Star.
London, England, 1830-03-19 00:00:00

what they were pleased to term my " valuable labours.'
among them.
Since my return to London, and during the present
year, 1830, I have never omitted a single day, in which
I have not, in every quarter of the metropolis suc-
cessively, given public lectures on the countries and
affairs of the east, all of them having close connection
with the India question, and the most powerful of them
being expressly directed to shew the necessity of
abolishing the existing monopoly, and opening the east-
ern world generally to British intercourse.
Throughout the whole of this eventful period, neither
my zeal nor my exertion has suffered the least abate-
ment. So far, however, am I from having " received a
Retainer from the East India Company" as is falsely
alleged—that they have never yet even restored to me a ,
shilling of all the fortune of which their servants have
despoiled me, nor given me grounds for even a shadow
of hope or redress, either near or remote. I may add,
that I am equally free from obligation to any other party,
neither having received a Retainer or assistance from any,
of the public associations of merchants in India or in
England, all of whom appear to consider their duty
to be sufficiently discharged, in receiving the full benefit
of whatever advantages may be obtained for them by the
labours of an advocate, and bestowing on him their votes
of thanks and acclamations in return. Whatever I have
sacrificed and expended in this career, now extended
through fifteen years of consistent and undeviating dura-
tion, has been the produce of my own industry and fru-
gality combined : and this sacrifice has been so large and
unsparing, that lam now at an age when most men are'
prepared for retirement and repose rather than for labour
and privation—obliged, from the pressure of claims arising
out of my public labours, to part with every thing I pos-
sess, to strip myself of every vestige of property, how-
ever minute, to relinquish even the comforts of a home,
and to go forth into the world a wanderer, without a
dwelling or a possession, and with nothing but hope for
my consolation or my guide.
Whether this is a spectacle which reflects greater
honor on the East India Company by whom I have been
plundered, or on the merchants of India and England, in
whose joint cause this shipwreck of all my labours has
been made, it is not for me to pronounce. But, while I
am actually suffering all the horrors of a dark and gloomy
future, with weary days and sleepless nights for my por-
tion, I cannot suffer it to go forth uncontadicted to the
world, that I am enriched by infidelity and treason, or
that I have betrayed the cause even of those who have
thus suffered me to fall a victim to my zeal on their be-
half. No : this cannot, this must not be—l have tra-
versed the burning deserts of the East, naked and on foot.
I have suffered hunger, thirst, and imprisonment in
foreign climes,—and have braved death in almost every
form of tempest, pestilence, and. battle : and therefore,
though I am grown older, and less able to sustain these
shocks, than when in the vigour of health and hope, and
manhood—the recollections of the past will rally all my
faculties for the struggle, and I shall not utterly sink
even amidst the waves that now surround me. But though
I can, while in the bosom of my family and dependants,
suffer pain and privation with resignation and with silence ;
and though I am constrained when appearing before the
world, to conceal, beneath an attempted cheerful counte-
nance, the beating struggles of an anxious and a heavy
heart, I cannot, and will not, while I live—consent to
brook unanswered—the malignant imputation of being a
betrayer of a public cause. I have lived and lingered on
—in defending the claims of others—l will die rather
than abandon the defence of my own.

.7. & BUCHINOHA/11.

4, Brunswick-place, Regent's Park.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HO USE OF LORDS-THURSDAY.

It was obvious from the crowd of strangers assembled below the
bar, and the full attendance of Peers, that the meditated motion of
the Doke of Richmond had excited considerable sensation. The
ministers were present, with the exception of Lord ElleaborOugh,
who has not been in the house since the introduction of his Divorce
BilL That portion of the house at the foot of the throne was'
thronged with members of the Lower House of parliament.
Among the Peers present we observed the Dukes of Gloucester,
Cumberland, Buckingham, and Richmond ; the Earls of Eldon,
Carnarvon, Malmesbury, Stanhope, Rosebery, Winchilsea, Pits.
william, Wicklow, Hardwicke, Cawdor, Mounteasbd Tankerville, '
Morley, Darnley, Dudley, Glengall, and Falmouth; the Mar.l
quiver of Lansdowne, Salisbury and Bute; Viscounts Goderich and
Granville; Lords Holland, Manners, Ring. Amherst, Witsmelife,
Hill. and Vernon ; the Bishop of Norwich, and the Bishop of Bath
and Wells.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY presented a petition from the
manufacturers and others of the salt-works in Cheshire against the
renewal of the East India Company's charter.
The two Mutiny Bills and Pensions At. Duties' Bill passed
through committees.
The private bills on the table were advanced one stage.
Earl FITZWILLIAM presented a petition from Milton, York-
shire, praying a revision of the Criminal Code.
Mr. Crater, from the Treasuryrsented at the bar an account
of wheat entered for home consumption from the 16th of July 1828.
Mr. Danvers, from the India House, presented various accounts
respecting the East India Company.

