5o MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE Appendix Have you acted more than once as president of that body ?— I have several -^" were you acquainted with the conduct of the Chamber of Commerce of Lime- Mr. rick, with reference to a petition of appeal, which was lodged in the House of J. M. Hcrvty. Commons ?— Yes, last year. ( 26 June.) Wili you have the kindness to inform the Committee how far the Chamber of Commerce have supported any elections, or any election petitions, out of the funds entrusted to them?— They never interfered as a body in any election, or any elec- tion committee; they studiously avoided any interference in election politics as a body. When did the Chamber of Commerce first interfere m any parliamentary pro- ceedings pending, touching the right of election ?— The beginning of last year; I am not sure whether it was March or April, but it was one or other; it was in the spring. Were you then one of the directors of the Chamber ?— I was. Will you have the goodness to state to the Committee what interference the Chamber then judged it advisable to make?— An application was made to the directors of the Chamber of Commerce, by sundry members, at a meeting of di- rectors, at which I was not present, ( in consequence of the death of one of my family,) but I can state what occurred in consequence ; an application was made in writing, by sundry members of the Chamber of Commerce, to the directors, at their weekly meeting, stating the circumstance of such a petition being addressed to Parliament, affecting the rights and the freedom of election of the citizens of Limerick, and requesting them to call a meeting of the whole body, to consider of the propriety of advancing the sum of 3 or 400/. to defend the rights of the citizens of Limerick against the petition; I attended at the general meeting, but I was not at the committee of directors, as I said before; when the subject was discussed, some members of the Chamber of Commerce conceived that it would be an improper precedent, as we had heretofore studiously avoided all interference in election politics, and that this might be deemed a deviation from the principal; I waited until I heard the sentiments of those persons expressed, and not conceiving that their arguments were sufficiently strong to convince me, I delivered my own opinion on the subject, the substance of which was, that the Chamber of Commerce, as a body, had hitherto strictly and cautiously refrained from any such interference, namely, in election politics, and I hoped would always continue to act in the same manner, but that I conceived the present case to be an attempt, on the part of cer- tain non- resident freemen of Limerick, to deprive the citizens of the rights adjudged to them by a committee of the House of Commons ; that not only we ourselves, but our posterity, as commercial men, might sustain injury, if the petitioners succeeded, for want of proper defence from the citizens of Limerick generally, and therefore I thought it was perfectly consistent with the origin and intention of our commercial association, for the Chamber of Commerce to defend our own rights, and those of our posterity, as commercial men; I conceived, that without reference to any indi- vidual candidate, the undoubted power of chusing a representative capable of advocating the interests of commerce, manufactures and agriculture, would be of great importance to the city of Limerick, and according to the rights of freedom acknowledged by the former committee of the House of Commons, commercial men could be likely to have considerable influence in future elections ( I need not detail why), and therefore I gave my decided opinion that it was not inconsistent with our institution to vote a sum of money in defence of our rights, against this petition of non- resident freemen ; several other members expressed their sentiments similarly, and a very considerable majority decided that the directors should have the power of voting such sums as they thought proper, to appropriate for the defence of the rights of the city of Limerick on this occasion. In consequence of that decision by a large majority, the directors undertook the defence of the case singly, without any connection whatever with the funds, or with the committee of the former association of independents, who had been contesting with the corpora tion for many years. The corporation of the Chamber of Commerce presented a petition to Parliament in their own name, and they directed that a lawyer should be employed on their behalf, and they had the satisfaction to succeed to the utmost of their wishes ; and although it took a considerable sum from their funds, I suppose 16 or 1,700/. I do not exactly know how much, they were very well pleased with the result. Were there two political parties in the city of Limerick in opposition to each other? There always had been, I believe, on elections, just what is usual on elections. Elections