The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-11 00:00:00

THE

statement of the relations between landlord and tenant,
but by the great moral and material causes that have
seldom (=erred in the history of nation', and probably
never can be repeated in the history of Ireland—namely,
unparalleled political agitation, and a famine, which, as
the Noble and Learned once rightly said, was
a famine of the middle ages accounting for
the state of Ireland by these causes, I want
to know, is there in Ireland, at this moment
such a feverish disease for the settlement of the question
that it will justify the Government in bringing forward a
measure which they themselves acknowledge they have
not well considered?—(Cheers.) Now, Sir, my opinion
is, that while we should frankly acknowledge
our wish that Ireland should be placed in
the enjoyment of political privileges inferior
to none of the kingdoms of her Majesty, we should
also have the moral courage at the same time to an-
nounce that we are resolved that these political privi-
leges shall be real ones.—(Cheers.) And inasmuch as,
according to the genius of our constitution—for as we
have bean reminded of the genius of Ireland, I may pre-
, sutne to appeal t ) the genius of our constitution—in-
asmuch as the enjoyment and the exercise of the suf-
frage has been, on the whole, in this country, connected
with the possession of property, we should—although,
of course, in the adjustment of such an important set-
tlement, we must, in many instances, where it is wise
i and circumspect, modify the application of that prin-
. ciple —of that principle we are determined never to lose
sight.—(Hear, hear.) But in the present instance we
depart trom it; we lose sight ot it; we substantially
reject it, we announce that the enjoyment and exercise
of the suffrage in Ireland shall not be consistent with
property; and in doing that we destroy the principle
which has made the enjoyment and exercise of the suff-
rage in England most valuable.— (Cheers.) Let the privi-
lege be as wide as the merits of the community deserve,
but let the community obtain it by industry, by intelli-
gence, by the exercise of all those great qualities which
make useful and honest citizens. These have, through
the good sense of the people of England, hitherto
been our guiding principles in the adjustment of the
question of suffrage. For my part, I believe that the
people of Ireland are equally capable to mark the same
results and to exercise the same rights as the people of
England. But I oppose a law the essence of which is
not to give credit to the people of Ireland for thee qua-
lities, the object of which is to announce that they are
different from the people of England, and to tell them
that the genius of Ireland is incapable of making the
exertions and enjoying the honours of Englishmen.—
(Loud cheering.)
Lord J. RUSSELL—Sir, I will not detain the House
long, because I really do not think, if I were capable a
addressing it at length, that this Bill on its third read-
ing requires much advocacy on our part. Here is a
grievance, and we propose a remedy. Does the griev-
ance exist? I shall not go into a detail of the small
number of electors in the different boroughs in Ireland;
but when I look at the number of electors in England,
Scotland, and Wales, I find that they vary from 1 in
25, which is the lowest, to 1 in 32 per cent., which is
the highest, giving an average ot somewhere about
29 per cent. in Great Britain; and when I come to Ire-
land I find that it is not 25 per cent., that it is not 20
per cent., or 10 per cent., but merely 2 per cent, of the
adult male population.—(Loud cheers.) I ask the
House, is not that a grievance which, when it is brought
before it, and when a Bill is proposed to remedy it—is
it not fitting that the House should agree to it?—
(Cheers.) We are Old that we have departed altogether
from the franchise by tenure, which is the basis of the
franchise in England. If I could understand that Hon.
Gentlemen opposite meant to maintain that we ought to
propose some such franchise as we have in England—
that, for instance, the 40a. freeholders should be restored
in Ireland, and that that franchise they were prepared
to defend—l could well understand their saying, "We
propose putting Ireland on an equality with England—
we believe that yours is founded on a wrong principle,
and we propose, instead, one similar in its detail and
objects to the franchise existing in England." But
they propose no such remedy. Do they propose to
make the existing 10/. franchise more simple, and to make
that the franchise for Ireland? By no means.—
(Hear,
hear.) They do not propose even that extreme.
Therefore thus laying down the proposition that
the grievance being clear and incontesti.ble—that the
grievance being undeniable—no remedy is to be
proposed. What is the language of the Hon. and
Learned Member for the University of Dublin, and of
the Hon. Gentleman who has last spoken? Forgetting
what the Hon. Gentleman who spoke last has stated,
they tell you that there are other kinds of legislation;
for instance, the law of landlord and tenant, which the
Legislature should attend to, and not to the extension of
the franchise, Sir, such is the language that has always
been held in despotic countries.—(Cheers.) They tell
you in despotie countries that nothing is so mischievous
as the concession of political rights, the freedom of the
press, the exercise of the right of voting, and the discus-
sion of political questions. That it is the business of the
Government to take care in a peculiar manner of the
material interests of the people—(Hear, hear)—to look
after the fisheries—(Hear, and cheers)—to provide for
their material interests; but that political franchises were
the source of disorder and revolution, and from that we
must carefully abstain.—(Hear.) But in England
we have learned a totally different lesson.—(Hear.)
