The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-26 00:00:00

principle debated fully for five nights prior to its first reading—
he should have admitted that the Members of that House
might eha.ige their votes on this the ascend, reading. But
when he remembered how completely its merits and demerits
had been canvassed—when after a lengthy debate they had been
called upon to give their deliberate judgment and opinion upon I
the measure, and they had accordingly recorded their votes—he
did say, although he did not pretend to dictate to Hon.
Members, that they were pledged by the votes which they had
already given. They were bound in consistency to take good
care and examine whether any circumstances had arisen since
they voted for its firstreading—whether anything had taken place
to justify them changing their votes, and now turn round
slice t, and without any reason vote against the second reading.
Something had already happened, probably, to justify that
change. —( An ironical cheer.) He understood that cheer—
it alluded to circumstances which had very recently takers
place—it alluded to the present :position of the Ministers.-
-( Hear, hear.) But was that sufficient to justify them in
voting against the second reading, after having voted fur the
first? What did the recent change of the position of Minis-
ters involve? It involved the Members of the House in this
difficulty, that if they consented to withhold their vote in favour
of the measure, because of the delay occasioned by the Mi-
nesters, why then did they give their first vote in favour of
the measure ?—( Hear.) If the measure had been delayed
unnecessarily by the Ministers, was that a reason why it should
be rejected? When Ministers had at length brought it for-
ward a second time, ought it to be rejected because of the
delay? He conceived that the measure ought to be pressed
forward with all convenient speed. He knew the difficulties
under which Ministers were labouring at the present moment.
He remembered an expression of the Noble Lord the Member
for Lynn, which was to the effect, that the blood of every mur-
dered person rested upon the heads of the Ministers if they
suffered any unnecessary delay. lie (Mr. Spooner) would
ask the Noble Lord what he now thought of that expression,
and whether, upon the mere ground that Ministers had
hitherto delayed the measure, he was justified in carrying out
that delay, and if he did not consider that the blood of every
murdered man in Ireland hereafter would rest upon the head
of himself and those who voted against it ?—( Hear, hear.)
He (Mr. Spooner) would not give his vote upon this occasion
merely for a party purpose—he was quite sure that he need
not say that—(Laughter )-- because his position would clear
him of such a charge. He could not consent to make Ireland
the battle field of party.—(Cheers.) He could not consent to
lend himself to any measue that had merely for its object a
change of administration—( Hear, hear)—when he saw that
life and property in Ireland was left unprotected. He could
not refuse giving his assent to a measure like this, which he
really believed would have the effect of giving greater security
to life and property. After a deliberate judgment, and the
best consideration he could give to the measure, he must say
that he conscientiously believed it to be imperatively called for.
—( Hear, hear.) No party considerations or motives would in-
fluence him in the vote which he was about to give. He
would ask his lion. Friend the Member for Dorsetshire
whether his vote was given under similar circumstances? The
vote of that Hon. Member it appeared would be a vote of no
confidence in the Ministry, and one of confidence in the Nob:e
Lord, the Member for London.—( Hear, hear.) Had the Hon.
Member forgotten the conduct of the late Government with
respect to the Irish Church ? Had lie forgotten the appropria-
tion clause ?—( Hear, hear.) Had he forgotten the manner in
which that party had conducted themselves with regard to
that party called the Conservatives? Was he prepared to con-
sent to their rash policy ? The late Government had tried to
govern Ireland by concessions which were dangerous to the
safety of the Protestant Church. Concessions which had
been found only to call for further concessions.—
( Hear.) Whilst they tried to conciliate a particular party,
they left unprotected and unguarded the people of Ireland.—
( Question.) And that was a charge which had been brought
against the Noble Lord by the very party that he had served.
