The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-09 00:00:00

M PERIAIr P A R LIA MENT.

.HOUSE OF LORDS, £lnq. S.
Their Lordshis met at Four o'Cinelc.
Messatte from the Commons brought up a num-
ber of Bills.

The Now'-fonndland Bill was brought up and read a
first time.

The Eeelesiastic:d Preferments Bill teas read a
third time, and passed.
MEDICAL CHARITIES (IRELAND) BILL.
The Earl of WICKLOW presented a petition from
the Grand Jury of the Cou4tany of Druggists, pray-
ing that medical charities in Ireland should'not he
placed` under the control of the Poor-law Commis
sioners:

The Tobacco Regulations Bill pa;med through Com-
mittee, , and was ordered to be read a third ti
to-morrow.

The tour: Courts (Dublin) Bill Ewa s real a
time, and passed. _

THE 6iii"YRIGHT OF DESIGNS BIT, f.

On the motion of the Earl of RI.PO:`, the Cupp.
right of Designs 'Bill was committed, and seviTal
amendments having been agreed to, the Report was
brought. 'up, and the Bill ordered to be read a third
time.
BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS BILL. •

On the Motion of Lord CAMPBELL; the Bribery
at Eleetions.Eill passed through Committee, and was
ordered to be read a third time.
EAST-INDIA SLAVERY.

The Bill for the suppression of the Slave-trade in
the East Indies, also passed through Committee.
- OUTRAGES

Lard F ORTESCUE brought forward his motion
for a return of outrages reported to the Irish con-
stabulary in July last. lie said that the
returns
.which- he held in his hand had been prepared
by Col..M‘Gregor' a gentleman whose accuracy might
be relied on; and they showed that in the present
year outrages (of which there had been a rapid and
progressive .. decrease during the time that he had the
honour to preside over the government of that
country) had fearfully increased. Of twelve classes
of crime, including homicides,. maiming, shoot-
ing with intent to kill,. and firing into
dwelling houses, the number in the first
half of the year 1841,. was no more than 651 ;
whereas, of those offences, the number in the last
half of 1841 was, 2,449, but in the first half of the
present year the number had fearfully increased to
3,551.—(Hear.) This struck him as indicating that
there was some change in the manner in which justice
was administered.—(Hear.) The Noble Lord then
referred to the late trials of Ribbonmen at Armagh,
at which, he said, the Judge who presided showed, in
his charge to the Jury, the vehemence and earnestness
of an advocate rather than the impartiality of a judge.
He (Lord . Fortescue) then went into an analysis
of the evidence upon the trials, from which he con-
tended that the chief witness against the prisoners
was a professed spy, and, according to his own state-
ment, not to be believed on his oath. He concluded
by moving for the returns. -
The Duke of WELLINGTON could not see
any ob ection to the returns asked for ; and
hey should not haVe thought it necessary to occupy
their Lordships' time upon this occasion, but
that the Noble Earl had thought proper to draw
conclusions from the papers in his (the Earl of For-
tescue's) hands, in which he could not concur, and
which he could not pass over without observation.
From former discussions on this subject, it must be in
the recollection of their Lordships that • circumstances
might occasion a difference in the number of crimes
in one period in Ireland as compared with another,
without any cause for such being attributable either
to the system of Government,. or above all to the sys-
tem of the. administration of the law adopted' by the
heads of judicial authorities in. that country. It was
true that more of these atrocious crimes had been com-
mitted in the first six • months of the year
1842, than in the • corresponding six months
of the year 1841, at. least as appeared from the consta-
bulary returns. It might happen- that the con-
stabulary .were more active in bringing such
offenders to justice at the one period than at the other,
and that was a matter not to be overlooked in the
consideration of such a question. With respect to
the Noble Lord's observations relative to the trial at
which. the Chief Justice had presided, he (the Duke
of Wellington) would only say, with respect to that diss
tinguished individual, that there never was a man
more respected or more' distinguished in his profession'
than that person. He (the Duke of Welling-
ton) could hardly believe that that individual
could, in his high position, be guilty of the
injustice of . acting more like an advocate, than as an
impartial judge, in a case tried before him. With
respect to what had been said relative to the ad-,
mission of a witness who had admitted that-
he had enticed men to. join the ribbon conspiracy,
and that he had been so employed by the Magistrates,
lie had to say that the counsel for- the pri-
soner, who, during the trial, had made a charge to
that effect, had withdrawn his charge subsequently. I
Nothing could be more base than for the Magistracy
to countenance such conduct as that of the witness
Hagan. • An inquiry into the matter had been di-
rected,
and if the charges were found tp be true, the
parties would be visited with punishment.
The Marquis of CLANRICAILDE was happy to
hear what had fallen from the Noble Duke on this
matter. With respect to what had been said relative
to a high judicial functionary in Ireland, if the charge,
such as it was reported in the newspapers, were cor-
rectly given, it would be the greatest misfortune that
could befal hat individual's reputation.
Tee Earl of WICKLOW said it appeared to him
unjust to make those charges on a mere newspaper
report, upon which it was evident the Noble Marquis.
founded his censure of the distinguished in-
dividual to whom his observations applied.
With respect to what was said relative to the Magis-
tracy he, (the Earl of Wicklow) knew by experience
that the people of Ireland placed- confidence not so.
much in the religion of •the Magistrates as in their
high character and station.
The Earl of GLENGALL said that it could not
be doubted that • there had been a great deal
of outrage in the last few months. But when
he sat on the other side of • the House,
on the many occasions on which he had
brought the attention of their. Lordships to the state
of crime in Ireland, he told them that although there
was an apparent tranquillity yet it was delusive, and
would not last long, for the seeds of sedition
had been sown, and would ere long bring.
forth their fruit, as was now the fact.
The Noble Earl (Fortescue) had shown that,
there was an increase in nos year, as
compared with the last. Bit he (Lord Glen-
gall) would show that there had been a
constant, and progressive increase of crime from
1838. to 1842. (The Noble Lord read returns
which he argued made out this statement.)
The returns produced from the constabulary did not
show the actual amount of crime. As an instance he
said that during the election in 1841 there
was a riot in Tipperary, at which eight peo-
ple .were shot, and died of their wounds ; but
' they were carried off, and the wounded were concealed
and the dead were buried, so that the police were un-
able to make any report. This showed how far short
of the truth the returns fell. Now as the Noble
Earl (Fortescue) took credit to his Government,
for having . conciliated the regards of the Irish
people (meaning, of course, the Roman Catholics),
he would show this by reading a speech delivered at
a public Meeting by Dr. M‘Hale, the Titular Bishop
of Tutun, soon after the dissolution of the late Govern-
ment. The Noble Earl then read an extract from
the speech referred to, in which the Rev. Doctor re-
probated the conduct of the Whigs, and expressed his
rejoicing in their downfall, in terms which provoked
the loud laughter of the House. " They were a
peddling despicable Ministry=--they were the pre-
tended friends of the Irish people, but really the in-
sidious enemies of the nation and the Catholic reli-
gion, and the zealous, though secret supporters of that
Church, to which Ireland owed all its miseries, &C."
• . After a few words from LordFITZGERALD,
Earl FORTESCUE replied, and expressed his thanks
to the Noble Duke (Wellington), for the courteous man-
ner in which his motion had been acceded to.
THE IRISH MARRIAGE ACT.

