The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-05-15 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MURDER IN BIRMINGHAM.

The town of Birmingham and its neighbourhood was, on
Thursday morning, thrown into great confusion, in conse-
quence of the body of a young woman, named Harriet
W right, being found in the canal, near Walmer-lane. Sus-
picion- immediately attached to a young man named Josiah
Lilly, and information having been dispatched to the station-
house, constable Brough immediately went to the residence
of Lilly's father, and apprehended the youth in bed. An
inquest was held on the body of the young woman on Satur-
day, and the case excited universal interest.
The prisoner was brought up in custody, and placed in
front of the witnesses. He was a young man of prepossess-
ing appearance, abodt 17, red hair, fair cOmplexion, with a
remarkably intelligent face. He was respectably attired, and
preserved the utmost firmness during the lengthened exami-
nation. The jury, having proceeded to the examination of
the body on the side of the canal; and remarked that it ex-
hibited no external marks of violence, returned to the inquest
room. It would appear that as a boatman named Thomas
Morris, was walking along' the banks of the canal; early on
Thursday morning, his attention was attracted to a man's
hat on the footpath, under Walmer-lane bridge. On further
scrutiny he also observed a woman's bonnet lying on the
surface of the water ; and being apprehensive that a body
was in the canal, he procured a hook from his boat, and ob-
taining the assistance of his brother they dragged the water.
In a short time they pulled up the body of the deceased, and
having conveyed it to the Dog and Duck public-house, they
searched the pockets, and
.among other articles they found
the following letter, which had been addressed by the pri-
soner to the deceased, whilst. recently confined in the House
of Correction for neglect of work:—

" Dear Harriet,-4 hope you will receive these few lines
with as much affection as they are .sent; my condition must
Certainly be grievoirs'to you. However, if you have the af-
fection for me which I believe you live, I should not have.
written to you, the time being so short, only. that you should
not think I had fOrgOttenyou. I hope I shall have the plea-
sure of receiving a letter from you, short as the time is. You
will please, to let my mother know that ypu have heard from
me, and•ask her to send me some money to come out with,
as I.dare say you have none to spare, and even if you have I
had rather it came from my mother; and a clean shirt also I
want. If you think proper to come a. mile or two on the
road to meet me, I shall be very happy to see you, as it will
be the only chance you shall have of seeing me for more than
a week. My reason for that I shall tell you, which I hope
shall be next Friday week. I wrote to my mother in prefer-
ence to you the last time, but have left her out this time and
thought of you, as rhave always done. I cannot say now
what I could wish, therefore I shall conclude with hoping
that you will attend to what this contains. My best love to
you, and remember rile to'my mother.—l am, your's affec-
tionately, " JOSIAH LILLY."
Thomas Morris and his brother having terminated their
search of the body. immediately despatched a messenger-to
the police-office, and on the arrival of Serjeant Brough at the
Dog and Duck, he took possession of the man's hat found,
and, accompanied by another officer, they proceeded to the
house of the father of the deceased. The old man upon being
shown the hat immediately recognized it as Lilly's. The
officers accordingly proceeded to the prisoner's house, and
found him in bed. The father opened the door. They told
the young man that they had come to apprehend him on a
charge of drowning a young woman in the canal. He ex-
claimed, " Good God, is she dead?" adding, " If I am hung
for her, I shall die innocent !" The officer told him to take
care what he said, and showing him the hat, inquired if it
was his ? He replied, " Yes, it is ; it was taken off me last
night for a trap." He was then asked when he saw the de-
ceased last, when he replied " about half-past 9 last night."
The prisoner having been taken to where the deceased was
lying, and, after being desired to look upon her, he exclaimed,
in bitterness, " Oh ! I have seen enough of her," and turned
away his face. •
The prisoner, upon being locked up, was shortly afterwards
visited by Inspector Edmonds, who, having known the pri-
soner was anxious as to his fate. Upon entering his dungeon
he said to Lilly, " Oh ! Josiah, how came you to drown the
young girl?" He replied, " I did not do it, but lam as bad
as if I had. She said she would drown herself, and asked me
for my neckerchief, which I refused to give her. She then
seized my hat from my head, and threw it down by a heap of
stones by the canal side. That was the last time I saw her."

The prisoner and the deceased; it appeared, were seen
walking together very socially, about nine on Wednesday
night, and about a quarter past eleven Lilly was seen return-
ing in great haste without his hat. A short time after the
prisoner was apprehended `he solicited from the gaoler the
use of pen and ink, when he wrote the following letter to
his mother :

" 3 o'clock, p.m. Thursday.
Dear mother,—lt is with the most painful reflection I
now console myself to write to you, hoping that the heavy
trial under which you are labouring God will give you strength
to bear it, wishing now I had taken your good advice. But,
dear mother, to repeat such now is folly ; my earnest wish
and prayer to God is, that he may give you faith to believe
that innocence shall not suffer. I will endeavour, with the
help of God, to bear the imprisonment which I am certain of
receiving before trial with the greatest firmness, knowing
myself to be innocent, and hoping for God as my protection.
" I am your unfortunate son,
" JOSIAH LILLY."

The following remarkable circumstances respecting the
prisoner and the deceased were also written by himself at the
same time

" My name is Josiah Lilly, born 23d August, 1822 ; reared
in a respectable manner, by a mother only, who gave me a
liberal education upon me, bound me apprentice to a good
trade, in which lam told to have been very skilful. Unfor-
tunately got acquainted-witli a youth whose habits were not
what they should have been, which caused me to absent my •
self from my master's employment, in consequence of which
I was committed to the House of Correction one day and
whipped. Before I got well of the correction I fell in love
with the unfortunate girl—the shame 1 had for my miscon-
duct forbade me opening my mind to her, and at length I
resolved to leave town, which I did, and was absent a fort-
night, when my master promised that if I returned to my work
he would not punish me. I went to work, and in the course
of the following week I and the deceased commenced an ac-
quaintance, which was in May 1837. Soon as her father had
found out what was between us, he ordered me out of the
house, and forbade her speaking to me. She being deter-
mined not to be ruled by her father on that point, we pro-
posed being married secretly. The banns were published,
after which I heard her character to be that which I knew
would not suit my circumstances, and I absented myself
again, and was absent about four months. Being desirous of
seeing my friends, I wrote to that effect, and the deceased
went up to my master, and paid him some money to make it
up with him again, so that I should come to work again.
Alter I returned, her father being still as obstinate, we agreed
to go and live together off hand, which we did, and took a
furnished room in Ludgate-hill, where we lived a fortnight ;
after which, in consequence of one day's lost time, my ill-
disposed master sent me to the House of Correction for 14
days. After I came back, feeling determined not to work for
him again, I left the town, and was absent four weeks. When
I returned, the deceased was gone to live with her father
again. We still carried on our acquaintance, though against
her father's will, and always bore the character of being a
loving couple. This being read by any of the members of
her family, will be corroborated as the truth.
" Written by JOSIAH LILLY."
It appeared that the prisoner had on more than one occa-
sion sworn that he would be hung for her. The evidence
of the surgeon went merely to prove that there were no ex-
ternal marks of violence upon the body of the deceased be-
yond two marks .on her wrists, as if they had been caused
by the pressure of a strong hand.
The Jury having retired at half-past 11 o'clock in the
evening, shortly returned with the following verdict
find that the deceased came to her death by drowning, and
we find a verdict of wilful murder against Josiah Lilly."
The most death-like stillness pervaded the room when the
verdict was announced ; and the prisoner, who, throughout
the inquiry, had preserved the utmost firmness, suddenly fell
back insensible. On recovering, his countenance presented a
ghastly appearance ; and during the signing of the depositions
he wept bitttrly. He was committed for trial to the county gaol.

TRIUMPHANT MEETING

IN SUPPORT OF
LORD STANLEY'S IRISH REGISTRATION BILL

One of the largest, most respectable, and most important
meetings ever held in this town, took lace on Wednesday,
in the Amphitheatre, Great Charlotte-street, for the purpose
of considering the propriety of petitioning the legislature to
pass the excellent measure recently introduces into the House
of Commons by Lord Stanley, for the amendment of the re-
gistration system in Ireland. The stage, the circle, and
every part of the vast building was crowded—so crowded, in-
deed, that it was apparently impossible for them to accom-
modate one additional individual. Among those present we
noticed—

The Rev. Hugh MlNeile, Rev. F. Could, Rev. J. R. Con-
nor, Rev. R. P. Buddicom, Rev. G. Mansfield, Rev. Dr.
Byrth, 'Rev. J. C. Hamilton, Rev. Mr. Gladwin, Rev. J.
Burton, Rev. W. Bradwell, Rev. T. Bold, Rev. C. Morrall,
Rev.. J. C. Richards, Rev. D. James, Rev. C. Lawrence,
Rev. H. S. Joseph, Rev. Dr. Tattershall, Rev. H. Car-
penter, Rev. J. H. Stafford, and Rev. Andrew Knox, Sir
Thomas Braneker, Mr. T. B. Horsfall, Mr. C. Robin-
son, Mr. M. Edwards, Mr. Hulton, Mr. J. Proctor, Mr. J.
Sheppard, Mr. J. Howtuld, Mr. D. Watson, Mr. J. R.
Preston, Mr. J. Rigby, Mr. G. Langtry, Mr. Browne, Mr.
J. Parker, Mr. J. Aspinall, Mr. T. Carson, Mr. T. Porter,
Admiral Oliver, Mr. R. Horsfall, Mr. E. B. Lyon, Mr. W.
Huson, Mr. W. Dixon, Mr. T. Sands, Mr. T. Moss, Mr.
J. B. Lloyd, Mr. Byrnes, Mr. T. Woodward, Dr.. Jeffreys,
Mr. Dyson, Mr. Ashley, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Gibbetson, Mr.
J. F. Tinne, Mr. T. Murray, Mr. W. M'lvor, Mr. J. Myers,
Mr. T. Leather, Mr. E. M. Brodie, Mr. T. Dover, Mr. J. B.
Clough, Mr. C. Lawrence, Mr. G. Grant, Mr. F. Shand, Mr.
D. Gibb, Mr. C. Horsfall, Mr. N. Robinson, Mr. Brandreth,
Mr. N. Smith, Mr. J. Davis, Mr. Cottlton, Mr. Thompson,
Mr. Glazebrook, Mr. Barber, Mr. Muncaster, Mr. W. P.
Burley, Mr. Brownrig, Mr. Sandbach, Mr. J. S. Leigh, Mr.
Jones, Mr. R. Gladstone, Mr. C. Bushell, Mr. Falkner,
Mr. C. T. Dunlevie, Mr. J. Cooper, Mr. J. Holmes, Mr.
Stanistreet, Mr. G. Ker, Mr. Montgomery. Mr. Ingram,
Mr. J. W. Wainwright, Mr. Chubb, Mr. R. Rigby, Mr. J.
Gilfallan, Mr. J. Holme, Mr. R. Leyland, Mr. J. Bourne,
Mr. W. Shand. Mr. C. S. Parker, Mr. R. Redson, Dr.
Baird, Mr. D. Ledson, Mr. J. Shand, Mr. J. B. Braneker,
Mr. Birkett, Mr. J. Robertson, Mr. Bourne, Mr. Foster,
Mr. G. G. Hornby, Mr. John Penington, Mr. H. S. Bourne,
Mr. Moss, &c. &c.
Mr. Aspinall, Sir T. Brancker, the Rev. Fielding Ould,
the Rev. Hugh M`Neile, and other champions of our pro-
testant creed and constitution, who were expected to take
part in the proceedings, were loudly cheered on making their
appearance and taking their seats at the table.
On the motion of Mr. CORNELIUS BOURNE, seconded by
Mr. DUNCAN GIBE, Sir THOMAS BRANCKER was unani-
mously requested to take the chair.
The CHAIRMAN, in commencing the proceedings, said—
Gentlernen, as our political opponents have thought fit to
hold a meeting, for the purpose of petitioning against the bill
now before the House of Commons, for the amendment of
the registration of voters in Ireland, known by the name of
Lord Stanley's bill, it has been considered advisable that
we should hold a meeting to express our opinions thereon—
(hear, hear)—in order that the petitions issuing from the
meeting held in Clayton-square may not be considered as
expressing the opinions of this great community. (Hear,
hear.) The friends of ministers are very loud in calling for
" justice" to Ireland ; but it appears to me that their mean-
ing of the term " justice" varies from one year to another,
inasmuch as two or three years ago they wished to carry
something very like the present measure —(hear, hear)—but
finding it would operate against their interests, they now turn
round and oppose a measure which will tend, more than any
thing else, to put down that system'of fraud and delusion
which has been prevalent in the Irish registries for so many
years. (Hear.) We also wish for justice to Ireland—
cheers—for strict and substantial justice to all parties, in
order that the respectable, honest, upright voter, on both
sides the question, shall be the person entitled to return
members to Parliament, and not those who get on the list
under false colours. (Loud cheers.) The chairman con-
cluded by calling on Mr. James Aspinall to move the first
resolution.

