The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-17 00:00:00

been advanced in Ireland with the most beneficial multi.
In three towns there were 140,00 W. gained by the revenue,
'which was greater than the amount which had been laid amt
by the government. When the government of the day
thought fit to spend a million and a half in the construction
of the Caledonian Canal, it was a dead loss to the state.
Why so ? Because they did not go on the principle in
which this measure was founded : they did not come for-
ward with their money to 'stimulate the private enterprise ;
' instead of that, they undertook the work themselves.
(Hear.) There was no attempt made by this measure to
interfere with any private railway; all the obligation that
it imposed on companies was, that they should provide suit-
, able dwellings for the labourers. That the right hon.
gentlemen altogether overlooked. He said that they could
not send for labourers ; but when they made suitable provi.
sien for them, would not labourers come from Msyo and
Galway to Athlone, or to the South Western Railway, or to
any other, on the same ground that 24,000 of them came from
Ireland to Liverpool;? (Hear.) What were the most im-
poverished districts in the county of Cork ? Skibbereen and
Bantry. Lately there were fifteen inquests held in one day
in the latter place, and the fare front Bantry to Cork was
but one shilling. What difficulty would there be in
sending them to Cork, when, if this bill were carried,
there would be four railways in operation? (Hear, hear.)
The hon. member .at Lincoln told them that if the govern.
ment had assented to this bill he would have undertaken
yesterday week to have employed 50,000 men on railways in
Ireland. Out of that number he would have employed
7,000 on the Belfast, Drogheda, and Haven Junction. He
had received a letter the other day from one of those kind
and benevolent sisters of charity who, both fearless of con-
tagion and thoughtless of self, bad done so much
good to imiusge the miseries of Ireland--he alluded
to the daughter of the Protestant Bishop of Meath,
who thanked him in the name of the Irish people
for having brought forward this measure, and in order that
he may believe the real state of things in that part of the
country, she sent him a sketch of the horrors which had
come under her notice. One cam she mentioned was of a
cabin with the roof broken through, no tire in the chimney,
the woman of the housej tat dead after childbirth, and a child
six years of age lying dead beside her, the father of the family
lying dead also on straw, with rats hovering about him. In
the cottage there was nothing for man and beast to eat, the
newly born babe was without covering, whilst another
young child was in the death struggle. This, the lady con-
tinued, was but a faint idea of what occurred every day.
These occurrences took piece in the very town in which, if
this bill was allowed to pass, the hon. member for Lincoln
bad engaged yesterday week to employ 7,000 men. (Cheese.)
Were they thus, for the sake of avoiding the loss of one half-
penny or a farthing on Exchequer bills, to lose the lives of
their fellow-creatures? (Cheers.) Wherever railways were
iu operation, no distress existed. He received another letter
which was addressed by the Rev. Mr. Minnings to the
Bishop of Meath, and by which he thought the
rout would ouPr be touched uachtedlear Oneeofwitrepitymfeomrbre poeofpltelmotf
Irelai.d. He stated in his letter that 10,000 men were look-
ing to him for assistance. Very few of them had a meal a
day, and they were for the most part destitute of clothing.
When they came to him for help, he said to there " Oh,
boys, why do you come to me when you know that I cannot
help ou?" to which they answered, "We come to you
only excuse we know that you pity us." Would they,
under such circumstances, through a fear that they may
create a slight distsrbauce in the money market,
withhold their assistance from these people ? He
had several other letters front Ireland, which were
only repetitions of the same slate of things. The
hon. gentleman, the member for Mays, objected to this
measure the other night because he thought that because he
voted against catholic emancipation, nothing should be ac-
cepted from him ; he would, however, take leave te say, to
his great satisfaction and gratification, that he was able to
tell the hon. gentleman that he received the thanks of the
la meeting that ever assembled in the county '
of yo, and a vote of thanks was moved by a
Roman Cstholic, whilst the Raman Catholic bishop of
the diocese, Dr. M'Hale, was present at the meeting.
The Rev. Dr. Minnings had also said that his (Lord G. Ben-
tack's) plenweald de snore good ina month than Lord J. Rue-
sell's measures would do in years ; for it would give em-
ployment to those who required it, without injuring any
party. He had presented petitions that day from the coun-
ties of Down and Armagh, and had received since a letter
from the coroner of Newry, all concurring in the opinion
• • • --- s.- --,-- —., 50“..), would confer Ree-
l!'"
" 1a'...'."." 'li r "tii; 'pe.—Top e of Ireland, said
..
4
7hTit'i:idiiaatiltwtl thel
liw giving
was best ept i;
tpuchari:nniafet h
credit
dtot permanent
evmreeemrothemselves,grans, 6eree:in
at
cbetywmha,ees en,"i, andofromvehirtbdr e driesbindohf.owouldn findingall:lSu,
iil'ibro::leni': t:
nell la:erifd
encourage c a iroe"c :woCindp i
whichkMll I
job-
pCaiki°l4.
bong, he had a right to assume that it was one that deserved
the (avow of the house. (Hear.) lie woo prepared to
meet and refute every statement made by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, who, be regretted to find, hod been com-
pelled by illness: to leave the house. The r.ght ho-
nourable gentleman lied said that the bill would put
the rotten and unproductive lines on a par with the
good and productive. His object was not to give a
fictitious vela, to bad schemes, but to give support to
the weak. The Greet Ulster line of railway had been
for a period of at least ten years dragging its slow
length along, and had only been able to cocußtheill
twenty-four miles of its whole length, and yet that
line carried more passenger, in proportion to its mileage
than the London and Birmingham line. This as well art
other lines showed the necessity of some such aid. It was
his object to as every line which offered good security for
the money advanced. Brat when it was said that be wished
to put the bad lines on an equality with the good it was con •
teary to the fact. (Hear.) The government must be paid
off before the shareholders got anything, and while the weak
line would pay nothing to the sham capitalists, on the good
lines there would be a good per tentage. There was
nothing, thee, in the argument that his bill would tend to
entourage gambling and speculation in unproductive lines.
