On this page
-
Text (2)
-
646 &$t &£4H. lt«' [Saturday ,
-
M, PARLIAMENT OF * THE WEEK. The House o...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Ch Autism Is Rising In High Places. The ...
The Emperor of Russia is making war upon silver ingots , and adopting a policy which will force silver into his Treasury at a fixed price . Is this to provide funds for the next anti-revolutionary crusade ? The latest accounts from the Cape « how that the spirit of disaffection and hostility , under Governor Smith ' s management , is spreading among the natives along the Border , like fire in a dry prairie . Not much hope , therefore , of that end to the war which is to be the date of the Cape constitution . Meanwhile , the present plan of treatment is precisely that which would prevent the colonists from having either the heart , the means , or the freedom to defend themselves ; otherwise , we all know that
they would soon settle the Aborigines . Colonial disturbances , or a doubtful future , cannot arrest the holiday-making in London . Queen Victoria has visited the City in state , to grace a civic feast in honour of the Exposition ; The streets were illuminated and lined with spectators ; but the affair seems to have been dull enough . The searching restraints of society in our day , the separation of classes , and the decline of the taste for every kind of dramatic display , damp these exhibitions with coldness and mauvaise honte ; except when the occasion , as in the Exposition itself , supplies some great and present idea .
646 &$T &£4h. Lt«' [Saturday ,
646 & $ t & £ 4 H . lt « ' [ Saturday ,
M, Parliament Of * The Week. The House O...
M , PARLIAMENT OF * THE WEEK . The House of Commons mainly decided three important points in Committee on the House Duty Bill on Monday night . Mr . Ewart made an attempt to obtain exemption from the impost to be levied under the ACt & r model lodging-houses and other buildings in stories , but was defeated without a division . Mr . Hastib moved that buildings used for purposes of public worship , education , or general police should be exempt . This was negatived by 164 to 40 . Mr .
Thomas Duncombe moved an entire new clause , copied out of the Income Tax Act , which provided that the non-payment of the house duty should not disqualify a registered voter for the exercise of the franchise . This was opposed by the Chancellor of the ExcHEauEK , upon ths very logical ground that as representation was a privilege enjoyed by the taxpayers , bo the payment of the taxes should precede the exercise of the franchise ! The discussion was
very short , and the clause negatived by 119 to 60 . The preamble of the bill was agreed to , and the House resumed , thence going at once into Committee upon the Woods , Forests , & c . Bill , and afterwards into Committee of Supply . Previously to the Speaker quitting the chair , however , a conversation arose upon a resolution moved by Sir J . D . Norreys , calling for a report upon the proposed decorations of the new House of Commons . The object of the resolution appeared to be to determine a dispute between Mr . Barry and the Commissioners—the architect desiring to decorate the new House in one way , and the Commissioners desiring that it should be done in another . The Chanceli-ok of the Excuequek
hoped the House would not interfere in the matter , as it would only delay the completion of the new House . Mr . Hume was of opinion that " he should never live to see the building finished . " Mr . Gheekb hoped that next year "the House would occupy the new chamber . " The amendment was negatived , and the House went into a Committee of Supply . In Committee a em art debate arose upon that questionable item of £ 32 , 000 for Secret Service M 6 ney .
JJr . W . Williams moved that it be reduced to . £ 20 , 000 . Ministers defended it as well as they could—by pointing out that it was " less " than usual , and asserting that none of it was employed in bribery at elections . Colonel Sibthoki * called upon t ! he Chancellor of the Exchequer to declare that no part of the money went to entertain Cardinal Wiseman mi Downing-street . Mr . Dibiiaeli threw a little light upon the destination of the money : —
" lp was not for him to penetrate the mysteries of Downing-street ; but ihin be knew that there were a groat number of persons in Europe who , in the course of the luM gr «* t struggle in which we were engaged , received pensions from this country , uml that those pensions were grunted to them for what the Government of that day considered most important services . ( Hear , hear . ) Tfjie falling in of those pensions gradually diminished the tinount of the vote . If that were the ( act , —and he
) k * d It from v « ry good , although not official , authority , — it would be just as well if the Secretary of State would tell the House that n considerable portion of the secret tetvice money was still applied to the payment of these annuities . Looking to the magnitude of our transaction * he did not think the sum too large to be placed at the discretion of the Secretary of State for carrying on the foreign affair * of this country , and he believed that every Court in Europe was astonished at the inconsiderable nature of the item . " ( Hear , hear )
Mf . Cohden defied any person to assign this vote to any honeHC or honourable principle ; for if it could toe « o BBB ^ ne « l it migh t figure in the estimate * . It appeared that the money wa » wanted to pay traitors
and spies abroad . He k * 4 no confidence in the information thus obtained . He doubted whether the man who sold secrets did not , in nine cases out often , sell lies . The amendment was lost by 140 to 41 . Xtk the nejet vote asked for there chaneed to be a sum of £ 300 included for printing for the Great Exhibition . Colonel SiBTHORP opposed this , declaring at tke same time , that "he believed the Exhibition would be one of the greatest corses to the country , a disappointment and a humbug . " The vote was explained to be for stationery and printing for the Royal Commission , and Mr . Laboucherb did not think that such expenses ought to be paid by private subscriptions . The vote was then agreed to , as were also a variety of other sum ? .