Mr. JAMES ASPINALL then came forward, and was re-
ceived with enthusiastic cheering. He said—Gentlemen and
brother Conservatives ! It is with feelings of deep regret I
am called upon to move the first resolution, on two accounts
—first, knowing my inability to address an assembly like the
present ; and secondly, on account of the indisposition of the
gentleman who was expected to undertake this part of the
proceedings—l mean Mr. Adam Hodgson. (Cheers.) But
however unable we may be to express our feelings, yet, when
on any occasion we are called upon, our duty should get the
better of our feelings, and we should do our utmost to pro-
mote the cause we have espoused. With your permission I
will read Mr. Hodgson's letter, which exactly coincides with
my own views.

Everton Wednesday Morning.

"My dear sir,—lt is with feelings of great regret and-dis-
appointment that I find myself entirely unable this morning
to attend the meeting. It is an occasion on which I should
have particularly wished to be present, and to express what
I feel. I think the question simply is, whether a bill, honest
in its object, just in its principles, wise and equitable in its
provisions, and effective in its operation for purposes the
most necessary, is to be rejected by the House of Commons,
because it crosses the path of an Irish agitator, and opposes
a barrier to dishonest proCeedings, and corrupt and corrupt-
ing influences. Whether an assembly of English gentlemen,
sitting as the legislator s of a free country, are to be cowed
and bullied, and made to eat their words by the blusterings
and frantic menaces of a man whose influence is as disgrace-
ful to those over whom it is exercised, as it must be disgust-
ing to every right-thinking man in the country. I trust the
meeting to-day will respond with an indignant negative, and
do their part to resist that downward and reckless course by
which the constitution is endangered, and with it, I am per-
suaded, the best security for the civil and religious liberty of
this great empire.—Believe me always, most sincerely yours,
A. HODGSON."
Perhaps, gentlemen. it may be necessary for me to make a
few remarks in addition; and as this is the first'time I ever
presumed to address a meeting in this theatre, I'-claim your
attention for a few moments. The meeting reAlay was
called in consequence of a meeting that was heldlast Mon-
day week, in Clayton-square, purporting to ' speak the
opinions of the people of Liverpool. (Hear.) I thought,
with a great number of other conservatives, that those'opinions
could not be our opinions; and having consulted each other,
we determined to appeal to the conservatives of Liverpool.
I am glad to see when I look to the back of the' gallery, that
we have not appealed in vain. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I
have always found that when any subject cannot be defended
by argument, it is invariably supported by scurrility and,
abuse. (Hear.) I have weighed attentively the speeches of
those gentlemen who addressed the meeting in the square,
and I say unhesitatingly, that more disgraceful language was
never used in attacking the private character of any indivi-
dual. (Hear.) I well remember the time when the name
of Edward Geoffrey Stanley was held up as one of the
brightest ornaments of our universities, and as one of the
most rising young men in the nation. • I well yemember
when he was a member of Lord Grey's administration, and
a reformer, that there was nothing too good, or too great,' to
be heaped upon him. But *hat is he now ? He stopped
with my Lord Grey when he saw reform had .gone as far as
he thought safe, but because he will go no further he is
every thing that is bad, every thing that is• disgraceful—nay
every opprobrious term has been heaped upon him which
could be found in the English tongue. (Hear.) I well re-
member the time when Mr. Edward Geoffrey Stanley (as he
then was) was not called either " a sprig of nobility," or
" the accident of an accident," or " insolent, arrogant, and
impudent." I cannot recollect all the foul words that are
applied to him, but I refer you for them to the columns of
the Liverpool Mercury, in the report of the proceedings in
Clayton-square. Look at the flag which Ras at the feet of
the gentlethen who spoke on that occasion. lam sure if
those gentlemen had any correct feelings within their breasts,
they would not have suffered it to be there. They could not
have seen it, I think ; I' hope-they did not. On that flag was
inscribed " Scorpion Stanley." (Hear, hear, and Shame.)
Now I ask you if this was any argument against Lord Stan-
ley's bill? (No, no.) They protested against the bill, yet
their only argument was personal abuse of Lord Stanley.
(Hear.)' Was it fitting, then,, that the result of that meet-
ing should go forth as the opinions of the people of Liver-
pool ? (Cries of " No, no.") lam detaining you too long.
(No, no.) I am not prepared to speak. (Cries of "Go
on.") This resolution was put into my hands when I came
here. My heart and soul are with it, and with every word of
Mr. Hodgson's letter. Mr. Aspinall then moved the adop-
tion of-the resolution, which is as follows :
" That this meeting, in common with all true friends of
Ireland, deplores the existing system for registering electors
in that country, and is fully persuaded of its lamentable ten-
dency to promote deception, fraud, and the most appalling
perjury ; that, by reason thereof, many persons not entitled
to exercise the elective franchise retain it by means the most
disgraceful, and that the mischievous consequences of such
a system require the immediate remedy of an act of parlia-
ment."

Mr. NICHOLAS ROBINSON said his friends, the chairman
and Mr. Aspinall, had so fully explained the origin and pur-
pose of the meeting, that he should content himself with
merely seconding the resolution.
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution, and it was car-
ried amidst great applause. Only three hands were held up
in opposition to it.
The Rev. HUGH M'NEILE was next introduced to the
meeting, and he was saluted with many distinct rounds of
cheers. The applause having subsided, the rev. gentleman
proceeded to speak as follows :-1 have been requested to
move—

. " That this meeting has Apserved with much satisfaction
the introduction into the Hffse of Commons, by Lord Stan-
ley, of a bill, entitled `"A Bill to amend the laws relating to
the Registration of Voters in Ireland ;' and that this meet-
ing, upon a careful consideration of the wise provisions of
that bill, considers it in many respects calculated to remedy
the evils in the registration system of Ireland."
Sir Thomas Brancker, gentlemen, fellow-townsmen, and
fellow-operatives,—l do not feel that, as a clergyman of the
national church, I need offer any apology for taking part in
a cause which involves the question of national morals.
(Hear.) By the friends of truth and honesty and fair deal-
ing, no apology will be required ; and to the friends of fraud
and perjury, no apology is due. (Loud cheers.) Sir, if the
agitation of this question during the recess had been confined
to Ireland, we might have been well content to leave our
opponents in the hands of the men of Ulster. (Hear, hear.)
I for one should have been quite content to have allowed the
report of the meeting held in Belfast last Saturday week to
have gone forth through the length and breadth of Great
Britain, as more than an answer to all the flagrant abuse of
Lord Stanley, all the wilful misrepresentations of his bill,
and all the insolent threatenings of the repeal of the union,
which form the staple commodity of the Corn-Exchange
orations in Dublin. (Hear.) Yes, sir, to the brief, clear,
and statesman-like enumeration by Mr. Dunbar of the bills
similar in principle to that proposed by Lord Stanley which
had been introduced by the friends and members of the pre-
sent government ; to the practical appeal to facts made by
Mr. Bates, illustrated by the state of the register in Belfast;
to the logical examination of this bill by Mr. Emerson Ten-
nant (cheers), with his triumphant refutation of the misre-
presentations that have been heaped upon it ; and, though
last not least, to the crushing grasp of the Presbyterian giant,
Dr. Cook—(immense applause) ;—to these men of Ulster, I
say, we might quietly have consigned the great wholesale
agitator, with all the petty retailers of his— (A sudden
burst of cheering drowned the conclusion of the sentence.)
But the fact is, sir, that the agitator had failed to excite any-
thing like popular enthusiasm in Ireland upon this subject.
(Hear.) He had meetings certainly, but they were meetings
more calculated to disappoint than to encourage even his
own party—(loud cheers) ; they were the laborious results
of local effort, rather than the spontaneous outbreakings of
any general feeling. (Hear, and cheers.) I say this upon
the authority of an unwilling, and therefore so far an unsus-
picious, witness ; I say it upon the authority of that organ
of the press at once ministerial and revolutionary, which re-
joices in the name of the Dublin Monitor. (Hear.) Hearken
to his eloquent lamentations. (Hear.) He says :
" A fatal feeling of apathy, joined with a suspicion of all
new schemes of agitation, has taken possession of the popu-
lar mind."
I should not at all wonder. (Hear.) He says further:—
" There is no wisdom in disguising this truth, of which
we daily see most lamentable proofs. It is true, that always
a certain demonstration can be made by Mr. O'Connell in
favour of the expedient of the hour; but even his vast abili-
ties, comprehensive and splendid as they are, cannot impart
anything like the tone and potency of former times to even
the most popular movement of the day."
I still quote from the Dublin Monitor:—
" Take Stanley's odious registration bill, for instance—a
bill which, if it ever becomes law, will, as assuredly as the
sun will rise to-morrow, destroy the Irish elective franchise
conferred by the reform act ; and in what manner, we ask,

