FAMINE AND DISEASE IN IRELAND.

HC Deb 17 February 1846 vol 83 cc1050-89

MR. O'CONNELL

rose to call the attention of the House to the state of famine and disease in Ireland. His intention was to move— That this House will, on Monday next, resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to take into consideration the State of Ireland, with a view to devise means to relieve the Distress of the Irish People;"— and it was a Motion to which he respectfully demanded the utmost attention of the House. The importance of the subject was of itself sufficient to demand attention; but he should have been spared the whole of his labour had it suited the purpose of the right hon. Baronet, in the course of his speech on the previous night, to state what were the intentions of the Government with regard to Ireland. That, he begged to remind hon. Members, was no party question; he certainly introduced the subject without any party motive or party object. He was moved by no partisan feeling; nor did he expect that he should be met by any any party opposition. He was sure that all parties would agree with him in feeling deep anxiety at the prospect of distress; and that thus the House would come fairly to the consideration of the subject, without bias or prepossession. It was certain that there was a fearful prospect of a most calamitous season before the people of Ireland. The extent of that calamity had been disputed, and there had been a time when there was a prospect of some portion of it being possibly averted; but he believed that hope had now quite vanished. The calamity was pressing, was imminent—more pressing, more imminent, and more fearful than that House was aware of. In order to understand it, it was right that the House should be made aware of the state of Ireland before the calamity, had impended. That calamity, they should observe, was not one brought on by any fault of the Irish people. It was not a consequence of the sterility of the Irish soil. The country had enjoyed an abundant harvest. That calamity was a dispensation of Providence, and they should bow to the will of an all-dispensing Power, whilst they fulfilled the duties of charitable Christians, and endeavoured to mitigate the evils that might arise. But to enable them to relieve the distress, it would be necessary for the House to understand the previous state of Ireland; and he was sorry to have to state in the commencement that, from the public documents, it appeared that, for several years past, the population of Ireland, instead of increasing, according to the rules of nature, and as in other countries, had been failing and wasting away. But the condition of the people, especially of the agricultural population, had been long known to be miserably wretched. The agricultural population had been long described as ground down by famine and distress. All accounts agreed in describing them as in a state of actual starvation. Now, he did not propose to call upon the House to believe any mere assertions of his. He had no intention of asking them to believe anything he did not prove by documents. He meant to show, from documents of the most unquestionable character, the increasing misery of the Irish nation. The first document would be an abstract of the Population Returns for 1821, 1831, and 1841, by which the following facts were placed beyond a doubt. Between 1821 and 1831, the population of Ireland increased nearly a million, viz., 965,570 souls; but between 1831 and 1841 the increase had only been about half that number, or 437,980 souls. Attempts had been made to account for this decrease by the increase of emigration; but the argument was most unsatisfactory. Those who used it gave no returns of emigration between 1821 and 1831, but confined themselves to the emigration between 1831 and 1841: there was no reason at all to imagine that the emigration was less between 1821 and 1831, than it had been between 1831 and 1841. This fact, therefore, stared him full in the face, that in ten years the population went back half a million; there was an increase of half a million fewer human beings in Ireland between 1831 and 1841 than there had been between 1821 and 1831. One of the topics in connexion with the state of slavery in the West Indies, which made the strongest impression from the lips of Sir Fowell Buxton, was the circumstance that the black population had decreased; but his case was not so striking as that of Ireland. The next public document to which he begged leave to refer, was the Report of the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry in 1835; they had been appointed by the House to investigate the state of destitution in Ireland, and they distinctly stated that 2,300,000 of the agricultural population were in a constant state approaching to starvation. For several weeks in the year they lived on the charity of their neighbours. The last Population Returns of 1841 showed that, out of the whole rural population of Ireland, 46 per cent. lived in a single room; the entire human family and the pigs occupied the same apartment together. The next fact was, that of the civil population—that is, of the inhabitants of towns—36 per cent. lived in a single room, and that two or three families sometimes occupied the same room. Perhaps the most important document of all was the Report of Lord Devon's Commission; it had been directed to that noble Lord and four others, and perhaps a better Commission was never formed by the hands of any Government. It was impossible to believe that they were deceived themselves, or that they meant to deceive others, and the following were the terms they used, warranted by the evidence they had taken, and their own observations:— That the agricultural labourers of Ireland suffer the greatest privations and hardships; that they depend upon precarious and casual employment for subsistence; that they are badly housed, badly fed, badly clothed, and badly paid for their labour; that it would be impossible to describe adequately the sufferings and privations which the cottiers and labourers and their families in most parts of the country endure; that in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water; that their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather; that a bed or blanket is a rare luxury; and that nearly in all, their pig and their manure heap constitute their only property; that a large proportion of the entire population comes within the designation of agricultural labourers, and endure sufferings greater than the people of any other country in Europe have to sustain. Hon. Members would recollect that these were not the assertions of demagogues, or even of persons interested in reporting exaggerated scenes of misery; they were the distinct and emphatic statements of men above all suspicion, and beyond the belief that they could have been imposed upon. The rural population in the last census was calculated at seven millions, and five millions of these were in the condition described in the Report of the Earl of Devon's Commission, it was a Report made forty-five years after the Union with England—after the Union with the richest and most industrious country on the face of the earth; and what did the Commissioners say but that the agricultural population of Ireland was badly fed, badly clothed, badly housed—that their food was potatoes, their drink water, and that they endured greater privations than the peasantry of any other country of Europe. He would appeal to hon. Gentlemen who listened to him, whether this was not a frightful state of society. They must remember that the Irish did not govern themselves, that there was no Irish Parliament, and that after a government by England of forty-five years duration, this was the result. He would not enter into all the topics this part of the question presented: he would only put it distinctly to those who heard him, that they were responsible for the present condition of Ireland. If England could not govern her, she ought to abdicate; but if she continued to attempt it, she was bound to rescue the people of Ireland from their present misery. This Report, too, was not made in a year of calamity, a year of famine, but in 1844, when the harvest was abundant, and comparatively little distress was known in Ireland: it was made at a period of comparative comfort, if he might use the expression, of comparative freedom from calamity. It might be said that it was the fault of the Irish people; but Lord Devon's Report did not say so. The Commissioners had reported two points: the first was, that "the patient endurance which the labourers exhibit is deserving of high commendation, entitling them to the best attention of Government and Parliament." The Irish people were therefore not to blame for their misery; and the Commis- sioners called upon the Government and the Parliament to give their best attention to their condition, with some confidence that the call would be responded to. Another matter of commendation on the part of the Commissioners, was the habits of temperance of the Irish peasantry:— Up to this period (they said) any improvement that may have taken place is attributable almost entirely to the habits of temperance in which they have so generally persevered, and not, we grieve to say, to any increased demand for their labour. In addressing himself, therefore, to the present distressed state of the inhabitants, he carried with him the hope that he had impressed upon the House the real claims of the sufferers. What had they to fall back upon at this moment? Potatoes were their only food—their only drink water; and they had neither bed nor blanket to cover them from the cold. It was singular enough that they were threatened now with this calamity; it was not to be attributed to the population—to any refusal to labour and cultivate the soil. He had two Parliamentary documents before him to show how unfounded was any charge of that kind. The first was this— An account of the quantities of wheat, barley, oats, wheat flour, and oatmeal imported into Great Britain from Ireland, in the years 1842, 1843, 1844, and 1845, distinguishing the quantities in each year:—

Years.	CORN OF IRISH GROWTH,
Imported into Great Britain from Ireland.
Wheat.	Barley.	Oats.	Wheat Meal, or Flour.	Oatmeal.
	Quarters.	Quarters.	Quarters.	Cwts.	Cwts.
1842	112,195	50,287	1,274,326	314,311	1,551,172
1843	192,477	110,449	1,561,997	773,463	1,706,628
1844	200,276	90,656	1,509,870	839,567	1,150,976
1845	372,719	93,095	1,679,958	1,422,379	1,059,185

That Return gave this result; that 2,145,772 quarters of grain were imported from Ireland into England, and 2,481,564 cwts. of flour and meal; showing that there was an abundant crop in Ireland last year; that while her people were starving she produced a large quantity of grain and meal for the consumption of England. The second Parliamentary document he had to refer to, was— An account of all cattle, sheep, and swine, imported into Great Britain from Ireland, from the 10th day of October, 1845, to the 5th day of January, 1846. Oxen, bulls, and cows, 32,883; calves, 583; sheep and lambs, 32,576; swine, 104,141. These two documents proved an anomalous state of society to exist in Ireland; for while the country produced such abundance, the inhabitants were starving. So blessed was she by Providence; so cursed by man! Others might account for it as they could; but the fact was indisputable, that the best state of society there, was the worst in other parts of the globe. Having shown what Ireland was, even in the best times, he would now advert to the extent and formidable nature of the calamity by which she was now visited. The documents he should first employ for this purpose, were such as had been furnished by Government; and with some of them hon. Gentlemen must be familiar: to them the reading might seem tedious; but it was his duty to lay the case of Ireland, in the fullest manner, before the House; and on this account he trusted he should be excused if he offered a few known details. The subsequent passage was contained in the Report of Messrs. Lindley and Playfair, dated November 15, 1845:— During our stay in Ireland, we carefully examined such official Papers as were transmitted to us from the Castle; we consulted persons acquainted with the facts of the disease; we visited the district lying between Dublin and Drogheda; and inspected various potato fields and stores in the counties of Dublin, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, and part of Kildare. Judging from the evidence thus collected, and, from what we have seen of the progress of the disease in England, we can come to no other conclusion than that one-half of the potato crop of Ireland is either destroyed or remains in a state unfit for the food of man. We, moreover, feel it our duty to apprize you, that we fear this to be a low estimate. The next extract he would read was from the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry at Dublin Castle; and the House would observe that it was a remarkable paragraph:— It appears from undoubted authority, that of 32 counties in Ireland, not one has escaped failure in the potato crop; of 130 Poor Law Unions, not one is exempt; of 2,058 electoral divisions, above 1,400 are certainly reported as having suffered; and we have no certainty, until the receipt of the more minute returns, now in progress of completion, that the remaining 600 have altogether escaped. That Commission had corresponded with nearly all the local authorities in Ireland; and the following was the conclusion at which it had arrived, after having written 362 letters to obtain correct information:—

