The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-28 00:00:00

reserr_ ,
~o)oren—the memorial of the magistrates and the police
11,4n5• He had received them °from Ireland yesterday
attentPg ; and he had gone through the reports with great
ai". In the iirst place he must observe that outrages
ve•Titresnditti in the r.eghbourhood in question were no no-
the • He repeated that he had read the police reports of
to himrecent outrages with great attention, and it was evident
an,z Ilethat they principally related to the possession of laud,
tieula'r re caused by the turning out or the admission of par-
of tenants. Nor did it appear that any great number
ontrPersons were combined in the perpetration of these
ages• Thus confined in their character, and limited
aata
he a reference to the number of persons engaged in them,
(:uthelieved the Irish Government would. be able to put these
„raT-Tes down by the ordinary course of law. The present
htlt not a new (location lyte-e?ri the Noble Earl and himself.
(r .44 been agitated te years ago. Since that period be
ford Mulgrave) had considerably added to the constabulary
ree and to the police ; the result of was. as appeared
thZ the judges' charges, and other sources of information,
district was in a much more tranquil state than for-
h!toedthe
the It must be a much stronger case than that made out
toalter
Noble Earl which would induce him (Lord Mulgrave)
his present opinion of the sufficiency of the existing
lahwaticll meet the existing evil. At the same time he hoped
jeets e was quite open to conviction on that as on other sub-
law • Whenever he should become satisfied that the existing
that
never
administered, as the Noble Earl admitted
stilt he( Lord Mulgrave) had administered it, was insufficient, he
nuld not hesitate to apply for additional powers. But be re-
olaed, that he saw nothing in the present state of the barony
Clanwilliam that called for any such measuse. There was
another circumstance in the memorial of the magistrates and
atteine police reports to which he wished to call their Lordships'
tatinti°n• One of the principal grounds of the represen-
by,, in the memorial was the plunder and the possession
peasantry of unregistered arms. Now, it appeared
th, the police reports that there were only two of
rob outrages in question that were connected with the
✓ berY of arms The magistrates also drew strong info-
renees from the statement thattherewas a considerable
nob
assembled. Now, it did not appear from the police re-
c.:el• ls that more than twenty or thirty persons were ever found
of the together. The Noble Earl also asserted that the law
the land had been set at defiance ; but the law of the
landbeen had not been set at defiance, for five or six persons had
1, en arrested on the charge of being concerned in the out-
tirs• As at present advised, therefore, there was nothing in
pi circumstances of the case which called upon him to com-
b3' with the ruisition which had been made. Letters which
e had that morning received from Colonel Shaw Kennedy
nfirMed him in that opinion. In those letters Colonel Shaw
Kennedy stated that fifty additional constables had been or-
dered into the barony of Clanwilliam, and that no doubt was
entertained that that measure would be found sufficient for the
1 I,Ppression of crime. The Noble Earl talked of popularity.
tll he (Lord Mulgrave) had been capable of giving a thought
0(
such a motive of action, he should have recollected that the
vigorous execution of the existing law (which the Noble Earl
acknowledged that he had pushed further than any other man
" Is situation during the last twenty years), would affect his
• P°Polarity almost as much as the extension of the law. Act-
ling, however, on the responsibility attached to his high office,
Pee was not prepared to say that the preservation of the public
e‘ace in Ireland required that he should be armed with any
t.-4‘e her authority than that of which the existing law had al-
ti,y Put him in possession.
to,'" Duke of WELLINGTON said, the Noble Earl had
Al their Lordships that the tranquillity in Ireland alluded to
nti the speech from the Throne was not judicial tranquillity,
t at it was not what in fashionable lan,guage was called agra-
i
~an tranquillity, but that it was only political tranquillity.
it se
weed that only a few days before the delivery of the
Speech from the Throne, in which the tranquillity of Ireland
fas Mentioned, the National Association, which had existed
Or two years in that country, under the Ncble Earl's
eYe, had been dissolved ; under circumstances, however,
elthhielt chewed 'how easily it might be revived, should any
th:nge of ministers take place mipaleatable to the leaders of
association. That association, however, having been
'or the time dissolved, the Noble Earl seemed to con-
sider himself justified in declaring that the disturbances
Which existed in Ireland were not political, but agrarian.
„ Noble Earl maintained that those disturbances were
trot the consequence of political agitation. Now, what
~,411, been the opinion of a Noble relation of his, one
reference
opinions were of the greatest authority, with
to Ireland as well as to every other country
with which he had been officially connected ? When
tin' Noble relation was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
Preceded the Noble Viscount opposite in the government
been
this country, he had declared, and the declaration had
panegyrised in the strongest manner by the Noble Earl
t 0
1 Whom he had alluded, " that agrarian disturbance in
Ireland was to be attributed to political agitation as much as
any effect whatever could be attributed to its cause." No t
only had this declaration been applauded by the Noble Earl
'tea at the head of the Government, but it had received the
Unqualified approbation of the Noble and Learned Lord oppo,
Site, who was at the time to which he (the Duke of Welling-
ton) adverted on the Woolsack. The Noble Earl opposite
had over and over again admitted in his speech that there
Were disturbances in Ireland, although he termed those dis-
turbances agrarain. The Noble Earl had added, that such
had always been the case in Ireland : that it had been the
Case when he (the Duke of Wellington) had had the honour
bebeeing Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant; that it had
vran the ease at a subsequent period, when a Right Hon.
