The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-02 00:00:00

COAST GUARD.

APPOI NI'MnIT. —I n specting-tx." m ...ander P. Fisher, to New-
eagle. Castelwellan district ',ice Oliver, removed.
REMOVALS.--C°m:-.andr° W. B. Oliver, to south Yar-
mouth, vice Grf.„te. whose period of service, expires on the sth
of April • Mr. J. Willcox, chief °deer of Barry's Cove Station,
t° lydd, vice Mactlettnell,

WAGES IN FRANCE.—The present average rate of
wages in Paris is 3f. 50c. (or 2s. Ild.) a day, and 2f. (or
Is. Bd.) in the provinces. In 1698 the average rate of wages
throughout France was 12 sous (61) a day; in 1738, 16
sons ; in 1788, 19 sous; In 1819, 25 sous; in 1832, 20 sous.
Wages have greatly increased ; but the prices of all articles
of consumption, house-rent, apparel, agricultural and me-
chanical implements, &c., have augmented also. " Wages
are very high in France," says M. Michelet, "in comparison
with Switzerland and Germany; but, in the former, wants
are much more keenly felt."
BRITIBIL Mumuss.—Prom a paper just issued by
order of the House of Commons, the following results appear
respecting the British Museum :—The receipts,- from Christ-
mas, 1841, to Christmas, 1845, amounted to 46.968/. includ-
ing 32,2241. from the Parliamentary grant, and dividends
on balance in hand, &c. The estimated expenditure from
Christmas, 1844, to Christmas, 1815, was 46,669/., and the
actual expenditure 43,8211. The estimated charge from Lady-
day, 1846, to Lady-day, 1847, is stated as 47,8501., the
principal increase proposed being in the purchase and acqui-
sition of printed books and coins and antiquities. The
amont of the grant required from Parliament for the year
ending Lady-day, 1847, is 45,406/. The amount of special
Parliamentary grants received during the year ending
Christmas, 1845, was 12,1874 of which sum 11,518/. was
expended in the purchase of books and MSS. from the libra-
ries of the Duke of Sussex, Mr. Bright, and It. Southey,
Esq. 1,095/. the expenses of collecting and conveying
to England the Xanthian marbles; the purchase of prints,
fossils, &c. With regard to the number of visitors annually
to the Museum, it appears that, in 1840, there were 247,929
persons to view the general collections ; in 1841, 319,374 ;
in 1842 there were 547,718 ; 1843, 517,440 ; 1844, 575,758;
and in 1845 there were 685,614. The number of visits made to
the reading rooms for the purpose of study or research was, in
1810, about 1,950 ; in 1820, about 8,820 ; in 1830, 33,200 ; in
1840, 67,541; in 1845,54,427. The number of visits by artists
and students to the galleries of sculpture, for the purpose of
studying, was about 4,938 in 1831, 6,354 in 1840, and 4,256
in 1845. Last year, 5,904 visited the print room. A very
interesting statement is added, detailing the additions made
to the Museum in its various departments during the year
ending December 25, 1845. This statement occupies seven
folio pages of close print, which will furnish some idea of the
extent of these additions, which occupy so much space in
mere enumeration.

COLONIZING OIIEGON.—We have already briefly
noticed the fact, that a brig was about to sail, or had sailed
from Newburyport for the Columbia River; but the parti-
culars, which we learn from the Newberyport Herald, and
other sources, are too interesting to be omitted. The
brig Henry, commanded by Captain Kilburn, is
owned by Mr. John Cushing, the father of our
late Minister to China, a wealthy and enter-
prising merchant of the ancient town we have named.
We are told by the New Providence Herald that some " three
or four hundred spectators gathered at the wharf to wit-
ness the brig's departure, and there were many moist eyes
among those who took leave of their friends. Reli-
gious exercises were had on the occasion, prayer being
offered by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, and a brief address made
by the Rev. Dr. Dana. One of the passengers arrived from
Boston in the cars a few moments after the brig cast off,
and was put on board by a pilot boat. The vessel went down
the river in good style, with a fine breeze, and, as the baro-
meter was rising, there was aod roba'Jili ty that she will
carry pleasant weather with her p till clear of the coast. The
people on the
go
wharf gave them a parting salute of three
cheers, which
xrprms were responded to from the brig."—Neto

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF COMMOIVS, April 1.
