‘368 
     
    
   
   
    
     HOUSE OF COMMONS—MONDAY. 
     
     [From tie lVezford Independent. flpril 20.] 
     
     IRISH DISTURBANCE BILL. 
     
    

    
     0n the question that the house do resolve 
     
     itselfinto a committee of supply. 
     
    

    
     Mr. O’CONNELL said that he saw no 
     
     person present connected with the Irish 
     
     government, but he wished to have infor- 
     
     mation,which he could not help moving 
     
     for, with respect to the proclamations late- 
     
     lyissued by the Lord Lieutenant of Ire- 
     
     land under the bill which deprived that 
     
     county ofthe constitution. It was strong- 
     
     lyintimated on the passing of that bill that 
     
     there was no disposition to carry it into 
     
     efl‘ect, so that it never could be carried 
     
     into etI'cct, except under the pressure of 
     
     absolute necessity. In spite of this assu- 
     
     rance a most wanton outrageous act has 
     
     been committed under the bill, which 
     
     sutlicientiy showed the truth of what he 
     
     had often said, that despotic power could 
     
     not be entrusted in the hands of anmean. 
     
     Possession was itself a temptation to abuse 
     
     it. The bill had hardly arrived in Ireland 
     
     before the county of Kilkenny was out of 
     
     the pale of the law. Part of that coun- 
     
     ty was, he acknowledged, ina disturbed 
     
     state; but there was a considerable part 
     
     of it perfectly tranquil, and which was 
     
     punished indiscrimately with the rest. 
     
     What he principally relied on was, that 
     
     the county of the city of Kilkenny had also 
     
     been put under the Operation of the act, 
     
     although there was not the slighest appear- 
     
     ance of insubordination in that part of the 
     
     country to justify the doing so; for, it” he 
     
     were rightly informed, the crimes commit- 
     
     ted there within the last 1‘). months amount- 
     
     ed only to 5 the most serious ofwhich was 
     
     a petty larceney case. The reasons given 
     
     for this were ludicrous; one was that the 
     
     officers who were to form the courts martial 
     
     could have better acommodation in the 
     
     hotels ofthe city of Kilkenny, than they 
     
     could in any disturbed part ofthe county. 
     
     For this reason it was, a city which had 
     
     committed no offence, and which contained 
     
     a population of 24,000 souls, had been put 
     
     out of the pale ofthe law. He concluded 
     
     by moving that there be laid before the 
     
     house copies of all proclamations issued by 
     
     the Lordliieutenant underthelrish eoercn'e 
     
     bill; the reasons given for the same, and 
     
     the amount of crime committed within the 
     
     last twelve months in the city of Kilkenny. 
     
    

    
     Lord ALTHOR P begged to suggest to 
     
     the honourable member the expediency of 
     
     his withdrawing his motion till the right 
     
     honourable the secretary of Ireland took 
     
     a his seat to morrow. He fully cancurred in 
     
     he observation of the hon. and learned 
     
     ntleman, that the house, having granted 
     
     se extraordinary powers to the govern- 
     
     t, was bound to keep a jealous eye 
     
     the exercise of them. 
     
     O’CONNELL withdrew his motion 
     
     OI'I‘OW. 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE BRITISH AMERICAN 
     
    
   
   
    
     Wenncsoav.—Mr. O’CONNELL rose 
     
     to call the attention of the House to the 
     
     proceedings which had already taken place 
     
     under the Act recently passed, authori- 
     
     zing the Lord Lieutenant in Council to 
     
     suspend the Constitution in any county in 
     
     Ireland which he might please to declare 
     
     in astate of insurrection. It was known 
     
     thataproclamation had been recently is- 
     
     sued by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 
     
     declaring two counties to be in a state of 
     
     insuhordination. The one was the county 
     
     of Kilkenny, part of which only was 
     
     disturbed; and the other the county of the 
     
     city including the city of Kilkenny. In 
     
     the city of Kilkenny it was not pretended 
     
     that any disturbance had taken place. 
     
     There had been some \Vhitefeet outrages 
     
     in the suburbs of that city, but the city 
     
     itselfwas perfectly quiet. The city con- 
     
     tained a population of 25,000 inhabitants. 
     
     The number of commitments in it during 
     
     the last year was Only five, and the highest 
     
     offence of these five was petty larceny 
     
     Yet this tranquil city had been selected by 
     
     the Lord Lieutenant as a place tit for the 
     
     operation of this Act. The night before 
     
     the proclamation was to take etI'ect, being 
     
     the lastnight of freedom in the city the 
     
     people met; and with a sort of melancholy 
     
     merriment, in which they indulge in that 
     
     country under its most s -vere inflictions, 
     
     they paraded the towu with bands of mu- 
     
     sic playing the most melancholy airs, and 
     
     taking, as it were, their leave of the pri- 
     
     vilege of walking out of their houses after 
     
     sunset. The next night all was still, by the 
     
     effect of, what he must call, this brutal pro- 
     
     clamation. But what were the reusens as- 
     
     signed for the proclamation of the city of 
     
     Kilkenny? They would he found in the two 
     
     Dublin papers—the Jlbnilcurs ofthe Castle; 
     
