The Sun.
London, England, 1838-06-11 00:00:00

THE MAGISTRACY OF IRELAND.

(From the M:bliiz Erening Pest.)
It i 3 totally unnecessary to call the public attention to the
following most important circular to the Lieutenants of the
several counties in Ireland. It is a most able and judicious
document, and will be welcomed by every well-minded and
sensible wan in the court•y with delight

COPY OF CIRCULAR ADDRESSED TO THE LIEUTENANTS OF

COUNTIES.
" Dublin Ca,tle, 4th May, 18384

" Mr LORD, OR SIR,

" I am directed by his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant to inform
yen, that it having become necessary, in conscquence tli,. late demise
of the Crown, that new commissions of the peace should be issued ; the
commis3ions which were in force at the death of his late Majesty were
continued by Act of Parliament fur a limited period, in order to give
time for a general revision of the magistracy of Ireland.
" Llis Excellency has, with a view to such revision, conf,rred with
the Lord Chancellor on the general principles by which it should be
guided, and has camed a very careful examinaton to be made of the
existing lists. The results of this examination have shown that they
require much correction, and that the names of many individuals ap-
pearing to hold the office, may very properly be orniaed in the new
commission.

" In several countiea it became necessary, on particular emergencies,
to confer the commission of the peace on officers holding military or
naval command, and on stipendiary magistrates. These appointments
were, in their nature, temporary; arid it does not appear to be necessary
to renew them on the present occasi.m.
" Some gentlemen have altogether ceased to reside in the counties for
which they were appointed--others have parted with their property, or
ceased to hold the position which had entitled them to the distinction—
and some, though retaining residences and property, have ce,seel to per-
form the duties of a ma
,;istrate. sense cases, insolvency, or serious
pecuniary embarrassments, or the want of soy a,:equa!e property, ope-
rare to disqualify individuals for tie useful and independent di.,cliarge of
the magisterial functions; in others, the possession of inconsistent or
inferior situations, such,sfor instance, as the clerkship of the crown, the
secretaryship of the grand jury, offices in the revenue, customs or post-
cake, offices c .nnected n ith the county gaols or the collection of county
cess, appears to his Excellency to be incompatible with the office and
station cf a magistrate. . .

" It appears to his Excellency that many of the duties of a magis.
trate are not suitable to the sacred character, and that, in the present
ta e cf the csiuntry, the discharge of thcm may lucid:re cLrgymrn
embarrassing consequences; and, however prudently and impartially
exercised,may tend to raise dissatisfaction and doubt as to the due ad-
ministration of justice. His Exe liency is, therefore, of opinion that
eltiwinen, not in the situation of independent landed proprietors, should
not be continued in the commission, merely on account of their being
ministers in the church ; and that this rule should not be departed from
unless incases of alyso'ute ncerssity, where, from local circumstance:,
the attcnd.:nee of a sufficient number of magistrates cannot be other-
•. is ottsfned.

" It appe irs that in many instances the commission of the peace has
hmn conferred on members of the same family residing together ; with.
out saying that, in no case, should this practice be contirm; (I, his Ex-
cellency thinks it is one open to weighty objections. It may be appre.
bonded, however, that the adoption of a peremptory rule of exclusion
of one or other of the persons so circumstanced on the present oc-
casion, might lead to much inconvenience, and psssibly deprive the
public of the services of some very valuable and useful magistrates ;
and his Excellency, therefore, thinks the safer course will be, to limit
the correction of the 'existing lists, in this particular, to cases where,
from the Petit Sessions returns or other sources of information, it may
appear that one of the parties has ceased to attend to the performance
of the ordinary duties of the office.

" It has long been the custom in Ireland to appoint to the magistracy
the agents of landed proprietors, though not themselves possessed of
sufficient estate to warrant their appointment, nor in any other way con.
fleeted with the counties in which they act. In some districts this has
been alin3st a measure of necessity, and in many cases his Excellency
believes it has tended to supply useful and efficient magistrates. In the
peculiar circumstances in which many extensive portions of the country
are placed by the continued or occasional nonresidence of great landed
proprietors, it would, Isis Excellency fears, be difficult al!ogether to
change the prevailing practice, and, therefore, he does not think it right
entirely to omit such gentlemen from the magistracy; but there are
cases where, from the absence of any such cause, the proprietor being
himself rcident, and the neighbourhood possessing other *resident gen-
tlemen holding the commission of the peace, it does appear to his Ex-
cellency that it is unnecessary to cpainue in the commissio the agents
of estates of no very great extent, and where those Lindividuals do not
themselves possess any property in the county.

