The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-30 00:00:00

tattyb Et4tion

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
NEWFOUNDLAND BILL.
Mr. O'CONNELL (in continuation from our After-
. noon Edition) said—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 teen ready to adopt
any proposition made by the Governor, notwithstanding
the Council had thwarted them in every possible way.
He denied that the Noble Lord 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. The deputation which had been over here
on the subject had ken 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 cull 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-
nell's) 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 into contempt.
Iu 1836 the elections placed the anti-constitutional party
in a minority, and the Government declared those writs
void, because a little bit of wax had not been attached to
them. At the new election four mercanti:c 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
under 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.
I:p to the period of the; granting the constitu-
ion,- Catholics were excluded from every situation.
-He was perfectly ready to go into any investigation of
the facts of the election, during which two outrages did
occur, but the accounts of them had been grossly ex-
aggerated. lie contended that the Houte ought not to
legislate without hearing the other party. Would they
give a triumph to ono party alone ? He had gone
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 ho could hear what the inhabitants of
New foundlaud 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 the colony 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 jiad been on the present occasion. With the excep-
tionoWone or two points, he had very little to complain
,of in the statement of the won. and Learned Member ;
,aectihe should endeavour to follow that statement as
closely as 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. He 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.
Last year the Government, in compliance with a motion
of the Hon. Member for Droitvvich, 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
*sly new writs. That statement was founded upon the
violent conduct which had taken place at the preceding
electious.—(Hear, hear.) He must complain of the
statement of the Right Hon. 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
Aetermined 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
'Hon. Gentleman should have thought it necessary
to introduce the subject of religion into the discus-
sion ; but as the subject had beets 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
mot say that the Roman Catholics as a body, but a con-
ziderable number of the Roman Catholic priesthood,
took a very active part in interfering with elections,
acting in a manner which scandalised well thinking
and respectable Roman Catholics, of whom there
were many. 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
be stated that one of the parties charged had been visited
with ecclesiastical censure. Another cause to which the
Eight 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 island 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, consisted of Preshy-
terians and other religious bodies.—(Hear, hear.) Now
they had been but one appointment in 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 while'a 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 prac-
tical difference between both persuasions ? He declared
solemnly that in introducing this Bill he had no views
of snaking any distinction between Roman Catholics and
Protestants.—(Hear, hear.) He had neverynade any
charges against the Assembly on religiousogrounds
'Then the Right Hon. Gentleman said that he was
about to annihilate the constitution of Newfoundland.
What did he propose ? He proposed to unite the Legis-
lative Council and the House of Assembly —% raise the
qualification of Members—to raise the qualification of
electors—to reserve to the Crown the originating of
money votes, and that the Executive and Legislative
Councils should be. separate. And so far from that
being at variance with the opinion of Sir Harvey, as
stated by the Right Hon. Gentleman, it was exactly in
correspondence with a dispatch which he (Lord Stanley)
received from him, dated the 21st of September. The
Noble Lord then read the dispatch of Sir J. Harvey
and the instructions of Lord Ripon, which the Right
Hutt. Gentleman had so much praised, to show that his
proposal was not at variance with those documents.
lie did not mean his proposal to be a punishment of the
Legislative Assembly, but to enable them to legislate
without coming into collision with the other House, as
had beets the case heretofore.. The Right Hon. Gentle-
man said that the two Houses were made into one fur
the purpose of swamping the Legislative Assembly.
But he should like to know how 10 could swamp 15,
this being the proportion in which the new Legislature
was to be composed. He did not deny that the present
constitution had worked well, and that many internal
i nprovements had been effected under it.—(llear, hear.)
The Right Hon. Gentleman had said that the present
Bill was intended to give one interest an advantage over
another. It was true that there were two interests grow-
ing up in the colony, but the present Bill would
not give any advantage to one class over another,
but would equally benefit all classes.—(hear, hear.)
The Hun. Gentleman bad stated, and stated correctly,
that the returns to the House of Assembly, up to the
year 1936, were of a very respectable character, and that
the Members returned had in general carried on the
public business with great satisfaction to the inhabitants.
But it appeared, upon unquestionable authority, that
wirier the present qualification, Members were returned
who were disqualified from duly discharging their
duties, by the violence of their party feelings,
and by their ‘vant of education and respectability. The
Assembly was now principally composed of parties un-
k iovtn in tl • upper classes of society. The members
were each allowed 421. a-year; and it appeared among
other strange facts, that a servant was permitted by his
master to take his place among the representatives of
the people in the Legislative Assembly, while he and
his master divided the 42/. between them.
Mr. HUMEjlasked in whose evidence that appeared.
•
Lord STANLEY said that he made the statement on
the authority of Mr. Brooking, one of the leading gen-
. tlemen of Newfoundland.
Mr. O'CONNELL said that the firm of Mr. Brooking
had got that very person returned.
Lord STANLEY only mentioned the fact for the pur-