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Jtocn 38. 1846. „ , THE NORTHERN ^ TAUT ...
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jomgit jM&tmtnf&
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« Aad I will war, at leartln wards, (And...
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"lUilBkIhearaHtae Wra, vdioBin5» fce*wpf...
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POLAND. ST JOSEPH 1UZEIH1. [From The Peo...
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DEATH PUNISHMENTS. A powerful movement i...
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Margaret Stoker.—Capital Pbnishmbhts.—On...
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DOiMESTIC TRAGEDY AT CODNOR PARK, DERBYS...
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Impudekt Robber* at Brighton.—On Saturda...
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fmpenal SarKament
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HOUSE OF LORDS-.Mo.sday, March 23. FEVER...
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.
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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.
Jtocn 38. 1846. „ , The Northern ^ Taut ...
Jtocn 38 . 1846 . „ , THE NORTHERN ^ TAUT " 7 '
Jomgit Jm&Tmtnf&
jomgit jM & tmtnf &
« Aad I Will War, At Leartln Wards, (And...
« Aad I will war , at leartln wards , ( And—should ay chaaw so happea—deeds , I TRtfaallwhowar-wafc Thought !"
"Luilbkihearahtae Wra, Vdiobin5» Fce*Wpf...
"lUilBkIhearaHtae Wra , vdioBin 5 » fce * wpfe * y « dbyvriUbe tfc . it « i * er . " -BiMir .
Poland. St Joseph 1uzeih1. [From The Peo...
POLAND . ST JOSEPH 1 UZEIH 1 . [ From The People's Journal . } "Ifthero is on earth anything really great , itis the firm dtiernonatioii of * nation advancing under the eye o : God , vdthotttbtdng wearied for a moment , to the conquest of the rights it derives from ffim : which counts neither its wsunds , nor its days without rest , nor its nights without sleep , and which sayi within itself—What is all that ! Justice and liberty are worthy of many other . 31 * * * "Verily , I say unto you , when it shall go down , like Christ into the tomb , like Christ it shall come out from it on the third day , conqueror over death , and over the prince of this world , and the Banisters of the prince Of this world . "—iawewwu' Words of a Believer .
Tfe write these uue « independently of . all political fore-Hght , independently of all calculation as te the immediate issue of the struggle which , during the last fortnight , has caused every true heart in Europe to beat most anxiously . It may be that by the time what we are wr iting appear * before the eyes of our readers , new create shall have succeeded , in spite of present appearances , to strengthen and extend a movement which is said to be suppressed : it may be that all trill be , for a time , St an end , aad that Poland shall for a third time descend into her tomb : but whichever it shall be , nothing can alter the sentiment which places the pea ia our hand . Oars is not a political journal . At this moment we are
sot thinking of Cracow , or of the bands of Gallieia ; we stre thinking of Poland , which lires , suffers , and combats . Whether openly or in silence , wherever her children are to be found , from the Baltic to the Carpathian mountains . We do not look ( much as our heart throbs with hope at the present brave efforts , and bleeds with grief for the recent victims ) at transient events , the incidents of a struggle whose denouement is not yet come : we look to the Everlasting ; to the Idea which regulates all these attempts , unfortunate till now , but always heroic ; to the nought which survives all these disasters , which soars , like the eagle , from the midst of the tempest ; which Scats . like a flag , over the tombs of the martyrs .
And this Everlasting , this idea , this unconquerable Tkougat , whiokaU the brutal forces of tat three European despotic powers will never be able to stifle , is the right fiat ttceutyiteo millions of men , belonging to the same race , eradled in the same national songs , nouriihe dby ike same historical traditions , possessed by the insfnieft ' ee sentiment of hating the tame mission to accomplish , have to group them-¦ elves as God suggests to them , to organise themselves as the ? deem best for themselves and others , to express the life within them by acts freely initiated , freel y worked to completion . This right has been immorall y , perfidiously violated by the dismemberment of 1773 , by that of 1793 , by that ol 1796 . It has been said to some , "You shall belong henceforth to Prussia "—that is to say , to a country which itself had not a real nationality to
substitute for theirs ; to others , " "Ion shall belong to Kusaa "—that is to say , to a nation whose civilisation was ens or two centuries behind that of Poland ; to others , again , "And you , you shall belong to Austria "— "that is to say , the Jirelitst , the isost unquiet , the most stirring of people , to a power which represents China in Europe . The Polish nation has from that time protested—protested by arms , because all other ways of progress were closed against her ; protested by an appeal to all its members violently separated , because , to the shame of Europe , to the shame of cooatriescalluig themselves free , there has not been a single get erameut to Jay one word for her . There is the whole question , put simply , and , as it appears , in a sphere far above that slough of diplomatic dirt , in which at the present day they work out what they call their European policy .
Poland has pretested—she will protest : and woe to us if she should not ! For her inertness would say , that it is possible to suppress an idea before it has borne all its fruits ; it would say that bayonets have power to kill thought , and that it is enough for force and violence to nail Prometheus to his rock , to disinherit humanity of the conquest of that secret which made bis life divinejustice , liberty , progress . And see how her protest has gained force since the prodigies , which we have so soon forgotten , ef 1830 . See how the vase inditing the national sap , broken at "Warsaw by the Russian scythe , has fertilised the Uud all around . Before the insurrection of 1 S 30 , Prussian and Austrian Poland rested , if not cold , inert ; there was not the least demonstration there . Sow , it is Gallieia
Which makes itself the focus of Polish nationality ; a thousand arrests embracing the best families , hardly suffices to hinder the insurrection of the Duchy of Posen . Sceptics , who take the grand historical lessons of ilachiavel for a doctrine , and whose heart , the prophet of the mind , has been withered by the coldness of analysis , were , in 1830 , telling us not to attach too much importance to a manifestation , the consequence of the general fermentation excited by the three days of July . Will I Prance has long since abandoned her part of propagandist ; Europe is tranquil at the surface ; the moment is altogether unfavourable to every isolated attempt ; and this is the moment Poland chooses to perform an act of life ; it is in the midst of the sleep of Europe that she raises herself , were it bat for a moment , to repeat her
glorious protest , to declare that she is not , that she shall never be , submissive ; that liberty , without which human responsibility is only an empty name , has been given by God to all his creatures ; that nationality is a sacred sign placed by God on the forehead of his people , as a means for the organisation of the common labour ; and that the dismemberments of 1773 , 1793 , and 1796 , cannot efface the collective life of twentyiwo millions of men belonging to thesame race , cradled in the same national tongs , HOwrilhcdhy the same historical traditions , possessed by the instinctive sentiment of having the some mission to accomplish What has not been done , since 1830 , to endeavour to stifle in Poland this need of proper , spontaneous , national life ! Itis a history which one would say could not belong to our time ; a history which if we had , we
