The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-01-05 00:00:00

eig ?Librrpool &tanbarb.

TUESDAY

MORNING, JANUARY 5, 1847

THAT great problem—lreland
rapidly-increasing difficulty. The very measures

which we devise to meet the most pressing wants THE public, by means of the press, is sufficiently
of her people, to allay religious animosities, and to informed upon most matters which come before
convert rampant disorder and outrage into systems- the legislature. But even that watchful organ
tic industry and peace, seeni to recoil upon our cannot detect all the insidious attempts at encroach-
heads, and to produce results totally opposite to ment against liberty or property, contained in the
those which were anticipated from them. In a shoal of obscure bills, introduced by obscure men,
crisis of impending famine, her Majesty's present the ordinary fate of which is to be swamped un-
ministry recently held out to the distressed popula- read at the close of a session, or to be contume-
tion of that country the arm of relief. The land- liously kicked out, on their objects being detected
lords of Ireland came forward to offer their coOpe- by the scrutinizing eye of Lord Shaftesbury in the
ration, and to burthen their estates for the purpose House of Peers. Yet some of these efforts of
of promptly affording employment. Presentments amateur statesmanship contain provisions of so
for public works throughout the country were voted monstrous and sweeping a character, that the un-
with an unsparing prodigality ; and what is, never- prepared reader can only wonder that any branch
theless, the present condition of the people thus at- of the legislature could so far entertain them as to
tempted to be raised from the destitution, into order them to be printed. One of this class is now
which they had been thrown by the failure of their before us, entitled " a Bill for the better manage-
principal food crop ? On every side we hear of vast ment and preservation of the ports, harbours,
purchases of fire arms and other weapons of of- creeks, tidal waters, and navigable lakes and rivers
fence. The very money we have given to snatch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire-
the peasantry from famine is expended in providing land," which is certainly one of the richest speci-
the means, of riot and disturbance. The small far- mens of impudence, and, at the same time, the
mer, the. cotter, the halt, the lame, and the blind, grossest attempt to violate the rights of property,
which we ever had the fortune to meet with.
are being fed by the bounty of the landlords and '
the state ; whilst from the former they are with- Its history is curious. On a certain evening last
holding rent, and the latter they seem preparing to session, Mr. Joseph Hume had to represent that
river or creek in some
the navigation of some petty
overthrow. __.

There can be little doubt now, that the well-
meant efforts to meet the present crisis in Ireland
have been ill devised, and have miscarried. The
money spent upon useless and expensive public
works has been thrown away ; and even the more
recent and rational measure, conceded by the Lord-
Lieutenant, of employing the people upon repro-
ductive works—drainage, &c.—has been converted
into a serious burthen upon the landowners, by the
expensive system of managing the disposal of
the funds under the immediate superintendence of
the Board of Works and its officials.

obscure part of Scotland had been injured or en-
croached upon; and suggested that some Govern-
ment department should have devolved upon it a
supervising power in such matters. The hint was
not lost. It suggested the idea of a Commission—
an idea dear to the heart of a Whig ; and accord-
ingly the present Bill, with a Commission, salaries,
appointments, and travelling expenses, duly tacked
to it, was " prepared and brought in by Mr. Ward
and Admiral Dundas ;" and " ordered by the
House of Commons to be printed 14th August,
1846." The title was a modest one. The House
presumed that it related to Mr. Hume's little fish-
ing port, and other similar petty places, and it was
read a first time, and, we believe, a second time,
and adjourned over the session unnoticed. As, in
all probability, it will be resumed in the coming
session, we propose to let our readers know its real
nature.

Upon the whole subject of our policy toward
that country, an able article entitled " State of
Ireland " has just appeared in the Quarterly Re-
view, published yesterday, in which the proper
course to have pursued in employing the people
bly pointed out, whilst the anomalous
h the Government has placed
neasures adopted, is made apparent—

,osition, In wh
;self by the

It commences by reciting that in ancient times
the jurisdiction of the crown extended over all the
seas and shores of the kingdom, and that the
Crown had also " the property of the soil in all
navigable rivers which have the flux and reflux of
the sea up to high water-mark of ordinary spring
tides ;" but that " her Majesty's predecessors
have, at different times, granted the land of many
ports, harbours, creeks, shores, and rivers, to cor-
porations or lords ofluanors, or private individuals,
or to the owners of land on the banks thereof."
That many acts of Parliament have been passed,
entrusting the navigation of such ports and rivers
" to commissioners and others, with large powers
for that purpose," who, it is asserted, have mis-
managed such powers; and that they can only be
properly managed by a central board of commis-
sioners, to be called a "Br ' of C

