the tenant is also too uncertain of his possession to venture on them. The first object of Government should be to alter this state of things, and to provide a measure under which both holders of land and landlords should be more secure in making any improvements which the soil might require. Sir James Graham had said, that Government were prepared to give their attention to any suggestions which might be offered for the amelioration of the state of Ireland: but surely he should not wait for that. Why did a Government exist, if it was not to guide Parliament to the adoption of measures which the state of the country demanded? The Government alone possessed the means of information which the occasion required which could properly enable them to calculate the result, and direct the House to the proper course. Individual members could only goad Government to the performance of their duty. The Poor-law provided no resource for the able-bodied poor who could not get employment. He thought it a necessary auxiliary to such a measure, that the industrious poor should in the first instance be employed on public works. Such was the system pursued in England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when there was extreme difficulty found in employing the labouring classes. The suppression of the monasteries had thrown a large number of poor, who used to beg at their doors, upon the public; and among other works undertaken, was that of the draining of the fens of Lincolnshire, for the purpose of affording employment to those who would otherwise be idle and destitute. By such means of temporary re

lief, society was enabled to right itself, and the industrial character of the people was kept alive to await the arrival of better times. The expense of Irish railways was much overrated: there was not, as in England, expensive ground to be purchased; and the wages of the Irish labourers were not on the English scale. But even if those railways would have cost, as it had been said they would, ten millions sterling, how could such a sum be better spent? He looked to systematic colonization, recently enforced upon the House by Mr. Charles Buller, conducted upon a great scale, as one of the most important means which they could put in practice to obtain for Ireland that relief which she so much required. Another measure was the instruction of the Irish in the useful mechanical arts.

Adverting then to the subject of religion, Lord Howick said, that if they meant to have peace in Ireland they must reform the Established Church, and he proposed to vest the whole revenues belonging to it in commissioners; and after providing therefrom for all the real wants of the Protestant Church upon a fair estimate of its proportionate numbers, to devote the residue to the purposes of the Roman Catholic Church. He would do away with the restrictions on the Relief Act, and recognise the Romish hierarchy and their titles. He was quite prepared to do away with the office of Lord-Lieutenant with its sham Court, and to amalgamate the two Governments more completely by having an Irish Secretary of State sitting in London. The money thus saved might be beneficially applied to promote public works. He believed, that it was too late to

carry on an inquiry with any good result in the present Session, but he advised the Government to call Parliament together for five or six weeks in the winter, and then lay some comprehensive plan of ame lioration before them. Such a plan the country had a right to expect from Sir R. Peel. He had great power, and with that power an awful responsibility. Lord Howick thus concluded: "I am persuaded, that if, with all the energies of his mind, and with singleness of purpose, he devotes himself to the high task to which Providence seems to have called him, of reorganizing the disjointed frame of society in Ireland-I do believe, if he honestly undertakes this high and noble task, with the blessing of Providence, he will succeed; and even if he fail, he will win the respect and admiration of all high-minded men. But, Sir, if he is content to be borne passively along the current down which he is now so rapidly floating, he will be ultimately carried on with a still increasing rapidity; in his fall he will receive not the respect but the contempt of mankind, accompanied, as it will be, by the fall of the United Empire." (Loud Cheers.)

Mr. M. J. O'Connell followed up Mr. Smith O'Brien's course of argument in pointing out what he considered some of the practical grievances and inequalities in the administration of Irish affairs. He said, that the origin of the Repeal Association dated from the promulgation of Lord Stanley's Irish Registration Bill. He complained of the want of means for a better education of the Roman Catholic clergy and of the insufficiency of the grant to Maynooth. He

dict against the Roman Catholic Bishops using the titles of their Sees. The Irish Franchise required amendment, and the voter ought to have some protection against his landlord's influence. By "fixity of tenure" all that he understood was to give the tenant an interest in the soil which would attach him to it as the source of his support. He did not support the present Motion with the object of displacing any particular Government, and he concluded by exhorting the Ministers to reverse their Irish policy, candidly to avow past errors, and to cement the Union by concession and confidence towards the Irish people.