PROPORTION OF POTATO CROP LAST YEAR.
Provinces.	All.	9–10ths.	4–8ths.	5–4ths.	2–3rds.	Halves.	1–3rds.	1–4ths.	1–5ths.	1–7ths.	1–8ths.	1–10ths.	Total.
Ulster	6	1	3	15	37	133	32	6	…	…	6	…	239
Munster	…	…	1	9	13	88	16	4	1	…	1	…	133
Leinster	…	4	1	28	41	97	9	2	1	1	…	…	199
Connaught	…	…	1	8	12	49	6	4	…	…	1	…	81

A more authentic document could not be produced; and the accuracy of its details might, therefore, be fully relied upon. Sir Lucius O'Brien, at first, had been difficult to be persuaded of the extent of the disease in the potatoes; but he had subsequently waited on the Lord Lieutenant, and had admitted that he had been mistaken, and that it prevailed to the excess that had been stated. He need not remind the House of the documents read by the right hon. Baronet in his speech last night. Hon. Members would be aware how fully, deeply, and entirely, they corroborated the representation he had given upon the subject, without any point of mitigation: misery, poverty, famine, and disease, were the fea- tures belonging to the present wretched state of Ireland. A Committee, called the Mansion House Committee, had been appointed in Dublin, and the utmost care had been taken to collect accurate information. Between the 10th December and 26th January, they issued 923 letters, and had received 523 answers: viz., from Leinster, 141 letters; from Ulster, 163 letters; from Munster, 152 letters; from Connaught, 67 letters. Of these there were — from ministers of the Established Church, 216 letters; from Roman Catholic clergy, 195 letters; from Presbyterian ministers, 40 letters; from lieutenants and deputy ditto, 47 letters; from poor law boards, 25 letters. The following was the degree in which they represented that the potato crop had suffered, and was unfit for human food:—Under one-third, 110; one-third, 111; one-half, 148; over half, 84. Such was the synopsis of the letters and answers. At one period, when the potatoes were stored, and the calamity not immediately before the eyes of the people, they had hoped that it had passed the crisis: that appeared to be a mistake; but whether it were true or false that there was at one time a lull in the disease, it was now quite certain that it was making frightful progress again. He had now to trespass on the patience of the House while he brought under its view other documents, collected from various parts of Ireland, describing the state of the disease in different localities. Unless the occasion were grave and pressing, he should not have felt justified in taking this course; but some of the leading journals within the last ten days had asserted positively that the disease had ceased, and that there was no danger of a want of provisions. He did not accuse the writers of party motives, but of having been easily deluded, and willing to delude others. The conviction that the disease was most destructive was not merely local; it was not confined to a particular district, but from one end of the country to the other the cry was echoed of coming famine. Upon this part of his case he would trouble the House with the subsequent extract of a letter from Tralee, dated the 2nd instant:— Potatoes, I regret to say, from the progress of the rot, advanced a third; and this, as I stated a few days past, at a period when the rate of remuneration for agricultural labourers is 2⅞d. per day, and diet a few wet lumpers. This is low enough, but the tradesmen in this town are not earning that same. The inevitable consequence of this is already manifesting itself. Fever is on the increase both here and in Killarney, and unless the most vigorous efforts are made to facilitate public works, and employ those able and willing to exchange their labour for the means of purchasing commodities for human consumption, the pestilence of 1817, also the result of scarcity, will bear no proportion to what is likely to ensue shortly. In that year disease did not appear until the approach of summer; then the poor creatures lay in dozens in the market-house of Killarney, and in other dilapidated ruins with which that neglected town abounds for a long time past. The Londonderry agricultural report for January contained the following statements:— The wheat plants have made great progress during the month, and have a very healthy appearance, and the grass fields are as forward in their look as we often observe in March. We are sorry to observe so many of the potatoes, which were confidently relied upon for seed, giving way under the disease. Now, after having been subjected to pitting and housing, great quantities of them are found to be rotten; nor are those still in the ground much better, for although apparently sound, a few days after being dry they assume a very different aspect. We still fear the consequences at seed time. Many were disposed to try autumn or winter planting; but the weather has been very untoward for that purpose, and those who tried it report unfavourably of it, the excessive moisture having destroyed the seed. A respectable farmer in the county of Wexford wrote thus:— I said in my last that the apple potatoes that were not rotted might be used for food. Our apples were as dry as possible when we pitted them, and we kept them dry by our manner of covering them. We thought we might have some for summer, but we find they are scarcely fit for cattle now, and more than half of them are completely in pulp. We cannot use any apple potatoes this year, and this is a general complaint here. The cups are not very much lost, but there are ten times more of them rotted than when I wrote last. The Reverend J. Fitzpatrick, of Castletownroche, county Cork, on the part of a meeting held there, addressed circulars to all the landlords possessing property in the district, containing a minute description of the state of the population. The result was— More than half the potato crop is unfit for human food, and the disease is progressing. More than half the labourers are unemployed, and are likely to continue so for the next three months, and during the months of July and August, as the farmers will not have money nor food to give them. He would now advert to the centre of the country and to the state of the disease there. The first quotation he would make was from a letter from Nenagh, dated Feb. 4:— We continue to receive the most distressing accounts of the fearful progress of the disease from various quarters. In the King's County the complaints are universal. In this county the disease has gone on with amazing celerity within the last three weeks; many persons on examining their pits found their potatoes in some instances altogether useless, not even fit for pigs or cattle. In several districts the poor are pining in the utmost misery, but with unequalled fortitude and patience, hoping, even where there is nothing but religion to assuage their wretchedness. The heavy and constant rains of the last few weeks—raining almost without intermission — have done great injury; and the softness of the weather otherwise tends, in a great measure, to produce that fermentation of the potato which causes its destruction as an article of food. Landed proprietors should endeavour to aid themselves and the people at this tremendous crisis. The subsequent letter from John F. Hodges, M.D., dated Downpatrick, 2nd February, referred to the condition of the counties of Down, Armagh, Antrim, and Monaghan:— During the month of January I had occasion to visit several districts in the counties of Down, Armagh, Antrim, and Monaghan, and I carefully inquired into the state of the potato crop. I found that though there was considerable difference in the amount of loss in the districts examined, yet that everywhere, with a few trifling exceptions in some moory soils in county Monaghan, the disease continued its destructive ravages, unchecked by any of the methods recommended to stop its progress; that in every description of pit, in the moist field, and the dry loft, the potatoes were, either as the farmers expressed it, 'melting away,' or 'shrivelling up with a dry rot.' In some districts in Armagh I was informed that the destruction was progressing with such terrible rapidity, that of potatoes raised, thrice picked, and stored up in pots as free from all taint, not more than one-third was found fit for use some days ago. In the neighbourhood of the city of Armagh, the extent of loss was represented as very great. In the neighbourhood of Markethill and Portadown the loss has been also very great, and will, I fear, be severely felt by the small farmers in that part of the country. In Monaghan I made particular inquiries from several farmers, among whom I may mention the name of Mr. Gowdy, one of the most intelligent agriculturists in the district in which he resides, and I found it to be the general persuasion, that fully two-thirds of the crop, at that time (6th of January), had been rendered unfit for food. Along the north-east coast again, in the neighbourhood of Larne, the destruction has also been great; and several Antrim farmers, whose names if required, can be supplied, have last week assured me that the stock of potatoes which they have at present on hand is not so large as they were in former years accustomed to have in the month of May. The next document he had to offer presented a peculiar feature well deserving notice: it was an extract of a letter from Tullamore:— A great many petty robberies are daily committed about the suburbs of Tullamore, from the great distress and poverty arising from want of employment, together with the scarcity of potatoes and the high price of provisions, the unfortunate people having no other remedy to keep them from starvation. Fever and sickness are on the increase, both in that town and country parts. From the parish of Killard, in the county of Kildare, they wrote in these terms:— It contains sixty-six families, comprising three hundred and seventy-four individuals, having out of their crop of ten hundred and ninety barrels of potatoes but one hundred and six barrels fit for human food. That in the townland of Doonbeg (same parish) there are forty-five families, comprising two hundred and seventy individuals, with but eighty-five barrels of good potatoes out of a crop containing six hundred and sixty-six barrels. That in the townland of Kilfeira (same parish) there are eighty-eight families, whose total produce of potatoes was fourteen hundred and fifty barrels, of which one hundred and eighty-seven barrels only were fit for human food. That in the townlands of Dunmore and Doonbeg (same parish) there are twenty-nine families, or one hundred and twenty-seven individuals, whose total produce was three hundred and seventy-two barrels, of which there were but fifty-eight barrels fit for human use. That in the townlands of Frureeree and Donoughboy at least three-fourths of the crop are lost. On the want of food in the county of Galway they wrote as follows:— The question of famine is no longer one of surmise. Its certainty, in a few months at furthest, is even acknowledged by the Government, and the reports which come in every day from the rural districts but too sadly confirm the conclusion which has been arrived at from the most carefully collected facts. Potatoes bear even now a famine price in the market. White potatoes go 4½d. per stone, and cup potatoes 5d. We believe 10d. per stone, in times of the greatest famine, was the highest price for potatoes ever known in Galway; and when we take into consideration that the potatoes now brought for sale to market are not only diseased to a great extent, but one-third of them completely waste to the purchaser in two or three days, the 4½d. per stone rises in real value to 9d. or 10d. When this is the case at present, what will it not be in a few weeks hence, when the crop is more exhausted? At the price which potatoes are even only now, a labourer employed the whole week at 10d. per day (the usual price of labour in this district is often lower) has to lay out the entire of his week's wages on them alone, if he is even so fortunate as to be able to purchase with it a sufficient quantity of this lowest of human food. There is nothing for any other accompanying article of diet; nothing, unless the belly is stinted of this worst kind of food: nothing for fuel, rent, or clothing; nothing for milk or fish; meat is out of the question. If this is the case at present with the labourer in full employment, how must it fare with the unfortunate creatures who have it only occasionally, or fare with both when food becomes dearer, and is placed totally out of their reach? A troop of the 13th Light Dragoons, from Gort, arrived here on Tuesday, under the command of Captain Hamilton, for the purpose, it is said, of repressing any outbreak among the people which may arise owing to the exportation of corn from this port. Two compa- nies of the 30th are likewise expected—one from Loughrea, the other from Outerard—to aid the force in garrison if necessary. The dragoons and additional military are expected to be stationed here for some time. This increase of troops is said to have been caused by the posting of a threatening notice last week to the effect that the merchants' stores would be broken up by the people if any further exportation of corn was attempted. Her Majesty's steamer, the Stromboli, arrived at the port of Galway on Monday evening, and anchored at the roadstead. It was not less remarkable than creditable, that not a single instance of riot, or disturbance of the public peace, owing to the want of food, had yet occurred in any part of Ireland. To the preceding documents he might be allowed to add the following report from the board of guardians at Nenagh:— At the weekly meeting of the Nenagh board of guardians on Thursday, 29th January, Sir T. B. Dancer said: I am sorry to say, at least of my own potatoes, that the disease is progressing; out of eight or nine acres of potatoes which were dug last week, I had four cartloads of them affected with the disease, and within the last fortnight nearly all my cups are failing, the one-third of them at least. In this month and next, which are generally soft months, I am of opinion that the great portion of the potatoes, now apparently sound, will become rotten or diseased. I have also inquired amongst my workmen and tenants, and they all bore the same testimony; and to show you as a proof of what I have stated, that when I lately found the disease so prevalent among my tenants' potatoes, I offered them 10 per cent allowance. Mr. Michael Meagher: I am bound to tell you this—that for the last three days I had been in Borrisoleigh; it is strange to say that it is not the black potatoes are going, but the white and sound ones, which were heretofore not diseased, or affected with the regular lot. Mr. John Kennedy: It is a general complaint that it is the sound potatoes that are failing under the malady, and not the black ones. Sir Thomas Dancer: What do you call 'black ones?'—The previously diseased potatoes. Mr. Hayes: There is no doubt but the disease is every day becoming more prevalent. Chairman: I am afraid that the opinions of the guardians are unanimous on that subject; but as far as I am concerned myself, I can say to the contrary. At Tralee Poor Law Union a meeting had been held on the 3d inst., to present a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant, and the subsequent was a report of what passed on that occasion:— Mr. Trant, introducing his motion that a committee be appointed to draw up a memorial to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, on the subject of the expected famine, regretted to say that there was even then more reason for the board carrying out his motion than when he had given notice of it, for he could assure them that the disease was rapidly extending in his district. Mr. Foran, the poor rate collector for the barony of Corkaguiny, said he was sorry to be obliged to acquaint them that in some parishes in his barony one-half of the crop was lost. Potatoes were unusually high in price, too, at one side of Dingle; the minions were 12s. a peck (32 stone). The disease was, in his opinion, decidedly on the increase. Mr. Quinlan thought that out of two farms of his he would not have a sound potato on May day. The spread of the disease was frightful. Mr. Rae was sorry to be obliged to corroborate what had been said about the spread of the epidemic; and, to make the matter still worse, the late high tides had washed away a quantity of the potatoes of the poor people in his neighbourhood, the parish of Keel. Captain Chute, Mr. Gorham, and other guardians, bore testimony to the spread of the disease. Colonel Stokes could state, from personal knowledge, that labourers in the vicinity of the Spa were now purchasing potatoes in the market, not having any of their own. Lumper potatoes were selling at 24s. per peck. At the rate potatoes were selling on Saturday last, potatoes sufficient to support the family of a labouring man for a week would cost upwards of 6s., 2s. more than the entire week's wages of most labourers in employment. He might in the present season safely say that two-thirds of the labourers were unemployed. He had paid 12s. a peck for diseased potatoes to feed cattle, in the market last week, and good lumpers were 24s., and minions 32s. per peck. In conclusion, he urged on the Board the necessity of representing to Government that they were willing that a tax should be levied on the properties of gentlemen, both resident and absentee, to provide food for the poorer classes, in the event of a famine. Mr. Trant's motion was seconded by Colonel Stokes, and passed, and a committee was appointed. At Youghal a public meeting had been held on the 11th instant, and what passed was contained in the following report of the proceedings:— The Rev. Mr. Smiddy said: Mr. Chairman, as I am in possession of certain documents connected with the state of distress, I shall occupy your attention while making a few observations on the subject. A short time since, by order of the Poor Law Commissioners in Dublin, inquiries were made in several parts of the Union as to the state of the potato crop, the result of which was forwarded to the Poor Law Commissioners. This was set on foot here, and inquiries were very accurately and minutely instituted, and the result of that is such as to convince every person that something must be done in order to provide for the approaching season of want and scarcity. By this arrangement we had parties appointed in several districts of the country to inquire what supply of potatoes remained on hand, and what amount of labour or employment was available for the people; the result is that in the country parts of this parish the farmers have only a supply sufficient for their own consumption, with the exception of two or three farmers, one of whom would be able to send twenty barrels to market in case the present supply remain free from disease, and that farmer is from the neighbourhood of Windgap. We have procured accurate information in reference to those persons who are objects of destitution. With regard to the labouring population, many of them are already obliged to live on the diseased potatoes, and the large body have only a supply which they expect will not last longer than two months [sensation]. That is the state of the potato crop in the country, and the amount of employment is very small indeed. Some of them, it has been ascertained, have only employment for nine months of the year, while others are only employed for five and six months during that period. The state of things in the town is even still worse. We all know that a general calamity has befallen the country with respect to the potato crop, and this misfortune must be more generally felt in large towns, as there is no supply of food there, as in the country, to relieve or alleviate the lamentable visitation. Inquiries have been made in several lanes in this town, and I am confident this meeting will be appalled and astonished at the result of the investigation. The Rev. Mr. Smiddy here read an abstract of the condition of the inhabitants of lanes in Youghal who lived by manual labour, showing the number of families and individuals, and the portion of the year, up to six months, to which the employment of more than a mofety is limited. From this return it appeared—

