The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-01 00:00:00

he dit;truction of tha constitution ;- -on the contrary, he
had shown them that the greatest blessings resulted to
the lipoid:, from their having obtained a constitution.
But one party was interested in the destruction of the
eonstitut on, because such mould advance their own mo-
nopolising interests ; but the popular party—the party
benefited by, the constitution—the party: interested in
the internal improvement of the colony desired the pre-
s constitution, of the constituton, and that was the position
of the inhabitants whose interest it was now sought to
crush. But let them see what were the alterations which
the -Noble Lord proposed to make in the constitution?
The first was to destroy the two'houses of the
Legislature, and amalgamate them Into one. Why
thus mock them with the appearatti, without the
reality. of a constitution ? Let the old system
be revived. -Let • despotism be establishel—let the
people be punished as formerly, ter making improve-
ments in the colony—for building houses—for cultivating
the land. Let there be a despotism which would be re-
sponsible, but let them not receive'a mockery of a con-
stitution—let not their Legislature be converted into a
divan. The second alteration proposed was am increase
in the qualification'of the members of the Assembly. Sir
J. Harvey recommended the increase in the qualification,
and he (Mr. O'Connell) was not adverse to it. The
colonists themselves were willing to increase the quanti-
fication, but this Bill proposed to take the matter out of
their hands. He protested against thus taking the
legislation upon this subject from the-inhabitants of the
colony. He objected also to the proposed to be
made in the qualification of voters, which was to be,
raised to a 5/. franchise for the town districts, and a
forty shilling freehold with an occupation of two years,
He contended that such an alteration would disfranchise
a very large proportion of-'the inhabitants; and whom
Sir J. Harvey considered as the most valuable part of the
community. It had been said with respect to the subject
of the finances, that the Crown ought to have the
power of originating money grants, as was done in this
country. Why, according to the Charter, no money
could be expended without the Governor's warrant.
Some grants certainly could be made by the Assembly,
but was that a ground for destroying the Constitution ?
Everything that was wanted would be done. They
could get money granted by holding a session
of the Legislature. There was no necessity for
thus trampling on the liberties of the people. He had a
letter in his possession from the Catholic Bishop of the
colony, who stated that the Assembly had never refused
any supply, that they had always been ready to adopt
any proposition made by the Governor, notwithstanding
the Council had thwarted them in every possible way.
He denied that the Netble Lard had found their constitu-
tion suspended. The session of the Assembly had ended
in May, 1841, and it was impossible that a new election
could have been held before November, because the
whole adult population was absent during the interval at
the fisheries. 'f he deputation which had been over here
on the subject had been assured by Mr. V. Smith that
nothing should be done without due investigation. Now
he asked where that investigation had taken place?
—(Hear.) Every principle of honesty, of justice, and of
fairness, was in favour of his (Mr. O'Connell's)
proposition, and yet he knew that the majority
of that House would support the Government
in this attack upon the liberties of Newfoundland. If
the Bill had been brought forward earlier in the session,
an expression on the subject might have -been elicited
from the people of England, who would have had gene-
rosity enough to ask for a fair trial. Why did not the
Noble Lord call another Assembly, as had been recom-
_ _

mended by Sir John Harvey, and see if that Assembly
would not make every necessary alteration in the exist-
ing constitution ? They had stated their willingness to
raise the qualification, and to give the Government the ini-
tiative in the introduction of grants. Under the Noble
Lord's plan considerable delay must take place in calling
together the Legislative Assembly. Under his(Mr.O'Con-
nelfs) plan no such delay would take place. It had
been objected that among the members of the Assembly •
there was one who could not read or write, and two who
were in menial situations. Had those persons been elected
by the popular party ? No. They had been elected by
the mercantile party to bring the Assembly intocontempt.
In 1836 the elections placed the anti-constitutional party
in a minority, and the Government declared those writs
void, because a little bit of wax bad not been attached to
them. At the new election four mercantile men were
elected ; they refused to serve, and these persons were
elected in their stead ; so that the anti-constitutional
party first elect improper persons, and then turn round
and say, look at the improper persons who are elected
tinder this Constitution. Could anything be so gross or
so inconsistent as this ? The jealousy of the constitu-
tion was, in fact, jealousy of the Catholics of the colony.
Up to the period of the granting the constitu-
tion, Catholics were excluded from every situation.