men of the nineteenth century , a belief at heart , as we have an intelligence in the brain , would be enough to determine a crusade . They have proscribed , imprisoned , shot , by hundreds , by thousands , nobles , soldiers , princes , p » 6 l £ , ailwho could In anyway exercise any influence . They have peopled the mines of Siberia , and supplied the armies of the Caucasus . They have destroyed colleges , universities , libraries ; falsified education ; substituted , wherever they could , the language of the oppressor for that of the oppressed . They have broken the bonds o : Sunily ; broken—bat that is no crime in England—the seals of letters of mothers , of fathers , or of sisters , who were sending some poor consolations to the exiles of ten or sixteen years ; and they have kept back the succours which they contained . They have torn hundreds of
children from their mothers , to form , far from their csuntry , military colonies fashioned after Russian manners and tendencies . They have put religion ia play for a political end , and inflicted on poor nans snch persecutions as move the heart to disgust , rather even than to hatred . Whilst among other nations they counted their martyrs by individuals , they counted them by masses in Poland . She has been , during the last fifteen years , the martyr-people . Nothing has succeeded . Aud when its masters nursed themselves in the hope of having stifled for a long period , perhaps for ever , the hydra of Polish thought , by a sudden exp . osion Polish thought started up to give the awakening to Europe ; to frighten the three powers together ; and to force Austria , in self-defence , to heap up the measure of her infamy , in organising the
joejwrieiof the middle age ; in seducing , by we know not what calumnies , the ignorance of the peasants of Tarnow , and iu setting a price often florins on the heads of the Polish noblss which they should bring in . " Thu time has been badly chosun , " say gravely the mea of daybj-day policy . Who has chosen it t Ihe oppressed or the oppressor ! Is it the sick man who chooses the moment when his pain shall shake rum in bis bed * Is it a Polish hand which has signed the ukase declaring , that at the commencement of 1 S 47 all territorial demarcation , every outward sign , of Poland , shall cease to exist ! Count the thousands of exiles who drag on their life ol sorrow in France , in England , in Africa , iu the United States ; the thousands who people Siberia ; the thousands who people the Russian prisons ; the thousands
murdered by the bullet or tho knout : each of these men re . presents a family ; do you think that mothers , listers , brothers , and sons can coldly and leisurely calculate the moment at which they shall hare gained a few chances more over their persecutors * So you imagine that the young men who have seen these terrible words on foot in reply to the petitions of their mother in behalf of their father , * do you imagine that they hare nothing better to do than to wait tranquilly for the awakening of Europe , OT for I know not what change In the news of di plomacy ! To wait in silence I Ah , we know too well that the very saen who cry out at every unsuccessful endeavour " Why did they not wait !* are the first to take advantage of that silence and that patience to reply to every protest on behalf of those who suffer " What would you have us to do ? They * re reconciled to their lot I "
Yes ! actual Europe ( ne speak of constituted , official , governmental Europb ) presents a hideous spectacle ol egotism , of indifference , of denial of every great and generous or progressive thought . They can talk about religion , but any cation of what really constitutes religion—that it to say , the active communion of men fur the just and the goad , is altogether effaced . Local interests have their worshippers - j / Hoci gle * have not . The collective life of humanity , the copannership of all its members , is nowhere represented . And , as if in the long struggle between evil and good which constitutes the history of the world , evil had at last triumphed , there is a principle of common life , an association for evil : there is non « for goid . The re exists an alliance ( we do not like to repeat the word tol ^ j ketweeutbs powers who represent despotism—that is to say , the denial of human liberty , in Europe ; there is none among those who pretend to represent the principle of civilisation and progression . Wherever a people raises itself to bear witness to its faith in God , in his Jaw , in its own conscience , the * Prince Sanguzko , proprietor of large estates in the district of Tarnow , in Gallieia . His family , men , women , and children , petitioned the Czar to mitigate the punishment of perpetual hard labour in Siberia to which he had been condemned . The Czar wrote on the margin , ' On foot , " and the journey from Warsaw to Siberia was performed ou foot .
Poland. St Joseph 1uzeih1. [From The Peo...
first intervene to crush it : the second proclaim the principles of non-interference—that is to say , they assist with foldad arm * the triumph of evil ; they declare them , selves politically atheists . Italy arises once , twice , thrice ; she asserts her rights and her unanimity of thought , by driving ont , without shedding one drop of blood , bir imbecile governments ; a foreign array falls upon her before she has time to prel pare her means of defence : not a single voice is raised in the councils of "free" nations , to say to the intruders , "Withdraw ! leave this people foe to manifest its life in its own manner < " Poland arises , after having endured a series of atrocities almost enough to make one doubt of human nature ; new atrocities reply to her appeal ;
the Austrian government puts the scythe in the hands of ignorant peasants ; it says to them , " For avery patriot head you bring us we will give you ten florins f not a government rakes its voice to say , "Withdraw ! you have lost all ri ght to rule the destinies of millions ! " Not a single member of any of the European governments that call themselves free and enlightened , will dare to withdraw his hand from that of the ambassador of a government which has thus placed itself under the ban of humanity . Yon talk of charity , virtue , mens' brotherhood in God , and do you nothear the voice of God demanding of you , "Cain ! Cain ! what hast thou done with thy brother V Knowjou not the sentence which followed the reply , " Am I my brother ' s keeper !" flieir
At least let individuals repair , as far as lies in power the faults of their governments . let all those who believe in tiie unity of the human family , all those wbo believe in a better time to come , all whom the example of their masters has not educated in the ignoranct of what is great in martyrdom foranoly cawe , protest by thsir words , by meetings , and by subscriptions / against the indifference reigning in official circles . Let them say what they will of the English government , but let tiie name of Englishman be respected and loved by the oppressed of all nations . And as to Poland—honour to her if she triumphs ; honour , if yet agaia she fall ! It will not be for ever . Her oppressors may yet be able to throw into the balance some hundreds of heads , but the can throw into the opposing scale herself— " An equal to all woes , And a firm will , and a deep sense ,
Which even in torture can descry Its own concentred recompense , - Triumphant when it dares defy , And making death a victory . " Jupiter has long been dethroned : humanity has pur . sued its course , and thechain which haugs round the limb * of Prometheus is raady to fall off .
Death Punishments. A Powerful Movement I...
