§ Mr. Wyse—I hold in my hand a Petition from the Parish of Rahoon, in the town of Galway, praying that this honourable House will be graciously pleased to place the Roman Catholic mercantile and trading classes upon an equal footing with the Protestants, in regard to the Elective Franchise, as at present exercised by them in Galway. The grounds on which they pray for this undoubted right, have been already, on several occasions, exposed in so much detail, and listened to with so much sympathy and consideration in this House, that I should be trespassing unwarrantably on its indulgence, by insisting anew upon the arguments. The anomaly stands singly and unaccountably an exception to the provisions of the Relief Bill of 1829; and had it not been marked by the opposition of the late Prime Minister in the upper House, it might be also imagined an exception to the enlightened intentions of its framers. It is time this blot should be wiped off, and his Majesty's present Administration, pledged as they are by former votes, will consult their own consistency and the just claims of the petitioners, by as speedily as possible pro- 1209 ceeding to a legislative enactment on the subject. I have also to present from the parishioners of St. Nicholas, in the same town, a Petition upon a subject of more general interest and importance. They pray that the Legislature will, in the allocation of future grants, for the purposes of Irish education, look more closely into facts, and introduce such changes in the existing system, as will render it more conformable to the wants and wishes of the Irish people. Education, as it now exists in that country, is not national; it is doled out, under party restrictions and conditions, through channels and under influences often hostile, seldom in harmony with the general character or necessities of the country. Moral and intellectual instruction can no more tolerate shackles, than commerce or religion. If, indeed, in any instance, it is here that all trade should be free. The results of a similar system of interference in a neighbouring country, Belgium, are well known. There prescribing the mode by which this mental culture was to be administered, too rigorously, and in contrast with the habits of the people, not only did not advance the purposes for which it was intended, but produced other consequences, which an enlightened Government ought surely to have foreseen,—it kept the people in ignorance, and then plunged them into resistance and revolution. It would appear from the statements of this petition, in strict accordance, I may add, with my own personal observation, that a policy calculated in the same school—a wisdom not inferior to that of the king of Holland —has stood between the petitioners and their fair hopes of the intellectual progress of the country. Their utter inutility (a mild name, indeed, for the intolerable abuses of the Charter schools) is now matter of record in the Reports of the Commissioners of Education—but it is not so well known that the system which succeeded, originating, perhaps, in the best intentions, has been productive of scarcely more advantage to the country, from the purposes to which it was subsequently wrested. I give credit to many benevolent persons, for an anxious desire to extend the lights of mental and moral improvement to their fellow-countrymen, but the means they devised were not the means to attain it: they were inadequately acquainted with Ireland and with Irishmen, and the Kildare-street Society mixed 1210 up religious discussions with what ought to have been a matter purely civil, and added new fuel to those burning coals of sectarian dissension and rancour, which have been so long the crime and misfortune of Ireland. Several vain efforts were made by the Catholic clergy—by the Commissioners of Education, in 1824 and 1826—and, which I am happy to add, by the Protestant clergy, so early as 1812 and followed up, as far as his opportunities would permit him, by Lord Anglesey, during the short time of his viceroyalty; but the abuse—the acknowledged, the condemned, the attempted to be corrected abuse—still exists, and calls, amongst the loudest of the many loud grievances of the country, for a searching and immediate cure. It was with this view that I gave, some time since, a notice of a substantive motion for the reform of education in Ireland;—a reform in which I may safely indulge the hope, that I shall meet the earnest co-operation of his Majesty's present Government. When that occasion shall arrive, I shall enter at length into all the bearings of the subject, with a view to some general and final adjustment, satisfactory to all denominations and classes in the country. I have touched only on the principal heads at present, in compliance with the wishes, and in justice to the claims, of the petitioners. I have to add to the petition just presented, another, to which I hope I may be for some moments permitted to entreat the attention of the House. It is a petition of certain holders of chattel-leases or derivative letters there under, householders, and others, in Ireland, praying an extension of the right of voting to such as hold such interests. The disfranchisement of the 40s. freeholders deprived at once of their vested rights nearly 