The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-10 00:00:00

(IRELAND) BILL.

Lord STANLEY then rose, and after the presentation of
some petitions for ani against the Maynooth grant, said, he
would proceed to explain the nature of the Bill, which, on
behalf of the Government, he now brought forward, and
which would enable them to give compensation for improve-
ments to tenants in Ireland. As the Bill was of an unusual
character, be would, previously to mentioning its provisions,
make a statement of the motives which had induced the Go-
vernment to bring forward a measure of this description.
His Noble Friend, whom he did not then see in his place,
had expres.ed regret that Ireland had been so often
made the battle-field of contending political parties. On 0,,e
present occasion, happily, there was no such danger, and
whatever the merits of the measure might be, or w'oa.tever
difference might exist regarding them, the objects '-dhich they
had in view—the agricultural improvement of 'lreland, and
'
raising the condition of the agricultural populat ,on—must have
their Lordships' unanimous concurrence. he report of the
Commission of which his Noble Friend the Earl of Devon)
was at the head, if it did not contain, anything striking, it
had, at least, the merit of bringing f:Jrward a mass of unsus-
pected testimony from all parts of the country, which had
been analysed and brought to 'near on the most prominent
evils which afflicted the c.ountry. The report not only
pointed out those evils, IJut specified remedies for them.
—(Hear.) At the con'snencement of that report he found
the following passage -—" Whatever difference of opinion may
be entertained on otiaer matters, the testimony given was uni-
form in representing the unimproved state of extensive dis-
tricts, the want of employment, and the consequent poverty
and hardship under which a large portion of the agricultural
population continually laboured, and the necessity of providing
remunerattae employment as a means of bettering the condition
of the people." Any one who knew anything of Ireland must
be aware, that between the population of Ireland and the pre-
, sent means of employment there was a very large dispropor-
tion. That must be corrected by one of two modes, either by
reducing the people to the limits of the means of employment,
or increasing the employment so as to make it adequate to the
population.—( Hear, hear). The first was supported by those
who advocated emigration as a remedy. He did not deny that,
under certain circumstances, a system of emigration carried
out with prudence, humanity and discretion, might be benefi-
cial, and place those who remained behind under much more
favourable circumstances. But he could not look upon a sys-
tem of emigration as capable of relieving the general distress,
such as at present existed in Ireland. There were great evils
and liabilities to abuse in any system of emigration. It should
not be compulsory; for if so, it would be tyrannical and op-
pressive, and, indeed, under the most favourable circumstances,
the warm attachment of the Irish peasant to the particular
locality in which he was born and reared rendered
the most careful system of emigration a pain-
ful sacrifice of domestic feeling. Besides, they could not
with due consideration for their colonial possessions, be content
in removing from this country vast masses of labourers, and of
labourers only. Even if the State had at its disposal great quant
ties of unoccupied land, it was nothing more than removing
from their own eyes miseries which they were unwilling to see,
out which miseries would be in the colonies much aggravated.
They must send capital to employ these labourers, and involve
themselves in a great expenditure, even if they had, as he said,
unoccupied land at their disposal. That was an expense which
this country would not bear. The capital requisite for such a
system of emigration, comparing it with the present, would not
be less than 2,000,0001.
__ They must be careful what class of

persons they sent out. If they sent out the able-bodied, active,
and industrious, they were depriving the mother country of
her strength ; if they sent out the idle, the helpless, the infirm,
and the aged, they were only placing them in a much worse
position—sanding them to certain destruction. He thought emi-
gration might be, to a certain extent, relied on, though
in Ireland he thought it would not answer. They must, there.
fore, take the alternative—increase the employment, so as tei
make it adequate to the wants of the population. Although
the population was superabundant in many districts of that
country he was not prepared to say that Ireland was an over-
peopled country.—( Hear, hear.) There were vast districts
there capable of improvement, of being brought into cultiva-
tion, and which would occupy a vast quantity of labour. Mr.
Griffith, in his report, stated there was, in Ireland, of unoccupied
waste land, capable of being brought into tillage, 1,300,000
acres, and 2,400,000 acres which might be provided for
pasturage, so that there were at present in Ireland 3,700,000
acres of land which might be reclaimed. Much of that land,
too, which would be productive of crops, that would amply re-
munerate the agriculturists. The produce per acre of land in
Ireland as compared with England did not amount to half the
value, although double the amount of labourers were employed
upon the Iri,h land. In England there were cultivated
34,"54,000 acres, in Ireland 14,603,000 acres. The produce in
England was 41. 7s. 6d. per acre, in Ireland 21. 9.. 3d. There
were employed in Ireland 100,000 more labourers on the
14,000,000 of acres than in England with its 34,000,000. He
might thereupon safely say, that in Ireland they did net want
space. What they wanted was capital for the employment of
labourers.—(Hea:, hear.) That capital could only come from
three sources—from the State, from the landlord, or from the
occupying tenant. He did not undervalue the improvements
which had been effected by the State. Great and valuable
alterations had been effected in this country by
his Noble Friend
opposite, when at the head of the Woods and Forests, and
which had been profitable to the Crown,
and to the country,
by expending pablic money in bringing into caltivatin