The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-31 00:00:00

a'
nd Learned Gentleman said—" By the present Bill
much mischief will be avoided—it gives protection
where it was wanted, and takes from no man the right of
being tried by a jury."—( Hear, hear.) Now he (Sir J. Gra-
ham) should say that under the provisions of the present Bill
every man should be tried before a judge and by a jury of his
countrymen—the onus of proof of innocence resting entirely
with himself.—(Hear, hear.) He was very unwilling at
greater length to trespass on the indulgence of the House, but
he still could not help adverting to the system practised towards
the resident landlords in many districts, the result of which was
that many of them were compelled to become exiled from the
enjoyment of their homes and properties. With that view he
would refer the House to a case that was lately
brought under his own knowledge. In the evidence
taken before the Devon Commission, 2d volume,
and page 751, Mr. Vincent, a Roman Catholic gentleman,
residing in the county Clare was described as a resident gen
tleman, performing all the duties of his station in a highly
creditable and gentlemanlike manner. In the course of last
autumn, and at three different periods, he received three
threatening notices, because of his arrangement or letting of
140 acres of land. These notices compelled him, within the
last two months to leave the district ; but on the Sunday
before leavin e, he attended the Roman Catholic chapel, for the
purpose of Divine worship, and having obtained the consent of
the clergyman he, at the close of Divine worship addressed he
people from. the steps of the altar, explaining to them his rea-
sons or quitting the country. He stated there were men
then present in the chapel, and he knew them, who
had already passed a sentence of death upon him,
and in consequence of that he was compelled
to leave his home and his property. He stated he was quite
ready to enter into an explanation of his conduct as a landlord
and a resident. But what was the result ? Why, that on the
next day he was served with another notice ; and the conse-
quence was, that he was compelled to relinquish the enjoy-
ment of home and family ; and the improvement of his pro-
perty, as well as the condition of those dependent on him as a
landlord.—( Hear, hear.) Such was the state of the country
that he had been co repelled to leave his home, and he was about
to leave the country. He had been informed that Mr. Carrick,
a Clare man, the friend of the Hon. Member (Mr. O'C. )' who
took such an active part in a transaction which neither the Hon.
Member nor posterity were likely easily to forget—the election
for Clare after the Catholic emancipation—had been barba-
rously murdered. Mr. Wilson, a friend of Mr. Carrick, had
been compelled to leave the country, and since he had left Mr.
Carrick had been shot. He was about to read a letter from a
,eentleman whom he might suppose was a connexion of the
Hon. Gentleman the Member for the City of Cork.
He was/ a eßoman Catholic and a stipendiary magistrate.
He stated that the writer regretted to say that he died of
his wounds ; that alarm and consternation was created
by this event in the minds of all respectable persons throng?:
out the country, who looked forward to the passing of the h.,0
ercion Bill, as the only means of putting a stop to this system
of assassination, so perseveringly put in force. He says that no
man's life is safe, and it would require the most stringent law for
the protection of the country, and that there is no security for
any person. He was drawing to a close the observations which
he had felt his painful duty to make to the House, but
there was another document's' which it was his duty
to place before the House whole and entire. It contains an
appeal made to the Hon. and Learned Member
entleman who s
for Cork him-
, yeoman Catholic, and a g i
self, by Mr. Ryan,
on such a footing with the Hon. and Learned Gentleman that
his letter begins " Dear Sir," and end, " Your ever faithful
friend." [ Mr. O'Connell—He is unknown.] His letter is
quite worthy of being read.
~ Ac you value the peace of Ireland I most earnestly entreat of
you to give up your opposition to the principle of the Bill about
to be introduced into the House of Commons for the protection
of life. It may have some trivial defects, most of which have
been modified in the House of Lords, but the well-thinking
portion of society of all parties agree that something must be
done to suppress crime in this country. It is melancholy to
behold whole sessions of Parliament wasted away in idle debate
on measures which turn out to be of no importance, or no
benefit to the people."
—(Cheers.) My Noble Friend the Member for Lynn must un-
derstand that this applies to the last session of Parliament.
