POSTSCRIPT.

SATURDAY NIGHT.

The " monster " debate has closed at last, in a division at four o'clock this morning ; and the Ministerial majority of 99 is testimony to the un- impaired strength of Government in the House of Commons. The closing discussion was of a length commensurate with the rest, and the report in the Morning Chronicle extends to twenty-six columns I With our space preoccupied, and so much of it devoted to the same debate, it is impossible to deal with such a mass of reading, at present, in any satisfactory way.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Sir Frederick Pollock) explained, with great fulness, the working of the law in England, and showed that it was not different from the actual procedure in the late prosecution in Ireland ; his kindly manner and broad constructions going a great way in reconciling the 'House to that view.

Mr. ROEBUCK spoke with much ability, discrimination, and good temper. He took a retrospect of Irish history ; supplying two im- portant gaps in Mr. Macaulay's essay—a glance at the physical condi- tion of the people, and the period of the Whig Coercion-bill. He as- sailed Mr. Shaw's position which rested the Church Establishment on " religions truth," instead of that political necessity which alone a civil legislature could consider. Of the law-matters, he took the Opposition view ; speaking strongly against Repeal, and pronouncing Mr. O'Con- nell's conduct imprudent, but not illegal.

MrrO'Coanasta spoke, with a firm and confident bearing, and was heard with profound attention. Ee set forth the ease of Ireland against England, as justifying the demand for Repeal. He protested against the prosecutions. He made light account of the Government measures. What they ought to do on the subjects they meant to deal with was, to make each Roman Catholic Bishop a sole corporation ; in improving the borough franchise, to clear it from the Grand Jury cess ; to give to the counties as large a constituency in proportion to their population as the English counties ; and to bring back the law of landlord and tenant to what it was before the Union. But there were other things to be done : the Government should remodel the financial arrangements between England and Ireland ; enlarge the Irish corpo- rate franchise to an equality with that of England ; tax absenteeism, which was a crime in Ireland, and ought to be punished ; increase the number of Irish Representatives ; and establish perfect religious equal- ity—but not by paying the Catholic clergy. He was anxious to see men act together like brothers; and he would cooperate with them heart and soul for the welfare of Ireland.

In spite of a promise of brevity, Sir ROBERT PEEL made a very long speech, occupying some ten columns in the daily papers. He consi- dered himself as a party accused—wrongfully accused, but put upon his defence. First, however, he made some allusion to Mr. O'Connell's arguments ; rebuking him for deluding the people by perverting history so far as to represent the notoriously corrupt Irish Parliament as inde- pendent, and Ireland as prosperous under its rule. Besides, it was ex- clusively Protestant ; which involved an admission that the Pro- testant Establishment was not incompatible with the welfare of Ireland. He passed to Lord John Russell's party-motion ; which he contrasted with Lord Howick's strong but independent and sincerely-expressed opinions. Lord John made it impossible to accede to his motion, which was not really for inquiry into the state of Ireland, but only to introduce resolutions inculpatory of Government ; all resolving itself into the sole practical measure- " Remove the present Government, and place me in office in their stead." For while he made large professions, never did statesman aim at returning to power with smaller public engagements than Lord John's : he had said nothing which would pledge him to adopt a course different from the present. Sir Robert Peel went on to vindicate We appoint- ments of Government ; warmly vindicating Lord Lyndhurst from mis- representation and disparagement ; retorting on Lord John Russell the forced resignation of Lord Plunket, the pride of the Irish bar, to gratify the vanity of—not an Irishman, but a Scotehman, (Lord Campbell,) by six. weeks' tenure of office. Sir Robert would have been ashamed to hold office an hour after such an appointment. The sole judicial ap- pointment made by Ministers was that of Mr. Howley, a Catholic ; and that the Whig organs did their best to disparage. He protested against that new stretch of the law of " conspiracy " which made him answerable for the objectionable language of Mr. Bradshaw and others ; and, making light of Lord De Grey's answer in the.usual official terms to the address, perhaps unread, of the Dublin Protestant Operative Conservatives, he read an answer of his own, in whickle had sharply rebuked those who sent the same address to him, for-their uneharitable language; a reply strangely acknowledged in the Most grateful terms by the Society ! He then came to the subject of the meane taken by Government to suppress the agitation ; which he defended on grounds already urged ; but some points he brought out strongly. The Opposition confounded the necessity which led to the increase of force in Ireland with the Ministers' own disposition and dis- advantages— " In March 1843 began thia systematic agitation. Was it begun in conse- quence of any act of the Government ? Were we charged with any injustice or undue pal ? No; my belief is that it was begun because It did not suit the purposes of some that our Government should tiA successful. (Loud cries of " Hear! ") The poor-rate about thisotlmeliegan to be levied in many parts of Ireland. Dissatisfaction was growing against this law, against the act introduced by the noble Lord when in office."

