sphere. The present Government accordingly determined to change this practice. Against this wise determination all the batteries of the Orange party were for a time opened. No pretence was left untried to entice the interference of the executive again; and the Castle was besieged with applications for the assistance of the military and constabulary. The Church was, as usual, the foremost and loudest in its calls. The blood was scarcely dry upon the field of Rathcormack, when again and again the executive was pressed to renew the practice, which had there led to such fatal consequences! But, in each case, the reply was, that the police or military force could not be called out, except in case of actual riot, or breach of the peace. Ribaldry and abuse vented themselves in vain; and the Government, to the joy of all good men, remained intrenched in its safe position!

The nature of this position and the soundness of the rule, now established, will be shown most clearly by explaining, that there was only one occasion in which any pretence existed for the employment of the constabulary, in this way, by the executive. The Assistant Barrister had not the power, possessed by the superior courts, of substituting services of his process;-that is, directing some act to be done, which should be deemed, in the law, equivalent to the more hazardous step of actual service upon the person, or at the habitation, of the defendant; and, therefore, to prevent an occasional difficulty in the course of justice, they were employed in these cases. But now by a very salutary act of last Session, the power of substitution has been given to the Assistant Barrister, and the pretence no longer exists. In all other cases, the writs and decrees were either directed to the Sheriff, or the Court had the power of substituting service. In either case, the intervention of the constabulary was uncalled for. The Government has accordingly left the constitutional authorities as the constitution formed them; and has established this wise rule, first, that the aid of the constabulary shall not be given, to enforce civil rights by distress; and secondly, that such assistance shall never be given, even for enforcing the decree of a court of justice, where provision has been made for the execution of such a decree, through the medium of the Sheriff; inasmuch as that officer can, of his own authority, obtain whatever police or military he requires. The grand object thus gained is, that the frequency of collision with the people will be avoided, and the constabulary will no longer be employed upon such an offensive duty by the direction of the Government, but only upon what must be of very rare occurrence-the requisition of the Sheriff, when he finds that the ordinary powers of the law fail him.

One exception alone exists to this salutary rule--we mean the

Writ of Rebellion. Baffled by the steadiness of the Government in its purpose not to injure the public strength, and impair the usefulness of the constabulary, by their employment upon such an odious duty, the Tories flew for assistance to the Court of Exchequer. The learned Barons, true to their calling, found a little old law for the occasion. They revived an obsolete process, by which the police force was taken altogether out of the hands of the Government, and placed at the disposal of Commissioners. To these men the Court intrusted the command of the constabulary, with extraordinary plenitude of powers. Fortunately the Government firmly forbade the exercise of that which enabled them to break into houses by night. But the extent to which their employment by day reached, may be estimated from the fact that, in the short space of eighteen months, writs of rebellion were issued against no less than 2000 persons! But, happily for the country, the Lay Association, a body of the clergy in the clothing of the laity, with whom this contrivance originated, is no more. The bitter spirit which was then at work has either worn itself out, or is brooding over some new project of apparent benefit, but real damage to the Church. In whatever form it may re-appear, we may feel confident that the constabulary will not be again much mixed up with their unpopular proceedings. But Lord Mulgrave did not rely alone on the ordinary powers of the executive, in his efforts to preserve peace for Ireland. Confident in the popularity of his government, and the personal attachment of the people, he visited the disturbed districts in person, and there called upon the well-disposed part of the inhabitants to give him their active assistance in the suppression of disturbances. This call upon the yeomanry of the country, so complimentary to their public spirit, was not made in vain. The suggestion was fully appreciated, and a Central Society immediately formed in the county of Tipperary,' for 'the suppression of outrage and the maintenance of peace.' The duties of its members were defined to be, to discourage bad 'characters-to refuse to employ or keep such persons in their 'houses to report to some one of the committee the appearance ⚫ of any bad character, or any person accused or suspected of 'crime in their neighbourhood,-to communicate to a magistrate, or to one of the committee, any facts likely to lead to the pre'vention of outrage,-and to use every exertion to prevent fight'ing between factions at fairs.* The reasons given by the mem

* Tipperary Press, 11th May, 1836.

VOL. LXVI. NO. CXXXIII.

bers, for the formation of the society, were thus explained:They have associated thus at this time, because they are convinced that a spirit and temper have fast grown up among the people, inclining them to aid the efforts of a vigorous and enlightened Government in extending to all parts of this island the protection of equal law; and, in order to answer the reasonable expectations of such a Government, that the exertion, thus made for the people's benefit, shall be seconded by the people's co-operation."

