§ Mr. F. Mauleregretted, that he should delay the House going into committee of Supply, but as this was an occasion on which he might constitutionally bring under notice what he considered an attack upon the liberty of the subject, he would take leave to ask the Lord-Advocate a question as to an unfortunate dispute which had recently occurred in Scotland arising out of the unhappy divisions at present existing in the Church. A 331 riot had occurred some short time back in a parish called Roskeen. Two individuals were arrested by the civil authorities, but I made their escape; some said, they were rescued, others that they escaped through the culpable negligence of the officers. It was necessary to take steps to re-capture them, and the authorities of the place, acting, as he supposed, under some apprehension of a riot, in consequence of those which had taken place elsewhere, provided, in addition to the civil and excise service, a military guard. They arrived at Roskeen on the 3rd of October, the deforcement having taken place on the 26th of September, and the civil authorities, aided by the Excise, arrested six individuals accused of aiding in the escape of the two men first apprehended, He was informed, but he trusted the account was exaggerated, that those six individuals were taken between one and two o'clock in the morning, whilst in their beds, and were carried to a place appropriated as the guard-house for the local residence of the soldiery. That place was intended originally for a bank safe. It contained an outer room with a barred window, and an inner room with a window similarly defended. One might have thought, that the military being in the outer room, the prisoners might have been put in the inner room; but it was stated publicly, and he had not seen it contradicted, that the petty authorities—and he said petty authorities, because he meant to draw a distinction between them and the higher authorities—not content with trying to keep the prisoners in the inner room, put them into the bank safe, the dimensions of which were nine feet eleven inches and a quarter in length, three feet nine inches in breadth, and six feet eleven inches in height, built particularly for the exclusion of air, and for the protection of the bank books from fire. Such was the place into which the civil authorities put six individuals—five men and a boy; and he was told, that they confined them there from two o'clock in the morning, until nine o'clock the same evening—seven hours, with this exception, that one individual was taken so ill about an hour after his confinement, that he absolutely vomited blood, and the cries of the others drawing the attention of those who had charge of the prisoners, they opened the door, and took out that individual, but they re-closed it on the rest, who were kept there until nine o'clock in the morning, when the Lord- 332 lieutenant of the county, who had acted throughout all those unfortunate disturbances with great humanity and firmness, for which all were ready to give him credit, arrived at the spot, and gave the prisoners air. He was further informed, that of those individuals who had so suffered, one upon examination before a magistrate was immediately dismissed as entirely guiltless of all crime, and that the other five were committed to prison to take their trials: that they had been admitted to bail, but up to that moment, in February, this having happened early in October, they were untried, their innocence not proved, nor had the authorities who administered justice in Scotland substantiated their guilt. Whether they were guilty or innocent was, however, of no consequence now; but he wished the learned Lord-Advocate to state to the House, whether the facts were as he had represented them; and if they were, or if they bore even a semblance to them, then, whether he had taken any measures to punish those who could be guilty of so great a crime—for a crime he would term it, under the cloak of the administration of justice, putting persons merely taken up unconvicted, and, therefore, bound to be held innocent, into such a place as that he had described, the horrors of which he would answer for it, were as bad as those of the black-hole of Calcutta. He wished to know further, whether any steps had been taken to bring those five individuals, who were at present on bail, to trial; so that they might have the opportunity of either making out their innocence, or, if guilty, of making some atonement to the laws they had transgressed.
The Lord-Advocatehad ascertained that five of the individuals alluded to by the right hon. Gentleman were confined in an apartment of very small size for a period nearly, but not exactly, as long as that mentioned by him. On the morning on which they were arrested, they were taken to the guard-house, and the persons who had the custody of them, having been informed that there was danger of an attempt to rescue, and a rescue having been effected a few days previously, they put the prisoners in the place in question, rather than in a room not sufficiently secured. That was clone between three and four o'clock in the morning, and the prisoners were liberated between eight and nine; but the door was frequently opened during the morning, and when any of the 333 prisoners wanted anything, they called for it, and whatever they required was given to then. He stated that, upon the information of some of the prisoners themselves, given in the course of the investigation. They did not then complain of want of air, or of the closeness of the cell. It was not until some time towards the middle of January that any complaint had been made, or that any information had reached him on the subject. The respected Lord-lieutenant of the county was on the spot. The sheriff of the county, who also had conducted himself with the greatest propriety throughout all the proceedings, and the sheriff substitute, were likewise in the village at the time. The prisoners were brought before the sheriff in the course of the day for examination; but, neither to him, nor to any authority, in so far as he (the Lord-Advocate) was aware, did they make any complaint, either then or at any subsequent period. He only I learned the circumstances accidentally, by having his attention directed to a statement published in an Edinburgh newspaper, on the eve of certain trials there, connected with the proceedings in Ross-shire, and as soon as his attention was called to it, he made inquiry into the circumstances through the sheriff of the county. It was only within the last few days that he had received a report of that inquiry. He was not able, therefore, to state, that he had conclusively made up his mind as to the course he should adopt with respect to the persons who had charge of those prisoners. That the place in which it was considered necessary to confine the prisoners was so small, was much to be regretted; but as far as he had looked into and considered the report he could not find that there was any intention to oppress them, or to treat them with harshness or unnecessary severity—and he did not see any grounds for taking proceedings against those who were in charge of them. With regard to the proceedings against the persons concerned in the recent violations of the law in Ross-shire, he had to state, that having brought to trial in Edinburgh some persons who were considered most culpable, and having obtained convictions against some of those who had committed the greatest violation of the law, he thought he should be justified in dealing with the others in a milder manner, and he resolved, therefore, that such as were put upon their trial should not be put to greater expense or inconvenience than was necessary in their defence, 334 and that instead of being tried in the superior court they should be tried in one where the expense would be less, and the punishment consequent on conviction would probably be inure lenient. He was still in hope, that in regard to many, no prosecutions would be necessary.