And so he passed on to describe otner elements in the dissatisfaction, of an old growth. Ministers, however, relied on the ordinary law. Did Lord John Russell, under similar circumstances? No : he wished that part of his life passed over, perhaps ; but he supported Lord Althorp in introducing the Coercion Act-

.' The act is, as will be seen, a very strict act of Parliament. The preamble runs thus: that • Whereas divers meetings and assemblages inconsistent with the public peace and the exercise of regular government have taken place, and whereas the law is No far inadequate to meet the state of things, be it enacted.' Now, what is proposed to be enacted? Why, that the Lord-Lieutenant shall be empowered to punish any one lighting signal-fires. (Laughter.) We relied on the ordinary law, but the noble Lord did not; he took precautions, and applied to Parliament for additional powers to extinguish signal-fires. (Laughter.) The act goes on to say—' No person shall make any bonfire, fire, light, flame, flash- (Laughter)—blaze—(Renewed laughter)—or any signal by smoke.' ( General laughter.) And, further, says the noble Lord, 'Be it enacted, that the burden of proof that such signal, by flame, flash, blaze, or smoke, was not made, shall rest on the person charged with the offence.' (Laughter and cheers.) This is the noble Lord's act."

Bringing the review of the proceedings down to the Clontarf meeting, he declared that the specific reason for interfering then was the pe- culiarly military array contemplated by the Repeaters: but he read a good deal of correspondence with local authorities, and such documents, showing that Government anxiously watched the progress of events, and that they were ready to interfere at the first opportune juncture ; but that they were sometimes induced to defer active interposition by the dread of occasioning any collision with the people that could possibly be avoided. Finally, however, the law had been vindicated, without collision or bloodshed; the leaders of the disorder, not the subordinates, had been called to account ; and now, wise after the result, the Opposi- tion retraced the whole course of these complicated proceedings to pick out small errors. The Whigs themselves had experienced a different treatment- " Sir, I must say in the face of the country, that in repressing this agitation we have had no assistance whatever from the other side. (Loud cheers from the Ministerial benches.) At the same time, I can say with perfect truth, that you—(addressing the Opposition)—know what it is to be exposed to the same painful trials. You have had organized meetings against the public peace : it has been your fate—your painful fate—to have had to deal with the fires at Bristol, the attack on Newport, and the insurrection in Canada. If you bad then found a powerful party ranged against you—(Ministerial cheers)—if we bad taken up Mr. Papineau and espoused his cause—I beg pardon, you took him up—(A laugh)—if we had watched all your proceedings in Canada—if we had brought forward a motion inculpating you when the Grand Jury ignored the bill for sending out ex officio informations against the disturbers of the public peace—if we bad tracked you at every step, expressing a faint disappro- bation only of the hardly justifiable conduct' of men engaged in the cause ot liberty,—had we done these things, then, let me tell you, you would have found it a much more difficult task than you did to vindicate the law and protect the authority of the Government." (Cheers.)