CAPITAL PC,

••••••“ • ,m,•• • SI am 41...M•11.0. NO
The Earl of FALMOUTH presented' petition from the bankers
and merchants of Frome and its vicinity, praying an alteration of
the criminal law, with a view to the abolition of the punishment of
death for forgery.
Lord KIN( presented a petition from Kingston-upon-Hull.
against capital punishment in cases of offences &dieting property.

DISTIL'S&
The Earl of CAR NARVON presented two petitions, complain.
ing of distress and praying relief, from Taunton and from 31am:bes-
tir. The latter petition was read at length.

LAST INDIA TRAWL
Lord WARNCLIFFE preowned a petition from the merchants,
ship-owners, and inhabitants of Selby, Yorkshire, for throwing open
the trade to India and China.

The Marquis of BUTZ presented a similar petition from Port
Glasgow.
A petition of a similar tendency from the inhabitants of Prow,
in the county of Somerset, was presented by the Marquis of Lane.
down*. These petitions were referred to the select committee
The Earl of MORLEY presented a petition from Blenheim (Iva
believe), praying a revision of the criminal code.

OZEIRAL DISTRESS.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented a peddso from the three
hundreds of Newport, in the county of Backs, consplaining of gime-
ral distress and praying relief ; shoe psalms, with a similes. pear;
aildes=n, from the owners sad somata= of hed Rpik,
The noble duke Ilhiatios_pssitsaled a petition hots
Barnes, in the canny of flurrey.ftinn fie malt tax.
The Marquis of ItNBDOW/111 prostimal a petition hom a
parish In Oloucestershlre, complaining damson

INTERNAL STATE OF TEE COUNTRY.