" Several gentlemen appear to hold the commission of the peace for
counties adjacent to those in which they reside, though they rarely act
as magistrates in such counties. His Excellency is, however, fully aware
of the necessity which occasionally exists for the services of a magistrate
in districts comprised of portions of adjoining counties—and i❑ deter-
mining how far it is necessary to renew such commissions, he thinks it
will be proper, generally, to do so, when the residence of the individual
is so near the borders of the county as to render it probable his services
may be occasionally useful, and more especially when, by being a magis-
trate of both counties, he may be enabled to exercise the powers given
by statute to justices of the peace in such cases.

- -
" These are the general principles which, without implying any re.
fcrence to the personal merit of individuals, or meaning in the slightest
d,grce to question their g. nt.ral propriety of conduct, his Excellency
conceives should be adopted in making the present revision; but his
Excellency desires me to add, that in some few cases it has happened
to him that circumstances in the conduct or character of particular ma-
gistrates, render it desiral;le ler the better administration of justice that
they should not be re-appointed to an office of such trust and importance.
" Acting on these principle, with the few exceptions occasioned by
considerations such as I have just adverted to, his Excellency has
caused lists to be prepared of those Noblemen and Gentlgmen now hold.
ing:the office who, in his judgment, upon the information submitted to
him, should be continued in the new commission—those lists have been
transmitted to the Lord Chancellor, and I enclose a copy of that pre-
pared for the county of which you are the Lieutenant.
" It is his Excellency's wish that you should, in conformity to the
principles above detailed, Examine the list now transmitted, comparing
it with the general list of the present magistracy of your county, amid
that you should, with as little delay as possible, communicate to the
LoriChancelor such observations as you may deem it to be of min_
portance that his Lordship should be in possession of in regard to any
individuals retained in the list or omitted therefrom, as to whom you
may think it should be further corrected. Ilis Excellency thinks it
proper to add, that any communication made by you with respect to
individuals will be considered as confidential.

" His Excellency does not doubt that he will receive your cordial
co-operation in his endeavours on the present occasion, in a work of so
much importance to the administration of justice, the maintenance of
peace and good order, and the insuring to the magistracy of Ireland; 04
public confidence and respect which are so indispensable to their utility.
" I have the honour to be,
" My Lord (or Sir),
" Your most obedient humble seevant,
" T. DRUMMOND."

COURTENAY AND POORE TRAGEDY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sra,—l have read with much satisfaction the observations you have
made relative to the lamentable occurrence which took place last week
in this neighbourhood; nothing but a most searching enquiry will satisfy
the public, that more lives have been sacrificed than was necessary,
if diligence and caution had been observed by the proper authorities. It
cannot be pretended that the evil disposition of Courtcnay was not well
known. Had not the Canterbury Magistrates, in the commencement of
the year 1833, called in the assistance of the Rifle Brigade from Dover,
such was the infatuation of the rabble that then followed him, there was
every reason to fear that the prison in which Courtenay was confined,
for a breach of the peace, would have been brokers open, and that great
sacrifice of life and property would then have taken place. The Tories
have brought this all on themselves; they proposed and seconded him at
the election for Canterbury on the 10th of December, 1832, in opposi-
tion to the Hon. Richard Watson and Viscount Fordwich ; and Ise there
found nearly 400 electors to give him a vote, amongst whom were many
of large property and education; he afterwards was proposed and
seconded for the county, in opposition to Sir E. Knatchbull, Mr.
Plumptre, and Sir W. Cosway, when the same person Mr. C---, a
strong supporter of the Tory candidate, Sir E. Knatchbull, boasted that he
took from his neighbourhood about sixty of the class, whose lives have
now teen sacrificed at a cost of half-a-crown a man, to attend the nomi-
nation on Barham Downs, to support his favourite candidate, by 11°1'Q,
tumffit, and outrage, and when asked the other day why he did not call
out his half-a-crown men to quell the disturbance, complained that they
were the principal rioters.—l am,
Canterbury, June 8. A SUBSCRIBER.