Sir James Graham
replied, that "it did appear to him, that this matter of the coming
scarcity, if not of famine, in Ireland, had an immediate and
indissoluble connection with the question of the Corn Laws; and that he,
for one, would not propose to the people of Great Britain, to take out
of the taxes of Great Britain public money, to aid in the sustenance of
their fellow-countrymen in Ireland, while, artificially, by the laws,
the price of the food of the people of Great Britain is enhanced." With
regard to this logic of Sir James, it may be remarked, (1) that the
immediate effect produced, _and sought to be produced_, by a repeal of
the Corn Laws, was to cheapen in the market the only thing Ireland had
to sell--corn; (2) that the Irish members did not ask any portion of the
taxes of Great Britain, to feed their countrymen,--they proclaimed and
proved, that the resources of their own country were sufficient for this
purpose; and this view was frequently put forward by O'Connell, and
other leading Irish representatives.
William Smith O'Brien, the member for Limerick county, spoke but little
during the session. He, and that advanced party in the Repeal
Association which acknowledged him as leader, had made up their minds,
that Irish Parliamentary business should be transacted in Ireland; and
that St.
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