The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-02-02 00:00:00

(Hear, hea
measure as

ciently
be trez
every thin

will be done to give speedy effect to the ope- of which the very existence was denied in both houses of
ration of this measure ; at the same time, care will be Parliament, until it was dragged forth to light in the
taken, and the Lord-Lieutenant will see to it, that its House ,of Commons. It had so degraded the poor of
substitution for the system of public works, already in England that they had been reduced to fight, not only for
operation, shall be easy of transition. There will be no carrion as food, but also for the very bones which they
rude dismissal of the people at once, but when all the were employed in grinding into an unhealthy powder. No
--angements of the present scheme are made, then no remodelling of that law would satisfy their feelings. They
presentments shall take place, or new public expected its repeal, and with nothing less would they be
-ommenced. (Hear.) The Lord-Lieutenant contented. On the present occasion he would show, in
'lard to the roads already commenced, if the first instance, what was the opinion of the Poor Law
they will be left in a most miserable Commissioners of each other, and of those who were iden-
suggests that these, at least, shall tified with them in carrying out this law. He would only
works will, therefore, be allowed to quote from Parliamentary documents ; and if their truth
With respect to this advance, a claim were denied, that would be an additional reason for grant-
. -
at the whole of it should not be a burden- in.. r_ L. „

works b

go to completion

to Irel,

he now moved

vere that, pass-

ing by the remote causes of
whole burden of it on thi
Ireland. He, therefore. sh

quoteu extracts from the evidence taken before the Ando-
- ought not to throW the ver Union Committee, containing the flattering opinions
possessors of property in which Mr. Lewis, Mr. Chadwick, Mr. Parker, Sir F.
3,,u2drmseh.,tlh,camt_eac...A, year, Mr...Coode,_and others,_ expressed of each other :

other s
until o

was Pala, the and in alluding to the opinion expressed of Mr. Chadwick
1p the whole debt by Sir F. Lewis, asked why the Poor Law Commissioners
Rhotild be recol- had not cr

nay dismised a subordinate officer so denounced by
lected that this was placing a considerable burden on his superior ? The reason was manifest; they did not
the finances of the country, and which prevented dare to dismiss Mr. Chadwick, because he had it in his
him from making several propositions entailing ex- power to disclose their secrets. He then brought under
pease, which he should otherwise have proposed. It the notice of the house three scenes which had occurred—
should be remembered that these grants from the consoh- one at the Home-office, another at Somerset-house, and a
dated fund were grants from sums paid by the people on third at a police-office. In the first scene he placed before
thair soap, their tea, and their sugar; and it should al- the house a full representation of all the circumstances
ways he borne in mind that thesewerelevied upon the connected with Mr. Parker's first visit to Andover, and
people of this country out of their daily toil. He also pro- Sir J. Graham's alleged attempt to induce him and Sir E.
posed to advance a sum, not exceeding £50,000, to be re- Head to present a false report regarding what he had
paid before the end of December, for the purchase of seed. seen there. _ present
asked if Mr. Parker's evidence on that
He proposed that this advance should be made to the pro- occasion were false, why had not Sir J. Graham gone oe-
prietors and not to the tenants. In proposing these ad- fore the committee to disprove it ? why, but because he
vances he declared that he did not nor could he expect to knew it to be true and dared not contradict it ? In the
-ward off the effects of the awful visitation of Providence second scene he painted Sir J. Graham, as'the Secretary
with which Ireland had been afflicted. It was not in the of State for the Home Department ; Mr. Lewis, as the go-
power of man to do away with the effect of such a cala- between of Sir J. Graham and the Poor Law Commis-
niity. He should not have felt it necessary to make the sioners at Somerset-house ; and the Poor Law Commis-
declaration so emphatically had it not been for a paper put sioners themselves, as mere puppets dancing as Sir J.
forth by the Marquis of Sligo, urging his countrymen to Graham directed. In the third scene he painted the ab-
demand from Parliament that they should take steps to rapt departure of Mr. M. Sutton from the Andover Corn-
secure an immediate and cheap supply of-food. He was mittee-room, and Mr. S. WortleY's hasty chase after him,
surprised that any man of education could have imagined all in consequence of Mr. Christie's asking whether the
that it was in the power of any government to turn famine Poor Law Commissioners exercised any control over the
into plenty. It was impossible. The utmost they could Assistant Commissioners and their clerks in respect to the
do was to alleviate the calamity. But what surprised him evidence they were to give respecting the administration
was, that at Castlebar there was a union workhouse capa- of the Poor Law—a question which has not been answered
ble of containing 600 inmates, but which contained but up to this day. He filled up this scene by introducing
130, because it was said the rates would not be collected Mr. Parker as applying to the magistrate at Bow-street
to maintain more, while among those who ought to have for a warrant to take into custody the Under-Secretary of
paid those -rates were many who scarcely were capable of State, because he was preparing to fight a duel with Mr.
so doing. He regretted to see in this a tendency to re- Christie. He, then proceeded to quote the report of the
vommend the adoption of some vague and visionary plan, Andover committee complaining of the arbitrary proceed-
while the easy and practicable duty of paying rates for the ings of the Poor Law Commissioners, and stating that they
support of the poor was neglected. The interference of had, shaken the confidence of the public in the administra-
government to alleviate distress might he made in this Lion of the law. He asked her Majesty's ministers whe-
way. Assistance might be granted to proprietors by loans ther those Commissioners were still in office, with abso-
for the improvement of property—by public works—by lute dominion over 8,000,000 of poor, who had no means
enacting that relief should be given to the destitute by law. of entering into a court of law to obtain redress for the
These three modes should be kept separate. In advancing oppression which they suffered ? Or had a coalition been
to proprietors security should be taken that such advances made between the late Government and the present to
should be applied to the purposes for which they were shelter those Commissioners and to refuse him this in-
granted. Such security was taken by the laws passed in quiry ? If that inquiry were refused, the country would
the last session, and by the Drainage Act more particularly. say that it was refused because the leaders of both parties
They proposed to take the terms propssed in the Drainage were afraid of further exposures of thetr connexions with
Act, for making advances, and to extend it to other im- the Poor Law Commissioners. The hon, member then
provements, doing away with the technical difficulties wyit.at great length into the history of the various guar-
-limb LAI nbefrlT.4.A A