	Families.	Persons.
That there are living in lanes	908	4,579
Living on charity	88	356
Employed only 3 months, and less	56	235
Ditto, four months	72	253
Ditto, five months	95	453
Ditto, six months	228	1,245
	539	2,642

So that 539 families out of the 908, and 2,642 individuals out of the 4,579, are limited in employment, all to six months; many of them to three and four months of the year; and the wages, in many instances, so low as scarcely to give them subsistence, even for the time they are employed. This (continued the rev. gentleman), is a problem for the political economist; and a subject of serious reflection for all who are interested, not alone in the welfare, but in the actual existence of their fellow creatures. And such being the state of the distress, such being the amount of destitution, it is evident that something must be done, and done immediately, to remedy the awful circumstances of the people. Mr. Lomaseny, though a resident in the town for thirty-six years, had no idea of the destitution which he saw in Donovan's-lane; in that place there were six individuals living upon a floor ten feet square; there was not as much straw for them to lie upon as would be allowed a favourite dog—the covering at night consisted of the remnant of one blanket, with clothes which they wore during the day! In other places similar sights were to be seen; similar, and perhaps, if possible, more frightful poverty was to be witnessed. There was no distinct specification of the sufferings of the poor in towns and cities; but, according to the Report of Lord Devon, they were most afflicting. He would trouble the House with one more letter; it was from Lord Cloncurry, and was in the following form, addressed to the editor of the Dublin Evening Post:—

"February 9, 1846.