Much had been said about the delay of her Majesty's Ministers
with regard to this measure, and that it ought to be withdrawn,
because crime had decreased since it was originally brought
forward—a point which he was not willing to concede. But
even supposing that crime had since decreased, that disl riot
show the moral effect which it had had upon the people of Ire-
land. Would not the measure for the preservation of life and
property be wanted during the ensuing and future winters?—
(Hoar, hear.) He conceived, that if they wished to
pacify Ireland they must first of all apply coercive
and then conciliatory measures. If he had refused to
give his support to this measure, after the statements which
had been laid before the House, he should have considered him-
self to have grossly abandoned his duty. It was not his cus-
tom to trespass long upon the attention of the House—(oh,
oh)—and he should, therefore, briefly conclude by assuring the
House that he would be quite prepared hereafter to give his
support to any measure of relief to Ireland, by whatsoever
Member itmight be brought forward.—(Cheers.) Whatever
might be the sum proposed for the substantial relief of
Ireland, he should most willingly vote for the grant.
They most take into consideration the condition of that
country, for which God had done so much and man se little ;
and if they did, they would find the Irish people would evince
their proverbial gratitude and appreciation of the kindness dis-
played towards them.
Mr. SHEIL—Sir, necessity is sometimes the bane of the
best Government, and of a bad one, very frequently the worst
pretence ; and in this instance that it is a pretence and not an
argument, I have risen for the purpose of showing. I consider
that the criminality of Ireland is the result of that treatment
which has been applied to her by those who now propose the
present measure as a remedy for it, and that, consequently, the
argument they have drawn from the necessity of the case is a
bad one. Following out this view, I shall have occasion to
animadvert, in the remarks I am about to make,
on the policy which the Government has for some
time past pursued with regard to Ireland. Often
has it been my lot to condemn the measures which the Right
lion. Baronet brought forward in connexion with that coun-
try, arid when I do so I ought to remember that it is to the
Right lion. Gentleman himself that I am indebted for the
privilege of pronouncing his condemnation.—(Laughter.)
And as, when the Right Hon. Gentleman was in the hey-day of
his power—in the high and exalted position which he held at
the head of the party which had taken him so long to con-
struct, but which was now reduced to such a state of dilapida-
tion, as I hope I always avoided then any offensive per-
sonali'y or malignant recrimination—now, when his fortune
has changed, when he has descended from that pinnacle,
where he was then placed, and when a cloud has passed over his
splendid career, it shall be my care that the animadversions I
may find it my duty to make shall not be associated with bitter-
ness.—(Hear, hear.) I own that I do not despair of the
Right, Hon. Baronet, and I dwell with pleasure on the anti-
cipation that he who has exhibited such inconsistency, and at
length changed his views to so great an extent with regard
to the commercial affairs of this country, will yet give a
glorious consummation to the Irish policy.—( Hear.) But I
have used an infelicitous expression. Mere consistency does
not depend upon a servile subserviency to your own fallacies or
to the passions of your party ; the truly consistent statesman
does not so much consider what it has been his mistake to have
done as what it has become his high duty to do ; he does not
look back at his own yesterdays, but looks forward to his
country's glorious morrow; the welfare of that country is not
his chief object only because it is his only one. Fixing his eyes
upon that solitary point—bright, eternal, and unsetting—how-
ever the wind may blow and however the current may set,
by that immutable light he steers his apparently irregular
but in truth undeviating way.—(Hear, hear.) Having
now performed the office of hypothetical panegyrist, 1 will
now pass to a more distasteful task—that of finding fault
with the Right Hon. Baronet. I believe it was the intention
of the Right Hon. Gentleman, when he passed the Catholic
Emancipation Bill, ;had he remained then in power, to
have carried the spirit of that measure into effect. He
made a speech on that occasion, a passage of which was, in my
opinion, of more importance than the recent allusions which
have been made to that period. He then enumerated the
various times when Coercion Bills had been tried, and when
the result expected from them did not follow. He said that
for the purpose of showing that coercive measures had
frustrated their intentions, and that some other
remedy must be applied to the grievances of the country.
But how did the Right Hon. Gentleman act when that Bill be-
came law, and when he was subsequently obliged to go into op-
position? The Right Hon. Baronet exerted himself t‘i the
utmost—slid his worst, to obstruct the Whigs in their efforts to
carry the principles of the Emancipation Bill into effect, and to
ameliorate the condition of Ireland. I will just instance two
examples of the course of conduct he pursued—the Municipal
Bill and the Irish Registration Bill. The Right Hon. Gen-
tleman announced his intention of assimilating the franchises
of England and Ireland, but what a comment was
that announcement on the conduct of the Right Hon.
