Page:A letter to the Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue, M.P. on the state of Ireland.djvu/54



Sir Robert Peel proposed an amendment, and in a veiy able speech vindicated the course of the Opposition. The result, after five nights of very animated debate, was that there appeared—

In the majority were all the liberal members for Ireland: two O'Briens, five O'Connells, the O'Conor Don, Mr. More O'Ferral, Mr. Sheil, and others; all the leading members of the Liberal party, Lord Palmerston, Lord Howick, Sir John Hobhouse, Mr. Labouchere, Lord Morpeth, Mr. Spring Rice, Mr. Charles Wood, Mr. Ellice, and many others.

Such was the deliberate resolution of the party which then governed, and of the Irish Liberals, who were chiefly concerned in supporting the Appropriation Clause.

In this debate I quoted the opinion of Mr. Burke, as given in 1797. Speaking of the improvement in the laws, he said:—

But the most favourable laws can do very little towards the happiness of a people when the disposition of the ruling power is adverse to them. Men do not live upon blotted paper. The favourable or the hostile mind of the ruling power is of