er and repeatedly acknowledged and confirmed by
parliament.

_July_ 14 1835

* * * * *

_Irish Clergy--their Depression by the Melbourne Government_.

I do say that the Protestant people and clergy of Ireland have great
reason to complain of the want of protection to their rights and
properties manifested on the part of the government of this country; and
this is the cause of those disputes and those circumstances which the
noble lord opposite (Lord Melbourne) has complained of in the few words
he has addressed to the house on the subject. Far be it from me to wish
for the renewal of any dissensions in Ireland; and, God knows, I would
go any length, and do any thing in my power to put them down in the
extent to which they now exist; but we are mistaken if we suppose that
they can be put down by oppressing one party, or allowing one party to
oppress another, or by extinguishing--an extinction which for the last
three or four years you have attempted and are now about to
complete--that description of property in Ireland allotted to the
payment of the clergy. This is the circumstance which occasions the
present dissensions in Ireland, and which has induced the present
discussion in this house. The noble lord opposite cannot lament the
cause of such discussions more than I do; but if he be determined to do
his duty, let him give the protection of his majesty's government to the
Protestant clergy and people of Ireland, as he does not hesitate to do
in the case of other classes in that country; and the evils which he so
much deplores will soon cease to exist.

_July_ 16, 1835.

* * * * *

_A Power of Revising Railway Acts ought to be Reserved by the
Legislature_.

I certainly have a very strong feeling on the subject of all these
railways to be traversed by the aid of steam. I sincerely wish that all
these projects could prove successful; but, in proportion as they may be
successful, in the same proportion is it desirable that there should not
be a perpetual monopoly established in the country. Under these
circumstances, I have a strong feeling that it is desirable to insert in
all these bills some clause, to enable the government or the parliament
to revise the enactments contained in them at some future specific
period. I conceive that, by carrying these measures into execution, a
very great injustice is often done to many landed proprietors in the
cou