The Express. — London, England, 1847-02-02 00:00:00

at the em.al'est calculation. Out-dor rto Nun able-bushedelief would therefore suck up the whole of the renter of trews& But it might be raid th it this was ol.ly u landlord's ques tion. He (Mr. Osborue ) denied that avertaon. In Ireland it was a eanom fur the tenant tanner to pay half the rates, and thus the question was as much a tenant farmer's quistion as a landlord's queroiou. If thes were therefore to have the E oieli.h poor-law in Ireland. as an hon. member hail that night recommends d, he prayed the n ble lord to let them have lo; at once in all it. compreheneiveness. To parcel it out to them would do more evil tnan go el. Not that he with the hon. member for Cov.n:ry in thinking that 7e .e oleration of a poor-law ne.uld save lour or five nellions of people in Ireland from the etfeete of lamlne. The boo. member must recollect that in 1697, only a few yen.* after his favourite law was passed, a (Amine occurred in England which the operatiou of that law was quite unable to meet ; and in later times, so recently as the year 1800, there wee a famine in this country with respect to which a committee of that house reported that a pas or-law was quite insufficient to check the distrese ocensioued by it. Before lie rat benne must take leave to refer to a few points, with respect to which he thought the noble lard hod berg guilty of great o He had, in the first place, fully expected th it a government, numbering among its members so able a counsellor as the .1 udge•AdvocatesOeneral, would hire turned its at tention to a scheme of systematic colonisation. Ile much regretted that no general plan upon that subject load been submitted to them. Another great mins ohyi, be considered, was the ab-mice of all reference to the pried jury law. Until something was done to remedy that defective spasm, he believed the remedial measures fur Irish grievances never could be desened complete. And now, haring m tile these few remarks, be begged the noble lord no. to suppo-c that be motile them in a bad spirit, or with any other desire than to assist in the amelioration of the counory in which lie was so deeply interested. He gave the noble 1 irel Vie full at credit for a lively and anxious desire to benefit the nation he was called to govern, though, tekinr the measures ho had sugeested as a•wbole, he was unable to arrive at the conclus en that they were calculated to secure the improve meat of the people. To paraphrase the words of a cele brated writer, the noble lord seemed to him to have rather "enunciated a seutintent than declared a policy." lie had told them to " employ their own ener g ies," not to rely upon parliament." " never to despair of ultimate success : he had drawu eloquent pictures of Tipp..eery men idling away their hours by the roadside, root noting their mode of life with that of, perhaps, their brother* or nearest relatives, who were easing the reward of their tabour in Liverpool, Or in London ; but the noble lord, whilst revelling in these descriptions, had avoided to probe the root of the calamity, and to expose the real causes of the difference. Had it never occurred to him, as the real solution of this seeming Mystery, that there was in reality no such thing as a class of agricultural labourers in Ireland—(hear, hear)—that, in consequence of the system of smell holdings, every man farmed his own ground for himself, without sc.k ing for labourers among any class of population below him? Had it never occurred to the noble lord that in London an Irishman's labour was highly paid and greatly sought fn• ; whilst in Ireland is was rarely sought for and badly paid. A more industrious, honest, or faithful race than the Irish peasantry he (Mr. Osborne) de fies.' the world to produce. The secret of their miseries was one incidental to the state of the couatry, and which it would require all the talent of the government t , remedy. (Hear) Muni bad been said of the evil of absenteeism. For his own part, however, he believed there was a class of proeri stors in Ireland, who did far more injury than the absentees, —namely, throw nominal prop-ietors of the soil, who neither enjoyed the rights nor exercised the duties of landowners — men, whose ',tate, were at Cie merry of agents, who came down from Dublin once a-year to squeeze ail they could from the tenantry, and returned to send all they had ob tained to be spent by the mortgagee in Lon lon or Faris. When they talked of lending loans to lend lords fur the improvement of their estates, of what benefit, he begged to ask, could such loans be to men who were of no use to others or to themselves ? The evil in this case he believed to be in the state of the law—in that system of Irish entails which had done so much injury to the country. That system must be altered, and with it the whole plan of the Irish executive as at present consti tuted. Either they mast make the Lord Lieutenant a real and an efficient officer, or they should abolish the office altogether. What Will the use of a Lord Lieutenant, in a great gilt gingerbread coach, who was never allowed even to sound the horn except when nearly upset by English jobbers, on Irish roads, or by another body of men who were the prover bial pas iourg of another place. The Lard Lieutenant should have a scat in the cabinet, and he (Mr. Osborne) also thought it might be well to consider the propriety of that house meeting at stated intervals within the precincts of Dub lin Castle. (Bear, hear.) In conclusion he (Mr. Osborne) must confine that he had his doubts whether the noble lord had nut on the present occasion let slip a great opportunity for bringing forward a great phut for the redemption of Ire land. He must confess also that he could not but view with great regret the conduct of some people who appeared never to *how their seal for relirion except when they could mortify their neighbours, and who, with pharisaical pride, were on this taxation dispensing relief with their hands what etey were uttering anathemas with their tongues. (Hear, beer.) The charity of these people was not the charity which "heereth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all thing., endureth all things :" it might be more properly described as the " sounding brass or the tinkling cymbal." lie could not help urging upon these people to beware of the course which they were pursuing— "Oa th e e=tTi o eTrioe tb .! Wd Their proceedings were dangerous, and we had already en-oach to answer for. M. de Beaumont, in writing of Ire land, had justly said that " assuredly the spite of England toward. Ireland had produced the most cruel acts ever per =by one people against another." This country had, , a vast debt to pay to Ireland for centuries of misgo vernment and cppresuon ; a debt that could not be cancelled by any pecuniary consideration. The only way, in his opi nion, to cancel that debt was to pass laws for Ireland in a ' large and liberal spirit : laws which were at once free from seetarian violence and national bigotry : and this was the task to which he trusted they would at once apply them selves. (Cheering.) Mr. B. O'BRIEN began by intimating his intention of reviewing the speech of the noble lord delivered that day week. It had opened with a painful picture of the state of Ireland—pan and present. The noble lord, however, had for gotten to draw one deduction—namely, that these evils were the effects of 46 years of misgovernment on the pert of Eng. land. The calamity with which they hail to deal was an unexampled one. The loss to Ireland by the failure of the potato crop could not be estimated at lee than from 20 to 30 millions sterling. How was such a low to be met? With ct to any contribution which might be made by Eng land towards supplying the deficiency, that was a matter which ho should leave to the judgment of English mem bers, reminding them only that if England went to war Ire land would be dragged into one also, and would have to contribute her energy and her blood in like proportion to Englaud herself. As to the extension of a poor-law to Inland, he did net apprehend from it those ill effects which many gentlemen contemplated, but he con sidered that no poor law they could devise would be found equal to such a csiamnowi emergency as that now before them. (Hear, hear.) A poor law must be accompanied by subsidiary measures of the most com prehensive and efficacious description. Something must be done to meet the pressure of surplus labour. There win every probability that after next harvest there would be as room of this . pressure as ever. He approved of the noble lord's proposition with reference to advancing