The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-21 00:00:00

INCREASE OF BISHOPS.

Mr. R. PALMER presented a petition from the
Church of England Lay Association, complaining
that the present number of bishops were inadequate
to the spritual warts of the country.
SUPERANNUATION FUND.

Mr. NEWDEGATE presented petitions in favour
of a superannuation fund:; also two petitions against
the admission of Jews.

JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL.

Lord J. RUSSELL brought up the Jewish Dis-
abilities Bill, which was read a first time. The
Noble Lord said he proposed to take the second read-
ing on Monday, February 7th.
Mr. SPOONER rose to express his regret that
the Noble Lord had taken so long a time for the ad-
journment of the House.
Lord J. RUSSELL :—it has not been moved yet.
—(A laugh).
Air. SPOONER :—Oh, I beg pardon.—(A laugh).
Colonel SIBTIIORP regretted that he was un-
able to be present at the discussion on the
passing of the resolution which had been carried.
He should not be at all surprised, after what had
transpir,d upon this Bill, to hear the Honourable
Member for the University of Oxford, the Noble
Lord the Member for Lynn, and the Honourable
Member for Bucks, proposing that anybody and
everybody should :be admitted into the House ; but
he wanted the Noble Lord who introduced this
Bill, to say whether he intended to make any
exception for Jews as to Friday and Saturday
sittings. Suppose there happened to be " a call" of
the House on a Saturday, would the Jews be ex-
empted from attending ?—(Great laughter.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that should such an
unusual event as that suggested by the Hon. and
Gallant Member arise, no doubt those Hon. Members
who neglected to attend would be committed to the
custody of the Sergeant-at .Arms ; but he could
assure the Hon. and Gallant Member that such Jews
as might become Members of that house would be
quite content to pay the fines and suffer the penalties
consequent upon their absenting themselves on a
Saturday.
Colonel SIBTHORP—Friday—I said Friday.)
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said it did not matter
whether the call were made on Friday or Saturday,
he could answer for it the Jews would be quite wil-
ling to pay the fine.—(Hear, hear.)
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL moved that the House,
at its rising,do adjourn till Thursday, the 3d February.
Ile did not think it necessary to propose an earlier
day for the re-assembling of Parliament than the day
he had named. The Queen's speech having been de-
livered, and the address passed, there could be nothing
upon the re-assembling of Parliament to prevent the
House from at once proceeding with business. He
begged therefore to move, that the House at its rising
do adjourn till Thursday, 3d of February.
Mr. SPOONER regretted that the Noble Lord
bad thought fit to move the adjournment to so late a
period; he could only attribute his asking so long an
adjournment to his total ignorance with respect
to the real state of the country. The popu-
lation of the great iron manufacturing districts
was in a most distressing state. In Staffordshire
and in Wales vast masses of the people were dis-
charged, and were now being discharged, and the
wages of those who were employed were now under
very considerable reduction. What had been done
by the House towards alleviating the dis-
tresses of the country? It was true that they

had appointed a Committee, but the report of that
Committee would not be ready for some months.
They had to a certain degree arrested the distress to
which the large houses were subject, but the distress
was now falling upon that class of society whose
employment was absolutely necessary for the safety
and prosperity of the country. The House had
stopped commercial failures among the large houses,
but they had broken down the industry
of the country. The capital of the poor man was his
labour, and if employment was not found for that
labour, the result would naturally prove disastrous
to the interests of the poorer classes of society.
He declined upon the present occasion to enter into
any discussion as to the causes of the recent commercial
distress. He was not one of those who denied that
there had been improvident speculations in railways,
but if the monetary system of this country had been
a sound one, the results of such improvidence would
have fallen only on the improvident. It was
adding insult to injury for the House to
say that it had no power to prevent
these sudden and recurring seasons of commercial
distress. He maintained that Parliment could and
ought by some legislative means to put a stop
to this state of things.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
The same distress that had been felt in this country
was beginning to be felt in America. They had
raised the rate of interest there, in order to get
back gold, and in fact there was a scramble between
the two countries who should get the most of that
precious metals. He thought the Government were
not justified in adjourning the House for so long a
period until they had done something to remove
from the Bank of England the shackles that
were imposed by the Act of 1844. It was
not far from improbable that events might occur
before the House met again which would
render it imperative that some relaxation
should be made with respect to the re-
strictions on the Bank. He would therefore
moved, as an amendment to the motion for the ad-
journment of the House to the 3d of February, to
strike out the words " the 3d of February," and in-
set " the 15th of of January."
➢lr. NEWDEGATE seconded the amendment.

