The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-05-07 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

THURSDAY, MAY 2.
The SPEAKER entered the house shortly before 4 o'clock, but
in consequence of the ballot for the Lincoln city election com-
mittee, the gallery was not opened until half-past 4 o'clock. The
Bury St. Edmund's and East Norfolk election petitions, which
were ordered to be also taken into consideration this day, were
abandoned.
Mr. RICHARDS presented a petition from the Lord Mayor
and householders of the city of Dublin, agreed to at a public
meeting, praying for the introduction a a system of poor laws
into Ireland.
A message from the House of Lords announced that their
lordships had agreed to the London and Birmingham Railway
Bill, with certain amendments, and to several private bills.
Mr. Hunu gave notice, that he would, on Friday next, on
the question of the house going into a committee of supply,
take the opportunity of asking the Secretary for Foreign Affairs
some questions respecting the recent proceedings at Constan-
tinople.
Colonel TonitENs, in pursuance of his notice, moved the
repeal of those taxes which lower the profits of capital and the
wages of labour.
Lord ALTHORP said he did not purpose, on the present occa-
sion, to enter upon a discussion respecting the expediency of
altering the taxation of the country. The question was purely
a scientific one. He could not, under the existing circum-
stances, consent to the proposition.
The motion was then put and negatived, Colonel Z orrens not
being inclined to press it to a division.
Mr. W. WHITMORE fixed his motion on the corn laws for
Monday, the 13th of May.
Sir R. PEEL said, that observing no symptom of any move-
ment en the part of the hon. member for Oldhatn, with respect
to the notice he gave about a month since of a motion for au
address to the Crown, recommending his (Sir R. Peel's) dis-
missal from the office of Privy, Councillor, he wished to know
whether it was the hon. member's intention to pursue it. He
(Sir It. Peel) was present the other night when the motion was
called over, but the hon. member allowed it to take its course,
being neither
.present himself nor deputing any friend to ex-
plain what his intentions were with respect to it. Was the no-
tice to be considered a mere flash in the pan? (Hear, hear.)
Or was it really intended to be brought forward? What he
(Sir IL Peel) wished to know was, whether the hon. gentleman
meant to revive the dropped motion, and, if so, when he in-
tended to bring it forward.
Mr. COBBETT said that he fully intended to bring forward his
motion on Tuesday last, the day fixed for it; but the right hon.
baronet would please to recollect that on that evening the house
sat till 3 or 4 in the morning, when it would have been ridicu-
lous to introduce the motion. However, he could assure the
right hon. baronet that he was perfectly in earnest. The right
hon. baronet need be under no apprehension on that score, at
least. The dropping of the motion was no fault of his (Mr.
Cobbett's). He knew it could not come on on the day fixed,
and therefore did not conceive it necessary to give any notice
on the subject. But, to prevent the possibility of there being
any further doubt as to his intention, he had brought a new no-
tice with hitu, couched in the same terms as the last, by which
he fixed his motion for the 13th of this month, that being the
very earliest day he could fix, owing to the great press of busi-
ness before the house.
Mr. O'CONNELL moved the further suspension of the writ for
the Carrickfergus election for six weeks.

IRISH POOR LAWS.
Mr. RICHARDS, on rising to submit the motion of which he
had given notice respecting a provision for the poor of Ireland,
could not help feeling under considerable embarrassment from
the notion he entertained of its importance. The subject was a
difficult—an important one, and all who had witnessed or heard
of the dreadful scenes of bloodshed, violence, and murder,
which rendered property and life insecure in Ireland, must at
least admit the necessity of an inquiry for the purpose of ascer-
taining whether the establishment of a provision for the poor
of Ireland would not have a tendency to ameliorate the unfor-
tunate condition of that country. They had the evidence of
their own committee to show that famine and destitution were
the almost invariable visitants of the Irish poor, and that such
was their destitution, owing to the want of employment and
a means of existence, they perished annually in thousands.
The hon. gentleman concluded with moving "That it is the
opinion of this house that the establishment of a provision for
the poor of Ireland, on the principle of the act 43d of Elizabeth,
with such alterations and improvements as time and circum-
stances may require, is expedient and necessary to the interests
of the Unifed kingdom."
Mr. J. GRATTAN seconded the resolution. He had ever held,
that till the poor of Ireland were secured against famine and its
consequences, it was vain to-expect tranquillity in Ireland, and
every day's experience was a too painful corroboration of his
opinion. He would confidently rest his case on this single prin-
ciple—that a man uncertain of his daily bread—a starving man
—was necessarily a savage, that is, incapable of that prospective
and temperate course of conduct which was the essential condi-
tion of peace and prosperity. If they wished to retain Ireland
as an essential and profitable portion of the empire, they must
induce the Irish people to respect the laws, and to induce them
to respect the laws they must feel them to be protective, con-
ciliatory, just, and impartial. The hon. member concluded by
expressing a hope that the reformed House of Commons would
adopt a measure which would make them live in the grateful
recollection of the people of Ireland.
Lord ALTHORP said that the proposition which had been sub-
mitted to the house was one of the greatest possible importance,
and therefore required the gravest consideration, and he certainty
thought that, considering the evils which it was acknowledged
(lid exist in the system of poor laws established in this country,
it would have been advisable not to have proposed a resolution
declaring that poor laws ought to be introduced into Ireland,
without explaining in what way those evils were to be avoided
in the latter country. He was not going to offer any direct op-
position to the motion of the hon. member, but he wished to
caution the house not to allow themselves to be carried away
with this idea—that because distress existed in Ireland, it fol-
lowed as a matter of course that the introduction of the poor
laws into that country would remove it. All that he wished was
that the house should not run hand over head in support of the
hon. member's motion, without ascertaining what effect would
result from the introduction of poor laws, what probability there
was of avoiding the abuses which were connected with the sys-
tem existing in England, and above all, without ascertaining
(and this was a material point, although it had been entirely
passed over by the hon. member) whether there were not at
present existing in Ireland charitable institutions for the relief
of distress, the scope of whose usefulness might be considerably
extended. All these were points which ought to be inquired
into. It would also be necessary to inquire whether the con-
dition of the poor in Ireland differed from that of the poor in
England, and if so, whether the difference was disadvantageous
to the former; and then again arose the question, would this