Mr. Smythe delivered a speech very similar in tone to that of Captain Rous, which being delivered from the Ministerial side of the House was hailed with cordial cheers by the Opposition Members. He dwelt on the bigotry which prompted the " No Popery" feeling in England and obstructed the adoption of the measures of relief which Ireland required. He commented on the ungracious restrictions which accompanied the Relief Bill, and on the smallness of the grant to Maynooth. He called upon the Government to come forward with large measures of conciliation such as Lord Howick had suggested, and to govern Ireland in the spirit of Mr. Pitt, whose policy of governing the people through the medium of their priests would, if it had been carried out, have made the priests the most active and efficient supporters of peace and order.

Mr. Colquhoun attributed the distress of Ireland to political com

gued against the proposition of paying the Roman Catholic Priests, and expressed his disbelief that they would consent to forego their present system of payment by fees, and become pensioners of the State. Mr. Sharman Craw ford described the most oppressive evils of the country as being the amount of rents, the consolidation of farms, and consequent coercion of tenants. He suggested public works, and especially the draining of the peat bog of Allen, which would afford employment to thousands of the people. Mr. Robert Bateson declared his opinion that in no country was there really greater "fixity of tenure." He referred the main evils of the country to absenteeism and agitation-he proposed that absentees should be taxed and the agitation would die away. Mr. M. Milnes thought that sufficient regard had not been paid to the religious feelings of the Irish-he desired to see the Government pay the Ro. man Catholic Priests and renew amicable relations with the Court of Rome. Mr. Roebuck censured in strong terms the way in which the Ministers had met the question, which he contrasted with the calm and temperate spirit in which the Irish Members had laid their grievances before the House. He denounced in the most unsparing terms the existence of the Protestant Church, designating it as a badge of slavery. In conclusion he made some suggestions to the Ministers. dual extension of the English Poor law to Ireland, imposing the rate not on the poor tenant but on the landlord, would give to the landlords a direct money-interest in the welfare of the tenantry, and would be the first great step to

A gra

wards the arrangement of the difficulties connected with the tenure of the land. Let Government do that, maintain the Roman Catholic clergy in a decent and proper manner, do all they could to promote the well-being of the people, renounce all connexion with the dominant Orange party, combine their forces and throw themselves on the good sense of Englandand difficulties would vanish before prudence and firmness.

Sir R. Peel next rose, and in the course of a long and, as usual, very able speech, vindicated the policy of his Government. He began by describing the Motion as virtually an expression of want of confidence. Then commencing with the charge which had been made against Parliament of niggardliness in pecuniary matters towards Ireland, he referred to the Report of a Committee formerly appointed to consider a similar charge on the Motion of Mr. Spring Rice, and quoted a number of figures and statistical details, to show that that Parliament had more than fulfilled all its engagements towards Ireland, contracted at the time of the Union. In point of taxation there was equally little ground for complaint. If the two countries were to be united, any distinction of indirect duties would be impolitic and unwise; but in the Excise the distinction which was made was favourable to Ireland. The Repeal of the Union would be of no benefit to Ireland as regarded direct taxes, for there were already no assessed taxes, window-tax, or income-tax. Ireland had all the advantage of the penny postage gratuitously, and the Post Office maintained at the public charge. It was exempt from the duty on soap, which ap

plied to all the rest of the Empire. Sir R. Peel then referred to the appointments made by Government. He said that no case at all had been made out in support of the charges against the two judicial officers who had been referred to, and with respect to Church appointments, he read to the House a letter addressed by him to the Lord Lieutenant in September, 1841, strongly urging the distribution of Church preferments, on the grounds of professional merit, rather than for the purpose of forwarding the interests of political supporters. He referred to the charge about the Croal contract, to which he gave the same answer as Lord Eliot had done, that the competition for the contract was necessarily an open one, in order to prevent jobbing, and that it was ridiculous to treat this as a national grievance. A more ungenerous charge was that relating to education. The Government had incurred much risk of alienating supporters and friends by upholding the national system in the hope of promoting religious peace, and now they were taunted by Members opposite with having disgusted the Protestant Clergy. As to the alleged neglect of Irishmen in the promotion to public offices, he disclaimed having ever been actuated by any consideration of the fact, and alleged some specific instances in which he had made choice of Irishmen, though simply on the ground of their fitness, and without reference to their place of birth.

