The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-10 00:00:00

MR. BLACKER.

Mr. SEI NW asked for a moment'3 indulgence while
he alluded to a charge that was made the other
night against a gentleman of high respectability—he
meant Mr. Maker, the Chairman of the County of Dub-
lin. At the moment when the charge was made against
Mr. Blacker, he and those gentlemen around him who
knew Mr. Blacker, felt convinced that the charge was
unfounded, but he would now read a short. passage from
a letter which he bad received on the subject from
Mr. Blacker him3elf. The passage was as follows—
" I gave up in 1826 going the Circuit, and never,
either before or since, have belonged to any political
society of any description, or worn any badge
either Orange or not, eith,..,r in the Circuit or else-
where.—(Cheers.) The charge therefore, is not on'y
unfounded in fact, but is contrary to all my habits and
opinions."—(Lond cheers.)
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON had received a letter
from Mr. Blacker to the same effect.
Mr. BATEMAN lied known Mr. BlaAer for
thirty years, and he felt authorised by that long
acquaintance to state that the insinuation of the
Honourable and Learned Member for Dublin was
perfectly unfounded, and when the Hon. Member him-
self %yore political badges in that House.—(Loud cries
of " Order, order," during which the Hon. Member
resumed his seat.)
DRAINAGE OF LANDS IN IRELAND.

Lord MORPETH, in moving for leave to brit 6 lo
a Bill to amend the laws relating to the drainage of
lands in Ireland, said that in England much bad been
done for the drainage of lands, which had been under-
taken either by individuals or companies ; but although
Ireland possessed un immense quantity of table-Lend
which might be rendered most valuable by drain-
ing, the only legislative enactment on the sub-
ject was the Act introduced by his Honourable
Friend the Member for Kildare, now Secretary
to the Admiralty, in the reign of the last King.
What he proposed by the present Bill was, to take
from the Companies, who at present controlled it, the
drainage of land in Ireland, and place it in the hands
of Commissioners. He believed that this would have
the effect of improving Ireland greatly, increase its
revenue, and improve the resources of that coustry.
There were many operations in drainage which were on
too minute a scale to require a general provision, and
several proprietors in Ireland had suggested that to
meet such cases a less expensive mode should be devised.
The Bill which he now proposed was in effect the
s one as that which he introduced on a former occasion,
when the late period of th? Session caused it to be aban-
doned altogether. A Committee appointed by the House
to inquire into its merits had reported favourably. The
Bill which he now proposed to introduce was framed
upon the evidence of Government engineers and others
practically acquainted with the condition, the wants,
and the resources of the country. Whatever might
be the faults of the measure, he believed it was calcu•
lated to do more for the solid good of Ireland
than many of the measures which occupied the time Of
the House relating to that country.—(Cheers.) He
believed it was calculated to do much more good to
Ireland than either the R .gistration Bill of his Right
Hon. Friend opposite or his own —(Cheers and
laughter.) It teas clearly more calculated to do good
than his Hon. Friend's.—(Great cheering and laughter.)
He did not however expect that it would be taken so
much notice of as either of the Registration Bills—
(Laughter)—but ho sincerely hoped that it would nut
encounter so much opposition.—(Great cheering and
laughter.)
Mr. GOU LBUR N should certainly protest against
any grant of public money being made for the purpose
of carrying the Bill into effect. He wished to ask
whether the Noble Lord intended to ask for an issue
of Exchequer Bills, and if not in what way he proposed
to raise money for defraying the expenses of the works.
Lord MORPETH said it was merely intended to
place the promoters of any of the works upon the same
footing ns the projectors of other public works, and to
give them a power to borrow.

SHAW did riot intend to offer any opposition
to the first reading of the Bill, anti he agreed with
many of the genersl observations that had fo.llen
from the Noble Lord. There was no one project of
improvement the Government could so well direct their
attention to as the improvement of the agriculture of Ire-
land. He must deprecate any attempt to give an undue
influence to the manufacturers of Ireland, and to ex-
clude others, however much he might wish to see the
native manufactures prosper. As the Noble Lord
bad referred to another measure before the House
(the Irish Registration Bill), he would just observe
that it was rather inconsistent in the Noble Lord,
while he professed a desire to improve the system of
agriculture in Ireland, to attempt to introduce a
system of 5/, tenements, the splitting of farms
and the minute sub-division of land, for that was what
the Noble Lords' Registration Bill would ultimately
lead to.