(Continued from oar Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
DESTITUTE POOR (IRELAND) BILL.
Mr. P. SCROPE would beg to impress upon the House the
importance of the present measure. On the 21st of July,
1834, on the order of the day being read, he moved a resolu-
tion to the effect that, in order to the security against agra-
rian outrages, the poorer classes should obtain a sufficiency
of the necessaries of life by honest industry. In 183.5 he
hal ventured to divide the House on the same principle. He
had co-operated with many Members of the House in obtain-
ing a poor-law for Ireland, and when the Commission for in-
quiring into the state of Ireland had made their re-
port, he had endeavoured to carry their recommen-
dations into effective operation. By that report it ap-
peared that the Commissioners were decidedly of the opinion
that if the poor population could not obtain a subsistence by
their industry, they ought to have an allowance out of the
Consolidated Fund, and in fact, that they were entitled to be
secured from destitution. But the Government thought this
recommendation went too far, and they sent only another
Commissioner, Dr. Nicholls, who had made a report, on which
the Ministry acted, and confined the relief to that which was
given at the several workhouses. What had been the result
of that system was evident in the agrarian outrages which
originated in want, and had most certainly led to crime. The
workhouses were only finished last year, and they-
had proved totally insufficient for the purpose. He
conceived that the objects for which a poor-law ought
to be established were threefold. The first of these
was the relief of the poor destitute, as a matter
of charity, with a view to put down vagrancy, and all those
evils which flow from a condition of society which is at once
beyond the power of the law, and incapable of orderly or-
ganisation. The second ground was a matter of police, with
a view to reduce the amount of the crime and privation,
that temptation to break the laws which the impulses of
nature would always occasion. The third ground was the
protection of the poor man from those positions which
were opposed to all the foundations of law. By the
present state of things, land, which was the common
gift of the munificent Creator of all mankind, was confined
for the profit of the few, and therefore it was that some mea-
sure should be devised for the relief of that class who suffered
most from that perversion of the natural state of things.
These were the three grounds on which a poor-law ought to
be based, and the attempt to restrict relief therefore to the
workhouse rule must prove totally inoperative. The work-
houses in Ireland were incompetent to relieve one
per cent. of the pauperised population of that country.
In England it is well known that the pauper popu-
lation constituted ten per cent. of the whole corn-
inanity. Now here there are 534 workhouses, a
much greater number than there were in Ireland, and yet in
this country it was a matter notorious to all that in these
workhouses there was not more than one-sixth of the relief
given of the whole that was granted. It appeared that in
Limerick, according to the report of Lord Devon's Commis-
sion, the poor were absolutely in a worse condition than
they were when the law was first passed. The scheme, then,
had evidently failed, and he (Mr. Scrope) was of opinion
that until the poor were saved from the destitution
which pushed them on to crime these agrarian out-
rages would not cease. The poor man was evidently entitled
to be saved from starvation by an allowance from the land
on which their forefathers were born. (The Honourable
Gentleman then read a series of extracts from Dr.
Doyle's pamphlet, and from the work of Mr. Evans,
secretary to the Poor -law Inquiry for two years.)
There were three means by which the country was governed.
There was the law of the land, with their judges to administer
it and backed by the military and civil authorities, but which
had proved quite inoperative fur its purpose. Then there
was the convention between the parties who were the objects
of the law's direction and who had succeeded in evading all
the carefulness of the law. The Right lion. Baronet (Sir J.
