The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-05 00:00:00

Zbe Eibtrpool ,S:tantiarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 5, 1838.

The Publication of the STANDARD commenced this morn-
ing at 5 o'clock.

IRISH POLICY.—The folly of expecting that the Whig
ministry, under the dictation of O'Connell, would receive,
in any thing like good faith, the conciliatory overtures
made by Sir Robert Peel, has, we should imagine, been
completely proved by the proceedings of the House of
Commons on Friday last. We felt assured that any con-
cession
on the part of the Conservatives would only be
treated as all former concessions had been—as the means
for obtaining more—as a handle for further agitation.
We felt confident that, whatever might be done in the
House of Commons in reference to the "settlement" of
Itish questionsy the country would not be satisfied with
any surrender of the rights of the Established Church, or
any diminution of Protestant influence in Ireland. Even
if Sir Robert Peel had succeeded in carrying his amend-
ments relating to the rating clauses in the Irish Municipal
Bill—if he had prevailed upon the House to agree to a
£lO bona fide franchise—we felt confident that the ha-
bitual perjury, of which the Popish hordes of Ireland ate
guilty, would render such an enactmentla perfect nullity.
In this confidence we are more than confirmed by the
expressed opinions the great Popish agitator as delivered
by him in the course of the debate on Friday last,.when
he took occasion to re-assert his authority over the
'truckling Whig ministry.
The discussion which took place on Friday we con-
sider of the highest importance, as affording a clue to
the recent ascendancy of the Popish faction in Ireland.
It was confessed by O'Connell that a bona fide £lO.
franchise would be equivalent to a measure of sweeping
disfranchisement, as far as it could operate on the Irish
constituencies—that is, we presume, as far as the popu-
lous towns were concerned. We are glad of the acknow-
ledgment it will serve to open the eyes of the people of
England to the rotten state of the Irish constituencies.
It will do infinitely more good than all the money col-
lected for the prosecution of the Irish election petitions.
O'Connell is, for once, entitled to the gratitude of the
People of England. He has disclosed the secret of his
Power. We know at length from his own testimony—
unwittingly given, we have no doubt—that the members
of the tail owe their elevation to the House of Commons,
not to the real bona fide electors of Ireland, but to the
swarms of
.perjured beggars who, like their great ex-
emplar, will utter any amount of lies to gain their fran-
chise, and to rensier themselves subservient to the
rebellious designs of a tnavish priesthood. The genuine
'constituencies of Ireland—those who ought to be pos-
sessed of the franchise under the Reform Bill—are, and
have been, shamefully robbed of their rights; for it is
mothing else than sheer robbery to deprive them of the
privilege of returning to the House of Commons the men
of their free choice.

