The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-23 00:00:00

DA

EVEN

(erred those reports to the female superintendent of the
Ansou, because there was no charge brought against her
management.

HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENSION (IRELAND)

BILL.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE rose to move the
second reading of Habeas Corpus Suspension (Ireland)
Bill. The grounds on which the Government proposed
this measure had been so fully stated in the di-patch of
the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, which had been laid on
their Lordships' table, that he could not do better than
refer their Lordships to that dispatch for those reasons.
But although the efforts of those who had conspired
systematically to raise a rebellion in Ireland—a rebellion
which had been rendered abortive solely through the
energy of the Lord-Lieutenant in exercising the powers
which bad been entrusted to him by Parliament. The
ease with which, in consequence of the exercise of
those powers, the rebellion bad been put down, could no
more be brought forward as an argument against
measure than could thg salvation of a building
from destruction by lightning by means of a conductor
be brought forward as an argument against the further
use of that conductor. The present conduct of those
who had been leaders in this rebellion proved the
necessity of the continuation of this measure.
One of the rebel chiefs who had escaped
to New York had declared what were, and
are, the intentions of those who had been engaged
in the rebellion. At a public meeting held in New
York, Mr. Doheny, who bad been one of the rebel
chiefs, declared that there was no cause to despair
of the success of the Irish movement, they had
been forced by the cunning of the Government to
a premature movement, which was for the present
fatal to the cause of Ireland. The crisis had been
precipitated by the suspension of the Habeas Corpu
Act, which gave them no chance of consultation. In
one district there had been forged 20,000 pikes. He
added, " we are still strong, we are still turbulent, and
either Ireland shall be a tree republic, or onr turbulence
shall be interminable. England's ruin may be delayed,
but it is inevitable, and then Ireland shall be a republic
one and indivisible." Coupling these declarations of
Mr. Doheney with the report of the Lord-Lieutenant,
he thought their Lordships would be of opinion that it
was necessary that this suspension of the Habeas Corpus
Act should be continued for some time longer; out
while this temporary suspension was indispensable, he
admitted it was the bounden duty of the Legislature
to devise measures for the improvement of the social
state of the Irish people.
Lord BROUGHAM entirely agreed with the motion.
His only doubt was whether it went far enough—Hear,
hear.) Who could venture to say that in
a certain time there would be an end of Irish
rebellion? The agitation which 'bad been con-
tinued so Icing bad • brought the greatest evils
in Ireland; it had. preVented capital from going into
Ireland, and had at length forced them to suspend the
constitution. All governments had been guilty of great
neglect in allowing agitation to go on until it came to
so great a height that it was impossible to stop it. The
government of the Noble Marquis (Anglesey) was less
open to that reproach than that of any other government
They had all sorts of agitations there—lay and clerical
—who drove the most profitable trade driven in the
country. If the Government, allowed the, trade of agi-
tation to become a lucrative trade, could they wonder
that there—had grown up a race of sordid seditious
`agitators?. This agitation had been the ruin of the
country. He had heard of the case of a family
who had received no rents for two years, and who had
been reduced to such poverty that they had passed
Christmas even without food, and on Christmas Day
had been saved from starvation by a present, which had
enabled • them "to have souse gruel. And yet in
this country where no rents were paid; he, on ac-:
count of the poverty of the ,teetints, when
no rates could he paid, 1,000/. had been collected for
the use cf the poor? No! but to send to the Pope—to
his Holiness the Pope, who had commenced this agitation
in Italy, and who was now reaping the fruits of his
labour& He was sorry for him. This money was collected
through the instrumentality of the agitating Catholic
pries a to be sent to this foreign Bishop to be spent by
him among the faithful by whom he was surrounded at
Gaeta.—(Cries of e Hear, hear.") Though they
had recently had a case in Dublin of a juryman
getting up in the box to applaud a speech of counsel,
Why a country iu which such an indecency could take
place was no more fit for trial by jury than the interior
of Africa. Mr. Burke had dishonoured a respect-
able name by conduct which would have disgraced
an inhabitant of a krall of Hottentots. This person
had sworn well and truly to try the cause, and he bad
been scarcely in the box when he exhibited a disposi-
tion to violate his oath. Mr. Shelburne Burke, he was
sorry to find that this man had brought disgrace
upon the name of the Noble Marquis opposite, had by his
conduct produced an effect upon the witnesses, and he
(Lord Brougham) could not help expressing his indig..
nation at Atte indecent conduct of tLis man. He con-
cluded by urging upon the Government the necessity of
a vigorous administration of the law.
Lord MONTEAGLE thought the limitation
of the Bill to six months was in opposition to
the recommendation of Lord Clarendon, and not
equal to the necessities of the case. He thought it
impolitic to risk the necessity of the introduction of
another Bill of this nature at the conclusion of the ses-
sion. He should have preferred that the measure of
suspension should have been for a longer period. The
failure of justice in consequence of the improper
conduct of persona had a tendency to bring the
administration of justice into contempt, but those tran-
sactions were not applicable to the whole of Ireland.
In Munster no such indirect scenes had taken place, the
juries did their duty with manliness, impartiality, and
courage. The Noble Lord then proceeded to argue that it
was absolutely necessary to impose by legislative enact-
ment some restrain t upon the possession °farms in Ireland.
since times anterior to the Union, Ireland has now for the
first time suffered persons to have the unrestrained pos-
' session of arms in Ireland. It was true domiciliary visits
did not take place by the police, but they took place by
ribbondosen, and by disturbing of the public peace,
who robbed all those entitled to possess any of the arms
in their possession; and however unpopular it might
be be must say that some alteration ought to take place
in the law for the purpose of preventing improper per-
sons from possessing arms.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE replied, and the• Bill
was read a second time,

TURNPIKES.
The Mariuis of SALISBURY moved for certain re-
turns relating to turnpike trusts and hiighway-rates.
After a few words from the Earl of GRANVILLE and
the Duke of RICHMOND the motion was agreed to, and
their Lordships adjourned.