The Sun. — London, England, 1846-04-25 00:00:00

IMP E. RiA L A fee 4 T. if()/7SE fir L() II I'S, April 24. Their Lordships met at Five o'clock. SALE OF SPIRITS ON SUNDAY. The Earl of REDESDAL F. presented a petition from the inhabitants ef the royal burgh of Inverness, in public meeting aasernltletl, sat s'oe in'!-.;. he put ip t d7P - rel.- ef le toxicatine • Siisee-seGE i t'o l ,l . ltiti.S. Mesfenssers frten tee House 0. C*lllll*,:as ereu c tii up several Bills, which were laid on the table. CH \ BITABLE BEQUESTS ACT. Lard BEAUMONT presented a petition from a person pro fessing the Roman Catholic religion, residing in Lancaster, complaining of the inter'erence of the Roman Catholic bishop with certain moneys bequeathed or charitab e purposes, and praying that the House would order that it e funds should be applied for the purposes for which it was intended. NEWENHAM'S DIVORCE CASE. Lord BROUGHAM wished to present a petition to their Lordships which referred to the case of Wm. Burton Newen ham. A petition had been presented to that House which. upon the suggestion of his Noble and Learned Friend upon the Woolsack, was set aside on the account of inform tlity It was con sequently withdraws:. and an amended I etition had been framed, which upon being submitted to his Noble and Learned Friend had met with his approval, and he now begged to submit it to their Lordships' consideration. Lord CAMPBELL had understood that the parties to that petition had never met together as man and wife, but if they had met together as man and wife in a single instance, and there had been issue from that marriage, he should most decidedly oppose the reception of the petition. THE CORN-LAWS. The Duke of CLEVELAND held in his hand a petition to which he particularly desired to call the attention of their Lordships. It was from parties connected with the landed interest, and was signed by upwards of 2,50 0 individuals. It came from that class of persons who are most materially affected by the existing corn-laws, and prayed that the amount of protect ion they now enjoyed might slot be reduced. His opinions upon the subject were too well known to render it necessary for him t say ay not only that he assented to its prayer, but that heartily concurred in their opposition to the re duction of the p r otection which this count r y now enjoyed. He would not weary the House by going through the petition, but he would just read the heads of it. The Noble Duke then p roceeded to do so. Soule of the statements were to the effect that the petitioners were of opinion that a free trade in corn woul be he ruin of the home gr ower. He concluded by dec d laring t he believed that the pe itioners were right, while that the pro ceedings of many representatives were in direct contradiction of the promises ABOLtITIhey ON mad OF DEODANDSe at the last general e BlLL. lection. Lord CAMPBELL said, in rising to move the order of the slay upon this Bill he would say but a very few words. Their Lordships were already aware of the utter inutility of inflicting deodands. The formal manner in which they were imposed before the coroner was such as might be supposed would stand fire in the Court of Queen's Bench. but these proceedings were invariably qua hed in that Court. Mr. Wakley, the coroner for the county of Middlesex, a gen tleman of great experience, had assured him, and had autho rised him to say that no benefit whatsoever arose in any in stance from deodands under the present law. With regard to the other Bill, which formed a pet of the same measure, it would be enough to read the preamble, which contained two assertions.—( Hear.) He asserted, that according to the present law of deodand there was no remedy for a death caused. Under the present law the doctrine was, that when death ensued the life of a man was so valuable that no estimate could be put upon it, and accordingly no remedy was to be obtained for its loss. If a man had a limb broken on account of the negli gence of coach proprietors or of railway companies, he had a legal remedy to resort to, but if their negligence had been of a still grosser character, so that death ensued, there was no remedy to be given to the surviving relations, and the widow of the man was thrown upon the world. The general :rule of the English law was, that where there was a wrong done the law should give some compensation ; so that in cases of murder there was not only a punishment to the crimi nal, but a compensation to the surviving relatives. That law was not put in practice, but he believed that it was admitted in England, and also in all :he continental nations. He trusted they would allow these Bills to be read a second time, without offering any opposition to them, as he would require again to draw the attention of their Lordships and of her Majesty's Government to them. He had, within the last five minutes, been told that the railway interest was so enormous in the House of Commons that it would be utterly impossible for these Bills to have the chance of succeeding. One company alone, he was told, could muster as many as eighty votes. It might be that. there 'were many railway proprietors who were Members of Parlia ment also ; but he hoped that they would magnanimously forget that they were railway directors only. and that they wouti consider that they were citizens and subjects—that they were men—and, therefore, bound to do full jusice to their fellow men. The Noble Lord concluded by moving the second read ing of the Deodands Abolition Bill, and the second reading of the Death by Accident Compensation Bill. Lord LYTTEL'rON said it might be remembered that last Tear he had introduced a Bill havin g similar objects with those introduced by the Noble and Learned Lord opposite. He was glad that the matter had fallen into abler hands than his own. He would willingly give the measures his sup port, and he trusted they would meet with no opposition on the part of the other branch of the Legislatu.e. The Bill of last session, to which he had referred, had received the sanction of the legal authorities in that House, but he understood that the legal authorities in the Lower House had met it with some objections. Lord BROUGHAM said that he entirely agreed with the Noble Lords who had already spoken upon this measure. He (Lord Brougham) was one of those who attended in Committee upon this subject, and he could only say, that every attention had been given to the preparation of these Bills ; and he was therefore sorry to hear that they were likely to be objected to in the other House. Re considered that if a slight alteration could obviate these ob 3eetions, they ought to introduce them. As regarded com pensation for the loss of life, the law of England was an exception to the law of every other country. The law on the subject had :teen, that life was so valuable that ro; compensation could be given for it. However logical that rnielt be, he could not give his assent to it. He thought it was high time that this opprobrium to their law should be removed, and he thanked the Noble and Learned Lord for taking the matter up, and introducing the measure. After a few words from the LORD CHANCELLOR, to the effect that they should make themselves satisfied of the grounds on which objections to these Bills had been taken, so that on technical grounds there might be no pretext here after for rejecting them, the Bills were put and severally read a second time. LOAN TO THE IRISH PEOPLE. The Marquis of CLAN RICARDE presented a petition frond a place in Ireland, the name of which did not transpire, in the prayer of which he could not agree, though it was coucha‘d in respectful terms. It concluded with asking Parlia • ment for an immediate loan of three millions sterling, with an annual load, for-the construction of public works in Ireland. CHARITABLE TRUSTS BILL. The Earl of ELDON presented several petitions against the Charitable Trusts Bill. Tice petitions were from the Masters of Trinity House in Hull, the masters and wardens of the Paper Stainer? Corporation of the City of London, from Middlewieh, in Cheshire, and the rector and churchwardens of St. Mary, Whitechapel, in the county of Middlesex. THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. The Marquis of CLANRICARDE said that he was not about to move that the report of the Select Committee on the rebuildieg of the new Houses of Parliament should be taken into consideration, in consequence of the opinion which their Lordship had expressed on the last occasion the subject was introduced, that it would be better that the matter should be left in the hands of her Majesty's Government. He would, therefore, beg to move that the order of tile day should be discharged. But he would beg leave, before he would do so, to hear his Noble Friend the Commissioner of Woods and Forests make some statement on the subject. As yet he had made none, and he very much feared that their Lordship" interests were not properly taxen care f. If he was not deceived, Mr. Barry, in care f. If he was not deceived, Mr. Birry, in an saver to a question put to him, said that their Lordships h a d 21 o t any foundation, from the evidence given at the Coin mittee, for the supposition that they would have their House ready for their reception by the commencemetit of next sts ldbbuet s i on . He begg ed leave to say there wastrot one N o bl e L or d tm 'that Commit tee who was not led to believe A that nmdes t sueh possible, the fact. Tha t it would not r:taalr ) b y most easy to effec t it.—(Hear,saw the b works which w w e t' re en da tl ily carri e d eylooked to other countries said s em d e mu ch greater magnitude, they sh uld conclude that tb • interests were not had ordered the they bee i n-4 taken care of, e specially when a e ' r aware that the House of Commons. o doubt, be most t eir of &teen or twenty rooms for the immediate recepti P o r n eP o a f ia h t°ll Committees. This might, he had n but he dideosany venient for the dispatch of publicbusines s afford a very Strong d no t been attend ds, ed that their Lordships'. interests ha to. Great incon venience arose to the law Lor üblic - . who were so good as to sit many hours in the dabueiv in ss e n that House for the purpose of the dispa He wished, therefore, to know whether there was any obstacle at present in existence to prevent tits elder and more impor tant Members of the Houses of the Legislature from obtaining the same aeeommodation? He wished to learn from hi buildings at the present moment, what prospect there was esf the Houses being soeedily finished, and especially what likelihood there was of th-ir Lordship getting into their own Cha mber at. the beginning of next session? g months none of those He did hope tha t durin g the ensuing h • d I paltry squabbles. which he had understood to aye Dupe et the wow of late, would be suffered to inter fere with their future progress, for he deemed them to be altogether unworthy of parties so specifically under the direction of her Maiesty's Government. If such squabbles and disputes were not suffered to exist, not only would there not be any intermission of the works, Lut they would be so rapidly advanced as to enable their Lordships to take possession of their new House at the beginning of next year. Viscount CANNING, before answering the question of his Noble Relative on its main grounds, would beg to reply to his remarks with respect to the House of Commons. On the lel; of the present month the Speaker had sent notice that a considerable addition to the number of committee- Looms would he wanted on the 27th instant, and at th e - ductsment of the Speaker and Sergeant-at-Arms, an endea vour was made to secure two or three houses in Palace-yard, but they were ultimately fcund to be quite insufficient for the purpose.twa. He then spoke to Mr. Barry, by whom areed, that the committee• rooms in the new Houses mi ght be m a d e rea d y b y th a t time. With respect to theactr acc om modation o f th e i r L or d s hip s , th e re were in the new Mousers nineteen committee rooms, which same - were precisely in the crdition as th e co mmittee ro oms of the Commons a t the un dertook their preparatio n , and time M r . Barry believed wer e needed, they could b e got rea n d e Y with equal t ext t i,di if it tion. If their Lordships should rsquire further that i had taken care to guard against that by d accommodation, he to open a further access to their rooms on the river esiringMr. Barry which their Lordsh i ps would have exclusive fro n t, t o sorry to say he could net ans wer some other aceeB'. He was Noble Lord,' question, particula r ly with regardto parts of the which their Lordships' House w as lik e l y be finished. the time a t regretted to say that the y we re not in such a state He of forward ness as had been expected. But with gar squab bles alluded to by his Noble Friend, paving taken place be d to the t;gz to be ttween Dr. Reid and Mr. Barry, he besay that it was tou ch to be regretted that the d fferences that had arisen th es e two gentlemen were of a much more serious n bet wesn character than mere squabbles. It appeared te him, from th e report that had been laid upo n their Lordships' table, that those differences were of so momentous a character that unless a Government investigation were to take place, the country would be put to an eno rmous additional ex p ense, and ultimatel y the d e lay would be much greater. He believed it had never been clearly shown that the system of ventilation adopted by Dr. Reid was such as wauld suit the Houses of Pediment, or was, in fact, at all feasible, although the appara , us it required extended over eight or nine &ern of land.