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

EVEN ING EDITION

country was one of progressive improvement. These I
I were subjects capable of demonstration.—(Hear, hear.)
\
He would ask men differing from him in political
qirions, if this were not the case with his pat of Ire-
land, concerning which only he could bear testimony
as having come under his own observation? To commence
with trade,—the several branches of trade had considerably
improved within the last seven years, and were in a pro-
gressive state of improvement. In 1829 the declared value of
of the corn exported from Ireland was 2,300,0001.,
and in the year 1833 it amounted to 3,400,0001., show-
ing an increase of 1,10'0,0001. since the year 1829.
The imports in tea had increased a fourth since 1829, and
the imports in coffee had increased threefold within the
same period, showing beyond all doubt that there was an
1
. improvement in the condition of the people of Ireland ;
there was likewise double the quantity of coals imported
. into Ireland now that were imported in 1829. He should
not have thought it necessary to have made these compari-
sons, and to have brought them before the House, if there
bad not been sweeping declarations made in that House
that Ireland was in a progressive state of crime
and that neither life nor property were safe there. As to
manufactures, in one branch at least, there had been an
enormous increase—in fact it had become a new trade, and
raised since 1829—he meant the manufacture of floor. In
1629 there wore but few mills in Ireland for the manufac-
ture of that article ; now, he believed, there was scarcely
one river in that country capable of having a mill erected
upon it, and capable of any outlet for commerce, which
had not from one to twenty of such mills upon it, in some
20,0001., in ethers 30.0001., in others 10.0001., being
embarked ; and this was daily on the increase. Its
would ask, were men so blind to their own interest—
were they so foolish and to ignorant as to erect those
mills, and invest such large properties in them, if they at
I the same time could have the remotest idea that life and
1 property were insecure in Ireland ? These were facts that
must give the character of falsehoods to the assertions which
bad been made in another place. Even English capital-
ists and Scotch capitalists were at this very moment ha-
vesting their money in Ireland in the erection and working
of these mills, and in other branches of manufacture
there A large addition had been made also to the cotton
trade in Ireland, and many new mills had been ereted, espe-
cially in hie own part of the country, for increasing that
trade of late, and employment was given in them to large
number s of the working people, and he believed them to be
very profitable undertakings. Likewise in his own part,
and he believed in many other parts of Ireland, an entirely
rcw trade had been created in the manufacture of beer and
porter. That had become an export trade of great im-
portance. In 1829 he believed there were not more than
100 hogsheads of porter exported from Waterford,
whereas now there were upwards of 3,000 hogsheads
exported annually, and that expert was still increasing.
—( Hear.) The glass trade and the working of mines
had greatly increased since 1829, and they were still
very much improving. Other minor branches of trade had
sprung up by which capital was circulated, and the poor
employed. These P ere facts afirding• a triumphant an.
awer to the statement that there was no s.'curiiy in Ire-
land. He asserted boldly, that life and property were now
snore secure in Ireland, then they ever had been within the
memory of man...--( Cheers ) And the best proof of that
was, that the condition of the people was daily improving,
that capital was being circulated more and more in every
direction, that trade was flourishing, and that the laud
brought row better pricesond hither rents than it haddone
fir the last 40) eats. ( lis ar, from Sir Robert Bateson )
The Rm. Baronet opposite called hear, hear, but he
should be able to prove the statement he had made. The
Earl of Enniskillen had an estate near to the city of \\Ta.
tcrford, and he sold a large tract of land there in small
lot.. It certainly was known that the leases were granted
to the tenants at considerably under their value, because
that Noble Earl was one of the best of landlords Ireland
ever had. These portions of land when sold by the Noble
Earl fetched 20 years' purchase. The same land, in simi-
lar lots, was solrl in 1831, 1835, and 1836, when it
fetched twenty-three years' purchase. The average
price of estates in the county of Waterfoal
was 20 years' purchase. An estate there was, in 1816,
sold to a near relative of his own, for 17 years' purchase ;
and in 1837 the same estate was sold, under precisely si-
milar circumstances, for 25 years' purchase. A portion of
it, indeed was sold for 30 years' purchase.—( Much cheer-
ing-) An estate belonging to a relative of his, was sold,
under a decree of the Courts in Dublin, within the last 12
' months, by public auction for upwards of 24 years' purchase
although the same land was valued in 1819, at 20 years'
purchase. He had thus shown in four different instances,that
the value c f property had increased in the county of Water-
ford,:ef late years' to from three to seven yrars' purchase,:and
was this not an evident proof that the landed proprietors
and capitalists of Ireland were satisfied that life and pro-
perty were secure in that country ? He would now coma
to the question of the administration of the law, and he
thopght it right to state that he himself was a witness of a
portion of the progress of the Lord Lieutenant when he
visited the gaols in Ireland. He accompanied him to the
county gaol and city gaol of Waterford. Oa those occa-
sions the Lord Lieutenant was also accompanied by
the High Sheriff, by the other Magistrates, by the
gaol Committee, by the gaol Chaplains, by the gaolers,
and by ether persons interested in those institutions ; and
there was not a single case gone into upon which each of
these individuals was not consulted by the Lord Lieuten-
ant. The Hon. Baronet opposite smiled at this statement ;
but kc could tell that Hon. Baronet that that smile would
neither be considered as an answer to his statement of
facts which he made from his own knowledge, nor one
which the country would regard as becoming him. The
Lord Lieutenant likewise consulted every gentleman
whom be thought he could obtain any information
from, whether he was Whig or Tory, as
to the state of the country, and he (Mr. B.) knew that all
the information which he received, both as regarded the
counties of Waterford and Kilkenny, was, that they had
considerably improved since he had succeeded to the Go-
vernment of Ireland, and it was not till that as,surance was
given to him that a single prisoner was releaset-Nor was
there a single prisoner released who had been guilty of
any but some petty offence, or some green-wax process;
nor a prisoner who had been guilty of insurrection or ho-
micide had been discharged. Nothing could be more
easy than to make sweeping denunciations against
the Lord Lieutenant, and to say that he had
gone on general gaol delivery tours, but those were the
mere workings of the imaginations of his enemies, and of
those who were jealous of a Whig Lord Lieutenant, because
of his amiable disposition and his strict adherence to the
administration of justice. He was not one who thought it
necessary for the strict administration of justice to hold that
every petty offence should be considered as an aggravated
case. Ho administered justice with a sound discretion,
and that had this admirable effect, that it gave the people
a confidence in the Government; it gave them a confidence
in the administration of the law. —(Loud cheers.) They
did not see the homicide released—they did
not see the assassin released, but they saw some miserable
. individuals released who had been confined for some petty
offences, and sent home to support their families by the
sweat of their brow.—( Hear, hear.) Well would it have
been for Ireland if other Lords Lieutenant had acted on
this principle before. From the manner in which the law
had been administered before, the Irish people were never
made to know it but to fear it, to dread it, to hate it.
