The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-28 00:00:00

met his eye, he noticed the amount of feeling which he dis-
played whenever a paper was read containing any account of
Irish outrage, while an outrage of a deeper dye in Sheffield
merely excited a smile. The Hon. Member here read a state-
ment which detailed the destruction effected by an infernal
machine formed of an iron tube, filled with powder, and placed
under the warehouses of Messrs. J. and W. Marshall, in Sh- f-
field. Was not this more atrocious than shooting at a man
from behind a hedge? and yet the attention of the House had
not been directed to it. Was it the intention of the Govern-
ment to odor t any measures to prevent such outrages?
Sir J. GRAHAM said, that when the question was formerly
asked by the Honourable Member, he was not aware as to the
real state of facts. He was sorry to say, that these infamous
crimes had been perpetrated, but he was proud to state that
Sheffield was the only town in England where this had been
committed. With regard to the latter part of the Honourable
Gentleman's question he would state that it was not proposed
to include Sheffield in the Coercion Bill, but if he was informed
that the laws there were not sufficient to repress eu'rage, he
would have no hesitation. in his official capacity, to propose
measures to meet the difficulty.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. PARKER could assure the House that the greatest
regret, disgust, consternation, and alarm, were excited in Shef-
field by these occurrences, and an impression was very gene.
rally entertained that if the offenders were not brought to justice
the most disastrous consequences would follow, and tine trade of
the town would be injured. Every one was most, ailateus that
they should be discovered.
Mr. WARD begged to add his testimony to what la I fallen
from the Hon. Member who just sat down, as also to the exer-
tions made by the Right Hon. Barcnet to diseover the offenders
in these disgraceful occurrences. There coercion, however,
would not do. The best mode of meeting the case was by ap-
peals to the geed sense of the working-classes, and by pointing
out the disastrous consequences which must result to the trade
of the town by such disgraceful proceedings. The leading
men among the working-classes saw that a continual-1-y of such
a course would Drove rainous to the inte-est of the town.
HEALTH OF TOWNS BILL.
Lord DUNCAN wished to know if it was the intention of
her Majesty's Government to introduce the Health of Towns
Bill this session?
Sir J. GRAHAM said, it appeared to him that this House
had quite as much business on Its hard.; as it could dispose of
in the present session.—( Hear, hear.) The Government was
certainly prepared to carry on the measure in question, but
various amendments were proposed in it, and if he saw any
prospect of ite being carried he would introduce it, but at
present he should decline doing so.

CHARITABLE TRUSTS BILL.
Sir G. GREY said that this Bill had been brought into the
other House of Parliament, but there it lay and nothing was
done with it. He wished to know if the Government would
proceed with that measure in the House of Lords this session ?
Sir J. GRAHAM said, it so happened that he had been
speaking to the Lord Chancellor to-day. and be told him that
it was the intention to proceed with the Bill this session.
ADJOURNED DEBATE.—PROTECTION TO LIFE

(IRELAND) BILL.
Mr. M'CARTHY said that at this stage of the debate,
after the subject had been so fey dismissed on both sides of
the House, he should not occupy their attention to any length.
or trouble the House with any statistical documents He wished
simply to confine himself to those observations which should
arise spontaneously on the subject. The first consideration
which would naturally suggest itself to the mind would be, what
was the origin of the evil ? New it appeared to be admitted
on all sides that the origin of these distresses was to be found
in an agrarian cause. This had been admitted by all Hon.
Members who had addressed the House on that subject. It
would be impossible to take even the most cursory view of the
history of Ireland without arriving, a priori, at the coneusion,

that the system which had existed for so long a period was in
evitably allied to the worst principles, which had tended to
bring about those miseries from which Ireland, as a country,
was at the present period suffering. The class of the larger
proprietors had estrange I themselves from the affections of
the people; those sympathies which bound the people
together, from the rich living with the poor and
alleviating their sufferings, had been entirely destroyed. The
class of larger proprietors found themselves in a state of hos-
tility with the reople, and beine aware that their incomes
would enable them to live abroad, they abandoned the -land,
and left the people to live as they liked, and as they could.