The order of the day having been read for the motion of which
the Duke of RICHMOND had given previous notice, the noble
duke rose and said—My Lords, in calling your lordships' attention
to the motion which stands upon your notices to-day, I cannot but
feel great apprehension at the task which 1 have undertaken : not
that I have any doubt of the propriety—nay, I will say, my lords,
the absolute necessity—of carrying such a motion as this which I
shall have the honour of submitting, but because I feel my own
want of ability—my own want of experience—to grapple with a
question of so great a magnitude in comparison with the splendid
'talent and wide information which many noble lords whom I see
around me possess--who, I hope, nevertheless, will vote with me on
the present occasion. The motion which I have the honour of pro-
posing fur your lordships' adoption is " for the appointment of a
select committee to take into consideration the internal state of the
country, as far as it relates to the condition of the working classes,
and the efitet of taxation upon productive industry." It will there-
fore be necessary to prove that there is something peculiar—some-
, thing unexampled—something of a burdensome description, which,
unless relief be afforded, will lead to the most dreadful calamities
(heir, hear, hear) in the condition of that portion of his majesty's
subjects to which my motion calls your lordships' attention. My
lords, many cases of excessive and severe distress both in the
agricultural and manufacturing districts hare already been submitted
to the house; more than enough, in my opinion, to make it
incumbent upon your lordships to grant the investigation. It lies
beyond my ken to discover the extreme measure of distress
which must be proved to induce your lordships to accede to the in-
quiry if you entertain a contrary opinion to what I have just ex.
, pressed. If, therefor; I take a long time in detailing to your lord.
ships the filets which I am about to state, to induce you to accede to
the motion:--if I enter at large into a detail of the misery and de-
gradation which were so ably stated by the noble earl opposite (Earl
Stanhope) when he brought forward the motion for an inquiry into
the internal condition of the country, with a view of applying relief
—a state of degradation and wretchedness which, as the noble earl
said, " threatened the dissolution of society itself," I trust 1 shall
be excused. My lords, the day after I had given notice of this mo-
tion I sent to a number of parishes to get returns of the number of
people out of employ in the respective parishes in the year 1826
and the number out of employ at the present time. I now hold in
my hand the returns from 41 parishes, and no individual instance
are there fewer persons receiving parochial relief at the present mo-
ment, compared with the year 1828. Your lordships will be good
enough to bear in mind that the year 1828 was the one immediately
succeeding the panic, when England was supposed to be at low.
water mark, lam sorry to say, however, that hem that period to
the present fhoment she has been gradually sinking lower. I now
beg leave to call your lordships' notice to some of the facts which I
have collected. With respect to the amount of poor-rate of one parish
in the county of Sussex which parish I have selected because it was
I mentioned le the emigration committee le 1827, I find that in the year
1826 the money levied for the poor amounted to 2,3141. in the
present year—or rather in the year 1829--the amount so raised
is 2,9801. My lords, as I before said, I have taken this parish be.
cause the estimates were before that committee. The annual rental
of the parish to which I have alluded is 2,5991. so that your lord.
ships perceive the poor-rates of the last year were considerably be.
yond the whole rental, that being what I have just named, and the
poor rata 2,9601. My lords, I now beg to refer to some returns
which I have recently obtained from different parishes. • This do-
cument I hold in my hand is an average number of the poor, se.
lasted trim 17 different hes in eight different counties, viz.—
Hants, Wilts, &mom Lancashire, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Warwick.
shire, and the county of Leicester. At Andover, in the year 1828,
there were 62 paupers in the workhouse; in 1830, 70 in the work-
house. In 1826, the number of poor out of the workhouse was
310, whilst in 1830 it is 430. Casual poor, in 1826, 40 ; in the
present year, 117. Paupers not included in any of the foregoing
classifications, 50 in 1826, and 112 in 1830. At /Ledford, the
number of poor in the workhouse in 1826 was 95, whilst in the
present year the number amounts to 140. Poor out of the house
3,000, in 1826; poor in the house in 1830, 4,000. In 1826, the
number of casual poor was 176, whilst in the present year the nuns.
