Chapter V: Part 5

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£ s. d.
Gratuitous aid of every sort 306 6 0
Loss by sale of food under market
price, when exorbitant 208 9 0
Payment of labour--making road
to the bog, and other public
works 150 10 0
Seed--corn, wheat, oats, and barley 300 0 0
Turnip seed 15 0 0
Fishing materials 150 10 6
------------
£1,130 15 6

Funds of this sort administered by benevolent and public-spirited individuals in Ireland, were generally supplied by the exertions of their relations and friends, or by grants from societies in England and elsewhere. It was a common practice for ladies in England to have parishes assigned to them in Ireland, and each lady raised all she could, and made periodical remittances to the clergyman of her adopted parish, receiving accounts from him in return, of the manner in which the money was expended. The self-denial necessary to support this charitable drain was carried to such an extent at Brighton and elsewhere, that the confectioners and other trades-people suffered severely in their business.

[32] Two electoral divisions were sometimes united under one Relief Committee, but the accounts of each electoral division were kept separate.

[33] The ration consisted of one pound of biscuit, meal, or flour; or one quart of soup thickened with meal, with a quarter ration of bread, biscuit or meal. When bread was issued, one pound and a-half was allowed. It was found by experience that the best form in which cooked food could be given, was “stirabout,” made of Indian meal and rice steamed, which was sufficiently solid to be easily carried away by the recipients. The pound ration thus prepared, swelled by the absorption of water to three or four pounds.

[34] Report from Count Strzelecki to the British Relief Association.

[35] Seventh and last Monthly Report of the Relief Commissioners.

[36] Letter from Sir John Burgoyne, quoted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons.

[37] Third Report of the Relief Commission.

[38] The small holders in the Barony of Erris, in this county, declined at first to accept the seed which was offered them, saying that if they sowed it, the crops would be seized by their landlords. This was not believed at the time in England, but it has nevertheless turned out perfectly true. This barony, of which Belmullet is the principal place, is the darkest corner of Ireland. In some instances broken Landowners and their families were receiving rations, while their Tenants were starving.

[39] The following interesting account of what took place in the county of Clare on the subject of seed, is extracted from Captain Mann’s Narrative:

“The first supply of seed sent for distribution by sale, was received on the 13th March last, up to which period the prospect of the tillage of the land being neglected was very alarming. The seed-grain had been in most cases either partially or wholly consumed for food. Bad advice had been given, that the Government or the landlords would be forced into assisting--the former to pay wages for the time while the work was going on, and the latter to provide seed, if the Government would not. The supply alluded to was bere and rye. By dint of persuasion, and having it published by the Roman Catholic clergy, the quantity sent was taken and planted; and here let me add, that the most sanguine could not have anticipated the great benefit of this importation. The value of the bere as an early crop and produce exceeded every expectation. It was reaped and in the market the latter part of July; and as compared with other barley, it is stated to me, thrashed out five stone to the barb, of twenty hand-sheafs, while the other only yielded three stone from the same quantity. The rye grew on bog merely burnt, and that even slightly; in some cases the heather being in bloom where the rye in the same ground was ripe. Thus hundreds of acres were cultivated that might have lain waste; and as the rye-meal brought by the ‘Sisters’ from St. Petersburgh to this depôt, and issued as rations, became, after some opposition, popular with the poor, it does not require any remark to show the value and importance of this article, when considered as an auxiliary substitute for the potato food, and the more so because it can be grown on inferior land here, and not like the Indian corn meal, which we are forced to look to other countries for.

“The supply of green crop and oat-seed by Her Majesty’s ship ‘Dragon’ was received here the 12th of April last. Some few landlords purchased of the first, and supplied their tenantry, but of the latter but little was purchased at that time. The feeling still existed that the Government or the landlords would be forced into providing seed and assisting the tillage; but when that vessel sailed, and they became convinced to the contrary, the most pressing and even distressing applications were made to me by the people to procure a supply of any seed; the fact being clear that grain seed (oats and barley) was not to be procured. Most fortunately, in a few days after, the hired steamer ‘Doris’ arrived with her cargo of oat-seed, the greater part of which was freely purchased, and a vast quantity of land immediately tilled. A sudden and favourable reaction took place, all appearing anxious to raise something, and not let the land run to waste. Turnip-seed was imported by dealers to a very large amount; and those who could, bought and sowed it. Subsequently a small quantity was sent to me for gratuitous distribution. Lists of the parties who received it, and the quantities allotted, are herewith annexed; and to this were added some small pamphlets given to me by Lord Robert Clinton, my object being to assist the poor, and spread the benefit over the greatest possible extent.

