It has been strongly, but I believe truly, said in another place, that this office in its execution is radically vicious-so vicious, said a noble lord, that justice is poisoned at its source. To the subject of grand juries I will not advert; it is in a train of exact, and I hope, effectual inquiry. The tithe system, too, well deserves minute investigation, as largely contributing to the disorganization of Ireland. Another evil afflicts us, to which the executive government can alone apply a remedy, by discountenancing that course which it has too often pursued. Those then who traduce and vilify the great body of their countrymen, should feel that such conduct can never lead to power or emolument.

"If I am now asked, why at an ear lier period I have not proposed to the House a similar enquiry, I answer, in 1804 I urged it ineffectually. From that time the country has been enga ged in unremitted and extended warfare; but to some of the labours of 1806, the statute.book will bear testimony. I know no danger so great as that of discontented subjects. We are now arrived at a season of profound tranquillity; and if the House shall decide, that no attempt shall be made to trace to their source those evils which afflict Ireland, and endan ger the empire, it will be my duty to bow to their decision; but I shall then deeply deplore the day which connected Ireland to this country by legislative union. Never has such a favourable moment presented itself,and with unfeigned sorrow should I see it pass away unprofitably. I am astonished that the ministers who have, by the disturbed state of Ireland, justified their claim for extended military force, do not themselves propose remedial measures; one, and one only, has been adverted to-education. Of its superior efficacy, no man can think more highly than I do, as providing

largely for future amelioration. But can we look to this as a remedy for existing evils? I may be permitted, too, to say, that if by education be intended the capacity of reading and writing, I believe the Irish are not an uneducated people; certainly not as compared with the people of England; the reports before the House prove this. Mr Newnham, in a work containing much useful information, states, from actual enquiry, that in a district comprising about one half of the county of Cork, there were up. wards of 300 unendowed schools, edu cating not less than 22,000 children; and here I have to instance conduct highly honourable to a Roman Catholic clergyman, Mr O'Brien of Done. raile, who, having established a catholic school, and endowed it with one half of his private property, offered to subscribe to the establishment of a protestant school in that parish, as largely, in proportion to his means, as any other parishioner ;-this I consider as real liberality, without any object but the common good; and I would say to the clergy of every persuasion through the empire, Go and do thou likewise.' Education can, however, be no cure for the political evils of Ireland, unless accompanied by radical reform of the present vicious system; it has grown out of the accumulated misgovernment of many centuries, and it is the bounden duty of parliament to institute exact enquiry into the causes and effects of that system-to search it to the bottom, and neither to be allured nor deterred from the path of duty by prejudice or power. No class of men, great or small, should be allowed to impede reform; but, with a steady and firm hand, parliament should carry through the measures necessary to the welfare and the security of the state."

Mr Peel, the secretary for Ireland, rose on the conclusion of this speech,

and expressed his regret, that the honourable baronet should have thought it necessary to bring before the House, at so much length, a subject of such a nature the discussion of which, he feared, in the present state of things, would only serve to irritate and inflame the wounds, whose effects were alike lamented by himself and his Majesty's ministers, as by Sir John, or any of the gentlemen on the other side of the house. Since, however, the subject had been brought forward, he was aware that it must be gone into, and the example set by the House had made it necessary that it should be gone into at some length. Before, however, entering upon the details to which the hon, baronet had called his attention, Mr Peel said, the House would naturally expect from him some information with respect to the actual state of Ireland at the moment of the present discussion. He assured the House, that, generally speaking, the north of Ireland was tranquil. No disturbances prevailed there, except what arose from distillation, and the consequent opposition to the revenue laws in certain districts. Those, however, were neither serious nor alarming. The extreme west of Ireland, also the counties of Mayo, Galway, and Carlow, were comparatively tranquil. The same might be said of the south of Ireland, of Cork, Wexford, &c. The east of Ireland was likewise generally tranquil. He meant, that in those counties no applications had been made to government for extraordinary police. The counties in which disturbances actually prevailed were Tipperary, King's County, Westmeath, and Limerick. The magis trates of the King's county had requested the application of the insur rection act; but they had since petitioned for its removal, asserting that tranquillity was perfectly restored. In Westmeath and Limerick, a consider

able improvement had taken place; but the insurrection act was still in force.

