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

iTtamiit

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1847,

The Lords met at Five o'clock.
The Duke of RICHMOND moved for the appointment
of a Select Committee to inquire into the operation of
the law of settlement.
After a short conversation, in which the Marquis of
LANSDOWNE, Lord BROUGHAM, Lord CAMPBELL, and
Lord BEAUMONT took part, the motion was agreed to.
Earl FITZWILLIAM, in presenting a. petition from the

grand jurors of Wicklow, in favour of Irish railways,
took occasion to express his opinion that the public
grants ought to be made to carry out Railway projects

in Ireland. The Noble Earl likewise defended the con-
duct of the Irish landlords.
Earl GREY reminded his Noble Friend of the measures
which had been proposed by Government for the relief
of Ireland. He believed there was a •ast amount of
capital in Ireland, of the existence of which few were
aware.

Lord MoNTEAGLE fully concurred in the statements of
the petitioners.
The petition was laid on the table, and their Lordships
adjourned.

The Commons met at Four o'clock.
Mr. C. BULLER brought up the second Report of the
Committee on the law of settlement.

Mr. E. DENISON postponed his motion for a Com-
mittee to inquire into the working of the ecclesiastical
commission for a fortnight.
Dr. BOWRING postponed his ruction on the public
accounts to the 16th of March.
Lir G. GREY having stated that in his opinion
Messrs. LYON and STUBB, justices of the county of

Lancaster, had improperly convicted flier working men

for leaving their employ, and that the four men were
entitled to take advantage of the informality in their

conviction,
Mr. T. DUNCO3IBE withdrew the motion, of which he
had given notice, on this subject.
Mr. BOUTERIE moved for a Select Committee to in-
quire into the circumstances under which certain pro-
prietors of land in Scotland had refused to grant to the
members of the Free Church, sites for the erection of
places of wor,hip.
Mr. EWART seconded the motion.

Sir GEORGE GREY was ready to assent to the inquiry.
Sir. R. INcus, while opposing the measure, admitted
that no proposition had ever been advocated in a manner
more calculated to gain for it friends.

Sir J. GRAHAM—Although he regretted that the pro-
prietors had refused sites, felt bound to oppose the

motion.

Lord G. BENTINCIA opposed the motion. Wherever

,he members of the Free Church had been refused sites,
Lt was because they wished to build their churches in
tpffensive situations.

Mr. F. MAULE defended the conduct of the members
of the Free Church.

Mr. S. WORTLEY considered the motion based on a
most dangerous principle, and xould, therefore, op-

use it.

Lord J. RussELL supported the motion, and as they
had no hesitation in interfering with the rights of pro-

perty to form a railroad, so they ought to interfere with
those rights, if necessary, to provide for the people

places of worship.

Mr. Sc'or opposed, and Colonel MORE supported, the
motion. On a division, there appeart d
For the motion for inquiry B9
Against it

