The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-06 00:00:00

CHARGE.

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Tho Surplus of the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended sth of January, 1848......•• ....•••••••••••••••• •• .

by an Act of Parliament, which has just recently re-
ceived the royal :Assent and become the law of the land,
speaks of the state of the country in these wordv—
" Whereas, in consequence of the prevalence of clime
and outrage in c ertain parts of Ireland, it is necessary
to make provision for the better prevention thereof."
Gentlemen, his :Excellency the Lord Lieutenant has
the execution of the powers stated in that Act, and he
has issued his pro clamation in pursuance of it, by and
with the advice a nd assistance of the Privy Council,
by means of whi c h, the whole of your county, together
with very exte naive districts in Ireland, are made
subject to its pr tovisions, which are now binding upon
every inhabits cit, every inmate, and every stranger
within their pt:ecincts. Her Majesty's Government
on further consideration, on mature consideration of
the actual stage of things, have also issued this special
commission in order that justice may be :speedily admin-
istered—the i agency of the times admitting of no delay,
not even to tl le ordinary period for visitingyour county.
All circumstances, indeed, concur in justifying the opi-
nion that de anger to a considerable extent prevails, and
unfortunat, sly that opinion is fully confirmed by the ca-
lendar whi ch I hold in my hand, and which contains a
frightful evetail of every crime and of every atrocity
by which our common nature can be disgraced ; for,
besides evincing a general spirit of insubordination,
and a prer valence of crime in the country, it is per-
perfectly plain from the character of the offences, and
the care• a.mstances attending their perpetration, that
there p revails in this county an extensive combina-
tion f.ar purposes intended to be achieved by the
comm .ission of every crime that can be committed in
viola' ;lon of the laws of God and man ; and it is not

too much to say that unless the progress of this
dreg £dful calamity be arrested and speedily resisted,
the 1 the very bonds of our social system will be dis-
solved altogether, weakened and relaxed as they are
at -the present moment. Gentlemen, it does further
swear that the principal object of this combination
of those confederacies is the destruction of the

tight of landlords. Fraud, violence, and intimi-
dation, all are recurring—and even murder itself
is perpetrated in order to prevent or to frustrate
the landlord in the execution of his legal rights
and duties—and I hesitate not to say, that if the de-
signs attempted to be effected by such means were to
be accomplished, the necessary and particular effect
would be, that the occupiers of the land must become ,
substantially its proprietors. But, gentlemen, we
should take a very limited view of this calamity if
we consider that those outrages are exclusively con-
fined to interferences with the rights or remedies of
landed proprietors ; in truth, the spirit of wickedness
once let loose knows no bounds and acknowledges no
distinction, consequently the persons and property of
individuals of all classes are indiscriminately assailed
and plundered; and if those practices be not arrested
and prevented, it is impossible to say that there will
exist in this country either the dominion of the
law or safety of life or property. Gentlemen,
according to my means of information, it does
appear to me that the actual perpetrators of
those outrages are comparatively limited in nutra
hers ; and I believe their spirit is as dastardly
as their numbers are limited, and that it re-
quires but a steady administration of the law, and a
decided opposition by those who value the safety of
person and property shortly and effectually to extin-
guish those evils. However, I may here observe,
that you will form a very imperfect idea of the actual
state of the country, if you look merely to the num-
ber of those who are the actual disturbers of the pub-
lic peace from the calendar ; for unfortunately Ido
believe that the actual perpetrators of crime are aided
and abetted by persons who hope to profit by their
crimes; and also I believe that a much larger por-
tion of the population endeavour to conceal crime,
either in hopes of beeefiting by its commission, or
from actual apprehension or terror; such persons for-
bear to give the law their protection and assistance,
which it is equally their duty and interest to afford—
and therefore they contribute, actively contribute
to a state of things which must end in their own
oppression—in their own subjugation—in their
own tyranny, for I can call it by no other
name, which distracts the country, and must
involve all in common misery. Gentlemen, there
is another class of persons, who although neither sti-
mulating or conniving. at those practices, appear to
have followed a course not to be approved of, appear
to have forgotten what was their bounden duty. I
am afraid that such a state of things as we witness
constantly is a decided proof of apathy and indiffe-
rence on the part of a large class of the Queen's sub-
jects from whom the support of the laws might be
expected. Persons of the description I allude to are
too apt to proclaim that the laws and the Government
of the country have not afforded that assistance which
might be afforded ; but, gentlemen, they should recol-
lect that without the assistance of her Majesty's sub-
jects, without the co-operation which it is their duty
to afford, the law must remain a dead letter ; that, in
fact, no laws, or no Government, can afford relief,
unless every man assists in the preservation of the
public peace. Gentlemen, as I have adverted to what
may be fairly termed the principal object of this ille-
gal confederacy, I may be allowed here to observe
that perhaps at no period--certainly at no period,
looking to land as the means of affording sub-
sistence to a large portion of the population—does
there appear to be on that account less reason for in-
terfering with the rights and remedies of landlords;
because you are all aware that the principle " that
every,individual has a right to be supported by the
land, is not only now acknowledged in the abstract,
but is embodied in an Act of Parliament in full exe-
cution, by which the most stringent measures are
afforded for the relief of the poor under all circum-
stances, and at the cost and expense of that very
class of persons against whose rights there is this
general opposition. In regarding the consideration
whether the calamity under which this ccuntry la-
boured under the providence of God may have been
the cause of these dreadful outrages, I am bound
here to
say that the patience and fortitude, the
enduring
fortitude, with which that calamity was
submitted to and borne by a large portion of the
population has been, generally speaking, in the
highest degree exemplary, and as a proof of it I do
not find in the calendar before me, or after the ex-
perience of the last three circuits, a single case in
which destitution and distress, arising from the visi-
tation of God, led to those illegal confederacies, or
stimulated any of those outrages. Gentlemen, the
deplorable state of things which have led to our as-
sembling have been ascribed to various causes of a
social and political character. With the investigation
of those causes, and with the reasonableness of those
opinions we have nothing whatever to do—we have
no power to investigate causes—we have no power
of redress; for the only
redress which this court can
administer is, redress to the peaceable, to the loyal
and industrious, by putting an end to the system by
which they are held in thraldom, and by which their
properties are rendered insecure and their persons
liable to be !smiled. But, gentlemen, there
is still another reason which I have not
adverted to -- we are here to administer the law,
which does not admit of any cause or any
fact as an excuse or justification for the commission
of crime. The law cannot tolerate its own violation.
Wrongs there may be—injury and sufferings
there may be—affording just ground of complaint;
but it 15 perfectly plain that, however those
sufferings may be aggravated," they never can be
alleviated or redressed by the violation of the law
of the land. Those, if there be any such, who dis-
seminate opinions, or who give advice to others to
act in opposition to those simple truths, incur, in my
mind, a most serious responsibility ; and in my
opinion that responsibility, and the danger of that ad-