DEATH PUNISHMENTS . A powerful movement is likely to be organised before long for the purpose of obtaining the abolition of the present barbarous system of death punishments . Lord Nugent and CharlesDkkens have been for some time past agitating the question , supported by men of all classes and parties . The Chartists , ever foremost in the good work of promoting mankind ' s progression , are also in the field , and will give signal aid to this movement . A numerous and highly respectable meeting was held a few days ago at the South London Chartist Hall . The chair was ably filled by Mr . John Gatbard , who said the question they had met to consider was one of the first importance , and , like most other great political , moral , or social changes , the agitation iu its favour was commencing with that much calumniated body the Chartists . ( Hear , hear . ) He should call on Mr . Edmund Stallwood ta mora the first resolution : —
That in the opinion of this meeting the infliction of capital punishment in any case whatever is not only an infringement of the Divine Command , "Thou shalt do no murder , " but bas a tendency to demoralise the public mind and familiarise the populace with scenes of blood , which , instead of checking crime , as intended , sets the lavage example of taking that 1 Kb ~ u ; ch no human law can give , and trifles with that existence which it was meant to protect . Mr . Stallwood said he was happy this great and important question was brought before the public , bat on the principle of doing justice to all men , and
giving credit to every one for the good deeds they performed , he must tell them their chairman was wrong in stating that this agitation had iu origin with the Chartists . No donbt they all recollected that a person of the name of John Tawell was , a short time ago , tried and executed for murder at Aylesbury . At that period a public meeting was held in the hall of that town on the subject , from which a committee was formed , with I < ord Nugent at its head , and from which body many important papers had issued in opposition to the barbarous practice of capital punishments , witich had been published from time to time in the columns of that advocate of Universal
Suffrage , the Aylesbury Xetvs . ( Ile & r , hear . ) Thus , although the agitation had net directly sprung from the Chartist body , it evidently had its origin in one section of the democratic party . He cordially agreed with the resolution , that hanging , or capital punh-hmerit of any sort , had " a tendency to demoralise the public mind , and familiarise the populace with scenes of blood . " He well recollected , when he first came to London from a quiet country town , being taken to witness a London execution , at which six persons were hung at once , one of whom had stolen a horse , and , previous to witnessing this melancboiy exhibition , he had a very great dread of death ; but , on witnessing the fall of the drop , and the "launching into eternity , " as it was termed , of those
unfortti . ate men , he remembered well the exclamation involuntarily falling from his lips— " Is that death ? are they dead ? " and , on being answered in the affirmative , he thought , then , death was nothing ; and from , that day to tuis , all fear of death punishment had lost its effect on him . ( Hear , hear . ) We were told that capital punishments were instituted for example ' s sake—forthe purpose of deterring others from the perpetration of crime ; but had it any such effect ? No ; for , on the occasion when six of our fellow creatures suffered the last penalty of the law , at one and the same time , persons were apprehended immediately beneath the gallows tree , picking pockets ; and this was by no means a singular case . Look at Ireland ; capital punishments were , alas ! of
frequent occurrence in that unhappy country , and assassinations and brutal murders of much more frequent occurrence . Sat what need , was there of going to Ireland for cases ? Had wenotrecently bad plenty © fjudicial murders in this" great metropob ' s , " followed by many more sanguinary murders ? Thus showing , that instead of the example deterring from crime , it only inured the people to deeds of blood , rendering them callous , and causing the monster crime of murder to be one of frequent occurrence . ( Loud cheers . ) He cordially agreed with the resolution , and earnestly hoped to witness the abrogation of capital punishment , and the amelioration of our criminal code in general . ( Loud cheers . ) Air . M'Gbaih rose , much applauded , to second the
resolution , . and asked , how was it those professing ministers of mercy , the clergy , were not present in great numbers on such an occasion ? If a meeting had been convened at Exeter Hall for the purpose of collecting money to send missionaries abroad among the Heathens , asthey were called , the parsons would be there in shoals . It reflected great credit upon the Chartist body to be found foremost in agitation for such a benign , Christian , aud philanthropic purpose ; and if his memory served him rightly , so long ago as the Whig-create i riots of Bristol , the Radicals took the lead in advocating the abolishment of death punishments . He , however , with Mr . Stallwood , was delighted to find Lord Nugent acting in snch a truly philanthropic manner , and trusted the day was not far distant when we should have a grand
metropolitan demonstration on the subject , with Lord Nugent in the chair . ( Loud cheers . ) He thought one of the great evils of capital punishments was that they risked too lives of innocent persons ; and here perhaps he might be permitted to say poor Bryan Seery was a case in point . ( Cheers . ) Capital punishment had hitherto been without a single good result . He had never seen but one metropolitan execution , that ot Curvosier , and such an effect did it have on him that he would never willingly witness 1 another . Bat sometimes when returning homewards of a Sunday evening he saw the scaffold in preparation forthe Monday morning ' s execution , and the motley multitude of human beings scrambling to obtain a seat or a standing-place to witness the
coming scene , and amidst those groups he had found the Dissenting minister , with the white handkerchief round his neck , busily distributing his tracts , and bidding the multitude look to the Eternal Judge for mercy , and at the same time most inconsistently , with true morbid sensibility , justifying the taking away of that human life which the law could not give . ( Hear , hear . ) As regarded the example , he could bear witness to the fallacy of this argument , as he had his pocket picked of his handkerchief on two occasions while witnessing tbe erection of the fatal scaffold . ( Hear , hear . ) Was it not admitted that Connor had been present at an execution just previously to his murder ofthe woman in St . Giles ' s ? ( Hear , hear . ) Did not this clearly show that those
judicial murders rendered human nature callous ? ( Hear , hear . ) He knew that some would say that it was written in Scripture— " Blood for blood , " but the days of such barbarity had fortunately passed away , and he would like to see ihe minister who would now stand up in his pulpit and gay that the man who tomaiitted the slightest breach of the Sabbath , should be taken out of the city and stoned to death . ( Hear , hear . ) Yet such was a portion ofthe old JewMi law . The lad Wix had shed the blood of his master , and , in all probability , Jack Ketch would soon shed his ( IVix ' s ) blood in return , but he would much like to know who would shed Jack Ketch ' s
blood y ( Hear , hear . ) Humanity , mercy , and justice cried aloud that the blood of neither should be : > hcd . ( Great cheering . ) He had witnessed some terrible and awful scenes in the town of Clonmell , in Ireland , shortly after his arrival from Newfoundland . . In that town they appeared to have a machine for comniitting human slaughter by wholesale , opening , as it Ad , m tho centre , and having a fall of ten feet . He / unl seen one unfortunate individual brought out lev execution on this machine , and as it opened , spring forward aud catch the bar , and be thus taken away Mil strangled , to be again brought with the like res . nlt , again put back at half-past twelve in the day to , tftlf-past six at night , and then
Death Punishments. A Powerful Movement I...
brought forward once more , the executioner literally thrusting the culprit forward to the gallows . ( Shouts ot" Horrible ' . horrible I' ) And yet ft v $ s the custom in Ireland to give school children a holiday in order that they might become witnesses of such inhuraanising and brutal exhibitions , for the sake of what they wrongly termed ' a great moral example . But , thanks to the good and great Father Mathew , children no longer witnessed such demoralising scenes . ( Cheers . ) He might be asked what should he done with murderers ? Why , he would say , let them be placed in asylums , where they would be token care of and made to support themselves , and those they had deprived ot their natural protectors . ( Loud cheers . ) He appealed to the believe * in the doctrines-of Jesus Christ , was it right that theminis tcr of religion should stand on the fatal scaffold with
quivering lip , while the poor victim was launched into eternity ? He contended that it was the duty of every believer in the benign principles of Christianity to oppose capital punishments . Mr . M'Grath then lucidly entered into the revolting modes of destroying human life in various countries , and much interested the audience by his powerful appeal in opposition thereto , and said no one looked on Jack Ketch but with feelings of abhorrence , which in itself was a forcible argument agaiust death punishments . ( Loud cheers . ) Ca , ital punishment had been abolished in some cases , such as sheep stealing , horse stealing , forgery , Ac , with beneficial effect , and he thought it might be entirely abrogated with equal if not superior benefit to society at large . — ( Great cheering . ) The resolution was carried unanimously .
