The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-28 00:00:00

- VOC/l

ley should
b. ,iployea ion
__ lives in personally
conveying away the filth of the workhouse.
I have never yet been able to obtain from anybody
a satisfactory explanation of what is meant by the
"principle of a Poor-law," unless it be that which
will always be found to be practically mischievous—
namely, the support by the State of the indigent, no
matter how that indigence has been produced, whether
by dissipation, drunkenness, and extravagance—or by
mere misfortune. That is, in other words, an indis-
criminate support of all the indigent, accompanied (as
it must be) with all the vexatious and most expensive
machinery for the, administration of such relief.
I believe that I understand the principle of Chris-
tian charity, for it is, alas! easier to understand than
to practice it. Christian charity requires of each and
every one of us, to the full extent of his means,
" to free the prisoner," to "feed the hungry," to
" clothe the naked," to "soothe, comfort, and solace the
sick," the " unhappy," the " in short, to
succour distress, and assuage misery, in all their
complicated forms. We are commanded to do this to
the extent of our means, under the penalty of eternal
woe. lam one of those who believe that to the faith-
ful who perform these acts of mercy, there is pro-
mised, and therefore merited, an eternal recompense.
These truths give to the poor a right, in morals and in
conscience, to succour and relief
But this is not the principle of the Poor-law. The
principle of our Poor-law, instead of " making free
the prisoner," gives relief only on the terms of the
pauper submitting to imprisomnent. It extorts from
those, who themselves really require relief, a portion
of their own scanty means of subsistence; and it ex-
torts from those of a wealthier class the means that
should be used to employ labourers and to pay wages.
And these means, which should be expended in wages,
are, by the " prinCiple of our Poor-law" employed to
feed the idle inmates of a place of confinement.
I want you, my Lords and Gentlemen, to attend
not only to my observations but to my prophecy. I
do prophecy that the people of Ireland will not con-
tinue long to pay the poor-rates. Whilst the opposi-
tion is confined to particular localities it will be put
down—the payment will be enforced, and blood will
be shed, again and again. But if the resistance ex-
tends from parish to parish, from barony to barony,
from county to county, how will it be possible to over-
come that resistance ? Is there any man so insane as
to imagine that a national resistance of that kind
could be put down ? • It might he forced into actual
iiitrj dri yen i rebellion
us all in one common ruin ; but I 'con-
fess I think the man insensible to the state of the
country, and to the disposition of the Irish people,
who imagines that such an universal resistance could
be suppressed.

It L flippantly presumed that because the laws of

landlord --and tenant are nearly the same in Eng-
land as in Ireland, therefore the relations of landlord
and 'tenant must be the; same. Yet, there are no
two things more essentially different. In England
the tenant deals with his landlord as for an article of
commerce. He pays his rent and lays out his capital
with the expectation of deriving profit and adVan-
tage, and accumulating property for the benefit of
himself and his family.
'ln Ireland, on the contrary, the tenant anxiously
seeks, in his dealings with his landlord, for the bare
means of subsistence. He cannot live unless he gets
land. A livelihood, and not profits, constitutes the
Irish tenant's great object. He is in the power of
the landlord, who, in fact, has authority of life or
death over him.
I must not mince the matter. The great mass of
the' Irish landlords, consisting of all the Tory proprie-
' tors, have ever bsen the natural enemies of the Irish
peasantry. Religious animosity mixes itself up with
national antipathies. And what is most strange is,
that amongst those Tory landlords are to be found not
a few Catholic proprietors !! ! who although they
have not the religious stimulant to dislike the people,
yet make full compensation for its absence by the:
excess of their Tory virulence. Like all other de-
serters, they not only augment the hostile ranks, but
they rival their unnatural allies in the excess of their
animosity to the people.
Those who recollect—(and who can forget it?)—
the acrimonious virulence of the Irish landlords towards
the late lamented Mr. Drummond, for his having
simply said that "property had its duties as Well as
its rights," ought to perceive how intense must have
been the contemptuous hate entertained by that land-
lord class towards their tenants, when they exhibited!
such indignation at the mere assertion of their having
any duties at all to perform towards their tenantry—
or anything else save rights over them ! This viru-
lence does indeed bespeak a foregone conclusion.
I repeat, my Lords and Gentlemen, that my object
is, to arouse you to a salutary alarm. Ido not know
anything that has created more apprehension in ray
mind than the facts that appeared at the recent meet-
ing of the inhabitants of -the Catholic united parishes
of Dunkerrin, parishes which are partly hi the county
Tipperary and partly in the King's County. The
meeting was presided over by a most reTected and
respectable clergyman—the Rev. Mr. Nolan, the
Catholic Rector of the Union. No man, whether,
clergyman or layman, ever displayed a more ardelalt
zeal for preserving the public peace and preventing-
tumults and crimes. That spirit which animate. the
rest of the Catholic Clergy of Ireland— (and it is well
for you, my. Lords and Gentlemen, that it does ani-
mate them !)—has found opportunities for displaying
itself in the person of this Reverent] Gentleman,
which could not have happened to many others. lle:
has availed himself of those opportunities, and obtained
the respect and esteem of every class and persuasion..
There are two facts which appeared in the speech
he, on that occasion made, in recommending the re-
turn of peace and order. One of these facts was, that
his parish had to pay no 'less than 7201. Poor-rate,
though there were butfincr paupers from that district
in the workhouse! ! !—That is at the rate of one