Graham) had stated the other night that outrages were not
prevalent throughout Ireland, and that the increase of
crime was confined to five counties. But what was the
reason of this, why because the law of the land was inoperative
to protect the lives and properties of the peasantry, whereas
the agrarian law was effective for that purpose. He would
ask whether the law of the land did protect the life of the
peasantry ?—[Sir J. Graham—" Yes.") Did it? He denied
it; for it did not protect him from starvation, and he was
compelled to resort to agrarian disturbances, in order to
protect himself against the extremity of want. In reply to
a petition the other day, the Right Hon. Baronet had stated
that they could not expect a man to stiffer the last
evils of starvation, but that he was, to a certain extent
justified in resorting to violence, or at least illegality, to save
himself and his family from starvation. When a man was
evicted from his holding without any compensation for the
improvements he had made upon it, was he to lie down and
die in a ditch? On the very principle which the Right
lion. Baronet had propounded there was evidently a necessity
for an alteration in this mode of relieving the poor.
Throughout a great part of Ireland there was a peculiar
tenant right by which the tenant was entitled to com-
pensation, but did their law protect that ? It was
notorious that it did not. In Ulster the tenant right was
recognised and allowed, but such was not the case
generally, and in some places the tenant was evicted
from his holding without any compensation whatever, after
having bestowed as much as would amount to a twenty or
thirty years' purchase. In the counties of Down and Armagh,
it was the fear of agrarian outrages which preserved this
right. In Ulster, therefore, it was upheld, because the legal
authorities gave way to the agrarian law. He might refcrto
the evidence of Mr. Senior, and to the late frightful case of
eviction in Galway, for a confirmation of what he had stated.
He thought that he had proved that. the statute law did not
protect life in Ireland, and that was the reason why, in moving
the second reading, he had given the title to the Bill which
it now bore. There was not protection from destitution, and,
therefore, as wrong begets wrong, so long as that destitution
existed crime would exist. He would not palliate the enor-
mity of the crimes in the slightest degree, but be was de-
sirous of impressing the House with the belief that there was
a duty to perform in saving the poor from the destitution
which was the source of crime. As Lord Brougham had ex-
pounded the law, the landlord had at present the right of
sweeping off the whole of their tenantry from their
estates without the slightest recompense, and Blackstone
had stated that there was no man so indigent but that he
might demand relief in case of destitution. It was clear,
therefore, that the landlords of Ireland ought to concede to
the people the right to a maintenance from the land of their
birth. He thought it was now high time to alter the laws
relating to the destitute poor of Ireland The existing laws
had a tendency to produce crime, by not effectually relieving
the destitution of the people. The rights of the poor were
left to the discretion of the landlord, and the rights cf the
landlords were enforced, and exposed to the mercy of the land-
lord. The poor of Ireland ha I a right to relief, and he proposed
that out-door reief should be afforded to them under the
discretion of the guardians. There was a great quantity of
waste land in that country, amounting to 4,000,000 of acres,
which might be made Co produce crops, and give employ-
ment to the able- bodied poor ; and he contended provision
should be made by the law for the employment of such persons
in such manner. It might be done under the superinten-
dence of the Board of Works. He believed that great gain
would result from such a mode of employment, both to the
landlords and to the country at large, which would be
cleared of the vagrancy, immorality, and crime which at
present existed there.
Sir J. GRAHAM said he was sorry that a subject of such
immense importance should be discussed iu such a hurry.
But, after the speech which had fallen from the
Honourable Gentleman, he found it necessary to make
some observations on a few points touched upon in
that speech, and, in the first glace, he would acquit
him of any intention to create any evil excitement by a dis-
cussion on the subject, but on the contrary, he would give
him every credit for being actuated by the purest intentions to
promote the public good. However, the Hon. Gentleman would
excuse him if, considering the present state of Ireland end the
excitement which prevailed there, his humble judgment led
him to the conclusion that a discussion on this subject was,
to say the least of it, ill-timed. The Government had received
much information upon the subject, which differed in many es-
sential points from that urged by the Hon. Gentleman k and
he therefore considered that the Legislatuee Would act
wisely in receiving any advice e%itle great caution.