"My dear Sir—I think it right to mention to you that I planted some potatoes last November in lazy beds, the soil rich, maiden, and dry; the seed of the best kind, mostly cut, but some whole; the kinds, purple kidneys and pink eyes. On examining them last week I find one-third decayed, after making shoots. This is bad news: but it is better to give timely information. It was for this purpose I gave my time to the Mansion House Committee, the members of which appeared to me to have no other object in view, but the service of their fellow creatures. I believe the statement contained in several hundred letters directed to me, contained more true and early information than all the costly Reports and Commissions of the Government; and I believe that if some of the measures we recommended were adopted, they would have afforded a cheaper and more effectual relief than any suggested by salaried advisors. There is in the country at this moment corn more than enough to feed our entire population; by establishing stores or granaries in the poorhouses and other places, into which the farmers could send their corn, receiving in return a note as to the quantity, it would prevent the great loss which takes place every year by want of proper corn stands or barns through the country; it would be at hand if wanted, and if not, it could be sold in May or June at probably an advanced price, which would pay all expense. I have advocated the establishment of public granaries for many years, from a knowledge of their great utility in many parts of the Continent; and in no country would they be so beneficial as in Ireland, where almost all the farming classes are unprovided with the necessary corn stands and stores. It would have been much more becoming of the Government to listen to the advice of the Mansion House Committee, and to profit of the information they could have given gratis, than to desire their understrappers and officials to deny the existence of the danger, and to insist upon it that our accounts were exaggerated, and more political than patriotic.—Dear Sir, your humble servant,

"CLONCURRY."

Reluctant as he (Mr. O'Connell) was to continue the dulness necessarily produced by the perusal of a succession of documents, he felt that this was a matter of too much importance not to require the fullest information. He wished the House to understand that scarcity in Ireland had always been attended with typhus fever: no matter what change of air might be procured, the disease did not seem affected by the atmosphere: but it always ceased when food became abundant. Thus cause, effect, and cure, were obvious. The cause, was want of due nourishment; the effect, typhus fever; and the cure, a supply of the necessaries of life. He would furnish four or five instances of famine in Ireland, showing that fever ceased when the period of harvest arrived— 1734, Snmmer wet, autumn variable, winter mild; harvest bad, much straw, and little grain. 1735. Summer again cold and wet, autumn wet, winter open; fruits and grain very backward. 1736. One of the hottest summers remembered, autumn fair, winter open. Pestilential fever appeared in winter of 1734, continued through 1735, became very frequent and fatal in summer of 1736-and disappeared in autumn of the same year, which brought a most abundant harvest. 1740. Spring dry and cold, summer dry, autumn unusally frosty, winter frosty. Great dearth of provisions this autumn, 1740, which proceeded almost to a famine in winter, the potatoes having failed, while other provisions bore double or treble their usual price. Fever appeared in summer of 1740, increased in autumn, and rose to a terrific degree of violence in spring and summer of 1741. 80,000 persons died of fever and dysentery in this epidemic. The fever which had begun last autumn returned in spring, and raged through the summer of 1741. It was computed that one-fifth of the inhabitants died, though probably with exaggeration. 1741. Spring dry, summer dry, autumn variable, winter frosty. Plenty of good corn in autumn of 1741, fruits of the earth duly matured, winter concluded healthy, and the bills of mortality sunk conspicuously. 1742. Spring dry, summer hot, autumn variable, winter stormy and frosty. Provisions most plentible; bread sold at twenty-one pounds six ounces for a shilling. 1743. The summer and autumn were remarkable for health, as well as for fertility, and plenty in large crops of corn of all sorts; and we had scarce any disease then or in winter, except cold and sore throat, from which we are seldom exempted. The next period to which he would refer was the year 1798. The hon. and learned Gentleman then read as follows:— In 1798 summer and autumn wet, crops scanty, fuel scarce. Gentry flying out of the country, poor out of employment, tillage neglected, consequent starvation. Fever prevalent in the spring of 1798; spread in the end of summer to a frightful extent. In 1799, summer wet and cold; general deficiency in crops. Fever now assumed a most malignant type. In 1800, summer unusually hot and dry, but followed, like the previous wet summer, with deficient crops; the crops, moreover, of very bad quality; the people in a state of starvation. Malignant fever continued from 1798. In 1801, most abundant harvest; fever began to decline, and disappeared in the summer of 1802. He now came to 1817; the following were the characteristics of the period:— In 1817, crops of the preceding year very deficient, did not arrive at maturity; corn was uncut in November, much of it lost; corn saved was green in the husk or matted; potatoes scanty, wet, unripe; no straw even for the beds of the poor; turf also deficient. This combined deficiency of food, fuel, and bedding, felt most severely in winter and spring of 1816–17, when fever appeared, which became very prevalent in summer of 1817. Spring and summer wet, cold, and unproductive as the preceding year. In 1818, spring moist; summer unusually hot; crops good; provisions in abundance. The epidemic which had arisen in spring of 1817 continued to increase at a rapid rate through summer, winter, spring, and summer again, until the autumn of 1818, which brought with it a most abundant supply of food, fuel, and straw for bedding. Fever at the very same time began to decline, and soon after disappeared. One million and a half of the population suffered from fever in this epidemic. In 1826, po- tato crop of the preceding year (1825) very deficient. The weavers in Dublin were, by a sudden reverse of trade, thrown out of employment to the number of 20,000. Fever appeared rising rapidly in the spring of 1826, reached a terrific height in the autumn and winter following, declined in summer of 1827, and disappeared in autumn. The autumn of 1827 produced an almost unparalleled abundance of crops. There was one other calamity connected with scarcity which had been observed and commented upon by a medical gentleman in Dublin, one of the very first in his profession—he meant Dr. Corregan. The following were his remarks:— I cannot conclude without noting a warning circumstance that has had some influence with me in bringing out these observations at the present time. It has been remarked by all the observations at the present time. It has been remarked by all the observers of the epidemic fevers in Ireland—by Rogers, O'Connell, Rutty, Barker, and Cheyne, that small-pox had invariably prevailed, either immediately before or with each visitation of it. The same connexion between small-pox and the bad fevers which ravaged England in the 16th and 17th centuries, has been observed by medical writers. Sydenham has gone so far as to say, that from their intimate connexion, he doubts that the plague and small-pox may not be of the same nature, only with different forms of development. It seems as if the human constitution, under whatever influences have acted injuriously on vegetable organization, or have predisposed to epidemic fever, had lost so much of its energy as to render it less able to resist infection. Small-pox has been of late very prevalent in Ireland. I subjoin a table of the admissions and deaths from it in the Hardwicke Hospital for the last four years:—

	Total No. of Admissions.	No. of Small-pox cases.
	Admitted.	Cured.	Died.
1842	1,553	22	17	5
1843	1,551	18	14	4
1844	1,769	5	5	0
1845	2,413	86	71	15

This visitation should put us on our guard. It may have come to us as a warning. With our previous experience we should not neglect it. We know the danger that threatens us. We may combat it, should it come, but we can do more. We can prevent its attack. If there be no famines there will be no fever; and if active and timely exertion be made to afford sufficient employment and wages to our people, I believe there will be neither famine nor fever. The hon. and learned Gentleman continued—I have shown you our distress. I have shown that there are no agricultural labourers, no peasantry in Europe, so badly off—suffering such privations as do the great body of the Irish people. In no part of Europe, I repeat, is there such suffering as in Ireland. There there are five millions of people always on the verge of starvation. I have shown you from Government documents—from an enormous load of documents, taken from, and referring to, all parts of Ireland, that its people are threatened—that they are in the utmost danger of a fearful famine, with all its concomitant horrors. I may be asked what I propose? I answer, that I call upon all the Members of this House to join in the most energetic measures to stop the impending calamity. You cannot be too speedy—you cannot be too extensive in your remedies. It may be said that I am here to ask money to succour Ireland in her distress. No such thing. I scorn the thought. I am here to say Ireland has resources of her own. You have a revenue from the woods and forests of Ireland. You spent 74,000l. within the last few years on Trafalgar-square. Let that revenue represent a capital of a million or a million and a half. Why, then, borrow on the credit of that fund. You may borrow a million, and have a sinking fund. You may do more. You may borrow money on the rents of the Irish landlords. Borrow money, I say, and bring in an income-tax charging the absentee landlords 20 per cent., and resident landlords 10 per cent. The object is to protect the labouring population from an impending calamity. They are even now surrounded by disease and death in their most horrid forms. And it is fitting that we should make the landlords contribute in such a way as shall be effectual. You may tell me of the Poor Laws. My opinion is that Poor Laws may mitigate distress in ordinary seasons, but will not meet a famine. The workhouses would make very good hospitals for the sick. That fever prevails in Cork, Tralee, and Killarney, I have proved to you; it has raged to a frightful extent in Limerick; the number of patients in the infirmaries has increased; the lanes of Dublin are full of fever. You are not to be guided in such a case as this by ordinary rules. It is a case beyond every rule. The people are not to blame. It has pleased Providence to inflict this calamity upon them; it is your business to mitigate that calamity as much as possible. There are the railroads, for example. Why do you not take strong measures with railroads? I should be happy to see the Government authorized to act in reference to these. I should wish to see this House and the other support the Government in that course. I would dispense with the rules and regulations that fence railway schemes brought before Parliament. Famine is coming on—fever is coming on—this House ought to place in the Queen's Government powers adequate to such an exigency, so that it may have the means of giving the most extensive employment. As to contending lines, I do not know but the Government would decide better; for I don't know a worse tribunal than this House. I found myself yesterday voting on a railway question without exactly knowing what I was doing; I cannot, therefore, blame others. But wherever 100,000l. has been subscribed for a railway, the Government ought to have power to give another 100,000l. by way of loan, so as to afford every facility for proceeding with the works, and to leave private individuals at liberty to apply the funds thus left for a time in their hands in such a manner as to give further employment. Lend the money to the railways at 1 per cent. or 2 per cent. I know how many objections may be started to such a plan; but I speak of a case which is superior to every objection. Great evils require great remedies; the remedy ought to be commensurate with the evil; and I am speaking from the depth of my conviction when I declare that in my conscience I believe the result of neglect on the part of this House in the present instance will be deaths to an enormous amount. On the grounds which I have stated, I request the appointment of a Committee of the whole House, if with no other effect, at least for the purpose of convincing the Irish people that their calamities are not disregarded. I don't blame the Government for what they have done, and for what they purpose to do. They have had my humble support. I have not been peddling for objections to their measures. I am prepared to give an honest support to any plans which the Government may bring forward for the purpose of mitigating the effects of the scarcity. Yet, those which have been propounded are miserable trifles; they would do for ordinary times and for an ordinary scarcity; but they will not answer when death is abroad. The details into which I felt it my duty to enter have made my statement necessarily a dry one; and, for the extreme patience with which I have been heard, I beg to express to the House my own thanks and the thanks of the Irish people. The hon. and learned Gentleman concluded by proposing his Motion.

