The Express.
London, England, 1847-01-25 00:00:00

With respect to the immediate subject which the
ministers brought under the cognisance of the house—
viz., the Poor Removal Act, it is pretty evident that
it his not worked well. The grammatical flaw in the
provisoes of the first clause—the substitution of a
" shall bo " for a " shall have been "—has set boards
of guardians by the cars with the commissioners and
each other. The prospective construction has shifted
the burden of pauper maintenance in many cases.
Those whom it saddles with a new expense ore natu-
rally indigniit. They defy, in stifle eases, the com-
missioners authority, though lacked by the opinimus
of the Attorney and Solicitor-General.
In other instances they submit, with the bad grace
CC to submission, when it involves increase in
the poor-rates. In other cases they determine, in
spite of circular letters, to consider the law as a dead
litter, and go on as if no such measure had been
carried. In a small minority of cases they submit
to the prospective interpretation with a good grace,
and !Aa upon them the additional burden of relief
without grumbling. In these latter cases the law
doss not work harshly for the poor, but the contrary.
Its harshness, when it is harsh, is due to the
exasperation of guardians, and only indirectly
to the law. Officials, finding they have an in-
creased pauperism flung upon their hands, act
their tee,•h, harden their hearts, and screw down
the latent e, they are compelled to give, to the lowest
possible pa int. Thousands of paupers have esta-
wished them 'elves in parishes where they had no set-
tlement. and , nave been kept from being removed to
their piaci., uy settlement by allowance from the settle-
ment parish to , the parish of reside nee. Polishes of
residency, which have had the benefit of the pauper's
labour, and of t. he expenditure of the allowance
from the pail+ of settlement, find by tier prospective
construction of the . first clause of the new act, that the
unsettled pauper has become irremovable, and so long
as he remains must la I maintained kr them. This is
a cause of bitter we :plaint. But the inhumanity
which has resulted fn un this state of things is not
justly chargeable on the new law. When it is
accepted in a humane t„, +kit, its operation, as Sir J.
Pssisoron stated on Friday night, is favour-
able to the poor, as it exempts them from
the suffering of removal . in many cases where,
tinder the old state of the law, they were
liable to be removed. Thee ffect of this prospective
construction of the act is to m, the it even more invour-
able to the poor (unless when • harshly and vindic-
tively administered) than it I Its intended to be by
those who framed it. Its b, inevolence has been
enlarged by its bungling.
The uncertainty of the law is it s great mischief. A
measure which hasreirdred th rec circulars from
Somerset House to explains sine.. • clause of it, n
deeds
it will no oubt
some revision at the leset.
receive at the hands of the committi e. But, after all,
the present cannot be looked upon as a harsh or
severe law, when its administrate 're are humane
persona.

-L7 'CIIIOPIAN SERENAI)ERS.
JL:I ALBION HALL, ILAMMEJISMI -Ths celebrated ETION
PLAN SERENADERS (from the St. Inste.'s heatre) will give their
kdrolt die entertainment at the above hall on FRIDAY EVENING,
Jan. 2J, and MONDAY, Feb. I, commend., each c‘ ening at eebxdr-
-Tie.ets arty t e had of Mr. &owe, at too Hall, and at n& doom on
the t• tide of lerformancc.

puTIEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.—It is
rereetfally Intimate I 0 the patrons of [Ma the .tae and the
that e apyL:itiork ho rade t stare Private Eases, thane,
and Ores —Omar hit erer mrle.—The new Lary extra
r miich variety r poeilble, the ROCND OF WRONG canon v=ll
THE lILVISIBLE CREWE EVENT NIGIIT.—Ie order to render
three trim o met: -1%r:ell:Ill*, ROUND OF WRINO. 10-
xotczow o,t LUNII3a Ae4l•lllNei!. WF.ONE4DAV,
ROUND OF WdOitti. THURSDAY (a Jrrerle Night), SHE
11100:1 TO CONQUEB, INVISIBLE PdINCE, sad IRISH rOz,T.

Zlte eTairrOgi.

MAILS.

