The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-18 00:00:00

MR. BRIalli"S LETTER.

Lord CAIRNS then rose, and after alluding to the im-
portance of spme explanation being given on the sub-
ject of a letter, signed " John BrigLt," said it
was most ningular, to say the least of it, that the
letter should not have made its appearance until two days
after the motion with respect to the Irish Church Bill had
been given by his noble friend (the Earl of Harrowby).
The noble and learned lord then read the letter in ques-
tion, and dwelt in particularly strong terms upon the
allusion in it to the childish tinkering with the constitu-
tion their lordships were indulging in in endeavouring to
perfect the Life Peerages Bill. (Loud laughter.) The
letter also upheld that their lordships were acting in
direct opposition to the will of the nation in obstruct-
ing the progress of the Irish Church Bill and other
imputations of the most unjustifiable nature were used,
which rendered the publication of its production in fact as
a menace to the house. He thought the writing such a
letter was altogether unprecedented by a minister of the
Crown—(hear, hear) -and calculated to produce the
utmost danger to the free discussion of the question by
their -lordships. He thought it highly objection-
able that there should be one member of the Go-
vernment continually doing all that was smooth
and bland within the house, whilst another member
of it was doing all that was quite contrary out of it. (Hear
hear.) He thought it would be idle to call the letter a pri-
vate communication, because it was to all intents and pur-
poses a party manifesto, and so it was looked upon through-
out the country. (Hear, hear.) He hoped the noble earl
opposite would, in answer to his question, repudiate the
sentiments contained in the letter which he had brought
under the attention of the house.

Earl GRANVILLE said the letter was written by Mr.

Bright, but he cOuld not accept the paraphrase the noble
and learned lord had been pleased to give of it to their
lordships. (Hear, hear.) Ho was certain that the greatest
desire of the right hon. gentleinan was in no way to cver-
awe the deliberation of their lordship, with respect to the
Irish Church Bill, and he was quite sure that none of the
oolleagues of the right hor. gentleman were acquainted
with the contents of the letter in question previous
to its being sent, and the first time they had the
opportunity of perusing its contents was when it appeared
in the public newspapers. It was admitted that there
was a great deal of John Bullisat about Mr. Bright, and
he supposed it was in that rash combative feeling which
was given to John Bullism that Mr. Bright thought he
might express his opinion of a house which
had made such free comments upon his con-
duct as a public man —(hear, hear.)—recalling more
especially the proceeedings that took place at a certain
meeting of the Conservative Peers in St. James's-square.
Mr. Bright had no intention of acting disrespectfully to
the House of Lords, and ho entirely repudiated
such an intention. Mr. Bright had assured him that what
he intended was merely to express his own personal feel-
ings, and if he had given pain to any of their lord-
ships, ho had begged him (Earl Grenville) to assure their
lordships that such was not his intention. With respect
to the words "tinkering and unwise," he (Earl Gran-
ville) should rather prefer them than the words that
had been applied to his side of the house by a noble lord
who hal not hesitated to denounce hint as dishonest.
Earl GREY expressed a strong opinion that the leGer of
Mr. Bright was most indecorous.

The subject then dropped, and the adjourned &Iwo on
the Irish Church Bill was resumed by

The Earlof DERBY, who strongly objected to the prin-
ciple of the bill, on the ground that it despoiled the
Church of its property, and that it WAS contrary to tare
Act of Union. Ho attributed much of the agitation which
had been got up for the disestablishment of the Irish
Church to the action of the Liberation Society, and to the'r
combination with other parties for the sole purpost of
breaking down the union between Church and State, not
only in Ireland but in England. He added that he did
not object merely to the special details of the bill
but to its entire principle. He pointed out that Lord
Granville, in moving the second reading of the bill, had
confined himself-to its details without venturing upon- the
tender ground of its principle: and it was certainly
curious to see that men like the Archbishop of Canterbury,
who intended to vote for the second reading, were alto-
gether opposed to the details of The measure. The bill
WaS not even consistent with its preamble. The appl ca-
tion of a large sum, to be Obtained out of the surplus pro-
ceeds to be derived from the estates of the Irish Church,' to
the en-lowment of Meynooth was a flagrant breach of the en-
gagem,nt that no part of those proceeds was to be applie 1 to
religious purposes. Lord Granville promised,on moving the
second reading of the bal, that any amendments submitted
by the house of Lords should be -carefully cons dared ;
but having regard to the way in which ameadments had
been treated on other occasions, he altogether distrusted
any such pledge, and on his own part he should continue
to offer an uncompromising opposition to the bill. He
denied, however, that lie bad any title to be viewed as the
leader of the Conservative party, and said in the course he
was about to take he was merely following his own con-
victioDs. He looked upon the bill as being both impolitic
and immoral, and he should certainly vote against the