The manner in which O'Connell divulged the secret
of his power in Ireland is extremely curious and instruct-
fng. He was actually compelled to adopt the alternative
of making the disclosure, or of maintaining a profoun'd
silence on the subject of the franchise, and permitting
Sir Robert Peel's amendments to be carried by acclama-
tion. Nor was the language of Mr. Shiel a whit less
characteristic of the alarm which he felt for his own fate
‘n that employed by his leader, as will be perceived
cut the following analysis of the debate, which we take
fr°lll the Morning Herald :
,:" Prom this position, Sir Robert declared, that no consider-
-8"34 should induce him to depart. A 101. franchise, to be de-
,ertained by rating under the new poor law, or by some analo-
P", principle, was the indispensable condition of his consent
the passing of the bill before the house. He was willing to,,
'slake certain concessions, in order to effect the settlement of
Ilese harassing questions; and the concessions, which be had
.11titnated his willingness to make, were, he was aware, deemed,
7/I"rne uaters, of too comprehensive and sweeping a kind.
had b q
eenr accused by the organs of public opinion, of having
become a party to a discreditable compromise of principle; but,
undeterred by such Misapprehensions of his motives, he should
Persist in the attempt, which he thought the public welfare de-
r'anded, to dispose of the questions which had, for years, kept
eland in a state of constant excitement. Should his terms be
'ejected, he trusted that he should stand absolved, in the eyes
•of the country, of any factious desire to impede a satisfactory
adjustment of the matters at issue !
the
This declaration was received with tremendous cheering on
e Part of the conservatives; and was followed by a marked
elongation of the visages of the occupants of the treasury bench-
es, and of the members of the tail, in their immediate rear.
``Lord John Russell expressed a hope, that the matter would
tae aulicably arranged. For his own part, he was disposed to pre-
,pre-
,tera 51. franchise ;- but he thought the question did nut call for
Immediate decision.
eu" 111 r. Sheil, in tones which he designed to have a coaxing in-
enee, was very sure, that Sir Robert Peel would not be so
unreasonable as to render the grant of corporations to Ireland
oependent upon the establishment of a rate under the poor law,
since the Irish poor law bill might never pass into law !
ed6;he
Sir Robert Peel, in reply, observed, that he bad not declar-
ed under the poor law to be indispensable to the con-
cession of municipal corporations;—on the contrary, he had
expressed himself willing to adopt any other equally sound test
of the genuineness of the municipal franchise!
Mr. O'Connell, upon hearing this statement, immediately
exclaimed,... that Sir Robert's object was to convert a nominal
the principle
franchise, into an actual franchise of £2O. Why should
p!ineinle of rating under the poor law be adopted? That
Principleor formed no part of the English and Scotch Municipal-
p.oration Acts; and was Ireland to be insulted by terms
'"" 'b. were not imposed on the other portions of the empire?
why should not the parliamentary franchise be adopted? Why

should not the fact, of a tenant paying Elt) of yearly rent, be
received as proof that he was entitled to claim the .E.lO fran-
chise under the Municipal Act ?
" In reply to this characteristic effusion, Sir Robert Peel ob-
served that there really ought to exist between Mr. O'Connell
and himself, little difference on the point at issue, since Mr.
O'Connell consented to a £lO franchise, and he (Sir Robert
Peel) merely desired security that the £lO franchise should be
in truth, what it professed to be.
"' Oh !' exclaimed Mr. O'Connell, I see how it is ! Why
mock Ireland with the language of conciliation, and at the same
time, heap fresh insults upon her ? The right hon. baronet's
proposal is a gross delusion, Its object is to narrow the fran-
chise—and to prevent Roman Catholics from aspiring to their
fair share of corporate influence. The test of rating will have
the effect of raising the parliamentary franchise—for the Reform
Bill merely declares that the voter shall pay a yearly rent of
£10; but the bill before the house proposes that the tenant shall
pay £lO of rent, besides repairs, taxes, and burdens of various
descriptions. The result will be that the municipal franchise
will be a £2O franchise.' _

Sir William Follett replied to Mr. O'Connell's statements,
in a speech which, for logical power, for clearness of statement,
and fur all the attriblites of chaste and manly eloquence, has
rarely been surpassed in the House of Commons. He showed
in the most irresistible manner that the burdens accompanying
the enjoyment of the proposed municipal franchise were all
presumed by law to accompany the exercises of the parliamen-
tary franchise, but that, in point of fact, the provisions of the
Irish reform bill had been set aside in the most scandalous
manner, and fictitious qualifications created at a frightful ex-
pense of perjury. Sir William proved, by reference to the
borough of Clonmel, that the revising barrister had permitted
scores of men to exercise the elective franchise—not on the
ground that they paid £lo_of yearly rent, but because these men,
occupants of cellars under ground. had sworn that the premises
which they rented were worth £lO a-year to them. To prevent
the increase of wholesale perjury, and to render such audacious
evasions of the law impossible, it was absOlutely necessary, as
Sir William proved, to adopt the check proposed by Sir Robert
Peel!
"To the unanswerable masoning of Sir William Follett,
Mr. O'Connell attempted a reply, by means of sundry imper-
tinencies, to the effect that Sir 'William's principles were re-
gulated by his desire of promotion—promotion, to which Mr.
,O'Connell was compelled to admit the genius of Sir William
pre-eminently entitled him !
"The same arguments were reiterated on both sides of the
house ; until at last, Lord John Russell moved as an amend-
ment on the words of the bill, that a £5 franchise coupled
with rating under the poor law, should be established,' instead
of .a £lO franchise, in all the. corporate towns in Ireland. The
house 'divided ; 136 members voted with Lord John, for the
anyndment ; and 111 against it, with Sir Robert Peel.
" Sir Robert, then, repeated his deteritination never to give
his
_assent to a £5 franchise. He should bring forward no
further amendments '; but should reserve himself until the re-
mit was brought up. - He should then, once more, take tthe
arense of the house upon the question; and at all events, he
should never sanction a lower franchise' than £lO, guarded by
such a check as he had suggested. _ -

