The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-07 00:00:00

IRELAND.
GOVERNMENT RELIEF MEASURES.

DUBLIN, SEPT. 4.—Subjoined is a copy of a proclama -
ton which appears in the Dublin Gazette of this evening :
'4‘ BY THE LOHD-LIEUTENANT-GENERAL AND GENERAL-

GOVERNOR OF IRELAND.

" BESBOROUGEL—Whereas, by an Act passed in the
loth year of the reign of her present Majesty, intituled
4 An Act to facilitate the Employment of the Labouring
Poor for a limited Period in Distressed Districts in Ire-
land,' it is enacted, that whenever, on representation of
the existence of distress in any district, it may seem ex-
pedient to the Lord-Lieutenant or other chief governor
.or governors of Ireland, that an extraordinary present-
ment sessions for any barony, half-barony, county of a
city, or county of a town in Ireland (the county of the
city of Dubtin excepted), should assemble and make
presentments for the execution of public works in such
district, it shall be lawful for the Lord-Lieutenant, or
other chief governor or governors of Ireland, from time
•to time, by a notice to be published in the Dublin Ga-
zette, and also in one or more newspapers circulating in
the respective district, and of which notice copies shall
be posted in the usual places for posting public grand
jury notices in such district, to direct and require that au
extraordinary presentment sessions for such barony,
half-barony, county of a city, or county of a town, as the
case may be,. shall meet and assemble for the purposes
of the said Act.
_

" And whereas representations have been made to me
of the existence of distress in the barony of Raphoe, in
*be county of Donegal ;
" Now, I, John William, Earl of Besborough, Lord-
Lientonant-General and Gover-General of Ireland, do,
by this notice, direct and require that an Extraordinary
Presentment Sessions for the said barony of Itaphoe, in
the county of Donegal, shall meet and assemble for the
purposes of the said Act, at Itaphoe, in the said barony,
on Monday, the 14th day of September, ,at the hour of
twelve o'clock, noon.

" Dated at Dublin Castle, the 3d day of September,
1846.