--( Hear.) Would their Lordships th-n peril the safety of the New Houses by any hasty step ? lie had considered that the best course which ceuld b fellowed sweuld be to select three gentlemen. whose eminent positions and professional and scientific acquirements figici ensure a souud opinion being given, and would enable Government to act with confidence. The three gentlemen selected with that view were to follow the instructions given to them, and they had been requested to consider how far practicable, and if practicable, how far it would be advisable to apply Dr. Reid's system of ventilation te the New Ileuses of Parliament, and to all the ti subordinate offises. Also whether the application of the tem slti&t! be restriteed to the New Houses of Parliament en or to and whether it e.otricl Ire eevente g e to type, the system to d.fferent eortior s of the bailing se; aratel) and independently. The Government were also anxious to ascertain how far Dr. Reid's system was com patible with the rend ring the building fire-proof. These gentlemen had, lastly, been desired, according to the opinions they formed on these points, to report how far such plans of the building as were necessary for Dr. Reid had been fur nished to him, and whether further information would be re quisie, and to what extent, and in what manner. The gentlemen selected were Mr. Hardwicke , a gentleman well known as an architect, who had constructed the new buildings. in Lincoln's Inn ; Professor Graham, a professor of chemistry in tee London University ; and Mr. George Stephenson, who was known as an engineer of great experience, and B who o t the a paid great attention to the ventilation of . mines, fie st plush the House might ohject to this coarse, but assure their Lordships that be had not come to_ am e lio be co" ld ns con • determi nation he had just stated without very mature d upon and himself this sideration, and he felt that on taking hadthrePeumonattteor believe o elie tl y m e creosnismiditlartiliiotiyi,ohfethsehiorulLdoratishoinpcs.e submitti time When ibe and they should have an answer_ in l that the inquiry need not take up nm e r t e h. t t han a very few days, ' have been comma opinion of these g entlemen shou Government, if it should Melted to her Majesty ' s be necessary to take such a course as would in terfere with the arra n g ement already existing between the Government and Dr. Reid, or it those gentlemen should prescribe a course in any way at variance with the plans already existing, it would be right that the Government, before any steps were taken in the matter, should state their intentions to Parliament, to give an opportunity to Noble Lords and Hon. Members of making any remarks they might think fit. He thought that it was better that he should fortify himself with the opinions of the gentlemen he had mentioned, before coming down to the House to propose that they should go on at all hazards and risks, or relieve the burden from one or other of the gentlemen through whose misapprehensions these delays were cceasioned. Lord BROUGHAM said that no man in that House could doubt that the Noble Lord had given net only a clear and satis : factory explaration, but that he had adopted the very best course he could under the circumstances. The inquiry was now brought within a reasonable coinpa-s, and he thought the course proposed by the Noble Lord the very best that could be adopted. Their Lordships at present suffered most severely under the processes of Dr. Reid—(Laughter)—he meant under the processes of ventilation brought into use by that gentle man ; and for himself he could only say that, sitting there from ten o'clock in the morning until five at night, he never suffered more from cold in his lite than he did while attending to his legal duties. On that day he had suffered most severely. What the reason was he could not say ; whether it was that additional fuel had been put pa—(Laughter)—or whether there had been a complete stoppage of external air—or perhaps it might have arisen from tire want of their Lordships' presence. At all events, he could not say from what particular cause the cold had arisen, but cold it certainly had been. He could assure the House that the Noble Marquis had not exaggerated when he had spokeu of the severe services of the law Lords. It was diametrically opposed to the fact that they could not get into the House within a short period. for the whole evidence before the Committee up-stairs proved that they might have got into their new House in eight or ten months at the furtherest. He did not mean that they were to wait until every nook, and cranny, and crevice, and rat-hole in the House was ventilated.— (Laughter.) He thought that the plan of ventilation under which he had suffered that morning was the most xtravaeant principle that was ever brought before the notice of Parliament. He trusted that the inquiry would go on, and he was sure that no better men could be chosen than the men named by the Noble Lord. He hoped he should not be considered as detracting from the opinion of the Committee if he added that some of the questions submitted to them answered themselves. There was no difficulty whatever in coming to a conclusion, and that before many days. He took no part with either of the individuals implicated in this quarrel, but he considered it was their bounden duty to see that ecr squabble should interfere so as to detract from the progress of this public work. lie had heard the other day, when up stairs. with the greattet indignation. that the works had been suspended for several month., in consequence of the disputes between the two pa.rtie-a Such a state of things should be put an and te.—(Hear, hear.) Lord t. P iW,LL considered the Noble and Learned Lord bad been too severe in the speech which he had just made. He would not enter into the controversy between Mr. Barry and Dr. Reid. He would throw no blame on Mr. Barry. who might have conducted the works with perfect skill and the greatest care, but he must say that the Noble and Learned Lord was prejudiced in the case. The fact was, the ventilation was per fectiy successful. They had only to look to the [louse of Commons, where this ventilation had been most successful; both in respect to the temperature, heat, and air, it was the best place of legislature ever built. He hoped that the sneers of the Noble and Learned Lord would no t b e allowed to prejudice Dr. Reid. He admitted at the same time that while the ven tila,ion of the House of Commons had been perfectly successful, the ventilation of their Lordships' House had been unsuccessful. At one time the. were in Greenland, at another in Bencoolen. Noble Lords who came there from five to seven to listen to amusing speeches, such as they had heard, could not speak of the matter as he did, who sat there on Scotch appeals often for six hours in the early part of the day. Therefore he hoped that they would have some comeaesion on them, and that no relaxation would be made in their efforts in order to get the new chambers. Lord RED ESDALE hoped that, though they admitted the importance of getting the House ready as soon as possible, they should take care not to manage matters as they had hitherto been done. The House of Commons had only to say "We want a certain number of committee-rooms by a certain day." and it was done directly. Now these committee-rooms were not in a state of greater forwardness, when that order was issued, than their Lordships' House. In fact their House was now in such a state that it only required the completion of the ventilating apparatus ; for the flooring and ceiling and the four walls had been finished ; and with regard to the veotila • tion, he believed that there were two chambers for that pur ' pose, ono beneath the flooring of the lion.e and the other over ' the roof, and the apparatus required nothing more now than a permanent fitting-up. If those fittings-up should b - made in one of the chambers he had mentioned, and should be found not to answer, then the only inconvenience that could arise was the removing of those fittings from one of the chambers that he had mentioned to the other. If, therefore, their !Lordships did not come to some resolution now upon the sub ject, they need not expect to get into their House before the ' next two years. On the motion of the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH, several Bills were advanced a stage, and the House adjourned. HOUSE OF 1:03ail1OAS, April 24. The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock. GLASGOW HARBOUR RAILWAY. The report on the Glasgow Harbour Grand Junction Rail way Terminus was brought up, the amendments and altera tions agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be engro..ssed, SECOND READINGS. _ _ _ The following Bills were read a second time, and ordered to be committed, viz.:—Stockport Improvement, Toxteth Park Improvement, and the Allhallows Tithes. The Bolton Waterworks Bill was read a third time and passed. Mr. GREENE moved, that in consequence of the agents for the Bill not having obtained the breviate in time to give an earlier notice of the second reading, the Stockport Improve ment Bill be permitted to be read a second time this day, not withstanding the time prescribed by the sessional order had es,- pired,—The motion was agreed to. Mr. SPOONER moved that the Glasgow Harbour Grand Junction Railway Terminus Bill, of which notice of report had been given for this day, be reported this day, notwith standing the resolution of the House of the 7th day of April.— Agreed to. Mr. T. EGERTON moved that the petitions of James Lock and the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company (presented 22d April), praying for leave to withdraw their former peti tions agiuns! the Warrington Waterworks Bill, be read ; and that the Bill be treated as an unopposed Bill, and referred to Alr. Greene and the Members ordered to prepare and bring in the Bill.—The motion was agreed to. Viscount SAN DON moved that it be an instruction to the Committee of Selection, that the Liverpool Sanatory Regula tions Bill, the Liverpool Paving, Sewering, and Watering Bill, th.. Liverpool Water Bill, the Liverpool and Harrington Water works Bill, and the Toxteth Park Improvement Bill, be re ferred to the same Committee.—The motion was also agreed to. Mr. ESTCOURT moved that it be an instruction to the Committee of Selection to refer the Bristol Waterworks and Sewerage 13111 to the Committee to which the Bristol Water works Bill stands referred.