The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-07 00:00:00

r until the time it merged into the English
Crown, from the time of Edgar, in 964, when the
charter was signed at Gloucester, until 1542, during
the reign of Henry VIII., showing that during
that time both nations were Catholic, and that
the differences between the two countries had
arisen chiefly out of religious differences. He
should then go on to the commencement of the
French Revolution, thence to 1800, the period of the
Union, and then down to the present time. Every
single revolution in Ireland was brought about by Eng-
lish Protestants against the Irish people ; there never
was what could he termed a Catholic revolution.
If he was enabled to prove these things from history,
in such a manner as to defy contradiction, ha should
then have made out a strong case for relieving the
Catholic people of Ireland from the odium cast upon
them, that they had been always the disaffected
parties. With respect to the character of Edgar,
which was the first ground of title set up by the
English to Ireland they were told by Leland, who
was to be considered as by no means an unfavour-
able historian for the English people, that " that
charter was susceptible of considerable doubts."
The next title set up arose in the period when
Strongbow went over to Ireland, and succeeded
in conquering a great part of the province of Lein-
ster. Henry King of England was induced by the
successes of Strongbow to take the title of King
of Ireland. The title which King Henry took
with him was a bull of 1.3& pe Adrian the Fourth,
an Englishman, who granted him the govern-
tnent on condition that he should spread the Catholic
faith, and that he should make the Catholic people
attend more to the rites and duties of the Church ;
he then bestowed the throne upon him, on condition ,
that he was to receive in return Peter-pence, or
a penny from each house. In the year 1172,
all the Barons and Nobles tendered their
submission ;to Henry. Shortly after he was obliged
to leave his Irish dominions. When King John was
twelve years of age he was sent over to Waterford to
receive the submission of all the barons and nobles
within his dominions. So imperious was the conduct
of this young king, that the day after he left
the nobles who had made their submission imme-
diately took up arms against him. During the
seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries Ireland
was prolific in commissioning missionaries to pro-
pagate the Catholic faith over the whole of
Europe. Until the ruthless days of Cromwell
and the days of the rebel King William, whom
they sent over to Ireland, not a single conquest
hnd been made, and it could be proved that even every
foot of ground which the English gained in the wars
theywere obliged to surrender as soon as they were com-
pelled to withdraw their forces. The next title set up
was in the time of Richard 11., in the year 1695,
who went over to Ireland with 4,000 men at arms
and 30,000 footmen, and received the submission of
all the nobles and barons of the country. In 1699
Richard again invaded Ireland, and they were told
that he remained revelling in Dublin for many months,
till at length news reached that the Duke of Lan-
caster had landed in England, and he was compelled
at once to return to his native country, without ac-
complishing anything in Ireland. The next claim
to the sovereignty of Ireland was made in the reign
of Henry VIII., who went over to that country with a
large force, but like his predecessors achieved nothing.
Therefore, none of the revolutions that had
taken place could be put down to the religion
of one cow:try or the other, and from that
period up to the Union Ireland had been
the subject of aggression from England. Before
he sat down he would show that Ireland had never
had an effective Parliament to govern her, and such
being the case he would ask whether it would not
have been better, instead of abrogating the Par-
liament altogether, as was done at the time
of the Union, something had been done to
render it more effective ? The Honourable and
Learned Member then went on to endeavour
to show, that from the earliest time down to the
present
_every attempt had been made by the
English Government to impoverish the people
of Ireland, and corrupt her Parliament, and observed
That the Irish people, finding that they were deceived
by their leaders—finding that they were being made
the dupes of their public men—determined to esta-
blish the Irish Society, of whose existence the
Government was aware from its very birth, and whose
members they knew, but still they did not cause
them to be arrested. They preferred rather to fer-
ment the rebellion, in order that they might he
revenged upon those who had refused to assist them
at the time of the revolt of the British American
colonies. At this time the Irish Catholic people began
to look for aid to the French Catle.plic people, and it
was natural that they should do so ; but the French
revolution intervened, and their hopes of succour in that
quarter were frustrated. Again, the Government
wanted the assistance of the Irish people, and in order to
gain that assistance they had recourse to the cry of
Parliamentary Reform. A hollow cry it was. It
was the cry of Earl Grey, it was the cry of Charle,
James Fox, but only to assist them into place, and
when they safely got there away went Parliamentary
Reform, then the cry was understood to mean merely
that a Qoverntnent commissioner could not he allowed
to have a seat in that house.—(Hear, and laughter.)