has the call to meet and petition against that infamous and
detestable measure been responded to by the country ? Why,
that we have had meetings, it is most true—that many more
will be held, is also true ; but where is the zeal—the activity
—the alertness—the simultaneous uprising—above all, the
living bond of union and brotherhood among all classes of
liberals, which was everywhere observable under the cheer-
ing influence of the Catholic Association? Turn which way
we will we can now perceive no union among reformers—no
cordial attachment to great principles—no fixed determina-
tion to resist oppression, at all commensurate with the crisis
of affairs at which we have arrived. An 'isolated meeting
here and there congregated, after great exertion, is not the
evidence of national activity. They merely indicate how
dead the people have become to questions vitally affecting
their own interests, when, in such a momentous crisis, the
movement is so partial—so exceedingly sluggish."
So matters stood in Ireland, and the recess was drawing to
a close, but, sir, just then, within a few days of the time
fixed for the discussion of the bill in parliament, and when
it was supposed there would be no time left to disabuse the
mind of the public and of the House of Commons with
regard to the sentiments of this great and influential town—
just then, a meeting was convened, the chairman of it was
put into communication with the government, and a petition
with as many signatures as could be had was sent off ; addi-
tional sheets, as they were filled, were sent up from time to
time up to what was supposed to be the last moment. But
a delay has occurred. Sir Thomas Braucker I will not dis-
tress your feelings nor those of our kind friends around, by
dwelling upon the atrocious deed that has occasioned that
delay ; but I will ask you to say whether through the delay
that has unexpectedly overtaken us, it has not become our
bounden duty to disabuse the minds of the people of this
country, and the minds of the members of the senate, and
to show, to make it plain and palpable, that the party mana-
ging the meeting of last week do not represent either the
wealth, the intelligence, the sound principle, or the parlia-
mentary constituency of this great and influential town?
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Not the wealth, Sir Thomas
Braucker, for with the exception of my old friend Mr. Rath-
bone (hear, hear), against whom I find it my privilege to be
once more opposed, and one or two others—l say with these
exceptions, where were the merchant princes of Liverpool
many of whom I see here ? (Cheers.) Not the intelligence
Sir Thomas, for with the exception of our eloquent surgeon—
and eloquent he is—he is an admirable speaker ; and he, on
Monday week, seemed disposed to suit the action to the word,
and bray Lord Stanley in a mortar, if he had but had him
(hear, and laughter),—with this exception where, I say, were
the literati, the philosophic tribes of Liverpool that
day? (Hear, hear, hear.) Not the sound principle Sir
Thomas, for with, the exception of a venerable alderman
of Irish extraction (loud cheers and laughter)—l am sure
you will not suppose I mean any reproach in that, for
I am of Irish extraction too (continued cheering)—but I was
going to add what I do not like so well. of Irish extraction, and
of Italian creed. (Hear, hear; hear.) With that exception,
I say, where was the sound principle of this town? (Hear,
hear.) Not the parliamentary constituency, for the last
time it was tried it polled, by a majority of between 400 and
500 votes, for two supporters of Lord Stanley's bill. (Loud
cheers.) But, Sir Thomas, they met in the open air without
being afraid of interruption. That is their boast. Well, I
hail that boast as their unconscious tribute to the good st.nse,
to the love of order, to the attachment to constitutional li-
berty that they can calculate upon in their political opponents.
(Hear, hear.) Sir, we set too high a value upon the privi-
leges of the British constitution to attempt to interrupt any
of our fellow-subjects when they are in the lawful exercise of
those privileges—(hear, hear, hear) ;—and, therefore, when
. .

they convene 'a
meeting for any specific object, to petition
parliament, for example, against Lord Stanley's bill, they
may have it anywhere, in any street, in any square—(hear)—
and may fully rely upon conservative honour, upon conserva-
tive principle, upon conservative regard for decorum and the
rights of the people, that no conservative will interrupt them
in the exercise of their rights. (Loud cheers.) But one of
their organs has threatened us, that if we dare to have a
meeting out of doors we shall be interrupted. I should not
at all wonder—hear, hear)—so little regard have extra bawlers
for liberty for the real exercise of liberty, and for the
even-handed justice of our constitution, that they would in-
trude themselves where they were not invited, and in the

overflowings of their liberality disturb their fellow-towns-
men in the exercise of their lawful privileges. (Loud cheers.)
What means their challenge to a discussion out of doors
where brazen lungs would be of more use than either rea-
son or argument, and where the consequence could scarcely
fail to be some unhappy collision among the less informed,
and more easily impassioned parties that would assemble?
(Hear.) Well, sir, we think that Lord Stanley's bill should
pass into a law. We know something ofthe nature and working
of the disease ; and we hail this bill as containing at least
some approach towards a remedy. The working of the pre-
sent system is admirably described in an extract 1 have here
from a petition lately presented to the House of Commons
from the city and liberties of Cork. It says—
" The names of all persons once placed upon the register
remain there eight years, though such persons should have
died or parted with the property or qualification in right of
which they had been registered ; persons who have registered
in one right have been also permitted to register again in
other rights, and persons have also registered again and again
in the same right ; in all which cases of expired qualifica-
tions, and repeated registration, the names remain on the re-
gister, without distinction, so that the list affords no means
whatever of ascertaining the real number of voters, and a
distinct certificate is granted, and remains outstanding, in
respect of every expired qualification and repeated registra-
tion."

Some of these are hard words. The thing itself is monstrous ;
and it certainly is well that the features and movements of
this monster shouldbe exposed in detail before the British
public, that they may perceive the eggregious deformities of
the beast. To exhibit all these iniquities would require a
volume, yet it is necessary there should be some popular ex-
hibition of them. Sir Thomas, I will make a trial of one speci-
men. (Hear, hear.) It works through a number of indivi-
duals, and therefore the best way of giving a specimen is to
trace an individual case. I will suppose the case of one Tom
Cassidy. Tom registers in 1832 upon a certain right. In
1834 his qualification expired from some cause—the expira-
ration of a lease, or some other cause. He ceased then to
be a legal voter, but his name remained upon the •list ; then
there was 'one Tom Cassidy upon the list but no such legal
voter. In 1835 Tom Cassidy registered upon another right,
and his name was again put upon the list ; then we have two
Tom Cassidy's upon the list, and only one legal voter of that
name. In 1836 his right again lapsed—his qualification
ceased; then there were two Tom Cassidy's upon the list,
but not a voter at all of that name in the district. (Hear.)
Let us trace him a little further. In 1837 be registered again
upon a new right, and then went Toni Cassidy a third time
upon the list. So matters stood : three Tom Cassidys upon
the list, and one Torn Cassidy a voter till 1839, when Tom
Cassidy died. Then, there were three Tom Cassidy's upon
the list, and ne'er a voter at all of that name in the
parish. (Hear, hear, hear.) Then comes an election.
Upon the eve of an election, when the Romish priests,
thoSe gentlemen who take no part in politics, come to
examine the register, they find Tom Cassidy, 1832, Tom
CaSsidy, 1835, and Tom Cassidy, 1837—then there are three
good votes, provided they could find three good Tom Cassidys.
(Hear.) Enquiry is made, and the first news that comes
to "his reverence " is that Tom Cassidy is dead. Now in
ordinary honest hands that would put an end to the matter,
and in Protestant hands so it does ; but let me tell you that a
graduate at Maynooth is not an ordinary hand. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) Nothing daunted by the death of Tom
Cassidy, he seti about finding persons, that the votes upon
the list may not be lost. Now there is in the parish a young
man called, Michael, or as they say there, Mikel Cassidy.
He may be a distant relation ; the surname is the same, and
that is a part of the qualification. (Hear, hear.) The priest
sends for him ; he gets him into a real tete a tete in the sanc-
tum sanctoriim, and says to him, " Mikel, yer rogue, is not
yer name Tom ? " (Laughter.) I desire it to be under-
stood, that the expression, "yer rogue," is an Irish appella-
tion of endearment, and not a term of reproach. My Irish
hearers in this meeting will be at no loss to understand that,
and if our English friends will only to call to remembrance,
a tenth part of the entertainment they have derived from
the volumes of Miss Edgeworth, they will have abundance
of proqf of the accuracy of the interpretation here given;
but e.V"n Miss Edgeworth, with all her graphic powers of
description, can' give no idea of the mixture of persuasion
and authority—classically of the suaviter in modo, with
the fortiter in re, and more classically still of the combina-
tion of mavourneen and nabochlish, with which a good stout
and well fed priest canvasses a poor trembling bog trotter.
(Hear, and laughter.) " Mikel, my jewil, is n't yer name
Tom ? " Now, tho' Michael is young, he is no fool. Mikel
smiles a bit, and with great meekness he says, " Is n't it yer
riv'rence that should know dhe best, for was n't it you
that kristen'd me ? " (Loud laughter) " Tom Cassidy
ye are the very man that registered in 1832—g0 to the elec-
tion, and support yer church, and support that ornament of
yer church the great mimber whose piety is equal to his vera-
city, and when I say that, I say multum in parvo, which as
ye do not understand Latan, Mick, so much the bether.
(Laughter.) Gn to the election I say, and give yer vote, and
if they ask who for, here is a paper for you to shew : swear
that you are Tom Cassidy that registered in 1832—lave the
rest to me ; do not talk much : it any heretic attorney asks
you questions do not answer him ; and drink no whiskey till
the election is over." (Immense laughter.) A similar pro-
cess discovers another obedient son of the church for Tom
Cassidy 1835, and another for Tom Cassidy 1837, so, by the
working of the present registration law in Ireland in compe-
tent hands, three living men record their votes upon the name
and qualification of one dead man: (Hear, hear.) Now,
sir, this will account for that otherwise unaccountable state-
ment made by Mr. Bates at the Belfast meeting with regard
to the Belfast register, which I have copied here. He says—
" Although the electors fairly entitled to vote in this bo-
rough now only amounted to about 2,000, yet there were no
less than about 5,600 names on the register, for every one of
which names a"vote might be tendered, and could not be re-
fused at the poll."
Sir, this ought to be called the perjury encouragement sys-
tem. (Hear, hear.) And yet I can fancy that something
may be said upon its behalf. I can imagine an excuse, a
strange sort of an excuse, for this system, Sir Thomas. It
is agreed by all sound moralists and it will be responded to
by every generous heart susceptible of the emotions of grati-
tude, that " one good turn deserves another." Well, now,
sir, if the church can do a good turn to the inhabitants of
Purgatory by prayers and masses, lightening their pains by
hundreds of years, is it too much to ask in return that the
inhabitants of Purgatory should do a good turn to the church,
by lending them their names, and qualifications, and votes,
for two—four—six—or eight years ? (Loud laughter.) I
have seen, Sir Thomas, the printed papers of some of the
Purgatorial Societies, but they are all on a small scale com-
pared to this—this is the great Purgatorial Reciprocity So-
ciety, of which the British Parliament are the secretaries and
Irish Romish priests the treasurers. (Cheers) Yet this is
the system with which our liberals are so enamoured that
they cannot bear any approach even to an attempt to alter it.
(Hear.) It is not merely that they object to certain provi-
sions of this proposed bill, but they object to go into the in-
quiry entirely ; they object to go into committee ; they refuse
to have any change made in the present system. I will give
you a specimen now, Sir Thomas, of their oratory upon
this subject. It is a simile. There is nothing that requires
in a speaker a more complete mastery of his subject than a
Simile or illustration. Now, referring to the Liverpool Mer-
cury of last Friday, I find this illustration ascribed to Mr.
W. W. Currie, " town councillor," for so he is called. He
says--
" Lord Stanley put him in mind (if he might use the simile)
of a gardener, who had a garden full of vegetable plants, into
which some weeds had crept, and who, in order to get rid of
the weeds, took his scythe and spade, and cut or dug up the
whole garden, destroying; flowers and weeds together. But
they would not let Lord Stanley get into the elective garden
of Ireland."
You will observe that Mr. Currie here admits there are
weeds. Well. • He represents Lord Stanley as coming with
a very inappropriate weapon, namely, a scythe. What do
we say ? We say, " take the scythe into committee, examine
the garden, examine the size of the blade, see if it cuts too
indiscriminately, and if it does, reduce it to the hoe, and put
it into hands that know how to weed." (Great cheering.)
But what say they ? They say, " No, we won't go into
committee ; we won't examine the garden ;" although they
have acknowledged there are weeds in it. " We want not to
have either the hoe or the scythe ; the weeds are working
favourably for us, stand out of the way;—(hear, hear)—we
will have no change whatever." (Hear, hear.) Now, I ask,
Sir Thomas, in the face of this, who are the farmers of
abuses? Who are the corruptionists ? (Hear, hear.) Who
are the defenders of the weeds ? (Cries of " the Whigs, the
Whigs.") Lord Stanley's bill proposes a remedy chiefly by
two provisions. The first and the simplest that I would call
attention to, is the annual revision of the list, whereby you
observe we should get rid of Tom Cassidy in his proper time
and place. The annual revision has for its object not to
deprive any bona fide legal voter of his franchise, but simply
to remove once a year from the roll the names of those who

