The Sun. — London, England, 1801-03-24 00:00:00

;IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF PEEkS, MONDAY, MARCH 23. 1 . 111: LORD CHANCELLOR did not come down to the House till nearly half past four o'clock. After Prayers were read, and some private business di.q)osed ot; Mr. QUARME, Deputy Usher of the Black Rod; appeared at the Bar, and acquainted the House that in obedience to their Lordships' com mands, Messrs. Brown and Glassington, the primer and Publisher of the Morning Herald, were in attendance, and waited their Lordships' pleasure. They were then ordered to appear at the Bar, when, in answer to the usual questions put to them by the Loan CITAxc ELLOR, they 4eknowledged that they were the persons.whose names appeared as Printer and Publisher of the Morning Herald Paper. Lord WAt.sII4GFiAM then moved the Order for the exclusion of Strahgers, which was necessarily enforced. • After nearly half an hotir's deliberation, the Printer and Publisher above mentioned, were cal led in to hear their Lordships' decision, - which, as we could collel, was, • that .they be repri- I/landed which `was, accordingly done, and dis eharticd, upon paying their Fees. After this business was disposed of, the lower part of ,the House was opened, as usual, f6r the admission of Strangers. On our it-entering the House, we found The Earl of RADNOR on his legs, who ap peared to us to argue for the • necessity of com plying with the Orders 'of the House, particular ly with respeet to the passing of Bills ; respeding which he seemed to say that the• Orders, in a variety of instances, had not been complied with. He concluded by moving, " That certain pro ceedings in reference to the 26th Order of the House should take place, and 'that 'the Clerk be I direaed to prepare certain accounts relative to the same ;" which was ordered accordingly. T'he Earl of SUFFOLK shortly addressed the House, to the end, as we could hear, of postpon ,ing ,his intended Motion of this day until Friday, for which occasion he moved that their Lord s hip s -be summoned.—Ordered accordingly, The Earl ye DARNLEY made a Pew observa tions respeaing the decision of the House on his Motion for a Committee of Inquiry into the State of the Nation on Friday last. On which occasion h,e observed, though the general sense of their Lordships seemed to be against him, yet several Peers, and some of those connected with the Government, seemed to be of opinion, that some Inquiry of a specific nature ought to take place, whether upon the Catholic or Neutral Question, &c. he could not pretend to say,—but he rose to acquaint the House with his intention of bringing forward, shortly after the holidays, a Motion for an'lnquiry of a specific nature. Lord HOLLAND expressed his wish to learn of Ministers, whether it was intended by them to lay ank official information before • the House; ,otat~vq co .the Ruptut - e with Ru3sia, or respeCt ing the affair with Denmark and Sweden. Lord HOBART replied,. as we undersood him, that, he believed, he should shortly have it in. Command from • His MAJESTY to lay certain Paperi.before the House on those subjeds. Lord HOLLAND, in an under-voice, asked, before cr after the Holidays ? But immediately went across the House, and'had a private con ference with the Noble SECRETARY OfTSTATE. IRISH MAKTIAL LAW BILL. The Order of the Day for the third reading of this Bill being read, A conversation of some length and rather of a desultory nature arose, between the Earls FITZ WILLIAM, WESTMORLAND, PARNLEY, MO! RA, CARNARVON, and the LORD CHANc ELLoR,WhiCh appeared to us to relate as much to the point of order with a leference to the proceedings which had taken place on the Bill, by which it stood for a third reading that day, as to the principle or P rovisions of the Bill itself. The Earls of Mo I RA and Forz w I LetAm spoke generally against the measure, and the mode of bringing it in.—After a few observations between Lord HOLLAND and the Lori; CHANCELLOR respeding the point of order, and the proceedings which already had taken place respeding the Bill, Earl FITZWILLI AM again rose, and ex.: pressed his decided disapprobation of the mea sure : he cohtended, that there should have been regular information respelling the state of Ireland -laid by Ministers before •the House, before they could call upon their Lordships to pass the Bill. The revival of the Att of the 39th of the . 