The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-30 00:00:00

I arrested, there is no reason, at least no moral reason, to
I doubt that they were the persons by whom the fatal act
was committed.—(Hear, hear.) If the police had been
armed with the power which this clause confers these
persons might have been arrested, have been deprived
of their fatal weapons, committed to prison, and ren
dered amenable to punishment for carrying arms, er if
it were proved that arms were found on them or near
them, as there is no doubt would have been the case in
this instance. This provision does not extend to
per-
sons with arms in their houses. We are not of opinion
that the same absolute prohibition to retain arms now
in the possession of persons in districts under proclama-
tion should be enacted by Parliament as is necessary
with respect to persons carrying arms abroad.—(Hear.)
There is no doubt the possession of fire-arms has been
sought for and obtained, and may be so in those pro-
claimed districts with perfectly lawful purposes by many
persons. Many of the small farmers, for instance,
have obtained arms for the purpose of defending their
houses against midnight attacks, and there were
several cases in which these attacks had been
successfully defeated by means of the gallant
use of these fire-arms.—(Hear, hear) We, at the
same time, think the indiscriminate possession of
arms, even in houses, in the proclaimed districts, a h.• re
a suspicion exists that the parties who have them int,,i,d
to use them in the furtherance of crime, and in the I ur-
suitlot their murderous conspiracies, is not to be stoic-
tioned.—(Hear, hear.) We propose, therefore, to give
the Lord-Lieutenant the power, at his own disere.loo,
to issue a further proclamation or notice, to refer either
to the whole or a limited portion of the disturbed dis-
tricts, to call on all persons, not within those enume-
rated exceptions to which I formerly referred, to apply
for licenses to retain their arms, and to order that any
persons not so licensed shall deliver up their arms by a
day to be named in the notice so issued by the Lrd-
Lieutenant, at the nearest police-station within the dis-
turbed district, or at some police-station adjoining. Ile
proposed to enact that after such notice, all pers,tis
knowingly retaining arms within their own houses and
not being within the excepted clauses, who shall not
have a license so to retain them, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanour. We further propose that the Lord.
Lieutenant shall have power, by a warrant under the
hand of the Chief, or of the Under-Secretary for Ireland,
to order a search to be made by the police
in the houses comprised within the the proclaimed dis-
tricts, which have been included in the notice, or in other
parts of the country if necessary, and to authorise a
seizure of all arms found in such districts by the police,
and their forfeiture to the Crown.—(Hear, hear.) Such,
Sir, are the main provisions we propose that this House
should enact with respect to the possession of arms in
those districts of Ireland in which crime prevails, and
such are the provisions which I am authorised to state
the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland considers will enable
him, with the additional police force which Parliament
may place at his disposal, and with the efficient aid
which the military authorities, in concert with them,
aro prepared to afford, as well as with the assistance of
the well-disposed inhabitants of the country, on which
he confidently relies, effectually to suppress the state of
crime and outrage —to put an end to the
system of intimidation and to the reign of terror which
are paralyzing the energies of the Government in that
country, and disorganizing the whole condition of
society.—(Hear, hear.) There are farther provisions
in the Bill, without reference to the state of disturbance
in the districts, and without the necessity of proof
which is required to make a person answerable to the
provisions of the White Boy Act, which render persons
guilty of offences not strictly within the meaning
of that Act, such as writing threatening letters and
notices, amenable to the operation of that Act, and liable
to the infliction of its penalties.—(Hear, hear.) There
is one other clause which, though it does nothing more
than recite the existing law, increases its stringency, and
subjects parties transgressing it to the full penalties of
their offence, will I trust be found successful in prevent-
ing the commission and impunity of crime, and in check-
ing that disposition on the part of the people to side
with the criminal, and to refuse assistance to the police,
to which I have already had occasion to allude. We
propose by this clause that justices of the peace, or con-
stables in any district where any murder has been
committed, or attempt to murder made, or reasonable
ground for believing that it will be made, shall be em-
powered to call on all persons between the ages of sixteen
and twenty, residing or being in the district, to assist in
the search and pursuit of persons either charged with the
commission of crime, and in case of an attempt to com-
mit it, to discover them, and to require them to join in
the pursuit, and investigation of the concealment of the
criminal. It goes on to enact, that it shall be the duty
of every one so called upon to join in the pursuit, and to
do his utmost to assist in the search ; and that every one
refusing to join in and assist, when so called upon, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable to be impri-
soned, with or without hard labour, for any
period not exceeding two years.—(Hear.) Such,
Sir, are the main provisions of the Bill which I am
anxious to obtain the leave of the House to lay upon the
table. Whatever opinion may be entertained with re-
spect to its adaptation to check those frightful evils
which it has been my painful duty to lay before the
House, I hope, Sir, the House will allow me to put upon
the table a Bill framed with the object rather of prevent-