have died, of those who have changed their residence to some
other part of the country, or. who have in any other way
ceased to be legal voters. (Hear.) Who, I would ask,
could refuse that this should pass into a law? (Cries of
" Nobody.") Surely the men who refuse annual revision
must be epicures in corruption ! (Cheers.) Why, this
annual revision was loudly demanded by the very men who
now denounce, and loudly denounce, it. (Hear, hear.)
When this part of the reform bill was in the House of Com-
mons in committee in July 1832, Mr. Daniel O'Connell
spoke thus :
" By a subsequent clause these certificates of registry are
to stand good without renewal for eight years; but -I
call for
an annual scrutiny. We can have no self-protection with-
out it." See what a singular coincidence there is between
his illustration and mine ! "If a voter on a certificate—
John Moroney for instance—dies, there will still be a John
Moroney living when the polling time arrives. In England
the scrutiny is annual, as it ought to be in Ireland." "At
the election a John Moroney may come forward, and if you
exclude an annual scrutiny the fraud cannot be detected that
he is not the person to whom the certificate was originally
granted. It is impossible that this plan can last longer than
a year, because in a reformed parliament the common-sense
English plan will be extended to Ireland. I must really
suggest that it would be better at once to give us an annual
scrutiny, and put us on the same footing with England."
" I cannot help again observing, that unless there is an an-
nual scrutiny great facilities to fraud will be afforded, be-
cause when once a certificate is obtained it is to last for eight
years, and into whose hands soever it may fall, that party
will be able to vote, because the production of the certificate
is made conclusive evidence of the right. So that a party
may die, and the franchise be terminated, yet the certificate
may be made available, the only thing required being to
swallow a single oath at the hustings. Why not, then, ex-
tend to Ireland the system adopted in England ?" -
So spoke Mr. O'Connell in 1832. (Hear, hear.) Lord
Stanley, profiting by the experience of what Mr. O'Connell
thus predicted, demands an annual scrutiny. (Hear, hear.)
In the meantime, however, the perjury-encouragement sys-
tem has been found convenient by the par excellence re-
' formers ; the purgatorial reciprocity society has enabled the
priests to keep the requisite number of joints to the agita-
tor's tail (hear); and now when Lord Stanley asks for that
annual scrutiny for which Mr. O'Connell himself in 1832
asked, Mr. O'Connell turns round, and, with incomparable
insolence, dares England, threatens—aye lie threatens—that
if the English parliament shall dare to pass a certain bill, his
millions shall violate the integrity of the empire, and dissolve
the legislative union. (Hear, and cheers.) This threat was
repeated by Dr. WIlale; it was repeated again, after his
own fashion, by Priest Maguire ; and, crossing the Channel,
it was reverberated from Clayton-square. (Cheers.) The
aforementioned alderman said,—" The resolution told them,
that if this bill should pass into a law, it would add to the
arguments in favour of a repeal of the union. Just consider
for a moment," exclaimed the speaker, " add to the argu-
ments for repeal? Why, it will carry the repeal s. ' (Tre-
mendous cheers.)" Now, for a gentleman who professes a
vast attachment to the British constitution., the high privi-
lege of which is that parliament shall pass laws—l say for
sucha gentleman to stand forth to browbeat parliament, and
to threaten them with a dissolution of the integrity of the
empire if they dare to pass a certain law, this is the radical
version of liberalised liberty. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)
But it was objected in that same meeting in the Square
against Lord Stanley's bill, that it threw difficulties in the
way of the poor claimant for his right. (Hear.) There are
two clauses in this bill; the one is for exacting costs from
frivolous claimants, and the other is an enactment of costs
against frivolous objectors to claimants. Now one side of
this has been sedulously put forward, and the other side has
been as carefully kept back. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Rathbone
is reported to have said, after describing, and as I think
misrepresenting, the difficulties in the way of a claim-
ant, introducing the unfortunate poor man—". Suppose this
unfortunate man failed to establish his rights, he was to be
fined £5 !" (Hisses and groans.) Here's a grievance Now
I think, it' Mr Rathbone had intended to communicate to
the people of Liverpool sound instruction, and correct views
concerning Lord Stanley's bill, he would have added to this
" that suppose any person to object to the claim of this un-
fortunate man, and not to establish his objection, he also
must be fined £5." (Immense cheers.) This clause gives
protection to the poor honest man against frivolous objec-
tors, whilst the other clause is not designed as a hindrance
to ie honest man, but as a hindrance to a fraudulent knave.
(Cheers.) I say this clause which gives protection to the
honest poor man against a frivolous objection, would not have
answered the purpose of exciting hisses and groans against
Lord Stanley ; and it was studiously suppressed on Monday
week in a speech professing to contain a description of the
bill. (Cheers.) Now, sir, it may have been inadvertence,
it may not have arisen either from ignorance of the provi-
sions of the bill, nor from any design to make a false impres'
sion upon the auditory. I am willing to grant that Mr'
Rathbone could not be expected to sift every clause in the
bill ; I am willing to grant that this suppressin veil as las",
yers say, although it amounted to deception in the minds of
the auditors, did not originate from any assertio falsi in the
mind of the speaker. lam willing to grant this, but I ant,
sorry to say there is another statement recorded in this speech
for which no such apology can be made.
,He is reported to
have said further concerning this unfortunate man, " he wag
to go from his place of work when he was perhaps earning
only 9s. a week, and he had to go to establish his registra-
tion." Here is an attempt to excite compassion for the poor
man—a little touch of pathos, by a reference to the amour t
of his hard earned wages, and' it is imputed to the British
public that Lord Stanley's bill imposes additional hardship'
upon the poor man, by dragging him a distance from howe
to make good his register. • Now what is the fact ? (Hear.
hear.) The fact is, and what will the people of Liverpo,
think of the information they received from Clayton-sq steer
when they know the fact—the fact is, that the present systein
of registration obliges the poor man to go to the assize tow%
no matter what the distance may be—(hear, hear,)--4°,
Lord'Stanley's bill provides, for the first time, to make th''
lists parochial—it brings the registry to the poor man's door
(Long continu'id cheers.) I quote again from the languae(ei
of one of those gentlemen, who•in co-operation with Ll°
Stanley, prepared this very bill.
" be denied."' says Mr. Emerson Tennant, th,a!
it is a facility extended to him to have the registry brae:,
to his own parish and his own door, as this- bill- will do t°l
the first time, instead of dragging him from the farm to ttlde,
quarter sessions town to be registered ? Will it be denier'
that it will be a signal facility to him to have his name eall_e