—Agreed to. CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL. A petition was presented from the Roman Catholic inhabi tants of Brighton in favour of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill. SMALL TEN EME 4TS. Petitions were also presented from places in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, praying the Howe to order the six-pound tenements to to rated to the landlord and not to the tenant. Ordered to be laid on the table. HREWSBURY AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. Mr. SPOONER presented a petition from Birmingham against the proposed line of railway, and against the Beltast Gas and_ Improvement Bills. NOkTrt STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY. Mr. ENTWISLE presented a petition from Manchester in favour of this line of railway. FISEIERIE Captain PECHELL begged to as S. k a question of the Vice.. President of the Board of Trade.t r th eg at ula i t n iena lB4 i 3 n aan the stated Afi that iles h t e r w i e a s a , p re a c s ( s ) e ll d e , c recollectionintroducing e certain had been an d the Government at that ti m e the French aut horities were about to adopth a regulations. He had since learned that such done ; and his question was, whether the collefitors of Customs had been furnished with a copy of the orstonnances of the French Chamber, as such a proeeeding would be extremely useful, so that parties might know under what laws they were acting ? Sir G, CLERK said that the Government had received no official information on the subject, but that a copy of the ordonnances would be furnished as sever as they were obtained. Mr. FELLOWES presented al petitions from the parish of Huntingdon against their being co mpelled an to d pay peti for the erection of county lnatic asylums ; - tions praying that the Government would take into its consideration the expeciency of passing a law, to the effect that there should be no assessments upon houses not exceeding 'the annual rent of 51. ; and petitions from Suffolk and Hunt ingdon, praying that the House would not sanction a union between the sees of St. Asaph and Bangor. POOR REMOVAL BILL. Mr. G. BAGLEY presented a petition from the inhabi tants of a parish in the county of Dorset against several of the provisions of the Poor Removal Bill, and also a petition from Swanage, in the county of Dorset, signrd by a large number of the clergy of the Established Church there, and also by macy Dissenters of different persuasions, praying that the House would take measures for the better ob ervan.!e of the Sabbath in that town, by restricting the sale of spirituous liquors on that day. BRIDPORT ELECTION. Mr. Bingham Escott, Lord DAlmeny, Mr. Charles Wood, Lord Claude Hamilton, and Sir W. Somerville, were sworn in to try the merits of the Bridport election. Mr. B. COCHRANE sail that he would make a few ob servations to the House relative to the Committee which was to meet to-morrow morning—not in the expectation that the House would deviate in any way from the rules laid down—not so much, he said, from any regard to his own personal interest, but f, om a desire to protect the interests of other Hon. Members who must be placed under similar circumstances with himself, and who must suffer (and be said it with all respect) from the wor4ing of this Act, and therefore as it must be the wish of the House to do justice to the indivi dual Members who co m p ose d it, as , it m6st be their ansiious desire to give a fair judgment on a question of this nature, be trusted that they would permit him to occupy their time for a nary limited period. By the recent measure which had ben brought in by the Right Hon. Gentleman at the head of the Government for the suppression of bribery, it was rnacted in one of the ,Clahes that in all cases of controverted elaptious all the parties comp)ainintof such flefitOu or return were required by themselves or agents to deliver in to the Select Committee appointed to try the merits of such election, tha list of voters intended to be objected to, giving the heads of the objections, and dislinguiehing the same against the names of the voters. It further enacted that these objections could not be lodged later than six o'clock in the evening of the day before the nomination of the Com mittee. Noss, bow did he stand under this Act. 240 elec tors had voted for him. and not less than 96 ba d been objected to.— ( Hear, and laughter.) W hat he asked, .hen, was his position ? The fair meaning of the clause, he apprehended was, that they would give to every man accused of bribery the chance of meeting the charge. He trusted that th e House in that case would give him the same chance of meeting the charge that would be given in any tribunal in the country, He was in the meantime as ignorant es any Hon. Member in the House what particular charge would be brought against him, or what voter would be objected to, and, under those cir cumstances, he would put it to the House whether this was the fair course to adopt with respect to a Member of that House ? As he had said before, he conceived that the meaning of the clause was, that the parties objecting should have stated their case distinctly, and have at once in formed them what charges they intended to bring forward. He mentioned this, not so much for his own sake as for their guidance in future election cases, for how was it pos sible for him to meet objections when he did not even know what witnesses woald be called against him? His only intention in rising was to submit his case to the House, and to show how the parties who opposed his return to Parliament were disposed to act towards him in the matter. He would not, however, trespass on the House further than to say, that he was absolutely in the dark as to the exact charges which were to be brought against him, and that it would be to the interest of Members placed in a similar position, if the House would consider whether the Act of Parliament ought not to be clearer than it was, so that Members whose return might be petitioned against might be put in possession of the allegations which would be brought against them in Committee. Lord G. SOMERSET, who spoke in so low a tone as to be hardly audible in the gallery, said he understood the Hon. Member objected to the clause as it now stood, but it was im possible to avoid the inconvenience which it imposed on Mem bers whose return was petitioned against. Mr. J. COLLETT said the Hon. Member might think him self fortunate that so small a number of those who voted for him at his election had been petitioned against. On one occa sion his return was petitioned against, when the whole ol his supporters were objected to.—( Laughter. ) Mr. O'CONNELL said, when his return for Dublin was petitioned against, 4,000 of his supporters were objected to. Sir R. H. INGLIS said, if he understood the Hon. Member rightly, he wished to obtain a list of the names of the persons whom he was accused of having bribed.—(Laughter, during which Mr. Cochrane dissented.) Then he apprehended many Hon. Members had so understood him ; but it appeared that his charge was against the law as it stood, and not against in dividuals, and because 96 out of his 210 supporters had been served with notices of objections, of the exact nature of which he complained that he had not received information. If it had been his misfortune to have bribed—(Laughter)-96 persons, he (Sir R. H. Inglis) could not understand why he objected to the serving of notices, or their objecting to their votes on that account. Mr. B. COCHRANE appealed to the well-known candour of the Right Hon. Baronet, and was at a loss to know how he could have so understood him. He had always understood that the Act pi ovided ir, the affording of opportunities to Mem bers whose returns had been objected to, in order that they might know the charges against them, and to provide rebut ting evidence. This opportunity was even given to criminals in all the tribunals of the country. The SPEAKER called the lion. Member to order, and he resumed his seat. Mr. AG LION BY understood the Hon. Member to object to the clause in the Bill, and did not believe that the Hon. Ba ronet the Member for Oxford intended to say that he admitted there was any ground for the charge of bribery. Every Mem ber present had so understood him. He thought there was no means of getting rid of the difitulty except by means of costs. Lord J. MANNERS would be glad to know what the real intentions of the framers of the Act were, and thought a clause so incautiously worded ought to undergo some revision. The ATTORNEY- GENERAL said they had fallen into a most irregular dircussion, for the House had nothing whatever to do with the question before them. It was for the Committee down stairs to de cide whether the notice was valid or not, or whether the notice was so framed as to be an evasion of the Act of Parlia ment. 'I he Act itself put a check upon improper objections by giving the Committee power to award costs, and that was the only possible means by which the Legislature could guard against improper and frivolous objections. Mr. P. BORT HWI CK was glad to find that his Hon. and Learned Friend had now so much confidence in the law of Election Committees, and trusted that this increased confidence arose out of reforms which had taken place since a memorable instance in which his Hon, and Learned Friend and himself were ergaged.—( Hear and laughter.) Both of them had good reason to recollect that instance, and if he remembered rightly the case was precisely similar to that of his Honourable Friend the Member for Bridport. He remembered that there was a great number of objections, many of which turned out to be of so frivolous and trivial a character that the Committee declined to entertain them. He thought lion. Members should, for their own pro tection, see that the law was properly amended so as to prevent the recurrence of such cases as these. The Hon. Member for Bridport deserved the thanks of the House for calling atten tion to this subject. The question that the Committee should meet at eleven o'clock to-morrow was then put and agreed to. Mr. O'CONNELL, who spoke in a tone so low as not to be heard in the gallery, was understood to move for certain returns connected with the present state of Ireland. Captain LAYA RD moved for a return showing the number of men who had volunteered to regiments in India from the last five regiments that had been ordered home from that country. The Hon. and Gallant Member also moved that the petition from Chelsea Pensioners, complaining of deduction of five per cent. (presented April 21) be printed. WIGAN ELECTION. On the motion of Air. BRIGHT, the minutes of evidence taken before the Wigan Election Committee were ordered to be laid before the House. COLONEL STODDART AND CAPTAIN CONOLLY. Mr. B. COCHRANE rose to put a question to the Righ Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government relative to the families of the two unfortunate gentlemen who lost their lives at Bokhara, namely, Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conelly. Those officers were employed in the service of the Government at the tirae they lost their lives in Bokhara, and therefore he (Mr. Cochrane) was of opinion—he was sure that it would only be an act of justice towards the families of those officers to give some tribute of respect to them. He was not aware whether Colonel Stoddart had surviving relatives, but he was sure that Captain Conolly had, and he (Mr. Cochrane) hoped that some provision would be made for them. Sir R. PEEL said that the only sum which was left dis posable in the hands of the Crown, as rewards for public services, o as 1,2001. per annum ; that 1501. per annum had been allowed to the two surviving sisters of Colonel Stoddart, and he was not aware that there were any surviving relatives of Captain Conolly; if there were, he was sure that that very eminent and wealthy body the East India Company would, in accord ance with their accumstomed liberality, act with what they considered due regard to their servants.—(Hear, hear.) Ile regretted very much that there was not a larger sum left for this purpose in the hands of her Majesty's Govern ment.—(Hear, hear.) STATE OF IRELAND. On the question being put that the order of the day be now read, to the effect that the Home go into Committee on the Customs and Corn Importation Bill. Mr. W. S. O'BRIEN rose for the purpose of asking the members of the Government whether they intended taking any steps towards rescuing Ireland from that appalling state of starvation in which it appeared, by the returns lately laid upon the table of the House (and which he hoped every Member of that House had carefully read), that that count, y was in at this present moment ? These returns represent many places as a ctually suffering under the effects of famine. After this report, he would ask, would the Government invite the House to consider a measure for the purpose of abridging the liberties of the people of Ireland, rather than one for the relief of the poverty which so alarmingly prevailed? As they had failed, however, to do that, he should feel it to be his duty to call the attention of the House to some of the statements that were to be found in the report of the " Scarcity Commissioners." (The Honourable Gentleman then read extracts of the report for the month of March.) In many places in the county of Clare large bodies of the people could only purchase one scanty meal in the course of the day. In one parish 500 or 600 families were in a state of complete destitution. In the parish of Clare Abbey, out of 200 families, 50 of them were only able to procure one meal in the day. In Naas, also, the supply of pota'oes was so small as to leave the people in a state of the greatest want. In Mitchelstown, also in the county of Cork, there were 20/00 persons in a state of destitution. In Tipperary, too, the distress was very great, and it was, instead of di minishing, on the increase to a most alarming degree, ( The Hon. Gentleman proceeded to read a statement to show that hundreds of the population in the county of Mayo were lying idle for want of employment ) The Hon. Member, who was almost inaudible, made some comments on the scenes of distress which had been witnessed by Captain Osborne and Mr. Ryan, the magistrates, who were called upon to quell the dis turbance at Clonmel. Some people blamed the clergy of the Roman Catholich Church for some of the evils, but he could assure the House that they had done all they could to avert some of this suffering. Government said this state of things had ttken them by surprise, but how could they maintain this position after the statements he had just read to the House ? 