They were not led to consider that it was made for their
good but for their punishment ; but when Lord Normanby
assumed the office of Lord Lieutenant they were made to
feel that the law was equal for the rich and for the poor,
and that in the due administration of the law there was
clemency and kindness mixed up with justice.—(Hear.)
It was said that crime had been countenanced, and that it
had increased in Ireland. Why, the returns on the table
would show that there was more energy and activity on the
part of the Magistracy and police than at any former
period. That was why the committals had increased by
one-sixth, and the convictions had increased in nearly a si-
milar proportion. In the two counties with which he was
connected, Kilkenny and Waterford, crime had been
very considerably diminished. The former county,
when Lord Normanby came to Ireland, was in a
very disturbed state, but at the present moment
there was not in the empire, whether Middlesex, York, or
Devonshire, a more peaceable or tranquil county
than
Kilkenny. Why, neither himself nor any other Gentleman
resident in it, would think of barring their doors before the
regular hour of retiring to rest, at twelve or one o'clock
at night, any more than he would think of barring the
door of the House of Commons, when the Members were
coming in. Again, with respect to Waterford, with which
he was intimately connected, they had manufactories and
mines and mills at work, earrie.d on and worked by English
and Irish capital, and the utmost tranquillity prevailed there.
Me admitted that a murder had taken place in that county
about a year and a- half ago, but it was connected with
what had unfortunately given rise to many outrages in
Ireland, a dispute about land. But the Government had
nothing to do with that atrocious act. A reward was
offered by the Government, and the criminal was appre-
hended and hanged. That was merely a proof of the effi-
cient manner in which justice was administered in Ireland
under Lord Normanby's administration. Again, in the
county of Tipperary, a gentleman named Cooper was
murdered under similar circumstances ; but that, any more
than the other murder, could not be fairly charged against
the Government. The people were reviled, and op-
pressed, and treated with the utmost cruelty. They were
sailed wretches and maniacs, and their crimes, which origi-
'Wed in the " wild justice of revenge," were brought for-
ward most prominently, while they were treated like slaves,
and worse than the blacks in the West Indies. The dis-
possession of tenants had occasioned much of this evil, and
Noble Lords and the relatives of Hon. Members of that
House had taken a prominent part in these proceedings.
He knew an instance in which 1,200 individuals
were turned out of their homes, and the town almost
razed to the ground.—(Cries of " Name, name. ")
/I the House required it, or if the facts which he
stated were disputed, he could name the parties. If Ireland
was in a disturbed state, it was owing to the Government
of the Tory faction for a period of 150 years. No people
could be ruled more easily than the people of Ireland.—
( Hear, hear.) Let them be only treated with kindness—
I let thous be only educated and employed.—( Hear, hear.)
Hon. Members on the other side cried " Hear, hear," but
they voted against the measures which would confer these
advantages on the Irish people—they kept the "word of
' promise to the ear, but broke it to the hope." When
the Noble Duke of Richmond was Lord Lieu-
tenant of Ireland, and when the Right Honourable
Baronet the Member for Tamworth was his Secretary,
the standing toast at the viceregal table was a standing
insult to the Catholics of Ireland.—( Cries of " Oh.")
:sAas it not well-known that the "glorious, pious, and
immortal memory" was the standing toast ? Had they,
during their long dominion, appointed a single Roman
Catholic to any place of trust, or power, or emolument ?
Not one I
wer sad yet they had ventured to assert that they
e ready to do equel justice to all parties in Ireland.
How could
who wore any party have confidence in men
bad refused
tonaett even true to themselves ? They
admit the Roman Catholics to seats in the
LegielatuPa. They had declared their readiness to resign
r office rather than consent to such a measure ; and yet the
same party had brought; a Catholic Relief Bill, greater
Whig Government hadcoudladredl to pro-
in extent than any
pose —(" Hear, hear.") Neither party
ip. ACM, because they knew that political exapney
11- lialpeet-p.blic principle was the rule of their conduct.
Ar
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