The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-08 00:00:00

to, shed blood without much provocation ; or in the prosecutioa
of some irreconcilable few, they may attack one of another
body and murder him. Thus the shedding of blood was
constantly kept up.—( Hear.) These men are more likely,
when they have a person whom they consider their
enemy before them, against whom they have some spite, or
from whom they think they have suffered oppression—are not
such men, so indulged and used to blood, more likely to com-
mit homicide and murder than men in whom these habits have
been subdued ?—( Hear, hear.) It had been Mr. Baron
O'Loghlen's care to recommend and direct that there should
be a solicitor employed at every quarter Sessions, who
should send in an account of all cases of this kind, and direct
the prosecution by the Crown of all those cases in which he
thought he could obtain a conviction. The effect of this pro-
ceeding has, I believe, been most beneficial.—( Cheers.) It
has been seen that crimes of this kind arc not suffered with
impunity, and there is now some reason to hope that the long and
inveterate habits of the people are beginning to be subdued.
Sir, another measure taken not by Mr. O'Loughlen, but by
the Irish Government—after an Act had passed, this House
was to establish uniformity and system in the police force :
that force was no doubt a very powerful and useful force ; but
it had become to be considered as a force not actuated solely
by a desire to maintain the peace of the country, and to vin-
dicate the law, but was considered as one intimately con-
nected with the interests of a party. —( Hear, and cheers.) It has
been the anxious care of the Irish Government, and of the
Gallant Officer who is at the head of the police, to endeavour
to make that force' one, having no object but to enforce the
observance of the law. Sir, in addition to these, it has been
our most anxious care, upon every occasion, to tell the people
that it was their duty to refrain from those crimes of outrage
and disturbance, which has hitherto ruined that country ; and
I am most happy to say, that such advice has not been
without its use ; so much so, that in some parts of the country
societies had been established with the sole purpose of obtain-
ing a better observance of the law and the lessening of crime.
Sir,l will now give some of the results with respect to crime,
andits diminution in Ireland. I know that it is stated that crime
has not, in fact, really diminished, and in order to bear out that
statement reference will be had to great crimes which appeared
in the usual vehicles of information. Sir, if we were to de-
pend upon sentiments of that kind, we could furnish you
with statements of crime in the county of Middlesex which
would make this country appear to be in a much worse state
than Ireland. But, as the test is, to observe what the state
of the countrysis, I shall just take the testimony of the Judges
themselves at the last Summer Assizes. In Kilkenny Baron
Pennefather stated to the Grand Jury that there was no offence
to which he could direct particular observation, and that he
had to congratulate them on the state of the calendar.—( Hear. )
Again : Baron Pennefather, in the county of Wexford, said
it was surprising that a county of such extent should be so
free from crime.—( Hear, hear.) Judge Johnston, in address-
ing the Grand Jury of the county of Kildare, said that
the light state of the calendar called for scarcely any observa-
tion upon any particular cases, and in the Queen's County, the
same Judge said that he had cast his eye over the calendar, and
that he congratulated them upon its state. Judge Burton, in
Sligo, congratulated the Grand Jury upon the tranquil state
of that county ; and- Baron Foster, in the county of Clare,
stated that the present state of the calendar of crime there
formed a gratifying' contrast to that of former periods—he said
that the list was inconsiderable; and although there were
crimes of some enormity upon it, yet there were none of an
insurrectionary character. —( Hear hear.) Baron Foster again,
in the city of Limerick, said to the Grand Jury that he was
happy to inform them that the calendar was so light; and Jus-
tice Perlin, in that county, said that he had to congratulate them
that the state of the calendar afforded such evidence of the
peaceable state of tho county. —( Hear.) Sir William Smith, in
the county of Carlow, said that the offences they had had to
deal with could not be called numerous. —( Hear.) In Louth,
the Chief Baron said, that the number of indictments was
small, and, except two, that they were not of a nature or cha-
racter to show that the county was in a disturbed state
( Hear, hear, hear.) In Down, the Lord Chief Justice
said, that the state of the calendar was such as to
demand the lively congratulations of all the friends of peace
and good order.—( Hear, hear.) This testimony is of a na-
ture that cannot be contradicted. It consists of public docu-
ments—the addresses of the Judges in the several counties in
which they presided and made their judicial observations.
--( Hear, hear.) Will any one then say that Ireland is in
a singular state of disturbance, or that Lord Mulgrave has
connived at or winked at crime, when the country
is in such a state as this ?—( Loud cheers.) I say nothing of
any political bias of the Judges. Ido not suppose they have
any ; but I rely on their doing their duty to the country, and if
it had not been so, it would have been made known. With res-
pect to the numbers I have received a return lately : it has been
made out within the last few days, and with as much accuracy
as possible.—( Hear, hear, hear.) But at the same time
it is right to say there has been a difference in the man-
ner of classing and defining crime since the Police Act
passed last year ; therefore it has been matter of considerable
difficulty to make any comparison between that and the
former years. Still there are some of the crimes that will
show very well the state of the country, and the totals, I
believe, may be depended upon—all of them of a deep, and
some of them of an insurrectionary nature. The totals of
the principal outrages during the last three months of 1832,were
3,065. That was the year before the Coercion Bill was brought
in ; and certainly at the close of that year there was a consider-
able increase of crime. But the average of the years 1833,
1834, and 1335, was 2,377 ; and the average of 1836 was 1,431.
