The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-26 00:00:00

6.-- -

,_:'VEN IN C'. EDITION.

yet, alter all, he was not able to reduce the representa-
tives of Ireland below 108 Members. He struck off the
eight—merely because he had the power to commit a
glaring injustice with impunity.
He ought, upon his o.vn showing, to have included
the comparative rental of the two countries. He pur-
posely omitted to do so ; because, by correcting his
ender estimates on the ether items, and by taking the
comparative rental as it really was, the result would
have demonstrated the right of Ireland to 170 members.
She has therefore been &fronded, even on Lord Castle-
reagh's own calculation, of more than 60 Members.
FOURTHLY.—There is another point of view, in
which the fraud committed against Ireland, in the com-
parative inadequacy of her representation, is demon-
strated. It is one derived from the Reform Act itself.
The principle of that Act, was to make representa-
tion depend on the combination of population and pro-
perty ; the property being evidenced by the revenue
yielded to the State : a mode certainly not unfavour-
able to England, as a basis of comparative representa-
tion with Ireland.
Now—let us take the population and financa returns
of 1831. The population of England in that year was,
in round numbers, thirteen millions—that of Ireland
eight millions. The actual revenue, not of England
merely, but of Great Britain, was in that year
46,5-23;21.5/. ;—that of Ireland, 6,060,897/. That is
—lreland paid considerably more than one-eighth of
the entire revenue. So that, at the passing of the Re-
form Act,—as the representation ought to hive been
distributed according to population and revenue,—l
shall take these in the moat unfavourable way to Ireland :
I will suppose the Irish revenue to be only one-tenth
of the English revenue. And I will go further, and
take the English Representatives at 300 only ; and the
following will still be found the right of Ireland :
Ireland, (for Population), 3 to 13, on 300—gives 307
Ireland, (for Revenue), 1 to 10, on 500—gives 50

Total 357
The mean of the two being one-half, entitled Ireland
to 178 Members. She has only 105, and is defrauded
of the difference. Therefore there is no real Union.
FIFTHLY.—Another view of the injustice done to
Ireland by tise Reform Act in point of Representation,
demonstrates that there is no real Union.
It is this. Wales, with a population of 800,000, got
en addition of four Members by the Reform Act. Ire-
land, with a population of eight millions, got an increase
of only fine / And one of these was given to the Col-
lege of Dublin ! In other words, the 800,000 Welsh-
men were estimated as being fully four-fifths of the va-
lue of the eight millions of Irishmen.
Again—Scotland, with a population of two millions
and a half, got an increase of eight Members. Ireland,
with a population of eight millions, got an increase of
only five Members.
Wales, before the Reform Act, had 24 Members,
She get by that ,Act an increase of one to every six.
Scotland had already 45 Members. Scotland obtained
an addition of nearly one to every five. Ireland had
100 Members. Ireland obtained an increase of only one
to every twenty.
`Thus, the representation of Scotland was increased
by the Reform Act, nearly one to every five. That of
Wales one to every six. That of Ireland only one to
every twenty
The Reform Act afforded a great opportunity to re-
medy the injustice and inequality of the Union Statute.
That opportunity was not availed of. On the con-
trary, an additional insult and injustice was done to
Ireland. There is, therefore, no real Union.
SIXTHLY.—That the Reform Act perpetuated the
injustice of the Union Statute relative to the Repre-
sentation of Ireland, will be made still more clear by
looking at the distribution of the increased Representa-
tives in the different counties in England ; that increase
having been regulated solely by the relative population
of each English county. Take, for example, Cumber-
land. The population of Cumberland in 1831 was
126,641. By the Reform Act, Cumberland got two
additional members ; there are now four members for
that county. Contrast it with Cork county. The po-
pulation of Cork county amounted to 713,716 ; that
county got no additional representative. Cumberland
has four members to represent 126,681 persons—Cork
has two to represent 713,716 persons ! ! !
Northamptonshire had a population in 1831 of
179,276 ; Down, in that year, had a population of
337,571. The Reform Act gave Northamptonshire
two additional members--it was an English county.
The Reform Act gave Down nothing—it was an Irish
county. The 179,276 inhabitants of Northamptonshire
have four representatives ; the 337,571 persons in
Down have but two representatives.
Take Leicestershire. In 1831, it had 197,276 in-
habitants. The Reform Act gave to Leicestershire
two additional representatives. Tipperary in 1831 bad
3E0,598 inhabitants. The Reform Act gave to Tip-
perary nothing ; and then:.tha English Whigs and To-
ries whine and cant, and affect to say that Tipperary
ought to be content and satisfied!
I could pursue this contrast much farther ; but 1
hays said enough to show the gross and glaring injustice
done to the people of Ireland by the present represen-
tative system ; and I also have stated enough to secure
the attention and satisfy the judgment of every reason-
able man.
Let me add only this supposition. Suppose Ireland
were the favoured country, and that England had to
endure this inferiority in representation and in other
rights, now inflicted upon Ireland ;—would England
endure it? Or would Scotland endure such an injus-
tice ' Certainly not. And Ireland is weary of the
endurance.