SIR J. GRAHAM

said: I am sure I express the general sense of the House when I declare that the hon. and learned Gentleman, in bringing forward this subject, is entitled to the respectful attention of every hon. Member. The state of Ireland at the present moment deserves the anxious and serious attention of Parliament; and I admit to the hon. and learned Gentleman, that the importance of this subject can hardly be over-estimated. I also agree with the hon. and learned Gentleman, that whatever differences of opinion may exist between various parties in this House, yet that the difficulty and danger to which he has called our attention will receive from all sides a patient and anxious consideration. Sir, it is my painful duty to state, that having taken the utmost pains to inform myself accurately of the facts of the case, I cannot say that in any important particular the hon. and learned Gentleman has exaggerated the present evils in the condition of Ireland. What are the striking facts? The hon. and learned Gentleman states that a very large proportion of the potato crop of the present year has failed in Ireland: before we consider the effect of that statement it is necessary to remember what is the portion of the whole population of Ireland dependent almost exclusively on the potato for daily food. The hon. and learned Gentleman has estimated that portion of the population at 5,000,000. I should estimate it somewhat lower; but it is admitted on all hands that one-half of the entire population of Ireland is dependent on the potato for food. Now, consider the effect of one-half of the entire population being dependent upon the plant, which by the visitation of Providence has this year signally failed; it is very difficult to ascertain, by any calculation that can be made, the exact extent of that failure. Dr. Playfair and Dr. Lindley, at an early period of this visitation, estimated the loss at one half of the entire crop. Admitting, for a moment, that there may be some exaggeration in this estimate, I will state to the House the result of the extensive and accurate inquiry which the Government, with all its resources, has been able to make. Early in November last the Government constituted a Commission to inquire, composed of officers, all responsible to the Government, as the best mode of ascertaining the facts of the case. At the head of this Commission was placed Mr. Lucas, long Under Secretary for Ireland, a Gentleman known in the House as the representative of an Irish county, conversant with all the affairs of that country, and certainly well entitled to be intrusted with the conduct of such an inquiry. Under him were placed Colonel Jones, the head of the Board of Works; Colonel Macgregor, the head of the Constabulary, who had the means of obtaining information from the most remote parts of the country; Mr. Twisleton, the Poor Law Commissioner in Ireland, who was in communication with the boards of guardians of all the Unions; Sir Randolph Routh, the Commissioner General, and Professor Kane. The result of their inquiries was stated last night by my right hon. Friend (Sir R. Peel), in some of its most striking features; and I fear that in the larger number of electoral divisions throughout Ireland the estimate of Dr. Playfair and Dr. Lindley, so far from being falsified, is unfortunately but too strictly verified. In ordinary years, with an average crop of potatoes, it is always the case that for a period of six weeks after the old crop is consumed, and before the new one comes into use, the population is compelled to subsist on a food of a higher and more expensive kind. Suppose the exaggeration of the present failure is one-half; assuming, for the sake of argument, that the failure is only one-fourth of an average crop, you then have this state of affairs; in addition to the six weeks during which, in ordinary years, this population, dependent on potatoes, is obliged to subsist on a dearer kind of food, there will be four months of the present year during which 4,000,000 of the population must be fed on food of a bigher quality than in ordinary years. A more alarming case has hardly ever been submitted to the consideration of Parliament. It is not ordinarily the duty of Parliament to provide food for the people; but it is the imperative duty of the Government, and I am sure it will be the natural impulse of a representative assembly, under such circumstances, sympathizing with a population in such distress, to admit that general rules must bend to such a necessity; nor could the circumstances of a country so unhappily ciruumstanced be disregarded by the Government. But is this the whole of the case? The information we have received, with perfect accuracy, does not extend to a later period than the end of January; but what we have received within the last fortnight is quite confirmatory of the statement of the hon. and learned Gentleman—that the disease, so far from being arrested, has progressed; that the potatoes in the pits have not kept well, but have decayed; and that there is great danger of sudden and early want, unless further precautions are used in time. If seed, too, is not preserved for the ensuing year, the difficulty, great as it is at the present moment, is but the com- mencement of a series of evils of such an extent that I hardly dare to contemplate them. I must also state, that I entirely concur with the hon. and learned Gentleman, that the conduct of the Irish peasantry generally, in the midst of such great distress, and of such alarming prospects, has been most excellent. There have been no tumultuary meetings, no riots; all has been borne with the utmost patience. I have one account of 190 labourers who came to meet the guardians of a Union, to state that food was failing them; that all they wanted was work; that none was offered them; that they had no labour within their reach. They did not tumultuously demand admission into the workhouse; all they asked was work for wages. A more touching case than this cannot be conceived. Hunger and destitution, when they fall on those willing to work, and who cannot find employment, may well give rise to despair. The hon. and learned Gentleman has stated with great accuracy the general state of want and deprivation among that suffering and gallant people. From some of the facts the hon. and learned Gentleman has mentioned, I should be inclined to draw different conclusions from those he has drawn. If it is the fact that the population of Ireland has not been increasing so much of late years, I should doubt if that is any proof of the increase of poverty; I believe that a superabundant population is one of the consequences of extreme poverty. The fact is, that the manufacturing prosperity of England and Scotland attracts large numbers of people from Ireland to partake of it. In Manchester, Glasgow, and Liverpool, there are immense numbers of Irish congregated, exercising an exemplary industry in pursuits incidental to that manufacturing prosperity. The hon. and learned Gentleman has also observed that the imports of corn and cattle from Ireland to England have increased. I cannot regard that circumstance with anything approaching to regret. My confident opinion is, that as those imports have increased, the wealth of Ireland must naturally have accumulated. The cultivation of wheat has also been improving in Ireland, and within the last few years the export of wheat from Ireland has not increased: I believe, therefore, that it has entered more into the consumption of that country. But these are passing observations in reference to the general condition of the people. I now wish to point out to the House what the Government has done to meet this great emergency; the difficulty of which I am not in the least disposed to underrate. Early in November last the Government appointed the Commission I have already alluded to. Up to the present time the principal occupation of that Commission has been to ascertain the facts of the case. Unhappily, those facts are now well ascertained; and the extent of the danger, it must be admitted, is very great, and the time has arrived when it is necessary that executive measures should be speedily taken. With this view Her Majesty's Government have thought it expedient to reduce the number of the Commission, as some of the gentlemen forming it were unable to attend uninterruptedly to its duties; its functions will henceforth devolve on three officers—Mr. Twisleton, Professor Kane, and Sir Randolph Routh. Short as the present Session of Parliament has been, considerable progress has been made in measures involving public grants and advances for public works, to aid in meeting the emergency of the case. This House has already given its consent to a Public Works Bill, by which an absolute grant of 50,000l. is made from the public funds; there is also a Ports and Harbours Bill, containing a further grant of 50,000l. The Drainage Bill contains clauses which provide for the improvement of the inland navigation of Ireland connected with draining of lands, comprehending four great works, for joining the northern loughs with the navigation of the Shannon and the waters of the west. The Government has given a separate consideration to the estimates for these four great works; and it will be prepared to bring them under the notice of the House in a Committee of Supply. The estimate for these works is not less than 120,000l.; altogether no less than 220,000l. in the shape of grants will be applied to the increase of public works in Ireland. With respect to advances of money as loans, under the Drainage Bill, which now stands for the third reading, an advance of 50,000l. will be made for preliminary expenses; on the Ports and Harbours Bill 2,000l. will be advanced for the same purpose; on the County Works Bill there will be an advance of 100,000l. Altogether the advance in the shape of loans will be 228,000l., in grants 220,000l.; thus as loans and as grants no less a sum than 448,000l. would be laid out in public works in Ireland. The hon. and learned Gentleman has referred more particularly to the railroads now under the consideration of Parliament. Allow me to call to the recollection of the House that in the last Session of Parliament and the Session preceding it, Railroad Acts passed, by which it is generally assumed that an outlay of 9,000,000l. will be made in Ireland in the next three years. But I should be sorry if the House deceived itself by thinking that this capital thus brought to bear on the labour market will prove a sufficient provision. From a Report laid on the Table of the House, it appears, from a competent authority, that meney spent in such works only operates beneficially within a distance of from five to ten miles on each side of the line of railroad. What is the effect of that? Unfortunately it is only the able-bodied men who are attracted by that employment from a distance; they leave their wives and families in the places they come from, sometimes entirely destitute. Such is the particular nature of the difficulty, that a railroad, or long line of railroads, at great intervals, will not meet the case. The difficulty is this—in all former cases the potato crop has only failed in districts and counties; but at the present time it is widely different, as the hon. and learned Gentleman stated, on evidence that cannot be doubted: there is not a county in Ireland in which the unfortunate calamity does not to some degree exist. Out of 130 Poor-Law Unions, not one has escaped it; out of 2,000 subdivisions of these Unions, in 1,500 at least the disease has appeared. The calamity is widely spread in different degrees, and thus the difficulty of the operation of a remedy is quite equal to the extent of the danger. The hon. and learned Gentleman says the Poor Law is quite insufficient to meet the evil. I agree with him, considering the nature of the Poor Law in Ireland—under which no claim to relief is gained even by destitution, from the size of the Unions, and the small number of workhouses yet built—that the Poor Law is insufficient to meet the case. I have stated to the House already some of the steps the Government has taken; and I hope the House will give the Government credit for not having neglected any precaution which prudence and sympathy for the sufferings of the people render necessary. I am pressed to give the details of the instructions the Government has issued with respect to these measures; but as I consider any detailed statement of them would not be consistent with the public interest, I hope the House will not expect any such detail. It will be sufficient for me to say that in no one particular has the extreme difficulty of the case been overlooked: early in November instructions were given specifically upon all the leading points; and I can assure the hon. and learned Gentleman and the House that, be the calamity as extensive as it may, Her Majesty's Government will not be taken by surprise. The hon. Gentleman has stated that in Ireland destitution from a failure of the potato crop is always followed by fever of a most malignant kind. In this respect I think the Poor Law does afford most important assistance. Under the existing Poor Law, cases of fever can be relieved in four different ways: the person may be received into the workhouse, or removed from the workhouse to the Fever Hospital. I see an objection to the admission of fever cases into the workhouse, as it may tend to spread infection; and by the law as it now stands, except from the workhouse, there is no power to remove the patient to the hospital. I have not much reliance on these two provisions; but there are two others which I think of immense importance if brought into full operation. The first gives the power of erecting temporary fever hospitals in the vicinity of each workhouse; out of 110 Unions which have workhouses built, forty-two have already temporary fever hospitals provided. Measures have been taken in the remaining Unions for compelling this accommodation to be provided where it does not now exist; and a power is also given to the guardians to hire houses for that purpose. In Galway, in 1844, there was a malignant typhus fever, and I am told that nearly 1,100 patients were received in the temporary fever hospital connected with the workhouse of that Union, and 1,000 patients were discharged convalescent. I admit it is possible that even these provisions may be insufficient to meet the exigency of the case; and I am prepared, on the part of the Government, to ask leave to bring in a Bill on this subject, founded on the precedent of the cholera hospitals of 1832. If the disease should spread, this Bill will be proposed as a temporary enactment, providing that a temporary rate shall be levied in each Union to meet the cost of maintaining the fever patients. I am not aware that I need go at greater length into these circumstances on the present occasion; and I must say, I am most unwilling that this discussion should be prolonged, or should have the effect of interrupting for two hours the progress of the important debate in which the House is engaged. My humble opinion, an opinion sincerely and confidently entertained is, that in the present circumstances it is the first and primary duty of the Legislature to remove all restrictions on the free importation into this country of all articles of the first necessity constituting the food of the people. I am satisfied this is the first duty of Parliament; and I think the hon. and learned Gentleman will see, notwithstanding the measures he has mentioned, if this calamity should spread to the extent we apprehend, that it is necessary to call on Parliament for a generous exercise of that great virtue inherent in a representative assembly—that of allowing the sufferings of no part of the people to be neglected, when public aid can be afforded for that necessity—I hope, then, that the House, without further delay, will proceed to take that primary step, and will consider the all-important and special necessity of relaxing the restrictions on the importation of food into this country.

