The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-06 00:00:00

that Irish nationality if it is to to achieved at the ex-
pense of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.—(Loud
cheers.) Because I think that the interests of Eng.
land, Scotland, and Ireland are closely interwoven
and bound up with each other.—(Hear, hear.) I
believe they must stand or fall together, and
that the integrity of this empire depends upon
maintaining Ireland as an integral portion of it.
Although, ray Lord, you have certainly, with great de-
licacy, glanced at a section of my political principles, I
do say—for there is nothing like open confession, it is
good for the soul—(Laughter)—I mean the: political
soul—that I do plead guilty to that charge ; and if your
Lordship and others hope to convert me from what you
consider en error• you isteit do so by elf cting in Parlia-
ment a more liberal and enlightened system of legisla-
tion towards Ireland. You say it is possible to convert
me. I should like to see the experiment tried. lam
told that there are great things in store for us in the
next session of Parliament. That there are certain
sugar plums and political sweetmeats in the hands of
the State confectioner for the pacification of Ireland,
which are to be served up to us liberally upon the open-
ing of the next session of Parliament. My sincere hope
is that we may partake of them ; and if the cake is good
we will not hesitate to give praise to the maker. But,
referring again to the compliment which you have this
night paid me, I assure you, my
Lord, that I appreciate
it very highly, and I will tell you why Ido so. I think
it is calculated to do great good, both in this country and
in Ireland. Do not let me be misunderstood as
being sufficiently vain to believe that this
compliment is merely paid to me individually. I cer-
tainly do consider that a portion of it is of a personal
nature—(Cheers)—but the great, bulk of that compli-
ment is to be brought to the credit of you as Englishmen
and English a
Representa_tiym •
of every opportunityOrrvftirig roti
between England,ana Ireland.—(Cheers.) I do believe
kuvail tteT themselvesreeli
ng
that you could not make any effort more calculated to
accomplish that most desirable object than the effort
which you have now made. I have only to say that if
I can, humble as I am, be instrumental in accomplishing
the smallest possible particle of good in that way, I shall ,
feel exceedingly proud. Allow me to assure you that,
no matter what violent men upon either side of the
Channel may, say, the heart of my country is sound
towards this country. No matter what political charla-
tans or the press on both sides may say, or designing
bigots may preach, you may rest assured that the people
of Ireland are loyal towards this country, and that al-
though they may find fault with laws and complain of
Governments, whether Whig or Tory, they still believe
that their interests are bound up and closely interwoven
with the welfare of this country.—(Cheers.) I ventured at a
time when it was believed that we were on the eve of
dissolving our national connexion, to raise my voice in
the House of Commons against that opinion. I stated
that it was all talk, and it turns out to be talk, and talk
of a most balderdash nature. I have, like very few
prophets, lived to see my own prophecy realised .—( Hear,
hear.) Although the atmosphere looks exceedingly
gloomy at present, it is only a temporary cloud. Rest
assured that the sun will melt away those mists and fogs
which at present obscure the eyes of the British people,
and that Ireland will again arise in all her strength and
prosperity, and will then be seen to be, what God and
nature intended her to be—the right arm of this empire.
—(Loud cheers.) Let me, however, not be misunder-
stood; we have great grievances to complain of, and we
do complain of them, and I shall continue to do so,
whether in or out of Parliament. But, my Lord, when
I complain of Irish grievances, I shall not go back for
700, nor for 600, nor 500, nor 400, nor 300, nor 200,
no, nor even 100 years; nor shall I arraign the English.
men of the: present day before my countrymen for the
crimes of their ancestors, and I hope that Englishmen
will not hold me responsible for the crimes of my ancestors.
What I am disposed to say, in private and in public, is
" Let bygones be; bygones; throw a veil over the
atrocities of our common nature, turn over a new leaf,
and begin a fresh.—(Hear.) What I want my country-
men to do is, to get down from talking poetry to plain
prose; I wish that they should forget Col-in -fother and
Brian Boru, and talk of what? Why, of men who are
remarkable for originating and promoting the arts and
sciences; that they should follow the excellent example
of my rlations, the Scotch; for we claim to be the an-
cestors of that thrifty nation.—(Laughter.) It has
been said, my Lord, with truth, that the pupil has often
exceeded the master, and, I believe, that the old adage
is strikingly exemplified in the case of our descendants
on the other side of the Tweed.—(Laughter.) How-
ever, I sin satisfied that we shall get on rapidly in that
path in which we are likely to succeed. Now, my Lord,
having to apologise to yourself and my friends for this
digression, I trust you will permit me to allude to the
circumstance, which I will do very shortly, that has
brought us together.il have already:stated that you were
assembled here to attest by your presence your approval
of the triumph of purity of election. I venture to say—
indeed I will challenge contradiction—that a purer
election than that which Cook place in the month of
August, 1847, and which'iresultedln my return for Dub-
lin, never took place within the United Kingdom.
The O'Gonateet MAl:tole—Exactly, excepting that of
Ennis.—(Laughter.)
Mr. REYNOLDS —I am corrected by my friend the
Member for Ennis, who says there never was a purer
election than that for Dnblin, excepting that of Ennis.
