The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-03 00:00:00

hall "be carried, Cornwall wit"' all its rernaininf,
. ,oroughs, will send only 14 Members, and Cheshire,
ight. Wiltshire and Norfolk may be mentioned.
less wiling contrast, but sCI), ,rt anomaly
vitich imperatively demanded correction ; the lot—
net. with a popolition of 222,157, and paying
,essed taxes to the amount of 50,024/., ,coding 34
Niembers to Parliament; and the latter. with
aumher of inhabitants amounting to 344,368, and
paying 75;795/. in assessed taxes, sending only 12.
; The Bill establishes a better proportion, by re
hieing the representation of the former to 18, and
'f the latter to 11. Without destroying ancient
;'ant!-mark—without levelling the d.stinntions eats-
!dished between county and borough represewati( rt.
I—between knights of the shire arid bragessys, ever•
kince a Parliament existed in England—and ‘vith-
tut trying the'new, unnecessary, and perhaps dart—
Zerous experiment of dividing the country into
!districts or electoral colleges as in Frar.ce, on the
Role basis of property or population, without arty
reference to peculiar habits, interests, or localities—.
!it was perhaps impossible to remove more of rite
;existing anomalies, and to introduce a more uniform
!:),,tern titan what the present measure profesSes to
accomplish.—Times.

There are now few persons who do not admit them,-
cessity of some sort of provision for the poor in Ireland.
The destitution of the people in many parts of that,
country is so great, and the attempts to meet the
evil by means of mendiciry associations supported ;
by voluntary subscription have so oomph tely failed, r
that it is found some compulsory assessment must I
be resorted to. Various plans' have been proposed,/
both in and out of Parliament,. for sffruding relief in t
'he last extremity of suffering and misery', vsichouts
Coming to an. absolute poor-rate. Among others •i
"Who have come forward with plans of this nature ;
,we find General Cockburn, the genr/ematt who had
the charge of the discharged soldiers located by :
Government in Upper Canada, and who, both in
his evidence before the Emigration Committee and
in his report!, furnished the most valuable informs-:
tion as to the 4nost beneficial modes of providing for
the destitute in Canada. The General, in a long.,
and elaborate letter in the Dublin Evening Post of t
Tuesday last, protests loudly against poor laws. g
" I confidently say (he exclaims)--!tear it, English
absentee Lords and Irish residing landlords—the day
poor laws for Ireland, or anything lika the Eng-
lish plan, become law, your estates will riot be worth
live years' putchase." To remedy, however, as far
as can be, the misery " which (he says) no doubt
exists, I propose a law to enable certain Commis.
sioners (acting gratis, and they can he found) to Jay-
a moderate cess on every house in Dublin, and the
same in every city and great town in Ireland, for the
support of mendicity associations like that now inDub-
lio,which is with difficulty kept up by voluntary sub-
scription. The necessary officers to be of course
paid. Those in the country to enable the Protes-
tant and Catholic Clergymen, and Presbyterian,
where there is one, with the churchwardens and any
magistrate residing in the 'mild', to call a vestry
twice a year, at which every person I able to be as-
sessed may attend and vote ; and to enable a roajo- •
rity to buy on a cess on houses in small towns or -
villages, and on the land, for the support of the
destitute." He adds, " such a system would not
interfere wit it, or p:event a continuance of our DU..
merous• and well-conducted charity schools and
in-
stitutions; but a more extended poor rate would
put an extinguisher on them all, as no one would
contribute their voluntary subscriptions, or- give
at charity sermons, if .1,1,r/sirs/I poor laws were in-
flicted on us." General Cockburn says, " 1 hsve
travelled in many countries, and never saw any psi h •
the industry of the English—all others are cotopa-
ratively lazy." How is it that the English are mores
industrious than the-people of every other country
Human natureiithesmne everywhere,andatall events •
physical diffsrenees cannot be great its countries in
the same :latitude. The English were civilized at
an early period, and the Irish tine yet half suvagt
but Poor laws were introduced into England when
the people were also little more than half savage;
the people have, under these laws, become more arid
more iodustrious, and yet we are constantly told by
General Cod:horn, and those who share his views,
to beware of the English system of Poor Laws,
whichotlrelanda y would
nvesoooloert e
odo.fus tbi
?he
ice
solelys
sb
ole
createdp(poverty.pulaitlt I oe 'en
du
-f
ndustry of England, though we have no doubt they
contributed to it ; but we are entitled to ask those
i who condemn n such unmeasured teams a system
under which England has grown more rapidly in
duster than any other conurry, what is there pr re-
liar to ether countries which should render that
whieh,, if it have rot directly benefitted Ene,land,
has, at feast, not injured it, iilyelti to be the cause of
etch hopeless misery ? here
his
habits of meets u~, by
a
coai ra t r descriptionn e laziness;
st. Generalsve will atlil°one'v(ksi
to speak for himself :