“I have now the pleasure to state, that instead of this part of the country being as described in the first series, with respect to green crops, the turnip particularly has become a general produce with even the poorest. Quantities are daily exposed for sale in the markets, and with a mixture of Indian corn meal, rice, or flour, it is used as a substitute for bread. Emulation has been excited; and a few days since I was invited to view an exhibition at Colonel Vandeleur’s, of the following:

stone. lbs. lbs.
3 swedish turnips 4 0 weight. Heaviest of
the three 20
3 white ditto 3 11 ” Ditto 20
3 mangle wurzel 3 8 ” Ditto 18

Beside white carrots, &c. Experiments have been tried with the potato set in drills very successfully; and I do trust that improvement will make further progress under the system of instruction which it is said will be adopted.”

[40] The readiness with which the Bank of Ireland, and the Provincial, National and other banks, undertook the office of Treasurer to the Finance Committees, and entered into every proposed detail and accommodation, in support of the operations of the Commissariat, the Relief Commission, and the Board of Works, is very creditable to the managers, and deserves the thanks of the public.

[41] All the letters and proceedings of these officers showed that their predominant feeling was an anxious desire to fulfil the benevolent mission on which they had been sent. One observed that he could bear anything but the “careless misery of the children;” another that his heart was broken by the sobs of the women returning to their homes with a smaller quantity of food than was sufficient for the support of their families.

[42] The Four Commissions employed on these operations were composed as follows:--

The Board of Works.

Lieut.-Col. H. D. Jones, R.E., Chairman.
Richard Griffith, Esq., Deputy Chairman.
Commissioners:
John Radcliff, Esq.
Wm. Thos. Mulvany, Esq.
Captain Larcom, R.E.

The First Relief Commission, appointed by Sir Robert Peel’s Government

Rt. Hon. E. Lucas, Chairman (afterwards retired).
Com.-Gen. Sir R. I. Routh (afterwards Chairman).
Colonel D. Mc Gregor.
Lieut.-Col. H. D. Jones, R.E.
Sir James Dombrain.
Professor Sir Robert Kane.
E. T. B. Twisleton, Esq.
Theobald Mc Kenna, Esq.

The Second Relief Commission, appointed by Lord John Russell’s Government.

Major-Gen. Sir J. F. Burgoyne, K.C.B., Chairman.
T. N. Redington, Esq.
E. T. B. Twisleton, Esq.
Com.-Gen. Sir R. I. Routh.
Lieut.-Col. H. D. Jones, R.E.
Colonel D. Mc Gregor.

The Poor Law Commissioners in Ireland.

E. T. B. Twisleton, Esq.
Rt. Hon. Sir W. M. Somerville, Bart.
T. N. Redington, Esq.

Sir Randolph Routh was in charge of the Commissariat from the
commencement to the end of the measures of relief.

It is due to Mr. Redington to state that his intimate acquaintance with Ireland, and excellent judgment, were a never-failing ground of reliance in the most difficult emergencies.

[43] One of the principal causes of the expense incurred, was the necessity of finding work for every person in the neighbourhood of his own home, which added greatly to the number of the works, and to the proportion of them left unfinished.

[44] The first instalments due under the 9 & 10 Vic. c. 1 and 2 have been already paid.

[45]

Viz., 25,000ℓ., being the aggregate of the two half-yearly
instalments under the 9 & 10 Vic. c. 1; and
291,000ℓ., the same under the 9 & 10 Vic. c. 107
---------
Total 316,000ℓ.
---------

[46] The proportions in which the expenditure was made a local or general charge in the following unions, were--

Loan to Grant in
be aid of
repaid. rates.

{ Ballina £13,716 £43,610
{ Ballinrobe 12,183 27,997
County of Mayo { Castlebar 7,282 19,813
{ Swineford 6,620 31,797
{ Westport 5,624 37,993

