moved the third reading of the above Bill.

said it was impossible for the House to allow such a Bill to pass. The object of it was to make the landlord liable to poors' rates, instead of the tenant, and it was enough to state that, in order, as he conceived, to secure its rejection, unless some peculiarly strong case could be made out with respect to the parish of Hackney. The Bill, indeed, was not unexampled, because there were two or three parishes who had obtained similar acts in their favour, from the inadvertency of the legislature; but they were most unjust, and ought to be repealed, in order to put all parishes upon an equal footing. Conceiving the present Bill to be highly objectionable, he should move that it be read a second time that day six months.

supported the Bill.

thought that no special case had been made out to justify so dangerous an innovation on the general law, as this Bill went to make. He would therefore vote for the amendment.

cordially approved of the Bill, in consequence of several circumstances that had come to his knowledge; and because he wished to see the parish of Hackney placed in a similar situation with some of the contiguous ones. A great proportion of the houses in Hackney were of low rents, which did not subject the tenants to the assessment of poor rates; but as the landlords enjoyed the profits, he thought they ought to bear the proportion of the taxes.

thought the Bill highly objectionable, and the arguments used in support of it equally so. They were to pass this Bill into a law, because the next adjoining parish had a similar law. Upon that principle all the contiguous parishes which had not such a law might apply for it next session, and so on throughout the whole kingdom. But was that the way they ought to legislate for the country? If the laws that had been passed in favour of certain parishes were obnoxious, let them repeal those laws. There was another clause in the Bill to which he strongly objected, empowering the trustees of the poor to punish them in any way they thought fit, with the consent of the justices at the quarter sessions. This was in direct contradiction to the law of the land, and contrary to specific resolutions to which the House had come in the course of the present session upon the subject.

approved of the Bill.

had expressed his approbation of the Bill in the committee upon it, and had heard nothing since to make him alter his opinion.

was against the Bill.

contended that the parish of Hackney was not entitled to the indulgence now claimed; and he knew, if it should be granted, that it was the intention of the adjoining parishes of Tottenham, Edmonton, and Newington, to apply for a similar one next session. He should, therefore, oppose the Bill.

stated, that there were upwards of 1,000 houses in the parish of Hackney, which did not contribute one shilling to the poors' rates, and that within the last two years 295 such houses had been built. He did not mean to say that their object was to evade the assessments, but he thought it looked rather suspicious.

After some further conversation between Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Preston, Mr. P. Moore, and Mr. Mellish, who stated his willingness to withdraw the clause respecting the punishment of the poor, the House divided, when the numbers were, For the third reading 39; against it 52.—The Bill was consequently lost.

observed, that some time since he had very fully expressed his sentiments in the House respecting the unwarrantable proceedings of the Catholic board assembled in Dublin, and though he had ever been a friend to public investigation when legitimately exercised, he could not but condemn much of the conduct and measures of that board, as tending to great eventual mischief. With this impression upon his mind, he felt it to be his duty, as a member of parliament, as well as from his private feelings on the subject, to ask the right hon. Secretary for Ireland, whether the proclamation which he had heard was issued on the 3d of June, for the suppression of the board, was authentic? If he was answered in the affirmative, he should beg permission of the House to give notice of a motion.

was happy to be now able to answer any question on this subject without that reserve which he had found it necessary to observe on the two occasions alluded to by the right hon. baronet. On the 3d of June, the lord lieutenant and council of Ireland issued a proclamation, prohibiting the assembling of those persons who had assumed the title of the Catholic board. It was matter of regret to him to have been obliged to answer the question of an hon. member, relating to this board, with so much reserve as he had done; but at the time that the question was put he could not have done otherwise, consistently with his duty. He had not the slightest objection to have the document produced, and would therefore willingly agree to the motion which the right hon. baronet had said he would make for that purpose.

then said, that as the right hon. Secretary had admitted the proclamation to be authentic, he thought it his duty to declare his unqualified approbation of the temper and firmness which the executive government of Ireland had manifested on that important occasion; and as it was an object to give the most extended publicity to the act, he should move, "That an humble Address be presented to his royal highness the Prince Regent, That he will be graciously pleased to give directions, that there be laid before this House a copy of the proclamation by the lord lieutenant and privy council of Ireland, for the suppression of an assembly under the denomination of the Catholic board, dated 3d June 1814."

seconded the motion. He said that though he had not thought the answer of the right hon. gentleman to the question, he had put respecting this board, by any means satisfactory, yet he was now quite satisfied with the explanation of the right hon. gentleman. As to the inexpediency of putting down that most unconstitutional and dangerous assembly, he was convinced that there would be more who would complain that it had not been done long ago, than that it was done now. One good reason for the delay which had taken place might be, that those persons could not now cloak their proceedings under the pretence of assembling to frame petitions, as owing to the late happy events, this pretext was fortunately removed. The object of that meeting had, latterly, completely developed itself, by chewing that it assent-bled, not to aid the just cause of the Catholics, but to sow dissentions and provoke irreconcilable enmities.

had only to say, that he felt perfectly confident that when the subject was examined, it would be found that the motives by which the conduct of the Irish government had been guided in this matter, could be very satisfactorily explained. The lower orders, and a great proportion of the population in Ireland, had been misled by the professions of the Catholic board, and were not aware of the mischievous tendency of their proceedings. The mode in which the proceedings of this assembly had been conducted; the absurd, ludicrous, pitiful discussions that took place in it; the abandonment of the instructions of those who were at the head of the Catholic religion; the pompous titles which they had assumed—had now alienated the affections of those who had once been their supporters, and had shewn them to be the real enemies of the cause of which they had wished to appear the promoters. They had also, he trusted, deprived themselves of that public sympathy and public regret, which sometimes attended the execution of the laws, and the punishment inflicted upon such persons.

