Works. Advances would be made from the Treasury for the purposes of those works, to be repaid in ten years at 3 per cent. interest, the lowest rate ever taken for works of this kind. Having described the manner in which he intended to provide for the repayment of these advances, he next informed the Committee how he intended to provide for the case of poor districts, where it would be impossible for the money to be repaid. He proposed to grant 50,000l. for the purposes of those districts, where works of public utility would be undertaken by the Government on its own responsibility. He also proposed that commissariat officers should be stationed in different parts of Ireland, who should from time to time communicate with Sir R. Routh on the state of distress in the several districts. As evil had arisen from interference by the Government with the supply of the public food, he did not propose to interfere with the regular mode by which Indian corn and other kinds of grain might be brought into the country. There might, however, be particular cases where it might be necessary to employ the commissariat officers. He also added, that all the officers of the commissariat, and of the Board of Works, would be paid by Government for the services they performed. Having these objects in view, he proposed, first, that a sum should be voted to defray the expenses already incurred; then a vote for direct advances by Exchequer bills for the purposes stated in the Bill, and then the vote for the districts which might speedily require it. He considered the present as a special case requiring the intervention of Parliament, and rendering it imperative on the Government to take extraordinary measures for the relief of the people. He trusted that the course which he was proposing would convince the poorest among the Irish people that the House was not insensible to the claims which they had upon it as the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He concluded by assuring the Committee, that the late Ministry had shown a very laudable anxiety to meet this evil-that the remedies which they applied had been suited to the occasion-that the present Government was imitating the spirit in which they had acted, and was endeavouring to take advantage of their experience to correct errors which were inevitable, in consequence of unforeseen difficulties. After some conversation between Mr. Hume and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. D. Browne expressed his satisfaction at the speech and proposition of Lord John Russell. He recommended the introduction of a more extensive system of poor laws into Ireland, for the purpose of making the landlords more attentive to the interests of their tenantry. He also recommended the Government to promote manufactures in Ireland. Mr. Williams considered the Government to be doing nothing more than its duty in providing against the threatened famine in Ireland. He was convinced that, if a proper system of poor laws were introduced into Ireland, the landlords would then discover means to obtain employment for the poor. Mr. Labouchere considered any incidental discussion on the poor laws quite useless at that moment. He eulogized the measures of the late, and defended the proposition of the present Government. The late Government had taken extraordinary measures to introduce a supply of Indian corn into Ireland; but now the corn trade was perfectly open, and nothing could be more fatal to the interests of the country than that Government should undertake the trade of the corn merchant. He hoped that the Bill, which, in accordance with the intentions of Lord J. Russell, it would be his duty to lay on the table of the House, would prevent the Irish people from being left in a state of destitution, while it would provide efficient checks to control the administration of measures for their relief. The Earl of Lincoln denied that the measures of the late Government had demoralized the habits of the labouring population of Ireland, and observed that, if they had, the measures of the present Government, which were founded upon them, would lay it open to the same imputation. He believed, however, that considerable benefit had been derived from the measures of the late Administration, and that great moral advantage would eventually accrue from them to the labouring population. He hoped that the people of Ireland would see that no Government in England would allow them to perish from destitution. He fully approved of the intentions of Her Majesty's Government on this subject. Mr. Labouchere expressed his regret, that Lord Lincoln should suppose that he was disposed to underrate the manner in which the late Government, in circumstances of unexampled difficulty, had performed its duty. After a discussion, in which Sir R. Ferguson, Mr. Escott, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Hen ley, Sir D. Norreys, Mr. Hume, Mr. Monckton Milnes, and Mr. M. Gore, joined, Mr. B. Escott gave Lord J. Russell notice, that to-morrow he would ask him, whether he intended to propose any measure for the abolition of all laws prohibiting the importation of foreign provisions into Ireland? Lord J. Russell declared his readiness to answer that question at once. The Corn Laws had, he understood, been settled this session; and it was by no