{ Clifden 3,228 8,868
” Galway { Gort 7,663 18,475

” Clare Scariff 6,406 10,943

” Cork { Bantry 6,079 12,294
{ Skibbereen 13,451 21,627

” Kerry Kenmare 3,359 10,956

[47] The following are some of the most remarkable contributions:--

£ s. d.
Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen [A]2,000 0 0
H. R. H. Prince Albert 500 0 0
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager 1,000 0 0
His Majesty the King of Hanover, as
Duke of Cumberland and Chancellor
of the University of Dublin 1,000 0 0
His Imperial Highness the Sultan 1,000 0 0
The East India Company 1,000 0 0
The Corporation of the City of London 1,000 0 0
The Bank of England 1,000 0 0
The Duke of Devonshire 1,000 0 0
The Worshipful Company of Grocers 1,000 0 0
Messrs. Jones Loyd and Co. 1,000 0 0
” Rothschild and Co. 1,000 0 0
” Baring Brothers and Co. 1,000 0 0
” Truman, Hanbury, and Co. (including
50ℓ. from their clerks,
and 8ℓ. 10s. from their workmen) 1,163 10 0
” Smith, Payne, and Smiths 1,000 0 0
” Overend, Gurney, & Co. 1,000 0 0
An English Friend, two Donations 1,004 0 0
An Irish Landlord, for Skibbereen 1,000 0 0
Manchester and Salford Relief Committee 7,785 0 0
Newcastle and Gateshead ditto 3,902 0 0
Hull ditto 3,800 0 0
Leeds ditto 2,500 0 0
Huddersfield ditto 2,103 0 0
Wolverhampton ditto 1,838 0 0
York ditto 1,700 0 0
Cambridge University and Town, including
617ℓ. 10s. from Trinity College,
and 500ℓ. collected at the Baptist
Chapel in St. Andrew Street 2,706 0 0
Oxford University and City 1,770 0 0
Proceeds of a Ball at Florence given by
the Prince de Demidoff at San
Donato, besides 500ℓ. from the Florence
Relief Committee, and 9ℓ.
13s. 9d. from the English
servants at Florence 891 17 2
St. Petersburgh 2,644 0 0
Constantinople 620 0 0
Amsterdam; collections in the English
Church 561 0 0
Denmark; partly collected by Parish
Priests in the provinces 504 0 0
Malta and Gozo 720 0 0
Remittances from British Guiana, the
result of public subscription 3,000 0 0
Nova Scotia, including a vote of 2,250ℓ.
by the House of Assembly 2,915 0 0
Barbadoes Relief Committee 2,575 0 0
South Australia £1,000 in money, and
an equal value in Wheat 2,000 0 0
Jamaica, including a vote of 525ℓ. by the
House of Assembly 1,537 0 0
Trinidad 1,350 0 0
Newfoundland 868 0 0
St. Lucia 614 0 0
Grenada 564 0 0
St. Christopher; vote of the Legislature
of the Island 505 0 0
Bermuda; vote of the House of Assembly 500 0 0
Hobart Town 500 0 0
Bombay 9,000 0 0
Madras 2,150 0 0
Remittance from the Mauritius, including
111ℓ. 16s. 11d. from the Seychelles
Islands, and 16ℓ. 7s. from Rodrigues,
and in addition to 2,211ℓ. 13s. collected
by the Vicar Apostolic and
sent direct to Ireland. (The amount
subscribed at the Seychelles Islands,
and at Rodrigues, is very remarkable,
when the poverty of their inhabitants
is considered.) 3,020 0 0
Collection at Basseterre, St. Kitts, from
Negroes belonging to the Congregation
under the charge of the Moravian
Missionaries, per Rev. G. W.
Westerley 15 17 10
Officers and crew of Her Majesty’s ship
“Hibernia” 167 17 11
Contribution by the Governor, Commissioner,
Lieutenant-Governor, and
officers of Greenwich Hospital, being
the sum allowed them for a festival
dinner in commemoration of the
battle off Cape St. Vincent 40 0 0
The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards 156 4 6
A diamond cross from a lady (realized) 42 0 0
Workmen employed by Sir John Guest at
the Dowlas Iron Works 176 17 10
Metropolitan Police 161 0 0
Proceeds of two amateur performances at
the St. James’s Theatre 1,413 0 0
Collected on board the British and North
American Royal Mail steamer “Hibernia”
for Ireland 51 12 8
Wesleyan Methodists; part of the first
distribution of collections in various
chapels 5,000 0 0
Members of the London Daily Press,
chiefly Reporters and Compositors,
in addition to other Contributions 88 18 0
Proprietors of the “Morning Herald”
and “Daily News,” each 100 0 0
“Punch” 50 0 0

Many of the smaller subscriptions, such as 800ℓ. from the Town of Bridgewater, and 747ℓ. from the Bahamas, are more remarkable in proportion to the means of the contributors, than many of those which have been mentioned.