in the parish in which he resides, and registered at once,
without of scsin-
without the tedious delay of calling over a long
thousand names ?"-
These are the advantages to be attained, which are P 1
per to be attained, and by your help they will be attain!,
(Cheers.) In like manner Nlr. Emerson Tennant dig-St„e.,s_
of certain other objections which were advanced by
Crawford in Ireland, and reiterated, encored, in Clayton,
square. With your permission I will read a -quotation fr°7,
Mr. Tennant's speech upon this subject ; it would be mai
graphic if we substitute:, another name for Mr. Crawibr
and quite as true :
" Why, Mr. Crawford seems to know as little of the pri°7l
tice under the present- law as he manifestly does of the
he discusses, and which will, I believe, very shortly be I°"t
He seems to be ignorant that in his own county, almost ,si
his own dcor, on the estates of the noble marquis near Dioo
(Lord Downshire), arid other landlords, these partial"
are at present, and have been for years, inserted in every ire
tice to register; and I have yet to learn that any extenso
disfranchisement has taken place in consequence."
It was to this Mr. Rathbone referred, I suppose, when he s„.,
in the square, " it was an inquisitorial notice, that it v,..
impossible for a poor man to mention all these particulairs,;
considering the irregular way in which these things ".te.e
done in Ireland." I want just to tell you what tl_7r,
things are, and I will do • so in the language of
Tennant : he says, " The number of particulars re,
vired instead of twenty is ten, and what are theY.:
irst the name of the claimant." Now certainly there;
some justice in Mr. Rathbone's remark, that owing W.! 0
irregular way in which such things are done in Ireland, itr
very hard to get the real name of the claimant. (Ilea
Here is the substantial difficulty in the way of an hoilem
man—it is hard for him to know his own name, when t
,rie.
very man that christened him assures him it is another Da- II
(Hear, hear.) " Second, his professiosf." It is hard email,.
for some men to • write down what their professiol,
Third, his residence." I can easily conceive it a °.ito
that would require the ingenuity of a lawyer for a ma" to
has no qualifying residence to write down a residence, son'aii.
qualify him. (Cheers.) " Fourth, the nature of the qua
fication." It is still harder to write down that which e'''the
not ; it supposes he knows the farm without going t°,4.
priest ; it supposes a bona fide tenancy as his real quahl'r.)
tion and it is very difficult to write that down. (liejsy
" Fifth, its situation." It does not require much geogrsp
for a man to write down where his own house is ; he is the
required to give the longitude and latitude, but merely „„4
name of the town-land, or the name of the street, or perble
the name 9f the square. (Hear, and laughter.) " Sixtbi'the
must tell in what right he claims ; seventh, he must tehl
occupying -.,enant ; eighth, the value." I quite believe late
difficult at all times to state the real value, and it is still t" in
difficult to state the imaginary value. " Ninth, the livesw
his lease, and tenth, the date of his possession within "aa
last twelve months." So that, literally, as Mr. Elmer: it
Tennant says, all that is required to be done is to write a"
were the following :
u,
" William Sharman Crawford, gentleman, Crawfordsibl,rn-
claims to register out of land situated in the parish of "vtle•
wood, barony of Ards, as a freeholder, himself being theae
nant in possession, the value of 4:50 per annum, and his.'
in fee." , se in
That is it. It is practically done in all the claims 110";ta-
England ; although not enumerated in the letter of the ::oa,
tute, they are complied with in every schedule in operanop
Mr. Tennant thus strips the case of the attributed hard'
of which so much was made at the meeting in Clayton-scluslng
and which Mr. Rathbone calls an inquisitorial plan ten
sips
to deprive the poor man of his franchise. (Hear.) MO
it is argued that the object of requiring'all these particu,ot
is to afford means of making frivolous objections agnlentl
claimants, by the detection of some flaw in his notice; ~ase
in the case of such flaw, or the omission of any one of t'ithe
items required, the 2.5 th clause renders it imperative onto
barrister to reject the claimant." Such is the (Meehis
stated by Mr. Crawford, and reiterated by the party on
side. Now listen to the answer :
IA ail'
It is really inconceivable that Mr. Crawford shot-P.-tl,i .
thorise by his name so obvious a misrepresentation as ail}"
Why, if there be one provision in the bill which more Tao-
than another bespeaks an anxious desire to facilitate allii,rtlas,
tect the bona fide franchise, it is the one connected wit"atea
very clause. I wish particularly that this should be atte„jv as
to. At the present moment, the law, harsh and arbitra;siesr,
it is, stands as Mr. Crawford has described. (Hear, :.'etsl•
and loud cheers.) The slightest error in the notice is ;ire],"
Will it be believed, that by this very bill that evil is en: ter
done away with, and the obstacle no longer allowed to oloble
cept the acquisition of the franchise ? Hear what the noltre
and high-minded legislator, who really purposes thew s„r
of the people, desires to enact. An unintentional ei7,01;
i
present is fatal ; but turn to clause 26th of the bill, and "
apd
be found, for the first time, that it shall no longer be s,°„' sof
pin'
mistake an assistant-barrister is to be compelled to red"' ar
mistake or omission into which the claimant may have tali'
tentionally fallen, and which was not obviously meant to Tropp
lead the public. Mr. Crawford makes his quotatioys
the 25th clause ; this provision is in the 26th, and it is T 1 de'
' And be it enacted, that no misnomer or inaccuff:e., amiY,
scmiption of any person or place named or described• ter of
schedule to this act annexed, or in army list or regisyose
voters, or in any notice required by this act, shall in ailpe to,
prevent or abridge the operation of this act with resP-oah
such person or place, provided that such person or Placiese, ii
be so designated in such schedule, list, register, or nott joy
to be commonly understood; and that every assistanhall
be
rister shall have power to correct any mistake which s4ts, as
proved to him to have been made in arty i
of the said listed iii
to any of the particulars by this act required to be ins', t
such lists respectively.' " ~
,ht 01
1 •
So that no technical mistake shall interfere with the rb iron,
the poor man, whereas a technical!nistake now rnadei cay nont
does interTere with his right. (Cheers.) But, sir, ~e verY
forbear adducing one clause more, because it goes toLtections
point which causes the whole real gravamen of the ouioses Os,
against this bill. I have already said, that it 10°P..,ainf'
enact costs against frivolous claimants, and costss&icriejja;
frivolous objections. Now the costs against frivolon
ants will have this operation undoubtedly. It is n°"eatire
that, throughout the Roman Catholic counties, the hods
management of the registration of electors is in
itl:e_awes,
of the Roman Catholic priests, who return tl
serve the notices, attend the court, and bring up th.e,..iaptS
ants. It is equally well known that' of these elaluratio
thousands come unwilling victims- -to the regt.'s after:
court, compelled to accept the franchise, 1 waie.o,. the::
wards they are compelled to use at the. bidding
fication priest.
whichWo r s t
their
eai lrl tohweny are
conscience compelledte
tells
so
tshwemearthtoey do vat
possess. What is there, now, to prevent this system of