He was perfectly ready to go into any investigation of
the fuels of the election, during which two outrages did
occur, but the accounts of them hail been grossly ex-
legaggerated. aat et intmhe
o haringne partythe fi t haelro
ipna, r?ty
aggerated. Ile contended that the House ought not to
hadgiv
ph to
lle
ott l
at lone
.),:
through this case ; he had not gone into a discussion
respecting rates and taxes, • because other opportunities
would occur for doing that. But here was a constitution,
with all the regular forms, already adopted. All the
American colonies had had such constitutions conceded,
and had derived advantage from them. He denied that the
Roman Catholics had shown any exclusive spirit, or any
wish to absorb all the funds of the Colony to their own
purposes. To prove this, he read an extract from their
petition, which set forth, that a grant of money to re-
build a Protestant Church that had been destroyed by
fire, was supported by all the Catholics. The Bill was
brought forward at a time when it was utterly impossible
to give it a fair discussion; all from whom he might ex-
pect redress were absent,- nor had he the slightest hope of
convincing those who-- were listening to him. He put
the question on the foundation of plain common sense. All
he asked of the Noble Lord was to postpone the Bill till
next session, till he could hear what the inhabitants of
Newfoundland had to say. Their Delegates would then
be here, and anything that was just and reasonable they
would be ready to do. But he did implore the Noble
Lord not to crush thecolony with such a measure as this.
He concluded by moving that this Bill be committed that
day three months.
Lord STANLEY said, whatever difficulties the inha-
bitants of Newfoundland had to contend with, he was
quite sure that at no period of the session could their
complaints have been listened to ,more attentively than
they had been on the present occasion. - With the excep-
tion of one or two points, he had very little to complain
of in the statement of the lion. and Learned Member ;
and he should endeavour to follow that statement as
closely us possible. These points were, that he had
given the Bill a character which did not belong to it, and
had assigned motives to the Government which they were
far from entertaining. lie had stated also, that at the
interview of the Delegates with Lord John Russell, that
Noble Lord had made a distinct declaration that no step
should be taken with regard to the colony till they should
have had an opportunity of expressing their sentiments.
G m
Last year the overn. ent, in compliance with a motion
of the Hon. Member for Droitwich, laid upon the table
of the house despatches from the Governor of New-
foundland, in which he stated to the Secretary of
State, that he could not consider it his duty, upon
the dissolution of the House of Assembly, to issue
any new writs. That statement was founded upon the
violent conduct which had taken place at the preceding
elections.—(Hear, hear.) He must complain of the
statement of the Bight Iron. and Learned Gentleman,
that this Bill was introduced for the purpose of annihi-
lating the constitution of Newfoundland. When he
came into office he found that the late Government had
determined that the House of Assembly should not
meet again, and this Bill was in fact introduced for the
purpose of restoring, with certain modifications, the con-
stitution of Newfoundland. He proposed to confer
certain. rights which had been suspended by his prede-
cessors.—(Hear, hear.) He deeply regretted that the
lion. Gentlemaa should have thought it necessary
to introduce the subject of religion into the discus-
sion ; but as the subject had been introduced
he felt bound to say that it was his belief, founded upon
all the information which he had obtained,. that at the
recent elections in the colony of Newfoundland, he did
not say
that the Roman Catholics as a body, but a con-
siderable number of the Roman Catholic priesthood,
.
took a very active part interfering with elections,
acting in -a
manner which scandalised well thinking
and respectable Roman Catholics, of whom there
were ninny. And Bishop Fleming had
admitted
to him that, although the facts were exaggerated, there
was some truth in the charges which had been made, and
he stated that one of the parties charged had been visited
with ecclesiastical censure. Another cause to which the
Right Hon. Gentlemen attributed the introduction of
the Bill was, the fact that the Roman Catholics
constituted a large majority of the population.
He did not know where the Right Hon. Gentleman had
obtained his information ; he (Lord Stanley) believed
that the population was pretty. equally balanced. Two
years ago the Roman Catholics in the i▪
sland amounted
to 37,000, the members of the. Established Church to
26,000 or 28,000, and the .remainder of the population,
amounting to 10,000 or, 11,000,. consi▪
sted of Presby-
terians arid other religious bodies.—(Hear, hear.) Now
there had been but one appointment,. .
Newfoundland
under the Governorship of Sir John Harvey, and that
appointment had been given to a Roman , Catholic.
As a proof that they were not actuated
.. by any religious
feelings, he might:state that whilesa site was obtained for
the erection- of .a
building for Roman Catholic worship,
they could not find any land on which to erect three
Protestant churches which were wanted. He would ask
the Right Hon. Gentleman whether there was any 3 prac-
tical difference between both persuasions ? He declared
solemnly that in introducing this Bill he had no views
making any • distinction between Roman Catholics and
PProtestants.—(llear, hear.) He had never made any
charges against the Assembly on religious grounds.
Then the Right Hon. Gentleman said that he was
aheut to annihilate the constitution of Newfoundland.
What did he propose ? Ile proposed to unite the Legis-
lative Council and the House of Assembly--to raise the
qualification of Members—to raise the qualification of
electors—to reserve to the Crown the originating of