He discussed the measures proposed by Government ; beginning with the Landlord and Tenant Commission, the objects of which he recapitu- lated; strongly marking the expediency of inquiring into a subject on which legislation had often been attempted, but had failed for want of sufficing information-

" Some Member not connected with the Government asks h re to bring in a bill to amend the law relating to landlord and tenant in Ireland. The Chief Secretary for Ireland gets up and says, This is a subject full of difficulties, but I do not object to the honourable Member bringing in his bill.' The bill is brought in and read a first time. The second reading is moved: the Chief Secretary does not object to that, but reserves himself for the Committee. The bill gets into Committee; and on the first clause the honourable Member is met by ten thousand valid objections: the bill consequently stands over, the session closes, and nothing is done. That has been the course for the last ten years." With respect to the franchise—speaking, for the purposes of this de- bate, only of principles—the object should be, without disturbing the proportions laid down by the Reform Act, to give full effect to that Act and the Relief Act, and establish substantial equality between Great Britain and Ireland ; not identity, which would be impossible—nor nominal equality, equally unattainable—but a real equality between the two countries. He explained his views of the Church at some length, in that manner peculiar to him, of hunting for terms precise enough, and in that very effort so qualifying each sentence by the next as partly to baulk his purpose. The sum of what he said is this. The main- tenance of the Established Church is supported by compact, in the Act of Union and the Relief Act, and by authority, such as the opinions of Burke, Grattan, Plunket, and others ; and for the Legislature not to maintain its compacts for more than ten years together, would destroy faith in Parliament and impede future legislation. Still, he would not solely on those grounds maintain the Establishment, if convinced that the social welfare of Ire- land required a modification : but his conviction was of the opposite kind. He thought an Establishment advantageous to Ireland; princi- pally on these grounds—that without it religious animosities would be exasperated, for other religious bodies would not be equally under the control of the State ; the precedent of abolishing the Establishment would at once be applied to England, and the same animosities would be embittered here ; and he endeavoured to make out that a preference of certain doctrines by the State is no " insult " to the holders of other doctrines. The condition of the Catholic, however, must be considered, and voluntary endowment would be allowed. An additional grant, not very large in the present year, would be made for the pur- poses of general education. He had made great sacrifices—of personal ambition, of private estimation and friendship—for the sake of Ireland ; and he was ready again to make such sacrifices. But, while in office, he would maintain We law. He hoped there was no foundation for the allegation that they could only govern Ireland by force: party in- flneneentight succeed in rendering it ungovernable; but he hoped.

etter things. Science was gradually bringing Dublin within twelve hours' distance of London; party feelings among the upper classes were materially abating ; and if calm and tranquillity were maintained, the advance of Ireland in material prosperity would be rapid. With a glowing peroration, foreshadowing the time when the Queen should land in tranquillized Ireland, he sat down, amid cheers from both sides of the House.

Sir VALENTINE BLAKE, supported by Mr. E. B. Rocan, attempted to move an adjournment : but the sense of the House was against him, and he desisted.

Lord JOHN Russem. replied. He noticed some of the chief attacks on his motion by the leading Members of the Government. This brought up Lord STANLEY; who emphatically denied that in quoting, on a

former occasion, the words "the minions of Popery," he either adopted them or applied them to Roman Catholics. Lord JOHN RUSSELL then went into some particulars respecting the retirement of Lord Plunket ; who first desired to withdraw, and though he subsequently revoked that wish his resignation was not forced. Lord John vindicated his own larger views respecting the Church and other matters ; but with- out any very specific statement.

On a division, the numbers were—For the motion, 225; against it, 324 ; Ministerial majority, 99.

Earlier in the evening, on the motion of Sir JAMES GRAHAM, the Poor-law Amendment Bill was read a second time ; on the understand- ing that its principle would be discussed on the question of going into Committee.

In the House of Lords, the Bishop of EXETER moved for the appoint- ment of a Select Committee to consider the provision made, and which may be required to be made, for the spiritual worship and instruction in the Union Workhouses in England and Wales. He detailed many ex- traordinary cases of neglect and irregularity in the religious instruction of paupers ; ascribing misconduct to the Poor-law Commissioners. Lord WHARNCIXFFE defended the Commissioners, whose powers are imperfect ; deprecated the motion, as likely to produce a bad impres- sion; and offered to introduce provisions on the subject in the bill now before the Commons. The Bishop of EXETER did not press his motion to a division.