300,000 voters—a dealing with vested rights against which scarcely a murmur was heard in this House. Whatever may be its consequences in other particulars, I hope it will convey, at least, this healing with the wound it has inflicted—that in the discussions which are yet to take place in this House on reform, hon. Members will remember the precedent, great, and searching, and universal as it was, and when the day of borough disfranchisement shall come, they will hold the balance steady, and wield the axe well, and suppress the tender morality and constitutional qualms of proprietors—those holders of the con- 1211 science and character of dependents—by pointing to the 300,000 disfranchised voters,—the "deserted franchise" of the people of Ireland. The petitioners do not petition for a repeal of that measure, however narrowing the constituency, or accompanied with evils of a peculiar nature, arising from the distressed state of Ireland—a distress enhanced by the sudden revulsion and numerous ejectments produced by this law; but they point out a remedy,—a remedy, in my mind, most efficient,—a remedy simple and clear,— for it deals with claims which are unquestionable, and with classes whose competency and respectability cannot be suspected. To extend the right of voting in Ireland to chattel interests would enlarge the constituency to a reasonable measure, —it would infuse a wholesome portion of popular vigour into the franchise, and remove a ground of legitimate grievance and complaint. What entitles the freeholder holding on lives to higher constitutional privileges than the holder of chattel interests? — an antiquated prejudice, arising out of a by-gone frame of society, but in no sort of accord with the real merits of the claim on the existing pretensions of the individual. I do trust and hope to see some extensive alteration in this important point. If the object of all legislative enactments on the subject be, or ought to be (I regret that in fact they are not often found together) to give a better guarantee to the country for the independence of the electoral body—surely there cannot for a moment exist a question that a man who holds for a good term of years, has a far better ground for such independence, than the dependent on an old life of seventy or eighty (I speak of Ireland), which may drop off the very day after an election. That such things happen is notorious—that their effect is to chain the 10l. freeholder as much as the 40s. freeholder, to the chariot of his lord, is more notorious still. It always appeared to me, that the Disfranchisement bill, even for its avowed purposes, was inadequate. It was inconsistent with itself. What it did intend to effect, it did not effect; what it did not intend to effect, it has fully effected. At the same time, the results to the popular cause have been far more favourable than were expected. In the late elections these results were conspicuous. But they did not arise from the raising of the qualification, they arose 1212 from the preponderance of town voters over the rustic constituency; wherever such towns did not exist, the result was nearly the same as before the Disfranchisement bill had taken place. The 10l. freeholders are quite as dependent as the 40s. had deemed themselves before. The remedy is, therefore, in a more stable tenure; and, under this principle, should come the extension to the holders of chattel interests the right of voting. Such interests are common in Ireland; I believe still more common here. Whether it would not enlarge the franchise too much in this country, I do not pretend to say; but this I may safely assert, that such extension could very easily be balanced; and that in Ireland, at all events, such a result ought to be hoped for, and not be feared. In the arrangements of the great projected measure of parliamentary reform I do hope that this change may have a place. Ireland has much to complain of in a limited constituency—but in a limited Representation still more; 100 Members, with various drawbacks and claims to prevent attendance, are too few. When the franchise (it is hoped) is about to be extended to the great unrepresented towns of England, why not double the Representatives of the chief commercial towns of the sister country? Belfast, Limerick, Waterford, have surely as much want, and as good claim to such a representation, as the numerous insignificant boroughs of the south of England. If balance in numbers be sought, we can spare a certain number of rotten boroughs too. The same observation may extend to Scotland, and perhaps to Wales. I am the more anxious to take this opportunity of urging these remarks, from having observed, that Ireland is not comprehended in the returns moved for by the noble Lord, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Whether this was intentionally intimating that Ireland was not to be comprehended in his plan of reform, I cannot say. I should hope that Ireland has not been excluded from her claim to correction. Should this be the case, she will, I am sure, assert her claim to correction also; and it will become the duty of some of the Irish Representatives, by moving for similar returns, to bring her condition under the notice of the House.—On the Motion that the Petition be brought up,