Since he last addressed the House, the magistrates of the county of Louth and county of Cavan, had petitioned the government of Ireland for the application, not of the insurrection act, but of the extraordinary police act. Such was the general state of Ireland at the present moment. There was nothing more difficult than to give the House a character of the precise nature of the distur bances which now agitated Ireland. In former periods of the history of that country, tumults and outrage had subsisted; but they were generally to be traced to small and comparatively unimportant causes. Particular and local grievances, personal animosities, or hereditary feuds, constituted the principal sources of them. At other times, grievances of a more distinct and positive nature were alieged; such as the high price of land, for example, and then the professed object of the combinations was to lower it. But the disturbances which now prevailed had no precise or definite cause. They seemed to be the effect of a general confederacy in crime-a comprehensive conspiracy in guilt-a systematic opposition to all laws and municipal institutions. The records of the courts of justice would show such a settled and uniform system of guilt, such monstrous and horrible perjuries, as could not, he believed, be found in the annals of any country on the face of the globe, whether civilised or uncivilised. He was far from meaning to say, that those dreadful offences arose from the generally malignant or depraved character of the lower orders. In different counties different appearances were presented. He had himself been in some, and it was im possible to find any where men more tractable, more obedient to the laws, or more disposed to pay all due defe

rence to their superiors. He was ready to declare, that it was impossible to see them without admiring many of their qualities. He believed, indeed, that the character of the Irish people had been variously misrepresented, in general, not from any deliberate design, but because, in fact, they were often presented under different and singular aspects. From his observation of them, he believed they possessed great fidelity; in their dealings with each other, great honesty; from their early marriages, they were in general very chaste; and be it told to their honour, that certain crimes which disgraced and degraded more civilized countries were utterly unknown to them. He was even told, that the Irish language did not possess a name by which they could be designated. But in some parts of Ireland, especially in the county of Tipperary, their depravity was shocking. If any one should urge that he over-stated it, he was prepared to confute him by irrefragable documents. He did not speak from vague and ambiguous rumours. What said the records of the courts of justice in that county? What would be the evidence of the twelve men impannelled to try the midnight murderers of an invaluable magistrate belonging to that county? If he required proof for what he had asserted, he need go no further. If any one would take the trouble to peruse the minutes of that trial, they would be able to form a thorough idea of the character of the people. They would see their extraordinary fidelity to each other in a bad cause the facilities they afforded to escape punishment-the readiness they manifested to redress the injuries offered to any of their party-the difficulty of bringing home conviction to the guilty, and the detestation in which every one was held who at all contributed, or was instrumental in giving effect to the

laws against them. With respect to the murder of that magistrate, he was afraid it was too clearly established, from the records of the courts of justice, that it had been planned several weeks before it was carried into execution. The magistrate, upon whom the foul deed was committed, was a most amiable man. He spoke only from the opinions of others, as he had not the least knowledge of him personally. He was kind, indulgent, and a ready friend to the poor; but, at the same time, he was a most determined enemy to that terrible system of combination which prevailed. In the neighbourhood of his dwelling, a house had been burned down, because the inhabitant of that house had taken land at higher rent than was thought a proper equivalent by those misgui ded men. The magistrate, in consequence, exerted himself to discover the offenders, and by his indefatigable efforts six of them were apprehended. Upon this, the remainder determined to murder him. On the day fixed for the atrocious act, there were no less than four different parties stationed on different roads waiting for his approach. The murder was committed at some distance from Cashel, and the particulars which he related were derived from a gentleman who happened to be travelling that road at the time, and resembling the magistrate (Mr Baker) in person, narrowly escaped from falling a sacrifice. Information was conveyed by signals from one party to another. The gentleman to whom he alluded saw several persons on the tops of the houses and hayricks, waiting for the fatal catastrophe. When the shot was fired, loud cheers were uttered by those who were thus waiting, and then they all retreated. The plan, therefore, had evidently been determined upon months before it was put in execution; and although no less than 13,000l. were

offered as a reward for apprehending the murderers, by the government and by the resident gentry in the county, he believed no evidence whatever was obtained as the result of that offer; such was their fidelity in a bad cause, and such was the abominable system of confederacy upon which they acted. Not a person was found to come forward and make a voluntary disclosure. He would mention one conclusive proof of the feelings by which they were actuated. One of the mur. derers, who was apprehended, and afterwards hanged for his crime, when in prison, expressed a desire to disclose some particulars. His life was offered as the promised reward for his confession. He accordingly communicated a part; but he afterwards retracted, at the instigation of his wife, who went on her knees to him in the prison, and implored him to be executed rather than divulge the secret. (A laugh, and hear, hear!) The House might probably smile at the conjugal affection of the woman; but he could assure them, there was as much attachment between the husband and the wife as could possibly exist between two persons, and the concern which she felt was, lest her husband should forfeit his character and respectability by betraying his friends. He actually retracted, in consequence of the persuasions of his wife, and was accordingly executed.

