The Sun.
London, England, 1822-02-08 00:00:00

Limerick. He fully coincided, however, in
nam the opinion, that thedistUrb et ancei w._ nectedwith religion or politics.: The
murder to which lie alluded had been committal from a chapel.
yard. Distress certainly existed to a melancholy extent. In the
Co. of Clap, fur example, starvation was at' eve,ry man's
theirproVision-s had been all destroyed. Had Parlianient met
in October last, and had the proposed Acts been then passed,
the country would have now been tranquil, but he anticipated
much difficulty at,this late period. With the Insurrection Act
a small number of troops could effect more than a large num-
ber without its aid. He rejoiced "to find that the Noble Lord
had limited the continuance of the proposed Acts to six months.
The Right Hon.- Baronet and the Hon. Gent. who had preced-
ed him, had said there was nothing contained in the Marquis
Wellesley's despatches to call for the propoSed Acts—that there
was no rebellion. Harmed insurrection and the attack. on the
King's troops were not rebellious symptoms, he was at a loss to
know what could be termed such. -Under the existing laws no
man's life was safe, and . he believed that protection and secu-
rity could only be obtained and established by the Bills then be-
fore the House.

Mr: T. SPRING 111Crfelt that he should ill discharge his
duty to his constituents and .the country, were he to give a
silent vote on the present occasion. Tie felt it peculiarly neces-
sary:for him to make a few ob-servations to the House on the
subject then under discussion. The Noble Lord had said to
the House you are to pass measures of coercion, but you are not
to inquire into the causes of those disturbances which call for
them—Wear, hear !)—There was only one principle on which'
he could persuade himself that ha (Mr. Rico ought not to go
into the consideration of the general state of Ireland at present,
which was, that the shortness of the time for which the proposed
Acts were to remain in force implied an expectation that the
disturbances would be easily suppressed, and that in the inter-
val before their expiration inquiry would be made into the
causes of those outrages, with a view.to prevent their recurrence.
If ihe present, laws be deemed inadequate to • put down those
disturbances,
,Parliament should find out means to suppress
them; but let it be accompanied by inquiry, such as he had
just described. If -the Insurrection Act be now considered
an infallible remedy, why had it not been earlier resorted to ?
—(Hear, hear !e--Since the Union "of the two countries the
Records of Parliament, with respect to Ireland, contained
acts of coercion—those hail been tried, repeatedly and inef-
fectually tried—they had been ineffectual, because no mea-
sures had been adopted calculated to strike at the root of the
evil—(Hear, hear !)--Lord Bacon says that, " if you wish -to
destroy sedition you must expel the causes of sedition."—
Having witnessed the disturbances in Ireland—being well in-
formed. of their nature, he, in common with many others, felt
'the most extreme surprise at the intention to suspend the Ha-
beat Corpus Act. The Noble Lord admitted there was no-
thing politteek in those disturbances. Why then have recourse
to a measure never before resorted to, except in cases of a poli-
tical description?—(hear, hear!)—'With respect to the Insur-
rection Act, he must admit that it, or something of the same
nature, way necessary, but he could not willingly consent to its
enactment in its proposed state ; yet, with a small alteration,
it might be made unobjectionable. But the hurry in which the
Noble Lord proposed to carry the tills would afford no oppo-
'funky of proposing such alteration in Committee—that altera-
tion, which would render the Bill less unpalatable without de-
stroying its efficacy. The proposed Act, he admitted, would
enable Government to get rid of obnoxious individuals, which
they could not effect without it--that might be desirable, but
he would object to the Mode of,carrying it into effect. His ob-
jection was to the trial of the parties before the Magistrates
of the district in which the alleged offence might be com-
mitted. The Insurrection Act empowered the Magistrates,
aided by a King's Counsel or Sergeant, to sit and try persons
charged, with offences under that Act. There. was a clause also
enabling the Court, so constituted,, to dispense with the inter-
vention or assistance of a Jury, if they (the Court) thoUght fit.
Although it appeared optional, let not English Gentlemen be-
lieve that Juries would be tesortedto.—(flear, hear, hear
He had himself acted as a Magistrate under former Insurrec-
, don Acts, and in no instance whatever had a Jury been sworn.
—(Hear !)-1-le meant not to go at large into the history of the
Magistracy of Ireland in order to prove how unceralified some
of them were to perform the thitits prescribed by this Act. A.
