The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-15 00:00:00

gI'IRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The first Report of the Commissioners for inquiring
into the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland, with
an Appendix, containing a large body of evidence, has
just been distributed. The evidence, however, solely
relates to the first branch of the inquiry, namely, " as
to the modes in which the destitute classes in Ireland
are supported, to the extent and efficiency of those
modes, and their effects upon those who give and upon
those who receive relief." The Commissioners have
furnished evidence respecting the mode of relieving de-
serted and orphan children, illegitimate children and
their mothers, widows having families of young chil-
dren, the impotent through age or other permanent in-
firmity, the sick poor who in health are capable of
earning their subsistence, the able-bodied out of work,
and vagrancy as a mode of relief. The examinations
relative to these subjects were made in one parish in
every barony in each of seventeen counties—four in
Connaught, namely,G alwav, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo;
five in Leinster, viz., Carlow, Kildare, Longford,
Westmeath, Wexford ; five in Munster, viz., Clare,
Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary ; and three
in Ulster, viz., Antrim, Donegal, and Londonderry.
Appendix B, containing the examinations relative to
Hospitals, &c., and C. the examinations relative to
Institutions not Medical, for relief, such as Mendicity
Institutions, have not yet appeared. The second
branch of the inquiry entrusted to the Commissioners—
" Whether any and what further remedial measures
appear to be requisite to ameliorate the condition of
the Irish poor, or any portion of them," is that to
which most interest is attached by the public. The
Commissioners assign the reasons why they have not
yet, been able to obey his Majesty's commands to re-
port on this subject. When it is stated that " the
poorer classes in Ireland may be considered as compre-
hending nearly the whole population," our readers will
easily credit the Commissioners, when they state, that
the inquiry is attended with peculiar difficulty. " The
great proportion of the population (say the Commis-
sioners) about and amongst whom the inquiry was to
be made, ip constantly fluctuating between mendi-
cancy and independent labour. In whole districts
scarcely one of that class of substantial capitalist
farmers, so universal in England, can be found. The
small resident gentry are but few, and the substantial
tradesman is not to be met with at intervals of two or
three miles, as in England ; for there are but few
towns of sufficient trade to create such -a class." Not
having vet completed the second branch of the inquiry,
namely, that which relates to the causes of destitution,
a Report on this subject could not, of course, be made.
But the Commissioners interpret their commission
largely and liberally, and intend to enter deeply into the
causes of the universal beggary of the Irish. "We
should be little worthy (they say) of the high trust re-
posed in us, did we content ourselves with deciding
upon the extent and nature of the distress, or upon the
means of only present alleviation. We consider it fell
to our duty to endeavour, if possible, to investigate the
causes of the destitution which we discover, and to
ascertain why classes of your Majesty's subjects- are
from time to time falling into a state of wretchedness,"
&c. The evidence collected by the Commissioners
under the. head Vagrnncy, in Appendix A, is curious.
It would really almost seem as if the whole population
were in a state of movement at one time or other. After
a labouring man has attained an age which unfits him
for work, he becomes a vagrant, as a matter of course.
The evil is not felt so much in Ireland as might be sup-
posed, for there is little which can be stolen, and the
beggar and the person who relieves him, and the pig
with whom they associate, seem to be all pretty much
on a par in point of habits. The fact which is best
established, is the number of the vagrants. The most
conflicting accounts are given as to their character, habits,
&c. This was to have been expected. In the more ci-
vilized parts of the country, as' the . low lands of the
counties of Londonderry and Antrim, where there
is something. like an approximation to the state of
things in this island, vagrancy is looked upon with
rather an evil eye. But in the parts of the country
where all areltv turns colliers and beggars, there is a
natural sympathy with the latter. In the parishes of
Dungivan and Banaglier, county of Londonderry, a
poor mountainous district, in which it is said the small
farmers all labour occasionally for others, the Rev. Mr.
Ross, the Protestant rector, says, " Morality and kind-
ness arc prevalent among all. There are no beggar
lodging-houses here. The beggar remains in the even-
ing with the family of the man who has given him
lodging, and tells them whatever news he has picked
up. It is wonderful to see how freely they are
admitted into the houses, where you often see
groups of beggars sitting round • the fire." The
beggar does not, under such circumstances, con-
sider his case hard ; he sees few persons better off.
Doherty, a beggar, one of the parties in a conference
in this parish, honestly said, " I would not love to
emigrate to America, I like to doddle about my own
country." s Doherty, seems to have given very
candid evidence as to his gains, " I might get a good
lot, if able to travel ; from three to four stone of pota-
toes when they are plenty. I have known myself get
six pounds of meal in the day ; if potatoes were ls. 6d.
a bushel, as they are often in June, I would only get
may be half a stone ; if meal was 2s. 6d., I might get
three handfuls, not quite a pound ; and if I had a wife
and two or three children, I would be always pinched
enough." A man having given his lands to his chil-
dren, takes to begging. Between the tenant and the
beggar there is no interval. Vagrancy being without
terrors, there is no motive for prudence. " Liberal,
not lavish, is kind nature." The great difficulty, in
the case of a people like the Irish, is to get them to
move one step. When that one step has been taken,
others will be taken. We are anxious to see how the
Commissioners propose. to deal with a population sa-
tisfied with the very lowest state of animal existence—
a state in which the farmers and the beggars 'deem
themselves on an equality.—Morning Chionicle.

The " continuation " of the Frankfort article ill
vindication of the policy of Russia in the East will be
found in another column. It is divided into three
parts, by which the writer endeavours to show, Ist,
that the object of the separate or secret article of the
treaty of Hoonkiar Iskelessy is the independence and
welfare of Turkey ; 2d, that the said secret article is
prejudicial to no foreign Power, inasmuch as it does
not comprise any agreement for the exclusion from the
Black Sea of the mercantile flab of any nation in
amity with Turkey and Russia ; and, 3d, that the
navigation of the Black Sea for ships of war of any
foreign Power would be quite unprofitable and inex-
pedient, inasmuch as neither pirates nor slave traders
infest that sea, and that its shores are not so unex-
plored and unpopulated as to call for voyages of dis-
covery or efforts to colonise them. In what man-
ner the execution of the secret article of the treaty
above named is to secure the independence of Tur-
key we are unable to understand. If it be meant
that Turkey, " protected " by Russia, that is, acting
exactly according to the bidding of that Power, has
acquired the faculty of abstaining from the contact of
such officious advisers as might not view the con
flexion established by the treaty in question exactly in
the way that Russia would desire, then indeed we are
not at a loss about the meaning of the sort of inde-
pendence which Turkey has secured. It is, in fact,
that species of independence which all the world seeing
with eyes not Russian has attributed to Turkey as her
profit in the alliance with Russia—an independence
which is to be asserted against all the world, save
only her intimate ally and "protector," who will be at
liberty to protect and defend Constantinople in the
same way his grandmother did the Crimea—by keep-
ing it suite safe in his own hands. The Frank-
fort writer, however, is not in want of good
reasons for_ not choosing to explain how the Porte
could be so threatened by foreign aggression as to
stand in need of a powerful ally. We will ask him,
in our turn, by what enemy in the world, on this side
of the Dardanelles, is the Porte ever in danger of
being threatened ? He would assuredly be at a loss
to fix on any other than Mehemet Alli. Now, were
the Dardanelles ever threatened by Mehemet Alli ?
Even if they had been, are they not sufficiently strong
to keep off any fleet such as Mehemet Alli's ? And
supposing that the secret article in the treaty of
Hoonkier Iskelessy were directed against Mehemet
what had the Dardanelles to do with an enemy
like him, who came overland with an army, and left