The Express.
London, England, 1847-03-03 00:00:00

/7'

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—TURBDAY, MARCH 2.
The Lord Chancellor took his seat at five o'clock.
PUBLIC BUSINESS.
. . _

PETFTIONS.—By Ne Uake of iiiraiMan from a plate in Derby-
Nitre and from the Guadiana of the Hastings Union for repeal a the
Law of Settlement Earl Yrrewituan haw Grand Jury of Athlone
in favour of ralwaya in Ireland.

LAW OF SETTLEMENT.
The Duke of RICHMOND, pursuant to notice, moved
the appointment of • select committee of inquiry into the
operation of the Poor Removal Act. The noble duke said
that as this motion was not opposed, it would be unnecessmi7
for bhn to preface it by many observations. The act re-
ferred to was passed last session, and be believed there were
scarcely two persons in the kingdom who were agreed as to
the way is which it should Ice carried out. Even the
framers of the bill admitted that they were totally unpre-
pared for the construction which the law-officers of the
crown had pu; upon it. He regretted that parliament
should have been induced to pus an act upon winch no one
could put a satisfactory interpretation, and he concluded by
moving that a committee be appointed.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE assented to the appoint-
ment of the committee, for which he thought there were
good parliamentary sessions.
Lord BROUGHAM observed that acts of parliament
were too often framed with the least possible can and accu-
racy : in fact, it seemed to him that there must he a class
of regular " act of parliament makers," who employed their
scission in cutting one clause out of one act, and another
out of another, and pasting them together anyhow in order
to make a new statute. (Laughter.) Some of the acts
talked of something " hereinbefore provided," when no
provision whatever had been made, and others 'poke of "the
clauses aforesaid," in their very preamble or first line. Their
sets were so bad as fully to justify the remark of Lord Ten-
terden, when he found it difficult to interpret some such
'statute as the present : " We cannot say that the leztalature
is loops conci/ii, but certainly it is magus. niter opes
inops. For his own part he thought they would nens r get
acts of parliament well drawn until they had a board spe-
cially appointed to assist the legislature in preparing them.
Lord CAMPBELL concurred in the propriety of appoint-
ing the committee, but begged their lordships not to con-
deem the bill because it was badly drawn. It was paseed by
the other house after grave deliberation, end its object was
mainly to assimilate the law of Breland, with respect to
eettlaosen toa law in Scotland which had bees found to week

LerilinelTaPlT widths fault of this act was that It
just °emitted to do the very thing it proposed to do. It gave
no settlement whatever.

Lord CAMPBELL agreed in opinion that the bill did not
go far enough in giving a permanent settlement, but raid
that it wu a step in the right direction.
The Duke of RICHMOND said he gave no opinion on
the merits of the bill, though he certainly did not wish to be
understood u assenting to its principle.
The motion was then agreed to, and the committee wu
appointed.
RAILWAYS IN IRELAND.