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te
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pulsion and perjury? (Hear.) If they protest against the
oath what is the inducement to take it ? Without entering
into the theological part the civil part is this—if you fail in
it it will cost you nothing. (Hear.) Now, sir, a failure in
the attempt ought to be charged with costs. (Hear, hear.)
Lorfl,Stanley's bill proposes that failure in such an attempt
should be charged with costs, and this will take one argu-
ment out of the priests' mouths, and add one item of protec-
tion to the poor man's conscience. (Cheers.) But I must
forbear. Sir, the question before us is not one of mere Irish
.interest or of mere local application. It affects the whole
empire. (Hear.) Look at the principle involved in it. Sir
Thomas, some of us have been giving warning to this country
for the last ten or twelve years ; we have been telling plainly
and pretty clearly that the conscientious members of the
Roman Catholic Church are not bindable by an oath admi-
nistered by heretics. We have been making it plain, that,
perjury is not to be considered a crime, committed by a few
individuals belonging to the system in despite of the system,
but that it is a part, a deliberately organized part, of the sys-
tem itself.
A Voice.—No, no. (Cries of " yes, yes," and hisses.)
Mr. M`Netee,.—An argument will be better than all your
yeses. Haye patience. (Loud cheers.) I do not wonder
at any honest man feeling indignant at such a charge, and as
an honest man myself I should' not advance such a charge
but that I am penetrated to the heart's core with the best
evidence of the truth of it. (Cheers.)
A VOlCE.—Prove it. (Hear.)
Mr. INVNEILE.—Come then, lam ready with proof. (Im-
mense applause.) The influence of the Romish priesthood
over the people is notorious, and not denied. Now with
regard to these priests, every beneficed man among them is
bound by oath—not an oath given to heretics, hut an oath
to the superiors of' his order,—to agreement with all that is
defined in all the general councils of the church. (Hear.)
If any man denies that, I will send him to the creed of Pope
Pius the 4th, to which every Romish priest is bound by oath
as much as I myself am bound to the 39 articles of the
Church of England. (Hear.) They are sworn to all that is
defined in all the general councils. One of those councils
has declared clearly and distinctly, that oaths in opposition
to the advantage of the church, contra ecclesiec utilitatem
are not to be considered oaths but perjuries. (Hear.) We
• have spoken this ; we have printed this ; we have circulated
this ; we have sent this to the priests, the bishops, the arch-
bishops, the demagocues, aye, to the agitators we have
invited any one, or all of them, to advance a proof in op-
position to.it, and to this hour they are all silent. (Tremen-
dous cheeers.) But the bishops, and the archbishopsof the
Roman Catholic church of these realms put forth a declare-
, tion to the people of England, protesting in the most solemn
manner, it was a vile calumny to charge them with not being
bound by an oath ; they did so. The very men who had
sworn to that council, put forth that declaration! (Hear, hear.)
I say, sir, we have exposed the flagrant hypocrisy of men who
to gain a point with the British public, disclaimed upon
oath the very principles to which they themselves were bound
by oath. (Hear.) We showed the nefarious hypocrisy of
the men—l will name some of them to you—Dr. Troy, Dr.
Doyle, and Dr. Murray, who lives still, and can answer if
he dare. (Tremendous cheers.) I say we showed the nefa-
rious hypocrisy of these men who were secretly circulating
by episcopal authority in Ireland, the very principles which
they were denying upon oath before committees of the House
of Lords in England ! (Cheers.) We have given the in-
stances, the dates, we have compared their evidence in the
House of Lords, with their notes in the Bible ; we have
shown they were circulating the. Rhemish testament with
its persecuting notes at the very time they were swearing
that such principles had never been circulated in Ireland.
(Cheers.) More than this—we have again and again an-
swered the arguments brought forward in their defence,
namely, that their people so respect an oath, that for years
and years they were kept back from civil principles in Eng-
land, rather than take the oath required by the then existing
laws. (Hear.) Was it by the respect for that oath, or by
their attachment to their own superstitious creed ? (Hear.)
Observe. If it be asked, upon the supposition that they
disregard an oath, why did they not pretend to renounce
their religion and take that oath, and so pass on to parlia-
mentary and all other privileges, the answer is this ;—By so
doing nothing would have been gained to the church. (Hear,
hear.) The gain would have been to individuals obviously
and avowedly forsaking their church. The oath required the
abjuration of popery ; the individual taking it would have
gained undoubtedly advantage, but the stigma of idolatry
would have remained nationally, as it is scripturally, affixed
upon his church. For individual advantage then the system
never would sanction wide spread orindiscriminate perjury; but
change the aspect to the other, and let the church, as a system,
be the gainer, and then every species of individual perjury
becomes a martyr's sacrifice to their creed. (Hear.) Sir,
our warnings were not taken—(hear)—our assertions were
not believed; we were accused of libelling the Roman Ca-
tholic religion even when we quoted out of their own books
—(hear)—books in authority in their own church ; even
when we quoted their own standard books, returned to par-
liamentary committees as being taught in the college of May-
nooth ! (Hear.) Yes ; the very quotations out of their
own books were charged as libels against their own religion !
(Hear, }leer.) Well, so went on the matter, till experience,
which is a very powerful teacher, seems to have thrown new
light upon the minds of some of the most influential senators.
They have learned that wisdom from experience which they
refused to learn from books ; and now they see something
more is "necessary to carry out their legislation among the
Roman Catholics of Ireland than an appeal to an oath!
(Hear, hear.) When the Municipal Reform Bill for Ireland
was first before the House of Commons, Sir Robert Peel
insisted, in order to determine the qualification of a claimant,
that there should be a proof beyond the oath of the claimant
—that there should be the voucher of his taxation by the
poor law list.. (Hear.) And the other night, in the House
of Lords, the Duke of Wellington—(at the mention of the
name of this illustrious man all the meeting simultaneously
rose and gave three cheers for his Grace)—l will tell you what
he said. He said, " I would recommend your lordships to
look for some other evidence than the individual's own oath
upon the subject." (Hear.) Sir, we rejoice to know them.
(Cheers.) Perhaps such facts as the one recorded in the
Cork petition, presented the other night to the House of
Commons,. by Mr.; Sergeant Jackson, has tended to en-
lighten his Grace's mind.
A considerable number of persons swore that their houses
were of the annual value of £lO, and they were registered as
voters, blit at the quarter sessions the same parties, in order
to obtain exemption from local taxation,. swore that the same
houses were not of the value of £5 ! (Hear, hear.) Lord
Stanley feels, as Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington
seem to do, that something is required to help a poor Irish-
man to keep his oath, or rather to protect him against his
tyrants. (Cheers.) Lord. Stanley seems to have ascertained
it is not quite so convenient for the priest to pay the costs as
-to absolve - from the perjury ; therefore he proposes there
should be costs enacted against frivolous claims. (Hear.)
Oh, depend upon it, they did not say a word about that in
the square—that is the sore place. (Cheers
:and laughter.)
Thus, sir, we find our statesmen driven by experience to at-
tempts to stretch the British constitution, so that it shall
• include those who are not to be bound by an oath. Hitherto
the glory ,of our constitution has been its Scriptural basis—
(hear)=-and an oath for confirmation the end of all strife.
This is still the glory of the Protestant members of this great
community—(hear, hear, hear)—and I stand here on behalf
of the Protestants of Ireland to ask why they are to be in-
sulted; to ask why they are to be drawn into the same
category of legislation with men who have broken bonds, and
who are not bindable by an oath? (Hear.) But, sir, if the
good of the whole country may be attained by the Protestants
of Ireland being content to pocket this affront ; if by their
forbearance upon this point they may tend to the universal
Christian weal ; if the stretching of the constitution can
take place,-so as to include all without injury to any, then a
remedy may be attained in this direction ; but if you
find that the constitution in order to stretch enough must
break, it' you find in making your legislation palatable to Ro-
manists you must divest it of all that makes it safe for Pro-
" testants, then your choice is not between exclusion and in-
clusion, but your choice is between exclusion and existence.
(Loud cheers.) Sir Thomas, it is rapidly coming to this.
Our legislators are trying the last experiment ; they are try-
ing the last experiment : they are trying whether a reference
to a voucher, to a taxation list, will do to guard the outposts
of the constitution against men who will not be restrained by
the sanctity of an oath. (Hear.) The experiment is going
on. If Lord Stanley's bill passes, the experiment will be
tried ; if it succeeds we shall rejoice;- if- it succeeds, though
many, many members of the British constitution may lament
that such a disgraceful refuge (for after all it is a disgrace)
is had recourse to, to bind them, then it will be well ; but if
it should turn out to be impossible, if the interests of the em-
pire are proved to be at stake, if the existence of Protestant-
ism, identified as it is with the great Scriptural principle of
the observation of an oath, be found to be incompatible, then
the question must be decided,- whether, in order to please our
Roman Catholic fellow subjects, we are to send our constitution
in shivers before the winds, or whether we are to reform its
buttresses, to mature and protect and strengthen them, by
• putting them on the rock of the holy Word of God, and to
maintain to Protestantism exclusively not only the Crown,
which is still .so—not only the Lord Lieutenancy, which is
still so--not only the Lord Chancellorships, which are
still so, but to carry out the principle, which remains
yet at the top. (Hear.) Why not throw open the Crown,
the Lord Lieutenancy, and the Woolsack, as well as
everything else? Oh, there is a latent suspicion still:that
it will not do. (Cheers.) I say this is a great experiment
going on to ascertain how far what is called liberalism in
politics can be carried with safety to the British constitution.
(Cheers.) We should rejoice to carry it as far as possible,
for we do not want to limit the franchise of our fellow sub-
jects as is slanderously reported of us; no such thing ; but we
desire that the franchise should be legally claimed. (Hear.)-
If the franchise should he extended, let it be done openly and
above board by the legislature, and not by the back door of
fraudulent perjury. (Cheers.) If we are to have universal
suffrage, let it be enacted in the House of Commons ; if we
are to have men voting in the place of dead men, let them
legalise it if they are not ashamed ; but do not let us have
• honesty, plain dealing, justice, and sincerity of heart out-
raged by this bit by bit intrusion upon us—this secretly
undermining and sapping the foundations of the edifice
which they are afraid boldly to attack. (Cheers). I must
have done, but first I want to tell you that you should make
a matter of real serious conscience of this. If you believe what
I say, that this experiment is going on, every man has a part
in it, and has a part to take. If there were such an expression
of genuine protestant feeling as really is existing in England,
I•say if it were made plain and palpable, every hand that from
an honest heart applauds such sentiments as I have uttered,
would take the pen, sign a petition, and make his voice heard
constitutionally in the House of Commons. it is not a pe-
tition, with five, ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand names, that
- would then go from this town ; but we should have a petition
with a hundred thousand names. (Loud cheers.) And so
of other towns. There is a slumbering principle in the Pro-
. testaut population of England, and Ido not regret that it re-
quires excitement to bring it out. There is health when the
body is in a state of quiescence, but morbid excitement is a
sign of disease. There yet remains some health in the body,
• I say ; a degree of quiescence is a sign of health ; but you
must remember that even a healthy man may fall a victim if
the house be pulled down about his ears. (Hear.) We
want the slumbering feeling to be roused, and that the men
of England should feel there is a real cause. (Cheers.)
What were you told here the. other day ? It is reported here
that at the meeting -in Clayton-square it was said that uni-
versal suffrage and ballot, and other such measures, were put
out of sight for the present—that they were slumbering like
giants, only to rise again and carry all before them. (Hear.)
And so they will, if you slumber—not a doubt of it. (Cheers,
and a Voice, "We will watch them.") If that man•has
spoken the sentiments of you all, if you will act consistently
with that cheer, and if all the other towns in England follow
your example, the constitution of England is safe still.
(Tremendous cheering, during which the reverend gentleman
resumed his seat.)
• Mr. SHADD said, that after the eloquent speech they had
just heard from the reverend gentleman he should content
himself with merely seconding the resolution. If the Pro-
testants of England did but act upon the recommendations Mr.
M'Neile had given them, their cause would yet be safe.
(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution, and it was Car-
ried with only six or seven dissentients.
Mr. M`Neree here rose again and said : Allow me 'one
word. I want, in the prophetic anticipation derived from
experience, to put upon undeniable record, in opposition to
all the misrepresentation that may be heaped upon us in some
most veracious and honourable organs, the amount of this
eti!' lib meeting. To guard against any misrepresentation that only
`iris gen few people were gathered together, and that the meeting
safWas a great failure, if any of our radical friends should happen,
Ife"4_,iol to be present would invite them to join me in looking allotit
eaidefte see where they could find room to put another rtiin.
:efliE,(Loud cheers.)
' Mr. T. B. HORSFALL' on rising to propose the next reso-
lution was received with loud cheers. He spoke as follows—
I have been thinking, gentlemen, that I_ really did not know
who was most to be envied, the gentlemen who have already

