which I hope to induce the colonists to reconsider the whole matter in dispute, and see whether those disputes have not arisen in a great part out of feelings of irritation consequent upon former disputes, and to offer such practicable measures as may induce them to abandon the greater number of those complaints. The noble Lord concluded by moving the first of the following Resolutions :— 1. That since October 31, in the year 1832, no provision has been made by the Legislature of the province of Lower Canada, for defraying the charges of the administration of justice, and for the support of the civil government, within the said province, and that there will on April 10 now next ensuing be required for defraying in full the charges aforesaid to that day, the sum of 142,160l. 148. 6d. 2. That at a Session of the Legislature of Lower Canada, holden at the city of Quebec, in the said province in the months of September and October 1836, the Governor of the said province, in compliance with his Majesty's commands, recommended to the attention of the House of Assembly thereof the estimates for the current year, and also the accounts, showing the arrears due in respect of the civil government, and signified to the said House his Majesty's confidence that they would accede to the application which he had been commanded to renew, for payment of the arrears due on account of the public service, and for the funds necessary to carry on the civil government of the province. 6 3. That the said House of Assembly, on October 3, 1836, by an address to the Governor of the said province, declined to vote a supply for the purposes aforesaid; and by the said address, after referring to a former address of the said House to the Governor of the said province, declared that the said House persisted, amongst other things, in the demand of an elective Legislative Council, and in demanding the repeal of a certain Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in favour of the North American Land Company; and by the said address, the said House of Assembly farther adverted to the demand made by that House of the free exercise of its control over all the branches of the Executive Government; and by the said address, the said House of Assembly farther declared, that it was incumbent on them, in the present conjuncture, to adjourn their deliberations until his Majesty's Government should, by its acts, especially by rendering the second branch of the Legislature conformable to the wishes and wants of the people, have commenced the great work of justice and reform, and created a confidence, which alone could crown it with success. 4. That in the existing state of Lower Canada, it is unadvisable to make the Legislative Council of that province an elective body; but that it is expedient that measures be adopted for securing to that branch of the Legislature a greater degree of public confidence. ‘5. That while it is expedient to improve the composition of the Executive Council in Lower Canada, it is unadvisable to subject it to the responsibility demanded by the House of Assembly of that province. 6. That the legal title of the North American Land Company to the land holden by the said Company, by virtue of a grant from his Majesty, under the public seal of the said province, and to the privileges conferred on the said company by the Act for that purpose made, in the fourth year of his Majesty's reign, ought to be maintained inviolate. 7. That it is expedient, that so soon as provisions shall have been made by law, to be passed by the Legislature of the said province of Lower Canada, for the discharge of lands therein from feudal dues and services, and for removing any doubts as to the incidents of the tenure of land in fee and common soccage in the said province, a certain Act made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George IV., commonly called "The Canada Tenures Act," and so much of another Act passed in the third year of his said late Majesty's reign, commonly called "The Canada Trade Act," as relates to the tenures of land in the said province, should be repealed, saving nevertheless to all persons all rights in them vested under or by virtue of the said recited Acts. '8. That for defraying the arrears due on account of the established and customary charges of the administration of justice, and of the civil government of the said province, it is expedient, that after applying for that purpose such balance as shall, on the said 10th day of April, 1837, be in the hands of the Receiver-General of the said province, arising from his Majesty's hereditary, territorial, and casual revenue, the Governor of the said province be empowered to issue from and out of any other part of his Majesty's revenues, in the hands of the Receiver-General of the said province, such further sums as shall be necessary to effect the payment of the before-mentioned sum of 142,160l. 148. 6d. 9. That it is expedient that his Majesty be authorised to place at the disposal of the Legislature of the said province, the net proceeds of his Majesty's hereditary, territorial, and casual revenue arising within the same, in case the said Legislature shall see fit to grant to his Majesty a civil list for defraying the necessary charges of the administration of justice, and for the maintenance and unavoidable expenses of certain of the principal officers of the civil government of the said provinces. 10. That great inconvenience had been sustained by his Majesty's subjects inhabiting the provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, from the want of some adequate means for regulating and adjusting questions respecting the trade and commerce of the said provinces, and divers other questions, wherein the said provinces have a common interest; and it is expedient that the Legislature of the said provinces respectively be authorised to make provision for the joint regulation and adjustment of such their common interest.' POOR LAWS (IRELAND). February 13, 1837. LORD JOHN RUSSELL: I beg to move the Order of the Day for the House resolving itself into a Committee of the whole House on so much of the King's Speech as relates to the establishing of Poor-laws in Ireland. LORD JOHN RUSSELL then rose and spoke to the following effect I feel, Sir, the extreme importance of the subject which I am about to bring under the consideration of the House; at the same time I feel it is one which, while it has received much discussion, while it has been the subject of a report made by Commissioners appointed by his Majesty, who collected a great deal of information in relation to it, is likewise a matter which I can rely confidently the House thus prepared will come to the consideration of, not only with the necessary information at its command, but with a desire to form a safe and dispassionate conclusion. I will preface what I have to say on the subject of Poorlaws for Ireland with some few observations as to the advantages which may be derived from poor-laws in general, the manner in which a poor-law should be applied, and the abuses to which it is subject. These are matters which are illustrated, I think, very fully and sufficiently in the history of this country. It appears from the testimony both of theory and of experience that when a country is in such a state that it is overrun by numbers both of marauders and of mendicants having no proper means of subsistence, who prey on the industry of the country, and rely on the indulgent charity of others, the introduction of poorlaws serves several very important objects. In the first place a poor-law acts as a measure of peace, enabling the country to prohibit vagrancy and those vagrant habits which are so often connected with outrage. It acts in this way by the very simple process of offering a refuge to those who rely on outrage as a means of subsistence. It is an injustice according to the common sense and feeling of mankind when a single person or family are unable to obtain the means of subsistence, when they are altogether without the means of livelihood from day to day, to determine that they shall not go about the country to endeavour to obtain from the charity of the affluent that which their poverty has denied to them. But when once you can say to such persons-here are the means of subsistence as far as sustenance is concerned-when you can say this on one hand you can say on the other, you are not entitled to demand charity, you shall no longer infest the country in a manner injurious to its peace, and which is favourable to imposition and outrage. Another way in which a poor-law is beneficial is, that it is of itself a great promoter of social concord, showing a disposition in the state and in the community at large to attend to the welfare of all classes. It is of use, also, inasmuch as it interests more especially the landowner and persons of property in the country in the welfare of their tenants and their neighbours. A person possessed of considerable property, who looks only to receive the rents of his estate, may be careless as to the number of persons who may be found in a state of destitution, in a state of mendicancy, or ready to commit crime and act as marauders in the neighbourhood of his estates; but if he is compelled to furnish means for the subsistence of those who are destitute, it |