The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-30 00:00:00

POST OFFICE.

The Earl of WICKLOW gave notice that on Monday
next he should move for a copy of the correspondence which
had takers place between the authorities of the Post-office
and the Rev. (we did not catch the name), respecting the
objection which had been made to transmit the Ada is_
sionary Herald through the Post-office.
MAGISTRACY (IRELAND).
The Marquis of WESTMEATH rose to submit the mo-
tion of which he had given notice. The circumstances under
which he was induced to bring it forward were these. Some
time since a gentleman named Shiel was appointed to the Ma-
gistracy of the county of \Vestmeath. Previous to his ap-
pointment he (the Marquis of Westmeath), as Lieutenant of
the county, was applied to to know whether it was his opinion
that. Mr. Shiel should be appointed. He replied that he saw
no reason whatever for the appointment of that gentleman.
Notwithstanding the opinion so expressed by him (the
Marquis of Westmeath), Mr. Shiel was placed in the
Commission of the Peace. Since the last Session of
Parliament, and shortly after he (the Marquis of
Westmeath) returned to Ireland, the general election took
place, a considerable excitement was expected in the county
of \Vestmeath, the Irish Government ordered a number of ca-
valry, and an additional police force to remain in the county
during the election. As he had anticipated, considerable ex-
citement and some disturbances took place whilst the election
was going on. Mr. Sheil was then in the commission of the
peace. In September several Magistrates in Westmeath
stated. to him that this Mr. Shiel had been found in a com-
mon public-house at a late hour of the night, on or about
the Bth of August last, in the midst of a tumultuous meet-
ing ; that he was detected there by the police and the. re-
sident Magistrate, by whom they were accompanied ; that
the police were very ill used ; that the chief constable was
not only opposed, but roughly assaulted In the execution of
his duty, and that the resident Magistrate himself was ex-
tremely ill-used. The circumstance became so extremely
notorious, that a communication was made to the Govern-
ment upon it, and, as the conduct of the Magistrate had
been such as to disgrace the bench, he (the Marquis of
Westmeath) supposed that some immediate steps would be
taken. Nothing, however, was done ; wherefore, in Decem-
ber, lie (the Marquis of 'Westmeath) felt it his duty to inter-
fere, and between the ith and 29th of that month he addressed
several letters to Mr. Rowan, the resident Magistrate, and
also to the proper officers acting immediately under the Go-
vernment in Dublin, detailing what he had heard, End request-
ing to be informed whether the statement he had received
was correct or not. To some of these letters very vague
and unsatisfactory answers were returned ; of others, and
especially of the last, no notice whatever was taken. The
disgrace, therefore, which Mr. Shiel had brought upon the
bench in Ireland still continued. Now, iu order to bear out
the imputation which he (the Marquis of Westmeath)
hereby made upon the Irish Government, he should refer
for a moment to the opinions delivered by the noble Viscount
( Visconnt Melbourne), then Secretary of State for the
Home Department, upon the introduction of the Lieutenant of
Counties (Ireland) Bill. Upon that occasion the Noble Vis-
count pointed out, as one of the great advantages of the Bill,
the accurate information which it would enable the Govern-
ment to obtain, through the medium of the Lieutenant, with
respect to the character and conduct of every person whom it
might be proposed to place upon the bench of magistrates.
Lord Stanley dwelt much upon the same point, in recommend-
ing the same measure to the House of Commons. The re-
commendation of the Lieutenant was in every instance.to be
strictly attended to. This was the great advantage of the
13i11. In the instance to which he (the Marquis of West-
meath) was now referring, the recommendation of the Lieu-
tenant had been wholly disregarded. He was in hopes
that the subject having been thus brought under the notice
of the first Minister of the Crown, that Noble Lord would
deem the matter worthy of a full inquiry. The Noble Mar-
quis concluded by moving for a " Copy of correspondence
between the office of Chief Secretary of Ireland and the Mar-
quis of Westmeath relative to the removal of Sir Richard
Nagle, Bart., from the Lieutenancy of the county of \Vest-
meath, and his re-appointment thereto; also a copy of cor-
respondence relative to Sir R. Nagle's removal and restoration
to the commission of the peace; and to the re-appointment
of Shiel, Esq., to the commission of the peace ; ordered
1 1 th July."
