The Express.
London, England, 1847-05-07 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PA RLI AY LENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—Tnuaso,
.y, MAT 8.
The LOAD CILLOCELLoa took his seat at 3 o'clock.
PUBLIC RCM NEAS.
PETITIONS.—By the Earl of RPLoran, fr re, Eatehergh, foe
an
alteration of the law of eat:lLL—The Earl y„ommr„. from o
&cc not beard, surainst the eorernnicot eel ore, of ,d.a...—The
Earl of or. Osastess, from Rochdale, cump~ninrt the induz of
Irish peepers, and in &door of an effecti !weed.—
Lordee poortaw toe
iiINTOX, front a plate not hoard, in f „.oer a the F,reterT Hu_
Earl GIMP, (WTI various places In Ireland ; eett the Marques of Lsxs-
rows r, IromCoek, Cloyne, and Ross, in I our or the Poor hew (he.
land) Bill.
SECOND READlNO.—Lunatle Amyl eras Dip,
COMMITTEE.—Poor Relief (kolas thu.
of a mentor-tat from Mr Dent, and or „ con„„p,„„„„„,
RETURNS ORDERED —On the r e„„eee of teed t,r; 0.01
witA the
Board of Woods and r.ireste, relate to the great cock foe the
new
Houses of Parliamost.
LUNATIC JO ,YLUMS BILL.
The objected to this bill being read
in , .e lords woo were about to se
ce of
olftitChl. 111.0.Nb1
it, and hoped that, before ' ping into committee, they would
have an opportunity of er
.pressing their opinions On it.
Lord CAMPBELL id that ample opportunity for so
doing would be given their lordships before going into
committee.
FINA.N.CIAL DEPRESSION.
Lord BROUGMA .M wished to ask the noble marquis,
the Presideat of 'the Council, whether any important
communication f tom bankers and merchant in the
City had reathed the government as to the low state
of the money market ? The Madero of Lancashire and
the West !Ailing of Yorkshire wh. had lately received
orders from America complained that, for want of
money, they could not execute these orders, and were
obliged to atop their mills and dinning their men. In that
state of things, and in consequence of the distress in Ireland,
they had to send for more and more eupplit s of cora to the
United States. Now, if these orders from America could he
executed, then they could get corn from America without
money ; but, as it was, they were every day sending bullion
out of the conutry. He believed that a greet and imme-
diate remedy was required • and he ventured to engem that
they should not let any.rdwey bill pass during thin evasion
without inserting therein a clause spreading the payment of
the instalments over a long period. It happened, during
the last week, that the host paper in London was refused
at 12 per cent. In a very short period instalments''
would he called for by the new railways, and then, such
would be the necessity for avoiding the forfeiture of shares,
that parliament could make whatever terms they pleased
with them. He could assure their lordships that this sug-
. geation came to hint backed by a very high authority in the
! money market.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that he had no hesi.
• tation in saying that it did happen that within the sour-e of
the last few hours his noble friend, the First Lord of the
Treasury, had been in communication with very respectable
. parties in the City, on the subject to which the noble and
t learned lord &Ended, but he did not know what was the
. result.
• Lord ASHBURTON expressed his belief that the legiti-
; mate commerce of the country was in a safe state. All this
; confusion arose out of the restriction on the iaue of the
Bank. Now that there were between nine and ten millions
) of bullion In the Bank, there were only two millions and a
, half available.
Earl FITZ WILLIAM said, it ought not to bo taken for
granted that the existing difficulties arose solely from one
cause—the construction of railways. He much doubted
whether this really was the cause. He thought parliament
never legislated worse than when the two leading parties
concurred in opinion. (Hear, hear.)
Lord BROUGHAM explained that be did not attribute
the pressure exclusively to railways. As he had said on a
former occasion, the state of the exchanges, and the export
, of bullion, had also had a marked effect.
