The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-29 00:00:00

SUPPLY.

The House then resolved itself into a Committee of
Supply; Mr. BERNAL in the chair.
:Mr. HUME inquired whether it was the int, ntion
of her Majesty's Government to propose the ap-
pointment of a Committee to consider the Gohjeet
of the general taxation of the country in all its
branches, with the view of ascertaining if the taxes
could not be raised in a manner that should he less
troublesome and less expensive to the country than
tinder the present system.
Lord J. RUSSELL replied, that it was not the
intention to propose any Committee, either on the
general altation of the country, or in relation to the
expenditures of the country.
The
unan,u then went through Committee pro
a' form,
theßouse resumed.
CRIME IN IRELAND.
Sir, GEORGE GREY—after the 'passage in her
majesty's Speech relating
to Ireland had been read
from the Chair—
hi it was with deep regret that in
accordance with the recommendation ndation contained in that
passage of her Majesty's Speech
which had just been
read, and in discharge of an imperativet
duty, that he
rose to ask the House for permission
table of the House a Bill for the better lay
ay
upon the
of crime and outrage in certain districts
prevention
Ireland. The attention of Parliament of
e
cently been largely directed to the (siffair--
"
of that portion of the United Knigdom through a
visitation of Providence, which, perhaps, was unpie„.
dented in its severity and extent, for while it inflicted
severe privations on the inhabitants of most countries
of Europe, it fell with peculiar intenseness
and severity on the people of Ireland, on
account of the unfortunate dependence of the
great majority of the people on that article of food,
which, from causes which hitherto had baffled all the
resources of science, was almost totally destroyed.
In consequence of the intense severity of this calamity
successive Governments—the Right lion. Baronet
Opposite in the first instance, an 4 his Noble Friend
afterwards—felt it, to be their duty to propose to
Parliament measures for the relief of the sister
kingdom ; and he had, until
recently, been in hopes that
this dreadful visitation
would at least have .drawn the

people of the two kingdoms in bonds of good-will, which
would have inflicted upon all the important lesson of
the advantages, if not the indispensable necessity, of
the mutual co-operation of all classes of society in
discharging those functions which devolved upon the
highest and the lowest, for the maintenance of
the laws of the land.—(Hear, hear.) He regret-
ted, however, to state that in this respect he
had been greatly disappointed, though he was not yet
prepared to abandon the expectation that Ireland
might be restored to a state of peace and prosperity,
in which all classes of society should be united in
denouncing the criminal, and promoting the general
prosperity of the conntry. The crimes and offences
to which he should have to make reference, he was
glad to say,:only applied to a small portion oilreland,
and he was glad to take that opportunity of repeating
what he said on the first night of the session, that in
the greater part of Ireland crime had diminished,
while the crimes which existed in other por-
tions were held in the highest detestation
and abhorrence by the great mass of the
people. He was happy to state that the general re-
sults of the tabular statement of the statistics of crime
which were transmitted from time to time from the
constabulary force of Ireland showed a great
diminution in the extent of the whole crime of Ireland
as compared with corresponding periods in the last year.
In October, 1846, the amount of crimes was 1,483 (as
we understood), but in Janu try, 1847, this remark-
able fact presented itself—the amount of crimes was
2,885, whilst in October, 1847, it had been re
duced to 1,033. He wished at the outset to state
that the proposition which he now rose to submit was
not an indictment Bill against the people of Irelani,
as the Government had been taunted. He did not
come there, as the Hon. Member for Cork had taunted
him, to propose a measure as if " the whole country
was looked upon as a country of assassins."
Those who knew the details of Ireland would at once
admit that such an imputation was quite unfounded,
because he was prepared to show that there
were districts in which there was, so to
speak, a concentration of crime, and that the
crime which had broken out within the
last few years was of a peculiar character, and quite
appalling. The reports which he had receive I showed
that secret associations and secret conspiracies of and
against large and small holders abounded in certain
districts. That men were impugned for merely acting on
their ordinary rights, and murdered whilst exercising
those rights with wonderful forbearance. Was it a
wonder, then, that the crimes which had been perpe-
trated had spread terror through certain districts, and
though these crimes were not numerically great, com-
pared with former periods of Ireland's history, yet
their confinement within narrow limits, and their
dastardly nature, had spread dismay amongst all the
peaceable inhabitants of these districts. He thought,
therefore, he had a right to call upon Irish Members to
support the Government in the determination to which
they had come. The character of themselves and of
their constituents were implicated; other nations
looked on in wonder, and he therefore called upon
them to assist him in arresting the hand of the
assassin, and of giving that proteetion to life
which the peaceable and well-disposed subjects
of her Majesty had a right to claim at the hands of
the Government.—(Hear, hear.) The crime of
which he spoke had not, he was glad to say, extended
to those districts which were still suffering from
famine. This fact was stated by the Secretary for Ire-
land on the first night of the session. The perpetration
of the outrages to which he was adverting could not
set up the excuse that they were driven to desperation
and madness by the pressure of poverty and want—
(Hear, hear)—because these assassinations were
committed in districts in which there was both money
and food, as when pressed by the strong arm of the
law money for holdings had been forthcoming, and
no pretence set up that the funds had been raised
with difficulty. Attempting to enforce those rights
had led to much of the crime which had
taken place. He might be taunted by some
Hon. Members with attempting to enforce
the oft-tried expedients of coercion, whilst the evils
under which Ireland laboured were left untouched.—
(" Hear, hear," from Mr. F. O'Connor.) It would
be for the Hon. Member to show that it would be
unjust to deal out a measure of coercion to Ireland ;
but if he could not show that such a
measure would be unjust, he should claim his vote in
support of the proposition he now rose to submit. No
doubt the Hon. Member wished as much as any man
to prevent bloodshed by the assassin lurking behind a
wall; whilst the unhappy object of his aim was uncon-
scious that he had given offence he in a moment was
laid low on the highway by the hand of the ruth-
less assassin. He did not pretend to propose
this measure as a cure for the evils which
had existed from year to year in Ireland.—(llear,
hear.) It would be short-sighted policy on the part
of the Government if it were to think that the re-
pression of crime was the only measure they should
devise. On the part of the Government, he
disclaimed that - this short, this limited Bill,
would be any panacea to the evils of Ireland; they
believed that they should discharge their duty to tlit
inhabitants of that country by passing such a mea-
sure.—(llear.) It was the duty of a wise Govern-
ment and Legislature to look to the causes of the
yds, but they could not wait, they could not dis-
regard the symptoms which had manifested them-
selves. Crime and outrage must be repressed, and
the encumbered estates, the grand jury, and other pro-
positions, must come under future consideration. They
must meet the present emergency. It was not in the
power of Parliament to do all for Ireland that had
beer, said, but he trusted it would be able to place
the relations of the landlord and tenant upon
a better footing ; but he disclaimed the
Utopian idea of those who thought that the land
should be held in perpetuity by those on whom no
more than a tenant's right descended. Neither could
he agree with the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. F. O'Connor)
that they " should take the idlers off the land." He
did not think the House would confer a land-
lord's right upon the tenants.—(Hear, hear.)
But, while the Government called upon gentlemen to
discharge their duties upon boards of guardians, to
carry out the laws passed for the relief of the desti-
tute poor, called upon all men to co-operate with the
Government in their endeavours to discharge the
duties of their position. Those persons had a
right to call upon the Government, if they
were willing to discharge their duties, for
ample protection against the hand of the
assassin, and for security of life, so as to enable
them to remain resident upon their property, for
'he purpose of cooperating with the Government in
carrying out those laws which might be passed by
t)e Legislature for the common good of all.—(Hear,
hear.) With respect to crime, there were four
classes which, he regretted to say, had within the
last six months considerably increased. Those
four crimes were homicide, attempts upon life by
firing at the person, robberies of arias, and firing into
d welling-houses. A great increase had taken place
in the amount of those crimes. lie found that, in the
six months ending Oct., 1845, the returns were as
follow :
Homicide
Attempts upon life by firing at the person 55
Robberies of arms
207
Firing into dwelling. houses
For the six months ending October, 1847, the num-
bers increased to—
Homicides ...

