The Sun.
London, England, 1808-07-04 00:00:00

PRISONERS IN.IR.ELAND.

Mr. SHMi-IDAN rose to address the House on the
subjed,of those Petitions which: he had presented-
from personS coufined on suspicion in I relandern4b
mitting the subject to the House, hetivould aeish
avoid every thing like an ag,graatial representation, ai
he Was anxious to see
.any thing Jike voluntary i-e- •
tnoval, on the part of Governeneot, of .the grievances,
complained-of: He-believed thaethe attention of she'
House had never beep direEted to 'the state of the Jails
in Ireland. A Report on the subject had indeed been
bid on the table of the House, which, however,.-he.
• believed, not five Members had read. Dnring the, pe-
riod Of the. last commotions
.in Ireland, between.
ftcen and .siateen thousand persons had been
thrown into prison in that Country, While'of these
not ole in five lnindred had been so imprisoned on
informationi upon oath. 1-le-hed.received full. proof,'
that the treatment which many of them had ex-
perienced had been of the most disgraceful na-
ture. They were crowded into cells without any
accommodation, Surrounded by filth, and almost in
danger of suffocation. Here the Right Honourable
'Gentleman alluded to the cases of Mr. Mason,
and several others, from whom 'he had presented
Petitions to the House, exposing the .unworthy
treatment which they had experieneed.' 'He could
state many other cases of hardship, but he did, not
at present wish to excite much discussion, or diver-'
sity of opinion, as he was anxious that his Motion
should obtain ,unanimous support. The Report of
Mr. Archer, Inspedor of the Jails 'in Ireland, on
the subjed .of these-jails, had ford Considerable time
.been before the Holie, but no attention had been
paid to it, though this 'Might in part -be—acconnted
for from the multiplicity of other business which
had crowded on-the-attention. of the House;. and of
Zilinisters. 11;r. .Archer, in his neport on these
prisons, described in very glowing- terms the seve-
rity frequently, and infamously,. exercised, 'and the
ueglpet of the prisoners' which took place in most
of them. The Right Hoo. Gentleman here read a
variety of extracts from this Report. Speaking of the
jail of Carlow, the Inspee,lor said, the prisoners in
general were kept 'ironed, for, the purpose,- as was
pretended, of their greater security; and' be 'com-
plained, that in the County jail of Cavan, ti
gaoler, an inhuman fellow, whose condiad he
had before witnessed; was, notwithstanding, still
continued in office. Mr. Archer had also corn-.
planted of abominable frauds and jobbings in
the erection otf the County , jail of 'Cork, where
the ground marked out for the new jail was
Situated in the middle of a swam p, and thus ae_vit-
ably produdive of levers and agues. The flight
Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to notice several
other instances of abuSe also to be found in the
Report. He wished, however, particularly to call
the attention of the House to the jail of Kiimain,
ham, where the state prisoners had been mostly con-
fined. Mr. Mason, an Irish Barrister, and a Mr.
Tandy, had both of them piahrshed pamphlets, de-
tailing the shameful treatment Which they had-then
experienced, and their complain ts deserVed the serious
attention of Ministers. It was fit that Government
Mulct institute a serious inquiry into this'subjeat;
and tie particularly recomateedeA an investigation of
h'e shameful conduct Of Dr. Trevor, at Kiltnainham,
of whose inhuman and Hardeped disposition he,
hid many proofs from these Who. bad felt the effeEts.
of it, under their te,vn sif•nattirs,. He particularly
instanced the death of i7boy, • occasioned by his-re-
moval when iii a. state of severe indisposition, which
removal took placeat the co:Milian& of this Dr. re-
vole There were Other.cases which he would not at
this moment adduce, but which were of anch a na-
ture, that he felt perfectly' justified in attaching 'to
br.Trevor the charge of deliberate murder. He mov-
ed an humble Address to his Majesty, praying.

' That he would he graciously pleased. to order a Special
Cotornis..onfo be appoiiited to examine into the state of the
State Prisons and other jails in the City and County of Dub-
-1 n, and such other as lie may' judge proper, and to
e ~amine into the conduct of those who haa the manastncot
of those Prisons."