bar is 250. At Coventry, there were 171 poor in the workhouse in
the year 1826, and in the present year 468. Out of the house, in
1826, the number of poor was 805; in 1830, (120. Poor receiving
occasional relief, in 1826, 446; casual poor in 1830, 1,395. The
number not under these classifications was, in 1826, 40, and in the
present year, 160. In Congleton, I find there were 41 poor in the
house in 1826, and 62 at the present time. Out of the house,
the number was, in 1828, 806; in 1830, it is 820. Poor having
casual relief here were 150 in 1828; and in 1830 there are 179.
HuddersfieM, in 1826, had 66 poor in the workhouse ; in the pre-
sent year there are 128. Poor out of the house, 174 in the year
1896; and in 1830,209. So, my lords, do these returns go on, bear.
ing the same ratio, until we come to Leeds. This is a return to
which I Wish more particularly to call your lordships' attention,
especially as it has been stated in another place that Leeds
is not in a state of distress, on the authority of Air. Gott;—an
intelligent man be is no doubt, lords'
but he occasionally speaks
without proper data. Ile states that Leeds is in a most flourishing
condition.— Hear.) Your lordships will presently perceive whether
that can be the ease with the state of the poor. In the year 1896,
I find the number of poor in the workhouse was 156; in the Year
4830 there are 290. Mr. Gott is wrong in this particular; I
think, my lords, it will be manifestWe now come to the poor
oat of the workhouse. In the year 1828 I find there were 900; in
the year 1830 there are 1,010. The casual poor In the year 1826
were 700; in the present year the number of causal poor is 1,230.
These are the statements, my lords (I allude to what has been as.
sates respecting the flourishing condition of the country, founded,
apprehend, on the statements of persons whose accuracy way vie
with the intbrmation on which Mr. Herries dilated) which have in-
duced his majesty's ministers to believe that the representation of
distress was not made out. In Manchester I find that there were
547 poor in the workhouse in 1826; and in the year 1830 there are
5118. The poor casually relieved in 1826 are stated in the return to
be 2.708, and in 1830 the number is 3,359. Now, my lords, if
Leeds and Manchester are stated to be towns in which even this
paitial distress does not exist—and it is so stated—n, that they
ate in a flourishing condition-1 with to ask how the distress is es.
deflated (where it is universally admitted to exist) by those who be-
lieve onlylhese two places to be free from partial distresl—(Hear.)
Is Mr. Gott a better authority of the existence or nou.existence of
distress than the overseers who have signed these returns ? My
opinions, your lordships perceive' are founded upon positive facts
—(Hear, hear.) 1 find, in the adjoining parish of 11acclesfield,
that in the year 1026, the sum of 3211. was paid in
poor-rates - and, in 1830, the amount similarly paid was 71U. It
is also stated that there are at the present moment in that parish 150
cottages to let, and seven factories out of employ. From the whole
average of these principal towns, the number of persons in the work.
houses amounted In 1896 to 91,162; and, in IMO, the number was
30,099. if ministers did not think proper to inquire into the dis-
tress of the distant towns, they might have learnt something of the
distress of London. This information might certainly have been
obtained without great difficulty. I have, my lords, got a return
from the Mendieity Society.. Prom this I find the number relieved
by that tiodety to be 3,207 in the year 1828, whilst, in 1525, there
were 4,219. In St. Matthew's (Bethnal Green) parish, I find that
there were 600 persons in the workhouse in 1898, and about a like
member out of the house, whilst in 1830 there are 1,400 In the
ham, and 3,000 out. It would be taking up too much of your
leedshipat time if I were to go through all these details. The re-
am= are upon your table, and may be consulted. I think, my
lords, I have shown that the distress is not only great throughout
the country, hut that it has untertuestely increased to an alarming
Meat shwa the year 1826. If hie Majesty's ministers or any noble
Aid should dewy tide distress I bops as be indulged, when I shall
reply, with a tardierletail. It is mere than probable that no nes-
NM will be pospossi far year lordships' consideration in the present
▪ whisk sititMl berme you to inquire into seriously. The
fist has view le the mate of paying wages in system
whisk Ms leski la of Meet, aitd against which the laCt7ag
(11fiti_Thisassaan, my lords, wens se be very pro.
=se their priadpie nemimerferenes,
there berate isea=althet pslllast be departed
fors. The asst mom vase prime& tor an abrades
of doe j!esr laws, issokosi into is Wm owe of Pothoolool by
Mr. Malay, ohs dound ppm milt for his neftliaa....

