THE EARL OF LEITRIMrose to move for Copies of Correspondence relating to the case of Mr. Henry Mervyn D'Arcy Irwin, and the relation of the Police Force of Ireland to the county Magistracy. The noble Earl said, that a feeling of antagonism had existed between the magistracy and the Executive power for the last thirty years, and that that feeling had proved very detrimental to the welfare of the people of that country. He thought Parliament was entitled to know whether Ireland was to continue to be governed under a military code, or whether she had no claim to a constitutional government. His noble Friend (the Earl of Charlemont) had stated, in proposing an Address to the Queen, that Ireland is now in a peaceable state, and prosperous, and that the laws are observed and respected; if this be the fact, and if it be true that the country is in the condition represented by his noble Friend, there cannot be a better opportunity of restoring a constitutional government, and for giving up those coercive and arbitrary powers which were intrusted to the Government in times of pressing necessity and weakness. He understood that Mr. D'Arcy Irwin was a highly respectable and excellent magistrate, and he thought the House might reasonably expect to know the grounds upon which the Lord Chancellor had felt himself justified in withdrawing that gentleman's name from the commission of the peace in a country where the resident gentry were 133 so few. The Police Code to which he had referred in his Motion was a work which the Government of Ireland was very proud of, but which they at the same time guarded with the utmost jealousy, so much so that it was very difficult to get a view of it. When, however, these rules and regulations were regarded in the same light as Acts of Parliament, when they virtually affected not only the welfare of Her Majesty's subjects but also their lives, their liberties, and their safety, he thought they were entitled to their production, and he did hope that the noble Earl would not refuse to agree to the Motion.
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, that as the noble Earl had only given notice of his Motion on the previous evening he was not in a position to give him an immediate answer. It would be impossible for the Government to give the Returns for which the noble Earl asked, before they had had time for communication with Ireland.
THE EARL OF LEITRIMsaid, he would postpone the Motion, and such a course would meet the wishes of the noble Earl. He could not, however, avoid remarking that this afforded another instance of the inconvenience which accrued to the business of the public in consequence of there being no Law Lord or any other person in the House to represent the Government of Ireland. He (the Earl of Leitrim) hoped that before long we shall yet see the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland taking his seat in the House, and carrying on the business of the country in the same way as any other Member of Her Majesty's Ministers. It appears to be absolutely necessary that the Government of Ireland should be represented in their Lordships' House, if the Parliament is to be regarded as that of the United Kingdom.
§ EARL GRANVILLEwas understood to say, that if there had been any representative of Ireland in the House it would still have been necessary to communicate with Ireland. The notice required by the rules of the House was fixed in order to enable accurate information to be obtained, and to avoid any chance of the House being misled by hasty and unauthoritative statements.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Six o'clock, to Monday next, Eleven o'clock.