England
could find a hundred millions of money to spend in fighting for the
Grand Turk; she could find twenty millions for the slave-owners of her
colonies; she could find twenty millions more for the luxury of shooting
King Theodore, but a sufficient sum could not be afforded to save the
lives of five millions of her own subjects.[118]
Lord John having announced the intention of the Government, to bring in
a bill empowering the Lord Lieutenant to summon baronial and county
sessions, for the purpose of providing public works for the Irish
people, proposed that the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury should
issue Exchequer bills for L175,000 as a grant, and for L255,000 as a
loan, to pay for the works that might be undertaken. He concluded in
these words: "Sir, as I stated at the commencement, this is an especial
case, requiring the intervention of Parliament. I consider that the
circumstances I have stated, of that kind of food which constitutes the
subsistence of millions of people in Ireland being subjected to the
dreadful ravages of this disease, constitutes this a case of exception,
and renders it imperative on the Government and the Parliament to take
extraordinary measures of relief.
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