money to the rash landlords on loan, but to provide for the absorption of the at present surplus labour, you must not rely wholly upon the landlords; you must also bring the tenants to aid in the work, by giving them a due share in any improvements they may effect upon the land in their occupation. (Hear, bear.) Railways, again, were works upon which government might make advances without the logs of a single guinea ' • and he thought that the counties should be encouraged by government assistance to undertake the construction of rail ways within theirlimits. Such construction must tend greatly to absoo b surplus labour and to relieve the distress. A met so re compelling absentee proprietors to do their duty would also lie most beneficial. At present there was an annual drain of four millions sterling from Ireland into the pockets of absentee proprietors. It was rather too hard upon the nesideot landlord of Ireland, while suffering every privation in the performance of kis duty, to be slat overwhelmed with obloquy across the Channel, while the absentee landlord was tranquilly pocketing his rents, without trouble or annoyance.He cattail upon that house to do its duty, and to endeavour by every means available to raise his country from that posi tion to which English miegovernmeat had reduced her. Mr. ROEBUCK said, that as the representative of an English constituency, he was anxious to submit a few obser vations to the consideration of the noble lord at the head of the government. If none but !rid members were permitted to lay their complaints before the louse, it might be fancied that misery did not extend beyond the shores of Ireland, whereas there was also great suffeling in this country,but borne in a different manner from the which existed in Ireland. The people in Ragland sufferel without complaining of the misconduct of the government; they met their own misfor tunes by their own energies, end did not throw themselves, when in distress, in abject helplessness upon the state. (Hear, hear.) In considerbg the present state of Ireland, and the remedial measures proposed, he should institute a trucking inquiry into the position of the various classes of the Irish community, utterly regardless of any charge of malignancy that might be brought smarm him, bemuse he felt that in doing so he was performing a duty to his own country and acting in conformity with the general current of public opinion. (Hear, hear ) The noble lord at the read of the government had called upon the house to legislate for Ireland', present emergency, but, while doing so, bad introduced other considerations and other laws, which had for their object not the relief of the I present distress, bet the permanent regeneration of the country. The noble lord's object was to refashion the habits and reconstruct the character of the Irish people, and with that view he had introduced certain legislation, in the e we of bills, which had been laid upon the table. • Hendee these, however, the noble lord had also given certain mysterious indications of what farther be meant to do, should the measures proposed receive the sanction of the knee. He (Mr. Roebuck) should flint consider the meastwes he immediate relief, next those of re constructive ehmesslw, art belly sabayon? to discover the ultimate Wielding of the setae lard. Before proceeding to alleviate the puss et distress dubs Irish people, they should first consider what ye rendition of that people really was. (Hese, hear.) The pee* in Ireland were divided mainly into two Ye Iteepiatore (so called), and the labour ing oteapiene k° 2lhe Beth approached that house on the Pria"1"1"1 " 1 MINNS relsef—the people from star. vation, art lie lialleris hen astletetiee and ruin. (Hear, hear, ham) In week akeemeleatee It became abso lutely iseeesety le media the actual position of both deem Ist the int piece, lsil perwitie 1111. 0 let it be remembered that the • • • • • • MA population ware always In a state bordenng on actual e ItarTstio, caltiviting the land ths !NM pasible swum ; Aim that was to ray, by labour alone, without any application of capital. (Hear, hear.) This was their chronic state, always threatened with the starvation which had now actually falen upon them. For this class he had every sympathy. They asked fur bread because they were nerving, and they were entitled to all hum acs consideration. lint there was another clam—the landlords, who came to that house, almost commanding the British legislature to redeem them from ruin. Of these it might be said—there were some exceptions--but generally it might be said that they were not the true land lords of that country. (Hear, hear.) They were in truth persons acting a part as if they had put on a domino for the purpose. (Hear.) The real landlords of Ireland were the mortgagee and the tax gatherer. (Hear, hear.) But the pretended landlords bad all the desire for display which marked real territorial proprietorship, while they had not the means of supporting that display, and the consequence was that while their poorer countrymen were always ap proximating to starvation, the laudlerds themselves trembled on the verge of ruin. (Hear, hear.) Heavily in debt, and nut really masters of their own estates, they were obliged to live from hand to mouth, totally unable to perform the duties which properly appertained to the , ownen of the soil. Who he saw m n in such a con dition coming to that house to make extraordinary demands, he was driven to enquire into the circumstances under which they came. (Hear, hear) Unhappily, the Irish landlords had been, in great part, the cause ot the misery of the people. They hod ever been a favoured class, the whole of the legis lation of 614 country herice been unfortunately directed in their favour. We had given them net powers, and they had so employed them, as gradually to bring the people over whom they were pieced to the brink of starvation. (Hear, hear.) The latter had no stake of exisie.oce but the land, and the consequence was that land in Ireland let at a higher rate than in England. (Hear, and no.) And all this was taken by the landlorl; none was given back as in England in the improvement of estates, or other employ ment of labour ; it was spent, first in the payment of debts, next of taxes, and lastly in penoual support. There was an exception to this in the case of the large absentee pro rietors, who ke believed, the English portion of them at least, were by far the most beneficent landlords. (Hear, hear.) The necessities of the landlords had led to the sub division of the soil, and in this latter c.iuse was to be found the cause of all the m series of Ireland. What then was to be done with a country in such a condition ? Was it possible by any means so to fashion their legislation as to make :t the interest of certain parties to watch over and prevent this coma un and increas ing subdivision of laud? Ile thought it was possible, but in the first instance they must resist every attempt of government to become land-jobbers, corn-factors, or road makers. ( Hear, hear.) All them thing* were beyond the powers, and betide the province of a government. (Hear, hear.) AU the government could safely do was to protect life and property, to give means to make easy the trans mission of the latter, and, above all, to provide cheat' and secure titles, and subsidiary to this, to raise the con dition uf the people by moans of education. (Hear, boa.) The lat few months showed the danger of following a different course. TUC correpondence with the Irish Boarl of Works exhibited a degree of wasteful expenditure which he had never seen equalled is the whole course of his parlia mentary experience —wasteful, not intentionally on the part of government, but wasteful in spite of them. The regular course of labour had been dieturlied, and what had been the consequence? Labour had come from every quarter to the go vernment works Labourers had left profitable employment in the north of England, striking by thousands, and going over to Ireland to take the Queen's money. Worse than that, the agricultural labour of Ireland itself had been deseited to such an extent as to make another year of starvation imminent. (Hear, hear.) Such must always be the case when a goo, rnment undertook a task beyond the limits of government business. By undertaking to provide food and employment for a whole people they had demo ralised that people, and they must take care of the conse quences, even in England. (Hear, hear.) Would not the English labourer complain, when he saw the Irish labourer fed up in idleness ? Was it not already felt that injustice had been done to his patient and forbearing