The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-20 00:00:00

House that his (Mr. Baillie's) name was not
Scotch name. He could tell the Noble Lent that his
(Mr. Baillie's) ancestors were resident in Scotland
before (as we understood the Honourable Member) the
Noble Lord's ancestors had an acre there.—(Laughter.)
He (Mr. Bernie) was ready to give his support
to all the measures her Majesty's Governmen-
might bring forward that would in his opinion be talent
hated for the benefit of Ireland.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. D. BROWNE said, that however indisposed he was
to detain the attention of the House from the several miseries
which this Bill was intended to relieve, he yet could not avoid
calling its notice tt, the frightful catalogue of evils which were
daily recurring in his county. The Hon. and Learned
Member for Cork had a fortnight ago stated, unless the relief
were granted that two millions of people would lose their
lives in Ireland. He had himself read, in the Freeman's
Journal, a statement that upwards of 500 persons died every
day. To this he might add the statement which appeared in
that journal on the 1 Ith instant, in which it was said that no
less than 671 coffins had been ears ied 'to the gr.!"
in one union within a month. To this the 11°"
nourable Gentleman added a number of instances of fright'
ful suffering which were recorded in the same Pali"'
In Sligo, also, the people were dying of starvation, and one
revolting case of misery which had recently occurred had
come to his knowledge. A man named Malrowny purchased
an ass for a few shillings. He lived for a short time 01100 a
portion of its carcass, and he died from the effects of the un-
wholesome and disgusting food. The Hon. Member read'
series of other cases, but in so low a tone as to be inaudible in
the gallery. He did not wish to detain the House, but he felt
that the time had arrived when no Irish Member could be
silent, and when they should demand Parliament to stretch
forth a more helping hand than had hitherto been extended to
Ireland. He asked what was the use of legislating for a people
if they were desolated by hunger and disease? He entreated
the attention of the House to Ireland, and earnestly begged
that they would take immediate means for relieving the people
of Ireland.
Mr. LEFROY said, as the Noble Lord had stated that the
Irish meastites would be postponed for a certain period, he
thought it proper to avail himself of that opportunity to lay
the dreadful condition of that coul,try before the House. Far
it appeared to him most important that if Irish Members Were
to remain here, away from the sphere in their own countel,
where they might minister with a. vantage to the comfort Po
relief of their countrymen, it was their duty in that House 10
state, not only for her Majesty's Ministers but for the infernal'
tion of the British public, that there was no exaggeration ie
the statements made as to the distress which prevailed in 11.1.1,
:
country. In making the statements which he was abotl.,t, `"
make, he would not cast the slightest reproach on her Mid"
jesty's Ministers, for he believed that to the extent of their
power they had ministered to the relief of that country es fa..e
as they could see their way. But in the circumstances it way
their duty to lay the condition of that country before them. PI
said he would read to the House some extracts from a letter whim
he had received within the last two days respecting a county's
Ireland, he meant Roscommon. It stated that they werew
a melancholy condition in that county, and that on Sundale
clergyman's horse had died for want of sustenance, and the
poor people insisted on cutting him up, and carrying away the
carcase for food. In many parts of Roscommon great
ass
tions had been made by the resident landed proprietors to sell:,
the population in the existing distress, but all they could "-
went but a little way. What then must be the state of those din
tricts in which the same attention was not bestowed ?
anxiously implored the Government to reconsider whether AO
not possible to introduce a more comprehensive scheme, the°
any they had yet proposed, to avert the misery and distrega
which existed in Ireland to a greater extent shall
they had ever before existed in any civilised countrl'
With respect to those temporary measures that had been in'
troduced, no relief had been received from them. With te:
gard to the future, ruin would necessarily ensue to thouse%
if they were taken from labour on the public works. "
regretted that her Majesty's Government had acted as they
had done in not allowing some portion of the grant to
_ill
applied to the purchase of seed, and he trusted they gray:.
re-consider the questien.—( The Hon. Member here read "i;
extract from a letter corroborating his views.) Attention to dit
question was indispensable to the preservation and restoration et
Ireland. He must deny the imputation that had been r,t4
upon that vilified class, the landlords of Ireland, that twle
were intent only upon putting money into their pockets. 'rhea
were many cases where landlords had not received a fartbing,
their rents. He felt bound to avail himself of that opportunity
to lay before the House the views which he thought would VP
nefit Ireland.
