The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-18 00:00:00

4 IT LqiCti I V,

LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1849.

One of the earliest propositions to be submitted to

Parliament on its re-assembling will relate to the
working of the Irish Poor-law. A Special Commit-
tee will undoubtedly be appointed to inquire and
report thereon, in order that the alterations, which
are admitted on every side to be essential, may be
duly carried through both Houses before the proroga-
tion. Whatever differences of opinion may exist as
to the nature ant character of those changes—
howevee various and conflicting may be the
views entertained, no controversy can arise on
one point—something must be done, matters
cannot be suffered to remain in their present
position for another year. The country has already
been brought to the verge of ruin. In many of the
more impoverished districts there has been a total
cessation of payments. Rents, tithes, rates, debts of
every description, are alike repudiated. The land-
lord may in vain appeal to his tenantry, the parson
to his congregation, the cess collector to the rate-
payer, the mortgagee to the nominal proprietor of
the too-deeply encumbered estate. The appli-
cations . call forth no favourable response.
Although the most stringent measures are
resorted to, and all the engines of the law
brought into operation, the result is the same_
the liabilities remain unliquidated. The debtor may,
be ruined by
the litigation, but the creditor will re-
ceive no benefit therefrom. lie will only increase
his demand by a heavy bill of costs, which must be
satisfied under any circumstances. The attorney
must be paid, whatever may be the result.
The remedy suggested by many influential
men for this untoward state of affairs is,
that " the area of taxation should be narrowed
to townlands, or even smaller divisions, and that
the responsibility of supporting the destitute
poor should be individualised as far as possible so as
to make it, whenever practicable, conterminous with
property." We have already pointed out the difficul-
ties that arise, the objections that must be answered,
before these suggestions can be carried into effect.
It is manifest that it would multiply evictions and
hold out the strongest inducements to landed pro-
prietors to clear their estates of the pauper occupants.
All the evils that have arisen in this country from
the operation of the Law of Settlement would be
produced in Ireland in a tenfold ratio. A
premium would indeed be held out to cruel and
bard-hearted landlords, that could not be re-
sisted ; and the voice of lamentation would be heard
throughout the length and breadth of the land, the
lamentations of those driven from their bumble hold-
ings to wander without food, shelter, or employment,
and eventually to become permanent charges upon
the rates of some of the larger unions, where it was not
practicable " to individualise the responsibility," or
" to render it conterminous with property."
Mr. RIGBY AVASON has well explained the end and
object of the contemplated enactment, and clearly
pointe,l out the ultimate results of such a law. Whether
we take the statement of the Hon. Member for
Limerick (Mr, MONSELL), who tells us that " active
landlords have been forced into inaction by the im-
possibility of getting the indolent to co-operate with
then'," and that, "so long as you allow the indus-
trious and humane to be swamped by the indolent
opacity of those who by exorbitant rents create

f".• .

„ ,

paupers, and then refuse to expend one shilling in
employing them; you can have no employment
here ;" or of the ex-Member for Westmeath (Mr.
HUGH MORGAN TUITE), who desires " to put
the screw upon all properties in the possession
of the indolent and hard-hearted landlord and
tenant, the absentee, and, worst class than
all, the estates in the Court of Chancery,"
it is obvious that the intention is to transfer a certain
portion of the; burden that now affects active and
improving landlords to others who are undoubtedly
less able to sustain it. What must be the inevitable
consequence of a proceeding, which Mr. WAsoN so
happily designates " a specimen of injustice, of con•
fusion of ideas, and of short• sighted policy ?" The
land on which the further charge was imposed would
speedily be thrown out of cultivation. The parties
interested therein would, whether as proprie-
tors, annuitants, or incumbrancers, become the
first victims, their ruin would speedily be
effected. Indeed, it would require very little
in addition to the present burdens to do so, they are
already fearfully overweighted. Every increase may
be considered as the " last straw that breaks the horse's
back ;" and when the back is actually broken, who is
to assume the burden for which there will be then no
bearer ?. Mr. WAsoN pertinently asks, " upon whom
would the screw then be put," on the adjoining
landlords or the British nation ? We believe that it
would be a matter of no slight difficulty to induce the
British nation again to assume the charge-10,000,0001.
sterling were advanced, either as grants or loans,
to avert starvation from the destitute population
which at that time had no legal claim for support.
The consequences of a drain so enormous are unhap-
pily but too well known. The suffering on this side
of .St. George's Channel has been sufficiently acute.
We do not believe that any suggestions will be taken
into consideration, or even listened to, the result of
which may be again to impose the burden of main-
taining the Irish poor on English tax-payers. It
must then fall upon the Irish landlords, and, it will
do so with much greater effect, and prove still more
onerous, when many of those who now contribute to
the burden have been forced to relinquish the struggle,
and to permit their properties to remain barren and
unproductive. It would then indeed be proved " that
honesty was the best policy."