1(1:;c: by the Parliament of Ireland, was no ode ' rtivate reason why the United Parliament should ,• continue such revived Ad----The United Parlia. ment should ad from the suggestions or its own wisdom, upon proper information regularly laid • before it. The Asa which they were then called. upon to pass, went to unhinge' the Liberties of the' People—r•it went to deprive the Subjed of his most valuable Birth-right, a trial by his Peers, by twelve of his equals, assisted by the Judges in the administration of the Law. He contrasted the prOceedings with resped to persons • charged with the crime of Hi g h T r e ason with those whi c h were to obtain under the Bill in question, in order to chew the superior advantages enjoyed Ivy the former. The House was fully justified in asking for information respeding the adual state of Irelaohl—Nothing of that kind, he ob. served, I.va's before Parliament, nor even had any tryitt:; been made by the Judges respeding the admini:itration of the Law. The Sari CLAR shout} , observed to the effed, that there was a great deal of very im portant information on the subject alluded to by the Noble Earl, regularly and officially before the House. In justification ofwhich his Lordship moved, tharcertain aiicial Documents then be_ Jere the ilwlsv, particularly some Extrads from th-.: Reports by the Committee: ache Irish t-).-,r1Loo(eo, resp;:dirig the,!'.tite cd irelioid, the Proceedings of the Rebels, &c. He then ad dressed their Lordships on the general subjea, at some length. He observed, that what they had just heard was far from.an overstrained statement of those melancholy truths—faels, which plainly tended to shew that the property and loyalty of Ireland were reduced to the degrading state of being compelled to supplicate for the proteaion of military power. That such was the state of that unhappy Country, the Noble Marquis at the head of its Government well knew ; to him, did' the opportunity offer, he could refer for the truth of what he had advanced. Nor in_ deed did he imagine the Noble Earl himself could be totally ignorant of it. With respea to the Noble Marquis, he could bear testimony, not only to his undaunted courage, but to the hutna nity, nay, to the softness of his nature. He knew his constitutional principles too well, and that he never would so far shrink from his duty, as to propose or superintend the execution of the mea sures he had done, did he not feel the necessity of so doing. Until the legitimate Government of Ire land was placed beyond the power of a wild and sanguinary Democracy, measures of this kind were necessary. No power but the Military was, in its present state,adequate to the proteaion of the good and loyal part of the Irish People, By attending to what had been read,' -their Lordships would perceive that the Rebellion in Ireland was not like those of former times, on principles of mis placed loyalty, but of the mass of the people, and on principles opposed to every sentiment of virtue, feeling of humanity, suggestion of reason, in short, opposed to every thing like Religion, or good order in the Country, concluded by the means of domestic treachery, cold blooded murder and cowardly assassination ! The seeds of this un principled and sanguinary system were town so early as the year 1791, as would appear by the Appendix to the Reports of the Committees, when the Agents of the Irish Jacobinism were busily employed in colleaing arms—lf the vigorous and decisive measures, which had been resorted to in consequence of the discoveries made, had not taken place, Ireland would ere now, be separated from the Crown of this Realm ; and her laws and liberty,—and together with the lives, properties, and charaaers of the good and loyal part of her inhabitants, at the mercy of a horde of rebellious barbarians. There was n ot a fault, which M r . A rt h ur O'C onnor an d his re bellious Associates had confessed, that the Irish Government had not been in full possession of, and he believed there was no •man hardened enough to deny that, if the Irish Government had adopted a less vigorous and decisive coodua, Ireland had been lost for ever. The ads and abominable proceedings of Treason and Rebellion in Ireland were such, that to detail them would but sicken and disgust. The great mass of these he must necessarily pass over. He observed, that when the Marquis CORNWALLIS first ar rived in Ireland, that country was in a most cri tical state ; besides the Internal Commotions, it was threatened by Foreign Invasion from different quarters, by the Armaments of the Enemy at the Texel and, at Brest. The first obt jeft of the Noble Marquis was to concen trate the greater part of his Army, so as to he able to oppoke the Enemy in any quar ter. To this important end his measures were admirably well calculated, but they were necessarily attended with great sacrifices; yet they were produaive of the desired effea. The Army of Ireland was in the best possible order, and to that tßevered Charaaer the Country was under the greatest obligation. Ile was aware that the Rebels were not able to face His Ma jesty's Forces in the field ; but still the old lea ven of Jacobinism, the System of Democracy which had been organized by the Irish Rebel Direaory, was far from being