" Let the British Government be for a moment re-
garded in its new capacity. It has taken under its charge

is.--;ery large number- of labourers, for whom it must find
food and desires to find employment. It will naturally
feel an earnest wish to effect its objects with the least pos-
sible detriment or disturbance to society at large. It
will not abdicate its original functions as a Government,

nor renounce its care for any description of citizens. It
will not poison charity for the poor with spite towards the
rich ; but will feel the better satisfied, and account its
work better done, if it can so economise and direct its
resources that, while they minister to the wants of the
chstity ....igment also the available possessions of
t ,3se ..re not so. With such dispositions, the State
t it unctionario- loyment

estitute, they auo.

when solicito
for labour, would seek also the w

to find emp _
s of rendering em-

ployment most generally profitable. The process Of in-
quiry would probably be, first to ascertain the amount of
labour unemployed, and then how it could be most wisely

..ionservators."
It is therefore proposed to be enacted that " three
fit persons, with adequate salaries,"—of course !
should be appointed, with four Government offi-
cers, as ex officio conservators, to form such
board, with the following powers :—The board is
to have all the authority and rights at any time
formerly possessed " either at common law, or un-
der any act of Parliament," by the Lord High Ad-
miral. In other words, all dock acts and royal
grants are to be virtually nullified. The board is
to issue its " general and special orders, rules, and
regulations, under itg common seal, directed to any
.1137 of the commissioners, or other persons having the
em- conservancy of any ports, harbours, &c., under acts
imm, a; of Parliament. charters. nr ntherwicp •" nnd fh.

would commence with perhaps an invitation to all who
could entertain labourers with advantage, to make them-
selves known ; and it surely could not, at least should not,

.t if it were found possiNe to engage the

thole unemployed population of Ireland in work; of re-
roductive rather than unproductive labour. The obliga-
ions between landlords, or farmers and the State, would
hus become reciproCal. Both parties would see their in-
3rest in the increased productiveness of the_soil ; the

in increased ability to meet his aug-
By this arrangement, too, the poor la-

iffdens

ontributed to raise the
the whole of the opera-

ders are to be promptly obeyed, or the said com-
missioners and others mulcted! They are to have
arbitrary power to call for and examine deeds,
charters, and witnesses upon oath ; and to allow
such witnesses the parliamentary scale of expenses
out of the funds of any dock estate they may
choose to pounce upon. The whole kingdom is to
be divided into districts, and each district is to
have an engineer," whose duty it shall be to watch
over and inspect all ports, &c., and to report the
condition' thereof, and any improvements he may
think necessary ;" and each such engineer—happy
man !—is to be " part of the establishment of the
said Board of Conservators." The board are to
order

" ' But,' it will be said, ' all the labour in the market
()mild not find this beneficial employment. Many land-
ords are so disposed, or so circumstanced, as to be un-
filling, or nimble, to take their part in the common en-
se.' This objection opens a large and important
ion, which never seems to have been thought of,
and which, Plough

cannot enter into its details, we

Irish labourers to
xisted if there had been no failure of the potato
Were they not to have worked for their livelihood
ipposed that they were to ha
ies of ind(

por from potato to potato, as
phrase It—enjoying the paradise described in one of
own songs, and a striking sketch of the national

jest of fun

surveys and plans, and can " set out the
boundaries of any port, ,harbour," &c., which
boundaries " shall be the future limits thereof."
They are to have " power to stop works likely to
become obstructions," the board themselves and
Lord High Admiral I- t' iges ;t- t

under the sun

Is to tit by the P.

the peeple ma;
p. still they mu,

been ever so

ming ,ne juL,, co pu.
down buoys ; and punish any persons throwing
ballast in any river or tidal water.
One would imagine thit this was about sufficient
to ask for at once. It is not so, however. It has

in better sea•

f we were to admit

full employment

occurred to the concocters of this precious bill that
there are too many members of the various Dock
and Harbour Committees throughout the kingdom;
and such committees are therefore to meet " within
one month after the passing of this act," and re-
duce themselves to twelve, of whom three shall be a
quorum ! In future the Board itself will elect

ve resource of the rail-
still we insist that this

torecrto a

lilary and useful work

one-third of the whole. The reduced committees
are to send minutes of all proceedings to the
Board ; and no works or improvements " which
may require any extraordinary expenditure of mo-
ney" are to be proceeded with, unless an order
under the seal of the Board be first obtained.
The Board can annul byelaws of the committees ;
they have power to appoint a harbour-master and
a receiver of dock-rates, and to " direct the man•

us and natural principle ;
,sed state of Ireland would

remainder. This is
andits application to the ( .
have been, if not a perfect remedy, at least a most ben(
ficial alleviation of a state of things of which we had h(
fore had some experience, and which was novel and
anomalous only in the unusual extent of the scarcity, and
in the strange measures that were taken to meet it."
In place of the results here pointed out—the in,