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE was quite ready to admit
that on the occasion to which the Noble Marquis alluded it
very clearly appeared that there had been some not very pro-
per conduct on the part of some parties. He could assure the
Noble Marquis, however, that the Government of Ireland
would not suffer such conduct to pass over without full in-
quiry, and he could inform the Noble Marquis further, that
such an inquiry was in the course of being made.—( Hear,
hear.) When the inquiry was terminated there was not the
slightest objection to lay all the documents connected with
the subject before the House. Under these circumstances lie
conceived the Noble Marquis would think it unnecessary to
persevere in his motion.
Tile Earl of WICKLOW hoped that the inquiry would be
prosecuted with as little delay as possible.
Lord PLUNK ET had nothing to say in reference to the
particulars of this case, but he was thoroughly convinced,
from his general knowledge of the Noble Lord, of the anxious
desire on the part of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to pay
the utmost attention to every complaint brought before him,
and to do uniform justice.—( Hear, hear.) He had, however,
a general recollection of the appointment of a Mr. Shiel to
the magistracy some two years back, and his idea was that
Mr. Shiel had come recommended to him by the Lord-Lieu-
tenant as a person who, in the opinion of the executive Go-
vernment, was proper to be appointed to the magistracy.
And here he (Lord Plunket) would frankly tell the Noble
Marquis that he held it to be his bounden duty, when any
representation was made to him by the Executive Government
of the propriety of appointing an individual, to comply with
that recommendation, but he also felt it to be his duty in such
or similar eases of recommendation always to communicate
with the Lieutenant of the County to which the magistrate
was proposed to be appointed, previous to the appointment
being ratified. In this particular case, if he remembered
right, he had communicated with the Noble Marquis, as Lieu-
tenant of the county, stating the recommendation which had
been made by the Executive Government of Mr. Shiel, and
inquiring whether the Noble Marquis had any specific objec-
tion to make to the appointment ? In answer to this column-
Inication the Noble Marquis had stated no specific objection to
Mr. Shiel, but had merely generally stated that he saw no ne-
cessity for any additional magistrate being appointed for the
county.----( Hear, hear, hear.) About a month since, how-
ever, having occasion to communicate with the Noble Mar-
quis in reference to the appointment of another magistrate,
the Noble Marquis first took occasion to advert to the
complaint against Mr. Shiel, but he (Lord Plunket)
had by no means felt himself justified, upon a niece cursory re-
mark like this, to call upon Mr. Shiel for an explanation
until the whole truth of the allegations made against him had
been fully inquired into. There was no duty more painful to
,a person holding the situation which he (Lord Plunket) held
than that which involved the removal of magistrates. He could
assure the Noble Earl that he bad never derived any sort of
-amusement from the exercise of this abstract right, whatever
:amusement the Noble Earl might derive from opposing the
.appointments. The Noble Marquis had, besides, charged the
Irish Government with being actuated by political motives in
their selection of assistant-barristers. Ile was prepared to state
that in no case had the Lord- Lieutenant appointed an assistant-
barrister without consulting him, and he would take on him-
self to assert that every one of those assistant-barristera had
been appointed in the most judicious manner, and without any
party feelings.
The Earl of DEVON hoped that no long delay would take
place in prosecuting this inquiry, which Noblemen on both
-sides of the House, w lio had beard the statements made by the
Noble Marquis, must feel to be imperatively called for.
After a few words from Lord Plunket, the Earl of Devon,
the Marquis of Headfort, and the Marquis of Westmeath,
The motion was put, and negatived without a division.
DUBLIN STEAM-PACKETS.
The Marquis of WESTMEATH wished to as!, the Noble
Earl the First Lord 01 the Admiralty relat;:ae to the packet
service between Liverpool and Dlilfm. Two serious acci-
dents had lately occurred on this station, by which the number
of steam-boats on it under the conduct of the Admiralty had
been diminished to two. One of these steam-boats had met
with an accident six weeks a4o and hq Velieved that it tve44
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