Another class, of proprietors arose ; these were the small
landed proprietors. These men, from their narrow circum-
stances, could not imitate the conduct of the great proprie-
tors who had abandoned their country. They continued to live
among the people, but their means were inadequate to supply
their wants. He would ask, did this 811 propose to adjust
those perilous relations between landlord and tenant which
were so productive of evil ? Had it suggested any remedy for
the prevention of those crimes which have of lite been se fre-
quent in various districts of Ireland ? How did it endeavour
to prevent crime ? It was said that the peculiar characteristics
of these assassinations in Ireland were, that they
were committed in the open day, and to prevent
these crimes it was intended to shut up the people after dink.
But would that cause assassinations by day to be less, or would
that prevent those ruffians who stalked abroad at night from
meeting upon a lonely glen or mountain heath ? No, it would
have no such effect, but he did believe that if this Bill were
passed the effect would be to shake the foundation of property
in Ireland to its very base. The more he reflected upon the
provisions of this Bill the more clearly he saw their inadequacy
to meet the exigencies of the case. It wanted that fitness for
its end, it lacked that adaptation of the means to the end. It
was the misfortune of the present Administration, and also of
those who had preceded it, that the Government or Ireland
was committed only to a body of law officers. May be some
Noble Lord, who was excellent as the head of his estate in the
country, was selected to fill the office of Lord-Lieutenant, or
perhaps the office might be filled by some Gallant Officer
whose only qualification to fill the office consisted in his having
fought the battles of his country. But one and all of those
who went over to Ireland knew nothing of the
country, were unacquainted with the people, their character,
their wants, their passions and their prejudices. And they were
wanting in all those elements which must enter into the mind
of any man who knew how to govern the people. This was
the description of every Lord-Lieutenant who was sent to
govern Ireland. He was assisted by a chief Secretary. They
must seek advice. Then the law officers presented themselves—
the Attorney-General—the Solicitor-General ; then the Coun-
sel for the Crown appeared. Those were gentlemen who were
deeply read in law, and in the knowledge of the practice of the
law courts. They were men deeply read in the law history of
the country. They were perfectly conversant in white-boy
trials, coercion acts, and state trials ; but beyond that their
knowledge how to govern was very limited. Depend upon it,
if Ireland was to be governed for the benefit of that country,
and the advantage of this nation, it must be governed through
the affections of the great majority of the people. What, he
would ask, had been done to gain the affections of the Irish
people? The Emancipation Bill had not been granted until
the pressure from without had become too strong to be resisted.
It was compelled by necessity, instead of being the voluntary
offer of justice. The people of Ireland were still refused the
boon of being placed upon the same footing as the people of
England. They had an establishment thrust upon them,
ads pted to the wants only stor onesideventh portion of the popu-
lation, and it was refused to apply the surplus revenue of that
establishment for the benefit of the majority of that people.
That was an anomaly which was pointed at by the whole civi-
lized word. They had seen the man, whom they had been
accustomed to look upon as the instrument of obtaining what-
ever of good they possessed, subjected to persecution and
imprisonment, and the sentence which had been pro-
nounced upon him had been afterwards pronounced, by the
highest tribunal in the land, to be illegal and unjust.
See also what they had done in refererce to the magistracy.
Because several of that body had sympathized with the people,
they had been struck off the list, and the people were forced to
go before tribunals made up of parties who had ever been
opposed to them in religion and politics. Could that secure the
affections of the Irish people ? They applied with one hand a
salve to the wound of Irish distress, but with the other applied
an irritant to the constitution ; and when the people were
excited to madness the disease was said to be inherent in the
patient. —(Hear, hear.) He was not to be led away from the
consideration of the evils of Ireland, by the engaging smiles of
the Right Hon. Gentleman, the secretary for the Home De-
partment, for not only the general feeling that pervaded the
Government, but the tone that prevailed in another place
forbade him to hoses for anything like an adequate redress.
He had seen sentiments in the newspapers attributed to a
Noble Duke, and to a Noble and Learned Lord that usually
acted as Mentor to the Government, which, if they were to be
taken as the guides of the Government, put an end to all hope
of the people of Ireland receiving any redress from that
quarter.—(Hear, hear,) The Noble and Learned Lord had
referred to the system of clearing estates, and he
called it a great evil, but then " they must not
interfere with the rights of property, as that was the distin-
guishing feature between the civilised and savage man. They
were not to interfere with such sacred rights. But he (Mr.