suppressed. Un til therefore the efficient Constitutional Govern ment was re-established, which could only be done by strong measures, it would be impossible to countered those evils he had mentioned, by the slow and technical forms of administering the Law. Neither were these, in the present state of Ireland, at all pra&icable. Numerous in stances, and of too great notoriety to be speci fically pointed out, obtained, of the Jurymen and Witnesses being murdered. It was true, that in Dublin, under the proteaion of a numerous Gar rison, the Courts of Law administered justice in the ordinary course ; but what, in the case of the avowed Rebel Theobald Wolfe Tone, who was sentenced to death by a Military Tribunal, was the consequence ? By the attempt to brjng him un der the cognizance of the civil courts, an op portunity was afforded to him to commit suicide, by which the ends of justice were defeated. His Lordship here went somewhat into detail respqt- ing the atrocities committed by the Rebels in different parts of the kingdom, and of the Inse cure state of the distressed inhabitants, in order to evince the necessity of the continuance of Martial Law. He particularly dwelt upon the circumstances of the county of Limerick, in which lies his Lord ship's country residence. He stated that part of the kingdom to have remained fortunately quiet du ring the whole progress of the Rebellion, till about half a year since, when through the machinations of Jacobin agitators, the People became sudden. ly turbulent—the disorder commenced by a mur der perpetrated under his own roof, and upon a confidential Servant, whose great crime, in the eyes of his assassins, was his being (so we under stood his Lordship) a Native of this Country ! The murder was perpetrated with circumstances of considerable aggravation and cruelty. The principal Conspirator was one who had been a Servant in his family for upwards of 3o years, and treated by his father and himself with all possible kindness. At the execution of the wretches for this most inhuman murder, they confessed their intention to have murdered Twenty-five Persons in that quarter, in the course of the year, as opportunity offered, and which exploits they were to have ended by sweeping off, himself (that 'was their phrase) in one of his evening walks.--In reg;4rd to what had fallen from a Noble Earl respecting the Judges, Ile could inform him, that the . ,. did endetivoi;r to perform the Circuits, but in what manner ? It was not long since two of them were way-laid within to or 1 a miles of the metropolis, and their murder only was prevented by the cir cumstance of the assassins omitting to corrupt the drivers, who took the Judges a different route from what the former expefted. In general they were obliged to travel with a military escort. How different was it in this peaceable and happy Country, in which, the moment the Judges entered an assize town, the Military with- I drew from it ; were that the case in Ireland, the Judges, and not the Criminals, would most pro bably be hanged. In the last Pilgrimage of his Majesty's Attorney General, the fart, as it appeared, was, that in most places, the Judges were insulted ; the Juries, rather than be mur dered, committed Perjury, and the 'Witnesses were assassinated. This statement, however lu dicrous it may appear in the arrangement, was true in point of fad. Every part of Ireland presented scenes of devastation and warfare. He could assure their Lordships, the Gentlemen of that Country would not solicit a Military Govern ment, wore they not driven to it by necessity. When he returned to it, lie should feel the more unhappy, after having enjoyed the blessings of peace and quiet in this. He was constitutionally attached to the Laws'of England, and spent some of the best years of his life in acquiring a know. ledge of them, and he could confidently state, that without the measure then under conside ration, their benign influence could never be imparted to Ireland ; so far from it, that with out measures of the kind, Ireland must be either lost to this Country, or rendered a Theatre of War, The measure in question would be great. ly instrumental in rescuing the unhappy People of Ireland from a Government of Blood. and Terror, executed by a Savage Democracy. That there could exist little danger and abuse on the occasion, their Lordships would allow, when they learned, that in genera!, the revered Character at the head of the Government of Ireland, never suffered any of the sentences of these Courts to be executed, until he perused their Minutes, to which task he mostly allotted three or four hours per day. The Noble Earl proceeded to illustrate his positions by further details, of the atrocities committed by the agents of Rebellion in different parts of Ireland.