preceded our eloquent friend, Mr. M'Neile, by their ora-
tions in Clayton-square, or those gentlemen who have to
succeed him and say anything on the same subject. (Hear.)
I am glad the resolution placed in my hands will require
little, if any comment. It expresses our confidence in Lord
Stanley, and calls upon this town awl upon this country to
give him their cordial support. I can only regret that the
resolution did not go a little further—that whilst it expressed
their confidence in Lord Stanley, it did not express also their
want of confidence in those corrupt ministers, by whom he
is opposed. (Immense cheers.) Mr. M'Neile has already
introduced to your notice so many of the Clayton-square
orators, that I should not again presume to introduce Mr.
Alderman Sheil, had not Mr. Alderman Sheil thought pro-
per to introduce me to the meeting in Clayton Square.
(Hear.) The passage of his speech to which I allude is

this :
" Before he entered upon this part of the subject, perhaps
it might be his duty, in consequence of what occurred the
last time he had the honour to address a public meeting, to
ask where was the opposition with which he was then threat-
ened ?* (Great cheering.) Where was the gentleman who
said he was ready to meet him. in Clayton-square ? (Re-
newed cheering.) Did he (Mr. Shell) appear there without
having given him fah' notice? Had cot this meeting been
published in every possible way in every district in Liver-
pool ? Why, then, did he not appear there ?"
And the Editor of the Mercury, taking care that the allu-
sion should not be lost, acids :
" By Mr. T. B. Horsfall, at the meeting held in the
Sessions House, a month or two ago, relative to the Irish
Municipal Bill."
" Why did he not appear there? " I will not accuse Mr.
Alderman Shell of an act of political dishonesty towards a
political opponent. I will not accuse him of stating, or in-
sinuating what he knew to be untrue ' • but I will read what
actually did occur at the Sessions'-house, and you shall
judge for yourselves whether I shrunk from, or threatened
to meet Mr. Alderman Sheil. Had I said, I would meet
him, and then have shrunk from the contest, I should
be ashamed to address you or any other meeting in Li-
verpool. (Cheers.) What I stated in that Sessions'-
house, and which must be in the recollection of some here
present, :was this; Mr. Alderman Sheil enquired why did
not Mr. T. B. Horsfall meet him in the Square? I said I
would meet him there to-morrow if the Mayor thought fit.
Mr. Alderman Sheil then made some further comments, and
I replied that I would not meet him in the Square unless the
Mayor thought fit to preside. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen,
as a general principle, Mr. M`Neile has so admirably laid
down the tactics of the conservatives, that I feel it unneces-
sary to say anything upon that point ; but lest there should
be some here who, not being present in the Sessions'-house,
may doubt my version of the story, I will call in support of
my statement a testimony which I presume Mr. Alderman
Sheil himself will not pretend to doubt. (Cheers.) It is
the Liverpool Mercury—(hisses) which says—
(Mr. Shell.)—" Mr. Horsfall said the voice of six or seven
hundred, or even a thousand persons assembled in that room,
must not be taken as the voice of the people of Liverpool ;
but he asked Mr. Horsfall when it was that he and his party
dared to meet them in Clayton-square?
" Mr. T. B. Horsfall said he would meet Mr. Sheil in
Clayton-square to-morrow if the Mayor thought fit.
" Mr. Shell ridiculed this answer, and said it reminded
him of the captain, who. having lost his vessel, asked leave
to go on board, and fight the battle over again.
" Mr. T. B. Horsfall said he would not attend a meeting
in Clayton-square unless it were called by the Mayor."
Now how far Mr. Shiel was justified—how far he could re.
concile it to his conscience, to say I threatened to meet him
with Mr. Thomas Blackburne in the chair, I leave you to
discover. (Hear.) I do not accuse him of stating what he
knew or believed to be untrue; but I do express my belief
that like many others of his countrymen, he is a great wit
with a very short memory. (Cheers and laughter.) Now,
though Mr. Alderman Shiel has done me an act of injustice,
I will do him, so far as I can, an act of justice. (Hear,
hear.) II believe my friend Mr. M'Neile has mis-stated, un-
wittingly I am sure, what Mr. Alderman Shiel said at the
meeting in Clayton-square. I do not think from the nature
of the resolution that Mr. Alderman Shiel intended to advo-
cate the repeal of the union. It is very true he said that if
Lord Stanley's bill passed it would add to the arguments for,
nay that it would at once carry the repeal ; but he did not
express any opinion as to his own views upon the subject,
except as regarded the effect of this particular measure.
(Hear.) However, be that as it may, this bill is so important
a measure, that Mr. Alderman Shiel is decidedly of opinion
that if it is carried, it will lead to the repeal of the union. 1
am so much of the contrary opinion—that I think it far more
likely, if the measure be not carried, to lead to the repeal of
the union, it' such a thing were possible. (Cheers.) How-
ever, I believe there is that right feeling still existing both in.
the Irish and English nation, that no measure, whatever dif-
ference of opinion there may be upon it, could lead to a re-
peal of the union. (Cheers.) There is no doubt Ireland
would be the greatest sufferer if such a measure should be
carried ; and for this I will give you a greater authority than
Mr. O'Connell—an opinion of one of the greatest statesmen
that Ireland ever produced—l mean Edmund Burke, (cheers)
who said :
" Great Britain would be ruined by the separation of Ire-
land. But as there are degrees even in ruin, it would fall the
most heavily on Ireland. By such a separation, Ireland
would be the most completely undone country in the world,
the most wretched, the most distracted, and, in the end, the
most desolate part of the inhabitable globe." (Loud cheers.)
In fact, I believe if Mr. O'Connell could bring his consci-
ence to speak out what he really believes would- be the effect
of the repeal of the union, he would be of the same opinion
as Mr. Burke. (Hear.) I believe that whilst he is, for
his own-personal aggrandisement, advocating the repeal of
the union, he laughs in his sleeve at those deluded fools,
whom he and others make their willing tools. (Loud ap-
plause.) Mr. Alderman Sheil goes on to complaiu of the
tories, and what does he complain of them for doing? He.
says, " how did the tories behave in the parish-office ? that
they remitted the taxes of the poor." (Hear:) What could
they do better ? (Cheers, and cry of " Nothing.") What
could Mr. Sheil have done if he had been there? I must
suppose an opposite, and believe that Mr. Alderman Shea,
if he had been placed there, would oppress the poor. (Hear.)
But he assigns an object, for he says the tories have done
this because they did not.want them upon the register. Now
it so happens that some years ago I was sidesman of Liver-
pool ; at that time Mr. John Holmes, a dissenter, was the
warden, than whom there is not a more respectable, upright
and worthy man upon the liberal side. (Hear.) No one
could have behaved more kindly or more liberally in remit-
ting the taxes of the poor than he did ; but surely it was not
theintention of Mr. John Holmes to keep them off the re-
gister? Mr. Ald. Shiel, I suppose would wish for such a
constituency as that at Belfast and other places, to which Mr.
M'Neile has alluded, where out of between 6000 and 7000
upon the list there were only about 2000 who had legal votes ;
and it is stated upon good authority that with regard to
double, treble, and quadruple certificate's, and so forth, it
appeared that, besides an innumerable number who had
doubly registered, and of whom no account was taken, there
were no ss on the present register than 174 persons who
appeared registered three successive times, 20 persons who
were registered four times, two persons who were registered
five times, and one person who was registered no less than
six times—(Hear, hear.)—a famous Tom Cassidy he—and
upon the whole these 197 electors had among them 618 cer-
tificates to vote. (Cheers.) If any thing could call more
loudly fora reform of the present system of registration in
Ireland I am at a loss to conceive what it could be. (Hear.)
We stand here, gentlemen, in a most extraordinary position.
We are the reformers ! (Loud cheers.) The Clayton-square
meeting were anti-reformers ! (Renewed cheers.) We
want to reforn, abuses, proYedlabuses ; they resist that re-
form. (Cheers.) Lord' Stanley is consistent. (Cheers.)
They said he used to be a reformer ; why, what is he now ?
(Cheers.) It is they who have deserted their principles, and
refused to reform an abuse that has been proved. (Continued
cheer's.) Mr. Horsfall concluded by moving the following
resolution.
" That this meeting has the fullest confidence in the ability
and firmness of Lord Stanley, and in his lordship's long
experience in Irish affairs, and on his intimate knowledge of
the true interests of Ireland as an Irish landlord, and enter-
tains the most sanguine expectation that his lordship will
triumphantly carry so wise and benefi.ial a measure ; and
that this meeting earnestly calls upon this town and the coun-
try at large to contribute their best support, and encourage-
ment to his lordship in this undertaking. '
Mr. SHEPPARD was cordially greeted on rising to second
the resolution. He said, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I
have been requested to second the resolution so well intro-
duced to your notice by Mr. Horsfall. I assure you, sir, that
I feel much honoured, and yet greater pleasure in being de-
puted to do so. Because, sir, as an Irishman, I believe, that
if Lord Stanley's bill for the amendment of the Irish system
of registration be allowed by parliament to become law, it will
be highly beneficial, not only to Ireland, but, ultimately, to
Great Britain also. Sir, my business here is to explain
the nature and progress of this measure, and although you
and a great many present are fully acquainted with its pro-
. gress, yet, sir, I feel it an imperative duty imposed upon me,
to do the best I can to explain to all the nature of this bill,
as it is at present placed. In the year 1835, Sergeant
O'Loughlin and Attorney-General Perrin brought in a bill
for the amendment of the Irish registry, embodying precisely
the principles of Lord Stanley's bill. That bill passed through
the House of Commons rapidly ; it was, however, sent to
the lords a few days previous to the end of the session, and
consequently their lordships had not time to discuss its me-
rits. The House of Lords most properly decided not to de-
termine upon the principle or details of a measure so impor-
tant without sufficient consideration, which it was utterly and
literally impossible for them to bestow at that late period of
the session. The following year, 1836, Sergeant O'Loughlin
and Lord Morpeth introduced a second bill ' • it was read a
first time on the 29th March; on the 18th July, government
moved the second reading, and it was ordered to go into
committee that day two months. This bill also contained
exactly the same principle as Lord Stanley's bill. But sir,
this was mere delusion ; the session being then over, this bill,
like the other, fall to the ground. In 1837, the govern-
ment, I believe, introduced no measure upon this subject.
In the year 1838, Lord Morpeth and the then Attorney-
General Woulfe, gave notice of a bill, and brought it in. It
also contained precisely the same principles as Lord Stanley's.
This bill was put off from day to day until a very late period
of the session. Well, then came 1839, ministers made no
attempt whatever to bring in any measure upon the subject.
Mr. O'Brien, one of the ministers steadiest supporters.
brought in a bill himself—a short bill, but an excellent one,
embodying just the same principle as the rest; but its fate
was marked, he was obliged to give it up without one single
reason assigned for so doing. This terminated the series.
Permit me now, sir, for one moment, to revert to the Irish co-
ercion act, 3 ''Wm. 4, c. 4, which received the royal assent April
2, 1838, and was continued in force in Ireland until the Ist of
August, 1834. Sir, I think the conduct pursued by the
Liverpool whig gentry, during the progress of this bill
through both houses of parliament, will give the meeting an
insight into the patriotism and love for Ireland of some of
the most conspicuous of the Liverpookwhigs. Section 13 of
the act in question, enacted that the lord-lieutenant of Ire-
land, and any officer commanding the district authorised by
him, might commission officers of the regular forces to hold
courts-martial for trials of offences within this act. Sec.
22—Persons found out of their houses under suspicious cir-
cumstances in a proclaimed district, after sun-set, may be
committed, and it convicted, deemed guilty of misdemeanour.
Where, then, may I respectfully ask, was the Liverpool whig
gentry's patriotism when the habeas corpus act was suspended
in Ireland? In what cupboard was their boasted love for
Ireland locked up ; and did those gentry then attend a public
meeting, and declaim against the affront at that period offered
to Ireland? Oh, no ! They were silent, with the exception
of Dr. Collins ; for the minister of that day introduced the
measure, and the whig gentry were as mute as they were
when O'Connell and his party introduced, some years back,
a bill very similar to Lord Stanley's present one, for the
amendment of the Irish registration. The Liverpool whig
gentry's patriotism for Ireland then slept, and notwithstand-
ing all their chatter upon this subject, they left for other men
and other times the task of rendering impartial justice to
that country., We now, sir, come to the year 1840, when we
find these whig gentry in full cry at a bill introduced by Lord
Stanley for the amendment of the Irish system of voting.
Why, may I calmly ask, is all the opposition given to Lord
Stanley's bill ? Because, sir, the bill in question is advocated
by a nobleman who had the moral courage very often to beard
Daniel O'Connell in his den, and also to leave the ranks of
the whigs when he found out that they intended, by their
proposed measures, to demolish, instead of repair, our glo-
rious constitution in church and state. Permit me to remind
the meeting, that in the year 1835 eleven tory judges were on
the Irish bench ; Daniel O'Connell and his party then ap-
proved of the appeal to the going judge of assize from the
barristers' decision. The same party, also, then commended
the system of annual registration. In 1840 they oppose both,
when they have five whig judges and seven tories on the Irish
bench. Mr. O'Connell, at a radical meeting in Dublin. on
the 14th of April, 1840, alluding to Lord Stanley's bill, said
—" This (Lord Stanley) was the man who was about legis-