Mr . ChumopherHoile rose to move the following resolution : — - That this meeting , believing that the most beneficia effects would ensue by the discussion of this humane subject by the British public , dohereby resolve to appoint a committee of niue persons , and authorise them to take such steps as , they may deem nt to agitate the metropolis and thus press this important question on the attention of tha legislature . He said he could not see the advantage or propriety of taking human life . Hanging did no good to society—it had not increased morality or virtue ; but , on the contrary , had demoraiised _ and brutalised mankind . ( Cheers . ) He contended , that if the murderer was placed on some waste lands , and so far
confined as not to be enabled to repeat his crime , he would , by his labour , be enabled to support those his cr ime had 60 deeply injured ; and by the attention of the devout and pious , and his future good conduct ; purge his crime , and fit himself for a glorious immortality . ( Hear , hear . ) Long imprisonments , as had been well observed , were decidedly injurious—his own experience had fully convinced him of this ; he had , for political offences , been confined in four different prisons—( hear , hear)—and when in Preston Bridewell , the governor aad chaplain had sought bis opinion , and his evidence occupied seven folios in the Inspector of Prisons' report . He found that the mixing the new criminal with the old had a very bad effect , inuring the young to crime ; for example , one
had come in whilst he was there , and was asked by the old gaol-birds , " Whathave you done ? " He replied , " Nothing ; " and on being told that he must have done something , replied , "Well , I took an empty sack . " . The old gaol-birds then told this new criminal , that he disgraced their profession by coming there for such a purpose , and immediately initiated him into tbe art of picking pockets on tiptoe , and that of breaking locks . He , therefore , thought , nay , he was convinced , thatsolitary confinement for a brief period was much the best for new criminals and young offenders —( loud cheers)—and that severe punishments onlv tended to harden tho
culprit and make him callous , whilst public executions rendered the populace brutal and savage ; hence , he considered it was our duty to rake our voices loudly against it , in order that it might be abolished and civilisation flourish . ( Loud ciieers . ) In fact , he thought the cause of crime laid at the door of society . Only let the social wants of the people be attended to —give them the suffrage , and let each have a piece of land , as they have in Switzerland , and , depend on it , they will become a moral , intelligent , and happy people . The cause being removed , the effect will cease , and murder will become comparatively unknown . ( Tremendouscheering . )
Mr . T . Clawi , in seconding the resolution , said—The Chartists had long been desirous of levelling bad institutions , and he was glad to find them desirous of progressing in their career by levelling the gallows . ( Loud cheers . ) He could not believe that Calcraft was the best moral instructor for the multitude , and he thought capital , punishments must pla . ee her Majesty in a very awkward situation - , suvely she must , as a mother , as the head of the church , as the sovereign , feel acutely the signing of a death warrant to take away tbe lives of her subjects . ( Hear , hear . ) He was present at the execution of Hocker , and a more-brutal and savage scene he had never witnessed in the course of his existence . He had recently heard a debate in the "house , " when that great criminal Jlacauley had sneered at the holy feeling springing up in this country against capital punishments , ealling . it false
delicacy—fetnemne ; but notwithstanding the sneers of this great babbler , the misrepresentative of the city of Edinburgh , lie trusted they would persevere in their exertions until they were crowned with success . A lady who attended a meeting with him the other day , said , " She wished they would hang the system instead of the men ;" and sure he was , in such a case , lit should have ho objection to become the executioner . ( Loud cheers . ) He bad full confidence that tbey would not only appoint a committee , but alsa furnish the means of carrying out the object to a triumphant issue . ( Great cheering . )—An Irishman , in the body ofthe meeting , said he thought the last speaker had been rather severe on Babington Macauley , as he remembered , when he was in power , he pardoned a man for killing goats . ( Roars of laughter . )—The resolution was carried unanimously , the committee was appointed , a vote of thanks was given to the chairman , and the meeting then dissolved .
Margaret Stoker.—Capital Pbnishmbhts.—On...
Margaret Stoker . —Capital Pbnishmbhts . —On the eve of the trial of Margaret Stoker , charged with the murder of her child , two individuals in humble life , advocates for the abolition of death punishments , set on foot a subscription for her defence ; for she had no relative willing or able to assist her in her need . Their appeal was principally made to the poorer classes , yet they met with only four refusals . The sum of £ 2 was raised in sums not exceeding 6 d . each , and chiefly in pence . Tbe remainder of the money required was provided in shillings . The subscribers , we have reason to know , were mainly
moved by their horror at the prospect ot a young woman being handed over to the hangman . Her crime they abhorred , but they would spare the criminal from death . Their efforts , the reader knows , were vain ; the woman was convicted , and sentenced to die . But tbe promoters of the subscription were not deterred from their humane enterprise by the failure of the first attempt . They immediately got up a memorial to the Queen for mercy , and obtained within twenty-four hours several hundred signatures , including those of the jury ( who pronounced the verdict , but shrunk from the sentence ) .
Doimestic Tragedy At Codnor Park, Derbys...
DOiMESTIC TRAGEDY AT CODNOR PARK , DERBYSHIRE . Nottingham , Fiuday . —About five years ago , a man named John Elinor , a sinker-maker , who , during the greater part of his life had resided in Parliamentstreet , in this town , was induced by a brother who is well off in the world to leave his residence and occupation in Nottingham and go and reside near him at Cednor Park , for -the purpose of managing a public house , and rendering his brother other services , and soon became habitually melancholy . His wife , to whom this change appears to have been equally distasteful , died about twelve months since , and left him still more melancholy than he had been previously . A few months , since he returned to Nottingham , and
was about to 'take up his abode again in the town , when his only daughter died , who had been married to a lace-maker named Smith , and left two children , the eldest of whom was a girl named Elizabeth , aged about twelve years . Smith having married again soon after tho death of his first wife , and his eldest daughter being dissatisfied with her mother-in-law , she went to reside with her grandfather , who returned with his charge to Codnor Park , with the idea that he could there provide better for her future comfort and welfare . For a time Elinor was more cheertul in the society of his little granddaughter , but latterly his health failed . He is said to have been constantly tormented with the idea that he should be left to want in his latter days if his brother should die before him , and that his little granddaughter , of whom he was very fond , when left alone iu the world , would
become a prey to the designing , and might spend her days in vice , or suffering from the most abject want . It had been customary for old John Elinor to visit his brother early on the morning of each day , but , having omitted to do so at the usual time , the latter became alarmed , knowing his brother's melancholy turn of mind , and that his housekeeper had left him for a few days ; he , therefore , went to his house , and , finding it closed , and being unable to make any one hear , he had the door forced open , when it was discovered that the wretched man had strangled his granddaughter during the night , and that he had then hanged himself . Both were quite dead . There is no doubt _ that excessive melancholy in this case terminated in insanity ; and an inquest having been held upon the bodies , a verdict to that effect has been returned .
