Star.
London, England, 1817-05-24 00:00:00

ADJOURNAISNT.

The CHANCELLOR-of the EXCHEQUEF!.
ruoved that the lioube at its rising,
this
day,
adjourn
tiil this day se'nnight, the 30th ing.—Agreed to.
lrtbls 11CotlattECTION CONTINUANCE BILL.

This Bill being proposed to read a second time,
Sir SAMUEL ItOMILLY objected to the further
ogrebi or the Bill, and thought that the House
;surd not do its duty to the country if it did not
oar some further inquiry into the state of Ireland.
Ore 1341 contained maw:wary strong provisions,
.mong which, certainly uct the least, was, that, any,

1 man found out after sun set and before sun-rise, was
liable to be taken up and transported as an idle and
disorderly person, without the benefit of trial by jury.
Besides, a single Justice had the power of going hits-
self to any dwelling-house, at midnight, or sending
any person there, and if all the persons inhabiting
that house were not present, the absentee subjected
himself to transportation. Surely such a law was
adverse to the genius of the Constitution, and was
unheard of since the days of William the Conqueror.
The House of Commons professed itself the guar-
dian of the public rights, but surely it would chew
its claims to tl.is character better by skewing this at-
tachment in deeds than in words. Not long since
the Right Honourable Gentleman had declared he
would prefer the real substantial happiness of Ireland
as it at present existed, to any blessings alleged to
exist in Catholic Emancipation. Now this pal slab-
::anti.:l happiness, as seen by this very Act, was mere
adapted for Algiers than Ireland--( Mar, hear, hear.)
It had been said the powers were moderately es
excised. Zloty could this be the c ise, when, to
Say the least of it, above seventy person. had Leen
transported under that Act—(Near, hear, him ).
The very arguments with which this Bid was sup.
ported might be advanced for its bring a perpetual
measure—(li.ar. hear).—ln 1507 he had prowled
against this measure, even though it had been said to
originate with an Administration, in which he had
the honour to hold a high office, but though he had
no proof of this being the case, he must say that had
hr even been in office, he should have resisted it—
(Hear, hear).—Better would it be for the I louse to
adopt sonic intermediate step, than do what they
were now called to do. As Englishmen not suffi-
ciently acquainted with the state of Ireland, it 1,::-
came them to pause seriously before they proceeded
to inflict such an injury on the-Sister Kingdom. It
became them to ask to what cause tne disaffection of
Ireland was owing, whether it arose from ignorance
and error, or from political distinctions at once the
disgrace and ruin of the country? When the House
and country beheld the Cabinet divided—when they
saw one class of the Ministry pursuing a fine of con.
duct which another class of the same body branded
with all epithets of ruin and injury tis the Consti-
tution which it was passible to utter, he would ask,
was it possible Ireland could be tranquil—(Loinl and
repealed crier of Hear, hear)?—Yet these men could ,
adhere to each other in the Cabinet, even though the
one party stig eiatized the other as the friends of a mea-
sure pregnant with ruin to the Constitution. Such an
adherence, hostile as it must appear to every thing ever '
as yet known in this country, was inexplicable, but
could only be accounted for by those who held oilier.
" You wish to unite Ireland, you wish to combine I
all her energies, but pray, how Cali you ever acconi-
plish this except you unite her children Mime ? I do
not say that the Catholic Question being ginned would
at once soothe all those jealousies so long existing, or
remove all those evils which have alas sn Lowy distrac-
ted Ireland—but I am firmly persuaded that while
you keep up those unnetessas a , and, I may add,i hose
truly unconstitutional distinctions betweea Catholics
and Protestants, you Dever can procure pet mareat
tranquillity in Iceland. These, Sir, are tie views I
have uniformly entertained upon this great and truly
national question, and allow me to add once mule,
that till you abolish those distinctions, which bow,
ever necessary they niay haite once appeared are now
no longer so, you never can hope fOr permanent peace
or prosperity in Itelard. Never can a nation lie
great, never can she appear in her proper sshere, or
be distinguished as she ought to be, while tone class of
her children are held up as excluded from civil
rights merely for the religion they have rezeived as a
legacy from their tuielatheis, and th which they stea-
dily adhere. (Hear.) 1 know well the d !Terence of
opinion which exists on this truly important question ;
but I must declare, that you can never hope for
peace, never expect quietness, except in the solitude or
death, until you place the children of the empire on
an equal tooting. To be a member of the British
Empire, and nut share the free born rights of man, is
an absurdity. I shall, therefore, feel it my duty
.to
move, as an Amendment, that this Bill be read a
second time this day six months ; for never will I
consent to see Ireland thus sacrificed, and her inte-
rests neglected. Let a moderate system be adopted,
then might peace and tranquillity be expected in Ire-
land, but while one part of her children was held up
against the other and made the object of attack, every
hope of peace was like " the baseless fabric of a
Viiloll."—(tlear..)—The amendment being read,
Mr. PEEL resisted it, on the ground tit the mea-
sure being absolutely necessary for the safety of Ire-
land. Tile Right lion. Gentleman maintained that
no powers could have beets more moderate than the
powers given by this Act. The measure was pro-
posed only for one year, and lie hoped that at the end
of ihat time it would be found no longer necessary.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT was sorry to say, that it
was with the deepest regret lie was obliged to assent
to the proposal of this Act being continued, because
he thought this measure necessary for tranquillizing
Ireland. He lamented tits little attention paid to
Ireland, and that every ingniry into her real situation
was resisted by Ministers ; :nit he was bound to say,
that the pi.wers entrusted to Government by this Act
had been mildly exercised, and he might add, even
with ieluctance, by those invested with the powers.
He trusted Miuisters would not persevere in their
present system without inquiring more into the state
of Ireland, and trying more lenient measures; but
meanwhile he telt himself bound in conscience to sup.
port this measure.
Mr. VEiEY FITZGERALD lamented that the
Magistracy had been obliged to exercise these powers
at all ; but bore witness to the very lenient manner
in which they had been exercised. No MAP could
feel pleasure in executing severe powers ; and he
was persuaded that no man could say, the powers
of the Magistracy had in one instance been abused.
Wishing tor conciliation towards the Catholics' as
much as any man, he could not suffer that question
to be identified with the outrages committed in Ire-
land, or the demoralization of that country. Nor
would he allow, that because Parliament had not
taken the view of the Catholic Claims which he was
anxious they should take, that therefore the adoption
should be deferred of a measure necessary for ths
immediate preservation of the public tranquillity. In
support of his opinion, he read the Resolutions of the
Magistracy at a County Meeting in Ireland, expres-
sive of their unanimous sense of the propriety of the
continuation of the. measure. He put it to every man