The officers and men of the Coast Guard raised a fund amounting to 429ℓ. which was expended by the members of the force in Ireland in giving relief in the neighbourhood of their respective stations. From the commencement of the distress, the Coast Guard has been distinguished for its active benevolence.

The National Club in London collected a sum of 17,930ℓ., 1000ℓ. of which was from various congregations at Brighton, 500ℓ. from an anonymous contributor, and 500ℓ. from the Wesleyan Irish and Scotch Relief Committee. This fund was intrusted for distribution to the clergy of the Established Church in Ireland, acting under a committee appointed for each diocese, headed by the bishop.

The amount collected by the London Committee of the Society of Friends was 43,026ℓ., nearly the whole of which was disbursed through the Dublin Friends’ Committee.

[A] Her Majesty also contributed £500 to the Ladies’ Clothing
Fund, which was established in connection with the British
Relief Association.

[48] Two United States ships of war, the “Jamestown” and “Macedonian,” were manned by volunteers, and sent to Ireland and Scotland with the following charitable supplies, for which no claim for freight was made. These two cargoes will serve as a specimen of the rest:--

“JAMESTOWN.”

Corn and Grain:-- cwt. qrs. bshl.
Wheat 4 0
Barley 3 4
Oats 2 4
Rye 9 2
Peas 30 0
Beans 279 3
Indian Corn or Maize 339 2

Meal and Flour:--
Wheatmeal or Flour 96 1 0
Barleymeal }
Oatmeal } 19 2 16
Indian Corn Meal 4,229 3 0

Rice 154 1 4
Bread and Biscuit 1,048 3 21
Potatoes 61 1 1
Apples, dried 6
Pork 707 0 16
Hams 291 3 4
Fish 4 0 0
Clothing 10 cases, 18 barrels.

“MACEDONIAN.”

Landed in Ireland.

Indian Corn Meal, 5,324 barrels
at 196 lbs. each 1,043,504 pounds.
Rice, equal to 217 tierces at 6
cwt. each 145,824 ”
Beans, 6 tierces of 4 cwt., 66 bbls.
of 196 lbs., 38 bags of 100 lbs. 19,424 ”
Peas, 53 bbls. of 196 lbs., 100
bags of 100 lbs. each. 11,388 ”
Indian Corn, 38 bags of 100 lbs. 3,800 ”
Wheat, 1 bag 100 ”
Salt Pork, 1 barrel 200 ”
------
Pounds 1,224,240 = 546-1200/2240 tons.

Besides 100 barrels Indian Corn Meal and 3 packages
of Clothing, landed as a “private consignment to the
Rev. Mr. Taylor.”

Clothing, 13 boxes, 3 bales, 3 barrels 19 packages.

Landed in Scotland.

1 package clothing,
1 barrel beef,
143 barrels meal,
133 bags oats,
2 barrels beans, and
8 chests of tea.

Of which the Glasgow Section received--

1 package clothing,
1 barrel beef,
37 barrels meal,
133 bags oats, and
8 chests tea.

The Edinburgh Section received--

100 barrels meal; and 6 barrels meal and 2 barrels beans
were delivered to Mr. Mathieson, of Stirling, as instructed
by the manifest.

[49] Nearly 3000ℓ. was remitted to Mr. Gildea in advance, in sums of from 10s. to 20ℓ., for linens to be afterwards furnished. He might have received much larger sums, and he found great difficulty in stopping the outpouring of sympathy and support that came upon him; and until it became generally known that he had returned large sums of money, the influx did not cease. It is an interesting fact that of 30,000 yards of linen made up to the end of October, there is only one piece that was not duly returned to him by the workwomen, and Mr. Gildea thinks he shall still get the missing piece.

[50] Upwards of 100,000ℓ. has been expended by the Home and Provincial Governments, in giving relief to the sick and destitute emigrants landed in Canada in 1847, and in forwarding them to their destinations.

[51] The following extract from a letter from Mr. Jacob Harvey of New York, to Mr. Jonathan Pim, one of the Secretaries of the Dublin Relief Committee of the Society of Friends, contains many interesting particulars relating to these remittances, which are highly honourable to the Irish character:--

“New York, January 5, 1847.