MR. SHAW

accepted the invitation of the hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. O'Connell) to approach that question without irritation or party spirit. He would not willingly say a word that could check the sympathies of the House or the Government towards his poor and always suffering fellow countrymen; but, as the question of the potato failure in Ireland had become so prominent in the debates of the House, and so paramount in influencing the measures of the Government, he thought it right to inform the House of the real facts of the case, as he believed them to be, without adding to or taking from them. The statement of the hon. and learned Gentleman must be borne in mind, that there was scarcely a season in Ireland, especially towards its close, that there was not scarcity and consequent distress in many parts of the country. The Poor Law Commissioners had, as quoted by the hon. and learned Gentleman, reported, that for some portions of every year, upwards of two millions of the population were without the means of procuring food, and in a state of destitution. That there would be an aggravation of the usual periodical distress during the ensuing season, he grieved to say he could not doubt; but still he was bound to add, that he considered very exaggerated statements had been put forth, and undue alarm excited on the subject. He desired to speak with great caution and diffidence on a question upon which so much learning and science had been employed, and which involved not only the comforts, but, literally speaking, the vital interests of a large portion of the community. He had every respect for the high character and attainments of Dr. Playfair and Mr. Lindley; but he must remark, that when in November they reported that at a low estimate one-half of the potato crop was destroyed, there was no practical man in Ireland who did not believe that they had been imposed upon. With regard to the Report that had lately been laid upon the Table, dated in January, from the Commissioners of Inquiry, he concurred in it, to the extent that, more or less, the potato crop had been affected in every part of Ireland, and that every possible precaution should be taken against famine. He had heard the letters of Sir David Roche, and those others, which the right hon. Baronet had read with such effect to the House the night before. He gave those Gentlemen every credit for sincerity and good feeling; but while the letters gave him pain, they did not surprise him, as they were from those parts of Ireland where he knew the disease to be most prevalent. He could not pretend to such information as could enable him to form a perfectly accurate opinion; but he had taken great pains, and had some opportunities of informing himself on the subject. He had, during the autumn and winter, visited and made personal inquiries in the counties of Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow, and Wicklow, besides the county of Dublin, in which he resided; he had had correspondence with most parts of Ireland; he saw about him some friends who could speak for Donegal, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Down, and generally of the north of Ireland, and the large and important county of Mayo. He had communicated with contractors of potatoes for large establishments, such as gaols and workhouses, and he had watched the markets since the panic had ceased. The result of all which was, that, he believed, in most parts of Ireland there was still an average crop, while in some there would be a considerable deficiency—an admission quite sufficient to justify every precaution the Government could take against even the possible calamity of a partial famine. He would gladly support all their measures for giving employment to the labouring population, and alleviating the distress of the destitute poor in Ireland. All he had risen for was to deprecate the exaggeration of, while he did not desire to understate, the evil. He might have been tempted by some of the concluding observations of the right hon. Baronet (Sir James Graham), in reference to the Corn Laws, to show that a use had been made of the potato failure in Ireland, neither justified by the facts nor by fair reasoning; but he would reserve himself on that point for what he considered a more fitting occasion—the Adjourned Debate on the general question of the Corn Laws which was to be again resumed that night.

SIR J. GRAHAM

hoped that if the hon. and learned Gentleman believed the Government to be intent on providing every remedy that could be expected or was necessary, he would not press his Motion on the present occasion, but consent to leave it in the hands of the responsible advisers of the Crown.