ing the commission of crime than of subjecting the
whole kingdom, for the crimes and outrages of a few, to
the penalties of a harsh and vexatious law.—(Hear,
hear.) We do not ask you for the suspension of the law,
or to erect any other than the ordinary tribunals of the
country, but we ask you to pass this Bill as a means of
dispelling the well-grounded terror, which, grounded
on the force of arms and intimidation, is stalking
through the districts in which those crimes exist. What-
ever opinion may be entertained of its efficiency for
these purposes, Parliament will at once agree with me
in saying that it is the dvty of the Government and of
the Legislature to endeavour, by the existing law if they
can—it not, by an amendment of it—to prevent the re-
petition and frequent recurrence of crimes to which the
attention of the House has been so painfully called. I
trust, Sir, that the Bill which is now ready to be brought
in may be laid on the table of the House to-night, that
it may be printed and placed in the hands of Honeurable
Members as soon as possible. I hope that an early day
may be fixed for its discussion, and that no protracted
debate may take place on this occasion, but that any
observations which may arise respecting the Bill may
be referred to a future stage in its progress through the
House. The Right Hon. Baronet concluded by moving
for leave to bring in the Bill.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL then rose, on the question being
put, but his opening remarks were inaudible, in conse-
quence of the noise made by the Members leaving the
House. He was understood to observe, that he was
agreeably disappointed, after the rumours he had heard
out of doors with respect to the intentions of Govern-
ment, at the provisions of the Bill now sought to be in-
troduced. Ile certainly had been prepared for a more
severe measure from what he had heard, and his expec-
tations had not been met, he was glad to say, by the
measure which they had just heard described by the
Right Hon. Baronet. He for one felt bound to say he
did not consider there was any reason for violating in
this instance the usual courtesy of the House by op-
posing the introduction of the Bill; and ho was not pre-
pared to say " No" to the motion for a first reading of
it.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") The Government
ought to have the Bill printed as speedily as possible to
send it over to Ireland, that they might collect the
opinions of the country there before the discussion
came on. The Irish Members were prepared to make
every concession to Government consistently with the
discharge of their duty in the suppression of outrage.—
(Hear, hear.) He was not by any means con-
vinced that the powers of the law as it stood at present
were not perfectly equal to the repression of outrage ;
but it would be a very grave thing, considering the re-
sponsibility that rested upon the Government, to refuse
them leave to bring in this Bill. During its progress
through the House he implored them, however, to put
in force all the force of the existing laws, and to issue
special commissions, to see if it were not adequate for
the prevention of these outrages without having recourse
to any measure of coercion. The Hon. Member con-
troverted the statements of Mr. Hawley, the assistant
barrister, that no person could go through the county of
Tipperary without danger, and remarked that the very
fact of the Learned Gentleman, whose unfortunate lot it
had been to have transported more men than any assist-
ant barrister in Ireland, being able to attend to his
duties without hindrance, was a contradiction to his
own report. One part of the Right Honourable Ba-
ronet's speech had filled him with regret. He had
in the course of his remarks spoken very strongly
against the outrages of the people, and the enor-
mity of the crimes committed by them—he had
lauded highly the character and conduct of the
county magistrates, but he had not said one word
of the crimes committed by the landlord against
could
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benches it was a bad way of beg
The moral
session to
open it with harshness and severity,
of their coercive measure would be far
greaterlt,:
trusteewere
preceded by substantial efforts of good-will.
they should hear some of the Ministry stating
of the measure they intended to bring in, and the
natureti
at which it would be ready for the House. If the nlob-
jections ho now entertained to the present measure were
to be removed by discussion, he would still feel it his duty
to give every opposition to it in its latest stages, unless
some progress were made in the Bill which was to estab-
lish thei peace of Ireland by the removal of the un-
settled relations between landlord and tenant. The
Government depended too much on the effect of a poor-
law. It would be found inadequate to the emergency.
Human beings were perishing daily, and such resources
as the country possessed could not be developed in time
to save them. A large amount of the rates collected
le ri.
lately were arrears, and when these rates were expended
he wished to know what would be left for outdoor
Something should be done to assist the people at once.
It was said there was some corn to aid the local rates in
feeding and maintaining 500,000 men, but he believed
they would have in the ensuing year to give relief to
between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 of souls. By the
papers, as far as he was able to see, there did not appear
to have been more than 1,600,0001. givers by way of loan
and grant to the unions in Ireland—about 1,500,000/.
had been devoted to the improvement of land, and
500,0001. to railway companies ; but, on the whole.
out of the 8,000,0001. which had been grated by Par-
liament, there must be 4,000,0001. unemployed,
which he implored them to use in saving the
lives of the people, or another million of them
would perish within the next six months. lie
would bring this subject again and again before the
].Louse till he had ascertained whit they would do for