means his intention to disturb the settlement of that question. A Bill to give effect to Lord John Russell's propositions was brought in, and quickly passed through the House of Commons. It was introduced in the Upper House by the Marquis of Lansdowne, in a speech in which he explained the provisions of the measure, and alluded, in an earnest and feeling manner, to the heavy calamity impending over Ireland. There was reason, however, for entertaining hope even in the present depressing circumstances. He hoped that, whatever might be the severity of the ordeal through which Ireland was now passing, it would be followed by a beneficial change in its social system. He entertained the hope also that it would have a tendency to accelerate that change in the condition of the small Irish farmer which had already commenced, by making him a day-labourer instead of a farmer without capital, and convincing him that he had within his own reach the means of producing sustenance. Lord Monteagle gave a qualified support to the Bill. He questioned the efficiency of the proposed auxiliary modes of relief. The supply of Indian corn might now, though it could not last year, be safely left to the usual course of trade; but with respect to supplying employment, he regretted that the proposal contained in the Bill had not been brought forward earlier in the session. The injury sustained by the potato crop exceeded everything which could have been anticipated. Never in modern times was there so small a stock of potatoes calculated for food as at present. He had great confidence in the effect which would be produced by a free trade in Indian corn; and it afforded him great gratification to find that the people of Ireland had not only accommodated themselves to the use of Indian corn as food, but had begun to prefer it to their usual food. With the supplies of that article expected from the other side of the Atlantic and the ports of the Mediterranean, there was no reason for anticipating any deficiency in the supply of that description of food for the Irish people. amend the state of the tenantry on their own estates, and was against the principle of the clause moved by the Duke of Wellington in the Poor Law. They were now departing from that principle, and making a well-managed estate pay a greater tax in proportion to the improvement; whilst the rackrented unimproved land in the vicinity would have the benefit. This was a rank injustice; and upon these grounds he thought the Bill would prove mischievous. He wished to know how any one could distinguish the system under this Bill from a system of out-door relief? In the Committee on Land Burdens, Mr. Senior declared that if to the existing Poor Law of Ireland there was superadded an out-door relief, the mischief which had been produced in England during a period of three hundred years would be produced in Ireland within ten years, and would lead to an entire confiscation. Mr. Cornwall Lewis. thought it would be a disastrous measure that it would absorb all the surplus produce of the soil, and in a short time prove most detrimental to the persons it was intended to benefit; and Mr. Gulson, Mr. Twisleton, Mr. Clements, the Archbishop of Dublin, the Archbishop Murray, and Lord Glengall, were equally strenuous in their objections to any such proposal. The grant of 50,000l. would be quite inadequate to its purpose. Private subscriptions in aid of the grants should be required. The Bill before the House provided that the rate in repayment of the advances should be levied on the poor law valuation; but, in taking that valuation, they were adopting a rule which had proved fraudulent The Earl of Wicklow concurred and unjust. So variable was that in all that had fallen from the Marvaluation, that property estimated quis of Lansdowne, but objected, to-day at 647. might be valued to- like Lord Monteagle, to the rates morrow at 731.; property valued being levied according to the poor at 677. might be raised to 106., law valuation. He thought, too, at 811. to 1197., and so on. The that the clergy ought to be exempt, Bill would be a greater blow against considering the many calls which the improvements now going on, were made upon their charity. than anything that had yet taken place. The proposition would work against those who were willing to The Duke of Grafton was apprehensive that, if the funds to be raised under the Bill were to be employed in building bridges and making roads, the cultivation of the land might be neglected. The Marquis of Lansdowne, in reply to a remark about the tendency of the measure to establish a system of out-door relief, stated that the Government did not intend to lay the foundation of any such system, their conviction being that it would be peculiarly mischievous in Ireland. The Bill then went through Committee. The melancholy prospects of a famine in Ireland, which the now ascertained failure in the potato crop too clearly indicated, became the subject of further comment in Parliament on several occasions. The Earl of Roden made a forcible appeal, previous to the adjournment for the recess, to the sympathies of the House, and to the humanity and patriotism of Irish landlords, in behalf of the suffering but resigned people. He could speak of the calamity from personal observation. He had traversed a great