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

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14044"InerOnVertible 4461"1"11811.41"."441"putter,
overu while, though the wages Of
remained the same, the command they had
The tgrYtb.ing they required was materially reduced
that th IL Gentleman the Member for Birmingham sail
thgle Act of 1819 was most unwise in restoring the
cifietz.andard of currency. He declared himself against
f the value oegold t'l 17s 10 J. the ,asst
lesteadire o , a e • •
gine. 41. es. the value of the paper currency at the
nai ears complaint is that the standard of gold was
Cririerzed at the depreciated standard. Now, with re-
.tta,
ezetoetplaitlie,tltie (Sir Robert Peel) submitted that, with
of Peculiar engagements, it Matters no-
whether the gold standard was fixed at
,Z,Vie NEL the oz. or 41. 55., as far as the present
=citifies of commercial embarrassment was con-
Zu.ad• If the standard was 41. 55. instead of
reguilete 1130., foreigners would know it, and would
their transactions accordingly. Regarding
wrnal debts it might make some dfference, but vsith
ri:V.OII. to the foreign transactions of the country it
u De the same whatever tic s:andlrd of roil rn ght
be &$~ M
at. He would ask them what the Honourable
emoer fur Birmingham wanted? Would his 110 n.
Friand revise the arrangement of 1319? It he would
elle.stdo that, and deprecated an unconvertible p-ip r cur-
e '"Y, then it was clear that he had no remedy to pro-
e° se* If he would issue one pound notes, and allow
iteld to re,
tem b`, out of the country, it weuld realese bone
we.yerary good, though an ultimate evil, but if the)
Of. r, to have a convertible paper, then no prepesal
Re toe kind would be of the slightest benefit in
.‘tleviating the difficulties of the country. Respecting
lee A.ct of 1844, the Hon. Member said the object of it
rin to Maititain the standard of the measure of 1819
—s was the reason alleged for the passing of that Act.
•this he (Sir R. Peel) begged leave to observe, thati
„," intention of tl-e Act of 1844 had been very !nue.
7_lettoderstood. That measure was passed to secure the
it vertability of paper into gold; and another object of
wll, to ensure the holders of paper a full equivalent
for its value, and at the same time not to restrain thr
Perittiollll of trade and commerce. Now, it was his firm
o
inlPinlee, that this arrangement had not imposed any
7,,urlous restriction, and he denied the claim of the Bank
F.4efelatu.l to relief from the operations of the conditions
,!844. In that arrangement the Bank had the power
by due
itself in regard to the issue, and had the power.
7 due caution and watchfulness, to prevent ultimate
embarrassment or of an undue development of the cir-
eilatien. He must say—while he never could speak of
the directors of the Bank of England in other than term••
of the highest favour—he must say they had been far
fromacting on that sound and careful policy which the
fpe !mire of 1844 indicated. He thought that if the:,
bad adhered more closely to the principle of that
Mr
i theaeratsiieunart
eehnthey
er
gewoelg ucu 1
trdeedho have vh
teehprevented in a great degree
tiolnlse
wbehliieehvedhatdhabteaelnl
made for some time past. In August last it
was that there would be a deficiency of the
potato crop, seer
that large importations would be requird to make up
the deficiency from abroad. To make up this deficiency
11;edinfoernetyhe
hceodnsthrtuecntioentnixaof railways, enormous amounts
apdeenthdeead ; and if the Bank had
and in eJaarnlyuaryalilvaest signs of the times,
provision to meet the
danger, the difficulty would not be what it now was.
dad
eedthe Bank raised the interest to five per cent, or six
nt_ for all bills, instead of maintaining an arbitrar
Would distinction of such bills, he believed that the pressure
have been most materially removed. But to
COIL)'
have
the real question. This was whether they were to
ituaivneeaactuariri.ency convertible into gold, or no standard ol
them This was the matter which they had before
hi_ ; Whatever course the House may take it was
firmbelief that no relief would be obtained b:
uLerreeddling with the Act of 1844.—(Hess.) They ha,
n:_ineor ten millions of gold at present, they were free oi
Tenal
, Panics and their commercial relations were
!su.?d
Internal ;
let them, therefore, take care that in the hope
r.eilteying the present difficulty by interfering with the::
Zlthey did not pluage themselves in much greater
is I;ers*—Mear, hear.) At present the Batik we,
Luting ten million of notes instead of fourteen millions;
but let them beware of the danger of any great increase
Le had been recommended, in depreciatine the value of
all the present issues in circulation.—(hear, hear.) 11,
14 the present time, trade is flourishing. and if the Barth
solvent, if the population of the country is in a sail.:
„..aet°rY COnditiOn, if the wages of labour was rep:eilari.,
rd, and all classes of the community participating ii
stite of comparative security, then he earnestl:,
entreated the House not to be tempted by any hope of
solving the present difficulty, to incur the risk of a fat
itileater danger in a depreciated currency. If they ad-
mitted the unconvertibility of paper into gold4they would
bad that they would have to encounter all the ills they
"ad experienced subsequent to 1819, and do that which
could not be done without shaking the foundations of
the property of the country, as well as the social conde
lion of all classes of the
people.—(Loud cheers.)