The pt ople of Ireland, therefore, instead of getting a
fair representation in Parliament, had :he celebrated
Convention Act given to them, and from that period
up the union history conld not point to anything
equal in importance to that. Now what was the
history of the rebellion of 1798 ?—who could relate
it ? Ireland had given this country orators,
financiers, statesmen, warriors, dramatists, and poets,
but England had taken care that she should not pro-
duce histor:ans. Whn had fought the battles of this
country ? Irish generals and Irish soldiers ; and
yet, so far back as the memory of man could go, this
country had refused Ireland her just and legitimate
rights. Eventually the Irish Parliament was annihi-
lated; and what, let him ask, was the consequence of the
annihilation ? From 1780 up to 1800 the exports and
imps. is had increased to an enormous extent, and the
country was in a comparatively flourishing condition.
In 1780 Ireland did not owe a fraction, but in 1800
she was in debt to this country 14,000,000. He
would not dwell upon the means by which the
Union was brought about, although he had
ample authorities to enable him to do so.
Suffice it to say that it was cosummated by
vilest corruption; that the terms were dictated by
England while Ireland was in a defenceless state,
with her energies shackled by debt, famine,
and disease ; and from that time to the present
the terms of the union had been continually
violated by the British Parliament. The in-
crease of national debt from 1801 until 1810,
was cansed by England, in order to keep France
away, by our fleets, from Ireland, for it was
supposed that that country wished to obtain posses-
sion of it. Aed how had they accomplished the utter
degradation of Ireland ? They gave every man a
peerage or 15,0001. who obtained the election of
persons in Ireland favourable to the views of England,
and those who had peerages and accomplished the
work received the 15,000/. Lord Castlereagh gave
them but 100 Members, though the population was
5,000,000 at the time, whilst England with but
9,000,000 obtained 503. Was this, he asked, a fair re-
presentation of the country ? The result had been that
a hostile aristocracy had been created, who, hav-
ing no sympathy with the country, cared
not to see her prosper. The oppression of the
Catholics had also added to the misery of the
country. They gave absentee landlords the power
of evicting their tenants when their arrears were
more than two shillings. After creating such an
aristoctacy as he had described—after twenty-three
years of coercion—after resisting emancipation for
forty years, were they astonished that Ireland pre-
sented the deplorable spectacle she did ? It was ina
possible now to shackle the Irish mind. An Act
was passed. which exempted grass land from the
payment of tithes, so that the Protestant land-
land—the great opponent of the Catholic
Church, and ho might say of their own—
who had 4,000 acres of grass land, paid no
tithes, whilst the Catholic widow, who had gathered
tnanure from the road to grow a few pota-
toes on her acre of land, paid them.
(Hear, hear.) These, he contended. were damnatory
facts against the legislation which had been
adopted towards Irelaad by England before and
since the Union. He was tried in Ireland
in 1832, for resisting the payment of
tithes.---(Laughter.) He denied, however, that he
was "an artful, designing demagogue." If he were,
nheevhear redn,oetilviiedng to gain by it. It was his boast, and
he was proud to proclaim it, that he had
a farthing or eaten a meal for the
services which he had rendered to his country. Ile
had conducted more contested elections than many
men, but ne hever expected or to:ik any pay,
though as a barrister he was entitled to large fees.
He would now come to the question of emigration,
and if there was ever a disgrace to any set of men it
was to seduce people, able to obtain a living in their
own countries to leave it, in search of labour and the
means of existence. The curse of this country had been
that in the exact proportion in which liberty increased
so had corruption increased, because the Government
knew they were able to buy off the noisy demagogues
of the country. He would now deal with the free
trade question as it would affect the question of
repeal. He had the greatest respect for the
leader of that party (Mr. Cobden). lle
(Mr. O'Connor) was opposed to him until
he once met him, when he saw so much
beneficence in his face, that he was determined from
that time to oppose him no more. Labour was the
source of wealth, and ought to be protected, and it
was all moonshine to talk about Exchequer bills,
Bank Charter Acts, the financial condition of the
country, or any measure to make money cheap,
while the foundation of all was neglected.—(Hear.)
He would now come to the question of a separate
parliament for the two countries. When the Irish