" By his Excellency's command,
" H. LABOUCHERE."
The Gazette contains similar proclamations for hold-
ing baronial sessions in various parts of the counties of
Cork, Clare, Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon,
Blie,o, Tipperary, and Waterford.
-The _Evening Mail, while bearing testimony to the
promptitude of Government in taking this early step to
mitigate the impending destitution, remarks
" A most important duty will now devolve upon the
several baronial sessions thus called together by the
Lord-Lieutenant. With them rests the power of selec-
tion as to the public works to be set on foot within their
respective districts; and upon their judgment will de-
lend the choice either of undertakings that will confer
asting benefit upon the country, or of works possessing
no other recommendation than that of furnishing an ex-
cuse for the distribution of alms."
A letter from the county of Tipperary, of yesterday's
date, published in the Mail of this evening, indicates
that an anti-rent war has commenced in that district, the
-ultimate object of which, the writer seems to think, is
the overthrow of the landlord as the prelude to the esta-
blishment of " fixity of tenure," He says—
" In divers parts of this district, since the harvest has
beed cus, some landlords and agents have thought it
prudent to make, in certain instances, a distress on the
crops of defaulting tenants. Previous to the respective
sale days appointed, mitten notices have been posted in
each place of public resort for some miles around the
-vicinity of the place at which the sale was advertised to
take place, those notices being to inform the public that
they are expected to attend to prevent a sale taking
place. The consequence has been, that within the last
week large multitudes have been assembled at the seve-
ral places appointed, and have successfully, in these in-
stances, prevented any sale taking place. In one instance,
and which occurred yesterday, preparations were made
for the attendance of a large military and police forco
at the scene of the intended sale, for the purpcsse
of protecting the party authorised to sell ; but
their presence was dispensed with, owing to. that
party deeming it useless to prosecute the affair, as
no one would venture to bid for the effects exposed
for sale. The friends of disorder, however, assembled,
and I make no doubt that, had the sale taken
place, blood would have been shed. To exhibit the cha-
racter of the warfare that has thus begun, I may men-
tion that in the case to which I have just alluded, the
tenant owed but 161., being one year's rent of a nice
farm; and I am credibly informed that the wheat crop
alone on it is value for 50/. Here, then, was ample pro-
vision for the rent, with a large overplus, besides which
were an oat and a turnip crop. For such a tenant no
sympathy on the score of want of food could exist; and
therefore the organized opposition to the payment of
rent is fully manifested. That such a state of things
must be met by prompt and determined measures on the
part of the Government and landed proprietors no one
should for a moment gainsay ; if not, anarchy and con-
fusion will overcome law and order, not only will ruin
be brought on many individuals, but the entire rights of
property will become subverted. Taking into considera-
tion the severe loss of food that has been sustained by
the people, it will become landlords to exercise the utmost extent- of leniency towards their tenants I
who have been sufferers—and who is it tEat has not
been?-=but, of course in different degrees, proportional
to the extent of their other means. Where a landlord
shall be satisfied that his claim :mai be met without
depriving the tenant of the full 'means of support, he
should press that claim, and d.o so with determination;
no 'vacillating, no submissimi to intimidation; for in such
weakness is exhibited, exid strength and confidence is
imparted to the insurgent mass—for so they may very
properly be designkited. But to enable the landlord to
act with determination, and, in fact, to assert his rights,
the executive force in all its branches should give its
aid; magistrates, with military and police, should be
available on all Occasions; and not only that, but arrange-
ments should be made that, in the event of no other
purchasers appearing, officers of the commissariat de-
paatment should purchase the goods. A few such ex-
amples would effectually check what will cl,herwise grow
into a very formidable, and, I fear, bloody contest. No
.Arms Act being now in force, fire-arms will be in re-
quisition amongst the vast assemblages that will collect.
Indeed, I had forgotten to mention that I have been in-
formed that armed men did attend on the occasions I
have referred to, and shots were discharged to intimi-
date. Another sign of the times is, that the lower
orders, to a very great extent, exult over the loss of the
potato crop, and hail that infliction of a wise Providence
as a blessing; and it is not only because they hope by it
to obtain a better description of food, but are in expecta-
tion of a change growing out of the confusion and dis-
tress which must occur; and of this fact I am aware from
spy own observation."
In the meantime, the landlords, naturally alarmed at
the present discouraging aspect of affairs, are bestirring
themselves, and several influential gentlemen have
already come forward with plans and suggestions for the
consideration of the Executive ; the majority of which,
although more or less objectionable in the details, tend to
show that the public mind is at length thoroughly
awakened to the danger, and that a crisis is approaching
that will consummate the work tardily commenced by
the institution of Lord Devon's Land Comsnission.
There appears in print this evening a letter addressed to
Lord Besbesrough by Mr. Horace Rochfort, of Clog•
rennan, a :magistrate and deputy-lieutenant of the county
of Carl'jw, in the course of which, referring to the recent
landlord meeting held in Limerick, under the auspices of
the Earl of Devon, he observes :
"Ir. Monsell's propose' to compel the landlord to pro-
vide productive employment for the poor upon his estate,'
is, I believe, in many cases, quite impracticable. Many
landlords have had their estates handed down to them
with a dense and wretched population, and, moreover,
leavily charged with mortgages and other incumbrances.
This year extreme difficulty will be found in collecting
the rents ; and if with diminished means they are still
to be more heavily taxed, all their present efforts to
employ the poor on productive labour will be paralysed.
still, God forbid I should assert that, for this present
year, we ought not to be provided with some such
temporary measure as now proposed, to mitigate the im-
pending calamity; but, with reference to future seasons,
I do assert that, to pursue, year after year, the same
eours'e, would soon eat up all the resources of the coun-
try. I entirely agree with Mr. Monsell, that the general
employment of the people on productive labour can only
be accomplished by the direct agency of the landlords;
but they can only be enabled to perform this duty by
some such plan as is contained in the following sugges-
tions being adopted by Government in the ensuing sess
siou of Parliament.
" Let them carry out, to a greater extent, the principle
already acted upon in the Drainage Act and Board of
Public WOrks Act. Let them lend to all landed pro-
prietors, who possess encumbered estates, money at 3/
per cent., to pay off their existing mortgages, taking
from them a first charge on their property at 5 per cent.,
and binding them down,to lay out the difference of inte-
rest between 3/ and 5 or 6 per cent. annually on their
estates in permanent improvements.
" These improvements to be carried out by the land-
lords themselves and their tenants, under the immediate
supervision and control of the Board of Works, assisted
by an additional staff of officers.
- " The fund by which -they would be carried on would
thus be created out of the difference between a low and
a higher rate of interest, and that without risk or loss to
either party. The landlord would, probably, have no
objection to having the State for a creditor, instead of an
individual; and the paying off of so many mortgages
would have the effect of unlocking so much more capital
for investment in land, and its improvement.
"By this plan one of the great objections to ab-
senteeism would be done away with. In many cases
now a large rental is swept yearly out of the country,
and little or no return given. But in every instance
whore such absentee landlord owed money, and chose to
avail himself of this Act, a portion, at least, of his
rental would be returned and invested in lasting im-
provements.
" To this measure no objection of a party nature could
be made. All persons circumstanced as I have de •
scribed would, I am sure, gladly avail themselves of it ;
and those landlords who now possess their incomes clear,
but hitherto have not been inclined to expend money in
improving their estates, would, for very shame, be forced
'inwards in amicable rivalship with their neighbours.
Employment becoming more general, the wages of labour
would of necessity rise, and the labouring class would
be enabled to procure a more substantial diet, and to
withstand with courage the failure of the potato crop.
A higher system of agriculture would be introduced,
based on all the modern discoveries, and aided by science
end the spirit of inquiry now abroad ; and I feel sure
that the small cottier tenant would not be left behind in
the general progress of society around him. If by better
farming he could be enabled to pay his rent punctually
(and such members of his family as were not needed on
his allotment would probably find plenty of work as la-
bourers), the great temptation to his eviction would cease,
and thus the chief and primary cause of all agrarian
outrage would be checked. Whenever, in the opinion of
the overseer of the Board of Works, estgto had been