Impudekt Robber* At Brighton.—On Saturda...
Impudekt Robber * at Brighton . —On Saturday rooming a man of gentlemanly appearance entered the Photographic Institution on the Marine Parade , and was shown into the- waiting-room till the artist was at liberty to attend him . It would appear that the fellow took an opportunity of entering an adjoining room , occupied by a single gentleman lodger , and ransacking the room of all its valuable contents , consisting of bank-notes , jewellery , and trinkets , to the value of £ 150 , deliberately walked off . On the loss being discovered information was given at the police-office ; but no trace has been found of the delinquent .
Fmpenal Sarkament
fmpenal SarKament
House Of Lords-.Mo.Sday, March 23. Fever...
HOUSE OF LORDS-. Mo . sday , March 23 . FEVER ( IRELAND ) BILL . On the motion of the Earl of St . Gbruans , the fc ever ( Ireland ) Bill was read a second time ; and the standing orders being dispensed with , the bill went through all the remaining stages , and was passed .
STATE OF IRELAND . Earl WET rose to move an address to her Majesty on this subiect , and , in a speech of two hours and a half , travelled over all the old and well-known lists of Irish grievances . Be said , with reference to the policy of government-Her Majesty ' s government seem to me only to propose to go on with measures of that nature which have been adopted over and over again , and under which , itis allowed , the evils which they were intended to meet have not only continued , but have become worse rather than better ; but having doggedly pursued the old beaten track , how could it be expected that they would come to any but the old termination—money and coercion seem to have been the whole secret of the policy of
governments . We have never been sparing of either—both hive been applied , and we see the result—they have been tried over and over again , and we find the proof that such measures cannot succeed in attaining the objects for which thoy were intended . Shall 1 be told that it is impossible to do more—that improvement is impracticable , that the causes ot the improvement of Ireland are undiscoverable , or of such a nature that they arebeyoiul the reach of remedy ? Such am ; assertion is a libel on the bounty of Providence , and on human nature . Is there anything in the nature of the country , or of the people , to account for it ? Surely there is nothing in the country—for it is endowed with a soil of great fertility—with a cenial climate , with great mineral
wealth , with commodious harbours on its coasts , with great means . of internal navigation and extensive water power , and contains every advantage which is necessary for commercial greatness . And for the people—will any one say that it is their fault ? When they are taken away from the pernicious influences which surround them in their own country , they are found to be capable of everything that is good . ( Hear , hear . ) See them in the colonies , in Amerv-,.., and in other countries of Europe , and they are distinguished for industry and usefulness , and in our own country , the severest labour is performed by Irish workmen . In the county with which I am connected , you see them coming over yearly to the
harvest , the largest number of them being natives of the wretchedest counties in Ireland , as Donegal and others , and what is the character they bear ? Why , that they are most grateful for good treatment — ( hear , hear)—tractable , industrious , cheerful , even gay ; sometimes thoughtless , and easily excited ; but on the other hand often showing a providence and carefulness not common to the general character of persona in their rank of life , and living frugally in order to save their earnings to take home with them to pay their rent and assist their families . ( Hear , hear . ) This is the character the Irish labourer bears in England . With such a people and such acountry , is it not the fault oi their rulers , if brutality and lawlessness be the characteristics of Ireland ?
If I comprehend what the policy of the government h , it is this—that they consider the great evils of Ireland are , first , the absence of security to life and property ; and secondly , the absence of due encouragement of industry , and the rewards oi labour by adequate wages . They wish by their measures Jto promote security to lite and property , and thoy thiuk these two conditions » " > oiuaely connected . 1 think with them so far , that it is impossible toconisder the state of Ireland without seeing how closely these two symptoms are connected—so closely , indeed , as to make it difficult to discover which ia the cause and which the effect . Both these evils aggravate each other , and no remedy will bo effective unless the legislature shall apply their minds to provide means
for the employment of the people , and to remove that insecurity which prevents the efforts of private enterprise and private capital . I think what the government are doing to meet the pressing and present wants , by giving employment to the people , is right and sufficient . In this respect they could do no more . I believe that measures by which grants and loans are supplied for providing , so to speak , artificially against the present distress , is a judicious and adequate course . ( Hear , hear . ) But we must not forget that , if these arc the only measures we adopt , they are not such as will result in permanent employment , or cause the spontaneous exercise of private enterprise and capital . No country can be in a healthy state which depends on employment
artificially provided by government . The only permanent foundation for prosperity was to make the security of life and property depend on the ordinary laws and the ordinary powers of the Executive . But , unhappily , in Ireland the whole population are united in one general combination to evade or resist the law . Therein consists the real difficulty of enforcing the law in Ireland , ihe great body of the people being disposed to subvert rather than to aid it . Instead of co-operating with the administrators ofthe law , they endeavoured to screen and assist those who violate it . Their sympathy is not with the murdered , but the murderer ; and to such an extent do they carry it , that there are
many well authenticated instances of men , who , through a desire to find employment , have pretended to be murderers in districts where they were not known , and where they made it appear they had fled to evade the police , in order that the inhabitants might give tbem that protection , and afford them that opportunity of obtaining work , which , as mere strangers , and without the prestige of being regarded as men flying from justice , they would not be permitted to enjoy . Whatever the remedy might be , it was clear they had net hitherto found it out . Coercion Bills had entirely failed , as the following history would prove . Sir R . Peel , in a speech made so long ago as the year 1839—on introducing the measure for the removal of the Catholic
disabilitiesgave this history of the measures of severity adopted towards Ireland : — "In 1800 we find tbe Habeas Corpus Act suspended , and the act for the suppression of rebellion in force , In 1801 they were con * tinned . In 1802 , 1 believe , they expired . In 1803 the insurrection for which Emmett suffered broke out ; Lord Kilwarden was murdered by a savage mob , and both Acts of Parliament were renewed . In 1804 they were continued . In 1806 the west and south of Ireland were in a state of insubordination , which was with difficulty suppressed by the severest enforcement of the ordinary law . In 1807 , inconsequence chiefly of tiie disorders that had prevailed in 1806 , the act called the Insurrection Act was introduced . It gave power to the Lord Lieutenant to place
any district by proclamation out ot the pale 01 the ordinary law ; it suspended trial by jury , and made it a transportable offence to be out of doors from sunset to sunrise . In 1807 this act continued in force , and in 1808-9 , and to the close of the session of 1810 . In 1814 the Insurrection Act was renewed ; it was continued in 1815-16 and 1817 . . In 1822 , it was again revived , and continued during tbe years 1823-24 and 1826 . In 1825 the Temporary Act intended for the suppression of dangerous associations , and especially the Roman Catholic Association , was passed . It continued during 1820-27 , and expired in 1828 . The year 1829 has arrived , and with it the demand for anew act to suppress the Roman Catholic Association . " This painful history might be continued .
