The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-14 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-THURSDAY.

Lord J. RUSSELL gave notice that he would move,
when the sugar duties were under consideration, that all
foreign sugars, without distinction, should be admitted at
the proposed duty of 34F.
Mr. H UM E moved that an humble address be presented
to her Majesty, praying that she will be graciously
pleased to consider whether it would not be for the advan-
tage of Ireland and to the interest of the United Kingdom
to abolish the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The
hon. gentleman repeated many of the arguments which he
has, on former occasions, used in support of the abroga-
tion of the office. _ _ _

Captain BERNAL seconded the motion.
Lord ELIOT said there was a tacit understanding at the
time of the union, that the seat of government should re-
main in Dublin, and intimated !hat there would be great
difficulty in transferring all the duties of the Irish govern-
ment to a fourth Secretary of State in England. He be-
lieved the people of Ireland would regard the abolition of
the office with the greatest dissatisfaction.
Lord J. RUSSELL said the propriety of abolishing the
office of Lord Lieutenant had been considered by the late
government, and it was decided that it was not advisable
to do so. He was, however, of opinion that the plan of
governing Ireland by a separate establishment was not the
most eligible, and there was not, he thought, much diffi-
culty, in assimilating the government of Ireland to that of
Scotland. It was, however, a matter for the considera-
tion of the Executive, and he would not, therefore, sup-
port the motion.
Mr. SHAW hoped, however anomalous the office of
Lord Lieutenant might he, that Mr. Hume would not
commit members by pressing his motion to a division.
Sir R. PEEL said that Mr. Hume's motion ought not
to be supported by any hon. member unless he were pre-
pared for an immediate abolition of the office, for its au-
thority would be paralysed if such a vote were carried.
Though he was not prepared to say that the office should
be permanently maintained, yet he saw great difficulty in
transferring its duties to a second Home Secretary in
England, to transact the affairs of Ireland. The two
Home Secretaries would be likely to come into frequent
collision. Besides all the inconvenience attending the
abolition of the office, it would almost give a claim for
compensation to the inhabitants of Dublin.
Mr. ElumE withdrew his motion.
Mr. BUTLER moved for a copy of an opinion and ad-
vice given by Mr. Pennefather, the present Chief Justice
of the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland, on the 28th of
February, 1825, in a case of toll—namely, " Pembroke v.
Kingsmill," the original of which is in possession of the
present mayor and corporation of the city of Kilkenny.
The advice was to the effect that the corporation should
send a person to search the Record offices in the Tower
and at Birmingham for a charter of James 11., so as to
enable him to swear that he looked for and could not find
it, and that care should be taken to keep the documents
out of his way while searching.
Lord ELIOT said that the document moved for was a
private opinion given by a counsel to his clients, and
could not, therefore, be produced. There was no reason
to doubt the accuracy of the opinion as quoted, but the
letter only referred to a charter of James 11., which was
invalid, and which could only tend to embarrass a case
which turned altogether upon anterior charters, which
had not been repudiated. He would leave it to his hon.
friend Mr. Shaw to enter more at length into the case,
confining himself to bearing testimony to the unimpeach-
able honour and integrity of the Lord Chief Justice.
Mr. F. SHAW entered into a defence of the Lord Chief
Justice, treating the motion as a party one, to serve ulte-
rior purposes connected with the Irish trials, and assert-
ing, on the authority of a letter from the Chief Justice,
that it was so considered by him, as it was but one of a
series of annoyances and threats to which he had been
exposed since the trials for conspiracy.
Mr. FRENCH thought the explanation given by Lord
Eliot and Mr. Shaw perfectly satisfactory.
The motion was negatived without a division.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and
the house adjourned.