There had been reference made to the sfarVatioit *hid;
was accustomed to exist in Ircistl‘b 11.0 it, he did
ey
believe that there wag met one single instance
of death arising from, starvation in Ireland, and that so far
from robbe
and depredation having been committed in
c"7:eequence of starvation, the Irish people Were eitrennely
honest amid the greetee‘ 'Want and privation. That was
their eheretter, and with reference to what he
had observed, namely, that the discussion *as inopportune,
he would say that an imprudent expression would be now
calculated to ptoduee effects which he trembled to ccntem-
plate, effects which might be written in letters of blood in Ire-
land, and he therefore approached the distueeion of the enbject
with a degree of awe and hesitation. In the first place, he
considered that the doctrine laid down by the Hon& Gentle-
man was the most dangerous that was veer pro-
pounded, for if the doctrine was worth anything it
amounted to this—that occupation for any length of time
should be converted into a perpetual right, subsequent to
the payment of a quit rent.—( Hear .) Why, it would be
the subversion of all rights of property.—( Hear.)
Mr. POULETT SCROPE said he distinctly declared that
he had no such intention, and that he only sought by his
Bill to obtain compensation for improvement.
Sir J. GRAHAM said he appealed to the House what was
their recollection of the words of the Hon. Gentleman?--
(Hear.) But rejecting mere words, and attaching themselves
to-the principleof the Bill, he did still allege that, in his opinion,
the Bill reached to the extent whch he had just stated.
The Hon. Gentleman had stated that there were 2,300,000
paupers in Ireland; now it must be apparent to the House
that land iu that country could not be adequately taxed
for the support of such a vast number. He admitted
distinctly that property with its rights existed foe the be-
nefit of the community.—(Hear, hear.) But, whilst there
was such a charge as tins effected, it would break down
the rights of property. He respected law prescrip-
tions and possessions, and must join issue on this point;
and with these impressions he was compelled to
resist the second reading of thisßill. iteepecting the feelings
and the motives of the Honourable Gentlettiatt, be was
impressed with the belief that the speech of the Hon. Gen-
tleman was likely to lead to more dangerous consequences
than the motion itself; yet, entertaining that belief, he
should resist the measure which was now submitted to the
House. _

Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN, as an Irish landlord, and deriving
his subsistence from the land, was grateful to his Hon.
Friend for having brought forward this motion, and he per-
fectly
agreed with him that the cessation, from outrage was
owing to the agrarian association: With_the fact befbre him
that the Government had 11rOttgilt in a Bill for coercion, he
thought the Irish people had a right to protection from
the Ministry, He admitted that the Bill now before
the House was not a sufficient protettiOn but still it Was
au advantage, and the mote so is the Bill of the Govern
ment was accompanied with conditions whith were likely to
make it unpopular in Ireland: For three.years the Govern-
ment had been coriductint ith expensive inquiry, and
although the Noble Lord near him (Lord J. Russell) had
expressed his opinion against it, yet he still must 'persist in
the belief that some system of out-door ttlid snould be
adopted. In England the Matter was different for
there the labourer obtained 9s. or 10s. a week, but
in Ireland a man, with all his 'exertions) cotthi not ob-
tain more than 4.9‘, at the most, ss. a week,
so that there was no possibility of making a provision for
the future. In his opinion, the rule for separating the htts-
band and wife, and the parents and children, was altogether
bad ; and he thought that where such an eirect was likely to
occur, out-door relief ought to be granted. That tGkiet
ought also to be given in the cases of sick poor, and
of orphans entitled to relief, and especially in the cases of
persons growing up, for bad habits were easily formed, and the
workhouse was the grave of economy. With respect to the
granting of relief out of the Consolidated Fund, he was
against any direct application of the public funds ;
but the Government might take another course. There were
farms which required improvement, thousands of acres
which were at present waste lands, on which capital
might be very profitably embarked ; there were
public works on which labour might be very profitably
employed, while there were thousands of persons who were in
want of employment, and in this way their labour might be
advantageously ein;,loyed. lie did not mean to say that
every able bodied person was to rush to the public lauds ii
for as.siAance ; but taking the workhouse test they might
APPIY it te the cut-door relief. He was no friend to the