The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-04-07 00:00:00

STATE OF DISEASE IN IRELAND.

Sir JOHN Ne.ieruß:r said, lie rose to submit a
motion to the House, the object of which wall, the
revival of the Committee which-was appointed. Irsts.
year, to inquire into the state of dire*" iu lirelosid.
lu cOlOwtelroCe of the recuentnendatioo of that
Committee, a Bill hail been framtd, which had
produced roost statutory effects in that country.
But. although the fever had disappeared in some
places, MA was greatly mitigated in other,., .it
still. lie was sorry to say, existed in several
parts of Ireland. The ravages of the disorder.
had been very great—and when he stated that, lur-
nig one year. 3,400 persona had been *denoted into
• single fever hospital, the. House would allow that
it well a case of great &stress to the inhabitants
generally, and of heavy affliction to those who were
srized with the distemper. The evil did not termi-
nate with the eradication of the disease. The poor
people came out of the hospitals in such a state of
feebleness, want, and misery, that, he was sure, in
many instances it would have been better if they
had died in the hospital, rather than left it in such
a pitiable condition. In the year 1815. uo less
than 43,000 persons, in Dublin. Cork, and Lime-
rick, were attacked by fever—but the number of
cases had greatly decreased. The measure that
hail been adopted, which. iu fact, emanated from
the Committee, bad produced much good. He
wished to inquire how fir it could be amended,
and applied as a more perfect remedy to the
evil. His motion would be, for a Committee to
inquire into the state of disease in Ireland, and
also into the condition of the labouring poor its
that part of the United kingdom, with a view to
the arrangement of measures for enabling indivi-
duals and public bodies to devote particular funds
to their employment and relief. The last part
of his motion was most important, and he would
C(04111 his ideas on it as fully as possible. • He
did not mean, to rely shape or manner, to call for
notional intervention ; but lie wished to see, whether

those restriction', which stood in the way of the
employment of the funds of private individuvls
and bodies (such as the tenure by which property
was held, or particular forms by which it was
effected), might not be removed, by some general
meastire, instead of having recourse to separate
Acts of Parliament, amid be rendered available for
the relief of the poor. The other great oliject lie
had in view, was to employ the usel•ul labours of
the Commissioners, who frad been apponited to
examine certain parts of Ireland, at present occu-
pied by bogs awl morasses, in assisting the great
body of the people. They had reported that
there were 2,431,000 English acres of hog and
morass—or which 1,576,000 aerea were ,capable of
being employed in agriculture—and the remaining
1,255,000 acres might he used as pasture laird.
One million of acres had been surveyed. levelled;
and repotted on by the l'uu►u►iasiuurrs. These tracts
belonged to a variety of proprietors, and the ground
was very much intermixed. If a general Act
were passed, etiabliiig indivirhial+, or associations of
individual+, to make advance. for the cultivation
of this land, it would produce extraordinary benefit.
After some further obaervationa, the Hon. Baronet
moved— .

" That it be referred to a Select Committee to inquire
into the stale of disease in Ireland—to recommend such re-
medial and preventive steps as may appear must likely I.
check the evil—and to consider what effect woo produced by
the legislative measure enacted last year. Also to inquire
into the condition of the labouring poor, its that part of the
Visited Kingdom, with a view to facilitate the esnpkiyeiscnt
of the funds of private individuals and hodiet, in the encou-
ragement of useful and productive tabus—aud to report
their opluions, from lime to lime, to the House."

Mr. C. GRANT concurred entirely in the pro-
priety of the Hon. Baronet's motion, and re-
gretted that so interesting a subject hid been in-
troduced in so thin a House. The Don. Baronet
said the evil wits considerably abated—a fact which
lie had it in his power to confirm, if further con-
firmation could he deemed necessary. The dimi.
notion of the disease was generally observable,
ti gh these were local and partial excep.
lions. In Cork, Limerick, and Dublin, the di.
minution of fever' appeared to he universal.—.
The Reports of the Dublin Iluepitals skewed
that there was an titcrraw till the month of
November. The rrterus were made every three
the, and the last shelled that there 114 a great
improvement, pat ly if the months were
takes, separatel3. Tile avcrsge rate of the daily
admissions to the different in
was, in December, 90—in try, 77—and to
February, 60. The Isis returns, including the
li of March, 'Mewed the overage rate to be 50,
Theta were one or two ca•ea of great malignity in
Dublin—but the disorder hail, on the whole, de.
creased so much, that some of the fever
wards were shut, and the Richmond Pettit'''.
tiary, which was converted into an hospital,
had been restored to its originul use. About
two months ago, the Irish Government, in
oreer to ascertain more exactly the state of the
fever throughout the country, thought it necessary
to send physicians into the di&rent provinces of
behind. They had not yet returned from their
tour—hit he understood, that, in general, the re-
sult ol• their tuerstigation was saitsfactoiy. The
fever was, hbaever, so (Artemis in its visits, that,
were the general 'Pew of ;anprovegnetit greater evert