Mr. O'CONNELL must complain of the opinions
the Right Honourable Gentleman expressed with
regard to the manufacturing produce of his coun•
try. He wished the Right Honourable Gentle-
man had discussed that subject with his friend Pro-
fessor Butt. But what had the question of Irish ma-
nufactures to do with draining. The draining of Ireland
was the question before the House—a process which
that Assembly had for many years past been
pretty familiar with.—( Laughter.) Tne Right
Honourable Gentleman opposite (Mr. Goulburn) was
so alarmed and terrified lest any money should go from
this country to Ireland, even in the shape of Exchequer
Bills, that he had felt it necessary to rise immediately after
the Noble Lord to enter his protest against it.
Why. the Right Hon. Gentleman appeared to forget
that 74,0001. annually, the produce of the Woods and
Forests in Ireland, was remitted to beautify London
and improve its streets and squares, and that
there was also a surplus of two millions from the Irish
Exchequer. He hoped the House would not participate
in the antipathy of the Right Hon. Gentleman
to Ireland, and that, if money were required upon good
security, it would not be withheld, even if England were
the lender.

Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
PUNISHMENT OF DEATH.

Mr. FITZROY KELLY rose to bring forward
his motion for leave to bring in a 13111 to abolish
the punishment of death in all cases except mur-
der and high treason. It would not be ne-
cessary for him to intrude upon the attention cf
the House at any length, because it was impossible
to mark the progress of legislation for the last
forty or fifty years the spread of education and know-
ledge, without feeling that the severity of the criminal
code had been most materially and judiciously ameliorated
in that period. Since then the number of crimes have
been diminished, and the number of convictions in pro-
portion. In the beginning of the present century there
were three hundred offences punishable by death by the
laws of England. Since that period owing to the
great exertions of a few individuals, notwithstanding the
powerful and determined opposition of many persons,
among whom were a number of gentlemen belonging to
the profession to which he had the honour to belong,
there bad been a great reduction in the number of
crimes which were denominated capital, and they were
now reduced to about 30. The last occasion was in
1837, when several Bills were introduced in Parlia-
ment by the Noble Lord opposite (J. Russell), and
these had, after full discussion, received the sanction
of Parliament. Feeling, in common with many
who had devoted their attention to the subject,
that a sufficient period had elapsed since then to enable
the public and the Legislature to decide on the pro-
priety of further improvements, he had in the last Ses•
sion of Parliament introduced a 13111 to exempt from ca-
pital punishment all crimes but murder and high treason
It would be in the recollection of the House that last
Session his Bill passed through all its stages by larg.et
majorities, and that it was only on nwatsheomotthioen thatw isabocsi
be read a third time that in a thin
defeated. House by no means a large majority
Be-
lieving that he would be giving
of a very large majority ofefftclelnatpt
of the well thinking
the propriety
leave again to submit to 1
of
pthrcianpinent lte,hilioeusbeegganeda
cntas all cases except those
of abolishing capital p
and
argumentshigh t
in
euansoisnii.nAslienifiatdhoeftleinillb;efnotriedsatasthede
ofthe n generalur d e r
to favour
Bill, he didi
BillH wouassenot-heaxntetno.
meet with no opposition in
not think it necessary to
iunntdrnedrsutcoion(gl tlhiaist
trespass
state that the object of t
further on the
htelmFeesoefnttbe
but in deference to the wishes of many Hon,
sive with that of last Session. In substance it was
tAiremsabmere; he had materially altered it in point of form.
In place of doing as in the Bill of last year, name all
the crimes the punishments of which were capital, and
which he proposed to abolish, and then in one clause
doing so, he now made each crime and the abolition of
capital punishment respecting it the subject
He nosy w
sepa-
rateofa,sa
that andti,
that
distinct
plan
ba cause.—( al
many us en ( Hear, hear,)
advantages, for any Member
would now have it in his power to discuss the whole
question as applicable to any crime. But eno still
greater advantage was this--there were so many of