countrymen ? (Hear, hear.) Were they to see this pestilence gather, awl be unwilling or afraid to put it down? (Hear.) He would not be intimidated from advocating the interests of his poorer countrymen. It was in their name he protested sgainat the whole scheme of the noble lord; he protested against it as a scheme intended to protect the Irish landlords from the con sequences of their own acts. (Hear, hear.) Ile protested against the hard-earned capital of the English people being given to drain wild lands, and last of all he protested against what the noble lord called his poor-law amendment act. That a poor-law ! Why there was uo machinery for a poor law. Two or three crude clauses there were by which power was conferred on certain people, which no one knew how to execute, and which the people of Ireland did not under stand. There was no right given to relief, therefore there was no efficient poor-law. Let the noble lord give a law of settlement and of removal, in fact, let a right to relief be the fundamental principle, and then there must be a euperstrac ture capable of producing the same effect as in England. At the present time the Irish proprietors dare not resist such a law, and therefore the English parliament should take time by the forelock and establish it. (Hear.) What then would he advise them to do? Why at once and without circumlocution to introduce the English poor-law into Ireland. (Hear, hear.) Let there ho uo tenderness to no minal holders of land, for such would be only cruelty to the people. Unfortunately, I relandhad long been an ill-governed country—she had received much injustice from England, and he did not hesitate to acknowledge it. (Hear, hear.) But let gentlemen opposite recollect, that every attempt to extend the liberties of the Irish people had been resisted by their landlords. For his own part, with the exception of the repeal of the union, there was not *measure for extending Irish franchises which he had not supported. On no point had the Irish been more misgoverned than on theta and it was hopeless to attempt anything in the way of re generation until that great error had been repaired. As long as things remained in their present slate, the religious grievance would term a ready weapon for every agitator who sought to stir up the passions of his fellow-countrymen. (Hear, hear.) They were about to reconstruct the character of the Irish people, and they must not shrink from the grad evil of them social condition. (Hear, hear.) There fore, he said, that so long as they continued the Irish church establishment in its present position, it was utterly hopeless to attempt anything for the regeneration of Ireland. Ile could not help further remarking that their system left the Irish priesthood precisely in such a condition as made it their interest to maintain the unhappy position of their country. He had heard the noble lord make some allusion as to what he intended to do. He warned him against any attempt to make a state provision for the Irish priesthood. Any English government that made such an attempt, would not have twenty-four hours tenure of office. But there were other means of placing the Irish clergy in a better position. Let the law of mortmain be done away with, and allow the Catholic priest to acquire land to the amount of 3001. a year, and not many years would elapse before there would be n pretty general endowment. Ile would also give every municipality in Ire land power to maintain whatever priesthood they pleased, but any attempt to constitute a general fund out of the im perial treasury for the payment of the Irish Catholic clergy would fail in its object. Yet they must meet the evil and re lieve that clergy from their present condition ; for, unless they did, they might abandon all hope of securing perma nent peace to Ireland. When those various measures he had adverted to should have been adopted, government would have done all Oct could have been required of them one thing only excepted—that was, to provide, as far as their means would permit, for the general education of the Irish people, and he could not but remark that the noble lord in his speech, never once alluded to the means of providing this education. The government had, however, the means 1 in their hands, in those revenues of the Irish church beyond what was necessary teethe spiritual comfort of the Protest ants of Ireland. Those surplus revenues, he contended, ought to be applied to the education of the Irish people. (Hear.) Let the government deal with Ireland in this way, and they would have no more of the innumerable absard remedies for Irish distress which from both aides had been suggested. Amongst the various plans that had been oropmed, one hon. gentleman (the member for Limerick) had suggested that the government should go to the Falkland Islands, and to every other part of the world, to buy food for the people. They would hear next, he supposed, the government called upon to clothe the people, to put on them hate, and perhaps to shave everybody. (" Hear," and a laugh.) It was a la mentable spectacle to see a great nation, bleated with a climate as genial as our own, a eel at least as fruitful, a population in all respects equal to us in regard to Intellectual and physical force in the position in which Ireland was. But there was this great difference between the two coun tries—the moral courage which enabled the English people to austain themselves was wanting in Ireland. (Hear.) The people of England had no wish or desire for others to help and to feed them ; hut with that honest and manly pride which ought to distinguish a great nation, and a con sciotuness of their own inherent power they surmounted ell difficulties and conquered all obstacles. Let the Irish (said Mr. Roebuck) attain that morel courage and instead of seeing the abject spectacle we have this night witneeeed we may hope ere long to see them running side by side with ourselves in the great race of civilization, but if you once succumb to the wishes of the noble lord England herself will be blotted out from amongst the great nations of the earth, and instead of being the great sun of civilization shed ding light and life over the world she will herself exhibit a scene*, waste and desolation such as that we now deplore. (Hear, hear.) Lord BERNARD observed that those who would post pone the consideration of the condition of the Irish people, could not be aware of the extreme destitution to which that people were reduced, and that while relief was withheld or delayed, thousands were passing from time to eternity. The meat and fatal error on the part of the government was that they had delayed their interference,—so far as providing depots from which the people could be supplied with food, — too long, and had thus enabled the corn merchants sad dealer. to combine together (which they had done especially in the south) to keep up prices. He did not say it was the duty of government to feed the people, but they might have taken the same course as Sir R. Peel bad adopted on a pre vious occasion, and so secured provision. at fair pa ces Oat of the present evil he trusted that goo d would come: If they would curl hnffinuc and Pram into Ireland he ' would advice the inUedaetion a English capital, ' the encouragement of railways, the reclamation of waste lands and the opening of the country to the acti on of tisde—bes: lieving, as he did, that for such measures they would be amply repaid, not in the gratitude of the peopl e merely, but an incremed revene. Slr It. INGLIS regretted that the honourable mem ber for Bath had not confined his remarks to the three bills before the house, supplying, as the, did, even to the most voracious, ample food for lion, but that he should have brought in every 'Aber ve rata questio which had divided the minds of men. For the special accommodation of ~ ne hon. member ho proposed tie revival of the appro',,riation clause, and, tor that of wildilism iv FIK policy of the noble frad at the head of the government. (Hear, hear.