§ The Earl of GLENGALL took his Seat as Representative Peer for Ireland, in the place of the Marquis of Headford, deceased.
The Earl of Lauderdalepresented a petition from the nobility, gentry, clergy, and freeholders of the county of Cumberland, complaining of distress, and praying for relief. The noble Lord stated, that the petition had been agreed upon at a county meeting, the high sheriff in the chair; that it was signed by two hundred and fifty respectable gentry and yeomanry; and that it earnestly prayed their Lordships to take 248 the condition of the country into their serious consideration.—The petition was read at length. It complained strongly of the existing general distress in the country, which it attributed, not to any visitation of Providence, or any fault on the part of the people, but in a great measure to the suppression of the paper currency, and the adoption of a gold standard, without at the same time a corresponding reduction of taxation. It, in conclusion, prayed for a revisal of the act of 1819, and likewise for a reduction of the Malt and Beer duties.