Star.
London, England, 1822-04-30 00:00:00

.

Komi ailitiernta cArmosisc *mut.
Sir J. Ntwnwr bad understood that the
Hon. GendoPINNOD blember hit lAver4l,
disposed; lad therefore topposed it might beim
to postpone the motion of which he had given notiee
for to-nsorrovr, respecting the admission of Catholic
Peers into Parliament. He wished to know of it Right
Hon. Gentleman oppmfite, if be could inform him,
whether his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Canning) had
come to such a determination?
Mr. HUSKISSON said, it was true that his Right
Hon. Friend had been indisposed, but he could as-
sure the Right Hon. Baronet that it was his firmest
intention to bring forward the motion, of. which he
had given notice, tomorrow.
STATE MI IRELAND.
Sir E. O'BRIEN wished to take this opportunity,
the Secretary of State being present, of calling the
attention of the House to the State of Ireland, and to
the situation of the county in which he resided.
The SPEAKER, remarked, the Hon. Baronetconld
not, consistently with the usages of that House, found
a speech like that which he proposed to make on a
.question poi by one Hon. Member to another.
Mr. PEEL could not pass over the reference which
had been made to him, and begged to state that the
attention of Government had already been called to
the subject cn which the Honourable Baronet had
proposed to speak.
After a few words from Mr. Hountirsow, Sir E.
O'llatau again rose to speak.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY suggested,
that the Hon. Baronet had better give notice of a
motion, on which he could found the statement which
he wished to offer.
Sir E. O'BRIEN again rose, and stated the subject
on which he desired to address the House to be so
important, that he could not lose one moment in
bringing it forward. The evil to which he alluded
pressed severely on the county with which he was
connected, and, in his judgment, it extended to se-
veral other counties. Ile.was proceeding.to open his

statement, when
Mr. BANKES submitted to the House, that it was
out of order to offer the statement about to be made
on a question with which it bad no connection—
(Cries y" Go 'ort"—" No, no").
Sir E. O'BRIEN again offered himself to address
tbs Chair.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY said the state-
ment would be better deferred till his Right Hon.
Friend, the Chief Secretary for Ireland should be in
his place. He expected he would be in the House
in the course of the evening.
The Petition was then read, and ordered to lie
on the table.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY said he was
about to move that the Speaker should leave the
Chair, as he thought the discussion on the Agricul-
tural Report could be more conveniently taken in a
Committee. He moved that the order of the day for
taking into further consideration the Report of the
Agricultural Committee should be read.
Sir E. O'BIIIEN then rose, and expressed a wish
to be allowed to enter on his statement then.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY thought it
would be better it should be postponed till the Chief
Secretary for Ireland was in his place.
Mr. BROUGHAM was of opinion that whatever
course would be most for the convenience of the
House ought to be taken. He would submit that
bringing the state of Ireland forward in the middle
of a debate on another subject, would be more in-
convenient than entering upon it now, though the
absence of the Chief Secretary was no doubt an in-
convenience of some importance. lle wished it to be
considered whetheritwould not more mar the expected
debate and the matter itself, supposing it to be ur-
gent and important, if it were introduced by way of
interruption, and would cause more inconvenience
than could result from its being offered now ? The I
Secretary of State was present • be must necessarily I
be in a great measure acquainted with the subject,
and the absence of the Chief Secretary was therefore'
of no importance.
Mr. Secretary PEEL had no with but that the
subject should be brought forward when the fullest
explanation could be afforded. The Learned Gen-
tleman had conceived that in his (Mr. Peel's) de-.
partment, much on the subject must be known; but
he must be aware that the details came more under
the observation of his Right Honourable Friend the
Chief Secretary than under his. He knew that he
had bad some communication on the subject that
very day, and therefore again submitted that the
better course would be to wait till the Chief Secre-
tary was present.
Sir E. O'BRIEN said, the case was urgent. In his
County many thousands of persons were at present
unable to obtain more than one meal a day ; and was
not this, he would ask, a sufficient ground for con-
tending that the subject was one of the first import-
ance? Many of the inhabitants of his County were
obliged to subsist on a small quantity of oatmeal and
watencresses throughout the day. Nothing could
have induced him to come forward on the present
occasion, had not the subject been of so crying a
nature that it could not be delayed. In the month
of August last, in the western part •of Ireland, an
immense quantity of rain fell. The wet weather con-
tinued for twenty days, and when the inhabitants
came to look for that food which should have fur-
nished them with their ordinary nourishment through
the coming year, they found their whole crop had
failed, and was rotten in the ground. Considerable
distress had prevailed, but it was only very lately
that the melancholy situation of a considerable por-
tion of the population of Ireland had been ascer-
tained. From what had recently transpired, he had
not the smallest doubt that the wants of the people
went so far beyond their ordinary resources, and
beyond all calculation, that nothing but Parliamentary
aid could afford them relief. The Counties of Kerry,
Mayo, Roscommon, and others, in short nearly the
whole of the Counties in the Provinces of Munster
and Connaught suffered under this terrible calamity.
He called on the House to consider what would be
the effect of such distress in Warwickshite or Lanca-
shire, or other populous Counties in England ? He
put it to them .what must be the result of such dis-
tress pressing upon a million or a million and a half
of sufferers—distress which greatly surpasses that or-
perienced in 1801, or at any other period within his
recollection ? He knew it was a very general feeling,
that there was plenty of corn, but what was plenty
of corn where people had uolioney to purchase it?

