The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-11 00:00:00

‘/12-miL-111,4111:

LONDON, TIII:RSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1851

The sanguinary and atrocious outrage recently
yierpftrsted in the vicinity of cbiaytiey in the
county Met agh, and v.bielt
a kind-hearted, humane, and.'‘ estimablet' the
dlath °t
gentleman,
bas bas produced great excitement, not
only in
diato district where the fearful eritnehadbteen co e imme-
'flitted, but throughout the entire country. Itni.
be-
longed to a peculiar class of outrages, once common
enough in Ireland, but which had become compara-
tively rare since the Exodus had set in, and the
anxiety to obtain or retain possession of land
had been superseded by the desire to ob-
tain a new home on the other side of the
Atlantic. Where so many firms had been
abandoned, and were now lying uncultivated and un-
occupied, it could not be supposed that there would

THE SUN,

be any temptation to the commission of agrarian
°fakes. Exceptional cases will, however, some-
times occur, where the old leaven is still at work,
•
and the machinery of crime, although ru ted, may
again be put into operation. The bloodthirsty murder
of Mr. THOMAS DOUGLAS BATESON was unquestion-
ably one of this class. Every circumstance of the case
11 indicates its nefarious origin too clearly to
leave the slightest doubt as to the nature of the trans-
action. The time and place, and manner of its com-
mission, all lead to the same conclusion. The hour,
two o'clock in the afternoon, the locality within a
few hundred yards of three different houses—one of
them the residence of the clergyman of the parish,
and also within about half a mile of a considerable
town, and the fearful mode in which the murderers
achieved their infamous object, alike show the deli-
berate and cold-blooded determination of the assassins
and their confident reliance on the support and as-
sistance, or at least on the non-interference, of the
neighbouring peasantry. To those unacquainted with
the character of the Irish people they would give the
offence almost a character of nationality, as if the
entire locality was implicated and every inhabitant
more or less involved in the transaction.

It is to be regretted, too, that the victim was a
gentleman of the most active benevolence, one who
had exerted himself to the utmost to promote the wel-
fare and happiness of every person with whom he was
i❑ any degree connected. had a person of different
character been sacrificed, although it could not have
justified or even extenuated the brutality exhibited,
it would have occasioned less astonishment. If any
person carried with him a passport which should have
conveyed him safely through the most disturbed
districts, and the most outrageous and riotous
mobs, it was the gentleman who has been so cruelly
massacred. As agent over the extensive estates of
Lord TEMPLETON he had exhibited an active benevo-
lence deserving of the highest culogium. None ap-
plied for assistance in vain ; every claim was promptly
investigated, and, if well-founded, liberally and freely
liquidated. But it was not merely to individual cases
of hardship that he afforded willing aid. Every tenant
on the estate was treated as a friend--his interests
were vigilantly guarded. Not only did he procure
a return of 15 per cent. to every man paying his rent,
but he caused the entire county-cess to be paid with-
out any charge to the occupier. But these were not

all. To the cottiers he gave constant employment,
and every man able and willing to work was
sure of obtaining remunerative occupation, suffi-
cient, if he thought proper, to enable him to pay
his rent by his labour. Mr. BATESON was, in fact,

justly regarded as a model agent, and few have been
more sincerely deplored than him, who was regarded
as a friend by even the humblest tenant on the
Templeton estates.
But, notwithstanding these many favourable cir-
cumstances, Mr. BATE,SON had offended against the
agrarian code that once prevailed, and thus drawl.
upon himself the vengeance of the midnight legisla-
tors. Although kind to the occupants, he was faith-
ful to his principal—although making every allow-
ance to well-disposed parties, he was not by any means
inclined to yield to the unwarranted and unjustifiable
demands of ill-conditioned parties, or to surrender
Lord TEMPLETON'S property into the hands of idle and
reckless scoundrels. Those willing to exert them-
selves received every possible aid, but persons of
a different character were set at defiance.
Various ejectments had been served, and it was under-
stood that a portion of the property was to be cleared
of those who would not liquidate their rents either