Ile eenteuded that the pose laws could
resent state, for the subject was one
vittpn to an inquiry, however averse
b. If they took into consideration
t-eime of taxation upon the landed interest,
o.uty of their lordships no longer to
neea.sary to see whether the mode '
ministered did not tend rather to

• : • q I.•

parties for whom they were instituted.
perfection in those Wei than the 111311
they created in productive labour, and
out to paupers, heabould say that both these
selves quite sufficient to warrant inquiry. Upon ebb pie le idiot
partiemerly to refer to the great irruption of Irish biteimws Into this
country, and the bounty to which he alluded was that which they
received on the English poor-rates. He desired to see Irishmen in
Engiind placed upon the same footing as that in which they stood
in their own country, and that on which Englishmen Mood when
they were in Ireland. He contended that the fact of an individual
beteg an Irishman, and not having acquired a settlement, ought
to incapacitate him from receiving parochial relief from the
British public. (Hear, hear.) To show to what extent the
pressure of the poor rates prevailed in consequence of the in.
flax of 1 tali labourers, he would briefly advert to the report
of a Committee, which was generally known by the name of
" Lord Stanley's Committee. it stated, among other things, that
ISO Iran than 2.418 Irish paupers had been passed through the county
of Leicester within the last 5 years. The removal of each Indivi.
dual of that class of paupers cost, from London to Liverpool, a
sum of 4/. ils. 81. and the report stated that the whole expense
was greater than if they had been sent off at once by the mail-coach.
—Toe practice of the generality of the Irish labourers was to ap-
ply fur the expenses of their journey through all the English coml.
ties which lay on their road to Liverpool and to preserve undimi.
nished the amount of their earnings. This was a very good prac-
tice for the Irish labourers, but a very bad one for the English
counties, which were burthened by them. Their lordships woul
perceive that, as a remedy fa this evil, the committee mom.
mended that Irishmen here should not be placed in a better situa.
don than they were in their own country. There were two or three
other topics on which he was anxious to say a few words. The sa-
vings banks were at this moment labouring under the same de.
pression as the agricultural, the mminercial, and the trading inter.
este. In the commercial and trading interests were particularly to
be considered all persons engaged in shipping, and retail dealers,
both which classes suffered very severely. With regard to the sa-
vings' banks, the amount of their capital was greatly diminished
since 1828. He bad looked into some returns on thesubj .ct for th:
year 1828, but it would not, perhaps, be fair to refer to them, as an
aberatinn of the law affecting savings banks took place in the.
year. He held in his band some returns for 1829, and it :tepee:ea
that the total amount of money paid into the savings banks in that
year. was 449,493 f. and the amount paid out was 1,447,1971 Ile
found, likewise, that in a small portion of one year the capital or
thaw establishments was diminished by a sum of 24,1901. This was
all to be attributed to the effects of taxation upon every description
of productive industry. After the reductions proposed by the No.
ble Duke at the head of his Majesty's ministers, perhaps it might
appear ungracious in him (the Duke of Richmond) to press for any
further relaxation ; but while he felt deeply grateful to the noble
duke for what he had done, he still regretted he had stopped in his
career, and had not reduced thaw taxes which pressed most hea-
vily on the labouring population of the country. He could
not but feel this regret the more sensibly when he considered the
extent of distrait and privation to which the working classes were
now subject How many thousands of industrious individuals were
now obliged to depend on the wretched pittance of 4d. and fad. a-day
for the support of themselves and their families I He maintained
that every tax which pressed on the labouring poor ought to be re.
duced. Upon this subject, however, he was not disposed to advert
to one particular tax—namely, the tax on bread; and his reason for
declining to do so was because he did not wish to re.agitate the
question of the corn laws. The duties which he wished to see re.
dueed were those which affected all the other necessaries of life,
such, for instance, as the duties on tea, sugar, and candles. There
could be no reason why tea, which sold at 2s. the lb. should be sub.
ject to duty. The price of sugar in bond was Us. the cwt and the
duty was Wk. Here, then, their lordships would find a tax of up-
wards of 100 per cent-laid upon the article of sugar alone. In like
manner soap and candies were heavily taxed. The operation of the
duty on these two latter articles were peculiarly oppressive. The
poor man was obliged to toil before day-light, and after it was dark ;
therefore to impose a tax on candles, which were essential to his la.
bouts, was extremely severe. (Hess, bear.) He would not at re-
sent trespass on their lordships' indulgmee by go into a detail of
the various injurious effects produced by taxation; but, were he to
do so, he should feel it to pis upon their lordships the
importance of taking into ion those taxes which were most
oppressive upon the working_dasses, and see how far they might
be reduced or commuted. He still persuaded himself that the
noble duke would proceed further, for the state of the country re.
quilled it. (Hear, hear, hear.) The consequence of reducing taxes
would be to increase the consumption of the several articles,
and thus the revenue would not lose. It was always with re.
gret that he trespassed on their lordships' time, and particularly
when he found himself obliged to state any circumstance
in which, as an individual, he was personally interested. He must,
however, solicit their lordships' indulgence for a moment 'or two,
while he refuted a charge of inconsistency which had been
brought against him. It was stated that his language In that
house was at variance with his actions out of it urn the subject
of the mode of employing the labouring poor; but there were not
the slightest grounds for such a charge. It was said that he eon.
nived at the practice of paying labourers out of the poor-rates--
than which statement nothing could be mere erroneous. The only
circumstance of the kind which had come under his immediate
cognizance took place last year, when some men belonging to a
parish in Sussex applied to him, as a 31agistrate, and complained
that the overseer obliged them to drag carts loaded with stones
and stand from the seaside. They stated that they were chained
to the cans, like horses, and that at the head of them was a
person who was called a leader, but whom be (the Duke of Rich.
mond) should call a driver. n justice both to himself and the
other Magistrates, he must say that he and they remonstrated
with the overseer on the subject, and hoped it would be at.
tended with success, though they afterwards found themselves
disappointed. He understood that, since the dine they had re.
monstrated, two Cans with four men chained to each of them,
and a leader or driver at their head, were found at Bognor drag.
ging stones from the sea-beach. He would put it to their lord.
Wps whether they were not bound to inurfere, in order to prevent
this revolting practice which tended to demoralise the
whole of the labouring population ? The noble duke, who,-of all
men, either in England or in any other country, was the most com-
petent to give a correct military °Anion, stated, on a former night,
that England, who never went to war except upon just and honour.
able groundi, was now more fit than ever to resume a hostile at.i.
tads, should eircumatanees require it. But did their lordships be-
lieve that she could be so if her armies were composed of persons
degraded in the manner he had described ! If the armies that had
so signalized themselves in the Peninsula had Len composed of
persons taken from the waggon, did their lordships suppose that,
even under the command of the greatest Captain of this or of any
other age, they would have scaled the walls of Cuidad.Rodrigo, and
Basket, passed over the rocky pinnacles of the Pyrenees, and, hay.
ing borne in triumph the standard of England from Waterloo.
planted it in the very centre of the capital of France ? If this
system were persisted in, and became gamed, the indeper.denee of
knghind must tease to miss. He felt-himself unequal to the task
of proceeding with this subject at greater length, but he regretted it
not, as he knew it would be taken up by many noble lords who were
so much more qualified to do it justice than he could pretet.d to be.
He was anxious to see a full inquiry into the causes of the dis.
tress. The noble duke concluded by submitting his motion to their
lordships.

