The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-08 00:00:00

the substitution of military for civil law, and prayed that
House so to modify the Bill as to afford protection to life
and property in that country without so far departing
from the Constitution.
Dr. BALDWIN presented a petition from Cork, signed
by 20,000 persons against the Irish Disturbances Bill.
The Hon. Gentleman stated that this was not a mob pe-
tition, but was signed by the most influential merchants
and manufacturers of that city, who certainly had a better
opportunity of getting authentic information as to the
slate of Leland than the Government had, who were
obliged to take it from a mercenary snurce.—(Hear.)
The Hon. Member then presented petitions to the same
effect from the parish of Ann's, Shandon, St. Mary,
Shandon, Whitecturch, and St. Peter's, all in the city of
Coik ; one from an individual named J Imes Mahoney,
residing in Cork, from Hacketstown, and three other
parishes in the county of Carlow, all to the
same effect. One of the latter stated that that part of
the country was now in a state of perfect tranquillity,
notwithstanding the grievances they lihoured under, from
the manner in which the tithes were collected. The pe-
titioners further stater!, that they viewed the provisions of
this Bill with such horn r, th rt they were now actually
selling off their property, in order to emigrate to Ame-
rica, and liy that means escape from the tyranny of the
English Government.
A MEMBER. considered that the Hon. Member who
had presented the petitions, and the other gentlemen who
were opporied to ere measure, bad entirely misrepresented
the state of feeling as to the question on Ireland. They
had stated that the whole of the Irish population were
opposed to this measure. Now he would take upon him-
self to say that a numerous and influential body were in
its favour, by far more respectable than those who opposed
it, and he had no hesitation in say rig that those Hun.
Members who supported the measure would receive the
gratitude of their constituents for doing so.
Mr. BLACKNEY said that in consequence of his name
being so low upo❑ the list, he had requested his Hen.
Friend D,. Baldwin to present the petitions for him. One of
them contained the sianatures of no less than 1,500 per-
sons. The petitions had been in his possession fur the last
ten days, but in consequence of the regulations of the House,
he had been totally unable to present them. He would not
occupy the time of the House, but he trusted they would
allow him to state that lie had seen the spot where the
burning of corn had taken place at Hacketstown, and he
could say that no outrage bad taken place in that parish
for the last twelve months. The same observation
would hold good with respect to Forres and several other
parishes. At another opportunity he would make some
statements in the hope of convincing the Noble Lord
opposite that the county of Carlow was not in that dis-
turbed state in which it was generally supposed to be.
Mr. WILKS trusted that Hon. Members would not
enter into discussions like the present upon the presenta-
tion of petitions.— ( Hear, heat, hear.)
An Hots. 111EarBER. trusted that the House would allow
him to make a few rernarks.—(Hear.) He thought it
would be as well that petitions should be the spontaneous
effusions of the petitioners. With respect to the present
petitions, he did not consider them to be so. He held i❑
his hand the copy of a letter, purporting to be written by
Mr. O'Connell, and dated 14, Albemarle-street ; whether
that was the residence of the Hon. Member he did not
know, but the writer trusted that the people would
resist the atrocious measures brought in by Earl Grey
for the coercion of Ireland. In another part be had
requested that his name might be used to conjure the
people to be peaceable, and to commit no outrage or vio-
lence. In the opinion of the Hon. Member, the previous
part of the letter was rather calculated to increase than
allay violence. The letter went on to say—
The SPEAKER said he must interrupt the Hon.
Member in the course he was pursuing.—(Hear, hear,
bear.) It might indeed be very true that what
was stated in that letter had something to do
with the subject before the House, but it did not re-
late immediately to the contents of the petition. The
House was assembled for the purpose of receiving peti-
tions. It had taken a most unusual step, and one that
would not be authorized, but for the pressure of business
before the House...a-(Hear, bear, hear.) Language and
topics of the description referred to by the Ho-
nourable Member, would, in common fairness, require
robe replied to—(Hear, hear)—and he put it to the House
whether, if the course pursued by the Hon. Member was
persisted in, the business of the House could be carried on
with fairness to every Member.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord ALTHORP feared that if such a discussion were
pursued, the whole object of the House for the presenta-
tion of petitions on the subject of the Irish Disturbances
Bill, would he frustrated.—(Hear, hear.) What the
Hon. Member bad stated would be very proper matter for
discussion on the second reading of the Bill.—(Hear.) In
that discussion it would be determined what weight should
be given to the petitions presented ; and he hoped that
no such discussion would be persisted in, whilst the peti-
tions were being presented, that the intentions of the
House might not be frustrated.—(Hear.)
