Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1847-05-01


ment TO attend to and provide for this very object
And it is from this parental character that OF
the State Governments of the United States derive
and possess, IN my estimation, their greatest
glory. This education question will, however,
am afraid, be powerful engine in operation at the
approaching general election. The disseners will,
if their present feeling continues, be opposed to the
! Whig administration, and how far their weight and
influence distracted from one scale and thrown into
the other, may tend TO its defeat, is very Sc
rious question
The existing Administration is attacked by many
of the leading public journals, and the accusation is
responded to by part of the people, being incon-
sistent in its course in having come into power as
the avowed advocates of free trade in its widest
and fullest extent, and yet having given its sanction
to regulating the duration of labor in fac
tories, which trenches upon free trade in one of its
most vital operations, the right of to labor for
as many hours as he pleases seeing that the labor
of an adult person in factory be regulated by
his own free will. One bad effect must unavoda-
bly, arise, and that is the reduction of the wages OF
the operative; for. if he labors One-sirh less in
time, he will, of course, be paid only for the re-
naming fre-siIths. Another serious question is,
how far this reduction of labor, and consequently
of production, will affect the manufacturing inter-
ests of the country! The Economist" weekly
is-seems to apprehend the downfall of Lord John
Russell from his advocacy of this factory bill, and
charges him with having /" become the defender of
class legislation, founded on calculations of pecu-
mary gain, and of legislative restrictions on indus
try" Douglas Jerrold, on the contrary, sums
up very able article by saying " The whole dis
'pute may be shortly stated The mill-owners-th
opponents OF the measure-care only for the pro-
ductions of man Lord John Russell for man
. himself"
The discussions which have arisen on the ques-
ton of extending the poor laws to Ireland have
opened again the whole question as to their benef-
cial results in England. in their present mode of
administration. 1t appears 10 be admitted very ge-
nerally that the great and very searching reform
which took place in the English poor-law system
in 1884 has neither diminished the expense nor
raised the condition of the laboring classes so much
expected. This failure Of the new law has
given poignancy to all the objections that were
originally started against the measure, as hard heart
ed, and intended TO spare the pockets of the rich
and starve the poor and has to a considerable ex-
tent confirmed the general opinion previously exist
ing that all such systems of relief are inherently
injurious and degrading, tending to rob man of
a proper dependence upon his own eXertions, and
OF his self-respect. This is, however, not the opn-
ion of the poor themselves they are continually
OF the poor law SYSTEM and for additional prolec-
ton against the abuses Of the guardians and other
officers appointed 10 administer the poor laws: and
loud and incessant are the demands for poor law
for Ireland. The Ministers and the Parliament
have yielded to these demands, and poor law,
with outdoor relief, is about passing as pern,a-
nent remedy for Irish distress. The policy of this
extension OF poor law to Ireland is much doubt
ed, and you will see the arguments pro and con in
the parliamentary debates. The condition of Ire
land is so perfectly sui generis that general argu-
ment can be founded upon it, and the discussion of
that condition would fill more than one of your
daily sheets. But take the following general sta
tiscs applicable to this poor-aw question. Ire
land, with one-haf of the population of England,
has only one.ffih of the means of supporting her
poor. The ratable property in Ireland is about
9l3,000,00O; that of England is more than
962,000,0O0. This great distinction between the
two countries makes poor law like that of Eng
land extremely inapplcable to Ireland and law
which the great wealth of England increasing faster
than its population has enabled her to bear, would
amount to permanent confscation of nearly half
the rent of Ireland. Such law will, in every re-
spect, be injurious to the Irish. Instead of learn
ing to help themselves by honest industry, they will
at once be taught to rely on the rates for support.
Now is the time for teaching them the former les.
son: the PROPER mode of doing it is a question
which would puzzle the wisest legislator of the age
but there very few who have thought much
about the question who will say that the introduce
lion Of the poor lars is that proper mode. The
Irish landlords do not object to poor law, how
ever; they only object to bear the burden Of it ;
they do not quarrel with the tax, provided England
will bear it. And the poor law which they want is
continuance of the present parliamentary assist
ance, which is in fact monster poor law extraor-
binary, at the expense of the British public. The
objection made by the Irish members is to this poor
law extraordinary being converted into an ordinary
poor law-the expense Of it to be borne by the
country where the poor who are to be relieved by
it reside.
In the mean time suffering continues in Ireland,
and the natural consequence is that discomfort in
creases. Firearms are publicly sold in the streets
OF the towns and at auctions, where the auctioneers
indulge very freely in their observations as to the
uses to which they may be put in giving receipts
Tor rent, or in settling with agent at 80 yards
distance" &c. Emigration is going on with in
creased numbers from Ireland. The streets and
quays OF Dublin are filed with persons chiefly of
the comfortable class of farmers. Several landlords
are afiordng every facility to their tenantry either
by small grants of money for present use by pro-
vldlng them with free passage to whatever quar-
ter they wish TO emigrate. Whilst on the subject
oil emigration ii may be observed that " emigration
TO the United States" has lately been discussed at
considerable length and with some ability in Dou-
glas Jerrod's weekly newspaper The removal
of one million Of poor persons ia recommended =,