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

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF GO HO NS, March 31
(Continued from our Atternooa Edition of 3 esterday.)
TENA.N I'-RIGHT (IRELAND) BILL
Mr. S. CRAWFORD presented a great number of
petitions from various parts of Ireland in favour of tenant-
right in that country. He then moved the second reading
ot the Bill, and said that in doing so he felt a deep and
weighty responsibility rested upon him, for he was not
bringing forward a puppet of his own, nor standing there
as the organ of any sect or party, but Si the messenger
of a nation. He asked their assent to the principle of
the Bill because it had received the sanction of the
nation. The number of petitions presented from various
parts of Ireland in favour of the measure justified him
in making that assertion. He was in the remarkable
position of not having a single petition presented against
the Bill.—(Hear, hear.) Such a circumstance was
nearly unoaralleled on a question of such viral import-
ances to a country. The preamble of the Bill recited
that it was the practice in Ireland to let lands to
tenants without the necessary buildings, and that
in the event of their quitting, they could not obtain any
allowance for the improvements they might have effscted
on The hind. This was proved to be the case by all the
evidence adduced to the House on the subject of tenant
right in Ireland. If a tenant made any improvements
in his land he had no alternative but to rely upon the
honour of the landlord for compensation; for there was
to taw in Ireland to secure to him the value of the capi-
tal'and lanour he had expended. Now he proposed to
remedy this anomaly.—(Hear, hear.) Land was the
chiet means of existence to the Irish population, and
it was necessary that some fair pretectiow should be
given to the poor occupiers for the outlay of their
labour and capital. The prit c'p's he proposed eith the
view ot attaining that object he believed would be gene-
rally acceptatl , for it was that improvtrg tenants
should have a fair and full—compensatiou awarded to
them, having regard to the custom ot the particular dis
trict in which the land was situated. In case of a
difference an arbitrator was to settle the terms be-
tween the landlord and tenant. The provisions of
the Bill were entirely consistent with the civil
law of the land. The Bill recognised putting the onu,
upon the tenant of proving the custom which existed
and the value of the tenant's goodwill. He proposed to
do nothing more than assimilate the law of Ireland, in
regard to tenant right, to that of England. In some
counties in England the tenant was recteired to prove
the local usages and customs, and the value under them.
He would fairly state to the House that the objet of his
Bill was to give the tenant a legal property in the im-
provement which he effected up •n his farm, and if the
Bill did not accomplish that he had no hesitation in
declaring that it would be worthless. The other day,
the Noble Lord the Secretary for Ireland, at his election
for Coleraine made a speech, in as hich he acknowledged
the justness of that principle, and he now called upon
the Noble Lord to support his own views, and
vote fur the second reading of this Bill. The
Noble Lord distinctly stated that the obj ct of the
present Government ought to be to hold out to the te-
nant farmers some inducement to improve the land; and
as that was the main purpose of the Bill he thought
the Noble Lord was bound to take it up. If, however,
he would consent to tae second reading of the Bill, he
should be quite ready to postpone its future stages until
such time as Government should hale decided whether
they would adopt it, or introduee some measure of their
own, as they had promised to d a.—(Hear) Tne tnbu-
naliwnich the Bill would establish for the settlement co
disputes between landlord and tenant, when they could
not be adjusted by amicable arbitration, was of a simple
and inexpensive character. In cases where the compen-
sation claimed was under 1001., he proposed that the dis-
pute should be referred to the revising barrister of the
county, and in all other cases the reverence should
be to the judges of assize, whose decisions should at
all times be final and conclusive.—(Hear, hear.) He
thought there could bo no objection to that provision,
nor indeed could there be any objection urged against
the next clause, which made provision for the adjust-
ment of contracts entered into previous to the repeal of
the corn-laws.—(Hear, hear.) The 13th and 14th
clauses did not originally form part of the Bill, but the
altered circumstances of Ireland had rendered their in.
troduction necessary. The first of these clauses would
prohibit evictions for a limited time of tenants who
were in arrear of rent, while the other
clause would make provision for the pre-
ventii in of that suffering which '''had recently
attended the eviction system. by securing the tenant
some relief or some alternative in the place of the
misery and starvation which otherwise would inevitably
overtake him.—(clear, hear.) He, however, did not
urge these claims upon the attention of the House as a
matter of right due to the tenant, but as a law rendered
necessary by the dictates of humanity, and
im-
peret►vely called for to avert that scourge of
extermination which was now raging amongst
that portion of the Irish tenantry who were the
least able to protect themselves from wrong or oppres-
sion.—(Hear, hear.) Let the House remember that a
whole nation was interested in the success of this mea-
sure, and in the name of justice and humanity, and as
they. valued the prosperity of Ireland, he implored the
House to allow this Bill to go to a second reading.—
(Hear, hear.) The landlord's right could never be
sate, so long as those of the tenant were neglected
or despised by the law ; and, as a landlord
d reply interested in the maintenance of his own rights,
he wished the House to do tardy justice to the tenant
in passing this Bill.—(hear, hear.) It was ridiculous to
telt him that this Bill would confiseate the property of
the landlord, because it could not possibly do any such
thing.—(Hear, hear.) It would, however, take care that
while the improvements in the land were secured to
the landlord, the tenant should be secured his
share through the medium of a money value.