Proceeding next to the subject of the tenure of land, Sir R. Peel argued that any alteration of the law of landlord and tenant, which tended to interfere with the free

would be most injurious to the interests of Ireland. "If you tell the possessor of wealth in Ireland, that by the purchase of land he shall not gain the uncontrolled right of property over that land, in my opinion, you will strike a fatal blow at the prosperity of that country. But I speak generally of the right of property, and not of the abuse of that right; and I will not resist inquiry into the peculiarities or abuses of the Irish law. When I assert, that the just rights of property ought to be respected, I am far from saying, that if a remedy could be applied to prevent the undue exercise of power in Ireland, I would not give to such a proposition the most attentive consideration. If you tell me that a tenant-at-will improves the property he occupies, relying upon the justice and generosity of his landlord, and that, having so improved that property, he gives a vote, or does some other act, hostile to the feelings of the landlord, and is ejected from his tenancy, no compensation being made to him for his outlay-if the landlord takes advantage of such hostile vote or act, for the purpose of availing himself of any benefit he may gain by taking possession of the land without affording compensation to the outgoing tenant —that is undoubtedly a gross injustice. I trust, and believe, that this is a case of rare occurrence; and if so, it may be difficult to apply a legislative remedy. But if such cases were of frequent occurrence, and a legislative remedy could be safely applied, I think it would be the duty of the House to afford such remedy. With respect to Lord Howick's suggestion of an advance of money for the construc

benefit of such a plan would be very questionable. The drain upon the country, which the repayment of so large an advance would produce, would probably occasion much difficulty and discontent; moreover, he doubted the benefit of railways, except as connecting great towns and mercantile neighbourhoods. With regard to the political condition of Ireland, he avowed the opinion which he had always maintained, that there ought to be perfect civil equality and eligibility of Roman Catholics to all offices. He took credit for not making use of his majority in Parliament to enforce Lord Stanley's Registration Bill, and declared his belief that causes were in operation in Ireland tending to reduce the number of voters, and which would require a remedy. Upon the Church question, he contrasted the various opinions which had been avowed; of Mr. Roebuck who would devote the whole of the revenues to state purposes; of Lord Howick, who would not extinguish the Protestant Establishment; and of Lord Palmerston, who would put the two Churches on a footing of perfect equality. What was meant by "equality?" Would they divide the revenues according to the numerical proportion of the respective creeds?

Should

the Protestant Bishops be excluded from Parliament, or the Irish Roman Catholic Bishops also be admitted? and, if they, why not the English Roman Catholic Bishops also? He then referred in emphatic terms to the contracts entered into at the time of the Union, as great national contracts, which for the highest reasons of policy, and for the maintenance of public confidence, ought to be

of the last necessity. Great concessions had already been made as regarded the Church Establishment-the reduction of the number of bishops-the new appropriation of ecclesiastical revenues

Sir

the transfer of the payment of tithe from the tenant to the landlord; could he hope to obtain peace by any partial and limited concessions, such as Lord Howick had proposed ? If he were to make any declaration now of an intention to provide for the Roman Catholic Clergy, he much doubted whether the discontent in Ireland would not be increased rather than diminished. Such concessions could not be satisfactorily made by him, even if others could make them; if others deemed that they ought to be made, they were free to express that opinion by their votes; but he was firmly convinced, that it would not be for the public interest that they should be made by him or by those who concurred with him. R. Peel then replied to the demand, that he should declare the course he meant to pursue. He was prepared to govern Ireland on principles of impartiality and civil equality, to give a substantial and not a fictitious right of suffrage, to take into deliberate consideration the relations of landlord and tenant; but, on the other hand, to make no one alteration in the law by which the Church, or its revenues, would be impaired. With respect to the existing agitation, and the pressure put upon the Government to adopt coercive measures for the repression of the disturbances, he claimed for himself and his colleagues the absolute right to judge according to their discretion, with respect to the ap