The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-01 00:00:00

NEW WRIT FOR STAFFORD.

After scrairt conversation as to the form of proceeding,
Mr. I)IVETT gave notice that he would, on Monday next,
move that no ne..v writ should issue for the Borough of
Stnffortl until within ten days of the next meeting of Par-
liament.
On the motion of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, the order for
the appointment of a joint committee to inquire into the al-
leged cases of bribery at York and Yarmootli, was discharged,
and separate Committees were appointed.
MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (IRELAND).,
Me. Sergeant PE RRIN could not rise to move for lease to
bring in a Bill for the better regulation of the Municipal Cor-
porations of Ireland, without in the outset expressing the vegret
he sincerely felt that the task should not have devolved upon
an individual more competent to do justice to it. He hoped
that the House would extend tewards him that indulgence
which, even if he possessed a greater shave of eeporience, he
might fairly hope to receive, while he proceeded to develope
the geoends on which he founded the motion.—( Hear, hear.)
Before be preeec,e4ej fprther, they would permit him to express
a hope that they itentd not *i.pfuw !iirpsthe liberty lie sought,
or object to provide for the better re24iaaxi Nf the kleeteleipal
Corporations of Ireland, after they had reformed the 6.orpora-
t4nris of Scotland, and passed a Bill for the reform of the Mu-
nicipal (forporatioes, of Fingland.—( Hear, hear.) He certainly
felt considerably relieved In liedeeteleing the task, by the re-
collection of the ample discussion and full egpeideretimi which
""use had eery TPOolltly bestowed upon the subject of
the ---erationso t=high ITCII4PEPti it as unnecessary as
Municipal lone ' to etilaego upoil IPP r~u lilacs on
it would be unbecoming, or upon tho acelnitages
which a Bill of that sort must ree., -
•tnnicipal Corpo-
which a well-ordered and well.regulateu
mected.
ration conferred on the district with which it ;VAS 'he
The subject to which he wished to call the attention of
House was the present ertisting state of the Corporations of
Ireland, and the abuses which had crept into those Corpora-
tions—abuses which he considered rendered it imperative on
the Government to bring them under the consideration of the
Legislature. It appeared from the Report of the Commis-
sioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire as to the existing
state of the Corporations of Ireland, that the Commissioners
found it to be such as required the immediate attention and
interference of the House. It appeared from the Report that
the greater number of the Corporations might be generally
described as consisting of self-elected, irresponsible governing,
bodies of twelve or more members, by whom the whole cor-
porate powers were exercised ; that in many boroughs the
existence of freemen was unknown, and even where admitted
they were, in most cases, comparatively few in number, and
had little, if any, power or influence. Would the House be-
lieve—yet it appeared by the Commissioners' Report—that in
the town of Belfast there were but six freemen now known to
be in existence ? It appeared also by the Report that in those
corporations, or at least in the generality of them, for he did
not speak universally or absolutely, but in the greater part
of the corporations, that the commonalty or freemen bad
neither directly or indirectly any voice in, or control over,
the election of the corporate officers, nor any other effec-
tive means by which the wishes of the inhabitants could be
secured as to the choice of those persons who were to ma-
nage the corporate business. The modes in which the small
share of the popular influence existing in those bodies was
exercised, and its practical extent in each varied consi-
derably ; but they were minutely laid down in the separate
local reports or tables of details, with which it would not be
necessary that he should detain the House at present, except.-
ing while he detailed the state of the Corporations of one or
two towns, with the circumstances of which he himself was
well acquainted, as a specimen to show the general state of
the Corporations in Ireland. The commissioners, in describ-
ing the present state of the Corporations of Ireland,
" It has followed that in many towns there is no recognized
commonalty ; that in others, where existing in name, it is
entirely disproportioned to the inhabitants, and consists of a
very small portion, of an exclusive character, not comprising
the mercantile interest, nor representing the wealth, intelli-
gence, or respectability of the town. The Corporations are,
not without reason, looked upon by the great body of the in-
habitants of the corporate districts with suspicion and die-
trust, as having interests distinct from, and adverse to, the
general community, whom they studiously exclude from a.
participation in the municipal government. Their members
frequently consist entirely of the relatives and adherents of
particular individuals or families, and the principles of their
association, and those which regulate admission or exclusion,
have rarely any connection with the common benefit of the
district, or the wishes of its inhabitants. In far the greater
number of the close Corporations, the persons comprising them
are the mere nominees of the 'patron' or 'proprietor' of the
borough—(hear, hear)—while in those apparently more en-
larged, they are admitted and associated in support of some
particular political interest, most frequently at variance with
the majority of the resident inhabitancy."—( Hear, hear.) But
an essential, a fundamental, and most just objection to the pre-
sent constitution of those corporations was, their exclusive and
sectarian character.—( Hear, hear.) He could not illustrate this
in better words than those made use of by the Commissioners
in their Report, and he would therefore beg leave to read them.
The Report stated, " That this system deserves peculiar no-
tice in reference to your Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects.
In one corporation alone, that of Tuam, the majority of the
governing body is Roman Catholic, one only of the burgesses
being a Protestant. The laws which for a series of years ope-
rated to exclude those professing the Roman Catholic religion
from corporations were repealed in the year 1793, by the sta-
tute 33 Geo. 111. cap. 21 ; but the Roman Catholics have
hitherto derived little practical advantage from the change.