—.—
Lord LYNDHURST laving moved the second read-
ing of the Irish Marriage Act (which was agreed to),
said that it had been suggested that as the subject was
before the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland, it would
afterwards come before their Lordships as an appeal
from the Court of Error. But he (Lord Lyndhurst)
found that the appeal would not come before the House

in time to enable -their Lordships to have the assistance
of the Judges, and he was obliged to proceed with this
Bill. He accordingly moved that it be committed to-
morrow. •
__ . _ _ _ _ .

Lord CAMPBELL opposed the course which his
Noble and Learned friend proposed. It would cause
the greatest confusion not only in Ireland, but in India,
and America, and wherever there were Irish sub-
jects ; for the Bill instead of being a declara-
tory measure, was an enactment. By thus
passing an enacting Act, it would have the effect of an-
nulling all the marriages entered into before its passing,
and declaring the offspring bastards. There was formerly
the same doubt about Presbyterian marriages, as now
raised about mixed marriages, and how was that doubt
temoved P By• a declaratory Act, which delared all those
marriages of Presbyterians valid. He could sh►►w their
' Lordships what was the opinion of the Irish Judges on
these subjects. lie could show them that there had been,
in the course of the last few years, several convictions for
bigamy, where the first marriage was a mixed one. In
every one of these cases, the Judges held that the mar-
riages were valid, and the offending parties were now
suffering punishment. The Noble and Learned Lord
cited a number of cases, in which this had been the de-
cision. - Judge Moir, in one of these cases, which was
tried in 1831, with reference to the validity of those
mixed marriageS performed by Presbyterian mini-
sters, said that he was surprised to hear the
question raised. • In 4 similar case (that of Cap-
tain Laycock Money) who ,was eenyieted of bigamy
at the Old Bailey, his plea that his first marriage was