Star.
London, England, 1801-04-28 00:00:00

MARTIAL I.ATV IN IRELAND.

Tn a late debate in the Himfe of Commons, on
Martial Law in Ireland,
Mr. MARTIN obferved, that he did lint enter-
tain a ve:y fanguine exp:aation that a no:allire tb
very important to the fafety, and he weald add,
the liberty of the country, at lealt of that liberty
which is confieCled with good order, would be
permitted to pars without attrafting fomc cenfure
from the pariorifp of Gentlemen oppofite to him.
He (peculated before his coming Into the Houle
upon objeCtions of a very different nature. He did
expea that I%linitiers would bz called upon to de-
fend their condlift, in flittering the fufnention of
the Hat.'!as Corpus At to expire. He expeCted
to hear C3overnmov: :liked, if they ought not to
have a'Aieipated every event which has inter-
Voted ilnce the expiration of the Bill for Suf-
pcndi,g chi Habeas Corpus Aft ? Did they not
know the ipirit of Jacobinifm to be indomable ;
that it might be checked by power. but never could
be convc led by kindncfs, or mitigated in its pur-
Pores by any aft of fubmdlion or Pelf abafemcnt ?
With this ktiowltdge, and treading upon the yet
warm Ales of a rebellion in Ireland, kindled by
their machinations. Government might be called
upon to account for permitting the Ai of Sufpen-
lion to expire. Even hen. Government were en-
titled to praife, although '-'.ley were difappointed
as to the refult. After luiper.tling, for thtee whole
years. a law lb juftly dear to the heart of every
Englifhtnan, it was an experiment, under the moil
difcouraging circumfiances, worth trying, to re-
Rore a law of fuch ineftimable value to its rank
in our Statute Book. The attempt has failed, but
fuch an attempt, in fuch a cattle, is jutlly defLrving
of praife ; and this very failure, after fuch
efreftual experiment, is the ftrongeft reafon in
Support of the *motion now before the Houfe.
When I vote for fufpending the Habeas Corpus
AR, I vote for it, not from choice but neceffity.
One Honourable Gentleman alks, why were not
the prifoners taken up under his Sufpenfion of
the Habeas Corpus Aft brought to trial ? This,
air, is a molt ['range interrogation, and the an.
fwer is this,-)Preassfe the Habeas Cellar Ad was foyc
pada By the Sufpenfson of this law, Government
*ere permitted to confine perfonsfillogalTrafon,
orTicafonable praftices, without bringing fuch
rucits to trial. TO afk then why perfons under
elircumitanees were not convifted, is no more
than to afk why Government turned the law to
that very purpofe for which fpecifically it was
framed ? Will the Honourable Member (Mr.
Taylor,) or will any other Honourable Member
fay, that in cafes of extreme danger to the State,
Government are not warranted in arrefting per-
fons fieung6l fufpeaed of Treafon, and of whole
guilt there may not be that exalt legal evidence
on which they ought to be convitied, is to fay
although the Legiihaure have fufpended the Ha-
beas Corpus Aft, proceed exactly as if the law
were in aflive force, in which we mutt all with to
fee it. I have here adverted to thofe perfons de.
tained in caddy, wh‘• it might not be perhaps
poffible to convia. But there are thofe whom it
might be poll3ble to convilt, and whole conviaion,
though certain, yet it might be imprudent either
to try or condenin. In many inflances would it
be expedient to inform the foreign foe of the extent
to which, by various machinations, he had been
able to erganife &diem t In other inftances, to dif-
dole to principal Traitors not in cuftody, by the
trial of perfons guilty in an inferior degree, the
*hole evidence that might hereafter be ufed again['
fuels principals, would defeat the idea of jnftice.
Gentlemen on the other fide teem not to admit,
that there is a eonfpiracy proved by evidence. Any
man who. credits that there is no confpiracy in
England or Ireland, would be greatly accountable
to his country for depriving Engliihmen, even for I
an inftant, of a part of that conftitution which
they tender as their birth-right. But, Mr. Speaker,
that there is a confpiraey, who can doubt who
credits human teftimony, or who can confide in
the evidence of his Own &ores ? \'as not a con-
fpiraey proved by the Report of your Secret Com-
mittee three years ago ? Was it not further proved
by the evidence before the Secret Committee, that
an accredited 'crakor, from the United Englifk-
men; had been received by the Irifli Direaory ?
Was not the Correlpondence of the Englith De-
legates laid before that Committee ? and it was
Rated in one of their letters, which it is important
for England to hear : Speaking of RevolutionA
and of this country, much canngt be done here.
We have not thofe abides to work upon that you
in Ireland have; the poor here are betterproteCted,
and are more contented, and therefore the fir[' blow
towards general freedom muft be (truck with
you, and we thou follow."—Thus are two im-
portant fiats ettablifbed, that the general body of
the nation is loyal, and regard the Contlitution,
not as a grievance, but as their moll valuable in-
heritance. What again appears ; that there is,
however, a party, not formidable in number or
property, hut dangerous from their wicked in-
&tilt y, who labour to deceive the honeft and in-
&Orions to thzir ruin. Non let me all:, is it a
FTati.f.ll rcturn to tlnt yoleral loyalty IA Weil I
have it 'ICJ, t I.:IV': it open to the at% of titch
as
are paid ag.:nts for AI,: Iteleertion, not only of she
hat for the ovet throw of all
flov.rn•Th:nt Ish.nl;r:ver Few pc.rforo. are dated
li I tra arr..ated under the Sufp,:ation of this
A inch pro v, NS hat never :cis doubted, that
Ili • power 11,:5 e ' was abided by Minitters.
In the belt of t tare s. !vim% flentlemen who now
orpofe this a.lrnit that liberty was
the I talseas Corpus Aft has been
fiti-
itend. Nine times glace the Revolution it has
Ivey:toted, anti twice in the re'rn of William.
Th: • fts e, n'i.let.!Ll to jtot;fy Olt fufpen-
-11..16.eff this aft, thrcatrred i:lea-
open eon fpiracy for rebellion !
Ne.w .it this wou.ea: ; o f 'how cafes unite to
e!li:*? th': • namelr, ibreatterd invation
a, .I.e onsp;racy, ft that :I ever it was, in times the
intia.at.tcat ivc to pultl:. :away, thought twenty
to Cu; cad
.this act, it is more fo now from the
united 'burr of a f.irmidable contlimey and of
aro. IL

