Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1833-04-30
FOREIGN.
GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.

month OF March is entitled THE LAST PETITION FROM
THE IRISH PEOPLE TO THE ENGLISH MINISTERS
AND THE BRITISH PARLIANIENT. With omission
Tor the sake OF breviy, il is here subiolned.
SIRE yet that The Bill has passed which takes from peo-
pie oppressed with grievances the right petition suffer
US respectfully to address you, armed numbers
mol IN nightly associations, but through this subtle and
dless medum forcing claims upon YOU obtruding
ourseve; somewhat as it were tore saIing what you are
about 10 mate Us; PO1 ct prGfered nih-a voice and
nothing more; but II waiting and OF head, whose
warning may perhaps haunt you years hence when YOU
may be des Gus OF rcyyiuS that which you ae about 10
IssFoy-ihe alice ion aud confidence of whole nation
Inc man who passed his Ii in the pursuit Of his shadow
was wise, compared 10 you! You about engage
Gaze YET more rutless. he law is the sha the
IoweI-lhe coopeTa ion OF the People is the Substance
on are about To divide the two, naturally nsepatae
and the utmost you do with the shadow is TO suve
henceiorth TO UNI It 10 the body from which you
wautonly divorce il!
Let US state our complaints to you For many centu
ries we have been oppressed and impoverished large
proportion OF US are ignorant and breadess Placed under
your care was Tor you educate and feed us These
dnes have been negecte injuries have accumulated
angry passions Oeen luained and instead of revefng
master we have learned TO tremble-bu tremLe fiown.
ingy-at tyrant. This is TO be lamened-but whose is
the fault? The fault not with us Education forms the
cmd-Iegislauon the people. Your legislation makes the
crime and then Furnishes it, il is once the first eduaer
and the Kings evidenced
But crimes abound in Ireland YOU must punish
the criminals. No matter by whom the criminals were
made, 1t Is clear that they must not carry destruction
10 the innocent We allow this. We these preda
tory associations OF reckless wretched men, with the
same terror that inspires you. We pity them perhaps
more than yoI Tor we the tempiaton-you only the
crime; but equally willing TO condemn The
Whteieet and the Rockites must be put down You
must snatch the knife aud the brand out of the ruth
less hands OF men who joined together fer the pur
pose OF plumber and revenge; nay we ask YOU 10 assist
us IN lhiS Tor the guilt of these criminals stands be
us ana justice sit has been the excuse for the DELAY of
redress ana The pepetuiy OF abuse When we have muir
muieu against uthes we have been answered by laws
against WmebOys. Whatever our dis,ress-our nover,
our wrongs-s,il while these bandt exist we are told
that the honest cannot be relieved because the uiI,v
iOgici Rpt i.f IL
we Will not pause to arragn it, These offenders then
stand between us and jusce-we anxious than
you mat they should be punished that they should be
exterminated. Make laws against them-crush DESTROY
them. la this Ireland will cooperate with the law -
IN ms me Political Unons-the Agitators-O' Cornell
viii assist You Pass extraordinary laws for
tue gutiess This is what you about to do Let us
consider ~
In The FIRST place, petitioners are not guilty. You ac
knowledge that we, the unoe nding part of US have many
sutierlngs-that we have wrongs How car, we rem
resent 'nose sneFings to you, express those wrongs?
