The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-06 00:00:00

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44, ir

LONDON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1849

The protracted labours of " The Long Session"
have produced one good effect. They have made
evident to the Hous,t (what has been long evident to
the country) that a considerable portion of the public
time is annually wasted, and the public business un-
necessarily retarded. • Consequently, one of the very
first acts of the 'newly-assembled Parliament has
been the supervision of the rules of the House, and
the erlendation of the sessional orders. Of the four-
teen resolutions introduced last night by Lord JOHN
ReISSELL, the first eight .hsve been already adopted
during preceding sessions. The proposed alterations
are contained in the ninth :

That when any Bill shall be presented by a Member
of this House, or shall bA brought from the Lords, the
questions " That this Bill be now read a first time," and
" That this Lill be printed," shall be decided without
amendment or debate.
The tenth—

That the Committai of Supply, and Ways and Means,
may be appointed to sit on any day on which Orders of
the Day shall have precedence bf Notices of Motions.
The eleventh—

That when a Bill or other matter (except Supply or
Ways and Means) has been partl-y eonsidered in Com-
mittee, and the Chairman has
been directed to report
progress and ask leave to sit again, and the House shall
have ordered that the Committee shall sit again on a
particular day, the Speaker shall, when the order for
the Committee, hasbeenread, forthwith leave the Chair
without putting any question.
The twelfth—:,
That at the close of the proceedings of a Committee
the whole House an a Bill, the Chairman shall report
the Bill forthwith to the House, and when
shall have been Made thereto, the same shallmbendinents
appointed e agreed
to conditionally without debate, and a time
for taking the same into consideration.
And the thirteenth—
That with respect to any Bill brought to this House
from the House of Lords, or returned by the House of
Lords to this House with amendments, whereby any
pecuniary penalty, forfeiture, or fee, shall be autho
rised, imposed, appropriated, regulated, varied, or ex-
tinguished, this House will not insist on its ancient and
undoubted privileges in the following cases:—
I. When the Object of such pecuniary penalty or for-
feiture is to secure the execution of the Act or the pu-
nishment or prevention of offences :
2. Where such fees are imposed in respect of benefit
taken or service rendered under the Act, and ia order to
the execution of the Act, and aro not made payable into
the Treasury or Exchequer, or in aid of the public re-
venue, and do not form the ground of public accounting
by the parties reeeiving the same, either in respect of de-
fieit or surplus.

3. When such Bill shall be a private Bill for a local
or personal Act.

These resolutions, with some verbal alter ations
have been agreed to. The fourteenth resolution,
which proposed that after the Ist of May orders of
the day, and especially Government orders, should
have precedence over notices of motion on Thurs-
days as well as on Mondays and Fridays, has been
withdrawn for a time. These alterations are so far
satisfactory—they are steps in the right direction.
One beneficial effect we anticipate from last night's
discussion—the exercise of greater forbearance and
discretion on the part of individual Members.
Without this, resolutions ad infinitum might be pro-
posed and passed, and yet the dispatch of public busi
ness be in nowise accelerated. While liberty of speech
—that strongest bulwark of our constitutional rights
is freely exercised within the walls of Parliament,
that liberty will always be liable to abuse ; yet how
much better is the possibility of such abuse than that
such a privilege should be in any way infringed 1
We must confess that, although we agree with Mr.
COBDEN, that if a man has anything to say he can
say it in an hour, we concur with Lord J. RUSSELL
and Sir It. PEEL in thinking it better to leave the
limitation of speeches to the good sense and discretion
of individual Members. True, Mr. Hums candidly
confessed that such an anticipation would
be hopeless 44 Honourable Members bad no

discretion—he had known cases in which it would
have been better if himself had been subjected to
some rule," ani Sir R. PEEL good-humouredly ad-
mitted, " they had tin been delinquents." But that
difficulty has been happily got over by Mr. HUINIE'S
provision for the future, to sacrifice a portion of his
eloquence, " if the Right Hon. Baronet will do the
same." And so the matter stands. Example is better
than precept, says Sir ROBERT—"Let the Hon.
Member for Montrose set us the good example, which
will be far more effective than the motion pro-
posed." A majority of 96 over 62 finally dis-
posed of the one-hour rule, but the effect
of that division will, or we are much mistaken, dimi-
nish rather than lengthen forthcoming discussions.
" We must all," said Sir R. PEEL, " feel that there
are very few speeches which would not be improved
by condensation of the argument. If that impression
should prevail, and every Member would act upon it,
it would be much better than placing an arbitrary
enactment upon the orders." Although the advo-
cates for a one-hour rule were in the minority, the
feeling of the House seemed unanimously in favour of
short speeches; they were declared by men whom
experience has rendered competent judges to be fa-
vourable to eloquence, and they were declared by one
habituated to the enunciation of. reat facts, to afford
ample opportunity for the proper development of an
argument. It remains to be seen what effect these
declarations may have upon the amateur Ciceros of
St. Stephen's.

