The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-13 00:00:00

seized try mot, MI some 01 Meal Kept a Dirt 10 gems
and then dischatoed. Shaw came to them, and declared
that, be arrested them under the Coercive Act, and.threa-
tene'd them with all. the Penalties of .the`e'Aqeunless their
tithes were paid. It was true that therm men had com-
plained to the magistrates, sod the magietrates, bad, after
an investigation of the conduct of the police, pronotinceel
it injudicious.—(Hear, hear.) It 'wee high time for the
House to interfere when such. a scandalous outrage was
passed over as an injudicious act 'on the-part of the police-
--(Hear, hear.) Whence came the' authority so to• act?
Surely it would 'not be said • that Shave; would bose
dared to he guilty of Stier` a glaring' violation of the
law, unless he were. acting, 'under 'the orders of
some superior poWet which he 'wail' bound to obey.
What power then was thii?-ae(Hear.)•• He came before
the Commons of England to eel- what poWer it was that
had the audacity to interfere:arid falsify'the pledges of his
Majesty's Governnient ?..:—(Loud 'cheers.) That there
was such a power was olear." This was a question of vast
importance, and he was quite sure the Noble Lord could
not say that in bringing it forward he had acted unfairly
by 'him, or that he bad urOd on the matter with inde-
cent precipitation. He had done every thing in his power
to avoid the necessity of bringing this before Parliament.
As soon as be was aware of the circumstances he com-
municated all he knew to his Maiesty's Government. So
far hack as the 15th May he had written to the Noble
Lord, to acquaint him with the outrages which had been
committed in .violation of his word. Not that he con-
ceived for a moment" that the Noble Lord knew any thing
of atm—such an idea never entered his- thoughts.—
(Hear, hear.) But what be thought he bad just reason
to complain Of .watta that after this notice nothing was
done to check the system. The work still went en—
night after night the unfortunate people were taken out
of their houses for tithes, in violation of the solemn
pledges of his Majesty's Ministers. It appeared that the
parties in Ireland to whom tithes were due had looked
upon the Coercive Bil as a Godsend—and as they knew
not how long it tnigbt be before its powers were put
an end to, they were determined to make hay whilst
the sun of coercion shone —(Hear.) No notice what-
ever was taken of his represent•tione. When he said
that no notice was taken, he could only speak of their
tr
practical result—no step was taken in consequence,
that he could hear of.—(Hear, tear.) He had used
every exertion in his power to find out who were the
persons who had dared to stand between the Government
and the people of Ireland, and break the solemn pledges
which that Government bad made. He was unable to
succeed in discovering these persons, nor could his appeal
to the Government put a stop to them. What, he
would like to know, would have been the situation of
Ireland—what would have been the condition of Hon.
Men hers, who, like himself, had been held up as delibe-
rate traitors to the country, if Parliament had not for-
tunately been sitting at the time of these occurrences? The
first moment possible he placed upon the books of the
House a motion on this subject, which unfortunately he
was unable to bring forward at an earlier period. He,
therefore, thought it right to insist upon bringing the
question before the House to-night—not out of any un-
kindness to the Noble Lord, but in justice to the people
of Ireland, and in justice to the motives which induced
him to support his Majesty's Ministers on the occasion of
the Coercive Bill. In his opinion the Bill of last year
was most mischievous, and bad been the fertile cause of
disturbances in Ireland. The people had been promised
an extinction of tithes; and when they found their hopes
raised at one moment, and dashed to the ground the next,
it was not in human nature tbat they should be quiet.—
(Hear.) What bad been the result of last year's mea-
sures? By such returns as they had hes n able to procure
(and it was singular that in many cases where it was
important to procure information, that information was
assiduously concealed), it appeared that the sum chimed
at that time for arrears of tithes was 52,3281., whilst the
sum actually obtained up to the 3d February was 2,929/.,
and yet it bird been said of this Bill that it had worked
well. Probably, since that time some further amount had
been received ; but if so, that amount had only been ob-
tained by a violation of good faith to the people of Ire-
land, which they would never forget. The number of de-
crees pronounced was 30,000, of attachment from the Court
of Chancery 1258, of proclamations 236, and of persons
against whom proceedings had been had for sums not ex-
ceeding one shilling 4,600. It was just, however, to say
that some of the proceedings bad not been acted upon.