snbugh to defpife. Ceinipifacy In thy opinioticalls
more for fuch a mcafure than even open rebellion ;
and that man who after the report which the Right
Hon. Member has brought up, can doubt of fuch
a ennfpiracy, muff he a man with whom it is im-
poffible to argue. 1 however believe the confpi-
racy to be proved to the general fenfe of the Houk,
and that a cafe on precedents, drawn from the
be(t of times, juftifies this meafure. Thofe who
teem adverfe to this Bill have but feebly oppofed
its expedieffey at the prefent time ; bet thofe Gentle-
men appear fhocked at the precipitation of doing
that in one day, which, adhering to cosies forms
in common or ordinary bufinels, might confume
four or five days, forgetting that the Secret Com-
mittee have recommended the•moft prompt ftifpen.
lion of the Habeas Corpus Ad. 1)o Gentlemen
in oppofition think they can gain much credit for
candour, by conceding, that though it is necerary
to fufpend the Habeas Corpus Ad yet that it is
e
neceffary to do to, adh
_g to all the forms of
delay ufed in an Ind . 'BM ?—Time may make
on all mentions m ibet particularly on this
occafwm it makes every.thing ; thofe, therefote,
who ddqy, defeat, the simian. Every hour then
1 that we delay, affords an hour of longer triumph
to thofe who ccmfpire. Do thofe who at thus un-
pok upon thernfelves, at' 'do they think they can
isspofe upon the public ? The condud of the Hon.
Gentleman oppefite to me, reminds me of what 1
once heard a learned Judge fay, on being unrea-
fonably required to grant time to a defendant who
'retained pofialion of what his adverfary claimed.
The learned Judge related this Rory : in fame one
of the Grecian States a prifoner was condemned
to death, upon which he made this propofal to the
Prince, "that in cafe his life were fparcd, hewould
alk it on this condition, that he fhould teach a dog
in three days to fpeak Creek." To this propofal
the Prince was induced to confent, believing the
couvided to be poffeffed of this fecret, as he con-
' fented ultimately to die, in cafe his pupil the dog
proved obliinately ftupid. When the prifoner was
thus releafed, he was afked by one of hisfriends if
he ferionfly expeCted to be able to teach a dog
Greek ? No, faid he, bnt yet I have gained much ;
within three years this Prince may die, and I may
be pardoned by his fucceffor—in three years this
dog may die, and I cannot be allowed a fhortcr
time for another experiment—in three years I may
die a natural death, and thus efcape an ignominious
fentence. All thefe calculations failing, fhould I
fuffer at the expiration of three years, (hall I not
have lived at leall thofc three years the longer ?

