KLOLS » ew ie REPORT FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE OF THE LOYAL NATIONAL REPEAL ASSOCIATION ON THE ATTENDANCE OF IRISH MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT, Read at a Meeting of the Association, in the Conciliation Hall, on Monday, the 2nd day of September, 1844. DAR Renee Your Committee report that they have analyzed the division lists of the last session of parliament, and present herewith a return of the number of divisions in which each Irish member voted during that session. It will be seen from this that several of the Irish members attended regu- larly, others rarely, some not at all, and that this observa- tion applies to Conservatives and Reformers, Repealers and non-Repealers. Your Committee are sure that, both on general and constitutional principles, a person who accepts a seat in par- liament, becomes thereby a trustee bound to attend from day to day in the Commons, to aid by vote, voice, counsel, and example, in the well-governing of the country, and that he can only be freed from this trust by the declaration of the country, that he can better serve it elsewhere. The people of Ireland, having in vain attempted to ob- tain from the imperial parliament detailed measures of jus- tice, and with equal failure sought the restoration of their domestic senate, or even inquiry into the wisdom of that 1 2k 308 REPORT ON THE restoration, have at length sought to obtain their rights by agitation out of parliament. They have to this end arrayed themselves into a Loyal and National Association to obtain the Repeal of the Union. They try to obtain strength by the reality and display of union and organization. They seek converts by their speeches, their writings, and their peaceful virtues. They are endeavouring to increase their knowledge and their power by reading, thinking, and dis- cussing. And to carry out their projects of organization, conversion, and self-improvement, they subscribe large funds to a common treasury. Their efforts in the imperial parliament having then been so fruitless, and their undertaking at. home being so vast, they, the people of Ireland, have consented that such of their members as seek with them domestic legislation, should secede from the imperial parliament, and control the agitation, instruction, and organization of the people at home. Such a consent neither binds nor justifies a man who hopes redress directly from the imperial parliament to ab- sent himself from it. His duty is still at St. Stephen’s, from the first to the last day of the session, in committees, divi- sions, and (whenever he can be useful) in debates. No member should use the privilege given by the coun- try to Repealers, unless he is a Repealer. Yet, your Com- mittee see with regret, not nnmixed with indignation, that many members, both Conservatives and Reformers, avow- edly hostile to an Irish legislature have grossly neglected their parliamentary duties, having been present at few of the divisions, silent in most of the debates, and, still worse, ab- sent from all committee business whatsoever. ‘This is a grievance affecting Irishmen, whatever may be their politics or religion; and, though your Committee are unwilling to embroil members with their constituencies, or to counte- nance anything like dictation, they must, in common fair- ness, call the attention of all these constituencies, whose members are not Repealers, to the annexed return, and urge them to require an explanation from those who appear by it to have violated their clear public duty. As to the members who advocate domestic legislation, they are to be differently, but not less rigidly, judged. They, eee a ATTENDANCE OF IRISH MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT. 309 as we have said, have obtained permission from Ireland to transfer their attendance and labours from London to Dub- im. ‘They have not received permission to abandon their exertions, and look by while the country either drifts idly on, or is managed and preserved by other men. ‘The busi- ness, the imperative duty before God and his country, of a Repeal member who secedes from St. Stephen’s, is to come to the Corn Exchange, and there vote, speak, and work di- ligently on committees, as he would otherwise be conscien- tiously bound to vote, speak, and work diligently on com- mittees in Westminster. And your Committee would re- peat what they have already expressed in their correspond- ence with Lord Wicklow, that such a course is consistent with the duty of influencing and exposing the Imperial Parliament by reports and circulars, and with the reten- tion of their seats, as a check on coercion, and as a means of carrying by the Repealers, Repeal, whenever it shall be thought politic to bring that measure before parliament. These are the principles of the Association and the peo- ple; they are clear, exact, and politic. The constituencies, then, of seceding members will therefore judge their mem- bers by ascertaining whether, like Mr. O’Connell and his Son, they have been in strife and prison for Ireland, or, like Mr. Smith O’Brien and some others, they have laboured zea~ lously and constantly in the Conciliation Hall and the Com- mittees, or in the provinces, at the Committee’s request, or, like too many, have abandoned their duties in Westmins- ter, and not undertaken those at home. THOMAS DAVIS, Chairman of the Committee. 