The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-07 00:00:00

POOR RELIEF (IRELAND) BILL.

Mr. lIUME said that the Noble Lord at the head o,
the Government stated in his speech, in introducinc-, the
L•inded Prop•rty (Ireland) Bill, that he intended that
that Bill and the one fir the relief of the poor should
proceed pari passe. Ile (Mr. Hume) now gave notice
that he intended to object to the propi.sition for grantin;,►
620,0001. for Irish railways until the fate of the Irish
Poor Relief Bill was known.
NEW POOR-LAW.

Mr. FERRAND moved for the production of a re.
turn of the number of men, women, and children who
have been committed to prison for offences against the
provisions of the New Poor-law, and the rules and
orders of the Poor-law Commissioners, since the pass-
ing of the New Poor-law Act, up to the Ist day
of April last. Also, copies of all complaints of
boards of guardians in England and Wales, respecting
the conduct of district auditors, which have been ad-
dressed to the Poor-law Commissioners; together with
copies of all correspondence of the Poor-law Commis-
sioners with the boards of guardians and district
auditors, in reference to such complaints.—Agreed to.
CASE OF LORD COCHRANE.

Mr. FERRAND wished to ask the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Home Secretary a question. He wished
$o know why the Government had not paid back to Mr.
Hutt the 1,0001. which he was fined in connexion with
Llrd Cochrane, that Noble Lord having been exone-
rated ?,
Sir G. GREY said that some years ago an application
had been made to the Home Secretary regarding this
money. The application was declined at the time, and
no stop had been taken in the matter since that time.
lie did not think the Government had any power to in-
terfere.