'the famine, Government admitted themselves, was anticipated in November, and they ought to have taken steps then to avert it. He would not go into the details of such a measure that ought to have been adopted, but it was his firm belief that had they encouraged labour in Ireland many of the evils would never have arisen. He charged Government, then, with having failed in the performance of their duty. Another ex cuse was, that they could do nothing without the co-operation of the landlords. He did not know hah h b i o aassd w t ueotbwo f us a nnrc r , t turned :ttehui round county complaint applied to the landed interest of some parts of the country, but there was scarcely a parish in • y snn hhdwa Coercion aboutoe neter e r c d i o i hsnet twentyre distress s ils thadmaet nnendsm foot.cai nh d e a rt hg i tees charged the o a htu p t ,er p es e Ge a l r onr a vfi , n eht c r hn e rki that :,en hers with having delayed the progress of the Corn Bill ; they had said, " We cannot discuss the Cern Bill until the Coer cion Bill is read a first time." But he could not understand how, if the Government undertook to carry on two great and distinct measures at one and the same time, the progress of one should be made dependent on the progress of the other. .....(flear, hear.) But let it be understood that the Irish Members had distinctly said before the Easter recess that they a A y ndhe night for was the sorry purpose s o ay f were perfectly re ad y to let the Government have the command p th ro a ( t .ee th d i Y. — of g with every th English Liberals hhad,dion t ( h i e le q u ue , s h ti e o a n r, o u f n t t h i e lau lr g i h sh ter C .) oerc T io h n Bill, behaved ve r y a English Liberal p ress, too, had joined in the cry against the the Tuesday Corn and Bi11. as they conceived it was their duty when t th n e d y e d , e t t h e e rm ve in ry ed a t p o pe o a p t p a o n s n e e , had been proposed of such an odious measure protecting life and property in conduct of the Irish Members, said that he was Ireland. Every Irish Member had distinctly progress of that mea "a's that which eeeding Willi it. ostensibly determined f fur the oppose purpose i n stagethe sure, and yet the Government persisted in proceeding the question of protection. if the Government I 1. down to the House, and told them that the people of re anis They had no right to couple the question of Irishfa h m ad ine c i , v )m ith e pro vided means to have remedied the evil. or use the word, charge the Right Hon. Gentleman with hy, were starving, they would have helped tHheemdttdo not t v w e pocrisy, d the Irish famine with the corn slatof al English. No matter corn law, which was a measure essen Ireland,y binutphuettidnigd consider that there was a singular want of it had been called for candour pie, and not by the English.reor hear.) He wordd agricultural population of Ireland.—( tiear, whatsolely btsy opinion the en ce mi golift thebe in frankly state his own opinions h about to ask for those of the party o pp osite; a u m i g ht acquire on his atraid of any unpopularity which he pen the subjectnd , as e h w e as w n r t Hear, hear," from the i si d d 4 e ,) o , an advocate by ating then, ash e was in protectionists.)` NM& Lo'rd, 'whois he fOiow:e4 9r, that occasion, had l'eft him in tlw " Hear, hear ")—and the Right Hodourahle Gentleman had shot beyond him again : on the question of general policy, therefore, he had the misfortune to differ with his Honourable Friends around him. But he felt anxious to know what were the principles which would be adopted for providing food for the starving people—and the question was anxiously put by men of every party, without any distinction as to their opinions. With respect to the supplies of Indian meal, he must beg to observe that those supplies were at present totally inadequate to the necessity that existed. The next substitute was oats wobi it a:s: a : s t hen a l ela f r a kt rising, e rn i t olea w wea e nso a l t flnt oatshkd anttnh the substitute to which the people were most accustomed. Now one-third w B a a dtnt .wt pphi etr a ber t hsi ane t i tg h noth e tnbeewer a price lasttsh a o nt swf. tyro o tp a ye t e s rwa arhs years, been o d tnbbeee:or raet .a con tinually hadA t Limerick, which was one of the largest places for the sale of suffi ciently remunerate the farmer. Now, with respect to oats, he thought that Hon. Members opposite must consent to dis pense with the law for three months. If they did so, the was a price that wou w ld heni amount of loss to them in any way or to their supporters cculd not be considerable. With respect to wheat, there would be no reason for such an alteration, for he believed that wheat had net risen in price pro• portionate with oats, and it was not largely used in the support of the population of Ireland. Considering all these circumstances, he thought that the Hon. Gentlemen opposite might accede to his request, for if it were necessary he would read a long extract from the catalogue of the miseries which the Irish people were now suffering ; and he would, therefore, ask the Noble Lord ( Lord G. Bentinck) for an answer to the question, es to whether they would support her Majesty's Government in a suspension of the corn-laws for three months as regarded Ireland. Lord G. BENTINCK begged to thank the Hon. Gentle man for the courtesy with which he bad preferred the question which he had just now laid before the II use. Although there was some reason for surprise at its being put to an p i isolated about ed ou t Member,it,whyeetn hehe rwecooullldectaeddmtihtaattththee sa me time the, though the course was unusual, th ere was so mething of pre he had the honour to act, althou g h a minori p t aty , y,amwoituh whomntedto 112 in number. He could not forget that it was the party who had placed the present Minister at the head of affairs, and that it at one time comprised 340 members of that House. Neither did he overlook the fact that, though broken in its numbers, it still constituted, when taken with the Irish mem bei s, a majority. Under these circumstances, then, he was prepared to give an answer to the question, and he trusted the House would excuse him if, in doing so, he tres passed at some length upon their attention. The question was whether the party with whom he acted would support her Ma jesty's Government in a suspension of the corn-laws as re garded Ireland for three months? The Hon. Gentleman had read a long catalogue of calamities now afflicting the Irish pee ple, which it was most distressing to hear. It was painful to hear such a catalogue at any time, even though its cause should have only a temporary existence, but it was still more painful to think that this statement of distress was an annual tale of sorrow.—( Hear, hear.) He learned from the report of the Earl of Devon's Commission, as well as from the Hon. and Learned Member for the county of Cork, that in ordinary years there were never less than 2 300,000 destitute poor in Ireland. But there was nothing in the long account of miseries which the Hon. Member had read to induce him or any other man in that House to suppose that the distress now existing in Ireland was more severe than that which was usually felt in the course of this season of the year. He would state to the House the reason why he thought that no measure for the repeal of the cern-laws, or even for the surpension of the corn-laws, would afford the slightest relief to the people of Ireland ; and any measure that had been proposed by the Hon. Gentleman opposite would not be listened to; but he (Lord Bentinck) would maintain that any measure proposed by that Hon. Gentleman, who ruled, as he might say, in the hearts of the people of Ireland, was one entitled to the con sideration and respect of this House. The protectionist party did not feel that the measure for the suspension of the corn laws would afford any relief to the people of Ireland. He be lieved that he spoke the real sentiments of all those Gentle men aronnd him, when he stated, if any measure for the relief of Ireland should be brought forward by any Irish Mem ber, it would have their cordial support. They felt that it was not the want of food in Ireland that occasioned the present distress, they believed it waa the want of money.—( Hear. ) The want of money was the real and only cause of distress in Ireland, and they thought that was the local applicatory remedy that ought to be applied ; and money must be afforded in the payment of labour, as the means of enabling the working classes of Ireland to purchase foodand other necessaries. That was the kind of measure which they thought her Majesty's Ministers ought to have introduced into that House. They were willing to remove all fear of a diminution in the supply of food by throwing open the ports of Ireland, but in doing so they would enter their solemn protest that such a measure would not afford the slighest relief to the people of Irelend. The Government might cajole the people of Ireland, they might make them satisfied for a time, by telling them that the repeal of the corn-laws would be a relief to Ireland ; but they (the protectionists would do no such thing, they would hold out no such fabled delusions to Ireland. What, he would ael, was the state of things in Ireland ? And what waa the state of the London markets within the last three months as compared with the markets in Ireland ? Why, 260,800 quarters of oats had been imported in that City alone. from the markets in Ireland. The Hon. Gentleman had spoken of the city of Limerick; he could tell the Hon. Gen tleman that 34,000 quarters of oats had been brought from Limerick into the London market. Was it possible then, by sus pending the operation of the corn-laws in Ireland, the people could be supplied with food at a cheaper rate than at present, when it was a notorious fact that the price of oats in Cork, which is the highest market in Ireland, was lower than the price of foreign oats, exclusive of duty in the London market ? Under these circumstances he would ask, how was it possible , that foreign oats could find their way into Ireland ? If the law was suspended, corn would be virtually excluded. The price of foreign oats, without duty, averaged from Is. 9d. per quarter less in London than the pie e quoted in the Irish mar kets. From a circular which he held in his hated, he would quote the comparative prices of oats. The average price of foreign oats, which were equal in quality t 3 English oats, was 245. tad. in Mark-lane ; the average price of oats of all descrip taivoenrsagn in the price C of osk o a market, tanf aup descriptionsto April ilnBA, Mark-lane, r a 2 n s e . 3d. exclusive of duties, was 225. 6d.,_ being 9d. per quarter higher than the , Th The price 'if oats in Cork. It was clear, then, that it must he utterly impossible, that by a repeal of the corn-laws, or by a suspension of the corn-laws, one single grain of foreign oats could find its way into the Irish market. And the same facts would apply as to the Trice of Irish wheat. In the city of Cork, the average price of wheat was 495. 6d. ; foreign wheat in the metropolitan market averaged 455. 4d., exclusive of duty. That was a difference of 4s. 2d:, which was to the ad vantage of the Irish grower. How then could any suspension of the corn-laws, or any abrogation of the corn-laws, be a means of introducing one single grain, either of wheat or of oats, into the Irish market. It would probably be admitted that there was no past of Ireland in which greater distress exists than in the county of emit. There was the largest number of persons in distress in that county. He would give the House a compara tive statement of the prices of grain that were brought into the market of Cork during the present and previous years. It would appear that the aggregate amount of grain that was brought into the Cork market amounted, in the year 1844, to 344,547 barrels. In the year 1845 the amount was 337,624 barrels; but in the present year the amount had risen to 386,384 barrels—(Hear, hear)—and they were told that the people of Cork were starving for want of food. No such thing, they were starving f or want o f mo ney to purchase it , and for the want of that employment which would furnish them the means to purchase it. It was not at all a surprising thing that there were riots i n I re l an d. If her Majesty s Mi nisters rung the alarum bell, and told the people of Ireland that they must starve, was it astonishing that the people should rise up in remonstrance against such fearful information ? It was not surprising, under these circumstances, that in one case they should carry Off twenty-three carts loaded with meal, and in another case illegally possess themselves of one hundred tons of flour, and should rise up in arms against its going out of the country.