MR. J. O'CONNELL

said, he had always voted for a repeal of the Corn Laws, for he thought such a course demanded by the claims of humanity and justice. It was not likely, then, that he should wantonly throw impediments in the way of the great measure then before the House. He did not doubt that the measure would be beneficial to the Empire and to Ireland in its ultimate results. But no doubt the immediate benefits flowing from it would be most felt by the people of England, and not by those of Ireland, who were without the means to purchase bread. If any failure, too, should take place in the effects prognosticated from this measure, from the monopoly which Ireland had enjoyed in supplying food to this great market, she must suffer most severely. He did not believe that such failure would occur; still so long as the issue was in any uncertainty, it was natural the Irish people should wish that measures calculated to provide against any evils that might accrue, should meet their share of discussion. He therefore should be pardoned if he asked the House to delay a little upon these. With regard to the arguments of the learned Recorder against the existence of any failure of the potato crop in Ireland, he left the quarrel to be settled between the right hon. Gentleman and the Government. The official documents brought forward by Government corroborated the statements made on his (Mr. J. O'Connell's) side of the House; and until the right hon. Gentleman could invalidate those documents, they must be taken as the best evidence which the House had before it of the existing state of things in Ireland. The right hon. Secretary for the Home Department deplored the redundancy of the population in Ireland. He believed it was well known that Ireland produced as much as would feed three times her present population. She could not, then, be said to be over peopled, if it were not that something radically wrong in the Government deprived the people of a fair share in the produce of the soil. The right hon. Gentleman, too, expressed his satisfaction at the increase of our exports. Undoubtedly if Ireland had the management of her own resources, if the country could develop all its natural advantages, even a larger amount of exports might be spared to this country than she now supplied, as the people would be well assured of a sufficient supply of food. But it was certainly a most startling anomaly to have large quantities of corn exported from Ireland before the eyes of a starving people. He could bring forward, if necessary, many proofs to confirm the mournful accounts from that country. He had good reason to attest the strict accuracy of the statements respecting the distress of Ireland which had been made to the House, and from his own experience and observation was further enabled to say, that instead of being exaggerated those statements fell short of the truth. He willingly bore his testimony to the attention paid to the subject of Irish distress, which he had remarked since his arrival in this country to be generally prevalent among all parties; but he alluded more particularly to the great anxiety manifested by the Members of the House to take some measures to remedy the threatened evils. It was an obvious reflection that the interests of both countries were involved in remedying this evil; for such a calamity as the present could not occur in Ireland without producing the most serious consequences in the Empire at large. The House could not exaggerate the effect of such a calamity, nor the extent of its results. In any other country it would have amounted to little short of a dissolution of society; and if that were not the case in Ireland, it was owing to the circumstance that his unfortunate countrymen had been broken, as it were, into suffering, and could go through greater privations than any other people; and in the next place—he cared not how much he might be mocked for saying so—because of the admirable discipline of mind and soul which the Irish peasant had taught himself. He implored the House not to believe that anything which had been done as yet, great as appeared the amount spoken of, was applicable to the wants, to meet the terrible danger with which Ireland was threatened. He implored the House not to deceive themselves on that question, nor to think that the people of Ireland asked for those measures of relief as any boon or gratuitous benefit. The people might acknowledge the goodness of intention displayed towards them. They did acknowledge it; but they could not and would not admit that the great efforts to be made for their relief, or even greater exertions for the same object, were boons, favours, or allow they were anything else than the employment of some of that money of which Ireland had been unjustly deprived. He implored the House, at the present time, when Irish distress had made such an impression, and when they were about to alter and review their whole system of policy in all its branches; that they would also examine what had been their policy towards Ireland, and see whether they might not thus find the reason for much of the phenomena of the frequently recurring famines and perennial distress of that country. There surely must be something bad in the system and administration of affairs where such calamities were constant; and it was for the House, now that their attention had been thoroughly awakened to Irish matters by the present startling emergency, to think not only of temporary expedients, but to go to the roots of the evils of which he spoke. He was not now going into what might be called merely political matters, which it was desirous not to mix up with the present subject; but there were circumstances strictly relevant in the history of the international relations of the two countries which he should touch upon, but would do so very briefly. According to the statements of English writers and statesmen, up to fifty or sixty years ago, England stood charged with having systematically sacrificed the commercial interests of Ireland to what she conceived to be her own, and with having impeded the growth of her manufacturing enterprise and prosperity. On their testimony she stood charged with having denied to Ireland the use of her own resources. Let the House look to those matters, and see if there was not something of that policy remaining to the present day, and let them resolve to lay the axe to the root of the evil at once. The "hand to mouth" system would not do any longer. It would not answer to afford relief when some sudden emergency came upon Ireland, and when that had pased away, to forget. It was an unworthy system—unworthy of them, ruinous to the dependent country, and highly dangerous to the other. The authorities to whom he alluded were Mr. Pitt, who in 1785 and in 1799 charged them in the House of Commons—and was not contradicted—with having impeded the prosperity of Ireland. That charge was repeated by Mr. Huskisson in 1825, with the addition of a feature of Irish policy which they would do well to change. The right hon. Gentleman said— State necessities" (the disasters in America in 1779) "acting under a sense of political danger, yielded without grace that which good sense and good feeling had before recommended in vain; and in 1782, under a like pressure, these concessions were made irrevocable. Under the influence of the distresses of the American war you conceded some of the privileges which Ireland claimed; but since the concessions at the time of the Union no other concession was made to her. He must be pardoned for going into those old stories; but he was endeavouring to trace out the course of policy which had had such an effect on Ireland. In 1780 that injurious and cruel system by which they had impoverished the sister country was, for the first time, relaxed; but the right conceded to Ireland was merely, as he had before said, that of trading with the Colonies and foreign countries. No further concession was then made. The market of England was kept hermetically sealed against nearly all our valuable goods, while our manufacturers had the protection only of very moderate duties against English competition. In 1785, the notorious commercial propositions were brought forward nominally offering us the English market if we would consent to give up our independence of commercial arrangements with foreigners, and furthermore consent to fix Ireland with an annual specific tribute money in England. But even had Ireland consented, she would have gained nothing; for the higher rate of excise in England gave an excuse for supperadding countervailing duties against Irish goods coming in, in addition to the ordinary duties of import. The scheme failed. Ireland would not be deluded, and the propositions had to be abandoned. Notwithstanding our exclusion from the English market, still under the care of our own Parliament, our manufactures being se- cure of their home market, began to flourish in a most extraordinary degree, and with, perhaps, a mistaken idea of further encouraging them, the Irish Parliament, finding it was in vain to seek to induce England to adopt a commercial system of mutual fairness and advantage, raised the duties on imports of English goods. To meet and crush this attempt, was brought forward—and, by what means it was not necessary nor fit he should now describe, was carried—the Legislative Union. Under the provisions of that Act, had they not impeded the resources and prosperity of Ireland? They had, of course, at once caused the duties on English goods to be lowered again, and then made a boast of allowing Ireland to retain for some twenty years more what remained of those duties. They left many protections to their own manufactures; but the duty left on Irish imports was low in amount, whilst the markets of England were shut against Irish exports. On account of the higher rates of excise in England, they had countervailing duties on Irish goods, which practically made the amount to be levied on the latter higher than that on English commodities in Irish ports. The operation of the Union revived once more the curse of absenteeism, which had been declining during the short period of independence enjoyed by the Irish Parliament. That drain increased enormously during the twenty years subsequent to the passing of that measure: the rich consumers began to leave the country in numbers, and her general condition proportionably declined. The Irish manufactures, thus deprived of their natural and best support, home capital and home customers, languished on till the expiration of the Union duties, and then fell to the ground, unable to stand the competition of the long-established and wealthy manufactures of England. At the present day it might be said that, with the exception of the struggling linen trade in Ulster, Ireland had no manufactures. It was impossible she could have any until the drain of absenteeism was stopped, and her rich proprietors returned to their homes. They had crushed Irish manufactures in consequence of the Union; and he said to them, if the people of Ireland had been driven to agriculture as their only means of employment, and if her large population overstocked that sole branch of industry, the condition to which they were reduced was owing to that Union which had deprived them of the benefit and profitable employment of manufactures. Whatever was to be done for Ireland, the House must interfere to stop the absentee drain of 4,500,000l. annually. He would implore the House, though that sum might appear paltry to speak of in a place where they were accustomed to dispose of such large amounts of money, to reflect that the whole rental of Ireland was but 13,000,000l.; and when they added to that the fact that her whole revenue was not more than 4,500,000l., they would see the importance of the sum. He asked them in what condition would their country be, if she suffered from an annual drain equal to their entire revenue, and one-third of their whole rental; would they not have starvation in their streets, and misery in their fields? Could they wonder, then, that the same effects should be produced from similar causes in Ireland? He knew it was in the power of the Government to check that drain—at least by indirect means; but its evils were aggravated by others, which it was directly in the power of the Government to stop. There was 70,000l. a-year from the quit and Crown rents, and a large revenue paid on the foreign goods that came to Ireland through England, and on the English goods subject to English excise which were consumed in Ireland. It was the Irish consumers who paid those duties in both cases ultimately; and that being the case, why should not the revenue thus derived be duly credited to Ireland? It could easily be ascertained what the amount of the latter sum was, if a registration were made of the goods so transferred from one country to the other; but now there was no way of knowing the value of the commercial intercourse between England and Ireland, which in itself was a serious statistical defect. They ought to give credit to Ireland for the amount to which she was fully entitled in her contributions towards the revenue. When they spoke of making advances to Ireland (though they did not indulge in any boast on the subject, for he was bound to say nothing of that nature was visible in the speeches of hon. Members), and uttered public declarations as to the extent of their grants, had not his countrymen a right to say—"Look to the conduct of your country towards ours for centuries; see how you have prevented us making use of our resources, and interfered with our prosperity; and do not suppose that you now compensate us for all your past injuries." It might not be in their power to reverse the effects of the course which had been hitherto pursued; but they could, at all events, prevent the absentee drain going out of the country. How could it be expected that the capital, which was said to be in Ireland, could be in a vigorous and healthy circulation, when there was an annual drain from the system to the extent of eight or nine millions, for which there was no return? It was with the body politic as with the body natural. It could not be expected that a vigorous or healthful action could take place, if the blood which ought to circulate through its members was continually drawn away. There had been much talk of those grants of money, and of the 468,000l. which they were to receive; but he said that those sums did not equal the amount of Irish revenue which went into the public coffers of England. What were the remedies to check that drain? An absentee tax was suggested. In Ireland they had a remedy of their own in a measure which they believed to include and comprise every remedy for the political and social evils of Ireland, and that was the restoration of their native Parliament. The Irish had been mocked at for demanding this, and a mongrel species of persecution had been carried on against its advocates. What could the Government and the House propose instead? Would they tax the absentees? Was it not monstrous that they should allow such a drain from a country whose population were exposed to the sufferings of starvation for nearly six months of the year? If they would not consent to grant them a Repeal of the Union, would they adopt the less natural but more forcible measure of taxing the absentees? It was in their power to do that, and they could by such a measure obtain a large rental, and at the same time cause the surplus of the contributions which Ireland made in abundant fulness to the revenue, to be spent in that country. If Ireland contributed her full proportion to the burdens of the State, why should she not enjoy a fair share of the State's expenditure? It was true that they had a share in the expenditure of the army and general military establishments; but why should they not have their proportion of the navy also? Why were their splendid harbours—the finest in the world, safe and capacious, easy of success to a friendly fleet, he would also add open to the foreign enemy—why were they left empty and unprotected? Why were there no guardships in her ports, and no dockyards along her coasts? If Ireland contributed to the national revenue, why should England absorb the whole expenditure? Those were matters which it was within the province of Government to control, and they could carry those ideas into effect to-morrow, if they chose. Those were practical tangible matters wherein improvement might be made, and they could not talk of giving Ireland a boon when Government was called on to grant her justice. There would be no public purpose left unanswered by acceding to those demands, for the service would be as well done there as in England, whilst Ireland would have the benefit of the expenditure. The reduction of Government offices and establishments in that country was a great evil to such a poor country. It was done under the pretence of economy of the public money; but taxes were seldom remitted in consequence, and where remitted, the benefit was spread over the three kingdoms, if Ireland were allowed a share at all; while the whole of the loss of the expenditure so saved to the public purse, was felt by her exclusively. As he had alluded to taxes, he would just state two facts to show that Ireland had been as unfairly treated with reference to them as on other points. He could prove that taxes had been remitted for the benefit of England alone; that, since the Union, taxes had been put on Ireland in the proportion of one to seven, and remitted in the proportion of one to eighteen; and that when grants were made to Ireland, the grants to England were out of all proportion, and those to Ireland were charged with a higher rate of interest—5 per cent., when, in Scotland and England, they bore either no interest, or 4 per cent. at the utmost, and generally only 3 per cent. He was ready to prove that these gifts and grants were only repayments of money obtained by England from Ireland; that the terms of the Union had been violated, and that Ireland had been subjected to an annual robbery. "You talk," said the hon. Member, "of our speeches at Conciliation Hall, and of our then coming here to supplicate for grants of money. I enter my protest now, and always will, against its being supposed that we ever asked for money: we never begged; we have demanded of you, and will again demand, our rights. I have pointed out these evils to you; it is not my fault if you will not believe them. While you are providing a remedy for temporary distress, I call upon you to correct perennial evils. We ascribe these evils to the whole course of your policy towards Ireland; do not blame us and say we are wasting your time, if we take this opportunity of endeavouring to show it. If at any time the calamity of war should come upon you, you will prove more formidable to your foes if you have Ireland conciliated, and conciliated you cannot hope to have her, unless you do her justice in these respects as in all others."