uperauon 01 Inat act, auowmg pro- reis in winch he had been engaged with the Poor Law
prietors to borrow money at 31 per cent., to be re-paid in Commissioners and their Assistants, and more particu-
twenty-two years, making an allowance for repayment if larly with Mr. Clements. He reviewed the case of Mr.
such repayment should take place earlier. This would be Jenkin Jones, and made several severe remarks on the
better than combining such a plan with any plan for the conduct of Sir J. Graham, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Coode to-
relief of the poor. They also proposed to consolidate and wards that unfortunate individual—first, in inducing him
improve the Drainage Acts, to undertake by the state the to plead guilty under a promise that he should receive no
reclamation of a portion of the waste lands of Ireland. punishment, then in imprisoning him for eight months ;
Thpv nronosed to devntn anti rdi al- a _1 al • .„. . .

Ln.s puriwse--tnat and lastly, in remitting his senience after he threatened
if the -pro-prietor chose to part with it he might sell it, but exposure. He then brought forward his own case against
that if he refused to sell or to improve there should be a Sir J. Graham, in the course of which he distinctly
-compulsory power of taking land by the Commissioners of charged the ex-Home Secretary with making statements
Woods and Forests, when its value was below 2s. 6d. an which at the time he knew to be untrue. He asserted
acre. It was proposed that should be reclaimed, roads be that Sir J. Graham had tampered with the Assistant Com-
made, buildings erected, and divided into lots of from 25 to missioners on two occasions ;—the first was in 1841, when
50 acres, and let to a tenant for a number of years or sold he used Mr. Mott as his instrument to crush Dr. Bow-
but they did not intend to undertake, by that grant, the ring ; and the second in 1842, when he used the same
task of cultivation. He anticipated great advantage from person as his instrument to crush him by a false report.
the location of the expelled tenantry from other proper- He painted the character of Mr. Mott in very unfavoura-
ties on these holdings, and he thought it would be a nu- ble colours, and called on Sir James Graham, who knew
deus for the formation of a body of small independent his tool well, to explain why he had kept him so long in
I. He did not think that the small holdings the public service, and to deny. if 14could, that he had
use of the misery of Ireland, for in the county kept him there because he was privy to the conspiracy of
, where the small landlords were the most which he had been the victim. He then entered fully
numerous, the people were the most prosperous. In into the particulars of that conspiracy ; and called special
stating these measures, which they proposed to introduce attention to the fact that Mr. Lewis had filed against him
immediately, he had not stated all the measures which in his criminal information the very instructions given to
they intended to introduce. (Hear, hear.) With Mr. Mott, of which Sir J. Graham had denied the very
regard to measures for the relief of the destitute, existence, in his place in that house. He asserted that if
he proposed that relief should no longer be confined to it had not been for the quarrel among the members of the
the workhouse. He proposed to bring in a bill for the Poor Law Commission, and the exposures before the An-
more effectual relief of tho destitute poor in Ireland, em- dover Commission, he must have gone down to his grave
powering the guardians to give relief either in or out injured by the resolution which that housethad passed
of the workhouse at their discretion to the infirm against him. He then accused Sir J. Graham of having
poor, and to all those who are permanently disqualified robbed Mr. Day of his assistant-commissionership for the
from earning their living by labour, thus giving the purpose of rewarding his friend Mr. Thisselton for his
guardians power to relieve the destitute at their own services in the borough of Paisley ; and, after entering