> Now, in his (Sir R. Inglis'S) opinion, the measures before them were as compre hensive as were ever devised by any statesman at any period however critical. But his object in speaking after the hon. member for Bath was to bring hack the house to the real question before the miserable condition of the great bulk of their fellow-countrymen in Ireland. lie, for one, trusted that the expression of the hon. member for Bath, when be talked of the indignation of the people of England at the measures of her Majesty's government, would be re pudiated by the great body of the English people—(hear)— who, he was sure, entertained an intense desire to promote the well-being and increase the comforts of their Irish brethren. He held it to be their first duty to consider in whet way the distress in Ireland could be alleviated ; and the question was—whether that distress was not such as to demand from those whom God had spared from the calamity the readiest and most active support. Of the manner in which that calamity had been borne by the people of Ireland, there was ample testimony in the reports of the almoners of the Society of Friends, who had deputed certain members of their body to make inquiry on the sub ject. Those reports dearly showed that the suffering people of Ireland had, by their remarkable fortitude and forbe tr ance under such circumstances, earned the sympathy of the country. The lINGIPUINI now proposed by the gOveinment must terminate in a social revolution, not only as related to the poor, but as regarded the rich, greater than anv whic't had occurred in the last 300 years. lie (Sir RS Inglis) believed that a large portion of the revenue et the aristocracy of Ireland rested On a very unsafe foundation. There had been no large an increase tn the rental of the country since the Union, that it could not be estimated at less a proportion than u 2.50 to 100. If this had arisen from the improsereent of the soil, it would not mile have been beneficial to the country, but would have entitled the proprietor to gratitude, but whoa it was founded on a desire for an increase of political power, irre.pective of any benefits to the people, those who sought a share in such results must be prepared to take their share in those of another description. One great recommendation of the present measures was that without imposing a tax on absentees, they would have the beneficial effect of bringing them back to the country, and promote in them the discharge of their duties, and the happiness of the people. He believtil none of the absentees could bear to witness the scenes which they would then be obliged to see, and they would take up the duties which belonged to their position, or else sell their property, and it would get into the hands of persons who possessed capital to enable them to discharge those duties. Understanding that it was the object of the house to discuss the social condition of Ire land, without technical reference to any bill, and believing that it was the duty of England to provide some temporary means of meeting the distress of Ireland, he should give his cordial support to the measure before the house. . • • Cal. CONOLLY was glad of an opportunity of thanking the noble lord at the head of the government - for the liberal and enlightened policy he was pursuing, and elm of making his personal acknowledgments for the generoussympathy for Ireland which had been expressed by this country. With regard to the measures which had been proposed he had few objections to make to them. Mr. HUME hoped parliament would not inflict upon the people of England the burthen of supporting the population of Ireland. (Hear.) He was one of those who thought that Inland was capable of maintaining her own poor, and Ail' of hieing helmet' in the scale of Ration,. To him it was lamentable to hear Irish members express their apprubatior of theviews of the government with respect to Ireland, simply because the government were ready to give them money. (Ironical cries of " Hear, hear.") Yes, there were cries of ' Hear, hear;" but it was only in approval of a grant of rioney to the landlords of Ireland. If such was the only ground on which the approval of government measures rested, it was high time that her Majesty's ministers should turn round and consider whether they bad not taken a wrong course—a course which, without raising Ireland from her present rendition, would sink England and Scotland. (Hear, hear.) Neither of those countries were now without their troubles; and, though the noble lord at the head of the government came forward with many palliative measures, he has. failed to open any comprehensive plan which evinced a master mind capable of dealing with the time to come. In nhort, he did not see any measure sug (meted which was calculated to afford radical improvement in time to come; ant before a single shilling of the public money was granted fa the relief of the people of Ireland, it was Important that puliament and the people of England and Scotland should hale from the government some distinct and positive statement is to the cost of bringing about a proper course of affairs inthat portion of her Majesty's do- minions. (Hear, hear.) The treasury would soon be empty, and no government ought to take upon itself the expenditure of so many nilliout--eight or nine millions the noble lord at the hem. of the government spoke of with much indifference —w/hout any remedial measures being introduced. There vu a total absence of any remedial plan, though insteadnf the sum calculated upon by the government, three time, u much would be requisite. It was true that men could not shut their eyes to the de graded state to which Ireland was now brought, or to the fact that the degradation had now become a punishment upon this country for the manner at which she had mal treated and oppressed Ireland. ( Mar, hear.) There had been unequal laws and constant oppresdon. Continued strife had been kept up by the country gentlemen from Ireland who sat in that house, and the Protestant landlords who hold seven-eighths of the land, who said on the subject of tithes, " we are content to remain as we me, end will ant agree to any measures suggested for the relief of our Cm tholic brethren." Twenty-four s ears ago be (Mr. Hume) had stated that Ireland never would be at peace, or ever be raised in the male of nati 'no, until inequality of laws be tween England and Ireland were abolished. This be bad said, and now repeated ; but the landed proprietors of Lam land in this and the other house of parliament came down (as it mere ed to him) to obtain as much of the public moan as could be got. (Cr:es of " No, no.") The resolution— their own resolution, as he read it, said so—(hear, hear) — and he repeated his conviction that the proposed large ex penditure would not next year effect tho regeneration of Ireland. la juntice to the people of England he must re • mind the house that in Nottingham and many other parts of Great Britain, pauperism and dis tress prevailed from want of employment, and that the same state of things might continue throughout the realm. To relieve the expenses attendant on the Irish government, even to the extent of the abolition of the use less office of the Lord Lieutenant, nothing was proposed, and on the whole he thought the measure' of the government were a mere hotch-potch, out of which something might emanate. From those proposals, he however did not see even the shadow of a hope for the present regeneration of Ireland. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had listened with the greatest attention to the speech of the hon. member who had just sat down ; but, with the exception of some points in the plan which his noble friend had laid be fore the house, he did not catch from the hon. member one suggestion with a view to the attainment of the great object of giving employment to the distressed. Considering the appalling relations in which we were placed as regarded Ireland, ha had listened, with great anxiety, for some sug gestion or opinion that might guide the government. He had certainly been gratified by the absence of all party feeling in the debate—(hear, hear;--and he was sure the government had been actuated by the desire to do the best for Ireland under her present circumstances. Although be believed they had taken the only course that could be pursued—(hear, hear)—yet, God knew the situation of Ireland was such that no man could be confident as to the cause to be taken. (Hear, hear.) The hon. member for Weymouth had criticised the ant passed last session for the employment of the destitute poor. That bill, however, the Irish proprietors—who were only to repay one-half of the money advanced—(Hear, bear)—had availed themselves of to a great extent; for, up to the let of September, the sum actually expended under that act was 290,0001., which, as was well known, had raised the labour market to such an extent that the farmers were obliged to ask the government to stop the public works presentments, for these works were made to the extent of 1,300,0001., and to say, there fore, that it was a measure to which the landed proprietors did not consent, was most inconsistent. (Hear, hear). When the hon. gentleman talked of the government not having charged the land with the maintenance of the poor, he forgot that the repayment was to be made seconding to the poor-rate, and not the county ens; the former falling only on real property—(hear. hear)—and, moreover, the works were carried on for the purpose of relieving the poor. (Hear, hear). His noble friend was accused of having said that it was immaterial whether the works were of a uselem character or not, but what he really did say, was, that, as far as the relief of the poor went, it was immaterial, inasmuch as the money was put into their hands for the purchase of food, and the labour was given as some test of destitution. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gentleman had also said that if the works bad been of a pro fitable description the gentry and landed proprietors of Ireland would have contributed the whole of the charge ; but he was not sanguine enough to think so, for it would be remembered that last session an act p assed the legis lature granting 50,0001. in aid of useful works, a idler amount to be contributed in Ireland ; applications were made from landed proprietors, but when it was found that a contribution equal to the amount advanced was re quired, not one of such applications was persisted in. (Hear, hear.) The bon. gentleman and the noble lord opposite had said it was not the fault of the landed proprietors that the public works had been carried on to so great an extent, and bed not been productive of better results. Some of the Irish landlords had certainly exerted themulres very much, and among them were many of ;the; absentees—it was only that slay he had heard that Colonel Wyndham was furnishing dolly rations to 10,000 people—(Hear, hear)—but the higher description of occupies had neglected their duty most gremly. The officers of the public works stated that whereas the theory was that the sessions should present for works for the relief of distress, and the relief committees should inves tigate such distress, whilst tbegovernment gave employment, the practice had been for the sessions to present without any knowledge or inquiry as to the distress, the relief commit tees had entirely neglected their duties, granting relief without discrimination, and the whole burden had been thrown on the officers of the public works (bear, hear); and he would ask the house hew could such duties be best performed—by officers of the engineers or by the resident gentry end proprietors ? (Hear, hear, hear.) The extent of the public works—the number of persons em ployed upon them, amounting to half a million—and the number of persons required to superintend theta being con sidered, it was impossible to prevent abuses. In the county of Clare the officer of the public works struck off in one fort night 6,000 persons who had been improperly pat upon them. (Hear, hear.) The board of public works, in their lest report—that of January—stated that if greater self reliance had been exercised, and more employment gives by private individuals, the task thrown upon them would have been lighter and the charges smode against them would have been avoided ; and that, notwithstanding the abuses to which the 'yenta might have *men liable, it furnished temporary relief to half a million of persons, and five times that number of human beim:. who depended on their THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 2, 1847. labour. It thus appeared that an enormous amount of human auffering had been avoided. (Hear, bear.) He hoped that the people of Inland would now be alive to the necesoity of helping themselves, for without their co-operation no efforts of the government would aeon'. It was too true the sys tem of public works broke down under them, and several of the officers under the Board of Works suggested the pro priety of providing food inst. ad of labour hr or, hear)—be cause there were cla.-es of person,' to whom the labour system did not afford relief. besides there were mmy who from weakness were unable to work and some actually died on the work, ' so that it would he infinitely more humane to administer food than to give the means of getting it by labour. (Hear, hear.) Those who a few months ago we e able to get large wage. by task work were now unable to obtain enough far their sustenance. (Hear, hear.) There would be less liability to abu-e by giving food, and the same sum would go farther to prevent starvation than if th c public works ware mete ided. Ho did net see they had any other alteradive, and he believed it the loot that could be ado: ted for the purp sea of mitigating the evil, with regard to what had been said by the noble lord the member far Bolden (Lord Bernard) he begged to say that depot. Mid been opened tor the supoly of food. As an instance of what might be done by indieidual exertions, he referred to the relief committee of Kilm see, where 7,000 had been relieved by private exertion up to a late period. The depots had not Men 'Ten. d till there was a necessity for that step, and he believed the consequence was that importation by private exertions was stimulated. (Hear, hear.) The hon. and pliant member for Donegal said the other night that no issues of food had take.. place from the depots at Sligo He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) received a few days ego a report from the cemmissary in charge of that d osiOt, who stated that in the first three weeks of January, to whieh the boa, member referred, there were issued from that depto 14.3 tone of Indian meal, Indian corn, and Egyptian wheat, which was enough m support 40,000 persons for a week. The amount supplied by private hands up to the 27th of January was fro:a 12,003 to 14,000 barrels of American flour, from COO to 1000 tons of wheat unpround, several hundred tons of meal, two cargoes of buckwheat, b 32 barrels of ledian' meal, and three cargos of Indian corn, amounting to 913 toes. (Hear, hear, hear.) It wax difficult to meet general charges with respect to want of food ; but, when definite and mec:fic charges were made, it was easy to meet them. Their ford bad been distributed throug:t the relief committees of Killibegs, Glentiss, Glandore, and others. Instead of the public works system they would now distribute rations, either gratuitously or by male, of co.,ked feed and meal in the different electoral divisions of Ireland. The honourable member for Dublin established such a system in the electoral divisions of Dublin, but it was found to be illegal under the poor-law act. He proposed to legalise the system throughout Ireland. At the present time they carried it on without violating the law by affording assistance to relief committees, several hundreds of which were distributing food now in this way, and, it sou reported, with the most beneficial effect—(hear, ).car) —as large oubeeriptions had been obtained by the system. This system would enable the prof le to cultivate the land, which would be another valuable result. And here he must observe that the reports of the non-cultivation of the land had been greatly exaggerated. (Hear, hear.) lie beli:ved that as great, if not a greater, breadth of land had been cultivated this year than in farmer years. There was no doubt the smaller fanners would be unable to cultivate the land under the public works system, because to get their subsistence they must go to labour on the public weeks but now they would be able to do so, and, more than that, some labourers would be sent free to be employed upon the land; but no persons would receive wages for cultivating his own land. Ile must now call the attention of thehouse to two great difficulties which pressed open Ireland at the pre sent moment—first, the pressure of a famine unexampled in the history of civilised nations, and, next, a total change in the social system of the country. That system hail been recently called " • social system based upon the potato ;" and, however absurd the expression might appear, he be lieved it was perfectly true. (Hear, hear.) A large portion of the population of Ireland lived entirely upon potatoes grown upon their own spot of land. A portion of the people were maintained not by wages in money, but by potatoes, or some allowance of laud. But a large proportion depended on fond rained by themselves, or given to them, and in no cases did they buy food. Although the potato may resume its original social position in some places, yet he thought that the experience of the last two years proved that it was not to be expected that so l age a portion of the neople could derive sustenance from eelfetrown food. It would, therefore, become indispensably net emery that they should purchase it. Believing that, he extronely regretted