Only four years after the time when Sir R . Peel spoke in these terms , it was found necessary to introduce measures of the severest kind . The measure then passed expired only four or five years ago ; and now , in 1840 , the Parliament was called upon to renew it . One fruitful cause of discontent and misery was , the law and the opinions of the people as to the tenancy and occupany of the land . It was undeniable that clearances of estates had taken place to a great extent , aud in a manner which it was impossible to reconcile with real justice and humanity . When a population was allowed to grow up upon an estate , what could be more repugnant to good feeling than to drive out that population ? It was a disgrace . to a civilised country that such things should he possible . Their
lordships had it upon the authority of the commission which lately inquired into the subject ofthe relation of landlord and tenant in Ireland , that improvements were not made there at the expense of the landlord , but of the tenant ; and , under the present law , it did happen tbat an industrious man , who had brought a piece of land into cultivation , wag sometimes , at . the pleasure of his landlord , turned out to starve on the wide world , Could such things take place without creating a feeling in the minds of the population ? Then the practice of subletting prevailed extensively . An industrious man , it might happen , with a cottage and a small allotment of land , had paid honestly to his immediate superior , but because that superior failed to pay rent to his superior ,
thai poor man was liable to have his crop and means seized to satisfy the claim of the head landlord . The appointment of Lord Devon ' s commission had rendered some reform in the law relating to the tenure of property in Ireland more pressing than ever . Not an hour should be lost in bringing the subject before Parliament . They must be preparedleven to go to considerable lengths ; they roust deal with the subject not in the spirit of a technical lawyer , but in the spirit of a statesman . They must look to those principles of the public good on which the law of real property was founded , and not merely to the practice of this country . But an improvement ef the mere letter of the law would not be enough ; the administration of it also must be looked to . ( Hear . ) When
he quoted the other night the words 01 a great authority , that in Ireland there was one law tor the rich and another ibr the poor , he had been corrected by a noble friend of his who sat opposite , and who , repeating the words , added that it also should be said —" and both equally ill-administered . " ( Hear , hear . ) His lordship then proceeded to attack some recent legal appointments in Ireland , and referred to tbe alleged revival ofthe practice of excluding men from juries' on account of their religion—better have no jury at all than a partisan one . As to the outcry for the Repeal of the Union , it must be met as the discontent 0 / Scotland had been in 1713 , when a motion was made i ' u that house for the dissolution ef the then recently e . fleeted union . What did Par-
House Of Lords-.Mo.Sday, March 23. Fever...
liament do ? Why , instead of granting a Repeal ol the Union , they set themselves to work to govern Scotland . differently-to govern Scotland on pnir ciples of equal justice , and under the influence of that system in a very few tears all wish for a Repeal of the Union had died away ; and now , perhaps , one abvecate for such a measure could scarcely be round in the country . Let the same course be pursued towards Ireland . We could not grant them Repeal . Let ui try the experiment of legislating for Ireland as an Irish Parliament fairly representing the wants and wishes of the people might be expected to legislate . The master evil , and the grievance which in his estimation lay at the root of all the discontent and alienation of the people of IrelandWas the Irish
, Church . On this topic his lordship expatiated at great length , discussing seriatim th < s various propositions which have been made for modifying the evils admitted to flow from the existence of that establishment . All he contended for was equality of favour to both religions , Protestant and Roman Catholicthat if the one were endowed they should endow both —( hear , hear)—and further ,, that there should be equality also in social position and rank— ( cheers ) , — an equality which should recognise the Roman Catholic hierarchy even move than they were recognised by tbe Roman Catholic Bequests Bill—an equality which should give them their proper place in society , and assign to them that position which the pastors of the great body of the Irish people—a clergy who ,
taking them as a body , were as distinguished as any for their purity and devotion to their flocks—were entitled to . ( Hear , hear . ) He would carry this equality so far as to say that the Catholic prelates should take their seats on tho bishops' bench in that house . ( Hear , hear . ) And he knew of nobody whose presence there would be more useful ; he ceuld wish that at this moment they had the advice and assistance of those who were so united by the ties of religion with the Catholic population of Ireland to explain to the house the feelings and wants of their flocks , and to advise their lordships as to the means of relieving them . ( Hear , hear . ) He was aware that the policy he now recommended was opposed by many difficulties , and he was prepared to find that
it would be met with but little support and sympathy in that house . He was prepared to see the address he was about to move rejected by an overwhelming majority ; at the same time he entertained an unshaken confidence that ere many years passed over that policy would , in ail its essential features , be confirmed by Parliament . Since his first entry into public life , he had seen ample grounds for confidence that any course resting on the solid foundation of truth and justice would ultimately triumph . However gredt the difficulties—however strong the prejudices to be met , justice and reason must in the end prevail . ( Hear . ) When , he first entered Parliament , in 1827 , nothing seemed more discouraging than the question of Catholic emancipation . It appeared to be going backward rather than forward —thenew . Parliamentrejected what the former House of Commons had uassed : but in two vears more that
measure was the law of the land . Free trade u that , time seemed altogether hopeless . These who wished to apply it to our commercial legislation were treated as visionaries , whom it was scarcely necessary even to answer . The smallest measure in advance to carry out those principles ( in corn especially ) into effect could obtain scarce a dozen votes ; and yet in nineteen yews the quesUon had progressed year by year , until now it was on the eveof its final triumph . ( A gesture of ; dissent from the cross , benches , and cheers . ) -Orifitrwas doomed to' b ' cecce more defeated , thai deteat would be but of short continuance ; tbey were at least in immediate sight of the goal . ( Hear , hear . ) In the same way he was persuaded , however the policy of doing justice to Ireland in this matter of the established church might now be received , the time was not far distant when it WOuM be successful . ( Hear , hear . )
The Duke of WEiuxGroN opposed the motion , and defended the Irish Church on the old ground that its maintenance was an essential part of the compact entered into at the time of the union . He also gave an instructive history of past " concessions , " and advised them to make a . stand on the Church , for if they gave up that , what security had they against farther aggressions ? Earl Fortuscuk supported the motion . The great evil of Ireland he considered to be , not the relation that existed between landlord and tenant , but the tenure and possession of the land . He remembered the time when the measure of-Catholic Emancipation was passed ; he had in the other House of Parliament suggested the introduction of a clause to save the righta of the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland ; but he was at once met with the statement
that a clause to the effect would be wholly useless , for that , in point of fact , there was no such thing as a forty-shilling freeholder in Ireland , And why was there not ? . itwas \ vellltnownthatman > ofthemiddlecIasses had sufficient means to purchase small landed properties ; but the fact was , that Irish estates were generally so encumbered , that it was impossible to sell them in parts and parcels , and to that circumstance was to be attributed the paucity of tbe number of small freeholders in that country . ( Hear , hear . ) His belief was , that if the people of Ireland were put on an equal footing in Church and State with the people of England , agitation would effectually be put down , for the Irish people , however easily led aud excited , were ' not ungrateful for kindnesses conferred , ( Hear . ) . Lord Buougham made a furious speech in defence of the " sacred rights of property , " and denunciatory of the agitators in Ireland .