--( Hear, hear.) Why, the Queen's Ministers had told them that famine and starvation was among them. But what was the real truth of the question? He did not be lieve scarcity was so prevalent as had been represented, and he had it upon no less authority than the Earl of Shannon, who was a resident landowner in the county of Cork, that at all events in his vicinity scarcity did not exist ; and that, although he (the Earl of Shannon) admitted that great distress prevailed, yet that the distress arose not altogether from the want of potatoes, but from the people holding them back, and refusing to sell them, in the expectation of obtaining a higher price. Her Majesty's Ministers had told the country front November last that a grievous famine existed ; they had reiterated the cry that the potato famine was rampant in England, and what was the consequence? As far as his own experience went the price in his own country in December arose to Ils. 6d. per sack ;it had now fallen to ss. 6d. per sack. The price during last year was is. 4d. per bushel, the price during the present year was Bd. per bushel. He could show the House, from a statement he had in his hand, the comparative prices of po tatoes in Yorkshire. It would appear front that paper that a farmer who had refused to sell 200 sacks of potatoes in the month of December last year at lls. 6d. per sack, was now not able to obtain 2s. 6d. per sack. He had heard a similar account from a gentleman lii Huntingdonshire, who inferreed him that en a recent occgsion a sale of potatoes took place in Caldecet, in Bedfordshire, that the price realised was 2s. 10d., with six months' credit, while last year the price realised was 3s. 10d., at three months' credit. That gentleman further told him he could have any quantity of potatoes at Is. 4d. per bushel. He (Lord G. Bentinck) was himself a grower of potatoes in Sussex. In November last he carried his crop. He was told that the price of pota toes in Chichester market was 7s. 6d., and was further in formed, that if he held his potatoes to the month of April, he would realise 10s. 6d. The month of April had now arrived, and the price had fallen to Ss. Is was clearly natural that &a price of potatoes should rise, and not fall, as the year advanced, but their high prices had been greatly increased by the false alarm which had been raised by her Majesty's Ministers, and the people of Leland were suffering from the same cry. He had recently read in a Cork journal a story of a parcel of old women who were determined not to sell their potatoes until doisft facilitateh e the repeal they could realise one farthing a piece for them, and this foolish t the resolutionpa t Majesty's Ministers. —( b Laughter.) He be tthhee fearel excited famine reeriug s expressedt that at existedon w im e e re t f h a e r y_ frn d_ m id t r in t k b i e n l g iev th e a i t t t w b o e u a ld ba r l e i: ople were able to obtain them at rated, and that many of the pe n h f had been j c a a a u ty s , ed il b e y in the breasts of the Irish peop e, .y re willsng to open the l a ie f v n e ir d p th r a ni t e t . he I h f ig it h m p o r n ie l e d o a f p y ot i atoe th s e h w d e eengreat y exagge tion of the coin-laws would benefit Ireland. It was his (Lord Bentinek's) firm and conscien tiou c s wohr b ni e: o e if f wts t h h : a t t hla t_ w h bto e ouu a lr b de o cr l sob it neo io tfr n al_nir. o eyt f q: t rult ts in ; the corn-laws would be the destruction of Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) He had pownidtehredhwimel: u p t o h n at ev er t y he wor r d e t p h e a a t l fell from any y t g e n t n t a h . e s T am be e y t the lips of the Hon. Member for Limericwko.uldHbeecnenaclulerrdeadirien. every sentiment that that Hon. Gentleman bad uttered. He believed, corn-laws would not benefit, but, on tido would render still worse the condition Ire land. He also believed, with him, that there e a x et i i s o t n en a c r e is b e y ol th t e much to has o t r e fe n pt a he n ae d l by was a still would tend veryof the Union.—: (Hear, hear, and cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman a very high authority, and he would read to the was, himself higher authority. That letter was addresaea let ter that had come into his hands, which perhaps House a a human Catholic priest of considerable distinctio n fr. Hughes, county of Mayo, and a man of high character, to Air in the on the eve of the late election , and it deserved to be read for Moore, on tale the setiments therein expressed. It was d February, It stated that 1 ' Mr. Hughe s ' opinions on fish of re peal question were of a similar nature to those entertained 'the MO ; and if Mr. Moore entertained eimat.lianre d b y pions, the writer would f el disposed to giro his vote to It n ir i- Moore, and whatever little influence he might po * The letter went ,3 C. 33 to pro moting his election." on to state that he (Mr. Ilughes) expected that if the present Parliament should continuo for another year, that the county of Mayo would be in r a better position to r et u rn a re p eal MeMber, ' furtits says, "He had another consideratio n which satisfi e d ' hint that the repeal of the present Legislative Union was not far distant. The nommercial views which were entertained by Sir Robert Peel would in a short time become the law re sult of those measures of the country. The would be to feei'ie tate the repeal of the Union, as, when carried into effect, they could not fail to make repealers of the landed aristocracy y f Ireland, for there was not a gentleman in the country that o would not continue satisfied with those measure? Thu 1 • eels rt. Ifobert )Feel - ia.trve e nactments of , woold-Artve outsbf , the English markets*the agricultural produc e ' o f I reland. Ireland would then be thrown on its own resources; the establishment of Irish markets—of Irish manufactures would then ensue._ and, finally, the necessity for the censtruction of an Irish Par. liament to protect those interests would become paramount." This he (Lord G. Bentinck) believed to be the true picture of the results of the Ministerial measure in Ireland, and the only reason why those measures met with the support of any Irish Member was, that he thought by voting for those measures he was facilitating the advent of the repeal of the Union.— ( Hear, hear, and loud cheers from the Trish Members. ) He knew not whether the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Governtnent was then secretly considering the probable effects of his policy. It was impossible to foresee, from one year to another, what course of policy would be adopted by the Right Hon. Baronet. —( Hear, hear.) He ( Lord George Bentinck) saw himself that the consequence of that policy would be the dismemberment of the empire, and that conse quence would be further facilitated by the present course of the Right Hon. Baronet. He could well conceive that the distress that would behrought oh in Ireland might drive the Irish to phrensy. They had been told by the latest convert—the latest Noble convert to the cause of the repeal of the corn laws, the Earl of Essex, that one class of farmers must suffer InT,ffehyteehy farmers were o e have empire —who without if e riaetr beenhm_ouovvrths by the rep ea l o f the corn-laws—( Hear, hear)—a class of capital b farmers whi c h, i n the estimation of that Noble Lord, ought f ar m whoe r:aadt gotall , not oo obaepig a possessed o t honourof e a a od pi a in tegrity, a n d t h ese were the men—once the pride and strength , c o apital were wtoorebteo be scr s i a fiocrieted—Tir, ea t r h , e Ir o a o r n . d ) frocks of England were to be sacrificed, what would become of the Irish farmers ?—( Hear, hear.) They were told that there were 558,000 farmers in Ireland holding farms not exceeding fifteen acres ; and he would ask the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite how much capital these 558,000 farmers possessed? He asked what capital they had but their hard, horny hands and sinewy arms, with which they cultivated the land? and these 558,000 Irish farmers of the Earl of Essex were right free to be sacrificed to the political conduct of the Right Hon. Baronet. If they estimated, as he believed t h ey m i g h t estimate, that there were not five, but six per sons, to a family in Ireland—tor, to their honour and to the credit of the Irish tenantry and Irish people, he believed, that instead of mai n t a i n i ng themselves and their own children only, the custom was, among the poorer clas es, to support their aged and infirm parents —( Hear, hear) — they might, therefore, imagine not five to family, as was the estimate in England, but estimate six to a family, and they would have at once 3,500,000 persons who would be deprived of subsistence by the measures of the Right Hon. Baronet— (Hear, hear)—and 558,000 families, or 3.500,000 p ersons —if the letter of the Catholic clergyman were ri g ht— wou ld b e de prived of their farms arid homes. The re were reasons which counted as high with him as with many others, for maintaining the present corn-laws. If this measure were carried, would it not give cause of dissatisfaction— if they had 3,500,000 people thrown into a state of destitution, in addition to the 2,300,000 already destitute ? Some other measures than the suspension of the corn-laws would be necessary to provide for so much misery.— ( Hear, hear.) He for one could see no remedy for the evil but in a poor-law, of a construction different from that now in existence. He could see no salvation and no peace for Ireland save in a liberal and generous poor-law, which would be car r,ed out on the principle that". no Irishman any more than an Englishman should starve. They were told the other night, by the Hon. and Learned Member for Cork, that 256,000/. was levied annually for poor's-rees in Ireland. 90,000/. of which went to pay the interest of the money laid out in work houses, and to maintain the staff of the Ponr-law Commis sioners, leaving 1t;6,000/. to provide sustenance for 2,300,000 destitute poor in Ireland. That amounted to a farthing and about a third per head per week. He understood also that only 37,000 people came to the workhouses to be relieved out of the funds of the poor-law. 166,000/. divided amongst that number only made Is. Bid. per week per head, a sum not sufficient to obtain good and wholesome food for them. In the ordinary course - of things, and deducting 37,000 people, there were 2,263,000 people left destitute, and could they be surprised, in the ordinary course of things, that with 2,263,000 people without money, without potatoes in Ireland, there should be riots and disturbances in that country? The people would have food, and there was but one resource, and that was to provide it for them. Was it to be endured that there should be food to the value of 10,000,000/. sterling sent out of Ireland, while not more than 256,0001. should be given to the people in that country? He was well aware that a poor-law was not to be carried without much consideration. That it could not pass in a day— in a week—in a month—or in three months perhaps, in that House, but there must be some immediate provision made for the present emergency.