lating for the registration of voters in Ireland, and they
should not conceal from themselves the fact that he possessed
the most formidable advantages. * * * * * * * *
One of the greatest advantages was, that he could turn round
on the government and say, ' How can you oppose this and
this clause, when you brought it in yourselves before ?' This
was a great advantage (continued 0 Connell) in the hands of
a skilful debater." But, sir, it is alleged that Lord Stanley's
bill takes away, at one blow, the vested rights of the existing
voters in Ireland. This is exactly the reverse of the fact.
It studiously preserves them. The 6th section directs the
clerk of the peace to include in his lists of voters (the nucleus
of the register) all who, on the 20th of July next, will be
then registered and entitled to vote in Ireland, who, by the
20th section, will be entitled as of course to be on the regis-
ter, and vote in future without any proof of title unless ob-
jected to, and on such objection proved to be disqualified by
the objector, at the peril of paying costs if he fail, the fact of
the voter standing on such list being directed to be in all
cases and on all points prima facie evidence of his right to be
on the register ; and in no case will the voter, if objected to, be
required even to appear, or be put to any trouble or expense till
the objector have established his objection, which objection,
and which alone, he will then, and not before, be required to
rebut. Again, the bill is said to increase all the difficulties and
complication of the notice to register, and makes the omission
of any one particular fatal. On the contrary, the notice to
register is precisely the same in its requirements as the pre-
sent, with the addition of the single circumstance, that for
the sake of perspicuity, these same requirements have been
placed in a greater number of columns. And moreover, if
a lifehold property, the names of the lives must be specified,
as directed by the acts of the Ist George 4, c. 11, and 4 Geo.
4, c. 55, to the existence of one of which, be it remarked,
the voter must, under the present law, make oath. This
meeting will readily comprehend the rage of the Registry
Association at this provision. The three voters (to speak in
patois) who carried the life in their leases on their shoulders
to the grave, and within a few days after voted out of that
very lease so expired, making oath to its existence against
their landlord, Colonel Percival, will no longer be able to
perjure themselves. Once more : the bill is said to put the
claimant upon a complicated trial, and to render the com-
plexity still more difficult. So far from it, the process of trial
is exactly the same as under the reform act, the provisions
being copied verbatim therefrom, with this advantage, as
before stated, to the voter, that no mistake on his part can,
as formerly, prejudice him, the assistant barrister being
required by the 26th section to correct every such mistake ;
and with the further advantage, which the voter in England
does not possess, that once placed on the registry, he will
remain there, not for eight years only, as at present, but for
life, so long as his place of abode and qualification remain
the same, unless on formal objection made by a brother voter,
under the peril of costs if he make it vexatiously, such ob-
jector fully proving him to be disqualified, and his title to be
bad. Now, sir, I boldly avow, in the face of this intelligent
and respectable meeting, that a more indulgent, impartial, or
kind-hearted landlord than Lord Stanley does not exist in my
own unfortunate but beloved country. He has vast estates in
Tipperary,and treats his tenantry with the utmost consideratio n
and regard, constantly introducing agricultural improvements,
and assisting them to promote the best breed of cattle.
(Hear, hear.) Is this the man, I would ask, the heir to the
house of Derby. the representative of North Lancashire,
eminent for wealth, talent, mind, and accomplishments, to
be told to be mute on Irish subjects in the legislature of
which he is an ornament, by Mr. O'Connell? (Cheers.)
Men of Lancashire,you ought not to suffer this. He bearded
O'Connell, and for that cause now receives the abuse of the
demagogue and his crawling tail and party. But, sir, we are
told by Mr. Daniel O'Connell and others, that whether this
bill be carried or not, the repeal-cry must be raised, as the
last resource for " justice to Ireland." Sir, I beg to remind
the meeting of what Lord John Russell is reported to have
said—l believe on the 6th of February, 1833 :
" Shall we now say that there ought to be a separation be-
tween England and Ireland, at a time when, as I contend,
all that has lately passed in that country shows that the ob-
jects in view are neither more nor less than these—that an
attempt should be made, under the name of a repeal of the
union, and under the power of a separate parliament, to dis-
unite the two countries—to confiscate the property of all En-
glishmen who have property there—to overturn, at once, the
united parliament, and to establish, in the place of a king,
lords, and commons of the united empire, some parliament,
of which the hon. and learned gentleman (Mr. O'Connell)
should be leader and chief."
Sir, this meeting, no doubt, also remembers the words the
whigs sanctioned, and which were spoken by his late Ma-
jesty King William the Fourth, when answering an address
to the crown from both houses of parliament touching the
repeal of the union :—" You may rely, therefore, on my dis-
charging, with fidelity and firmness, the sacred duty which
I. owe to my subjects, in exercising the powers with which
the constitution has invested me, for their protection against
attempts which, if successful, must inevitably produce a se-
paration of my dominions." Will the whigs now act in a
similar manner, and recommend her Majesty to dismiss any
magistrate who may be found wearing in his coat a repeal
button ? This will show justice. If the conservatives look
even at an orange flag they are immediately denounced. (Tre-
mendous cheering.) I intrepidly ask, ought the repealers,
then, to be in any way encouraged? Mr. Sheppard again re-
verted to Lord Stanley, and energetically called upon the
vast assembly before him to support one of Lancashire's
brightest stars in carrying out the contemplated bill for the
amendment of the Irish registration. If, continued .Mr.
Sheppard, you do soi and by your exertions help his lordship
to succeed, the Irish constituency will then be enabled to
send more conservative members to parliament. The im-
perial legislature will, consequently, then triumphantly be
enabled to pass beneficial measures for the advancement of
this great empire, and Lord Stanley be further enabled to
hurl, with redoubled effect, defiance against the Irish agitator
and his mischievous clan. Mr. Sheppard sat down amidst
loud cheering; and the resolution having been put, was car-
ried by acclamation, there being only two or three dissen-
tients.
Mr. C. LAWRENCE said the honour of moving the next
resolution had been conferred upon him. He would not,
however, take up the time•of the meeting, or weaken the ef-
fect of the eloquent, powerful, and conclusive speeches they
had just heard—speeches ,he made bold to say such as
had never been heard in that theatre—by endeavouring to
add to the arguments already advanced. He should content
himself with moving the resolution that had been entrusted to
him, which was—
" That a Petition from this town to the House of Com-
mons, praying that honourable house to go into committee
on the bill and to pass it without delay, be forthwith pre-
sented, and that the Petition now read be adopted."
The CHAIRMAN then read the petition, of which the fol-
lowing is a copy :
" TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED
KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, IN PAR-
LIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
"iThe Petition of the Undersigned Clergy, Bankers, Mer-
chants, Electors, and other Inhabitants of the Town of
Liverpool,
" HUMBLY SHEWETH,
" That your Petitioners, deploring the present defective
state and demoralising tendency of the existing Registration
Law for Ireland, desire to express their great satisfaction with
the Bill which has been introduced into your Honourable
House and read a second time, for the supplying of the ac-
knowledged defects, the removal of the abuses, and the re-
medy of the evils of the said Registration Law.
" Your Petitioners have considered the objections which
have been urged against that Bill, and have found them of a
threefold character—Personal, Fraudulent, and Mistaken
First, Personal, not grounded on any alleged charge against
the provisions of the Bill itself, but on the fact that it has
been brought in by a particular individual ; your Petitioners
think that such objections are not entitled to any attention
whatever in your Honourable House ' • Secondly, Fraudulent,
under the pretence of keeping the franchise extended, but
with the real design of keeping an open door for claimants
who have no legal franchise, and even for personifiers of dead
men whose names are assumed by others, and retained on the
list by perjury ; your Petitioners respectfully represent that
it well becomes your Honourable House to resist, and defeat
all such dishonest and disgraceful attempts ; And Thirdly,
Mistaken, founded in misapprehension of the Principles and
Provisions of the Proposed Bill ; your Petitioners are of opi-
nion, that your Honourable House when in Committee can
fully satisfy all such honest, but ill-informed Objectors.
" Your Petitioners therefore implore your Honourable
House to go at once into Committee on the said Bill, and
not to tolerate any factious opposition to it in Committee,
but speedily to pass it to a third reading.
"And your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray, &c."
Mr. GRANT briefly seconded the resolution, and it was
unanimously carried.
Mr. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE rose amidst much applause
to move the next resolution. He quite concurred, he said,
in the opinions expressed by one or two gentlemen who had
preceded him, that it wasimpossible to add to the argunients
the meeting had just heard adduced in favour of the passing
of Lord Stanley's bill. (Hear, hear.) In proposing the
fifth resolution, therefore, he would merely remark that he
considered that bill highly calculated to secure to the people
of Ireland the easy attainment of the franchise by those duly
qualified to enjoy it, and those only, during the existence of
their qualification. (Hear.) It secured further the exclu-
sion of fraudulent intruders upon the franchise without un-
necessary trouble and expense. (Cheers.) With this ex-
pression of his sentiments, he begged to move—
" That the Petition be forwarded to the Members for the
Borough for presentation, and that a copy of the resolutions
passed at this meeting be forwarded to Lord Sandon, to
Cresswell Cresswell, Esq., and to Lord Stanley."
Mr. BAKER, in seconding the resolution, begged to con-
gratulate that large assembly and his fellow-townsmen upon
this unprecedented meeting. (Cheers.) He called it unpre-
cedented advisedly! Upon most occasions the boxes had
been partially filled with a number of the fair sex ; but, on
this occasion, he defied their liberal opponents to put in, with
truth, the usual paragraph, " two-thirds of the audience con-
sisted of ladies and children." (Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN put the motion, and it was carried with-
out a dissentient.
Three cheers each were then given for Lord Stanley, Lord
Sandon, Mr. Cresswell, and the other Lancashire conserva-
tive members, and a few groans were levelled at the Irish
agitator.
Mr. J. B. LLOYD next moved a vote of thanks to the
chairman, and the proposition having been seconded by Mr.
PROCTOR, it was carried by acclamation.
Sir THos. BRANCKER having briefly expressed his thanks,
the meeting separated about half-past two o'clock.

THE MAncit OF INTELLECT.—When we consider the
rapid increase of knowledge during the present century, when
discoveries have been made in astronomy by Sir William
Herschel and other observers of the celestial bodies ' • in che-
mistry, through the researches of Sir Humphry Davv, Dr.
Wollaston, Professors Brande and Faraday ; and, through
the brilliant genius of James Watt, the steam-engine has
become one of the most mighty machines which the industry
of our enterprising fellow-countrymen employ, or the na-
tional commerce requires ; and when through the various
philosophical institutions, springing up in every part of this
empire, we shall, on giving these subjects a due considera-
tion, not be surprised to find that, in the present day, when
the minds of men are thirsting after information on important
topics, to find that the diseases afflicting the human frame
have not been overlooked, particularly those distressing and
often fatal maladies, viz., the Gout and Rheumatism. And
it is pleasing to discover that science has not been inattentive
to the demand made upon her stores of knowledge, for the
introduction of Blair's Gout and Rheumatic Pills have not
only immediately relieved the symptoms of the diseases in
question, but have effected a permanent cure ; and the great
demand now made upon the proprietor for supplies of these
medicines, as well as the testimonials which are constantly
sent him from all parts of the United Kingdom, are decided
proofs not only of their efficacy, but likewise of there being
of inestimable value to all classes of society.—See advt.
A PANTALOON AT SEA.—We had not long left Dover
when a breeze sprung up, to the joy of the captain and crew,
but death to all the passengers. Oh! the heaving of the
vessel, and the heaving of the voyagers ! Not the slightest
occasion for the stomach-pump—especially for myself. The
veterinary gentleman at Dover had provided against that,
although I went regularly through every action and attitude,
so much so, that the rest, who really were ill, and no mistake,
thought I was making fun of them, particularly Columbine
and her mother, who sat nearly opposte to me, only to the
leeward. I held tight by the arms of the bench, as I used
to do in Mother Goose, for fear of being pitched forward ;
so they had an excellent full view of my face, whenever they
dared to lift their heads up, and see the " much ado about
nothing" I made. My dreadful faces and noises set them
off ten times worse than ever, and they held up their hands,
and turned up the whites—no, the yellows of their eyes, as
much as to say, " For pity's sake, Barnes, don't do it again!"
But Barnes could not help himself.—From the Journal of
Barnes, the Pantaloon, in Bentley's Miscellany.