to hear certain expressions used by hoa f entle- Me s with regard to small dealers. If they bought f sod in small quantities, they should have persons to sell it too, and he thought that there could not be a greater blessing be stowed on the country than the establishment of small soup shops, where persons could buy food with the wages which they earned. The honourable members for Coventry and Bath seemed to think that all the difficulties of Ireland could be removed by the establishment of a poor law in that coun try, and the hon. member for Coventry spoke as if there were no poor law in existence. But though an ext .nsion of the poor law may be sufficient to maintain those who had no employment, yet no one could suppose that either tot meet the present calamity or enable the country to pass that tran sition through which it must pass, a poor law would be sort ficient. It wu not Intended that they should extend ineliscrindome relief to the able-bodied out of the workhouse. None but the decrepid, the aged, and the infirm, should be entitled to it under such circumstances, and it should he only afforded when the workhouse was full, Other words were introduced into the bill which provided for ewes of fever The hon. member for Bath talked of some expressions which he never heard fall from his noble friend with regard to some scheme for the general regeneration of Ireland. He would find no such thing spoken of in these measures. Without professing to go into measures affecting the political condition of Ireland, or relating to grand jury laws, to which the noble member for Wigan referred, he did think that these measures did contain a comprehensive plan of affording employment to the people, which would enable them to purchase sufficient food for their sustenance. The hon. member said that one of the first things necessary was to provide employment of a different kind for the people, but if the change took place which allowed the people no longer to live on food grown by themselves, it was necessary that a great change should take place in the maoner in which they were employed. (Hear, hear.) He thought that one consequence, and the best consequence of the failure of the potato crop would be, that that de scription of people who depended on what was grown by themselves, would roue to exist in Ireland. A scheme for arriving at this object appeared in the Trea sury minutes of last December. Some hon. gentlemen said that it should have come out much sooner, in order that Irish members might have been able to avail themselves of it ; but the sixth clause, which was introduced by the noble lord opposite, it would be recollected, enabled the proprietors of land in Ireland to borrow money for its improvement, to he repaid in 20 years. The terms of the minutes were not so very different that the proprietors might not, with some very little trouble, avail themselves of them. Ile did think that loans secured by their estates in an unobjectionable way did afford the means of employing the people to a large extent, and he believed that many gentlemen who were well acquainted with Ireland would look upon the matter in the same light. To that system he saw no objection within any reasonable limits. One objection was that the state should not he a great lender. In the generality of eases it should not, but for the sake of getting over such a transition it was most unobjectionable that it should be so, and it would thereby prove of vast benefit to Ireland. It was said that the drainage of lend in Ireland should not be conducted by the Board of Works. There were many cases in which men could not drain for themselves, particularly those cases in which it would be found necessary that drains should pass through more than the property of one man. Au act of that description had for some time been in opera tion with great benefit to all classes. No one complained of it, the benefit to properties was great, and then •as no obstacle to its being carried further. A great deal had been said with regard to the measure for the reclamation of waste lands. A more extraordinary mistake with regard to the purpose of the plan laid down could not have been made than that which the hon. member for Wigan laboured under, when he said that it was the intention of government to purchase waste lands for the purpose of reclaim ing them. Ile did not attach so much importance to that measure u some did, but the object for which it was introduced was far different from that which had been represented. Many gentlemen had stated that there were many large tracts of country in Ireland in the per session of those who were merely nominal owners, and who could not avail themselves of the opportu nities afforded them for improving their estates. It was the intention of government to facilitate the means of selling property in order that those estates may pass from those who were merely the nominal owners, into the hands of those who had the means of affording employ ment. The object of the bill was to provide the means of employment in wild districts, where there were no proprie tors in a situation to afford it. There was another measure which related to the establishment of fisheries in Ireland. Establishments had been set up for fishing purposes in three different parts of Ireland. It was desirable that the attention of the people on the west coast of Ireland should be turned to the maple means of obtaining food for themselves by fishing. In no country in the world were there so many who were merely nominal owners of land, and in which the poor could be more benefited by the solo of their properties to those who would improve the estates and give labour. (Hear, hear, bear.) By the reclamation of waste lands and drainage, ample means would be afforded of employing the people in a wholesome way. But to turn to that which may not be a lasting, but which was a most resting calamity, he nand allude to the deficiency of food in that country. When the money value of it was stated to amount to 15,000,0001. sterling, it was enough to call down the sympathy of the house, and to in duce members to feel that they should not be niggardly in the assistance which they should afford that country. They could not hide from themselves the feet that large numbers of people were dying from famine. It was with pain that be perused, day by day, accounts from all pert& of the west of Scotland of deaths from starvation. No local fund could provide for anything approaching the fall extent of the calamity: they must come forward, and to a considerable extent, though not, perhaps, to the e xtent suggested by his hon friend, to assist their suffering brethren. The calamity was, he hoped, a temporary one. He hoped that before the next harvest a change might be witnessed, and that God might make that harvest abundant. But there were some months before them during which it was impos sible but that the suffering should be revere. He trusted that, both in this country and in Scotland, there would be no indisposition to afford assistance. At the same time, he must impress upon Irish gentlemen that they had an imperative duty to perform in their respective localities. If aid were afforded, to them, they muot be called upon fee personal ex anima No amount of pecuniary isamiace whim might be male could a vail,nrileas the funds were distributed by means of persons resit:ent on the spot. They alone could know who were the most eestitato ; they alone could visit the cabins of those who wen' perishing fur want of food, and for want of bedding, the manner described in a letter which ho had receivid that day from a man who had visit d six cabins toget:ter, and found a corpse lying in each. (Hear, hear.) He could not convey to the house the feelings under which he :sheared in attempting to speak on this subject ; he only wia‘ted to convince them, as he himself was convinced, of the imperative necessity fur the united exertions of all persons reskient in Ireland, together with the utmost sasi-lance from private resources generally, though he admitted that no private rolottrees could Ike ade quate to the exigency, without resorting to the public and national resources of the country. (Cheet a.) The debate was then adjourned. Lord J. RUSSELL expressed a hope that ion. members who had motions on the pal,r, would allow them to stand over, in order that the bill might he proceedd: with on Tuesday (this day). (Cries of "Hear, hear.") The house adjourned at a quarter-past twelve. Mpprosg• MAILS. The mails for Britian North America, Bermuda, and the United Mates, will be made up on the evening of the Jrd February. Tb, overt owl walls for Gibraltar, Mello. Gmem. the Inman island; Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Ifonu-Kong, and China, rive Southampton, will be made up on the morning of the Zed of February. The mails for the Brads, the River Plate. Monte Video, Pennon. bums, Bahia. Ma kir; and Buenas Ayr,* will be dispatched on the etenbig of the Ith February. The mail. foe Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, will be made lip on the morniug of the Bth February. The overland closed mail , via Marsei ll e', to the hleditemnean, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Hong Kong, tie., will be made up on the evening of the 8W February. The West India mile, including those for Mexico, Honduras, and the I levannah, will be node op on We looming attic 17th February. The malls for New South Wider., Yen Dieroen'a Land, and New Zealand will be made up on the evening of theist March. TO COttRESPONDENTS. Emu, v.