- d
same. his in the other House of Parliament had held the
it. IP,Dniatment. He (the Duke of Wellington) admitted
Nob! 'e'and was disturbed at both the periods to which the
lurbeedari alluded ; and it had been in ad.ffgreat degree dis-
thos ver since. But• what was the erence betw.een
ande times and the present ? His Right Honourable Friend
himself at once admitted the existence of disturb-
asked • They came down to the House of Commons and
for the means of suppresing them. They did not put
speeches into the mouth of one Sovereign or of another Sove-
;n, declaring that Ireland was in a state of tranquillity.
t, ": they stated the plain truth ; they candidly admitted
.pat Ireland was in a state of disturbance ; and having made
ittat frank admission, they asked Parliament to give them
Powers necessary to meet the evil. Let their Lord-
ships look a little to the general " tranquillity" of Ire-
land, as it appeared in the papers which had been laid before
h en). And here he must observe, that that House had not
been
remarkably well treated with reference to information on
(he subject. It was true that they had before them some re •
Ports from the inspectors of prisons in Ireland; but there was
another report, that from the clerks of the peace and the
Clerks of the Crown, of the number of persons who had been
esornmitted and tried for criminal offences in Ireland, which
had been printed for the House of Commons, but had not
been printed for the House of Lords. That report was of a
very different nature from the reports which had been printed
for their Lordships' House. He would, however, read a part
Of the fifteenth report of the inspectors of prisons in Ireland, ice
show the nature and amount of the offences which had been
a 'erornitted in Ireland in the year 1836. The Noble Earl had
Stated that there had been of late in Ireland an increased
bomber of committals in proportion to offences, and an in-
Creased number of convictions in proportion to committals.
Ne (the Duke of 'Wellington) admitted the fact, and gave the
lad produced it. It must, however, be stated that the Po-
Ilice Bill, passed in the previous Session of Parliament,
materially contributed to the result.—( Hear, hear, and
cheers.)s But their Lordships were bound not to conceal
ors
themselves what was the state of Ireland, as it
I"oars to be gathered from the last Report of the prison inspec-
n Which e held in his hand. They would there find that
Itathi e Course of 1836 there were committed to the several
1):18, of Ireland no fewer than 23,891 persons. Now, corn-
-110.e4 with the committals in England and Wales, there could
es no doubt whatever that the state of crime in Ireland was
inaornious.—( Hear.) In closing the Session of Parliament
of this year 1836, the state of Ireland had been made a matter
thic"gratulation in the Speech from the Throne, and yet
in
rabs„,s'ree year of " tranquillity," as it was termed, the official
"ts gave the number of offences committed as 24,891.
10tAr
ilie had to call upon their Lordships to compare this return
the 4836 with those of the preceding years. He bad been at
4,
fir out le
in to do so from 1828, and he found the result to be.
I€4.inws
, :—ln 1828, there were 14 633 committals; in
16,00,:5,271; in 1630, 15,794; in 1831,
Act):,., 1833, 17,819; 1834 (the year of the Coercion
16,192; in 1832,
.
Was si;.'3Bl; in 1835, 21,265 ; and in 1836, 23,891. Here
e°tintr . °rtrinus increase from 1828, and yet the state of the
Ihueaiiri. )y
tvi in 1836 was called a state of tranquillity.—( Hear,
in, 1836
in this year—this remarkable year of tran-
tour i'n--what
land had happeneat d ?
cccasion The Noble Earl made a
to Ire, and on th thought proper
eaerei .
Persons. se his prerogative—to pardon no less than 1,3(10
Person --( Hear, hear.) Now, though he was the last
not question the right of the Noble Earl, he did
Praro hesitate to say that to this exercise of the Royal
IreianTive was mainly attributable the increase of offenca sin
Since the period to which he had alluded there was
eaii, had . .
feel no propeaty connections in Ireland who did not
as LI at there was a total absence of security as well for life
Pro
esi • Pert Y.—( Hear.) It was said that most of the outrages
bot t,eiafted with the rotestant portion of the community ; but
SO, were the repeated attacks on the Protestant clergy
• Ireland
to be explained.
Nate, R AVE observed, that since lie had been con.
a pro'', with Ireland there had not been Otte case of assault on
Protestant clergyman.
eo4e Duke of WELLINGTON said no man in the country
hear say that his property was his own or his life safe.—( Hear,
the
ini!ut it wa-sim' per-tan:to examine the classification. of‘
Under "01 cases committed for trial, in the tranquil 1836.
!gates the head of offences against the person, he found the
'or eith 1.769 ; and of these there were 843 (just two a day)
kur er murder, conspiracy to murder, assault with intent to
• der' or manslauea t•r ( Hear.) In 1836—astheir Lord-
-11 vs sh
ot lesould mind—the boasted year of tranquillity, there were
risked s than 843 cases in which human life was attacked or
hurai --(Cheers.) There were 500 malicious offences,
Nt,,,uFs, burglaries, and robberies of arms.—( Hear, hear.)
rieus, hethought this was a prettS, large number of se-
h‘llot th!'ences for a year of tranquillity.—( Hear, bear.)
account, bad as it was, was not the most for-
inspect
• thole' He had been hitherto referring to the report
pa, ors of prisons ; he had now to direct their Lord-
h• t
trah he
teil° Cletinties in attention to another report, containing the returns from
Clerks of
;:s
the Crown and Clarks of the Peace of the seve-
Ireland, of the number of persons committed
levea purls of Ireland during the year 1836. This he be-
toc_lr the most correct return of the two, and he, for
,rouoa
theTa most reliance upon it. He would not go
bet all
rizitiliiits e rnd
e ntion.ing.
its details, but it stated one fact which be could
tep It represented the number of persons
te_. r crime in Ireland, during 1836, as 14,000 more
at given in the report of the Prison Inspectors. He