The Dublin papers are sel...
The Times, 1824-01-21T00:00:00

The Doblin papers are seldom worth attentiou, because it is not often that thiey furnish us witli facts relating to Irelanid on whiclh any useful opinionr can be founded as to the progress of good or evil in that singular country. In a journial of Saturday last, however, we read that the Insur- rection Act is in full activity: At a sessions -held at Lime- rick onthe Sd insty wlheni Mr. BLACKBURNE and three or four and. thirty MNfagistrates attended, a blacksmith was .found guilty of heirtg absent from his OWi5 howse on the 'night 'of: the' 20th of December, and'sentenced for that .h'einottc crime to seven years' transportation. A smart pe- nalty. this, for junkettinO about at Cbristmas ! Eighteen moreprisoners were sent from thecountygaol of Liimerick to be trietl at Rathkeale, to .Whieh place the sessions wvere adjourned. In the mneaii-time Mr. 'BLACKBURNE again .presided at Six Mile. Bridge,when four prisoners were trie&d' under the same act, for the sante crime as that above-men-l 'ioned, and acquitted. At Mallow, on theloth, four other prisonero were'tried for the same offence, and acquitted. WhilN,at Cork, one man, namtecl Lehane, wvas found g ilty of not being at home, and- sentenced to be transported for 7 'years. Suchis thefamnous Insurrection Law,bywhich Ireland was to be mr.ade peaceful, and the l'owe-r orders of people to b- attached to the Kiing's Government. Such a legis- lative Tmeagure surely is not to become. the stahding law of nny pordon of the Jnited Kingdom. Yet if it be the intention of those w introduce the Insurrection Act, to maintain it only as a temporary control over the Irish, it seems clear- that 'the tendency of such an 'experiment is directly 'io' prolong itself; because a degree of harshness which goads *men to desperation,can seldom. be safely relin- quished by the par1ty against whom that fierce- spirit has been. excited. If a law like this in question shouldi be' rigidly enforced, we cannot. conceive it possible that the peasantry, who are the victims of it, should fail to turn out and.aakei the field, as leadin Bto a visitation, of tle- two the least intolerable. ' Bat admi'ttiing that it has 'not yet been administered with the extreme severity of which it is capable, wve leave it to Parliament' wvhether that jaw ought to be establishied in a free country, which ceases to be tolerable wvhenever a heatedl or alarmed magistracy shall strictly execute its provisions? ' It appears'bv the accounts in the ITish. papers, tliat an. immense majority of those tried under tke Insurrectioj. Act have been acquitted by the Justices. WVhat,tlhen,inust be the cosewvithihlese poor in- nocent men?"They havebeen toin fromtheirliomesandfield_ labours,perhaps by some fiery sergeantor private of police- they are lodged for severai weeks in prison.. At best, and *when in full employment, tbese unhappy creatures can with difficulty keep " life and soul together,' As the saying is, for themselves and families. lVhat, then, must be the conidition of the latter wvhile the hand which fed them daily is pinion- ed down? Anid when the hour of acquittal 'comes, whien it is proved tlat this monstrous offender, charged with be- ing out of deors by moonlight, was actually not guilty of that atrocious crime, what is the wretch's cornpensation ?' WVhy, lhe is suffert d to go home again ! 'For his time and wages lost-for his good' name stignmatiied, andl rendered subject to fulture suspicioni-for his *vife and children for- lorn alid famished-lhe is told that " it was all'a'mistake." This being a law, or rather a rule of power, unknow%n to the constitutioll, it ought at least to be attended by mitigatiojis, equally novel. The merc caption .aiid rial being inB thlem- selves a severe puniishment -npon a 'race almost without e6x- -ception paupers, every tpan acquitted under the Insurrec- ti6p.Act ouglht to be indemnified for the cost and privations in which his imprisonment had' involved' him. But, we ask, vwith this'hars m.ncthod of coercion gOnllg on, is aly thing 'loing to conciliate or to' civilize these unfortunate people ? lVe fear there has been, and will be, no attempt whatever of that humane and- statesmanlike character. They in wthose hantls the real power of the Government has been placed, hazye their favourite ends to answer, in which the interests of the peasanltry are not; to all appear- ance, comnprehended. They-we mean the Orange party- rule Ireland by dinners; At one of these, on Tuesday last, given by a Sheriftfof Dublin, the host and guests seemed to enjoy a thorough understanding of theirown strength,and of the humnble contitionl to wlhich they btad reduced their adversaries. All manner of public men connectel with the Irish Administration were toastoel, except the unfortuniate LoaD LrEUTENANT, WhOm they 1passed over as a personage too insignificast to be thought of, or as having no business where he is.