—We intendidtn;lnntniee iesTte4i,i that the British government had taken pcasnision of the island of Labuon. Our printers, however, runt the manuscript Sobrocus, and as erro meowly printed it. adverusernenta intended for nue Erprou, inedon evening paper, MIA be at the Oitioe by Two o'cicrk cm the day of pubiloation. HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE. TRU DAT. —lforninp, 25 min. post 3• .. Anemone, 41 min. part L To4lnaseri—Moming, 57 nun. post 3; Afternoon, 12 ran. {art 4. LONDON, TUESDAY, FEB. 2. NEVER, perhaps, was the public mind, both within and without the legislature, so completely at sea, as with respect to the measures which it may be most advisable to apply to Ireland. The conflicting accounts from that country, the cry of starvation from the peasant, of helpless and of choleric im patience from the landlord, the demand of dringent measures from government in England to meet the perverse idleness of the poor and the unac countable apathy of the rich, the plea for commiseration, with which this was met by govern ment in Ireland, were sufficient to perplex the meet cool and capacious-headed statesman. As to the public, they could evidently make nothing of it. The organs of the press became actually frantic with un certainty. One fell to whipping the Irish peasant, as an incurable negro, and at the same time abused the landlord for treating him in the way recommended. Another, more charitable, but less practicable, was for dividing the land, and giving plots to paupers, on which they might first multiply and then rot, like the cabbages they planted. W...ste lands was the cry of a third ; charity, on an Eastern scale, of a fourth. The government scheme, an nounced prematurely as something vast, effective, and new, was expected to reconcile, class, and breathe a common spirit feasibility and life into, all this mass of crowded and confused remedies. In this expecta tion Lord Jolts ltusseLL'a speech certainly disap pointed; whether this was the fault of his statement, or of the expectation, is another question. And now, before entering upon the consideration of the debate just opened, what pre-conception and opinions do the public and the press bring to it ? Take, for example, the Times of yesterday morning. We do this in no spirit of controversy, but admitting that the Times does represent a large . portion of the wavering and ignorant of the community. The Times laments through a column and a half the folly of giving away twenty millions in alms to the lash, without getti.B say value in return. This twenty millions in alms, by the bye, is a gross ex aggeration. It expends its next column and • half in depre cating the attempt to get any value or return for any of these millions by means of cultivating waste lands. They won't pay, says the journal. But if they do not pay interest on the money expended, they, at least, will return food to the labourer, and will be so far repro ductive, which alms cannot be. The labour re quired is a test likewise, and moreover it is a kind of labour which does not require an outlay of more than it is worth in superintendence. After having thus spent three columns to contra dict and neutralise one another, the Times winds up by recommending the poor law as the only pana cea. This poor law is not only to feed the labourer, but "it is to assure every farmer, who is unable to carry on his own small farm through want of capital, that he will have relief, but will have that relief solely as the recompense of his labour." Such is the prospect and the plan held forth by the nmes. Not only are the labourers, the conacre po pulation to come on the poor-house, but the small farmer too, who wants capital,—that is to say, nine teen-twentieths of the farmers of Ireland. They are to have a pittance, and to labour for it. Where ? In the workhouse. No conceivable number of work houses could contain the tithe of them. Oh, then, out of doors, according to the known philanthropic ideas of our contemporary. Pray, what is this, but the labour rate employment on roads, or in workhouses, or else paying the farmers to till their own farms, which the Times exclaims against in the next column ? We have here said enough to show how com pletely the most eminent of our contemporaries is at sea on Irish matters, and how little such writers are in a position either to censure or criticise the government. Did we take a review of our other contemporaries, it would be easy to show how utterly astray and confounded they are, just like a pack of hounds, which have started a score of hares, scudding off in twenty different directions. If Lord Jour RUSSELL by his cluster of measures had in view a similar mode of mystifying and perplexing the press and the public, he could not have devis ed a more effectual mode of doing it. The speakers who commenced the debate last night were quite as much at sea as the organs of the press. And some rare representatives of extreme opinions did rise, the one after the other, and in general so wide of one another, that their successive outpourings scarcely constituted a debate. First the member for Coventry expressed the feelings of the economical Englishman, who has heard of Ireland, but knows it not, and who has no idea of any country, or any in dividual, who cannot pay his way and meet his debts. His sole and plain mode of treating the delinquent is, " put on the screw," as the favourite phrase goes, send in a bailiff, and sell off all effects. This blunt piece of John Bullism called up a counter-sample of Irish landlordism from Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE, a vehement and impressive orator, who handles his tongue as an Irishman does his cudgel,—striking right and left, friend and foe, beating his own pate betimes, common sense often, but now and then making so good and tree a hit that every one must applaud. The anger of the Irish landlord at having the principles of political economy applied to him, was well depicted and richly expressed by Mr. OsBORNE. And his abuse of Lord JOHN RUSSELL was as hearty and as harmless, as an Irish explosion of spleen so often is. None of the measures, past, present, or future, met the ap proval of this incarnation of the Irish landlord. The labour rate was a terrible blunder. But the charity soup-pa was as bad. The provision of seed was an absurdity; the reclamation of waste lands heresy; and the Irish poor-law the greatest humbug of all. But the landlord, par excellence, highly approved of emi gration, of clearings, of government money to be spent in government works for the employment of the Irish. In short, Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE'S is a valuable speech, as a record of what an Irish landlord abhors and demands. After the rattling speech of Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN rose, and began in a still small voice to calculate what a mountain of money it would cost Ireland if England were to drag it into a war on ac count of the MONTPENSIER marriage. Thus the member for Limerick brought in a long prospective bill as a set-off against the sixteen millions which England, he declared, was bound to pay forthwith. Mr. ROEBUCK protested in a most philosophic al speech, which displayed about as much knowl of Ireland as of Kamschatka. And so , English and • \ 4 members went on, playing their nolitical battledore and shuttle cock, throwing their prejudices ostenta tiously in air: one denouncing the scheme of the other, and neither taking any account of the other's facts, to very little purpose apparently except to occupy an hour, and fill a column in the country's eye. An impartial observer, in the midst of all this, will ask, what is the government to do—what should it have done? It must feed the starving Irish. 