Mr. MONSELL said, though he was not prepared
to second the motion of the Honourable Member, he
wished to occupy the time of the House for a few
moments, whilst he called their attention to the
condition of the able bodied destitute poor. He thought
he should best discharge his duty, not by support-
ing the amendment, but by urging upon the Govern-
ment the absolute necessity of their considering the
condition of those unfortunate persons before the
meeting of Parliament in February—of bringing
forward measures at that time to place the
relations of capital and labour upon a bet-
ter footing than at present. Unless they
were prepared to bring forward such measures at the
time he mentioned, it would be utterly impossible
to encounter the distress of the spring and summer.
As an Irishman, he wished to express his
unfeigned gratitude for the aid which Parliament
afforded last year to his famishing countrymen.—
(Hear, hear.) But the sums so generously voted
were employed in removing the effects of Ireland's
suffering, not the cause. After the recess
he should call the attention of the House
to the state of the able-bodied unemployed poor, and
the necessity of measures for placing the relations of
capital and labour on a better basis. Out of 921,576
families dependent for their support upon manual
labour 840,963 were in an impoverished estate.
This number included the heads of families possess-
ing land up to five acres. In 33 unions of Ireland
the poor-rate averaged 18s. per head of
the population, whilst in one of our worst
agricultural counties—Dorsetshire, for instance—the
rates amounted to 4/. Bs. per head. Now, let him ask
the House what would be the condition of that country
if the population was increased fivefold, without any
increased means of subsistence. Such would be
found to be the position of one-fourth of Ireland at
the present moment. Having referred to the
opinions of Ricardo on the probable fate
of an impoverished nation, he proceeded
to say, that unless measures were taken to create a
change in the social condition of Ireland, the whole
population would sink into misery and ruin, and
those who now enjoyed comforts would every day be
added to the ranks of those in abject misery,
and the country would present a much more
miserable aspect than it does at present.— (Hear.)
He trusted, however, that before Parliament met
again Government would have prepared some mea-
sure sufficient to meet the calamities he had described;
and he could assure them, if they did so, they should
have his cordial aid and assistance in carrying them
out.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. P. SCROPE could not allow this motion to
pass without expressing his earnest regret and sin-
cere disappointment, that Government had not
thought it necessary to take the opportunity of this
short session to introduce and carry through Parlia-
ment some measure which should have the effect of
facilitating the operation of the Irish Poor-law.
A large number of the poor must inevitably be thrown
upon the parishes within the next few weks, and it
was therefore of the highest importance that some-
thing should have been done to facilitate and extend the
operation of the law. He trusted, however, that the
Government would take the opportunity of the recess
to consider and mature some measure to set the
une:nployed labour of Ireland upon the immense
unemployed waste lands of the country. The
people of England were bound to look into this
matter. The emigration was not that of an ordinary
kind, but one which resulted from a state of fearful
distress, consequent upon the failure of the potato
crop. He trusted that the Government would think it
right to adopt some measure for the employment of
the people upon the waste lands of Ireland, as a means
of improving the condition of the people.
Lord LINCOLN said that in the course of last
session he brought before the House a motion with
respect to the establishment of an efficient system of
colonization; that motion was assented to, but
the answer which he received from the Noble
Lord at the head of the Government was, that
he could not recommend her Majesty to appoint a
Commission to inquire into the subject in accordance
with a portion of the resolution, but that inquiries
should be made upon the subject through the
Colonial-office. He wished, therefore, to ask
the Noble Lora at the head of the Government
whether he was in possession of any reports
upon the subject, and if so when those reports would
he ready to be laid upon the table of the House ?
Mr. HINDLEY felt hound to complain of the
want of energy and stringency which had charac-
terised the measures which the Government had in-
troduced and passed. He thought, with respect to
the Bank Charter Act, that it had been very unfairly
dealt with in its operation. He thought the Bank
of England had been the cause of all the distress that
had taken place.
Mr. GLADSTONE did not wish at present to
enter on the discussion of any of the important ques-
tions which had been adverted to, but rose for the
purpose of making a remark on another subject.
Some days since, the Noble Lord said he did not ex-
pect to be able to introduce the measure announced
by her Majesty in the Speech from the Throne with
respect to the laws concerning navigation at a very
early period after the recess. He must say that he
had heard that announcement with very great regret.
He was not surprised that the Noble Lord should
find a difficulty in introducing every measure at as
early a period as he could desire ; but he apprehended
that it needed no argument to show that the present
period was one, especially after the Committee of last
session, eminently fit for the comprehensive con-
sideration of the laws relating to navigation—
(Hear, hear)—and that he should carry with
him the feelings of both sides of the House when he
said that it was pre-eminently desirable that the de-
cision of Parliament on this most important subject
shauld be taken during the present session. He
thought it would be quite consistent with the answer
of the Noble Lord, and it might tend to give satisfac-
tion to the House if he were able to assure them that,
although he aid not contemplate introducing the
measure at an early period after the recess, yet he
did contemplate introducing it at such a time that
both Houses of Parliament should have ample oppor-
tunity for considering it in the course of the present
session, so that they might entertain a reasonable ex-
pectation that, whatever the views of Parliament on
that question, the shipping interest of the country,
and all whose expectations were excited by that ques-
tion, should not be kept in a state of uncertainty and
suspense, but should have all the means of knowing
what conclusion was to be arrived at in the course of
the present session.
Colonel SIBTHORP wished to ask, as Parliament
was about to rise, what had they done since they had
been there, and why did the adjournment take place?
Was murder still to flourish in Ireland, while the
Noble Lord and the other Ministers were passing
their holidays shooting, hunting, and dancing.—
(Laughter.) He thought it important that the
House should know how long the Noble Earl now in
Italy was to be absent, and whether he received the
public money during his absence.—(Continued
laughter.) Had they at all relieved the distresses of
the people ? They had appointed a Committee to
sit, and sitting God knew how long, what would be
the result ? Ile thought that they ought not to ad-
journ at all ; but of two evils it was right to choose
the less, and he should therefore vote for the adjourn-
ment for the shorter period.
Sir LUCIUS O'BRIEN said he wished to call the
attention of the House to the distressed state of Ire-
land, and more particularly of the western part of it,
with which he was more immediately connected. He
would never cease to bear testimony to all that had
been done for Ireland by this country during the last
year, and he regretted to have heard some of the
language that had been used in that House on the
subject. But it was right that the House should be
made acquainted with the difficulties with which the