House Of Lords, Monday, M...
The Times, 1824-05-18T00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE. kite 5LORD CHANCELtOft, the Earl of SHgArTESBtYte and lord REDESDALE sat as commissioners, and notified the Royal assent to various public and private bills. The former were_the rui duties' repeal bill, the sugar duties bill, the Fxcbequer bills bill, the public works bill, the militia pay bill, the glass duties bill, the alien bill, the innkeees' allowance bill, the inarriage act anmendment bl the Britisfi Museuin hill, the Irish county trea- surers bill, the Irish records bill, the Irish proctors' costs bill, and the Iri2h constabularv bill The Earl of LAUDERDALE presented petitions against the united gas light company's bill, from the Northampton gas com-i pany, the Glaszow gas company, the Leeds gas company., and the. nhabitants of Leeds. The Earl of ROSSLYN presented one apainst the same bill ftom Liverpool and the county of Lancaster. Lord CAWDOR postponedl his motionl relative to the Welch ju- dicature until M1onday next. I RE LAND. The Earl of LIVERPOOL rose, in pursuance of his notice, to rnove for the appointment ofa coinmittee relative to Ireland, similar to that recently appointed bv the otlier house. He reminded their lordships, that when the isrsirrection act was under considcyation last year, rministers had promised. in the case of its being thought necesmary to renew tha- mneatre, to give every necessary information to PArliatnent on the state of Ireland. It was with a view to the fulfilunent of this promise that he now moved, that a committee be appointed to examine into the nature and extent of the listurbances in those counties of Ireland now subject to the operation of the in- surrection act. The Marquis of LA NSDOWVN experienced a melancholy satis- faction at finding that, however desirous ministers had hitherto been to cscape from all inquiirv on the subject of Irelandl, and that though they had repeatedly called for the renewal of that desperate remedy the insurrection act, without investigating the causes of that extraordinary state 'of things which had produced the necessity for such a measure, thr v vwereat length obliged to alter theircourse- th.tLa nowafter years;ofdelav, an inquirv was forced upon thetnby what had occarred in 9rXother place. Th} meesure,a limited by the terms of the noble ear, s motion, waS iitifort nately tf a very partial naiture; st1.l it wTas graitvifyig to hear it propnosed, even undler those linitas tdons, tbu- sojmethings like an inquiry should at last be gone Into. At rho same time he must say, that limited and circumiscribed as the noble earl's motion was. lie was macIt atraid the inquiry would I; very far frow going tO the root if the evil, and producing that sull disclosure of its cause which could alone give satisfection to the house asd the country. and enable their lortships to diseover those constitutional remedie, which then ought to apply, instcad of conti- nuing that inefficient remedy to whieh they had already so often re- sorted to prtcure a temporary mitigation of the disorder. hlie itai risen, therefore, tor the purpose of imploring their lordships to con- eider whether it was not their lutv to satisfy themselves as to the vausesof theevil, antl whetherthatsatisftictioii cotild beobtained by an inquiry into the, tate of otily certain parns of thecountry. it was also his wish to enable those who might with hint be of opinion that the in- quisy ouzht to be general, to) record such upinion by mo%ingnn ametid. ,nent to that effect. If it could be supposed that the districts of Ireland into which the insurrectioti act extenleti vere the only parts of the coantry in which the circumstances that gave birth 'to the disturb. ances existed. he should be quite as willir,g as the noble lord to con- fne the inquiry to those districts, but that this was not the case, their lordships, who wereaware of the proceedings of the Irisb fro. vernment -with respect to the application of this act, need tiot be tobl. They will knew the nicety with which it had been attempted to distinguish by delicate shades and thin partitions between tihe peace. able and disturbeddistricts. They knew how otlen it had beets itiade a question hy the magistrates anl the Government, whether a cer- tain place _as fit for the insurrection act. Ulnder these cir. cumstances, he would ask their lordships, whether it was possible lor thern to rake a just view of the subject submitted to their consideration, without going into tihe general question of the state of Ireland ? Whether they could be satisfied that they dis- eharged their duty. if they did not fully examine into the source ot the subsisting evfl ? WVould tite noble earl take upon him to point out any part of Irelantd in which he could positively say that the in- surrection act would not be enforced next year ? He was certain the noble earl could not and nothing miore strongly proved the tie- cessity of an inqtiiry on a larger scale titan that which was proposed. A ful and prompt investigation was due to the present peaceable part of the country, to prevent the great calamlity ofthe extension of thisact, which wherever applied--and it was justlv applied where the necessity of the case required it-was attended by most drcadful coti- sequences to the population. Mlinisters, by the resisting of all in- quiry into the cause of this evil, and the tibstinacv with whica they adhered to the same course, seement to place their lordships in the situation of those Europeati physicians, or travellers who pretended to be ph'siciatis, who weri sometimes