who-heard him, except the nortourahte and Learned
Gentleman, whether :le thought the manner in which
Ithe powers granted by the Act had been reluctantly
applied by the Irish Government, was such as to
justify the declaration of Coe flon,urahle and Learned
Gentleman, that that Government ruled by terror
and military force? He allowed that the Honour-
able and Learned Centleman was consistent in his
opposition to the measure. On a former occasion he
had been in a Minority of nine upon it. What would
be the division that evening he would not anticipate.
But of this he was persuaded, that did the Hon:
and Learned Gentleman know the state of Ireland,
had he lived for any time in the county of Loath,
he would approve instead of opposing his Honourable
Friend's proposition.
Sir HENRY PA RNELL supported his Honour-
able and Learmd Friend's amendment. Although
he admitted them might be some parts of Ireland
which required strong powers, he would never cm..
sent to the adoption of the m-asure prop. sesl, wilh-
Out a previous and minute examination into the state
of Ireland. On a former occasion, the general-dire
turbance of that country was alb Reed as a gro-md L r
the bill ; bit this was the f'.l- t trine that local out.
rages had seen Assigned as a sufficient cause for :'..
Cooeciving that dr.: ordinary powers of the law were
f.ullicie•lt tor :he preservation of public tranquilli.y,
he could not agree to the adoption of a measure of
more than ordiaary severity.
Mr. LE, I.IE FOSTER declared; that no person
c(,•J1.1 /enteric more than he did the necessity for the
adoption of the meastoe proposed by his Right
Hof:cure b!e r:iend. Wherever the law met with the
co-ope:ra•;on of the people, or was not opposed by
the ptoi.lr, Fe would trust the protection ot the peace
of 11:5 cof.:7.tf y to its ordinary operation ; but if in
any part ot the country the people evinced a deter.
minati:ln to int down the law of the land, and to
have no law bit their own will, in such an instance
to talk of the ordinary Constitution as sufficient to
preserve t!:e pub:ic t•antruillity was to utter an abso.
Itr.e failacy. The fac: was, that in the counties of
Limerick, Tippet-Iffy, and Louth, until the Irmo.
rection Act as plt in force, there was no hope of
any of the prose:uzors or witnesses, in cases of trial
for the outrage:. committed in those counties, escaping
being murdered. • Under those circumstances, it was
.impossible to think of resorting merely to the trial
by jury. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman
.wished to postpone the adoption cot the measure for
the sake of (obtaining information. The fact was,
'that there was then ot4 • the table of. the House, all
,Rite information which the Irish Government possef-
-Ise and could furnish with respect to the subject—.
IThat information proved the absolute,the melancholy,
but the paramount necessity of giving to the ordinary
law of .the land some powerful ally, without whose
aid indeed it was impossible that it c..uld be put iota
effective operation. He positively denied the accu-
racy of the Honourable and Learped.Pentlematee
supposition, that the existing disturbances had arisen
out of any religious differences; or was at all amsi•
hittahl.f to the votes of that House in hostility to the
Catlifdic claims. The fact was. that in the three
the victims of outrage wete all Catholics alike.
counties to which he had alluded, the aggressers and

