Star.
London, England, 1816-07-04 00:00:00

codittiared to beßlett "obi ere. 'facet *he(
the etesoot alarm among the peaceable itnd well-dis-
posed for . the safety of their ,persons Ind peoperty,
and if Wined to gain strength and ennsis3 ncy. they
would become instruments which the designing and
disaffected might readily employ in the fiartherance
of their political views, should some better oppi.nu-
nity occur fur the prosedution of them.
I represented to your' Lordship, that the rate of
the existing laws which regarded the preservation of
the pubk.peace, and die expediency of extending
the powers of the G"vernmeut and of the Magistracy,
were subjects to which, is all probability, it would
be my duty to call the attention of your Lordship
before the approiChing meeting of Parli.iment, and
that in the mean time I should depend upon a vigo-
rous exertion of the powers with which I was then
vested, and upon the co-operation of she military
force, for the means of counteracting the spirit of
outrage which preleOled in many parts of the coun-
try. and of preventing, its extension to others.
In,consequence of the continuance and increase of
the disturbances referred to in the letter which I have
quoted above. it was determined to submit to Parlia-
ment the expediency of extending the powers of the
Government and of the Magistracy; and accordingly
in the month of 'March, in the Session of 1814, a
Bill was introduced, the object of which was to pro.
vide for the better execution of the laws in Ireland,
by enabling the Lord Lieutenant in Council to pro-
claim. any district to be in a state of disturbance, and
to station in it pn establishment of constables propor-
tioned to the eitent of the district. acting tinder the
immediate superintendence of a Magistr.ite appointed
by the Lord Lieutenant. It was provided by the
Bill, that the salaries of the Magistrates and Consta-
bles, and the general expenses attendant on the exe-
intion of the Act, should be defrayed by a present.
went of the. Grand Jury, to be levied on the district
proclaimed to be in a state of disturbance s this Bill
passed into a law ; and, at a later period of the Seo
sion. the Act which had been previously passed in
180, which generally bears the name of The Insur-
rection Act, was introduced, and, after being slightly
modified, received the sanction of the Legislature.
The first instance in which I had occasion to apply
the powers thus committed to me by the first of the,
Acts above referred to, occurred in the county of
Tippet ary. Early in the month of July, 1814, I had
received a memorial from a meeting of Magistrates
and Gentlemen, held in pursuance of a public notice,
requesting, in consequence of the recent murder of
Mr. Long, a Magistrate of the county, and other
alarming outrages, that the district of Ardmoyle, in
the barony of Middlethird, in which the murder was
committed, might be proclaimed. As the Acts
above-mentioned had not then received the Royal
assent, I directed that the Magistrates should be in-
formed, that there seas no law then in force by which
that district could be proclaimed ; but that I relied
upon their exertions to bring the offenders to pettish-
merit,- and was ready to co-opetate in their endea-
vours with the full assistance of the Civil and military
powers.
In the month of September, the Resolutions rf a
general meeting' of Magistrates of the county of Tip-
perary, convened at-Cashel, for the purpose of taking
the state of the country into consideration, were
transmitted to me, praying, that in consequence of
the numerous murders and other outrages committed
in the barony of Middlethird, it might be proclaimed
undef,the provisii.ns of the Act 54 Geo. ill. c. 131,
which eiSables the Lord Lieutenant to assign an extra-
ofeinary Mice Establishment to a disturbed district.

Al I felt subngly the necessity of establishing a
regular Police in .a county in which the ordinary
Civil Power was proved to be entirely inadequate to
the repression of the disorders which had long pre-
vailed in it, the Barony of Mtddlethird was proclaim-
ed in Council, on the 6th of September, to be in a
state of disturbance, and a Magistrate who had long
bee; confidentially employed by the Government
was appointed the superintending Magistrate, with
an establishment of 30 constables.

In two other districts of the county of Tipperary
(1), similar police establishments have been subse.
quently placed, on the application of the Magistrates
of the county. Lordship is aware, that the
Officers attached to these establishments possess no
powers whatever in enforcing the execution of the
laws beyond the ordinary powers of Magistrates and
Constables nominated in 'the usual manner ; and I
bare already observed, that the expense incurred by
their appointment is borne by the district in which
they act.
I shall now proceed to mention the several in.
:tames in which applications have been made by the
Magistrates far the enforcement of the Insurrection
Act, and the measures which have been in conse-
quence adopted.
In the month of November, 1814, I received a
memorial from the Governors of lie fourteen Magi-
strates of the county of Westrileath, stating, that the
recent outrages committed in that county. proved a
continuance of the same liteless conspiracy which
had existed for some time past, and which rendered
the lives and properties of every.petscn in the dies'
tutted district insecure; and praying for the emote*.
meat of the Insurrection Act in certain districts of
that county.
With this memorial 1 did not comply, still induls-
ing a hope that the continued exertions of the Magi-
sttacy. aided by a considerable military force which
had been detached into this county, would preclude
the necessity of resorting to any extraordinary exer-
cise of authority.
On the 2841 of March, 1815, a meeting of twenty-
eight Magistrates of the same county took place,
summoned by the Clerk of the Peace, in the model
pointed out by the Insunectinn Act ; and a 'manorial'
ryas addressed to the Lords Justices, who administer,
ed the government during my absence for a few
weeks in England. The Magistrates observed, that
the ordinary powers entrusted to them were totally
inadequate to ensure that security which every sub-
ject has a right to derive from the laws of his coon.
try ; that the punishment of criminals led only to the
murder or banishment of those who hid given infor-
mation against thenti and that protection was only to
be found in the Vicinity of the military posts; they
concluded by calling upon the Lords Justices tb
enforce the insurrection Act in leveret baronies (2)
Of the event, of Westmeath.—(To Ire Onstiaued.)
(1) The tamales -ot Itilaelowsagh and. .F.liapity, and tbo
barony of‘Clanwllltatn.
(s) Brawny, Motown Kilkenny West, Ratlcondra, Mop
easno. and parts of sin barony of Moygosh, &c.