The On'Tlind rimed to the Mediterranean,
F4typt. den, ~ylon, India, Hong Lund, Ne., will be made up on the
ermine, of the 2ith January.
The ,00na tor Vmo, OpTIO,ArbOII, Maiolra, Cecile, and Gibraltar,
will be omde uo on the raornin rot the 27th .f.trimerf.
The wail, for Nue Smith roe Irtria.en`e Lead. and New
Zealand erEl hr :nada up on Carer:other of the 3,at January.
The thlle for Sydney, ran iheilian'a Land, &a., will be made up on
the eve: dog of the ltet Jarinm y.
The iVem India meth, r the.: for Mexico. Honduras, end
the liar.uanith, a 11l be made up on Er. morning of the End February.
The mails to: lt,lti.h North Amerk4 Bermuda and the
States, will be u, Me a, on the eieulnit of the led Yebroary.
o:ridait inothi f GibrAtar, ~Gee c, the loth on TiLande,
Egypt, Aden, Cryliu, India, !fang-hood, sod Chita, rim Southampton,
wiil be in ,de up on the in irninz of the Int of Fy'oriesy.
The io JL fo: 1112 Brook, tit., Limy nor, Matte Video, Fernam-
Duro, RAM., Ma *lra, ant Murtha Ayrce, will be dispatched on the
eft ning of the 4th February.

Ad. :rtifemtrnt. intended f w Ti,, Stores; handle evralreepaper,
mast be at the o.6ea by Tau fieioek an the day of pabheetion.

mon WATER AT LoNUON-131:11)0E.
fins D —Morning, 21 nun. pout *; Alta:Lon, 0 min. .4 9.
79-Moiumw—hierning, 3 min. poi 9; Allerno3n, 17 min. pist

mmon

LONDON, MONDAY, JAN. 25.
In the House of Lords on Saturday, the Corn Ira-
portati m and Navigation Laws' Suspension fills were
brought up from the Commons, and read a first time,
with nc tice, for Monday, for se=pending the standing
orders, with a view to the passing of the bills through
their remaining stages on that evening ; Lord STANLEa-
intimaCng his intention of not offering any opposition
to that course of proceeding.
Lord BROI:MIAM made some observations with re-
•pect to the proceedings elsewhere on the subject of
the Poor Laws, and said it was his intention when
the bill fnr permitting the use of sugar in breweries
and distilleries came under the consideration of their
lordships to move that it be referred to a select com-
mittee for the purpose of taking evidence in reference
to its details.