the
JOHN RUSSELL said that after the speech re
""Right Hon. Gentleman, he would not enter upon the
subject which had been so much under discussion, bit'
would call the attention of the House for a short time It,
thed merits of the resolution before it—(Hear, hear)—it
to place before them the difficult position 01
eoiee2 7Government in regard' to the question, not
h„,Y, as affecting the general principle which
tied been under consideration, but to the ques-
, as relating to the present condition of Ireland.—
ktmear, hear.) The Hon. Member for Wycombe bad
rutqUestion to him as to how he (Lord John Russell)
ended the :immense surplus population of Ireland
should be absorbed. His reply to that question
Wavy that the present grant was one means.
Huang others, of providing for the alit orp-
f the excess of labour in that country
Bezi 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 br it
owing to all of these causes together, they had arrives!
at a state of things in Ireland, in which there was an im
mense class of persons living on agriculture, and yel
not paid by wages of labour sufficient for their subsist-
ence. Taking the proportion of these as being eight it
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
meat. What was to become .of them in future years
Re 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 they
Might mitigate the misfortune, they might pass the.
difficult transition with more or less of success, they
might arrive in time at a more or less happy state of
things, 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
the people, than anything the Legislature could have
effected ; it might place them at once in a
state of happiness and prosperity. That was a thing
which neither they nor any Ministry could or ought to
expect to perform. But what he thought they could do,
they had endeavoured to do, that was, to investigate the
Present suffering, and to save as far as possible the de-
struction of life, and to facilitate in some degree a better
state of things. He need not refer to the measures
whichL they had taken with this view to the first of these
objects. They had been costly, and added considerably
to the difficulty of their finances, and great suffering to the
People
; but when they were—or as some philosophers
Put it—placed in this position, Ivhen the question was
whether the Government or the Legislature could not
interfere, or whether two millions of people were to
be allowed to perish off the land without
be interference whatever, he said it would
Be repugnant to the feelings not only of the present Mi-
nistry, 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
More 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
He could not but suppose that these Measures were con-
ducive to the preservation of a great number of those
persons. The next question—and a most serious
question it was—it might be remembered
that in the exposition of the general po-
licy of the Government at the beginning of
the session, it was announced that they intended, by
measures of a Permanent character, to facilitate the tran-
sition to a better order of things, so as to provide for
the future prosperity of the people ; and he mould here
say at once to the House—be would say at once to the
Hon. Member for Wycombe that he did not pretend, lie
could not pretend to say that the Government could
frame a comprehensive measure, or a series of compre-
hensive measures, which would modify the position of
that people, and justify them being at once adopted in
Parliament. He bad not that confidence in his own re-
sources ; he did not look at things in so sanguine a
manner as the Honourable Member..—(Hear, hear.)
The utmost that they could do was to pro
pose measures calculated for that end, some of
these might be modified and adopted by the Parliament.
Some might be found beneficial, and others only bene-
ficial in part; and in others great changes might be
Made, or perhaps they might be entirely rejected. In
his 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 lauded estates
in Irelatd, and that we should propose a million for the
reclamation of waste lands. In considering the former
of those measures, which was only an extension of the
'flettaure passed in the last year, they bad found it advis-
able to add half as much again to the sum—to make it,
in fact, a million and a half, instead of a
Minim, and in that state it passed through
Parliament With regard to the other measure he had
little more to do than to repeat what his Right Hon.
Friend
rnuhgual wag, that
at the commencement of the evening.
that the great power of the measure in
good depended on its being a compulsory mea-
sure, but after that measure had been introduced in that
I°Lise they heard from various quarters that to take
laway their properties from the proprietors would be con-
sidered as a violent measure in this, but more especially
1,111, the other House of Parliament ; that in that shape
They
measure was not likely to be successful in passing.
'heY then considered whether the measure without this
emlenulsory clause could not be made capable of
effectiag great good, and the Secretary for Ireland un-
dertook the introduction of it in an amended form;
Mat the more he went into it, the more the clauses a ere
gone through, the greater was the difficulty of adopting
9tat measure without its compulsory clauses, and making
it efficient.--(Bear, hear.) It was, therefore intended,
that when his Right Hon. Friend brought forward
this measure he should state that it was proposed for
consideration, but that it was not one a 'rich they
pledged
_ll themselves to carry through in the present ses-
,ru_ • ith regard then to the two milliens which they
proposed to apply to those put poses, one half minion
lenger proposed to be employed in improving
a" ot Ireland, and that was one answer to the
Alght
we Gentleman who said it was unfair that.
ehe
tad now propose a new expense on which we