NEWS OF THE WEEK.
TILE Repeal question has been debated in the House of Commons during the week at unmerciful length. Mr. O'CONNELL on
Tuesday harangued for five or six hours on this fruitful topic; and concluded with calling for a Committee to inqtiire into the means employed to procure the Act of Union, the effects of that measure upon both England and Ireland, and its probable future
consequences. Mr. SPRING RICE followed on Wednesday, in a speech which exceeded that of Mr. O'CostivEss both in length and ability. It was, indeed, a complete demolition of as poor and flimsy an argument as ever was obtruded upon an assembly of rational beings. There was some powerful declamation in Mr. O'CONNELL'S speech, which may tell in Ireland; but in the House of Commons it produced irritation only. It appears to be esta- blished beyond question, that the internal and external commerce of Ireland has increased rapidly since the Union ; that her metro- polis and other principal towns have been enlarged and improved; that her youth have been educated, and the tyranny of the higher classes restrained; that she has become more wealthy and mole civilized. She has obtained Catholic Emancipation and Parlia- mentary Reform ; the jobbing of Grand Juries has been checked ; the Vestry Cess has been abolished; and the payment of Tithes will in future be less burdensome to the occupier, if not to the owner of land. All these, and more might be enumerated, are positive and undeniable blessings. On the other side, the attempt to prove that this good has been overbalanced by the evil arising from a closer connexion with England, completely broke down. For a recital of the atrocities committed in barbarous times, when even England was distracted by civil eomtnotions, or oppressed by tyrannical rulers,—and an exposure of the bribery employed thirty-four years ago to obtain a majority in the Union Parlia- ment of Ireland,—furnish any thing but proof that the actual government is a curse to the country, or that the Union itself has worked mischief instead of good. It does not even appear that absenteeism has increased since the Union. That a native Parlia- ment in College Green would legislate more justly and beneficially for Ireland than the Parliament of the United Kingdom, it is easy to assert, but difficult to believe. The history of the past and the events of the present time would lead to a contrary conclusion. We have always maintained that the Repeal of the Union was a question which ought to be fairly discussed in Parliament; and, con- sidering the reluctance which most of our Representatives feel towards entertaining it for an hour, we think they deserve praise for their patient endurance of the long-winded harangues to which it has given rise. They must not suppose, however, that the question will be finally settled by their vote. As long as there re- main substantial grievances to be redressed in Ireland, it will be in the power of Mr. O'CONNELL, and of far less able men, to agitate them with the discussion of imaginary ones. The ex- istence at' the Irish Church Establishment is a grievous wrong in- flicted upon the great body of the Irish nation. So long as it is
I kept up on Its present footing, there will be no peace in Ireland. The Church was not established at the Union, it is true; but one great motive for desiring to repeal the Union o ill be destroyed, when the Church property is applied in a fair proportion to the support of the national faith, or other objects of universal benefit. Acts of justice will do far more than votes of the Legislature and addresses to the Crown towards finally settling the question of the Repeal of the Union. The Irish, till recently, were but a set of savage tribes: they are now become, and must be treated as, a nation.
The debate, which has already occupied four nights, was ad- journed laot night to Monday. Lord ALTHORP, on the 21st, brought forward his scheme for the abolition of Church-rates. The simple Chancellor has fairly thrown bis friends the Dissenters overboard. Church-rates, in- deed, are to " cease and determine;' but in their stead, 250,0001. annually is to be granted out of the proceeds of the Land-tax for the repairs of churches. Thus all will, indirectly, be made to contribute to the keeping up of the parish churches and chapels. How Lord ALTHORP, who is perfectly aware that the Dissenters objected to the principle, not to the cost of supporting a church they disapproved of, could fancy that his measure would satisfy their honest scruples, is not to be comprehended by common in- tellects. But his Lordship effected what he and his colleagues ap- pear to think of more consequence than conciliating the men to whom they are indebted for their places : he satisfied the Tories, and obtained their support. Mr. HUME met the question in a direct manner, by moving the unconditional abolition of the Church-rates. He was defeated by a majority of 256 to 140. Of this majority of 116, the Conservatives boast that they furnished no fewer than 95 votes : so that the Ministers, in a House of 300 Reformers, had only a majority of 21. This is the game of last session over again.
The bill for the repeal of the Foreign Enlistment Act was read a second time on Thursday, by a majority of 65 to 14. The opposition of Sir ROBERT INGLIS, Mr. PLUMPTRE, and Mr. AN- DREW JOHNSTONE to the bill, because it was contrary to Christian principles, was amusing, and what might have been expected from the parties. Sir ROBERT INGLIS is too good a Tory to have raised any opposition to the measure had it been one for the promotion of Don MiouEL's interests, which his party have so zealously and unprofitably espoused.
The House on the same evening resolved, by a vote of 53 to 9, to consider the propriety of removing the Jewish Disabilities. The stanch friends of antiquated bigotry, Sir ROBERT INGLIS, and his faithful squire, Mr. ANDREW JOHNSTONE, were still at their posts, and delivered their consciences by raising their voices against this unchristian bill also. It is lamentable to see an accomplished scholar and an amiable man, like Sir ROBERT INC ins, foremost on all occasions to restrain the civil liberty of his fellow-subjects. The influence of liberal studies is visible in his exterior, but has not penetrated beneath the surface.
The most amusing debate in the week occurred in the House of Peers, on Monday, when the Cambridge petition against the ad- mission of Dissenters to University honours was presented by the Duke of GLOUCESTER. His Royal Highness, as Lord BROUGHAM observed, introduced the subject in a speech of "singular ability ;*" but still, his display was not the most extraordinary exhibition of
the evening; for the Bishop of EXETER, unfortunate Dr. Psri Ls- port's, informed the House that subscription to the Thirty-nine
Articles did not imply a belief in them, but merely that the sub- scriber was a member of the Church of England ! Lord BROUGHAM was so excessively shocked at the laxity of the Bishop's princi- ples, that he read him a fierce lecture on Jesuitism, casuistry, and hypocrisy ; which might have lasted an hour or more, had not Lord SALISBURY called the Chancellor to order, and cut short his invective.
