The Sun.
London, England, 1820-05-17 00:00:00

necessary of life, and the high rents, were not to
l.c considered as a proof of prosperity, but solely
with a reference to the compavative value of mo-
tley at the time. The tremendous amount of the
Poor Rates may be regarded as a cause as,well as an
effect of the public distress ; their amount now
was grew er than the expellee of the Civil and I.llilis
tart/ Estahlishments of the country in the year
1792. Such was the amount and effect of taxa-
tion thaf it equalled the amount of one-third of
every man's expenditure generally, and equalled
one half of that of the landed proprietors. After
dwelling with much force on these, and some
other connected points, his Lordship proceeded to
advert to the consideration of some of his sug-
gested remedies. lie first alluded to au ameliora-
tion in the state of the national currency, for no
small portion of the evil was attributable to its
deletiorared state. The next .point was the esta-
blishment of some system which would afford a
permanent employment to' a great portion of the
poor, and involve the means also of furnishing
them with an independent subsistence. In this,
after noticing some suggestions which had been
made by individuals, the Noble Earl expressed his
opinion that a leading and most beneficial expe-
dient would be the cultivation of waste lands; in
that view he referred in the way of illustration to
what was done or projected respecting the Forest.
of Dartmoor. Aw;ther, or secondary expedient
in this system. would be to provide the cultivat-
ing labourers with cottages. This may be done
at a trifling expense. Another expedient would
be to assign to those occupying cottages a por-
tion of land, which would go to afford them a sort
flt independent existence. A system of this kind,
his Lordship observed, was acted upon to a cer-
tain extent in Ireland, and found highly benefi-
cial. A system of this kind would tend to re-
store to the country the once valuable race of
Yeomanry, so long its pride and best de-
fence. Another most salutary measure would
be a more extensive encouragement of the
fisheries, which afforded not only an ample article
ut supply in the way of food, but an extensive
nursery to our seamen. The too extensive use of
machinery he seemed to think a consideration of
.questionable policy, as it certainly went to de-
prive numbers of employment, and therefore went
so far to aggravate the public digress. Ile next
dwelt upon the calamitous effects attendant upon
the great fall in the amount of wages, genertilly
of late years, which evil was augmented by the
Ilse i>> prices of all articles of the first necessity ;
and entered upon some calculations to illustrate
the point ; therefore, the use of machinery to an
undue extent he regarded as extremely prejudicial.
After glancing at some minor or auxiliary expe-
dients, he observed, that if their Lordships grant-
ed the Committee he should move for, all these
suggestions could.be duly examined and discussed
in detail ; and, after an eloquent peroration, in
which he feelingly touched upon the present ex-,
treme distress of so numerous a. portion of the
poor,r classes, the Noble
,F4arl concluded by

moving-
" That a Committee be appointed to consider
of the practicability and the means of better pro- 1
viding for the employment of the Poor, particu-
larly in the manufacturing districts ; and to report
thereon to the House."
The Earl of LivsavooL rose and observed, that
be was hilly aware of the vast importance of the
various considerations adverted to by his Noble
Friend, who, he was sure, came forward from the' '
best and purest motives ; but they were points
which involved the principle's and origin of the .
agriculture, the manufactures, and the whole corn-
'tierce of the country. Many of these points
there would be a future opportunity of discussing,
but it would be candid towards his Noble Friend
to say, that his views of most of these points
were taken on a ground that he (Lord L.) could
not give his assent to. There was hardly a point
advanced by his Noble Friend, to which be (lid
not feel obliged to express his most unqualified.
dissent. The drawing of such a line of distinction
between the agricultural and manufacturing inte-
rests was in principle most injurious, anti what
be contemplated would go to change the whole
system upon which these considerations had hi-
therto been uniformly regulated. With respect
to the maunlacturiug interests, the superior ex-
cellence of the British had undeniably raised this
country to a pitch of wealth, prosperity, and
power, unknown at any former period ; and this
prosperity of the manufacturing intereits had a
proportionably beneficial effect, on the landed ;
most of the property accumulated that way was
ultimately vested in land. The agricultural in-
terests were as well protected by correspondent
laws as those of the manufacturing, or any other.
It was unnecessary to go farther into these to-
pics. He believed that every thing practicable had
been done for the improvement of the fisheries,
but it was questionable whether the supply should
be increased without the certainty of a market
for its disposal ; on that head, however, he should
be happy to receiYe information from any Ilan.
The principle upon which his Noble Friend pro-
ceeded with respect to many of the other points,
was founded upon erroneous, and he feared mis-
chievous grounds. With respect to the culture of
waste lands, he rather thought there could not be
a worse way of employing, capital, especially
(even if the money was to be had) if it came from
the public purse. Broken up lands were gene-
rally found to be a dead weight upon the hands
of the undertakers ; it was a most unprofitable
concerts, and still more so in cases where the
Government were to become a species of traders.
—Our manufacturing preponderancy, he repeated,
was the source of a great portion of our national
power, and gave this country a decided advantage
over others which naturally enjoyed much more
fertile soils and better climates. The extensive
use of machinery, particularly those so greatly
improved by the genius and intelligence of a
lioulton and Watts, contributed greatly to en-
hance that superiotity ; and judging most decid-
edly upon these various points, so widely different
trout the sentiments of his Noble friend, he must
beg leave to meet his motion, to which he could
by no means agree, with the previous question.
Earl bratsziore made a brief and general reply;
mite's the previous question was voted by their
Lordships, which superseded the Noble Earl's,
mot it It.
Adjourned till to-morrow (this day.)