"Sir Robert, further ob-served, that he could not but deem
himself unfortunate, in this matter of the franchise, inasmuch
as ministers had themselves originally proposed a £lO franchise
for seven towns out of the eleven, comprehended in the schedules
A and B; Lot when lie proposed to extend the £lO franchise to
the other four, ministers turned sharply round, and lowered the
franchise in all, to £5."

We heartily rejoice that Sir Robert Peel has escaped
from the meshes of the "comptornise" in which Lord
John Russell, acting under the instructions of the crafty
arch. agitator, sought to entangle him, and that he has
declared his unalterable resolution to insist upon a bona
fide £lO franchise, as far as it can be secured in such a
country as Ireland.
Lord John Russell must either abandon the Irish Mu-
nicipal Bill, or consent to pass it with the very clauses
proposed by Sir Robert Peel. It is not difficult‘ to gliess
which alternative he will adopt. He dare not refuse to
carry the bill through the House of Commons in whatever
shape O'Connell wishes—he dare not refuse eventually
to pass the bill with, such amendments as the House, of
Lords may think proper to make in its various enact-
ments.

The position of Lord John Russell in the debate of
Friday was humiliating in the last degree. In the bill,
as introduced by him, he had made express provision
that seven of the largest cities in Ireland should have a
£lO franchise. To these seven Sir Robert Peel proposed
to add four other towns, thus making eleven in which
the burgess tenure was to be ten pounds. To this pro-
position of Sir Robert Peel the whig leader acceded on a
.former evening. That there may be no mistake about
the matter we shall just quote that part of the sixth sec-
tion of the bill which relates to the £lO franchise. It is
as follows:
" And be it enacted, that after the passing of this act, every
man of full age who shall, on the last day of August in any
year, be an inhabitant householder, resident within any borough
named in the said schedule (A), or within seven statute miles
of the said borough, and shall hold and occupy within such
borough any house; warehouse, counting-house, office, or shop,
which either separately or jointly with any land within such
borough, occupied therewith by him as owner, shall be truly and
really of the full and yearly value of EH) or upwards, shall, if
duly 'enrolled, according to the provisions hereinafter contained,
be a burgess of such borough, and member of the body corpo-
rate of the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of such borough,"
&c.

This section of the bill further provides that

"No such occupier shall be admitted to be enrolled under
this act, unless he shall have occupied such premises within said
borough, or other premises of the like nature within the said
borough, really and truly of the full value of £l.O for the space
of six calendar months, at the least next preceding such enrol-
ment; nor unless such occupier shall have paid or discharged all
grand jury or municipal cesses, rates, and taxes, if any, which
shall hare become legally due and payable by him in respect of
-such premises, except such as shall have been imposed or become
due within three calendar months next before such enrolment."