5,651,250
617,473

445,415
98,280
374,538
837,500

8,024,456
4,510,211

12,834,667

vice is not the less pernicious when crime is exte-

nuated, and when the criminal is spoken of as an
object aggrieved and injured, and so held up to the
commiseration of the public. Gentlemen,
.having
now called your attention, as far as I can to the actual
state of the country, it seems to me, in reference
to your duties as grand jurors and magistrates, in the
ordinary discharge of your duty, important that I
should call your attention to the provisions of the law,
with which, perhaps, some of you are unacquainted.
I shall first direct your attention to a code of laws
called the " Whiteboy Acts "—a code which is pecu-
liar to Ireland, and which is inoperative except where
the country is disturbed, and in a state contemplated
by the Legislature when it enacted those statutes ;
and, in reference to the present state of the country,
I lament to say that it appears to be exactly that de-
scribed so long ago as the year 1776. The recital of
the Act of that year says, " whereas it has frequently
happened of late years indifferent parts of this king-
dom, that several persons calling themselves Whiteboys
have assembled and injured the properties of many of
his Majesty's subjects, and have carried away
arms, and have compelled the owners of property
to surrender up and quit their habitations, and have
by threats and violence bound such persons by illegal

oaths, and have sent threatening letters, and 'induced
many of her Majesty's subjects to join them, to the
fear and dread of the well-disposed, be it enacted,"
Bsc. Now, gentlemen, unfortunately, all those prac-
tices seem to prevail to a most alarming extent in

your county, and it is your duty to put an end to
them. The first provision of the statute to which I
have already referred relates to the bearing of arms,
and it enacts, that if persons armed in the manner
therein described shall assemble by day or night to
the terror of the peaceable subjects of the realm, they

. . .
shall be indicted, and upon conviction shall be deemed
guilty of a high misdemeanour, be liable to fine and
imprisonment, and be made give security for their sub-
sequent good conduct. You will observe that this
Act makes the bearing of arms, to the terror of the
.__ _ .

