Mr. Abercrumbysaid, that he had been entrusted with a petition of such a nature that he felt himself called upon to present it that night. The petitioners were freeholders of the county of Cavan. The complaint was, that the freedom of election had been grossly violated by the partial and almost factious conduct of the sheriff. On the advancement of colonel Barry to the peerage, by the title of lord Farnham, a vacancy occurred for the representation of the county of Cavan, and a writ for the election had been transmitted to the high sheriff in due course. That officer, whose duty it was to conduct himself with the strictest impartiality, gave notice of the approaching election by a placard headed by an effigy of king William on horseback, with the orange colours, and an inscription, "To the glorious and immortal memory." These were well-known indications of the party to which he belonged. Under these inauspicious circumstances the election commenced, and it was conducted throughout in the same spirit. On the day of the opening of the poll, all the avenues of the court-house were crowded by persons professing the opinions of Orangemen, who conducted themselves through the day in the most intemperate manner. It was with the utmost difficulty that two gentlemen obtained a hearing, while they proposed Mr. Coote, the second candidate: they could not have put him in nomination at all, had they not called for protection upon that very sheriff who had so publicly recorded his own opinions. In fact, in the course of that night a murder had been committed—the life of a fellow-creature had been sacrificed to party violence. During the 653 election, a speech was addressed to the Orangemen assembled, by a magistrate of the county, in which he told them "that they were now a legally-constituted body." Such was his language. It would be injustice to the petitioners, did he not mention that they came forward with the greatest reluctance to expose these circumstances to the view of the House; but the election was the second provocation of the kind they had received from the same party. The petitioners had entertained sanguine hopes as to the effects of the measure which passed through the House last year for the suppression of secret societies, but those hopes had been grievously disappointed. The boast of the Orangemen was, that they had completely evaded the law. The petitioners prayed, that the sheriff might be brought before the House to answer for the publication of the proclamation referred to; and that if the House was not disposed to grant to all classes the equal benefits of the constitution, they would not withhold their protection. These prayers were just and reasonable; for surely, if the House allowed such proclamations to be sent forth, the members returned to that House must cease to be considered the representatives of the people of Ireland, but of the particular faction to which the sheriff belonged. In the course of the election the life of one fellow-creature had fallen a sacrifice. An individual was tried for the murder and acquitted. He wished to ask, 1. how many persons were returned by the sheriff on the panel for the trial of that murder? 2. how many of them were Protestants, and how many Catholics? 3. how many were challenged for the prisoner, and how many for the Crown? And 4. how many of the jury were taken from the original panel? The answer to these questions were important, to guide the House to a correct judgment on the subject. He had often expressed his conviction that no attempt should be made to suppress opinions by legislative measures; but they saw the Orange societies persevering, in defiance of the laws, and exasperating the rest of the population.
Mr. Maxwell,as member for the county of Cavan, deemed himself called upon to offer a few words. The charge against the high sheriff, of countermanding the proclamation which had been mentioned by the learned gentleman, was very unfairly repeated by the petitioners; for 654 the sheriff had himself publicly disavowed it on the hustings, and afterwards in a printed letter. The only proclamation that was really sanctioned by the sheriff was headed, not in the manner the learned gentleman had described, but with the royal arms. The petitioners had acted most unfairly, in bringing forward a charge which had been denied by the sheriff. The sheriff, in his printed letter, said, "the proclamation was printed without my consent or knowledge, during my absence in Dublin." It was certainly to be regretted, that at the time of the election a murder did take place at Cavan; but as to the perpetrators of it, not the slightest clue had been obtained; for the person who had been tried on the charge had been acquitted on the fullest evidence. He was no Orangeman, but he was warmly attached to the Protestant cause, and he would do the Orangemen the justice to say, that motives were attributed to them by which they had never shewn themselves to be actuated.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.