The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-30 00:00:00

POOR LAWS.--IRELAND.

The Earl of DtillNTEY,seeing:liol;le Lord in his
place (the Earl. of Carbery) whwhad paid great attention
to the subject of the Poor in Ireland, wished to know from
him if 're was his intention to-submit, any motion to their
Lo; ship on this subject ? At present the Poor of Ire-
land were suffering very great distress, and many of them
had, he believed, perished of hunger. If it were- not the
Noble Lord's intention to propose any Resolution to their
Lordships, he did not know that he should himself call
their Lordships' attention to the subject. He did not sup-
pose that the system of English Poor Laws could be intro •
duced into Ireland, but he thought it was their Lordships'
duty to take the subject into their consideration, particu-
larly as all consideration of that measure had been rejected
to which he looked to restore the tranquillity of that coun-
try. Notwithstanding the Poor Laws were, he knew, a
subject of great dislike to some Noble Lords, particularly to
a Noble Lord opposite, who entertained the most serious
apprehensions en this subject, he must contend, that in the
present situation of the poor of Ireland, something ought
to be done. He wished, therefore to know of the Noble
'Earl, if it were his intention to propose any measure for
their Lordships' consideration, otherwise he should probably
think it his own duty to call their Lordships' attention to
this subject after the holidays ?

The Earl of CARBERY replied to the Noble Earl in so
low a tone that he was inaudible below the bar ; but we
understood him to say, in substance, that he had, on former
occasions, moved for some Returns relative to the Poor of
Ireland, which were then on their Lordships' table ; and
though he did not at present intend to submit any motion
to their Lordships, he had a Petition to present on this
subject, and when he presented it, he should explain his
views- Re wished it, however, to be understood-, that
he did not suppose that the English system of Poor
Laws could be introduced into Ireland ; though he felt that
the poor of Ireland could not be left in their present situ-
ation.

The Earl of LIMERICK having been alluded to by the
Noble Earl, could assure him that he was mistaken, in
supposing that he (the Earl of Limerick) entertained more
serious apprehensions on the subject of introducing Poor
Laws into Ireland, than any other person. He saw many
Noble Lords neat him, who felt quite as apprehensive on
the point as he did, and were convinced, that of all mis-
chiefs, none could be so great as that of introducing Poor
Laws into Ireland. Was there not, he would ask, misery
enough in Ireland already? Would their Lordships call
more into existence, by telling the lower classes, already
Prone to sedition, that they were starved by the epper or-
ders? Re called on their Lordships, for God's sake, to
take care e how they employed their talent for making
BP'nst, which he admired as much any man ; but he
conjured theta to choose some other subject for display than
that
bl'inre their Lordships. . •
They could not choose one
which wsuffering than the Poor Laws
'x'ld inflict more
would cause
in Ireland.
attributed
The Earl of 11 1
to the Noble et—r—ArXNLEY explained. He only
---..‘nioat apprehension from the Poor Laws.
He agreed that the poor Laws, as they existed in Eng-
land, could not be :
'''weduced into Ireland ; but he could
not agree, that in k i,
--/ilixed country,
left to die without any nftico. the poor should be
It was not to be tolerated,
though their Lor. dahlias
it riot be
I, that it
medy for this evil,
13n14 not be inquired into. He
able to find any re-
hoped that the Noble Lord, when ,_
'l.O presented the petition
he had mentioned, would make a speciethat
his M 4 ya
ajesty 0
' Government m& - -een,...,' motion, and t
to take the sub-
ject into consideratio •
The Earl of LIMERICK
pule ICK had beard of ...-i .
but he did not give credit to eve' I thing which
in rhat in
not people perish of appeared
is newspapers; and did
other countries as well as Ireland ? It was, he 't
not very likely to occur there, for the peasantry of thhtat.
country, with all their faults, were as charitable and lan-
mane as any in the world.
Lord HOLLAND was of opinion,
that before their
Lordships instituted an.inquiry into what ought to be done
fem the relief of the poor in Ireland, they ought to ascertain
`,ltt had already been done. He was not lawyer enough
to know what was the state of the law for the relief of the
poor of Ireland ; he had not any particular acquaintance
with that part of the country, but he could not believe that