EVICTION OF TENANTRY—(IRELAND). (Hansard, 30 March 1846)

The MARQUESS of LONDONDERRY
brought forward the Motion of which he he had given notice, to the effect that there —"be laid before this House a Return of the Ejectments actually carried into effect in Ireland on the Tenants and Occupiers of Land during the Years 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845; specifying the Numbers in each Barony and County respectively, and showing the Total Number in each Year. Before taking the votes of their Lordships on this Motion, he was anxious to say a few words in reference to the Motion he had formerly made with respect to the eviction of tenantry in the counties of Roscommon and Galway. These remarks he would offer, notwithstanding that he had been given to understand that his noble Friend near him (Earl of St. Germans) had not as yet obtained any authentic information which he could communicate to their Lordships in reference to the object which he (the Marquess of Londonderry) had in view in moving for these Returns. It would be in the remembrance of their Lordships that a short time since he had called their attention to certain cases of wholesale ejection of tenantry, alleged in the public papers to have taken place in the counties of Galway and Roscommon. He was not himself connected with those counties; but he was very much struck by reading the extraordinary statements which had appeared in the newspapers; and he felt it to be his duty (in the event of no other Member of that House undertaking the office) to bring the matter under the consideration of Parliament, and to state the circumstances connected with it, for this reason, if for no other, that some noble Lord who was connected with that part of the island, and who might in consequence be supposed to be in possession of authentic information respecting the alleged occurrences, might stand up and explain for the satisfaction of that House and the public how the true state of the facts really stood. When he undertook this duty, a noble Friend of his opposite assured their Lordships that the statements which had appeared in the public prints had been only inserted ad captandum; but he (the Marquess of Londonderry), notwithstanding this assurance, was very glad that he had taken up the matter; for having made due inquiries, and entered into correspondence on the subject, he found he was deeply grieved to have to state that in the county 274 not of Roscommon, but of Galway, ejectments had taken place to a very great, indeed to a very shameful extent. He believed there could be no doubt but that Mr. and Mrs. Gerrard were the parties on whose estates those sad ejectments had taken place, and that seventy-six families, comprising in all no less than 300 individuals, had not only been turned out of their houses, but had even—the unfortunate wretches—been mercilessly driven from the ditches to which they had betaken themselves for shelter, and where they were attempting to get up a covering of some kind by means of sticks and mud. He could not go through the distressing details of these scenes, for he trusted that such things would never happen again, in consequence of the publicity which had been given to these occurrences. It was with a view to ensure that publicity that he had not moved for the Returns. He did not mean to dispute the right of landed proprietors to cause ejectments to be made judiciously, and in a proper and befitting manner: they certainly had a right to manage their estates as they pleased; but they should not forget that they were responsible to society, and most assuredly it was impossible, without resorting to the most extraordinary and the most heartless severity, to exhibit such scenes as had recently been exhibited in the county of Galway. If they wanted to clear their estates of any portion of their tenantry, they might have gone to work by degrees, encouraging them to emigration, or giving them some assistance to remove and establish themselves elsewhere; but he found that in the present instance these unfortunate people had their rents actually ready, and that year after year they offered them to this Gerrard family, and implored that they should be received; but the request was refused, and the unhappy people were driven out of their holdings, and an entire village depopulated. If such scenes as these occurred in the south and south-west of Ireland (thank God they were unknown in the north!) was it to be wondered at, however it might be deplored, that deeds of outrage and violence should occasionally be attempted, and that the law was not respected as it ought to be? He greatly feared there was something radically wrong in the manner in which agents and persons acting under landlords conducted themselves in Ireland, which stung the peasantry into madness, otherwise these things would not take place. How did these things occur? They appeared to him equally atrocious 275 with any of the acts of religious severity which had recently taken place in Russia, and to which reference had been made by a noble Lord in that House. He protested that he could see nothing in the proceedings which had occurred in Russia, which could transcend in atrocity the wholesale evictions which had taken place on the estate of the Gerrard family. If people were very severe on acts of religious cruelty occurring in other lands, it was likely that persons in those other lands would take up the occurrences which happened in our own unfortunate Ireland, and maintain that the English Government were as little disposed to look into these affairs as the Russian Government were to inquire into matters of equal atrocity happening in Russia. That these evictions had taken place in Ireland he was well satisfied; and he had received a letter from a Mr. Andrew Bamfield, of Ballinasloe, which corroborated the statements which had appeared in the public prints. In this communication from Mr. Bamfield was enclosed a copy of a letter which had been addressed on the subject to a Member of the other House (Mr. O'Connell); but he had rather not read it there, as the matter would doubtless be brought forward in another place. Moreover, he did not wish to have anything in common with that hon. and learned Gentleman, from whom he differed entirely on every thing having any connexion with Ireland. Mr. Bamfield, however, had inclosed the letter, and observed that the entire details of these evictions were to be found in an Irish paper, the Freeman's Journal, they having been collected by a gentleman who had been sent down there for that purpose by the conductor of the journal in question, who thought it right to show that the public papers had not been guilty of any vilification, and that nothing had been stated which had not taken place. When public indignation was brought to bear upon such proceedings as these, it was to be hoped that the progress of them would be arrested. The noble Marquess then alluded to the present condition of the Irish people consequent on the potato disease, and stated that he had much pleasure in informing their Lordships that he had received authentic advices from Ireland, stating that in the counties of Down and Cavan no want either of food or of employment had been experienced. Nothing could be wiser than the precautionary measures which had been taken in Dublin by order of the Government; but 276 having seen a circular letter from the Secretary of the Relief Commission to the Lords Lieutenant of the various counties, pointing out the necessity of forming district committees throughout the country, it occurred to him to suggest the propriety of the Relief Committee not extending their powers to any districts where their exertions were not needed. An injustice might otherwise be done to districts where want was really sensibly felt. Directions ought to be given to the Lords Lieutenant not to force relief where it was not required, nor to order it to be granted unless in cases where they found it absolutely necessary.