“The destitution of our poor at this season will certainly
curtail the amount for Ireland, and it is used as an excuse by
those who feel called upon to assist them at their own doors
first. But I am happy to say that the poor labouring Irish
themselves are doing their duty fully. Without any public
meetings or addresses, they have been silently remitting
their little savings to their relations at home; and these
remittances, be it remembered, go to every parish in Ireland,
and by every packet. These drafts are from 1ℓ. and upwards;
they probably average from 4ℓ. to 5ℓ. In my letter to J. H.
Todhunter I told him I had ascertained from five houses here,
that within the past sixty days, they have received and
remitted from the poor Irish 80,000 dollars. I had not time
to send round to the other houses that day; but since the
steamer sailed, I have collected further returns, although not
yet all; and to my no small delight, the sum total remitted
since November the 1st amounts to 150,000 dollars or 30,000ℓ.
sterling. I am now collecting an account of the sums remitted
through the same houses by the poor Irish for the year 1846,
and I have received returns from the five principal houses, and
the sum total is 650,000 dollars, or 130,000ℓ. There are yet
four houses to hear from, which will swell the amount. This,
however, is enough to astonish everybody who has not been aware
of the facts; and it is but right that credit should be given
to the poor abused Irish for having done their duty. Recollect
that the donors are working men and women, and depend upon
their daily labour for their daily food; that they have no
settled income to rely upon; but with that charming reliance
upon Divine Providence which characterizes the Irish peasant,
they freely send their first earnings home to father, mother,
sister, or brother. I requested J. H. Todhunter to have the
facts I gave him published, and I make a similar request to
thee, as they are still more cheering. A publication of the
kind may stimulate the rich to do their duty, where they have
hitherto neglected it; and it will give evidence to those who
have no faith in Irishmen, that whenever they are able to get
good wages, they never forget their relatives and friends who
are in want.”

[52] The emigration for each division of the United Kingdom during the first three quarters of 1847 was as follows; but it must be remembered that those who embarked at Liverpool consisted almost wholly of Irish. There can also be no doubt that the Irish helped to swell the tide from several other ports of Great Britain, and especially in the west of Scotland.

[53] These Irish labourers who annually come to England, by way of Liverpool, to help to gather in the harvest, and return to Ireland after it is over, are included in this number. They are variously estimated at from 10,000 to 30,000.

[54] 5000 Irish paupers were relieved in Manchester in the last week in February, and for several weeks following there were more than 4000 on an average receiving outdoor, and from 600 to 700 in-door, relief. This was independent of the adjoining districts of Salford and Chorlton, where great numbers of Irish were also relieved. Nearly 90,000 destitute and disabled Irish, including women and children, were reported to have received parochial relief in Scotland at a total expense of about 34,000ℓ.; but as the same persons were frequently relieved in more than one parish, and were therefore returned by more than one Inspector, the number of persons of this description newly arrived in Scotland is not so great as that above stated.

[55] The details of the frightful mortality connected with the great emigration of 1847 from Ireland to Canada, are as follows:--

Whole number of British emigrants embarked 89,738

Died on the passage 5,293
at the quarantine station 3,452
at the Quebec Emigrant Hospital 1,041
at the Montreal ditto 3,579
at Kingston and Toronto 1,965
------
15,330

showing a mortality of rather more than 17 per cent. on the number embarked. One-third of those who arrived in Canada were received into hospital.

The people of Canada deserve great praise for the spirited and benevolent exertions made by them to meet the exigencies of this disastrous emigration, which is described as having “left traces of death and misery along its course, from the Quarantine Establishment at Grosse Isle to the most distant parts of Upper Canada, cutting down in its progress numbers of estimable citizens.” Besides the larger hospital establishments, twenty-four Boards of Health were formed in Upper Canada. Numerous deaths also took place among the emigrants to New Brunswick. The ships containing the German emigrants, and two ships fitted out by the Duke of Sutherland from Sutherlandshire, arrived in Canada in a perfectly healthy state.

[56] Settlers in the backwoods must have the means of support from twelve to fifteen months after their arrival, and this cannot be accomplished for less than 60ℓ., at the lowest estimate, for each family consisting of a man, his wife, and three children, or equal to 3½ adults on an average.

[57] The repayment of these advances, which amount altogether to £1,145,800, has not yet been pressed, out of consideration for the circumstances of the country.

[58] An Act to make further provision for the Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland, 10 Vic. cap. 31--[Passed 8th June, 1847.]

An Act to provide for the Execution of the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland, 10 & 11 Vic. cap. 90--[Passed 22nd July, 1847.]

An Act to make provision for the Punishment of Vagrants and Persons offending against the Laws in force for the Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland, 10 & 11 Vic. cap. 84--[Passed 22nd July, 1847.]

