The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-19 00:00:00

IRISH COERCIVE BILL.

(From the New Monthly Magazine.)
" But from whom comes this blow ? We did wrong to at.
tribute a peculiar spirit of harshness to the Secretary for Irish
affairs. His offence is light beside that of his colleagues ;—he
is a foe, but at least he is not a deserter. Who was it, in 1801,
when in the House of Lords it was debated whether or not a
law, that only makes a part of these laws,—the Irish Martial.
law Bill,--should be continued—who was it that entered his
solemn protest against the legality and expediency, under any
circumstances, or at any time, of granting such an authority and
passing such a law ? Who was it that signed a protest—run.
ning in these words—the first name upon the record,
" Dissentient.

" 'Because it appears to be useless and unadvisable to attempt
to provide for possible cases of extreme necessity by legislative
acts, since the effect of such cases is to supersede all legal pro-
visions. A state of things in which the ordinary course of law
and justice in a civilized country must be suspended cannot be
legally supposed ! * * * *
" If it were true that in particular districts such terrors pre-
vailed that juries could not be found to do their duty in the trial
of offenders, and if in such circumstances it became unavoidably
necessary to resort to other courts and to other forms of pro-
ceeding, it does not follow that new and exorbitant powers
should be given to such courts, much less that offenders under
trial, or in custody of the civil magistrates, should be removed
from thence, and brought before a Military Tribunal.

" We will not consent to rest such dangerous and arbitrary
powers in any hands, and least of all in courtsmartial, in the con-
stitution of which no care is taken to exclude the effects of levity
and passion.'

" Who was it signed that protest ? Who poured forth his
eloquent vituperatives against the proposition for martial-law for
Ireland ? My Lord Holland,—it was you! You, a Minister
now ;—you, a supporter,—an originator, perhaps, of these very
laws, even a single one of which formerly seemed to you beyond
even the power of circumstance to excuse!

" I allow that too close a consistency may be demanded of
statesmen ; different times require diffeient measures, but this
inconsistency defies excuses,—its proportions are so huge that
no garment can conceal them; for here you assert that no time
would justify these measures, and, in point of fact, the present
time is not comparable in danger--in political excitement—to
that of 1801, when the ashes of rebellion were still warm, and
when France threatened you with invasion in whatever side
was unguarded. Inconsistency do I call it; its proper name is
perfidy ! And yet even this may be outdone by the treachery
of one who, having higher powers of good, has greater responsi-
bilities in evil. Who was it—who, in the progress of the same
Bill in 1801, through the House of Commons—who was it that,
now denying inquiry into the expediency of these laws, de-
manded inquiry then ? Who was it that last week defended
merciless laws, by the assurance that they would be placed in
merciful hands—and vaunted the virtues of the Viceroy 2
the same man who, in 1801, said thus The Noble Lord had
talked of the character of the present Lord-Lieutenant—but he
would resist the general principle, that a measure was good
because it was in good hands!' Who was it that last week
selected from all conceivable jurisdictions a courtmartial as the
best 7—the same man who, in 1801, said thus Would the
Noble Lord say that courtsmartial were infallible in Ireland,
and there could be no ground to censure their proceedings ?
the fact was notoriously otherwise: a man had murdered a poor
fellow in his mother's arms to which he had pursued him : he
was tried by a courtmartial, and acquitted.' Who was it that
last week demanded martial law for the suppressing of White-
boys ?—the same man who, in 1801, deeming such an excuse too
monstrous even for a Castlereagh to propose, said—' The Noble
Lord talked of the inveteracy of Jacobinism ; but there
had been in Ireland the Whiteboys, and parties bearing
other names not less virulent. Those parties might as properly
have been brought forward as proofs of the necessity of this
measure as the Jacobin spirit the Noble Lord had talked of.'
Who was it—we will adduce but one more of these collatings of
a man's present self with his former self—who was it that
allowed no policy for Ireland save concession in 1801, and de-
mands a despotism in 1833 ?—the same man who in the former
period said thus :--` If Jacobinism was licentious out of place,
In place it was tyrannical in filling the country with terror and
coercion.' Who,' you cry, 0 people of England ! who,' you
ery, was this rash, inconsistent'—hush ! it is a man round
whose venerable head the respect of England yet clings—a
man in whom many virtues may atone for one offence—a man
for whose conduct England must appeal as an excuse, from
Philip drunk with power. to Philip sober by the abstinence
from its seductions I—Yes, my Lord Grey, you are that man !
At the same time that you have crowned your brilliant life
with the accomplishment of your early pledges to the liberty of
England, beware, lest you sully the Crown with the indelible
reproach of treachery to promises equally solemn, for the liber-
ties of Ireland !—You amend the legislature of one country lisI—
is it in order to make its first act the suspension of the law for
the other 2"

A man named CARTER, convicted at the
33erkshire ass;zes of arson, an I sentenced to death, was
ez-cuted on Saturday last.

