23 March 1836
Commons Sitting
Carlow
Landlords.
HC Deb 23 March
1836 vol 32 cc506-14 506
Mr. Wallace
presented the following Petitions from 350 individuals, the tenants of
the hon. and gallant Member for the county of Carlow:
"Petition of
Tenants of Col. Henry Bruen Relating to The County of Carlow Election".
"A
Petition of tenants of Col. Henry Bruen resident in the county of
Carlow, was presented and read; setting forth, that the Petitioners are
informed, and believe, that a petition on behalf of Nicholas A. Vigors,
Esq., containing certain allegations against the character of Col. Bruen
as a landlord, has been presented to the House; that Petitioners are the
tenants and neighbours of Col. Bruen during many years, and having a
perfect knowledge of all his official acts, both as a landlord and a
resident country gentleman, they respectfully but earnestly state that
the charges set forth in the said Petition of N. A. Vigors, Esq., are
unfounded, and they express their deep regret that charges so groundless
and unwarrantable could be set before the House so indiscreetly by said
N. A. Vigors, calculated to hold forth an amiable and indulgent landlord
to the indignation of the lower classes of society, who are necessarily
unacquainted with the truth or fallacy of the allegations in the said
petition; that petitioners take this public opportunity of testifying
before the assembled representatives of the nation their deep gratitude
to Colonel Bruen, not only as an indulgent landlord, but as a gentleman,
whose charities for years have been unbounded; that petitioners feel
themselves called upon to state to the House that Col. Bruen never
exerts his authority to eject his tenants, unless where large arrears
accumulate from negligence and want of industry, and even then his
humanity is equally conspicuous as his indulgence, for he permits them
to remove their stock and the produce of their farms, forgiving rent and
arrears, and in many cases has granted annuities for life to persons
ejected under such circumstances; that petitioners believe the list of
grievances set forth in the petition of N. A. Vigors to be wholly
unfounded,-one solitary instance they respectfully hope will suffice to
show the general character of the charges of the said petitioner".
"Colonel Bruen obtains the credit of ejecting from the lands of Ballytarsna, 'nineteen families, consisting of 104 individuals,
including twenty-one widows and orphans;' now, the facts that should
have beep stated to the House are, that a Mr. Mills is the intermediate
landlord of the said tenantry, and that, if a few families were ejected
several years ago by him, Col. Bruen had not, directly or indirectly,
any power or authority over said property, being only the head landlord,
and paid only a nominal rent by Mr. Mills; that the petitioners having
stated thus fairly and honestly their opinions on this extraordinary
case, leave with confidence the consideration of the matter to the
House, satisfied that such measures will be adopted in vindication of
Colonel Bruen's character as the House shall deem wise and expedient;
the petitioners submit to the House that such accusations were put
forward by the said N. A. Vigors, in order to impress the House with the
idea that Colonel Bruen has made use of intimidation towards his
tenantry to induce them to support him as candidate for the said county
of Carlow, which the petitioners are fully prepared to contradict before
a Committee of the House; that petitioners further beg to state that
they are prepared to show that gross intimidation has been used in
numerous instances at and previous to each election since the year 1831,
when Sir J. M. Doyle and Mr. Blackney were returned, in order to prevent
the tenantry of Colonel Bruen and Mr. Kavanagh from supporting them,
which they were most anxious to do, and the petitioners pray the House
will afford an opportunity of fully investigating all matters relating
thereto, before a Committee of the House."
It was
impossible that any language more satisfactory to the feeling of the
hon. and gallant Member could be used, than that contained in this
petition. He must guard himself against vouching for the accuracy of the
statements contained in this petition, inasmuch as he had no means of
ascertaining how far those statements were or were not correct. He meant
to propose that this and two other similar petitions which he was about
to present should be printed and circulated with the votes, in the same
way as the previous petitions had been circulated. He begged also to
observe, that until both sides of the question had been thus sent forth
to hon. Members, he should not press his motion for an inquiry. The next
petition with which he was charged was from John Alexander, Esq., of the
county of Carlow, against whom petitions had been presented, impugning
his conduct with reference to his tenantry. The petition was to the
following effect:—
Source:
HANSARD 1803–2005
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