Apologising to the House fur having trespassed so
long upon its time and attention, he begged leave to
move the second reading of the Bill.—(Hear, hear.)

Mr. NAPIER could assure the Hon. Ma mhet for
Rochdale, and the House, that there was no zuhj.:et
m ire worthy of the consideration of Parliament teen
thie—(Bear. hear.) It was of the utmost importance
that the cultivators of the soil in Ireland sheu d be en-
couraged to the fullest possible extent, but at the sum-
time he hoped the question as it now stood would be
discussed clearly and dispassionately, and without any
reference to party feelings or party motives.—(Hear,
hear.) He allowed that the Hon. Member for Rochdale
was entitled to great credit for the manner in
wnich tie had persevered with this Bill, and he could
assure him and the House that for years this
very subject of tenant right had commanded
his constant atrenri )n.—(Hear. hear.) Every mo-
ment he could tied had been devoted to it, and nothing
gave him a greater pleasure, when he was called in-o
`'ices than the prospi-ct which it opened up to him of
being one day aw, to give his labours a practical shape.
—(Hear, bear.) He had, therefore, no hesitation in
telling the
Reuse that be hoped at no distant period
to be able
lay the table of the House a Bill which
should wwtl6f'actorilyreform the law of landlord end
tenant in Ireland
equitable rights.—r hear)
secure to each party his just sad
He had always been
an advocate for compensatingtenant for unexhausted
improvements. The tenanth
hadte nothihg but his labour
and small capital to apply
so he ought to reap, and'y;fto his farm there
• '• ' when he left
the land, and as he sowed
was any portion of his laboureo unrealised, he
thweahsanend: titled to demand some money compensation at
more
of his landlord.—(Hear, hear.)
cal-
culated to improve the social conditiholiengofwlreland than
e
the settlement of this question, and he was rejoiced to °
able to tell the House that in his
attempt
solution ot this momentous question he to obtain a
should be as-
sisted by two gentlemen who had the honour of serving
on the Devon Commission.—(Hear, hear.) il
however, could produce more evil than raising
isg h()n'thioes'
which never could be realized; and he trusted, and
itrother
therefore begged to impress upon the House, that whit
the present Government intended to do in thism m
rni,,s,e
g
would be based upon the report of the D4von
The measure which he hoped to have the honour of
in-
troducing would be made as simple as possible, or it
would be better to leave the matter alone, as it would
only serve to create unnecessary agitation if the measure
was of a complicated and cumbersome character, and
he requested that the House, in its legislation
upon this very difficult subject, would take
care to render its enactments as simple and as fri e from
c implication aiscl restriction as possible.—(Hear, hear.)
With regard to the Bill immediately under discussion,
the principle was no doubt good, indeed, no one
could diapute that ; but still its provisions were
nut sufficient to amend, simplify, and consoli-
date the landlord and tenant code of Ireland.
Tne• Bill in its provisions was not sufficiently
simple or general in its scope, and that was the great
objection which he entertained to its details.—(Hear,
hear.) Whenever these objects could be carried out by
agreement ,o much the better, for though legislation
could do much, it could not by itself make a good land-
lord.—(Hear, hear) But in eff--cting this there were
some difficulties, one of the principal of which was the
Imitation of property for family purposes. In such
cases it was most important that they should be
regulated in such a beneficial mannner as not
to interfere with the cultivation of the soil.
It was more consistent, however, with the commercial
system of the country and the temper of the times to
act as far as possible on a system of contracts. One of
his principal objections to this Bill wag that it was a
dealing with the existing state of things, for the purpose
of perpetuating by Act of Parliament the custom—atter
all not a legal one—which was not calculated to work
any important improvement. If they could get a
system arranged by which the tenant would receive
a compensation for unexhausted improvements, it would
very much tend to increase the prosperity of Ir.-land.
The course to be taken was this, to secure to each tenant
such gt period of erijoyment of the imp
to roved soil sir as
enable him fairly to reap the fruits ot every improve-
ment which ha might have made ; and if it were neces-
sary, from
an
v i reason, to interrupt the possession,
that, at the elnee ' n of his possession, calculations
should be fead-re-- tal:d he should still be able to
reap the benefit
o'r, his improvements.—(Hear, hear.)
That in his opinion
was the plain justice of the case—
(Reav)—a fair principle
inst which no righteous
tenant or landlord
hear.) But the presentee a'i
could
Bill did not go consistentlyg
b
a°lltjuecer' I
the propositions which it
right
tentained were such as to
startle men from a
view of the case. It in-
terfered with existing contracts, and that, in
__
his opinion, Parliament ought not do. It was
not by the violation of to
the rights property
that Ireland was to be benefited,
with the fixed principles of property,'or by
en-
couragement of industry, by inviting of
finierfering
t hut by the
he
Application
cr.pital, and by promoting the spread o of
agricultural
knowledge.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentr an then
:eue state-
• •
proceeded to analyse and animadvert on certain
uer
merits which had been put forth by the Tenant
Right League, which he showed to be tt
without foundation. He was perfectly willing to invitel
fall and fair discussion ou this important subject, but he