[59] “I would sincerely regret that anything I have said should appear to be written as if I sought occasion to point out errors and hold them up; far from it; I mention them with sorrow and a kindly wish that they may be corrected. The position of the respectable classes at this moment in many instances is surely pitiable. There is but one course by which this country can rise and take her proper position, and that is by a hearty and sincere determination to work for the public good, at the same time throwing aside all selfish and party feeling. In that case, there is no reason why we should despair; but otherwise, no mortal can either pass laws or propose any other thing which would be attended with success. In this I particularly allude to the Poor Law now about to be administered. I look upon it as an indirect absentee tax, drawing from those who did not contribute before, or in a very slight degree. It assures the poor man that from the land he must have support, and that what he labours on will one day sustain him when he can no longer toil. It will also compel others to consider that unless employment is provided, they must support him without a remunerative return,--and if this is rightly considered, then the heavy affliction which the Almighty has been pleased to lay on them will prove a lesson for good.

“On the subject of relief being given without having a corresponding return for it in labour, I feel very apprehensive that, owing to the habits of the lower orders, the present repugnance to entering the union-house may give way, and that for the sake of an idle life, they may accept the terms. To prevent this and rescue both landlord and peasant from certain ruin, there must be employment given fairly remunerative to both, not by Government, but by the owners of the soil. Until lately, what was the condition of the peasant? Work as he would, till and rear what he might, he could never hope to benefit. His portion was the potato only, shared, it may be said, with his pig. He dare not use anything else. Let misfortune come on him, or disease render him unable to work, he had no claim on the land. One a little less poor than himself might help him, but who else? The charity I have seen has been from the poor to the poor. Is it any wonder that they became spiritless, idle, and even worse?

“A townland near here, owned by a landlord who resides constantly away, is let to a middleman at 10s. an acre. That middleman resides away also, and he relets it to a person who lives in the county of Cork, and only occasionally comes there. It is sub-let again, until the price received for a quarter of an acre is 1ℓ. 10s. per annum. Can that place be otherwise than full of distress?

“Near it is another townland. The owner resides here, but he has never attended to it. In the late calamity he applied to me for seed and assistance, declaring his intention to provide seed at his own expense; and to insure its being sown, he said he should employ a person to superintend the sowing, as the land was prepared. His tenants were without food; but to encourage and assist in this case, an application was made by me to the Society of Friends for a supply to sustain the people while working, which was granted. The party supposed he had about sixty to provide for, but was frightened at over 600 applications for food; and it then came out that his land was underlet to an enormous degree. He had never paid proper attention by inspecting his farms, &c. The result is, that now he can neither get rent, nor the repayment of the value of the seed. What has been grown will not suffice to feed those who are located on the land. They cannot pay rent, and they will not give up their holdings. The population has been increased in such cases, and others, to an extent beyond what the land can bear. Another cause is, that the Roman Catholic clergy derive their income mainly from fees and contributions at marriages and christenings; and though there are some who see the disastrous result of encouraging the increase of the population, and are scrupulous on that head, still, as their subsistence depends on it, it cannot be expected that they will exert themselves in a way likely to deprive themselves of daily bread by discouraging thoughtless rushing into improvident marriages.”--CAPTAIN MANN’S NARRATIVE.

[60] First Board of Works Series of 1846-7, page 338 to 341.

[61] The purposes to which these loans are applicable are as follows:--

1. The drainage of lands by any means which may be approved by the
Commissioners.

2. The subsoiling, trenching, or otherwise deepening and improving
the soil of lands.

3. The irrigation or warping of lands.

4. The embankment of lands from the sea or tidal waters, or rivers.

5. The inclosing or fencing, or improving the fences, drains,
streams, or water-courses of land.

6. The reclamation of waste or other land.

7. The making of farm roads.

8. The clearing land of rocks and stones.

[62] By neglecting their estates, and omitting to construct proper farm buildings, and to make other necessary improvements, Irish landlords relinquish their position in rural society, and give free scope to the agrarian revolutionary plans which, under the disguise of “fixity of tenure” and “tenant right,” would dispossess the landlord, without conferring any permanent benefit on the tenant. In the smaller class of holdings, the entire gross produce is insufficient to support a family, without allowing for either rent, seed, or taxes; and even supposing that, with the dangerous help of the potato, eked out by harvest-work and begging, a rent is paid, the tendency to multiply and subdivide is so strong, that if the whole rent were given up, the holders would become in a generation or two much more numerous and equally poor. The fact is, that the main hope of extrication from the slough of despond in which the small holders in the centre and west of Ireland are at present sunk, is from the enterprise and capital and improved husbandry of the class of owners commonly known by the name of landlords.