After speechesfrom FaflFitztvilliam , the Marquises of Clanricarde , Westmeath , and Londonderry , tho Duke of Richmond , and Earl St . Germans , Earl Gbey replied , and the house divided on the motion , when the numbers were—Contents 17 Not content _ 61 Majority against the motion ... ... —44 The Print-works Bill went through committee . Several bills were advanced a stage , and the house adjourned at half-past twelve . HOUSE OF COMMONS-MONDAY , March 23 .
AMALGAMATION OF RAILWAYS . Mr . J . W . Paiibn moved , pursuant to notice , for the appointment ol a select committee " to consider how tar , and under what regulations , the further amalgamation of railways would be consistent with a due regard to the commercial and general interests ol the country . " The proposition was supported by tha government , and after a long conversation , in which numerous members took part , it was agreed to , with the addition that the inquiries of the committee should extent ! to canals as well as railways .
WAR IN INDIA . Mr . Hums , having referred to the reports which had appeared in the Paris papers within the last fewdays concerning some fresh operations by our troepe in the Punjaub—Lord Jocclyn and Sir Robert Peel announced tbat no information had been received by government . The subject of the Trieste route to India was under the consideration of Parliament .
HOSTILITIES ON THE RIVER PLATE . Lord Palubbsion having made some inquiries of government respecting the present state of our relations with the government of Buenos Ayres , Sir Robert Peel affirmed tbat we were not at war with that power , though a bombardment had been rendered necessary to maintain the integrity of the settlement of 1828 , to which this country had been a party . Lord John Russell expressed a wish for further i » formation respecting these transactions , and Sir Robert Inglis avowed an inability to discriminate between war and the state of things which Sir Robert Peel had intimated were in operation in the Plate . Mr . Miiner Gibson expressed an anxiety on behalf of the manufacturers of the North of England concerning the free navigation ofthe Plate .
CORN IMPORTATION BILL . On the motion that this bill be read a second time , petitions were presented by several members in favour of the measure . Among others , Sir R . Peel presented two—one from Liverpool , the other from Manchester , comprising the names of all the wealth and influence of these two towns , in favour of the measure , and deprecating delay as most injurious to trade . Mr . E . Yobke moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months , which being seconded by Sir J . Y . Buller , led to a long debate , in which the Protectionist speakers , Messrs . Parker , Cholmondely , G . y . llarcourt , and Sir R . Inglis joined . The free trade side ol the question was supported by Messrs . M'Geachy , Fox Maule , Childers , and Captain Berkeley .
On the motion of Lord Polkihgton the debate was adjourned , and the routine orders having been disposed ef , the house rose at a quarter to one o ' clock .
HOUSE OF LORDS-Tuesday , MiBcn 24 . The Royal Assent was given by commission to the Irish Fever Bill and the Metropolitan Building Act Amendment Bill . Several other bills were ftrwarded a stage , and the house adjourned at an early hour . HOUSE OF COMM 0 NS—Tuesdat , March 24 .
SHORT TIME IN FACTORIES . After the presentation of a number of petitions on private bills , chiefly railway bills , Mr . Lawbon presented a petition from the factoryworkers of Ashtou-under-Line , praying that the hours of employment in factories , for young persons , might not exceed ten hours for five days in the week , and eight hours on the Saturday . Sir R . II . Inous presented a petition from the factory-workers of the parish of Bradford , in Yorkshire , praying for the adoption of a Ten Hours' Bill . Sir G . Stricklanb presented a petition from lluddersfield , in the West Riding of Yorkshire , and a petition from another place in the manufacturing district , in favour of the same object . Mr . T . DuwcoMDB also presented a petition having the same prayer .
WAR AND THE MILITIA . Dr . Bowrino presented a petition from Newport , against the embodiment of the militia , and urging that all international disputes should be settled by arbitration , without having recourse to war . Also a
House Of Lords-.Mo.Sday, March 23. Fever...
petition from Yarmouth , against the calling out of the militia . . ¦*¦ -.: ¦
'PROTECTION OF LIFE BY MEA'NS © F RELIEF- OF THE POOR ( IliELAND ) BlLL . . Mr . P . Sciiopb moved for leave to bring in a bill for the better protection of life in Ireland , by mean * ofthe better relief of the destitute poor therein . Leave granted . FRIENDLY SOCIETIES BILL . Sir J . Gumum proposed the postponement of the second reading of the amended bill with regard to Friendly Societies , which was ap-oed to . 3 de also said , that he had received information from the mom * ber for Oldham that he would postpone the secondreading of the Factories Bill . CASE OF A NEWSPAPER PROPRIETOR .
Viscount Inoesire moved , pursuant to notice , that the house should take into consideration the petition of Thomas Wood , proprietor of the Wolvetltomptm Chronicle , in relation to Lichfield Free School . Some time ago , a commission lwi been instituted by government to inquire into the management ot tha charitable schools throughout the country . Mr . Allen , a chaplain of the Bishop of LichfioJd , was the commissioner who attended at Lichfield , to inquire into the state of the free , school there ; his report was . presented to that house , and ordered to be printed with the minutes of the privy council committee of education . After it had bcen _ so printed , Mr . Wood had copied it into his paper , for which an action of libel was brought , and a verdict wasgivoa against him for £ 50 damages , which with the costa amounted to £ 300 . Another action had been brought at the same time against Mr . 0 " . W . . Parker * , of London , the publisher oi the minutes ofthe
committee of education . The solicitor for the Treasury was instructed to defend him ; he apologised for the publication , said the report was incorrect , and escaped with a nominal verdict of 40 s . and costs , which the Treasury paid . The hardship of this was , that Mr . Wood , who defended himself , was thus deprived of the only defence he could possibly set up . He had deviously endeavoured to settle the action amicably , by offering to apologise , to give up the person who bad furnished him with Mr . Allen ' s primed report , and to disavow any malicious intent . This ease involved a very important public principle—whether the editors of newspapers , which were the organs of public opinion and the vehicles of public intelligence , were to be fined and punished for quoting govern * ment reports and official documents—for doing , in short , what they _ could hardly help doing . It was a case of great individual hardship , and lie hoped that some relief would be afforded .