No one could have been blind to the defects and
difficulties of the Poor-Law Commissioners. The sp.
pointmera of three or four individuals to undertake
the task of superseding and controlling in their most
important and local functions not merely the landed Mr. Lesere Posree's letter to then embers of the
proprietors and magistrates, but the Mite of the Reproductive Labour Committee, on Em iseration as an
middle and cominercial climes, was something so auxiliary means of introducing a more hi 'daily em-
daring and adventurous, that nothing but the necessity dition of society into Ireland, ght to era village minis
of the case could warrant even the conception. From stem to press forward this part of their Ir ish measures
what souse could power be drawn for such an office, with boldness. It shows that the subject o.• emigre-
or if an act of parliament did give power, where was tion has been earnestly taken up by the re: lee fling por-
the dignity, the respect, the feeling of awe, which tion of the Irish public.
ought to accompany such power, in order to procure In so far as Mr. FOSTER'S letter is meant to be an
it willing obedience, and obviate the necessity of con- exposition of the manner in which eneigratio n on an
tinuelly enforcing it? The judges and dignitaries of extensive scale will contribute to the relief of Ireland,
the land could not prove too august fur such film- it is unexceptionable. His statements are , entirely
lions. Ele2ted tribunes or delegates of the people would devoid of exaggeration, and show that the cc feet of
scarcely h eve been too strong, as repreeentatives of po- emigration on the society left behind has been . care-
pular son re*ntv. How, then, could inertly ministerial full- examined.
nominees suffice'? How could three gentlanen coot- "Emigration, though not a panacea, nor ail :ely to
tuissioners expect to meet with obedience, when sent be applicable to every part of Ireland, would, there
forth, not merely to interpret and apply the law, but can be no doubt, be most useful to many local ities."
in most caws to make it for high and low, for the Ireland, though over-peopled for a couatry in which
most influential and the most interested classes of the combination of labour and division of en cploy-
society ? meet have made comparatively so little pre gross,
The Peer-law Commission was manifestly a dicta- contains many districts which are aetually t nder-
torship, appointed for a seceitic purpose. Its excuse peopled. Its surplus population ie coegregati id in
was its n cessity ; it was reconciled to oar general detached clusters, with moderately, and even tl
system by being declared temporary. Bat, unfortu- inhabited regions interspersed. Emigration oa an
nately, and in some contradiction with the declaration extensive scale will afford immediate relief to the
of the then Lord Arrnoep, who introduced the bill, surcharged localities. It would also afford name Bate
this dictatorship assumed the common-place and per- relief to those districts which are at present vi sited
manent appearance of a seovenanent board; and its with destitution in its most extreme form, fee the
interferenes was not looked or submitted to as the scarcity must not be imagined to be quite equad in
necessary decrees of a passing dictator, but as an the force of its pressure all over Ireland. Rat
assumption of power by persons who were to over- though the mere physical relief would be in a ;neat
ride local and municipal authority. measure local, the morel effect of emigration v maid
Whilst thus incurring all the odium of permanent be felt throughout the whole island.
dictatorship, the Poor-Law Commission felt within it It is important (observes Mr. Foster) to remembet,-tkat
all the weakness of its temporary character. It is emigration should not be regarded so much as a mecaa-of
needless to say how much the perfection of such an Preventing the increase of the Irish population: "belief
adminietrat 'on depends on the experience, the zeal, and 'we
body of b)Plas, corresponding
gnesrsean wealth of
as to sflbrd a
the discipline of subordinates. Yet the Poor-Law Com- remedy the mischiefs (front whatever muse
missioners were forced to take their subordinates and ir.g) which press on any particuLir district beyond what a
assistants w here they could find them, without appren- development of its resources may be able to accomplish. It
ticeship, or experience from the pasts and without we give to Irish peasant his option to become a relapse-
being able to hold forth such ceiling as pram. t, this should estaldisk also a standard of comfort-
°awe ii:inng among the population at home, below 'WAIN if
Mon for the future. No wonder if they em- any one might sink, he would emigrate.
ployed assistant-commissioners who as often counter- No less true is the remark
acted asobeeed them, who, in their indefinite and various
rked the duties whichthev dislilced, and zee. - Measures that awaken the enterprise of the Irish peasant,
functions and cherish feelings of independence and self respect, will
toasty perfoi cried what pleased them. The same may cm have more effect in checking agrarian outrage, than the I
said of the Commissioners themselves. This is the seventeen attempts at legislative coercion which hate been
folly of attempting that most complicated scheme— made since the union.
a highly centralised administration—without any tea- This, Mr. Fosven justly observes, "is perhaps the
dition, or experience, or laws, or permanence, which most important of all the considerations connected
alone can give healthy life to such a system. with this subject." But he also adverts te, facts that
In despite of all these difficulties, the Poor-Law show how much emigration, properly conducted,
Commissioners have performed the better part of the tends to enable the mother country to maintain a
gigantic task assigned them. They have enforced, larger population at home. It is to be borne in mind
in general with good discretion, those stringent prin- that every emigrant to the colonies will be able to
ciples, which, whether expedient, or requiring relaxa- consume a larger amount of British manufactures
Lion ite perm vent and general maxims, were certainly than if he remained at home. 'rho emigrants of
called for at the time as as alterative and a n 1817, and their descendants, will create rapidly ex-
