The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-03-13 00:00:00

Mr. JOHN WRIGHT rose to address the meeting, but the
Whigs created such a clamour that it was impossible for him
to proceed.
The MAYOR claimed an impartial hearing for every one,
whatever his opinions might be, and he earnestly requested
they would keep silence, that they might hear. (Cheers.)
Mr. WRIGIIT wished to put his friends in a good humour,
for he had always found in a public meeting truth was much
better dictated by a good feeling than by calling names.
(Hear.) He was quite sure when he came here to oppose
the propositions of his friend Mr. Currie, seconded by his
gallant friend Colonel Williams, they were both liberal
enough to believe he could have no personal feeling, no un-
kindness in his mind against any individual who might hap-
pen to have different political opinions to himself, (Hear.)
He believed then, that the apprehensions of his friend Mr.
Robinson would be realized—that if the proposed measure
became law the whole of the Protestant members of the
corporations in Ireland would be ousted and replaced by
Roman Catholics. (Hear.) In asserting this opinion he
did not by any means wish to cast the slightest reflectien
upon his Roman Catholic fellow subjects; nay more, he
went further and would most distinctly say that he thought it
would be their duty to attempt it. Mr. Currie, therefore,
he considered, had come to a conclusion rather too hastily
when he stated that religion could have nothing to do with
this question. (Hear.) His (Mr. Wright's) argument was
this—that if the corporations, which were the strong holds of
Protestantism, were swept from the face of Ireland and
they were filled by Roman Catholics, the Roman Catholics
would have the power to return a greater number of mem-
bers to the House of Commons, by which means they would
have more power to attack the church establishment of
Ireland. (Loud cheers and some interruption.) Then, the
probability that they would so attack it was this. As an indivi-
dual he wished to give every man high and low a conscientious
feeling for the faith in which he had been brought up ; but,
if he understood rightly, one of the tenets of the Roman Ca-
tholic faith was, that they were bound to upset anything
which they called heresy. (Cries of " No," drowned by
those of " Yes.") He considered it their duty to endeavour
to establish their faith, and he cast no reflections upon them
for it whatever. This was one of the reasons for opposing
the motion. The gallant colonel had stated that he was one
of the old freemen. He (the colonel) had looked towards
him (Mr. Wright) a little cunningly when he talked of the
purity of the old freemen. He did not think the praises of
the gallant colonel came from his heart exactly, although
they proceeded from his lips ; because many were the times
when he had given them severe rebuffs—good advice he (Mr.
Wright) knew, but he did not know that he had ever given
them anything else. (Laughter and cheers.) However, his
gallant friend and himself, though they had taken opposite
parts in politics for many years, had always kept good friends,
and he hoped they should continue so. His gallant friend
had appealed to them, as brother freemen, whether they
should not like to give to Ireland the same benefits as they
themselves enjoyed. He (Mr. Wright) agreed in that re-
spect with the gallant colonel ; every honest freeman would ;
but the gallant colonel did not know, when he uttered those
words, what this bill contained (hear, hear) ; he forgot that
in this very bill there was a clause disfranchising every free-
man in every corporation. (Cheers.) He (Mr. Wright) had
always, but he did not mention it as a boast, and it was for
those who were freemen in this meeting to do the same,
stood up whenever he found their franchises and privileges at
stake. (Hear.) He wished them to come forward now,
and when this motion was put to the vote, to show that they
wished those gentlemen to whom the gallant colonel had
appealed, they could not agree in the delight expressed by
the motion, because it destroyed the franchise of the freemen
of Dublin and other places. For these reasons he should
oppose the motion.
The mayor then proceeded to put the motion, and having
twice requested a show of hands, in order to satisfy himself
declared that he had no hesitation in deciding that the ayes
had it.

Mr. JAMES BRANCKER said it was his duty to move the
second resolution, said he should follow the example of his
friend Mr. Alderman Wright.
Mr. WRIGHT.—" I am not an alderman." (Laughter.)
Mr. BRANCKER then read the resolution, and said that
the best way of getting on with business was to make as
short speeches as possible, and therefore he should content
himself with recommending the motion to the favourable
consideration of the meeting. He must, however, say, that
there was no Irishman so degraded as ever to be content with
less than equal rights and privileges to Englishmen. (Hear,
hear.)