Queen's subjects, a very serious' misdemeanour, and

one liable to severe punishment. Gentlemen, I must
now call your attention, connected with this subject,
to the provision of the late Act of Parliament, to
_ _

Which I before adverted, and by looking inte it you
will find that the Lord Lieutenant, having, by his
proclamation, declared the county of Limerick to be
subject to its provision., no persons can now, unless
those specially exempted, either have or carry arms
without committing an offence ; for the mere carry-
ing of arms is an offence by this Act, except where
a proper license is obtained. Up to a particular
period arms may be carried or kept in the house of
any man, but after that time elapses, even within a
habitation, no arma can be kept \Nithout a violation
of this law, incurring a penalty of two years' im-
prisonment—unless, as I said before, by persons
qualified to bear them—so that you see this late Act,
in connexion with the Whiteboy Statutes, has, as
far as was possible, provided against the improper
use of arms, and has provided the means of disarm-
ing the population, except where those in power
think proper to sanction their use for the protection

of life and property. I shall now, gentlemen, call
your attention to the other sections of the Whiteboy
Acts, and you will find that the various offences
which they specify will he, every one of them, found
upon your calendar—offences which, on conviction,
make the party convicted liable to transportation,
fine, or imprisonment. I will not enumerate them
to you, as it would be an unnecessary waste of time,
but I may say that it is plain that they are all mis-
demeanours of the highest character, which would
call on the Court for the infliction of heavy punish.
meat, having of course regard to the precise nature
of the case. There is, gentlemen, another provision
of the law to which I wish most particularly to direct
your attention—a provision which is not to be found
in the Whiteboy Acts, but which appears as the
common law of the land—l allude to the law with
respect to accessories. "An accessory before the fact is
one who, being absent at the time of the commission
of a crime, shall procure, or counsel, or command
another to commit a crime." You see, gentlemen,
what a wide and general description this is, and how
completely calculatedit is to involve in the accessorial
class of offences all persons who stimulate or lend
their countenance to, the commission of a crime subse-
quently committed ; but, in addition to this law, there
is an Act of Parliament in force in Ireland with re-
spect to murder—and persons vat() conspire with
others to have a murder committed—by which it
appears that persons so convicted are guilty of a
capital offence, although absent from the scene of
murder. Persons convicted of conspiracy to murder
are punishable by death even if the crime never
took place. It is sufficient to prove the conspiracy to
convict them, as you will see by referring to the
Act. Its words are these : •" All persons conspir-
ing, confederating, and agreeing to murder any per-
son, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted
thereof shall suffer death as felons." I may here re•
mark that although the law in England, that an ac-
cessory before the fact of murder can only be con-
victed of being an accessory if the crime be corn
mitted, it differs in Ireland, and the mere conspiracy
to commit the crime of murder, which may never take
place, constitutes the offence. Having called your
attention to the law and the consequence of its viola-
tion, I would wish now to make a few observations to
you as magistrates, and to refer you to certain means
the law affords of preventing crime ; and one of those
is that provision relating to vagrancy. I need not
tell you that it is not uncommon—that it is in fact a
very common practice for strangers to commit crimes
—parties not resident in the county in which they
take place; and I therefore wish, with reference to
this practice, to say a few words. It was to put an
end to that system that the 50th of Geo. 111., chap.
102, was passed; and it enacts, " that it may be
lawful for any justice of the peace in Ireland to
arrest and bring before him any stranger found
wandering about, and examine him or her on oath as
to his or her place of abode—the place from whence
he or she came—his or her mode of life—his
or her object in leaving home ;" and unless such per-
sons could give a satisfactory reply to all those ques-
tions, they could be convicted by any magistrate, and
fined or imprisoned until they procured security for
their good conduct, or the magistrate thought fit to
discharge them. Now, gentlemen, in my opinion,
that is a power of a most salutary character—a power
which ought to be acted on ; in fact, I cannot con-
ceive, in the present state of this country, when the
practice of hiring strangers to commit crime is so
common, an Act which could be turned to more useful
purpo.es. Gentlemen, the provisions of the law with
respect to riot is also deserving of your most particu-
lar attention, and I advert to them because I under-
stand a notion has gone abroad that in cases of riots
the interference of a magistrate ought not to take
place until the Riot Act had been read, and until an
hour after its reading had elapsed. That is
the greatest possible mistake. No doubt the
highly penal consequences of riot will not
be uncurred until au hour has elapsed ; but
when there is a riot the duties of the magistrate and
peace officers are instant, and ought not to remain
inactive for one moment—it is only necessary, gen-
tlemen, to refer to the Act to show that to delay an
hour or a minute in quelling a riot is at variance with
the law. You will find according to the 3d Geo.
111., chap. 9, which was passed before the Riot Act,
"That wherever there may be a riot every justice of
the peace, and all other peace officers, shall use their
utmost endeavours to disperse the same, and have the
rioters punished according to law." Now, gentlemen,
that Act is in full force, applying not simply to the
cases of riots, but to all unlawful and tumultuous as-
semblies, making it the duty of the magistrates to