G:neral MATTELgW seconded the Motion.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHECUItE, though
he should not Oppose -the motion', 'yet regretted
that it had been deferred to a period when those
Membets could not be present who were best
informed on the subjed, and .whose information
might have been of service in perhaps corre&ing
some of those statements which the House 'had
heard. He trusted, 'however, that his' own silence,
and that of thefioeoni_he subjed of those state-
ments, would not be construed inio 'any_ acquie-
scence in their correctness, since it was -riext to 'im-
possible that they could at present be:combated by
any counter -staterneot.s. -He regretted that the'
Right Hdnourable Gentleman should'' have! made,
such exparte charges against' individuals, who could
not \possibly be heard in their own 'detetice till the
next Session' of Parliament. This was certainly
dealing out a very hard measure to !these individuals.
As to the different 'county jails in Ireland, these
Were bf bourse subject to the inspedion and 'kegu-
,lation of Grand .fories, in that country, and 'there-
fore any abuses that might. then, exist . could not
properly be mentioned to the discredit and reproach
of Government. He then adverted to the inquiry
into. the state of Kilmainhain jail that had been
made during Lord ' Hardwicke's Administration,
which was among the. printed Papers laid before
that House in .1805, .and on which 'it had .not
been thought necessary by the House -to take' any
steps. Upon the whole, he thought it due to the
public feeling, that an opportunity should be given
to know the real state of the fads which. !had
been represented ; and under that impression!he.
assented to the motion, though he • would not be
understdod as giving his sanction to the statements
that'bad been made.

Mr. W. Pock wished that the Honourable Gen.!
derma had brought forward his motion when the
Irish Members were present, convinced as he was
(from his own local knowledge) that. these Merrt.
bers would have declared the futility of the state!,
'tents that had been made. He examined -some
of the. Reports, and detected several, misrepresen-
tations that existed in them. He supported. the
motion because it could do no harm, and might
do-mach good.
Mr. BERESFORD defended the charaaer
Trevor, who was geneially esteemed 4a- man of
great humanity- and kindness. He had heard;..the
unfortunate Emmett acknowledge this at the;scaf-
fold in the warmest terms: . .

.. . .
Mr. WAlT"nit EAD- thought- tho higl4, ithe-
debted to his Hon: Friend for the institutioniz,-,1-an •
inquiry,--from which, in his opinion, a great deal,of••
good would probably result. •
. .
Colonel VEREKER defended the Magistrates of
the County of Galway from any share in the.iMpu-
tatiOn attempted to be thrown on the whole Country,.
• Zr. P. Mootig trusted that the: 'Commission.
would be voted for unanimously. He moved, as
Ainendmenti the addition of the word ,5.."
, in
Ireland."
.•

Mr.-SllERilltl'g thanked ;the Hon. Gentleman or
for the candbur which his. Motion
rieneed. .
• -•

After• a short explanhtion by Mr. POLE and. the.
CHANCELLOR' of the. EXthIEaUER, the Motion, as
amended, was agreed to nem. con, • - .

Some conversation then took place on the subjea
••pf the-dismissal of the. late Mr. Dalrymple from the
-office of Hydrographer to the Admiralty.
Weunderstood Mr.. HORNER. to say,. Mottle ab-
sence of his Noble Friend (Lord .H. Petty), that, he
had seen some of the Papers•which passed between..
that-Gentleman ,and the Admiralty; and was quite •
satisfied that Mr. DalryMple. had been chargeable.
with Contumacy in his behaviour; and that th'.!ir
LOrdships had a&ed with perfeat. fairness in his dis-
missal. He therefore should not move for any Pa-
pers on the subjed.
• Mr: W. POLE trusted to the indulgence of the.
House, while he shortly stated the proceedings-of
the Admiralty in this matter, particularly as he had
been alluded to on a former occasion. The Board
had, lately formed a plan for transmitting the best
Maps.and Charts to bur Fleets on different stations,
fbr the most important nautical purposes. Recourse
was therefore had to the Office of the Hydrographer
of the Board, requiring him to furnish these.varigus
Charts. It was stated, however, by Mr. Dalrymple,
that he did not feel himself competent. to make a
proper selection ; 'and a Committee was accordingly
appointed•for that purpoSe, who tbund the Hydro-
grapher's Office in such a state of confusion and dis-
order, that it was quite impossible to proceed in the
business: On these grounds it became necessary to
state to Mr: Dalrymple that it would be requisite for
hiM to retire from his situation, that the plans of the
Board might not be. defeated. This, however, was
.clone.wit h every possible delicacy, from a regard to
the feelings of that Gentleman, who.had so much
distinguished himself in that 'department of science.
The conversation ended here, and the House ad,
jonrned.