The motion was agreed to.

rose and said:—Mr. Speaker, I hold in my hand ten petitions, signed by very numerous and respectable bodies of the inhabitants of the North of Ireland, both Protestants and Catholics, complaining that the public peace is kept in a state of continual disturbance, by the existence and conduct of certain Orange Societies. The petitioners form no political party, but apply to the House as belonging to the primary relations of life, as husbands, fathers, and brothers, entitled to the protection of the state, and to have the public peace preserved by the impartial administration of the laws, against an association which renders the North of Ireland less civilized, and less secure than the savannahs of the savage Americans. The petitioners state, and do so with perfect accuracy, that this association is illegal, that is in respect to that class of Orange-men, who are embodied by a secret oath. The Act of the 50th of the King, c. 102, rendering all associations in Ireland illegal, which are organized by a secret oath. They say that the House of Commons having declared the existence of the Orange Societies in England illegal, and that it was the duty of the executive government to repress them by enforcing the law; they have an equal right to the same declaration against the same association in Ireland, and the same enforcement of the law by the Irish executive government. At present it is not my intention to say any thing that shall provoke any debate, or to found any motion on these petitions. The subject of the existence of this illegal association is now brought fully before the House; and it is obligatory on the executive government of Ireland to carry into effect the declared sentiments of the House on the nature of this association, though not directly applied to Ireland. If, however, the government of Ireland should not interpose and fairly administer the law; and if the same system of outrage and disturbance should disgrace the North of Ireland, as prevailed there last July, I shall certainly bring forward a motion early in the next session of parliament, of censure of the executive government. Part of the prayer of the petitioners is to have all illegal associations suppressed. We have just now heard the government have suppressed the Catholic board as being in their opinion an illegal association. Their conduct, on this subject, therefore becomes peculiarly deserving of being closely watched; for if they shall confine their exertions to this single attempt to preserve peace in Ireland, and suffer the Orange Associations to exist in direct violation of an unquestionable enactment of the law, their conduct will be in every respect unjust and partial.

Sir Henry then presented ten Petitions of Protestants and Catholics of Ireland, the friends of civil and religious liberty and of internal peace and concord, in the neighbourhoods of Ballibay and Keady; of Belfast; of Dungannon and Armagh; of Killileagh; of Larne and Whitehouse; of Lisburn; of Moira and Magheralin, in the county of Down; the parish of Segoe, in the county of Armagh; and of the town and parish of Newry; setting forth,

"That the petitioners have long lamented the distracted state of Ireland, in which a faction, calling themselves Orange-men, bound together by a secret, and, as the petitioners conceive, an illegal oath, have disturbed the peace by their riotous and tumultuous proceedings; they arrogate large claims for loyalty, of they boast exclusive possession, but their conduct proves that many of them only make a show of it for interested purposes; to he truly loyal is to be strictly obedient to the laws; and that their processions, decked with party insignia, and frequently with military arms, on certain stated anniversaries, produce much irritation in the minds of those against whom the insulting show is chiefly directed, and more especially as they carefully exclude all Catholics from their lodges; that these processions have a powerful effect in keeping up a spirit of animosity among neighbours, and perpetuating an organized system of hostility towards all who will not join with them: that they not only, in their direct consequences, have led to tumults, riots, and murders, but also, by their raising a spirit of opposition to their proceedings, other antagonist societies have arisen, by which the peace of the country is farther endangered, and thus such irritating proceedings appear not remotely to portend the horrors of civil war, unless timely exertions are made to repress the meetings and processions of Orange-men; and that the petitioners, emboldened by the discussions which took place in parliament near the close of last session, on the illegality of establishing Orange Societies in England, beg, in the most fervent and earnest manner, that Ireland may be equally placed with Great Britain on a similar footing of security, by the suppression of all illegal societies; and that, in their present anxiety of mind, the petitioners utterly disclaim any appellation of political party, and recognizing only the primary relations of life, call with loud and urgent voice, as fathers of families, as husbands, sons, and brothers, upon parliament, imploring its immediate and effectual interposition for the salvation of the people, by preventing a repetition of such monstrous outrages; they call upon the constituted authorities of the empire to maintain peace and good order in the land, and invoke the sacred responsibility of legislation to take timely measures of guarding the state and securing the supreme authority from such dangerous associations as make allegiance conditional, on principles unknown to the British constitution."

Ordered to lie upon the table.