The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-01 00:00:00

,Lmeenvertible paper, while, though Or wages of
44,ertir remained the same the command they had
teat
everything they required was materially reduced ? I
tuet
thuoutt Gentleman the Member for Birmingham sat i
.I.Bold_s e Act of 1819 was most unwise in restoring the
t,iiiadard of currency. He &reard himself against
74e. uzing of the value of gold at 31.1 17s. 101 d. the 05 ,
Ltea.ad of 41.55•, the value of the paper currency at the
hot ail' complaint is that the standard of gold was
cored at the depreciated standard. Now, with re-
the evtlthise he (Sir Robert Peel) submitted that, with
thing--P"°Tl of peculiar engagements, it matters no-
3,whether the gold standard was fixed at
lOire
"floculties of oz. oz. or 4/. 55., as far as the present
ceened, commercial embarrassment was con.
ie„ „If the standard was 4L ss. instead of
souls "tele foreigners would know it, and would
ate their transactions accordingly.
peimroal debts it might make sense difference, bet %%ith
Regarding
,171111'd to the foreign transactions of the country it
held be the same whatever the standard of Roll might
tieraltbederetior would ask them what the Honourable
Birmingham wanted.? Would his Hon.
4▪
°I(V revise the arrangement of 1819? If he would
peer ° that, and deprecated an unconvertible paper cur-
Posey' then it vim Or ra that he had no remedy to pro-
* If he would issue one peund notes, and allow
Did t
teal go out of the country, it woule reekse. stnk
were Poo
rary good, though an ultimate evil, but if the'.
of t°
have a convertible paper, then no proposal
dthe kind would be of the slightest benefit in
eviating the difficulties of the country. Respecting
fe Act of 1844, the Hon. Member said the object of it
ikT to maintain the standard of the measure of 181.9 t.
Tottshw. la the reason alleged for the passing of that Ars
the ;„2,4_ he (Sir R. Peel) begged leave to observe, thalt
raiz -"erltion of V e Act of 1844 had been very muc
aederstorel. That measure was passed to secure the
Zertability of paper into gold; and another object tt
eet, !sr to ensure the holders of paper a fall equiva efn.
nee"a value, and at the same time not to restrain t
Zrioriaationa of trade and commerce. Now, it was his firm
ia• ills that this arrangement had not imposed an)
0-ttirtirious restriction, and he denied the claim of the Bank
of 7en,gand to relief from the operations of the conditions
t '"4. In that arrangement the Bank had the power
too right itself its reeard to the issue, and had the power.
Ldoe caution and watchfulness, to prevent ultimate
e.e./4----.lltirot‘o.iiinent or of an undue development of the cir-
He must say—while he never could speak of
tor directors of the Bank of England in other than terms
frain the highest favour-she must say they had been far
aeries on that sound and careful policy which the
wire of 1844 indicated. He thought that if the
adhered more closely to the principle of that
eteLeasure they would have prevented in a great degre,
Hie Intense pressure of the evil. He believed that all
Parties had neglected the indications which had been
Made for souse time past. In August last it was seer'
that there would be a deficiency of the potato crop ki
that large importations would be required to make eauep
the deficiency from abroad. To make up this deficiency
and for the construction of railways, enormous amounts
F money had been expended ; and if the Bank had
rep early alive to the signs of the times.
;la in January last made a provision to meet the 8a the
the difficulty would not be what it now was.
srd the Bank raised the interest to five per cent, or six
per for all bills, instead of maintaining an arbitrate
wulouildctoe of such bills, he believed that the pressure
have been most materially removed. But to corn
Ito the real question. This was whether they were to
ZilT__eaa currency convertible into gold, or no standard Est
th:m." all* This was the matter which they had before
kis 0 Whatever course the House may take it was
in.,. "al belief that no relief would be obtained l%
eriaeddling with the Act of 1844.—(Hear.) They ha,
biirt:ori ten millions of gold at present, they were free 0.
0n.._',11141 Panic, and their commercial relations were
; let them, therefore, take care that in the hope ot
Afting the present difficulty by interfering with the;
az) they dui not plunge themselves in much greater
but
let
ten issjers•—(Hear, hear.) At present the Bank was
million of notes instead of fourteen millions;
had
been
beware of the danger of any great increase
_
recommended, in depreciating the value of,
.
tu.he
lee present issues in circulation.—(Hear, bear-)
11,
at
t• Present time, trade is flourishing, and if the Beni,
elic't 'Tent, if the population of the country is in a s.atis,
ory
"ition, if the wages of labour was regulate
pods and all classes of the community participating ir,
ea state comparative • security, then he earnestl),
1101vi-L'u the House not to be tempted by any hope or
-42 the present difficulty, to incur the risk of a far
i;;ie,l4._t°r clanger in a depreciated currency. If they ad-
."Q the unconvertibtlity of paper into gold,lthey would
had that they would have to encounter all the ills the)
,fleaperienced subsequent to 1819, and do that which
not be done without shaking the foundations or
„ e property of the country, as well as the social conds-
"li of all classes of the
.14rd JOHN people.—(Loud cheers.)
