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

labour. It thus appeared that an enormous amount of human
auffering had been avoided. (Hear, bear.) He hoped that
the people of Inland would now be alive to the necesoity of
helping themselves, for without their co-operation no efforts
of the government would aeon'. It was too true the sys-
tem of public works broke down under them, and several of
the officers under the Board of Works suggested the pro-
priety of providing food inst. ad of labour hr or, hear)—be-
cause there were cla.-es of person,' to whom the labour
system did not afford relief. besides there were
mmy who from weakness were unable to work
and some actually died on the work,' so that it would
he infinitely more humane to administer food than to give
the means of getting it by labour. (Hear, hear.) Those
who a few months ago we e able to get large wage. by task
work were now unable to obtain enough far their sustenance.
(Hear, hear.) There would be less liability to abu-e by
giving food, and the same sum would go farther to prevent
starvation than if th c public works ware mete ided.
Ho did net see they had any other alteradive,
and he believed it the loot that could be
ado: ted for the purp sea of mitigating the evil, with
regard to what had been said by the noble lord the member
far Bolden (Lord Bernard) he begged to say that depot. Mid
been opened tor the supoly of food. As an instance of what
might be done by indieidual exertions, he referred to the
relief committee of Kilm see, where 7,000 had been relieved
by private exertion up to a late period. The depots had
not Men 'Ten. d till there was a necessity for that step, and
he believed the consequence was that importation by private
exertions was stimulated. (Hear, hear.) The hon. and
pliant member for Donegal said the other night that no
issues of food had take.. place from the depots at Sligo
He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) received a few days
ego a report from the cemmissary in charge of that d osiOt,
who stated that in the first three weeks of January, to whieh
the boa, member referred, there were issued from that depto
14.3 tone of Indian meal, Indian corn, and Egyptian wheat,
which was enough m support 40,000 persons for a week. The
amount supplied by private hands up to the 27th of January
was fro:a 12,003 to 14,000 barrels of American flour, from
COO to 1000 tons of wheat unpround, several hundred tons of
meal, two cargoes of buckwheat, b 32 barrels of ledian'
meal, and three cargos of Indian corn, amounting to
913 toes. (Hear, hear, hear.) It wax difficult to
meet general charges with respect to want of food ; but,
when definite and mec:fic charges were made, it was easy to
meet them. Their ford bad been distributed throug:t the
relief committees of Killibegs, Glentiss, Glandore, and
others. Instead of the public works system they would now
distribute rations, either gratuitously or by male, of co.,ked
feed and meal in the different electoral divisions of Ireland.
The honourable member for Dublin established such a
system in the electoral divisions of Dublin, but it
was found to be illegal under the poor-law act. He
proposed to legalise the system throughout Ireland. At the
present time they carried it on without violating the law
by affording assistance to relief committees, several hundreds
of which were distributing food now in this way, and, it
sou reported, with the most beneficial effect—(hear, ).car)
—as large oubeeriptions had been obtained by the system.
This system would enable the prof le to cultivate the land,
which would be another valuable result. And here he must
observe that the reports of the non-cultivation of the land
had been greatly exaggerated. (Hear, hear.) lie beli:ved
that as great, if not a greater, breadth of land had been
cultivated this year than in farmer years. There was
no doubt the smaller fanners would be unable to cultivate
the land under the public works system, because to get their
subsistence they must go to labour on the public weeks
but now they would be able to do so, and, more than that,
some labourers would be sent free to be employed upon
the land; but no persons would receive wages for cultivating
his own land. Ile must now call the attention of thehouse to
two great difficulties which pressed open Ireland at the pre-
sent moment—first, the pressure of a famine unexampled
in the history of civilised nations, and, next, a total change
in the social system of the country. That system hail been
recently called " • social system based upon the potato ;"
and, however absurd the expression might appear, he be-
lieved it was perfectly true. (Hear, hear.) A large
portion of the population of Ireland lived entirely
upon potatoes grown upon their own spot of land.
A portion of the people were maintained not by wages in
money, but by potatoes, or some allowance of laud. But a
large proportion depended on fond rained by themselves, or
given to them, and in no cases did they buy food. Although
the potato may resume its original social position in some
places, yet he thought that the experience of the last two
years proved that it was not to be expected that so l age a
portion of the neople could derive sustenance from eelfetrown
food. It would, therefore, become indispensably net emery
that they should purchase it. Believing that, he extronely
regretted to hear certain expressions used by hoa f entle-
Me s with regard to small dealers. If they bought f sod in
small quantities, they should have persons to sell it too, and
he thought that there could not be a greater blessing be
stowed on the country than the establishment of small soup
shops, where persons could buy food with the wages which
they earned. The honourable members for Coventry and
Bath seemed to think that all the difficulties of Ireland could
be removed by the establishment of a poor law in that coun-
try, and the hon. member for Coventry spoke as if there
were no poor law in existence. But though an ext .nsion
of the poor law may be sufficient to maintain those who had
no employment, yet no one could suppose that either tot meet
the present calamity or enable the country to pass that tran-
sition through which it must pass, a poor law would be sort
ficient. It wu not Intended that they should extend
ineliscrindome relief to the able-bodied out of the workhouse.
