The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-07 00:00:00

POOR RELIEF (IRELAND) BILL.

Mr. HUME said that the Noble Lord at the bead of
the Government stated in his speech, in introducing the
Landed Property (Ireland) Bill, that he intended that
• that Bill and the one for the relief of the poor should
Proceed pari passu. He (Mr. Hume) now gave notice
that he intended to object to the proposition for granting
620,000/. for Irish railways until the fate of the Irish
Poor Relief Bill was known.
• NEW POOR-LAW.
Mr. FERRAND moved for the production of a re-
turn of the number of men, women, and children who
00 been committed to prison for offences against the
Provisions of the New Poor-law, and the rules and
Orders of the Poor.law Commissioners, since the pass-
111,g of the New Poor-law Act, up to the Ist day
ii); April last. Also, copies of all complaints of
boards of guardians in England and Wales, respecting
the conduct of district auditors, which have been ad.
dressed to the Poor-law Commissioners; together with
ejia„Piell of all correspondence of the Poor-law Commis-
sii,iners with the boards of guardians and district
"'liters, in reference to such complaints.—Agreed to.
CASE OF LORD COCHRANE.
FERRAND wished to ask the Right lion.
Gentleman the Home Secretary a question. He wished
to koo
vv
tuf t why the Government had not paid back to Mr.
- _ the 1,0001. which he was fined in connexion will)
'4.411 ochrane, that Noble Lord having been exone-
rated ? '
Sir G.
had
._ GREY said that some years ago an application
o_ been made to the Home Scere!ary regarding this
mur.Y. The application was declined at the time, and
step had been taken in the matter since that time.
did not think the Government had any power to it -
terfere.

SALE OF FIRE-ARMS IN IRELAND Sir WILLIAM VERNER rose to call the attention
leethe House to the importation and sale of fire-arms in
ous ; and on this subject he might state to the
e.one or two circumstances which came under his
immediate atonti3n in the c,:)unty with which he wtt,
Vc9nuected. Ia one case he knew that in a small
age there were fire-arms sold to the extent
1004, and ammunition to the same amount, and the
person who sold it said that if he had double the quantity

he could dispose of it. In another case a poor tenant,
after paying his rent, had returned to him by his land-
lord W. for the purpose of purchasing provisions for his
family, and the observation he made was that
the money would purehaso him a very good gun.
He therefore wished to bring before the House some
sufficient proof that he had been fully justified in the
course which ho had persued—that ho bad done no
more than, under the circumstances, was absolutely
necessary. Before, however, bringing before the House
such documents and such evidence as he thought wonld
convince their minds of the state of Ireland, he begged
leave to remind the House that a Bill had been passed
within the last four years fcr a similar purpose. On
the 271 h of April, 1813. a Noble Lord asked for
leave to bi ing in a Bill for registering all the
arms in Ireland, and also for regulating the mann-
fzeture of arms in that country, and the introduc-
'ion of gonpowd,r and other ammunition. On the
second reading his Lordship stated that the Bill would
repeal three Acts—that of George 111., George IV., and
Wiltiam IV. By several clauses which were introduced
it was decided that no arms should he imported into
Ireland without tide license of the Lord-Lieutenant,
under a penalty of 501. By another clause it was
enacted that gunpowder should not be manufactured in
Ireland, and thero was a third clause, by which it
was directed not only that arms should be regis-
tered, but also that they should be brandad. He en-
tertained no doubt whatever that there were large
numbers of unregistered arms in the nosaession of the
people of IrelanL, and that impression was confirmed by
the information he had received front Colonel M'Gregor
and other parties likely to he well informed upon this sub-
jeet. He recollected some Hon. Members saying that they
would oppose the Bill, not only clause by clause, but
even word by word. In the month of August it was
read a third time. He said that, even if the Irish
people were in a state of perfect quiescence, and were
amply provided with food, there was no necessity to
place arms in their hands; but when they were starving,
and starving in the midst of plenty, it was the height of im- •
policy to place weapons of destruction in their possession.
It was a well-known fact that Tipperary was the most
disturbed county in Ireland, and yet this was the
county in which arms were sold to the greatest ex-
tent and in the most open mantier.—(Hear, hear.)
(The Hon. Member then read a portion of a letter from
the Rev. Mr. Clare, illustrative of the state of thins
which prevailed in that county. The Reverend
Gentleman stated that nothing was more common
than to ace half-a-dozen guns thrust through
hedges commanding the public highways.) He
should not have troubled the House with so many of
these letters, but that he was desirous to convince the