By no means ' • permit me to crack a joke at the expense
of Ennis, and to tell you that you may compare small
things with great. I shall not say that Ennis is small,
still less charge my friend with being a little man in any
sense of the word. I speak with perfect sincerity, but,
when compared with Dublin, Ennis is a little place. The
city of Dublin contains a population approaching to a
quarter of a million, the number of electors upon its Par-
liamentary roll is 21,000. That city was supposed to be
the citadel and stronghold of a party with whom I have
been in open and honest antagonism from the period of
my boyhood unto the present hour—the Toris of Ireland.
There has been nothing like bad temper between us. I
must say that they have borne all my opposition
with the most Job-like patience and Christian
fortitude; they, however, considered that the city of
Dublin was their political patrimony. This right was cer-
tainly disputed occasionally, and they were by the exer-
tions of determined men sometimes ousted. Daniel
O'Connell beat them twice, at a very heavy
expense and
with great trouble. But they have in Dublin always a
petition; there is always a Dublin petition, and a Dublin
Committee is in perpetual existence. The Times said,
very properly, that it was a mistake to say that
Lord Robert Grosvenor and the other gentlemen who
sat with him were a new Committee; it was nothing
more than the old Committee resuscitated. It was .a
kind of Rip Van Winkle, that, in point of fact, it had a
perpetual existence. They ousted my
deceased leader
once, and he defeated them the second time. But, my
Lord, in the year 1847, the Dublin Conservatives deter-
mined to have a walk over the course; for it was sup-
posed that after the many efforts which bad been made
no man could be found to have the hardihood to contest
the city with them. Being a very humble, and I might
say almost obscure individual—(Cries of " No, no")—
I was forced forward to lead the forlorn hope in
the Liberal cause, not at the eleventh, but
at the eleventh and a half hour I entered the field. I
use the word " field" not in a military sense, but it is
the best expression I can think of. I determined to
try my fortune:with them. It was rather a gloomy pro-
spect. First of all, the constituency were 21,000. The
law required that there should be a separate booth, or
polling place, for every 120 voters upon the list, which
involved the necessity of 180 polling booths. That in-
volved the necessity fur three officers for the Sheriff to
each booth, which, multiplied by the 180, makes 540.
That again brought with it the necessity of three officers
for myself, making 540 more, and 1,080 for my two op-
ponents, making together a tolerable politico-military
establishment. The Sheriff's expenses for his booths
and officers was 2,4001., of which I had to pay one •
third and nay opponents the remaining two-thirds. The
polling was confined to a few hours, namely, from eight
in the morning until five in the afternoon. All Dublin
turned out; we bad at least 60,000 able-bodied men at
the election, for the unrepresented attended as well as
the electors. We had also a considerable per centage of
old and young ladies, for many of them were deeply in-
terested in my welfare.—(Laughter.) T he:consequence was
ble thing,about
that at five o'clock, on a magnificent evening on the 4th
of August, 1847, I was duly elected, and the only re-
gret that I had was this, that I had not had a colleague
in the election, in order that we might have had a double
saas)Wineg can,it is
baut ri
some of them
return. But, my Lord, my opponents could scarcely be-
lieve the evidence of their own senses, and
terrible went
like political madmen, saying. " Is it possible that this
man is returned?" They met each other with long
faces, asking the question, anti the answer was, a
he is elected." Well, they became desperate; they did
not
and contentw we
m us
must
themselvesbea
bear
it as withw ehu
said, " No, we will not bear it; we will put him down
by a petition." " But on what are we to ground a peti-
tition? There is no bribery. They said,
" No, we
admit that." " Then how will you put him out?"
Why, we will charge his voters with non-payment of
local taxes; we will crush him by expenses; we will
break him down."—(Hear, bear.) And, my Lord, they
were as good as their word; that is, they tried, but they
s •
did not succeed.—(Cheers.) The scrutiny into my
election lasted thirteen weeks, and at the
end of the twelfth week they succeeded
striking off ninety of my votes for non-payment se
upon the
taxes. The expense attendant taking off of
those votes for non-payment of taxes was, upon my part,
about 7,0001., while upon the a part of me
opponents it
was probably 10,0001. i
; and, f my defence had not been
managed economically, as
well as being conducted in a
very talented manner, it would have cost 20 00 , 0/. But it
fact in the statistics of elections,
that my Lord, a singular elections,
the no
that in taking off 90 votes for the of rates,
17,000/. of money was required to be expended. To
show the grievous nature of that opposition, I need only
state that the amount of taxes due by those 90 voters
was not qute 50/.—(Cries of " Shame.") To strike off
90 voters 17,0001. of hard money has been expended,
and I will not say what an enormous amount—l will
not call it perjury, but of " hard swearing." To ag-
gravate the calamity, my. Lord, the men who lost their
votes by this hard swearing had no opportunity of de-
fending themselves, for they resided in the city of
Dublin, nearly 500 statute miles from the place where
the jury sat to determine their case. I would not deem
it my duty to trespass on your valuable time by dwelling
on these figures for my own gratification, but I
do so merely for the purpose of impressing on