The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-03 00:00:00

in that opinion he was content for one to see them make
their way gradually, -but surely and permanently. (Hear,
hear.) He was satisfied, if the house could agree in opi-
tion on the present occasion, that by next year measures
could be devisedby which that difficult and momentous ques-
tion could be arranged in a manner which would be in accord-
ance with the feelings of the majority of the members of
that house. If this, then, were the case, he really thought
hon. members ought not to require more. He totally dis
agreed with the hon. member for St. Alban's (Mr.
Ward), who believed that if government approved the
principle, it would be better they should adopt it, and then
appoint their commission, for in his (Lord J. Russell's)
opinion, it would be most unadvisable to adopt such a re-
solution without at once acting upon it; and as long as
they were not in a condition to do so at that time—as they
ought not to attempt to do so in the absence of those facts
and details which a commission could alone furnish—as to
use his former argument, this was a mere abstract question
of opinion, which the hon. proposer himself admitted could
not be followed up, or in any way acted upon without an
inquiry such as the one to be instituted by government, he
could not conscientiously give his support to the motion,
but must vote with his noble friend the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, satisfied that in so doing he was taking the
most direct course to obtain a practical good for the people
of Ireland, and a permanent settlement of a most intricate
and embarrassing question. (Hear. )
Mr. STANLEY rose with several other hon. members,
who, however, gave way, the calls for the ex-Secretary of
the Colonies being loud and general. Amidst considerable
cheering the right hon. gentleman spoke as follows :—I
can assure you, Sir, and this honourable house, that there
are many weighty considerations, as well of a personal as
of a public nature, which make me feel most averse to
entering into anything like a lengthened discussion of the
important—of the embarrassing—l may say of the perilous
question which has at length come under the immediate
censideration of this house and of the country. It is im-
possible,
Sir, for any man who has just quitted the service i
of his Sovereign—who has within so brief a period been
severed by the force of circumstances from those with
whom he has so long acted—who has parted from col-
leagues with whom he had ever proceeded in one uniform,
reciprocal spirit of kindness and good-will—colleagues,
from whom, during the whole term of whose official life not
one angry word have I ever heard— nor reproach nor
suspicion have I ever experienced—colleagues with whom
on all great principles, whether of domestic or of foreign
policy, I have heartily and sincerely agreed—with whom it
was equally my pleasure, as it was my duty, to act—l say,
Sir, it is impossible under these circumstances to
approach such a subject as this without something of
emotion and something of pain ; and deeply indeed do I
lament that the moment has at length arrived when to me
there is no alternative in the course to be pursued—the
moment when, from no feeling of unkindness, from no
want of affection, from no diminution of respect, but from
a paramount and unbending sense of principle and honour,
I nave felt the necessity of terminating that political con-
nection which t is no little consolation to me to be assured
wid not be allowed on either side to break in upon private
friendship. (Loud cheers.) And if, Sir, I could not but
feel this separation before, how much more deeply, how
much mtc e keenly, must I feel it now, after the kind ex-
pressions which have been lavished on me since entering
the house ? I did feel the time had come when his Ma-
jesty's ministers were about to enter into a course which I
could not conscientiously approve ; and feeling I could not
conscientiously approve it, to have done so would have
been dishonourable to myself, and injurious to the public
service (Cheers), and that there was one, and one only,
alternative left open to me, which, of course, I could not
for a moment hesitate to adopt. (Cheers.) The circum-
stances, Sir, under which I am now speaking, I am sorry
to say deprive me of the power of entering into details—of
going into those various transactions which preceded my
final separation from my late colleagues. ( Hear, hear.)
I have not yet been honoured by his Majesty with that
audience which is usual on leaving office, and at which, on
his Majesty's graciously accepting my resignation, I would
ask him for permission to make those statements which are
necessary for the vindication of my own honour, and to ex-
p'a n to that Parliament and that public whose undoubted
right it is to know that I have not on slight grounds—that
have not for trifling reasons—that I have not for insig-
nificant causes, abandoned that situation which my King
and my country thought me competent to fill. (Cheers. )
Bat, indeed, sir, the speech of my noble friend (Lord John
Kussell) has also made such a statement a work of supere-
rogation, and greatly do I differ from the hon. gentleman
the member for Middlesex (Mr. Hume) in the estimate
which he forms of the course which his Majesty's ministers
have determined to pursue--greatly do I differ from his
opinion when he says that there does not appear to be
anything like a broad- difference of principle between the
late and the present Cabinet in respect to the question of
the revenues of the Irish church. A commission has been
issued since I resigned the sealsof office involving principles
of the most dangerous and pernicious tendency—principles
inimical to the best interests of society, principles, whichin
office. and which out of office—which in this house and out o
this house—which in my private circle and in my publicf
career—which at all times, on all occasions, under every
circumstance, and in every place, I shall feel it mybounden
duty—my solemn duty to oppose and to denounce, involv-
ing as they do wild and extravagant doctrines utterly at
ra iance with the existence, and totally destructive of the
whole system of church establishments ( Great cheers)—
doctrines, which make the existence of the most venerated,
the most ennobling, and the most useful of our many ve-
nerable institutions a mere matter of proportion, and which
will make the support of our exemplary and pious clergy
dependent on temporary and fluctuating circumstances—
which will render them, in fact, the sport of fortune.