On the vote of £ 98 , 860 to defray the expenses connected with the transportation of convicts , Mr . Humb said he could not bring himself to think that they were justified in spending money in order to send convicts out to Van Diemen ' s Land . He suggested , therefore , that this vote should be suspended until they had better information as to how the convicts were to be disposed of on their arrival . The inhabitants had protested against the system , and had come to a resolution not to employ a single convict that might be sent out . { Hear , hear . } Mr . Cornewall Lewis opposed the postponement . The Government were doing all they could to diminish transportation . The Chancellor of the Exchequer declared it was perfectly impossible to stop transportation ; besides some colonies , New South Wales for instance , " were anxious to have convicts . " Lord John Russell , on the contrary , said : —
" That there was any of our colonies anxious for our convicts was very little to be credited . ( Hear ; hear . ) There were some parts of Australia—Moreton-bay for example—which were ready to receive our convicts ; but generally speaking the agitation now going on in Australia was against convicts being sent to any part of the Australian colonies . " He denied there had been any breach of faith with the colonies—a charge brought by Mr . Hume and Mr . Aelionby .
" When the present Government came into office they found that for some years a great number of convicts had been sent to "Van Diemen ' s Land , and that the Secretary of State for the Colonies who immediately preceded them —he meant the right honourable gentleman , the member for the University of Oxford ( Mr . Gladstone ) , impressed with the great evil which this over transportation had caused—had given directions that- transportation to Van Diemen ' s Land should be suspended for two years . A plan was afterwards contemplated by the present Secretary of State not to put an end to transportation , but to make the convicts undergo a certain portion of the punishment in this country , and then to send them out , not as transported felons but as
exiles , upon the condition that they should not leave the Australian colonies without permission . That plan was afterwards changed to a plan for sending them out with tickets of leave ; but this did not imply any Kromise with respect either to Van Diemen's Land or few South Wales . There was , therefore , no breach of faith in the matter . ( Hear , hear . ) He was inclined to think that the Governor of Van Diemen's Land had misunderstood some of the despatches which he had received from the Secretary of State ,, and that he had unconsciously held language which had led to the expectation that transportation had ceased ; but that was quite a different thing from giving a pledge that it should cease . "
From the Bpeeeh . es delivered in the Committee we may conclude that the feeling ran very strong against the convict system ; but though it was perfectly legitimate in Mr . Hume to refuse the money , that refusal unfortunately would not have put down the system , for the criminal law stood in the way . Consequently , he had almost more speeches than votes in his favour ; for his amendment was rejected by 98 to 9 . The vote waa then agreed to , and the House resumed . Mr . Scully moved the following important resolution : —¦
" That in order to lighten the severe pressure of poor s rates in Ireland , it is expedient to facilitate by every means the employment of the inmates in workhouses in repioductive labour , so as to make these establishments , as far as possible , self-supporting , and that it is the duty of the Poor law Commissioners to see so desirable an object fully carried out . " He supported his opinion by a reference to facts well known to the readers of the Leader—the successful experiments at Cork , Waterford , and Clonmel . He
cited the testimony of the masters of the workhouses to the effect that , industrious employment morally improved the paupers , mid increased the facilities for maintaining discipline , thus furnishing a complete answer to . the arguments of the Commissioners , that the adoption of the system would interfere with the discipline of tho house . He declared that the idea of competition with the industrious poor out of the house was wholly imaginary ; but that the idleness existing in the houso under tho prevailing Bvatem yrm real , and its evils nml also : —
" There were in the Workhouses of Ireland from 00 . 000 to 180 , 000 employed in br < r * kiug atoues , picking oakum , and other occupations of tljftt kind ; and he would put it to the Houhp whether that was employment suitable for the able-bodied poor of Ireland ? ( Hear ,
hear . ) In one of the Dublin unions there were over RM women , and How did the House think they were e ployed ? They w » renjbsolutely engaged in bands of 5 " driving capstan mills , —a kind of employment on which it wits disgraceful to have women employed , one th t tended to make them lose all self-respect and enn-a * moral feeling . { Hear , hear . ) " ¦ ect The guaidians were anxious to carry out the system of employment he recommended . Mr . O'Jjlahebty . seconded the motion , addinc-fn
