as a most anxious time--a time of tremendous
labour and responsibility to those who had the direction of this vast
machinery. A member of the Board of Works thus describes the feeling
which no doubt pervaded most of those that were officially connected
with the administration of relief: 'I hope never to see such a winter
and spring again. I can truly say, in looking back upon it even now,
that it appears to me not a succession of weeks and days, but one long
continuous day, with occasional intervals of night-mare sleep. Rest
one could never have, when one felt that in every minute lost a score
of men might die.' Mr. Trevelyan was then secretary of the treasury,
and it was well that a man so enlightened, energetic, and benevolent
occupied the post at such a time. He was indefatigable in his efforts
to mitigate the calamity, and he wrote an interesting account of 'The
Irish Crisis' in the _Edinburgh Review_. Having presented the dark
side of the picture in faithfully recording the abuses that had
prevailed, it is right to give Mr. Trevelyan's testimony as to the
conduct of the relief committees during this supreme hour of the
nation's agony. 'It is a fact very honourable to Ireland that among
upwards of 2,000 local bodies to whom advances were made under this
act, there is not one to which, so far as the Government is informed,
any suspicion of embezzlement attaches.'

The following statement of the numbers receiving rations, and the
total expenditure under the act in each of the four provinces,
compared with the amount of population, and the annual value assessed
for poor-rate, may serve to illustrate the comparative means and
destitution of each province:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------
| | Population | Valuation | Greatest | Total |
| | | | Number of |Expenditure |
| | | | Rations given | |
| | | | out | |
|---------|-------------|------------|----------------|------------|
| | | L | | L |
|Ulster | 2,386,373 | 3,320,133 | 346,517 | 170,508 |
|Leinster | 1,973,731 | 4,624,542 | 450,606 | 308,068 |
|Munster | 2,396,161 | 1,465,643 | 1,013,826 | 671,554 |
|Counaught| 1,418,859 | 1,465,643 | 745,652 | 526,048 |
| |----