The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-16 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1847.

The Lords met at Five o'clock.

In presenting a petition from the Protestant Dis-
senters of Birdrush, against the Government scheme of
National Education, Lord BROUGHAM said that there
was an unfounded prejudice raised against the measure,
which was one of a most tolerant character to all sects
of whatever religious persuasion.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE declared that nothing
could be more unfounded than many of the statements
contained in the petitions against the measure.
Lord STANLEY presented a petition from the High
Sheriff and Grand Jury of the County of Tipperary, ex-
pressing their alarm at the unprecedented sale of fire-arms
in Ireland, and praying their Lordships to pass a law
to prevent evil-disposed persons from having fire-arms
in their possession. The Noble Lord also presented
petitions in favour of a gi-neral scheme of Irish rail-
ways; and a third, in favour of a general scheme of
emigration.

A desultory conversation ensued on the subject of
emigration as a means of draining off the surplus popu
lation of Ireland; in the course of which, Lord MONT-
EAGLI complained of the very inaccurate manner in
which the census had been taken in Ireland.
The subject then dropped, and their Lordships
adjourned.

The Commons met at Fou446opck.
In answer to a question *bm Lord GRANVILLE
SOMERSET,

Mr. MILNER GIBSON said that the report which had
last session ben presented to the House, as the report
of the Select Committee on Railways, was merely the
draft report drawn up by the Chairman (Mr. MORRISON).
The Right Hon. Gentleman moved the re-appointment of
the Committee, which was agreed to.
In answer to various questions, Sir J. C. HonliousE
stated that the Khelat prize money was in course of dis-
tribution ; that the Ghuznee prize money was about to
be distributed ; and that the distribution of the Sinde
prize money awaited the decision of the Board of Con-
trol, which would be given shortly.
It was stated by Lord MORPETII, in reply to Mr. C.
BERKELEY, that the Wellington statue was to be re-
moved.

The aljourned debate on the motion for going into
Committee on the Poor Relief Ireland Bill was then
resumed by Sir W. CLAY.

The House was subsequently addressed by Captain
JONES, Mr. VILLIERS STEWART, who complained that
his name had been attached to a resolution come
to by certain Irish Members against the Government
measures, without his authority ; Mr. HAMILTON, Mr.
JOHN O'CONNELL, who said, if he could get a repeal of
the Union, he would take it immediately ; Lord COUR-
TENAY, Sir DENHAM NORREYS, who was opposed to
union rating ; Mr. VESEY, who denied that the land-
lords of Ireland had neglected their duty ; Lord J.
MANNERS. Mr. LABOUCHERE, Mr. ROEBUCK, and seve-
ral other Hon. Mcmbers.

The House then went into Committee pro forma, and
,he Bill was ordered to be re-committed on Friday next.
The Drainage (Ireland) Bill was read a third time

arid passed.

The General Register House (Edinburgh) Bill was
read a second time, and ordered to be committed.
The Mutiny Bill was also read a second time, and or-
dered to be committed on Thursday.
The second reading of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Bill
was deferred till Friday.
The Agricultural Tenants Right Bill, after a short
discussion, was postponed till Friday week.
The other orders of the day having been disposed of,
the House adjourned at One o'clock.

A grievous impression appears to be prevalent that
Government can and ought to do EVERYTHING for the
starving multitudes of Ireland. The notion is alto-
gether absurd. Government has neither the power
nor the moral obligation to give shelter and suste-
nance to the famishing million 3. Were it to under-
take anything so extravagantly beyond its capacities,
the whole empire would become insolvent. Were it
to take upon itself the task of feeding and clothing
and employing one-half of the population of Ireland,
the loud would be immeasurably beyond its strength
—its back would be broken. The emergency is quite
analogous to the insurrection recorded in Roman
history, when the plebeians revolted,against the patri-
cian citizens, and were only reconciled to their lot as
labourers by the cunning allegory of the Belly and
its Members. 'Were a different course to be pursued
by the Legislature than that of compelling the rela-
tive portions of the body corporate to support each

_ .
other, that body corporate would either be distorted
i►►to an ailing deformity or would perish. The
reasoning is obvious. Without a symmetrical diTo-
tion of the various parts of any production, whether

_ .
natural or artificial, health, and power, and comeliness,
and a good organization are impossible. Supposing the
Government yielded to the demands of a clamourous
and selfish minority, what would be the inevitable
consequence ? Why the whole vigour of the consti-
tution would be sapped in appeasing the wants of a
famishing peasantry and pampering the vices of an
indolent proprietary. Ireland would no longer be
the Ministerial difficulty—it would be the Ministerial
damnation. The object of the Irish representatives
and Peers, who remonstrated with Lord JOUN
RUSSELL upon the impolicy and impracticability of
his Po. .r Relief (Ireland) Bill, is to transform the
tenantry of Ireland into perpetual pensioners on the
Exchequer, or to obtain the consent of the Govern-
ment to a system of inaction, whereby the peasantry
would be rapidly and conveniently thinned in num-
bers from the combined influences of famine and pesti-
lence. Criminal beyond all possibility of utterance
as are these endeavours, their criminality
is immeasurably surpassed by their foolish-
ness. Let the men who would thus strive
to debar 3,500,000 of their fellow-countrymen from
all chances of assistance upon the occasion of their
direst necessity, let these men remember that for
every able-bodied labourer that dies through their
neglect would perish a portion of the national vigour
—fur every child, a germ of the future prosperity of the
kingdom—for every woman, a guarantee for the so,.
brie ty or the domesticity of the industrial classes. Hence
it is that a systematic emigration is altogether inde-
fensible. Hence it is that the preservation of human
life is more desirable than the reclamation of a given
portion of land from the ocean, or the transformation
of moorland into arable land, or the clothing of rocks
with turf for pasturage. Hence, in fine, is it among
the most solemn admonitions of Christianity that
the poverty-stricken should be cherished, that the
naked should be clothed, that the hungry should be
fed. In the language of the fine old Latin chaunt,
there is recompense as well as benignity in raising
the poor from the dunghill—de stercure erigens
pauperem.

During the adjourned discussion upon the poor-
laws for Ireland, Lord JOHN MANNERS intimated that
by rendering Irish property answerable for Irish po-
verty, according to the Government system, the pro-
perty would be either "depressed or annihilated,"
and that therefore he was disposed to offer the mea-
sure his earnest opposition. Shallow logic, Lord
JOHN ! What, must the poverty of the peasant be do-

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