RUSSELL said that after the speech of
VJeight Hon. Gentleman, he would not enter upon the
would et which had been so much under discussion, but
call the attention of the House for a short time to
merits of the resolution before it—(Hear, hear)—in
trees to
place before them the difficult position
h, Government in regard to the question, nor
Y as affecting the general principle which
(iou
11,3.een, under consideration, but to the quest-
(R - Mating to the present condition of Ireland.-
tear, hear.) The Hon. Member for Wycombe hart
hout„.,question to him as to how he (Lord John Russell)
the :immense surplus population of Ireland
oUld 136
, absorbed. His reply to that question
met' that the present grant was one means,
r'ng others, of providing for the alasorp-
el! of the excess of labour in that country.
eie it owing to the faults of the landlords, be it owing
to the faults of the tenants with long leases, be it owing
to the disposition of the people themselves, or be it
eying to all of these causes together, r, they had arrived
at a state of things in Ireland. in which therewas an im
manse class of persons living on agriculture, and yes
not paid by wages of labour sufficient for their subsist-
ence. Taking the proportion of these as being eight in
Ireland against four in England, an immense calamity
happens to the country, a destruction of produce to the
amount—according to the calculation of the Secre-
tary for Ireland—of 18,000,0001. takes place, it is
supposed that for the future they cannot subsist
on the food which had hitherto been their chief nutri
Mem . What was to become of them in future years ?
denied, on the part of Government, the responsi-
bility of terminating, still less of suddenly resolving,
that question. He said that a more difficult problem
never had come before a Legislature. He said that th.ei,
might mitigate the misfortune, they might pass the
difficult transition with more or less of success, they
hht arrive in time at a more or less happy state of
gas but this evil grew upon them. and only arrived
at maturity by the full destruction of the potato crop.
This calamity- might do more for the regeneration of
theeepteedop;le, than anything the Legislature could have
efi
it
"%te of happiness and prosperity. That was a thing
'ehich neither they nor any Ministry could or ought to
I:e*Pect to perform. But what he thought they could do,
eY had endeavoured to do, that was, to investigate the
-
Present suffering, and to save as tar as possible the de-
'traction of life, and to facilitate in some degree a better
state cf things. He need not refer to the measures
n/tkhieh they had taken with this view to the first of these
se-"J,letes They had been costly, and added considerably
'•
LI difficulty of their finances, and great suffering to the
pu•
=pbut when they were—or as some philosophers
Li? 4-2ilaced in this position, when the question was
;eether the Government or the Legislature could not
ret"feres or whether two millions of people were to
allowed to perish off the land without
L.ll interference whatever, he said it would
„...7 repugnant to the feelings not only of the present Ali-
-741. but of any Government which might occupy their
places in the House of Commons, not to have attempted
to have relieved them. Well, then, their measures were
teare or less effective on that head. He could not regret
the attempt to maintain these 730,000 persons on the
Public works during the severe months of the winter
Re could not but suppose that these measures were con-
ducive to the preservation of a gnat number of those
Persona. The next question—and a most serious
qestion it was—it might be remembered
at in the exposition of the general poi.
lmy 'of the Government at the beginning_
_o
the session, it was announced that they intended, by
measures of a permanent character, to facilitate the tran-
sition to a batter order of things, so as to provide for
ty of the people ; and he would here
the
future
prosperity
say at once to the House—h• would say at onee to ti
Hon. Member for Wycombe that he did not pretend, he
could not pretend to say that the Government could
frame a comprehensive measure, or a series of compre-
hensive meaaures,. which would modify the position of
that people, and justify them being at once adopted in
Parliament. He had not that confidence in his own re-
sources ; he did not look at things iu so sanguine
manner as the Honourable Member..—(Hear, hear.)
The utmost that they could do was to pro-
POse measures calculated for that end, some of
ese might be modified and adopted by the Parliament.
'Lome might be found beneficial, and others only bene-
ficial in part; and in others great changes might be
t.made, perk ys they might be entirely rejected. In
14 statement at the commencement of the session, he
said that he should propose to advance a million of
Money for the purpose of improving the landed estates
in Ireland, and that we should propose a million for the
rettletastion of waste lauds. In considering the former
°t. those measures, whisk was only an extension of the
1114" e Pissed in the last year, they had found it adv
in
IDillule to add half as muchezain to the sum—to make it,
lace a million a half, instead of a
Parliamenti°n in that state it passed through
little With regard to the other measure he ha
Friend
more to do than to repeat what his Right Hon.
had stated at the commencement of the evening.
,ee truth Wu, that the great power of the measure in
es-"fling good depended on its being a compulsory mea-
Ire, but after that measure had been introduced in that
,-"ae they heard from various quarters that to take
"?o:r their properties truth the proprietors would be F
join, -
111gered aa a violent measure in this, but mere espece y
1.11 the other House of Parliament ; that in that shape
I,p measure was not likely to be successful in passing.
ueY then considered whether the measure without this
eerPitils°rY clause could not be made capable of
derectoot-"kg great good, and the Secretary for Ireland un-
the introduction of it in an amended form;
bet the more he went into it, the more the clauses %% ere
gene through, the greater was the difficulty of adapting
it Flat meagure without its compulsory clauses, and making
P
ttlitizt when his
Hear, hear.) It was, therefore intended,
Right Hon. Friend brought forward
coull,iindeasure he should state that it was proposed ti r
Plee-eratitiok but that it was not one which they
,longed themselves to carry through in the present sea-
pro With regard then to the two millions which they
f air eseedL-t° apply to those purposes, one half million
h
the soil neer proposed to be employed in Improvi g
Right Ft° Ireland, and that was one answer to the
et. us Gentleman who said it was unfair that
monld now propose $ new expense on which we

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