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

Tipperary on the 18th of Jannary, in the year 1845. The
name of the party rourderefl was Mr. Samuel Smith.
ife was discovered lying upon the road with his head fractured,
and o' her very severe injuries. It was the opinion of medical
lu2n that he had not fallen from hii horse, and that his dewh
onta not have been ascribed to any effects of such an accident.
The only reason that could be assigned for the commission ef
such an act pf atrocity, was that it was understood that he was
abut to diScharge two of his tenants. He would allude to

county Clare. On—the 31st ofiOctober last, Mr. Peter Clerk was
shot at by two men, while riding round a domain which he had
just. purchased. Now it was considered by Hen. Members op-
posite, and in that opinion he (Sir James Graham) fully coin-
cided, that absenteeism was a great evil. They wished to encou-
rage resident landlords, but how could they expect in such a
state of things that any gentleman would go down to reside
upon such an estate, or expend his money in labour
in improving his estates. This gentleman was, it appears
going to seAtle some disturbances among the tenants on his
estate. tie had not left his own premises when he was shot at
and fat-slly wounded by two ruffians. He would now refer to
the c:sse of Mr. Lynch, in the county of Limerick; it appeared
that he was a middle man, and for some offence which he had
given to his tenants, be also, in the month of January, 1848,
was fired at and killed. In the county of Clare, on the 7th of
February, 1845, seven men, disguised as usual, entered the
houses of James Mallony and others, and fractured the skull
of one of the inmates, and also inflicted very severe wounds
and injuries upon others of the party. It appeared in all these
outrages that not one of the ordinary feelings of social life
seem,d to have the least influence upon the conduct of these
ruffians. The only reason assi4ned for this outrage was that
in the year 1843 some lands were divided by an
order of the Court of Chancery, upon which there
were upwards of three hundred tenants, And that one er
two of that number were deprived of their land. He would
read another case, which occurred in the county of Limerick.
Seven men in the usual disguise, and armed, entered the hou-e
of a man of the name of Lawrence Lee ; they rushed at him
anti beat him down. This was a case of cruel barbarity.
When tine man was upon the ground, his wife threw herself
upon him, in order to protect. him from their violence. One

of the fellows placed the gun close to his legs, while his wife

a' tempted to shelter him.- Regardless, however, of the position
of the wife, they discharged the gun, the shot of which narrowly
esesped the woman, and shattered the head of the unfortunate
man. The murderers then retired. The only reason for this
brutal outrage was because he had paid his rent, contrary to
th wishes of these parties. On Jan. 21, 1841, Mr. Walker
was also fired at and otherwise brutally attacked, the only
complaint, it appears, being that he held about three acres of
land, known by the name of Coobrah, the name of which was
several times repeated by the assassins while on their mur-
derous occupation, He would now call the attention
.of the
House to an ether class of outrage—that of magistrates in the
execution of their duty. Mr. M'Cleod had been selected by
Government to suppress some disturbances on the borders
of Leoram. He was returning home, and when in the act of
desiring the driver of his ear to get down and open the gate,
h was fired at by an assassin, who had concealed himself far
that purpose, and expired immediately. There must be in
these cases some horrible confederacy,
.for it appeared, with re-
ference to the latter case, that notice of this murder was
posted at the town of Enniskillin two days before
murder was committed.—(Hear.) There was al,o
the case of Mr. Boothe, who, when returning home
in company with some portion of his family, were fired at by
s ,roe persons ; and although he was within two hundred yarn's
the village, and num'er.s of persons were passing by the spot
on their journey from divine service, not one of them offered
to render the least assistance, either to the wounded man, or in
at tempting to secure the murderer, notwithstanding the offer
of a large sum of money by the wounded gentleman if they
would capture the assassin. There was another case to which
he would call the attention of the House. Not only were these
arrocities committed, in cases of the possession of land ; they
t ,ok c rgnizance, and interfered with the most minute cir-