Petition ordered to be laid on the table.
Mr. CURTEIS complained of some alteration on the
Speaker's list, by which petitions had been taken out of
turn.—(Cries of " Oh.")
Mr. SPEAKER asked if the Hon. Member bad any
petition to present on the Irish Bill.
Mr. CURTEIS had a petition to present from the
inhabitants of Battle, in Sussex, against the Bill. The
petitioners stated the r dismay at the measures introduced
by his Majesty's Government, and proposed as a remedy
f n the distresses of the lower classes in Ireland, that
poor laws should be established in that country.—(Liear,
hear.) For himself, the Hon. Member would say, that
although he had voted in opposiion to what was the
prayer of the petitioners, and that conscientiously, yet lie
could with equal consistency join in the recommendation of
the introduction of poor laws.—(Hear, hear.)—Petition
laid on the table.
Mr. BARRON presented a petition against the Bill,
from the parish of Trinity Without, in Dublin. The
Hon. Mernser then p. eeented one of a similar nature from
the inhabitants of the city of Waterford, agreed to at a
public meeting. That meeting was convened before the
letter alluded to by the Hon. Member was known to the
inhabitants of Waterford. lie (Mr. Barron) would tell
that Hon. Member that the inhabitants of Waterford hail
sufficient sense and discrimination to enable them to deter-
mine when to petition, without the dic at un of any
tnan.—(Hear, hear, hear.) He would not have said any
thing which might tend to provoke a discussion, if at
had not been for the ill-tuned remarks of the Hon.
Member.—(Hear.) The inhabitants of the city of Water-
tsrd, in pray,ng that the Bill might not be passed into a
law, said that the petitioners were of opinion it would
only increase the feeling of animosity between the two
countries.—( Hear.) It had already excited considerable
animosity between opposite parties in Ireland—(Hear)—
and was calculated to lead to a separation between Ire-
land and England.--(Hear, hear, hear.)
Mr. O'CONNELL said he was convinced of the neces-
sity of presenting petitions without any unnecessary dis
ctession, but lie wished merely to ray a word, as be under-
stood that in his absence his name had been made use of.
He could assure the House that the people of Ireland felt
deeply upon this subject, and his advice bad been to petition
against it; that was the constitutional means of ex-
pressing the people's opinion, and be was convinced
the advice he had given was the best. He cared
little for the imputations which might he made upon him
for giving that advice.
The Host. MEMBER, who had alluded to the Hon. and
Learned Member fur Dublin, observed that he did not
wish to make any imputation upon that Honourable Gen-
tleman, but he merely wished to show that those peti-
tions were not the spontaneous effusions of the persons
from whom they came.
Mr. BARRON then presented a petition from the pa-
rish of Glandine, in the county of Waterford, also
against time measure, and assured the House that it was
the voluntary petition of the persons who signed it. They
stated that that part of the country was in a state of perfect
quiet, and that there had not been, in their neighbourhood,
a single outrage within the last twelve months. He also
presented a petition from the parish of St. Patrick, in the
city of Waterford, against the Bill. The Hon. Member
begged to be allowed to read a paragraph from a letter
which he bad received from the agent of the Bank of Ireland.
in Waterford. The writer said—" I have now to defend
myself against a run for gold, which commenced two or
three days ago, and self-preservation, as you know, is the
first law of nature." That letter was from a most re-
spectable gentlemau (Mr. Thomas Scott), who was agent
of the Bank of Ireland at Waterford, and formerly an ex-
tensive banker there himself; so that it appeared that
the acts of the Government were now producing the
very effects which he (Mr. Barron) bad anticipated.