hundred and eighty pounds for each pauper!!! The
other fact is, in my udgment, of tremendous im-.
portance. It is this--:that notices had been posted ill
the extensive district, including his parish, forbidding
the payment of rent! and it was upon this subject
especially that the Rev. Gentleman exerted his in-
fluence and his powerful eloquence to put a stop to
such practices.
My Lords and Gentlemen, I do demand your at-
tention to this awful fact. A new scheme of White-
boyism thus obtrudes itself upon us. It has been.
crushed, I hope and believe in the locality where it
first showed itself. It has, however, had a beginning.
When ? Where ? and How shall it have an end?
Alas, the adverse forces appear to be as it were in the
presence of each other—the occupiers of the land, and
the landlords. You do not like to hear talk of your
duties, but I tell you, loudly and firmly, that it is.
your duty to make peace with the people, by taking
part with them agginst every oppression. And I now
tell you solemnly that it is not only your first duty so
to do, but also your own highest interest.
(The remainder of the letter, which consists chiefly
ofgood advice to the landlords, we shall give hereafter.)

LICENTIOUS DEPRAVITY IN THE SORYLI SEA..
IsLANDs.—The triumph of the gospel in Polynesia.
has been more conspicuous in regard to that leading
virtue which is the pledge and safeguard of domestic
comfort:l/the foundation of all regular society, and the
source of all the endearing relationships of life. No
one can read the descriptions of the early votager*
without a mixture of compassion and disgust at the
licentious scenes introduced into their narratives ; and:
though the writers in general may not have been dis-
posed to darken beyond necessity the shades of the
picture, some of them were constrained to declare that
the "excesses were incredible." To the first mis-
sionaries, accordingly, m.) bar appeared so insuperable
as the loose notions which everywhere prevailed in
regard to the requisitions of the seventh command-
ment. The effect 'was the same on the minds of the
early converts themselves, and clouded their antici-
pations as to the success of the new religion. " You
may," saki one of the more intelligent among them,
" induce the people to discontinue murdering their
infants, offering human sacrifices, and practising
demon worship. You may induce iem to burn their
idols, embrace your faith, attend your prayers, learn
your books, and possibly even refrain from drunken-
ness.and theft; but the preservation of fen-.ale virtue,
union in marriage according to Christian precepts,
and conjugal fidelity, will never be obtained." On
this impoAant point, however, where reformation was
the most hopeless, success has been the most corn-
Iplete. No sooner was the authority of the Redeemer
• recognised, even through the somewl.at obscure me-
dium in which his character and offices were con-
veyed, than the more offensive of the abominations
disappeared; the virtue of chastity was inculcated and
maintained Christian marriage was instituted, and
the inviolable obligations of the bond piously acknow-
ledged. This change, it is added, has been, under the
Divine blessing, effected entirely by the exertions of
Christian missionaries, not only without any external
assistance, but in the face of the determined opposi-
tion of many from whom they might have expected
both countenance and aid.—Edinburgh cabinet
Library, No. XXXIII. Polynesia.
We have seldom had to record an instance of
heavier bereavement than the following, with which
Mr, George Smith, gardener, at Hirsel, has been
visited :—On the 6th of November, his eldest dejigh-
ter Margaret, aged six years, was cut off by typhus
fever ,
r; oii
Margaret Brown, his wee, aged
the 29th,
thirty-four; and on the Ist of December, James, his
only son, aged two and a half; and on the 14th,
Elizabeth, his second dauwhter, aged four, all by the
same disease.—Kelso paper.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge
visited the Duchess of Gloucester on Monday, at
Gloucester House. The Duchess of Cambridge after-
wards returned to her residence, at Kew. The
Duke of Cambridge paid a visit to her Royal High-
ness the Duchess of Gloucester yesterday, at Glouces-
ter House.

- single day day longer ? If make were done, th
le employed for the rest of their lives in