The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-30 00:00:00

4NETCIitS

(FOR THE LIVERPOOL lITANDARD.)

DEBATE UPON THE FIRST CLAUSE OF LORD
MORPETH'S IRISH REGISTRATION BILL.-

DEFEAT OF MINISTERS

APRIL 26TH

_
The interest excited by the committal of Lord Morpeth's
Irish Registration Bill last night was increased by the cir-
cumstance, that not only had ministerial circulars of the
most pressing nature been issued to their usual supporters,
but that a very numerous meeting of the opposition held
in the course of the day at the residence of Sir Robert Peel,
the proceedings of which, having transpired, afforded every
reason for the hope that at length that great leader of his
party had determined to throw off the apathy, which for some
time past has characterised his parliamentary conduct, and

to assume that firm and peremptory position towards the
degraded ministerial faction which his country, every day
more loudly, demands at his hands. Long before four
o'clock the neighbourhood of Palace-yard was thronged with
equipages of every description ; the lobbies of the House
were filled with anxious and excited faces. Upon the order
of the day being read Lord Howick rose, and proceeded to
move his amendment upon the first clause of the bill, in ac-
cordance with the terms of his notice. His lordship's
speech, which was an exceedingly creditable one, was listened
to throughout with deserved attention ; and his recognition
of the principle that an interest in the profits of the land,
and not a mere occupation, had ever been the basis of the
county franchise, was received with loud cheering from the
conservative portion of the house.

The reply of Lord Morpeth was more feeble than any-
thing which I have ever listened to from that noble lord.
Almost entirely void of argument, and wholly wanting in
dignity, it was in fact little more than an appeal ad misere-
eordiam addressed to his refractory supporter. His lord-
ship's manner and features, at the best of times not a little
ridiculous, were, on this occasion, positively ludicrous ; and
when in an appealing tone he enlarged upon the sacrifices
which he and his brother ministers had been willing to make
for the purpose of securing for a little while longer the sweets
of office—when be reminded the house that " certainly they
had done their best to demonstrate that they were not dis-

posed to stand upon extreme opinions," and that even since
the recess they had " not hesitated to raise the franchise in
a slight degree," in the hope of conciliating their wavering
supporters, and averting We dreaded doom with which they
were menaced, the house was almost convulsed with
mingled laughter and disgust.

Lord Morpeth was followed by Mr. C. Wood, the member
for Halifax—(Lord Howick's " double," as he has been very
appropriately termed)—who in the course of a somewhat able
speech, demonstrated a fact which perhaps may not a little
astonish some of your Clayton-square " giants "—if such
distinguished individuals ever listen to two sides of any
question. The alteration of the proposed amount of rating
from £5 to £B, will, in operation, be an effectual and an ex-
tensive measure of disfranchisement of the existing body of
electors. Yes, a whig measure,—Lord Morpeth's own pet
bantling—contains that very " disfranchising principle," the
alleged existence of which, in Lord Stanley's bill, was made
the ground of a yell of execration directed against that noble-
man, as " the enemy of the liberties and the franchises of
the Irish people "—as " Scorpion Stanley " ! In the returns
brought before the house by government, and prepared by
their poor-law officials, Mr. Wood " found that in fourteen
unions the number of £lO voters was stated, and the number
under £8 ; and it appeared that out of the £lO voters in
these fourteen unions nearly one-sixth would be disfran-
chised by the proposition of Lord Morpeth." Perhaps the
discovery of this circumstance, only within the last day or
two—owing to the protracted production of the returns from
which it has transpired—may account for the evident want of
fervour with which it was suppbrted during the debate by the
arch-agitator and his party. Lord Morpeth has evidently—
to use a vulgar phrase—" put his foot in it."
After a few words from Sir C. Grey, Lord Stanley pre-
sented himself at the table, and in thatdignified and straight-
forward manner which distinguishes him, laid before the
house the course which the conservative party had determined
to pursue upon the question before it.
After a few words, uttered in a very low tone, by the evi-
dently chopfallen member for Dublin, Lord John Russell
indulged himself in one of those petulant and delamatory
harangues which, (as was well remarked by Sir Robert Peel)
he is in the habit of addressing to the democratic portion of
the house, " when he has some very defective cause to ad-

vocate."

The speech of Sir Robert Peel, however, was, " par excel-
lence," the speech of the evening, whether as regards man-
ner or matter. Sir Robert proved incontestibly that, upon
the authority even of the member for Dublin himself, the
argument put forward by ministers with respect to the con-
traction assumed to have taken place iii the registries of Ire-
land was utterly untenable ; that at the present moment the
number of electors entitled to exercise the franchise in that
county exceeds considerably the number calculated upon, as
to be created by the Irish Reform Bill; and that the noble
lord, by the bill before the house, had not remedied one, even,

of the alleged evils complained of. Sir Robert then asked
with that lofty contempt which befitted him—" Why, what
confidence could we place in you as legislators fit to deal with
this subject?" What, indeed!
The right honourable baronet then addressed himself more
particularly to the details of the subject, and as distinctly se-
parated himself as Lord Stanley had previously done, from
both the amendment and the. clause, intimating the same de-

termination to stand upon principle alone, and upon the un-
aided strength of his own party. " The question before the
house," urged Sir Robert in conclusion, " is this—whether
her Majesty's government have made a provision which en-
titles them to the public confidence of the house ; and I must
say that the course they have pursued on the Irish franchise

- -
appears to me TO DISENTITLE THEM TO THE 'CONFIDENCE
OF THE HOUSE OR THE COUNTRY." An opinion which the
perfect BURST OF CHEERING from the Conservative party
proved to be that which is generally entertained.
As a whole, the speech of the right hon. baronet was wor-
thy alike of the orator and the statesman. It is evident that
Sir Robert is at length roused to the noble effort of rousing
his fellow-countrymen from the thraldom of a despicable fac-
tion, and a thousand thousand hearts. throughout the land,
will beat with gratitude, and a thousand tongues will be raised

to honour him.
" But the great mendicant"—it will be asked—
was he ?" Alas, alas for Derrynane ! its occupant was pre-
sent ; but in body alone. The bulky form still encumbered
the ministerial benches ; but the braggart spirit of the
" bully" had evaporated—had disappeared with the fifth rat-
ing clause. He had his little growl, however, still ; but he
" roared gently as any sucking dove." He told us how
" peaceably and well organized" his country was. He la-
mented how little the house knew of that country, " which
contained five millions (!!) of persons who never tasted the
liquor of intoxication, and ended, as all his harangues end,
with a slander and a threat commingled against the English
nation. Alas for the agitator ! his day, it is greatly to be
feared, is gone by, unless his performances be from hence-
forth upon a different platform. In sheer compassion, there-
fore. I will refrain from noticing more than, en passant, the
quotations of his past elegancies of diction, with which Sir
Robert Peel completed his discomfiture, and that of his
wretched slaves—the baffled and beaten ministry.
After a short cock-crowing and a little shaking of feathers
from " the smallest man in the House of Commons," the
house divided, and Lord John, much, no doubt, to his dis-
comfiture, found himself in a minority of TWENTY-ONE ! !
In that comfortable position for the present I must leave him.

" where