The assessed taxes yielded for the year ending
January, 1832, 4,056,000/. ;—the principal items of
which are the house tax, 1,357.0001 ; window t.x,
1,178 0001. The cost of collecting the assessed taxes is
five per cent.
NAVAL SINECURE OFFICES.—The fol-
lowing is the return made to the House of Commons on
this* subject :—Sir E THORNBROUGH. Vice-Admiral of
England, has 4691. ss. 84. per anon o (49k years in
active service) , Sir G. MARTIN, Rear-Admiral of Ene.
land, 370/. 4s. 31. (33 year.); Lord DE SA MIA REZ.
General of Marines, 1,728/. 15s. (47 years); Sir W.
SIDNEY SMITH, Lieut.- General of Marines, 1,383/. (21
years); Sir G. COCKBURN, Major-General of Marines.
1,0371. ss. (29 years) ; 4 Colonels of Marines, Captain
SKIPSEY, Captain the Hon. F. hum, Captain Sir CHRIS-
TOPHER COLE, and Captain the Hon. DUNCAN P. 800-
VERIE, with each 690/. 9s. 2d. per annum. There are
no offices executed by deputy in the navy.
Lord FORESTER 1s returned to Belvoir Castle
from Grimpsthorpe (Lord WILLOUGHBY'S). The Noble
Lord's uncle (the Duke of RUTLA ND), has given over the
hunting and hounds to him, Lord FORESTER being a
No leman of most gentlemanlike conduct and o, inions, and
of very accurate judgment. Lord FORESTER goes to
London generally for one day in each week to attend his
Pa-liarnentary ditties in the House of Lords.—Morning
Paper.
The heir to the honours of the newly created
Earl of DURHAM, is the Hon. GEORGE FREDERICK
D'ARCY, Viscount LAMBTON, only son of the Noble Earl,
an infant five years of age. The barony bears date J in.
1828. When his Lordship accepted the office or Privy
Seal in Lord GREY'S Administration, he relinquished the
sal .ry attached to the office (2,000/. per annum), he
was subsequently induced to receive the amount r.f it.
Lord DURHAM, in respect of years, was one of the youngest
members of the Cabinet.

..... _
"...REAL STATE uF OPINION IN IRELAND.—
The following is an extract of a letter, which has just
been riceived from a person of distinguished talents and
influence in the Irish capital:—" We are here thinking
and talking of nothing but the impending measure of coer-
cion; but we are neither so indignant nor despondent as
the newspapers here and elsewhere would lead the reader
to suppose. The fact is, that every man who resides in
the int .rior, and has any property to lose, is impatient
for protection, and that all moderate and reflecting per-
sons feel the despotism of O'CONNELL and his Clubs to
have become so intolerable that they are willing to see it
abated at • any swrifice." This we believe to he the
literal truth. We have here the real state of public
opinion expressed in a few words :—" O'Cotistzu. and his
Clubs" have crated the necessity w ich now exists for
arming the Executive with powers beyond the law, which
has been rendered wholly inoperative; and it is exclu-
sively to him and his compeers in agitation that Ireand
owes, first the state of anarchy and disorganization which
almost every, here prevails, and, secondly, the severe but
necessary course of regimen, which is about to be pre-
scribed for her. The first want at present felt by every
man, who has not been drawn into the vortix of agita-
tion, and who 6' has any property to lose," is the want of
protection ; and we need not wonder that a sense of im-
minent danger should beget an " impatience" for the ap-
plication of those means by which alone it can be averted.
—Edinb 14 rah Paper.
THE AFRICAN EXPEDITION.—The John
Do van, WHITE, master, is ariived from Africa, and
brought letters from the Liverpool mercantile expedition
to the Niger, under the ditec ion of Mr. RICHARD LAN•
DER That erverprising traveller reached Cape Coast Castle
on Sunday, the 7th of October last, in 72 days, from Mil-
turd. The vessels had called at the Isle de Los, Sierra
Leone, and other places, for the purpose of procuring
supplies of fuel for the steamers. Several cases of fever
had occurred, but no deaths in consequence had taken
place. At Cape Coast every attention had been shown
by Govrnor MACLEAN and the several officers there.
Mr. LANDER has been so fortunate as to procure PAscuE
and the other natives who had accompanied him in his
perilous undertaking to trace the mysterious Niger to its
two
etilem, has
country,a :o b,e,nneable w
ahirtiiietfenenirgii:girdel,aahtertvel
btoywfi.entanli
termination, and these persons ale to proceed with him.
►cd must,
ing
which
sTiiixinwireUgw:ineilrniodiznftorshoasailtine adtttmihhhleee
aria, and both of them not only speak but read Enelish,
oat rthhaeriesioare:swieibo:st -useful vessel, remarkably cool and
dry, and sails exceedingly well. The expedition had ex-
-I,madr7iseYnosuefeadtio)vene:Aylbbiaut;'ir ka into time water, the iron acting as a
conductor thereto. The ships were to sail from Cape
Gast about the middle of October, and would not step at
.ny place, but proceed direct up the Rio Nunez int, the
Niger. We are happy to ~av that Mr. LANDER. was in
xcellent health, and vety i.nguine of ultimate sue, ea&
fhe next accounts must be highly ilaeresting, and are
anxiously looked for.