--He knew &it great .ezertiOril ttbeen and
*Geld be made, by We resident try to Oaten die
calamity. Ent what could the Gentry of a 'County
do for 150,000 people? All the reilbi, 211 that atilt
be raised in the County must prove insufficient to re.
move the evil. Whatever measure might be adopted,
he feared that thousands must perish from famine,
Or from the diseases attendant upon a state of famine,
before any *lief could be afforded—( Hear, hero),
The sufferers did not )come before the Parliament
as mendicants, but they 'called for employment, by
which they might be enabled to subsist themselves.
Let their rates be Mortgaged for two or three years--
list additional numbers-be employed on the roads, (.T
on the public works ; but he prayed them not to let
*house* of men die from want without one effort to
save than. He trusted it woad not tie said that it
,Aioa out of their power to mitigate the evil. The Ho.
!rsostrable Gentleman proceeded in the most earnest
manner to impress upon the Hcuse and the 'Govern-
, ment the necessity of looking into the subject without
delay. He felt that if the Country Gentlemen c'
England complained of being overstocked with grain
relief were afforded to Ireland a mat ket
Own be opened for their superabundant produce. Ile
went onto draw a most melancholy picture of
state of Ireland, which, since he came away, had be-
come such that not a night passed without some
rage being committed, for the poverty was such ti;
the sufferers were compelled to seek by robbery fr.r
the means of existence. The farmers were runni:l,.
away, and the most fearful desolation was witnesse,-.
He hoped the case of the sufferers would meet
immediate attention, and that those who had bravel;-
' fought the battles of England in the hour of danger,
would not be left to perish from famine.
Mr. W. W. BEECHER bore testimony to the
great distress which existed in the south of Ireland.
Mr. GOULBUItN said, that he had not expects!
the • present discussion, or that the Government c -
Ireland should be now called upon to explain the mea-
sures which it intended to adopt for the relief of t 1.2
population of the distressed districts of that country.
The Hon. Baronet knew that if he had not don the
course of coming to Parliament for a grant for tl.at
purpose, it was not for want of disposition to
thise with, and to relieve the unfortunate suffe:-2r.r,
but because he was • unwilling to bring the -u:,"ct
more forward, and to increase its publicity. The (.;
vernment were first bound to examine what exzcnt t
relief was required before they adopted any den1...2
mode of applying it ; and according to the [low
able Baronet's own calculation, the sum of 1.:100,,
would be necessary for the county of Clare alo:.e.—
He would therefore ask the House, if if did not le-
hove the. Government to be cautious how they es roiel
themselves to similar demands from other district: Ly
any precipitate measure which they might adopt ? la
the south of Ireland, there was undoubtedly a great
deficiency in one of the crops which formed the prin-
cipal food of the poor, namely, that of potatoes. Brit
he had every reason to believe, that in many districts
the potato crops had not failed, and that in many more
thc corn crops had been abundant. At this ye: y mo-
ment, when the price of potatoes was so extravagant,
that of oatmeal was lower, even in the county of Clare,
than it had been for a very considerable period pa:t.
The Hon. Baronet had said, why not appoint a COM'
mission to inquire into the state of things ; he ot:::•t
to have added, that Mr. Warburton, the Gender:.
who waited on the Lord Lieutenant to apply for :e-
-lief for these districts, was desired to return by t:
Noble Personage, in order to ascertain more exac:.F
the extent of the distress, and the means of the re:-
dent Gentrj, to afford relief, in order that the aw::-
ance given by the Government should be proportionate
to their subscriptions—(Hear).—Hehad heardto,lay,
that the Gentleman to whom he had alluded had re-
turned to the Lord Lieutenant with the required ir.-
formation, so that Government would now know how
to proceed. He was not aware that the House could
reasonably expect any further information from him
as to the intentions of the Irish Government. It %v.'s
most lamentable, that at the present moment t!.!
people of Ireland should be afflicted with these
cations, because nothing would operate so much t'
effect the continuance and spread of disturbance.
Would to GOD that all the evils of the country could
be removed ; and he trusted the House would do t`::
Irish Government the justice, to rest satisfied that no
exertion would be spared to lessen those dreadtal
effects—(Hear).
After a brief explanation from Sir E. O'BRIEN, tLe
Order of the Day was read, and the House went ir:.>
the Committee.
AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY rose, in rr-
suance of a notice which he had given to the iloa,e•
to call its further attention to the Report of the
cultural Committee. Before entering into the rat:l-
-cular measures which he should have the honour
to
propose as growing immediately out of the Rer:t.
he was sure he should very much disappoint C.:
wishes of the House, if he did not first apply hinisei;
to a consideration of the distress out of which tl:e ai-
pointment of the Committee had arisen. He should
do so for the purpose of giving his own ideas tiro
that distress, the purpose of his Majesty's Minister
with regard, to . what had already been proFoseJ,
and information upon some further measures whist
they now intended to propose for its relief. id
was now about ten weeks since he addressed tl:e
House upon the subject, and he was perfectly free :a
say, that if since that period he had met with anytilingi
which-led him to suppose that he had taken an meet'
rect view of the state of the country upon that ()c:x
mon, there was nothing in his composition that wou:J
prevent him from acknowledging his error. Bill .1'
far as he could collect the ideas which he entertained
upon the first entering ihto the question—he did tic
mean in detail, but in the general outline—he hod
every reason to believe, on reflection and experience,
that they were substantially correct. His perstu-ik:a
was, that the general state of the country, with I.:`
exception of the Agricultural Interests, might bc l' •
garded as prosperous. The manufacturing and :l'
mercial branches continued to increase in their pit
sperity; so far as they possessed the means of judg:
lug. The state of the Revenue, as far as tilt)
could rely upon that test, proved this to be the ca-,,
It would be remembered that upon the last qu.il"
there was an excess, compared with the same vile;
in the preceding year, of between four and .500,00(:"
He was happy to say, that in the last three we?':
since the quarter's accoums were made up, there haJ