If the eimindmiosen should be wanting in their duty, par-
liament would address the crown to remove such incapable
officers or even the minister himself. (Hear, hear.) They
must Mart that there was reasonable security for any
senate ef Emmy they recommended, or that advance mid
not be ads. It wassaid that government must not &kends
raortygess who had a prior claim; but it must be recollected
that me seimpsity sonkl. be regarded ea in a condition to bor-
row manor
_,. mftiest had not one-half of their capital paid up.
Beata whisk there were not three railways in Ireland
under . The right honourable baronet the
masher far araworth and other right honourable gentle-
fee had said that twenty or thirty seen would he the
average number employed per mile. Why it would
take as many men to make a turnpike road—(hear haul—
and the right hoe. baronet did not certainly get his l'oetbeeitl
for that statement from Mr. Brunel, whose latieseny
proved the very reverse. (Cheers.) He held in hb hand a
letter from a director of the Waterford and Kamm Mae, is
which he said that the statement of the Chested* of the
Exchequer respecting the employment of labourers set that
line was not borne out by the facts, and must have Men sae
on erroneous information, as all the able-bodied laboemes SR
the iit were employed, and that Mr. Hammond had sr
sur him that the relief committee at Thomastown hei .
quite a sinecure of it, except when the weather was too bed .
to admit of full labour on the line. (Cheers.) Another
gentlemen, writing on the sane al Nett, said, that the
working of the line at the lam Irma whisk ha wrote
had been stopped for want of ramie, and OM the straps •: ,
who had been employed there were now fining fr. br„„E
house in large bodies, insisting upon food or money, .
required the presence of additional military and polies.
that the affect of the railway beim; under construction, ins
to render the relief committee a sinecure and the effect of •
its being stopped for want of funds, the reinforcement
of the military and police to keep the peace. (Hear, bear.)
He had another letter. ("Oh, oh," and divide.) This was
a question of vital importance to Ireland and the hon. and
learned member for Cork had stated the other night that
25,000 Christians had perished from starvation, end that
two millions more would perish from pestilence, he hoped. N.
therefore, that late as the hour was, the housti would allow
him totem to thou English members lobo did not know thae„,
(for liss bid members did not need to be told thet
sass are le pagend would employ the people of
..te
He had a Wier from the secretary of the Mi Weiler*
Sawa et Indeed. His hon. friend the member for Shrews-
bury bad Mammel if the railways in the north and the •
Lon . member fkir Radnorshire had of the I
Great Western ad flostbent, and it win only Per him to ,
eta with the Waterford and Limerick sae Dublin i
' sag Melengar. (The noble lord then teed ths letter, •
I whisk was to the effect that it was a Iffilltilke to and
lab:labourers ea that line were not takes ems tits ,
hresgh what it passed • they were not &Ma or
sad, with a little pu and
and better bed, they ;
weal tempts with the English and Scotch. The best, gaol :
et it that during the harvest the labourer's wish
'Maltase per cent., and the engineer was obliged to ~.
ll,eitherelibusnesirmonentheisigasisitsdintbbdi:lnligensarveetbieuth.gmhaTttenhthienreaetn:bwwaretkbeitzolam, mig.adhstrOtta;eifbeescothinueltalen.veend
owa: •.
swifter 6,000 additional for the next fifteen months for
tise be to Athlone. There was a plan for an et-
sedamidenvemielainienagochOtatmAthilibeimimmiasemir
with
.Or 1 a
.... r
edit:reimmay wlewititswimage.roldtbllt-. ~
aag Oster
ahissehr rISII. lihs the Dublin and
Ham Be Wished Is cal the attention Dorfte7dahea. member
hs Ilassmileint, Mat les Hoe mead traverse kis county. -
sail lam thie miessiant pasta Oen .W la e 0 PesetoSt dthai
timarionl"Retdbiontieseoest..elialligresenivif
ziaollo7ll":eratheyy
qiiiantalytheilwthe:aniodyusiradi'nnetoe...,f Zooo:lllllbs.7thwuiperesoles4i:y.:
and eterimeengh, and it amounted to te,002 tons ; wino,
at M. • pewee. or is. ed. a stew woad tip the
that.
noveyar 1111114100 L.
yea;
have
btemnierilvadeLef whiskatearitrl, beatrlFl
He had a bass from Mr. stemmas, the wage's', which
was to the seat that the amortise that Ili or 110 OM 11 r,
mile, wade be smillehat to complies sal nilaWq hi ego"'
three years, was se monstrous that it mail ma hem beta
state_t.,l any eangsenatsegineer. TM ihniegema liell
her plea gad ha to lossthawed an
317WIllatlisiler sal Lae Beaway, 10,600 asell mes i.,
am* employed !es rusk haw Me men ger sea Xvall .
the wee had been ths rise on the Nara WOW, misers ,
' lines. The met pot WY eta line was mainly spent b love ,
labour; in the prepeetha of 10 to 16 out a tke Imo sett • -
(Hear.) It was,- thenare, entirely contra/Imo bet gra MI .1
that Baeand was dant to be taxed for the 0 be• .•
land; ihr ef as mew expended, a tamakhrebis pOldst
woad he
_pall ia this country hr issamativesomara
carriuges ; Mr. calculated diet
of the outlsy would be thus spent ; the 1.111611.
ing two.thirM would go to the employ of Irish Wag.