POSTSCRIPT.
The House of Commgns spent tne west,. a. s ,r laet oveniugits the adjourned debate on the second reading of the Irish Rate-in-aid Bill. The bill was opposed by Mr. NAPIER Mr. BATESON and Mr. GRATTAN: it re- ceived a qualified assent from idr. SHAFT° An.aiR: Sir ROBERT NEL supported her Majesty's Ministers.
The arguments on the particular measure were not new, but the most telling of them were strung together by Mr. NAPIER in a manner to ex- pose the difficulty and utter inefficiency of the project. Mr. Napier also threw out doubts as to the practicability of Sir Robert Peel's recent sng- gestion. He specially instanced an estate belonging to the Marquis of Lansdowne, which contributes three-fourths of the paupers in a particu- lar union not because the estate is ill-managed, but simply because it is overpeopled: what would be gained by a change of proprietors in the nu merous cases of that class?
This drew forth Sir RosEnr PEEL, in a long speech—the most useful speech of the whole session--on the social condition of Ireland, with a further development of his suggestion.
Sir Robert described the actual state of Ireland, and especially of the distressed unions; quoting well-known authorities. By bringing every part together, he composed a forcible picture of the utter destitution and helplessness of the people; the insolvency of the landowners in several parts; the immense drag upon Eng- land in the shape of aid, of military custody, &c. In the same manner, he showed how hopeless it would be to look for the rescue of Ireland through any agency under existing systems; through the revival of the potato crop—that delusive hope of an enfeebled and redundant population; through a change of agricultural system—impracticable, with the proportion of people on the land; through the Court of Chancery, which swallows up the proceeds of the estates it manages. Ile then glanced at what may be done by the infusion of the necessary elements and the guarantee of needful facilities. He read extracts from a letter addressed to him by a man of humble origin in Lancashire, who has established four SOW on the West coast of Ireland, in a part which we suppose to be so wild and savage that it is impossible to live in it with profit or advantage. The letter is dated the 23d March 1849. The writer says, he had taken on perpetuity a lease on the West coast of Ireland. Ile had planted four of his sons there. To en- courage habits of industry, one is buying all the stockings brought to him to send to England; another has purchased a hooker of twenty-five tons, and is en- deavouring to encourage fishing on the coast; another with employing upwards of a hundred labourers daily last year but on account of being heavily taxed for his improvements, turned them off with the exception of ten or twelve. The fourth son, writing to his father' [on the 16th March 1819,] says—" The more I see, the more am I convinced that this country has the teat prospects of any place I know of. (Laughter.) There is every desideratum for the enjoyment of a contented and prosperous life." He is writing this in the midst ot all the misery surrounding him. "In fact, I think, that rent, groceries, with some extras for clothing, &c., should be the only expenditure of a person in this country, when once properly settled."
The main features of Sir Robert Peel's plan, as he now described it, are these. To appoint a Commission to undertake the general charge and superintendence of the distressed unions: the Commissioners to aid relief by encouraging drain- age, by employing labour in opening roads through inaccessible districts, by erecting piers for the accommodation of the fisheries, &c. he pointed to the Commission for the management of lands confiscated after the rebellion in 1745, as being in principle a precedent and example. Emigration should be used as an auxiliary measure. He would encourage rather than prevent voluntary emigra- tion; but it tails to take out the most suitable classes—it removes eith.r those who have energy and means, or the exceedingly destitute and diseased, who bring discredit on emigration. He would have effective superintendence, and even precnniary aid to facilitate the movements of the emigrant. Above all, he would facilitate the transfer of property from insolvent to solvent proprietors, by a short process, giving a complete title; to devise which, he invoked the Equity lawyers of the House, Mr. Napier and Mr. Stuart. Rather than that the present state of things should continue, "he would see the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery ousted altogether." Me would abandon the system of giving gratuitous relief; returning iu the main to the only effectual test, the workhouse 'met of 1838. In conclusion, Sir Robert showed how the empire would benefit by rendering its weak province strong and prosperous. "It has pleased God to afflict us with a great calsmity; but I do not despair that you may be able to convert that calamity, grievous as it is, into the means of future improvement and of future prosperity. (Loud cheers.) I entreat you to consider whether 'out of this nettle danger we cannot pluck the flower safety,' and convert this grievous afflic- tion into a means of permanent improvement, and into a source of future security.' (Prolonged cheering.) The debate was again adjourned, till Monday next.
Earlier in the evening, on the order of the day for considering the post- poned item in the Navy Estimates, covering an excess of 52,0001. incurred beyond the vote of 1847-48 on account of the Dockyard Battalion, Mr. HUME moved a resolution embodying a mild rebuke passed by the Lords of the Treasury upon the Board of Admiralty, who had enrolled a greater number of men than had been voted. Although Mr. Hume emphatically disclaimed any personal censure of the late Lord Auckland, aiming only at "the system," Ministers [Mr. WARD, Sir FRANCIS BARING, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL] held that a resolution applied to the specific transaction might be construed into a censure, and they urged Mr. Hume not to press his motion: at the same time, they avowed their coticurrence in it as a ge- neral principle. The feeling of the House seemed to fall in with this view; and ultimately Mr. Huns withdrew his motion, on the understanding that if it were brought forward substantively it would "pass unanimously.'
In the other House, Lord BROUGIIAN introduced a bill for extending the 52d of George III. [Mr. John Smith's Act] to all insolvent Members of the Houk of Commons. Read a first time.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE explained that the Parliamentary papers respecting Italy could not be laid on the table before Easter; as transac- tions of a very important character are now proceeding, and may affect the negotiations already commenced. The new King of Sardinia had concluded an armistice with the commander of the Austrian forces' with a view to further negotiations and arrangements ; an agreement had been already made by which the Duteby of Savoy had ceased to be occupied by the Austrian troops, while the important fortresses on the fron- tiers would be garrisoned jointly by Austrian and Piedmontese troops; and pleni- potentiaries had been appointed on both aides to conduct the future negotiations, in the hope of their leading to the establishment of a permanent peace.
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