Within a fortnight the British Parliament will
have assembled. Within how brief a time it is im-
possible to conjecture the French Parliament will
have been dissolved. The former august Senate will
be opened by her Britannic MAJESTY in person ; the
latter will have to decree the moment of its own
dissolution. Before the occurrence of these contem-
parary events it will be well to contrast the prospects
opened by them to the two greatcst nationalities in
Christendom.
To England the meeting of the House of Commons
will prove an augury of hope, and an augury
of hope too will be afforded to the Young
Republic by the appeal which must be made
to the judgment of the population immediately
upon the disappearance of her first Assembly. With
ourselves the popular anxiety is concentrated upon one
point of domestic interest and that point one of vital
importance to a great mercantile community—the
scheme of financial improvement. The reduction of
our expenditure of ten millions of pounds sterling,
the diminution of our annual disbursements to the
amount which was found to be sufficient in 1835, the
reconciliation of the conflicting propositions of Mr.
COBDEN and of Mr. MACGREGOR—constitute the
centre round which the whole of the aspirations of
the multitude are revolving. With our neighbours
it is different. They have to strengthen
the foundations, while we are beautifying the adorn-
ments, and lightening the load of the superstructure.
They have to deal with the fundamental truths of
government, while we are merely called upon to
modify its pageantry and to restrict its ceremonials.
They have before them the enormous labour of con-
solidating the new Republican institutions, whereas
we have simply the responsibility of adjusting anew
what was long since constructed by our forefathers.
The popular assemblies required for these very dif-
ferent undertakings must consequently be of very
opposite characters. Ours has already been selected,
The French have yet to choose their repre-
sentatives ; for it is sufficiently manifest that
the National Assembly now sitting at Paris
has to a very large extent accomplished its destinies.
Not that we place the faintest shadow of reliance
upon the declaration of those malcontents who declare
that the Assembly has outlived its popularity. On
the contrary, we are satisfied that the memorable
Chamber of the national representation never stood
in a loftier position in the estimation of the multitude
than now when it has received again into its bosom
the absorbable chiefs of the three inaugurative
Cabinets—the Provisional Government, the Exe-
cutive Commission, and the Military Dictator-
ship— now that it has digested and proclaimed
the one hundred and sixteen articles of its Poli-
tical Constitution now that it has bowed
before the will of the nation in recognising the autho-
rity of the Republican PRESIDENT. Yet the very fact
that these things have been accomplished by the
Assembly is the most glaring attestation that its
destinies have been completed. It is warned to resign
its power into the hands from which that power

emanated, not by the insolent mandate of a few con-
temptible petitions, comprising in all the signatures of
merely six thousand five hundred individuals, not by
the petulant tones of a faction thirsting for an
opportunity to deliver up Liberty into the
possession of Despotism, not by the rhetorical
taunts hurled alike to the gauche and the droit by the
chivalrous but mistaken scorn Of MONTALEMBERT—
but by the audible conscience of the Republic speak-
ing to the national representatives, in a voice that has
never yet deceived them, the voice that first sum-

mooed them to undertake the salvation of the

country—the voice of LAMARTINE. Within the last
few days that great man has addressed himself to the

difficult problem now on the eve of its solution—the
question as to whether the National Assembly
should consent to its immediate dissolution.
M. DE L &MARTINE is fully of opinion that
the response of the national representation
should be in the affirmative. Such he conceives to

be due to its reputation. For, says he, "The life of
a political body is its inviolability and its dignity :
much of the inviolability of the National Assembly
was lost on the 10th of December ; much of its dig-
nity on the 12th of January." On the former occasion
it will be remembered that the candidate deliberately
selected by the Assembly was unsuccessful against
the decision of Universal Suffrage. On the latter
occasion it cannot be forgotten that M. ODILON
PARROT, speaking in his official capacity as the
Minister of the President BoDiArAirrE, declared to the
National Assembly, that its hour was arrived.
On the former occasion, exclaims M. DE LAMARTINE,
"the moral inviolability of the Assembly was
wounded," on the latter " its dignity was wounded
also." " Without inviolability," he continued," with-
out.; complete dignity, can we continue to exist,
to exist usefully ?" No! What then are we
called upon to do ? One of two things alone, gentle-
men ; either to revolt against the Minister who has
thus addressed us, and to recover beyond the ruins of
his overthrow the lost executive authority, or to re-
tire, and, in retiring, to make an appeal to the
country. To revolt and to subvert the Minister !
The notion is sufficiently seductive, as far as self-
love is concerned, but it would compromise the for-
tunesd
establish-
ment true pa-
triotism; inti s
mo:f
say 0 r
tofatubse:r—lanDdo.
notW I sd
agitate
an
anso feebly compacted together.
which is so newly born, and whichSacr.tfi.ce your is even now
resent-
ment to the country. Retire !" There is a reason
in all this, a self-sacrifice, and a moderation eminently
worthy of LAMARTINE.
We could utter nobler
eulogium. In saying this we have exhausted no
the
vocabulary of our panegyrics, but those panegyrics
were never more admirably deserved.
The National Assembly must now, therefore, re-
sign the power which it has wielded during nine
months, for its own glory, and for the national
happiness. It must abdicate in favour of the Re-
public that diadem of popularity with which it was
crowned on the 4th of May by the acclamations of
the multitude. It lost its inviolability on the 10th of
December, when, in opposition to its own candidate)
Prince Louis NAPOLEON was declared to be the
Republican President. It lost its dignity on
the 12th of January, when M. ODILON BARRO?
insulted
.its aggregate strength with impunity. And