With respect to the whole year in 1832 only 11,259. In
1833, 1834, and 1835, the average is 9,919; and in 1836 the
amount is 7,836, bei'tg a diminution of 2,092 from the previous
years. This, be it observed, contains the principle class of
crimes.
5 months; ln
the
I will now take some three or four crimes which are of
great atrocity, or are generally connected with outrage. The
burnings in the last three months of 1833 were 136; the
average of the three following years 124. In 1836 they were
1832
2erathey
o three were
years,
ela4r 61
2s:t;akainnac;
in the last
4o threen
crime was exceedingly common ; it is still a crime that prevails
to a great extent, and is a crime which I consider decidedly
of an insurrectionary character. There were in 1832-533 ;
the average of the three following years-226; and in the
year 1836 they were 68. The robberies of arms were in
1832-238 ; the average of three years 60 ; and in 1836 only
30.—( Hear.) I will now take the whole year. In the
whole year of 1832, burnings 571—the average of three years,
525. In 1836 there were 465. I shall now take the offence
of firing into houses. In 1833, 1834, and 1835, the average
number was 1,062 ; in 1836 the total number was 518.
I shall now proceed to another offence of a revolutionary
character, viz., the robbery of arms. In the three years which
I have just mentioned the average number was 369 ; in 1836
the number was 147.—( Much cheering.) Sir, I have
many other returns of a similar nature, more especially
showing that in the county of Tipperary there has
been a very great decrease of crimes of this description ;
but as to crimes of another nature—l mean riots and assaults,
the number of persons named in indictments in 1835, was 795.
By returns up to January 1837, I find that the number named
in indictments in 1836 was 344.—(Cheers.) Sir, I wish
to bring the attention of the House to those facts which
show what is the result of a fair and impartial administration
of the laws.—( Cheers.) I now proceed to another subject, on
which I do not mean to dwell at any length. It is a subject that
was brought before the House last year, and which occupied much
of your attention ; Sir, I mean the subject of Orange Associa-
tions and other Secret Societies in Ireland. It will be in the re-
reollection of this House that those Secret Societies which
belonged exclusively to persons of one religion, were
condemned on all sides, and that it was agreed that
they must not be allowed to exist. It will be re-
membered thit members of the Orange Society in
this House unanimously declared, and I sincerely believe they
have kept the promise, that they would cease to belong to
them.—( Hear, hears) Sir, I consider whatever they may
say now, with respect to 'the -declaration that they then
made, I must say that that is conduct which does
them the highest honour. They duly appreciated the feelings
of this House, and what the opinion of the Crown was ; and
they yielded at once, and abstained from belonging any longer
to them.—( Cheers.) By so doing, they took away one of the
chief objections ; they took away from the Imperial Mem-
bers of these Orange Societies, who were in the habit of
meeting, the powers of their influence. They took away from
the parties composing those Societies the belief that they were
authorized by them to do scs.—( Cheers.) The Lord Lieu-
tenant of Ireland upon receiving the address of the House, and
his Majesty's answer thereto, immediately issued a circular
letter to the different assizes, desiring that there should be no
prosecutions of persons who had joined Orange processions;
in consequence of which a considerable number were dis-
charged. Although the superior members of the Orange Lodges
had done their duty; and although the Lord Lieutenant had
declared that it was his intention to forget the past, it does not
appear there was any disposition in the Master Wardens to
to retire from those processions. On the contrary, there was
on the 12th of July preparations made for a procession greater
than had ever been known before. The Lord Lieutenant met
this promptly—he sent out magistrates, and took other means
to have those processions met at every point; the consequence
of which was, that 68 persons were convicted for having joined
in those processions, and 428 more ordered to take their trial.
.With respect to this the Lord Lieutenant thought it his duty
to take means to ensure the suppression of these Societies ; and
he felt bound to show a determination to put down these
illegal processions.—( Hear, hear.) Sir, no person will doubt
that in that course he acted rightly ; and I believe
the result has been that no attempt has been made
to form such processions since the last order of the
Government prohibiting them. I trust, therefore, that the
suppression of the illegal Societies of which I speak, may
be fairly placed among the benefits resulting from the
present Government of Ireland, and that the Secret Associations
which have been found upon evidence to be so injurious to the
peace to the empire, and so eapable of being perverted to such
mischievous purposes, will no longer exist, and that that
which this House has declared to be illegal has been effec-
tually put down. Sir, there is another point with respect
to the distribution of patronage on which much observation
has been made. You, Sir, will observe, that in the opi-
nion of Mr. Fox, which I have stated, ho said,
that one of the objects which ho wished to see effected
in the Government of Ireland, was a fair distribution of the
emoluments among all classes of the people.—( Hear,
hear.) That that had taken place before the arrival
of Lord Mulgrave can hardly be asserted. I hold in my hand
the list of the stipendiary magistrates appointed under former
Governments, which states the religion of the diffe-
rent persons—( Hear, hear)—and although the number is
very considerable, yet there is only one professing the Roman
Catholic faith.—( Cheers, and cries of " Hear, hear, hear.")
In considering the number of Roman Catholics—pion of
talent and education in that country—one can hardly think that
this was a fair distribution of patronage. I have, Sir, also a list of
the stipendary magistrates appointed since Lord Mulgrave's
going to Ireland, and it appears that six of them were Roman