" The Landlord and Tenant Bill, which has been loudly
called for by nine-tenths of the people of Ireland, has been
overlooked or forgotten, and seven months of a session of
Parliament spent in opposition to an Arms Bill, which proved
to be the very reverse of what was anticipated. The Liberal
party in the House argued, that it would destroy. the con-
stitutional liberty of the subject ; that, if passed into a law,
the police would search for arms at all hours ; that the pri-
vacy of families would be invaded; and that even at night we
should be subject to the insults of this ruthless body. Well,
the Arms Act has now been some time in force, and there is
not one instance to be found where the police abused the power
with which they were invested. The police are an efficient,
well-regulated force, under excellent control, and you may rest
satisfied that if they and the higher portion of the Executive
had no more honourable motive to guide them in the discharge
of their duty than your own influence and that of the press, it
would be quite sufficient to insure a fair administration of the
' Coercion Act,' as you call it. This one fact does away with
one of the principal arguments against this Bill. When we
see a Government doing all in its power to alleviate the dis-
tress of the people ; when we see them scorning the ties
of friendship and of party to establish a law that will
afford the most extensive benefits, by giving cheap food
and cheap clothing to the millions ; when we see them
promising an extended Franchise Bill, a Corporation
Bill, and, the mast important of all, 'a Landlord and
Tenant Bill,' let us not, in the name of common sense, delay,
or perhaps altogether postpone, those good measures by a pro-
tracted opposition to a stringent Bill, which the state of society
absolutely requires. Had the Arms Bill been less opposed and
more stringent, the necessity for the Coercion Bill would now
be less urgent. Instead of arms being taken from those who
were entitled to them, they were indiscriminately put into the
hands of evil-minded persons. Thus a facility was given to the
disaffected to commit crimes, while the power of detecting or
suppressing them was diminished. Armed persons may now
go about night and day, and unless the police catch them in the
actual fact of committing outrage, no notice can be taken of
them. Under the Protection Bill there might be some hope
of punishing those lawless villains, who in reality abridge the
liberty of the subject, by forcing the peaceable and well-con-
ducted members of society to remain in their houses from sun-
set until sunrise, aye, and sometimes during broad daylight, lest
they might be assassinated by these demons."
I. pointed out to the House that the state of society in five
counties was such that it was not safe to go freely about. The
lion. Member for Limerick (Mr. Smith O'Brien) doubts
that statement. But look at Sir Francis Hopkins, attacked
when on his return from dining with a neighbour. Look at
Mr. Booth Bell, shot when returning from church. The state
of society is unquestionably such, that the ordinary liberty of
qiivate life is not enjoyed. Mr. Ryan proceeds—" Thank God
e number of delinquents are few. Some dozens of the en-
tire population may be brought to justice under this Act, while
eight millions will be benefited by it. The expense will be a
mere trifle; we now pay 4s. per acre taxes, a sixth of which
only goes to public works, while five-sixths of it are expended
in supporting gaols and suppressing crime. The greater part
of this burden is to be removed, and a sum of 3d. or 4d. per acre
may be called for, but this only in disturbed districts. The only
objection to this tax is, that the landlord is net
made to pay his share according to his pro-
portion of poor- rates. This, most assuredly, should
be the case, and I am sure you will insist on his paying a
fair portion of it. This point conceded to you, I beg of you
to facilitate the passing of this Act. lam not a tyrant land-
lord who asks you to do so. 1 am a friend to popular rights,
and so far back as 1828, when you called me to the chair of
the Catholic Association, to the present time, I have been one
of your humble but strenuous supporters."
I thought the Hon. and Learned Member for Cork said this
gentleman was unknown ; he described himself as a friend of
popular rights, and as having been a supporter of the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman.
I have given more employment than any man of my
means in Ireland. I never did anything in my life that would
call forth the odium of the lawless, or the revenge of the assassin,
unless that I assisted in endeavouring to bring the murderers
of Mr. Milo Bourke, late of Springfield, and Mr. Andrew
Bourke, late of Greenlawn, to justice. These two inoffensive
gentlemen were murdered for no other reason but because
their lives were in leases of land. They were brothers and
uncles of mine. I lost 3001. a year by the murder-of Mr.
Milo Bourke ; and Mr. Bourke, of the Shelburne Hotel, to
whom the property of his brother Milo reverted, had been
obliged to sell it for one-tenth of its value, because he did not
like coming to this country to receive his rents. Since that
period there have been ten malicious injuries done to my pro-
perty, and two attempts made on my life."