Right Hon. Gentleman, now unfortunately no more (Mr. Pon-
sonby), in speaking on this subject, said that when, as Lord
Chancellor of Iteland, he examined the lists of the Magistracy,
he found one man who was a waiter at an inn, and who conse-
quently often stood behind the chairs of the Grand Jurors.—
(Cheers).—Theduty of Magistrates of the county was frequent-
ly to defend their own houses, or to be out perhaps five nights in
the week preventing crime and preserving the public peace.—
Could they be expected to proceed next day to tuhninister justice,
heated as they must have been by recent impressions. If the
Noble Lord's information be correct and full, he must know
that instances have occurred within these few weeks which
prove that local Magistrates are . not the best calculated for
the purposes of restoring tranquillity, or of enforcing the
laws. Previous to the late Special Commission for the coun-
ty of Limerick, in November lasi, a meeting •of Gentlemen
and. Magistrates had been held in the .city of Limerick:, He
had not attended ithieaself, but the Gallant Officer behind him
had. The Magistrates of Limerick did, on that occasion;enter
into certain resolutions which he regrAted were not contained in
the papers on the table. With the leave of the House he would
proceed to read the purport of those resolutions They prayed
the immediate assembling of Parliament, for the purpose of
considering not only of coercive measures, but also to inquire,
and to devise adequate, measures to prevent the recurrence of si-
milar evils.. These were the resolutions of the Magistrates of
the County of Limeiick—that county which was 'at that mo-
ment in a state of disturbance.—(Hear, hear).—They did not
call finecoercive measures alone.—(Hear).—The language used
hitherto was—if in diCturhanee, the lnsurreetion Act—if in
peace, no inquiry.—(Hear, hear).—They, the Limerick Ma-
gistrates, had suggested and recommended the modification of
the Act of 54th of George 111. They sought not for those
powers with which the Noble Lord. seemed anxious to invest
them. The difference between the operations of the present
and the proposed laws was this :—if a Commission should 'be
sent to the disturbed districts, the Judge would not, could not,
be influenced by local feelings or impressions he would there-
fore enter on the performance of his duty with all that coolness
and impartiality which justice required; but if country Gentle-
men were called on to come forward, theyy could not answer for
their own discretion: It might be depended upon that this lat-
ter mode would sow lasting dissention between them and the
people, and the child would be shewn the house in which
resided the man who had been instrumental in transporting
its father.—(Cheers.)—He did not require that the proposed
Bill should be abandoned, but that it might be stripped of its
danger. Seeing. the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer in his place, he would allude to one source of disturbance
in Ireland which rivalled even the tithe system—he meant the
Distillery Laws.—(Hear, hear !)—He found that within the
last four years, there had been convicted in that country 16,000
persons, 4;000 of whom Were for offences against the Distillery
Laws--(Meru, hear.)—and he firmly believed the Right Hon.
Gentleman. (the Chancellor of the Exchequer). was the most
efficient ally of Captain Rock !—(A laugh.)—He would take
leave-of the InCiirrection Act, by entreating of the Noble Lord
not to press that Bill, or at least to• divest it of the clause to
which he had alluded.—[The Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Rice)
here, with reference to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus
Act, made an animated appeal to the feelings of the Hon. Mem-
bers for Great Britain then present, which it was, unfortu-
nately, impossible to hear from the loud noise which prevailed in
the Gallery.] In conjuring English Gentlemen to give to Ire-
land equal protection with themselves,ebe would beg to remind
them that they were tue Representatives of Ireland as well as
of England—(Cheers.)—He would entreat them not to vote for
the passing of the Bills, without proof that they were impera-
tively called for—(Cheers.)—He would say " if you allow Mi-
nisters the habit of trifling with the Constitution, you will
cease to' be a Free and Representatve Assembly."—(Cheers.)
Captain O'GRADY said, that his own experience of the
outrages which were taking place in the disturbed districts, en-
abled him most decidedly to say, that_ the existing laws were
not sufficient to put down the disturbances.—(ffear, hear, hear,
from the Ministerial Benches,)—The strongest proposed mea-
sure, the Insurrection Act, was not too strong.—(Cheers.)—
But he was happy to bear testimony to the statement, that the
unhappy disturbances were unmixed with politics, and that
they were confined to the mountainous districts. The dis-
turbers of tranquillity were well aware of the powers of the
Magistracy and knew, how to'. elude them. In (layetime they
were never seen; and at night they went 4bbut, not in
hundreds, for that would be desirable ; but in sixes, sevens,
and tens. And under the present law, if they were caught,
even with arms in' their hands, they could only be im-
prieoned for a given' period, and they . were then let
looee upon the Magistrates who committed them. Al-
luding
to the Meeting of the Magistrates mentioned by the
last Speaker, he' begged to observe, that it was not a public
Meeting, and for a very good reasona-thp Magistrates dare
not convene a Meeting by public Advertisement, lest it should
be known that their houses Were deserted.—(Cheers from the
Ministerial Benches.)-..:The Special Commission ' did not inti-
midate the marauders for it single hour. The very night the
Judge entered the town, a soldier had been knocked down and
his arms taken from him. Maoy_Gentlemen summoned for the
Grand Jury were afraid to attend ; the excuses were without
number, and it was neit to impessibletoform a petty Jury. If
these diffiCulties took place under a Special Commission, what
might not be expected under the jurisdiction of the Magistrates?
—(Hear.)--The• Magistrates wished for the aid of The Insurrec-
tion Act, and he for one was of opinion that no measure short of
that would enable them .to put down the present alarming die-
trirlerreele • NO gentle min could get inforination upon oath
as to the conduct of the disturbers, for no man would ven-
ture to come.forward against them. No gentleman could ga
to his bed in safety ;' RI he might -often' calculate upom .heate