The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-21 00:00:00

REGISTRATION OF VOTERS BILL.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM seeing the Committee on the
Registration of Voters Bill among the notices for this
evening, wished to state that it was his intention to urge
certain arguments against the principle of the measure at
its next stage, as the second reading was allowed to pass
without opposition. It was, however, impossible to proceed
''h it to-night, and he wished that an early day might be
wh.
'. on which it could be brought forward, after Easter:
namekThe.,
A''FTORNEY-GENERAL said he would not press

the Bill further until after Easter, and he should take care
thrt the Right Hon. Baronet had doh notice of the day named
for the Committee upon it.
MR. EMMERSON TENNENT.
Mr. O'C ONN via' be had a motion to bring forward
respecting s'zateinents is the spee:t: the Hon. and Learned
Member for Belfast, on the occasion Or the last debate
on the Municipal Corporations' Ireland And
as the discussion on his motion would not occupy much titiie,
he trusted the House would allow him to bring it forward, espe-
cally as the statements put fort‘ ard by the Member to whom
lib alluded greatly affected the character of one of the highest
jildiCial functionaries in Ireland. His motion was for a re-
turn of the pfodeeditt,,og against a man earned Mackarran, who
was three times tried at ilicenagitan on a charge of murder,
the indictment preferred against him, the name of the Judge
before whom he was tried, the number of jurors set aside
by the Crown on each occasion, and the name of the gen-
tleman who then filled the office of his Majesty's Attorney-
General in Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) His motion was ren-
dered necessary by a speech published in the newspapers
from the M. S. of the Hon. and Learned Member for Belfast.
He would not stop to inquire how much of that speech was
spoken in the house, but it was therein stated that the rule in-
troduced by the late Attorney- General for Ireland had been pro-
ductive of vicious consequences, and he instanced the case of
Mackarran to show the impropriety of adopting the regulation
of dispensing with the right of the Crown to set aside
jurors. The Hon. and Learned Member for Belfast stated
that this rule was introduced by the present Master of
the Rolls, and that its vicious effects were visible in the case of
which he spoke, as well as in that of a man named Carter,
referred to by the Honourable and Learned Member for
Bandon. He (Mr. O'Connell) would not now say anything
of that case, but would bring it under the notice of the House
immediately after Easter. The Hon. and Learned Member
for Belfast said he spoke from details which he held in his
hand, and which were therefore entitled to more attention.
The late Attorney-General, Mr. O'Loughlen, was accused of
making a regulation by which murderers were allowed to es-
cape, and justice defeated. He was now commissioned
to deny in the strongest mariner he might do so, according to
the forms of the House, that there was any shadow
of trnth in the accusation. Mr. O'Loughlen had
made a rule by which no one was to be set aside as a juror
except good cause was shown for so doing, which was a ma-
nifest improvement upon the old practice ; and now no
man was set aside in consequence of his politics or reli-
gion. ( Hear, hear, hear.) That denial would be enough
to clear the character of Mr. O'Loughlen ; but still further, he
was furnished with dates, which proved that the last
of the three trials to which allusion had been made
did not fall under the cognizance of that Learned Gen-
tleman at all—that the last one was had five months
before Mr. O'Loughlen came into office—that they were
had when Mr. Blackburne was Attorney-General, and the
Earl of Haddington governed at the castle. Three trials had
taken place during the Attorney-Generalship of Mr.
Blackburne, and in every one of those trials the Roman
Catholic jurors were set aside.—( Hear, hear.) Under
these circumstances, he trusted the House would allow him to
have the returns he had moved for, as they would demonstrate
the allegations ho had made, and would show that the allega-
tions made with respect to Mr. O'Loughlen were totally with-
out foundation.—( Cheers.)
Mr. E. TENNENT said, in consequence of the short notice
that had been given, he had been precluded from obtaining that
information he otherwise should have had on this subject.
The Hon. Gentleman, after referring to the circumstances under
which the murder took place, and the fact of the Juries having
twice refused to find a verdict, said that the charges brought by
him against the Government with respect to this case
were, that the Government ought to have moved the
case into another county, where they would have a
certainty of a conviction ; and secondly, that they had
subsequently induced these unfortunate men to plead
guilty of a minor offence. Other circumstances had since come
to his knowledge connected with this case which he thought it
his duty to bring before the House. He understood that the
Government of. Ireland had not only permitted these men to
escape, but had supplied them with money for the payment of
their passage, and for the purpose of enabling them to establish
themselves in America. Government had thus pronounced to be
guiltless men whom three juries had refused to acquit, and had
furnished them with the means of becoming settlers in Ame-
rica. His (Mr. Tennent's) object was not to bring any
charge against Mr. O'Loughlen—it was. the system which he
objected to, as he thought it most improper and impolitic.
Mr. O'CONNELL explained. The Hon. Member had
made charges, and should be prepared to sustain them.
He was surprised to find that any Hon. Member would make
such a statement, when it was well known that Mr. O'Loughlen
was not Attorney-General at the time, and that the regulation
referred to had not been made for 12 months after the last
trial had taken place.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. E. TENNENT, in explanation, said he was prepared
with all the details, except the dates.—(oh.)
Lord MORPETH hoped the Hon. and Learned Member
for Kilkenny would withdraw his motion, and enable the House
to go into Committee on the Irish Municipal Bill, and he
could give a notice to bring it forward at a future period.
Another statement, relative to his Right Hon. Friend Mr.
O'Loughlen, had found its way into,an Irish Northern paper,
which was also most unfounded.
Mr. O'CONNELL then withdrew his motion, and gave
notice that he should bring it forward on the first Friday after
the recess.