This injustice to Ireland might be all very well, or
at least very consistent, if you were to avow that Ire-
land is a subject province, and that England is the
Sovereign State, entitled to dictate terms to a subju-
gated people. But this is not what is alleged. It is
alleged that there is a Union!! And therefore the
injustice of the present system is as clear as the absur-
dity is unquestionable of expecting redress for the Irish
nation from anything else than a national and constitu-
tional movement for the Repeal of the miscalled Union.
I know full well that English prejudice will not con-
descend to dwell upon the nature or amount of the
iniquity perpetrated ageism Ireland, in her deficiency
of due representation. The Irish complaint upon this
subject will continue to be treated only with contempt
and derision. But it will not the leas arouse the indig-
nation of the people of Ireland ; nor will it the less
confirm their high and haughty determination to take
all legal and constitutional means to fling aside the con-
tempt. and to abolish the injustice inflicted upon them.
-Yes! the burning iron of insulting slavery has entered
the Irish soul, and branded the people unalterably Re-
pealer& Yea-the young blood of Ireland burns like
liquid flame in the veins of the Irish youth ; and those
expressions, which may be sneered at as a species of dull
poetry, are, to my knowledge, verified to the letter at
present, and afford means of conjecture for the future.
Seveeeritee.—My seventh objection to the allegation
that there is a real Onion between these countries, is
one that will be treated, even in England, with some
respect and deference. It is this—that the great body
of the Irish people aro totally deprived of the elective
franchise.
In England, one fifth of the male adult population
(taking boroughs and counties together) have the elec-
tive franchise. In Ireland, not one-twentieth of the
male adult population enjoy that franchise. In Ireland,
no man in the counties at large can possess the fran-
chise, unless he be in the actual occupation, either by
freehold, or for a fixed term of years, of lands of the
nominal value of 101. per annum, but raised by legal
construction to the real value of 201. per annum.
In England, the richer country, the franchise is much
lower than in Ireland, the poorer country ! : :
In England, the rural population is not much greater
than in Ireland ; that population amounting to only
6,336,000. In Ireland; the rural population amounts
to 7,1427,509 inhabitants. England, for her eight millions
of rural population, has 344,564 voters ; whilst Ire-
land, for her seven millions of rural population, has only
60,607 voters !
One riding of Yorkshire has more than one half the
entire number of electors in Ireland.
Let me give a few more instances of the effect of
increasing in Ireland the amount of the value of pro-
perty entitling a person to vote, beyond the corre-
sponding standard in England.
I will take 'the examples from the return of Par-
liamentary Electors, after the first registration under
the Reform Act ; that being the most numerous regis-
tration that hail taken place in Ireland.
Hertfordshire has only 93,977 inhabitants ; but it
had, after the Reform Bill, 3,0 13 registered voters ;
whilst Galway, with 381,564
inhabitants, had only
3,061 electors!
The Isle of Wight, with 28,731 inhabitants, has
1,167 voters ; whilst Mayo, with 366,328 inhabitants,
bas only 1,350 electors ! and Tyrone, with a population;
of 310,000, has only 1,151 electors—that is, actually
sixteen ixteen voters less than the Isle of Wight ! ! ,
Rutlandshire, the smallest county in England, with
only 19,385 inhabitants, has 1,296 voters ; whilst Long-
ford, with 112,558 inhabitants, has only 1,294 ; abso-
lutely two less than Ratlandshire ! .' !
Again ; Huntingdon, with apopulDatoionnecToalf,f 47,7179
inhabitants, has 2,647votherlss
; whilst
only 1,448 votersw•itia
and
population of 289,14.9 ,
Limerick, one of the wealthiest counties
248 ,8 in Irell
iand,
with an oculent agricultural population of on-
habitants has oily 2,565 electors : :
Only one instance more.
sabe The renal
of r
l pop
Westmoreland Westmoreland is 43,464—its nu e
voters amounts to 4,392 ; nearly one out of every ten
inhabitants. Whereas in the County of Cork the
rural
Population is 71:3,716 ; and the number of regis-
tered electors in that county is only 3,835 ;
being
scarcely one out of every 200 of the inhabitants.
Need I proceed further ? The number of electors
in England herself is iniquitously small, when con-
trasted with the entire population. But that which in
England is criminally scanty and limited, has the appear-
ance of bountiful amplitude when contrasted with the
, miserably diminished franchise in Ireland.
e The number of electors in Ireland
' two ways. First, by the
r diminished.
is in
higher rate of qualification
:required in Ireland. Secondly, by the extremely vexa
us and .expensive mode of Irish registration. I
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