IRISH AFFAIRS.
Towards the close of the session the unusually agitated state of Ireland, produced by the repeal movement, noticed in a subsequent article, gave rise to angry debates in parliament. In the month of May ministers proposed a bill requiring the registration of firearms, and restricting the importation of arms and ammunition. The second reading of this bill was moved on the 29th of May by Lord Eliot, the secretary for Ireland, who, in introducing the subject, gave a short history of the origin and successive renewal of the Irish arms acts, beginning with the 33rd George III. c. 2, and ending with the bill introduced by Lord Morpeth in 1838. This measure was opposed with uncommon energy and skill by the Irish Roman Catholic members, and by several liberal Protestants among the representatives of Ireland. Messrs. Hume, Roebuck, Buller, and other liberal representatives of Great Britain were also its strenuous opponents. Mr. Shiel, always eloquent, made a brilliant speech in resisting it, which won members of various schools of politics to his opinion. The general feeling of the house and of the country was in favour of the bill, and the Protestants of Ireland declared by their petitions, and through their representatives, that it was necessary to their safety, as in many districts of the country property and life were in constant danger, armed bands of lawless ruffians prowling about by night, committing outrage, incendiarism, and murder upon those who were obnoxious to their political or religious opinions. The second reading was carried by a majority of two hundred and seventy against one hundred and five. On the motion for committing the bill, Mr. Smith O’Brien moved as an amendment, “that a select committee be appointed to inquire whether the condition of Ireland was such as to require statutory enactments different from those of Great Britain; and, if so, to ascertain to what cause the difference of legislation was to be attributed.” This amendment was negatived without a division, and the bill was then ordered to be committed. In the committee the measure encountered the most pertinacious and protracted opposition from many members, who moved repeated amendments, and divided again and again on some of the most obnoxious sections. It was, in fact, the 9th of August before the Irish arms bill reached its final stage in the house of commons. On that day Lord Eliot moved that it should be read a third time, which motion was met by an amendment by Lord Clements, that it be read a third time that day six months. Another warm discussion followed, but the bill was carried by a majority of one hundred and twenty-five against fifty-nine. In the house of lords two nights’ discussion took place upon the bill; but it met with a much easier passage in that house, and towards the close of August it passed into law.
In the meantime discussions of a different nature took place in both houses of parliament on Irish affairs. On the 14th of July Lord Clanricarde moved resolutions declaring the dismissal of certain magistrates by the Lord Chancellor, for taking part in the movement in favour of repeal, unconstitutional, unjust, and inexpedient. Their dismissal, he said, had given a great impulse to the prevailing agitation, manifested by the rise in the repeal-rent; and he imputed the state of Ireland, bordering on anarchy, to the policy of the present government. The Duke of Wellington met these resolutions by a direct negative, and contended that repeal agitation originated in the time of the later ministers; the acts impugned were forced upon the present administration. A long discussion ensued; but on a division the resolutions were negatived by a majority of ninety-one against twenty-nine. The state of Ireland again came under discussion in the house of lords on the 8th of August, when Lord Rod en presented a petition from upwards of five thousand of her majesty’s Protestant loyal subjects residing in the county of Down, praying for measures to repress the rebellious spirit in Ireland, and expressing surprise at seeing the marked difference made between Protestants and Roman Catholics in respect of the enforcement of the law against processions.
In the house of commons, on the 4th of July, Mr. Smith O’Brien moved, “That this house will resolve into a committee for the purpose of taking into consideration the causes of the discontent prevailing in Ireland, with a view to the redress of grievances, and to the establishment of a system of just and impartial government in that part of the United Kingdom.” The debate which this motion gave rise to occupied five nights, and, unlike the other debates on Irish affairs, it was conducted in a calm, practical, and dispassionate temper. The chief speakers for the motion were Messrs. Wyse, Charles Wood, Smythe, Mr. J. O’Connell, Captain Rous, and Viscount Howick; against it, Lord Eliot, Sirs J. Graham and R. Peel, and Messrs. B. Cochrane, Lascelles, and Colquhoun. On a division the motion was negatived, by a majority of two hundred and forty-three against one hundred and sixty-four.