The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-24 00:00:00

lords. Now, I appeal fearlessly to the Member for West-
minster, whether he sees in this any valid ground for the
charge of inconsistency. With respect again, to the Dis-
senter's Marriage Bill, that had been made a ground of
charge against me, I did not oppose the Noble Lord's
( Lord John Rusell) Bill last session, and is it now to be
made matter of accusation against me that the Bill of the Noble
Lord having beef unsuccessful I proposed another Bill in the
present session? Was it not my duty as a Member of this
House, as a Member of the Government, to make the Bill as

satisfactory as I could to the parties more immediately inte-
rested ?—(Cheers.) I wish that Hon. Members, in place of
general charges, would bring forward some particular mea-
sure, and show how I have proved myself inconsistent since
the passing of the Reform Bill. Ido not consider it to be
a part of my duty as a public man to look back into all
the speeches I have made in this House, for the purpose
of ascertaining whether or not they be in perfect consistency
one with the other. I feel it to be my duty as a puLlic man to
steer that course I think best calculated to promote the in-
terests of the country without constant reference to thelan-

guage I may have used at any period of my public life.—
( Cheers.) In place of general charges I again call upon
Hon. Gentlemen to state some specific measure on which my
conduct has been inconsistent.--( Cheers.) I consented not to
accept the office I have the honour of holding for the gratifi-
cation of personal ambition, or for the despicable advantages
or emoluments of office.—(Cheers.) I did not seek the
office by factious conduct in this House. I have never entered
into alliance for the purpose of obtaining it with those who en-
tertained certain opinions.--( Cheers.) This I merely state as a
fact with respect to myself, not meaning in the 'mit reflection
upon others. I appeal to those who have known me in Op-
position that I did not impede their progress by factious com-
bination with men from whom I totally differed in political
sentiment. I accepted office, and feeling it to be my duty to
accept it—to make every effort which I judge conducive to
the welfare of my country--(Cheers)—l will continue to do
so in spite of any charges of inconsistency that may be-brought
against me. Relying on the purity of our motives we will
follow the course which we honestly believe will prove most
generally satisfactory to the country, and I never will hold
office longer than I think it consistent with the interests of the
Crown and the honour of a public man.--( Cheers. )
Mr. BARRON and Sir R. PEEL mutually explained.
Colonel EVANS fully admitted that the Right Hon.
Baronet had fully defended himself from the charge of incon-

sistency as regarded this measure, but not as regarded others.
Sir H. HARDINGE said a few words which were not
audible in the Gallery.
Mr. LITTLETON said that no individual was less dis-
posed than himself to impute to his Right Hon. Friend, that
his conduct was influenced by any other than the highest mo-
tives. The long time he had known his Right Hon. Friend,
and acted with him, would prevent him from even insinuating
any such charge. He must say, however, that his Right Hon.
Friend seemed entirely to have forgotten that he had col-
leagues.—( Cheers from the Opposition benches.) He knew
the caution with which his Right Hon Friend was in the
habit of express;ng himself on most public questions, but he
was assisted, both in that House and the other House of Par-
liament, by colleagues whose opinions and conduct it would
be difficult to defend, and whom he did not think his Right
Hon. Friend would undertake to defend. He must say that
he did not think him quite free from the charge of incon-
sistency, bit that charge applied with greater fore. against
the Right Hon. Gentleman the Recorder of the City of
Dublin. That Right Rm. Gentleman said that the present
Bill bore great resemblance to the one he (Mr. Littleton)
proposed in February of the last year, but yet that Bill he
opposed, although he supported this. He then objected to
the secularizing of Church property, yet this measure pro-
ceeded on the same principle. Could there be any greater
inconsistency than this ? The Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R.
Peel) had always alluded to the Bill of last August as that of
the Hon. and Learned Gentleman the Member for Dublin.
Such, certainly, was not the case, though he would not be
ashamed to adopt that which he codsidercd a good measure
from whatever quarter it might be suggested. He would ad-
mit that some of the provisions of the Bill of last August were
suggested by the Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin ; but
in doing so he was only echoing the sentiments of many of the
Irish Members of that House. If there were any particular
merit due for the suggestions on which that Bill was founded,
it was due to the Noble Lord (Lord Clements) the Member
f:r Meath.
Sir R. PEEL explained. I objected to the Bill of August,
not the Bill of February. If the Bill of February had been
sent up to the Lords, I believe it would have been adopted.
The Bill of August was rejected in the Upper House because
it contained a clause of redemption. If there was a combina-
tion got up against the Bill in the House of Lords, I most po-
sitively deny tnat I had any share in getting that combination up.
Mr. SHAW said that what he opposed was the Perpetuity
Fund. He denied that there was any inconsistency between
his present conduct and the course he pursued last session. Here
the conversation dropped, and the resolutions were reported.
SUPPLY.

