itude were not equally conspicuous. During a portion
of the interval of the reassembling of parliament, in January, 1847, the
government, unauthorised by parliament, expended a million sterling
per month. The cabinet felt assured that parliament would indemnify and
England approve. Immense supplies of Indian corn and other articles of
food were carried by government steamers to such points of the coast
as were convenient for their prompt dispersion to the interior. The
labourers on the public works were paid from one shilling to one
shilling and sixpence per day. In the county of Mayo, where the distress
was peculiarly aggravated, nearly half a million sterling was expended
in public works, in districts the Ordnance valuation of which was little
more than half that amount. These works were unproductive, and baronies
were pledged to their whole value, some for a year, and others for
several years, in repayment of the grants, although the plan of
repayment to the government was, that only half the amount advanced
should be refunded. Many private individuals, both in Ireland and
in Great Britain, exhibited a noble generosity; and the heroic
self-sacrifice of clergymen, medical men, and others, in the midst of
the famine and plague-stricken people, cannot be too much commended. The
liberality and exertions of the Irish residents in England and Scotland
was much to their own honour and to the reputation of their country.
Notwithstanding all these exertions, the aid of the government and
of private individuals was abused, and the annals of the world do not
contain any narrative of ingratitude and selfishness more base than
those which record the transactions of certain classes of the Irish
people during that terrible crisis. Many of the landed gentry took
occasion to have their own fences and private roads repaired at the
public expense, and there were few parts of the country where "public
works" did not mean improvements of the domains, and the creation of
roads to the mansions of the gentry. The Roman Catholic chapels, and the
ways of access to them, were also treated as "public works." The
conduct of "the Board of Works" was far from unimpeachable, and men
distinguished in her majesty's service cut a poor figure in connection
with the inquiries and discussions to which the modes of managing the
public relief ultimately led. The moral effect of the charity was most
injurious to the country, whatever its material advantage in