The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-02 00:00:00

gentrpf. re touch to be blamed, particularly thou of the
county() f Kilkenny, who abandoned their county to the
prey of Whitefeet. Their culpable conduct was the origin
of all the evils complained of, and they should he pu-
nished, and not the poor wretches they misguided. Sooner
than nee eto such an Act as the present, he would cut
off his right hand, and he would resist it with the same
energy with which he would meet in the field those as-
sassins who now desolated the country. The Right
Hon. Secretary for Ireland, in making out his case, had
stated but half of it. He showed the worst side, and hid
the best. He alluded to the muffler of Potts, Gregory,
and Maram, and made them the cardinal points of his state.
ntent. But why did not the Right lion. Gentleman read
to the House the evidence of Johnson and of the steward of
Johnson and of the steward of Lord Lansdowne? That
evidence would show that the acts of tyranny were not
resisted until they were successively repeated for years,
and until those who at length became guilty of the crime
of murder were goaded to it by the most inhuman acts of
barbarity. In that evidence, it was stated that Gregory
prettified every species of tyranny over those under his
authority. He ejected the peasaut from his habitation
without having recourse to any form of legal proceef ing,
and be turned out upon the high toads wives and children,
e. o starve and die. Gregory had not practised this
y for one year alone, but for several years; and he
os ft' Hfor cheating the labourer out of part of

it., or for withholding it entirely from ciim.—
(fi!. n tar. hear.) Was it then to be wondered at that
such oe amino should excite the Irish peasant,
and cease him to follow the example of ven-
geance and torture that were common in England years
ago? The ancestors of the people of Ireland were more
riotous and more difficult to he governed than the present
people were, but were such measures employed against
them as the present oppressive measure? Were the inno-
cent as well as the guilty then punished ? No ; only those
who deserved punishment suffered it. This Bill was di-
rected not against the insurgents, the assassins, or depre-
datsms ; it was directed against the whole people.—(Hear,
hear.) Did the evidence of Mr. Barrington, which was
so ably alluded to by the Hun. Member for Colchester,
prove the necessity of it? The cases mentioned by that
gentleman, on which the Right Hon. Gentleman seemed
to found so much of his argument, did by no means hear
him nut. The first he mentioned was the murder of Mr.
Hoskin, who was murdered during the disturbances in the
south of Ireland. His father was agent for Lord Cour-
tenay, and he thought to exact the war rents, which it
was alleged were abated. This created an hostility to
hint, and the tenantry wished to get rid of him ; and
While the disturbances were in the south the son was mur-
dered. The other case was that of Mr. Blood, who took
possession of a farm belonging to Lord Stradbroke, dis-
possessed the tenants, levelled their houses, and they were
all turned out to the road. The succeeding tenant
immediately afterwards was murdered. These were
cases of individual oppression, which brought in-
dividual vengeance on the individuals who were guilty
of that oppression ; hut they did not prove that Ireland
was in a state of disturbance or insurrection. They were
such cases as happened in every age and every country,
and were not confined to Ireland. Did the Government
snake any such proposition in England during the period
of the incendiary fires, which spread over so great a por-
tion of the country, or at the time when the rioters of
Bristol had destroyed the half of that city with flames?
Na ; they knew that such a proposition would be the last
they should have to make. He denied that a sufficient
inquiry had been made into the state of Ireland to warrant
the House to pass the measure. The evidence taken before
the Committee, and which was now before the House, was
given exclusively by persons either in office, or who had
an interest in keeping up the disturbances. The Hon.
