The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-01 00:00:00

THE SU

thought it would be allowed that to pot forth statements of
thii nature would only have the effect of rcusieg an us-
fouuded spirit of bitterneas, end retard 'he uliimate settle-
ment of tees great question.—(Hear.) He objected to the
section of the Bill which related to the power of
dispossession, because he thought it confounded
good and bad landlords together, and mixed
them all up in one universal measure of com-
pulsion. Whatever measure might be adopted on
cats subject ought to be bused en the great principles of
property, which all were equally interested in maileain-
ing, and which were the right of the poor es well as of
the rich. They were about now to a certain extent to
provide for the wants of the future, and they ought to
do that in a spirit of justice and fairness to
all parties. How was it likely that they would encou-
rage persons from this eountry to lend money in Ire-
land, for the purpose of cultivating the soil, if there was
to be a continual change of legislation on this sub-
ject? In his opinion the fixed principles of pro-
perty must be the same in every part of the United
Kingdom, although he did not deny that there
might be certain special cases in the circumstances of
Ireland which would require special arrangements. He
quite agreed with the Hon. Gentleman opposite, that
they ought to provide just compensation to the tenant in
ail cases of nnexhausted improvement, and that when a
tenant did make improvements he should have a full
and fair enjoyment of them. but to effict this benefit
for the occupier of the land he was not ready to go out
of the fixed limits of the rights of property.
They had now an opportunity to i ffsct for Ireland a
great and permanent good, and he believed that all Hon.
Members were sincerely ectuated by that desire; hut
the subject was a difficult one, and though he believed
that with the assistance and co-operation of his friends
he had arrived at a safe and satisfactory conclusion on
the subject, he was placed at' the present moment in a
very peculiar position. At the beginning of the session.
and after ascertaining the intention of the th. n Govern-
ment not to propose any legislation on the subject, be
nad prepared the outline of the measure wtsicti he in•
tended to ley on the table of the House, and as an in-
dependent Membar of the House to ask their co-opera-
%ion in passiug it into a law. Being now, however, a
member of the Government, he thought that any men
sure which was introduced ought to be under the
responsibility of the Government. It was but right that
the Government should have ao opportunity of consi-
dering such a measure, and he could assure the House
that the measure which he had prepared should be sub-
mitted
to the Government at the earliest period. He had
shadowed forth the principal points of this measure,
and talked with his colleagues on the subject, though he
bad nut yet submitted his plan to them in a formal
way. Tne first. was a 811 by which no less
than sixty Acts of Parliament relating so the subject
of landlord and tenant would be consolidated.—(Hear.)
Secondlt , there would be a complete investigetion of
all the remedies of landlord and tenant un both sides,
arid the third would be a measure having reeard to those
cases in which no agreement had been come to betweee
landlord and tenant; for though it would be better in all
instances to have an agreement concluded sponta-
neously, yet where such was net the case, it was
but right that the law should step in, and say what
would be a fair and reasonable arrangement. At
present ha had consolidated and arnsnded no less
than 104 statutes. He should be able to reduce the
complicated law of landlord and tenant to three statutes.
—(Hear, hear.) The first would be for the con-
solidation of existing laws ; the second would
provide for a ready means of investigation and
appeal, for the purpose of detieing agre ments, and the
third would give compensation fur improvement
where no agreement existed. These were the great
outlines of the measure, which, if passed, he believed
would go as far as legislation could go to benefit the
tenantry of Ireland. There was no exertion, no in-
dustry, no means of information which ho would not
use deigently, and with •ut any unnecessary delay,
in: order to bring this question to a complete and
satisfactory conclusion. In regard to agrarian dis-
turbances in Iretand, the Learned Gentleman stated
there was no power he could wield in his office
which he would not wield tearlessly, to put
down all criminal confederacy with a high
hand and a strong arm.—(Hear.) He concluded
by expressing a hope that, with the aid of the measures
he proposed, aid the blessing of God, the condition of
Ireland might be greatly improved, and a better feeling
promoted between all classes of the people.—(Cheers.)
Mr. E. B. ROCHE agreed in sayingthat, in the name of
justice, mercy, and f air play, let the law be the terror of evil-
doers; but all the evils of Ireland were not confined to
the Ribbon lodges. The Learned Gentleman said they
could not make a good landlord by an Act of Parliament,
but they might prevent a bad landlord from being
mischievous by it,—(Hear, hear.) Though he listened
with great attention and pleasure to the first part of
the Learned Gentleman's speech, he was sadly
disappointed at its conclusion, for if he ever heard good
and sound reasons alleged for going into Committee
upon a Bill, they were those mentioned by the Learned
Gentleman.—(Hear, hear.) In the present unhappy
state of Ireland it was of the utmost importance that
the principles enunciated by the Secretary for Ireland
(L• ,rd Naas) at Coleraine, repeated by toe Learned
Gentleman in his speech, and contained in the Bill
of Mr. Sharman Crawford, should be embraced in an
Act of Parliament,—(Hear, hear.) The mainspring of
all the evils in Ireland was to be traced to the unsatis-
factory state of the land question. These evils might be
divided into three classes—first, the frightful decrease
of the population; secondly, the agrarian disturbance,
out of which arose the insecurity fur life and pro-
perty; and thirdly, the vast accumulation of local taxa-
tion. The great increase of emigration and the dimi-
nution in the Lumber of houses iu Ireland clearly proved
the decrease of population. In regard to agrarian
crimes, he denied that the people did not respect
life, for why did tenants not shoot labourers,
or labourers shoot tenants? Though ho denounced
the perpetrators of agrarian crime as rank and
base murd rers, he thought instead of strengthening the
law they ought to try and remsde the evils which gave
rise to these proceedings. lie was one who be-
lieved that the increase of local •tuxation would
never be stoppod unless the Legislature inter-
fered. Tenant farmers were the only class of
people in Ireland who had capital to ley out on improve-
ments, though he admitted they did nut possess it iu
sufficient ahuodance. There was, however, an immense
amount of property in the savings banks; but this would
re ver be applied to land except some security were given
to tenants for the alley of the capital. No measure
would, therefore, be satisfactory which did not give
ample compensation for all improvements on land. The
Government took no objection to the principle of the
Bill, but only to some of the details, and if they refused
to ge into Committee upon it, the people of' Ireland
would say that all their declarations and professions as
to the settlement of the question were mere sham.