§ The EARL of ST. GERMANS
said, that he had not as yet received the information with which his noble Friend the Secretary for Ireland promised to furnish him, relative to the subject on which the noble Marquess had spoken; and he, therefore, requested their Lordships to permit him to abstain from entering on any discussion upon the subject. He hoped to be able, in the course of a few days, to state what the real facts of the case were. With regard to what the noble Marquess had said of the distress in Ireland, he had not seen the document to which the noble Marquess had referred, from the Secretary of the Relief Board; but he apprehended that that communication only referred to the particular counties where distress existed; and it was to such counties most certainly that the Commission should limit its exertions. With respect to the Motion under the immediate consideration of the House, he begged leave to say, on the part of the Government, that he had no possible objection to it; but there was one matter to which he was anxious to direct the attention of his noble Friend who had proposed it. The information sought for in these Returns—information on the subject of ejectments—could only be procured through the clerks of the peace. Now the clerks of the peace were not public officers: they were the officers of the country; and as they would be put to very great trouble in preparing these Returns, he suggested to the noble Marquess whether, unless some provision were made for their remuneration, they would be bound to comply with the Orders of that House. He suggested whether it might not be well to provide some mode of compensation for them.

§ LORD MONTEAGLE
observed, that the clerk of the peace was most unques- 277 tionably a public officer; and, as such, bound to furnish such information acquired in his office as Parliament might think fit to require from him. With respect to the expediency of according him additional remuneration for his trouble, that was another and a secondary consideration; but there could be no doubt whatever that, as a public officer, he was bound to obey that House. The noble Marquess had alluded to the present condition of Ireland. He (Lord Monteagle) was happy to learn that there were any districts of that country where distress did not exist to an alarming degree; but it was a matter of absolute amazement to him how any one could question for one moment that there was in Ireland generally at the present moment an appalling degree of misery and distress. A friend of his, who was resident in the county of Clare, had stated to him, in a letter, a few days since, the result of his own experience, which was, that he had found a family in that county eating food from which so putrid and offensive an effluvia issued, that when consuming it they were obliged to leave the doors and windows of their cabins open, and they could not eat it under any other circumstances. If there was anything calculated more than another to add fuel to the fire in favour of Repeal of the Union, and to give strength to those who declared that the English people did not sympathize with the distress of the Irish, it was the giving countenance, directly or indirectly, to any indisposition to recognize the real facts of the case, and to apply such remedies as might testify the sincerity of their compassion.

§ The DUKE of WELLINGTON
observed, that there could not be the least doubt but that the clerk of the peace in Ireland was a public officer, and bound, as such, to obey the Orders of that House. With respect to the Motion of the noble Marquess, he was sorry that his noble Friend had not seen the propriety of giving notice of such a Resolution as the present.

The MARQUESS of LONDONDERRY
remarked, that he had taken care to give due notice of the Motion.

§ The DUKE of WELLINGTON
was not aware that the fact was so. As to what had fallen from the noble Lord opposite (Lord Monteagle) with respect to Ireland, he could only say that he believed there could be no doubt whatever with respect to the amount of the evil which at the present moment existed in Ireland. He (the Duke 278 of Wellington) had been one of those who, in the month of November last, doubted that it was possible that the evil which threatened Ireland could be so great as it was represented, and as it appeared to be at the present moment; but he was sorry to say, that he now found that those who were of a different opinion from himself were entirely right, and that those who thought that the evil was not of great magnitude were wrong, and he (the Duke of Wellington) was one of them.

The MARQUESS of CLANRICARDE
said, that from private information he had received, he believed the facts were as they had been represented; and it appeared to him it was a proper case for inquiry, and one illustrating the necessity for a change in the law of landlord and tenant. As to the question of distress in Ireland, it was not a matter for party conflict; he thought the measures that had been adopted by the Government were judicious, and calculated to alleviate the suffering that existed; but they must not relax in their exertions, or the evil might arrive at a height which no one had as yet contemplated. It had been said in some quarters, that the distress which had existed in the early part of the year was now receding; but that was not the case. It existed still to a fearful extent, and what it might be in July no one could venture to foretell.

§ The EARL of MALMESBURY
said, there was no one, he believed, sharing with him the opinions he entertained on certain questions, who would deny the great extent of distress that existed in Ireland. The potato crop had to a great extent failed. Persons might have fallen into mistakes in what they had alleged in this respect; but then it was because this question of distress had been connected with another great question now before Parliament—two questions which had been most awkwardly connected together by the Government. He, and those to whom he alluded, did not deny that distress existed. They would have been the first to come forward upon that question. But what they did deny was, that there was sufficient and just cause for all those extraordinary changes which had taken place in the opinions of the Government; and they further denied that the measures which they had prepared would, if they passed them, in any possible way alleviate the calamity.