The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-18 00:00:00

change that had taken place shortly art?_.r the secession of
Lord Normanby to the administration of the fi?overnment
in Ireland, in the police force of the country. When Lord
o r asstnite(l the Government of Ireland, the police
force wag dn4k;r thepiddnee of local officers, selected by the
Magiqrates, and tnerefOre if focal influence bad anything
to do in the appointment, it might be eereiscd to a great
extent. That evil was at once seen, Cod oiia of the first
acts of Lord Normanby's administration was to bring nut
a change in the police force in that respect, and to
bring it to Its present state of efficiency. In
1835 after great difficulties, the law at present
in existence relative to the police in Ireland was passed,
and that force was now under the guidance of one head.—
(Hear.) He would not detain the House longer, but
would leave Hon. Members to say whether the present
effective administration of the law in Ireland was attribu-
table to the Government of Lord Normanby, or to that of
Hon. Members on the other side of the House.—( Hear.)
Mr. SHAW had not intended to have addressed the
[louse, but as he had been so pointedly alluded to by the
Hon. Member opposite he could not give a silent vote.
The Hon. Member had commented in severe terms on the
course pursued by his Hon. Friend the Member for Bel-
fast, in relation to his observations relative to the appoint-
ment of Sheriffs. For his (Mr. S's) own part, he believed
the Committee appointed by the House of Lords
relative to the appointment of Sheriffs had been
productive of most beneficial result.—( Hear, hear. )
The tion. rind Learned Gentleman bad said that Judge
Perrin had been deprived of his lust rights by not having
a silk gown. He believed his I on. and Learned Friend
was mistaken in this statement, that no junior had been
put oVer Jiidge Perrin's head, and in fact that Judge
Perrin had been appointed a King's Counsel at the earliest
possible period that he could hold the appointment.—
(Cheers ) He would ask the lion and Learned Gentle-
man to name a single junior who had been put over Judge
Perrin's head. He had been requested by a senior mem-
ber of the Irish bar, who was a Member of that House, to
ask the question.—( Loud cheers.)
Mr. PIGOTT made some answer which was inaudible
in the gallery.
Mr. F. SHAW would now examine the statements
that had been made relative to the discrepancies between

the returns of the Clerks of the Peace and the Inspector.
General. If the Clerks of the Peace had returned per.

sons three or tow times over, it was a new practice—
(Cheers)—and in disobedience to the Actt of Parlia-
ment, which provided that they should retvrn persons
and not offences. The Inspectors. Generals themselves,
assigned a different reason from that which bad been as-
signed for thetii by Hon. Gentlemen opposite.—( Loud
cries of Order.) Here the Hon. and Learned Gentleman
was oblig,cd to pause in consequence of the noise at the
bar, which was frequently so great as to tender hrn almost
unintelligible. Order having been at length restorcil, he
proceeded).- He found appended to the returns of the
Inspectors for 1834, an observation to the effect that thes,:'
discrepancies were owing to the fact, that the returns mad 3
by the Clerks of the Peace included only the cases brought
to trial, and that the returns made to the Government in.
eluded the cases of many persona who were never brought
to trial; so that their account varied materially from the
account of the Noble Lord and of the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman opposite ; and if the Clerks of the Peace had
returned three persons instead of one, they had no reason
or excuse for so doing. With regard to the resolution of
the Noble Lord, he would ask was it fitting for this House
to call in qu0...60n the undoubted right of the House of
Lords, more especially at this House had moved for returns
on the subject sthich had not yet been laid on the table. The
Noble Lord had said that the returns moved for were returns
which had been annually gratitcd, but they were not re-
turns of course—those returns included ttatter's which had
never been included in former returns, and the Noble
Lord had not objected. The Noble Lord had t'unted
them with not bringing forward a motion on this subjlct—
had even stated that Lord Normanby was unable to
apply himself to the business of the Colonial Office,
in consequence of the expectation he entertained of some
awful proceeding being instituted on this subject, and now
the Noble Lord constitutes a vote for inquiry, which he
himself had provoked, into a vote of censure.---( Cheers. )
He could state that nothing was further from the mind
of his Noble Friend who had moved for the Commitce ;
that he was astonished at the importance attached
by her Majesty's Ministers to the consequences of that
motion, which he had imagined would have been granted
without opposition, and the fact that the question was car-
ried by a majority of five only, was a proof that it was
never considered as a party question.— ( Hear, hear.)
But connected as he had been with the administration of

