the country. Many years ago, when Lord Grey's Government was divided on the subject of the Church of Ireland, not only did they oppose the Appropriation Clause, which at that time would have effected an amicable compromise on the Church question, but they had also opposed the proposition for granting to the people of Ireland municipal rights equal to those possessed by the people of England and Scotland. There were other questions also on which they had raised national and religious prejudices for the sake of opposing the policy of the Whig Government. That course, which at the time was a great party move, had at first been doubtfully, but now at last had been explicitly abandoned. They now allowed that the people of Ireland were entitled to have the same electoral and municipal rights as the people of England and Scotland. He contended, however, that they had hardly done what they professed to do with respect to municipal and electoral rights they had not introduced a single measure. There had also been no legislation on the subject of landlord and tenant, on which they had instituted an elaborate inquiry. The Bill which they had introduced on that subject into the House of Lords, was one of the most extraordinary proposals ever submitted to a Legislative assembly. It had never arrived in the House of Commons, but had been abandoned almost without a struggle. The other Irish measures were the Maynooth College Bill and the Irish Colleges Bill. Refusing to go over the debates on that subject, Lord John Russell called the attention to the fact that Ministers had declared that

the first Bill was to stand by itself, and that there was no intention to endow the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, if they had not some measure for that object in their contemplation, they were unwise in allowing such a clamour to be raised respecting the endowment of the Roman Catholic College at Maynooth. In his speech on the endowment of Maynooth, Sir R. Peel told Parliament that he did not introduce that measure on account of its justice, but for the sake of dividing the Repeal Association. The Ministers, therefore, introduced their Irish Colleges Bill, not on the principle of endowment, but on the voluntary principle, and thus offended one party without conciliating the other. He wished to impress upon the House that those measures were not only late but also imperfect, and that all our difficulties, both past and present in Ireland, arose from our always doing justice imperfectly and too late. As to the Church of Ireland, he was convinced that Government would be driven before long either to endow the Roman Catholic Church, and to place it on the same level with the Protestant, or else to destroy. the establishment of the latter, and to leave it to support itself, as the Roman Catholic Church now did, on the voluntary principle. Either one principle or the other must be the foundation of our future policy. Government, must, therefore, be prepared to say which they would adopt, or the mind of Ireland would still remain unsatisfied. At present no party in Ireland was content with the policy of the Government; for whilst there were millions under O'Connell clamouring for Repeal, there

were a number of Protestants equally hostile to the Government. He had formerly proposed that they should give the people of Ireland civil equality before they meddled with the religious question. The Government, however, had followed a different course; and, on a review of the conduct which it had recently pursued, he drew this conclusion-that it had done well in abandoning its former opinions and declarations, but that, in not advocating some clear and large line of policy, its course was defective; and it was worth its while to consider in what manner it could remedy it. Having shown that there had been no legislation on the invitation of Her Majesty to consider the sanatory condition of the poor, he next addressed himself to the consideration of the finances and trade of the country. He was not one of those who thought that the income tax was required by the necessity of meeting the deficiency of the revenue. But he thought that if an income tax was to be proposed, it was wise to introduce it on a large scale, and thereby to free industry from the restrictions placed upon it. The Government had fulfilled his expectations upon that point, but had wofully disappointed those who fancied that it would give protection to native industry. There were three subjects on which the Government of 1840 had proposed to legislate, and on which the present had failed to come up to the moderate doctrines of free trade proposed by Mr. Huskisson. These three subjects were, timber, sugar, and corn. On timber and sugar the Government still kept up, as he thought most unwisely, large differential duties. On corn, previously to their coming into office, it was believed that the Go

vernment was in favour of the law of 1828, preventing the importation of foreign corn. By the prevalence of that belief they had carried many seats at the last election; but after the election their deeds proved much better than their professions. A new law less restrictive than that of 1828 was introduced; and protection was diminished by that law, and still more by the professions which they made not only on passing it, but on several occasions subsequently. The farmers felt that there was less security for the maintenance of the corn laws now than there was in the preceding year, in consequence of the declarations made by Sir R. Peel and Sir James Graham, that in times of cheap corn the comforts, morality, and contentment of the poor were much improved. Could any man of common prudence, who had witnessed the state of public feeling during the last ten days, and the anxiety which prevailed respecting the harvest, refrain from wishing that we had greater facilities for the importation of foreign corn? To the uncertainty of the seasons and to the uncertainty of the supply there was now added a legislative uncertainty whether, in ten weeks hence, the duty would be 20s., or 1s. a quarter on foreign corn. on foreign corn. This augmented almost incalculably speculation and gambling in corn; and, what was worse, exposed the country to the want of so necessary an article. Was it then wise in the Government to rest the law on its present basis? In addition to all this, there were members of Parliament declaring that the law was not likely to be permanent, and that it would expire in all probability in two years. If such were the case, then Government ought