SALE OF FIRE-ARMS IN IRELAND
Sir WILLIAM VERNER rose to call the attention
and saleof the House to the importation of fire-arms in
Ireland ; and on this subject he might state to the
House one or two circumstances which came under his
immediate attention in the county with which he was
connected. In one case he knew that in a m all
village there were fire-arms sold to the extents
of 100 L, and ammunition to the same amount, and the
person who sold it said that if he had double the quantity
he could dispose of it. In another case a poor tenant,
after paying his rent, had returned to him by his land-
lord 2/. for the purpose of purchasing provisions for his
family, and the observation he made was that
the money would purchase him a very good gun.
He therefore wished to bring before the House some
sufficient proof that he had been fully justified in the
course which he had pursued—that he had done no
more than, under the circumstances, was absolutely
necessary. Before, however, bringing before the House
such documents and snch evidence as he thought wonld
convince their minds of the state of Ireland, he begged
leave to remind the House that a Bill had been passed
within the last four years for a similar purpose. On
the 27th of April, 1843, a Noble Lord asked for
leave to bring in a Bill for registering all the
arms in Ireland, and also for regulating the manu-
facture of arms in that country, and the introduc-
tion of gunpowder and other ammunition. On the
second reading his Lordship stated that the Bill would
repeal three Acts—that of George 111., George IV., and
William IV. By several clauses which were introduced
it was decided that no arms should be imported into
Ireland without the license of the Lord-Lieutenant,
under a penalty of 501. By another clause it was
enacted that gunpowder should not be manufactured in
Ireland, and there was a third clause, by which it
was directed not only that arms should be regis-
tered, but also that they should be branded. He en-
tertained no doubt whatever that there were large
numbers of unregistered arms in the possession of the
people of Ireland, and that impression was confirmed by
the information he had received from Colonel M'Gregor
and other parties likely to be well informed upon this sub-
ject. He recollected some Hon. Members saying that they
would oppose the Bill, not only clause by clause, but
even word by word. In the month of August it was
read a third time. He said that, even if the Irish
people were in a state of perfect quiescence, and were
amply provided with food, there was no necessity to
place arms in their hands; but when they were starvin,!,
and starving in the midst of plenty, it was the height of im-
policy to place weapons of destruction in their possession.
It was a well-known fact that Tipperary was the most
disturbed county in Ireland, and yet this was the
county in which arms were sold to the greatest ex-
tent and in the most open manrer.—(Hear, hear.)
(The lion. Member then read a portion of a letter from
the Rev. Mr. Clare, illustrative of the state of alines
which prevailed in that county. The Reverend
Gentleman stated that nothing was more common
thin to see half-a-dozen guns thrust through the
hedges commanding the public highways.) He
should not have troubled the House with so many of
these letters, but that he was desirous to convince the
House that this system was not confined to one district,
but extended to the whole of Ireland. The Hon. and
Gallant Member then read several other letters to the
same purport, and then proceeded to say, that for the fur-
ther convincing of some Members of that House, he had
other evidence of a different nature. This subject was
considered of such serious importance that four judges
on their circuits had thought it necessary to draw
attention to it in their charges. The first charge
which he would read was that of Judge Jackson.
That Learned Judge described the intimidating letters
which had been distributed throughout Ireland as re-
sembling in appearance the proclamations of
the Crown, bearing the royal arms, and all
the other decorative features of those documents.
He had been asked by a friend of his to present a petition
to the House on this subject from the town of
ROscrea, complaining of the facilities afforded
to the public for the purchase of fire-arms.—(Hear.)
The Hon. and Gallant Member read a letter from the
Earl of Glengall, stating that the auction of arms was
continually going forward in Tipperary, and conducted
by the very poorest order of merchants. He had it also,
on the authority of Mr. NV. Wilson, that in the same
county they could get a man shot for half-a-crown.
After reading several other documents, he said he would
assure the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Secretary for
Ireland, that he did not impute the slightest blame to
him, and he only wished that the Government had
brought forward some such measure as this ; and he
would, therefore, conclude by moving for a return of the
number of the stand of arms in Ireland.
Mr. LABOUCHERE said that nothing could be fur-
ther from his thoughts than to blame any Irish Member
for calling the attention of the Government to the state
of that country, or for requiring them to take the proper
measures for the preservation of life and property there.
When they undertook the government of that country,
they at the same time took up that responsibility, and it
was a source to them of thankful congratulation, that
during the calamitous winter which had just passed over
their heads, they had not to contend with the evil of
many attacks upon persons, or any increase of aggra-
rian outrages, and he believed he should be enabled to
make such a statement, as would convince the House
that any further proceedings of an extraordinary nature
was unnecessary. Undoubtedly it had been the case
that outrages had increased during the present year,
over the outrages of 1846, but if the House looked to
that simple fact as a proof of the fsilure of their plan,
they would be going upon erroneous ground. The out-
rages against life and the public peace showed but a
trifling increase, while of that class of outrages which used
formerly to constitute a considerable number of the
whole—namely, what were called aggrarian outrages—
there had been no increase whatever. This was a suffi-
cient proof that the system of refraining from Coercion
Bills or Arms Acts had been successful, and the House
ought, therefore, to pause before they adopted the recom-
mendation of the Hon. Baronet, to urge upon Govern-
ment to resort to extraordinary measures for maintain-
ing the peace of Ireland. He could not help thinking
that a great misrepresentation had taken place upon the
present state of Ireland. (The Hon. Member then pro-
ceeded to read a letter from Colonel M`Gregor in
Ireland, to the effect that the country was in a more
quiet and peaceable state than it had been for some
years, and that what disturbances took place arose en-
tirely from the distressed state of the country.) It was
an ascertained fact that this sale of arms arose from the
desire of respectable farmers to obtain them in order to
their own defence from the violence of men who
might be driven to despair from want. The
peasants of Ireland were taught to look upon the
possession of arms as a privilege, they had been forbid-
den to them, and there was no wonder if they ran a little
riot, on the attaining of this new privilege. It it were
necessary, he could go into many details to prove his as-
sertions, that the character of the outrages which had
recently taken place were not of an unusual character,
and that there was not an increase over the pre-
ceding years—and here he could not refrainNobl
ofe
from rendering his testimony to the
Lord at the head of the Irish Government,
whom he could scarcely speak without emotion,
whose firm and temperate condrtt,he country. He be
preserved the peace
and the lives and properties o
lieved, on the whole, considering the difficulties by which
he was surrounded, his efforts were crowned with as
much success as could reasonablybe expected. He was
supported, most usefully supported,
the officer at
land, and by
He was also supported by e head of that department.
the army, under the most try-
ing and hazardous circumstances. Nor could he omit
to say the Government received most valuable assistance
from the clergymen of all denominations. He believed
that the peace of the country could not have been pre-
served had not Catholic and Protestant alike preached
the doctrines of Christian charity; butfor them, it would
have been impossible for all the efforts of the Govern-
ment to have prevented calamities which would have,