The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, AVGUST 3, 1838.

of Charleville, the BiOrop of Iltr,ford, and several other Peers
were deputed to confer with the Commons on the Sheriffs'
Court ( Scotland) Bill.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY felt it necessary
again to call the attention of the House to the state of the
magistracy of the county of Down. There were on the com-
mission 190 magistrates, and allowing 25 to have died, not
less than 50 had been erased from the Commission. Out of
20 to whom he alluded on a former occasion, eight had been
restored. Why, he asked had they been dismissed at all ?
Mr. Corry's case he had already fully alluded to. He believed
the charge against him to have bcen totally unfounded, and must
say that he had been treated in a highly improper manner, and
that the case reflected the greatest discredit on the Noble and
Learned Lord opposite. He moved that all correspondence be-
tween Mr. Corry and the Iti3ll Government be laid on the table.
The next case to which he wished to call the attention of
the House was that of the Rev. Holt Waring, who had been
dismissed from the Commission merely because there was
an Orange flag hoisted on the Church. That could not be
construed into a breach of the peace. The next case
was that of the Rev. Mr. Sampson ; and if ever there was a
case which ought to have - been excepted, it was that of the
Rev. Gentleman whose name he had just mentioned. And
yet what was the fact ? Why, that he had been dismissed,
and not restored, whilst others, upon whom the strongest
censure had beeti passed by the Government, had been re-
stored. In 1834 a memorial was presented to his Excellency
the Lord Lieutenant from the parishioners of the parish of
Magherally, in which they stated certain grievances and com-
plaints against the Rev. Mr. Sampson, the Rector, in re-
ference to the tithes. An inquiry was consequently made
into the case, and shortly afterwards a meeting of magistrates
was held at Banbridge., at which the follow►ng resolutions
were agreed to. The Noble Lord then read the resolutions.
These papers and all the communications on the subject had
been sent to the Lord Lieutenant, and by him to the Noble
and Learned Lord opposite (Lord Plunket), and that Noble
and Learned Lord then wrote a letter, which he should read
to their Lordships. The letter of the Noble and Learned
Lord was addressed to the Marquis of Downshire, Lord
Lieutenant of the county, as follows. The Noble Marquis
here read the letter in question, and after reading several
other documents, he went on to say—Mr. Sampson, that ill-
used man, who had more claims than most persons of his
class, had been taken out of the Commission. That
was a statement which displayed gross injustice on the
part of the Irish Government ; and if that were the
justice to Ireland for which they were to look, he
would only say that it was such justice as he should have
expected from the quarter whence issued the instructions
under which he believed that course of conduct had been pur-
sued—'lirections which had been hinted at in November last.

In that month a remarkable meeting had been held in Dublin,
on the occasion of the St. Bridge's Orphan Society's anni-
versary dinner ; and at that remarkable meeting. Mr. O'Con-
nell had made an extraordinary speech, which he concluded
by saying, " that the magistracy was undergoing a revision in
the hands of the Lord Lieutenant, and it could not be in
better hands, for he would pledge himself to them that their
magistrates next year would be very different from what they
had ever been before, and that every partisan justice"—(ex-
cept his own)—" would be relieved from their labours, and
allowed to return into private life." Now, the Noble and
Learned Lord appeared to him to have been acting on the
instructions to which, doubtless, allusion was then made. He
(the Marquis of Londonderry) bad stated those three cases ;
and there were several other gentlemen who had been struck out
of the Commission, and whose cases he should continue urging
on the attention of the Government. He alluded to the cases of
Mr. Steel Nicholson, Mr. Boyle, and others. Those were
all cases which cried loudly for justice. He should now con-
clude by moving that there be laid before that House a copy of
the proceedings of the investigation held at Newry into the
charges against Mr. Trevor Corry, and of any correspondence
between the Irish Government and the Lord Lieutenant of
the county on that subject. Also for a copy of any opinion
given by her Majesty's law officers on Mr. Trevor Corry's case.
Likewise for copies of any correspondence relative to the case
of Mr. Lindsay, a Magistrate of the county of Down, and be-
tween any Members of the Irish Government and the Lord
Lieutenant of the county of Down.
