The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-27 00:00:00

THE CHANCELLOR.

The bulletin of this day says—
" The symptoms of the Chancellor's disease con-
tinue to be still more mitigated."
_

IRISH DISTRESS.

Sir Lucius O'Brien thus writes to the Ennis board
of Poor-law guardians :
" London, Dec. 20.

" Gentlemen—As I perceive that it was suggested
in your board room that I should be called on to ask
in Parliament, from the Chief Secretary, what pro-
vision would be made for the able-bodied destitute
poor,' I beg to inform you that the subject has been
one of constant communication between the Irish
Members and the Government ever since we have
been assembled, and that several times already depu-
tations have waited on the different members of the
Administration on this most important subject. An
authentic statement Hill appear in a few days of the
result of our last interview with Sir George Grey, the
Secretary of State for the Home Department.
" In the present depressed condition of everything
in England, with so many persons here thrown out
of employment and suffering extreme distress, it is
not to be expected that grants could be made to
Ireland, unless they were equally made to the poor of
this country. The difficulties which prevail are partly
owing to the efforts made to meet the distress in Ire-
land last year. There is a considerable falling off in
the revenue, and stagnation in every kind of business.
" We have thought it right, however, to declare
that from wheresoever the money comes, we expect
that no one will be allowed to die of starvation, and
to this extent we may feel assured, that when the
available resources arising from rates (on the collec-
tion of which the Government seem to rely for af-
fording the necessary relief) shall have failed, there
will be assistance, and the population will not be al-
lowed to fade away, as I am persuaded it is to be
feared they are doing, in spite of all that with our
Unaided efforts can be effected.
" You may be well assured that the attention of
every Member from Ireland will be devoted to this
all important object, and that if we have not found
it possible to press it more on the Government than
we have done so early in the year, it is yet fully pur-
posed to bring it again before them after the recess.
" In the meantime, I cannot impress too strongly
the necessity of every man, woman, and child in Ire-
land, exerting themselves to the utmost to crop the
ground for the following year, by putting down at
once everything that will grow and give them food,
and keeping the land clear and well dug. It is just
possible we may get some assistance again this year
from the national Exchequer, but it would be unrea-
sonable to suppose that we should always be supported
on charity, and unless the land is cultivated we shall
have a succession of famine, and the people will perish
from the face of the earth, in spite of all that can be
done for them by the benevolent and humane, or by
the best legislation that can be devised;—it is by in-
dustry alone and attention to business that any class
can be saved from annihilation.
"Above all, I do trust there will be an end to the
horrid crimes which have called down the vengeance
of Heaven on the land. The law which has been
passed for the suppression of crime and outrage is as
mild as could be devised, and has provided as carefully
as it was possible that the people should not be
harassed unnecessarily, nor the innocent confounded
with the guilty, by vexatious restrictions and penal
liabilities.

" In conclusion, I hope that you will believe that
I feel most deeply for the distress of my poorer fellow-
countrymen, suffering under a visitation of Provi-
dence unparalleled in history, and extending now into
a third year, by which it is impossible to calculate
that property of less 50,000,000/. must have perished
of their staple food. Most earnestly do I pray that
Providence will guide us to what may be best for the
future wefare of the country.—l have the honour to
be, gentlemen, your very faithful obedient servant,
" LUCIUS O'BRIEN,
" Lieutenant of the county Clare, M.P., and Chair-

man of the Ennis Beard of Guardians.
In connexion with the subjects referred to in the
foregoing, we subjoin a series of resolutions adopted
at a full meeting of the Mullingar board of guardians,
the Marquis of Westmeath and several of the leading
gentlemen of the county being present :
"Resolved,—That it is the opinion of the board of
guardians of the Mullingar Union, assembled on this
day, that in consequence of the great number of able-
bodied paupers at present in the house, and also the
number applying for relief, it is absolutely necessary
tb have some way of employing them, in order to
tare the country fro.n being completely demoralised
by idleness.
" That application by petition be made to Parlia-
ment to empower this board and each board in Ireland
to either purchase or rent a sufficient quantity of land
in the vicinity of each workhouse, thereby enabling
the different boards to keep the paupers employed and
Producing sufficient food for their support, as well as
remuneration to the public.
" That a copy of this resolution be sent to each
board of guardians in Ireland, for their immediate
Consideration.
" That, to prevent any misconstruction of the 10th
section of the 10th Victoria, chapter 31, it is our
npinion that adequate strictness should be used by the
relieving officers to prevent any person being put on
the list for able-bodied relief who applies in theibehalf
i
or n right of any person holding a quarter of a statute
acre of land.

