1846. 29. for Ireland. CHAP. into power, the necessity of some such measure to protect XLIII. life and property in some of the disturbed districts of that country. No sooner, accordingly, were they inArms bill stalled in office, than they themselves brought forward a new coercion-bill, under the name of an "Arms Bill," differing from the one which proved fatal to their predecessors only in being even more rigorous, and in some respects oppressive. The purport of it was to render the possession as well as carrying of all arms illegal in the proclaimed districts, unless the names of the persons were previously given in and registered by the Government authorities. There can be no doubt that this bill, how stringent soever, was loudly called for by the state of the country, especially in the five disturbed counties; and the frightful increase which took place, during the next winter and spring, in offences against property too clearly proved its necessity. So great was the distaste of the Irish members, however, to any such measure, and so entire 1 Parl. Deb. lxxxvii.; Ann. Reg. 1846. portance as it was framed on official sources of information, and exhibits their state when serious wars were approaching in every quarter: the dependence of Ministers on their parliamentary sup- CHAP. XLIII. port, that they were under the necessity, after the bill 1846. had been read a second time in the Commons, by a considerable majority, to abandon it V. GREAT BRITAIN. IN GREAT Britain and IRELAND. altogether, and Frigates, 30 -United Service Gazette, Dec. 1850. Almanack of Saxe-Gotha, 1851,415, 461. The whole French navy could be speedily rendered serviceable, as their naval conscription amounted to 56,000 men. The British navy was manned by voluntary enrolment. VOL. VII. R Ꭱ XLIII. CHAP. leave Ireland, on the eve of the most terrible famine recorded in history, to the passions and the sufferings of its dense and miserable population. 1846. 30. measures for the Irish suffering, of Lord J. Russell. judicious. The measures of Sir R. Peel for the relief of this Sir R. Peel's suffering, though trifling in comparison of what was the relief of done after his relinquishment of office, had been very They consisted chiefly in the purchase of Indian meal by Government commissioners, after it had come to this country, but before it got into the hands of forestallers, so as to retail it at a moderate price to the people. This proved a most seasonable relief, and, combined with public works on a small scale, set on foot by the Government, enabled the country to tide with comparative ease over the first months of the summer of 1846, which, it was feared, would prove the most formidable of the whole year, from their embracing the interval between the end of the old and the coming in of the new potato-crop. The potato disease proved, as had all along been asserted by the Protectionists, however formidable in particular localities, very partial in its ravages; the crop of oats was immense; and the stock of potatoes remaining over from the former year was much larger than was supposed. Thus, generally speaking, food was not awanting; but nevertheless, in particular districts, where the peasants' little crops had disappeared, absolute famine stared them in the face, unless they could obtain some employment to enable them to earn wages to buy the food. To aid in effecting this most desirable 19 & 10 object, Government, in the end of the session of 1846, passed a "Public Works Act," 1 in virtue of which the Lord-Lieutenant was empowered to require special barony sessions to meet, in order to make presentments for the employment of the people ;* the whole of the money requisite for their construction to be, in the first instance, supplied by the Imperial Treasury, but to be after Victoria, c. 1. * These are resolutions for the undertaking of public works, as roads, bridges, &c., which the Sessions of Justices are empowered to set on foot and levy a rate for their completion. vances. XLIII. 1846. wards repaid with interest at 3 per cent, by long- CHAP dated assessments, by the districts benefited by the adThis Act was well conceived in principle, for it went to provide a remedy for the one thing wanted in Ireland, which was not food, but employment; but when applied in practice, it was found to labour under several defects. In particular, the presentments for roads were so numerous, that they threatened to involve the Treasury in an expenditure of a million sterling on a species of improvement which really was unnecessary, and which the Prime Minister, when Parliament met in November, justly characterised as "not wanted." It is well known to every traveller that the roads of Ireland are in general excellent-superior to those either of England or Scotland. Government, therefore, as the danger increased, and the crisis became more imminent, courageously, and as became British Ministers in the circumstances, deviated from the Act, trusting to an indemnity, which they immediately received in the next session of Parliament. A far more effectual relief was 19 & 10 Victoria, afforded by the Drainage Act, which authorised the c. 101. Lords of the Treasury to issue £1,000,000 to Ireland, and £2,000,000 to Great Britain, for the purposes of 2 Disraeli, drainage. This Act proved of the most important service, Life of especially to Scotland, by which country the greater part 335, 353; of the loan destined to Great Britain was taken up. This 1846; was the last Act of any importance in the session, which lxxxviii. was closed by her Majesty in person on the 28th August.2 2 Ann. Reg. Parl. Deb. ment of the mine. We now approach the most awful and memorable cata- 31. strophe in modern times; that in which the most appal- Commenceling destruction of human life took place, the greatest Irish fatransposition of mankind was induced, and in which the judgments of the Almighty were most visibly executed upon the earth. It had been anticipated by several sagacious observers, in particular by Sir James Graham, that the disease in the potato would be far more widespread and formidable in 1846 than it had been in the CHAP. preceding year, from the circumstance of a large portion XLIII. of the seed being planted with the disease in it.* This 1846. prediction was too fatally verified in the succeeding year. In addition to the cause here mentioned, there was another which augmented in the most fatal manner the ravages of the disease. The summer, which had been warm and genial in the earlier months, became suddenly overcharged with moisture and electricity in the last weeks of August. Heavy rains fell for above a fortnight together, accompanied by six violent thunderstorms; a peculiarity of the weather which has always been observed in the seasons when the potato disease has been remarkably widespread and virulent. The work of destruction was fearfully rapid; in one or two nights it was complete, and a blooming crop was converted into a noisome mass of putrefaction. The consequences were disastrous in the extreme, not only in Ireland, but in most parts of Great Britain. In the former country and in the West Highlands of Scotland, where it formed almost universally the staple food of the people, the potato crop failed almost entirely. Often in a single night, or at most in two or three days, entire fields of this crop became a mass of putrefaction, accompanied by a most noisome smell, which was felt for a long distance round. The disease “The difficulty arising from the failure of the present crop is hardly felt at this time. It will be progressive, and become more intense, as the season advances. The proportion which seed bears to an average crop is very large; it has been estimated at not less than an eighth; and when we consider that a considerable portion of this year's crop in Ireland is already destroyed, and that the remainder, if it be saved, must supply food for nine months as well as seed for next year, it is obvious that no ordinary care is required to husband a sufficient quantity of sound potatoes fit for planting in the spring. Unless this be done, the calamity of the present year is but the commencement of a more fatal series."- SIR JAMES GRAHAM to LORD HYTESBURY, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Oct. 25, 1845; Peel's Memoirs, ii. 181. "In one week, in the end of July, I had passed over 32 miles of potato fields in full bloom. The next time, on 3d August, I beheld with sorrow a wide waste of putrefying vegetation. The stalk remained a bright green, but the leaves were all scorched black. It was the work of a night. Distress and fear were painted on every countenance; there was a general rush to dig and sell, or consume the tainted crop by feeding pigs, before it became totally unserviceable."-Captain MANN's Narrative. NICHOLLS' Irish Poor-Law, 310. |