The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-03 00:00:00

manner in which they bad discharged their duties. In
other departments he thought there might be more
vigour. He meant the Commissariat department ; but,
after looking at the correspondence that had been
laid before the House, there had been a great
desire to execute all that it was in their power
to do. He was bound, however, to say that the diffi-
culties of Ireland were still before the House. He was
anxious that every just consideration should be
given to the present great calamity—(Hear)—
and to consider of the means to be taken to alleviate
the distress of the people, and, as far as possible,
to prevent a recurrence of such calamities in
future. He was anxious to adduce a few
facts illustrative of some of the peculiarities
of the condition of Ireland' which appeared
to him to be very essential to a fair consideration of the
whole question. It was not his intention to enter into
any details, but he would confine himself to the broad
and striking features of the case. He first wished to
take the case of the occupiers. They had heard a
good deal on that subject lately. The lion. and Learned
Member for Bath, in his speech last night, drew a fear-
ful picture of the state of the occupiers of Ireland. He
(Mr. Hamilton) wished he could state that in his
opinion that picture was overdrawn. He had
heard the HOnourable and Learned Gentleman sug-
gest certain means of remedying these evils.
It was impossible that the Honourable and Learned
Gentleman could have fully realised the enormous ex-
tent of destitution prevailing amongst that class in Ire-
land, and the number of those persons so affected. Evi-
dence was given before the Lind Commission, of which
he (Mr. Hamilton) was a Member—and that with
The census of 1841 gave some startling results on this
subject. The census of 1841 had given to the House a
return of the number of farms above one acre.
There were 683,000 in round numbers, and of
these no less than 560,000, or nearly 80 per cent.
were under 15 acres, and a considerable proportion of
that total being under ten and five acres. If any
gentleman in England were asked what he would
consider the position of a farmer having so small
a quantity of land as five, ten, or fifteen acres, of
course the answer would be that it was impossible any
man having so small a quantity of land could
employ himself properly in the cultivation of it, and
that he ought to be turned into an independent labourer,
and put upon nacnsey wages. Yet here they had five
out of six farms in Ireland occupied by persons of that
description, these occupiers being dependent entirely en
the produce of these miserable portions of land for
subsistence, and being occupied in the cultivation of this
land, without the assistance of manufactures or other
means of sustaining themselves. The next means
(a better means of judging of the real condition of
the great body of the people in Ireland), was to be found
in the census. The Census Commissioners made a return
and classification of the houses of different descriptions
in the whole of Ireland, and they divided them into four
classes. The fourth class was a mere hut, the walls and
floors being of mud, consisting of only one room, with no
window. The third class was better than this, it was also
of mud, consisting of more rooms than one, and having
windows. The other two were the farm houses, and the
houses of the gentry and clergy, and of the 4th class
there were no less than 1,075,000 in Ireland.
The Hon. Member then read a number of statistics from
the late census of Ireland, as published, with the object
of showing how severely the famine must have been
felt in Ireland. lie stated that in the
county of Mayo there were only 217 gentlemen's
houses, while there were 63,483 of the third class.
Such was the state of Ireland with regard to the hold-
ings of land; there was no labouring population as in
England, paid by large capitalist farmers, but a popula-
tion, such as he had described, with very small holdings;
and there was not throughout the extent of the coun-
try more than one per cent. of gentlemen lamone
them. With regard to the landlords, he begged to ob..
serve that, in consequence of the system of conacre
which prevailed there, it was with the greatest difficulty
that any improvement could be effected in the condition
of the pi':ople. Those who knew Ireland were aware
of those difficulties. Landed gentry, he had just stated,
did not cornprise more than one per cent. of
the population. Now that raised the question
of absenteeism. He agreed with the Hon. Gentleman
who stated last night that seine of those who were ab-
sentee proprietors were among the best landlords of Ire-
land; but they were the exceptions, not the rule.
Ho was bound to say that the largest pro-
prietors did their duty oval to their tenantry, but
that could not be said of the smaller class of
proprietors who comprised the great built of the
absentee landlords. The large proprietors kept oa their
property an agent, who to sonic extent discharged the
duties of the proprietor himself ; but he was afraid
that this could not be said of the great ma-
jority of the smeller class of absentee land-
lords. At any rate, there was no oral who could
.deny that absenteeism was attended with the greatest
evils, and ha el the mist injurious effects oa the comforts
and canditioa of the people--(Bear, hear)—and he sin-
cerely believed that it contributed verily mate-
rially to aggravate the misery caused by the calamity
under which the Irish people were at present labouring.
There was another evil which was severely felt in
Ireland, and that was the ease of the absence (,f agents.
There were a number of agents engaged in the man.
