The Express.
London, England, 1847-07-10 00:00:00

IRISH DISTRESS.-REPORT OF RELIEF
COMMISSIONERS.

The Earl of RODEllnists---ic;eall-ilie attention of t.l,
house to the third report of the commissioners appointed
under the Act 10 Viet., c. 7, for the relief of distress in Ire-
land ; it having been stated therein" that in some cases the
very chairmen of the relief committees, being magistrates,
have sanctioned the issue of rations to tenants of their own,
of considerable holdings, paearesed of live stock, and who, it
was found, had paid up their last half-year's rent ; and that
intimidation, a very common cause of abuse, has in some
places been openly encouraged by members of committees •"
and to move to resolve "Tat copies of all informations con-
nected with these transactions which have been made to
the commissioners, together with the names of such chair-
men of committees and justices of the pews referred to
in the report, be laid upon the table et this hoed."
Se long as these charges had been congaed to aunpapen
did net feel himself called upon to notice them, but when
he bead them in the report of a commission, appointed by
her Majesty, he felt bound as an Irish landlord and one of
the 'parties involved in them, to declare that he considered
the report of the commissioners to which be referred unjust,
unfair, and one-sided. He did not deny that persons had
been guilty of most shameful practices in connexion with
the administration of relief in Ireland under her present
difficulties, but that wail no sufficient moon for casting
such imputations, as were contained in the report, upon
persons holding high and'
erstionsin Ireland indis-
criminately,and without n theinditidnale against whom
the comnussionen might have bees in • of evi-
dence. In justice to the resident gentry of Ireland, he hoped
their lordships would consent to his motion. It was a well
known fact that, as a body, they had not only evinced the
deepest sympathy for the distress which pervaded the
country, but had deprived themselves of their ordiriary.en-
joyments the more effectually to relieve it ; while their wives
and daughters had gone the length of risking their lives in
the same laudable object. The same might be said of the
protestant clergy, who, in many districts, formed the only
resident gentry, and to whom the destitute did not apply in
vain. Of the conduct of the Roman catholic clergy, as far
as he knew, he could likewise speak in terms of praise ; and
he therefore conceived it his duty to bring forward this
motion and endeavour thereby, to limit the accusations of
the commissioners to those individuals against whom they
could be proved. The noble lord then reed a long letter from
the chairman of a relief committee in the county Down com-
plaining that the report, in its present form, went the extent
of charging the people of Ireland with beings nation of swin-
dlers, and that common justice demanded that the guilty
parties should be pointed out. The noble earl also read
letters from a gentleman in Mayo, and • magistrate is the
county Carlow, to a somewhat similar effect ; and proceeded
to observe that it was no answer to him to say that the cases
alluded to were exceptional, as the whole scope and spirit of
the report charged the gentry and landlords of Ireland with
malpractices in connexion with the administration of relief.
Did the government mean to say that the magistrates so
i charged were to be left in the commission of the peace, and
no notice to be taken of their conduct—conduct which was a
stigma upon thename of justice? Surely if those charges were
capable of proof, that proof ought to be placed in the hands of
' the Lord Chancellorof Ireland, that he mightact accordingly.
' He made no charge against the government, who had had a
moot difficult task in dealing with the distress of Ireland—a
task which they had performed with much humanity and
judgment ; but here, again, he was met with the considera-
tion that, had the late Lord Besaborough lived, and re-
mained in the office of Lord Lieutenant, no such report would
ever have been presented to parliament. In justice to his
fellow-countrymen, whose character had been thus generally
attacked by the commissioners, ho felt bound to submit his
motion for their lordships' decision.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE, in resisting this motion,
felt that he should commit no injustice to any individual.
That the noble earl, who was connected by birth, ancestry,
residence, and habit with Ireland, should be sensitive as to
its character, was not surprising—ell' less was it surprising
that, on any subject involving the discharge of those magis-
terial duties which the noble earl was conscious he had him-
self discharged meat honourable, usefully, and disinte-
restedly, and which be had seen liischarged as faithfully and
efficiently by others, that he should be anxious to vindiate
the purity of that important branch of local administration.
(Hear. Had the commussionen indulged in reflections on
ar individuals, be (the Marquis of Lansdowne) would
the last man to refuse the fullest information and the
fullest inquiry into the charges so made, but, in their
report, he found an anxious desire to avoid the mention of
any names, or to state any circumstances, or even to make
say rekrence to locality, which might lead to the discovery
of the persons alluded to. The commiasionen bad merely
discharged the duty which had devolved upon them—that
of coming met, under circumstances of great difficulty, a
messed tesemely pried, sad in reference to which they
wee= alb le mete reports from time to time to the
go t and Is parliament of the difficulties they met
with, tbs progress they made, what was the amount of
suede *at attended the measure!, and what was the cause
fleanme—if fain seennted. This was precisely what the
eseandesioners bed Ease, end, in the performance of that
duty, they had ad eraay general stigma, nor pronounced
any uniform sent re ea the deduct of the !magistracy or
any of those who had bees espied in carrying out the mea-
sure. They had merely stated the difficulty which in some
cases had arisen. They said that if the undertaking had
been carried out in all odes with honesty of purpose much
benefit would have resulted, but that in many districts (not
the bulk or majority of the districts) this had not been done ;
and they stated also what had been the nature of the abuses
which had occurred in those came. In carrying out a new
measure under similar circumstances, and when there was
no sufficient agency or machinery existing for the purpose,
not only in Ireland, but in any country, the probability was
that that universal co-operation which was necessary to its
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not been given. The comsoiesionen said that the
finance committees had with rare exceptions acted with
sod and efficiency. Was not this a willing admission,
that in this, the most important trust confided to any
gentleman • trust which required the greatest amount
of integrity, and which was the more liable to abuse or ne-
glect—the duty had been, with rare exceptions, efficiently
and zealously performed? (Hear, hoer.) Chat the messed
had not been go effectively carded out in some districts,

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