Member then went into a long history of the diff,rero
Acts passed from 1776 to 1822 to put down disturbances
in Ireland, for the purpose of showing, that in no in
stance the House allowed the Acts to pass without a pre-
vious minute inquiry ; and that thouell in all the previous
instances it was clearly proved that the state of that
country was worse in every case when extraordinary
powers were called for, yet no Government ever asked
such extensive powers as were demanded by the present
monstrous and subversive Act. In 1822, when the Go-
vernment came to that House to ask fur the passing of the
Insurrection Act in Ireland, many members of the present
Government opposed it ; and he would beg of the House
to observe what the present Lord Chancellor said upon
that occasion. Speaking of the disturbed state of that
country, he said that " Nothing short of a complete re-
dress of all the grievances of which Ireland had to
complain could pacify that country, and that they could
not expect to pacify it by the Bill then before them, or
by any parallel enactment ; and that they might lose the
Irish in endeavouring to chain them, but that they never
could render them better by coercion. 'They might, for
a time, put down the Whiteboys by coercion, but in doine
so they would certainly gain the hatred of every Irish-
man." He (Mr. Grattan) thought that the true way to
gain tranquillity in Ireland, was by forcing the magistrates
to do their duty. He knew, from circumstances which
came within his knowledge, that the magistrate: could
do their duty if they choose, but that in many instance,
they refused to do so. He had letters that day from the
counties of Meath, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Water-
ford, and Queen's County, all of which stated those coun-
ties to he in a este of complete tranquillity. He would
read a passage from one fetter, to show the system made use
of, in order to keep up the appear once of distur hence :
" The police reports which are made up for the Caste, are
highly pictured and exaggerated. They are made up by
persons who have an interest in keeping up the disturb-
ances. This country was never more tranquil than it is
at present. There were only fifty-eight pers ns commit
ted for trial at the assizes (he would remind the House
that this was out of a population of 200,000 souls), and
one-half of those were out on bail." They were then
told that it was impossible to obtain jurors who would
convict, even on the glearest evidence. He (Mr.
Grattan) did not think so, and he had the opinion of
Judge Foster to the same effect, for that learned judge
said, that " be never would believe that sufficient jurors
could not be found to do their duty." Troy es ere
then told that the Whitefeet were not the only per-
sons to he put down, but that the Agitators must
Lkewise be suppress, d. He would ask who first en-
couraged agitation ? He would ask who first advised
" Agitation ! Agitation! Agitation !" (Hear, hear.)
He thought that this Bel should be called—not a Bill to
incarcerate the disturbers of the peace in Ireland, but a
Bill to disarm and incarcerate certain Members of that
House, as Ministers had shown by their speeches that it
was against the Hon. Member for Dublin that it wa-
directed. They had turned the Chapel of St. Stephen's
into a theatre, in which to vent their anger against tl.at
Hon. Member. Neither Lord Castlereagh nor Mr. Per-
ceval ever went so far in the personal attacks made upon
Members during the discussion of the celebrated Orders in
Council, as the present Ministers did in angry vituperation
against the Hon. and Learned Member for Dublin. It
was evident that their intention in introducing this Bill
was to incarcerate—if they possibly coeld—that Hon. and
Learned Member.—(Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Se-
cretary for Ireland talked of Agitators, but his words were
mere catch words—idle ballads, got up to overcome their
reason. Did the Right Hon. Gentleman recollect that
Grattan was an agitator ? Did he know that Lord Bris-
tol, when Bishop of Derry, was an agitator? Nay, even
Cu obnoxious did that Reverend Prelate make himself to
Government, that Lord Northington had a warrant made
out to send him to prison. They unhappily found in Ire-
land that nothing was to to be got in Ireland but agitation.
As an instance of that he might mention, that in 1792 the
Government of that day refused to do anything for the
Irish people ; but by agitation they got in the following
year more than they asked for. He considered the present
measure as the worst ever attempted by any Government.
Anything so tyrannical was not proposed by the
Tudors, Plantagenets, or Stuarts. I, would be a
deed of separation between the two countries ; and
they would find that, if it had the effect of put-
ting down the Whiteboys, it would also have the
effect of putting down all affection between the peopl,
of both countries.—(Hear.) There was another clause
to which he would beg to allude, merely because its ab-
surdity surpassed all he had seen of the nature of legislation,
and which was not only contemptible, but venal. IL
meant that clause which enacted, " that in future no
person should aid or assist in making any bonfire, light, or
signal by smoke," &c. The only effect of this clause
would be, to provoke the people. In short, the Ministers
had in this Bill contrived to include the Algerine Acts,
the Proscription Act, and Lord Clare's Convention Bill.
They were now to have the whole of these measures in-
cluded in one. The Right Hon. Secretary said, that it
was necessary for a Government to be feared before it was
loved. He (Mr. Grattan) did not know in what school
the Right Hon. Gentleman doctrine, learned that but he
was sure it was net in the same school with him.—
(A laugh.) He (Mr. G.) considered the present Lord
Lieutenant and the Secretary for Ireland as the most im-
proper persons that could be chosen for their respective
situations. The Right Hon. Secretary, especially, was a
Minister wholly unfit to be trusted with the management
of the affairs of such a country. The Hon. Member then
alluded to the interview between the Lord Lieutenant and
the members of a deputation which took place at Cork in
1832. The Lord Lieutenant then said, " A day will
shortly at rive--it cannot be distant—indeed it is ifopos-
sible it Gala be diatant...when measures Already prepared ,