The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-03 00:00:00

and commercial aspscts of the question, and who advo-
ca'ed those principles of extreme political economy
which he (Mr. Disraeli) did not think then, and
less thought now, could apply to the circumstances
of Ireland. He listened to the Right Honourable Baronet
when demolishing the argument, with the admiration
due to a master, and could not even attempt a reply.
But time revenged truth; and the answer to the Righ t
Hon. Gentleman's speech was the proposition which on
two occasions the same Right Hon. Gentleman had de-
veloped.—(Hear.) When they considered that the state
of Ireland was one which had baffled all statesmen—
when they refiscted on the position of any Government
called on to cope with a case t.f such aggravated diffi-
culty, great was the responsibility of that man who
Came forward in a position so eminent as that of the
Right Hon. Gentleman, and volunteered his opinions.
It was on his part, no doubt, a high act of duty.
Those suggestions ought to be received with great
respect, but, at the same time, weighed with careful
scrutiny. If they mere founded on deep thought,
fine observation, and matured experience, none more
readily than he (Mr. Disraeli) could acknowledge
those qualities, or support the policy which might
bring those suggestions into action. Those sugges-
tions were numerous; they were not all novel. I'w/ill-
ties for the transfer of land, plans to encourage emi-
gration, propositions to permit the investment of public
meneys in public works, were measures of great interest
and importance, but they had been heard of before.
The characteristic feature of the Right Hon. Gentle-
luau's revelations was, that, somehow or other, the
state or the society of England was to appropriate to
itself those vast regions which were now the scene of
so much miegoverntreet and misery in Ireland, and
that, by happier management and more successful cul-
tivation, results quite opposite to those now realised
would be attained, and the regeneration of Ireland
would, iu fact, be occasioned by a change in the tenure
of land under the happier auspices of the English Go-
vernment. A more elaborate exposition had been given
by the Right Hon. Baronet besides the preliminary in-
timation atfsrded some weeks ago—not inferior in
ability—not as the Odyssey to tho Iliad, the setting to
the rising sun, but still as radiant and fervent as his
earliest effort. Combining those two expositions, he
(Mr. Disraeli) could only conclude that the Right
Honourable Gentleman anticipated at the bottom
of his mind a considerable home colonization in
Connaught. Ho referred to the time of James
1., and quoted the economical opinions of the wisest
of Englishmen. But had the Right Hon. Gentleman
considered the consequences of his proposition ? So far
as he (Mr. Disraeli) could follow the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman, whom indeed he always followed with great at-
tention, thoro roomed one great pervading fallacy. The
Right Hon. Gentleman seemed to assume that lands
were lying waste in consequence of the operation of the
poor-law, and that they were depopulated. They might
be desolate, but they needmot be depopulated. So far aehe
(Mr. Disraeli) could obtain information, they were not
so. There was a population on the waste lands who were
quite sensible of the rights of possession and ready to
maintain an adverse claim even though the title put
forth be a Parliamentary one. In what position did
that circumstance place the Right Hon. Gentleman and
similar projectors ? But, said the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, " remember the plantations of Ulster." They
were conceived by great statesmen, and they achieved
great results. Ulster had, in trying times, maintained
the connexion between the two countries. Why should
they not be as successful in carrying out plantations
under Victoria as they had been under King James?
When the the prime causes of the success which
had attended the Ulster plantation were examined,
one could scarcely be induced to believe that the Right
Hon. Gentleman was the statesman who advocated such '
a principle. The plantation of Ulster, notwithstanding
a thousand difficulties, was successful from the inspiring
force of a community of religious sentiment. Now, the
Right Hon. Gentleman was not, he imagined, the states-
man to look forward to a community of religious feel-
ing to be the basis of his new plantation.—(Hear, hear.)
Yes; but what the Right Hon. Gentleman proposed was
to place there substantial farmers, men of great capital
and considerable scientific acquirement. Now, he did
not wish to hurt the feelings of any one, but it was pro-
bable that the great majority of those persons would be
Protestants, living in the midst of a Roman Catholic
population, who would not only regard them as intru-
ders, but as men having an inferior title to themselves.
He saw all the difficulty of plantations on the Protestant
principle, such as took place 200 years ago. Were they
to reproduce that source of so many calaniiies? Ile
hardly believed that the House of Commons would au-
thorise that principle.—(" Oh I oh !") " Oh 1 oh !" but
they must deal with the circumstances before them,
and if they called upon England to undertake an expe-
riment of such vast proportions, without considering all
these circumstances, they would not be acting like states.