Sir B. HALL rose with several other, Members, but they
ultimately gave way, and the Hon. Baronet said that he Pep
not intended to take any farther part in this discussion • but t.
he had an opportunity of saying a few words, he would wishi..-d
state that he did not retract one single word of what be
,'eu
uttered the other night, because the assertions he to
made had been made from the substance of what "e.
an authentic report, and he believed that that report was U
He had said that it was a strange thing that Irish Menli.
should come down to the House praying for relief for the tin/
tress in Ireland, and stating that if their rents were paid e
would willingly have provided for the pOor in that country,
if any English Members got up to express an opinion on L.;,
subject, they were told either that they did not feel for the °to
tress, or they did not understand the circumstances of for
country. Now, he did say that it was a great anomaly
liut
gentlemen to cons° there from the neighbourhood of Dn!•,,e
and make long speeches, while they made no effort to selod
the distress themselves. The Hon. Member for 'MY?. de.
spoken to the extent of the distress, and had very vividly
was
scrided the terrible sufferings in his country, and yet ", and
connected with a body of men who collected large ten"t,•'t-
be
spent large sums in Conciliation Hall. It was true :eta so
knew nothing about it—(Hear)—but he would je.grt „eh last.
the report for the money that was expended in Ilea*, 566/4
In March the amount was 9251.; in April 9301.; in
4911.;
June 7061.; in July 748/.; in August 1,132/4 in Sept'
ith
in Oct. 3471.; in Nov., when the papers were teeraug ;by
the horrors of Skibbereen. the amount was 6021. Now,
was not some of this money applied to the relief of the suffering
people of Ireland ? Why did not Members of that House !'if
had influence with the association endeavour to induce tn:
association to render its assistance in the mitigating the distreis
and not come to that House complaining that Ireland tg"
being neglected by England, while in
.point of fact the people
of this country were doing all in their power by way of sub.'
scriptions and otherwise, to relieve the distress.
Colonel VERNER agreed with the Hon. Baronet in 1.11
he stated, with respect to the money for the repeal rent,
etwe-
had been collected from a starving people, but he regretted to
add, that it was not a voluntary, ut a coulsor aYaleutti
There was. another subject, however, to which mp
he wished to Car
the attention of the !louse, because he believed it to be of the
greatest importance in considering the Bills before the 110110'
namely, the sub-letting of land, or, more properly speglin
the cutting it up into shreds and patches. That subject was._
very little known, he believed, either to that House or to the
people of England. It was an evil of the greatest magnitudes
but he did not think that the present landlords should r
blamed for what should be set down to the account of lb %
predecessors. As an instance of the evil, he would just Cak
the attention of the House to his own parish, and be 04
this ease first, because he was more intimately acquainted
it than any other part of the country; and secondly, beciege;/
belonged to the heart of what was called the favourite per,
Ireland—the province of Ulster. In that parish, two-thirds
of of which was in the county Tyrone, and the remaining Pit
in the county Armagh, when the calamity, which at presses
prevailed over the country, commenced, a relief committee W*
established, and meal was distributed once a week and teret
r
twice. There were at present four hundred and thirty .18
milies seeking relief from that committee, and of these
thirty-five only possessed as much as an acre of land; 50 tap,
395 families, or (allowing five persons to the family) neS%
2,000 individuals had no land whatever. Of the remaitnal
thirty-five families, consisting of 166 persons the amount:o,
the land in their possession was just eight acres and 11 lb.
perches. Four of these families occupied seven acres, and r
remaining portion of the land was divided among the otued
thirty-one families. That would give the House some ideted
the state of things which existed in what was Call
t
the' favoured part of Ireland, and would show /6
would be the effect of giving nut-door relief. ,it
asserted that if this measure of out-door relief were grantee ,0
would convert all Ireland into a
_poor-house, and absorb 00
whole property of the country. He should like to know fr?„,
Honourable Member for Bath what he had to say to the Pit
tore which he had just drawn? One thing he thought 11211
be very clear, that the cottier system was the greatest C
under which Ireland laboured. A few days ago he received'
letter from the rector of art adjoining parish to that which be
had just referred to. He was a brother of a Noble Lord who
was a Member of that House, the Rev. Francis Clements.
