MR. JAMESwished to ask his right hon. Friend whether Ministers had received any official information respecting a sad affray which had taken place in the north of England: it had occurred not far from Penrith, between English and Irish labourers, on what was called the Shap Fells, on the railway line from Lancaster to Carlisle. There had been several most savage and ferocious encounters between persons armed with knives, scythes, spades, and other weapons, and, besides bodily injuries, several poor Irishmen's huts had been razed to the ground, and all their little property destroyed. One Irishman had been attacked in his cottage, and, in the presence of his weeping wife and children, beaten in such a manner that his life was despaired of. The whole district was in a state of the greatest excitement and alarm, and several troops of yeomanry cavalry had found the utmost difficulty in suppressing the tumult. If the right hon. Baronet had received official information, he (Mr. James) wished also to learn whether any steps had been taken to aid the civil force for the preservation of the public peace?
§ SIR J. GRAHAMsaid, his hon. Friend seemed to know more of the matter than he 837 did. He had received no official information respecting the disturbance; all he knew was from the ordinary channels of information. He had received no information from magistrates of the prolongation of the affray, and he had therefore every reason to believe that the public peace had been restored.