not to leave the country any longer in uncertainty, but should begin the next session early, and begin it with the revision of the corn laws. Though the Government had done much to approach to the principles of free trade, it had kept up restrictions on timber, sugar, and corn, hostile to its principles, and hostile to the interests of the country. At the present moment the stock of corn in bond was unusually small, and he should, therefore, move for a return of it. It was small in consequence of the law, and that he considered a national misfortune. He then touched upon the subject of education in England. It appeared from the gaol reports that there was a great mass of our population at present who had no religious or moral instruction. He had always considered that state of things was most melancholy. It appeared to him that efforts ought to be made to reduce that lamentable mass of ignorance and crime. For that purpose he had established in the Privy Council a Board of Education. He never knew of more fierce invectives than those which were directed against this Ministry for establishing that Board. Sir R. Peel had spoken with more moderation than his colleagues on that point; but still he had objected to the plan of the Whig Government. Now Sir R. Peel and his colleagues had got over the objections which they had formerly urged against it. He was glad to find that the grant for education was not only increased this year, but was also to be increased in the next. He was glad of it, and would not express that want of confidence in the noble president of that board which that noble lord had expressed in him. In leaving these topics, Lord John Russell asked

Ministers to have some firm principles on which they were prepared to act, and to show their sincerity by a strict adherence to those principles, and not by voting, as they had done in this session, against a test one day and for a test the next. If they did not adopt such a course, they could hardly expect that the people would place any confidence in the decisions of their representatives. As a conclusion of this session, and as a preparation for the next, his prayer was, that Her Majesty's Ministers would agree to act on some fixed principles; it would be a convenience to the minority, and be far less of a puzzle to the majority, of the House. Lord John then alluded to Her Majesty's proposed visit to the continent; and complained that, as the former precedents of appointing Lord Justices in the Sovereign's absence from England were to be abandoned, there would be no depository of the royal power in England during her absence from her dominions. He also lamented that Her Majesty, had twice visited Scotland, but had not proceeded to visit Ireland. He thought Her Majesty might rely on receiving a cordial welcome whenever she visited that country. Yet it was impossible not to draw an inference to the contrary, when the very ambiguous answer to the address of the Lord Mayor and corporation of Dublin, put into her mouth by her Ministers, was brought to the recollection of her subjects. The noble lord concluded his observations by moving for a list of the Bills which had been introduced and abandoned in the present session.

Sir J. Graham observed, that Lord J. Russell had made a party

speech, which he had concluded with a very harmless motion. At the close of a session like the present, it was not unnatural for Lord J. Russell to pass under review the principal events of it. He had referred to some measures which had been introduced, and to some which had been abandoned by the Government and to the abandonment of them as a proof of incompetency on the part of the Administration, more especially of himself; for he had pointed out his want of success in his attempt to carry into law the Bill for the reform of the medical profession. He (Sir J. Graham) appealed to Mr. Warburton and Mr. Hawes, who had some experience on the subject, whether great difficulties did not surround a man, who ventured to legislate upon medical subjects, and he could not conceive that he had failed in his duty in not carrying his Medical Bill through Parliament, especially as he had every chance of succeeding, had he not postponed it for more important measures. He agreed with everything that Lord John Russell had said with respect to our foreign policy, both with regard to France and to the United States; for he was desirous of continuing with those countries those relations of amity which were so much for the mutual interests of both. Lord John Russell had adverted to the present administration of Irish affairs, and had alluded to a hasty expression which he had employed some years ago in the heat of debate, and of which he had long ago expressed his repentance. He assured Lord John Russell that he would not be precluded from recommending any measures which he deemed necessary for the good government VOL. LXXXVII.

of Ireland, by the recollection of any hasty speech which he might have made, or by any prejudice which he might have abandoned. He considered the best rule for the government of that country was to give it equality of civil rights and to provide for the equal administration of justice. He defended the preference the Government had given to the endowment of Maynooth and the founding of academical institutions in Ireand, to a reform of the Municipal Corporation Act, and an extension of the electoral franchise, quoting the opinions of Lord Monteagle, but promised that those subjects should not hereafter be neglected. He then proceeded to vindicate the conduct of Government in not carrying out at once all the recommendations contained in the report of the Commissioners upon the landlord and tenant question in Ireland, and defended the principle of Lord Stanley's Bill. Considering that Lord J. Russell had concurred in the principles of the Maynooth College Bill and of the Irish Colleges Bill, he was surprised to find him reviving all the angry recollections connected with the debates on those two measures. He was somewhat astonished at Lord John's reference to the Appropriation Clause, when he reflected that the Government of which he was the head had formally and solemnly abandoned that clause. The noble lord had also said that the Government would be compelled to settle the church question in Ireland, either by elevating the Roman Catholic Church to the level of the Protestant, or by the abolition of the Protestant Church altogether. Now, to the latter alternative,

[P]