( The Gallant Colonel read the letter which described the ea'
istence of the distress in that locality to be beyond conception'
and that notwithstanding all the exertions of the poor linen"
weavers they were unable to procure sustenance, owing 0
high price of provisions.) When he (Colonel Verner, last ad"
dressed the House, he took the liberty of saying a few words ao
behalf of the Irish landlords, and he repeated
e
that they did their duty and exerted themselves to
ttee
i
best of their means, and ten times more than tuel
means would permit them, but what could they do to rt;
lievc such an overwhelming amount of destitution as that whit
prevailed in Ireland ? He asserted that the wealth of tbLs
.
country, to which Ireland had been so long united, ought_tf!
be extended to mitigate the evils of the emergency. For nif
own part, he rejoiced to see the unanimity which prevailed
both sides of the House to relieve the destitution, and he Wr.,
ready to support any measures for that object, no matter from
what political party they proceeded.
ad
Mr. LABOUCHERE said that some Hon. Gentleman b...
expressed an opinion that the House was not aware of the 11)._
tent of the misery which prevailed in Ireland. For his 0. P..
part he never concealed his opinions respecting it, and invaorte,
bly said that it was scarcely possible to overstate the antu
of suffering that existed in some parts of that country.
It was most painful to him to receive the intelligence which
every post brought him, and he could not convey to the.
House the feelings with which such accounts impressed hints
If the statements were put forward with a view to induce Go..
vernment to exert themselves the mere, he could assure those
who made them that it was not because the Government were
in ignorance of them, or were disinclined to relieve them, but
because of the limited powers at their command, which pre-
vented them from giving that aid which would adequateli
meet the calamity. They had, nevertheless, made an effort
on an enormous scale, and there were, at that moment'
600,000 persons employed, receiving relief from the Go:;
verument money. That was an enormous effort at
could not be made without taxing very much t';
resources of this country; but when the people were
dying by hundreds and thousands, every exertion must be Wed..
.-
and every sacrifice submitted to, to avert so tremendone__
calamity. He was satisfied, then, that if they had not beets
able to prevent all those scenes of suffering, and destitution, and
death, the sight of which pained them so much, nevertheless
they were able to mitigate much of the misery by the moll%
which was passed at the close of the last session of Parliatulth
This measure was the principal, but not the only one by yri_tleec,
had bee
established had been able to extend relief. *Soup kitchens httio
established under the direction of relief committees, who
were enabled, by grants from Government, to effect agreet dea•
of good, by administering assistance to the most destitute. But
the efforts of any Government to relieve such an extensivethe
calamity, must be very limited. The true cause of
distress, as had been observed, was the high price of pron Lurt ?
Was it in Ireland alone that the rate of provisions was niT
Let them look at France—in industrious France they
exceedingly high—and it is absolutely impossible by the in
ere
forts of the Government to keep the rate of provisions low
Ireland while it is high in the other European state.. ',swell
whence we are accustomed to draw our supplies. j°
Change"
might they attempt to keep the level of the Irish
impossible higher than that of the Atlantic Ocean. It was intPnas
such a country as Ireland—so poor, and circumstanced as
sb
was in respect of her social condition—to prevent the existence
of the greatest distress. The Hon. Gentleman who
oinning.
duced the subject to the House, the Member for Mayet.
Dillon Browne) called the particular attention f
tb
__,s
House to the destitute state of the county which
he he represented, namely the: county of Mayo. more
willing to admit that at all times that county had sully,'"
of the
than any other in Ireland. It was also true that many
.110.
deaths which had occurred from starvation, a veryre-
ersone
ber of them had occurred in the county of Mayo. ed
who had, for the most part, perished from starvation, belong
ae,
to the class of mendicants, which at all times are a very nu But
our body, and maintain a very precarious condi on
whatever of
during the present calamity they had no means
"closed in
procuring a subsistence, the doors were wee
every place against them, although heretofore theyvery
ews&
&CCU:Wand to obtaiti charity 'Mu the -