None but the decrepid, the aged, and the infirm, should be
entitled to it under such circumstances, and it should he only
afforded when the workhouse was full, Other words were
introduced into the bill which provided for ewes of fever
The hon. member for Bath talked of some expressions which
he never heard fall from his noble friend with regard to some
scheme for the general regeneration of Ireland. He
would find no such thing spoken of in these measures.
Without professing to go into measures affecting the political
condition of Ireland, or relating to grand jury laws, to which
the noble member for Wigan referred, he did think
that these measures did contain a comprehensive plan of
affording employment to the people, which would enable
them to purchase sufficient food for their sustenance. The
hon. member said that one of the first things necessary was
to provide employment of a different kind for the people,
but if the change took place which allowed the people no
longer to live on food grown by themselves, it was necessary
that a great change should take place in the maoner in
which they were employed. (Hear, hear.) He thought
that one consequence, and the best consequence of the
failure of the potato crop would be, that that de-
scription of people who depended on what was grown
by themselves, would roue to exist in Ireland.
A scheme for arriving at this object appeared in the Trea-
sury minutes of last December. Some hon. gentlemen said
that it should have come out much sooner, in order that
Irish members might have been able to avail themselves of
it ; but the sixth clause, which was introduced by the noble
lord opposite, it would be recollected, enabled the proprietors
of land in Ireland to borrow money for its improvement, to
he repaid in 20 years. The terms of the minutes were not
so very different that the proprietors might not,
with some very little trouble, avail themselves of
them. Ile did think that loans secured by their
estates in an unobjectionable way did afford the
means of employing the people to a large extent,
and he believed that many gentlemen who were well
acquainted with Ireland would look upon the matter in the
same light. To that system he saw no objection within any
reasonable limits. One objection was that the state should
not he a great lender. In the generality of eases it should
not, but for the sake of getting over such a transition it was
most unobjectionable that it should be so, and it would
thereby prove of vast benefit to Ireland. It was said
that the drainage of lend in Ireland should not be conducted
by the Board of Works. There were many cases in which
men could not drain for themselves, particularly those cases
in which it would be found necessary that drains should
pass through more than the property of one man.
Au act of that description had for some time been in opera-
tion with great benefit to all classes. No one complained of
it, the benefit to properties was great, and then •as no
obstacle to its being carried further. A great deal had been
said with regard to the measure for the reclamation of waste
lands. A more extraordinary mistake with regard to the
purpose of the plan laid down could not have been made
than that which the hon. member for Wigan laboured under,
when he said that it was the intention of government
to purchase waste lands for the purpose of reclaim-
ing them. Ile did not attach so much importance to
that measure u some did, but the object for which
it was introduced was far different from that which had been
represented. Many gentlemen had stated that there were
many large tracts of country in Ireland in the per
session of those who were merely nominal owners,
and who could not avail themselves of the opportu-
nities afforded them for improving their estates. It was
the intention of government to facilitate the means
of selling property in order that those estates may
pass from those who were merely the nominal owners, into
the hands of those who had the means of affording employ-
ment. The object of the bill was to provide the means of
employment in wild districts, where there were no proprie-
tors in a situation to afford it. There was another measure
which related to the establishment of fisheries in Ireland.
Establishments had been set up for fishing purposes in three
different parts of Ireland. It was desirable that the attention of
the people on the west coast of Ireland should be turned to the
maple means of obtaining food for themselves by fishing.
In no country in the world were there so many who were
merely nominal owners of land, and in which the
poor could be more benefited by the solo of
their properties to those who would improve the
estates and give labour. (Hear, hear, bear.) By the
reclamation of waste lands and drainage, ample means
would be afforded of employing the people in a wholesome
way. But to turn to that which may not be a lasting, but
which was a most resting calamity, he nand allude to the
deficiency of food in that country. When the money value
of it was stated to amount to 15,000,0001. sterling, it was
enough to call down the sympathy of the house, and to in-
duce members to feel that they should not be niggardly in
the assistance which they should afford that country. They
could not hide from themselves the feet that
large numbers of people were dying from famine.
It was with pain that be perused, day by day, accounts from
all pert& of the west of Scotland of deaths from starvation.
No local fund could provide for anything approaching the
fall extent of the calamity: they must come forward, and
to a considerable extent, though not, perhaps, to the extent
suggested by his hon friend, to assist their suffering brethren.
The calamity was, he hoped, a temporary one. He hoped
that before the next harvest a change might be witnessed, and
that God might make that harvest abundant. But there
were some months before them during which it was impos-
sible but that the suffering should be revere. He trusted
that, both in this country and in Scotland, there would be no
indisposition to afford assistance. At the same time, he must
impress upon Irish gentlemen that they had an imperative
duty to perform in their respective localities. If aid were
afforded, to them, they muot be called upon fee personal ex-
anima No amount of pecuniary isamiace whim might be