eunistances of life—the case of masters and servants. If anything
should transpire which they considered demanded their
interference, immediately threatening notices were sent;
and unless these notices were at'ended to, summary ven-
geance would be taken by those secret and organised
hand/. As tending to illustrate the interference in the ease of
master and servant, he would instance the case of a person
in Tipperary, who was about to be superseded in a situation
by another party. His master, on the 4th of May, 1845, was
tired at and died in a few days from the effects of his wounds.
There was no other offence alleged against him. Ano'her
C.1:4 of a similar kind was that of a discharged steward of
the itev. Air. Batson, who was shot through the lungs in con-
sequence of not obeying the order of these tyrannical maraud-
ers to leave his employment. He would not have referred to
a cage chat-lad to by the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn,
hid he rot made special allusion to it. It was a mast atm.
does case. It was an outrage committed on a woman who was
pregnant, and who was shot at in open day in the county of
T, cone. She was the wife of a woodranger who made himself
obnoxious to these assassins. On going along the read
with her child, she was fired at. The child was seriously
wounded in the brain, and the mother died a few days after-
weeds in consequence of the injuries she received. (An Hon.
Member on the Opposition benches here asked the Right
Hon. Baronet if this occurred in the day time.) Yes, it was
in the day time. Here was another case which occurred in
T'i'pperary on the 17th of January, 18.48. It was that of a man
of the name of Murphy, who was fired at in a most barbarous
manner. The Noble Lord, the Member for Lynn, also
alluded to another case. These tyrants, it appeared, wished
the mistress of an establishment to dismiss her servant, and in
consequence of her not complying with their desires the ser-
vant was barbarously attacked, and his life wan placed in the
most imminent peril. He now begged to refer to the effect that
this organised system of outrage had upon the social condition
of the people of Ireland. In November 26th, 1845, the
secretary of a company called the Mining Company of Ireland
gave notice in the county of Tipperary that the works would
be spspended in consequence of the outrages which had been
co :.witted, and in consequence of the threatening notices which
had been served upon the workmen. Now the tendency
of capital was to flow into Ireland, and it was his
opinion that the real remedy for the grievances of
that country was the application of capital, and
yet unless those crimes were put down no capital would flow
there, ro increase would take place in the means of employ-
ment, and crime, murder, and rapine would continue to per.
vale the land. He would not apologise to the Home for going
into those details, for circumstances made it imperative on
him to do so, and it was evident that the state of crime was
such as to require extraordinary means to be adopted for its
suppression. He would now give a few specimet sof crime
which had been committed on parties wishing to give evidence
to bring parties to justice. In December, 1845, a man,
named John Ryan, was subjected to the most barbarous usage
um this cause, and shortly after died in consequence of the
re.,ands he had received, So great, however, was the reign
of terror, and such fear prevailed for the safety of his friends,
that he Jared not disclose the names of those who he well know
were concerned in the outrage. Now, here was a man struck
/teens by assassins. Two persons were taken into custod charged
acich the crime ,but in consequence of the terrorism which existed
the injured mm would not give evidence against them, and
preferred to die before he would disclose their names. —(Mr.
Caleb Powell asked how Sir James Graham could know what
1113 thoughts were. )---The dying man gave that explanation at
the time. He (Sir James Graham) did not, however, believe
that in these five counties the great body of the people were
tainted. He believed that the conspiracy extended but to a
small portion of the community; but that portion, though
small, was well organised, and the rest of the community were
kept in a state of terrorism by' them. In Galway, a person
came there to give evidence in a civil bill case, and in conse-
(pence of some expressions made use of by him, the relatives
of defendant maltreated him in a most shameful manner. An-
other case occurred in Tipperary on the 26th of June,
when a man was murdered. The friends of the murdered
man prosecuted the supposed murderer, and in consequence
a party of 12 or 5 men grievously assaulted them, and a man
of the nitre of Egan, who-was cognizant of this circumstance,
denied that he had any knowledge of the parties when the
police came to investigate the case. He would trouble the
_House with only one more case of this description. It was im-
poseible to deny that fear of giving evidence existed to a very
great extent. On the 12th of February last a man of the name
of Gleesier, who had a large family of five sons, was attacked
by a party of 12 men, one of whom fired a shot which wounded