called upon in eastern countries to cure the favourite of a Bashaw. In such a case, the hand Of "it patient onlv was exposed to time view of the traveller, ..d he was desired to feel the pulse and say whlat the disor'?er was. If he hesitated, he was informed that if heX colld not teU what tvas the cause of the disease, and how to cure ittbO feel:z the pulse, he was no physician. He must not look at or ask cy questions respecting the state of the body of his patient JUs must enfine a71 his inquiries to shle state of the pulse. It was P:5ciselv so with Irela.nd. Their lordships were to look only at the point vvhere there were visible marks of fever, and from that lhimtted examination to judge of the extent of those irinciples of evil, the effects of which were felt throughout the whole frame of society. On the contrary, it was the duty of their lordehips to avail themselves of every accessible irformation respecting die causes ofthe evil-to leave nothing tunex amined. nothing unexplored that could throw light on the subject. To f'acilitate this object he wouldl propose as an amend- ment, to insert atler the words " that a comnmittee be appointed," the words " to inquire into the general condition of Ireland, and mol'e particrtlarly" then the words of Lord Liverpool':s motion_': to anamine into the extent and nature of the disturbances." &c. The Earl of LIVERPOOL would occupy verv little of their lordships' time in replying to what the noble marquis had urged in support of the amendment he proposed. In the first place, he denied that there hadl been manifested on the part of his Majesty's Govern- ment any indisposition to inquire into the state of Ireland. They hsad, in several instances, thought it proper that inquiry should be instituted: but then thev had always been of opinion, that in order to render inquiries useful, they should he definite in their nature; and that an inquiry, the object of which was not precisely fixed, was calculated to do more harm than good. As to any pur- pose of utilitY, no advantage could be gained by adopting the noble marquis's amendnient. The original motioni was limited only as to locality; in every other circumstance, the in- quiry was made as large as the noble marquis could desire. With respect to locality, their lordships ivtuld feel that the inquiry, if zone into at all, could not fail to be conducted accorditng to thie terms of the motion; for the persons appointed to inquire would doubtless turn their attention first to those parts o'' the country where the evil was most crying. This surely would be the course to be taken, rather than that of first looking at part.', of the countrv which were in as complete a state of peace and tranquillity as any in England. and which were daily growing in prosperity. If their Iordships were seriouslv and sincerely disposed to inquire, they must first look at the srate of those p arts of the country where the evil was most obvmiots. He conceived, therefore, that the limitation of the inquiry, instead of being liable to ob,eetion, was advantageous; .or the operation of the insurrection act marked out the districts that requlred immediate attention. Had it been made general, the first objectwoulth have been to ascertain what part of the country, and what part of the subject should be commenced with, which would have brought those who)had to inquire precisely to the point speci- fied by the motion. For these reasons, he m.ust oppose the noble msrquis's amendtment. Lord KING thougbt that some good might be done by the in- siairy, but wished it had been moreextensive. He was aware, how- ever, that such an inquiry could not easily be obtained. The noble and learned lord on the woolsack would resist any interference with one party. He would say, "These are my Orangemen, 'the only true Protestants." It was said that Ireland bad been but half con- quered; and though we had nOW gOt a union, things were not mitch better for that, as it seemed to be but half united. -Some fatality appeared to mix in all the affairs relative to Ireland. There had been no dispute till lately about the right of burial, but that ques- tion had been agitated; and after the mischief was done, it was not settled in a satisfactory manner. Two parties were constantly in a state of hostility, the one claiming rights which the other denied ; and he therefore feared that the inquiry which the noble earl was to set a-going would not be of much use. His noble friend hail alluded to the situation of the physicians called upon to administer to pa- toents in a Turkish Harem, but his Majesty's Ministers, in their conduct towards Ireland. had not acted like European physicians, but rather as Oriental doetors, or the veriest quacks in existence. - The LORD CHANCELLOR then put the question on the anertidmeor twhich was nezatived on a division, the numbers being Content, 20 1 Not content, S0 M Majoritv, ?,0 The committee was appointed before strangers were re-admitted. On the ortler of the day on the general gas light bill, the Earl of SHAFTEssURY moved that the bill be withdrawn. The Earl of LAUDERDALE opposed the motion. Tiiis was an experiment in legislktioh--a trial to see how far their lordships could be iced to go. If the bill were withdrawn, it would be brought in again next session. Their lordships should therefore take some step wvhich would distirctlv' mar hi iapoaino such a measure. ark their disapprobation of Tbe Earl of LI. MERICK moved the postponement of the order of te day to Friday, which was agreed to.-Adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS. -AlonAv. hrv 1r-