ny pehuons-by petitions alone You have taken away
from us all other power We have no Legislature of o,r
own; The Aristocracyare Potestant-the Magis,racv-
are Oassed against u.s. for religion with has been as il all
ways vi" be where the Church is Of one persuasion and
tue people OF another the parent OF hatred not of love In
natural protectors years of struggle aud pas
sion, nave made us behold our relentless foes We
nave then, no gpnrdians-no Court of Appeal bu,
your Legislature To sou respectfully we would come
H''h our wrong; and YOU are now about TO cut off
IRON us that appeal You confess the wrongs but Won
VIII not allow them vent;-YoU ARE CONT TO T AKE
AWAY FROM US THE RIGHT or PETITION. Does this
fine crtt
~ touch The guilty at all? does touch the
"heboy and the robbef? No. il falls upon the piltless
IL as upon the assdled, the assailer- fails upon the
a cr INC peasant, the trader, the clergy themse
The Nhteboy does not petition; he has gone yoni s
stage OF complaint. The honest man petitions moi the
oooe' Is not 10 your peaceful hall that banded
Hefs carry her complaints VIII you leave us no other
appear bu' lhelTs! Have choice between silence
and Tie sword?-pause then; pause, we enreatvou Dis
GIlm'"'e between complaint aud agsression-do s
nc 'he voice wme you bind the hand. No complaint is
so dangerous as that which may not speak, no wrongs ere
dangerous while they have vent. You see hen that
TIE law which takes away tile right TO petition does NOT
aitct the guilty aoEe-it aiicts the innocent alone
Pass We 10 your other enactments-You propose to in
suiue Court Martialin t. place of a court Of Law
"ih your Court Martial punish only the guilty? We
beg to refer you TO former times when the
Act-When the Military Law was in force La t,at nm
lSpPy ana awful day, we're the guilty alone punished
70 ho al" men VINO are cursed by the remembrance Of
those measures, recall them with secret shuddeI? Ye
even those who supported those harsh and vindicve de-
crees do not support their effects thew acknow doe that
laws was That O suspicion and terror spies inormers-
OF general confusion OF innocence and guilt cali upon
he Ehghsh people TO imagine whole country its lepa
courts numbed and senced-armed men, sch6oled i'm The
naughty aristocrdcs OF discipline sitting in Indictment nou
oences OF ihsubnr'nauon-E nsigns under age enduring
WisdOm win nniofm-and Leutenants summoned from
ue grave occupations OF flute playing and billiards TO e,
upon 'eir shoulders The responsibility OF epaueted iustice
on tell us, these gallant men are impartiiha hcv
are strangers IN the laudhat they know not one par.
y or the other, Protestant Catholic Oanee.len or
ME hoy;- that they are thus uutiucured by local
""Nc 10 previous PIepOsscsslOns 20 bias
The weights Of justice False persuasons Do not tho
Military, wherever they arc quartered mix win the
provincial eenty!-do they necessarily associate
with the Orange Protestant aud the partial RIapirate2
TO they not inevitably take their notions of the conn
try which they know not themselves, from the renors
OIL those win whom they alone mix Respectable men
our lhorant they viii say 10 each other who can have
no interest IA doring facts or irritating their dependents
ct these respectable though they may be- are so
partial That even you yourselves confess their psray and
suspend their functions partly on that very account In
vain then they will take the bias from the very men we
most dread-OeCause, 10y the rites OF hospitality and s
custom OF our Irish c0urescs, is with those very men
hey come the mnsl IN contact and 10y them are the most
influenced They only The representatives Of the
Magistrates, but with swords in their hands and soldiers
by their side Summary jusice!-who ever before heard
out by Wholesale is but another expression for deliberate
despoIism But The Office Of the military is not confined
TO aJuicaiion recOlec they assist tie magistrate
~ quelng disturbanccs-hoy 10 attack to-day The
very men they my Judge t0-uoroN they are thus TO be
AT once plaintiff and Good G0ll and is dis 10 be
called az Impartial tribunal? Men recknc ah ihc heat
ed passions OF an armed struggle, suddenly be- pac
cd upon the judicial bench, snd told they are cool
unpreJudced, and temperate dispensers Of Tie law.
But this s not enough 10 content you-you demand
You ask Tor te power orcibly TO enter houses at
any hour in The night n you suspect the inhabitants
Of Hose houses 70 be WHAT absent from houel NV
Lord Grey human affections throb the same beneath The
squdd grb Of an Irish kcrne, under your gorgeous rib
bon and gteing star We have wives sisters aud d,uI
tcfs AZ any hour Of The nightl-mark this!-men of
coarse habits, and aew The gross superiority of vulgar
power. heated with authority and liquor may lorciby ct
er the houses Of deeuCcess peasants and the man be
absent, what protection D. there Tor the women w sneak
OF no improbable horrors When this law existed before
tltnf Dffrt Of Tho Hts