[63] In what follows we must be understood as giving expression to the practical conclusions of those who, having been charged with the unenviable task of superintending the measures of relief, and assisting to replace society on a permanent basis after it had been unsettled by this great calamity, must be allowed to have had unusual advantages for a close examination of the subject under a variety of aspects.

[64] The same results appeared in those parts of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden, in which the subdivision of the land has been carried to the greatest extent. The following extract from a letter received in January last from Brest, contains a correct description of the manner in which that part of France was affected by the dearth: “All the petty farmers are in the greatest distress, having been obliged to sell their wheat and most of their other grain in October, to pay their rents due on Michaelmas-day. The overplus in the crop of buckwheat is not sufficient to compensate for the deficiency in their stock of potatoes, and they are now living on cabbages, carrots, and a very small proportion of buckwheat. Unless some stringent measures be adopted to prevent the progressive subdivision of land in France, the country must eventually be reduced to the present state of Ireland.” It has been justly observed, that “in agriculture, as in every other industrial process, prosperity must depend upon the application of capital to production; and equal injury is done when such application of capital is prevented, either by landlords refusing to give tenants a beneficial interest in their improvements, or by a combination of pauper occupants to prevent capitalists from obtaining possession of land.” Those who take an interest in this important subject will do well to read Mr. M‘Culloch’s excellent chapter on compulsory partition, in his recently-published work “On the Succession to Property vacant by Death.”

[65] The inferior condition of the peasantry in the West of England is in a great degree owing to the increased use of the potato, the cultivation of which by the poor was much encouraged by the gentry and clergy as a cheap means of subsistence during the high prices of corn in the last war. Somersetshire and Devonshire were, in fact, fast becoming potato countries; and if the blight of that vegetable had occurred twenty years later, their sufferings might have approached to those of Ireland.

[66] Lord George Bentinck stated that 1500 miles of railroad would give constant employment, either on the line or in the various occupations connected with it, to 110,000 able-bodied labourers and artificers, representing, with their families, 550,000 persons; but even supposing that all these had been set to work at once, they would have been selected from the classes of persons least likely to require charitable assistance, while the weak and infirm would have been systematically excluded. The number of persons for whom the Government had to provide the means of subsistence at this crisis, was upwards of three millions; and this had to be done in the neighbourhood of their own homes, which could not be accomplished by means of railroads, employment on which is confined to particular localities. The number of persons stated in the House of Commons as likely to be employed on railroads in Ireland was greatly overrated; the general surface of the country requires scarcely any deep cuttings or embankments, and the eskars, through which the cuttings are made, offer the finest possible material for ballasting.

[67] Speech of Mr. Richard Bourke, M.P. for Kildare, to his father’s tenantry, September 1847.

[68] Although both did their best, it is fair to state that the Protestant clergy had some advantages which the Roman Catholic clergy did not possess. The Protestant clergy were assisted by liberal subscriptions from England; and as their stipends are primary charges on the rent, they were regularly paid even during the period of the greatest distress. The Roman Catholic clergy, on the contrary, depend, both for their own subsistence, and for the means of helping their poor and ignorant people, upon the voluntary contributions of the people themselves; and when these had nothing to give, owing to the failure of their crops and the want of employment, the clergy were reduced to great straits, which they bore with exemplary patience. The fees on marriages and baptisms which are the principal source of the income of the Roman Catholic clergy, almost entirely ceased in some parts of the country. It is much to the credit of the poor Irish, that now that they have been deprived of the potatoes on which they had been accustomed to bring up their families, marriages have become much less frequent.

[69] “A great deal has been written, and many an account given, of the dreadful sufferings endured by the poor, but the reality in most cases far exceeded description. Indeed, none can conceive what it was but those who were in it. For my part, I frequently look back on it as a fearful and horrid dream, scarcely knowing how sufficiently to express gratitude to the Almighty for having brought this country through it, even as it is. If the first measures which prepared us to meet the second and severest calamity had been neglected, it is frightful to suppose what would have been the state of this afflicted country. My opinion is, that there are but very few who will not gratefully remember the generous and prompt relief afforded in this time of trouble; such sufferings, and such help, cannot be easily forgotten.”--CAPTAIN MANN’S NARRATIVE.

