Copy of a memorial forwarded to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for certain magistrates of the county ... impugning the conduct of Major Browne (government magistrate) during the late contest (Sligo) election

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S L I G O MAGISTRATES.


RETURN to an Order of the Honourable The House of Commons,


dated 23 November 1837;—;/br,


COPY, of a MEMORIAL forwarded to the Lord Lieutenaiv'T of Ireland from
certain Magistrates of the County of Sligo, and others, impugning the Con¬
duct of Major Bro'wne (Government Magistrate) during the late contested
Election for that County, with the Signatures attached thereto.


Also, Copy of the Report of the Tribunal to which the Investigation founded
thereupon was entrusted; together with theDECisiowof the Lord Lieutenant,
as communicated in a Letter signed by Mr. Under-Secretary Drummond.


TO His Excellency Constantine Earl Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant-General
and General Governor of Ireland.


THE MEMORIAL of the undesigned Electors and Inhabitants of the County


and Borourh of Slis:o,


Humbly Showeth,


That an election of two Members to serve in the Imperial Parliament for the
county of Sligo was held on the 12th day of August last at the County Court¬
house, in the town of Sligo, and on that occasion that four persons were proposed
as candidates for the representation of the county, and that a contest ensued ; that,
during the time such contest continued, large numbers of the friends and
supporters of the respective candidates came from all parts of the county, and
were, during the hours of polling, assembled in large numbers about the Court¬
house and tally-rooms of the candidates, all of which were in the same neighbour¬
hood ; that the preservation of the public peace was entrusted to three stipendiary
magistrates, who had a considerable force of cavalry, infantry, and police under
their command, and that the principal part of this force was assembled in the
neighbourhood of the Court-house during the time of polling:


That on the 14th day of August, being the second day of the election and
first day of taking the poll, a charge was made by a considerable number of
dragoons, under the command of Major Browne, s. m., on a large concourse of
people assembled opposite Mr, Jones's tally-room, and on that occasion severe
wounds were inflicted on several persons by the sabres of the soldiers and the
trampling of their horses, by some of which the lives of the sufferers were
endangered;


That many other persons were grievously injured by the pressure and rush of
the crowd escaping from the violence and impetuosity of the attack made by the
military; that this charge of dragoons was so sudden and unexpected, that those
who stood close beside them and Major Browne had no conception that any violent
interference on the part of the military would have been ordered, and in
consequence did not provide for their own safety by going away:


Your Memorialists emphatically state that no violence or riot then occurred on
the part of the people which could justify the charge of dragoons, by which con¬
siderable bloodshed was occasioned and the lives of many of Her Majesty's sub¬
jects endangered; that at the election of a Member for this borough, which had
taken place a few days previously, Messrs. Crossley and Blake, special magistrates,
preserved the public peace without any force being resorted to or any riot
occurring, though equal excitement prevailed at both elections:


That Major Browne ordered the dragoons to charge on his own responsibility,
and did not consult with the other stipendiary magistrates on that occasion, though
he had more recently arrived; that some short time before this charge was made.
Major Browne was in the committee-rooms of Colonel Perceval, the candidate
immediately in opposition to Mr. Jones, and M-as in the constant habit of fre¬
quenting these rooms, and that several of the dragoons in the presence and view of
36, man