POSTSCRIPT.
SATURDAY NIGHT.
Maynooth almost exclusively occupied the House of Commons last night, and gave rise to some curious displays. First, a vast heap of adverse petitions was carried up by Members. Of these the moat signal was one from "the Dublin Protestant Operative Asso- ciation and Reformation Society"; the presentation of which was intrusted to the congenial agency of Mr. FEBASIM. By a sleight of tongue, ho at- tempted to evade the rule of the House against doing more than reading the substance of a petition : with trifling alterations of words he was reading the petition itself—a long, disputatious, and extravagantly-worded document—when he was called to order by Mr. ROEBUCK ; and the objection was sustained by the Spr suers Again Mr. FERRAND be- gan to read, again he was called to order, and so on again and again, amid a hubbub of laughter and provocative cheers. At length, Mr. ROEBUCK moved that the honourable Member be commanded at once to bring up his petition; on which Mr. FERRAN]) threatened to have the huge roll read its extent° by the Clerk at the table; but his friends dissuaded him from fulfilling his threat, and he contented himself with reading the " prayer." The " Dublin Protestant" &c. prayed that the House would cause Sir Robert Peel to be impeached; and, if he were not convicted, that still the House would call upon the Sovereign " to remove Sir Robert Peel from her councils, as one who has disgusted all parties, who ousted other men from their places merely to adopt their policy, and who, if he have succeeded in replenishing the coffers of the exchequer, has done so while carrying out measures calculated to draw down the wrath of Heaven on the land." The whole of the protracted scene had caused much merriment; but at this prayer the House was convulsed with laughter.
--There were two in favour of the bill. One, presented by Sir ROBERT PEEL, was from the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster- -The petitioners state that they have themselves long enjoyed, and still continue to enjoy, a generous provision for the comfortable support of their own ministers, as well as liberal grants for the education of their theological students, out of the common taxes of the country. They are deeply convinced that no measure was ever brought before Parliament more calculated to allay political animosities, to awaken sentiments of confidence and respect towards Great Britain, and to con- fer extensive benefit upon the great mass of the population in Ireland. The peti- tioners, therefore, pray the House to sanction the proposed grant to Maynooth. The work of receiving petitions concluded, and some smaller matters dis- posed of, Sir ROBERT PEEL moved the second reading of the Maynooth College Bill. Mr. Cow:moms, repeating many arguments against the measure,—the Democratic and agitating tendencies of Maynooth, the inevit- able following of ulterior endowments for the Roman Catholic Church, and so forth,—moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months. He was followed by Mr. GilocAsi to the same effect, with an emphatic warning of the danger of encouraging the Jesuits in Ireland.
Mr. GLausTONE then rose. He excused himself for not having delivered his opinion on the measure at the earliest opportunity, by the necessity of seeing the printed bill and maturing his judgment. He admitted his belief that the minority of last week represented the prevailing sense of a great majority of the people of England and of Scotland; and yet., after taking that view of the subject, he was prepared, in opposition to the pre- vailing opinion, and in opposition to his own deeply-cherished prepos- sessions, to give his deliberate support to this measure. The reasons hitherto given for the bill appeared to him however to be quite inadequate— unreal and unsubstantial. He could not agree with Sir Robert Peel in resting his support on any "compact " ; for although the annual grant rested. on a compact which did somewhat fetter the discretion of Parliament, this was a question not of an annual grant but of a permanent endow- ment—not merely of an. increase of money but of reinstituting the Col- lege. -It was a new measure. He could not agree that it was an act of restitution—for if so, how paltry a return of a shilling or sixpence in the pound! He supported the bill, because he felt confident that whatever tends tie give dignity and ease to the Professors of Maynooth College would have a material influence in softening the tone of that institution. He found strong prima facie and presumptive arguments in favour of a propo- sition such as that made by the Government, arising out of the num- bers of the Roman Catholic population in Ireland, their great po- verty, and the difficulty they experience in providing themselves with even the common necessaries of life; arguments in the favourable con- currence of statesmen of opposite parties, and in the popular doc- trine that those who pay taxes should share equally in the benefits re- sulting from the State. He was strengthened in his conclusion to support the bill by the feebleness of the arguments advanced against it, It is said that Mr. Pitt's experiment has failed: whereas he spoke of training the priest at Maynooth and supporting them afterwards; so that his experi- ment has not been tried: The deficiencies in the literature at Maynooth are arguments for improving that literature. The objections were those of detail, not principle. The only principle advanced was the maintenance of Protestantism: but what is " Protestantism"—where is it defined in the constitution or in law? The " Church of England " is a definite thing; but then the State does not confine its support to that Church, and could not possibly do so: It is a paradox unjust to human nature, to say that conciliatory measures are entirely useless in winning the affections of men; and he was willing to risk some reproach in trying the experiment.
Mr. Diana= delivered'one of his amusing speeches not on the motion, but on Sir Robert Peel; fall of his stinging playfulness, every sentence echoed by laughter. For instance, Sir Robert Peel, he remarked, said that " three courses were open to him": he always says so- " In a certain sense, and looking to his own position, he is right : there is the course the right honourable gentleman has left; there is the course that the right honourable gentleman is following; and there is usually the course which the right honourable gentleman ought to pursue. Perhaps, Sir, I ought to say that there is a fourth course; because it is possible for the House of Commons to adopt one of those courses indicated by the right honourable gentleman, and thin, having voted for it, to rescind it. That is the fourth course; and in future I trust the right honourable gentleman will not forget it If a member criticized the conduct of the Minister, his mouth was to be stopped by saying that he " bandied personalities"; a method of putting down discussion which has been tried in "another nlace "—
" I remember when we used to toast 'another place' with three times three and nine times nine; ' another place' was once a favourite toast at all Conserva- tive diviners: where is the independence of ' another place' now? It is notPeSiesl-
ism,it is not the revolutionary spitit of the nin , flee son- ' another place' to its illustrious insignificance ; lvmse-sst soda Conser- vative dictator. Are you prepared to meet the same sinie a Mem- berexpresses any opinions not absolutely agreeable to the blinistar of the day, is he to be stopped by a charge of bandying personalities'? Whenever the young men of England allude to any great principles of political life or Parliamentary conduct, are they to be recommended to go to a Railway Committee ? • • • ft may break the spirit in another place,' and it may lower the tone in this; ' an- other place' may be drilled into a guard-room, and the House of Commons may be degraded into a vestry." There is now no constitutional Opposition, because there is no Govern- ment formed on definite principles: what have we instead?— " Something has risen up in this country as fatal in the political world as it has been in the landed world of Ireland—we have a great Parliamentary:middleman: (Immense cheering.) It is well known what a middleman is: he ui a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other, till, having obtained a position to which he is not entitled, he cries out, 'Let us have no party questions, but fixity of tenure.'" The laughter subsided as Mr. Roznume again turned the discussion closely upon the subject; putting the previous speaker aside with the re- mark that his speech was as poor in performance as it was malicious in motive: the charge against the Minister was, that he formerly held former opinions, and had changed his opinions with the change of the times: Mr. Disraeli's brilliant talents had been forgotten; for Sir Robert Peel had thought of "measures not men." Mr. Roebuck gave his strenuous support to the measure, as excellent in itself, though stopping short of perfection.
On the motion of Mr. Haul, the debate was adjourned till Monday.
The House of Lords were occupied with the Sugar-duties Bill, on its third reading. The measure was supported by the Earl of DALROUALB, Lord BROUGHAM, and Lord STANLEY; assailed by the Earl of CLAREN- DON, and Lord MONTEAGLE; but without the slightest novelty of argu- ment. Eventually, it was passed.
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