&gement of estates, who resided elsewhere, and who only
visited those estates once a year. Then with respect to
income. A member last night had stated that
the whale income of Ireland was about 3,000,0001.
a year ; bet he (Mr. Hamilton) had found
from the report of the state of the estates in Ireland that
the amount of income assessed in Ireland was over
6,000,000/., a mutter which was well worthy of the con
sideratnin of the Hoese. Ile found that out ct the
property that was assessed in Ireland, not less tlnt-s
were un,:tr the char 4e of the Court of Chan-
cery an I :he Court of Exchequer, and that during the
custody of this money, the arrears hal increased from
300,4861. to upeair Is of 400,00 d, and that the
amount now actually tires up a' irdi of 300,000!
This sheoved c.O was tee comiition of a grey
portion of the property in Ireland. Then there was
another evil arising iron the a to of the law of mort-
gage, ati altenri )0 of which weeld enable unen•
cumbered preprietors to get ri 1 of their estates.
In England, it a rn.)rtgigt, were f reclos;.d, it won
customary to a-11. that portion on which the mort-
gage was impoPeel in order to satisfy the demand.
Tee practice in Ireland was very d.ffers'nt; the practice
almost universally prevailed that alien a proprietor
borrowed money, he borrowed it on a bond and
judgment. This judgment (which was scarcely known
in this country) overrode all portions of his property,
extending over every township, and it was almost
impossible to got iii of the money borrowed during
the operation or' the judgment. Again, with re-
ference to the existence of the class known
as middlemen, every body would feel that the
operation of this with the previous cause
had been prejudicial to the interests of Ireland. These
were matters that involved the condition and prospects
of every class. The Honourable and Learned
Gentleman stated the other night that every
man in Ireland was out of his proper position. Now that
statement was, to a certain extent, trti, ; but he might
ask whether the Legislature had anything to do
with it ?—(llear, hear, and cheers.) For himself;
he was a strode- advocate for the maintenance
of the union, bet h; could not conceal the truth from
his own mind, that the effect of that union had been to
draw away the landed aristocracy from Ireland to
this country, and that had been a main cause
why the class had erisen which occupied a middle
position, a position which the Hon. and Learned Gen-
tleman characterised as one improper for them to fill.
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had, in very strong
language, expressed his opinion with regard to the cul-
pability of landlords in the management of their pro
perties. Ile was not prepared to deny that some land
lords, in times gone by, had been guilty of great errors
in the management of th, it estates ; but within the last
twenty or thirty years a marked improvement had taken
place in the habits, opinion, and conduct of the landed
ger.try in that country. They were now animated with
a spirit of foresight, with a desire to economise, and a
desire to improve their estates had become prevalent
among them during that period. If the remark of the
Eon. and Learned Gentleman applied peculiarly to the
existing state of things, he should like to know fur what
it was that the Hon. and Learned Gentleman considered
the landlords of Ireland so much to blame? The Hon.
and Learned Gentleman deprecated the small holdings
into which that country had been divided. He should
like to kuow whether it was for the clearing or the non-
clearing of estates that the landlords had been to blame?
—(Hear, hear.) He had heard much of the
evil to which the clearing system had given rise,
When Irish landlords were taunted with being the cause
of the existing state of things in Ireland, he should like
to know how often the English Legislature had made
Ireland the arena of its political contests—how often had
English parties made Ireland serve their own purposes,
and how often had these parties neglected her? When
she ceased to be useful for their purposes, vast numbers
of blue books had been laid upon the table of the House
teeming with suggestions and warnings upon the sub-
ject of Ireland; and now they were reaping the fruits of
not attending to those warnings. With regard to the
measures of' the Noble Lord, he (Mr. Hamilton) was
bound to state, that considering that they were founded
on the principle of introducing capital into Ireland, they
had his concurrence. The principal objection he had
was to the proposed out-door relief to able-bodied
labourers, as he apprehended many serious evils would
arise from it, unless great care was taken in its adminis-
tration. The explanation which had been given last
night by the Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, had, however, done much to remove the
strong objection he previously entertained. He would
have liked that the
qualified present measures had
.been accom-
panied by asystem of emigration, so as to
enable parties n ths country who had friends in Canada
and America, but who had not funds to go out, to be
sent to those friends. lie could not impress too strongly
on the. House the fact that the improvement of Ireland
was to be effected, not byageretteTemares, but by a series
of small measures.
measures, however high-sounding thu;htehesbee smallthe
great measures, were the real panacea for the
ro of a
evils of Ireland. - He very meets
commission of legal men of both countriesapl to consider
how far the law of Ireland might be assimilated
of England. He was glad to hear from the Chancellor
of of the Exchequer last night, that it was the intention-of
Government to give loans to small farmers, which he
considered was calculated to relieve the labourers. There
was only one other topic to which he wished to advert..
The Hon. Member for Montrose had alluded to a meet-
ing of the landlords of Ireland in Dublin, whose object,
it was stated, was to secure as much for themselves as
i poss , ble notwithstanding the distress of the people. He
had only to refer the Hon. Gentleman to the resolution
passed at that meeting, and he would leave it to- the
candour of the Hon. Member to say whether they
were actuated solely by a desire of getting all they
could for themselves. Ho would state, in reply.to
the 11929411bie Xember (Or Olard, that then