ireland. By doing'
so it did not appear to him that they would give rise to Ipy
fresh claims on the part of the people of this country; boV
when he said a similar right he did not mean to say that be
thought the payment of a rent of 50/. would form a desire
ble qualification in Ireland. Far from it ;it was perfect',"
obvious when they compared the difference of wealth i°
the two countries, as well as the very great subdivision
of landed property in Ireland, that if they vrete t,(l
require the same value as in England, they wont
only be giving a franchise which would be almost illusory
But more than that, they had, for reasons which he though;
perfectly valid, refteed to Ireland a 40s. franchise—a cir-
cumstance for which he thought they should make some
allowance in fixing the amount of the value to be required
of the occupying tenant. He was not prepared to give a po-
sitive opinion as to the amount of value ehich should be
required ; for, from the very late period et which the re-
turns had been plsced in their hands—the most important
having only reached them that moruing—it was utterly int'
possible for him to give that close consideration to the
subject which its importance deserved. The object, how-
ever, which they should base in view might, he thoughts
be easily fixed. They should endeavour to give to Ireland
as la-ge a number at least of voters, as enjoyed the fran-
chise there immediately After the passing of the Relearn'
Act,—( Hear, hear.) With that number ha should b°
swished, and he would not ask Hon. Gentlemen opposite
to give more. It was no easy matter to decide at what
amount the franchise should be fixed, in crier to attaia
that end ; and be felt persuaded that the subject would rt-
quire some further consideration. All ho then 114E4
the house to do was to consent to the principle,
that instead of a4opting a very low amount of rating,
with a lease, they should dispense with the lease, and
take a considerably higher amount of rating than that
which had been proposed by the Gsysrnment. lie did
I not think the qualification should be determined by the
amount of rent, but on the amount of sating ; for, if tbel
were to adopt a contrary principle, they would give
premium on high rents, which, he believed, was already
ore of the greatest grievances of Ireland,. In proposing
phiospaumlaerndonbTenetti,ohne„
gentlemen attributed a prejudicial ope-
ration the
wthaastaawtaerneanthtawtithheomutigahtlbecasmeedtidby
not
possess the independence which should qualify hi •
rfraatinaenhit7.theMelaanufse introduced into the Reform Act by the
present Duke of Buckiageam
; but he confessed that, in
his opinion, 'the objection was one to which very un,duo
force was attached. As far as he had observA the work-
ing of the system in England, it certainly appeared to
him that the tenant was in general disposed to vote with
his landlord, unless on occasions of extraordinury excite-
ment, such as that which preceded the passing of the Re'
form Bali, when tenants. in spite of threats, acted in opposiion
to their landlords, He remembered very well that at an
election at whiter complaiiits of inticeid elm had been
made most loudly, namely, at the election at which his
Hon. Friend the Under-Secretary for the Home Depart'
ment had been defeated in Perthshire, that intimidatto°
had been used principally in regard to tenants holding
leases for a longer period than nineteen years. In ,
the
case of Ireland, he found it stated as a universal fact t
the Reports laid before them, that that land for which
,
there was the highest competition was that which was let
to small holders. It had been stated that such land wad
sometimes let at four or five times the rated value, Jon
- this circumstance would show, that in general this heldelss'
was in a much lower condition than those who hick
larger farms. But there was another consequence
ought to be looked to—the multiplication of small "'el
menta.—(Hear, hear ) What would be easier than tee
ass at
a landlord should create a number of small tenerne
that
nominally high rents, with the understanding
veted
there should be an abasement if the tenant
according to the landlord's bidding ?—( Hear,
freehold
Such was the case under the old forty-shilling. freel.l.sh
with wnle
franchise, notwithstanding the many guardsreserv-
that franchise was surrounded, for the purpose of p
ing the tenant totally independent of the landlordre
the present measure of his Noble Friend there were ;Jar
such contrivances to prevent evasion. The leasne.,°...lo.
from adesing to the independence of the tenant woad red,
bear.)
der him truly and irretrievably at the mercy of his