The Sun.
London, England, 1834-02-18 00:00:00

House for an address to his Majesty, calling upon him to re-
quest.his Irish subjects to return to that country, and discharge
their duties there, as the best and only means of providing for
its security. He thought that Ireland could not be governed
without an aristocracy; but of this he was certain, that she
could never be governed by a system of abuse.
Mr. FRYME quite agreed with the observations which had
fallen from the Hon. Member who had just sat down, relative.
to the expectations of the people not having been realized.

When the present administration had come in, one great mea
sure had absorbed all their attention, and as soon as that mea.
sure was passed, and that the Parliament had met, they found
Ireland in a state of agitation from one end to the other, so
that it was not safe for the resident gentry to reside there.
Under these piromstances what could they do, but
,pre,ss that
coercive measure for which, he must say, he (Mr. Pryme)
was a reluctant voter. Many other Hon. Members of that
House, who had been criglnally averse to that measure; had
beep reluctantly converted, to it from a consideration of the
unfortunate position in which that country was placed. What
Irdand required, in the first place, to insure her tranquillity,
was a resident gentry; and, what was still more important,
manufacturers, who Ilvould give employment to her lakourers,
"ant contribute lo establish that retaillrane, sshich the Hon.
Member opposite had asserted was almost extinct.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) Were not the exports of that country
manifold times greater than they were previous to the union ?
and if the Hon. and Learned Member succeeded in getting the
union repealed, what would the consequence be ? They would
have a legislature sitting in that House and in Dublin, and
they would have the English people looking for protection from
the Irish landed proprietors, who would be continually imposing
additional duties upon the butter, the cattle, the corn, and every
thing exported from Ireland. That the union had been accom-
plished by fraud; by violence, and by corruption, he was not
disposed tq dcny.—(Hgar.) 'But the question now was, would
it be expedient to repeal it ? The union Scotland had also
been effected by means that were not very creditable—but in
Scotland they had had peace and industry since the passing of
theunion ; and he would ask, was there a single Member of that
House, or any rationalman outside the House, who would say
that the union with Scotland should be repealed ?—(Hear,
hear.) It would perhaps be exceedingly beneficial to two
or three large towns if separate legislatures were established.
York might be ben efitted, and he would say the same of Norwich,
and in fact they might revert to the Saxon Heptarchy, but it
would be only in so much as the expenditure of the Nobility
and Gentry would iunonnt to, The Hon, Member concluded
by expressing his conviction that the repeal of the Union would
be a most impolitic and unwise measure.
Lord ALVANLEY trusted that when the question was
brought before the House it would be discussed completely
and satisfactorily. He would ask the Honourable Member
(Mr. O'Connor) how had these petitions been got
up ? Were they not procured by a system of in,
timidation ? H4d not associations been formed for the
purpose of obtaining signatures—was not the country agitated
from one end to the other ?—(Hear, hear.) He would merely
ask the Hon. Member to state under what circumstances these
petitions had been got up.
Mr. F, O'CONNOR begged to assure the Noble Lord that
he was not aware of any system of intimidation or terror fur-
ther than this, that Catholic tenants had been ejected from their
farms by Protestant landlords for attending repeal meetings.
He had never heard of any associations having been formed for
such a purpose, nor did he believe that any such existed. One
word with regard to what had fallen from the Hon. and Learned
Member for Drogheda, who had taken upon himself the office
of apologist for the Right Hon. the Secretary for Ireland. He
wished the Hon. and Learned Gentleman had told them what
the Right Hon. Secretary had actually done for that coun-
try. Ireland was so eircnmstan!...ed, that let a reformed parlia-
ment give the wisest and best institutions that could be devised
for the government of a country, and the moment they were
sent over, the furious aristocracy there would pervert and turn
them to their own purposes, and according to the whim of a
faction. The Hon, Baronet behind him had reminded him
, (Mr. O'C.) of the story of Rip Van Wrinkle, who had slept
for forty years.— (Hear.) He stated what the circumstances of
Ireland were when he was last there, but if the Hon. Baronet
went now to Ireland he would find that he had been asleep for
the last forty years, and that his reception would be a very dif.
ferent one. It had been alleged that the exports of Iveland
• had increased, but it was because the consumption
• iaad been diminished, and it was no sign of the prosperity of a
estffitry that it exported all its food while the people were
starving at home.—(Hear.) He should not have said so much
but for the question put to him by the Noble Lord, and he
could assure him that he knew of no associations existing in
Ireland for the purpose of making the people repealers.
After a few words from Sir A. AGNEW, the purport of
which we could not catch,
Mr. O'CONNELL said that the question of repeal was
every day gaining ground in Ireland. He would give two in.
stances that had lately taken place. In Armagh no candidate
could offer himself but a repealer. Mr. Dobbin, the present
Member, was not a repealer, and he had seen a requisition ad-
dressed to him, calling him to resign his seat, signed by 1,500
persons, 400 of whom were constituents of the town, and a
public dinner had taken place there, to celebrate the altera-
tion in public feeling that had taken place on this question in the
north of Ireland. The Irish Catholic bishops seldom inter-
fered in political matters, but he had seen a letter from a very
estimable prelate, who had been lately parish priest of Athlone,
and was now bishop of Galway. A public meeting in favour
of repeal was about to take place in the latter town, and being
unable to attend, the Right Reverend Prelate had addressed a
letter to the meeting, stating, that if the opinions of the people
were put down in that manner, they might as well petition for the
Algerine Government He esEaired the Noble Lord that there
was no o r of intimidation resorted to by the Repealers.—(Lord
Alvanley asked was there not agitation ?) There must of course
be agitation, (Lord
Alvanley—Were there not associations ?)
There were no associations, for the moment an association
existed, the Lord LicAttenant wqs enabled by the powers
granted him by the Coercion Bill to put them down. There
;.was one association which he had not put down, the Conserva.
I tive Association, but he believed it was because they ban de-
sisted from their sittings. The present agitation had been
attributed to an individual. He would not hesitate to say that