part of the province of Munster, and he was not guilty of any exaggeration when he stated that, during the whole progress of that journey, he did not see one field that was not either decaying or had not actually decayed from the disease. There was a deficiency, too, in the oat crop; and, if that deficiency should prove to be general, the calamity would be awfully increased. If his voice could reach the ears of those individuals who possessed any property in Ireland, and it could have in their present difficulties; and to show them that they themselves were willing, under these great trials, to share with them the evils they were forced to bear. The Earl of Clarendon echoed Lord Roden's appeal. He could not permit the subject to close without appealing to all those who possessed property in Ireland to combine together in alleviating the dreadful calamity with which it had pleased Providence to afflict Ireland. No time should at that most important moment be lost in adjuring every one who had any interest in Ireland, and not only those, but all persons in this country, to unite together in one common effort to relieve this distress. In the House of Commons, Mr. Dillon Browne besought the consideration of the House to the destitution in Mayo. The potato crop was not only a failure, it had almost completely disappeared. The Government scheme for giving employment had created the greatest satisfaction; it could not, however, be regarded as altogether adequate to the emergency; and he hoped the Government would adopt additional and speedier measures of relief. Mr. Labouchere promised the unremitting attention of Government to the subject. He admitted that the failure of the potato crop was much more general than that of last year. He found from recent accounts, however, that Indian meal was selling at Westport at a penny a pound, and that thirty tons had recently been sold at that price. Potatoes had been selling at 1d. and 2d. per stone; but he admitted that some of them had been forced into the market in consequence of being diseased. The crop of Indian corn in the United States was abundant; and he hoped that that circumstance, combined with the exertions of the Government, and the assistance which, no doubt, would be rendered by the Irish landlords, would tend to mitigate the effects of the impending calamity. All the accounts of the distress which prevailed in Ireland had been accompanied with the gratifying assurance that the people in general had evinced the greatest patience and most peaceable disposition under all these trying circumstances; and that the clergy of all denominations, Roman Catholic and Protestant, had used their best efforts to check that spirit of exaggeration and panic which, if spread abroad, might lead to the most evil consequences. Among the subjects which engaged the attention of Parliament during the latter part of its session was that of military reform. Public interest had lately been excited in this direction by the circumstance of a private who had been flogged under sentence of a court-martial having shortly afterwards died; though whether solely or partially, in consequence of his punishment, was a matter of much controversy both of medical and popular opinion. However, the consideration of flogging naturally led to inquiry respecting other points of military discipline and treatment, and an opinion, that the condition of the soldier required investigation and reform, began to gain strength. Captain Layard gave expression to this prevailing tendency in the public mind, by a motion which came on for discussion in the House of Commons on the 3rd August, to this effect: "That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that she will be graciously pleased to direct inquiry to be made how far the reduction of the period of service in the army from the present unlimited term would tend to procure a better class of recruits, diminish desertion, and thus add to the efficiency of the service." In support of his argument, Captain Layard quoted a number of returns. From one of these it appeared, that the desertions in Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland, in the years 1842, 1843, and 1844, amounted to 7,537. Of these deserters, 4,638 had been retaken or had given themselves up, and 2,899 remained unaccounted for. From another return it was shown, that for the five years ending 1844-5, 17,0201. had been paid for the apprehension, subsistence, and escort of deserters; and that 54,500l. had been paid for the maintenance of men in confinement. Another return stated, that from the 1st of January, 1839, to the 31st December, 1843, 3,355 men had undergone corporal punishment. But the most astounding fact of all was, that during the same period 28,190 committals to prison had taken place. Captain Layard also stated a number of particulars, showing the sufferings men will undergo to escape from the service. In the cavalry, the cases of suicide were found to amount to one in every twenty deaths, or nearly 1,000 of the strength per annum. Soldiers often maimed themselves to obtain their discharge, or else became convicts. Captain Layard suggested a plan for obviating the objection, that a very considerable expense would be incurred by sending home men from foreign places at the expiration of their service. |