A praiseworthy promptitude has been exhibited by
the Government with respect to the affairs of Ireland.
On the third night of the session, the first for the dis-
patch of general business, the Chief Secretary moved
for and obtained the appointment of a Select Com-
mittee to inquire into the operation of the Irish Poor-
law. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE at the same time
gave notice that be would on Thursday move
for a similar Committee in the Lords. This
evening the Home Secretary will bring in a
Bill for the continuance of the Habeas Corpus
Suspension Act for a further limited period. To-
morrow the Chancellor of the Exchequer will move a
vote for the relief of Irish distress; and on Friday
the Irish Secretary will bring in two Bills of the
utmost importance, so far as the full and fair repre-
sentation of the people and the purity of election are
concerned—the first, to amend the laws which
regulate the qualification and registration of Parlia-
mentary voters in Ireland; the second, to shorten
the duration of elections in Ireland, and
to establish additional places for taking
the poll thereat. This, it must be admitted,
gives a fair portion of the public time to the affairs of
the sister kingdom. We doubt if much more could
be effected if the Parliament were legislating at Col-
lege•green in place of at Westminster. It proves
that ;Ministers are fully alive to the lamentable con-
dition of that country, and that they have resolved to
grapple boldly with the evils with which it is op-
pressed.

The most important question of all is that which
relates to the working of the Irish Poor-law. It is
indeed to be regretted that the demand for a Commitee,
sanctioned and supported as it was by the all but unani-
mous voice of the Irish representatives, was not acceded
to last year. If the desired investigation had taken
place, if the required information had been obtained,
before the close of last session, the matter might not
only have been ripe for immediate legislation, but
means might have been adopted during the recess to
mitigate the burden in the more impoverished dis-
tricts. The unfortunate people might have been
saved from much unnecessary suffering, and the
ruined proprietors and occupiers of the soil
from injuries that we fear have now become irrepa-
rable. The rejection of the motion brought forward
by the Honourable and Gallant Member for Por-
tarlington was indeed a fatal mistake, but as Ministers
have acknowledged their error, and exhibited every
anxiety to atone therefor, we shall no longer dwell
upon the past, but endeavour to act in the manner
most conducive to the future welfare of the country.
We cannot coincide with those who have censured
the Government for not resorting to immediate
legislation, and bringing forward measures in
accordance with the views which they may already
have formed on the subject. It is certain that just
complaints would have been preferred if they had
adopted such a course. A great diversity of opinion
exists as to the nature of the remedies that should be
brought forward : the Hon. Member for Cork
stated that at a meeting of nine Irish Members no
less than five distinct opinions were expressed.
When such was the case among educated and
well-informed gentlemen, how could it be hoped
that any decision that might be arrived at, could
prove satisfactory, at least until a strict and search.
ing investigation had taken place, and the fullest
information had been elicited ? It was equally un-
reasonable to suppose that the Government should
have declared what portion of the existing law
they were determined to maintain. The Chief Secre-
tary for Ireland stated that they were prepared to
take their stand upon the great principle of the law ;
but he, at the same time, declared that he thought
many improvements might be introduced. Surely, if
he had entered into the details, and pronounced the
Ministerial judgment on the various points, the sub-
sequent investigation would become a mere work of
supererogation, which might readily be dispensed
with—a most unnecessary waste of the public time.
We are unfortunately but too well aware that the
appointment of a Select Committee is in many in-
stances adopted as an ingenious device to get rid of a
difficult subject, and to put it on the shelf for a more
convenient season, when the public mind might be in
a less excited state. Such was the case when the
" Committee to Inquire into the Causes of the Mer-
cantile Distress " was granted on the application of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Right Hon.
Baronet then expressed his clear and unequivocal ap-
probation of the Act of 1844, and he took care to pack the
jury before whom the culprit was to be placed on
trial. That Committee was obtained not for the
purpose of obtaining an improvement of a law, good
in some respects, but in which there were ac-
knowledged defects, but of amusing the public mind,
of putting the disagreeable subject on the shelf, while
a pretended investigation was taking place before a
biassed and prejudiced tribunal. It is, however,
totally different on the present occasion. The Go-
vernment have exhibited a disposition to legislate
fairly on the question ; and they have afforded the
most unequivocal proof of that disposition by an-
nouncing that a grant would be made for the relief
of the distress in the Western districts. These grants
must be continued until the inquiry has terminated
and the measures founded thereon have received the
Legislative sanction. It is, therefore, as well their
interest as their duty to close the investigation with
all convenient speed, to lose no time before the neces-
sary enactments have passed into laws.
The chief point on which a sound decision is re-
quired is that relating to the vexata qucestio—the area
of taxation—whether the liability is to be individua-
lized as much as possible, and, whenever practicable,
rendered conterminous with property—whether there
is to be a union rate for the aged and infirm, and. a
local rate for the able-bodied paupers—whether
every landed proprietor shall be bouni to
support the poor belonging to his own estate, to a
certain extent, and the residue be provided for by a
union rate ; or, finally, whether there shall b 2 a
national rate, by which the entire property of the
upoverty,—these are sub-
jectsn tand mature consideration.
We confess that the latter proposition appears to us
cory
that shall
will require maintain
full its
the most unobjectionable in every particular. Even
during the past year the average rate for the entire
country did not exceed 2s. f)d. or Ss: in the pound—
an amount by no means ; intolerable—and
there is every reason to hope that in
ordinary seasons the amount would not
greatly exceed what we are obliged to pay in this
country. No just complaints could be preferred
against such a charge. In the poorer localities,
however, it frequently amounts to 10s. or 155. in
the pound, a charge which the owners and occupiers
of land are utterly unable to sustain. It will
afford but little satisfaction to the ruined
men to be assured that the average charge through.
out Ireland is of moderate amount, and can easily be
defrayed, or that the rich graziers, and those who
keep their lands in pasture, and the humbler classes,
cautiously, excluded from their localities,
are
only called on for 4d. or 6d. in the
pound. The same consolation may be
afforded to those upon whom the fatal lots had fallen

THE SUN,