Wych-ftreet, Drury-Lane, was, during a great
part of Sunday, filled with a mob, brought toge-
ther by motives of curiofity, humanity, and deep,
thoughmiflaken horror. A houfe which was once,
it is raid, honoured with the refidence of the King
of Bohemia, fon•in-law to James I. has been lately
tl kale of the diffeftions of a Demonftrator of
Anatomy. Some part of the fecret of his profef-
(lon took air among the populace. Dead bodies
were underftood to be in the houfe. Thefe were
fuppofed to betray force atrocious murders. A
crowd afFembled. The mob burft into the apart-
ments. Mangled limbs and other parts of human
bodies were chfcovered. .

Yefterday feveral of the inhabitants waited up-
on Mr. FORD at Bow-fireet, to complain of the mob
that had colleCted about the houfe late the (tic=
of Bohemia's Head, where the dead bodies were
difcovered on Sunday ; the mob were proceeding
to aas of violence, in confequence of which Mr.
FORD immediately direCted a party of peace offi-
cers to repair to the fpot, who difperfed the crowd
without any mifchief enfuing. A young man who
was taken into cuftody the preceding night, at the
above-mentioned houfe, under an idea of being
one of the Surgeons who caufed the bodies to
be brought there for Mallon, was examincd ;
but nothing farther appeared than that he was
found in the houfe on Sunday night, about ten
o'clock, and could not account in a fatisfaCtory
manner how be got there : and a boy, who had
waited on the Surgeons, faid he had Peen him in
company with one of them a few days ago, which
lie, however, pofitively denied, and called feveral
refpeCtable perfons to prove that he was a Mid-
Chipman in the Navy, and had only been in town
a few days.
The boy Elated, that he had been employed about
a month by Mr. a furgeon, to light the
fire, and attend upon them at the houfe when they
brought the bodies to ditieft, which was al-
molt every day ; that the bodies were brought
there in a large box by a man who faid he had
them from the hofpital ; that the fleih, and other
parts they did not want, were buried in the cellars,
and the bones preferred for &eletons ; he alfo
laid, that the houfe had been hired by Mr. C. of
the landlord, for one year, for the purpofe ; and
' that his father, who is a carpenter, had made new
locks, doors, &c. Two cafes of furgeons' inftru.
ments, and an apron, flamed with blood, found in
, the faid houfe, were produced. A large table, for
ditraling on, was alfo found in the houfe, and
there being a fire lighted in one of the rooms on
Sunday evening, it is probable they were then go-
i inn to work. On digging in one of the cellars, fuf-
i fictent was diccovere4 to corroborate the boy's tef-

rimony as to the horsing of the flea there, and
from this (pia there ailed a molt horrible (tench.
The boy 1441 that he had quitted them about five
week ago, not liking fn (hocking a trade.
Mr. FORD recommended the pat officers to
apply to the coroner for the diftria, to fummon a
jury as loon as poffible, to make the necelfary in-
quiries concerning the remains of the dead bodies
tuund in the hook (which appeared to confitt of a
man, woman, and child), As the moil prosper means
to afcertain the fad, and do away the notion en-
tee Wind by the mob, that murders had been com-
mitted: and ordered all the parties who had ap-
peared before him to attend when that invefliga.
tion took place.
In the afternoon the Coroner's Jury held their
nqueft at a neighbouring public oufe, and re-
turned their verdia that the bodies were brought
there by fume Surgeon or Surgeons unknown for
the purpole of diffeaion. The remains of the bo-
dies were taken away in the evening in Utah and
interred in St. ClemetteaChnrtbliiii....