House that this system was not confined to one district,
but extended to the whole of Ireland. The Hon. and
Gallant Member then read several other letters to the
same purport, and then proceeded to say, that for the fur-
ther convincing of some Members of that House, he had
other evidence of a different nature. This subject was
considered of such serious importance that four judger,
on their circuits had thought it necessary to draw
attention to it in their charges. The first charge
which he would read was that of Judge Jackson.
That Learned Judge described the intimidating letters
which had been distributed throughout Ireland as re-
sembling in appearance the proclamations of
the Crown, bearing the royal arms, and all
the other decorative features of those documents.
He had been asked by a friend of his to present a petition
to the House on this subject from the town of
Hoscrea, complaining of the facilities afforded
to the public fur the purchase of fire-arms.—(Hear.)
The lion. and Gallant Member read a letter from the
Earl of Glengall, stating that the auction of arms was
continually going forward in Tipperary, and conducted
by the very poorest order of merchants. He had it also,
on the authority of Mr. W. Wilton, that in the same
county they could get a mate shot for half-a-crown.
After reading several other docaMents, he said he would
assure the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Secretary for
Ireland, that he did not impui the slightest blame to
him, and he only wished that the Government had
brought forward some such measure as this ; and he
would, therefore, conclude by moving for a return of the
number of the stand of arms in Ireland.
Mr. LABOUCHERE said that nothing could be fur-
ther from his thoughts than to blame any Irish Member
for calling the attention of the Government to the state
of that country, or for requiring them to take the proper
measures for the preservation of life and property there.
When they undertook the government of that country,
they at the same time took up that responsibility, and it
was a source to them of thankful congratulation, that
during the calamitous winter which had just passed over
their heads, they had not to contend with the evil of
many attacks upon persons, or any increase of aggra-
rian outrages, and he believed he should be enabled to
make suctia statement, as would convince the House
that any further proceedings of an extraordinary nature
was unnecessary. Undoubtedly it. had been the case
that outrages had increased during the present year,
over the outrages of 1846, but if the House looked to
that simple fact as a proof of the failure of their plan,
they would be going upon erroneous ground. The out-
rages against life and the public peace showed but a
trifling increase, while of that class of outrages which used
formerly to constitute a considerable number of the
whole—namely, what were called aggrarian outrages—
there had been no increase whatever. This was a suffi-
cient proof that the system of refraining from Coercion
Bills or Arms Acts had been successful, and the House
ought, therefore, to pause before they adopted the recom-
mendation of the Hon. Baronet, to urge upon Govern-
ment to resort to extraordinary measures for maintain-
ingg
•
epthe:eae
dst toehande
present
prsteteoaaattCereeomofdfllar
misrepresentationre el
letteral an nd d. .
(f. IrT loheme
hcoldrcduo
.Colonel
la.
oknxine
eonel tiny help
uponrhteheginnokrp
th
i rnoe
n
Iraeileatn d,
antdo tpla,,e effectmore
a imbthatstat thee
th
than
ncoi
tunhtardy Ihveaesnin
fora some
years, and that what d.sturhances took
r3placent arose en-
tirely
be farmers distressed state of the country.) ne siascertainedre o
from
d;r esp the
e eftaact lthatrtheisat
o obtain sale
oobfai arms
themarosems
from the
.n)orldterwitianos
their own defence from the violence o
might be driven to despair from want men
who
peasants, of Ireland were taught to look upon the
possession of arms as a privilege, they had been forbid-
den to them, and there was no wonder if they ran a little
riot, on the attaining of this new privilege. If it were
necessary, he could go into many details to prove his as-
sertions, that the character of the outrages which had
recently taken place were not of an unusual character,
and that there was not an increase over the pre-
ceding years—and hero he could not refrain
from rendering his testimony to the Noble
Lord at the head of the Irish Government, of
whom ho could scarcely speak without emotion,
whose firm and temperate conduct, preserved the peace
and the lives and properties of the country. He be-
lieved, on the whole, considering the difficulties by which
he was surrounded, his efforts were crowned with as
much success as could reasonably be expected. lie was
supported, most usefully supported, by the police of Ire-
land, and by the officer at the head of that department.
He was also supported by the army, under the most try-
ing and hazardous circumstances. Nor could he omit
to say the Government received most valuable assistance
from the clergymen of all denominations. He believed
that the peace of the country could not have been pre-
served had not Catholic and Protestant alike preached
the doctrines of Christian charity; but,for them, it would
have been impossible for all the eff arts of the Govern-
ment to have prevented calamities which would ha, e
greatly increased the difficulties of the Government.
After an anxious consideration of the subject, he
did not believe that any case could be made
out to justify the Government to come to
that House and ask for extraordinary powers.
He did not believe that a greater evil could be inflicted
than by a departure from the first principles of the con-
stitution. It was the duty of every Government to pro-
tect the lives and properties of the people committed to
their charge ; but he could only say in conclusion that
a case had not been made out to justify such an inter-
ference. With regard to the motion of the Noble Lord
he had no objection, upon his part, to accede to it.
Mr. SHAW said that he could not help saying that
the law with regard to the possession of arms, in Ire-
land, was not in a very satisfactory condition. He was
apprehensive that the Government would find out, at
some time, that they would be obliged to interfere, in
some manner. In saying this, ho should not be under-
stood to advocate an Arms Bill ,• he was quite conten
to leave that to the care of the Government. He could
not help joining in the praise awarded to the Noble Lord
at the head of the Irish Government, whose conduct
had merited the highest praise.
The motion was then agreed to.
CULTIVATION OF COTTON.

