The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-05-04 00:00:00

FRIDAY MORNING. MAY 4, 1838.

The Publication of the STANDARD commenced this Morn-

iag► at 5 o'clock.

STATE OF CRIME IN IRELAND.—From returns made
according to the provisions of an act of parliament, we
learn that the " tranquillising" sway of Lord Mulgrave
has been characterised by a frightful increase in the num-
ber of crimes in Ireland. Compared with the period of
Tory government the last seven years present an alarm-
ing contrast. In the Standard of Wednesday the fol-
lowing very striking exhibition of the blessings of whig-
radical and Popish ascendancy is afforded :
"Mr. Colquhoun succeeded in obtaining a hearing for
his twice artfully evaded motion upon the persecution of
the Protestant clergy in Ireland. Before alluding more
particularly to the debate that followed, we will take
leave to offer a few facts from the parliamentary return
to which we referred yesterday, illustrative of the pre.
sent state of Ireland, and of the effect of the system of
tranquillization against which Mr. Colquhoun raised his
voice. These facts are vouched by the returns which
ministers have been compelled to present to parliament
under the salutary provision of an act of parliament, or
they would never reach the people of England so abund-
antly authenticated.
" It has cost us much trouble to extract them in the
short time at our command ; for, as we have already ob-
served, the return is advisedly mutilated and confused so
as to render the extraction of the truth as difficult as
Possible. If we can help it, however, the artifice shall
not succeed.

" In order to observe the progress of Irish crime, it is
necessary to take a term : we shall therefore begin with
the year 1823, as giving a repetition of the convenient
and customary cycle of seven years :

COMMITTALS FOR CRIMES.
1823....T0ry misgovernment 14,623
1830....ditt0, ditto 15,749

• 1837 ....Mulgrave ttanquillity ... .27,396
An increase upon the first period of 1,162
An increase uvon the second period of 11,602
" An aggravation lea- fold of the rate of progress in the
respective cycles.
"But the horrible rapidity of advance will be most
clearly seen by comparing the last two years

. . .•
Crimes. Homicides.
23,891 620
27,398 722

1836..
1837..

An increase in ONE YEAR of 3,505 lO2
"This increase of homicides, too, is all in the murder
class—for the committals for murders in 1836 were stated
at 340, and in 1837 they are, exclusive of Tipperary, 453,
and in that county—the return from which artfully con-
founds homicides—there were ten murderers convicted,
making certainly 463 committals for that crime."

The same returns afford a very convincing proof of
the relativecharacter of Protestantism and Popery in their
effects upon national morals. It appears that in 1837
there are altogether 27,396 crimes and 722 homicides
included in the returns; and as the numbers for each
county are specified, we are enabled to estimate the pro-
portions for the Catholic and Protestant districts of Ire-
land. 'faking the ten northern counties, the population
of which amounts to 2,314,103, or one-third of the total
population of the island, we find that the number of
crimes is 5,605, and that of homicides 111, or onefifth
of the aggregate of crimes and one-seventh of the whole
number of homicides. This fact shows very remarkably
the blighting effects of Popery upon the morality of a
nation. In the single county of Tipperary, with a po-
pulation of only 402,5G3, almost exclusively Popish, the
number of crimes is 4239, and that of homicides 124,
the latter exceeding those committed in the ten Protes-
tant counties by thirteen! Does not this prove to de-
monstration that there is something in the very charac-
ter of Popery which is inimical to the public virtue of a
nation ? How can we account for the glaring discre-
pancies which exist in the statistics of crime in Ireland
without attributing to the disciples of Peter Dens the
authorship of by far the largest share of crime ?
But what can be said now in support of Lord Mul-
grave's boaSteli "tranquillity" of Ireland ? Is lot the
falsehood of such a boast made evident by the returns
published by the government itself?
A few More such years as the last will suffice to drive
away the entire Protestant population of Ireland--the
grand object of O'Connell and his proteges.

THE TowN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.—The proceedings
in the council meeting on Wednesday last were a little
more diversified titan usual in their character. The first
topic on which any discussion took place was, the ware-
house question, which led to `•a scene" of no ordinary
interest. Mr. Birch very explicitly slated that it " was
the known intention of the promoters" of the measure
Df building warehouses at the verge of Prince's Dock