—( Hear, hear.) He did re collect, that in the year 1833 that House almost unanimously supported a measure to grant one million sterling to the desti tute Protestant clergy of Ireland. who were in arrear of their tithes for the years 1831 and 1832. That money became gift to these whose duty it was to pay the tithes; and if they could, in 1833, make a gift of a million sterling to the tithe-payers of Ireland. could they not then, when the people were starving, break through the rigid rules of political severity—( Loud cheering)—and attend to the wants of Ireland. Let them for the time being supply the wants of the Irish people from the funds of this country, and set to work in earnest to make a lasting and permanent provision for them. These were the opinions which he believed were generally en tertained by his friends sitting around him, and if the Members for Ireland would introduce such measures as these they would have their cordial support. These were the opinions held in former times by an eminent statesman holding the confi dence of that House (Mr. Huskisson.) In the year 1829, Mr. Huskisson said that the introduction of a good poor-law in Ireland would be found to be the introduction of a feeling of security, and would invite and maintain the employment of English capital in Ireland. He said it was that feeling of se• curity that brought the greatness and wealth of the country, and it was that feeling which alone could have a similar effect in Ireland ; and unless such a measure was soon brought for ward, all his cherished hopes of the gond effect of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill would be disappointed. He (Lord George Bentinck) did once, in the humble position of secre tary to Mr. Canning, twenty-five years ago, possess the confi dence of that illustrious stat esman ; an d he had often heard him say that it was to the poor-law of England that England owed her strength in the hard struggle against the united arms of Europe. It was in times of the greatest difficulty, when the the people were called on to make the severest sacrifices to . . bear the burden of the war, that the poor-law of the country showed its beneficial effects. These were the substantial measures to which his Hon. Friends around him might look for the salvation of Ireland, for the quieting of disturbances, and the maintenance of peace in that country ; and whilst they agreed, in deference to the feelings that had been expressed by the Hon. Gentleman standing so high in the confidence of the, people of Ireland, cordially to concur in that suspension, they wished heartily to acquit themselves of believing for one moment, or wishing to make the Irish nation believe that in the suspension, or abolition, of the corn-laws, any relief what ever could be afforded to the misery of one single individual in Ireland.--( Loud cheering. ) Mr. V. SMITH said that he should not enter into any dis cussion of the attacks made upon all the English Liberals on that side of the House for having exhibited a want of sympathy on behalf of the people of Ireland. He could say that he him• self had not shown any such want of sympathy, and he believed that many of his Hon. Friends around him could justify them selves in a similar manner. As the Hon. Gentleman had in troduced the question of the return which had been presented of the applications for work in consequence of the scarcity of provisions, he (Mr. V. Smith) would say that he thought that what had been read to the House was not the only painful part of them. They showed the absence of individual exertion by parties possessing property in Ireland. This was a question that greatly affected the people of this country as well as the people of Ireland. The people of this country were submit ting without a murmur to spend large sums of money for the relief of their suffering countrymen. But the Government and the Houses of Parliament should ask what had been done by the landlords of Ireland, The statement presented the other day not only showed the entire absence of individual exertions, but applications of the most extraordinary nature. One of the applications was from the Earl of Kingston for OW. to make a fish-pond in his domain, and to employ the people of Ireland. The return was deficient in one respect, for it did not say what answer was returned by the Commissioners. He could not suppose that such an application as that would be en tertained by any Commission or by her Majesty's Ministers, but he wished to know if it were pssible fm, tho 'tight Hon. Gentleman to submit to Parliament any return of what had been done by persons holding property in Ireland, and whether they had made any contribution for the relief of the distress which prevailed. It was due to the people of England, and to the Gentlemen round him, many of whom had contributed largely from their qwn purses, to inform them whether the per sons possessing property in Ireland, whether absentee or other. wise, were willing to come forward and assist by their contri butions. Sir J. GRAHAM (who was very indistinctly heard) said that it was an invariable rule which he had always acted upon, that whenever any sum was advanced for public works in Ireland, one moiety was in the shape of a gift and the other moiety was secured by the Grand Jury presentment, and no advance had ever been made except under that rule. Govern ment had advanced money for these purposes, and under that regulation, but in the suburban districts of large towns this regulation could net always be strictly acted upon. The Lord- Lieutenant had a discretionary power in this matter, and if the property of any person were improved by the works, the pro prietor of the grounds always contributed half of the sum expended. With respect to the case put by the Hon. Member with regard to the appbeation for 0031., that application had not yet been attended to, and he might state that he did not think, that under the circumstances, the Commissioners wciuM grant it. Mr. E. 3 . ROCHE said that he heel never heard with more satisfaction any speech made in that House than the speech of the Noble Lord opposite, were it only for one princ i pl e vc laid down in that speoch, viz., that on Irish subjec ts. The ie of the Irish people expressed through their represen t a tiv e s o in that House should be protected. Were there no ot h er as sertion in that speech, and were it to contain no other prin ciple of hope for Ireland, that principle, coming from a man of the Noble Lord's weight and standing in that House, should be received by the people of Ireland with gratitude, and he confessed that he never in his life felt more hope for the future prosperity and peace of Ireland than at the present moment. He thanked the Noble Lord, who had tho confidence of the party he represented, for the generous and liberal sentiments he had expressed—that his wish and determination, it he had the power, was to relieve the distress of the people of Ireland. However urgent the misery which the people tan suf fering, that expression of sympathy would excite in them some hope. It was painful and humiliating for Irish Members to eerie down there every day to detail to the unwilling hearers the misery and suffering which prevailed among their fellow, countrymen. Nevertheless, if only to justify the position the representatives of Ireland had taken, it was necessary for them to do so—to state the overwhelming misery which the people wire forced to suffer. Perhaps the House would recollect that lately he felt it his duty to detail a great amount of misery and suffering that prevailed in his own nelghtourhood. In adddition to what he then stated, he would further inform the House that he had since received a letter from a Roman Catholic clergyman, who was a competent autherity on the state of things that prevailed in that county. The letter was one that arose out of a correspondence between them on another matter the eonatruction of a road in the neigh bourhood. lie would read an extract from the letter which was written from the parish of O'Hodda, in the county of Cork. (The Hon. Gentleman read the extract in geettinn,which set forth that the distress was inereaslng ; that the Con servative gentlemen stated that Sir Robert Peel did not care for the diatrq.s, only that it would enable him to pass his Corn Bill; that they had tried to get some corn meal from Liverpool to meet the wants of the populition ; that the p,e4pie eon. sidered watereresses and turnips a I;lV4lry ; and that potatoes were as high as 11 s. a lwrel, ur at the rate of 11d. a stone.)— ( Hear, hor, ) When (continued the Hon. Gentleman) he saw the people literally starving, worse than the beasts of tha field, he did net care about being told about the repnaenta- Lives of Ireland interfering with the public time in their appeals to the cf Commons and the Govern ment for the relief of the people. Everthing was asked to give way to the people of Er gland eed the Corn Bill. But the people of Ireland vols starv ing, and therefore what did they po about the Anti-Corn law League grad fr, , e,trade r If they appealed to the Anti. worn-law League, they got nothing but doctrines of political economy, but on appealing to the Noble Lord (Lord Geore Bentinck) he would give them food and rnok ! ey(" H r," from the protectionists.) Wherever they found relief, that was tne source.on Which' they ought to trust. The Irish Members were called names, and marked with ox n behalf i opprobrium by every scribe in the country ; because theyh c appealed epithets a P C I: I their starvin g fellow-countrymen. lied to them by the press was that the Irish ' Members were " impracticable malifiriants.' An HONOURABLE AIEMBER remarked, that the remark ' had been used by the Morning Hera'd. Mr. ROCHE said, No; it was used by the Times news paper. The Right Hon. Baronet depended a great deal on his free-trade measures • but he (Mr. Roche) would ask if feat trade would take the people of Ireland out of their slough of suffering? If so, then ought the Right Hon. Baronet to apply free-trade measures at once—( Hear, hear) —and tt hold it in abeyance while he destroyed the liberties of Ire land. If the people of Ireland were to be free, it seemed they must starve; but if they were to have food, it was upon the condition of their being enslaved. But they (the representa tives of Ireland) said they must not enslave the people of Ire land. He must say, he had more hope from the statements which had fallen from the Noble Lord (George Bentinck) than anything he had heard for many years in that House. In the great county which he represented he did not know any good the Government had done in the way of relieving the people. In illustration of this, he might refer to the parish in which he resided, with the clergyman of which he had had the correspondence already referred to. That correspondence was about the making of a road for a better connexion with the harbour of Cork, and to employ the people. He (Mr. Roche) wrote to the Beard of Works, stating that the resident proprietors were prepared so advance one moiety, if the Board of Works would advance the other. After some correspondence it was arranged, so he understood it, that an engineer should' be tent to survey the road, and he had made, he (Mr. Roche) believed, a favour able report. Subsequent to that he wrote to the Board of Works for information as to the way the instalments should be raised. That was on the 6th of April, and yesterday a letter was forwarded to him on the subject, dated the 18th of April. In the interval nothing had been done to meet the case ; this showed the way the executive Government of Ireland acted; not applying themselves to the question as they ought, but going on in the old jog-trot system. This mode of adminis• tering relief was a perfect farce ; nay, it was worse than a farce, it was tragical to the people of Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) The Government was evidently not equal to the occasion. They undertook the Government of the country and pretended to be doing a great deal, and when he made an inquiry, he found them going on in the old system, and mystifying and deceiving the people of Ireland. The relieving the distresses of the people of Ireland was a much more absorb ing question to him than any other question, and therefore it gave him great pleasure to hear the Noble Lord say, that he was prepared to gi ve t h em full measure of relief. The pee h of the Noble Lord, h e cou ld assure him, would be read with the greatest satisfaction on the other side of the t hannel, and his name would be received with honour and respect for the senti ments he had uttered. Again, he (Mr. R oc h e ) , asked the Right Hon. Baronet, what had he done--what was he doing to relieve the existing distress? He (Mr. Roche) maintained absolutely nothing. In conclusion, he was glad that the Hon. Member for Limerick had brought the subject under the con- sideration of the House ; in doing 30 he was entitled to the support and gratitude of every friend of Ireland . Mr. BELLEW complained of the want of parties duly authorised by the Government to go through Ireland, and look after, and report upon the works necessary to be carried out. In many instances already, though grants bad been made, the works had not been undertaken, from the want of parties to put them into op ration. He would speak for his own county, where no progress had been made in the proposed works. He must say, he did not agree with the lion. Gentleman who had last spoken, in his estimate of the speech of the Noble Lord (Lord George Bentinek). He (Mr. Bellew) happened to be in favour of a repeal of the corn-laws, though not a repeal of the Union, and he would not be b ri b e d even b y t h e prom i se o f a million rorn the Noble Lord, to forego his opinion on these subjects.—( Hear, hear.) He complained that the Irish land lords had not done their duty, and that whatever advances were made by the Government would fail to a great extent, unless the landlords were brought to perform their share. The evil was, public opinion was not strong enough in Ireland to make the landlords do their duty. In that case, they ought to have a law, to make those who had to give to those who had not, even though the principle of it might not be in accordance with political economy.