men. He spoke entirely independent of the reli-
gious feeling—which he (Mr. Disraeli) would be
as little ready as any man* to evoke, and which
he was sure the Right Honourable Gentleman would
be the last man in the House to evoke when
he said that a colony or plantation taking place in a
country where the population had an adverse possession
offered a prospect of the most calamitous kind.—(Hear,
hear.) Would they plant these men in Connaught with-
out taking care that they were protected? But, if they
were to be protected, how was it to be done? Why, by
force, by arming themselves, and by the development of
the military principle which always took place in these
plantations. lie did not believe that any attempt at home
colonization of this kind, even if they proceeded in the
mitigated forms and with the modified courses of the 19th
century, could end in anything except in calamities
which the imagination could not conceive, and which
they would all hereafter deplore uud wish to avoid. But
the Right Hon. Gentleman would not carry his plan
into effect as far as a forced plantation or colony, but
he would have a high commission to manage these
lands. Now there was one deficiency in the speech of
the Right Hon. Gentleman, who prop seed that his
commission should be a local one, and that it should be
on the spot. But he seemed to omit from his consider-
ation that these distressed districts did not lie alto-
gether. If the Right Hon Gentleman looked at the
map of Ireland, and traced that extensive western coast
from the Bay of Don. gal to Bantry Bay, he would
find that some of this district commenced at the upper
part of Donegal and ended at Kerry, and that there
intervened the counties of Clare and Limerick. He
should wish to know where the Right Hon. Gentleman
proposed to place this local commission, which was to be
on the spot, and to supersede not only the metropolitan
authority, but also the authority of the Viceroy. But,
suppose this high commission established, say at
Limerick, what was it to do? The Right Hon. Gen-
tleman, vague and shadowy as he was, and which
became the colossal proportions of such projects, did
descend a little into detail, and referred to those mea-
sures which the [louse had passed for the mitigation of
the sufferings of Ireland. What were those measures?
The Right Honourable Gentleman particularly dwelt
upon the funds voted to promote drainage in Ire-
land, which funds were now under the manage-
ment of the Commissioners of Public Works.
(Hear, hear.) Now, he would take that instance.
Was there any Gentleman imagined that those funds
could be better managed by a commission such as the
Right Hon. Gentleman had recommended? If there
were, he should like to know the grounds of such an
opinion. He was reading the report of the Commis-
sioners of Public Works that morning, and he was cer-
tainly of opinion that if those Commissioners erred,
which ho was far from suggesting was the case, it was
on the side of too much scrupulosity; but better ma-
nagement and greater discretion in the application ofo
public funds he did not believe were anywhere to 1a
found. supposewDoindldthaehnHwoumseor
He might pursue
this train of analysis with respect to the application of
poor-rate hstcersertb: discretion,
better r than was done a t
that the Lord High Commissioners could manage the
Tnlmyddhi eebae,and
funds WorkWork s
raised ( r
bi Works?—(Cries ot
the
ee,
lion. Baronet had given credit to the latternlmbint
e
present b
hyi
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ehrsseu.
thesegpuplaov guardians
suppose
aifauttnhnswad atsenrhwdei vice-guardians. ihtcheeg- gruHe
commissionaairtged hri anacwsb.oi
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tmh
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oa Commis-
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htraddmidin
the railways, Righte
Commissioners
to do if Gov, rnment advanced 1,500,0001. to
Irish railways ? Who would administer that ?
Why, the directors of the railway. As far as the
plantation scheme of the Right Honourable Gen-
tleman was concerned he thought it impossible—as far
as the application of the present funds, and the mainte-
nance of the present arrangements connected therewith
in Ireland were concerned, he thought it would
be nugatory. Under the best circumstances, the
High Commissioners would not be able to act more
for the public advantage than the functionaries
that now existed. But the third and more im-
portant feature of the Right Honourable Gentleman's
plan was that of giving a Parliamentary title—(Hear,
hear)—and before Hon. Members were fascinated by the
large and eloquent views of an experienced statesman,
they should pause and consider whether the measure
proposed were a matured measure, or a crude and ill-
advised one. He (Mr. Disraeli) had heard in his time
many causes given for the miseries and misgovernment
of Ireland, and there had been nothing more interesting
than the variety of changes on that subject. At the
earlier part of his public career it was supposed that
Ireland bad been miserable and misgoverned on account
of the difference of religion between the two countries.
Then it was found that the cause was not religious, but
political, and that Ireland had not a sufficient number of
Members of Parliament. Well, Ireland had an increased
number of Members of Parliament; but she remained
equally miserable and misgoverned as ever.—(A laugh.)
Then it was discovered that the cause was not religious
or political, but municipal. Ireland, it was dis-
covered, had no Roman Catholic aldermen. Well,
she at last had Roman Catholic aldermen.
They bad seen in that House the Lord Mayor or
Dublin, with his gold chain, and they bad now a Lord
Mayor from that city without one. But the misery and
misgovernment remained, and at last it was discovered
that the cause was neither religious, political, nor muni-
cipal, but material, and was to be found in the tenure of
lands. That opinion prevailed some time, when the
cause was suddenly discovered to be socia'. To the
Right Hon. Gentleman was now due the credit of pro-
claiming that the real cause that Ireland was miserable
opaienpadarlern, stgahreasevtreiaralnil,etdnhciwsr astsintri_iieeeiith.heberar
tArtiehuliaiegtsitio;ussw,:pasoilnmeldigt
aiocalfa.
It ohnipi.id;
d
had been in Chancery.—(" Hear, hear,"
knew‘liL thhea t sv when
ame less splendid, and his
vents, that his banquets bec
upposed that the same result
raiment more scanty, he s
suit he thoughtdispenesnedatwghieat
produced upon the nation at large when it got
might be The Right Hon. Gentleman had acted
into Chancery. gentleman loeaommatenu ffigo oef tehnito involved coaaursreii
gas:
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