( Great cheering.) The hon. gentleman (Mr. Hume)
has told us, and told us truly, that we have had many pre-
vious commissions of inquiry—that the subject has been
frequently gone into before, that measures have already
been taken in order to arrive at correct principles. He states,
Sir, and states truly, that every information which might
aid in the remedy of abuses is now at hand ; that commis-
sions after commissions have sat—that evidence has been
taken on evidence—and that we have ample materials on
achich to act, if act we must or act we will. Sir, I differ
from the proposition now before the house, because I say
we have sent commission after commission, because we
have enacted measure after measure, which commissions
and which measures had for their object to relieve the
people of Ireland from any real causes of grievance
(Cheers), and to make the church what it ought to be—
more effective for the purposes for which it was
originally endowed—more efficient in its mode and
means of administering to the religious and moral wants
of the community—to render its strength more enduring
its efforts more successful— its claims on the affection of
the people more binding, and to rase out those blemishes
which at once disgusted its friends and encouraged its ene-
mies. (Cheers.) But, sir, on no occasion—no not one
(that reproach was left for later days) have we had a com-
mission to deal with or appropriate the revenues of the
church, and the discussion of such a question was studi-
ously, carefully, but, I hope not dishonourably, avoided in.
the Cabinet till the present period, when it has been forced
on by circumstances over which ministers could have no
control. The question is now before the house in a plain,
broad, and fair way, and has been met by my noble friend
with a propositien for a commission such as we never,
thank God, before heard of, coupled too with a declara-
tion which I heard with great pain and sincere regret ; the
same principle which, as I said, was always studiously
avoided in the Cabinet is here broached ; the same resolu-
tion you are required to affirm ; but the same course of
proceeding is not adopted by the Cabinet ; a line of conduct
ss chalked out by the present Cabinet which was never
thought of by the late one, and that is, that you are to
alienate, for purposes other than the support of the Pro-
estant church of Ireland, the revenues and immunities
bequeathed to her; and even if you admit the doctrine
(that will be mooted soon) that there shall be a Protestant
elesgymeat in every parish, you are pledged to degrade that
,clergyman—pll are pledged to torture and insult his feel-
ings —to ulcer ai: his condition—to mock at his church, by
Levelling him to the unhonoured situation of a stipendiary
servant. (Cheers.) From that principle I dissent—dissent
Sir, unequivocaUy,broadly, entirely—to that principle I here
declare an unalterable aversion and unmitigated hostility. I
for one cannot and will net submit to see the church, the
Protestant church, in this Protestant country, placed on a
footing of entire equality with all ether sects and all other
denominations. (Great cheering.) I hold that it is the
very essence of a church establishment to furnish every
member of the community in every part, parish, or dis-
trict—be the population thinly scattered or be it densely
inhabited—with religious instruction, and, with God's
blessing, we will so order things that this noble privilege
shall not be invaded ( Great cheering)—that the poor and
the ignorant have a right to look to the church for religious
comfort and religious hope, and, by God's blessing, they
shall do so still (Continued cheering); and that they are
without payment to be allowed to attend the celebration of
public worship, according to the rites and practices of a
pure religion. (Cheers.) I hope it will never be my lot
to see the time when the minister of the Crown shall rise
;n his place in this house to propose the clergy estimates
Great cheering)—when be shall congratulate the house
...het, in consequence of the decrease of religious feeling in
fifty parishes in Ireland, he will be enabled to take the sum
of 5,0001. a year from the burdens of an oppressed and
tax-ridden people. (Cheers.) Oh ! I know too well the
pernicious, the destructive effects which will follow any
attempt at appropriation ; I know what it will lead to in
the present temper of the Irish Protestant mind ; I know
full well in how many parishes the tide of Protestant emi-
gration is flowing out—how many additional incitements
there are daily occurring to violence, and to the diminution
of the already much-decreased amount of property in the
hands of those who still cling to their church and their coun-
try. But say, if the principle is dangerous in Ireland, will
it-be no less certainly carried in England? (Great cheers. )
Are you so safe here ? I ask you what minister can ex-
pert to stand in this house who will do away with the in-
come of a clergyman, merely because he has, from a slight
population—a limited sphere of action, as in the south of
Ireland—when, from the number of dissenters, the Pro-
testants form but a small minority ? Where is the mini-
ster. who will venture to say in this house that he will. not
encumber the state for the religious worship of this parish,
because, forsooth, the Protestant church attodauto form