--(Hear, hear. ) Mr. E. B. ROCHE explained. Mr. S. O'BRIEN said that this was not the first time he had expressed his want of confidence in the Board of Works in Ireland, and he did not think the suggestions offered by the Honourable Member who had last spoken would supply the de ficiency. He (Mr. S. O'Brien) had gone over to Ireland, and he found the state of the potato crop there even worse than it was represented, and the answers received from the Board of Public Works showed that no reliance could be placed upon them. He (Mr. S. O'Brien) then wrote to Lord Lincoln, stating that he was willing to take charge of hit own people, but as the necessities of the neigh bouring district were so great, he could not undertake to support them all. He wrote to Lord Lincoln on Friday. His Lordship replied on Sunday, and said that he would on his own responsibility send down a Government officer, and on the Monday Mr Griffiths arrived in the district, and on the Wed nesday numbers of the poor were set to work. When he, therefore, heard the remarks of the Hon. Member for Cork that evening, he could riot help saying that it would always be a subject of satisfaction to him to bear witness to the zeal, the exertion, and the ability displayed by the Earl of Lincoln its his official capacity—( Hear, hear)—and he was sure that the Right Hon. Baronet might receive his statements with toy confidence; and it did give him (Mr. O'Brien) the most sincere pleasure thus in his place in Parliament to do justice to the kindnesereeeived from Lord Lincoln. —(Cheers. ) Mr. CALEB POWELL would wish to say one word in reference to an allusion made to a Noble Lord in Ireland, whose name was returned in the Report of the Board of Works as making an application for 5001., with the view of construct ing a fish-pond on his own estate. He (Mr. C. Powell) did not for a moment doubt that this application could be satisfac torily explained from the fact of the well-known philanthropy and patriotism of the Noble Lord. That Nobleman resided on his own property—(Cheers)—and he was profusely lavish of his expenditure for the good of the tenantry. To his (Mr. C. Powell's) knowledge he had spent 500/. a week f many consecutive weeks. The same feeling might have prompted the Noble Lord in this application to Government. Mr. D. BROWNE thought that the Government had ex hibited a most benevolent feeling towards Ireland, but they were mistaken in the means of carrying it out. He quite agreed with the lion. Minber whu stated that there was abun- dance of food in Ireland, but that, in consequence of the scarcity of work, the people had no means of purchasing 1%. He always agreed with the Noble Lord, that unless the 'land lords did their duty, they would be under the neeetsity of esta blishing a poor-law system in that country, 'which would give to the poor an absolute title to relief —( triear, hear.) But he thought that the Noble Lord had net properly stated the mai• menus of the Rev. Mr. Hughes, who was an intimate friend of his own, and who had supported him throughout the whole of his political career, when he said that the repeal of the corn. laws would make all Irish landlords repeaters. He (Mr. Browne) believed that Mr. Hughes would hail the removal of the corn-laws as one of the first boons that could be offered ; and he quite disagreed with the Noble Lord, when he asserted that this Government measure for the repeal of the corn laws would prove disadvilntageous to Ireland. He would, with the permission of the House, illustrate the view he took of this subject by a reference to matters of history. In the reign of Charles 11. the Irish people memorialised the Government of this country, through the then Lord-Lieutenant (he believed Lord Ormond) that the imposition of a tax on Irish food, imported into England, would inflict utter ruin wpm Ireland, because they would not then be able to keep up their standing army. The tax was, however, imposed, and the Irish were cousequently obliged to direct their energies into other channele. The result was, that the coun try increased in prosperity from the establishment of the linen and other manufactures to such a degree, that an after petition prayed that a tax might be imposed upon every article of ex port.—(Laughter.) He for one would express his gratitude to the Noble Lord for the conciliatory tone in which he had re ferred to the policy to be pursued with respect to Ireland. It was always pleasing to hear his country spoken well of, and the Noble Lord had shown his appreciation of their sufferings, by not only sanctioning the importation of corn duty free, but by expressing also his readiness to go to the public treasury for a fund to meet the distresses of the country. But he wished to call the attention of the House to a motion which had hurtle• diate reference to the district with which he was more immedi ately connected. He referred to a communication which had taken place between Mr. Kennedy, chief secretary of the Relief Board in Dublin, and the Rev. Mr. Moore, an estimable Protestant clergyman of Cong, in Mayo. Mr. Moore lived in his immediate neighbourhood. He (Mr. D. Browne) was a Roman Catholic, and Mr. Moore, as he had stated, was a Protestant clergyman, yet they lived on the most friendly terms, and he was therefore enabled to speak to that gentleman's usefulness in the district. Mr. Moore apprehended that famine would assail their neighbour hood, and with the most praiseworthy intentions (because the unfortunates whom he intended to benefit were all Roman Catholics) went to Dublin, and obtained an interview with the chief secretary. The Rev. Mr. Moore stated that a con siderable time elapsed before Mr. Kennedy would deign to notice that he was present; he seemed too busily engaged. In giving directions to his clerks and the printers ; an' when at last he did see Mr. Moore, and when that gentleman told him that there were great apprehensions of famine in his district, the secretary very coolly referred him to the poor-house of Balinrobe, because there alone could he or they obtain relief. He (Mr. D, Browne) was a guardian in the union of Balinrobe, and he could inform the House that one-fiftieth of the iuhab,itants of the district in which Mr. Moore resided could not get relief there. Mr. Moore then addressed a letter to Lord Lincoln, but the Noble Lord himself did not deign to reply to it. He, however, sent an answer through Mr. Penefeather (a most unintell igible y stating that the relief afforded would be regulatby the man ner in which the landlords would perform their d ut ies. What ! was relief to be tested by the scale of a landlord 's moral obli gation ? If Mr. Penefeather had told Mr. Moore that relief was to be given commermirately with the amount of the land lord's subscription, that would be intelligible enough, however unsatisfactory it might have beer. to Mr. Moore, who was sur rounded by property belonging to absentees. His Reverend Friend afterwards wrote to the Lord-Lieutenant, stating that they did not ask a boon from Government, all they wanted being a cargo of Indian corn to regulate the prices in the market. It was ten days before he received a reply to his communication, and that a most unsatisfactory one, because it merely referred him hack to Mr. Kennedy. (The Hen. Mem her here read the correspondence which hurl taken place be tween the parties.) What was the deduction to be drawn? That however beneficially inclined her Majesty's Government might be towards Ireland, her people might be allowed to starve until they had first ascertained what were the intentions of the land lords. 71 t he people might, however, die while this relief body in Dublin were deliberating as to the propriety of giving re lief. Why, the people in Ireland had been waiting for upwards of a century in c4peetatfon of getting justice from their land lords; hu . t the people were at their mercy, and they got no i .s ureice. The landlo r d s i n E ngland recognised the principle that labour had its rights as well as its duties ; but in Ireland the landlords recognised no such principle. The Hon. Mem ber concluded by impressing on the Government the ditty of coming forward immediately to alleviate the distress in Ireland. Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD coincided in the opinion of Hon. Members who had spoken before him, that the time had come when a tax should be levied on the land and l an dl or d s for the suppot t o f the poor in Ireland. Her Majesty's Govern ment had taken on themselves the responsibility of providing fur the pot,r in that country, and he trusted that by some mea sure of this kind they would redeem that pledge. He (Mr, S. Crawford) would 'give the resident landlord a fair draw. back from this tax, There was another part of the subject to . which he would refer shortly, He was sorry to hear the Hon. Member for Limerick describe the repeal of the corn-laws as solely an English question. He (Mr. S. Crawford) thought it was more important as an Irish question ; and he had no doubt, if the duty on corn were abolished very considerable benefits would accrue to the Irish peoPle . . If they were to be taxed for the support of the poor, it furnished the greater reason wlsy they should have cheap food in the country. He did not blame Irish Members, hs• cause tbey gave a ;egiiinaate oposition to what was called the Irish Ceereiest Bill. But he did hope that they would limit the discussion to what was really necessary on the subject. HI e was, therefore, most anxious that the Rill for the to a l • entire abolition of the Born-laws should be proceeded the tr wi no; because of all, ,giber things that were necessary f or prosperity of Ireland , during the present c ri e rs , cheapness rw ooti l d further hoped 1 of food was the most needed ; and he, tberef or , that some arrangement might be made, w hereby t be proceeded with without any . au (Veer;.) Mr. O'CONNELL was ieeethat it would be admitted that he did rot r 1 all questiOn" the good intentions of the Gov.erti ,oent towards Ireland, when they proposed theirroeas .ere f or the relief of the people during their present misfortunes.— ( Hear, h ear .) He would be eshamed of himself if he do u b te d the goodness of their intentions in k ro r sin q that 41ea 111. Q1 but he had to complain (and he was happy to know that that corn. plaint had been joined in by several other Hon. Members) of the inoperativeness of the parties employed by the Govern ment.—( Hear, hear.) There were sadly too many dialoms.4 . N e and references from one p ar ty t o th e ot h er. There ve.b. tedite 1 ` ousness everywhere, and activity nowhere, amongst ~ i -- - men deputed to administer relief to the peopl e t r' , -- - - - -7 T - 7 . -:---/ ,- present distress. Let the Government appoint of g+ •:; -•-- ' , ~ i and activity. The men that had been appointed it rants,. 7 .,. of the localities to which they had been sent, a 476 :enkftsth=e- - ; i fested entire ignorance of the proper mode of ei , nel . wants of the people in such a crisis as at p res ' , 41011= -- e • in Ireland. He thought that the House w ou ld age whit e et--- ' "*. when he said that the Government should expend nigroyeseeeiy 1 4 ‘‘ .1 . than they proposed to do for this purpose.—(Hi*litir:P ' l - He was ashamed to ask for more money for his impoverished fellow-countrymen. He was was not there as a mendicant asking for further grants for Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) Let the Government advance their money without fear ; there was no doubt, that they would, as they had previously done, take care that they had ample security for its repayment. Let them tax the landlords.— ( Hear, hear.) Let them insert into their next Loan Bill such provisions as they had inserted in the Coercion Bill for the taxation of the landed proprietors.— ( Hear, hear.) Let them transfer to the people the protection which they proposed to give to the landlords. But whilst they taxed the landlords, let them observe the rules of equity and . justice. For instance, they should tax but lightly such a landlord as the lion. Member for Northampton, who, it ap peared, had done his duty to his tenants in Ireland.—(Hear. hear.) But let them tax heavily such landlords as failed to perform such duties as they owed to their tenants. It might be said that those were unconstitutional doctrines; but the people were starving—they were actually dying, while the Members of that House were canvassing constitutional doetrines.