Attempts upon life by firing at the person . 126
Robberies of arms
Firing into dwelling-houses

It would thus he seen that there was a fearful increase
in the amount of these four classes of crime. The whole
of Ireland was implicated in the shame and disgrace
consequent upon this large increase of crime.
Looking at the police returns for the month of
October (for from that period it was that those crimes
commenced to increase at such a fearful rate), he
found the following results for the whole of Ireland :-
1 lomicides
Eirmg at the person
Firing into dwelling-houses
Robberies of arms .. llB

Making a total of
Looking at the districts in which these crimes were
committed he found that the total number of all those
crimes committed in three of the counties of Ireland,
i. e., Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, was to the
whole of Ireland as 139 to 175, or that 71 per cent.
of the whole amiunt of crime was committed in those
three counties, which did not include more than 13
per cent. of all Ireland. Looking to these three
counties, he found the number of crimes committed in
them to be as follows :

Clare. Limerick. Tipperary.
Homicides ... ... 3 5 2
Firing at the person ... 9 5 6
I, firing intodwellinghouses 1 9 10
Robberies of arms ... 20 .50 19

From which it would be seen, that in those three
counties the homcides had amounted to 10 out of
19 cases of the whole of Ireland ; firing at the
person 20 out of 32 ; firing into dwelling-houses 20
out of 26; robberies of arms 89 out of 118. It ap-
peared that 42 per cent of the crime was committed
in the county of Limerick, with a proportion of only
4 per cent. with respect to the whole of Ireland
It was to those three counties which he had named
only that his observation would apply. He regretted
to
usraiyn thatg
county the o
peaceable
Fermanagh ihha bi
had
t an t
been
e eo
nf thethr e
anteei
ngehd-
bo
t those
h owhichoutrages
hfadsheardetfeetira:kbeeednr.
unties
middle too the
o
w
pltlawce•asianbothuot
last that these crimes assumed their present type.
Thtsy were, for the most part, directed not against
the landlords as a class, but they were directed in
almost all the cases against the class of landowners,
some of whom were possessed of only small portions
of property, and the crimes generally arose out of
waives of revenge, in consequence of circurn.