The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-10 00:00:00

LONDON FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 10, 1847.

to the return of that vessel was not correct, and I
now rise to apologise for not making that explana-
tion before.

An HoN. AlEmnEu inquired, would the Honour-
able Gentloman name his authority for his original
statement ?

Mr. O'CONNELL said he did not know that they
were called upon in that House to name the authori-
ties for every statement put forward. If such a rule
were adopted many parties would be placed in very
extraordinary positions.
Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD said he felt that
it was not quite reconcileable with his duty to give a
silent vote on this occasion. He had abstained from
anything which could be considered as a factious op-
position to the measure, but he felt that the time had
now arrived for explaining his views upon it. He
wished to confine his remarks to the principle of the
Bill. That principle was decidedly the same princi-
ple which had been applied on so many former occa-
sions, in order to reduce crime in Ireland. It
was the principle of trying to repress crime by powers
beyond the ordinary powers of the law. He acknow-
ledged that this Bill ;vas milder in its provisions than
many others that preceded it, but the question which
they had to consider was, would it effect the object
which it was intended to accomplish—the repression
of crime ? He would not touch upon the unconsti-
tutional bearings of the Bill, as they had been fully
explained by the Honourable Member for Notting-
ham (Mr. F. O'Connor). He would merely say,
that if he believed the measure would be useful to
Ireland, it should have his support. But his candid
opinion was, that instead of putting down crime, it
would have the effect of aggravating it.—(Hear,
hear.) He did not think that either the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment or the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary
for Ireland had shown that the Bill would operate in
putting down crime. He thought they had failed in
showing any connexion between the powers of the Bill
and the repression of crime. They heard a great deal
about the sacred rights of property, but why should
they overlook the rights of labour ? He would say that
in Ireland the poor man had no security for a return
for his labour. But what were these landlord rights?
They were in a great many cases rights of robbery
instead of justice.—(Hear, hear.) Should any man
be allowed to enjoy the right of taking, and convert-
ing to his own use, what was produced by the poor
man's labour and capital, and of turning that poor
man out on the world without any compensation ?
(Hear, hear.) He would say they were landlords'
wrongs. The slave master talked of his right over
the person of his slave, but in a free country like this
was it right for the landlord to have the power of
robbing the tenant of his property, and of turning
him out to die in the ditch ? They had repeated
instances of that being done. A very recent case
occurred in the county of Leitrim, and the gentleman
in his defence said that the tenants owed twelve or
fourteen years' rent. He thought such a state of
things must have shown neglect on the part of the
landlord, or his agent, or some overstraining—
(Laughter)—of the resources of the tenant in the
first instance.

Mr. G. H. MOORE totally disagreed with those
Hon. Gentlemen who had expressed their determi-
nation to resist all measures for the suppression of
undoubted crime, unless accompanied by measures
for remedying undoubted evils. He disagreed with
those Hon. Gentlemen as much as he disagreed with
the Hon. Member for Bridport (Mr. W. B. Coch-
rane). The loss of human life by famine, and of
human life by assassination, were evils of infinite
enormity, which it was the duty of that House to
consider and repress. He therefore, holding no
parley with assassins, tendered to her Majesty's Go-
vernment his humble though cordial support in the
carrying out of this tardy act of justice, which at
last they had undertaken to present. With regard
to those unhallowed districts in which a confederation
of murderers had superseded the authority of the law,
and scattered death and consternation through the
country, Ministers had called upon the Legis-
lature for certain powers which they considered suf-
ficient to meet the evil. They were bound to make
the demand. They were therefore responsible to
that House and the country for the sufficiency of the
powers to protect and secure human life ; but were
they not also responsible for lives in other parts of
the country where crime had not yet been seen, and
where the people obeyed the law ?—(Hear, hear.)
There was another class in whose favour he must
appeal to the House. For the first time after cen-
turies of insult, the Roman Catholic clergy had been
recognised as the de facto pastors of the people, and
their services accepted in carrying out the laws. On
this first occasion, it must be admitted, they had
proved themselves worthy of the trust reposed in their
hands.—(Hear, hear.) The exertions of the Roman
Catholic clergy during the famine appeared to him to
have been almost superhuman, and these labours
were added to their ordinary duties, which were
sufficiently arduous. They strongly denounced
crime. Was it not extraordinary, then, that the
only notice taken of their services should have been
of the aberrations of one gentleman, who seemed to
have made a most unfortunate speech ?—(Hear, hear.)
He might mention that in the proclaimed district,
out of many hundred victims who had fallen under
the murderous confederation in Tipperary, only two
were alleged to have been denounced by the Roman
Catholic clergy.—(Hear, hear.) Expressions might
have been used which naturally disgusted the minds
of the English people ; but he asked if there had
been no provocation of strong language used towards
them in this country
Gentleman
ut
was
the
alllre lavnedr
Honourable
well ?—(Hear, hear.) Had all the
incendiaries been confined to Ireland ? Had there
been no calumniators on this side the water ? It was
alone, fort Noblehteore
attribute
Lord t
ha
but
udatt thertoehei
trßight
f
o organ
the Right Honourable Gentleman? was there no
press ? were we to shut
our eyes to all that we had
heard during the last few months ? had the Govern-
ment no organ ? what had been the conduct of those
organs ? what had been their l ? The
people
alnguag e
might well answer the benevolent assurance of the
Right Hon. Baronet •
In the words of Caliban, in the
Tempest:—