LORD J. RUSSELL

I am far from complaining of the hon. and learned Member for taking this opportunity of speaking of what he considers to be the grievances of Ireland: so far from it, I could wish that the hon. and learned Gentleman would take every opportunity (whatever may be my opinion as to its fitness) of speaking in this House of anything which he may think a grievance in Ireland, and of stating in what respect he thinks the prosperity of Ireland may be improved. I am sure, and he has himself observed, that with regard to the present distress in Ireland, there is a disposition in this House to listen to any proposition that is calculated to relieve that distress; and I assure him that, whether in reference to the origin of grievances in former times, or whether in reference to the measures that may be taken to promote the good of Ireland, there will always be a disposition in this House to discuss the proposition fairly; and if we cannot find that other measures proposed are for the good of Ireland, I, for one, shall be ready to agree with him, if he can only show that his proposition is for the good of Ireland. I am very far from saying that a grant made to Ireland on the ground of her distress is to be regarded as a boon to Ireland. I consider this House, as representing the United Kingdom, is bound to consider every part of that kingdom; and if one part is more distressed, at any particular period, than another, it is the bounden duty of this House to attend to it, and there is no call upon that particular part to feel grateful to any other particular part. I own it appears to me that, so far, the measures of the Government have been judicious measures, avoiding the two evils, of neglect on the one hand, and that which is equally dangerous, the ostentatious display of relief on the other, which might have tended to augment the distress we are so anxious to relieve. This being my opinion, therefore, and thinking that the Government, having acted thus, will bring forward more extensive measures, if they should be necessary, in this confidence I recommend the hon. and learned Gentleman to withdraw his Motion; because, if, in his opinion, at any future time—a fort- night or a month—Government shall appear not to have acted with sufficient promptitude, or the measures shall appear to be not sufficiently large, he will always have an opportunity of renewing his Motion, and of suggesting another course more conducive to the end in view. I think the hon. and learned Gentleman has rendered a service to the House by the statements he has made as to the real condition of Ireland at this period; but I think it is desirable, pending the measures of the Government, that his Motion should be withdrawn.

MR. O'CONNELL

proposed to withdraw the Motion.

MR. LAWSON

wished to say a few words before the Motion was withdrawn. He wished to speak on the subject as an independent Member of the House, for he hoped he had established his perfect independence there. He was then without alliance or connexion with any leader in that House, and he desired to state his opinions in a few words. He did not, when he entered the House, contemplate making any observation upon the particular question which had been brought under the notice of the House by the hon. and learned Member for Cork; but after the statements which had been made by the hon. Member, and also by the hon. Member for Kilkenny, who succeeded him, he felt himself constrained to trouble them with a few observations, and perhaps he might be a little more loquacious than he had hitherto been, not only upon the question referred to, but also on the general question under the consideration of the House. He felt himself the more obliged to state his opinions, since they, on his side of the House, found that all the opinions of the leaders in whom they placed confidence had been overthrown; and he found that each one had to judge for himself. He should therefore state, very shortly, but very sincerely, the opinions he entertained with regard to Ireland. He thought, as regarded the question of famine that had been brought before them, there was no one on his side of the House who did not sincerely lament the sad position of Ireland, as it had been detailed by the hon. and learned Member for Cork—who, he thought, in the observations he had made, had displayed great good taste and feeling, as he had not interwoven with those observations much of political matter, except in so far as regarded the social welfare of Ireland. In following out as far as he was able the remarks of the hon. Member for Kilkenny, he should endeavour to show, that, in many points, those observations were very pertinent to the question in general debate before the House. ["No, no," and "Order."] He was sorry, it being the first time for many years that he had had reason to offer any observations, that he had met with any interruption. He thought, in a question of such vast importance, it was quite competent for English Members to offer their sympathies with the sister country, and feel sincerely the sufferings of its population. Therefore, notwithstanding the interruption he had experienced, he should go on. The hon. Member opposite had said that the absence of the gentry from Ireland was one of the great sources of evil to that country. Now he thought it would be well for those who were hurrying on the question of Corn Law repeal, and the destruction of the agricultural interest in England, to consider whether the withdrawal of the gentry from England, and consequently the withdrawal of the available capital of the country, by the measures proposed by the right hon. Baronet, might not bring a similar calamity upon England. Another point to which he wished to refer, was a very significant one to the gentry and people of England generally. It was in reference to a drain of capital from this country for the purchase of foreign corn. If it happened that there should be a drain of gold from this country for the purpose he had mentioned, then the same calamity which the hon. Member opposite had so well depicted with regard to Ireland, might occur with regard to England also. This was a matter of the greatest importance. He then alluded to the potato crop, and said, if the people of Ireland suffered so much from the failure of an article of food, upon which they depended from year to year, and thereby were compelled to have recourse to others for the means of sustenance, the people of England should take a lesson, and be cautious before they placed themselves in the same precarious and uncertain situation of dependence from year to year, at the mercy of foreign nations, many of whom probably entertained hostile feelings, and others might not retain the same kindly and social feelings towards England which the people of England did towards the people of Ireland. He, therefore, hoped the people of England would consider, when they thought kindly of the people of Ireland, and sympathized with their distresses, that, if they wished still to continue that kindness, they must take care that they did not give their consent to measures which would produce nearly the same causes in England, and thereby deprive them of all possibility of extending their assistance to the people of Iacland. He remembered that, in 1822, he had the great satisfaction of subscribing wards a fund for what was then stated to be for the relief of the people of Ireland from a famine. Now he recollected, as regarded that subscription, and that calamity, that then the House saw no cause for the repeal of the Corn Laws. A temporary expedient met a calamity. At that time 300,000l. was subscribed in England; but what was the effect upon the people of Ireland? He believed that the distresses of Ireland at that time would have frightened the right hon. Baronet at the head of Her Majesty Government from his propriety, and would have induced him to come down to the House with some extravagant measure to meet the necessities of the occasion. But there then existed no fear of this sort, but 300,000l. was subscribed to purchase provisions, which were sent to Ireland. But what was the result. There was no money in Ireland to buy the provisions with. Well, then, might not a similar result occur in England if its population was made dependent upon others? It was of no use telling them they should have cheap corn, if they had not money to buy it. What was the step at last taken with regard to Ireland? It was found to be necessary that the money should be sent to Ireland to employ the people upon public works. After that was done, there was a surplus of 100,000l. which it was found impossible to employ in Ireland, and that was reserved to be applied to permanent works. He hoped, therefore, the House would pause before they gave their consent to any measure, such as that of the right hon. Baronet, which must have the effect of making England dependent upon others for the means of sustenance. He would say, in conclusion, that he should never be a party to any measure which would contribute to take away from Ireland that immense advantage which it possessed of affording an ample supply of grain, not only for this country but for itself also. That that country might long continue to enjoy prosperity was his sincere wish, and that, under an improved state of affairs, it might become and long continue to be a source of strength to the Empire at large.

MR. O'CONNELL

said that, after what had fallen from the right hon. Baronet (Sir J. Graham), and the observations of the noble Lord the Member for London (Lord J. Russell), he would consent to withdraw his Motion, reserving to himself the exercise of his right to bring it forward hereafter, if he should deem it necessary.

Motion withdrawn.