'c-And linvi.ktigliah gentlemen, who have so long klatovn
the operation and consequence of Poor Laws in rick) Eng-
land, can have the indiscretion to introduce them into poor
Ireland, is really past comprehension ; and particularly
when- it is obvious that the overgrown pauper population
outstrips all otter e'ements of national activity, and goes
on increasing and aggravating tnisohief. The Irish pea-
santry are so little accustomed to any comfort, that they are
not to be estimated like those of other countries, where a
girl would not marry a mere pauper.
" The Irish, though naturally a strong, hardy race,
would, it they could, like the East Indians, hate three
persons to do the %tank of one—though when working by
task, one will tin the wark of two ; this arises partly from
scanty wages for day's work and bad feeding, for by the
early marriages the labourer has often to Support five, on
wages scarcely sufficient for one. In the army and navy,
when well fed, and are obliged to be regular, they make
admirable aoldiers arr.' sailors. I 'nave travelled in many
countries, and nevee saw any paople iii h the industry of
the English...all.others are comparatively lazy. The
poorest farmers in Itaiand are obliged to watch their
labourers closely, :rid many have said to me, Flow
can gentlemen
..expect work front them when they will
not do itfce- us ?' Sti;l the excuse may be, low wages
and salthiy food—yet this does not apply to tradesmen or
servants; and I declare that I have often known toteuy
of the latter, male and female (although so many thou-
sand are out of employ) to leave comfortable places,
because, as they said, 'the work was too lion!,' though
in English or French servant would have laughed at it.
I therefore say, that if such a population could have indis-
criminate resort to the parish for support, I verily believe,
there would not .be a labourer or servant to be hati; the
latter are certainly in too many instances irregular,
drunken, and exttemey laze; and they almost all marry
before twenty-five years uses, and; coasequently, between
children, tea, and whiakey, seldom save A farthing. But
as to right, I -deny-it in tutu. What right have mesa to
live on the industry of their neighbours ? No doubt the
paisions of the young are strung awl natural, Lot they can
be restrained if they eteaoae, and if they du not choose,
and have-not the prudence to amain single till thirty,.
they must take the consequeuees. Do not the sons and
daughters of the upper and middle classes restrain them-
selves? The higher lataliag must make their passiun%
.tronger, and do wiaiioo young fellows in 4 Inau-of-war,
:ir in long voyages in merchant ships, restrain their pas-
4ions ; and, therefore, if 4 yout:g fellow of twenty, with-
iut a shilling, will sonny a girl of eiglite4n, wi!.leatit any
property but a shift and a pettitatat, and be contented to
live like her, having merely straw to lie on, and po-
tatoes to eat, what right Lave they, for their own gratili-
entiun, to bring posaikly half a dozen of children into the
world, to be kept by those who are more pro lent ? In nn
ether country is there such a rage for early marriages,
" The custom Maid, exists in all foreign countri:ai, of
allowing houses of a certain description, and of different
classes, certainly prevents these imprudent marriages. On
the continent they are actually licensed, and under the sur-
veillance of the police,, and are regalased without any great
violetion of deem um; but in this sanctified age, such a
aleasure would lie thotite,A a scandal in England, although
notorious that there age houses of the sort for the rich its
'vety great town, besides innumerable prostitute room-
keepers, and where 1 suspect there is secretly
Ito-
morality carried on as auy other
,coat.he:Y.
.1‘
slap
E rim tha
,erfectly not:a1011a that two-thirds;‘;
lower orders in Englund are witlii-isie,trt,,,blyiire liccniarriage
~d
Lod let hypocrites say
sett!,
-ail events, it !nava.
would be far pre-ferable as rijuc,t"
oat England
rangi, *On as tits pattetu 01 hit•c:ih.,
aid( virtue-
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