The design of this association was as good as its operations throughout its numerous parochial branches proved useful. The most perfect state of society is that where the influence of public opinion is strong enough to control the habits and feelings to which it is opposed, without the frequent interference of the executive. The present was an attempt to create an effective law of opinion to call into being amongst the many, that which is the noble principle of self-control in the individual. It was an attempt to establish the mildest, but not least effective form of local government, by example. The members of the society pledged themselves by a public declaration, to which their names were affixed, to exert themselves individually and collectively to suppress all agrarian outrage and factious riot; and thus the great body of the farmers were drawn into union and mutual support, who had before been scattered, and at the mercy of the ill-disposed. The obstructions which had once existed to such an extent in the ordinary course of the law, soon vanished before this new engine of pacification. The injured were no longer afraid to prosecute-witnesses to give evidence or juries to convict; and to it, no doubt, must be attributed much of the ease and expedition with which the executive has restored the blessings of peace and good-will to what had been previously one of the most disturbed counties in Ireland ;-a county proverbial for the turbulence and outrageous conduct of its peasantry. We may well ask, does this result in any way countenance the weak ridicule which the enemies of every thing like popular influence have attempted to fix upon a design so well conceived, and so well executed?

We now come to the evidence of the change which has followed these wise and vigorous exertions of the Government. But, in connexion with this, it is of much importance to consider the peculiar character of Irish crime. This will at once appear upon comparing the number of persons committed to prison, in England and Ireland, on charges of criminal offences in 1836. The subjoined table does not of course give us a true idea of the absolute number of offences in each country, because

several persons may be and in Ireland most commonly areconcerned in the commission of one offence-particularly that of murder. But it does give us a perfectly accurate idea of the extent of criminal disposition, which is of more importance to us at present.

*

Now if we take the population of England and Wales as amounting to fourteen, and that of Ireland to eight millions, we might expect that, if all other circumstances were alike, the number of offenders, in each, would be in the proportion of the population; or, in other words, that the number in Ireland would not be much more than one-half those in England. But what is the fact? The numbers committed for malicious injury to property are nearly six times, and for offences against the person eight times, greater than might have been expected; whilst the numbers for offences against property with violence, and for forgery and coining, are those alone which come near the proportion; and for offences against property without violence, there is one-half less in Ireland than a comparison with England would indicate. The last item does not afford an exact comparison; but it contains chiefly offences of a riotous or lawless description, and exhibits the same tendency towards personal offences amongst the Irish.

Again, if we compare some of the principal offences in the same year, we shall find, as in the following table, that the committals are, as near as may be, for murder nine times, for attempts

According to the census of 1831, the population of England and Wales was 13,897,187-that of Ireland, 7,767,401. According to the census of 1834, the latter had increased to 7,943,940; but that of England has not increased at the same rate; so that the numbers are probably what we have stated.

to murder four times, for riots seven times, and for manslaughter nearly three times greater than might have been expected; whilst conspiracy to murder, taking forcible possession and attacking dwelling-houses, are exclusively Irish. The numbers for burglary and robbery are nearly in the proportion of the populations. But housebreaking appears to be but a little more than one-half as frequent as in England.

The conclusion to be drawn from this disparity is, that the characteristic feature of English crime is a predominance of the dishonest or selfish motives-of Irish crime, of the violent or disorderly passions. The one has more reference to property, the other to persons. No doubt the small number of offences in Ireland, under the head of ordinary stealing, is in some part due to the lesser degree of temptation. There is no question, however, but that it arises, in the greater part, from the peculiar temper of the Irish. In no country, perhaps, is there so little respect of persons-so much of the possessions of others. This appears almost as contradictory as the alleged combination of good-nature and a passion for duelling in the American character. It is, indeed, one of the most striking of the numerous anomalies which present themselves in Ireland. Nowhere, perhaps, could the stranger travel, by day or night, with less danger of molestation-nowhere would a native, who had at all interfered with the peasantry, expose himself with so much peril. The peasant, who in his want and distress would not touch his neighbour's goods, would yet murder him if he belonged to a different faction, in time of hostilities; or if he refused to submit to those agrarian laws, which poverty and desperation enforce, with the usual penalties upon life, limb, and property.

But let us now ascertain the extent of the peculiarity before us,