• NIAI LS.
ARRIv ED —2 Dublin. aterford. 1.),] Gottenburgh,
Dublin, I Witerlord.

•
PRICE OF STOCK`i
THIS DAY AT TWELVE O'CLOCK.
Consols --7 o Orpniwn - - 3

THE SUN.

SOLKM Q,UIS DICE&L lALSUM AUDEAT ?

L 0 ND 0 N

MONDAY, JULY 4, 1808.

The favourable intelligence from Portugal, which
we presented to our Readers last weep, is fully con-
firmed by the Dispatches which,arrived on .Saturday
from Sir CHARLES COTTON, ,dated the 16th ult. off
the Tagus. The, Portuguese Government is re-es-
lablished in Oporto. The English have been freely
admitted into that Port, and the French are totally
subdued. The Portuguese flags were of course
flying. Fourteen Vessels from different Countries
were lying in the Douro, and they were under ap-
prehension of being every moment seized by the
predatory Power, which is • fortunately overthrown.
These Vessels will now be permitted to receive their
cargoes of wine, the objea fig which they went to
that Port. The first British Ship that 'entered after

this 'happy change, was the Eclipse Min of War.— I
The Portuguese were highly gratified when the
Eclipse, on entering the Port, sainted their. flag 'with
guns: The Commander, Captain CRIME, of
ter an interview with the Portuguese Governor, has-
tened to the Tagus, to communicate the joyful tidings
to Sir CHARLES COTTON, A body of Portuguese
Patriots had surroundell a detachment of French at.,
St. Übe's, which had been ordered to Lisbon by
JUNOT, and in a short time compelled them to sur-
render. The Spanish troops cordially joined with the
Portuguese in this slight action, and manifested a
disposition to co-operate in delivering the Country.
from French oppression. •
Admiral COTTON, in Spite of all the a&ivity of the
French at Lisbon, and the dread they inspired, had'
found means to carry on an interview with some-of
the chief people of that City, who had invited him
to enter the River, and get the Russian Squadron
into his possession. It was deemed impossible that
Juliet' could hold out long. He had under his
command about 8000 men, many of whom were
Hanoverians, who were by no means attached to
the French cause. JUNOT is detested by the inhabi-
tants for the tyranny he has exercised, and fot the
barbarous levity with which•lie has treated the suffer-
ings of the People, whose injuries and complaints were
the objets of his mockery and insult. The Portu-
guese Patriots were every day rising in confidence
and increasing in strength. The events which had
taken place at Oporto, where the Spanish forces
took the French General and all his Staff, amount-
,
ing to 28 persons,. prisoners, and re-established the
former Governor, Louis D'OLIVEDA, in affillOritY,
all denote a happy turn of affairs in the whole
•Country. It might be supposed that the French
Corregidor MoR anticipated some change, since he
gave up. the. 'house of the British Consul, Mr.
' WAItRE, with the furniture and•books.uninjured.
. The following Letters manifest the truth of what
we said. respecting the intercourse which Admiral
COTTON had contrived to open with the principal
people -of Lisbon, and comprises the last information
from..that quarter :

" Hibernia, off the Tagus, june 14.

