The Sun. — 1821-11-06 (London, England)

STATE OF THE COUNTY OF LIMERICK.  The intelligence contained in the Limerick Chronicle of las! Wednesday, principally refers to the riotous assemblage of aboui 200 persons, at Six-3111e-Bridge, of which it gives a more de• tailed account than the statement which we published yester•  day. The Ennis Chronicle adverts to the same transaction, and states, that, only one of the rioters had been killed, though the Limerick Chronicle mentions that two of them had fallen. We conceive that the 'statements of the two Newspapers' rest entirely on eonjkiure, as a diligent search had been made by the Police on the subsequent day without the discovery of any circumstance which would warrant either of the reports. The death, or the escape, however, of any of the rioters, is not the principal point which demands our attention, because we should rather look to the facility with which so numerous a banditti had been dispersed by a small body of the Police, as a  proof of the efficacy of the Civil Power, when properly directed. From the same source, we give a circumstantial account of the attack, formerly mentioned in " The Correspondent," on the Herdsman of Mr. Sheehy. The rest of the intelligence details the arrival of an additional military force, for the purpose of effectually securing the public peace. As no new outrage appears to have been committed, so satisfactory a circumstance clearly proves that the precautions/ which have been taken by the Government for the security of life and property, arc sufficient to attain so desirable an object, while the accumulation of so great a military force in the disturbed districts will enable the Magistrates to search, with every probability of success, for the fire-arms, which a part of the peasantry possess. That, certainly, will be the paramount object of their anxiety, because until the tumultuary portion of the peasantry shall be disarmed, there can be but little hope of personal safety, if the military power should be withdrawn, or if the property of the industrious part of the community were left to the protection Merely of the Civil Authority, There are two classes of the banditti—namely, those who have committed crimes, which cry aloud for the avenging arm of justice, and those who havebeen misled b y the pernicious counsels oftheir more guilty Associates to join in an illegal combination ; but who havenot as yet imbrued their hands in blood. A marked distinction ought to be made between the two classes, because the latter are objects rather of pity thaii dpiirisliment, as their ignorance has been the cause of their seduction, while the former cannot expect any mercy, after having shewn that there can be no safety for any Society in 'which they should be suffered to live. In such a feeling we would suggest that a pardon should be granted to every person who would voluntarily surrender the fire-arms that had been obtained by plunder ; provided, such person had not been a murderer, or had not been present at any murder. There is nothing in the association which binds some of the peasantry to each other, but the ordinary brotherhood of robbers and murderers; ,and therefore, there is every reason to hope, that such a discrimination in the degree of the guilt of the Conspirators, with the offer of an amnesty in respect to one part of the unfortunate wretches, and the rigorous enforcement of the laws. with respect to the more criminal/ would dissolve the bond of union, and restore peace and security to the county, on a permanent basis.