We inserted on Monday a long letter, headed
" Small Measures for Ireland," which was addressed
to us by a landlord in the county of Donegal. At
this painful and critical period for ' that afflicted
country—painful from the horrible destitution to
which millions are hourly subjected—critical, inas-
much as, according to the nature of the measures of
a permanent character, which the Legislature may
pap during, e_present session, will either the wel-
fare eirliri )17rficit placed upon a foot-4W progressive
—ase-..--
regentFieeis4, orel4er miseries becorne*geetetted to
(at an4e4t- If& tr4ible extent—at sublia,tat;uke.l4-wc
°' otA Tigar-iiiiiYh tthose who, by tii.en. ' '
_kr a
, esitionsoh‘tvjegivictieeply interested irillhflik - iik
.
aiieetifirectid alasorbibg the attentioreAelsver'y class
, throughout the United Empirei,and who, haye, begte,
ntr iturriatzto,-anderiviirt-filigfreene to solve the
perplexities, political and social, of Ireland, should
have an opportunity of bringing their respective
views under the notice of the public. The author of
the letter in question, in the earlier portion of it,
A momentary retrospect as to the relative position passes a warm eulogium upon, and herein only renders a
and complicated intrigues of the Continental Cabinets simple act of justice to, a numerous body of Irish
cannot be altogether unprofitable. It may enable us lacdlords, whose conduct, in these perilous
to accumulate some additional confirmation of our times, has entitled them in every respect to
original conjectures as to the motives which have patriotic commendation. On the other hand,
actuated the presiding geniuses of those Cabinets in the writer passes some very severe, and well-merited
their nefarious and tortuous machinations. The time strictures upon the past improvidence, folly, and
which has elapsed since the first development and rapacity of an extensive class of Irish proprietors,
final consummation of these occurrences is so fsr who have recklessly augmented and precipitated
advantageous, inasmuch as it will enable us to take " discontent, poverty, and outrage." He clearly in-
the matter into consideration in its totality. Our in- dicates that had their conduct been regulated by the
.ention is by no means to review the voluminous cor- philanthropic spirit of " Live and let live," the pre-
respondence laid upon the tables of the Legislative sent disastrous aspect of Ireland would never have
Chambers of France and the Parliament of Great been witnessed. To the weak-minded and grasping
;3eitain. The wrangling of hostile diplomatists has policy of extorting heavy fines, in the first instance,
do peculiar fascination fur us at this moment; neither from every moderate capitalist, who was inclined to
are we disposed to make any further commen- invest his means in the cultivation of a farm of de-
taries upon the kidnapping of a Spanish sirable dimensions, to the extravagant prices at
Princess, or the larceny of an avaricious despotism. which the proprietary fixed their rents, is to be
Already there have been sufficient observations upon mainly attributed the number of small holdings
the invasion of popular rights in the incorporation of into which estates have been gradually subdivided,
the Cracovian territories with the enormous do-
a system which, more than any other, has constituted
minions of Austria, and upon the adroit interference a prolific source of the agrarian evils by which Ire-
with the constitutional privileges and national land has, for, years, been discreditably characterised.
liberties of the Spanish population. So much has, The farmer, in the vain hope of redeeming himself
indeed, been written upon those infamous infrac- from the thraldom of the incumbrances incurred by
tions of the treaties of Utrecht and of Vienna, that the unreasonable terms which his landlord had ime
we should be loth to refer to them again, otherwise posed on his first taking the land, lent himself in turn,
than as the media through which we may estimate the to exact conditions, proportionately harsh, from those
future fortunes of Continental Europe. It is simply who agreed to take small allotments under him, till
and excltvively upon the consequences of these mea- at last the cycle of selfishness being completely run
sures, therefore, that we are induced to take a retro- through, nature is found in the end vindicating the
;poet of such an unattractive character. With the original infraction of the principles of justice,
consideration of those consequences is intimately and and the deplorable result Ls evidenced of men
inextricably blended the consideration of the inten- and land being involved in one common ruin.
tions of the principal actors in these strange and al-
Men, who might have been comparatively affluent, are
most unprecedented transactions. seen steeped in bankruptcy by the wholesale; and
It is impossible to divest the mind of the notion the soil, which should have teemed with produce, lies
that the marriage of the Infanta and the seizure of fearfully barren. Mr. Tonn recommends an imme-
Cracow are bound together by a secret animus—that diate abandonment of the system of small
the former was the incitement to the latter ; that the holdings. We have over and over again urged
latter was the compensation of the former. When the same counsel, and we believe that the measures
Lisbon was engulphed by an earthquake, the subter- of the Government will be shaped with the view of
ranean convulsion produced by that catastrophe tra- gradually eradicating the existing diminutive and
yelled noiselessly under the ocean and bubbled up in vicious division of land. Other suggestions are made
the hot-springs of Clifton. The almost simultaneous by the above-mentioned gentleman, which are con-
ebullition of these internal commotions of the globe tes- netted with questions of the utmost gravity,
tified that there was an immediate connexion between and which would, therefore, demand considerable
the two occurrences, that they were either the simul- space to expatiate upon them with the ampli-
taneous results of the same latent motor, or that the tude they would require. The propriety of int-
one was the exciting cause of the other. Precisely ! posing a tax upon absentees is a qw.stion of this
uwpeonha the same species of evidence it is obvious, as ' nature. It is one that has been mooted with great
just observed, that the seizure of Cracow I earnestness at different periids during the last three-
and the marriage of the Infanta were either correla• ' quarters of a century. Weighty objections have re-
, Notwithstanding the solemn ena
five or sequential.
I tpeaax.tedßlyabewehnautregaendnoatgabiensatontheeiilaodirsitieocnt, o suchfmay a
8 gements of amity be,

Maj-irity
Mr. BANK ES th, n drew the attention of the House to

the report of the Committee on the settlement and
poor removal Acts, and complained that the Go-
vernment had determined to postpone for the present
the consideration of the w orking of the measure as it

affected the comforts of the poor. Hti believed the abo-

Lut of settlements would be most prejudicial to the

Mr. C. BULLER defended the conduct of the Com-

Atter a long discussion the motion Alitawiltdratudri!..,
Lord G. BENTINCK then brought L.lwai.llhis
relative to the expense of English ra4aya":; The tithla
Lord entered at great length onAirecaubjedtizi ortiOti4
prove the erroneous calculations of the late hancellOr of
Agt.144441F4-9A411445140.-(au

6 ariiitifitiefealb 1116-Noble Lotd.

The Consolidated Fund (8,000,0001.) Bill went
through comrnittt e, and the 'House adjourned at Halt-
past Twelve o'clock.