_ • _ _

MC. JAMES MULLENEUX seconded the motion. The
question before the meeting was so plain, so simple, that he
wondered exceedingly how a difference of opinion could exist
upon it, and that it should be necessary at this time of day
for them to leave their usual occupations and employments,
to urge upon the legislature the propriety of doing justice to
a large portion of our fellow-citizens, and extending to them
what we had obtained for ourselves. If local self govern-
ments were good as a whole, it was good as applied to every
part of this great empire ; and by it, those who opposed us
and arrogated to themselves a superiority in religion, in which
he was incliged to include a claim to superiority of morals,
they would surely recognize in this great measure the great
principle of one of those divine commandments upon which
hung all the law and the gospel. But if he was astonished
that injustice should be so long perpetrated towards Ireland,
he was still more astonished that it should be so long and so
meekly borne; and he hoped that his Irish fellow-countrymen
would never rest satisfied, would never desist from agitation,
until all those distinctions that caused discord and strife
amongst all the subjects of this empire should be removed
and destroyed. He seconded the motion.
Mr. T. B. HoRSF ALL opposed the motiou. When first he saw
the placards convening this meeting upon the walls of the
town, he determined to make it his duty to attend it, not only
because he considered this as a question of great and vital
importance, not as a question of party politics, not a question
affecting the mere temporal rights and privileges of the Irish
population, but as a question striking at the very root of our
Protestant institutions. (Loud cheers.) He could only say
that whatever opinions he might give utterance to, nothing
was further from his heart than to hurt the feelings of any
individual in the room. Another feeling which induced him
to attend was the thorough conviction that, at the hands of
the Mayor, every gentleman who wished to address the meet-
ing would receive that impartial attention which he, the
Mayor, had so well endeavoured to obtain. His friend Mr.
Currie had said he objected to corporations being exclusive.
In what way did he object? He objected to their being ex-
clusively Protestant, but not to their being exclusively Ro-
man Catholic. (Loud cries of " Hear, hear, and cheering.")
He always liked to come to figures, and hoped that he should
be able to lay before Mr. Currie and that meeting, some
facts which would convince him that if this bill passed, the
corporation of Dublin, from being exclusively Protestant,
would become—and he said it in no offensive spirit—exclu-
sively Popish.. (Some interruption and cheering, in which
Mr. Wright and the Mayor interfered, and eventually order
was restored.)
A voice.—Will Mr. Horsfall give his authority for that
statement ?
Mr. HORSFALL had been asked for his authority, and he
would endeavour to give it. A calculation had been made
of the householders of the city of Dublin—and they would
bear in mind that the £5O freeholders and the freemen were
disfranchised—and it appeared from that calculation, that of
the £lO householders the Roman Catholics were 9250, whilst
the Protestants numbered only 4852. (Great interruption.)
When his friend Mr. Currie complained that no Protestant
dissenter had been admitted into the corporation of Dublin,
he (Mr. Horsfall) was perfectly willing. to appeal to the dis-
senters of Ireland, and by their decision he would will-
ingly abide. If the Protestant dissenters of Ireland would ra-
ther have this municipal reform bill than the corporations as
they now were, he would grant it. (Hear.) But the Pro-
testant Dissenters of Ireland, unlike many of the Protestant
Dissenters in this country, united heart and hand with the
Protestant Church of Ireland, contending against the com-
mon enemy of the Protestant religion and the Protestant
Church. (Loud cheers.) The next point to which he would
allude, was the power which this bill would give to the cor-
porations when so constituted. It was not like the municipal
reform bill for England. The municipal reform bill for Eng-
land compelled our corporations, if he mistook not, to light
the streets, and do many other things which were necessary ;
but the proposed bill for Ireland gave the corporation of
Dublin power to raise a sum of £70,000 or £BO,OOO per
annum, to be applied solely to the payment of the corporate
officers ; it did not provide for lighting a single street, nor
for a single paving stone to be put down, nor indeed for any-
thing but the payment of the officers. (" Hear, hear," and
a cry of " No, no.") Gentlemen might say " No, no," but
they would have an opportunity of disproving the assertion,
if they could ; let them at the proper time do so, and not
interrupt him in making a statement. (Hear.) He quoted
now the words of a most eminent Protestant in Ireland, when
appealing to this country for aid—and would not the Pro-
testants of England aid their Protestant brethren in Ireland ?
