... I sometimes am inclined to think houses give
large prices for cargoes imported for a market, to keep them up; it is
an uncharitable thought, but really there is so much cupidity abroad,
and the wretched people suffering so intensely from the high prices of
food, augmented by every party through whose hands it passes before it
reaches them, it is quite disheartening to look upon."[124]
The Government further determined not to send any orders for supplies
of food to foreign countries, as was done by Sir Robert Peel, in the
case of the cargo of India meal; and their depots would be only
established in those western and north-western districts, where, owing
to the previous almost universal cultivation of the potato (or rather
owing perhaps to its universal use), no trade in corn for local
consumption existed.
The system of relief thus provided was extensive and expansive enough,
as it laid the entire soil of Ireland under contribution. Whether or not
the country would, in the long run, be able to pay for it all, the
Government acted well in making the landlords understand and feel their
responsibilities in such a terrible crisis. But they should not have
stopped there.
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