The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-26 00:00:00

and perhaps I shall best discharge my duty by stating
what I believe to be the general result of the accounts which
have reached me. I believe there is hardly any part of Ire-
land in which the potato disease has not in a greater or less
degree shown itself. First, in the south the disease has ap-
peared and disappeared and appeared again, according to the
change in the weather; and in the north the accounts re-
ceived are equally various. That in many places the root is
injured lam afraid is too true. The early crop has in various
instances escaped; but, with regard to the late crop, present
appearances are not so favourable. The reports, however,
from all parts of Ireland are, that so much larger a quantity
of ground has bees planted with potatoes this year than in
almost any preceding year, that, even allowing for a very
great loss from disease, still there is no reason to apprehend
that there will be any want of human food in the country,
the supply being expected to be at least as great as in former
years when the crops were comparatively uninjured. I find,
on referring to a Mayo newspaper which was put into my
hands this morning, that this is precisely the view taken as
to the crops in that county. The writer says—
" All the tops of the late plantings are becoming withered
and black. We are not, however, without hope as regards
the early ones, a., while the stalks are affected, the tubers
continue generally excellent. Should the disease progress,
this country is ruined. On the other hand, should it please
God to stay the spread of the disease, from the quantity of
ground under potatoe, much of the evil of the last famine
would be forgotten amongst us."
It is, however, very difficult to ascertain accurately the truth
of the ease, with regard to the crops, from one year to
another. There always is—and not unnaturally so—a ten-
dency on the part of certain interested parties to exaggerate
the deficiency of ithe crops; and I am afraid that in some
parts of the country the population not unfrequently avail
themselves, by the means put in their power, of misrepre-
senting the actual state of the produce of their farms, of
working upon the benevolent feelings of their landlords, who
do not possess a sufficient control over their tenantry, and
thus throwing themselves upon eleemosynary aid instead
of doing their best to render any such assistance unnecessary.
Doubtless numbers of people have been saved from starva-
tion by the timely help afforded them by their landlords ;
but it cannot be concealed that many do, instead of exerting
themselves, make representations as to the deficiency of their
crops, in order that they may create a feeling of sympathy
towards them on the part of their landlords. I therefore
think—as my Noble Friend has already stated—that ac-
cording to the present amount of information obtained as to
the real state of the crops in Ireland, it is impossible to
foresee what amount of produce will be available for human
food in that country. It is, however, quite certain, that
upon all former occasions, when a scarcity has been assumed
to exist, and indeed when it has really existed, there has been
a much larger quantity of food in the country than anybody
has at first represented there to be. So, in the present in-
stance, my opinion is, unless, indeed, there be such a failure
of the crops as to unexampled oven by the year 1846, that
there will be an amount of food in Ireland adequate to sup-
port the people of that country for a considerable time.—
(Hear, hear.) After what the Hon. Member for Montrose
has already stated, and after what has fallen from my Noble
Friend on a former occasion when speaking as to
the state of the crops in Ireland, I think it would
on the one hand be unjust to the suffering people
of this country, and fatal to the ultimate welfare
of Ireland, if any sweeping measures of relief were at
once to be adopted; I hope and believe that it will not be
needed; but, on the other hand, I think it would be quite
wrong, and would be an act of cruelty, if under the
extremest emergency we were to say that no assistance
or relief whatsoever should be given to a suffering
and starving population.--(Cheers.) With these views I
consider it would be inexpedient to hold out an expectation
of any larger assistance being afforded, while I hope that to
a limited extent the House will place confidence in us,
and enable us to that extent to dispense such assistance as
may be rendered necessary. As to what the result will
actually be, no one can pretend to foretell. It may be worse
than the former visitation. I hope and pray not; but if it
be, then it will be our bounden duty immediately to refer
the case to Parliament.—(Hear, hear.) Without wishing,
then, on the one hand, to hold out any general expectation
of relief, yet, on the other hand, feeling that relief ought to
be given where it would be utterly impossible that life should
be maintained without it, I think for the present we must
wait till we see what the result of the harvest shall be. We
must know what the produce of the crops is, and what
the circumstances of the country are, before we can decide
what shall be the course we ought to pursue.—(Hear, hear.)
I do not think it is necessary for me to make any further
I statement to the Committee. I therefore now place in your
hands, Sir, the resolutions which I have to propose.
Mr. HUME could not for one join in the cheers of con-
gratulation with which the speech of the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman had been received, because no prospect had been held
out of any reduction being made in the national establish-
ments. Not a shilling of the public expenditure was in-
tended to be saved. On the contrary, the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman had congratulated the country that those large estab-
lishments were supported by a great majority of their repre-
sentatives, and he declared that he was not disposed to pro-
mise'any reduction. To another portion of the speech of the
Right Hon. Gentleman he (Mr. Hume) entertained a very
strong objection —he alluded to the intention of raising a loan
of 2,000,0001. ; and for what? In order to maintain a large
standing army and a naval establishment in time of peace.
It really seemed that the Government considered it necessary
to keep the public mind in a continual state of alarm,
and to regard it as imperative for the general safety that
every man should be in arms against his neighbour. The
mode, too, in which the loan was intended to be raised was
very objectionable. Selling stock was a very easy way, of
getting rid of difficulties; but the Government ought to
borrow money at the market price of the day, and then
when it became plentiful they would have an oppor-
tunity of paying it off. By not adopting that plan, every
loan that had hitherto been borrowed had been borrowed at
a great loss to the country.
Lord G. BENTINCK did not think there was anything in
the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer upon
which the House could congratulate him. It appeared to
bin, (Lord G. Bentinck) that a more insolvent statement
could not have been made. The only consolation the Right
Honourable Gentleman seemed to feel was, that things were
so bad that they must soon get better. For his part, he
thought that the best foundation the Right Hon. Gentleman
bad for his consolation was very much that of a certain
Gallant Knight, Sir Hudibras, when he fbund himself in the
village stocks. His only solace was that his dog of fortune
was so low