"Having thus admitted those melancholy facts, he now came to the statements which had been made by the right honourable baronet. The causes of the evils which afflicted Freland were complicated in no common degree. They might, he was willing to allow, be traced back to a very remote period in some respects. Sir John Davis, in that invaluable treatise on the State of Ireland, which the right honourable baronet had justly denominated a Golden Book, stated

VOL. IX. PART I.

that the evils originated in the impolicy of the first conquest of Ireland. That conquest was not undertaken by a sovereign at the head of an army; but was accomplished by instalments, if he might so speak. Different parties of adventurers went over to Ireland, subdued detached portions of territory, and as they progressively made those acquisitions, they gradually assumed a paramount authority over the native inhabitants. The evils of that kind of conquest were sufficiently proved by the history of Ireland. Other writers also had pointed out the defects of the system adopted towards Ireland. An impartial one (he meant Spencer, who wrote in the reign of Queen Elizabeth) had forcibly stated the impolicy of excluding Ireland from the benefits of the English law. In fact, there were a hundred customs which then existed, though but now operating, which gradually tended to form the character of the people. Sir John Davis observed, that by the ancient laws of the country murder was compounded for by a fine, a rape for a rape, and a robbery for a robbery. When it was proposed by the governor of Ireland to send a sheriff into the county of Fermanagh, the chieftain of that district said the sheriff should be welcome; but desired to know the price which was set upon his head, in order that, if he should be killed, he might know what fine to impose. Such was the deplorable state of the country at that time; but Sir John Davis allowed, that more had been done for the benefit of Ireland during the reign of James I., than during the whole of the preceding four hundred years. Certainly, many of the causes indicated by Sir John Davis and others, as contributing to the injury of Ireland at that time, had ceased to operate; but others had arisen of a different, though not less import ant character. The animosities of fa

D

milies, the irritation arising from confiscations, and other similar causes, were of a description which no legislative interference could reach. Time alone, the prevalence of a kind and paternal system of government, and the extension of education, were the remedies which must be chiefly relied upon. At a later period of the history of Ireland, he was willing to admit the impolicy of imposing commercial restrictions; an impolicy of which, he believed, we were even now reaping all the bitter fruits. By those restrictions we had curtailed the capital of Ireland, and lessened her means of industry; and, paradoxical as it might appear, an increase of population had arisen from those effects. He wished to explain in what manner he conceived that increased population to have taken place. The consequence of the bad policy in imposing the commercial restrictions was, a deprivation to Ireland of a market for her produce, which made land so cheap, that the owners of it were enabled to employ any number of hands in cultivating it. They allotted smail portions of it to individuals and it became the more productive, because all their labour was applied to those small portions. According to the opinion of the most experienced agriculturists, the same quantity of land, so cultivated, would produce nearly three times the quantum of human subsistence, (he meant potatoes, the staple food of the Irish peasant), which it would produce of any other kind of subsistence. Hence, the immediate means of supporting a family were more within the reach of the poorer classes of Ireland than of similar classes in this country. What ever enquiries might be made into the condition of the Irish people, it would be material to ascertain their state as to the supply of food. He had at tempted to prosecute that enquiry, and he confined his attempts to those

districts which were disturbed, with a view to discover whether there was any connexion between that and the causes of the disturbances. He believed the poor of Ireland would be found to be in this condition. Almost all of them rented small farms, which they took from the farmer upon certain conditions. Their rent was partly paid by labour. Thus, if a man gave four guineas an acre for his farm, he worked for his landlord at 10d. a day; if he paid three guineas, he received 8d. That 10d., however, commanded a greater proportion of subsistence in the article of food which constituted the sole diet of the Irish peasant, than the same sum would produce in England. He was perfectly aware that the food of the poor in Ireland was inferior, and he sincerely wished that it were possible to find any means of giving him better, and a better place in which to enjoy it. Nothing would be more calculated to seduce them from idle and vicious habits, and to inspire a relish for domestic comforts.

"He should now proceed to examine some of those causes which the right hon. baronet appeared to think still existed, and for which he also seemed to think remedies might be adopted. He could assure him that he felt the strongest disposition to employ any remedies which might be suggested, and which should appear capable of a really practical application. First, as to the appointment of sheriffs, on which a considerable stress had been laid by the right hon. baronet. He was perfectly ready to admit, that that was a point in which material and essential information might be introduced. The subject, however, had been fully and deliberately discussed in a select committee, which sat during last session for the purpose of inquiring into grand jury presentments. He held in his hand