46 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE Appendix any way affect the commercial prosperity and well being of the city of Limerick ; ( A.) that they presume to express their opinion, that the decision of the Committee of the J J House on the rights of election for a representative in Parliament for the said city, J. N. Russell, has a manifest tendency to encourage the introduction of foreign capital, talents and Esq. ' industry, by confirming to strangers who may become residents therein, those rights ( 24 June) of citizenship, which though conceded by the laws for that very purpose, have been for a long period of time withheld; that the petitioners humbly represent, that the charters granted to their ancestors by the beneficence of successive sovereigns, were undoubtedly given with the view of promoting the interests of the resident inha- bitants of the city and of its liberties ; in which opinion the petitioners humbly conceive they are countenanced by the unrepealed statute of the Irish Parliament, lothof Henry 7, cap. 7, which enacts, " that 110 city within the land of Ireland, shall thenceforward receive or admit any person to become freemen within the said cities, but such persons as have been prentice, or which continually inhabit in the said cities ;" that the House will please to consider of what vital importance it is to the prosperity of that the third city in that part of the United Kingdom, that the choice of a representative should be made by those who, from residence, from commercial experience, and from local information, are best qualified to judge of the competence of a person to fill that high situation ; that the citizens of Limerick have for many years been deprived of this ( as it is humbly conceived) their undoubted and inesti- mable privilege, in consequence of an overwhelming influence having been obtained in the corporation of the said city, by individuals who for political purposes made use of that influence to diminish the number of resident freemen, and to procure an illegal admission to the right of citizenship of persons living in distant places, un- connected with the city, and uninterested in its welfare ; that the decision of the House has restored to the citizens of Limerick the privileges conferred upon them by the wisdom of the Legislature ; that the petitioners are informed, that certain persons claiming to be free of the city of Limerick, although they are inhabitants of other places, have presented petitions to the House against the right of election declared by the said Committee. The petitioners therefore humbly pray, that the House would please to permit them to be heard by counsel in defence of the said right of election, before the Committee which may be appointed for the final decision of a question, involving the dearest rights and immunities of the petitioners and their fellow citizens." In consequence of that petition, counsel were employed by the Chamber of Com- merce, and the expenses paid by them ?— Yes. The letter which you have delivered in, and which has been read, alludes to a communication between the chairman and your son ; did your son make any com- munication to you with respect to the Chairman of this Committee, or about any thing that was to pass before this Committee ?— No ; there was no communication as to what was taking place, or might take place, and I at the time felt hurt at not being informed what was going to be done, but I am now satisfied it was right; I may also state, that I have had no communication with the Chairman from the time I last saw him here to the present time. No letter was shown to you, having certain words in it alluded to in your former examination ?— No. Nor any words to that effect?— Certainly not, to my recollection. You stated in your former examination something about some land, upon which the linen hall was built, or something of that kind ; do you know of any other part of that plot of land which was in the hands of the Chamber of Commerce, except the spot in question ?— Since my last examination, I have fortified my opinion, by consulting with a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Hervey, a very respect- able man, who is in town, and I asked him whether he could give me any informa- tion to enable me to give a different answer, and he said he could not. Have you any recollection of being president of the Chamber of Commerce, at the time that the possession of such land was given up to you ?— The linen hall was built before I was president. The Committee mean the land around it ?— I beg leave to mention, that the land round it is not in the possession of the Chamber of Commerce, either directly or in- directly ; there is a lane 011 one side, and a street in the front, and a temporary passage on the other side, together with a back place, that could be used by no one; it is a common receptacle for dirt; there is a piece of ground adjoining, for which we pay 201, a year, that is now used for a hay market, behind St. Michael's chapel, which we hold from a Mr. Gayson ; this piece of ground is separated from the main street by a strip of ground, the property, I believe, of the corporation ; upon this strip