IRISH FRANCHISE BILL.
At the passing of the Reform Bill Ireland was not placed on an equality with England, and this fact operated strongly in promoting the disloyalty which had prevailed there. But for the Irish liberal members the reform bill for Great Britain could not have been carried, and the Irish people expected from the liberal representatives of Great Britain similar support, which was not accorded. This filled the minds of the Irish with strong resentment, and caused them to agitate for a reform bill on terms substantially as popular as that accorded to Great Britain. Moved by considerations of this sort, Lord John Russell resolved to enlarge the Irish franchise, and a bill was brought in for that purpose. It was warmly supported by Mr. Hume, Mr. Bright, and other English members of the liberal party, who desired even a more democratic measure for Ireland.
The main feature of the bill was the extension of the franchise to all occupiers of land to the amount of £8 per annum, adopting the rating as the ultimate standard of value. The bill was read a second time, after a fierce conservative opposition, which continued until it finally passed the commons. In the lords it was vehemently opposed by Lord Brougham upon principles not reconcilable with his well-known political creed. Lord Desart proposed to raise the qualification to £15, and carried his proposition. Lord Stanley made a proposal intended to obstruct the registration, and carried it against the government. In this state the bill passed.
In the commons the amendments of the lords were discussed with bitter acrimony, and a strong sense of injury, deepened into resentment, was circulated in Ireland, when the tidings of the lords’ amendments reached that country. This reacted upon the commons, and the government was considerably embarrassed by the suspicions and anger of its own general supporters among the Irish members. Lord John proposed that the commons should confer with the lords upon the feasibility of establishing a £12 franchise instead of the £8 or the £15. Some other amendments of the lords were rejected. A conference ensued, and the lords conceded to the commons on the basis of their new proposals.
BILL FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE LORD-LIEUTENANCY OF IRELAND.
On the 18th of May, the premier moved for leave to bring in a bill for this purpose. This was one of the many ill-digested and inconsiderate measures by which Lord John Russell’s government was characterised. The Irish people almost unanimously opposed it, and so did their representatives. Mr. Shiel, however, who had become a mere ministerial hack, took part with the government against the known feeling of his countrymen. He was chastised by Mr. Disraeli in one of that gentleman’s most eloquent and happy orations.
The second reading was carried by a large majority, but it was so obvious that if the bill were proceeded with, it would be by virtue of an English majority on an Irish question, against the feeling of the Irish members and their constituents, that the government abandoned it. Much evil was inflicted by its introduction in the temper it evoked in Ireland; and much evil was also accomplished by abandoning it, for it exposed the vacillation of the premier and the government, so as to lessen their moral influence in both Great Britain and Ireland.