§ Mr. M. Gibsonwished to ask the right hon. Baronet opposite a question, upon which very great interest was felt in the county to which he belonged. He alluded to the alarming spread of incendiarism which had recently taken place in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, and in parts of Essex. If he were to attempt to enumerate the acts of incendiarism, and attempts at incendiarism which had been committed since Michaelmas last, he was sure that the sum total would astonish the House. He was himself a magistrate of the county of Suffolk, and had many opportunities of forming an estimate of the character of the labouring population of that county, and his belief was that, generally speaking, they were a well disposed, industrious body of people, and who would shrink generally with horror from the commission of such atrocious acts as he had described. He believed, also, that the occupying tenants and landowners of the country were actuated as individuals by a feeling of kindness and goodwill towards the labouring classes. He could instance many ways in which that feeling showed itself in individuals, as in the attempts which had been made by many persons to alleviate the condition of the labourers, by the allotment of land and other means. Yet still the fact was undoubted that incendiarism had spread in these counties to a very alarmining extent, and he wished to ask the right hon. the Secretary for the Home Department whether the subject of incen- 586 diarism had occupied the serious attention of Her Majesty's Government?
§ Sir J. Grahamsaid, that with respect to the statement made by the hon. Gentlemen in introducing his question, he, from inquiries which he made, was quite prepared to concur in the elogiums which the hon. Gentleman had passed upon the conduct of the gentry, the landowners, the tenantry, and the labouring classes of that part of the country to which the hon. Gentleman had referred. He also admitted that the hon. Gentleman had not exaggerated in stating the fact that the crime of incendiarism prevailed at present throughout the county of Suffolk, and in some parts of Essex and Norfolk, to an extent which was much to be deplored. He had already announced that this painful subject was one which occupied the serious attention of Her Majesty's Government. He had conferred with the Lord Lieutenant and magistrates of those counties as to the means of repressing this dreadful crime. As he had stated on a former occasion, he believed that many of those fires were the act of one and the same wicked incendiary. He did not believe that any considerable portion of the peasantry were implicated in these offences; but that they were the work of a very few persons, who were actuated, probably, by motives of a personal nature, and that no considerable portion of the population participated in the crimes. The subject, however, was one which continued to occupy the most solicitous attention of Her Majesty's Government.
§ Mr. M. Gibsonwished to ask the right hon. Baronet whether the inquiries which he had instituted led him to the conclusion that there was a reckless spirit abroad which induced men to set fire to premises, produced by distress over which individual exertions could have no control, and could not remedy; and whether Her Majesty's Government were prepared to take the condition of the agricultural poor into consideration, inquiring whether there was not a strong pressure of distress, demoralizing a naturally well-disposed population, and an inducement of discontent amongst them, with a view to applying some remedy to their case?
§ Sir J. Grahamsaid that his inquiries led him to the conclusion that the working peasantry in no way countenanced these crimes; but that they were the work of 587 certain wicked persons, who perambulated the counties for the purpose.
§ Sir J. Grahamsaid two were at present in custody, and four or five had been convicted at the last assizes.