Lien. meer a struggle, they subsequently forced the room
wtere the sans lay, And treated one of them as they bad the
father. Non, although this outrage was notorious over the
country, not one informed the police of the circumstance ;
and if this had bean done, there is but little doubt
that the criminals would have been brought to justice.
1:e would next read a report which he had received from a
resident magistrate, who stated that he believed the system of
terror to he so great is that district, that if even Old Gleeson
Lad been murdered, not one cf his family could be induced to
(eerie forward and prosecute the murderers. He would not de-
tain the House by entering further into details, but there were
one or two cases which he should mention as illustrative of
the system. By a report he had received on the Bth of De-
cember, it appeared that a party of police constables were out
on patrol, and were fired at from an adjacent wood ; they re-
turned the fire, but one of them was badly wounded. This
took place at eleven o'clock in the evening. Now he stated
this ease order to show that the most atrocious crimes were
committed without the 'cast possible provocation. He would
next read a potice of rather a novel description, which had
been served upon a farmer in the county of Clare
upon the 21th of the present month. The notice was
to the effect, that unless the party on whom
it was served used his interest to procure for the party thr: at-
eniing a farm, which had been recently held by certain parties
who had been transported, it was presumed through the infor-
mation of him (the threatened), the forfeiture of his life would
be the consequence. The next case he would state was one of
a nature of interference with domestic arrangements, which
vas really atrocious, and which showed that the tyranny exer-
cised was sufficient to beat down all the rules of social laver.
couese. It was tried at the last Clare Assizes. It appeared
that t,oe commander of a steamer on the Shannon, was in the
habit of purchasine milk from a woman who attended the ye--
eel. lie ceenplainal to her on one or two occasions that the
milk was bad, And he should discontinue it. He did so, and
thereupon this weelan told him that he would be sorry for it.
In a short time after, upon the arrival of the steamer at the
quay, after all the panebgers had left, this man came ashore
ant was seized upon by four or five men, who beat him severely,
and fractured his skull.
Mr. O'CONNELL—Was that by day ?
Sir JAMES GRAHAM—It does not appear, by the le.
turn, at what period of the day it took place.
Mr. O'CONNELL—But the parties were tried and c,
e-
victed, were they not ?
Sir J. GRAHAM said they were, at the last Clare Assizes.
Ile then proceeded to state that he had 'already presented to
the House petitions from the high sheriff and a majority of
the grand jury of the county of Leitrim, praying for the sup-
pression of this species of outrage. Be would next wish to
refer to the addresses he had received from the five counties he
had been speaking of, all of which pre; ed for the suppression of
crimes. He held in his hand an address from the magistrates
of the county of Tipperary, which had been presented by the
Lord Lieutenant—by Lord Dosoughmore. He had another
froni the county of Roscommon, and from several other
counties, to the same effect ; but he would not
weary the House by going into them all, but, amongst
them, was one from Limerick, containing resolutions adopted
at a meeting presided over by Lord Guillimore and presented
by Sir Lucius O'Brien. But now, having stated the unhappy
condoien of those five coun ies in reference to the amount of
e tine committed in then'', he would next proceed to state the
heads of the Bill which had been sent down from the House of
Lords, as a measure intended to aid the Government in the
suppression of crime in Ireland. He did not mean to enter
into any discussion of the merits of the clauses at present, but
when the second reading should come on, he would then be
prepared to defend each clause at length. The first clause was
to the effect that the Lord-Lieutenant should have the power
10 prechiiin any district, and to send down an additional
stn endiary magistrate and police force at the expense of
that district, though in ordinary cases it was intended that
the potee force should be paid out of the public fund,.
It might be: said that the power given to the Lord Lieutenant
was arbitrary in levying the payment of the additional eon-
, stabulary force off the proclaimed district. Now, it might be
remembered that, under the provisions of the general Con-
stabulary Act, the Lord Lieutenant had the power to increase
the salaries of the constables, and had also the unlimited power
to create as many stipendiary magistrates, at unlimited salaries,
as he deemed actually necessary. With respect to the clauses
that empowered the arrest of persons found without their
Louses in proclaimed districts after the legal time, he would
refer them to the language of the Hon. and Learned Member
for Cork (Mr. O'Connell) when a similar measure was beforo
the House in 1833.—(Hear, hear.) That Honourable
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