Lord CASTLEREAGH said it appeared to him that
if any difficulty more than another had arisen on that
side of the House, it was that the Government had not
solved the dilemma in which the country was placed in
reference to this question by positively bringing in a
Bill at once on the subject.—(Hear.) A popular journal
had termed the Bid of tiseillen. Alemper an annual claim
for the purpose of obtaining a false popularity, and net
with the view of benefiting the tenant farmers, but it
Was his earnest conviction that, the calamities of Ire-
land were mainly to be attributed to the unsettled state
of the question. It was the duty of the Government
to allow the Bill to go into Committee unless they pro-
posed to do more than simply delay the question, and cast
it into the dim future. He would not bind himself to the
details of the measure, because he thought some parts of
it were objectionable. He scporronmediseths,eainddeaofofocb,t,ztiej,n,iinng
from tenmth4el2Mt arasinrß
upeportbywfhailcshe he did not deserve. It was
seas net his wish to treat the question as a tenant's one
eiimp:y for the settlement of it, he thought it was neces-
for the good of the landlord as wed es the tenant.—
(Hear.) There Was now a ray of sunshine and hope
fur Ireland which he had not seen fur a length of time;
and he trusted that the Members around him who were
nor be toss severe in finding fault,
Athtepzinit)n,
tanxiousre i
etowsseutptl,einthi question would not adopt, any ex-
posed to brin in when
the measure which the Government pro-
posed
en:tgh,
iietEimh
a't
th e House to
done for Ireland.
°hat;
rli:li lie criticising
vwtt the
heehrdio'est he
;ee gt
a 1 lia:ll3t earnestly
woai gt iuns
.i
00
Cni's"ncli:teiet'neuts to vote for the
Mr. G
seceme refusing, duty
REENE urged uPon the House the necessity
of having the Givens went: Bill laid upon the table and
ssi 'i
ikrn'ds carnetahli all
g;afborert
referred to the consideration of 3 Self,ci. Committee.
Mr. V. SCULLY could bear testimony to the im•
portanco which the psalm 'lreland attached to this
e of .
question, and the disappointment-would feel
which they
if this Bill was defeatect.Te of Cork stood in
the same relation to Ireland that
.
e did towards
Yorksbir .
England, and he knew fur a ft leraine down
to the city of Cork the people. ct that from Co
favour of the
Bill. No doubt there wers:der,were in
details, but
he believed they were all cis in its i
agreed as:
to its prlociPet
and he therefore insisted that the Bill ought to be
read a second time, and its clauses left for discussion
and acuendtn-nt. He was at a loss to
the speech of the Attorney-General for Ireland,
from
reland, whether
Government support. d or opposed the
of the Bill, and he hoped the Member who addressed reading 1
from the Ministerial bench would tell the House thee:,
what course they intended to pursue with regard
to
the Bill itself At all events, whether they rseu'l-,-- Supported
it or not, he insisted that the promised Bill of iie"6e-
vernment ought to be introduced at mince or imensdiatelY
after Easter. A judicial move might deprive the House
of the services of the Learned Attorney-General, and
then what would become of the. pledges and declarations
with regard to his proposed Bill. Why the Government
would treat them as mere moonshine; and again
he urged the House to press for the immediate
pr duction ot the Bill. He admitted the d,ffioulty of
legislation upon this subject, but it was by no means im-
practicable or impossible, and it was therefore the duty
of the House to attempt it if the Government was not
disposed to do so.—(Hear, hear.) As he understood
this Bill its principle was plain and simple; it provided
indeed for no more and no less than thin, that when a
tenant wished to terminate his tenancy on account of
the extravagance of the rent which he paid,
i his laualord should compensate him for the
improvements he had made in the land, or continue his
tenancy at au equal zed rent.—(Hear.) That was what
the Bill provided, and seeing much of the distress and
crime which prevailed in Ireland was attribut able to
there being no law in existence of this nature, he was at
a loss to understand now the House could refuse to read
the Bill a second time.—(Heir, hear.)
Sir 'EMERSON TENNEN r bore his willing testi-
mony to tie perseverance and ability wile which the
Hon. Member for Rochdale had from time to time
introduced this subject to the House, and he regretted 1
thati tro
his efforts would have to be followed up by a Bill
of other parties.—(Hear, hear.) He at once admitted •
that the principle of compensating the meritorious te-
nant "flu; sound and just, but the Bill, in attempting to