3 o 310 REPORT ON THE A List of the Irish Members of Parliament, with the Number of Divisions in which they voted during the last Session. Acheson, Viscount, Armagh county... tee 6 Acton, Colonel Wilhorn, Wicklow county 5a 14 Alexander, Nathaniel, Antrim county ... ces 4 Archbold, Robert, Kildare county 5 “e 4] Archdall, Mervyn, Fermanagh county ... 5a 28 Armstrong, Sir Andrew, Bart, King’s county .,. 2 Barron, Su Winston, Waterford city >... is 27 Bateson, Robert, Derry county ... i ea 0 (*) Bateson, Thomas, do. ine ee 32 Bellew, Richard M., Louth county “ ae 49 Blake, Mark, Mayo. county a nee 14 Blake, Martin J oseph, Galway city = ae 13 Blake, Sir Valentine, do. 5 . 5 Bodkin, J. J., Galway county be sss aga pO Boyd, John, Coleraine... gas oi as 29 Bridgeman, Hewitt, Ennis : ae 1 Brooke, Sir A. B., Bart., Fermanagh county BA 19 Browne, Hon. William, Kerry county = ae 55 Browne, Robert D., Mayo county eee 23 Bruen, Colonel Henry, Carlow county ... 58 6 Bernard, Viscount, Bandon ; . Bae 5 Butler, Hon. Colonel, Kalkenny county a 28 Butler, Se do one Sal 52 Bunbury, Thomas, Carlow county is 3 16 Callaghan, Daniel, Cork city... a aS 0 Carew, Hon. R. S., Waterford county as 9 Castlereagh, Viscount, Down county... 4835 13 Cave, Hon. R. O., Tipperary COUNLY G ...: sri 5 Cavendish, Hon. Compton, Youghal)... Lp 12 Chapman, B. J., Westmeath county ee oe 38 Clements, Viscount, Leitrim county... be 5 Collett, John, Athlone is a a 90 (*) In the month of March, 1844, Mr. Robert Bateson died, without having voted during the session, and was succeeded in the representation of Derry county by Mr. Thomas Bateson. 4. ATTENDANCE OF IRISH MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT. 311 () Cole, Hon. Henry, Enniskillen a5 eu 18 onnolly, Colonel E. M., Donegal county ay 17 Coote, Sir Charles F., Bart. +» Queen’s county ... 16 Corbally, Matthew He Meath county ... dae 4 Corry, Hon. H. T. L., Tyrone county Ss 103 Damer, Hon. Colonel, Portarlington ... ett 60 Dawson, Hon. Thomas Vesey, Louth county ... 35 Esmonde, Sir Thomas, Bart., Wexford town ... 33 Ferguson, Sir Robert, Bart., Derry city aa 12 Ffolliott, John, Sligo county He ae 8 French, E itzstephen, Roscommon county oat 36 Gore, Hon. Robert, New Ross : See 36 Gore, William R. Ormsby; Sligo county. Te 28 Grattan Henry, Meath county Met oF 0 Gregory, William Henry, Dublin city ... ve 34. Grogan Edward, Dublin city... ‘ fe 43 Hamilton, Lord Claude, Tyrone county 43 Hamilton, George Alexander, Dublin Univer sty 20 Hamilton, James Hans, Dublin county : 30 Hatton, Captain V. F., Wexford county re 22 Hayes, Sir Edmond S., Bart., Donegal lug te 46 Hillsborough, Earl of, Down county La As 16 Howard, Sir Ralph, Bart., Wicklow Sari =e 5 Irving, J ohn, Antrim county ane : Si 20 Jones, Captain Theobald, Derry county ne: 59 Kerr, David S., Downpatrick ee ‘ a 17 Kivks Peter, Carrickfergus % a Mee 10 Layard, Capt. B. V., Carlow town Est ‘ae 32 Lefroy, Anthony, Longford county sige os 37 Leslie, Charles P., Monaghan county ... SA 11 M‘Namara, William Nugent, Clare county ... 15 Maher, Nicholas, Tipperary county as fe 22 Martin, Thomas B., Galway county _... aa 0 Maxwell, Hon. J. P., Cavan county ... 3 39 Meynell, Capt. H. Lisburn wh uae ae 73 Murphy, Sergeant F. 8., Cork city ps oni’ 24 Newry, Viscount, Newry ie se 27 (*) Hon. A. H. Cole resigned in the month of June, 1844, without having yoted during the session, and was succeeded by the Hon, Henry Cole, who yoted as above. 9) 312 ATTENDANCE OF IRISH MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT. Norreys, Sir C. D. Jephson, Bart., Mallow Northland, Viscount, Dungannon i O’Brien, Cornelius, Clare county O’Brien, John, Limerick city _... woh O’Brien, William Smith, Limerick county O'Connell, Daniel, Cork county i O’Connell, John, Kilkenny city O’Connell, Maurice, Tralee, S O’Connell, Morgan John, Kerry county O’Connor Don, Roscommon county a O’Farrell, Richard M., Kildare county Pigot, Right Hon. D. R., Clonmel Powell, Caleb, Limerick county Power, James, Wexford county Rawdon, Colonel, Armagh town it Redington, Thomas N., Dundalk bac eee (*) Roche, Sir David, Baronet, Limerick city o Roche, Edmond B., Cork county ae Ross, David Robert, Belfast city Se Shaw, Right Hon. F., Dublin University Sheil, Right Hon. R. L., Dungarvan Shirley, Evelyn P., Monaghan Somers, John Patrick, Sligo town Somerville, Sir Wm., Bart., Drogheda Stock, Sergeant, Cashel See ee Stuart, William V., Waterford county Taylor, Captain Thomas E., Dublin county Tennent, James Emerson, Belfast city Tuite, Hugh Morgan, Westmeath county Verner, Colonel William, Armagh county Vesey, Hon. Thomas, Queen’s County Watson, William H., Kinsale a Westenra, Hon..J. C., King’s county White, Henry, Longford county White, Samuel, Leitrim county Wyse, Thomas, Waterford city Young, John, Cavan sy evs 14] 45 37 0 15 0 D 2 25 58 23 42 3 2 19 53 18 2 5 40 66 35 23 13 10 41 43 27 56 4 35 56 0 Q 13 1 46 (*) Succeeded 6th July, 1844, by James Kelly, Esq., who did not vote. Price 4d.— Weight under 4oz. Sold by J. Browne, 36, Nassau-street, and James Durry, 25, Anglesea- street, by whom the Trade are supplied. J. BROWNE, PRINTER, NASSAU-STREET, DUBLIN.