, Lord WHARNCLIFIE was understood to esy that he
, thought the measure of 1544 wan, upon the whole, P sound
and useful measure, without which the country would have
, been in a much worse condition. lie contrasted the pub.
fished accounts of the Bank in August with those of April
last, and contended that a sound principle had not governed
its operations. Taking into account along with this, the
fact, that manufacturers had been &I[llo6t incapacitated from
executing their orders, it was matter of surprise that oar
condition was not much wore; and this was only Writhe
table to the act of 1844.
Lord ASHBURTON controverted the opinion of the last
noble lord as to the soundness et' the act of 1844. He alluded
to the panic of 182.5, and described the steps which were then
taken, by incensing the circulation by five million, in order
to allay the prevailing alarm. The evil then arose more
from a want of confidence in the banks at borne, than from
an inordinate exportation of bullion. At present, the mials
might be described as a famine of money, which effectually
checked the operations of our manufacturers.
ARMY SERVICE BILL.
Earl GREY, at the request of Lord Brougham, postponed
the committee on this hill from Monday till Tuesday.
POOR RELIEF (IRELAND) BILL.
On the motion for going into committee on this bill,
The Earl of RODEN had listened with great pleasure to
the speech of the noble marquis opposite (Lansdowne) oo
introducing We bill to the house. Ile had understood that
the hill did not go to the extent of authorising the granting
of relief to all who might claim it. He believed tint no nee,
whatever knowledge of the country and the people he might
possess, could undertake to any what would be the
operation of this bill in Ireland. It would infallibly
make a vast change in the value of property.
In his opinion, the evils of Ireland were such that they
could not longer be palliated. The rapid increase of the
population, coincident with a serious falling-off in the spine
tity of food, presented a situatien which could not fail to be
productive of serious consequences. At such a crisis, it was
fortunate that there was at the head of the Irish eovernment
&noble lord whose sagacity, courage, and determination had
prompted the adoption of the moat beneficial measures, by
which he had entitled himself to the respect and affection of
all interested in the welfare of Ireland. His career in that
country—which be feared would be but too short—bad been
such as to entitle him to the praise of all parties. (Hear.)
It had been too much the custom to send there Englishmen
who were ignorant of the real condition and wants of the
country, and whose influence in parliament had been exerted
for the passing of measures wholly inapplicable to Ireland.
This had been the cause of much of the misery of the sister
country. (Hear.) As to the Poor Relief Bill, be conceived
that no harm could tithe from limiting its operation to a
certain number of years, at the end of which it might be
dealt with by parliament as might be found necessary.
The house then went into committee. Oa Clause 1 being
put by asks chairman,
Lord MONTEAAE rose to move an amendment, the
object of which was to bring under consideration the impor-
tant question, whether the bill should be a permanent or a
tee:porn/ mentors ? And, though the amendment of which
he had given notice was in effect to limit the cperation of the
bill for one year, and until the then next session of parlia-
ment (which amounted to two years), yet the issue upon
which he abonld take the opinion of their lordships was on
the (location Ir had mentioned, leaving the period of the
duration of kill to be properly discussed when the limita-
tion elms ties miethell to their notice. The first portion
of this bill selebHeled. Sr the first time in Ireland, the right of
the able-bodied as well as the disabled poor to out-door relief,
while a ensmill series of provisions were necessary amend-
ments of the m u tang law, and if he proposed to suspend the
whole of the bid, is might be met by objections that he
thereby would annesed the clause relative to emigration, the
improved regulation of the workhouses, and the ez officio
guardians' clause and would deprive the commissioners of
conferredthe power lby this bill, of dissolving unions which
at present were too large, and of substituting a better de-
scription of boundaries between the unions. He did not
seek, however, to do this. It was admitted by the govern-
mud that this bill was a " perilous experiment," and be
should be astonished to find any man bold enough to assert
that the future beneficial working of that experiment could
not be doubted. He would call attention to a few facts to
illustrate the dangers which would attend the experiment
their lordships had been now called upon to make. Though
the amount of charge which this measure would entail
upon Irish property was great, still it was a secondary consi-
deration in comparison with the other effects which would re-
sult from the measure. Muth had been said of the confiscation
of Irish property, and one of the arguments in favour of the
bill was that though there might be coufiscation, it was only
taking from one clan to give to another. This he denied, and