24 FEBRUARY 1849, Page 12

THE PREMIER'S PLAN FOR IRELAND.

Ire reproaching Ministers with the want of a "remedial policy" for Ireland, Mr. Disraeli and others have done them an injustice. It has transpired this week, through the walls of a Select Com- mittee-room, that they have a policy in store, full of comprehen- sive principles, and excessively remedial. It is so complete and well-considered, too, that the Committee are not allowed to take evidence, but to receive printed resolutions, decide upon them off- hand, and "report accordingly."* We doubt, indeed, whether Lord John Russell, who has taken upon himself to introduce the new scheme, intends anything very momentous by it ; we suspect that he is quite unconsciously " comprehensive," and that he thinks but of scrambling on in the usual Whig way, and eking out another session by means of a temporary expedient. It is very clear, nevertheless, that the principles which he seeks to establish are of the widest application, and likely to produce last- ing results. Ire reproaching Ministers with the want of a "remedial policy" for Ireland, Mr. Disraeli and others have done them an injustice. It has transpired this week, through the walls of a Select Com- mittee-room, that they have a policy in store, full of comprehen- sive principles, and excessively remedial. It is so complete and well-considered, too, that the Committee are not allowed to take evidence, but to receive printed resolutions, decide upon them off- hand, and "report accordingly."* We doubt, indeed, whether Lord John Russell, who has taken upon himself to introduce the new scheme, intends anything very momentous by it ; we suspect that he is quite unconsciously " comprehensive," and that he thinks but of scrambling on in the usual Whig way, and eking out another session by means of a temporary expedient. It is very clear, nevertheless, that the principles which he seeks to establish are of the widest application, and likely to produce last- ing results.

Shorn of incidental details, the " principles " of his plan are • two in number. One is, that Irish property shall support Irish poverty ; the other—intended as a corrective to the first—that in no case shall the legal provision for the Irish poor exceed a cer- tain percentage on the valuation of the land.t Comprehensive enough, beyond all manner of doubt. The first establishes a dis- tinct financial nationality for Ireland ; the second negatives the existence of a " right to relief." Both, although, to a certain extent, neutralizing each other, are pregnant with consequences of the deepest importance. "Ireland," says Lord John—amid the cheers, we can imagine, of his enlightened audience—"must support her own poor, because England supports her own poor. We have subsidized Ireland : Ireland has rebelled : Ireland pays no income-tax nor assessed taxes. Therefore I will levy a national rate on Ireland to sup- port the poor of certain distressed unions in Ireland."

The reasoning sounds plausible—to a mob, or to a House of Commons rendered frantic by anti-Irish prejudice. Reflecting men perceive it to be a vulgar fallacy—in fact, a mere play upon words. In the first place, the property of England does not, as such, support the poverty of England : the property of each parish supports the poor who live in it,—a very different thing. If a parish in Northumberland were asked for a rate in support of the poor in Dorsetshire, the ratepayers would require, we suspect, a better reason for the demand than an affirmation of the principle that English property is bound to support English poverty. Again : "Ireland " has not rebelled ; nor have we subsidized "Ireland." Such shallow generalization is fit only for the in- tellectual atmosphere of a Marylebone Vestry. But " Ireland " is unjustly exempted from our Income-tax and Assessed Taxes. Granted ; and a very good and sufficient reason it is for removing the exemption. The argument that because one principle admitted to be bad has been already affirmed, therefore another, as bad or worse, should be affirmed also, is absurd. A province of the em- pire has escaped its proportionate share of the common burdens, through the culpable weakness of our financial statesmen. "Ergo," says Lord John Russell, "Irish property ought henceforth to support Irish poverty." He might as well infer that Lord Tor- rington ought to be supported in imposing his gun and dog tax on Ceylon. Taxes press upon individuals, not upon phrases or "geographical expressions." The class which will pay nearly the whole of the new rate—namely, the small farmers—would pay no income-tax at all. The owners of personalty, on the

• From the reported debates this morning we learn that Lord John's Com- mittee luve " resolved" as he desired.

t According to the theory of the new plan, DO electoral division is to pay more than fur. in the pound in one year; when that fails to support its poor, the tinion Is to contribute to the extent of 2s. in the pound; when both these rates fail, a national rate of 6d. in the pound is to be laid upon the whole of Ireland. In practice, however, itrappeare that the national rate is to come first, because Go- vernment wants the money. other hand, will not be affected by the rate. Unless the ratepay- ers of Ulster are very ardent philanthropists, they will find small consolation for the pressure of a "national rate," in reflecting that the paid guardians who levy it receive their salaries without deduction for income-tax. We can hardly be surprised if they object to being made " whipping-boys " for other sections of the community. But this doctrine of "equivalent burdens," is not merely a play upon words, and therefore theoretically defective ; if it were no more, we might tolerate it. But it involves most serious prac- tical consequences. We are assured—and we believe it—that the necessary result of the proposed measure will be the dissolution of every board of Guardians in Ulster, and the appointment of paid officers in their stead, for the purpose of levying the "national rate" : and then, an army must be marched into that loyal and peaceful province, to collect it. Now, the opposition of fifty Ulsters should matter little to England if her cause were good ; but Lord John Russell asks us to appeal to physical force for the sake of an injustice and a fallacy, and from that we shrink. The resistance of the Northern Irish will be beaten down with bayo- nets, but with what face are we to meet them in the field of argument ? Even in an economical point of view, it will pro- bably in the end be found cheaper to do right : Ulster, be it remembered, costs us nothing nom.

" But " says Lord John, "it is only sixpence in the pound after all. They will not miss it ; and it is rather hard to refuse me so small a sum, if it will get me out of a difficulty." And here he brings in, with great effect, his second "principle," of a maximum rate. The poor are to have no right to relief, beyond the limit of a stipulated poundage. But what is to be done with them after the exhaustion of the stipulated poundage ? Lord John is silent. At present, he says, he will provide no further: it is sufficient that he has laid down a "principle "—he must see how it works, first. In the mean time, each class puts his own interpretation on the oracle. Connaught says that the starvation of the surplus constitutes part of the "plan," and is already calculating bow many people to the square mile 7s. (kl. in the pound will keep alive. Ulster believes that recourse will be had to another "national rate," and alleges, with perfect truth, that precisely the same reasons will justify the second as justify the first : the "principle" will then have been admitted. We believe that the Imperial treasury, which it is the object of the whole plan to exonerate, will be called upon to supply deficiencies after all, at the expense of the "principle." At any rate, the secret cannot be kept very long ; for the liabilities of the insolvent unions amount to 600,0004 and the "national rate" is only calculated by its inventor at 250,000/. Little, therefore, will have been gained beyond the establishment of the "comprehensive principles "; and it is for Parliament to say whether they are worth establishing at the probable cost.