The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-03 00:00:00

ROUSE OF LORDS, Dec. 2.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY, in the absence of the
Lord Chancellor, took his seat upon the Woolsack
shortly after Five o'clock.

IRELAND.-COERCION BILL.

The Duke of RICHMOND gave notice that he
should, to-morrow, move for a return of the number
of persons who had been tried under the provisions
of the Coercion Act introduced by Lord Grey's
Government.

Lord FARNHAM presented a petition from Sun-
derland (as we understood) praying their Lordships
to adopt immediate measures for the restoration of
tranquillity in Ireland. He did not consider the
measure introduced by the Government of a suffi-
ciently stringent nature to put an end to the system
of murder which was the disgrace of Ireland, and he
besought their Lordships and the Government to adopt
measures of such a stringent character as should
effectually put an end to the system of terror at pre-
sent existing in Ireland.
DEFENCES OF THE COUNTRY.
The Earl of HARDWICKE gave notice of a
motion after Christmas on the state of the defences of
the country.
CHIEF POOR-LAW COMMISSIONER.
Lord BROUGHAM asked when the Chief Poor-
law Commissioner would be appointed ?
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE was understood
to say that the subject was under the consideration of
the Government.

DISTRESS OF THE COUNTRY.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE then rose to
move for a Select Committee to inquire into the
causes of the recent commercial distress, and how far
it has been affected by the laws for regulating the
issue of bank-notes payable on demand. In bring-
ing forward this motion, he might be permitted
etoausepsrefaceef
theit byexisstoimn e observationsdtress It
tn
had
pleased Providence to destroyg a large portion rtion if the
produce of the earth, and it was not in the power of
nadmthietterde.al
any Government to supply the loss ; that fact was ge-
nerally
lhaatdionbee
capital du r i
of
which hads
Another source of that distress
peculation which had been
the last three years—specu-
iwnhdiuclhgedtheingone far beyond anything
and which no the country would :warrant,
Government could bo expected or
y
could be able to suppl r
eawpni.eyde,a r
us
nadgeor he
al
lheaidr
enm
been-
asked whether he was.
three prepared
to Chartercomth Bitilhli;mhseolfhoand
stances,said
that
t o maintain h
•wasnh
not
p
heprepared to
the subject at that time, neither w
commit himself on the subject now any
y more than he
b
should be prepared to say, that because a vessel
of a certain partic,ilar construction
into port under certain circumstances, that,re
co
t safe
come
with-
fore, it was a construction best fitted to copem
circumstances entirely different. It was a matter
for inquiry; and, therefore, he moved for the ap-
pointment of this Committee ; but he thought it
right, in order to prevent any misapprehension, to
state that he did not propose to abrogate the law under
awnhdi c h
wthhi
ce h c u rren c y h
enforced
aa d m
ebteael
ln
It
t 0 3arre s,
struck
him that the main subjects of inquiry would be, Ist,
wwhhaatt
wweerree
tthhee
epirroevihmsiostnas of the Actheesprodheoinf 18g44 ;
the
pr2esdelhy,
t
distress ; and idly, what effect had the Act of 1844
had in producing these circumstances.—(Hear.)
It had been the opinion of many that the Act of
1819 would be sufficient to establish the currency
upon a secure basis, but it appeared that wader cer- 1