Earl BATHURST said, that if the motion of his Noble Bela.
tion had been confined to the appointment of a Seim Committee to
inquire into the operation of the Poor Laws and the mode of their
administration, he should have admitted that he had made out a
strong ease, and should not probably have been disposed to resist ',I.
His Noble Relative had detailed to than • great variety of reports
with respect to the rates from time to time in different places. But
before they could determine that these returns afforded any Drool of
the state of the country, it would be very desirable to know upon
what principle they were made up ; because the Noble Duke itust
know that in various places there had been an administration or the
poor laws loconaistent with and adverse to the principle upon which
they had been established ; because he mitit know that a system
had been introduced of overseers paying half the wages of labuurcra
and the farmers the other half Now, the Noble Dula must see
that this was an improper and irregular manner of giving relief, and
to whom ? Not to the labourer, but to the fanner. Again, when
hire Noble Relative referred to the number of applications for relief
to the Alendicity Society, be was bound to recollect that the last were
a winter of unusual severity, and that the demands for relief would
be greatly increased from that cause. The Savings Bank was an.
other subject to which his Noble Relative had adverted, and he bad
done so in a manlier which convinced hint that he could not be aware
of the recent change in the law respecting these valuable institutions.
They were now prohibited from keeping nerve than 2001. belonging
to one individua4 and front receiving more then 301. at any ofte
rment- With respect to the appointment of a Select Consneittee.
.lobjection was that the stedon, instead of leading them to an ens
quirt' Into the state of the poor, was, is fact, to institute as enquiry
as extensive as that whisk their lisedships bad already refuse& and
that the only dilinetten banyan the two modems that he could Ca.
ewer aresisted in this, thrit the ens was far a Cosninitwo 'of the
whole Howie, and the etherhe a &bet Ceariaimse.—flEhar. been)
Pisa dross awn ba 081.1 %he kw be neekted that the Ajax of
the woke was as tatialty hue the whole Wend. Arnie of the soda.
try. And the Neale haws see the inweiveniesee of sett an *miry,

ould not pnwbly rp16d146 their ' ••
ne which must foree.lo4l4art- • '
itfi
is
they might be front Weir- "-I; ' i
I the effect. produco4 -'' •;..
interest, F would hi' '‘:11:. i''-i.-,
..
m avoid inveatiga ~.--.. . - •
1 v . s,
in which the poor • w -,..0 -
demoralise than to trite
sal. If there were no MI:. '• '.l
a:treasonable competition whir:,
and the bounty width dtey held
)oth these grounds tweed . them
. .. _._.. .. . . _