The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-11-03 00:00:00

Tilt STATESMAN.

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POLICE INVESTIGATION.
It has been generally the misfortune of the Irish
Government to identify itself with the humblest, the
meanest of its Officers—to degrade itself by a coali-
tion with the most wicked of its supernumeraries—

to unite with them against the public—and regard
complaints, applied. to vulgar .bist important delin-
quencies, as an assault against the authority of the
executive, and the dignity df the Viceroy. Ihe
meanest dependant, through the departments of the
Government, when detected in abuses, and threaten-
ed with exposure, is accustomed to exclaim-1 stand
by the Government, and the• Government shall stand
by me—the.Dake is my friend—I shall protect him,
protect me. When the and, 4c by God," he shall
Aid-de-Camp of Major Sirr, the convicted murderer
O'Brien, failed to procure a pardon from Lord
Corniiallis, for one of the basest and most unpro:
yoked homicides that ever disgraced humanity in a
civilised country, we recollect how loud the friends
of that murderer were in reprobating the Viceroy,
for refusing the pardon, so confidently expected.—
The 't villain Corney (said they) has betrayed
O'Brien and treacherously surrenders him to the

gibbet, fora Papist."
To the honour of Mr. Pole, be it remembered,
he was the first to serer this base connection---it is
the best point in his character, that he was actuated
by a horror of official abuse—he disunited himself
from the degrading fellowship of vulgar wickedness,
and surrendered off►cial malpractice, or imputed mal-

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practice, to open, free, and unreserved investigation,
conducted equally and indifferently, according to the
formsof Courts of Justice.
Mr. Pole knows full well, that The Evening Post
has not been his flatterer, but we hope we are able
to be just to the praise-worthy part of on opponent's
character—on this subject we give him full credit,
and beg leave to point it out to his successor, as a
trait most deserving of his careful imitation.
What has the dignity of the Duke of Richmond
to do with the ill conduct imputed to the hired Ma-
gistracy
of Dublin ?—What has the well-educated
son of the upright and moral-minded Sir Robert
I Peele to do with a depraved system of Police, which
is accused as oar rolice has been ? There can be no
" common cause" between them. 1
Major Sirr said, at the end of the late Enquiry—
I it I knew it. would end in this way;" that is, he ;
knew it would end without a beginning—his expres-
sion
was in tome degree prophetic, although by no
.means complimentary to Serjeant Moore. But Ma- 1
i jor Sirr did not see far enough into the business—he
did not see, that although it was suppressed in a
manner in which no investigation ever was suppressed
before—that it was possible it might be revived, un-
der better and more favourable circumstances. It
i will be revived, backed by a crowd of most respect-
able signatures.
The disclosures at the late stifled investigation con-
siderably strengthen the necessity for an enquiry.—
No honest man can deny that the allegations ought
to be investigated. If they are not in Ireland, they
will be in England. Indeed, in any case it must
come before Parliament. A Memorial to his Grace
of Richmond is at this moment in the progress of
receiving signatures—it will be presented without
deloy. It would be, no answer to say, that the last .
Enquiry received no evidence—they refused to re-
ceive any in the usual way of Courts of Justice— 1
1 examining the accusers, and no others, was absolute
nonsense—many of them did not pretend to be
the witnesses—they were citizens witb property re-
1 quiring security, and they prayed the Govern-
' ment to institute Enquiry--but they were not
I perperly the witnesses. The chief witness did
'mot sign the Memorial at all, and does not sign
I it, under the good old law notion that prosecutors
1 and witnesses ought, as much as possible, to be
1
distinct ; yet the Learned Serjeant conceived
that the Prosecutors were more particularly the
i witnesses. Many Gentlemen, who now sign the
Memorial, have, and could have no knowledge
of the truth of the allegations, but they have
grounds of strong belief, that the Police are in..
efficient, because they hear criminal acts imputed ,
to their face, on parole, by men offering to swear it ;
—and they hare the Oath of one who belonged to
Itheir Establishment, and which stands unanswered.
The Memorialists 'think that there ought to be an i
1 Enquiry—and they pray it, because they are deeply
interested—because the question directly affects their
lives and properties, as Citizens of Oublin.—They,
therefore, consider Enquiry necessary—and so should
the Police and the Magistracy—so should Major Sirr
—Major Sirr should sign the Mintiorial, or present a
concurrent one, praying investigatiou in the usual
legal form—he owes it to his character. Nothing
can so effectually restore him to the estimation of the
Government. It was a most unfortunate thing for
the Police, that the late Enquiry terminated as it did
—it has multiplied and strengthened the sitspiciens of
the country, and nothing but a fair and legal En-
quiry can remove these heavy imputations, if they
I can be removed.

The Jury that was summoned at Portsmouth to de-
cide on the death of Lieutenant Bagnell, re-assem-
bled on Wednesday, and heard the examination of
Mr. Madden, the surgeon who extracted the ball.—
His evidence went only to identify the fatal instru-
ment of Lieut. B.'s death ; and it proved that Lieut.
O'Hanlon was present in the room when he per-
formed the operation. The Jury, upon the evidence
that had been brought before them, returned a ver-
dict of Wilful Murder against Lieutenant W. Stuart,
and against Lieutenant John O'llanlon, who was
Second to Lieutenant B. for aiding and abetting the
same. No part of the evidence involved, or legally
ascertained, the Second of Lieutenant Stuart. The
parties concerned were bound over to appear against
Lieutenants Stuart and O'Hanlon at the next assizes
for Hampshire.
Itteuesx.—On Thursday an Inquest was held at
the sign of the Freemason's Arms, St. Anne's, Lime-
house, On the body of R. A. Farmer, the American,
who shot himself at his lodging, near Whitechapel,
on Tuesday last. Verdict—Lunacy.
The Court-Martial held at Brighton on Martin
Higgins, a private of the 211 batt. 14th foot, for
counterfeiting blindness, have, after an examination
of several days, declared tlair opinion that he is
Not Gallo/.

MR. COOI►E, THE ACTOR•