     the writers of which—ot'oue at least were 
     
     in the pay of the Castle. One of those 
     
     alleged reasons was, that the parties who 
     
     had committed or who might commit, out- 
     
     rage in the county might find shelter in 
     
     the City, if it were not proclaimed also: 
     
     as if they could only by law be sheltered 
     
     in any unproclaimed district for Offences 
     
     committed in one which was proclaimed.- 
     
     The real reason for including the city of 
     
     Kilkenny was to give the military otlicers 
     
     an opportunity of fixing their quarters 
     
     in a place where there were good hotels 
     
     to resort to; and he behcved that if the 
     
     dispatch was produced that reason would 
     
     be found stated on the face of it. The 
     
     Hon and Learned Member then moved for 
     
     the following papers:—-Copies of all pro- 
     
     clamations and orders issued by the Lord 
     
     Lieutenant of Ireland under the Statute of 
     
     William IV. Chap. 4; return of the num- 
     
     ber of persons committed to the gaol of 
     
     the county of the city of Kilkenny, 
     
     for the last twelve months, specifying the 
     
     crimes or ofl'ences for which each person 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     i was committed,—the time and place where 
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
        
     
         
     
          
     
        
     
          
     
         
     
        
     
         
     
          
     
        
     
       
     
         
     
         
     
         
     
         
     
         
     
         
     
       
     
       
     
       
     
       
     
        
     
         
     
    
   
   
    
     committed,— how many were indicted 
     
     tried, and the result of each trial- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ,. : copy 'mt‘ 
     
     every cispatch or letter from the L efi‘c‘ 
     
     Lieutenant ofIreland, or his Secretar hi 
     
     stating the reasons for proclaiming thecm ot’fe 
     
     ty of the city of Kilkenny to be in a st of] 
     
     ofinsubordination or disturbance, pnrsu in“i 
     
     to the Act of thq3d \V. IV. . tior 
     
     did not anticipate that any objection won the 
     
     be made to the production of any of the the 
     
     returns, except the last, and in that ca aft 
     
     the cause of the objection must be th prc 
     
     the reason of proolaiming the city ofKilke of 
     
     ny would appear in the dispatch to be ‘u an 
     
     as he had stated. J on 
     
     SirJ. HUBHOUSE said he had proo 
     
    

    
     before him ofthe melanchon state in whic hi‘ 
     
     the county ofKilkenny had been, not 1‘ Fl 
     
     the last two orthree months only but 1” re 
     
     the last year. During the last twelv tb 
     
     months there had been more offences con th 
     
     mitted in the county of Kilkenny than i ti 
     
     the whole province of Leinster put to« a 
     
     ther; and from the lst to the 14th” e< 
     
     March, there had been no less than 114 on ti 
     
     rages committed in that county : This, the r 
     
     wasajustitication for proclaimingthe count 
     
    

    
     but, he asked the House, what would bar t 
     
     been the use of this application of th \ 
     
     powers ofthe Act it‘the city of Kilkenny t 
     
     which was situated in the very heart 0 l 
     
     the county, was exempted from the pro t 
     
    
   
   
    
     clamation? l.’nderstanding, soon after h 
     
     accepted the office he had now the bane 
     
     to hold, that it was in contemplation t 
     
     proclaim the county of Kilkenny, he los 
     
     no time in writing to Ireland to recom 
     
     mend that the city should not, if possible 
     
     beincluded in the proclamation, and th 
     
     answer he received was to the followin 
     
     effect—that the Irish Government had a 
     
     tirst entertained the wish not to includ 
     
     the city, but that it was found that a grea 
     
     number of those persons who were not on] 
     
     suspectelltbut known to be inplicated in th 
     
     \Vhitefoot ontrages, were known to be inha 
     
     bit-ants of Kilkenny and its suburbs; an 
     
     therefore it'the town was not included i 
     
     the proclamation it would become a refug 
     
     for these individuals, and there would exis 
     
     no means of putting a step to thos 
     
     outiages which it was the object of th 
     
     Act to repress. The last return which the 
     
     Hon. and Learned Member had moved fo 
     
     was not in his power to grant; and he hoped 
     
     he would not press the matter to a division' 
     
     He could assure the Hon. and Learned 
     
     gentleman that the reasons which induced 
     
     the Irish Government to include the city 
     
     of Kilkenny in the proclamation, were such 
     
     as he had stated to the House, and in no 
     
     cmnmunication proceeding from the Irish 
     
     Government would be any thing which 
     
     could lead to the supposition that the city 
     
     was proclaimed in order that the military 
     
     officers might be accommodated with good 
     
     quarters. Il'the Hon. and Learned mem- 
     
     ber wished to put down Whitefeet outrages, 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     he could do nothing which would more de—