Earl FITZ WILLIAM then rose to Present a petition
from the grand jury of Athlone, praying that measures
might be taken to stimulate the employment of labour in
Ireland by the construction of railways. While the rental
of Ireland oscillated between 13,000,0001. and 18,000,0001.,
he believed that the loss arising from the failure of the po-
tato crop did not amount to less than 25,000,0001., which
was equal to a loss of 100,000,0001. in this country ; and
nothing could be more erroneous than the impression pre-
vailing in this country that the evil was only temporary in
its nature. A great deal of unmerited obloquy had been
east upon those who had proposed the late public works.
If those works had not done all that was expected, they had
certainly provided employment for about half aanillion of
the population. The aim of the legislatureshould now be
to make Ireland a better machine for the production and
employment of capital. To wait until English capital flowed
into the country would be to wait until the country was
ruined. He had no wish to undervalue the advance of
1,500,0001. ; but there was • general disposition to
overvalue it. The number who could derive any advan-
tage from it was exceedingly small. The sum proposed, if
equally apportioned, would only allow 19d. per statute acre.
Those who would obtain the greater part would probably be
the persona who stood least in need of assistance. The man
who was in bad circumstances would not venture to put in a
claim. The mortgagee upon Irish land amounted on an
average to at least 60 per cent. Let him suppose a land-
lord to have 20,000 acres, the gross rental from which was
10,0001. a-year. Ile appealed to any noble lord whether a
loan of lees than 10,0001. would make any impression upon
such an extent of land. The estate being al ready charged to the
extent of 6,0001. a-year, if the individual borrowed 10,0001.
he would be charged with the additional annual payment of
6.50/. Would any prudent man in the receipt of only 4,0001.
ayear from an mate, tke rental of which was 10,0001, a year,
incur an additional burden of 6501., the charge being imme-
diate, while the bereft was only prospective ? lie thought
that no prudent man would do so. He regretted that the
proposal of the Irish gentry to substitute reproductive faun-
productive works hail not been acceded to. It had been
stated that former advances made to Ireland had not been
repaid. There could be no greater mistake than that
made by thaw who joined in the cry that Ireland
was one of the richest countries in the world. The error
was one which had originated in Irish vanity, and had been
fostered by English credulity. (Laughter.) Their lordships
might depend upon it that the land of Ireland was not at
all comparable to the rich lands of England. Ireland must act
be left in her present position by the richest country in the
world ; she mast be raised to • level with the more favoured
parts of the empire ; and, although eight or nine millions
might appar a large sum to be given in charity, he believed
that, without further assistance, there would be a prolonga-
bon of the present scene of desolation and distress, and that
the country would never survive.
Earl GREY admitted that the advance of 1,500,0001.
would not alone be adequate to meet all that was required
by the present state of Ireland ; but there were other
measures in preparation, one of the most important being
that of hie noble and learned friend on the wool-
sack for facilitating the improvement of encumbered
estates by enabling the owners to sell a portion. To take
the very case put by the noble earl . if the gentleman who
had an estate of 10,000/. a year were enabled to sell sufficient
to pay off the charge of 6,0001., he might come into the pos.
session of an unencumbered estate which he could improve ;
and, what was of still more importance, land would be
brought into the market, which was at present compara-
tively useless. (Ilear, hear.) lie believed that there was a
large amount of capital in Ireland itself which might be
brought into operation by the adoption ofjudicious measures.
His noble friend had spoken of the advantages derived in
some former cases from advances for public works.
The acts under which those advances were made
were still in operation, and public money might,
therefore, still be applied with equal benefit. A
dangerous fallacy ran through the whole of his noble
friend's epenh, namely, that Ireland was to look to England
and to the English government for the means of improve-
ment rather than to herself. There could be no more dan-
gerous delusion, for no country could be forted into a state
of prosperity by the assistance of another. (Hear, hear.)
Perseverance and industry, and the savings of small earn-
ings applied from generation to generation by private Judi-
vidn'als upon works of permanent advantage, had made this
country the prosperous country it was. He did not agree
with his noble friend, that Ireland was naturally a poor
country, and, in proof of that, he would refer him to the
work of Sir R. Kane "On the industrial resources of
Ireland." Ile did not mean to amen that rocks existed for-
me/1y in all parts of England, but he could assure his noble
friend that in Northumberland and in Scotland a great deal ,
had been done in removing rocks and boulders of granite
from the soil. If England had n existed it would not be
maintained that Ireland might not become a prosperous
country. It would be a libel on nature to say so. He
therefore regretted the tone of tear depeadence on England
which pervaded his noble friend's speech. He believed that
nothing more than well-applied industry and perseverance
were required to make Ireland as rich u the country which
they inhabited. (Hear.)
Lord MONTEAGLE said there wasmuch in the speech of
his noble friend who had just spoken, in which he concerred.
lie admitted that Ireland must depend for her prosperity on
her own resources : but there were works of a large dame-
ter which surpassed the power of individuals, and which it
was the duty of a paternal government to undertake. In
Scotland such works had been undertaken by the aid of par-
liament with the best results. He entirely concurred with
his noble friend near him (Earl Fitzwilliam) as to the great-
ness of the present evil in Ireland, and the inadequacy of the
means employed to meet it. He asked their lordships
whether the measures of the government approached to a
remedy for the difficulties that surrounded Ireland ?
His noble friend said, that a year and a half's
value of the produce of Ireland had been lost.
The rental of England in 1841 was 85,000,0001.; at present
he believed it was 100,000,0001. Now, supposing that
160,000,0001. of the property of England had been destroyed
would they be able to struggle through the difficulty, except
by the interposition of the whole state ? He denied that
they came to the English parliament. (Hear, hear.) They
came to the imperial parliament to ask for that to which
they had as good a right as any person who trod this
country. (Hear, hear.) He did rot think there would
be any safety unless some measures were taken by which the
500,000 men, who were now employed upon public
works, could be withdrawn and more profitably occupied.
Their lordships then adjourned at seven o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TUESDAY, MARcH 2.
The grwma took the chair at four o'clock.

PRIVATZ BUS! r. 4688..

PIeTITIONS.—By kr. Hs pallier tram Westminster and
Lambeth. spina the Hersetthry
REOZthrD REA DIM:M.—Ore sat 1=(/ ; Oat, Blea-
red,. sal Passage Hallway; Dahlia Mth Dinstalls Weal=
at Minn Smelt U.); Great Wean DOM/ (
sad Rebellions) ; Nevinuive”i2d Clederial Maw 11111 b.

PUBLIC iuntlis.7

PETMONS.—
cm By Mr: I[7Osiel dram n pine In Dewmabwe ; Mr.
Oms~klmmyr, from *fa Swam is
aliiiihara; Mr. Anunrooro, hom
of Milton Cana ; Mr. Masao Cluirdbuta of Auck-
land Thin; from Drifter' aid sonar asks in Donetabire—rdl
inalat dm law of Settlement. Mr. C.aaraersa. tram Cork, for the
la the Ina Poor-law to tin Instlik. Mr. rowan, from I
sideist the Light-boon Dam. Mr. Pizarro:, from
krtir,Patif a vatlamal fan. Mr. Annermera, from Otardiasa of
Bohm bromplalag progriglead bird ft meet their ova poor.
r u Argrzaasa-rmamd=ri
Senlimad.

—NMI= OF 110170 N.— Imago Pooa-uor Bus..—Mr. J. O'Cos-
oruOs ommittoo, to use • ohms as mblect dthe attendantd
adatioro Ml.= wookhoess. Soot rnor.—/tr. Broome, as
reset to
Torday.thO the
lobilist Mk
at Int
maiden. . Is noso At leave to Istog ha big to reit-

ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION.
Mr. E. DENISON postponed his motion respecting the
ecclesiastical commission until the 16th inst.
NATIONAL FAST.
Mr. PLIIMPTRE withdrew his motion on this subject.

CULTIVATION OF IRELAND.
Mr. D. BROWNE rid that he had received letters fres