In the close boroughs, they are almost universally excluded from
all corporate privileges." The report then proceeds to state
that even in the corporations where rights to freedom are ac-
knowledged and conceded, the long operation of the penal code
having prevented the acquisition of freedom by the immediate
ancestors of the present Roman Catholic population, very few
have been enabled, since its repeal, to establish the requisite
titles ; and after stating that the admissions which have taken
place have, for the most part, been the result either of personal
influence with the members of the governing body, or com-
pliments to individuals of wealth or popularity, it goes on :
" Previously to the relaxation of the penal code, the number
of opulent Roman Catholics residing in the corporate cities
and towns was necessarily limited. But since those changes
in the laws, which have enabled them to share in the general
diffusion of wealth and in the benefits of unrestricted industry,
they have risen and multiplied in the middle and upper classes,
so that, in most of the cities and towns, they constitute not
only a majority of the whole population, but a large propor-
tion of the more opulent orders. We feel bound to submit
to your Majesty that a system of municipal polity, which ex-
cludes such a class of your Majesty's subjects from all substan-
tial :orporate privilege and power, must be essentially defec-
tive in its
,:sructure. It fails to secure to the different classes
of the local eere,::inity participation in the regulation of their
own concerns ; and it op. rates farl nrre widely, aod
privilege to
chievously, than by the mere
; for inCa-
p persons possessing perfect equality of th
places where the great mass of the population is ...:man
tholic, and persons of that persuasion are, for all efficnee.
purposes, excluded from corporate privileges, the necessary
result is that the municipal magistracy belongs entirely to the
other religious persuasion ; and the dispensation of local jus-
tice, and the selection of juries, being committed to the mem-
bers of one class exclusively, it is not surprising that such ad-
ministration of the laws should be regarded with distrust and
suspicion by the other and more numerous body.—( Hear,
hear.) The unpopular character of the municipal bodies
is thee,
.in. too many cases, aggravated by their being consi-
deredmorocal, on the ground of sectarian feelings, to a great
majority of the resident population, and they become instru-
mental to the continuance of the unhappy dissensions which it
has so limes been the policy of the Legislature to allay."—
(Cheers. ) And accordingly in the conclusion of their Report
the Commissioners state "that the early and effectual correc-
tion of existing evils, and the prevention of future mischief, are
anxiously desired and essentially requisite ; and that these be-
nefits can be obtained only by means of a general and com-
plete reform of the constitutions of the municipal corporations
in Ireland."—( Cheers.) It was not his intention to detain
the House by calling its attention to all the local Reports on
the different corporations made by the Commissioners, but lie
felt that it was material to the understanding of his position
that he should briefly advert to some remarkable cases, but
he would promise that he would occupy the time of the House
as briefly as possible. He would not do so at all if it were
not that he was sensible he could not do justice to his case
without drawing attention to some particular point of the in-
quiry. He had already stated that in many of the corpora-
tions the inhabitants had but a small share in the administra-
tion of the corporate property. In this he was borne out by
the Report of the Commissioners, to a part of whose Report
he would now draw attention. He found that in 1833, in the
town of Cashel the number of inhabitants was 7,000, while
the number of corporators, including mayor, burgesses, and
freemen, was only 33. In Clonmel the number of '.ebitants
was 15,134, and the number of corporators 178.—( Hear, hear.)
In Kilkenny the number of inhabitants was 23,741, and the
number of eorporators 469.—( Ilea:, hear.) In Waterfoed
the population was 23,821, and the number of corporators
869. In Castlebar the number of inhabitants was 6,373, and
the corporators. six.--( Cheers. In mentioning these places
he was not giving those in which the disproportion between
the inhabitants and Corporation was greatest, but he merely
picked them out as the principal towns in the districts. In
Ennis the number of inhabitants was 9,568, the number of
corporators 13.—(Cheers.) In Galway the number of inha-
bitants was 33,120, the number of corporators 1,770. In
Limerick the number of inhabitants was 66,554, the number
o. f corporators 271.—( Cheers.) In Tralce the number of
Inhabitants was 9,568, the number of corporators only 14.
( Cheers.) In Athlone the number of inhabitants was 11,406,
the number of corporators 243. In Carlow the inhabitants
were 9,114, the corporators 33.—( Hear.) In Maryborougli
the inhabitants were 5,000, the corporators 9.—( Hear, hear.)
In Naas the number of inhabitants was 3;808, the number of
corporators 16. In Portarlington the number of inhabitants
was 3,091, the e number of corporators 16. In Cork the num-
ber of inhabitants. was 100,716, the number of corporators
2,665. In Kinsale the number of inhabitants was 8,126, the
cbrporators 63. In 'Yougball the number of inhabitants was
11,327, while the number of corporators was 221. In Ar-
magh the number of inhabitants was 9,470, the corporators 16.
In Belfast the inhabitants were 53.287, the corporators 21.
In Drogheda the inhabitants were 17,365, the corporators
426 In Dundalk the inhabitants were 10,750, the number of
corporators 40 ; and in Dublin, with a population of upwards
of 200,000 persons, the corporators only numbered 4,000.
( Hear, bear.) There were Ave towns which bad sent no