Lord John Resell thought the house should proceed with the Corn Bill , and moved the previous question . The motion was , however , withdrawn upon a premise from Sir Robert Peel , that he would produce Mr . Wood ' s memorial to the Treasury and cake the debate upon it next Wednesday ,
ADJOURNED DEBATE ON THE CORN IMPORTATION BILL . The debate was resumed by Lord Pollixoiok , who thought tbat when every protection was withdrawn from agriculture , every restriction upon it ought to be withdrawn too . The proprietors and cultivators of the soil of England ought to be permitted to cultivate their lands in any way they thonght tit . They should be allowed to grow hops and tobacco ,-alid to malt the barley which they grew , turning it cither into food for cattle or into wholesome beverage for labourers . Mr . Plumtre thought this was not entirely a landlord ' s question ; it would certainly affect landlords in a certain rank of life , but it would be much
more injurious to the labourer . Ho had been practically acquainted with farming for the last twenty years , and he knew that in / Kent , when the price of corn was high , the wages ofthe labourer were 18 s . a week ; but , when the price fell , wages came down to 9 s ., and a less number of labourers were employed . That was the uniform practice in Kent , where wages at tho present time were 12 s . per week . The ' potatoe disease had been assigned as the reason for bringing forward this measure , but he thought it was the fear of that unconstitutional association , ' the Anti-Cora Law League . If they gave way to the pressure from without on the present occasion , was it not probable , when this league had done its work , that another league , with other objects , would be culled into existence , and that the Chartists , encouraged by the success of the Anti-Corn Law League , would come
forward and demand the extension of the suffrage ? Having once launched upon the ocean of expediency , where were fhey to stop ? His belief was , that this once free and flourishing country would be exposed to many dangers , and that their wisely and prtid- ntly limited monarchy would lapse into a wild democracy . ( Hear , hear . ) He hoped his fears might not be realised , but after the best consideration which he could give the subject , he thought he was best promoting the welfare and prosperity of the country by givine his decided opposition to the present measure . ( Hear , hear . ) Mr . B . II awes referred to the petitions from London , Liverpool , Manchester , Glasgow , and other , populous places , in favour of this measure , as a decisive proof that the people considered it well calculated to promote the general prosperity of tfce empire .
Sir J . TnoLLorE , in opposing the second reading of the bill , made a stout protection speech , in which he reiterated the usual arguments derived from , the pressure of tithes , poor rates , highway rates , county rates , and the malt tax , on the agricultural interest . Sir J . Hammer supported the bill . ' Lord Eurinoiox regretted , that though we had now the prospect of the total repeal of the Corn Law before us , we were still to be cursed for three years longer with a sliding scale . By bringing forward this measure Ministers had conceded in substance the demand of that formidable agitation which had been commenced and conducted by the League ; but unfortunately they had left enough of protection in existence to justify , if not to compel , the continuance
of that agitation which , as a remedy , was on j 1 fi dangerous than the disease which it professed to ' cure . After treating with comparative disdain the compcn » sation which Sir It . Peel proposed to give to theagricultural interest , he asserted that the scheme of the right hon . baronet could not deserve the title of " a grand and comprehensive scheme" so long as it left unchanged the law of real property , which really did press heavily on the landed interest . Mr . Rashleigh wished to know from her Majesty ' s government whether they intended to accede to all the demands made from the other side .: He saw the right hon . baronet ( the Secretary of State for the Home Department ) smile , but the right hon . bavonet should not smile during the discussion of a great question . ( Laughter . ) . Gentlemen opposite might
smile , bathe ( Mr . Rashleigh ) was not to be put dlwn by the smiles of the hon . member for Stockport and all tho crew behind him . ( Laughter , and cries of "Order . " ) The right hon . baronet at the head of the government was now the leader of that party . What was it that had caused such a change ? Formerly the motion of the hon . member for Wolvc hampton was met with silent contempt , and defeated with large majorities . In his opinion that was the constitutional way to beat such motions . ( Laughter . ) The hon . member for Bolton also smiled , but let ! . m take care—this was no smiling question . ( Loud laughter . ) The sooner the hon . member gave up i that peculiar grimace , the bettor for himself . ( Loud 1 laughter . ) He saw the significant smiles of some ¦
hon . gentlemen opposite belonging to the League ., He knew them well enough . ( Laughter . ) And Le 5 knew what ( hat smile meant coming i ' rum their ,., ( Much laughter . ) He lived at some distance from t their smoky regions ; but he could tell them this , , that some of those very personages whom they heJa 1 in comtempt were his greatest friends—they wore- » iriefids he should feel proud to have at his tables-he s meant some of the operatives in those districts they 7 treated with so much contempt , and whom they haa L constantly and on all occasions tried to put down— the men whom they were afraid to meet in open x meetings on this question . Mr . F . Bahino expressed his intention of giving \ his cordial support to the measure introduced by her r Majesty ' s government , because he saw in it much a actual good , and the seeds of still greater prospective e good . He asked the members of the new party , ef si
which the iotmation had been developed in , the ic course of these debates , what they intended to do lo with respect to tho present Corn Laws . Mr . Miles es was of opinion that , if they defeated the present bill , U , all was done that the occasion required ; but his hon , > n , ¦ relative , Mr . T . Baring , was of opinion that the pre-resent was just the time for making a compromise , se , Which of these two leaders of the new party was the . he country to believe ? He asked them to explain , if if ' they could , the chance which , tbey had of succeeding ing in their present opposition to the measures of the go-government . But , supposing that they were to succeeded , and that they were able to place on the Treasury ury benches gentlemen capable of competing with its pre-ire sent and its previous occupants , and that they wereerei fortunate enough to obtain a majority sufficient tot toi chable them to carry en the government , woulduldl they bo able to meet the other difficulties of theiiaeiii position .
Mr . Shaw addressed the house at some length uponpom the documents which had recently been presented t & ta it by order ofthe government , relative to the fsminciincE and fever now raging in Ireland . From the vcrycrjji first he had stated that ho believed the statcrnentientii relative to the failure of the potatoe crop in Ire- Ire- ; - land to have been much exaggerated , and th < th « Ministers to have been misled by the informatioutiom which they had received ; and he now repeated hil hiu former belief , referring to numerous letters in jtistifistifii cation of bis statement . He spoke with all sinceritjeritv when he declared it to be his belief that those gcntlentle ; men who sat around him acted upon this honourabkabli principle : —they opposed what they thought wrongrong ' and supported what they thought right ; and the ; the ;; disclaimed no reippnsjbility that might be cast upoiupon them . ( Protectionist cheers . ) He was persundctndcu that they had no thoughts of office . They were no > so full of that idea as Mr . Baring and hisinends apis am peared to be . They were prepared to taKe a straigntigntt forward , plain , and manly course , and to abide title tin
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), March 28, 1846, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_28031846/page/7/
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