as an additional and conclusive argument for its dis-
solution, M. DE LAMABTINE—the Creator of the
National Assembly—has said to it " Retire 1" Before
the next session of our own Parliament has far ad-
vanced we shall, doubtless, in consequence of
these occurrences, witness another general election
by the Ballot and by Universal Suffrage throughout
the capital and the departments of the French
Republic.

We are happy to announce that Mr. PEIRCE
MAHONY, the eminent solicitor, and formerly Member
for the borough of Kinsale, has been appointed to the
important and lucrative office of Clerk of the Crown
to the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland, vacant by
the death of the late Mr. BOURNE. We congratulate
the Irish public upon this most excellent appoint-
ment. There is no person better qualified to
discharge the duties of the situation. Mr.
MAHONY has earned for himself the cha-
racter of an experienced, intelligent, and
indefatigable member of the legal profession: His
quick and comprehensive judgment enabled him to
detect defects in the system of registry, and to sug-
gest most important alterations therein. The valuable
evidence which he gave befle the Committee ap-
pointed to inquire as to the expediency of intro-
ducing the Irish system of Registration into Eng-
land, in the month of June, 1847, led to the passing
of the Act 11 and 12 Victoria, chap. 120, which
proceeds upon the basis of dispensing with the repe-
tition of the investigation of title, so far as registry
is concerned. By that Act the Registrar of Deeds
is directed, before giving out any negative
search, to cause a copy to be recorded, and attested
copies of recorded searches are to have the same
force and effect, and shall be accepted and received in
the same manner as a new search. The enormous
expense and difficulty in the transfer of land
thereby avoided will be duly appreciated by our
professional readers. It was a step in the right di-
rection, tending towards what Mr. JAMES STEWART,
the eminent conveyancer, happily termed " a free
trade in land." Mr. MAHONY also pointed out the
errors in the Bill for facilitating the sale of encum-
bered estates in Ireland, brought forward in 1847,
which led to its postponement until the subse-
quent year, when !it received the Legisla-
tive sanction in 'an improved form. It is
impossible to estimate the consequences that
might have resulted from the adoption of the
measure in its original condition. A panic was
created amongst English capitalists who had invested
many millions on Irish mortgages ; proceedings
would have been immediately taken to foreclose these
mortgages, and a ruinous litigation would have been
excited. The nation is indebted to Mr. MAHONY for
averting these evils.

There is another point of view in which the ap-
pointment is peculiarly felicitous. One portion of the
duties which the Clerk of the Crown is required to
discharge consists of attending on behalf of the
Crown to strike the juries in State prosecutions. The
outcry that was recently excited in Ireland respect-
ing the alleged packing of these juries cannot be
forgotten. Although we have already shown that
the complaints were utterly unfounded, it was ex-
tremely detrimental to the public interests that any
such statements could by a possibility have been de-
liberately nut forward. Mr. MATIONY possesses the
confidence of all parties and classes of politicians,
and there is little prospect of these complaints being
renewed when the ballot shall take place under his

auspices.
We doubt not that Mr. MAHONY will make an
invaluable public servant, that he will be a truly
efficient officer, and we rejoice to find that his Ex-
cellency the LORD-LIEUTENANT has in this instance
indeed selected " the worthiest," and promoted the
man whom the voice of public opinion has pro-
nounced to be the fittest for the office. It is satisfac-
tory to find that merit such as Mr. MAHONY'S has not
been lost sight of or forgotten in the highest quarters.
We would gladly direct the attention of our readers
to the communication from Dublin that will be
found in another part of our impression. The abo
lition of the equity jurisdiction of the Court of
Exchequer, and (if necessary) the appointment of an
Irish Vice-Chancellor is a change that cannot long
be refused. It is looked for by the profession, and,
indeed, by the public generally in Ireland.