" I shall not trouble you with a detailed account of all, but
merely state what occurre.l on the 7th of March instant.
About II o'clock on the night of that day, while my wife, one
child, said myself were in my parlour, nine bulletts from a blun-
derbuss were discharged into the window ; three bullets were
lodged in the shutters, and one struck the fender around which
we were sitting ; the other five bullets hit the wall outside.
All my family, consisting of ten children and five servants,
were in the same room, at night prayers, a few minutes before
the shot was fired, so that the assassin did not care whether
he killed one person or seventeen. Had the ' Protection Act'
been in force, the perpetrator of this horrible outrage could
have been most easily detected."
I cannot better conclude my observations, which I have pro-
longed to a great extent, than in the words used by this gen-
tleman. "As you love Ireland—as you hate injustice—as you
abhor outrage and crime—l entreat, I implore you," not to op-
pose the progress of this Bill. Taking into consideration the
further discussions which may take place relative to the state
of affairs which I have described ; bearing in mind that what
I have stated is the true state of affairs, which does not extend
to the whole or to a large part of Ireland, which is now limited
to the ewes I have specified in five counties, but which are ad-
joining counties, and that there is a marked and dangerous ten-
dency in them to spread, which, as I believe, can only be ar-
rested by means of this kind. I again say, that I entreat the
house, in the present circumstances of Ireland, not to delay the
first reading of this Bill.—( Hear.)
Mr. DILLON BROWNE msved the adjournment of the
debate.
Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN did not wish to take any other
enure, but what would bring out the whole facts of the case in
fair discussion. lle thought it would be best to adjourn then.—
(Cries of " Go on, go on.")
Mr. O'CONNELL did not think that the House ought to
press him to go on after sitting seven hours. The hest course
at that late hour would be to adjourn the further consideration
of the question.
Sir ROBERT PEEL objected to the adjournment as with-
out precedent. There was a general understanding that the
Honourable and Learned Member for Dublin (Mr. O'Con-
nell) would address the House, and he had no
doubt he would be listened to for an hour or two. Besides,
every facility would be given on the second reading, and the
other stages of the Bill, to discuss the measure. On the first
reading he hoped they would eo on that night.
Mr. CALEB POWELL *briefly supported the motion for
adjournment.
Lord CLAUDE HAMILTON thought they ought to go
on. Hon. Members on the other side of the House seemed to
prefer an adjournment, in order to consult their love of ease.—
( Cries of " Oh, oh.") He thought. that if Hon. Members
who had been engaged all day in Government offices were
willing to sit, that Hon. Members on the other side ought to
go on. Let them fight the measure in a fair way, if they
wished to oppose what they called this " Algerine Act." He
for one was not prepared to go home at half-past eleven o'clock.
Mr. D. BROWNE would not allow his Irish feelings to be
excited, notwithstanding the undignified manner in which the
Noble Lord had spoken, who always contrived to say something
that, was very offensive. fie would not assume that tone, but
state the reasons why he moved that adjournment. He did
so as the Hon. and Learned Member for Cork (Mr. O'Connell)
had precedence with his amendment, but was not prepared to
go on at that hour. Besides, the Hon. Member the Right
Hon. Gentleman the Home Secretary had made an able speech,
in a temper which het Mr. D. Browne) would wish to see
imitated by other lion. Members in that House, and it was but.
see h.- right ;that time should be given for a reply, as it contained
- - some very afrikileg statements respecting the people of Ireland
‘seh ' which it was necessary ter answer. He hoped the Government
~se would not use any great precipitancy in forwarding a measure
4 r,l,- involving to snob-an extent the rights and liberties of the people.
47! •'.,- e He hoped that the: House would not hurry through a measure
.-.• • .. which would place the whole country in the power of the
(
te*".„--- Lord Lieutenant"; Under these circumstances, he had moved
4e 1/4......
the adjournment 9f the House, and he did not regret that by
-- es doing so he bad incurred the wrath of the Noble Lord.
AI Colonel R A.WDON did not think that it was a very extraor-
d hare course to move the adjournment of the debate. He
Ili wolf w°4'l4 have, at an earlier period of the evening, been op.