§ MR. HENNESSYsaid, he rose to draw the attention of the right hon. Baronet the Chief Secretary for Ireland to an extraordinary statement of which he had only that day been made aware, and he thought it his duty to bring it under the notice of the Government without delay. It appeared that on Wednesday last a man named Patrick Doyle was tried in Kilkenny as a vagrant; and the account sent to him copied from one of the papers was as follows:—
Patrick Doyle was presented by the Grand Jury under an old Act of Parliament for being a vagrant. The prisoner traversed the presentment, and was found guilty of the charge. His Lordship sentenced him to find bail, himself in £20, and two sureties in £10 each, to be of good behaviour for seven years, and in default to undergo penal servitude for seven years.The report went on to say that the statute of Queen Anne, under which the prisoner was sentenced, gave the Judge power of sentencing such characters, unless they could find sufficient bail for their future good conduct. He wished to inquire if the attention of the Government had been called to this extraordinary sen- 1481 tence At the same time, there had been sent to him an account of a sentence given by the same Judge, on the same day, in the same court, upon one Edward Carney, who was tried and found guilty of personating a Post Office official and stealing a letter. His Lordship said that as he was not in the employ of the Postmaster General, he would deal with him leniently, and sentenced him to find bail, himself in £100, and two sureties in £50 each for future good behaviour, or in default to one month's imprisonment. He (Mr. Hennessy) begged the attention of the Government to these sentences, and he hoped the Chief Secretary would be able on a future day to state what course the Government propose to take with respect to them.
§ MR. ROEBUCKI have also seen an account of the case in the papers to-day, and their statement is that the person so convicted was "an Irish gentleman who would do no work!"