HL Deb 27 August 1846 vol 88 cc1057-60
The EARL of RODEN

rose and expressed a hope that he might be permitted to address a few words to the House upon a subject which was most deeply interesting to himself, most important to Her Majesty's Ministers, and most closely connected with the very existence of a large portion of the population. He lamented that it was not in his power to be present in the House the other night when the noble Marquess opposite (the Marquess of Lansdowne) brought forward a measure for the relief of distress consequent upon the failure of the potato crop in Ireland. He (the Earl of Roden) did not wish to express an opinion upon the usefulness or efficacy of that measure; for he was most willing to give credit to Her Majesty's Ministers that they were anxious to do all that lay in their power to meet the evils at present existing in Ireland; and particularly he was ready to admit that the noble Lord at the head of the Government in Ireland would be most anxious to discharge his duty in that respect. The course which the late Government took last year did them the greatest credit. They had prevented much distress; and, had they not been so ready to listen to whatever complaints were addressed to them, it was impossible to say what the result might have been. But, whilst he entertained these feelings, he deemed it to be his duty, before Parliament separated, having been recently an eye-witness of the circumstances of Ireland, to come over and state to the Parliament, and through Parliament to the country, the melancholy situation in which a large portion of our fellow subjects there were likely to be placed. Within the last few days he had traversed a great part of the province of Ulster, with the view of ascertaining its real condition; and he was not guilty of any exaggeration when he said that through the whole progress of his journey he did not believe there was one field of potatoes which was not decaying, and rapidly decaying, in consequence of the disease which had extended so widely among that species of food. But this was not all. He regretted to state that it was accompanied by another evil; he alluded to a very great deficiency in the oat crop in that part of the country. Their Lordships would remember that the population there were not confined to the potato, but that oats formed a considerable portion of their food. So that, if the failure in the oat crop was at all equal to that of the potato, the calamity would indeed be most awful. There were various means of relief which might be adopted; and one which occurred to him at the present moment was this: On the western coast of Ireland there was an abundance of food which required only the means of transportation to be made available for the whole country; he alluded to the fisheries on that coast. If these were encouraged, and facilities were given for the conveyance of the fish to the interior, he believed that great benefits would accrue to the population. The manner in which the peasantry regarded the failure of the potato crop was most striking. They considered that calamity as a visitation from Heaven; and no one who travelled through the country could fail to observe with what patience and submission they bore it. The noble Lord opposite (Lord Monteagle) had described the condition of the people in the south of Ireland; and he (the Earl of Roden) had that morning received a letter-which entirely confirmed his statement. He would merely observe, in conclusion, that he had drawn their Lordships' attention to this subject in the hope that by so doing he should call forth the sympathies of those who had it in their power to assist in relieving the distress which prevailed; and if his voice could reach the ears of the possessors of property in Ireland—if his voice could have any effect in speaking to them from that place on so solemn a question, he would beseech them under any circumstances to come home to their own country and people—to live amongst and encourage them in the midst of the difficulties in which they stood—and to show to them that they were willing to share the evils which he feared the people of Ireland would ere long he forced to bear.

The EARL of COURTOWN

also expressed his fervent hope that everything would be done to give employment to the Irish people.

LORD MONTEAGLE

said, that the constabulary in Ireland cost the country upwards of 160,000l. a year, and he thought the money would be much better laid out if it were devoted to the employment of the people.

The DUKE of GRAFTON

said, he saw no reason why they should not supply the Irish people with food directly. Why not send them biscuit? He was sure that no Irishman would object to use the same biscuit on which their sailors were fed.

The EARL of CLARENDON

could not, he said, permit the discussion to close without tendering his best thanks to the noble Lord who had come from Ireland to make known the situation of that country; and he now appealed to all persons of property in that country to unite together, for the purpose of preventing the evils that were likely to flow from the present dreadful calamity. This was, he said, a most important moment, and he could not permit the opportunity that was then presented to him of adjuring every one, who had an interest in Ireland, and not only them, but of all others, to unite together for the purpose of making one common effort for relieving and mitigating the existing distress; for the statements that had been made by noble Lords regarding it only tended to confirm the melancholy reports which Her Majesty's Government had received, and that occupied their most earnest and most anxious attention. His only hope was, that the efforts they were about to make, and the measures they proposed to adopt, might, he would not say, effect a cure, but be at least the means of alleviating the evil.

House adjourned.