We have learned that if men have the right of
voting and of sending Members to this House,
if mon know the responsibility of the great in-
terests of the country, and know that these they
have sent as representatives have the power of control-
ling the expenditure of the country, of giving advice to
the Crown, and of taking part in all the legislative func-
tions with regard to persona and property in the coun-
try; they know that by these they may be raised to
rank and dignity, and so far from being less able to at•
tend to their material interests, the very freedom they
enjoy and the very exercise of their rights will make
them more able to pursue the paths of industry and of
wealth.—(Hear, hear.) Why, when there were discus-
sions in this House some sixty years ago, and when Mr.
Pitt, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, came down to
show the then flourishing state of the trade and revenues
and the material interests of the country, he said, when
he had finished the detail which was given in his own
magical manner, they owed all that to the free constitu-
tion of England.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Fox, who concurred
in the statement, made the same admission. Both agreed
that it was a matter nobody could dispute—that the free
constitution of England and the possession of the fran-
chise led to wealth. Now, in Ireland, we are told that
is to be reversed Give the people of that country, not
the enjoyment of their rights—no—it is the business
of Parliament to look after the fisheries, to look after
her material interests, but as to political franchise, we
must altogether abandon the care of that concern. I
am surprised that those who hold these doctrines have
found only two or three things in the Bill to find fault
with. The Bill proposes that, instead of the 40s. free-
hold system, which led to great abuses, when they were
driven like crowds of vassals to the poll to vote for their
landlords, and then by some political or religious agita-
tion induced to vote against them—by the franchise that
was proposed instead of that system in 1829, and after-
wards enlarged in 1831, as being too complicated and
difficult to define—instead of that system, we propose a
franchise, simple in its nature, by which persons having
a vote are not obliged to go in and make good their claim
to that vote, but are entitled out of the rate-books of
the guardians of the poor to exercise that vote.—(hear.)
I say it is of immense advantage to the country to ex-
change that which led to abuses, and wascomplicated and
difficult to carry into effect, for one simple and easy in its
character and definition. Then it is said by the Noble
Lord the Member for King's Lynn, if you extend it to
121. it will include an intelligent class of men, but as you
have put it at 8/. you swamp all the franchise. Ido not
think that the Noble Lord gave any proof that all
those possessing a holding of 121. are intelligent, and
all those possessing one of 81. are not intelligent. We
have taken a solvent class of men, and we have likewise
taken a class of persons who in number do not come up
in proportion to the county electors either of England
or of Scotland. I say that we have not taken the fran-
chise exceedingly low, and that we have struck out the
just medium. Then the Hon. Gentleman says, and
many other Hon. Gentlemen have gone along with him,
respecting the joint tenancy clause, that it is mischievous
in its operation. I hold that clause to be of imma-
terial importance. Ido not believe that there are many
joint tenants, and I cannot compare this to the splitting
up of land under the 40s. system, because it must be
a holding tantamount to the value of 161. at least, out
of which two votes are to be given. Taking the analogy
of the Reform Bill we have put in this clause, but if
the Hon. Gentlemen who are connected with the rural
economy of Ireland tell me that this clause is injurious
I am ready to omit it. I do not attach any importance
to it. The Hon. Member for Bucks said that they.
were legislating upon the consequences of the late fa-
mine, and suggests to us that we should wait until
we see its permanent effects. The Hon. Gentleman does
not seem to be aware that the diminution in the number
of voters had been going on since 1841, and therefore it
could not be said that this is a diminution owing to the
famine, but that it has been going on from year to year
owing to the nature of the franchise. Then the Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Bucks has one large reason
for not adopting the Bill, which is a strong reason for
the course we pursue. The Hon. Gentleman also says
that there is no feverish anxiety about it. Why, if
there was, what should we be told? That we were lis-
tening t') clamour and agitation. On the contrary, the
Right Hon. the Master of the Mint has told us that the
time is favourable to the extension of the franchise, be-
cause it is a time of calm and quiet, and uninfluenced by
any agitation or excitement. The measure itself pro-
poses, in point of fact, to place the people of Ireland in
a situation as good, or nearly so, as the people of Eng-
land. It is founded on the principle that they shall not
be treated as inferior to England or Scotland, but that it
has a right, when England and Scotland have a certain
franchise, that she shall have an equivalent, That right
has not been urged with clamour and agitation ; and so
much the more does it become your justice and
wisdom to make the people of Ireland equal with the
people of Great Britain, and show them that, by equal
freedom and an equal franchise, you have full confidence
in the manner they will use this franchise, and that you
wish them to have all the freedom of the other parts of
the empire.—(Cheers.)
The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the third reading 254
Against it
Majority in favour of the third reading —6B
The Bill was then passed.
The amendments to the elections (Ireland) Bill were
considered and agreed to.
Mr. NAPIER obtained leave to bring in a Bill to
amend the laws relating to ecclesiastical residences in
Ireland; Bill to amend the laws relating to the erection
and endowment of churches and chapels in Ireland;
and a Bill to repeal certain statutes relating to the
clergy of the Irish branch of the United Church of Eng-
land and Ireland.