Mr. BRIGIIT rose to move a Select Committee to
inquire into the progress of the cultivation of cotton in
India. Ile said that what the potato was to Ireland,
cotton was to Lancashire and the cotton manufacturing
towns, and he believed that. if the scarcity of cotton still
continued,
woulda
lsot
sphercs aanda
its
s distress
baneful wli
effects.ichoverwhelmed
To
show
how lrelandtiide
supply of cotton stood for the last few years, he
give the following results :—ln 1844 the stock of c,) .
ion in hand in this country was 950,000 bales, or thirty-
three weeks' consumption. In 1845, it was 1,060,000 bale',
or thirty-five weeks' consumption ; while in 1846, it was
only 545,000 bales, or eighteen weeks'
consumption
The result was that, in 1344 the price was 4d.
per pound, while in 1846 it had risen to 71
per pound, or 75 per cent. In the year 1844, the
quantity of cotton imported from the United States was.
2,400,000 bales; in 1845, it was 2,100,000; and in 1846,
it was only 1,800,000, or 2,000,000. Now let them con •
trast the importation of cotton in 1820, compared wiih
what it was in 1846. In 1820, of American cotton, the
importation was, 216,000 bales; and in 1844, it had in-
creased to the large amount of 1,229,000. In 1820,
there was imported of American cotton, 216,000 bales;
in 1846, 1,229,000. Of arst India cotton, in 1820,
184,000 bake ;in 1846, 140.000. Of Brazil cotton. in
1820, 140,000 bales; in 1816, 98,000. Of West Indian, in
1820, 84,000 bales; in 1846, only 14,000. In 1820, no
Eyptian cotton was imported, while in 1843, it was 50 000.
bates. Thus, from 1820 to 1846, while the American cot-
ton had increased 600 per cent., the East India had only
increased 50 per cent. The real question then which
they had to deal with was the power of India to furnish
a supply of cotton for this country; and, if so, what were
the best measures to encourage its growth. lie, for one,
had no doubt of the resources of India to produce all
tslitaattews.aslnrelqui
81sre:l insteadthere of d
had
be niemppenordtien(gi
into
htotthe Unite
isct)utld-
try from India 140,000,000 lbs ofcotton. If this was
how much more might it not have increased lied it been
encouraged up till this time. Tne Honourable Mem-
ber, atter reading extracts from several documents
on tho subject of growing co:ton in India, and
the necessity of encouraging it, proceeded to say thit it
r
was in order to devise a remedy, and to acquire some
kno?.,ctigc of the b t ir.. ac cf el7,crsura;zir!g its ;:-,rowC,,
. that he proposed the present Committee. Die Hen.
Member sat down by moving a Select Committee of the
House to inquire into the cultivation and the progress of
cotton in the East Indies.