" That either it must quickly end,
Or turn about again and mend."
He was not quite sure that he correctly understood the state-
ment of the Right Hon. Gentleman. The Committee had
not been told whether the corn duties were included in his
statement or not.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose to in-
form his Noble Friend that the corn duties were not included
in the amount of his anticipated receipts. The amount
which he had set down for the Excise and Customs was
500,000., and there had been upon the latter source of re-
venue an increase of 22,004, exclusive of the duties on con
and sugar.
Lord G. BENTINCK resumed—There had been—thanks
to the temporary restoration of the principle of the corn-law
—an addition to the revenue of 280,0004., therefore the coun-
try was nearly 300,000/. better than it would have been had
that event not occurred. It must be fresh in the recollection
of the House that on the first financial statement which the
Chancellor of the Exchequer made he acknowledged to a de.•
ticiency of 3,000,0001., and they must equally well recollect
that the manner in which the Government proposed to meet
that deficiency was by imposing an income•tax, from which
they expected to derive 3,500,0001. But the House would
not agree to make such an addition to the income-tax, and
the scheme was therefore abandoned. In return for this,
however, they were told that under the head of Excise there
had been an increase of 500,0004

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER begged his
Noble Friend's pardon; what he had said was this, that
since the month of May there had been an increase on both
Excise and Customs amounting to 500,000 i., and that in the
Customs alone there had been an increase of 22,0001. over the
corresponding period in the preceding year. namely, from
February till August, and that sum of 22,000/. was exclusive
of the duties levied on corn and sugar.
Lord G. BENTINCK resumed—What, after all, was the
plan of the Government? It was what they were pleased to
call selling stock, which, in fact, was selling something that
had only an imaginary existence—it was a system of flying
kites—it was raising money and looking forward to increased
revenue for the means of reimbursement. But the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer forgot to tell them whence the in-
crease of revenue was to come to which he looked so confi-
dently for an augmented public income. Upon what rational
grounds he could rest such hopes it was difficult to imagine,
seeing that more than one of the present sources of revenue
must speedily cease, for example, the corn duties, which
were coming in at the rate of 670,0001., they must cease on
the Ist of February; that surely was not an increase, but a
falling off: Then, though the sugar duties might hold their
ground, there was not the least prospect of their increasing.
On all hands, then, there was a considerable probability of a
diminution, and no prospect, that he could see, of any in-
crease. In their financial operations, the present Govern-
ment sought to ape Sir Robert Peel; but they seemed to
forget that when he borrowed money in the year 1842,
property-tax, which produced
he was able to impose a
no less a sum than 6,500,000/. ; that Minister made reduc-
tions in the duty on timber and various other articles,
but then he was able to meet those reductions with an in-
come-tax. Unfortunately, however, all the measures of the
present Government had a tendency to diminish the re-
sources of the country. Further he might mention ano-
ther source of revenue which was soon likely to end, he re-
ferred to the money coming to us from China. There was
an end to that money, and in everything which the
Government postponed there was to be an increased charge
with decreasing means ; thus our prospects every day became
more and more obscured ; and yet, in the face of this, the
conduct of the Government was most extraordinary, 23 was
evident from a return presented to the House within the last
few days. From that, it appeared that though there had
been a diminished receipt in the Customs of not less than
half a million, yet there had been an increase of officers and
of coast-guard not less than 60 in number, thus augment..
ing the expense of collecting a decreasing branch of the
revenue.
But he should now say no more on this point,—.
the budget before them had been brought forward at
a period when the matter might almost as well have
been altogether postponed, and the budget of 1848 amal-
gamated with that of 1849. The were at present about
to separate for four or five months with an acknow-
ledged deficiency of 2,000,0001. at the least. Now, these
prospects, apart from any other consideration, were most
discouraging, and. on the whole, he must be
permitted
say that he had never heard a statement fromany Chan
cellor of the Exchequer which could be considered less satisfactory than the speech that the House had just heard;
nor could any statement be less a subject of congratula-
tion, either to himself or the country, than the speech of
that night.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL wished to say a few words with
regard to Ireland. No doubt in some parts of the country
the gloomy anticipations which had been entertained
would not be realised to the full extent. The potato
disease was perhaps not so active or malignant as it had
formerly been; but it was to be feared that it was
making a steady progress; and it was much to be
apprehended that if famine visited the country to anything
like the extent that was threatened the people would be in
a most frightful condition, inasmuch as in the year 1846 and
1847 they possessed resources from which in the autumn and
winter of 1848 they could not hope to derive any advantage.
If to scarcity the evils of cholera were added, nothing but
desolation and death would be seen throughout the land.
The case of Ireland was most melancholy; it called for ex-
treme and anxious attention, the more especially as the re-
cent attempts to create disturbance were not the acts of the
people, they were merely the proceedings of rash, mad, and
criminal persons. As regarded the conduct of the Govern-
ment, it was in this matter most merciful. He had often felt
it his painful duty to censure the conduct of Ministers in
their Irish policy, but he was bound in fairness and candour
to admit that they had been most merciful in not intro-
ducing martial law amongst the people of that unhappy
country, thus preserving themselves from the reproach which
other Governments in similar circumstances had incurred ;
and he earnestly hoped that the merciful course with which
they had commenced would be continued.
Sir H. WILLOUGHBY observed, that all they had heard
amounted merely to a postponement for one year for the im-
position of fresh taxes, and he feared that eventually the