The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-11 00:00:00

not mean to say that he thought his Majesty's present Gr_
vertanent would wish to abuse this power, but other Gc.
vernments might ,•ucceed them who would be willing to
take advantage of this Bill as a precedent for the oppression
)1 the people of England It was principaby on this
iund that be objected to the severe measure now before

the House.
Mr. MAURICE O'CONNELL said that he had to
pre-ent petitions, from different parts of Queen's County
a!ainst the Rill, but would not follow the example that
had been set him by some Hon. Members, of reading
tam at length. He begged, however, to call
the attention of the House to two facts mention..
e I in them. The first re ition, from Kil'abin,
stated, that a though a part of Queen's County had been
disturbed, yet that since the special commissions had been
tent into it, perfect security had prevailed. The st.ennd
petition from Ragheen stated that there had been no lack
of jurors at the lat.! as.dzes. These petitions, therefore,
vent a consid,rahle way to diTrove the statement
of the Right Hon. Secretary opposite, as to the inefficiency
of the special commis-ions, and the want of jurors. He
had also a third oetition from his constitut nts at Tralee,

rating their abhorrence at this Bill, and the evils to which

it would lead.
Mr. LALOR declared that the a,sertion in the petition
from Queen's County he knew to he a fact ; for during
t ,e last six months there had not been a single breach of
the law connected with the Whitefeet system.

The petitions were ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. GILLON presented a petition from certain united
parishes in Lisburne on the same subject. The petitioners
represented the injustice of the Bill now before the House ;
they stated that that part of Ireland was as peaceable as any
other part of the United Kingdom, and they viewed with
astonishment the assertion of Earl Grey respecting the
state of the county of Tipperary, which they declared was
perfectly tranquil. The next petition was from certain
members of the Bradshaw Pslitical Union, who stated
that they viewed the introduction of the Bill with awful
consternatio❑ and unqualified regret. The Hon. Member
said he bad a great number of petitions from his native
county against the Bill. The first was from his own
constituents in the borough of Lanaik, who stated that

they viewed with great alarm the introduction of a mea-
sure which was to set aside the constitutional Government
of Ireland, and to substitute in its stead military despotism.
They perceived in that measure astrong desire to stifle the
expressions of the people—they wanted words to express
their abhorrence and detestation of it, and they considered
it as wa,2,ing war against the liberties of the people.
They were convinced that if those powers were granted,
it would only be a prelude to a similar measure in this
country.—(Hear, hear.) They therefore prayed the
House to reject with scorn and indignat on any attempt to
make the House a party to so gross a measure, and they
hoped that measures would speedily be introduced to
remove all the grievances that oppressed Ireland.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) He had also four petitions of
a similar nature, all praying for the rejection of the
Bill, and declaring the belief of the petitioners that tran-
quillity would not be restored in Ireland until the Esta-
blished Church of that country was done away with, and
the oppressive tithe system extinguished.—(Hear, hear.)
In that opinion he most cordially concurred. The first
was from 669 of his constituents in the borough of Ha-
milton. The next was from the inhabitants of a place (the
name of which we could not learn); in the county of Fife;
from the inhabitants of Cupar, in Fife, praying for the
removal of the Church Establishment in Ireland ; and
from the Political Union of Leslie, in Fife. In the ab-