Lord PLUNKET, so far as his own share in any corres-
pondence went, had no objection to its production • nor had he
any objection to produce the letters received from the
Lord Lieutenant of the county of Down, if he desired
it ; but he held these letters so far confidential that the
Lord Lieutenant was entitled to have them so considered ;
and, therefore, without the consent of the Noble Marquis,
the Lord Lieutenant, he could not agree to their produc-
tion. With respect to the opinion of the law officers of the
Crown, he certainly could not consent to its production ; the
production of such a document would be contrary to all prece-
dent, and was calculated to lead to a very inconvenient prac-
tice. The Noble Marquis opposite (Londonderry) seemed to
think that on a former occasion he (Lord Plunket) had spoken
with a degree of sarcasm not suited to the occasion ; but he
could assure the Noble Marquis that he never had any dispo-
sition to apply anything sarcastic or offensive to him. The
Noble Marquis had referred to the opinion of the Noble and
Learned Lord on the Woolsack, and had said that he had
acted in opposition to those opinions; but the Noble Marquis
would excuse him for saying that he did not perfectly under-
stand what had fallen from that Noble and Learned Lord. Be
entirely concurred in the observations of the Noble and Learned
Lord on the Woolsack ; and he defied any research to find out a
single instance in which he had dismissed a magistrate without
the fullest investigation, and without first communicating with
the individual himself. When any charge was made against a
magistrate, the course he uniformly pursued was, if at least
the charge was of a nature to require any explanation at all,
to write to the individuals accused, and ask them whether they
wished to give any explanation in defence of their conduct,
and if they did he instituted a more minute investigation; but
he apprehended that the case was very different when, on a
general revision of the magistracy, the question was whether
a certa'n person was to be left out. The Commission could
never be completed if, in every case in which a name was
omitted from the new Commission, a minute and particular
inquiry was to take place. It was very much to be regretted
that the case of Mr. Trevor Corry should be so often made
the subject of public discussion ; it was extremely painful to
him to allude to that case. The death of that highly respec-
table gentleman rendered the discussion of his case peculiarly
painful ; but silence on the subject would now be a condemna-
tion of his own conduct, and he was, therefore, actually
driven, in self-defence, to state the charges made against Mr;
Corry. The charges were that he ( Mr. Corry) had, whilst
accompanied by the police force of Newry, and acting in his
character as a magistrate in the preservation of the public peace
(some persons concerned in the election having secreted certain
voters, and prevented them exercising their franchise, a most
reprehensible practice, on whichever side employed), that he
directed that a person whom be found there should be mana-
cled, and that that man, who as (Lord Plunket) eats in-
formed, had committed no breach of the peace, was accord-
ingly h indcuffed by the police and kept in prison for a consi-
derable time. Now, that he considered to be a gross outrage
on the liberty of the subject, and an act of great injustice.
That, however, was a matter on which he did not veature
to act, but he gave Mr. Corry the opportunity of defending
himself; and the Lord Lieutenant directed an inquiry into the
case, at which Mr. Corry was himself present. A barrister,
a gentleman of great respectability, was sent down, witnesses
were examined, and the result was, that the facts which he
had stated were fully established. Other charges had been
made against that gentleman, which were not proved; hut the
particular fact ahich be had now stated was fully admitted on
that inquiry, and the opinion to which the Government came,
founded on the report made to them by the gentleman who
conducted that inquiry, was, that Mr. Corry ought to be
removed. But why had the Government not acted on their
dec'sion immediately? Mr. Corry bad expressed his intention
to prosecute the persons who gave their evidence on the in-
vestigation for perjury, and he (Lord Plunket) had thought
that it would not be proper to dismiss him whilst the prose-
cution was proceeding ; and further, that it would be less
grating to his feelings to be dismissed on a general revision
of the magistracy than on that particular occasion. He be-
lieved that in so acting he was obeying the dictates of humanity
and kindness. Now, as to the case of Mr. Holt Waring, he
thought the Noble Marquis had been misled as to the facts,
Mr. Waring was a gentleman of respectable family and for-
tune ; but be was a clergyman, and chaplain to the Grand
Orange Lodge of Ireland. If the opinion of the Noble
Marquis were correct, the Government had been guilty
of more than two hundred acts of injustice, for they had
laid down a general principle, and had not thought it
necessary to inquire into every case, to see whether it pre-
sented circumstances of exemption ; for, if they had, it would
have been live before the Commission could have been com-
pleted. But Mr. Holt Waring was liable to be dismissed as a
clergyman and the chaplain of the Grand Orange Lodge f
;
and it was required of him to show some particular ground or
removing in his case the general disability under which persons
in his situation laboured; and he must say here that he did not
believe anything had given more general satisfaction than the
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ring had made out a case to exempt himself from the general
rule adopted by the Government. They thought he had not,
and accordingly had excluded his name from that Commission;
but lie (Lord Plunket) had intimated to the Lord Lieute-
nant that if the offence were not repeated on the next 12th
July he should be happy to restore him to the Commission;
and he had expected that he should have received that day
intelligence that Mr. Holt Waring had been restored, and he
trusted and believed that it would be so. The next case
was that of John Lindsay, which the Noble Marquis had
coupled with that of the Rev. Mr. Sampson. The Noble and
Learned Lord here proceeded to enter into details re-
specting this case, and then proceeded to refer to some cor-
respondenca that had taken place between himself and the
Noble Marquis the Lord Lieutenant of the county cf Down
(the Marquis of Downshire. ) He put it to their Lordships
whether in the correspondence that had taken place, he (Lord
Plunket) had not shown a proper sense of respect to the feel-
ings of the Rev. Mr. Sampson, whilst at the same time he bad
been anxious to show a proper sense of the duty which was
imposed on him, of not dismissing a Magistrate upon slight
grounds. The Magistrates acted upon the advice he had
given them, and did not refuse to sit with Mr. Lindsay. He
continued to sit in the discharge of his magisterial duties for
two years after these transactions had occurred. At this
time an election occurred, at which Mr. Lindsay took an ac-
tive part, and up to this time, all demand for his removal
had gone to rest. The demand for his dismissal from the
magistracy was then renewed, not on the ground of the lan-
guage lie had made use of, but on the ground of his having
actively interfered at the election. With respect to what the
Noble Marquis had said about the speech of Mr. O'Connell
at St. Michael's, in Dublin, the Noble Marquis must excuse
him ( Lord Plunket) for not entering into a discussion of that
part of the question. His conduct had never been in any way