Lord JOCELYN otn:ended, that the measure was
indispensable The efforts of the common law to
repress,the disturbances in Ireland were quire insuf-
ficient. He protested against the assumption that
'those disturbances were at all attributable to the res
final Gr Parliament to concede the Catholic
In all the cases in which corn. barns, houses, kr.
had to .s burnt, the Catholics were equally the suf:
terets and the aggressors. Every day's experience
convinced hint that the calamities et Ireland spraegi
from another source—the number of absentees. U.
less the higher classes nt the Irish determined to re-
side on their estates, and by their presence to encou-
rage the orderly, and repress the ttimtdribirs7he
was persuaded that no measure whatever would
restore to Leland that security and tranquillity which
every friend to the weliare of the Empire Feint ar-
dently wish to see reestablished.
General MATHEW allowed that the number of
ahsent.fes Was a great cause of the disturbances in
Ireland. And what was the cause of that nuwsber
of absentees ?—The Act of Union. and the way in
which it had been carried. With respect to the
County of Tipperary, he denied that the InsurrectiTs
Act had at all opt rated to effect the apprebensfrA
of the murderers of Mr. P,iker. The fact was, that
, the whole of Ireland was to be pot under the pre-
posed sra. rn, because the county of Louth, one of
the smallest commie:, the Rutlandshire of Ireland,
required it. lie contended that the Government of
Ireland acted most partially': they regarded one side
with jealousy. and the other with fay. ur. Nothing
beneficial could be effected until an equal distribn-
tion of justice should he established. He would never
vote any Seditious or Insurrection Bill, to deprive
the fine and generous ilenple of Ireland of their fiber.
ties and privileges. They were enslaved—ruinel
every way : their finances impoverished, the7r agrf.
culture destroyed, themselves almost driven to tl.e
alternative of open rebellion or submission to the yoke
of tyranny !
Mr. D. BROWNE eznied that the refusal of Pim
liament to grant the C itholic claims had anything
whatever to do with the existingstate of that country.
Adverting to what the flimourable General hattsaid
of the county of Tipperary, he observed, that he un-
derstood thot county had been in as bad a 'stat as
any other until the operation of the Insurrection Act,
since which is had become tranquil.

Mr. W. Q iiN, itltlioult with groat reluctance,
ftlt it to b: duty to vote for the measure, on the
ground Of its absolute necessity.
Sir rRI.DLRICK FLOOD, however ardently Ise **
give tor t a:h.) ks every ju.t privilege enjoyed by his Majes: i's
subjects, and hosv, err be wished to unite all the inhabitants of :he
empire, Catholic and Protestant, in one common mutest, wot.ld
be very tender on that subject upon that occasion. As a ktegre-
sespative of Ireland, however, he could not retrain trout. declaring,
.that the Bill under the consideration of the house appeared to
horn to be one of ;he many measures of latnen to :awl wig&
ticed and matured by the Right Honourabte Chief secretary for
that country, to whom Ireland a. as 111,06 t materially indebted for
his exertions; and he hope.l the strangers in the G.dtery would
notice that (Order! Order I) The present was a it...reefing MIL .I`.
euld protect from ow rage the Catholic as well ag th P. otestanr.
He had the pleasure to annout,ce, that lie had receieed letters
from Ireland, announcing that they were perk. t.y io
that country with the recent decision in Parliament, that sy.y
'relied on their wisdom for Ulllll2 IIC fUCCesv, and that they were
very grateful to the respectable Erglisb, Scotch, and Welch, M
minuet y, who suppored their cause. Certatoly their hope; had
sums foundation, for the nt.j.aity against them hal bunk temp
ft) to 21 ; and they looked up *eh r :./ mace hat Ur!