" Whereaswe have every desire to give adequate
relief to the able-bodied destitute•poor in the union,

according to law, but we consider it ruinous to the
best interests of the country that those landlords or
landholders who are desirous of giving employment in
such a way that the community should receive value
by work for money so expended (instead of demora-
lising the p )pulation in giving gratuitous support)
should be prevented from doing so by others, bound
up in the same district, refusing to co• operate.
" That a list of all persons to be relieved should be
taken in each electoral division, and applotted on each
townland within it, and that every proprietor of such
townland, or occupier, as gives employment to the
portion allotted to him should be exempted from any
rate under the 10th of Victoria, cap. 31.
" That it is essential to the benevolent intentions of
the aforesaid Act that the estates of minors, lunatics,
and those administered by receivers of the Court of
Chancery, should be brought, by the amendment of
the law, under the administration of some new and
tangible authority, to enable or compel them to con-
tribute to the improvement of such estates by giving
adequate employment to the population.'
FUTURE PROSPECTS.

Mr. W. Fagan, one of the Members for the city of
Cork, has addressed a long letter to the members of
the " Desmond Confederate Club," in the course of
which he thus sketches, according to his fancy, the
state of public feeling in England towards Ireland and
Irish representatives :
" At the commencement of this year the current of
public feeling ran strongly in favour of Ireland and
its destitute people. Nearly a million of money was
subscribed by individuals for their relief, and the late
Parliament was willing to vote any sum that the Mi-
nister required to meet the exigency. Now, opinion is
running in the very opposite direction. In every
circle, high and low, you hear nothing but bitter taunts
and revilings at the Irish and their representatives.
Since the union there never was a period when Ire-
land was so utterly deserted at the other side of the
water. All the great constituencies of the English
metropolis have turned against her, and one sterling
friend to Ireland—the representative of the most
democratic constituency in England—told me that
he endangered his seat in Parliament by reason of his
opposition to the Coercion Bill.
" There are two reasons for this present state of
public opinion. The existing commercial distress is
attributed mainly to Ireland. Hence the determi-
nation not to give another penny to relieve our
starving people. The late brutal assassinations have
excited feelings of horror and exasperation which it is
scarcely possible to describe. Hence the anxiety for
any measures of coercion, under the erroneous im-
pression that such measures will stop the commission
of these abominable crimes.

" Such being the universal feeling in England, you
can easily understand how the present House of
Commons felt on the 'lrish question.'
" In the face of the House of Commons and of the
English public, thus excited against Ireland, a few of
her representatives had to make a stand on the Coer-
cion Bill. This was no enviable task, particularly for
new Members. We were, in every circle of the great
metropolis, charged with sustaining the system of
6 Irish Thuggism,' though the course we adopted was
dictated by a well-grounded conviction that coercion,
unaccompanied by remedial measures, would increase
rather than lessen these frightful crimes.
" While the Coercion Act was in its passage
through the House Mr. Feargus O'Connor's repeal
motion came on. This was considered another ob-
structive move on the part of the Irish anti-coercion
Members. The question in England is sneered at as
a mere joke ; and any person attempting in the face
of Parliament to argue it seriously, is looked upon as
little better than a hypocrite or a blockhead. When
I began to open on the 'repeal,' and that it was per-
ceived I intended to go at length into the 'vexed
question,' the shouts and screams of anger which
were set up I cannot describe. If it were a mere
commonplace subject of debate I should have instantly
given up, in order to secure in future the attention
of the House. But on a question so deeply interest-
ing to Ireland, I felt it would have been an abandon-
ment of my post were I to shrink from encountering
the storm which had arisen.

"So much as regards the past. Let me now say a
few words as to the future. The present may be
called a Whig-Peel Parliament. Whatever the Go-
vernment, supported by Peel, proposes, will be car-
ried. The fate of Ireland is in its hands. Ido not
expect from the Government any measure which will
so regulate the relations of landlord and tenant in
Ireland as will radically cure the evils that afflict our
country, or that will remove the causes of agrarian
outrage. Yet we can hope for nothing except what

it will sanction. The combination :of a few- Irish
Members can effect nothing in a Howe of which so
overwhelming a majority will sustain the Irish policy
of the Minister.

" As for the repeal question, it is utterly hopeless
to discuss it with calmness and seriousness in Parlia-
ment. It will not be listened to; and whenever
again introduced in the present House of Commons it
will be treated after the fashion it was on the late oc-
casion, unless the people arouse themselves and show
more earnestness and union in the cause.

" The Irish repeal representatives, split as they are
into sections, are now utterly powerless. I despair,
unaided by national union, of their effecting any
good. If we bring forward what are called ' prac-
tical measures,' they will be rejected unless they
have the sanction of Government. On the Minister
we must altogether depend, and, for my part, I see
no prospect now of the Irish representatives accom-
plishing any useful measure for their country.
"I did hope that by firmness and combination—
keeping ourselves independent of all Government in-
fluence-30 or 40 repeal Members might have made
successful efforts for Ireland. The events of the past
month have dissipated all hopes of such a result. As
I had formed a different opinion after our meeting in
Dublin, I think it right candidly to acknowledge the
mistake I made."