Now, this section either contemplated a bona fide qua-
lification, or it did not; that is, Lord John Russell either
meant to deal honestly in the matter, or he intended to
practice the grossest fraud upon the House of Commons
and the British public. The STANDARD very happily
brings the matter to an issue, and fixes the tiny Home
Secretary between the horns of a dilemma from which
he will find it impossible to escape. We hope we shall
not incur the censure of our respected contemporary of
the Albion for venturing to avail ourselves of the power-
ful assistance of our metropolitan namesake. However,
the polite and sagacious editor of that weakly repository
of elegant extracts is quite at liberty to deal with the
following nervous remarks in any way he pleases. In
reference to-the crooked policy of my Lord John Russell,
the Standard says—
" Last night, in pursuance of his original declaration, Sir
Robert insisted that the qualification should not be ti coloura-
ble qualification, such as might be swamped-up by misrepresen-
tation and perjury, but a bona fide qualification, ascertained, as
in this country, by the poor-rates, should the Irish poor-law bill
pass—as doubtless it will pass—or by some other rate. Against
this reasonable and just proposition Lord John Russell, Mr.
O'Connell, and Mr. Sheil, raised their voices and made their
stand—and incredible as it may seem, Lord John Russell, in
direct contradiction to his own bill, proposed that in all cases—
in the case of schedule 4, as well as schedule B—the franchise
should be reduced to fire pounds , if it was to be a bona fide qua-
lification. So disgustingly audacious a confession of meditated
dishonesty was probably never before made.
" The qualification on either must not be ten pounds, or it
must not be bona fide. But in the seven towns and cities in
schedule A. Lord John Russell had made the qualification ten
pounds; he therefore acknowledges distinctly that he did not
intend it to be bona fide—that he intended it to be a cheat—an
Organised system of fraud and perjury; for such will be any
systeni dependent upon profitable swearing in the unhappy
country for which his lordship is legislating. This was ac-
knowledged by Mr. O'Connell, in a passage of his evidence
quoted last night by Sir William Follett; it is acknowledged as
follows, in the evidence of the Roman Catholic Bishop Ma-
gourin
Do you not think that perjury is committed to a VERY GREAT
EXTENT in consequence of this [the 40s. freeholdl system,
no.
Both upon registries and elections ?
Magourin.—YES.'
" Mr. O'Connor, of Mount Druid, a Roman catholic, in his
interesting. Swiss tour, published last summer, after full ex-
perience had of the working of the reform bill elections, de-
scribes the process of perjury still more minutely :—"rhe legal
qualification of an elector in Switzerland 'is not so high as it is
in Ireland, but the depravity and immorality produced by
electioneering have actually made the elective qualification
much lower in the latter country. The £lO franchise is ob-
tained out of a few acres of land, let at a rack-rent, and the pro-
prietor and the serf combine to give a value of £lO to what is
not worth £l, and reconcile the perjury by identifying the
produce of personal labour exercised on the raw material with
its marketable value. A few hundred Swiss franks constitute
the qualification of a Swiss elector, and his innate honesty
would never be reconciled to perjury.'
"The hideous mass of perjury detailed in the evidence before
the Fictitious Votes Committee, and in the evidence before the
Carlow, Longford, Belfast, Kinsale, and all the other Irish
election committees where the registry has been opened—the
refusal of the Popish party, whenever they have had the power,
to open the registry, furnish a dreadful commentary upon the
evidence of Mr. O'Connell and Dr. Magourin, and the state-
ment of Mr. O'Connor. Give the O'Connellites • the book band'
—a phrase of their own wretched country, and they will swear
up to any necessary qualification. This, indeed, was plainly
confessed by Mr. O'Connell last night when he said (and for
once he spoke the truth) that the bond fide £lO qualification
would place the municipal electors above the parliamentary
electors—an admission as distinct as it can be made that the
parliamentary electors are not bond fide £lO householders, but
paupers who have obtained the franchise by perjury."
Here we let the matter rest for the present. We
shall again have occasion to recur to the subject of the

multiplication of fictitious votes in Ireland—a subject
which has been so strongly forced upon our attention by
the confessions of Mr. O'Connell. We have before us
some curious returns connected with several of the Irish
constituencies, of which we shall hereafter avail onrselves.
As to the more important question of Irish Tithes we
have now no longer any fears. The Conservatives have
been taught once more how vain it is to enter upon any •
thing like a compromise with the Whig-Radical ministry.
They cannot be so forgetful of their duty to their consti-
tuents as to yield themselves up to any tenir prising ex-
pedients, in dealing with the interests of the Church of
Ireland. They must oppose a bold front to their anta-
gonists, and strenuously resist every attempt to despoil
the church. They have the truth on their side. Magna
est veritas, et prwvalebit.