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Leader (1850-1860), 12th July 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 646, Untitled Article

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      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 show that the spir it of disaffection and hostility , under Governor the

      Smith ' s management , is spreading among natives along the Border , like fire in a dry prairie . Not much hope , therefore , of that end to the war which is to fee 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 . doubtful future

      Colonial disturbances , or a , cannot arrest the holiday-making m 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 .

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      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 for model lodging-houses and other buildings in stories , but was defeated without a division . Mr . Hastie 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 Dukcombe 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 Exchequer , upon the very logical ground that as representation was a privilege enjoyed by the

      taxpayers , so 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 urose 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 Chancellor- of the Exchequer

      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 . Gukeni hoped that next year ' the House would occupy the new chamber . " The amendment was negativod , and the House went into a Committee of Supply . In Committee a smart debate arose upon that questionable item of £ 32 , 000 for Secret Service Money ,

      Mr . W . Williams moved that it be reduced to £ 20 , 000 . Ministers defended it as well as they could—by pointing out that it wits " less" than -usual , and asserting that none of it was employed in bribery at elections . Colonel Sihthohf called upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer to declare that no part of the money wont to entertain Cardinal Wiseman in Downing-Btreet . Mr . Dibuaeli threw a little light upon the destination of the money : —

      " It was not for him to penetrate the mysteries of Downing-etreet ; but this he knew that there were a great number of persona in Europe who , in the course of the last great struggle in which we were engaged , received pensions from thin country , nntl that those pensions were granted to them for what the Government of that day considered most important services . ( Hear , hoar . ) Tl » # foiling in of those pensions gradually diminished th « amount of the vote , if tuut were the tact . —and he

      hud it from very good , although not ofucial , authority , — it would bo just as well if the Secretary of State would tell the House that it considerable portion of the secret service money was still applied , to the payment of these annuities . Looking to the m agnitude of our trannaotipos , he did not think the Bum too large to be placed at the dhNftliwu of the Secretary of State : for carrying on the foreign * aifctrs of this country , and he believed that every Court in EhMga was astonished at the inconsiderable nature of tl * e item * " ( H « w , hear . )

      Mr . CtyimBN defied any pcfaqn to amiign this vote to any honest or honourable principle ; Jar if it could be so anwigned it anight iiguro in the estimates . It wmwavttd that , the xaonoy was wanted to pay traitors

      and spies abroad . He had 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 . In theaext vote asked for there chanced to to a ram of £ 800 included for printing for the Great Exhlbition . Colonel Sibthorp opposed this , declaring mtthe 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 . Labotjchbrb 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 sums .

      On the vote of £ 98 , 860 to defray the expenses connected with the transportation of convicts , Mr . Hume 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 Johkt 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 . Aglionby .

      " 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 transports tion , 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 promise with respect either to Van Diemen ' s Land or New 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 or 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 thine from oivinc a pledge that it should cease . "

      From the speeches 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 refueal unfortunately would not have put down the syetern , for the criminal law stood in the way . Consequently , he had almoat more speeches than votes in his favour ; for his amendment was rejected by 98 to 9 . The vote avu « then agreed to , and the House resumed . Mr . Scully moved the following important resolution : —

      " lhat 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 reproductive labour , bo ub to make these establishments , as fur a « possible , self-supporting , and that it in the duty of the Poor-law Commissioners to nee bo desirable an object fully carried out . " He supported his opinion by a referenco to facts Avell known to the reuilers of the Leader—the successful experiments at Cork , "Waterford , and Clonmol . He

      cited the testimony of the mu « terH of the workhouses to the effect that , industrious employment morally improved the paupers , and increased the facilities for muintnining discipline , thus furnishing u complete anuwcr to the arguments of the Com mission cm , that the adoption of the By stein would interfere with tho discipline of the house . He declared that the idea of competition with the indiiKtriouH poor out of the house wai wholly imaginary ; but that tho idleucHa existing in the house under the prevailing uvatcui was real , and its evils reul ulno : —

      "There were iu the workhouac « of Ireland from 90 , 000 to 180 , 000 employed in breaking stones , pickinir oakum and other occupations of that kind : and he would put it to the Ilouse whether that wu » employment suitable for the able-bodied poor of Ireland ? ( Hear

      hear . ) In one of *• Dublin unions there were oveTaJTrt women , and haw fiid tlie House think they were ployed ? tljey were absolutely engaged in bands of * ™ * driving capstan mills , —a kind of employment on wV ,- k it was disgracetfnl to have women employed , one th tended to make them lose all self-respect and p < w , moral feeling . ( Hear , hear . ) " ua correct The guardians were anxious to carry out the svstp of employment h « recommended . J em Mr . O'Flahbkty seconded the motion , adding t the instances mentioned by Mr . Scully that of a Ji °

      way , in which £ 1000 had been saved by the adoptio of the self-supporting system . Sir "William Some s " ville divided the resolution under two heads 1 . The industrial employment of the pauper- and 2 . The reproductive labour of the pauper . ' fh Poor-law Commissioners had been most desirous of providing for the first ; but as to the second hp 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 work house were found at the public expense with lodgino 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 competition 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 ~ w . orkb . ouse , 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 mark * t 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 Sciiope 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 ae 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 op 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 , aim 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 ^' ference 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 . I Hear , hear . )"

      Sir Lucius O'Bmen , Mr . Sharman CitAwionn , n « Lord Claude Hamilton also supported the motion-Mr . Jamuh Wilson quite ngrecd with industrlnl training for pauper children ; but he could not mwiction the extension of the principle to adults , which would create " unfair competition , " nnd " reduce large musses of the pcoplo to the condition of & tAte Puupers "—an effect which he declared followed the measures adopted by tho House for the relief of t'ie great famine in Ireland : —

      " Honourable members would alao recollect the error of the old poor-law system in England ; for nn long » H the practice was for the parish to find employment if flie pauper , the effect was to create pauperism , i "' ' ! ' "f some particular parishes , every farm labourer whh h"el out by the parish officers . ( Bear , hear . ) Tho bbi » J system had also been tried on a large noale in lloiW and Inlanders , nod had in both cases proved a niiBeruW fuilure . ( Hoar , hear . )" To support the proposition would be to " ioHter ft dangerous fallacy . " The Ciianoellok of the Jix ^ ' ¦'' qvkil took up a very old position without perct'ivn'b that it tottered to ruins beneuth his feet .

      " The House should remember that for the laHt t ^ years they had been extending workhouse ncooini »» tion , » o tui to give M little relief an powtible to pro *

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      646 1 Rt ) t & £ && £ ?? [ Saturday ,

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      PARLIAMENT OF THE WEEK

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 12, 1851, page 646, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1891/page/2/