The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-09 00:00:00

IMPE RIX L PA LI AM NT.

(THIS DAY.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SrEAKER took the Chair to-day at Twelve
o'clock.
Mr. BARCLAY took the oaths and his seat.
NEW WRIT FOR DUBLIN.
On the motion of Mr. HAMILTON, a new writ
was ordered to issue for the University of Dublin, in
the room of the Right Hon. Frederick Shaw, who
since his election had accepted the office of steward
of her Majesty's Chiltern Hundreds.
JEWISH DISABILITIES.
Mr. MUNTZ presented two petitions from Bir-
mingham in favour of the Bill for the removal of the
Jewish disabilities.
Mr. Sheriff CUBITT presented similar petitions
from Andover.
ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.
Mr. C. ANSTEY presented petitions from the
Roman Catholics of Leicester, Cowes, Penzance, Ox-
ford, and Bury, in favour of the above Bill.
Mr. C. ANS FEY gave notice of his intention, in
consequence of the counting out of the House last
night, to renew his motion as an amendment upon
the motion for going into Committee of Supply.
THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD.
Mr. URQUHART having, a few days since, pre-
sented a petition from Stafford, praying, the House to
adopt some measure by which the dignity of Spiritual
Peers would not be impaired, wished to know from
the Right Hon. Baronet, the Secretary of State for
the Home Department, whether it was the intention
of her Majesty's Ministers to advise her Majesty to
call the Bishop of Hereford to the house of Peers ?
Sir GEORGE GREY said that by the provisions
of the Bill creating the bishopric of Manchester the
time had not yet arrived when the Bishop of Here-
ford would be called up to the House of Lords, that
statute providing that the last consecrated bishop,
with the exception of the Bishops of London, Win •
cheater, and Durham, should not have a seat in the
House of Lords.