But what, he should like to know, could be more absurd,
than to commence proceedings which there was no inten-
tion of following up ? Many of these proceedings were
for sums not exceeding one farthing—he, of course, did
not complain that they had not been prosecuted; but he
complained that they had ever been instituted—their only
apparent object being to increase expense ; with the
amount of costs paid to the Crown Solicitor and other
law officers of the Crown they were not acquainted If,
as he had beard some hint, the counsel for the Crown had
waved their claim to fees, still be presumed they must be
compensated in some way, and it appeared that the
counsel attending the quarter sessions were entitled to five
guineas per diem. All this expense bad been incur red—
for what ? In the first place, to transfer to the Crown
all the odium of collecting the debts due to the clergy ;
in the next place, to receive the sum of 2,929/. out of
52,000/. and upwards ; and finally, it was considered
the grand point of all to vindicate the law..-(Hear, hear.)
He should really be glad to know what was the mean-
ing of vindicating a law admitted to be bad ? What,
he should like to know, was the meaning of vindi-
cating a system devoted to extinction ?—( Hear, hear.)
There were persons now living who remembered the pe-
riod when it was in the power of the Protestant to go to
a Roman Catholic and offer him 5/. for his horse, which
he was compelled to accept. When it was proposed to
extinguish this law, its absurdity and unjustness were fully
admitted. But it was contended, that so long as it should
continue to exist it ought to be enforced, which, in fact,
*mounted to this—that for so long as they could possibly
keep the power, Protestants should be entitled to supply
themselves with Roman Catholic horses at their own
.rice.--(Hear.) The Hon. Gentleman then referred to
the report of the Tithe Committee, which had raised such
expectations among the people of Ireland. The words of
;that report were extremely remarkable, and served to
eatcount for m'uch of the disturbance which had taken
place. The Committee said that, in recommending the
adoption of immediate measures for the enforcement of the
law, and for relieving the urgent distresses of the clergy,
the Committee could not shut their eyes to the absolute
necessity of an extensive change in the present system of
providing a maintenance for Ministers of the Established
Church ; and the Committee went on to state, that though
-they were not then prepared with any specific plan, yet
they did not hesitate to express their opinion that such a
change, to be satisfactory and secure (he much liked those
words, satisfactory and secure), must involve tl.e com-
plete extinction of tithes.—(Hear, hear.) He prayed
the House to recollect by whom the report was
brought up, and by whom it was mot forth to the
world. It was needless to say that the promises which
were held out were believed. What was the change that
bad taken place—what was this extinction which was to
prove so safe and satisfactory? The Right Hon. Gentle-
man the Member for the University of Cainhridee had,
some years ago, brought in a Bill for the composition of
tithes in liel!nd, which Bill was conai4ered a great aegra-
vation of the evil, inasmuch as it took away feorn the tithe
payer all remedy, and made large tracts of land, sorb as
grazing' lands, &c., which were before exempt, liable to
this impost. The Right Hon. Gentleman, however, in
his Bill, allowed the tithe-payers the option of remaining
under the old law, or of claiming the benefit of that Act ;
whereas the present measure was little more than an arbi-
trary and compulsory application of the provisions of the
Biel of the Right Hon. Gentleman to the people of fielend.
It appeared as though every Administration in this coun-
try tea itself bound to oppress and injure Ireland, Was
Ireland never to have any thing like fair play ?—(llear.)
Ho was justified in saying, that the moment Government
gave the p edge, it ought to have adopted measures to see
that the pledge was fulfilled.—(Heae.) But the moment
the Bill was sent to Ireland, it appeared there was a party
there strong and hold enough to intercept the deelerad in-
eeption of Government. He appealed to the Nettle Lord
try that which had often been the prop of the country in
times of difficulty—he appealed to him by that high
character which he had hitherto maintained, rhet he
would not suffer his solemn pledge to be vi lated.
He appealed to his better and more generous feel-
ings, that he would not suffer the Irish, because they
were beaten down to the earth—bscatlea they could
not lift their hands in their own defence, and eoldd with
difficulty find a way for their petitions to that lieus.e—he
called on that House—he trilled on the Noble Lord to in-
terpose and say " These things shall not be. We have
put down disturbances in Ireland by means of this Billets-
we pledged ourselves to employ it for no other purpose—
and we will punish ray person who dares to true it in
another way."—(Hear, hear.) He implored of the House,
and of the Noble Lord, justice—and nothing but justice
for his unhappy countrymen. He stood on the Noble
Lord's bond—not, indeed, a legal instrument, sienad anti
sealed according to law; but he took his stand usu., a higher
and nobler obligation—the mild of a British Minister
given jetetke., here ,of, a British Parliamento—(Cheers.)
In the 'riallie the ii/ i,-of that honour which ought to be
1, .. ,
dearei- tn us 'than life's site the name of his ur fortunate
mad long misgoverned' cis rati.y—in the name of the God
Of justice and al-troth,44almetl redress for 11,.,:l ed jre-
.,,, • .-
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