" A Spanish Nobleman and General has just
come on board with the agreeable news of the Spa-
nish Patriots having opened Cadiz to our Fleet; and
the consequent occupation of the French Ships in
that. harbour.,
_He also states, that the French and
Russian Ships-in the Tpgues would now be in our
possession, had not the Spanish Commander, either
through fear of JUNOI', or from attachment to him
4cornownicated to him a plan : which the Spanish
troops, in concert with the ,people of Lisbon ha()
formed for.occupying St. Julien, Mein, &c,— •

" JUNOT immediately, disarmed the Sdanish troops
and sent 4000 of them on board the hulks in• the
river. Sir C. COTTON expects in two days a bOdY
of troops from Gibraltar; but l'ioris the nature' of
our communication with the shore, we are led. to
believe that we shall not have occasion to wait their
arrival. Sir C. COTTON has sent a Flag of Truce to_
the Russian Admiral, acquainting him with the re-
cent important events at OpoitO, and thri.iughout
Spain, and proposing, as I understand, to accept the
surrender of the Russian Fleet, under the condition
restoring it to the mperor on a conclusion of a Peace
between the two Countries.

" Admiral SINIAVIN, it is added, is allowed till
this evening so accede to the proposition, after
which, in the event of his ships falling into our
hands, they will be considered as prizes. A detach-
ment of French troops, who were at St. Übes, and
ordered by JUNOT to Lisbon, have been surrounded
in the passes near Azeitaon, by a body of Portuguese
insurgents, assisted by a regiMent of Spanish troops'
and after a short contest, compelled to surrender'.
The whole Province of Algarve is in arms !"

" Ills Majesty's Ship --, oflthe Tagus, June 14,'

" A Vessel is jest on the point of sailing with
Dispatches. We have opened a communication with
Ltabess hoAdrairrsi, I. bavc reason to believe,
writes home for a reinfdrcement of troops, to enable
him to take possession of it. We are at this mo-
ment at anchor within, three miles.of the town, ready
to embrace the first opportunity of going in ;, were it
,not for an at of coniummate.,treachery, we should
have been masters of the Russian Squadron some
days ago.
" A Spanish Officer arrived with direetions to.the-
Officer who bad the command of the Spanish Troops,
.to rise on the French at a stated time, and with the
'assurance that the Portuguese would join them.
Some of the latter, however, communicated the plan
. . .
to JUNUT, in consequence of which the Spaniards
,were surrounded, disarmed, land sent on board the
Vessels in the Harbour. The poor. fellow who
brought the order, after being fired at and chased
for a length of Time, made his escape in a small boat
_mid got safe on board our Squadron. Oporto is in
,possession of the Portuguese again, and thFre is not
a doubt but the whole Coast will shortly tietio.".

The spirit of the Portuguese had also laiii--kicirth
at Guarda, yew% Laniego, Miranda, and
.other.
places, where ;he most violent expressions of hatred

;vrist the French had been heely venter!. This
spirit had been powerfully strengthened by the
noble Proclamations of the Spanish Patriots,
have been rapidly spread through Portugal. lextic
was apprised of the noble resistance which had taken
place in Spain, and was so well aware of the detesta:
tioa in..which the French were held at Lisbon, that be •
had deemed it necessary to quit that capital, and esta-
blish his Head-quarters at the Castle of St. Julien, 3
small distanCe from the City. It is even said that `.
his fear of the popular vengeance was so great, th.t
he not only disarmed the people of all hostile wea-
'pons, but had even taken froni them their ordinary •
knives and forks. This feeling is general wherever'
thz: French soldiers have been stationee., and the.
success of the Portuguese and Spaniards will drat;
forth similar sentiments whenever the people dare
-speak out. There is no confirination of the reported
.death of JOSEPH BUONAPARTE, by tile, hand of the
Duke Da INViINTA.DO) and the consequent death
•of the latter, as mentioned in a letter to Alder:m:l
ATKINS, inserted in our Paper of Saturdai.
The new Spanish Documents which our -Readers