Gentleman since. With regard to the line of proceeding on
the Irish Registration Bill, I will say that it is a disgrace to
nay party. Perhaps the object intended when the Whigs were
in power was to molest or obstruct their antagonists. As
soon, however, as the Right Hon. Baronet came into powe. ,
molestation was set aside;
and though session after
session the Secretary of State promised to bring in
a Bill upon the subject, we are now almost
on the verge of a general election, and instead
of a Registration Bill, a Coercion Bill was introduced.
The Right Hon. Baronet had found himself entangled in a
web whose intricate mazes he himself had spun. The Right
Hon. Baronet endeavoured by his sayings to counteract his
doings, but I think we are told by Shakspere that—
`' Tis a kind good thing to say ;"
but wh.n he shook the confidence of one party he
did not succeed in gaining the confidence of the
other. Every man in Ireland who could write with
force—every man who could speak with contagious
energy—all classes, the priesthood and the hierarchy of Ireland
—every man was arrayed in dire hostility against them, and
the agitation for repeal which succeeded was the con-
sequence of those measures which they had brought for-
sward. What did you do to meet that state of things ?
You dismissed the repeal magistrates. Then followed the
state prosecutions, which were carried on in the spirit of
oppressive blundering, and the world shortly afterwards beheld
the liberator of his Catholic countrymen incarcerated by a
Protestant jury, at the instigation of the man by whom the
Jury Act had been carried. How then can you wonder,
when justice had committed suicide, that this should have pro-
duced its influence on the other classes of the community ?
It is not a change in the constitution which is required, but a
change in the policy of the Government. Compare the re-
sults of the Government with that of Lord Normanby; and
in the first place let me ask you how that Government was
constituted ? Lord Normanby, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
was beloved by the people ; his chief secretary was my Lord
Morpeth. I must beg your pardon, Sir, for breaking the
order of the House, and I will only say that his name is
sufficient to be mentioned to secure him praise. His under
secretary was Mr. Drummond, who, though not born in Ire-
land, was more than an Irishman in his love of the country.
Mr. Wolfe and Sir M. O'Loghlin, the ornaments of the Catholic
bar, were respectively your Attorney and Solicitor-Generals
There were conductors between the Government and the
people. The Government was supported by every man of in-
fluence in the country—it was supported by every one of the
Catholic body, and every Catholic clergyman became in some
sort an unappointed constable.—( Hear, hear.) But unless you
should think that my evidence ought to be listened to with
suspicion, let me read a passage to you on the " Past and Pre-
sent Policy towards Ireland," a book not written in a hostile
spirit towards the Right Hen. Baronet ; on the contrary, it is
fraught with praise founded upon anticipation. The writer
says that Ireland never made more rapid improvement
than under the Government of Lord Normanby ;
and under him for the first time the Irish Catholics
began to feel that the Governmea cared for their
interests, an 1 the question of the repeal of the Union
was almost forgotten and discarded. The author then adverts
to a meeting held at Mallow, where upwards of one hundred
thousand prisons were assembled to present an address to Lord
Normanby. They owned that they had belonged o the party
who had agitated for the repeal of the Union, but that in conse-
pilgthakppthe
quence of the opinion which they entertained of his Excel-
lency, and of hiseereat and liberal policy, they tendered their
ineata eiotn
,ot,fli7ei
their
rhl
that
affectionsqueisi tai,o,en
f,
roornl nan yE
submittedothergian (it.to
whicho ou wn?
iaihtnilny rt
that
statement to e iagln
de-
monstrates to you that for the necessity of the
measure their exists no grounds whatever. But from
the consideration of this point, I will pass to another
more immediate to the question at issue. If the Government
conceives this Bill to be necessary, if they regarded it as abso-
lutely indispensable, if they thought that without this Bill
murder could not be arrested in its career, what is the reason
that Parliament was not called in the month of November last?
—(Cheers.) When the Government were conscious that
they had two great questions before the Legislature, why was
it that Parliament was not called in the months of November ?
It has again and again been asserted during the course of this
debate that the Government were bound to bring forward