Macarthy) would say to that, that property and rights were
but the creatures of society, and were to be committed is,
agreement wish the public weal—t Hear, hear)—and to be
prevented from destroying the source from whence they flowed.
tie would admit of no rights ( f property that were inconsistent
with the well-being of the State. Then the same Noble and.
Learned Lord said the Church Establishment was an anomaly
the greatest one in all ecclesiastical history, and the greatest
evil under which Ireland laboured. But because the anomaly
was so great, the evil so enormous, they must not remove it.
If the people of Ireland asked for redress, they were told that
the evils were too great to be removed, and their remon-
strances neglected. But he would tellthem they might manage
to exert a power and a force over the land, but
they would never prevail over the inhabitants of Ireland
( Hear, hear.) They might act on the principles of Elizabeth,
and carry out the policy of Stafford, but over the people they
would never ,ucceed.—( Hear, hear.) They knew not how to
deal with the peop!, of Ireland ; they did not understand their
true character. He would call their attention to the opinion
of an illustrious foreigner, one high in wisdom, as to the elle-
reciter of the country. M. Thierny said that in Ireland blood
was still shed for the old ground of contest. A quarrel, in
which the spirit of the people had been sustainehdi.triarelour
ages
against their conquerors, and a recollection. of i
d stt examples oibfr a
ties preserved, presenting one of the
_e
Hear, hear.) Let not
people in the history of the world.—(hractr he lost sight of. They
this estimate of that
and they had failed. If they
must not make her the battle-
field to
• They
had sought to govern peoplethe 's
peoplecia
,oafnltr Ireland
governa s an
rinferiorlan d, race,they
must do her justice..
dasthaatpoorftiotnheowf haogler.e—at
empire, on whose 11
(Hear, hear.) They had tried all the means of force and
of party and fawcetie)..ni.,,binugt tdreeaptenn(ekr,
penal enactments they could devise, in order to govern Ire-
land ; but had they tried what conciliatory measures could do ?
He had entered that House independent of either of the great
parties of the state, neither a Whig nor Tory, but as belonging
to the party of the nation, and he wished to see justice done
to the country which he represented. He had witnessed with
great satisfaction the conduct of the Right Hon. Baronet, in
reference to great commercial interests of the country, in
which he had disregarded all party considerations, for the pur-
p se of obtaining a great national good.—(Cheers ) In pro
posing that measure for obtaining a great national good, he
had shown wisdom and ability worthy of admiration; and he
(Mr. Macarthy) now called him to exhibit the same in deal-
ing with the wrongs of Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) Let him
not follow the dictates of party, nor those who sought to
govern Ireland on the old principle of force, but apply to it
the same comprehensive views which he had displayed on the
commercial interests of the country. Having supplied the
(Ch:
wants of commerce, let him also sapply the social and
poli-
tical wantsn A
ioLf Ireland,LiE
w iwished
eand t
othus emulatekea
few
Mr. himself.—(Cheers. m se•f
observations,
which he would not emulate other lion. Gentlemen in ee
doingrs)
in going
into details on the question. What they had to considerwati
whether the Bill was necessary in the present state of Ireland?
Unless the Government was prepared with a case to that effect,
he could not support the granting of such extraordinary
powers. In his opinion the Government had made out sucha
case, though Hon. Members opposite said not. It had been
said by several of them that as great an amount of crime pre-
vailed in England as there did in Ireland. He was not going
to enter into a discussion as to the amount of crime that pre-
vailed, but he would just call their attention to the difference
which existed between the two countries. In Ireland it was
almost impossible to bring a criminal to justice. Thsy never
heard in England of murder taking place during the day with-
out a hand being stretched out to arrest the murderer; of
secret associations to deter witnesses from giving evidence in
such cases, or of organised assassination societies. Under such
circumstances, he could not see how, in justice, they could re-
fuse giving increased powers to the Government, seeas to pro-
tect life and property. Some Hon. Members on the other si,le
said the Bill was required, but that it should be accompanied
by remedial measures. He would ask, what measures?