COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF IRELAND.
In the last session a committee of the lords had been appointed to inquire into the state of those districts in Ireland which were subject to the operation of the insurrection act. Early in this session another committee was appointed to inquire into the state of Ireland generally. The result of the labours of the committee was a brief and vague report, but accompanied by a mass of evidence, which threw great light upon the condition of the general body of the Irish people. It showed that they lived in the most degraded state; that they were without property; and that their existence was sustained by an insufficient quantity of food of the most unwholesome kind. This report, however, was presented at too late a period of the session to be made the basis of any enactments; and though various discussions took place during the session on particular circumstances connected with the state of Ireland, none of them led to any result affecting the condition of the people.