IRISH COERCION.
ITO THE EDITOR OF THE " SFECTATOR."]
SIR,—While fully admitting the necessity which was laid upon the Government of repressing crime in Ireland by exceptional measures, I venture to doubt -whether the means chosen by them are the best fitted to accomplish their end. In brief, it seems to me that temporary suspension of trial by jury would, though a stronger, be also a safer, measure than suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. For if trial by jury, which for a particular class of cases has obviously broken down in Ireland, were suspended, there would still be all the guarantees for a just decision which arc afforded by a public trial,—defence of the accused by counsel, cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution, and full reports by the Press. The Judge un- doubtedly should not be a partisan, and an appeal from his de- cision should be allowed to the accused person, not to the Crown, such appeal to be addressed to a superior Court in Dublin, or possibly even in London. And this necessary but lamentable suspension of a great popular right should be limited in time, and confined to one particular class of cases,— those called agrarian.
I cannot but think that under such a system the guilty would be more likely to suffer, and the innocent more likely to escape, than under a system of lettres de cachet issued by the Chief Secretary, frequently upon mere police information.
As a Liberal of Newcastle, I may, perhaps, be permitted to disclaim the views enunciated by our Member, Mr. Cowen. In fact, when he says, " If a man shoots his landlord, I would shoot him," he really concedes the whole case, for this is pre- cisely what cannot be done now ; and if Mr. Forster were un- wise enough to follow Mr. Cowen's advice, he would have to stand on his own trial as a murderer.—I am, Sir, &c., THOMAS HODGKIN.
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