homes, and when the workhouse was full he proposed fully into the particulars of Mr. Day's case, called on the
to give the Poor-law Commissioners power to give leave house to remark what was the answer of Mr. Lewis to
to the guardians to give relief to the able-bodied poor this question—" Were there any reasons why Mr. Mott
out of the workhouse, relief to be given in food only. was called upon to resign ?" It was this—" The commit-
He proposed to appoint relieving officers, who, in case of tee will excuse me for not answering that question."
urgent distress, should have power to take persons into Would Sir J. Graham answer the question which Mr.,.
the house, or to give outdoor relief until the next meeiing Lewis had refused ? If he would not, then he (Mr. Fer-
of the board of guardians. Such were the measures for rand) would say at once that Mr. Mott was got rid of in
the relief of Ireland which he proposed immediately to order that members might say of him, as they now said of
introduce. He should also propose a measure for facili- the Poor Law Commissioners—" Oh! they're slain ; let
tating the sale of encumbered property ; another by which them alone." He concluded by informing the house that
property let on long leases renewable for ever might be the day would spepdily come when Sir J. Graham and
converted into freeholds ; and another on the fisheries, Mr. Lewis, if they placed themselves in the witness-box,
the nature of which he should state at a future time. He must speak the truth upon that and all other questions.
considered that the, best mode of promoting emigration If they did that, he should leave the court with honour

proprieto:

were the ca
of Armagh

ni the arriv

3f the emigrants

•at J and reputation, whilst they would quit it in infamy and

the place of their destination. This was extensively done disgrace.
last year at Montreal. He should be sorry to give any Sir JAMES GRAHAM said Mr. Ferrand had confined his
other stimulus to emigration. He need hardly add that address to a personal attack, and to answer that he should
be was not prepared on the part of the state to sanction confine himself. He had imagined that his retirement
any extensive scheme of emigration. Government were from the public service, and especially his strict retire-
-not prepared, as a general rule, to say that railroads ment into private life since he left office, would have mi-
should be assisted, but the subject was still under consi- tigated the hostility entertained against him by the hon.
deration ; and a measure as to tenant compensation would member. The right hon. baronet proceeded to touch
be prepared, but it would not be brought forward at pre- lightly upon the causes of quarrel between him and Mr.
sent. He believed that the effect of the measures which Ferrand, down to the publication, in July last, of the
be should propose would do much, but other measures hon. member's letters in the Times, charging him (Sir
.would be required, and when the proper time came he James Graham) and Mr. Lewis with conspiring to crush
should be ready to propose anything which he believed Mr. Ferrand. In consequence of those letters, a criminal
would be for the benefit of that country. But with re- information was filed, and in making the rule absolute
spect to this and other measures, all that the crown or the affidavit of Mr. Parker, so much relied on by the hon.
the country could grant, and which parliament could member, was used before the court. He (Sir James
enact, was as nothing without the existence of the spirit Graham) had asserted on his oath, that the charges were
of self-reliance on themselves on the part of the people. wholly and in every particular false, and the affidavit so-
The proposed measures were approved by Sir H. Inglis, lemnly denying them was filed, and could be answered.
Mr. Hume, Mr. Stafford O'Brien, and Lord G. Bentinck, An opportunity would be offered to the hon. member at
who, however, doubted whether the £50,000 for seed the trial to establish his charges, and he (Sir James Gra-
f;