The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-04 00:00:00

Gild one alleviation of poverty existed, even in-
dependently of poor laws, which has. always in
Ireland been unknown,—that is to say, a rela-
tion like that of patron and client between the
landower and the small occupants of his estate,
which was some, however an insufficient, guaran-
tee against their entire destitution. The whole-
sale driving off of Irish tenants, previously mul-
tiplied as they had been for the landlord's own
selfish purposes, is a thing elsewhere without ex-
ample, and of itself abundant reason for a poor
law. Into the details of the question we shall
not now proceed, leaving only this memento
ready for our resumption of the subject—that
there must be no allowance system in Ireland ;
and that no able-bodied pauper is to receive
parish support at all, save as the price oflabour.
—Times.
The battle, of which note of preparation was
given some time ago, between Mr. Cobbett and
Mr. Spring Rice, was fought last night, The
former submitted his resolutions to the House
on the subject of the severity with which the
stamp duties pressed on the poor, as compared
with the rich. In endeavouring to prove too
much, Mr. Cobbett materially injured his cause.
Mr. Spring Rice availed himself dexterously of
the openings given to him by his opponent, and
without defending the fairness of the principle on
which the stamp duties were imposed. exerted
himself to show that Mr. Cobbett understood
very little of the matter. Mr. S. Rice is a crafty
opponent ; but, notwithstanding all his inge-
nuity, we are not satisfied that a Legislature
of landowners derive any honour from exempting
the successor to landed property from the bur-
dens to which the successor to personal property
is subject, to say nothing of (heir resistance to
the attempts to evade the payment of simple
contract debts, &c. The exemptions of our
aristocracy are, no doubt, less offensive than
those of the French aristocracy before the
revolution ; but without dwelling on corn laws
and other indirect attempts to escape burdens,
resorted to in this country, the French Noblesse
were mere tyros compared with our aristocracy
in the arts of fleecing the people. The manage-
ment of the finances, and, indeed, most gainful
pursuits in France before the revolution, were
left to the people. The Noblesse confined them-
selves to the church and the army.—Morning
Chronicle.
In the discussion on the subject of the Irish
poor laws, on Thursday night, Mr. flume is re-
ported to have said—" He would suggest that
the inquiry should be extended to Scotland—.
that a commissioner should go there, to inquire
into what had been done in that country. He
believed it had been proved, by a report of the
general assembly, that in the south western
counties of Scotland, just in proportion as the
English system had been introduced into them,
the people had rot demoralized. The reverse
was the case in that" part of Scotland where he
came from. If the English system were carried
into effect there, it would make the people there
quite as demoralized as in England." Mr.
Hume has here confounded the south-western
with the south-eastern counties of Scotland. In
the south-eastern district of Scotland there are
regular assessments to the poor ; and in the
report to which Mr. Hume alludes, and in some
of Dr. Chalmers's Treatises, there are vague
declamations about the drying up of vo-
luntary charity, by giving a claim for relief
to the poor. But the General Assembly
said nothing of demoralization ; and it would
have been strange if they had, for the south-
eastern district of Scotland is not only the most
industrious and prosperous, but the most moral
part of Scotland—much more moral than the
part whence Mr. Hume himself comes. If'
Mr. Hume will take the trouble to consult the
returns to Parliament, he will find that fewer
persons are tried at Jedburah where the assizes
for the shires of Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Ber-
wick are held, than in any other district of Scot-
land, compared with the population—that there
arc fewer persons in proportion in prison, either
for crime or debt (witness the gaol returns, and
the returns of persons imprisoned under decrees of
of the small debt courts)—and that the agricultural
labourers (it is an agricultural district) are held
out for their industry and good conduct as mo-
dels to the rest of Scotland. In Sir John Sin-
clair's very elaborate General Report of the
Agricultural State and Political Circumstances
of Scotland, vol. iii., p. 235, published in 1814,
three or four years before the date of the report
of the General Assembly, he expressly re-
commends the system of labour of this
district to the rest of Scotland. "In
East Lothian, Berwickshire, and Roxburgh-
shire (he says), the greatest proportion of farm
servants are married men, who are hired by the
year. They receive their wages generally in
kind, and are in a much more comfortable state

than those who receive the same rate of wages
in money as in other places. Perhaps there is
nowhere to be met with more active, respect-
able, and conscientious servants, more faithful to
their employers, and at the same time more
attentive to the interest of their own families
than this class. Not an instance occurs of any
of these people soliciting relief from the public,
unless when by some accident they are disabled
from labour, or overtaken by the infirmities of
age. The wages of such servants, who are
usually called hinds, are somewhat different in
these counties, and even in the same county.
In some cases they are paid altogether in kind;
in others, they have a certain quantity of oat-
meal, and so much money ; and in all they have
other perquisites to be afterwards mentioned."
If there be any demoralization in Scotland, it is
confined to the great manufacturing towns, and
the places where the labourers are oppressed by
the influx of Irish. Fortunately for the people
in the district which Mr. Hume singles out as
demoralized, they do not suffer from the Irish ;
and the freedom from crime may arise from the
absence of temptation and the constant nature
of their employment, which leaves them no time
for dissipation. But it is curious that Mr.
Hume should have pitched upon the least de-
moralized district in all Scotland as the most so.
—Morning Chronicle.
We have now a commission to inquire into
the state of the poor of Ireland, as well as a com-
mission to inquire into the state of the factory
children. Truly this reformed Parliament pro-
ceeds cautiously. Its favourite pace seems to be
the slow march, and hence the interposition of
committees, and commissions, and inquiries of
all sorts between it and the subjects on which it
is called upon to legislate. The question of poor
laws for Ireland has been completely thrown
overboard by the success of Lord Althorp's
amendment to the motion of Mr. Richards on
Thursday night. A commission seems to be
the favourite expedient of Ministers to obtain
delay, and it seems the more feasible as it looks
like an anxiety to acquire information. There
was not, however, in the proceeding of Thurs-
day night, the same hypocritical affectation of
seconding the object it was intended to super-