— He continued to bestow unalloyed praise on the conduit of the Marquis CoaNwwws, and in some instances on that of Sir JA:►lEs DUFF, whom he described as an able and spirited officer. In concluding, he conjured the House, as it ap. preciated the well-being of that part of the Unit ed Kingdom, to which it applied, and the exist ence of its constitutional government, which without such an aid must be crumbled into atoms, by the overbearing power of a cruel and savage Democracy, to pass the bill then under conside ration, Earl FITZWILLZAM spoke shortly in explana tion.. Lord M01R.4 rose to make a few observations upon the Speech of the Noble Earl who had spoken last. In discussing the. important subjeft, he ivish. ed to do it with the grenest temper, and in order to do so. he thought that tfro.e‘t way would be to draw a veil over the past, and to decide upon the propriety or impropriety of the present measure, from the present, situation of that Country : he was far from denying that Ireland was not in a completely tranquil state, but it did not appear-to him that a period like the ' present was the best one that could he adopted for restoring tranquil lity and harmony to that Country. If it was unfortunately necessary to have recourse to stronger measures than, those which could be taken under the Municipal Law of the Country, he thought the best and most constitutional way would be, to let the Chief Governor use his own discretion, subject to the responsibility which belonged to such a situation. But by passing such a Bill as this, they would, in a very great degree, take off the responsibility. His Lordship then proceeded to condemn, in the strongest manner, the use of force to extort confessions, or evidence ; it was not only unjust, but it was impolitic, for it did not answer the purpose for which it was used ; and as a proof of this assertion, he in stanced the' case alluded to by the Noble Earl (CLARE), where a man refused to give any evi dence while he was suffering punishment, though he afterwardg was prevailed upon by fair means to give every information in his power. His Lord ship said, this was improperly called Martial Law, because he considered Martial Law to, be where, under the exigence of the moment, an in dividual took upon himself the exercise of that power ; but he did not consider the species of Law which would be exercised under this Bill, could be called Martial Law. Lord MULGR AVE supported the Bill : he con sidered the statement which they had heard from Noble Lords in that House, a proof; not only of the policy, but of the absolute necessity of the measure. With respet to the last observation which had fallen from the Noble Lord, about Martial-Law, he thought the Noble Lord had mixed two things which were very distind in their nature, viz. Martial-Law and Military Ex. ecution ; and in his view of Martial-Law, it might, if necessary, be exercised under this Bill. Lord HOLLAND spoke at considerable length against the Bill. He was by no means inclined to doubt any of the fasts stated by the Noble Earl (CLARE), but he did not think they came before the House in a proper way. He thought it should have come from the Executive Govern ment. He agreed with the Noble Lord who spoke last but one, in thinking that this was not the proper way of restoring tranquillity to Ireland. He thought measures of conciliation were much more likely to produce that effect, than holding oat the terrors of Martial-Law. With respett to the use . of punishment to extraa evidence, he never would hear it mentioned without express ing his abhorrence of it. It was a practice un. known to the Law of England, and now was pro perly exploded throughout Europe. Lord LIMERICK begged to join his testi mony to those of ot h er Perrs, of the nteersity of enforcing Martial Law i n Ireland. His Lortishir, at enrrin ..f -- -......mi....1 Iretand, both from his own knowledge and from information which Le had received, and upon which he could place the greatest reliance, and contended that nothing but this measure, strong as he admitted it was, could ensure its safety. Lord C ARLTON concurred with the Noble Lord who spoke last, in thinking, that in the present unfortunate situation of Ireland, it would be in vain to hope that the :Municipal La‘i'• of the Country was sufficient to repress that spirit of In surredion and Rebellion which existed. It had been insinuated, that Persons coming from that Country, were influenced by local prejudices and feelings; he begged.teave to disclaim any such feeling, and added, that if the Lords and Com mons of Ireland had been governed by local pre _indices and feelings, the Unipn would not have taken place, for they had sacrificed much of their individual importance, to what they considered to be the good of their Country. His Lordship said, that in pressing the necessity of this measufe, he was 'influenced