§ Order for Committee read.
§ House in Committee.
§ MR. BOWYER,said, he could not allow the Bill to go on without protesting against its progress. The Bill was introduced at a time very different to the present, and a Bill on account of crime and outrage was no longer needed. He could say that crime and outrage had generally diminished in Ireland; and as far as the county of Louth was concerned, crime and outrage were extinct. The people of that portion of Ireland were orderly and loyal, and did not require such a Bill. He believed the Bill was not required now, and next year he believed there would he found even less necessity for it. If the Bill were proposed next year he should feel it to be his duty to move for a Committee of Inquiry to ascertain if there were any grounds for bringing forward such a measure. He would not divide the House on the present occasion. He must, however, contend that the Bill ought not to be an annual Bill—like the Mutiny Bill—to be passed without necessity or inquiry.
§ MR. M'CANNsaid, that after the expression of opinion last night, be would not offer any opposition to the Bill, though he agreed with the hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. Bowyer), that this Bill should not be brought in regularly as a matter of course every year. It might be necessary for one or two counties, but it was not just to apply it to all Ireland, when crime and outrage did not exist in many parts of that kingdom.
§ The Bill passed through Committee. House resumed.