— I ( Hear, hear.) They were perishing by hundreds whilst they were discussing the best mode of re li ev i ng them_ Did they not hear read from the returns, which they them selves had placed upon the table of the House, that th,s e el/l ib :ye had but one meal a day, and another family had nut te ete d bread for 48 hours, and if they waited till the next 48 hours were elapsed they would find them in their graves ? The Government had professed an anxiety to relieve the fearful calamities of Ireland ; let them then come forward frankly ; he was sure that the House would not shrink from giving their support in any measure which would effectually alleviate their distress.—( Hear, hear.) But let there be no longer any laziness or delay. It it were trite that the Government was not able to meet the challenge which he had already made, to the effect that not one single shilling had as vet been laid oat ' by the officers of the Government for the relief of the people of Ireland, why diet they not bestir themselves, 'whilst that people, according to their own reports, were famishing? Let there be no dilatoriness, no unnecessary delay at the Castle ef Dublin.—( Hear, hear.) With regard to the measure that had been proposed by the Government, for the relief of the p people, it was qu i te true that he had thrown oeuoptloepwineireonsstcaorvo trary t o wh at he now offered, but whenthe . ing it was no time to discuss private opinions. Let the Go vernment at once tax the landlords of Ireland f or th e support of the starving tenant s ; let maketheli ol that exp er i ment, an d . boldly. when they did, let them do it forwardy. a Let them d rop t h e i r Coercion Bill. Let th em b ring Coercion Bill. for the landlords of Ireland, by which theywLd be o o r r ce i u l e t e o do their duty to their oppress e d tenants. Let thene cinet o f d some measure which would c ompe l t h e landlords to their bounden duties towards the poor a roun d them. p(clocramr, hear.) And whilst he spoke of landlords, he did not mean to include all the landlords of Ireland. Many of the landlords were good men, but there was at the same time, an abundance of clearance and " destroying" landlords in Irel - end.—( Hear, hear. ) It would be seen at once that he had still his strong objections to the plan of ont-door relief for the alleviation of the distress in Ireland; but, under the present circumstances, he was anxious for the introduction of any measure that would bring food to the people, and he was, therefore, sorry that his Hen. Friend, the Member for Limerick (%lr. Smith O'Brien) was opposed to the total repeal of the corn-laws.—(Hear, hear.) His (Mr. O'Connell's) own conviction was, that nothing but repeal would do the people of Ireland any good.— ( Cheers.) The existence of the present corn-laws had clearly done them no good.--( Cheers.) The existence of that mea sure had been concomitant with misery—with increasing misery ; it was concomitant with destitution ; and, therefore, any man that could suppose t'nat Ireland was benefited by the continuance of the eorn-laws must draw very largely on his imagination.—(Hear, hear.) It was quite plain that the corn laws had not enhanced manufacturing industry in Ireland, nor this number of her manufactures.—( Hear, hear.) What dhi they want for Ireland? Wages. Agriculture would not give them wages, nor had the corn-laws given them wages. —(Cheers.) They had said that the corn-laws had been introduced for the good of Ireland; but of all other coun tries in Europe, that country had been the least benefited by such a measure.—(Hear, hear.) He hoped, therefore, that they would at once, and for Heaven's sake, set about the passing of the Bill for the abolition of the corn-laws and. postpone their Coercion Bill.—(Cheers and laughter. ) Mr. P. SCROPE was anxious to make a few observations with respect to a portion of the speech of the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn (Lord George Hentinek), because he was very much struck with its inconsistency. That Noble Lord had spoken of the enormous exportations of corn and other provi sions that were sent from Ireland to this country, and he had said that if they abolished the corn-laws, they would ruin. 500,000 families who lived by the cultivation of the soil in that country. Now really it appeared to him (Mr. Scrope) that the only effect that would follow the abolition of those laws, would be that the Irish people (supposing the Noble Lord's argument to be true) would have the 14,000 f. worth of provi sions which they annually sent to this country to consume themselves ; all their butter, their corn, their cheese, their po tatoes, their poultry, and other provisions, would be kept for the support of themselves. That was the only result which to his mind at least would follow from the passing of the corn• laws. He coed not admit that the whole of th.o time which had been occupied on the Coercinn Bill had been thrown away. He thought that that debate had had the effect of shoeing such Hon. Members as were ignorant of the state of Ireland, the great necessity of passing some measure for the substantial reirt4 of the miseries under which the people of Ireland I ".:ooured. It showed in his opinion the necessity of proeurinc, for the people of Ireland sub s t an ti a l emp l oyment, such as had been enjoyed by the people of England for centuries. He did not think that the Government need entertain any dread about the introduction of any measure which would compel the landlords of Ireland to support the poor around them. Let them fearlessly proceed with their measure for the abolition of the corn-laws. They surely did not want to starve the people of Ireland—they could not, in fact, do so, because the people would be fed in some way or other. The hungry millions would not suff e r th emse l ves to b e starved to death e '; and he therefore maintained that the Government must feed the people of Ireland, by whatever moans they might accomplish that object. Now, if that pro position were conceded to him, the next step was this—How were the peopled fed at present ? Why they were fed in the most wasteful, extravagant, profligate, and foolish manner that any people could be fed ; they were fed by a misguided system of almsgiving. The mendicant travelled through the country and found his way to everybody's cottage ; he attended at every door and begged frb - m all the inhabitants. It was ad mitted that a mendicant's life was the very worst way of obtaining a livelihood and that the present system of almsgiving in Ireland, was one which de moralised the character of the people, as had been proved by the Reverend Dr. Doyle, whose name was venerates! throughout Irelani.—( Hear, hear.) That Right Rev. Gen - tleman had proved that it supported a set of the most profligate and abandoned characters, and that the poorer classes became in consequence g reatly demoralised. A pauper w ou ld, as it appears, send out his wife and children to beg whilst he him self remained at home doing nothing but trifling his time away in gossip and smoking his pipe. And laying aside the demo ralising tendency of the present system of mendicancy in Ire land, let us look at it in a pecuniary point of view. It neces sarily caused a profligate waste of money ; besides, able-bodied men were kept in the character of idle paupers, who might be otherwise employed in furthering the interests of Ireland,. Their reports proved that there were thousands of that, cha racter at present in Ireland. Now, he wished to ask whether it would not be preferable to have all the money that was given in the shape of eleemosynary relief in Ireland, collected by proper parties, for the purpose of distributin g it to worthy characters? And whilst they did so let them collect money for the relief of the poor—from the willing as well as the unwilling ; let them compel all who were able to support the poor of that. eountry.—(Hear, hear.), Let them thus i n t ro d uce a methodical and economical relief of the wants of the poor. Let them collect taxes for the support of the poor from absentees as well as those who resided on their property in Ireland. Let them bring out the recourses of Ireland and compel the landowners to do their duty to their tenants • let them introduce some compulsory measure, which eventually would remove the evils of Ireland in a great measure. Let them not leave the relief of the poor to the discretien of the landlords of Ireland, for he thought that they trust have clearly found that they were wrong in an ticipating the voluntary co-opperation of those gentle men in their efforts to relieve the wants of the people of Ireland during their present distress.—(Hear, hear.) It was quite clear from the speech of the Right Hon. that the Government had relied very much on the co.operat Baronetee i of the landlords of Ireland, and it was quirteetcieleeartealesovethryatgtrheez had failed to afford the anticipated co-operation extort.—(Hoar, hear.) He certainly regrette d m os t de ep l y ' that they had been mistaken in that anticipation ; h the expe-. rinses of past years might have prepared them for sue., a failure. The Governmentof th e poreroerspin responsible for and in rthepresef greatt im- ' perfect system of relie f measure for the present distress i n that country. The distress that. at present prevailed in Ireland was nothing new in that Coun try. Was there not a famine in Ireland in 1823, 1827, and 1842 ? and not many years ago subscriptions to the alumna of several hundred thousand pounds had been raised in England for the support of the people ; and after all it had been proved that that very mon e y h a d gene into th e poc k ets of the land lords. He happened to have a copy of the evidence of an Irish gentleman (the Hon. Frederick Cavendish) which was tendered before the Members of the Commission of which Lord Devon was the head, which proved that that sum had igot into th e p oc k ets of the Irish landlords, in the shape of rente.—( Hear. hear.) He did hope that this discussion would not terminate without some substantial measure for the relief of the calamities of Ireland being proposed. He did think that the time was come now when some measure should be adopted by the Legislature, for the purpose of cempell'Ag the land lords to do their duties to those that surrounded them.— ( Hear, hear.) Ho did not mean to say anything against the landlords of Ireland individueily ; he knew that several of them were worthy characters, like the Hon. Member who had spoken in the course of this debate. They main tained the poor people on their estates in a very praiseworthy manner.—( Hear, hear.) They did their utmost for the sup port of the destitute poteetation of the neighbourhood of their estates. It was, honvever, necessary that the landlords should be compelled to sits their duty, for there were clearly hundreds who would not, if left to contribute a voluntary tax, attend in the least to the state of the peer. If some such measure were introduced, he felt :confident that the people would be made more industrious and useful members of society, and peaceable subjects of her Majesty.—( Hear. ) Mr. COBDEN—We have rather lost sight of this question nn —( Hear, hear)—and I merely wish to say a few words upon that ebate that point. This is rather irregular; unexpected has arisen from a question put by the Hon. Lime rick, The question is this—Whether t withhim,,,illbe Member for Lynn, and the party . connected of the coin-law for three e lUem Nobleber for Lord i' i m teee willing to vote for the .- to suspension , proposition before__.applicanhsl—e only to I s r: g l i a ,e n ri d : another N in o on w t i hs w ; e b h u a t vo this suspension is .. Then presume, therefore, that this propoai ( Hear, hear.) a, I but the abolition of the corn-law.-- shoe of the could England, Scotland, Wales a abolition of the corn-late . three months' at : tion of the Hon. Memberfeforr Limerick is, that instead tit the Ireland, we are to substitute a suspension of the corn-law for Ireland alone. I beg, in the first place. to tell the Hon. Member for Limerick that there are other partiee besides himself and the Noble Lord, and the 240 who sat 're bind him, to this proposition.—(Cheers.) There are the peo eaannd the country partv . , but this li E vi n n ghan i d n — t l l,e do to n ‘ o x t ns m i p P a le rty of peoples(.l govern this coun try.—(lronical effect's from the T o :lstectionists.) The English Itisb too, from Se w °t h t: a h t people, the not one Welsh, h,t and, I believe, the eye since heard, are determined to be ',lcterred by ':ne Suspension of the corn-law—(Cheers from the Ministers and free-traders)—but to have the aboli tion of tl-„e corn-laws.—(Continued cheering.) Now, I think this matter has been determined out of this is di House long ago. c —(lronical c h eers f rom t h e pr otectionists.) And maderejote ' a that this qu es ti on of the corn-law can no longer be sposed of and s e ttl e d matter of compact.—(Cheers.) It iv ~,e delay whi c h met of doors ;and though you are rejoicing at lott kayo occasione d , that delay only skows In the minds of the /1 THE SUN, LONDON, SATURD A y MORN I N CI, APRIL 25, 1%,C3.