the instances mentioned by Mr . bcully that of Gfj . way , in which £ 1000 had been saved by the adoption of the self-supporting system . Sir William Somer . ville divided the resolution under two heads :-1 . The industrial employment of the pauper ; and 2 . The reproductive labour of the pauper . ' The Poor-law Commissioners had been most desirous of providing for the first ; but as to the second he thought its adoption would inflict the greatest injury upon the agricultural interest of Ireland . And he stated his case thus : —
" It must be remembered that the inmates of a workhouse were found at the public expense with lodging " food , and clothing . If those inmates were to be employ ^ in manufactures , and the produce of their labour were to enter into the markets and there be sold in compptitiou with the produce of free labour , it was evident that free labour could not successfully sustain that competition , and that the independent labour must , in his turn , become the inmate of a workhouse . A distinction had been made between agricultural labour and manufacturing labour ; but it seemed to him that the principle equally applied to both descriptions of employment . Supposing an extensive farm were attached to a workhouse , and , by means of pauper labour large quantities of wheat , oats potatoes , and other articles were produced , it was quite clear that that produce might be carried into the market , and that you might at any time undersell the farmer . "
Mr . Roche supported the motion , yet he fell in with the idea that reproductive employment would be neither " useful nor right . " But Mr . Poulett Scrope assorted , that the distinction attempted to be drawn between industrial and productive employment was fallacious and Protectionist . Why , if foreign corn came in duty free , was there not competition ? However , he said , let the Irish paupers do what does not seem to be objected to , grow their own food , and manufacture their own clothing . Sir John Walsh supported the motion in the " limited sense" in which , it was proposed ; and he thought the apprehensions of Sir W . Somerville with regard to any " serious displacement" of labour following from the adoption of the motion " entirely visionary . ' ' Colonel Thompson illustrated his view of the case
with his accustomed force and homeliness of expression : — " Suppose the inmates of a workhouse either in Ireland or in England were to grow cauliflowers ( laughter ) , which were not necessary for the food of paupers ; and suppose they sold them in the market , what would be the result ? The result would be an increase of the commodity thrown into the cauliflower market . The paupers having sold the cauliflowers must then incontinently go into the potato market . They would thus be sending money into the potato market as they were before sending cauliflowers into the cauliflower market . ( Hear , hear . ) Now , if his friends from Ireland would ' chew' upon this , if he might use the phrase , he thought they would be able to make something of it . He would go a little
further , and put the supposition , that in consequence of nothing being produced by the paupers , a greater quantity of money was taken from the ratepayers . The ratepayers could not , of course , send that money into the market ; but if the contrary course were adopted , and the paupers maintained themselves by their labour , the ratepayers would send the same money into the market which they formerly paid in poor ' s rates , the only difference being that they would in the one case have something for their money , whereas in the other case they would have nothing . ( Hear , hear . ) He did think that something might be made out of this argument , and that it would be found advisable to employ paupers in the workhouses in all cases where they could be profitably employed . ( Hear , hear . Y *
Sir Lucius O'Biukn , Mr . Skarman Crawford , and Lord Claude Hamilton also supported the motion . Mr . James Wilson quite egreed with industrial training for pauper children ; but ho could not sanction the extension of the principle to adults , which would create " unfair competition , " and " reduce large masses of the people to the condition of State Paupers "—an effect which he declared followed the measures adopted by the House for tho relief of the great famine m Ireland : —
" Honourable members would also recollect the error of the old poor-law system In England ; for as long »" the practice was for tho parish to find emp loyment f « r the pauper , the effect was to create pauperism , until , J » some particular parishes , every farm I < ibourei 2 wa >* Jii rctl out by the parish officers . ( Hear , hear . ) * T » e B » n > e system had also been tried on a large scale in Holl « and Flanders , and had in both cases proved u mineral" * failure . ( H < ar , hear . )" To support tho proposition would be to " foster * dangerous fallucy . " T ^ lio Cvanojumlob of the JlxpH *' nviiu . took up . a very old position w ^ th . out perceiving that it tottered to ruins beneath JwU » SopU " The House shpuld remember < W far the last t * o years they had been extending workhouse ACCOmlUi ) 0 Ult tion , bo as to give * b litllo relief aia possible to V ct > i
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), July 12, 1851, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12071851/page/2/
-