by the intimate knowledge l he had of the state of that Country ; but if any of their Lordships were inclined to doubt the re-: presentations which had been made, he begged to refer them to the Courts-Martial which had been within these three months held there, and he was sure that no man who knew the mildness and h'e. manity of the Noble Marquis who now presided over Ireland,would have had recourse to such strong measures, unless the necessity of them were ob vious. His Lordship, having argued these points at some length, and with g reat ability, concluded with giving his assent to the continuance of Martial Law for three months, though he could not flatter the House with the hOes, that at the expiration, of that time the measure would cease to be necessary. Lord KINNOUL, and Marquis Town:lima spoke shortly in support of the Bill. Lord GRENVILLE said, that by confining . the cases and crimes subject to the cognizance of Courts Martial, to those of Sedition and Rebel lion, every regard was shewn to the Courts of Civil and Criminal Judicature; and also, that although Ireland was rescued from the horrors of aftual Rebellion, yet many of these disafeded persons, might be 'said to compose the wreck of the Rebel forces still remaining in, and dispersed through the Country, nothing short of a measure of this nature, calculated to overawe the Rebel., . lious, and to ensure the prompt execution of justice, was calculated for the circumstances ir! ' which the Country of Ireland still remained. " Thf Ear/ of C ARNAR VQ N sp o k e at consi derable length against the Bill, charging it with being a gross infringement of the Constitution; that it was impolitic. to pass it as one of the first fruits of the Union between the two Countrieg, and considering the ordinary CoUrts of Justice as fully competent for the trial of all offences that might be brought before them. The Bari of . CLARE, in explanation, denied that he had repre b s u e r n r te e d pe t a h t e ed lr t i h s e h P ci e r o c p u l m e of an individual wretc h w h q s a t s a b n i c7 d h 3 ; hadand ferocious, fo r before sta t e d had tvelopriftwhii„at . ul W his het's. family, a n d who, after ,thirty liars residericii t imrtin had - been executed for murdering 4 domestic: s' er t ,,, ta and who had acknowledged his int ent i on of emu , : Bering his Lordship. , . 'Lord CAR LION explained. The Earl cf WESTMORLAND a iiy ju Pl s e t . Bill, as suited to the dang erous c i rcumstances of Ireland. He s t a t e d th e var i ous progressive Aas. which had msed in different reigns , f or the pu nishment o f Rebellion, and denied t h at , by Par.,. liament's adapti ng suc h Alt s to t h e circum stances which occurred at t h e t i me, inference was to be drawn, of a design to infringe on the liberties of the Subjth. In return for obedience, and the sacrifice of personal rights; Government owed protedion ; and argued, that without snch a measge as the present„ the pro, tedion of the lives and properties of the well.: affeeted Subjeets of Ireland, could not he ensured: Viscount SOMERTON (Archbishop of CAni E L) defended the measure. It came recommended by ofthe countrllye i t a h n e d c i o n nc b u o r t r h in ii g o s u e s n e t s i7: . n h t o s of Members from Ire :He added, that h 4 t knew the existing only ohjedion was the short period of its dut4-- lion ; and he wished, that instead of three months, the time had been extended to a month or two after the commencement of the next Session of Parliament. Lord KING thought that the num'oer of persons, who had been tried and executed in Ireland with. in the last three months, under Martial Law, was an argument against, rather than for, the con. tinuance of the Bill. The Earl of DARNLEY defended the neces. sity of the measure, frum what he knew and heard of the present circumstances of Ireland. The Earl of RADNOR said, he should re, ludantly vote fur the Bill, but hoped that the necessity for its 'continuance would not long exist. ,The Marquis of DOW NSHIRE said, he only left Ireland about three weeks age, and if those Noble Lords, who had had no opportunity of visiting that Country, 'had seen and known as much as he had witnessed in his neighbourhood , he' could not doubt but they would have 'concur red in the necessity of continuing the present Bill. The question being loudly called for, the House divided, , For the third reading of the Bill 8o • , Proxies - - to - 7 90 . • Against it • - - 7 : . Majority for the third reading —B3 • . The .Bill was then read a third time and passed. The Irish Habeas, Corpus Suspension Bill Was also read a third time and passed. At Eleven o'Clock, the House adjourned till to-morrow. . HOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY, MARCH 23. THE Right Hon. HENRY ADDINCTON took the Oaths and his Scat, on his re.elearionfor the .rs