remedy in the then gangrenous state of egigarirsK tending markets for British produce. There is much
pauperism. In this arduous endeavour, this vital ex- truth in this, end also, we are inclined to think, in a
penmeat, tb a Poor-Law Commissioners inevitably s on which Mr. FOSTER throws out iaciden-
made very many blunders, and, at the same time, tally-t,-" Since Great Britain and Ireland form a
very many cremes ready to take advantage of them. United Kingdom, it is as desirable as it is just that
'fo these they have fallen, in some degree, a sacrifice. the Irish peasantry should be allowed to experience
But in retiring, they render this last inestimable service that their internee are involved in the policy pursued
to the New l'oor Law, that of being the pegoats of with regard to questions that affect the empire at
its unpopularity and odium, which would have over- large." Advantages derived from the colonies will
whelmed any one minister, such as is now proposed to make " the Irish people feel that they derive an, ad-
be appointed : whilst, if such a minister had from the vantage from British connexion."
first made the law bend to the preservation of his Mr. FOSTER, however, is less satisfactory when he
popularity, the experiment of the New Poor Law comes to treat of the manner in which emigration is
could never have been tried at all. to be effected, and the emignuita disposed of with a
With respect to the new plan, of a minister of the view to their own advantage. He appears to have
poor, with two secretaries, one in parliament—in little acquaintance with the practical details of emi-
fact another edition of the home department—we gration or the state of society in the colonies—less
trust, that there will be no permanent necessity for than the rich harvest of experimental lessons which
anything so monstrous. We admit that as long as have been gathering in from the time of Mr. WILMOT
the poor-law is a thing tentative, as long as the cape- MORTON down to the present year might have war-
riment is wiring, whilst we are feeling our way to ranted us to expect.. Mr. FOSTER writes as if he
what is right and expedient, and whilst, in come- contemplated the emigration of none but the poor,
nuence, a certain of arbitrary power must be and proposed that all who emigrate should have lands
left in the hands odPir:echief of the poor-law depart- of their own given them to cultivate. He suggests
meat, so long it will be advisable that that chief that the poor law guardians of each locality should
should be generally amenable to parliament, when provide for the emigrant's outfit; that every head of
the Home-office itself shrinks from the WIIM and the a family should have an order for a certain number of
odium. But we trust that this will not continue acres of land.
so. We trust that the day will come when the poor, Such a plan, if it could lead to anything, would lead
like the rich, may be governed by law ; and when the to the establishment of communities in which every
local administrations, elected for the purpose, may individual or family suported themselves by cultivat-
hare their duty so clearly traced and put before them, ing their own few acres. Such communities, if they
that the teak of central supervision need be bat slight could exist, would be constantly on the verge of pm-
without swelling to the portentous magnitude of a nation. There could be among them no combinaticrs
ministerial department. of labour, no division of employment. Such a system
If tho poor laws require a chief to administer and of emigration would be merely transplanting the
to apply them--e. lord as first secretary, with a corn- peculiar wretchedness of Ireland to other climes: re-
asoner to represeut him in the lower house, and a producing Ireland as it is at the antipodes or on
second secretary to do the real business—thenwe must the great western continent. The division of
have educational ministers to the same extent, sanitary society into labourers (by head or hand) and
ministers, worship ministers, police ministers, with employers is indispensable to the storing up
all these ministers going out at each political change, of surplus produce against seasons of adversity, to the
and others coming in—the latter, perhaps, succeeding production of that surplus wealth which at once
in making themselves acquainted with their business awakens and allays the instinctive cravings of a
by the time they are going out. If the obnoxious higher civilisation. It is for the interest of the emi-
dictatorship of a permanent hoard be thus replaced by grants of the poorer class that they should go out to
the multiplicity of ministers and secretaries, dancing act, for a time, as labourers for hire, either in company
their political quadrille, and changing sides at each with emigrants of the employer class, or to colonies
change of ministry, we are afraid that our Poor, like where there are already capitalists with the means of
our foreign affairs, and war-office, and Indian policy, providing employment for more labourers than they
may suffer by this succession of unfixed principles and can find.
untlaing men. In British North America, at the Cape of Good
Of all political and social causes, we do think that Hope, in the Australian group of colonies (New
the cause of the poor is that which may best and most Zealand included), such employers are to be found.
naturally be left to local effort, local management, Within thew few days we have had laid before
local charity ; there must, no doubt, be supervision, us authenticated returns from many emigrants
and in great maladies and universal disorganisation, of the labouring class to New South Wales.
the state must, as it is now doing, interfere and as- We confine our attention to the Irish alone.
same altogether the dictatorial re-arrangement of the Of the industrious among them, who, instead
provision of the indigent. But the state, we think, of loitering in the government barracks at Sydney,
ought to look forward and provide for its abdication have accepted of engagements in the interior,
of such powers, which are in harmony neither with there is scarcely one who has not been able, by his
our political system, our habits, or our ideas. savi,ugs, in the course of four years, to purchase a