justice in Ireland for the last eleven years, he entirely dis-
sented from the Noble Lord, the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, and contended that the acts of Lord
Normanbe 's Government had not tended to the efficient
administration of justice in Ireland, or to the general im-
provement of the country.—(Cheers.) In making this
statement, he was anxious that his views of the
principles by which the Irish Government ought
to be guided, should not be misrepresented.—( Hear,
hear.) It was not a fact that there were only two parties
in Ireland each professing extreme political opinions ; how-
ever it might suit the purposes of artful persons to repre-
sent all who disapproved of agitation as factious bigots, he
utterly repudiated the charge. He was surprised to find
the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not think it unwor-
thy of his notice that a foolish boy waved an Orange flag
over the head of Lord Haddington in the Theatre, an act
which was disapproved of both by Lord Haddington and
the great body of those who supported him. He had al-
ways opposed secret societies, but he thought that after
the Orange Society, in obedience to the commands of his
Majesty, and in accordance with the wishes of that House,
has disbanded too much encouragement had been given
to Societies of a contrary nature ; he did not blame
the Hon. and Learned Gentleman opposite for having
joined such a Society, but he did not consider it fair and
impartial justice in her Majesty's Ministers to transfer !he
services of that Hon. and Learned Gentleman direct from
that Association to the Government, by promoting
him to one of the most important offices connected
with the administration of justice, and in the
exercise of which he would be brought in direct con-
tact with the magistracy of the kingdom.—( Hear, hear. )
He desired to see no other qualification for office but per-
sonal fitness, but it had been the tendency of the conduct of
the Irish Government to impress the people with the belief
that agitation and Associations formed the surest passports
for promotion.—( Hoar, hear, hear.) He would now
say a few words with respect to the prerogative
of mercy. He agreed with what had fallen from
the Home Secretary on the subject, that the most
valuable, and the most delicate prerogative of the Crown
should be interfered with with great caution. But, on the
other hand, he maintained it should not be lavishly exer-
cised, without care or discrimination, for the purpose of
swelling personal popularity on a tour throughout the
country.
in In the county of Sligo 25 persons were dis-
charged one batch. Of these 25 persons, two had been
ordered by the Judge to find security for good behaviour
after their discharge ; and another out of the twenty-five
was to be confined six months longer, unless he could find
bail for his good behaviour at the expiration of his term of
imprisonment. In one case the offence was great—sentence
of death was recorded ; and yet the order of the Lord Lieu-
tenant was, "to be discharged on marrying Mary Ryan."
Could the Sovereign in this country pursue that course
which her Representative had done in Ireland ?—( Cheers.)
Would the Noble Lord the Secretary of State for the
Home Department dare to recommend such a course.—
(Cheers.) Would the people of England tolerate it. He
wondered not that the Government under those circum-
stances flinched from the inquiry, and asked that House to
pronounce an opinion on the subject without inquiry—and
the House of Commons was asked to say that such con-
duct as this tended to the effectual administration of jus-
tice,,( Hear, hear.) It could be shown that the office
of the Judges of the land had been treated with contempt,
that in one case a superior Judge tried a prisoner for a most
aggravated offence connected with forgery—that prisoner
was convicted, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
The Judge received no communication of any sort, but the
next week, walking in the streets of Dublin, he
was confronted by the very man whom he had tried
and sentenced to imprisonment.—(" Name, name.")
It was a delicate matter, hut he had no objection to tell
the Noble Lord privately the name of the Judge. He
had no hesitation in saying that the prisoner stag the father
of a son who was in Maynooth, and that it would spoil ills
advancement if his father was confined for any length of
time..—( Hear, hear.) He would not state the name of the
Judge. Suppose a person convicted of an offence, and that
the Judge was written to that the law should take its

course; the Judge says the prisoner is not deserving of
mercy; a letter is written to the Government from his
brother, a Roman Catholic clergyman, saying that the
Judges are wrong, and then the prisoner is liberated.—
(Cheers.) The name of the prisoner was acoshan.
It was because the Judges were treated with disdain that
they abstained from attending at the Vice-Regal Court.—
He had never charged the Government with being the
cause of all the crime in Ireland, but he charged them
with giving countenante to agitation. ...(Cheers.) During
the last two nights they had had many petitions, but no
doubt they were all in the same language, and he had no
doubt also in the same handwriting.—( Hear, hear.) Such
a state of things existed merely from the necessities of
the lion. and Learned Member for Dublin, and Roman
Catholic priests were dragged into it much against their
will and their conviction. They did not like their
altars desecrated in the manner they had often been, and
would be glad to get rid of the thraldom.—(Cheers.)
He wished the laws to be enforced firmly but temperately—
let justice be administered, but in its mildest sense—

(Cheers)--let the Government strenuously -diseo;age
agitation—(Cheers)—whether it be Whig or Tory let
the Government know no religion, and Ireland would be
safe.—( Loud chew's.)
Mr. MORGAN JOHN O'CONNELL then moved
the adjournment of the debate.
The House adjourned at Twelve o'Clock.

NEW NOVEL, EDITED BY JAMES MORIER,
ESQ.--We are requested to state that the new work of
fiction, entitled " The Banished, an Historical Tale of
Suibia," edited by James Morier, Esq., author of " Hajji
Baba," " Zobrab the Hostage," &c., in 3 vols. post Bvo., is
published this day by Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough-
street, and rday now be had at all the Libraries. Mr.
Colburn has also just published Captain Marryatt's new
naval novel, " The Phantom Ship," in 3 vols., post Bvo.,
and the " Romance of the Harem," by Miss Pardoe,
author of " The City of the Sultan," &c. 3 vols. post Bvo.
SEED TIME.—It is exceedingly pleasant to
speak of a favourable seed time, after three years of un-
propitious seasons. The springs of 1836.37-38 were
wintry ; the spring of 1839 has been cold, but such as to
advance agricultural operations. The oat seed is now in the
ground, in a better bed than it has had for years. The
potatoes—that esculent on which our population so much
depend—will be planted by active farmers before this
week is closed. The high prices of the last two years has
given an impetus to agricultural industry, and in the event
of a good summer we may expect an amount of produce
fully sufficient for the wants of our population. Our cli-
mate may not be the best—our stdl :nay be cold and corn
fortless, 3of British skill and industry are so effe.e tive that-
in ordinary seasons we could export food as we didin former
ages.— Glasgow Chronicle.