second reading.
The E.►rl of KIMBERLEY defended the bill at some
length, both iu regard to its principle and d galls.
ThO Bishop of RIPON strongly opposed the second
reading of the bill.
The Duke of CLEVELAND did not object to the prin-
ciple of the bill, and should therefore vote for th 3 se..:on. I
reading.

Lord REDESDALE opposed the bill, especially that
part of it which would deprive the Irish bishops of the
power of sitting in the House of Lords.
The Duke of DEVONSHIRE said he should vote for
the bill because he regarded it as a wise and beneficent'
measure, and because he believed it would remove a great
cause of discontent in Ireland.

The Marquis of SALISBURY said that he intendod to
vote for the second reading of the bill, but he wished to
guard himself against being committed to all of its details,
from many of which he entirely dissented.
Lord COLCHESTER opposed the bill.

E::r1 STANEIOPE admitted that abuses had been
allowed to creep into the Irish Church, and could not re-
sist the proposal for disestablishment. He would there-
fore vote for the second reading of the bill, believing that
its most objectionable features might bo amended in com-
mittee, and that the House of OOmmons would not refuse to
accept or consider any amendment that might be intro-
dnced

•
i., used the bill.
••
HOUSE OF CONINIONS.—LAST EVE
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
•
•
MEXICO.
Mr. OTWAY, in reply to Mr. B. Seymour, said the
diplomatic relations between this country and Mexico re-
mained precisely the same as they were when the noble
lord opposite was Foreign Minister. The Government
were quite open to renew relations, but it was felt, under
all circumstances, the first step towards the matter could
not be made by this country. (Hear, hear.)

The Bishop of rIIAM stronL
After a few words from Earl
On the motion of the Bishop
bate was adjourned.

lELD the de-

Their lordships then adjourned.

MR. BRIGHT'S LETTER.
Colonel NORTH asked the First Lord of the Treasury
whether the letter read at a public meeting at Birming
ham, on Monday, the 14th, signed "John Bright." and
which has appeared in the public journals, was written by
the President o t rd of Trade, and, if so, whether
the GoveA t concur in the opinions expressed therein ?

Mr. GLADSTONE:, said be had to state that
the letter alluded toN was the production of his
right honourable friend—(hear, hear, atd laughter)—
and he might further state that it was written without
consultation with his colleagues. The letter to which
allusion had been made was published in the same news-
paper as a letter he (Mr. Gladstone) had written to a gen-
tleman at Bradford, but his communication had not been
dignified with the same large type as that of his right
hon. friend—(hear, hear, and laughter)—and therefore it
bad not succeeded in getting the same amount of conside-
ration—(hear, hear)—a circumstance which, he might say,
afforded him some mortification. (Laughter.) With respect
to the letter of his right hon. friend, the Government had
not and did not intend to consider whether they ought to
approve of it or not, because there were motives which,
although they might approve of individually, as a Go-
vernment they coral not deal with. There were matters
upon which bath houses were extremely jealous, but he
might say that nothing with respect to the control of the
free action of the other house of the Legislature could be
further from the desire of Ids right hon. frier d than to in-
terfere in any way with the exercise of that free action
which they undoubtedly possessed.

Tho holso then proceeded to resume the adjourned
debate, on the subject of issuing a new writ for Dublin,
and leave was given to bring in the bill, which was read
a first Cm...

On'the motion for going into committee of supply on
the army estimates,

Mr. M. CHAMBERS called attention to the anomalous
position of.the clerks of the works and clerks of the Royal
Engineer Departtnent, and the denial of pensions to their
widows, and moved that, in the opinion of the house, they
were entitled to, or should be gianted, the same rights and
privileges, according to their relative rank, as were ex-
tended to other non-combatants, is the military service..
Captain VIVIAN, in reply, said that the subject had
been under the consideration of four successive Secretaries
of State, awl it was the general opinion that the case on
behalf of the ciell4 had-uot been in tde out.
After a brief discussion the Motion was withdrawn.
Several bills were formally ad*ancesl, a stage, and the
house ltdjoureett