sense of his Hon. Friend (the Member for Dundee) he
had to present several other petitions. That from the in-
habitants of Aberdeen, prayed the House not to impose on
so many millions of their fellow-subjects a system of
military despotism. Also a petition from Leith ; from
the borough of Anstruther, in the county of Fife,
and from the Royal burgh of Renfrew, which was for-
merly the most corrupt of all the Scotch boroughs. The
n•xt was the most important pe .t on, and was signed by
3,728 respect ,t,le inhabitants of Greenock. The
petitioners viewed with horror and alarm the arbitrary
and unconstitutional mea-ures now adopting towards Ire-
land, and they prayed that measnres of an ameliorating
kind might be speedily introduced. They besought the
House at once to reject the Bill now before them, and
to pass humane and selutary laws as a means of
promoting peace and good order in Ireland ars)
Having presented so many petitions against that Bill from
his native country, he would only say it was now proved,
that Ireland had many friends among a people who bad
worked out their own religious freedom by the sword.
Those friends about them were especially among the Dis-
senters of Scotland, who had a fellow•feeling with them,
and thought they ouget to h • relieved from that heavy tax
witiiwhich theya eresaddled for thesupport of an aristocr tic
priesthood. Their opposition to this measure was mai k.-d by
the pro It nce usually attributed to the natives of that coun-
try. Taey opposed it bec:.use t! ey iiid rot know how soon
the case might be their own. They did not say that the
present Ministry would at all attempt to pass such a
measure either for Scotland or England, Inv it was impos-
sible to say how soon another Ministry might come in,
and if the country were to show any opposition to these
measures, they might cite this Bill as a precedent, for
putting down Government mili!aly law meetings, assern-
bied far the purpose of petitioning that House. He was
o opinion that th, extensive funds that wt now appro
d to the Church, and which were almost useless, I
might he most profitably employed in teaching the people,
and in feeding them.
An Hors. MxMBEa said that he rose to support the
prayer of the pets ions, particularly of those from Ren-
frew and Gr. enock. The latter place, it was to be re-
wembered, was the largtst seaport in Scotland. anti
upwards of 4,000 of its inhabitants had signed the
petition, who were a religious and moral class of
people. He confessed that wt en be was returned
by his constituents as a Member of that House,
they did exp. et that he would give his support
to his Majesty's Ministers, but he had since that period
found it to be his duty to oppose them, first upon the ad-
dres-,, then rel ,tive to sinecures, and lastly upon the pre-
sent Bill, and, at a meeting which had taken place, his
constituents had publicly returned him their thanks for
the course he had taken. _

Anoth.r HoN. Mx=Eit rhnied that the generality of
the Scotch p. were io favour of the present Bill.

Mr. A. .0 hINSTONE said that he could not concur
with the prayer of the petitions, and he trusted that when
an cpportunity offered hits of corning b fore his consti-
tuents again he should be able to satisfy them with respect
to the course he had adopted in supporting Ministers in
carrying forward a measure fur the coercion of Ireland.
Coptain DUNLOP presented a petition from the
Political Union of Kilmarnock against the Bill, signed by
upwards of 840 persona, to whose respectability the Hon.
Member tore testimony.
Mr. ROCHE presented a petitio❑ from the parish of
St. John's, Limerick, against the Bill. The petitioners de-
►uanded inquiries, satisfied that Government would not be
able to prove that Ireland was in such a state as to re-
quire such a Pleasure as that introduced by his Majesty's
Ministers. The Honourable Member stated that the
South of Ireland had never been in such a state
of quietude as it wa. at present.—(Hear, hear.)
Tice next petition he had to present was from Lochmore,
numerously signed to the same effect. The next petition
was from Dunachmore, vety numerously signed. The
next was from Gore, and the last he had to present was
from Ahbington, in the county of Limerick, signed by
most of the respectable inhabitants and farmers in that
parish, against the Bill, and which stated that the peace
and tranquilly of that part of the country had never
been more fixed than it was at the present time.
LIVERPOOL PETITION.

Mr. EWAIt T rose to present a petition against the
Bill, signed by 15,000 inhabitants of Liverpool. The
petitioners objected to the transfer of the judicial authority
into the hands of military officers, and thought
such a course would be destructive of the moral
influence of the law, and was utterly unjustified
by the necessity of the case. They proved also
that it would revive feelings of animosity which had now
happily subsided, and believed that the majority of the
House were unacquainted with the misery under which
the inhabitants of Ireland groaned.—(Hear.) They
felt convinced, also, that any attempt to enforce the
payment of the arrear of tithes would only have the effect
of causing the expenditure of much money and the shed-
ding of much human blood, besides ultimately leading to
the most deplorable coneequent.tz-.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
The petitioners concluded by praying that the House
would not proceed with the Bill till after further
inquiry.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. E.) concurred in almost
every statement of the petitioners. He was decidedly
against substituting martial law for civil law, or rather
martial courts against civil courts. No doubt the
Government had made out a case which justified
the addition of some powers to the law, but
they bad made out no case to justify the pissing of such
a Bill as was now before the House ;—(Cheers)—and
with that Bill he could not bring his mind to concur.
He did not think the Government hed acted in a politic
manner in introducing a Bill going to this extent, or in
introducing it at the present tine. He should have
wished them to wait till they had tried how far remedial
measures would have succeeded. And when they brougut
in their remedial measures, and, as it were, entered into
recognizances to keep the peace with Ireland, they might
have called upon the independent Members of this House,