in money or labour. This offekce (I) demanded the
notice of the secret tribunal, and notwithstanding his
many estimable qualities Mr. BATESON was con-
demned to death, and the warrant for his execution
given to the ruthless assassins who were willing to
undertake any outrage, however desperate, on the
order of the committee. We have seen how the fatal
edict has been carried into operation, how brutally
the bloodthirsty order has been complied with ; we
can now only hope that the infamous agents may be
detected, and that the whole machinery may be dis-
covered. The Irish people may be well assured that the
welfare and prosperity of their country depends on
such a result, and that so long as it is possible (even
for their unceasing calumniators) to assert that the
inhabitants of the locality are in any degree impli-
cated in the transaction, even by a merely tacit
connivance, or by not exerting themselves to give the
fullest information to the officers of justice, and en-

deavouring to the utmost extent of their ability to

render the assassins amenable to the offended laws,
they cannot hope for prosperity. Capitalists will not
make investments where there is not ample security
for life and property ; and it is the want of capital,
which, but for events such as those above alluded to,
would freely flow in, that has reduced the sister king-
dom to its present melancholy condition.

" The Society for Promoting the Amendment of
the Law" is steadily and energetically proceeding in
the course it had marked out for itself. Although, it
has been many years in existence, although it has not
only directed the public attention to many glaring
grievances, but also pointed out suitable remedies,
which if adopted would remove the evils, it still
finds subjects of the deepest interest on which
to bestow its useful and valuable labours. There
has been no lack of abuses. There is no
person who has ever engaged in legal proceed-
ings who could not, from his own personal expe-
rience, point out some matter in which he had
sustained serious injury, and respecting which some
amelioration was urgently required. But, unfortu-
nately, the results of individual experience cannot be
brought prominently forward. We may occasionally
hear of isolated cases, where Chancery prisoners
had been incarcerated some score of years,
or where persons with well-founded claims
to extensive estates or considerable personal property
had perished for want of the common necessaries of
life, victims to the " hope deferred, that maketh the
heart sick." These may excite a temporary sensa-
tion which would speedily subside, and all the cir-
cumstances be involved in oblivion, but for the bene-
ficial exertions of the association.

The interesting and important question of the ex-
isting relations between the bar, the at-
torney, and the client, formed the chief
topic of discussion at the general meeting
held at the offices of the society on Monday last.
The report of the special committee appointed at the
last general meeting, on the 10th of November, was
read, and received with the most perfect unanimity.
The gentlemen selected had exhibited the greatest
research and judgment, and spared no pains in the
efficient discharge of the duty which they had under-
taken. They entered into the history of the profes-
sion, which they traced back to the very foundations.
Thep also pointed out the origin of th© so-called
"etiquette," which prevents the public from obtaining
the advice and assistance of barristera, save through
the intervention and agency of attorneys, a rule of
which they most strenuously advocated the discon-
tinuance.

The report showed that the bar had for many ages
been identified with the inns of court—that it was,
in fact, as old as the common law itself, and that its
members had the exclusive privilege of practising
a advocates, pleaders, or counsel in the
secular courts, and of exercising the profes-
aion of " lawyers " as distinguished from
officers of the
courts and officers of justice.
had not attained the degree of bar-
rister were expresslyprohibited from practising in the
superior courts, ob rfore the judges of assize, and
e rendering any assist-
anceany persons not of that de
to litigants, were subjected to stringent punish-
to bb
fact thatn seemsforce,
pser.l? .
and main
-
went under the laws relating
tenance. These statutes
are aro t
although seldom resorted to---a
to have been forgotten by some
of
the
trade
in
protection societies now in operation, and which,
the event of any prosecution, may involve the mem-
bers in very unexpected and unpleasant conseque,,,,
In the olden time the bar took a prominent part in
every proceeding ; nothing could be done without
their assistance; and, as the report truly states,
" their aid, sanction, and advice were rendered almost
indispensable" to every suitor. There was, however,
no fixed payment for their services ; they should be
remunerate,) by a present or honorarinni,and,sith the
exception of physicians, who were placed in an al-
most sitallo,r position, they were perhaps the only
persons who could recover no demand for work and
labour, hov 'ever valuable.
The othq r branch of the legal profession—the at-