" But they'll not pinch,
Fright me with urchin shows, pitch me 1'
the mire,
Nor lead me, like a firebrand in the dark,
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em ; but
For every trifle they are set upon me.
__ •

adders,
am ...
read the articles which had All wound with
rs, who, with cloven tongues,
which not only stooped Do hiss me into mad
He asked the Right H°o"s'"
Gentleman whether he had
columns of the Times, a journal
twelve months in the had appeared during the last
ed
ties of race, but Pto pander to the vile animosi-
Englishmen, and tampered with the social virtues of
the springs of the poisonedmost
in their very source all
To what else tendedst deep-rooted of all the virtues
Members in the House
the language of various Hon
all use the same 11"
? It was true they did not
the same weapon. language;t all assassins did not use
and Brinvilliers less was the weapon of Borgia
as the assassin of Ti deadly because not so vulgar
in Ireland who cast Tipperary ? If there had been men
in England equally guilty,
there had been those
bad not been preached although what they said
Captain HARRIS saitd that he had thought it his
° an excited people.
duty, on one or twooo
her Majesty's Goverutnenetasi°ns, to put questions to
relating to denunciations
by the Catholic clergy. He
ne-
cessary to assure the House ' thought it hardly
not actuated by any feelingsthat in so doing he was
that body, but he declared most of animosity against
most sincerely that he
participated entirely in the
conviction expressed by
the Hon. Member who last s
ma-
jority of that body discharged duties highly to
e, that the great
their credit. Indeed, conclusive ence was
on
the table that what he had been eidpleased to term v laid
eccen-
tricities and aberrations were confined
indi-
viduals. It was for that reason i e led to a few n
Government intended to take aiv steps, and had asked whether
should bring on the subject on he
a future day. He
suggested whether the putting a m
in a state of
terror by denunciations from the altaran
considered a misdemeanour. it W should not be
that he wished to see the matter a for that reason
distinctly placed on
the statute-book.
Sir W. VERNER wished to notice
which had been probably made un an observation
absence of several Hon. and Gallant guardedly in the
Officers, belong-
ing to both services, whom he had _ now the pleasure
to see in the House. The Hon, Member for Not-
tingham, in speaking of courts-martial, was pleased
w
to say that the conduct they pursued as to shoot the
prisoner at night and to try him :in
the morning.—
(Great laughter.) He always understood that the
contrary was the case, as it was in the instance of
every court-martial he had assembled.
Mr. F. O'CONNOR wished to explai •
' n lie was
with contrasting the military coercive code. the ordi-
nary military code, and was stating what the practice
a
was at a drumhead court-martial, when lawil
overrun in Ireland during the year 1798, andwas
not
at all speaking with regard to the ordinary law.
The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the second reading ........
• • 296
Against it ...
Majority •• ...........
.. 277
The Bill was then read a second time.
Mr. EDMUND B• ROCHE said that whatever
might be the course of other Hon. Gentlemen, he for
one would offer no further opposition to the B'll.
Mr. JOHN O'CONNELL said tha 1
t he regretted
the course which his Hon. Friend had thought proper
to pursue, but he, for his part, was not prepared to
desist in his opposition to the clauses of the Bill.
THE PUBLIC WORKS (IRELAND) BILL.
This Bill was read a second time.
The other orders having been disposed of, the
House adjourned at half-past Twelve o'clock.
e

There is at this time in a large fir tree in front of
Palmer's Cottage, near Elstree, a starling's nest. The
young ones are only a few days old.