DROPPED NOTICES.
The following notices were re-appointed for to-
morrow :—Select Committee, to consider of the best
mode of providing additional room for works of art
given to the public or purchased by means of Parlia-
mentary grants :—Lord John Russell, Sir Robert
Peel, Mr. Hume, Viscount Morpeth, Mr. Goulburn,
Mr. Baring Wall, Mr. Charteris, Earl of Lincoln,
Sir Benjamin Hall, Viscount Granby, Mr. Parker,
Mr. Wakley, Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Vernon Smith, and
Mr. Bankes ; and the Jewish Disabilities Bill:—
Adjourned debate on the second reading.
DESTITUTE POOR (IRELAND).
On the order of the day being read,
Mr. P. SCROPE rose for the purpose of asking
the Secretary for Ireland whether any and what
legal proceedings had been taken against such boards
of guardians or relieving officers as had reglected
the duties imposed upon them by the Act 10 and 11
Vic., c. 31, of affording due relief to the destitute
poor. The lion. Member considered the subject was
one of very great importance, as in consequence of
the great distress in Roscommon and the western
parts of Ireland, it was absolutely necessary that the
measures provided by the Government should be
carried out without distinction. It appeared from
several accounts that the utmost distress prevailed,
the workhouses were crowded to repletion, the fever
hospitals could not accommodate the whole of the
patients, and the gaols were almost all of them un -
able to contain the numbers sent to them. In
one of the gaols in Galway, which was built
to accommodate 150 persons, there were actually
upwards of 900 persons contained within its walls.
He did not ask the Government to relieve by any
fresh measure this fearful state of things ; all that he
required was that the Government should ace the
measures which they had already provided effectually
carried out. The people of Ireland were in most
cases ignorant of the provisions of the law, and of the
duties of the relieving officers under the Poor law
Act passed in the last session. It was the intention
of the Legislature that the measure passed last year
should be a compulsory one, and that the property of
Ireland should be compelled to support the poverty of
the country. If it was not intended to be compulsory,
what justification could there be for the Government
discontinuing the system of relief which they had
carried on for some time, by which 3,000,000
of persons, or about one-third of the whole
population of the country were relieved ? The
circular of the Poor-law Cornmissic.ners informed
the boards of guardians that they were compelled to
relieve the starving poor. The Lord-Lieutenant had
himself stated that the poor had now a right not to
starve. The Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, in opening
the Limerick Special Commission, also took occasion
to say that the measure passed last session took away
all apology for crime, as the poor were now entitled to
be relieved. What was the mode in which that law
had been carried out ? For the union of Ballinagh, in
the county of Mayo, it appeared that in September
last 65,000 rations were daily distributed. 'What
must have been the condition of the poor people of that
union when those rations entirely ceased ? A rate of
13,863/. was declared necessary for the support of
the poor, but only 8681. had been collected, and
during four months among the defaulters was in-
cluded the names of some of the highest rank
of the county of Mayo. The defaulters had
been written to by the Commissioners, telling
theta that the rates must be paid. The
system of eviction and clearance was in the mean
time being can ied on to a most alarming extent.
According to the evidence of Mr. Tuite, one of the
Society of Friends, it appeared that upon . every land
might be seen the agents driving the poor people
from their miserable dwellings, pulling down the
houses as soon as they left, and then refusing the
wretched people admittance into the workhouse, a
right which was given them by the Act of last year.
In one gentleman's estate, upwards of 1,000 persons
had been evicted, and this gentleman was at that
time a defaulter in his poor-rates to the amount of 481.
Another portion of the barony of Ennis belonged to
a gentleman named Bingham, who was down in the
list as a defaulter for 119/. 3s. Bd. Now what was
the condition of Mr. Bingham's tenants at the time ?
Why it appeared from the " Blue Book" that many
of them were in a state of absolute starvation, while
others had died on their way to Ballinagh, where
they were going to seek for relief or work. In this
district there had been no such a thing as an outrage
committed, and it was disgraceful to find such a state
of things as this existing in it.
Mr. HUME rose to order. The Hon. Gentleman,
if he was not mistaken, had given notice simply of a
question, and he put it to the good sense of the lion.
Gentleman, whether it was fair to go into such a
statement as this in the absence of any previous
notice.
Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN said the matters which
the Hon. Gentleman was bringing under their conside-
ration were of ea urgent nature, and he hoped the
Hon. Gentleman would not allow himself to be
persuaded to delay his statement till a future day.
Sir GEORGE GREY did not wish the House to
imagine that Government were not prepared to
answer the statements of the Hon. Gentleman, but he
put it to the lion. Gentleman whether, considering
that several Hon. Gentlemen had given notice of
substantive motions upon this subject, it would not
be better to postpone his statement till one of those
motions came before the House. Besides, an im-
portant question had been fixed for discussion to- day,
and it would be inconvenient to many Hon. Members
if it were not gone into at once.
Mr. AGLIONBY must also join his entreaties to
those of the Right Hon. the Secretary of State to the
Hon. Member, not to allow his statement to delay
the discussion on the New Zealand Bill, as many
1100. Members had come down to the House fully
prepared to go into that question.
lir. P. SCROPE said, having gone so far into his
statement, which was one of great importance to the
country, he hoped the House would allow him shortly
to
complete it, and he would promise to detain the
House but for a very few minutes longer.—(Hear,
hear.) There was one other union to which he must
be allowed to refer. It was the Cavan union, which
had a valuation of 150,000/., and yet, during the last
few trying months the rate collected did not amount
to more than 11d. in the pound. The distress in the
district_ was most appalling, and many deaths
from starvation had occurred, and yet many
of the landed proprietors had made default in paying
the rates. But he had to complain more of the con-
duct of the board of guardians than of the rate-payers,
for they had allowed many poor creatures to die of
starvation by their neglect of duty. In one case the
child of a poor woman died of starvation, and upon a
._oroner's Jury returning a verdict to that effect, the
Poor-lavv. Commissioners commanded the board of
guardians to inquire into the case. The board, how•
ever, neglected to do so, and in less than a month
afterwards the woman herself died of starvation, and
what he wanted to know was, whether the law they
had recently passed was to be carried out in this
negligent manner ? Had such cases as these oc-
curred in this country, the overseer would have been
liable to severe punishment as a criminal offender, and
he wished to ask the Government whether the same
law !prevailed in Ireland or not ?—(Hear, hear.)
Why did they not make allowances for the poor, with
whom the prisons of Ireland were now filled, for
crimes which poverty and distress had urged and led
theta on to commit? And he would ask why mea-
sures had not been taken against the board
of guardians and relieving officers for the
neglect of the duties imposed upon them by the
Act of Parliament for the relief of the poor,
the want of which relief, he had proved, so many had
died within the last few months, and were now
dying ?
Sir W. SOMERVILLE, in reply to the llon.
iAle_mber,
.said the Government were resolved to
‘VgiVe nothlng undone to enforce the payment of the