(" Yes, yes," and hisses.) He quoted the language of a
distinguished Protestant—

Many voices—Name, name i (Hisses.)
Mr. HORSFALL.—It was a name dear to every Protestant
heart—it was Professor Butt. (Immense applause.) Pro-
fessor Butt said, " If this bill should pass, so sure as we
now have a Protestant Lord Mayor presiding over the city
of Dublin, so sure would the arch-demagogue of Ireland
occupy that seat." (Hisses and groans. On this as well
as several other occasions during the meeting, Langan the
prize-fighter made himself very conspicuous, both in hooting
at the top of his own lungs, and exciting others to follow his
example.)
The MAYOR entreated that there might be no noise.
Every gentleman who wished to speak should be heard, and
he would be much obliged if they would not make any un-
pleasant demonstrations.
Mr, HORSFALL felt it his duty to single out a man who
had interrupted him frequently ; and as he was-a professor,
or had been a professor of pugilism, he claimed the mayor's
protection. He was no match for Mr. Langan.
The ex-pugilist replied by a kind of horse-laugh.
Mr. HORSFALL resumed. He had given them the autho-
rity of Professor Butt's speech, wherein he stated, that as a
certain consequence of this bill, the arch-demagogue of Ire-
land would be seated in the lord mayor's chair if it passed.
Professor Butt then went on to say,—" It will be with him
no mere empty honour : the town council will have the power
of awarding him such a salary as they may think reasonable.
And what will they think reasonable for the Great Man who
has done such service to Ireland? Aye, and they will have
the power of taking the Protestant property of the city of
Dublin to pay it.' (Cheers.) It appeared further from
this statement that the lord mayor might be elected for life,
and of that O'Connell would be very glad (cheers, hisses,
and laughter) ; for he would then have in a single sum, from
the corporation of Dublin, what he now wrings from the poor
people of Ireland. (Loud cheers.) Now he (Mr. Horsfall)
begged most distinctly to say, that nothing was further from,
his heart than to cast any reflection upon the mayor or ma-
gistrates of this borough, but this bill gave power to the town
councils, constituted as they would be, to recommend the ma-
gistrates to the lord lieutenant for appointment ; so that we
should not only have Roman Catholic corporations, but a
body of Roman Catholic magistrates, And although he was
not objecting, or going to object, to any magistrates—far
from it—now upon the bench at Liverpool, be would ask what
justice there was in that law which had passed in this country,
and degraded from the bench such men as Mr. Robinson, Mr.
Wright, Mr. Sandbach, Mr. Lawrence, and many others
whom he might name. (Immense uproar and applause.) He
should be sorry to detain the meeting with any lengthened
remarks which this subject might necessarily call forth, but
he could not help saying, that whatever might be the decision
of that meeting upon the resolution now submitted, he did
protest against a meeting held in a room capable of contain-
ing only 600, 800, or possibly 1000 people, being considered
an expression of the sentiments of the inhabitants of Liver-
pool. (Great cheering and uproar which lasted several mi-
nutes.) Whatever might be the decision to which he had
alluded, a voice had gone forth from Protestant Liverpool,
that Protestantism should not be put down. (Immense
cheering.) Our legislature. should know it. (Great cheer-
ing again.) It should penetrate the cabinet. (Continued
cheering, amidst which a voice cried question,' when the
Mayor called out to order.) It should penetrate the recesses
of the palace. It should rend the veil which hid the mys-
terious workings of Popery. It should tell our beloved and
gracious monarch that the Protestant people of England—.
(uproar drowned the rest of the sentence.)
The MAYOR asked what it was they expected by making
this noise. Let them bear and reply, but not shout and dis-
turb others and keep themselves there all day. (Cheers.)
One gentleman (Langan) had repeatedly shouted, that indi-
vidual' he thought, ought to be ashamed of himself. (Con-
tinued confusion.)
Mr. WRIGHT said that if gentlemen would not help the
mayor it was quite impossible for him to keep order. He
had hoped that both sides would have kept order. (Hear.)
Mr. HORSFALL.—It should tell our beloved and gracious
monarch that the Protestants of England were determined
to maintain those principles which had seated the house of
Brunswick upon the throne of these realms,—(cheers),—
and it should convey to the Protestants of Ireland the assu-