'The attempt t o do so by . requiring labour in return has failed. What remains but eleemosynary aid? But this can best be given by a poor-law—a poor-law which establishes some kind of a test, and which at the same time renders the property of the country liable to the charge, in as far as this can be profitably or reason ' ably done. But, as we have all along urged,. a crude and unmi tigated poor-law is impracticable in Ireland, utterly impracticable at least in many regions, where a year's rental would be absorbed in three months support, nay, in fact, in one month's support of the poor. The poor-law, to be practicable in Ireland, must be borne out and aided by gratuitous grants in times of famine like the present, and even in ordinary times by such supplemental schemes as emigration, reclamation of waste lands, and railway employ. Those who object to all these schemes, yet insist on the application of an English poor law, would legislate against the common rules of arithmetic, and the laws of possibility. "Po not let the English be fools enough to sink their money in waste lands," exclaim the English economist and the Irish land lord together : look at the experiments already made : in four years the profit scarcely exceeds the expenditure. But even so. Were not labourers fed, a population located, food produced? And is not all this better than throwing away the money in alms? The question is not, whether these millions are to be given or refused to Ireland. All must be given, which is requisite to feed them. The question is, whether this money is to be partially productive, or totally unproductive. Oratqrs, sentimental or econo mical, seem strangely to prefer the latter. WInTLVER may be the results of the Spanish Infauta's marriage to the future peace and prospects of her coun!ry, the accomplishment of Queen ISA BELLA'S marriage is likely to prove, in one respect at least, advantageous. It promises to put an end to that inveterate struggle and determination made by France and the French party to keep possession of the government by constitutional or unconstitutional means, in order to control the disposal of the princesses in marriage. As to parliamentary opposition, electoral freedom, liberty of the person or the press, these were all trodden under by the Isvuurra government, which felt, that, whatever its misdemeanors, blun ders, or violence, the French court must support it, in order to the attainment of the great irrefraga'ale French purpose. That purpose has now been gained. The Infanta is married to a French prince ; the succession can do no other, it is supposed, than ultimately fall to them and to their heirs. And it is no longer of such vital im portance to retain the immediate control of the Spanish government. The French party, and its prooonsel, BRESSON, arc therefore relaxing their grasp in some degree. More freedom has been allowed in the elections. The military have not been urged to exclude or crush the constitution by the sword, and the consequence is, that a constitutional party has not only shown itself in the Cortes, but assumed the power of a parliamentary majority. It is but justice to the Duke of CADIZ and the young queen, to admit that they have not only admitted and foreseen this change, but have wel comed it. Their royal authority has not indeed been exercised to effect the change of itself. IsTunin has been allowed to display, in the last days of his government, the same arbitrary, unconstitutional, and vindictive spirit, that has ever marked him since he turned his Liberal coat. And his treatment of OLOZAGA is more infamous perhaps, because wanting the same excuses, than the severity exercised by NAR VAEZ towards ZURBANO and the Esparterists. ISTURITZ has, however, worn out his usefulness. The Cortes repudiate the servile minister, who sold his queen to a French envoy ; and the court no longer thank the statesman who has raised an irremovable barrier between it and the courts of Europe, without procuring it a friend in the Spanish nation. Int/RITZ, therefore, is to be sacrificed. And Count BRESSON h as kindly given the queen permission to accept what ministers the Constitution alists may propose, provided that MoN remain at the head of finance, and that an old diplomatist, of whom France may be sure, be appointed to the Foreign•office. Were a stranger, a Puritan or a Liberal appointed Mi nister of Foreign Affairs in the palace of Madrid, what disclosures might he not make, what documents betray, to throw light on the dark proceedings of his predecessor, and of the French court, on the subject of the recent marriages? Such diseloeures are, at least, to be guarded against, as long as the wordy and diplomatic strife is still pending betwixt the governments. A blue book from Madrid, along with those from London and Paris, would, indeed, complete the present diplomatic scandal. It seems, however, that even in the humble at tempt to keep two ministers of this new cabinet in hisinterests, M. BRESSON is not successful. The Moderados, triumphant in the Cortes and in public opinion, will not take a single man of Count BRESSON'S recommendation. They even repudiate Mos, despite of all his financial talent and success, nor can all the ability of SOTOSEATOR plead in his favour. They will have a total change, and insist on nothing less than carrying the queen's cabinet by storm. The Queen-mother and Count BRESSON will, we much fear, spirit up Queen ISA BELLA to resist, and the consequence may be, the prolongation of the ministerial crisis, and the deter ' urination sf the court to resist the constitutional ma jority altogether. The striking part of the situation is, that the ob stacle which stands, which has stood, and will con tinue to stand, between the Spanish queen and her people, is the private interests of the French court and dynasty. The doings in its behalf will not bear the light : the party by which it works cannot exist in presence of a free and constitutional system. And the upshot is, that it must give way to the Cortee, or the Cortes to it Now that the law regulating the sugar trade is again under the consideration of parliament, we may profitably call attention to one of the consequences oi the act of last session, whereby the interests of the community are sacrificed for the benefit of a very small section of her Majesty's subjects; and a great loss is inflicted on the importers of sugar, without ear great advantage to the revenue. The injustice which we are desirous of pointing out lies in the operation of those clauses of the act by which different rates of duty are attempted to be charged on the various qualities of sugar. The sub iect has been brought before the Treasury , and the njurious action of the discriminating or differential duties has not been denied, but no remedy has as yet been promised ; it has also been suggested to the legis lature, but the extent of the injury not being well understood, it has not met with that consideration which its importance requires. As the differential duties may not be known to many of our readers, we extract from the act the rates charged: On su ga r, the growth and product of any British pares 'ion in Americo, or of any British possession within the limits of the vast India Company's charter, into which the importation of foreign sugar is prohibited, and imported from thence—that is to say candy, brown er white ; doubts refined auger, or sugar equal in quality to double refined. for every hundred-weight £l 1 Other refined sugar, or sugar rendered by any pro cess equal in quality thereto, for every hundred weight White clayed sugar, or sugar rendered by any pro cess equal in quality to white clayed, not being refined, for every hundred-weight Brown sugar, being Muscovado, or clayed, or any other sugar not being equal in quality to white Bayed, for every hundred-weight The pretext on which these various rates of duties were introduced into the act was, that an ad valorem duty, or at least an approximation thereto, would be thereby levied. Now, admitting the soundness of the principle of ad raloreni duties, the following facts will show, that if such an object was seriously in con templation when the pretext was made, it has most signally failed. Although the legislature has enacted one distinct rate of duty for double-refined sugar, and another distinct rate of duty for other refined sugar, it has most singularly omitted to define what is, and what is not, refined sugar, be it doable or other refined. Indeed, the only description of sugar it has attem.a. to explain, and to provide a standard for, is " white clayed sugar, or sugar rendered by any process equal 1