will find' in Tica SUN of this day, are not less fine:-
esting and important than those which we before
presented to them. We were the first to intorra
the Public of the Proclamation of Peace with this
Country which had been issued at Oviedo, and we
have ;to-day the pleasure of confirming the pleasing
tidings by insetting the article itself. There is' 3
strong proof of the generosity and delicacy of the '!
old Spanish chara&er, manifested in the circuin-
stance of including Sweden in this Pacification, as
an Ally of Great Britain, , because the latter had,so
nobly, so promptly, and so disinterestedly come for-
ward,
at the- requisition' of the Spaniards, to assist
them in resisting the yoke of French oppres-
sion—Nothing indeed could have been more sea- 1
sonahle than the assistance which this Country has;
given on the present oc....:asion, and -we have no
reason to hope, without. the tear of being deemed
over -sanguine, that in assisting Spain Great Britain,
has contributed to rescue the several enslaved no-
tions of Europe from the grasp of the Corsica
Usurper. \Ve can add nothing to the melancholy
detail of, the massacre which took place at Madrid
on the 2d and 3d of May, an event that places the
enormous wickedness of the French, in thus but•
.
cheting a people whom they avowedly came
to protect, in a point of view that must, if pos°
sible, increase the horror 'and indignation with,
Which they are viewed by all mankind. The author
kicky of this dreadful narrative cannot be doubted.

Letters from the Cape of Good dope, doted the.
16th of April, mention • that Tranquebar is car
tared by Sir EDWARD PELLEW'S Squadron.

IT has been stated thk the Duke of YORK hi'
ekpressed an earnest desire of taking a command
of an army to assist, in person, the cause of Spain
and Portugal, and was likely to be employed on the
occasion. ,We have no reason to believe that thi4
report Jas any foundation in truth.

Yeß'erday morning his MAJESTY, Princesses AU'
GUST,i, AMELIA, and MARY, accompanied
,by Lord
PORthIESTER, and STOrFORD, Generals Frrzaoi.
and
.GARTI4, Admiral SToPEoRD,, and Lady :ISA'
THYNNE, Went to St. George's Chapel, and heard
itribn
The QUEEN, Princesses ALTG&STA and Etrzioc
BETH, heard. Divine Service in the:Palace, and rode
to Frogmore, where they received the KING.

The cabinet Council-which met at the. Foreigr)
Office, on Friday, upon the arrival of the dispitcht4
from Spain, sat from two till half-past six. 1:136
Spanish Noblemen attended the Council.
Yesterday the Duke of YORK transaded -business
at his Office, in the Horse Guards.

-DispatcheS were yesterday received from Gen. Sir
JOHN MOORE, dated the 23d ult. at which time, l'l3
continued at Stockholm, concerting measures
his Swedish Majesty.—The Stockholm Papers of
the 22d have been received by this conveyance boo
they contain not a single article of news,
either trorls
Finland or Norway. The British .troops GoiniutiO,
on board the transports at Gottenburgh, watting.o
return of Gen. MOORE from. &ocknolin.
Colonel DOYLE, of the 87111-74ski,"er„„4.corfe
KENNEDY, of the 95th, lett town yesterday 2fier','
noon, for Portsmouth, from whence they are 10'
accompany the Spanish Prisoners to the coast oi,
Spain. We understand they are also entrusted witiY.'
an important political mission to the Patriotic Chiefs'.
The Court Martial on. the American Contniod,f°
BARRON, for his affair with the Leopard, has add,
judged him;to have been guilty of not. making t11°:
necessary preparations for the defence of the Clof".
apeake, and haTsentenced.hirnto he suspended trogl;'
all command in the American Na'vy for five yeao,.
anct without pay, to be coniptitvd from the Bth'or
February last. The President of the Uniteu•S'tates,,
has
.confirmed tl.is sentence'.

On SatUrday the whole fashionable world rendel:
sotid at the delightful villa at Winaledon, by cara'
•ofinviiation, to the /6 Br;.;;,t62st given
tfieColultphs SPENcEtt.- NearlY 2000.pefsi.us 10
first distinction were present.

_ .
Orders were sent to Chatham, last Thursday, t°,
Ship every sort of Ordnance Stores, N..;tlt.9uti a ttio"
meat's delay,,for the use. of the: Spanish Patrots."'"
Seven hundred tons of guns and mortars hate been
'ordered at Woolwich, in addition to sev'en' htuodred
'and twenty tons previously ordered. In the 'e'our,e
TOithe day, 2o waggons were also loaded at the 13a1;
With money, supposed to be intended:tor tilt:. sable
`destination.