[70] The Irish peasant made up for the deficiency of nutritive qualities in the potato, by the quantity he ate, amounting generally to as much as fourteen pounds in a single day; and it was therefore a general complaint at first, that the Indian corn left an uneasy sensation, arising from the absence of the habitual distension of the organs of digestion. The half raw state in which it was often eaten, arising partly from ignorance of the proper mode of cooking it, and partly from impatience to satisfy the cravings of hunger, also concurred with the previous debilitated state of the people, to produce sickness when it was first introduced. All this, however, has been got over, and the people have now not only become accustomed to the use of a grain food, but they prefer it, and declare that they feel stronger and more equal to hard work under the influence of a meal of stirabout, than of potatoes; and their improved appearance fully bears out this conclusion. One main cause of the fact which has been so often remarked, that the Irishman works better out of Ireland than in it, is, that when he leaves his native country and obtains regular employment elsewhere he commences at the same time a more strengthening diet than the potato. It is commonly observed in Canada, that the Irish emigrants, although a much larger race of men than the French Canadians, are, for some time after their arrival, inferior to them as farm labourers; and this difference is attributed to their food. The Canadian labourer, who receives his food as part of his hire, has an ample breakfast on bread and milk. He dines at midday on soupe aux pois, with a full quantity of salt pork and bread à discrétion. At four o’clock he is allowed a luncheon of bread and onions, and at night he has a ragout of meat and vegetables for his supper. He however works laboriously, and generally from sunrise to sunset, and is scarcely ever absent a day from his work. An Irishman cannot endure this continuous labour without better food than the potato; and in every way it is desirable to teach him the use of a more substantial diet, both to enable him to give a proper amount of labour for his hire, and in order to raise him to a higher standard as a social being. We shall not consider the object finally accomplished until the people of Ireland live upon a bread and meat diet, like those of the best parts of England and Scotland.

[71] The following is the proportion of agrarian crimes in each quarter from January 1845, to November 1847:

In the Quarter ending

Jan. 31, 1845, the proportion is one in 4¼
April 30, 1845, ” ” 3-1/12
July 31, 1845, ” ” 4⅖
Oct. 31, 1845, ” ” 5⅓
Jan. 31, 1846, ” ” 4
April 30, 1846, ” ” 3⅓
July 31, 1846, ” ” 8
Oct. 31, 1846, ” ” 19
Jan. 31, 1847, ” ” 54
April 30, 1847, ” ” 64
July 31, 1847, ” ” 42
Oct. 31, 1847, ” ” 12

The increase of agrarian crimes which has lately taken place, is more connected with resistance to the payment of rents, than with opposition to ejectments from the possession of land; and it has been almost entirely confined to the counties of Tipperary, Clare, Limerick, and Roscommon. Out of 195 crimes committed in the whole of Ireland in October 1847, 139 were committed in Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary; being 71 per cent. of the whole number, although the population of these three counties is only 13 per cent. of the population of Ireland. The districts in the north-west and south-west of Ireland, which suffered most from the failure of the potato crop in 1845-6, were at the same time remarkable for the absence of atrocious crimes.

[72] The manner in which the Clanmorris and Blessington properties, and a portion of that belonging to the Cunningham family, have been disposed of, are instances in point.

[73] Although we do not intend to excuse the system of the Penal Laws, it is fair to mention, that these measures of restraint were considered at the time to be necessary for the protection of the liberty and religion of the country, and that they were imposed at the conclusion of a desperate struggle, the renewal of which was for a long time a source of serious apprehension. The battles of the Boyne, Enniskillen, and Aughrim, the sieges of Londonderry and Limerick, and the critical operations at Athlone, ushered in the Penal Laws, the real object of which was to keep in check the great political party which had arrayed itself on the side of the Stuarts and of their principles of Government; and as the danger diminished, these Laws were gradually relaxed until they were finally abolished by the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. It will also be remembered that the Penal Laws were passed by the Irish Parliament and repealed by that of the United Kingdom.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.

Currency symbols were italicized in the original book. To make the Plain Text version of this eBook easier to read, those symbols are not marked as italics, but are displayed here as “ℓ.”, “s.”, and “d.” (without quotation marks).

Footnote 3, originally on page 5: The day of the month was missing.

Footnote 64, originally on page 178: “M‘Culloch’s” was printed that way, with the right-curling apostrophe.

Page 186: “controul” was printed that way.

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The Irish CrisisChapter V: Part 5

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