Part 25 (1/2)
It is our duty, in every case, to do all we can to promote the Protestant religion. It is our duty to do so, not only on account of the political relations between the religion of the Church of England and the Government, but because we believe it to be the purest doctrine, and the best system of religion, that can be offered to a people.
_July_ 19, 1833.
_Importance of preserving the authority of the East India Company_.
The n.o.ble Lord who spoke last, quoted the opinion of Sir John Malcolm.
My Lords, I wish the n.o.ble Lords opposite had taken the advice of Sir John Malcolm, upon the subject of forming an independent body in London, representing the interests, and carrying on the concerns, of India. My Lords, it is persons of this description who interpose an efficient check upon the Government. I say, therefore, that it is much to be lamented, that instead of placing that body in the state of independence in which they were heretofore placed, they are to be reduced to a situation in which they will lose a very considerable portion of their power and influence. It is of the utmost importance that the greatest possible care should be taken to preserve the authority of the company in relation to their servants. Depend upon it, my Lords, that on the basis of their authority depends the good government of India.
_July_ 5, 1833.
_After Emanc.i.p.ation, the Protestants of Ireland ought to have been conciliated_.
The n.o.ble and learned Lord (Plunkett) said, that many of the evils that afflicted Ireland, and for which the Church Temporalities Bill was intended as a remedy, were occasioned by the delay of the measure of Emanc.i.p.ation, after the year 1825. Why, I ask, by its delay after the year 1825? I beg to know from that n.o.ble and learned Lord how long the system of agitation existed in Ireland both before and after the year 1825? Why, my Lords, it has existed ever since the commencement of the discussion of the Roman Catholic Question--that is to say, ever since the days of the restrictive regency. From that period to the present moment, there has been nothing but agitation, except during parts of the years 1829 and 1830. Agitation commenced in Ireland upon the conclusion of events in Paris, and in Brussels. Those events occasioned such agitations and discussions as obliged the n.o.ble Duke, who was then at the head of the Government in Ireland, to carry into execution the Proclamation Act. Then came a change in the administration, and the n.o.ble Earl a.s.sumed the reigns of power. He immediately chose for the Lord Lieutenant (Lord Wellesley) a n.o.bleman for whom I entertain great respect but who certainly was nearly the last person who ought to have been selected for that office. After the Roman Catholic Question was settled, what ought the government to have done? Most certainly they ought to have done everything in their power to conciliate--whom? The Protestants of Ireland. Everything had already been granted to the Roman Catholics which they could possibly require; and the object of the government ought to have been to conciliate the Protestants. But, instead of that, the n.o.ble Earl sends over to that country, as Lord Lieutenant, the n.o.ble Marquis, who was the very last person that ought to have been appointed; because, when holding that situation previously, and on receiving information that his Majesty's government entertained views favourable to the emanc.i.p.ation of the Catholics, he did, immediately, before his departure for Ireland, issue a sort of proclamation to the people that agitation should be continued for the purpose of obtaining the desired boon.
_July_ 19, 1833.
_Irish Agitation Characterized_.
Now, my Lords, in order to enable your Lords.h.i.+ps to understand what this ”agitation” is, I beg leave just to describe it to your Lords.h.i.+ps.
It is, first of all, founded upon a conspiracy of priests and demagogues to obtain their purpose--whether justifiable or not, is not the question--by force and menace, and by the use of terror and of mobs, wherever that terror and those mobs can be used to produce an effect upon his Majesty's Government favourable to their views. This agitation they have maintained by orations, harangues, and seditious speeches at public meetings--by publications through a licentious press--by exaggerations--by forgeries--and by all other means which it is in the power of that description of persons to use, in order to excite the mult.i.tude; and then, when they are excited, to make them appear in large bodies to terrify and over-awe the people. If, my Lords, any person ventures to oppose himself to these proceedings, he is either immediately murdered or his house is destroyed, his cattle or other property carried off, and combinations are formed to prevent resistance, or the discovery of the guilty. In short, all measures are adopted which go to, and which are intended to, destroy the Const.i.tution of this country. This, my Lords, is what is called the system of ”agitation.”
_July_ 19, 1833.
_What const.i.tutes a Blockade_.
To const.i.tute an effective blockade, it is unnecessary to say that the port in question must be actually blockaded; and, further, that notice must have been given of such a blockade. No capture could be made without previously warning off vessels. There are various modes of notice; but the most authoritative manner of giving notice is through the Government of the power to be so warned. It should never be forgotten, however, that there should be certain means in existence to enforce the blockade at the time of notice.
_July_ 19, 1833.
_Objection to the reduction of the Number of Irish Bishops_.
I object to the proposed reduction of the number of Bishops in Ireland, and I totally dissent from the argument upon which the propriety or expediency of that reduction is founded. I am willing to admit that if we were now, for the first time, establis.h.i.+ng the Protestant Church in Ireland. I might be inclined to think that twenty-two Bishops were more than was necessary to the supervision of some 1000 clergymen; but when I take into account, besides the fact that the higher number has been in existence for centuries--when I consider the importance of the Protestant Church in Ireland in relation to the political ties of the two countries--when I consider, as a Right Reverend Prelate has remarked in the course of the debate, that wherever a Protestant Bishop is removed, there a Catholic Prelate will remain, who, doubtless, will possess himself of the palace, and perhaps the church property, of the reduced Protestant See; and when, above all, I consider the peculiar circ.u.mstances of Ireland, so different from those of this country, and which may make the episcopal superintendence of thirty or forty benefices in the former country a matter of more trouble and anxiety than the 600 or 1000 benefices which an English Prelate may control, I cannot but object to the proposed reduction. Besides, there is another circ.u.mstance which is worthy of attention in the discussion of this subject, and that is, that the Bishops of England have the a.s.sistance of their Deans and Archdeacons, which their Irish brethren have not. The twenty-two Bishops of Ireland have personally to perform all the duties which the Bishops of this country perform through their Deans and Archdeacons.
_July_ 19,1835
_The Jews' Right to Citizens.h.i.+p denied._
The n.o.ble and learned Lord (Brougham), and the most reverend Prelate (Whately), have both stated that they cannot understand the distinct principle upon which the opponents of this measure rest their opposition to the admission of the Jews to seats in the legislature. Now I beg the n.o.ble and learned Lord, and the most reverend Prelate, to recollect that this is a Christian country and a Christian legislature, and that the effect of this measure would be to remove that peculiar character. Your Lords.h.i.+ps have been called upon to follow the example of foreign countries, with respect to the Jews; but I think that, before we proceed to legislate on such a subject as this, it is indispensable that the necessity for the introduction of the measure should be shown. I ask, what case has been made out to shew a necessity for pa.s.sing this measure? When your Lords.h.i.+ps pa.s.sed the bills for the removal of the Roman Catholic disabilities, and for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, the reason a.s.signed was, that it was unnecessary to keep up the restriction on the cla.s.ses of Christians affected by those acts. But there is a material difference between the cases of the dissenters and Roman Catholics, and the Jews--the former enjoyed all the benefits and advantages of the const.i.tution before the restrictions were imposed. Was that the case with the Jews? Were the Jews ever in the enjoyment of the blessings of the English const.i.tution? Certainly not.