Mr. HE RRIE S moved the Order of the Day for going
into Committee of Supply.
The Order of the Day having been read,
Mr. FINN rose to bring forward his motion for the appoint-
ment of a Committee to inquire into the nature of Orange
associations in Ireland. He would show that Orangemen still
professed the same ascendancy principles, that they still made
claim to exclusive loyalty and exclusive religion, and that
their proceedings were an insuperable bar to the existence of
that kindness of feeling which ought to prevail among all
classes in Ireland. The societies established by Orangemen
had been pronounced illegal by the Judges, and the time had
at length arrived when enlightened notions were making their
way, and when it must be generally acknowledged that those
who obeyed the law ought not to be tyrannized over by men
who arrogated to themselves a false exclusiveness of religion
and loyalty. Mr. Justice Fletcher had said that Orange so-
cieties were most mischievous in their effects, that they led
Magistrates to violate their duty, and Grand Jurors to return
presentments directly contrary to the charges of the Judge.
Yet it was from a large body of persons belonging to such
mischievous societies that Lord Roden had presented an ad
dress to the King. His Lordship had then a private interview
with his Majesty, and in the language of the organ of the
Party, "he spoke out" on the occasion. The Hon. Member then
referred to the proceedings of some Orange societies, at which
it had been declared that by the new system of education the
word of God had been mutilated. In the county of Down a
body of Orangemen, accused of the sam. offence as a num-
ber of Catholics, were acquitted by the Orange Jurors, while
the whole of the Catholics were convicted. At a large meet-
ing in Armagh, attended by upwards of 20,000, the following
sentiments, delivered by a Member of that House, were re-
ceived with rapturous applause We are three millions of
Orangemen, well organised and prepared to die for our reli-
gion, and the principles of the constitution, as established in
1638. If any fight for a new-fangled constitution, sure lam
that it will not be the Protestant Orangemen of Ireland."
At the same meeting Lord Mandeville said, with equal ap-
plause, " We will stand together, to prevent a recurrence of
those evils of which our forefathers were victims. If the
Protestants do not unite, they can have have nothing to hope
for but a repetition of the Sicilian Vespers—the insurrection
of the Catholics at the tinkling of the chapel bells, summon-
ing them to the massacre of all the Protestants in Ireland."
This, be it remembered, was said of seven millions of Irish
Catholics. The House had already heard some of the poetic
effusions of the poet hureat of the Orangemen (the Rev. Mr.
M‘Crea), rind he would now read to them an abstract from one
of his serious and deliberate prose addresses :—" If I live till
I am threescore and ten," said he, " I should not be surprised
to witness a great moral re-action, during which the Protest-
ants will wreak their vengeance upon the enemies of themselves
and their religion. Superstition will be rooted out from every
part of the land. If my interpretlition of sacred prophecy be
correct, Popery is the abomination which is there pointed out.
Every Popish altar must, therefore, be cast down ; every
Popish temple must be cleansed and purified ; every Popish
priest must hide himself in congenial darkness, or become a
professor of that faith which he now seeks to destroy." Such
was the language of a Clergyman and an Orangeman. So
hi Oily was this man in favour with the Orangemen, that a sub-
scription had been set on foot for the purchase of a costly piece
of plate, to be presented to him as a testimony of the respect
he enjoyed. He thought he had made out a sufficient case to
justify the appointment of a Committee. The members of
such a Committee he would have selected with the strictest im-
partiality. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by making his
motion.
Mr. A. LE FR 0 Y trusted that no objection would be made
from his side of the House to the appointment of the Com-
mittee.
Sir R. PEEL—Without entering in any way into the ob-
servations which the Hon. Member opposite has addressed to
the House, I have to state on the part of his Majesty's Go-
vernment, that it is their intention to assent to his proposition.
—( Hear.) The only point on which I think an understand-
ing should exist between his Majesty's Government and the
Honourable Gentleman is in reference to the appointment of
a Committee. I cordially agree with him that it would be
advisable to exclude from it a party man of either side, and as
such is the desire of the Hon. Member, I willingly assent to
his motion.
Mr. H. GRATTAN suggested that the Committee should
be directed to inquire into the obstacles occasioned by these
Orange societies to the administration of justice. Erroneous
opinions would go abroad if the House did not go into a fur-
ther inquiry. The Hon. Member then cited a case that oc-
curred in the county of Meath a short time since, in which it
appeared that the son of the individual who was appointed
Lord Lieutenant of the county accompanied to church an
armed body of Orangemen, and that the Magistrates, seeing
that they were armed, dared not interfere with them. After
referring to another case, in which a person was stabbed by a
party of Orangemen, the Hon. Member said that the matter
was referred to the Sheriffs, and that the Crown refused to
prosecute. In the north of Ireland it had been pronounced
by several Judges, and among others by Judge Jebb, that
Orange societies were illegal, and that, consequently, all pro-
cessions emanating from them must be equally so. There was
also a proclamation by the Lord Lieutenant (the Duke of
Northumberland), proving that meetings of Orange societies
were illegal, as were also those assembled for expressing poli-
tical opinions. Such meetings were prohibited by that pro-
clamation, and to it were attached the signatures of J. Byng
and H. Hardinge. The Hon. Member then alluded to a
meeting at which Lord Roden presided, and contended that
the Noble Lord not only used inflammatory language at it, but
that his words were seditious, taking the interpretation of
Lord Chatham, who said that all language was seditious which
tended to divide his Majesty's subjects. He did not think the
motion went far enough, and he should propose that the Cons
mittee should go farther into the question, and inquire and re-
port thereon bow far Orange societies interfered with the ad-
ministration of justice in Ireland. • ,
Mr. HUME said, Orange addresses were received in the
most gracious manner, whilst other addresses that he presented